CthulhuPunk Universe
Background
2040s CthulhuPunk Campaign
The CthulhuPunk campaign began in the year 2045.
The Earth has been ravaged. A plague killed off most of
the Earth’s population in the early part of the
century. The cities are dark and sprawling. The
environment has been ruined to the point where people
really fear for the future of humanity. Environmental
laws are strict and heavily enforced, though it may be
“too little, too late.”
Japan and Russia have formed an alliance and are under
the control of the Russian Mafia and the Japanese Yakuza
(known as the Russki-Yaks). Canada has split up, the US
is a military dictatorship, and Britain is trying to
regain old glory. Corporations run almost everything, the
most powerful corporation being known only as The Bank.
There’s currently a manned space flight to Jupiter,
a small colony on Mars and the Moon, and a large,
orbiting space station.
The Internet, radio networks and television have fused
into something called The Web. People get almost all
their entertainment and information from The Web. They
use computer programs known as Agents to get most of
their information, though the rich have cybernetic
implants that allow them to access their Web agents
without the need for a computer.
And there’s a lot of weird stuff going on...
There’s something sinister and secret going on in
the rainforests of the world. Australia was apparently
destroyed by the plague, but no one knows as no one has
ever returned from there. Weird religions and cults have
appeared throughout the world. A company called Chaos,
Inc. has invented what they say is a totally unbreakable
code using something called Chaos Encryption (slogan:
“For secrets man was not meant to know”) even
though scientists say it can't possibly work.
Okay, so how much of this universe is mine and how much
did I get from elsewhere? I started off with the CthulhuPunk
book and the Cyberworld book from a roleplaying
game called GURPS (Generic Universal Role Play
System). I took a lot of the background from there, but
it has warped since then.
The plague and the political background I took from there
(but I’m thinking of not having the US as a military
dictatorship; since the players haven’t actually
visited anywhere other than Hawaii, this would be easy).
The idea of corporations running everything I also took
from there.
The Bank was my idea and added to during the game by my
friend Chris. The idea of The Web and the use of Agents
was my idea, as was the Mars colony, the Jupiter mission,
and Chaos, Inc.
As the game has gone on, it has lost a lot of what was in
those sourcebooks and we’re making it a world of our
own. I let the players invent stuff and if it fits I put
it into the background. I suspect that within a year or
so, it won’t look much at all like the source books
at all...
And then there's Dave's contribution... Dave Nickle,
award winning novelist and short story writer, has
written a story based on his Jerry Wylde character.
"Wylde's Kingdom" is currently being considered
for an anthology. At some point I hope to have the story
on this site, or a link to it, but that may take quite a
while if the story is published.