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DeadMen'sEyes

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Dead Men’s Eyes

You ever hear the story about dead men’s eyes, cowboy? They say the last thing a guy sees just before he gets greased is imprinted on him, and if you look just close enough...right down in the flat matte-black of those fixed pupils…you’ll see his killer staring back at you.

Crap, right? Well, I hear the Chiba heat is looking into doing it for real…accessing the cortex to download data. Necromancy by electronics. And that’s not the only biz going down on Tokyo streets. You got samurai wired up the wazoo, with faster-than-light reflexes and a punch like a Pancor Jackhammer. You got console jockeys hacking into everything from mainframes to your microwave – assuming you’re one of three stone-age morons in the city who still cook their own food, of course.

You got gangs of burakumin taking potshots at each other on the metrorail…using guns designed to take out tanks. You got Yakuza and Triads playing nice…and not-so-nice. And you got 20 million relatively-innocent citizens trying to get from A to B and earn a little New Yen while doing it.

And over it all, higher (in their own minds) then the satellites that this fucked-up era runs on, you got the Zaibatsu. The big boys. The megacorporations who really run this world – and can buy and sell countries out of their petty cash.

It’s like the mile-high holograph outside city limits says, in three different languages:

Welcome to Tokyo. Welcome to the Future.

Enjoy it, cowboy.

• Lonny Zone, talk-show host of ‘In the Zone’

Dead Men’s Eyes is a three-part module, set in a dystopian future where technology is now more a religion than a tool.

You can tell by my use of adjectives (and Lonny’s intro) that this is not a nice place. It’s a place where life is cheap, and crime is a way of life. Whether it’s the small time hustles of a street-level sarariman, the major drug deals of a Yakuza oyabun or the continent-spanning schemes of a Zaibatsu board of directors – the only difference is scale.

And if you get caught, of course.

Which is what happened to you. A bunch of gaijin (ie. Western) criminals of varying skills and backgrounds with one common denominator: the maximum-security wing of a high-tech Japanese prison.

For those interested in playing, please e-mail me at aamdewar@iafrica.com with a vague character concept. Players will be selected based on availability and how their concept knits into the group as a whole (obviously, if everyone plays a l33t cyber-ninja, this game will get boring very fast). Once I’ve got a group, I’ll e-mail everyone character creation rules. The system is called Zaibatsu: it’s very simple but very stylish and runs entirely off d6s.

Here’s a list of Zaibatsu concepts to get you started, though it’s not exhaustive and any ideas are welcome. It just gives the Japanese underworld a little flavour. For mood, rent Blade Runner, Johnny Mnuemonic, and anything else that could be faintly described as cyberpunk. Play Syndicate a few times (if you can find a computer slow enough to run it). And read every William Gibson book you can get your hands on. There may be a small prize for the most geeky. ;-)

Concepts:

ASSASSIN

You are a hitman, assassin, solo, killer. Calm, cool, efficient, your aim is to infiltrate your target area, make the kill and then be gone quickly and quietly. You may have a Yakuza or middleman contact who provides you with IDs? and contracts. You may like to adopt disguises, and sometimes may be forced to shoot your way out of messy hits.

BURAKUMIN (Street Gangster)

A burakumin is a streetpunk, a tough and nasty gang-boy with a loyal gang following. As a senior member of the street gang he can call on their violent and criminal services once per game. The gang may be intelligent and sophisticated, or nasty, tough and brutal. Obviously the gang will not recklessly endanger itself unless there is a great reward at the end of it. The gang has a bond, and the player character is a part of that strong bond.

COLLEGE KID

You are a rebellious college drop-out. Maybe you were kicked out. Like most anime heroes, you are quite brilliant, if a little hung-up sexually, but you know all the gangs, the streets, and you are a talented whizz-kid in your particular field. You are not afraid of the bad guys, in fact you may treat everything as a big game!

FACE MAN

You are a slick and smooth con-man who sets up scams, infiltrates organizations and uses his different IDs? to steal, blackmail, kidnap and almost any other crime involving deception and infiltration.

HUSTLER

You are a loser, a street-corner hustler, drugs dealer and fixer who never quite makes the big score. You know anyone who’s anyone in your neighbourhood, and you are on good terms with the local Yakuza: you have to be. You’re smart, cool and ready for action. Watch out Tokyo!

KURUMA (Getaway Driver)

You are a professional driver, for a zaibatsu, the cops, the Yakuza or whoever. You know the city, escape routes, and the fastest ways from A to B. You are an expert in evasive or pursuit driving and have been in real scrapes and firefights, but always kept cool, despite the vehicle being full of bullet holes! You could also be a courier for the Yakuza or other gangs, shipping illegal items around Tokyo.

MARTIAL ARTIST

A student of a martial arts school, you are a committed devotee, devoting mind, body and life to the pursuit of excellence. You probably care little for material things and have had to work humble jobs to pay for your own upkeep.

NINJA (High-tech Burglar)

You are a security expert, knowledgeable about burglary, intrusion, deception, disguise and surveillance. A super spy. You may work freelance, or be a veteran of a zaibatsu who has left the company behind him.

ORGAN-LEGGER

You were part of a criminal gang that made its money kidnapping people and surgically dismembering them. Their organs, eyes, arms, hands, genitalia and other body parts were then sold to the many underworld body banks around Japan that supply the organs to legitimate hospitals and clinics. The job is grim and dark, involving kidnapping, killing and surgery (or butchery).

PIRATE

You are a technical wizard, always taking things apart and putting them back together again. You keep all kinds of junk in case you can modify it or use it to customize something else. Pirates are technological scavengers, obsessed experts, hoarders of new equipment and tech as well as brilliant and resourceful engineers. Technology allows a pirate to adapt a piece of technology for a different purpose to that intended. New gadgets, technical sabotage or just plain repairs are your hallmarks, either college learned, self-taught, zaibatsu trained, or ex-military.

TERRORIST/EXTORTIONIST

You are a bomb expert who puts his talents toward overthrowing the system, you are a religious, left wing, or right wing fanatic. Or you might be an extortionist who has been part of a gang trying to get money out of the government or the zaibatsu.

SAMURAI (Bodyguard)

You are a professional bodyguard, skilled in escort and protection duties, probably for a zaibatsu. You can work as a team-member or alone, can react quickly, and you are able to spot trouble before it opens fire on you!

SARARIMAN (Corporate Troubleshooter)

You are pure sleaze, a real smooth operator. Slick and well-polished, you can arrange deals, set-ups and a wide variety of other tasks. You have contacts, and are able to predict future trends and cater for them.

SOFTWARE JOCKEY (Computer Hacker)

You are a freelance hacker and data pirate, raiding rich zaibatsu computer systems and selling your gains on to elements in the underworld. Alternatively, you could be working for a zaibatsu as a systems operator, or be an eraser, specialising in erasing identities and creating new ones. This last occupation is a risky one, including bodyguard work and plenty of street action!

SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDO

Ex-military elite soldier, commando or counter-terrorist agent. You might have been kicked out, retired from the service or left in a fit of disillusionment.

STREET SURGEON

You are an unlicensed street doctor, selling drugs, organs and treatments illegally. You work for criminal elements operating on gunshot wounds or overdoses, retrogenic treatments stolen from the zaibatsu or special chemicals. You might have once been respectable.

YAKUZA (Gangster)

You are an underworld enforcer for the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia), a thug, bodyguard and street soldier led by your oyabun (godfather). You are tough, vicious and very, very nasty.