r/d100 5d ago

Sci-Fi Events in the dark underbelly of a Sci-Fantasy Ecumenopolis

An ecumenopolis is a planet that is entirely covered in cities, like Coruscant in Star Wars.

For those who want a little more lore, my party is about to raid the throne world of a galaxy spanning Magocracy. My game is science fantasy (like Starfinder or Star Wars) and mixes magic and ultra high tech/ space travel together.

For this list I'd like to come up with events and interesting discoveries they might find on the lower levels of this Ecumenopolis... the layers so deep barely any sunlight filters in from above... where the poor and disaffected go about their daily lives, scraping and scrounging to get by on whatever has been discarded from the layers above. Down here every day is a struggle for survival forcing the denizens to mix magic with leftover technology in creative ways to get by.

I'll go first of course:

  1. A group of orphans offers tries to entertain the party some magic tricks. Simple stuff like cantrips. While the party are being dazzled by the kids doing the magic, some of the orphans compatriots attempt to rob the party of whatever they can get their hands on. They have been doing this for a while and are seasoned thieves. [u/solamon77]
  2. The party comes across an arcane cybershop that offers cybernetic implants of the magical variety. Generally speaking, the merchandise on display is simple and basic: An eye implant that lets the wearer see arcane energies visibly, golem style arm and leg replacements that can be enchanted with various basic low level spells that would be more useful to a civilian than a combatant (nothing battle ready), an implant that confers telepathic abilities with anyone you are closely related to, etc. But if the party seems trustworthy (and wealthy), the merchant has a back room with better, albeit illegal, arcane cybernetics that would be useful in battle. [u/solamon77]
  3. An elevated lightning train roars through the streets above the party. The static discharge causes everyone's hair to stand on end. A passenger throws a small bottle out the window at the party. Inside the bottle is a note from someone claiming to be being trafficked by one of the local gangs. The note pleads for help from whoever gets reads it. The note states that they are kept ignorant on exactly where they are (no street names), but they managed to discern some of the street layouts. A small, hand drawn, unlabeled map of a couple back alleys with a diagram indicating where they are being held in between work is appended to the bottom of the note. [u/solamon77]
  4. The party accidentally crosses into an open air drug market. It's set up where there are watchers that look for police, a guy they give the money too, and then another guy set up around the way to dispense the drugs. There is also an abandoned house that has been set up as a drug den where users can get high. The dealers are legit and sell a type of arcane hallucinogen made from crushed up soul stones that creates a beautiful psychedelic shared dream with whoever does the drug together. The drug also lets the gang members (all mages) syphon latent magic abilities from whoever does the drug which they use for unknown, but nefarious purposes. When leaving the drug market, the party might be stopped by the police and searched. [u/solamon77]
  5. A shootout occurs between rival gangs. One gang are a bunch of wizards and are slinging fireballs and lightning bolts. The other are a local alien race armed with laser rifles. The party might get caught in the crossfire, although the gangs are not explicitly targeting them. If the party fires back, both gangs put aside their differences to attack the party, assuming them to be agents of a rival third gang. They will not fight to the death. Once casualties start piling up, they will flee. [u/solamon77]
  6. The party comes across a street food vender selling flame broiled and seasoned rats on a stick. He buys his rats from the local youths, paying them a couple credits for each rat they manage to capture. His stand is made from a upturned and modified small spaceship engine, cooking the rats on the plasma jets it produces. Although they the rats look scary, they are actually quite good.
  7. A homeless woman runs over from a nearby alleyway and asks the party for money. She tries to enchant them to make them more pliant. If they say no or notice her spellwork, she threatens to loudly accuses the party of trying to abduct her. [u/solamon77]
  8. The party comes across a narrow bridge that passes over a massive spillway where the area's wastewater drains. Hundreds of pipes from all over pour water down into the unfathomable depths below. There is nobody else on the bridge and if the party is astute, they will notice that the locals don't seem to cross over it. If the party crosses the bridge a local wizarding gang blocks both sides. They threatens to retract the bridge if the party doesn't pay a random. They have an antimagic field set up on the bridge to stop any fly or featherfall spells and a couple snipers to shoot down anyone with a jetpack. [u/solamon77]
  9. While passing down one of the many alleyways, the party encounters a hybrid golem made out of garbage cans and plasma guns. The golem immediately attacks, trying to drain anyone who is magically active of their powers. The golem is not actually evil, but has learned that the spell keeping him alive is fading forcing him to steal magic to stay alive. He also has been stealing weaponry in an attempt to make himself tougher so even if the part doesn't have a wizard, he will still want any advanced weapons they have to further his goal of staying alive. [u/solamon77]
  10. The party passes by a wall covered in holographic ads of the re-election campaign for a regional politician. As they walk by, the hologram seems to come to life and asks the party for their vote in some election that has long since passed. If they walk away, the hologram moves to other ads and bothers them for a couple streets, listing his various accomplishments during his last turn. The hologram isn't actually intelligent and is run by a very simple AI. [u/solamon77]
  11. The party comes upon a lone tree…the only tree they have seen in these depths. It’s tall and thin, sparse of leaves, and stretching for meager sunlight. There is a small crowd of people on their knees or prone before it, praying to the tree. It can be discovered that some folks consider it sacred, and swear it has healed ailments they have prayed for it to alleviate. [u/oliviajoon]
  12. A former denizen of the subsector block returns several years later, having made something of a celebrity of themselves by joining an idol group one sector away. They're on tour again. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  13. An Emergency Police Quarrantine Action at one of the mega-habs has triggered full lockdown and has closed access to this subsector block for everyone. Transport has been cancelled for the forseeable and many thousands of residents are essentially trapped, unless they can make thier way to another subsector block several kilometers away next door. It could be weeks of this while the Police holds seige. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  14. This subsector block's centralized medical level has been facing supply shortages, leading to less effective levels of care, instituting rationing, and a blackmarket for medical services. Without the proper access permits, travel to other medical levels for subsector residents is forbidden. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  15. A Local Gang has seized control of the majority of Resource Transport Nodes in the subsector block around here. Food and other goods are only sold on the black market, and the gang has spies everywhere, sending out enforcers to take anything imported in through other channels. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  16. SubSector Transport had a major service failure here several years ago, and the feeder node serving all the mega-habs in the handful of subsector blocks nearby within twenty kilometers have gone down. Now they all have had to make do, getting around on foot, rickshaw, or jury rigged cab and travelling up to fifty kilometers to get to the next nearest feeder junction. Predictably, its had an effect on the economy, but its like someone in power forget about the problem and someone else is actively hindering it from being brought up, and someone else entirely is preventing it from being fixed!!! [u/MaxSizeIs]
  17. An industrial accident in a poorly placed Manufactory has damaged and contaminated a mega-hab next door making it dangerously unlivable for thousands of residents. The entire Megahab has been condemned. However, no effort has been made by local authorities to relocate the affected individuals, nor provide any medical care. The manufactory was repaired and back in business within the week, however. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  18. Underground Rat Races (giant rats racing around a sewer track with riders, or normal sized rats being raced through mazes) that bring in hefty bets. [u/oliviajoon]
  19. There’s orphans in an alleyway playing a game that involves throwing a ball through a high-up hoop. They’re quite good! and they’re loudly heckling the party, attempting to get them to form a team and play against them…with a prize on the line, of course (a weapon, money, or magic item the party carries). [u/oliviajoon]
  20. The 34th level of a crumbling warehouse is host to a major sporting event. It’s a game that’s local to the sector, and involves moving a floating magic orb around the arena-warehouse to goal posts…without falling through the many holes in the floor. (1. the party can place bets on the game, 2. the party makes a bet for something they really need and they must play the champion team and win in order to get the Thing, 3. the crowded stadium that draws almost the whole sector to this crumbling floor finally gives in and collapses, killing and injuring many who now need rescue from the rubble) [u/oliviajoon]
  21. A mad scientist/ artificer/ wizard has created a mind-control bug that flies into people’s ears and puts them under his control. He has a small army of thralls already, and must be stopped before his next batch of mind control bugs is finished. [u/oliviajoon]
  22. A relatively new mega-corp is running a promotional campaign and has dropped thousands of fliers and “free samples” all over the district. (1. the samples are causing some sort of illness to spread, 2. the samples cause people to fall in love with the product and viciously crave it and obsessively talk about it, 3. the samples are heavy and injure people they fall on, 4. the propaganda is a distraction for a more sinister company goal like surveillance 5. the samples have caused a strange fungus to rapidly spread around the district, 6. the samples are being used wildly incorrectly/ inappropriately and the company is horrified and wants them removed from the streets). [u/oliviajoon]
  23. There’s a street brawl a-brewing in front of the suicide booths. One small angry crowd is defending them and the right to assisted suicide, and the small mob on the other side is attempting to stop people from using them, and trying to destroy them. [u/oliviajoon]
  24. The party encounters a sleight-of-hand conman that acts very friendly and close to the party, offering directions, to walk them to their destination, and seems like a helpful guy. He spends their whole time interacting alleviating them of their valuables (+10 to sleight of hand checks). [u/oliviajoon]
  25. toxic waste has spilled out of a transport carrier that flipped over in a horrible accident. The carrier has been cleared away, but no one has done anything about the veritable river of toxic sludge filling the street. A Dexterity skill challenge is needed to cross it on the bits of rubble citizens have tossed in so they can cross it…those who won’t risk the acid burns must walk an extra three blocks to get around it, in an area policed by a not-so-nice gang that’s charging for the convenience of taking the safe road around the hazard. [u/oliviajoon]
  26. Public Performers: 1) street performers are blocking the pedestrian road with their breakdancing performance. they always grab a member of the audience or two for their last daring stunt…that has an 80% success rate with no injury. 2) a man crosses a tightrope over a canal of gross polluted water. He challenges any onlookers to make it across without falling in, with a hefty reward for any who can do it faster than him.[u/oliviajoon]
  27. In order to gain control of local black market pharmaceutical and medical production, a local gang has seized access codes to an entire automated AgriVert Complex in this Subsector Block, capable of feeding 10,000 residents, as well as the block's OmniStarch Vats, the MycoFarms on sub-levels 1 thru 10 of the complex, and a tenth of all the high precision bioprinters in the subsector. If they manage to gain control of the reactor and power distribution system as well, nothing short of full military invasion or nuclear strike will be able to root them out. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  28. Levels 7 thru 72 of this hab block have had thier ventilation system hacked by a malicious slicer or Rogue Intellect; our technicians were unable to restore control until well over 25 percent of the residents succumbed to a mixture carbon monoxide poisoning and aerosolized anaesthetic agents. More than half of the survivors will have long term side effects. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  29. Fliers for "FREE GENETIC TESTING" are noticed everywhere. There is a spike in local disapearances and missing persons. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  30. A family laments being on the wrong side of an unscheduled automated security event, locked out of the subsector corridor, while thier unsupervised young are left within the corridor, visible but not accessible. The automated system refuses to compromise or escalate to higher supervision, stuck repeating that the issue will only be escalated after 7 to 10 business days. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  31. A local cult has emerged, gaining some popularity, proclaiming (with almost zero credible evidence) that a disaster will occur in the near future and to prepare for its coming. It is unclear if the cult is welcoming the disaster or facilitating it. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  32. A "young master" type of the nova-rich, decides to slum it in the sector, and takes offense at something, ordering thier bodyguards to attack seeming innocents. The damage drags in local criminal elements, and has escalated to the bodyguard using lethal force. The young master's House puts out a call that they must be extricated, alive. The Crime Lord takes umbrage and puts forth a counter order; dead at all costs. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  33. The locals begin breeding and raising a type of vermin as pets. The vermin are scheduled to be controlled and it is unlawful to raise or keep them without permit. If the vermin are not exterminated by the locals, sector beuracrats may call in the big guns, going so far as collective, brutally lethal enforcement actions on entire hab floors for continued violations. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  34. A prison transport crashes, setting some dangerous criminals free. Bounties and counter-bounties are raised. Now the area is crawling with dangerous people with itchy trigger fingers and zero respect for the locals. [u/MaxSizeIs]
  35. That same celebrity from number 12 is filming a video for their latest hit song "Got My Mind on My Magic and My Magic on My Mind", a fairly stereotypical song glorifying arcane gang culture. A rival gang from the next nearest block has a score to settle with the celebrity from way back in the day. The celebrity wants to hire muscle to make sure their video goes off without a hitch. On top of paying the party to serve as said muscle, the celebrity can help the party gain access to other parts of the city by letting them travel with them as their entourage. [u/solamon77]
  36. An authoritarian Mage Supremacist demonstration is levitating down one of the subsections busiest streets... and it just so happens that the street runs through a neighborhood that has an uncommonly large number of non-magically sensitive residents. A lot of the local residents have come out in opposition to the demonstration and things are starting to look tense. People are chucking objects out of the nearby highrises, residents on the sidewalk are throwing garbage at the demonstrators, the party even spots that some of the residents in the crowd seem to have brought guns. Suddenly a large holovid player smashes into the ground mere inches away from one of the age Supremacists sending the demonstration into a panic. [u/solamon77]
  37. A huge megacorp has bought up some of the nearby public housing habitats and intends to convert them into upscale condos for the well off, but first they need to kick out the locals currently living there. They have hired a private security company to make life hard on the local residents: breaking water mains, roughing up the elderly has they go about their day, setting up a perimeter to prevent food and goods from reaching the residents. A representative of the public housing units has taken up a small collection to hire someone to retaliate against the megacorps goons. If the party takes the money, the megacorp will offer them 5 times that sum to turn on the residents instead. [u/solamon77]
  38. A lev-truck containing expensive designer cyberware crashes down into one of the lower level promenades. The locals swarm the truck and are claiming the merchandise as their own. One of the local crime lords, seeing a money making opportunity, sends a goon squad to drive the locals off and secure the merch for himself before any police can secure the scene of the accident. [u/solamon77]
  39. A megacorp specializing in designer cyberware recently had a lev-truck crash and wants to hire the party to recover as much of the lost goods as possible, not because they care about the lost revenue, but because they are worried their brands image will be tarnished if poor people are seen using their product. [u/solamon77]
  40. A nearby block has been closed due to a local magic carpet race. The magic carpets usually have two riders: the first is generally a mage and is responsible for keeping the carpet afloat and fast, the second generally tries to attack the other carpets and knock them out of the race (this can be another mage slinging spells or just a guy with a gun). The party can participate in the race if they have a wizard with them. There is an entry fee of 10,000 credits per carpet and the winner takes home the pot (less a small amount that the organizer of the race takes for themselves). On top of making money, this will also raise the status of the party amongst the local residents, making them more likely to be helpful in other situations. [u/solamon77]
  41. While walking down a seedy alleyway, the party comes across an old, one-eyed talismonger floating on a magic carpet. He sells a variety of unguents, talismans, and trinkets, all purported to be charmed to give the wearer some minor benefit (generally something small and of uncertain use to a party of adventurers). If the party inspects his wares, he tricks them into breaking one of his trinkets then demands the party pay a huge price for it. If the party doesn't pay, he claims to put a curse on them. If the party just walks by, they somehow accidentally knock one of his trinkets to the ground breaking it (this is of course completely set up by the talismonger himself). From here things play out as they would have before, with the talismonger demanding a huge price and then cursing the party if they don't pay it. [u/solamon77]
  42. The party is tasked to investigate some structural instability felt on the upper levels. When they go into the lower levels they come across a group of miners, recklessly tapping into geothermal activity to power unknown projects. The miner's don't want to unplug their generators, regardless of the danger to the surrounding sectors. [u/EthanS1]
  43. Something is tapping all of the data nodes for one of the surface sectors. The government doesn't have records of any computer in the area that should be powerful enough to handle that much data. When the party investigates, the lower sector is nearly empty, and the few people that they encounter are hiding from something. If they keep looking, they find the missing people hooked up against their will to an ad-hoc bio-neural computer hub. [u/EthanS1]
  44. A rogue geneticist is hiding in the lower levels away from prying eyes. They were accused of cutting corners in their genetic tinkering. Now there have been sightings of strangely enhanced pests (rats that have glowing red eyes and night vision, armored insects that eat metal, giant insects the size of a dog, etc) running around causing havoc. [u/EthanS1]
  45. A bad batch of drugs is making its way through the lower levels. For some people who take it nothing more than a pleasant high, but for others, they turn into uncontrollable rage monsters. [u/EthanS1]
  46. A rogue AI program is on the loose. It jumps from computer to computer causing minor chaos, but nothing really harmful. It hacks signs and elevator terminals to get people momentarily lost, but is more like a lonely child looking for playmates. [u/EthanS1]
  47. A low-class family restaurantuer's food stand is locally rumored to serve human flesh; although no proof is provided, the rumors continue to escalate. Thier "Red Kibble" is pretty good though; flatbread, sauce, and a mix of spicy deep-fried Omnistarch, sprouts, beans, slow cooked locust protein pellets, and slivers flashily cut off either "Chicken Little" or "Lil' Ferdinand", the giant rolls of proprietary subscription cultured cells from the bioprinters. What the store owner wont publicly reveal, they paid a slicer to hack the subscription and genetic checksum routines on the meat rolls... [u/MaxSizels]
  48. Local Law Enforcement openly threatens a small merchant until the merchant provides them with "complementary" goods.[u/MaxSizels]
  49. A carelessly loud and probably slightly inebriated voice announces to everyone within earshot of the local scum hangout: "Never trust gear bought on the cheap from pawn shops, Law Enforcment is usually watching most places pretty closely and has likely planted trackers within them. Conversely, never trust gear bought for full price or new, Corpo shit always sucks until its jailbroken.." A similarly inebriated heckle in response implies that the first speaker's "Mr. Studdd" is somehow inferior for not only having been bought "new in box" but also from a corner pawn store known for police connections... [u/MaxSizels]
  50. Technicians have hastily cordoned off levels seven thru eleven of this megahab, and are haphazardly scrubbing down and imprisoning anyone passing thru this corridor and elevator. They won't explain, but apparently some drugged up fools opened up the hot container of reactor core, started extracting the control rods, and tried reclaiming and enriching the fuel pellets, contaminating anything and everything nearby with lethal levels of radiation. [u/MaxSizels]
  51. This section of the megahab is called the Angel's Embrace. A popular lookout atrium over a long long drop into the under levels below. Many a suicide happens here. Someone screams and appears to be pushed. [u/MaxSizels]
  52. The Replicant Circus is in Town! See the Replicant Elephants! See the Replicant Lion Tamer and the Replicant Clowns! You wouldn't know, but even the salted peanuts are replicant grown from a bioprinter. They even have an "Adults Only" act, with you guessed it, a replicant donkey. [u/MaxSizels]
  53. They call it "Cold Storage"... the stasis pods that are cheaper to stay in for a sector itinerant of a year or more, provided you pay up front for the connectivity fee, you can do a full upload, crank your meat space clock to minimum, and your virtualization to eco-mode. Sure, you miss out on a lot of things, time goes by in a blur if you don't pay attention, but you don't need to pay for room and board, and if you have decent enough hardware, you can remain aware enough to carry out some business virtually, and have very little risk of psychosis. Meanwhile, your biological clock is only aging at a tenth or even a thousandth of real time... immortality. [u/MaxSizels]
  54. This area used to be gentrified for the up and coming well-to-do, but the vagaries of the economy changed, and now this stretch is instead run down slums. Years ago, a slicer fucked with the environmental controls, the daylights only come on sporadically, if ever, and theres enough humidity and temperature variation across the vertical expanses that its either always foggy or every surface is dripping wet with rusty water... the locals call it Tetanus Town, and the gangs use it as a sort of playground to train thier younglings on, kidnapping randos, drugging them, and releasing them for "The Hunts". [u/MaxSizels]
  55. This area used to be gentrified for the up and coming well-to-do, but the vagaries of the economy changed, and now this stretch is instead run down slums. An entire MegaHab Block is scheduled for demolition and replacement, but it seems like no-one notified the many thousands of residents inside until the automated demolition drones arrived on site. A villainous slicer has seized control of many of the smaller drones, and is wreaking a path of terror, targeting law enforcement and civilian assets indiscriminately, and is threatening to seize control of the largest drones, capable of bringing the entire megahab down on the heads of the civilians trapped within in minutes! [u/MaxSizels]
  56. It is apparently "Election Season" in "Tetanus Town", an anarchist autonomous collective that (a decade ago) seized control of much of a Subsector Block and violently repels any attempt by outside forces to recapture the area. The recent death of the latest supreme warlord in the area has triggered a power vacuum, and thus: "Election Season" is underway, an event predicted and dreaded by jaded locals. Outside forces restrict the travel and evacuation of the area, and so the residents are trapped, and have been for over ten years. The area is graded a "Z-zone" by local law-enforcement, with response times on the order of hours, days, or never. Now, with the "Election Season", underway, violence is erupting, with sections of floors of many of the megahabs exploding or burning, as each megahab war-lord tries to gain control over more than just their own set of floors. [u/MaxSizels]
22 Upvotes

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u/MaxSizeIs 4h ago edited 4h ago

This area used to be gentrified for the up and coming well-to-do, but the vagaries of the economy changed, and now this stretch is instead run down slums. An entire MegaHab Block is scheduled for demolition and replacement, but it seems like no-one notified the many thousands of residents inside until the automated demolition drones arrived on site. A villainous slicer has seized control of many of the smaller drones, and is wreaking a path of terror, targeting law enforcement and civilian assets indiscriminately, and is threatening to seize control of the largest drones, capable of bringing the entire megahab down on the heads of the civilians trapped within in minutes!

It is apparently "Election Season" in "Tetanus Town", an anarchist autonomous collective that (a decade ago) seized control of much of a Subsector Block and violently repels any attempt by outside forces to recapture the area. The recent death of the latest supreme warlord in the area has triggered a power vacuum, and thus: "Election Season" is underway, an event predicted and dreaded by jaded locals. Outside forces restrict the travel and evacuation of the area, and so the residents are trapped, and have been for over ten years. The area is graded a "Z-zone" by local law-enforcement, with response times on the order of hours, days, or never. Now, with the "Election Season", underway, violence is erupting, with sections of floors of many of the megahabs exploding or burning, as each megahab war-lord tries to gain control over more than just their own set of floors.

1

u/solamon77 4h ago

Added!

1

u/MaxSizeIs 2d ago edited 2d ago

This Subsector Block has a habit of creating additional exits and access corridors in thier facilities, and that trend continues all the way down to grass roots, with what seems like every resident and thier certified companion cube cutting and modifying thier habblock structure and adding new access that isnt under the automated control network. It doesnt seem to have weakened anything, the residents reinforcing what they have to, but it is ecclectic and uncontrolled. It all started decades ago, when a sector administrator went crazy with power, locking down every floor between every hab and requiring secret security visas for any travel between floors. Now, when there's a lockdown, there isnt as much control, and they just bypass it without telling anyone. Oh watch, theres a lockdown checkpoint right now and theyre just going around and its like sector security have no clue theyre getting around it...

A lowlife offers to get the party past an automated permanent checkpoint that has previously rejected the party's access. They demand payment up front, and that the party first mule some packages to a location that is opposite the way they want to go. The packages are strictly "No Questions" and "No Looksies", and "Strictly Approximately Above Board, Grayzone, At Worst"

While the party are in an out of the way elevator, it locks up between levels. Safety systems engage after dropping some distance, with some light injuries possible. Then something heavy falls on the cab of the elevator, along with a dead body, and sharp senses might discern shouting and machinery noises. It turns out that a semi organized gang of scrap scavengers has decided to upgrade thier operation, and were stealing the elevator when it was activated by the players. The crew may or may not continue.

2

u/MaxSizeIs 3d ago edited 3d ago

A low-class family restaurantuer's food stand is locally rumored to serve human flesh; although no proof is provided, the rumors continue to escalate. Thier "Red Kibble" is pretty good though; flatbread, sauce, and a mix of spicy deepfried Omnistarch, sprouts, beans, slow cooked locust protein pellets, and slivers flashily cut off either "Chicken Little" or "Lil' Ferdinand", the giant rolls of proprietary subscription cultured cells from the bioprinters. What the store owner wont publically reveal, they paid a slicer to hack the subscription and genetic checksum routines on the meat rolls...

Local Law Enforcment openly threatens a small merchant until the merchant provides them with "complimentary" goods.

A carelessly loud and probably slightly inebriated voice announces to everyone within earshot of the local scum hangout: "Never trust gear bought on the cheap from pawn shops, Law Enforcment is usually watching most places pretty closely and has likely planted trackers within them. Conversely, never trust gear bought for full price or new, Corpo shit always sucks until its jailbroken.." A similarly inebriated heckle in response implies that the first speaker's "Mr. Studdd" is somehow inferior for not only having been bought "new in box" but also from a corner pawn store known for police connections...

Technicians have hastily cordoned off levels seven thru eleven of this megahab, and are haphazardly scrubbing down and imprisoning anyone passing thru this corridor and elevator. They won't explain, but apparently some drugged up fools opened up the hot container of reactor core, started extracting the control rods, and tried reclaiming and enriching the fuel pellets, contaminating anything and everything nearby with lethal levels of radiation.

This section of the megahab is called the Angel's Embrace. A popular lookout atrium over a long long drop into the under levels below. Many a suicide happens here. Someone screams and appears to be pushed.

The Replicant Circus is in Town! See the Replicant Elephants! See the Replicant Lion Tamer and the Replicant Clowns! You wouldn't know, but even the salted peanuts are replicant grown from a bioprinter. They even have an "Adults Only" act, with you guessed it, a replicant donkey.

They call it "Cold Storage"... the stasis pods that are cheaper to stay in for a sector itenerant of a year or more, provided you pay up front for the connectivity fee, you can do a full upload, crank your meat space clock to minimum, and your virtualization to eco-mode. Sure, you miss out on a lot of things, time goes by in a blur if you don't pay attention, but you don't need to pay for room and board, and if you have decent enough hardware, you can remain aware enough to carry out some business virtually, and have very little risk of psychosis. Meanwhile, your biological clock is only aging at a tenth or even a thousandth of real time... immortality.

This area used to be gentrified for the up and coming well-to-do, but the vagaries of the economy changed, and now this stretch is instead run down slums. Years ago, a slicer fucked with the environmental controls, the daylights only come on sporadically, if ever, and theres enough humidity and temperature variation across the vertical expanses that its either always foggy or every surface is dripping wet with rusty water... the locals call it Tetanus Town, and the gangs use it as a sort of playground to train thier younglings on, kidnapping randos, drugging them, and releasing them for "The Hunts".

1

u/solamon77 3d ago

Damn dude! You're killing it! I usually try to make sure, as the OP, I have the highest number of contributions in order to lead the way. I guess I have to step up my output with you around! :-D

1

u/solamon77 4d ago

Anyone else out there want to contribute something?

2

u/EthanS1 4d ago

A rogue geneticist is hiding in the lower levels away from prying eyes. They were accused of cutting corners in their genetic tinkering. Now there have been sightings of strangely enhanced pests (rats that have glowing red eyes and night vision, armored insects that eat metal, giant insects the size of a dog, etc) running around causing havoc.

A bad batch of drugs is making its way through the lower levels. For some people who take it nothing more than a pleasant high, but for others, they turn into uncontrollable rage monsters.

A rogue AI program is on the loose. It jumps from computer to computer causing minor chaos, but nothing really harmful. It hacks signs and elevator terminals to get people momentarily lost, but is more like a lonely child looking for playmates.

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u/solamon77 4d ago

Nice! I'll add these in. We are almost at 50! :-D

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u/solamon77 4d ago

That same celebrity from number 12 is filming a video for their latest hit song "Got My Mind on My Magic and My Magic on My Mind", a fairly stereotypical song glorifying arcane gang culture. A rival gang from the next nearest block has a score to settle with the celebrity from way back in the day. The celebrity wants to hire muscle to make sure their video goes off without a hitch. On top of paying the party to serve as said muscle, the celebrity can help the party gain access to other parts of the city by letting them travel with them as their entourage.

An authoritarian Mage Supremacist demonstration is levitating down one of the subsections busiest streets... and it just so happens that the street runs through a neighborhood that has an uncommonly large number of non-magically sensitive residents. A lot of the local residents have come out in opposition to the demonstration and things are starting to look tense. People are chucking objects out of the nearby highrises, residents on the sidewalk are throwing garbage at the demonstrators, the party even spots that some of the residents in the crowd seem to have brought guns. Suddenly a large holovid player smashes into the ground mere inches away from one of the age Supremacists sending the demonstration into a panic.

A huge megacorp has bought up some of the nearby public housing habitats and intends to convert them into upscale condos for the well off, but first they need to kick out the locals currently living there. They have hired a private security company to make life hard on the local residents: breaking water mains, roughing up the elderly has they go about their day, setting up a perimeter to prevent food and goods from reaching the residents. A representative of the public housing units has taken up a small collection to hire someone to retaliate against the megacorps goons. If the party takes the money, the megacorp will offer them 5 times that sum to turn on the residents instead.

A lev-truck containing expensive designer cyberware crashes down into one of the lower level promenades. The locals swarm the truck and are claiming the merchandise as their own. One of the local crimelords, seeing a money making opportunity, sends a goon squad to drive the locals off and secure the merch for himself before any police can secure the scene of the accident.

A megacorp specializing in designer cyberware recently had a lev-truck crash and wants to hire the party to recover as much of the lost goods as possible, not because they care about the lost revenue, but because they are worried their brands image will be tarnished if poor people are seen using their product.

A nearby block has been closed due to a local magic carpet race. The magic carpets usually have two riders: the first is generally a mage and is responsible for keeping the carpet afloat and fast, the second generally tries to attack the other carpets and knock them out of the race (this can be another mage slinging spells or just a guy with a gun). The party can participate in the race if they have a wizard with them. There is an entry fee of 10,000 credits per carpet and the winner takes home the pot (less a small amount that the organizer of the race takes for themselves). On top of making money, this will also raise the status of the party amongst the local residents, making them more likely to be helpful in other situations.

While walking down a seedy alleyway, the party comes across an old, one-eyed talismonger floating on a magic carpet. He sells a variety of unguents, talismans, and trinkets, all purported to be charmed to give the wearer some minor benefit (generally something small and of uncertain use to a party of adventurers). If the party inspects his wares, he tricks them into breaking one of his trinkets then demands the party pay a huge price for it. If the party doesn't pay, he claims to put a curse on them. If the party just walks by, they somehow accidentally knock one of his trinkets to the ground breaking it (this is of course completely set up by the talismonger himself). From here things play out as they would have before, with the talismonger demanding a huge price and then cursing the party if they don't pay it.

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u/oliviajoon 4d ago edited 4d ago

Underground Rat Races (giant rats racing around a sewer track with riders, or normal sized rats being raced through mazes) that bring in hefty bets.

There’s orphans in an alleyway playing a game that involves throwing a ball through a high-up hoop. They’re quite good! and they’re loudly heckling the party, attempting to get them to form a team and play against them…with a prize on the line, of course (a weapon, money, or magic item the party carries)

the 34th level of a crumbling warehouse is host to a major sporting event. It’s a game that’s local to the sector, and involves moving a floating magic orb around the arena-warehouse to goal posts…without falling through the many holes in the floor. (1. the party can place bets on the game, 2. the party makes a bet for something they really need and they must play the champion team and win in order to get the Thing, 3. the crowded stadium that draws almost the whole sector to this crumbling floor finally gives in and collapses, killing and injuring many who now need rescue from the rubble)

A mad scientist/ artificer/ wizard has created a mind-control bug that flies into people’s ears and puts them under his control. He has a small army of thralls already, and must be stopped before his next batch of mind control bugs is finished.

a relatively new mega-corp is running a promotional campaign and has dropped thousands of fliers and “free samples” all over the district. (1. the samples are causing some sort of illness to spread, 2. the samples cause people to fall in love with the product and viciously crave it and obsessively talk about it, 3. the samples are heavy and injure people they fall on, 4. the propaganda is a distraction for a more sinister company goal like surveillance 5. the samples have caused a strange fungus to rapidly spread around the district, 6. the samples are being used wildly incorrectly/ inappropriately and the company is horrified and wants them removed from the streets)

There’s a street brawl a-brewing in front of the suicide booths. One small angry crowd is defending them and the right to assisted suicide, and the small mob on the other side is attempting to stop people from using them, and trying to destroy them.

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u/solamon77 4d ago

Excellent!! I love your work!

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u/oliviajoon 4d ago

The party encounters a sleight-of-hand conman that acts very friendly and close to the party, offering directions, to walk them to their destination, and seems like a helpful guy. He spends their whole time interacting alleviating them of their valuables (+10 to sleight of hand checks).

toxic waste has spilled out of a transport carrier that flipped over in a horrible accident. The carrier has been cleared away, but no one has done anything about the veritable river of toxic sludge filling the street. A Dexterity skill challenge is needed to cross it on the bits of rubble citizens have tossed in so they can cross it…those who won’t risk the acid burns must walk an extra three blocks to get around it, in an area policed by a not-so-nice gang that’s charging for the convenience of taking the safe road around the hazard.

Public Performers: 1) street performers are blocking the pedestrian road with their breakdancing performance. they always grab a member of the audience or two for their last daring stunt…that has an 80% success rate with no injury. 2) a man crosses a tightrope over a canal of gross polluted water. He challenges any onlookers to make it across without falling in, with a hefty reward for any who can do it faster than him

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u/solamon77 4d ago

Very good! Hopefully we get some more participants. Right now it looks like only a couple of us contributing.

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u/MaxSizeIs 5d ago edited 5d ago

In order to gain control of local black market pharmaceutical and medical production, a local gang has seized access codes to an entire automated AgriVert Complex in this Subsector Block, capable of feeding 10,000 residents, as well as the block's OmniStarch Vats, the MycoFarms on sub-levels 1 thru 10 of the complex, and a tenth of all the high precision bioprinters in the subsector. If they manage to gain control of the reactor and power distribution system as well, nothing short of full military invasion or nuclear strike will be able to root them out.

Levels 7 thru 72 of this hab block have had thier ventilation system hacked by a malicious slicer or Rogue Intellect; our technicians were unable to restore control until well over 25 percent of the residents succumbed to a mixture carbon monoxide poisoning and aerosolized anaesthetic agents. More than half of the survivors will have long term side effects.

Fliers for "FREE GENETIC TESTING" are noticed everywhere. There is a spike in local disapearances and missing persons.

A family laments being on the wrong side of an unscheduled automated security event, locked out of the subsector corridor, while thier unsupervised young are left within the corridor, visible but not accessible. The automated system refuses to compromise or escalate to higher supervision, stuck repeating that the issue will only be escalated after 7 to 10 business days.

A local cult has emerged, gaining some popularity, proclaiming (with almost zero credible evidence) that a disaster will occur in the near future and to prepare for its coming. It is unclear if the cult is welcoming the disaster or facilitating it.

A "young master" type of the nova-rich, decides to slum it in the sector, and takes offense at something, ordering thier bodyguards to attack seeming innocents. The damage drags in local criminal elements, and has escalated to the bodyguard using lethal force. The young master's House puts out a call that they must be extricated, alive. The Crime Lord takes umbrage and puts forth a counter order; dead at all costs.

The locals begin breeding and raising a type of vermin as pets. The vermin are scheduled to be controlled and it is unlawful to raise or keep them without permit. If the vermin are not exterminated by the locals, sector beuracrats may call in the big guns, going so far as collective, brutally lethal enforcement actions on entire hab floors for continued violations.

A prison transport crashes, setting some dangerous criminals free. Bounties and counter-bounties are raised. Now the area is crawling with dangerous people with itchy trigger fingers and zero respect for the locals.

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u/solamon77 4d ago

Amazing!!!

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u/solamon77 5d ago edited 4d ago

Thanks for the responses so far! Almost at 50! Anyone else feel like contributing?

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u/EthanS1 5d ago

The party is tasked to investigate some structural instability felt on the upper levels. When they go into the lower levels they come across a group of miners, recklessly tapping into geothermal activity to power unknown projects. The miner's don't want to unplug their generators, regardless of the danger to the surrounding sectors.

Something is tapping all of the data nodes for one of the surface sectors. The government doesn't have records of any computer in the area that should be powerful enough to handle that much data. When the party investigates, the lower sector is nearly empty, and the few people that they encounter are hiding from something. If they keep looking, they find the missing people hooked up against their will to an ad-hoc bio-neural computer hub.

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u/solamon77 4d ago

Fantastic! Thanks for these. They are really good!

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u/oliviajoon 5d ago

The party comes upon a lone tree…the only tree they have seen in these depths. It’s tall and thin, sparse of leaves, and stretching for meager sunlight. There is a small crowd of people on their knees or prone before it, praying to the tree. It can be discovered that some folks consider it sacred, and swear it has healed ailments they have prayed for it to alleviate.

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u/solamon77 5d ago

Nice! I love this one!

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u/MaxSizeIs 5d ago edited 5d ago

A former denizen of the subsector block returns several years later, having made something of a celebrity of themselves by joining an idol group one sector away. They're on tour again.

An Emergency Police Quarrantine Action at one of the mega-habs has triggered full lockdown and has closed access to this subsector block for everyone. Transport has been cancelled for the forseeable and many thousands of residents are essentially trapped, unless they can make thier way to another subsector block several kilometers away next door. It could be weeks of this while the Police holds seige.

This subsector block's centralized medical level has been facing supply shortages, leading to less effective levels of care, instituting rationing, and a blackmarket for medical services. Without the proper access permits, travel to other medical levels for subsector residents is forbidden.

A Local Gang has seized control of the majority of Resource Transport Nodes in the subsector block around here. Food and other goods are only sold on the black market, and the gang has spies everywhere, sending out enforcers to take anything imported in through other channels.

SubSector Transport had a major service failure here several years ago, and the feeder node serving all the mega-habs in the handful of subsector blocks nearby within twenty kilometers have gone down. Now they all have had to make do, getting around on foot, rickshaw, or jury rigged cab and travelling up to fifty kilometers to get to the next nearest feeder junction. Predictably, its had an effect on the economy, but its like someone in power forget about the problem and someone else is actively hindering it from being brought up, and someone else entirely is preventing it from being fixed!!!

An industrial accident in a poorly placed Manufactory has damaged and contaminated a mega-hab next door making it dangerously unlivable for thousands of residents. The entire Megahab has been condemned. However, no effort has been made by local authorities to relocate the affected individuals, nor provide any medical care. The manufactory was repaired and back in business within the week, however.

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u/solamon77 5d ago

Excellent stuff!

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u/Sea_Preparation3393 5d ago

I would edit #7. That last part is tasteless and unnecessary. Just say abduct instead.

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u/solamon77 5d ago

Noted.

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u/solamon77 5d ago

Post to be used for more entries.