Monday 20 February 2017

d100 Flawed Utopias



I used to be very into utopian and it's converse dystopian literature. Utopias are basically boring. Most books run like a tour guide and point out moral ideal. As utopias by definition don't have problems they are boring. The interloper from outside might be the problem by questioning and clashing cultures and introducing new ideas. Another problem might be the utopia is under threat from non utopias outside and need help which you might read about in Huxley's Island or pretty frequent of old school Dr Who (often enough the utopia might not survive). Otherwise the more popular option is the utopia is a lie and behind the scenes there is cannibalism, murder, monsters or something horrible (common on old Dr Who and many SF programs). Basically this is in fact a dystopia. Many dystopias are obviously hellish and horrible. The dystopia could be a failed utopia, or has some kind of questionable philosophy or literally be operated as cruel and unfair living hell. Some utopias might be hidden or exclude the unworthy.

These tables are useful for my Planet Psychon or gamma world, but also could be used for isolated space habs or colonies or bunkers in other SF games. Check out this old table too Gamma Tourism Bureau. A military or scientific base left alone for a long time might adopt utopian style culture too. You could place several of these in a area and watch sparks fly. Adventurers often precipitate a fall or might be used as scapegoats.

Such complexes regard themselves as superior to others and suspicious of strangers. Some might trade, others might hide.

d12 Location (or roll d10 for earth bound)

01 Underground Bunker
02 Undersea habitat
03 Hidden under ruined city
04 Hidden in forest
05 Hidden in desert
06 Under huge monument
07 Ruined military base
08 Toxic wasteland
09 Ruined civic buildings
10 Ruined grave yard

11 Orbital habitat
12 Lunar or asteroid habitat


d10 Secret Door Location
1 In old cave
2 Mine tunnel boarded up
3 Elevator rises from pool
4 Huge sealed vault door
5 Concealed door in ruins
6 Holographic disguise
7 In huge dead tree
8 In battered phone booth
9 Sewer entrance
10 Monument

d10 Defences
1 Automated weapons
2 Contaminated
3 Robots or Androids
4 Bunker militia
5 Mutant scum
6 Mutant beasts
7 Force Field
8 Mines or booby traps
9 Advanced locks
10 Holographic illusions

d10 Utopia Size
01 d10+5 
02 2d10+10 
03 d100+20
04 d100+50
05 d100+100
06 d100+200
07 d100+500
08 d100+750
09 d10 x 1000
10 d10 x 10 000


d10 Government
01 A charismatic leader
02 A despotic leader
03 A council of elders
04 A council of scientists
05 Corporate committee
06 Benevolent anarchy
07 Communist committee
08 Participatory Democracy
09 Automated system
10
 AI computer

d10 Cmon who really rules?
01 Mad scientist
02 Cult leader
03 Secret despot
04 Criminal gang or foriegn agent
05 Alien race
06 Monster
07 Mutant freak
08 Replicant or android
09 Defective AI or Robots
10
 Dimensional horror

d10 Featured Technology
01 Reproductive - use of clones, bioprinting or eugenics
02 Drug Therapy - population sedated or kept euphoric
03 Surveillance - population monitored constantly 
04 Security - locked vault doors, retinal scanners, dna scans
05 Mind Control - unusual social control tech like psionics or implants
06 Servants - slavery, androids, uplifted animals, robots
07 Nutrition - recycled protein vats, food printers, canibalism
08 Defence - holograms, force fields, shield drones
09 Offence - stunners, energy weapons, weapon drones
10
 Execution - bizarre means of terminating citizens

d10 Sinister Secrets
01 Secret societies plotting in secret
02 Sinister secret purpose society created
03 Lie about outside world to keep population inside
04 Troublemakers vanish or reprogrammed
05 Utopia in decline do to habitat decline
06 Agents have been in contact with outside
07 Infiltrators subverting society and hab systems from elswhere
08 Insanity spreading in society
09 Something or someone is killing people buy covered up
10 Some life form or something living in crawl spaces of hab


d100 
Flawed Utopias
01 Drug addled hedonists have monsters living in secret under the floors who eat people
02 Kindly patronizing old people secretly harvest organs and blood from the young 
03 Enlightened civilization hide degenerate mutants roaming in ruins under city
04 AI dictates everyone daily actions, work and love life over immortal simpletons
05 Subjects of crystalline citadel obey psychic emanations of great crystal
06 Happy people eat ooze that bubbles up in secret chamber and makes the people one
07 People live in harmony but savage ape men attack often, really they are exiled citizens
08 Citadel rich in water features welcome newcomers to join secret amphibian hybrids rites
09 Appear happy and welcome visitors but actually they carry insectoid parasites
10 Mostly hapless morons sleep in seed pods connected to a great tree 

11 Happy drug addicts learned to convert another species into dangerous narcotic
12 Population long ago replaced by androids waging war with ugly humanoid brutes

13 Every citizen has a automaton companion who monitors them and advises them
14 Citizens have become moronic cretins and secret cannibals from inbreeding
15 Strange bestial behaving citizens are uplifted from animals by hidden scientist 
16 Colony infiltrated by androids and highly paranoid about strangers
17 Citadel has a serial killer disrupting local order, actually is a alien being
18 Civilization served by unruly ape men ready for revolutions, masters are ignorant
19 Highly bureaucratic society imprisons petty violations and harvest organs 
20 Science bunker society have discovered alien wreck from millions of years ago
21 Isolated settlement has been secretly dominated by vampires who use people as cattle
22 Settlement has just begun sighs of undead plague which they blame on newcomers
23 A shape shifting monster plague has stricken someone in contact with outside world
24 A despot plans to kill current rulers and blame visitors so they can take over
25 Colony is a former military unit mellowing out but conservatives want old ways back
26 Learned colony of scientists but black lab unit seek to take over using new creation
27 Decadent shrinking colony unaware of lower levels crawling with horrors awaiting release
28 Bunker live in good conditions but military secretly oppress local outsiders
29 Slowly deteriorating bunker conditions have created factions about to explode
30 Contamination has killed several levels of the complex and truth kept from survivors 
31 Complex leader is actually a alien hybrid experimenting on bunker dwellers
32 Black lab converting excess population to cyborg troops and kept in stasis
33 Athletics obsessed community bullies and kills the weak, deluded belief in superiority
34 Community of alt energy vegetarians preach free love but enemies gather
35 Bunker contains doomsday device with regressive personnel worshiping the weapon
36 Bunker contains doomsday device controlled by cult who will set off if attacked
37 Bunker contains doomsday device but population are mostly ignorant of it's powers
38 Bunker contains missile silo but personnel dispute if weapons should be used
39 Bunker of frozen personnel recently awakened and clueless as to how to help the world
40 Colony over run by barbarians who exploit original people as slaves
41 Harmonious sterile colony vulnerable to disease and contamination
42 Large colony has developed a mutant strain of dominating telepaths taking over
43 Entrance is sealed and population goes batshit mental 
44 Carnivorous swarm animals get in bunker d4 1=roaches 2=bats 3=rats 4=frogs
45 Devolutionary compound contaminates bunker turning people into prehistoric horrors
46 Complex mostly unaware of cult monster breeding pits in elder ruins in sub levels
47 Aquatic areas in complex allowed fish men hybrids to infiltrate and take over 
48 Tentacled horrors living in air vents responsible for disappearances blamed on outsiders
49 Android applicants infiltrating colony to prepare for android take over
50 Colony worship demon god in basement actually a war borg programmed to kill all life
51 Colony in peace but of late some strange disappearances since a star fell nearby
52 Colony needs equipment lost in abandoned sub levels now flooded and full of critters
53 Colony ruled by brain in a vat growing insane, seeks to replace people with something
54 AI rules people who live like ignorant children, strangers must conform or be lobotomized
55 AI rules colony as if a mental hospital with android orderlies, AI disbelieves in outsiders
56 AI rules as a penal colony and kidnaps new prisoners to repopulate depleted inmates
57 Colonists long ago replaced by hideous shape shifters who farm ignorant humans
58 Colonists all became undead plague victims long ago but AI has no idea
59 Colonists under certain conditions turn into mutant horrors then back with no memory
60 Bunker at war with rival complex, AIs have modified humans to look different 
61 Complex has teleporter to other world where chosen are sent by AI each year
62 AI is paranoid runs clone complex and constantly rooting out traitors and infiltrators
63 Colonists have mutated into goblin like beings due to AI altering conditions of complex
64 Colony is occupied by alien hybrids training for invasion plan, secrets in sub level 
65 Colony controls a kaiju for defence keeping area a forbidden wasteland
66 Colony is a biological habitat where population and food born from walls
67 Colony is cloned from same individual few families desperate for outsider mates
68 Colony is a military prison camp run by robots and AIs who arrest any strangers
69 Colony live by medieval feudal romantic code and AI hides technology from them
70 Colony over run by mutants led by dominators planing to attack local humans
71 Mutant colony force human slaves to make stockpile of mutation bombs
72 Bunker residents are all psionic but pacifistic and afraid of outside world
73 Bunker residents are all psionic but hope to conquer inferiors outside
74 Colony residents ruled by psionic mutant minority hivemind using illusions and telepathy
75 Colony belong to single gender and find opposite gender alluring and threatening
76 Complex believe they are on a star ship travelling to a new world they will never reach
77 Complex believe they are on a star ship really leaders building terraforming weapon
78 Complex believe they are on a star ship, lab growing prehistoric life to fake new world
79 Colony devolving into ape people by AI to restart human civilization
80 Colony occupied by obvious service robots with personalities of long dead humans
81 Uplifted animal labourers took over colony long ago, AI reared a advanced civilization 
82 Colony is a corporation surviving since the big one, plan to dominate local economics
83 Colony are fanatics of ancient religion who plan to spread fanaticism over area
84 Colony being over run by mutants, AI cult take chosen pure ones for parts in brain borg
85 Colony sends secret agent to help outside world but evil leader plans to turn to conquest 
86 Colony operate a museum and send out explorers for relics, barbarians want to plunder
87 Colony of scientists plan to use bio weapons on non pure humans including mutants
88 Bunker are a secret society planing to replace regional leaders with disguised agents
89 Bunker believe they are superior gods and only interested in outsiders for organs
90 Bunker desperate for biological raw material, pretend to be tribal gods for sacrifices
91 Colony controlled by telepathic giant spiders hiding in sub levels, feed on law breakers 
92 Elites of utopia are possessed by over space horrors who need fresh bodies often
93 Huge biohab with dinosaurs and cave men monitored by deluded AI 
94 Black lab complex creates new species of monster and release them for study
95 Colony scientists turning personnel into mini shoggoths in robot bodies for conquest
96 Disease control lab complex of dedicated scientists, a plague leak causes lockdown
97 Huge ark complex of bio habitats has gone feral with mutants and primitive survivors
98 AI mind hacks kidnap victims to believe they always lived in flawed habitat
99 Mould growths and fungus have taken over with only a small trapped population left
100 Sprawling ruined underground city where mutant races battle, humans hide in secret

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