Something that I noticed to be missing in some of Mödiphiu’s editions is the inclusion of suggested readings (and suggested movies, TV series, soundtrack, comics, etc). Conan does not need it, of course, neither does Star Trek, but Infinity could benefit a lot from that.
As there is no published Infinity fiction (aside from a graphic novel), I would like to know if someone has some suggestions for literary inspiration.
Infinity could be considered “Cyberpunk In Space” with a RELATIVELY Low Tech human culture(s) exploring and colonizing various different Solar Systems, while USUALLY a “William Gibson / Philip K. ■■■■ / Bruce Sterling” level of “Dystopic Society” has BARELY the resources, manpower and tech-level to afford STARTING an “Idea” of Terraforming Mars and utilize the Asteroidal Belt. . .
There are TONS of useful material that could range from “Star Wars / Star Trek” levels of Hi-Tech space exploitation (for the Hyperpowers like Pan-Oceania and Yujing) to the lowest bidder of the “Atek Factions” (Rural Haqqislam, Ariadna and the Human Edge). . .
For Human Edge (where “Dark Systems” with NO Terraformable Planets host an hardy bunch of Miners excavating Precious Metals meteors and tiny astral bodies) I will recommend the “Expanse” TV Movie serie. . .
If You want to narrow down some further “Avenues of Research” could offer some more precise Books, Novels and Authors (as is ALMOST 40 years that I read Science Fiction in ALL its various iterations). . .!!
When I think of the Morat, I have always Mangalores of “The 5th Element” in minds. And I don’t know, why!
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I am already GMing Infinity so I know the setting encompasses a lot of subgenres. What I meant is if there is something - a book or series of books - that captures the spirit of Infinity as a whole, or which has a lot of things in common with this setting. As an alternative I would settle for some inspiration for PanOceania, as they are the Hyperpower and probably the most peculiar faction regarding their relationship with technology.
I am also struggling with this. I play the wargame so have a fair idea of the world it terms of that but it comes across differently in the RPG as it’s more rounded out (as it should be) but I find the writing in the RPG books doesn’t quite hit the spot for some reason.
Other RPGs I’m able to get a solid feel for the theme/atmosphere/world quite easily but I struggle a little with Infinity which is weird. Hell, I even struggled with how geists work and the sheer amount of Augmented Reality involved in day to day life at the start of reading it and honestly still struggle with pervasiveness of AR.
I think because of this I’m also struggling to nail down inspiration in the forms of other media as well, stuff that I could point at for people new to the whole of Infinity and say, “This is a decent representation of the world with x, y and z added in”.
I think the problem is, that there is no absolute setting per se.
Playing a PanO based campaign could be like playing your favourite sci-fi space opera, but Nomads would/could be more like Shadowrun or Blade runner.
And Dawn?
Like Western meets Cold War meets Braveheart meets Fugger?
The whole setting is cool for a Tabletop, but a nightmare for a RPG, at least imo.
So I fear, there will never be like ‘i can suggest xyz for get a feeling of Infinity’.
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The whole setting is cool for a Tabletop, but a nightmare for a RPG, at least imo.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head and to be honest the fact that different faction based games will run completely differently is something I hadn’t considered properly.
Well, that’s true, but I still think that an inspiration list could be useful, specially if suggested by someone who knows the setting really well. The Trinity RPG (I’m refering to the old version, not the new one still in production) setting was as vast as Infinity’s, but they always took the care of making suggestions for playing different factions and various types of campaigns. True there was not one inspirational book or movie that would encompass the whole setting, but five or six suggestions per sourcebook did a good job of presenting the feel of the game for game masters and players.
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Ok, maybe a different approach:
What linked the Human Sphere together?
- Government:
Imo the main bonding element is the ‘goverment’ of O-12. The G-5 may not like it, but currently O-12 has the power to keep them in line. Mostly because of 2.
So it may a little bit like the Commonwealth of “Andromeda”?! - Travel
Thanks the Circular the Human Sphere is united. And thanks that O-12 control the Circular, all can use it. - The enemy of my enemy!
The fact nobody ever should forget is , that if not the EI and it Combined Army had appeared on Paradise, the G-5 would be in open warfare against each other.
So it’s a little bit like Babylon 5’s ‘War against the Shadows’?! - Resurrection and Lhost
Even not all have truly access to this, basically everyone could use it, theoretically!
In the moment I don’t know any movie truly for this, but “Surrogates” may be a step in this direction. - Maya
Even Adriana has no true access to it, and the Nomads may not use it full, it also linked the Human Sphere together.
The first movie that appears in my mind would be ‘Matrix’, but not because of the the setting, but of the ability to use it to control other things or humans. Maybe the Agents hacked the firewalls of the humans to get control of them?
The Netflix series Altered Carbon (based on the novel of the same name) has this as a core premise, and it’s got some solid augmented reality-heavy cyberpunk imagery too which can serve as useful inspiration.
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Ups, forget this!
Thanks!
For me the Infinity RPG has the feeling of Altered Carbon meets The Expanse. And I can recommend reading both series of novels - even if you’re not looking for Infinity inspiration.
Regarding the optics some anime/manga series like Appleseed fit the typical presentation in Infinity quite well.
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Since someone talked about appleseed, I’ll add ghost in the shell. The books, the first movie and the first two seasons of the show (stand alone complex/the second gig). I would not recommand Innocence tho, very good movie but not much material to extract, except the plot itself maybe.
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