Media of Rifts Earth

[Curbludgeon]

There's been some discussion on the Discord server about media; content, distribution, response. I'm curious what people think about the potential landscape of the beginning of the 25th Century.

Pretty please put aside the CS at the beginning, because that's all any discussion will turn to otherwise.

The Splugorth, via the Kittani, are described as having a variety of sports programming, such as races and bloodsport. With the Splugorth interest in nature I imagine there are any number of compilations of trail feeds from the preserves. There's likely some sort of remote slave auctioneering, which may or may not be similar to QVC.

The Republic of Japan has at least three television stations, and certainly has some sort of networked Cyberoid influencer video culture.

The NGR arguably has the longest extant media tradition, assuming one extrapolates Berlin's position as a film industry hub forward through the Cataclysm. The Australian cities would have to catch up, but have what appears to be an especially strong interest in sports broadcasting.

Has anyone used the OCC out of the Rifter based on the CS' take on video production. I don't recall the number.

[Fenris2020]

An interesting subject.
I'd say the CS control over the media would be really similar to that of Communist Russia; the state owns the media, and tells you what they want you to know. Lots of propaganda, no comedy about the ruling elite. Quebec has always been our enemy/ Quebec has always been our friend. Remember, kids, report anyone who isn't a patriot or asks questions that make you feel uncomfortable; tell your teacher if your mommy/ daddy goes out at night without explanation, they might be Mages!
Some areas might have a really advanced virtual world, like the Matrix in Shadowrun or Cyberpunk.

[Curbludgeon]

A possible game premise I was considering: a Splugorth mixed party is tasked with producing an onsite cooking show across the more monster-friendly parts of the planet. Via a Horune ship or two they travel from Atlantis to Cibola, to Lagarto, across to the Phoenix Empire, then take a portal to Calgary and maybe even sneak through Worldgate, or check out Center. Shared hints of a gap through the mists of China may pan out, in season two. The EP (Executive Parasite, attached to a series of Zombitron victims) is trying to convince the diva Slaver chef (in their specialty cooking-focused barge) to make at least some recipes which don't involve the torture and eating of sentients, in hopes of landing a gray market distribution deal with the SRR.

[Fenris2020]

Another media problem: No satellites.
So, people have to go back to putting antennas on mountains and so on (and possibly have defensive measures in place).

[taalismn]

Lazlo and New Lazlo probably have the equivalent of public radio and public television, and promote small community stations that act as distributors and relays for news and information programming.

[Curbludgeon]

Yeah, that sounds right. Someone on the server mentioned how among the CS programming would be a ton of instructional videos, to get around the general illiteracy. There might a brisk business in reediting those to be of better use to literate audiences for technical videos, and possibly some sort of Bad Lip Reading versions of video more ideological.

I'm currently wondering which region has best fostered a continuing stand up comedy tradition.

[taalismn]

I'm currently wondering which region has best fostered a continuing stand up comedy tradition.

Atlantis/Splynn
"Make us laugh, human, and you'll continue standing."
A show and dinner.

[Curbludgeon]

Oh, yeah, you win. I wanted to at least play against current cultural stereotype with respect to Australia and Germany.

Gosh, just how much leeway could one see an enslaved human getting away with on a Splynn stage? "Have you seen these hats on the High Lords? What are they hiding? You'd think they could at least make a tattoo which dances when you flex."

[taalismn]

Oh, yeah, you win. I wanted to at least play against current cultural stereotype with respect to Australia and Germany.

Gosh, just how much leeway could one see an enslaved human getting away with on a Splynn stage? "Have you seen these hats on the High Lords? What are they hiding? You'd think they could at least make a tattoo which dances when you flex."

"That Alien Intelligence is so fat they had to make several new dimensions just to hold it!"

"How many vampires does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"

"I thought my ex-wife was here in Atlantis, until I realized I was looking at the dragon hostel!"

"You think my jokes are tasteless, you better not get a taste of me! "

[Sambot]

I think most high tech countries, would have some TV and radio stations. How independent they are would depend on the country. With the Coalition States, I think most media, which would cover radio, TV, and internet. There would be a few big channels from the main cities and a few smaller regional channels with local programming. Not too different from now, really. There'd just be fewer channels. Antennas and repeater stations would be used instead of satellite but with improvements in technology, I think most areas should be able to receive some signals. I also think they might return to using some analog equipment. When digital goes it goes completely. With analog I could still listen even if the picture was so bad it wasn't visible. They'd be easier to use for the illiterate masses. Listeners and viewers also wouldn't have to set up their systems to find channels. Just plug things in and turn them on.

The other stations would be small independent, black market, and pirate stations. They remain in operations because they're either too far away and too small to get the CS's attention, or don't espouse anything contrary to the CS view, or keep moving to make hunting them down more difficult.

I do think comedians could get away with some joking about CS leaders. Nothing critical. Just gentle ribbing like, "What did Emperor Prosek ask Santa for, for Christmas? Tolkien!"

[Curbludgeon]

"Does anyone think our Dear Emperor might have had the cheekbones on his skull helmet raised just a little higher than everyone else's?"

CSN Field Reporter Tiff Blunderbuss, now living secretly in Ciudad Juarez as "Constance Jaundice".

[Fenris2020]

I think most high tech countries, would have some TV and radio stations. How independent they are would depend on the country. With the Coalition States, I think most media, which would cover radio, TV, and internet. There would be a few big channels from the main cities and a few smaller regional channels with local programming. Not too different from now, really. There'd just be fewer channels. Antennas and repeater stations would be used instead of satellite but with improvements in technology, I think most areas should be able to receive some signals. I also think they might return to using some analog equipment. When digital goes it goes completely. With analog I could still listen even if the picture was so bad it wasn't visible. They'd be easier to use for the illiterate masses. Listeners and viewers also wouldn't have to set up their systems to find channels. Just plug things in and turn them on.

The other stations would be small independent, black market, and pirate stations. They remain in operations because they're either too far away and too small to get the CS's attention, or don't espouse anything contrary to the CS view, or keep moving to make hunting them down more difficult.

I do think comedians could get away with some joking about CS leaders. Nothing critical. Just gentle ribbing like, "What did Emperor Prosek ask Santa for, for Christmas? Tolkien!"

That comedian would be shot, if lucky.
Santa magically whisks his fat azz up and down chimneys.
His reindeer fly.
He has a magical bag that holds endless presents.
I'm betting all of Tolkien's works have been black-listed/ burned in the CS for decades.

[Library Ogre]

Another media problem: No satellites.
So, people have to go back to putting antennas on mountains and so on (and possibly have defensive measures in place).

A few ideas on this front:

CS might simply have small installations that serve as their network; a base with a tower, some flying drones (those are primary, but the tower is a backup), and a small unit of soliders, maybe with some air support from SAMAS. It gives and protects a communications network, and provides some rapid response forces in the area. If you build your network dense enough, you can also reroute around problems... Comm Base Charlie is being attack, or under maintenance, so we switch to Diego and Echo while Charlie resolves the issue.

The NDR (and Japan) would be similar, but they're aided by being comparatively small... it's easy to broadcast all over Germany than it is from Quebec to Texas. All three of these human tech powers (plus the various Russian powers, Columbia, Houstown, and probably the New Navy and various ocean communities with a tech basis) are going to have their own television and film industries, and I don't doubt there will be distribution in their area, outside their borders. I think the ocean nations would be the most difficult; without satellites, OTH broadcasting is going to be limited. Again, they might loft drones, or a network of them, to increase the range of their horizon, but it's still a BIG ocean.

For the Splugorth, I think there's a non-zero chance they use ley lines for data transmission; the lines don't go everywhere, but you stick a thingy next to the ley line to translate the information into digital. So, you have your slave auctions (probably with displays of magical medical scans), and your racing and bloodsports. Probably all pay-per-view. But they're also going to have distribution... to Egypt, at least, but Splugorth communications are going to be world-wide, and may use magical means of communication... making rune ansibles seems within their wheelhouse.

A couple blog posts on the CS side:
Civil Society
CS Tech Officer

[Curbludgeon]

I'm tickled by the notion of a rune ansible. Is there a particular form of such which seems most fitting?

I'd imagine the Splugorth's media distribution would be largely predicated on the nature of the target demographic. While transmission via ley line would work well for cultures more magically oriented, or those at least with things worth trading more applicable to such, the chance to work Kittani infrastructure must have its appeal. The former would often be good for oneshot pay per view events, while the latter is worthwhile for continuing coverage.

[Orin J.]

i think instead of television you would see a lot of public movie theatres appearing in rifts america. broadcasting is very limited due to the ease with which the infrastructure will get knocked out, but having public film shows that include news reels avaialble throughout the day would allow the media industry to make the best use of a city's population density without having to convince them to pay for a seperate television/antennae setup. Lazlo would like them because it would drive commonality between their diverse peoples and they'd encourage local studios to produce content alone with likely funding various public interest films, the coalition states would like them because it would minimize the chance of terrorists broadcasting count-propaganda in their media engine and allow for them to better target how their population digests their own propaganda, ensuring that whenever a work shift is ended the closest available media outlets are having a new reel with the accepted talking points with their new captain humanity action film, the smaller communities would like them because it's much easier to set up for a movie screening than trying to get every household under a broadcast net.

television is the domain of suburbia and there's not really any suburbs in rifts earth. the public moving back to a film-centric public consumption of media would simply be a sensible reaction to their current lack of broadcast stability.

[Curbludgeon]

It's been a minute since I've looked at the Traveling Shows tables. Is there anything about showing video?

[Orin J.]

It's been a minute since I've looked at the Traveling Shows tables. Is there anything about showing video?

yes, apparantly it's a big draw for traveling shows to have some movies (also probably a good turnaround for most of them if they find a pre-rifts film people will pile in for).i forget the details, but they do tend to fill tents for films according to the old west book.