Genre Question: Techno Thrillers

[Rob Donoghue]

Ok, so I'm finding myself at a point in my game where I've realized that I think my players are looking for a techno thriller, a genre I'm almost completely ignorant of. Can soemone give me a 101 on the tropes so i don't end up trying to re-invent the wheel?

-Rob D.

[xechnao]

Excuse Rob,
I am not sure I understood what exactly you want.

[Rob Donoghue]

Tropes, pretty much.

Fantasy tropes, for example include chestnuts like The Quest, Overthrowing the Dark Overlord, conflict between magic and technology (or magic and religion), Dungeons, Young farmboys coming to power and so on.    Sci fi has spaceships, star spannign empires, plucky rebels, ancient ruins, explorations of the limitations of humanity, etc. Basically, we're talking the really common elements that go into the genre.

Now, I know there is a techno-thriller genre.  Tom Clancy seems to make a lot of money with it, and there are more than a few others who do books and movies of that type.  I've heard of some and read or seen rather fewer, so it's a genre I am almost entirely unfamiliar with, so I was hoping someone more familiar would, at the very least, know some decent cliche's. :)

[xechnao]

I am sorry but I am not such an expert either.

But I guess those words could fit:
paramilitary, terrorist, conect, research, satelite, spy, spy satelite, hack, hacker, camouflage, stealth, sniper, special ops, covert ops, dark ops, illegal operations, agents, special agents, id, extreme weather conditions, hazardous environment, virus, booby trap, mine, recoil suspensor, cooler, flak jacket.

[jdagna]

I'm not a big techno-thriller reader, but here's what I see a lot of:

First, someone abuses technology in a dangerous way (Jurassic Park's genetic engineering, Outbreak's engineered disease, and so on).  This is almost always the central conflict.  Solving this problem generally involved examining the ethical concerns related to the field.

Conflicts may also be military in nature, with the techno part simply high-lighting the new style of warfare and how dependent we are on military technology.  Tom Clancy does a lot of this stuff.

Another common plot involves a device we don't really understand to begin with (Sphere did this with an alien artifact at the bottom of the ocean).  I'm not sure if these are really techno-thrillers in the most popular sense.

The solution is often (but not always) arrived at via a weakness in the technology that's being abused.  Sometimes the conflict itself results from a weakness in the technology (Jurassic Park does this).

You almost always have two standard character archetypes: a personally-involved but ignorant person (the kids in Jurassic Park), and a professionally-involved expert.  There's often a third mad-scientist type.

People who read books of this type generally revel in lots of nit-picky real-life details.  This could make running it difficult since it's likely that neither you nor your players will know those details.  A good solution is a MacGuyver-esque style where anything goes if you have an explanation and the skills.  People like Michael Crichton, Robin Cook and Tom Clancy rely on professional background knowledge and extensive research to make their stories more plausible.

I hope that was helpful!

[Jack Spencer Jr]

What you need is a technobabble mechanic so the players can BS there way through it without have an degree in genetic, quantum mechanics, medieval history, etc.

[DevP]

I'm just going to run with "Clancy-esqe" to describe techno-thirller. I think fundamentally you've got:

"It's a New World: the battle lines are blurred, enemies are now friends, but old hatreds die hard; but in this new world, a new menace has risen, taking an old menace and turning it on its head. Now, one gutsy Man, who may belong to the Old School, who may not actually show any new-world change in behavior, must use Old School Techniques to stop Technology and Culture Gone Wild."

That was just a bit snarky of me, but I think a good idea really is (a) rip something from the headlines, (b) insinuate a secret backstory (not necessarily a conspiracy), (c) insert a mcguffin that "changes all the old rules", and (d) stir.

Example: Start with the American occupation in Iraq, and there's still a heavy military and intelligence presence, with military trying to keep peace in Baghdad while operatives attempt to uncover terrorist ties and corporate representatives are enacting various definitions of "reconstruction".

Secret backstory: A Iraqi tech mogul betrayed the Baath regime, and was executed. After the fall of Hussein, his expat UK-raised son returns, family fortune in hand, determined to make Baghdad a powerful hub of internet commerce. Handwave some vague mysticism about the "power of information". This son build a large tower that creates free Wireless internet for all of Baghdad.

McGuffin: Wireless Internet Access CHANGES EVERYTHING. Open networks might be good for some terrorists, so Baathists and fundamentalists take refuge, miltiary intel tries to crack down, etc, etc, etc.

Notice that the facts (Wireless networks, mysticism) are not important, they merely have the venner of modernity/post-modernity.

[contracycle]

I would also suggest: technology wins the day, not people.  It's all about having the right gun with the right sight and the right compensator and the right grips kept in the right holster.  Thus is victory achieved.

I would suggest Milleniums End as a refernce, by Chameleon Eclectic.  It includes discussion of the genre and has a pretty developed set of materials.

[Rob Donoghue]

Thank you all very much. THis was quite helpful.

[Marco]

Hmm ... well, I disagree with Contracycle that it's always technology that wins--although in a sense I guess that could be true.

Here's how I'd do it.

1. Pick a technology.
2. Learn about it--learn where it is going.
3. Hinge a thriller around it. Maybe it's a cloning facility and it turns out that the sons of the leader (twins!) are actually his clones--and killed him for some reason ... I don't know.
4. Plan 1-3 secnes where you educate the players as to the technology somewhere within the context of the plot.

I think that tropes would include:
A. Computer hacker-geniuses who can do things quickly that probably take a long time.
B. Handy satelite imagry (if the characters are visiting somewhere, they get to see satelite photos first).
C. Armed forces back-up that kicks ass. The characters go in first--but when things go wrong a Blackhawk full of Ranger snipers descends and wrecks things.
D. The PC's are usually experts in their fields (intelligence analysis?) and maybe competent--but not battle machines.

I think Jurassic Park (the book) is an excellent example of this--it educates the reader quite nicely (to a limited degree) while rachetting up the action.

-Marco