UMBER (United Mars for Bureaucratic and Economic Reform) \x96 This organization has been able to establish a bureaucracy that has lasted since 2026. The factions sided with it would be Arasaka and other \x93Eastern\x94 organizations. It is important to understand the \x93Eastern\x94 corps and governments are allied because of their viewpoint, not geography (for instance, about half of the Japanese corps espouse honor and tradition of the \x93Eastern\x94 philosophy, while the other half embrace change and innovation).

  OMEGA (One Mars, Equal Government for All) \x96 OMEGA is a group promoting the idea of a single Martian government. The factions that have sided with OMEGA are the ones that have sided with Militech and other \x93Western\x94 forces.

I have in mind an eventual organization for this material:

1) History - How did we get here?
2) Geography - Where is here?
3) Politics - What's the problem?
4) Daily Life - What do people do?
5) Technology - How do they do it?
6) Referee's information - Stuff the ref needs to know to do his job, including any rules changes/addendum
7) Designers Notes - Why is it like this, and are there any game balance factors to look out for.

  These are political alliances (similar to NATO/Warsaw Pact) they have colonies but their power relies mostly on their membership. It is important to understand that this conflict is not of a Cold War type, it is much closer to Tokugawa Era Japan, with warlords, bandits and shaky alliances.
  The other factions that show up on the political maps are all mega-corps and governments. The purpose for the conflicts are:
  1) Classic territorial dispute
  2) World domination
  3) Political maneuvering
  4) Necessity (most of these factions do not have all of the resources necessary to survive in the harsh environment of Mars.
  Finally, some of the disputes are caused by "minor factions", bandits, squatters, warlords, mercenaries, pirates, etc... Mining is a consideration, but most of these factions would not be heavily interested in mining. I guess in my idea of this game world, it is hard to find a single cause for conflict. What was the cause of WWI? You cannot pin it down to a single motivation, each country has their own reasons (for instance arms manufacturers would encourage any sort of conflict on Mars). You also have to remember that Mars colonization would be a great way to insulate your most valuable assets (say you have a researcher that you do not want to get extracted out from under you, send him to Mars). And many execs would relish the idea of escaping the chaos and over-crowded confines of earth and low-earth space. Finally, some of the most nefarious criminals could use Mars as an escape plan. In some ways my MarScape 2030 campaign is "ultracyberpunk", because the only people that would be there would be:
  1) The ultra-smart - People capable of building civilizations from scratch 
  2) The ultra-powerful - People able to buy there way off of Earth
  3) The ultra-poor - People stuck building skyscrapers without air or gravity
  By this I mean that we see a hyper-future shock combined with an ultra-divided class (there would be simultaneous Oligarchies and Technocracies both striving to keep "normal" people below them).
  Gravity, I have decided that the domes generate earth-like gravity and that mechs and power suits have to be optimized for one environment or the other. 
  As far as details about the area between Earth and Mars, I used the Deep Space Source Book. I kinda see each faction as a warlord working for their employer via proxy (in other words, the Arasaka faction does not necessarily work for Saburo, it just receives communiqu\xE9s once in a while), This opens up the game world to many more possibilities (including collusion between Militech and Arasaka to sell their services to both sides). 
  Net54 and DMI both have colonies and satellites. With WorldSat, Net54, Orbital Air, WNS and others, I am assuming that there are satellites galore in orbit. Also, since they have fragile colonies each has there own defense forces and strategies. There is a bleak side to it, even though there is probably 50-100 colonies, that only covers 1-2% of the surface and to compound matters further, there are no waterways to divide them or keep intruders from attempting a blitzkrieg-style attacks. The logistics of patrolling and defending this large area was highlighted when my players had to setup a patrol route. We figured it would take 6 hours to properly patrol the perimeter of the Indian colony (the colonies all occupy about the same amount of space, so this gives an idea of what the colonies are up against). The atmosphere is still thin and the domes/cities have artificial gravity.

  Here is a list of the docs used and what they mean:

 MarScape 2030.DOC - This document includes a player handout that has a geographical map and a political map

  MarScape 2030 Timeline.html - This document includes a player handout that has the events leading up to this game world

  MarScape 2030 Mars Features.html - This document includes a player handout that has a description of Martian terrain and conditions

  MarScape 2030 Major Factions.html - This document includes a player handout that has an example of life on Mars and the way people get along with each other.

  MarScape 2030 Minor Factions.html - This document includes information about each major faction of Mars

  MarScape 2030 Daily Life.html - This document includes information about how most people live their lives on Mars

  MarScape 2030 Technology.html - This document includes information about the tools people use to survive on Mars. This file created by John and maintained by me.

  MarScape 2030 Referee Information.html - This document includes information about special rules required for Martian environment and house rules I use in this game world. 

  MarScape 2030 Colony Layout.GIF - This document includes a player handout that has the layout of a typical Mars colony

  MarScape 2030 Skills.DOC - I use a special skill system. It does not use packages or points. You pick your skills as you build your life path. This doc explains what skills you can get during each point in your life path.

  MarScape 2030 Character Sheet (Both Sides).DOC - This sheet implements the new skills necessary for this campaign and holds all of the required character info

  MarScape 2030 Character Sheet (Side 1).DOC - This sheet implements the new skills necessary for this campaign and holds all of the required character info, it is side one of two (I keep it in a separate file so that I can do two sided printing on printers that do not support it)

  MarScape 2030 Character Sheet (Side 2).DOC - This sheet implements the new skills necessary for this campaign and holds all of the required character info, it is side two of two (I keep it in a separate file so that I can do two sided printing on printers that do not support it)

  MarScape 2030 World Map.JPG - This graphic is the geographical view of Mars included in the Handout

 MarScape 2030 Hex Map.JPG - This graphic is the political map included in the Handout

  MarScape 2030 World Map - Original.GIF - Is the original Black and white map used to make the Geographical map

  MarScape 2030 Links.html - This is a list of CP2020 and Mars-related web sites. It is not comprehensive, but does have all the web sites that I think are the best. If your site is not on here, let me know and I will add it.

  MarScape 2030 Archive.ZIP - This Archive file contains all of the above files and this HTML page

  Any questions or concerns should be addressed to <DinDenver@yahoo.com>

My thanks go to:  

  John <john@rossdsc.com> Collaborator on this site

  Jean-Sebastien Morisset <jsmoriss@mvlan.net> Host of this site

  Karsten Voigt <kv@karsten-voigt.de> - Co-conspirator

  Browse to http://www.mvlan.net:8080/~davidm/index.htm to get the latest version of these files.

Back to JS's Personal Home Page (not a bad CP2020 site either)

Legal Disclaimer:

CyberPunk, Cyberpunk, CP2020, Mekton, Mekton Z, Deep Space, Body, Militech, Arasaka, Saburo,  WorldSat, Net54, Orbital Air, WNS, DMI and other faction names and marks are \xA9 R. Talsorian Games. Reference to this material is in no way intended as a challenge to that copyright or any other legal rights or benefits belonging to R. Talsorian Games.

Use of other Registered or copyrighted trademarks or Service Marks is fictional and is not intended as a challenge to their rights or license to these names and marks. Nor are depictions of these corporations and companies intended as fact or even opinion of these organizations, but intended as an act of fiction for the entertainment of Role-playing Gamers.