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  • #1

    T2k and the Media

    Sitting around, enjoying my vacation and thought I'd start a new thread QUIT YOUR CRYING!!!!! Sit back and enjoy!

    Had this pop up at a recent FTF game...one of the players wanted his character to be an embed reporter from CNN, complete with his GI-issue camera man. Now, in true CNN-fashion, this player proceeded to annoy the ever-living $@$#@^#$#$^#$$*(!(%$ out of all of the other players, with his man-in-the-street interviews, and maneuvering to get the best shots of whatever combat that we were involved in. It was an intresting, if over-down treatment of a real-life situation, sooooooooooo...

    Anybody else have this happen or any thoughts on how to game this one
    The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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  • #2
    We've had a similar discussion in the past, about reporters in the T2K environment. I had a look through the thread map but couldn't find it. There is an interesting thread about the USO in T2K here: http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.phpt=1408 . Not exactly the same but a related concept I suppose.
    sigpic "It is better to be feared than loved" - Nicolo Machiavelli

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    • #3
      I think there were NPC journalists in the Eternal Soldier #1 (there weren't anymore issues, were there)

      I can't remember any in T2k that I've seen, but I can remember one in a game of Supernatural that I sat in on. Two of the PCs were a camera-person and reporter, so they had fun pointing the camera at the police PC whenever he was about to do something action-y.

      In the canon 2000, who is going to see any video It's going to be print or nothing , I should think.
      My Twilight claim to fame: I ran "Allegheny Uprising" at Allegheny College, spring of 1988.

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      • #4
        This particular ftf was set about a year into the fighting.
        The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.

        Comment

        • #5
          Originally posted by dragoon500ly View Post
          This particular ftf was set about a year into the fighting.
          We actually had a T2K setting where the devastation wasn't so total as in the main games, and the Sino-Soviet war that kick started T2K had started in 2000 with a slow build-up that had limited nuclear exchanges in 2005... and while the exchanges really screwed things up, there was still some civilian infrastructure left so that there was some communication going back and forth. Thus Embedded Reporters were still something that the soldiers had to deal with (which would you rather have to deal with, wiping with leaves or having a bloody camera shoved in your face after combat and get ask questions about how it makes you feel when you kill people whose only crime is that they're socialists... yeah, i'd rather have to wipe with leaves too).
          Fuck being a hero. Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah blah blah, attaboy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, your kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it.

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          • #6
            You don't want to wipe with leaves -- you can get amoebic dysentery that way.
            I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons...First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes

            Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com

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            • #7
              Originally posted by pmulcahy11b View Post
              You don't want to wipe with leaves -- you can get amoebic dysentery that way.
              Yes... but then you wouldn't have some left-wing reporter bugging the bejuses out out you
              Fuck being a hero. Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah blah blah, attaboy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, your kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it.

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              • #8
                Tsk,tsk, tsk gentlemen!

                You are missing the point! Just think of introducing your (least) favorite left-wing journalist to an ole Army tradition...fragging!

                You can even help raise funds for the unit by offering the privilege to the highest bidder!

                Sick I know...but so are must CNN reporters!
                The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Originally posted by dragoon500ly View Post
                  Tsk,tsk, tsk gentlemen!

                  You are missing the point! Just think of introducing your (least) favorite left-wing journalist to an ole Army tradition...fragging!

                  You can even help raise funds for the unit by offering the privilege to the highest bidder!

                  Sick I know...but so are must CNN reporters!
                  I love you man. In a totally platonic way of course....

                  Think they'd let us to something like that to some of the people on MSNBC
                  Fuck being a hero. Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah blah blah, attaboy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, your kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Originally posted by natehale1971 View Post
                    Think they'd let us to something like that to some of the people on MSNBC
                    Hey, I like MSNBC, with the exception of Ed Schultz. Something about that guy irritates me, and I can't place it.
                    I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons...First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes

                    Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Originally posted by dragoon500ly View Post

                      Anybody else have this happen or any thoughts on how to game this one
                      Lee,

                      I use this in my game, which is set in Vancouver, BC. The local government is based on a university campus, which has restored limited TV broadcasts, including a nightly news programme. The players therefore have a (volunteer) CBC news team following them around in a van as they do their thing. They are not strictly embedded and at this point are familiar enough to fade into the woodwork most of the time but they're there if you look.

                      Many of my NPCs are based on real-life people, so the main female reporter is a composite based on two real (local) reporters/media types I know personally. I hope I've managed to avoid the usual cliched whipping-boy stereotypes about the media. The lead reporter is smokin' hot (it's part of the job), is professional and personable, and keeps her politics and opinions to herself. I imagine fantasies involving this NPC do not involve extrajudicial killing.

                      Certainly the media could be a pain in the ass but the PCs have made an effort to befriend and cultivate the lead reporter, and in return she respects their feelings (not to mention OPSEC) and doesn't get in their faces just to be annoying. More importantly, the team has gained a valuable channel for disseminating information to a wider community, and this has helped reconstruction efforts considerably. Of course, the community leadership is backing the players (so far) and thus exert influence on editorial decisions, but people do understand there still is a war on and so the mood is more of cooperation than provocation. As long as the PCs don't do anything wrong, they'll be portrayed as white knights. If they don't, things could change.

                      Tony

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by pmulcahy11b View Post
                        Hey, I like MSNBC, with the exception of Ed Schultz. Something about that guy irritates me, and I can't place it.
                        I think i'll let this pass.... commenting on how so many on what is suppose to be a 'news' channel whom like to compare me and my ideals to nazis & fascists, really just doesn't rub me the right way.
                        Fuck being a hero. Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah blah blah, attaboy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, your kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it.

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          We had something similar to this in our V1 timeline... the public broadcasting network set up in various state universities were used for the Emergency Broadcasting System to keep locals up-to-date on what was going on around the world and country. But even through this the average American citizen didn't know of a milgov/civgov split... both sides did everything they could to keep the average citizen (and average grunt for that matter) in the dark on the upper echelons fighting with each other. And because of this you'd see milgov and civgov reps showing up and having to work together at times when it came to dealing with "New America" (in our campaign it had always been a group called 'The Union for a Progressive New America' without the overt racist crap, but with the different levels of citizenship like the classic New America).

                          Of course this caused "New America" to try and take over the university broadcasts the best they could!

                          Originally posted by helbent4 View Post
                          Lee,

                          I use this in my game, which is set in Vancouver, BC. The local government is based on a university campus, which has restored limited TV broadcasts, including a nightly news programme. The players therefore have a (volunteer) CBC news team following them around in a van as they do their thing. They are not strictly embedded and at this point are familiar enough to fade into the woodwork most of the time but they're there if you look.

                          Many of my NPCs are based on real-life people, so the main female reporter is a composite based on two real (local) reporters/media types I know personally. I hope I've managed to avoid the usual cliched whipping-boy stereotypes about the media. The lead reporter is smokin' hot (it's part of the job), is professional and personable, and keeps her politics and opinions to herself. I imagine fantasies involving this NPC do not involve extrajudicial killing.

                          Certainly the media could be a pain in the ass but the PCs have made an effort to befriend and cultivate the lead reporter, and in return she respects their feelings (not to mention OPSEC) and doesn't get in their faces just to be annoying. More importantly, the team has gained a valuable channel for disseminating information to a wider community, and this has helped reconstruction efforts considerably. Of course, the community leadership is backing the players (so far) and thus exert influence on editorial decisions, but people do understand there still is a war on and so the mood is more of cooperation than provocation. As long as the PCs don't do anything wrong, they'll be portrayed as white knights. If they don't, things could change.

                          Tony
                          Fuck being a hero. Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah blah blah, attaboy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, your kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Originally posted by dragoon500ly View Post
                            Tsk,tsk, tsk gentlemen!

                            You are missing the point! Just think of introducing your (least) favorite left-wing journalist to an ole Army tradition...fragging!
                            It would be the right-wing journalists I'd be fragging.
                            sigpic "It is better to be feared than loved" - Nicolo Machiavelli

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Targan View Post
                              It would be the right-wing journalists I'd be fragging.
                              In T2K, frag 'em all unless they're willing to tote a rifle.
                              I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons...First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes

                              Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com

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