Shock:Social Science Fiction

Description

Shock : Social Science Fiction by Joshua A.C. Newman performs a … trick with the complex beast that is science fiction. Writers and critics of SF have argued for decades about what defines the genre, a Gordian Knot that Newman cuts through like a 21st-century Alexander the Great.

—Damiel Walter, The Guardian

Reading Lathe of Heaven and fucking LOVING IT and thinking to myself, “This isn’t gameable.”
Oh wait, you could totally do this in Shock:
Rock on, man.

—Luke Crane, author of Burning Wheel, Mouse Guard, and Burning Empires

Shock: Social Science Fiction is Joshua A.C. Newman’s fiction game of culture and future shock. Inspired by the works of Bruce Sterling, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Philip K. Dick, the game pushes the players to make stories that matter to them — stories about politics, philosophy, love, and death.

Create a World

At the core of the world-creation system is the Grid, a method of world creation that crosses social concerns with Shocks to build a fictional world, custom-built for the type of story the players want to explore.

Use your ownership to give detail and vibrancy to the world, or wait until you’re Audience to apply your editing to each scene, building continuity and adding richness through Minutiæ.

The Most Important Character in the Universe

The Philip K. Dick Roleplaying Game.

—Robert Bohl, designer of Misspent Youth

Players pursue the interests of both Protagonists and Antagonists, drawing on their principles with motivation and resources. Play highlights what you care about as a player and gives you the tools to highlight and question the things you care about.

Build your future. Burn it down.
Build a new one.

Also available as a PDF for all subscribers to the xenoglyph Patreon!