Welcome to Noir, land of entertainment,
spies, crime and a case of good old fashioned 667th century dystopian
urban renewal blues
Only the hollow, ones for
steel,
go first and first
They know not but to die and
die
Tnq1181, thumpah poet
Not
that I’m trying to sell this as some kind of “Multimedia experience” bullshit,
just …this is how I role. Now you can benefit.
Soundtracks
In
the Imperial Shadow – sounds of the Underworld crawl
To
Live and Die in Sky City - for when the
party goes uptown. https://play.google.com/music/playlist/AMaBXymDJdLHROEfIq8FutVqZIuKQ2wUSb_VWOFJ_N6QSLIhlMS_f8O6uB57CupLlC_RijUO4QKCs9JMd5Yy3hcoXRbdzLO5bw%3D%3D
This supplements the shorter
and more essential list on pp 20-21
In some cases, especially a
work like this, I find it helpful and insightful to share one’s influences and
provide some additional light into where certain concepts came from and the
like. Also, in general. I like to show my work. 😊 So
that said,
Some additional
sources for Maleth Noir, inspirational and otherwise
Taking it back to the
people.
I won’t lie, a lot of
Maleth Noir comes from long conversations with people who only know cyberpunk
from RPGs and so have this warped idea that it’s all about hardware and guns
for some reason. It isn’t about those things at all. It’s about oppression and classism and
society and a few rare individuals rising up and getting the hell out of that –
something any DCC Zero would understand immediately.
Cyberpunk isn’t about
flashy corporate killers with infinite expensive accounts. Those are the Bad
Guys. Cyberpunk is about having
none of those things and opposing that guy anyway, knowing you’re probably
going to die, because it’s the right thing to do or because you can’t abide the
thought of a person like that coming out ahead….or just because you have been
given no choice.
Or, you know, the old
ultraviolence – kill them and take their stuff. Though on Noir you’re doing it
up close with your bare hands or a blade.
Like traditional DCC characters. 😊
Alright, screed
concluded[1].
So as stated, here’s some
more idea-stuff to get the juices going.
I love Noir, I love urban crime movies. And I do love me some dark
future stylings. This list could go on and on AND ON, but these are the most
important, the cream of the crop, or my personal go-tos for the kind of mayhem
and shenanigans that I expect most will get up to. It is by NO means exhaustive.
NO REALLY JUDGE DREDD
I can’t stress this enough. Go read early progs of 2000 AD or the Cursed Earth
collection, maybe the Judge Cal storyline, the Apocalypse War, etc. Any of it.
IT’s all good and very germane. (Though
Megacity 1 is pro’lly a bit closer to Dome City or one of the other ConUrbs in
that it has vehicle traffic and a lot of it.)
Hardware 1990 also based on a tale originally
from……….2000AD (it’s the gold standard
around here okay?)
Since I keep harping on
how good 2000AD is, other relevant fictions (however marginally)
Robo Hunter Ro-Busters
and ABC Warriors
Strontium Dog Nemesis the Warlock
Rogue Trooper the Ballad of
Halo Jones
And of course, all the
Judge Dredd secondary stuff, esp. as pertains Judge Anderson. And the Death
Judges.
And (esp. where pertains
Sky City) – Classic/modern crime/Noir films set in Los Angeles
Chinatown[2] & the Two Jakes 1990
Devil in a Blue Dress
1995(wonderful adaptation
of the Easy Rawlins novel by Walter Mosley)
To Live and Die in
L.A. 1985 – so. 80s.
The Salton Sea 2002
Wonderland 2003
Blade Runner 1982
The Last Boy Scout
1991
The Big Lebowski 1998
And no few random films
about the entertainment industry and Hollywood
Looker 1981 Albert Finney – v. dated but
important to how this turned out
Wild Palms 1993 event tv cyberpunk; dated but interesting; definitely gets the
hallucinatory nature of a world full of holography down just right even if it’s
not trying to do that. Also, don’t
forget your briefcase dear.
LA Confidential 1997
Who Framed Roger
Rabbit 1989 – Yes,
I’m serious. Swap Toontown for the City
of Lights. Little changes.
The Long Goodbye specifically the 1973; Leigh Bracket
did the screenplay
Mulholland Drive 2001
– David Lynch. Peak Lynch.
So, this may attract or repulse you
And of course, good
clean fun. Crime movies. Modern noir to simple violence. Those
that are not festooned with firearms heave far closer to the Noir aesthetic, in
both senses.
Hardboiled
The Killer
Layer Cake
Lock Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels
Snatch
B.U.S.T.E.D.
Formula 51
Obvious but there is
also the Godfather movies. (Both of them).
Congratulations,
you’ve taken control of the Slumstack. Now,
the residents are coming to you, respectfully, with their problems. What
do you do? Start a generational crime
saga obviously!
Pure Noir films –
just a few essentials
The Third Man – this movie is why Noir exists. Exemplar of the genre.
D.O.A. – both versions though one of them is
painfully late 80s
Kiss me Deadly –
The Long Goodbye specifically the 1973; Leigh Bracket
did the screenplay
The Grifters
Sunset Boulevard 1950
Key Largo, the
Maltese Falcon, etc.
The Thin Man – when you need a break from all the
mindless suspense these are timeless escapist films.
Oh, and books too! A lot of it non-genre fiction but that’s
okay. Diversify your interest!
-
Silver, Ira Levin
-
When
Gravity Fails, The Slaver’s Kiss – George
Alec Effinger
-
Caves
of Steel, the Naked Sun, Foundation –
Isaac Asimov
-
Sunfall
– C.J. Cherryh
-
Friday
– Robert Heinlein
Noir and it’s antecedent
the hard boiled crime novel, started in
the pulps. Don’t forget the Continental
Op. Don’t forget that Sam Spade started
in the writing of Dashiell Hammett first.
A couple of
things were more directly influential Noir and the Sky City sprawl in
particular –
Megacity-1
Really do ‘I have to point this out?
Sunfall C.J. Cherryh the way the various cities each have grown
away from each other into their own realm almost strongly influenced the basic
make up of each of the larger City-states on Noir
Battle Angel Alita – the anime adaptation in particular
as I’m not familiar with either the source manga or the recent film. A few things but the big one being the basic
divide between Umbra ns Sky City came from this.
The basic premise of the
first ep of Silent Möbius comes to mind as well. Pro’lly what some city’s V-Squads are like.
And finally, of course
gaming influences
Cyberpunk, R. Talsorian Games, 1989
No, NOT Cyberpunk 2020,
the one that came before. It was printed
on a Mac FFS, that’s cyberpunk as hell, especially in 1988. HUGE old School DIY props there.
Cybergeneration, R. Talsorian Games, 1993
A million times more cyberpunk
than anything else they put out. This game if released today and marketed right
would set the world on fire[3]. (Just call it OK Boomer….)
SLA Industries Yes, I know the Secret. Yes, this
recommendation stands. Are you nuts?
This game is brilliant as hell.
“The police don’t enforce laws; they don’t even get busy
until after the laws are broken. They solve crimes at a pitifully low rate of
success. What the police are, to be honest, is a kind of secretarial pool that
records the names of the victims”
Marîd
Audran[4],
When Gravity Fails
[1] R
Talsorian’s Cybergeneration was WAY more cyberpunk than Cybperunk 2020 ever
was. Fight me.
[2]
Fuck Roman Polanski, pirate the damn movie.
[3]
For 2020, Just call it “Okay Boomer”
[4] A
total bastard but a quotable one
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