Line #72 TabletopGame/Cosmopol


1	[[quoteright:266:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cosmopol_1983.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:266:Giant robot is giant.]]
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4
5	->''"The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity."''
6	--> - Creator/AynRand
7
8	->''"Cosmopol: a utopia to some, a dystopia to others - anything you want can be yours... but if you fail, it means you're a bad person."''
9	--> - Dreia Melinkoff
10	----
11	''Cosmopol'' is a TabletopRPG setting by Dreia Melinkoff.
12
13	It is set in an alternate timeline where TheGreatDepression (and thus the rise of ThoseWackyNazis) never happened, and for the hundred years after, history, politics, and technology evolved in a different direction.
14
15	Most of the action takes place in the North American city of [[CityOfAdventure Cosmopol]] or its [[GermanExpressionism gloomy European counterpart]], [[CityNoir Neustadt]].
16	----
17	'''Settings include:'''
18	* Century of Progress: a bright world, a golden age... anything you want can be yours, for a price.
19	* TabletopGame/CosmopolReckoning: no golden age can last forever. Ecological catastrophe, social upheaval, collapse of the world economy and collapse of the infrastructure add new challenges for the characters.
20	* TabletopGame/CosmopolRetribution: new powers rise and cities come under siege as ideas fight ideas and buried secrets come to light.
21	* TabletopGame/CosmopolRedemption: corruption eats the city from the outside in
22	----
23	!!Tropes in this system:
24	* AmazonBrigade: For some reason, both the setting and the PC group have ended up with dominantly female characters.
25	* AuthorAppeal: The universe was born out of the author's own admitted love for 20s and 30s tech and retrofuturism.
26	* BioPunk: Genetic engineering takes place in the background of the first two settings, then center stage in ''Retribution''.
27	* CityOfAdventure: Either of the two cities presently described in the three settings
28	* CityNoir: Cosmopol's street level and Undercity... and ''all'' of Neustadt.
29	* CoolAirship: All of the ships made by Stahl Luftschifftechnik qualify as this.
30	* CodeName: Most characters will have a nickname or callsign they use in their "Night Job".
31	* TheCracker: Arguably the most powerful character type.
32	* DieselPunk: ''And how.''
33	* EverybodySmokes: More, you gain temporary boosts to a number of attributes by smoking. The only penalty is against your income and self-discipline if you become addicted.
34	* FantasticRacism: In ''Reckoning'', there is widespread discrimination against [[DesignerBabies "gene jobs"]], which in ''Retribution'' erupts into [[FinalSolution attempted genocide]] (and brings about the titular retribution).
35	* FramingDevice: The universe and its major events are introduced by fictional characters living in-universe.
36	* GadgeteerGenius: One of the player character jobs.
37	* HackerCave: Averted, as hacking looks ridiculously low-fi: hackers spend most of their time crouching over little analog dials and scanning lines of code on display goggles or very tiny screens.
38	* HomemadeInventions: A major point of the game. And in ''Reckoning'' and thereafter, the very economy is based on it.
39	* KafkaKomedy: You can actually take "Kafka Physics" as a negative-point disadvantage. If you're afflicted by this, there is a strong chance that anything you attempt will be obstructed by the willful incompetence of others, {{obstructive bureaucracy}}, or your paperwork getting lost. Also, if something actually works for you, expect to pay for it in some way that makes you feel as if the universe is singling you out to laugh at you.
40	* LampshadeHanging: Keller frequently stumbles awkwardly when trying to talk around English words that he thinks he doesn't know. The reality is that English actually borrowed these terms from German.
41	* LaResistance: The PlayfulHacker organization ''Zero One'' militarizes into this in ''Retribution''
42	* MadScientistLaboratory
43	* MotherlyScientist: This would be Dr. Taryn Stone.
44	* MrExposition: Keller and the other characters in the framing stories
45	* PlayfulHacker: The ''Zero One'' are a whole brotherhood of them.
46	* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: Both Cosmopol and Neustadt, up until ''Retribution''.
47	* PunkPunk: Largely of the DieselPunk flavor, with many CyberPunk and BioPunk elements.
48	* TheRoaringTwenties: The world has been stuck here for a hundred years, while progress marches on.
49	* RobotMaster: Dr. Taryn Stone again.
50	* ScienceHero: One of the player character jobs.
51	* SchizoTech: Computer intranets, large-scale architectural/civic projects, robotics and advanced genetic engineering... in a world that seems to run on internal combustion, fossil fuels, pneumatic mail, vacuum tubes, and display gratuitous use of pressure gauges and analog dials.
52	* TechnologyPorn: Somewhat averted. The world is as advanced as our normal one and in many ways more advanced, but the tech ''looks'' like 1930s technology.
53	* TookALevelInBadass: Several characters do this as of ''Retribution''... the alternative would be to die.
54	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman
55	* WhatMeasureIsANonSuper: Grappled with in ''Retribution''. And how.
56	* {{Zeerust}}: Equal parts Zeerust of the Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, Bauhaus and German Expressionist variety
57	* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld
58	----
59	'''In-Game Character Tropes:'''
60	* AmbiguouslyJewish: Barrett.
61	* BattleCouple: This is arguably Keller and Barrett in ''Retribution''.
62	* BuffySpeak: Keller. Partly justified in that he is not a native English speaker.
63	** Hand me the twisty thing. The thing which twists.
64	*** Averted in ''Retribution'', as much of this arc takes place in his native Germany.
65	* CodeName: The rule for "night jobbers"
66	** Dieter Kohl - Keller
67	** Tsuritsa Zima - Maus
68	** Tatyana Silova - Titan
69	** Alexander Blake - Shine
70	** Dava Gruenwald - Barrett
71	* GermanicDepressives: Keller.
72	* GenreSavvy: Characters commonly reference (in an oblique fashion) the popular culture of our universe.
73	** This will go over as well as a cowboy serial set in outer space. I give it twelve or thirteen.
74	* HotGypsyWoman: Averted with Maus. Though she is indeed UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}, she's a WrenchWench, wears tank tops and cargo pants and prefers the fairer sex.
75	* SnarkKnight: Keller.
76	* {{Thememobile}}: Keller's motorcycle, named "Kafka". Also qualifies as TheAllegedCar.
77	** "Why did I name my motor cycle Kafka, you ask? What kind of question is that? I had to file my renewal in QUADRUPLICATE... I need this too?"
78	* TookALevelInBadass: Keller. After being the snarky, combat-incompetent hacker and often TheLoad during the first two settings, he returns in ''Retribution'' as ''a cell leader in LaResistance''... complete with an ExpositoryHairstyleChange.
79	* {{Tsundere}}: Barrett.
80	* WrenchWench: Maus
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Context TabletopGame / Cosmopol