I seem to have a knack for discovering music twenty years late. Whatever. Anyway, I’ve been obsessed with this Flaming Lips album lately, and I think I need to write an RPG about it. Here’s my pitch:
The city you live in is awful. Wave after wave of industrialization, offshoring, crime, neglect, overpolicing, war, and/or natural disasters have left it a semi-functional ruin. Even the best apartments are burned-out. Utilities are intermittent (though the bills are not). The old malls and factories stand abandoned. Still, there’s one thing you love about the place that keeps you here (aside from the laws limiting resettlement, that is).
Oh, the other thing that makes it awful is the constant robot attacks. But in a way, that’s a good thing, since fighting robots is your best-paying job. Not that it pays well, mind you, and you have to supply all your own equipment. But working for the city is at least consistent. All the other gig work you take on is a lot less stable. But there are bills to be paid. Rent, utilities, LOANCARD payments, drinks.
Because a twentysomething robot fighter has to keep themself entertained. And the dating scene? YIKES. But that enby on your strike team has been flirting with you, and you’ve been having dreams about the DJ at the club taking his shirt off (in between dreams of being torn apart by murder machines, anyway). But you’re keeping those secrets for now, and you’re keeping up the hustle. It seems impossible that you could ever level up to the gated suburb where the managers live and have families of their own, and honestly who would even want to? All we have is now.
I think my friend Kiki and I are going to collaborate on it.