Socio-Economic Trends in the Republic of Britain

[Linden]

A bit of gloom and doom from The Telegraph. Although written about the UK it touches upon some issues which have broader relevance to the kind of society portrayed in Dark Conspiracy e.g. the collapse of the middle classes, corporate greed, mechanised farming, falling salaries.

[Phulish]

I've wondered if countries or certain states would have the population up in arms or if they would meekly accept that megacorps would take up the slack in social services. My campaign has Chicom rations as "exotic" Prole food. BTW, I'm not insulting people, just noting human nature and who can support poor people in DC.

[Linden]

I've wondered if countries or certain states would have the population up in arms or if they would meekly accept that megacorps would take up the slack in social services.

I think that's quite a complex question and depends on all sorts of variable factors, one of which may well be national character. Here in the UK we tend towards sporadic outbursts of violence which don't last that long e.g. last summer's looting spree, the student loans protests, and the poll tax riots. Probably the last sustained bout of public order related aggro was during the miner's strike in 1984.

Compare and contrast say with the middle eatern countries where the Arab Spring achieved sufficient momentum to depose several longstanding regimes and has led to an ongoing civil war in Syria. People in those countries arguably have more to be angry about than here though.

[Phulish]

It also seems like a situation that dark elves and dread sidhes could exploit.

[Linden]

It also seems like a situation that dark elves and dread sidhes could exploit.

Yes, I reckon Dread Sidhe would make good extremist demagogues, whipping crowds up into a fury then doing a disappearing act once the trouble has died down.

[Phulish]

And dark elves could provide weapons and start the mayhem rolling.

[Linden]

I had the idea of two Sidhe working in concert leading ostensibly rival factions e.g. one extreme right, the other extreme left. They get their respective followers worked up into a frenzy of hatred, possibly with a few minor incidents then they meet up for a huge street battle, maybe something like the old National Front/Anti-Nazi League scraps we had in the UK during the 1970s, only a lot more violent. Once the fighting has died down the two Sidhe head off to another city to begin the process again.

[Morthrai]

I had the idea of two Sidhe working in concert leading ostensibly rival factions...

A mate of mine ran a session based on similar lines, but inspired by "Football Factory" rather than actual political divides.

[Linden]

A mate of mine ran a session based on similar lines, but inspired by "Football Factory" rather than actual political divides.

Sounds proper nawty! I can see it working really well, the description of the Sidhe in Dark Races implies that they're involved in football violence and I can see them being top boys in hooligan firms.

[Morthrai]

Of course, synchronicity being what it is, Footbal Factory's protagonist Danny Dyer is now presenting documentaries about UFOs and abductions.

Apparently this was inspired by Dyer's chance meeting with "his boyhood hero Sir Patrick Moore"...Don't be telling me Danny Dyer has ever watched "The Sky At Night"!

[Phulish]

Looks like the dark elves need to bring a couple of kegs. When I was an airman, the foreign briefing mentions three forbidden topics: religion, politics, sports. Prophets, activists, hooligans.

[Linden]

Apparently this was inspired by Dyer's chance meeting with "his boyhood hero Sir Patrick Moore"...Don't be telling me Danny Dyer has ever watched "The Sky At Night"!

He's comedy gold. I think he's in on the joke now though and has become indistinguishable from Terry Alderton's Danny Dire mickey take. Not that there was a huge amount of difference before...

Does raise the prospect of a convention/tournament scenario with a bunch of pre-generated hooligans taking on an ET incursion though:

"Oi! Mekon bonce! You mugging me off in front of my pals?"

[Morthrai]

Looks like the dark elves need to bring a couple of kegs. When I was an airman, the foreign briefing mentions three forbidden topics: religion, politics, sports. Prophets, activists, hooligans.

Oddly enough give the other forum thread where we mentioned pubs, those are traditionally the topics you shouldn't engage in conversation about whilst down the local boozer!

Having spent several years working in pubs, I can tell you people really don't follow that rule much these days

[Phulish]

So you know exactly what I'm talking about! BTW, are there any expatriot bars or even pubs? In the real world I enjoy the British beers, but they are pricy( that's OK, Quality over Quantity!) and in Japan Budweiser was an expensive beer(Eeww!) A character in my campaign had his Suntory single malt swiped by some teen ganger allies. A fictional expat pub would make a good clearing house for visiting hunters. Something similiar in the States would be nice-if they knew "chips" are "fries"

[Linden]

So you know exactly what I'm talking about! BTW, are there any expatriot bars or even pubs?

Kilburn in North London is well known for its large Irish community and many of the pubs cater accordingly. Thinking about it Irish style pubs are a feature of N.London generally and I've visited such establishments in Mill Hill, East Finchley and Wembley. To be honest I find them a bit on the grim side. The interiors are often quite basic and the choice of drinks isn't up to much unless you like guinness or weak lager. Note that these places shouldn't be confused with Irish theme pubs like the O'Neill's chain which are aimed at a much younger crowd and have more than a touch of the plastic paddy about them. I dare say you've got a few of these in your country. They're everywhere .

The Earl's Court area of London is traditionally home to Australian ex-pats and again the local pubs and bars were often run with them in mind. Or at least they used to, been quite a few changes in London in the ten years or so which may have changed the demographic. Which brings me to...

West London e.g. Hammersmith and Ealing is popular with East Europeans who frequent the pubs around there. Last time I was round that way there were plenty of them about but didn't see any specifically Polish or Ukrainian etc type bars. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.