So I’m toying with a Cyberpunk Apocalypse World Hack. I’m building it around some particular design goals that would make it easy to play in pick-up games at work, so it has a strong mission structure.
Here’s what I’m hoping to get some help with: the GM title. I really like that Powered By Apocalypse games tend to have creative titles for the GM: The master of ceremonies (MC), the DJ in Spirit of 77, etc.
I’m having a hard time coming up with something similarly thematic GM twist for cyberpunk. Anyone have any fun ideas?
Right now I have:
CEO (Chief Entertainment Officer) which fits the megacorporate vibe, but might get a bit confusing when CEOs are used in a mission.
SL (Sprawl Lord) which fits a sort of Slum Lord vibe for describing the dystopian future, but frankly doesn’t sound so good out loud. I don’t think S is a hard enough consonant for this.
How do you call the person giving you missions in Shadowrun again? Smith?
In Shadowrun, they are all called Ms./Mr. Johnson (or the regional equivalents). I’m not using that moniker in my game, and even if I was, I don’t think I’d want to mix the source of a job (a character involved in missions that might betray you) with the GM sitting at the table because it will get confusing in move descriptions where it says stuff like “The Johnson will give you a tough choice or worse outcome” but the Johnson isn’t involved in the scene.
Mr. or Ms. Bunraku works well. Basically means puppet master.
The Mainframe
Ooh, I really like that one David Rothfeder
The IA
David Rothfeder I think MainFrame, particularly MF which can also mean Mother Fragger, could be a good fit in terms of theme and function.
What David Rothfeder said.
Guess I picked a winner. It was bound to happen some day….and then never again
Bunraku Smith… your BS sets the pace and guides the narrative, and if the players have questions BS provides appropriate answers.
The Mainframe(tm) is very apropos…
MF is alright…
What is IA? Information Architect?
System Operator… SysOp… or Admin…
IA… your Immortal Admin is GOD
(Games on Demand, Gathering Of Developers…
Game Operations Director)