MASAMUNE SHIROW CONVERSIONS FOR CYBERPUNK 2020

Written By: Deric "D-Roc" Brenier

Hi folks. To start, let me say that if you're not familiar with the works of Masamune Shirow then you are missing out. I consider him to be one of the world's top science fiction authors, specializing in the cyberpunk genre. He has won the SEUIN-SHO award (the Japanese version of the HUGO award) and his art and ideas have been satired, paid homage to and sometimes down right plagiarized perhaps more than anyone in the genre of cyberpunk science fiction.  

These conversions come mostly from his books Appleseed, Ghost In The Shell, Dominion and from some of his covers from other projects. The conversions should easily fit into your game as the technological level is very close. A few things may unbalance the scales in your game, so keep in mind that most of it is available only to military and police.

On a personal note I would like to say that I have always integrated Shirow tech into my game. I am very impressed by this man, and he is one of my favorite artist/writers of all time. I recommend his books to anyone who loves this genre, and especially to any players of Cyberpunk 2020.

Finally, let me state that I am by no means trying to rip Shirow off. I have the utmost respect for him, and in my conversions I have tried to remain as faithful to his mecha designs as possible.  

PS. This man is a nut and if I tried to convert all of his stuff I would go insane. I have carefully decided what to translate by its similarity to the cyberpunk tech level. I probably won't do anymore, but if a request is made for a certain item I will try to convert it and post it here.

Recommended Masamune Shirow Cyerpunk reading and viewing list:

• Appleseed -volumes one through four and the Appleseed databooks. (Shirow considers this series to be his life's work) Appleseed is my favorite manga of all time. The anime, unfortunately, is nothing to shake a stick at.

•  Ghost In The shell - this is, in many peoples opinion, the greatest animated film of all time. (the director's other film projects include Akira, Robot Carnival, etc......)

•  Dominion- the humorous side of Shirow dominates in this series of manga and anime

•  Intron Depot 1- this is a collection of all Masamune Shirow's color works.

   Because of the high number of images, this article is devided into four sections.

All creations and art by MASAMUNE SHIROW, all I did was convert it. Feel free to e-mail me with comments, complaints, suggestions or requests.

PS. On the off chance Masamune Shirow sees this, I would like to extend my hand in friendship admiration and gratitude. I would also make a simple query. When the hell is Appleseed book 5 coming out, I can't wait any longer. Stop playing with your spiders and get back to work. ^_^

droc@mc2k.com