Judge Dredd: Various Shades of "Futsie"

[Maglaurus]

I'm coming from the position total naivety regard the Judge Dredd comics, however I very much want to GM the game and run a "Holiday" adventure for some gamer friends of mine. So here's two quandries I'm hoping seasoned readers of the comic might be able to help me out with:

--Do the citizens of Mega-City One still celebrate the old holidays in the traditional American fashion? Xmas? Hanukkah? Kwanzaa?
--I had an idea for a futsie: a toymaker who snaps after being replaced by a robot and reestablishes the legend of Santa Claus, dressing the part, riding in a converted hover-car, and delivering dangerous toys and robots to the children of the housing blocks. Does this fit the profile of a "futsie"?

 

[Standing-Stone]

I can only guess as I am only just aquainting myself with Judge Dredd as well. I'm, not sure if you have the core book with you. I suspect ypou might as you pln on runnig a game. That would be the first or second place to look for this type of information.

There was stroy Judge Dredd story about serial murderer dressed up Santa Claus. For those of you who know this story it's the same guy who also has one hand replaced with a large metal scyth and glass panel on his head revealing his brain slushing around for all to see.

Anyway, I think the presence of Santa in comic is proff that this holiday is still practiced. As far as I know, that may also be true for the other speical occasions as well. Perhaps there is slight diffrence in all of these as the world has been altered, so may have the customs.

Besides it's your game you do what you like with it.

 

[Maglaurus]

I had a feeling this sort of storyline might have been done before. It actually helps a lot as it means "futsies" have more range and depth to their insanity than indicated in the Judge Dredd rpg rules book. Because I don't have experience with the comic (my local store is going to have a couple trades in for me after New Years), I am in the knowledge that would allow me to go beyond the basic definitions in the book.

 

[Standing-Stone]

I thought there may have been a Futsies section in the book of Crazes for some strange reason. But no.

 

[Maglaurus]

As it stands right now anyway, I'm leaning toward a plotline that makes "The Toy Man," as they call him, the tool of an unlawful robot that wants to put an end to the Justice Department's "Xmas" holiday, a day of mandatory gift-giving that temporarily reduces crime-rates and distributes JD-approved toys to children so they grow up to be complacent citizens.

 

[Bewildered Badger]

There are references to Christmas in the comics. IIRC there is part of a story shown in the rpg rulebook, where a group of citizens are demanding a white Christmas. Dredd obliges by ordering Weather Control to target the protestors with a localized blizzard. Also, in a recent 2000AD strip called 'Low-Life' (set in Mega City 1), there was a Christmas story. So yes, the holiday is still observed.
As to a mandatory Justice Department sactioned Xmas, well that does not fit into continuity. There are two possible workarounds:
1) Ignore current continuity. It's your game, so you decide what happens in your version of MC-1. Bear in mind that the strip itself has on occasions ditched continuity in favour of a good story. Also, unless your players have an encyclopedic knowledge of Dredd, they'll not catch you out.
2) Alternatively, the Justice Department have not been employing this scheme, but are now considering it as a crime reducing exercise. The criminal mastermind learns of this scheme, and plans to sabotage it.
As a plot twist the first use of this crime reduction scheme may be piloted in just one Sector (the one that your PC's are in, naturally) to see if it works. Of course, inhabitants of neighbouring sectors feel left out, and try to cross the Sector boundaries illeagally to get prezzies themselves.
As a further complication, maybe some bright spark in the Department thinks it would be a good PR exercise if a group of Judges were to give out toys to the kiddies at a local juve center, perhaps in 'modified' uniforms. The idea of Judges pursuing a perp whilst wearing red uniforms with fake beards and carrying a sackfull of toys on the back of the Lawmaster seems to fit the bill.

 

[Dredd Times]

I thought there may have been a Futsies section in the book of Crazes for some strange reason. But no.

Hi There,
No Futsies in the Crazes book for the simple reason that is acutally a mental affliction rather than a craze or fad. I did plan to cover the Future Shock Syndrome from which Futsies get their name in the second Crazes book Crazes Too, but it never got the green light to go ahead. Maybe will right it up for S&P when I get the chance as I have a large amount of Crazes Too knocking around on CD somewhere.

Marc

 

[numanti]

I think Futsies can be whatever you want them to be - so long as they are murderous and thier actions completely over the top insane

Christmas and New Year still happen in MC1 - they've just become even more secular than they are today. Other celebrations... there is no reason why Hannukah couldn't happen as religions flourish in MC1 despite Justice Depts. dissapproval - in fact, I'd think in the light of Justice Dept. not approving of religions, they would only get stronger. I don't think any religions have been banned outright in MC1 - but I am sure some of the more vocal ones get stomped on hard if they look to be a threat to the security of the City or they appear to the Department to incite thier members to behaviour the Department feels could be damaging in some way - they certainly stomped hard on John Baptiste and his Christian followers in the Anderson story 'The Jesus Syndrome' (I can't remember now if there was any banning of Christianity as a religion following that story - I will have to look through my Megazines at some stage)

So I'd say - let your citizens celebrate festivals, but have your Judges watch them carefully.

 

[Krazus]

as it has been said in this thread before, its your game do what you wish, evenif you have hardened JD fans playing, if its a good hook, they will enjoy it, after all it is a fantasy game, so anything goes.

On the subject of holidays, yes they are sill celebrated in MC1, in fact there are numerous references in the comics, and in the strips drawn for the english news paper 'The Star'.

In fact in one of those, Protesters have marched onto Justice square, demanding a white christmas. Old stoney face says to the chief Judge, give them what they want, and gets weather control to do a localised blizzard, which at first delights the crowd, but it soon covers and traps the, thus stopping the riot.

Also from the same strips in one new year episode, a statment about a swarm of killer mutant bees is broadcast, making every citizen stay at home, thus reducing crime for the night to nearly zero.

hope thses examples help a bit

 

[Shadow Queen]

Dredd Vs. Santa

"12 years for multipue B+E"

 

[Ray]

"Dredd Versus Easter Bunny"
25 Years for Terrorism (Leaving unattended, potentially explosive devices, Easter Eggs which could easily be grenades, in public areas).

"Dredd Versus Cupid"
5 Years for violating the Anti-Population Growth Act.

 

[Bat King]

I thought there may have been a Futsies section in the book of Crazes for some strange reason. But no.

Hi There,
No Futsies in the Crazes book for the simple reason that is acutally a mental affliction rather than a craze or fad. I did plan to cover the Future Shock Syndrome from which Futsies get their name in the second Crazes book Crazes Too, but it never got the green light to go ahead. Maybe will right it up for S&P when I get the chance as I have a large amount of Crazes Too knocking around on CD somewhere.

Marc

S&P? Is this a new product, seen reference to it a few times on the Forum (only joined today) but can't seem to find what it is.

 

[The Greek]

S&P (short for Signs & Portents) is our free, downloadable magazine, there are two totally seperate magazines - Wargamer and Roleplayer. So Wargamer will have material for Gangs of Mega-City One (for example), and Roleplayer for Dredd D20 and RuneQuest Slaine (amongst many other games). The first 25 issues were in paper format, most of which are still available to buy (you might want to check first though).

You can download it from our website here and Wargaming Online, I think it is available elsewhere as well.

 

[Bat King]

Ah, thanks.

 

[Fishy]

No Futsies in the Crazes book for the simple reason that is acutally a mental affliction rather than a craze or fad. I did plan to cover the Future Shock Syndrome from which Futsies get their name in the second Crazes book

Indeedy. Future Shock Syndrome is what happens when the futility and stress of life in the Big Meg flips a switch in someone's head and they start looking for a way to "let off steam". We see the same thing today in American High Schools, so Futsies are one of the more comprehensible aspects of Mega City life. Generally a Futsie manifests in erratic and violent behaviour that isn't particularly organised, but the experiences of modern America lead to the realisation that such people can be very organised indeed. In which case the toymaker thing sounds perfectly feasable. And fun. In fact I may steal the idea.

 

[toothill man]

caught stealing santa :shock: its the cubes for you boy as youve been more naughty than nice :twisted:

 

[havercake lad]

Anniversaries/festivals celebrated in MC1 include ~
Xmas
New Year's Eve
Halloween
Apocalypse Day (commemorating the dead of the 2104 War)
Fargo Day (honouring the Justice Department)

Snow seems to feature in several Xmas stories and present buying is as avid as in previous century. The Chief Judge's Speech where Francisco wished the citizens a Merry Christmas might concievably be a regular feature in coming years. One bizarre feature of MCOne's xmas's is the sale of genetically enhanced , self-basting turkey's.

 

[Nuclear Fridge Magnet]

Self-basting, talking, incredibly stupid turkeys... :twisted:

'The Chief Judge's Speech' is one of the best Black Humour stories of recent times. Joe Dredd pursuing perps, with Dan Francisco unwittingly supplying colour commentary.

 

[Shokker]

Anniversaries/festivals celebrated in MC1 include ~
Xmas
New Year's Eve
Halloween
Apocalypse Day (commemorating the dead of the 2104 War)
Fargo Day (honouring the Justice Department).

Judgement Day of Remembrance
Commemorates the World Judges’ victory over Sabbat, in particular the role played by Mega-City One’s Justice Department which lost thousands of fine men and women defending the city wall against the zombie incursion.

 

[Shokker]

I had an idea for a futsie: a toymaker who snaps after being replaced by a robot and reestablishes the legend of Santa Claus, dressing the part, riding in a converted hover-car, and delivering dangerous toys and robots to the children of the housing blocks.

Way back in 2000 (can you believe that is 11 years ago?!), a clever fellow by the name of Pete Brown penned his own Judge Dredd adventure called There Ain’t No Sanity Clause which saw a scientist go futsie and whilst dressed as Santa goes on a killing spree. It's a lighthearted yarn and excellent Dredd adventure, if using the D20 or Traveller rules the stats would need to be updated from it's Games Workshop format.