Solarpunk
and how to design them!
better futures among the changing climate
2025, Paweł 'alxd' Ngei
alxd
playing RPG for 20+ years
hacker for 15+ years
solarpunk for 10+ years
Solarpunk as a way to tell real stories
Genre Perspectives
fighting to preserve status quo
fighting the oppressive government / corporations
building alternative communities
Culture, not Tech
Commando Jugendstil
Technology as Infrastructure
with extra community inside!
Global South
without Orientalism
Ages of Solarpunk Fiction
Pre-Transition
You are here now!
Self-organization within capitalism
Instead of Cyberpunk
Resource wars
Major climate disasters
Collapse of existing structures
("The Setback")
Instead of Postapocalypse
Transition
The struggle to rebuild
New social structures
Hardest to imagine
Post-Transition
Utopian Sustainable Societies
Post-Transition
Transition
Acknowledging the traumas
Altadena, California, 2025 - (Maxar Technologies via AP)
Power Fantasy
without Escapism
WIP by The Lemonaut
Framing world interactions
with mechanics
Mechanics: universal or highly thematic?
vs
& PBTA
Framing Non-Violence
It is overwhelming how much violence takes over our ability to tell other forms of story.
(...) the decision to say there's no violence in Wanderhome is because I want to invite all the other stories to the table. It's not so much about saying, oh you can't do this. It's saying hey let's make space - violence is the loudest person the party, right?
Dealing with trauma
Adapted
Hardened
Library Economy
roll for availability
Generational Play
Q0: What do players do in Solarpunk?
Idea 1
Firefighters
Disaster Relief
(what do you mean I'm no longer a fantasy cop)
Q0: What do players do in Solarpunk?
Idea 2
Community Facilitators
Inter-community negotiators
Phase Structured
Zero-Sum Faction War
Pressure Cooker
Phase Structured
Positive-Sum Faction Conflict
Pressure Cooker
Q0: What do players do in Solarpunk?
Idea 3
Base building
shape the world with the
UNLOCKABLES
Q0: What do players do in Solarpunk?
Idea 4
Explore the
ecosystems!
Q1: What Technologies are Solarpunk?
Don't think about a technology / device
think about its cultural effects
No Airplanes
Slow, intentional travel - big event
New traditions around travel
New traditions / culture around remote connections
Remote communication can be alienating for an individual, unless on a community level
Q1: What Technologies are Solarpunk?
Technology is seen as infrastructure,
cradle-to-grave, a communal aspect
Cybernetic Implants!
Is this something a character wants and needs?
Can a community support a person with implants?
Who supplies the parts?
Hard Wired Island goes in that direction
Is there a cybernetics library?
Ideas for Technologies?
Open Knowledge
Free Software
Open Hardware
Q2: Ageing and disability in Solarpunk?
...to each according to their need
Shape of families and households?
found families
Terra Ignota's bashes
Accessibility
people
want
CC BY-SA Kimiooon
Lifelong
Education
Q3: How to make _________ interesting?
healing
teaching
maintenance
make mechanically
purposeful!
Each act of violence generates a trauma
You can only heal traumas in a community where you can be emotionally vulnerable.
You only get XP when you
teach someone what you learned
The act of maintaining your community,
relationships or infrastructure
regenerates your willpower
article on Ars Technica
"As in real life, the most sustainable player does not always win."