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"Generation Nord" (Sx72) is a special one-shot sponsored by NordVPN. Players Laura Bailey, Aimee Carrero, Christian Navarro, Liam O’Brien, and Lou Wilson, led by game master and sponsorship legend Sam Riegel, go on a journey through the information superhighway (aka the internet) and into The Nordverse.

Synopsis[]

Introduction[]

My handle is BlackWillow69@aol.com. You may have heard of my e-exploits in our semi-regular NordVPN advertising skits on Critical Role. If not, all you need to know is that I am the leetest hacker in the known Nordverse, having gleamed the cube and saved the worldwide world from international crypto syndicates, rogue Defcon viruses, and even... virtual insanity. Is tonight about me? In a way, isn't every night about me? But in every other way, tonight is about all of us. In my deep dives through the metadata of history, I came across an archive about one of the earliest elite hacker groups to stroke the ones and twos, and how these cybernetic heroes reshaped the internet as we know it. I also discovered how I, BlackWillow69, was born. Yes, tonight's tale is based on a true story. Everything you're going to witness at this table actually happened.

The year is 1995. Bill Clinton is in office. Blue M&Ms were just introduced. Cell phones? Nah. Beepers are all you need. Dial-up internet service providers are how 99% of users surf the net. The worldwide web is a magical, wonderful place that folks are experiencing for the first time, through sites like GeoCities, Netscape, Surf Bandit, Infoseek. One of those was fake. But the Information Super Highway is starting to form potholes, viruses, phishing scams, malware, the Dark Net. They've begun to corrupt user experiences, and it's getting worse.

Recently, a string of strange, dangerous international tragedies have rocked the world. The Unabomber is on the loose. There's a Major League Baseball strike. Beloved painter Bob Ross just died. Coincidence? Or is it all connected to a new super secret computer virus that's flooded the 'net called RU1NAT1ON. The virus targets the most innocent people, not for money, but for lulz. Random people who connect through modems and access sites like CompuServe are being annoyed, mocked, sliced for no reason. The fun of the internet is being ruined by RU1NAT1ON. They're logging off for good. The world is being menaced by the internet's first ever troll. But who can stop a troll? Well, maybe five teenage hackers who have been summoned via electronic mail, or e-mail, and brought to a nondescript government building in Los Angeles, California, where our tale begins.

Part I[]

Break[]

Part II[]

Featured characters[]

Player characters[]

  • Alex Peters (WyreWizzard)
  • Fontaine Savoy (CompostGuru)
  • Lilith Ferrera (Jinxx)
  • Lucas Dankworth (NerfWormGrim01011)
  • Wrigley Rincon (Rigglemethis89)

Returning[]

  • Emmanuel Goldstein

NPCs[]

  • Iris Nobode
  • Kyle Middlebrook, head of security

Mentioned[]

  • Don Johnson, CEO of Johnson Corp.
  • Maxwell, son of Kyle Middlebrook

Quotations[]

Trivia[]

  • "Emmanuel Goldstein" was the name of Matthew Lillard's character in the 1995 movie Hackers. It is also the pseudonym of Eric Corley, a well-known figure in the hacker community, and the name of the protagonist in George Orwell's novel 1984.
  • The game was run using the Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition ruleset, but used a d8 instead of a d20 in an effort to gain an 8-bit aesthetic. This caused game balance issues during the session, so they switched to 2d8 for ability check rolls during Part II, claiming they had updated to 16-bit.
  • The name "Kyle Middlebrook" is a mix between the name and the surname of two producers at Critical Role Productions LLC, Kyle Shire and Ashley Middlebrook. Moreover, the name "Maxwell" (Kyle Middlebrook's son) is also the name of Maxwell James, another producer.
  • The Johnson Corp might be a reference to "The Nautilus Ark: A Johnson Corp Odyssey" (Sx60).

References[]

Art:

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