Zaibatsu

Corporations (referred as “zaibatsu”) are an integral part of the cyberpunk universe. They wield enormous influence and resources. They are able to control politics, the media and determine the living conditions of most people in the world. However, they are not all-powerful and their ranks still include ordinary people with their ambitions, fears and needs. The Zaibatsu also have enemies – sometimes government institutions, sometimes the military and sometimes market rivals.

The generator presented below is meant to be an inspiration for filling your world with sinister market forces.

Online version

Procedure

Roll or select:

• The first part of the name (d20+d20)
• Second part of the name (d20+d20)
• One or more industry sectors in which the corporation operates (pay attention to the second part of the name and complete with the matching industry if necessary) (d20+d20)
• At least one rumour about the corporation being generated (may be true or not) (d20+d20)
• One or more resources and one or more objectives of the corporation (d20)
• An employee profile if you wish to specify one (d20)

Roll d20+d20

A roll marked as d20+d20 means that we roll two d20 dice, but the first value is used to determine the column (group) and the second value is used to determine the position in the group. This roll replaces the roll with a dice of more faces (e.g. d100) and at the same time allows you to draw from a pool that is a multiple of twenty: 40, 60, 80 or 120.

First part of the name (d20 + d20)

The first roll selects the column, the second selects the position in the column.

Second part of the name (d20 + d20)

The first roll selects the column, the second selects the position in the column.

Industry sector (d20 + d20)

The first roll selects the group, the second selects the position in the group. Next to each industry, there are examples of products that may appear in zaibatsu’s offerings.

Industry dependent on the name

The names of the corporations in most cases have an English origins. This is an intentional effect related to classic games and mainstream literature. If you decide to use the generator, please note that the second part of the name often also reflects the industry in which the company operates (“software” probably suggests software development and “chemicals” the chemical industry). It is worth taking these relationships into account when creating the ”zaibatsu”.

Multiple sectors for one company

When creating corporations, you can choose more than one industry for the company. Sometimes selected industries may seem too far apart from each other such as “agriculture” and “financial services”. However, there is no contradiction in this. As powerful organisations focused on maximum profit and efficient market operation, corporations often expand their activities. This gives them additional income and protects them from sudden market fluctuations within a single industry.

1 - 10

1. Research & Development: AI for data retrieval and analysis, neuroprocessors and hardware for writing/reading human memory, AI for encrypting and compressing data.
2. Security: integrated security, sensor networks, alarm devices, guard services.
3. Biotechnology: new types of food, hormones, stimulants, bioweapons.
4. Weapons and ammunition: firearms reliable in all conditions, genetically branded weapons, smart ammunition.
5. Construction: shelters, fully automated hotels and homes, smart buildings.
6. Cybertechnology: all kinds of cybermodifications (implants), calibration and diagnostic equipment for cybermods.
7. Education: various types of training, educational software, games.
8. Electronics: various consumer electronic equipment.
9. Power Engineering: energy generators, batteries, power supplies.
10. Genetics: custom genetic modifications, insect-based combat mutants, cloning services for non-human living organisms.
11. Mining: Miniature explosives, autonomous mining robots, physique enhancing cybermodifications, natural resource extraction.
12. Computer games: development and maintenance of personal achievements in online games, personalised learning games for employees, tactical games.
13. Media: entertainment shows, news, reports, public opinion shaping.
14. Nanotechnology: medical & manufacturing nanobots, spy gear.
15. Software Development: firewalls & software to protect Infosphere nodes, application software, hacking software.
16. Chemical industry: combat chemicals, chemical protection agents, household chemicals.
17. Pharmaceutical industry: drugs, stimulants, cosmetics.
18. Computer industry: cyberdecks and computer peripherals, hackers for hire.
19. Space industry: orbital stations, stratospheric shuttles, robust materials, life support systems.
20. Aviation industry: aircraft, helicopters, hovercraft, navigation systems, drones.

11 - 20

1. Machinery industry: mechanical machinery, industrial robots, metallurgy and metalworking.
2. Maritime industry: marine resource exploitation, marine vehicles, exploration of the seas and oceans.
3. Clothing industry: casual clothing, protective clothing, body armour.
4. Precision industry: laboratory equipment, instruments, tools.
5. Automotive industry: ground vehicles, parts, armour and vehicle mounted weapons.
6. Food industry: Food, stimulants, drugs; hermetic, indestructible packaging.
7. Psychotechnology: psychological support, personal development techniques, religious organisations, mental training.
8. Robotics: robots of all kinds, drones, androids for childcare or household management.
9. Agriculture: genetically modified animals with implants, specialised plants.
10. Entertainment: organisation of sports events, music events, outdoor games, rallies, casinos, raffles; recorders and sensory experience simulators.
11. Telecommunications: eavesdropping equipment, telecom access equipment, infosphere infrastructure devices, jammers, neuroprocessors.
12. Financial services: loans, debt recovery, lotteries, accounting systems.
13. Information services: intelligence, investigation services, search and information spoofing in the Infosphere.
14. Municipal services: cleansing, & cleaning, public transport, ground traffic control systems.
15. Courier services: package delivery, secure storage and delivery of messages or documents, anonymous lockers.
16. Healthcare services: hospital treatment and emergency services, medical equipment, emergency vehicles.
17. Military services: troops rental and training, rental of military equipment, weapons and combat vehicles.
18. Legal services: SI liberation procedures, lawsuits and litigation support, intercultural communication, negotiations, implementation of the client’s ”last will”.
19. Transportation services: Automated transport vehicles, transport of materials and persons (also dangerous), massive distribution (leaflets, vaccines)).
20. Waste disposal: environmental protective suits, antimutagenic and antiradiation drugs, harmful substance detection systems (poisons, biological viruses), waste disposal services.

Rumour (d20 + d20)

The first roll selects the column, the second selects the position in the column.

Resources (d20)

An example of the benefits of each resource is given next to every entry.

1. Technological resources: access to the latest technological developments
2. Financial resources: unlimited cash and credit
3. Military contacts: permits to military facilities, contact with the command, military equipment
4. Influence in hacker groups: access to any information on the network, data gathering, Infosphere nodes hacking.
5. Media credibility: ability to communicate any information to the public, acquisition of any information
6. Trust of ordinary people: ability to cause riots and demonstrations, crowd control, spreading rumours
7. Smuggler contacts: access to illegal products, concealment of people and things, smuggling
8. Control of city gangs: access to illegal products and services, robbery, burglary, kidnapping
9. Influence in government institutions: passes, false identities, access to non-public information
10. Scientific laboratories: diagnostics, data analysis, data and technology in any field of science
11. Drug trafficking control: illegal stimulants, network of drug dealers, secret channels for smuggling goods and people
12. Media control: ability to manipulate media coverage, access to compromising information (politicians, public figures)
13. Control over police and municipal services: access to police systems, police support , legal impunity
14. Influence in religious sects: ability to cause riots and demonstrations, access to illegal products, ability to manipulate religious communities
15. Intelligence capabilities: access to any information, tracking, detection, cover-up of incidents
16. Contacts among runners: ability to hire a group for a task, useful information for the job, safe locations
17. Influence among arms dealers: easy access to weapons of any kind
18. Biotechnology resources: genetic modifications, mutations, cloning, illegal treatments, poisons, stimulants
19. Landscape resources: premises and land for rent or use
20. Entertainment industry control: contacts in night clubs, informator networks, debtor data, organisation of free events and competitions, gambling control

Objectives (d20)

Examples of how to achieve each objective are given next to each entry, and may consist of more than one activity. Corporation objectives can be used as potential tasks for players or elements of the world that players will have to deal with (for example, by counteracting the achievement of a given objective).

1. Damage the competition (destruction of equipment, site or killing, transfer of employees)
2. Discredit the competition publicly (scandal in the media or political arena)
3. Take control of a selected public domain (transport, municipal financing, municipal services)
4. Maximise sales profits (winning a contract, free product advertising)
5. Steal competitor data (product documentation, personal records)
6. Discredit a well-known politician (to gain political influence or as an act of a revenge)
7. Force or persuade a well-known public figure to sign a contract
8. Reveal irregularities in government institutions (plan to restrict citizens’ rights, bribery, illegal activities of officials)
9. Prevent the disclosure of inconvenient truths about a corporation (illegal activities, experiments)
10. Detect and eliminate traitors inside the corporation
11. Track down and recover an escaped employee (valued scientist; someone from the board of directors’ family; person who stole information)
12. Acquire a competitor’s employee
13. Put your spy on the management board of your competitors
14. Test the latest product directly on citizens (chemical, food, stimulant, weapons)
15. Introduce dangerous product into the market (stimulant with side-effects, failing cybertechnology)
16. Prevent a disaster caused by corporate experiments (environmental, social)
17. Induce a controlled disaster (epidemic to introduce a vaccine, contamination to sell protective measures)
18. Discreetly contain an uncontrollable disaster within the corporation (virus outbreak among employees, internal computer network failure)
19. Recover stolen data (technical product documentation, personal records)
20. Discreetly get rid of an inconvenient member of your own management (public scandal, kidnapping, fabricated evidence of a crime)

A favour for a favour

A simple concept of cooperation between players and corporations If the players’ actions during the session have contributed to any goal of a corporation, the referee marks a credibility point (dot, symbol or whatever) next to that corporation. Each credibility point can be used once to access one of the corporation’s resources. Assistance in the realisation of an objective can be overt (execution of one or more tasks) or coincidental (the actions of unwitting players coincide with the goals of the zaibatsu).

Employee Profile (d20)

During the course of the game, the protagonists are bound to come into contact with zaibatsu employees. And they may even want to run a game in which they are able to navigate the corporate reality, at least for a while. In order to give each corporation a certain characteristic, you can define a profile of its employees. Representatives of a given zaibatsu are not all the same, but belong to a community in which certain behavioural patterns are accepted and even popularised by corporate management.

The proposals presented below are forms of behaviour developed by corporate communities - thus going beyond mere employee loyalty to the corporation.

1. Personal honour and sense of duty: I’m making my own decisions and take responsibility for them; one of those decisions was to work for the corporation; I am not a slave and the corporation is not my master.
2. The common good (of the corporation) is the highest value: the people who employ me know better and it is my job to carry out their plans as carefully as possible.
3. What you can’t see does not exist and everyone has many faces: I firmly deny these heinous slanders, the person on the recording is probably a fake clone or the recording itself has been tampered with.
4. A good servant must have good wages: should I go into this hole? no way, I don’t earn that much here.
5. One big family: next week we are celebrating the birthday of the head of the department, my daughter has prepared a poem for the occasion.
6. It’s just a job, nothing personal: I do what I do, everyone has a job to do so why the fuss?
7. Only the best reach the top: I’m only 20 points short of entering the promotion zone. At this rate, I’ll be a department manager by the end of the year.
8. What you gain with your own hands is yours: so what if Anna was better than me? She missed out, made a mistake and I seized the opportunity. Life.
9. The less you can be seen, the safer: It’s better not to send this letter, someone might see, tell someone and we’ll be in trouble. Who needs this?
10. Success is achieved with patience: Your grandfather started as a simple factory worker, I am already working as a foreman. If you keep this up, maybe you will make it to the head of the department.
11. The day of retribution will come: yes, now we have to do what we are told, somehow we have to survive, but one day we will rise up and then blood will be spilled.
12. Everyone can have their profit: the company earns and I earn too, and if the company earns more I can have more too, thus simple.
13. We consciously and responsibly create a better world: these apocalyptic visions are exaggerated, corporations are a natural step in evolution. We understand this and we participate in the process of building the future. If you have a better alternative, we invite you to discuss it.
14. A place for everyone, everyone in their place: everyone wants to feel needed and not everyone has the same opportunities, thanks to this work there are no disregarded or unappreciated people among us.
15. If one doesn’t have what one like…: one likes what one has. Don’t complain, it could be worse.
16. United by a common enemy: it may not be perfect with us but with them, it’s a mess. We need to eradicate this abomination.
17. Common vision: you can laugh, you can doubt and you can ooze the poison of betrayal. When the great day comes you will see that we were on the right side. And everyone will thank us.
18. We are better than others: our specialists are the best, our methods the most effective. Being a member of this community is an honour and an ennoblement. We do not socialise with the motley crowd.
19. Clearly established rules: the rules are known and everyone follows them, what’s so strange about that? Would you prefer complete chaos and unfair games?
20. Let’s talk about it: talking, talking and more talking. Everyone can be talked to and everyone can be convinced … or at least develop some kind of consensus. The worst thing is when people whisper in corners.

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