1985

1985

The Official TRPG Game

Supplement
Table of Contents
1985: A Snapshot ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Chapter 1: Terminology ............................................................................................................................ 4
Chapter 2: Popular Culture ....................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 3: Punk Rock ............................................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 4: Gangs ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Chapter 6: Malls ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Maps ........................................................................................................................................................ 11

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trancerhuntermagazine@gmail.com. Trancer Hunter Magazine is a free publication, produced solely for the love
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your work is selected for publication.
Please also send letters or questions to trancerhuntermagazine@gmail.com.
All content Trancers Role Playing Game

Trancers Role Playing Game

1985

The Official TRPG Game

Supplement
By
Wind Lothamer
Artwork by Wind Lothamer

While it is true that one of the greatest

features of the Trancers RPG is the fact that
you can literally play your characters in any
time and on any different world, it is also a
known fact that the best and most hyperrealistic game setting for any campaign is
1985 Los Angeles. This is the paradise that
Martin Whistler chose to infect in the first
Trancers film and which Jack Deth himself
chose to spend the rest of his lifeforsaking
even the awesome clothing of the future!

1985: A
Snapshot
President of the USA: Ronald Reagan.
Governor of California: George Deukmejian.
Mayor of Los Angeles: Tom Bradley

Up until now, you would have had to rely

on your own clouded memories, or even your
parents memories, to create a realistic
facsimile of 1985 . But, thanks to the diligent
research and honest hard-work of the TRPG
staff, you now hold in your hand the key to
this vaulted and hallowed year! You are
welcome, intrepid gamer.

Top Box Office Hit: Back to the Future

Top Song: Careless Whisper by Wham!
Top TV Show: The Cosby Show.
Best New Burger: McDLT

While you are welcome to set your games

in any American or foreign city, or even on a
farm or in the forest, you will notice that the
majority of the information within these
pages will focus particularly on the great city
of Los Angeles. The reason for this is
obvious, and if you dont like it you probably
should go play something else.

Great New Hair Product Mousse.

Latest Version of Windows OS: 1.0
Coolest New Tech: Sony Walkman
Sexiest Woman Alive: Kelly LeBrock
Official Worlds Sexiest Man: Mel Gibson.
Greatest Country on Earth: USA

1985

Trancers Role Playing Game

Chapter 1: Terminology
If you are going to play in 1985, then you
have to be able to talk the talk as well as you
walk the walk. If you cant get the verbiage,
then you are just a poseur, man.

Choice Used to describe something that is of

extremely high quality.
Burn/Burned You either got proved wrong,
insulted beyond come-back, or otherwise
humiliated.

24-7 Twenty Four, Seven

Grody Disgusting/filthy.
Bitchin See Gnarly.
Rad See Kick Ass.
Airhead Used to describe someone who is not
very intelligent.

No Doy - Obviously.

No Problemo No problem.

Fuck-n-A (1) A term of agreement or

affirmation. (2) An expression of anger.

Gnarly See Bodacious.

As if! No.
Dude/Dudette (1) Gender specific pronouns
used instead of names. (2) Terms of endearment.
(3) General statement of agreement / wonder /
confusion / joy.

Kick Ass See Righteous.

Bogus Fake.
Righteous See To the Max.

Like Totally (1) Used as a way to express

extreme agreement with someone or something.
(2) Used as a way to express extreme
disagreement with someone or something.

Poseur Someone who is Bogus.

Gag Me with a Spoon Used to express extreme
dislike for something or someone.

Tubular Used as a way to express excitement

or to describe something that would or should
elicit excitement in others.

To the Max See Fresh.

Bodacious See Rad.

Fresh See Bitchin.

Whats Your Damage? An expression of

annoyance, anger, shock, etc.

Skeezer A woman with low morals and bad

hygiene.

1985

Chapter 2: Popular Culture

There was a lot of great stuff that you could
get in any store in 1985. In fact, most things that
people like to use now were available back then
and some things, like the McDLT and New
Coke were only available in 1985 and not
anymore!

Pee Wee Herman, The Cosby Show, and

Golden Girls were eating up the network air
waves, while Wham!, Madonna, and Cyndi
Lauper were dominating the music charts.
However, things were also changing for the
better in 1985, with L.L. Cool J. dropping his
first album, the Beastie Boys signing with Def
Jam, and Dr. Dre meeting up with DJ Yella and
Eazy E in the L.A. night club scene.

Some great products

Item
Hair Mousse
Nintendo NES
Sony Walkman
Swatch
Atari's 520 ST
I.B.M.'s Proprinter
Flight Simulator II
Apple Laser Printer
Nike Air Jordans

Cost
$1.99
$199
$150
$15
$1000
$1000
$50
$7000
$250

In the theater, Michael J. Fox, Emilio Estevez,

and Sly Stallone were tearing it up, each with
two films. Also, Weird Science, The Goonies,
and Commando came out that year. But, best of
all, this was the year that the greatest movie of
all was made: Trancers starring Tim Thomerson
and Helen Hunt!
5

Trancers Role Playing Game

Joe Montanas 49ers defeated Dan Marinos
Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX. And the Royals
beat the Cardinals in the 1985 World Series.

The Lakers were the greatest show on Earth,

finally knocking off the hated Celtics for the
NBA Championship behind the legendary trio of
Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and
James Worthy. This would kick off the greatest
decade of NBA basketball action, which began
with the Lakers three-peat in 86 and 87. Clyde
Drexler, for his part scored 18 points a game for
the Trail Blazers and Arvydas Sabonis led his
club all the way to the Saporta Cup

Pepsi was somehow outselling Coke, most

likely riding the wave of success behind
Max Hedroom and probably something to do
with the Punk philosophy of embracing the
grotesque and disturbing. In fact, 1985 saw the
release of Cokes horrible New Coke line, which
lasted only 6 months.

1985

Chapter 3: Punk Rock

In the early 1980s, the hardcore scene,

particularly in Los Angeles and Orange County,
gained a reputation for violence because several
violent hardcore punk gangs had formed in
Southern California. Reputed violence at punk
concerts was featured in episodes of the popular
television shows CHiPs and Quincy, M.E., in
which Los Angeles hardcore punks were
depicted as being involved in murder and
mayhem.
By 1985, punk concerts had increasingly
become sites of violent battles between police
and concertgoers, particularly in Los Angeles,
but also in San Francisco. Henry Rollins argued
that in his experience, the police caused far more
problems than they solved at punk
performances. At one point, Black Flag was
under heavy surveillance by police convinced
that the band was the cover for a drug ring.

Trancers Role Playing Game

Chapter 4: Gangs

They frequently used some type of weapon

during the commission of their crimes.
Vietnamese gang members began targeting their
own communities with ruthless and vicious
crimes and would often travel to various
Vietnamese communities throughout the country
to commit these crimes.

The 1980s saw a huge increase in the number

of gangs. All of the ideas of the Black Panther
Party and the Brown Berets were completely
lost by this time. The gangs were exclusively
focused on territory and crime. The beginning of
the Crack Epidemic only worsened the effect, as
the number of gang sets increased into the
hundreds and spread out throughout the country.
The neighborhoods of South Central became
very separated at this time. In many areas, each
block had a different gang, and some blocks had
more than one gang on them.

The punk gangs were white and would do a

lot of violence to anyone who got in their way,
even beating up and shooting at black gangs in
Watts. Some of the earliest gangs were formed
in 1977-1980. (BPO) Burbank Punks
Organization,The L.O.D. (Lords of Destruction),
Vicious Circle, FFF (Fight For Freedom), LMPs
(La Mirada Punks), Circle One, East Los
Angeles ESPs (East Side Punx) and the
L.A.D.S. (LA Death Squad).

By 1980, there were approximately 15,000

Crips and Bloods gang members in and around
the Los Angeles area. The gangs-or sets-ranged
in size from a few gang members to several
hundred and had little, if any, organized
leadership. The typical age of a gang member
varied from 14- to 24-years-old.

It was not until the late 1980s that the

Skinheads were identified as the primary source
of white street gang violence in this state. They
were characterized by their shaven heads and
white-supremacy philosophy and, for the most
part, were factionalized and unorganized.

By 1985, the Vietnamese gangs were

committing organized auto thefts, extortions,
firearms violations, home-invasion robberies,
witness intimidations, assaults, and murders.

1985

Chapter 6: Malls
Here are some of the great stores that were at
the mall in 1985:

Whatever you were doing in 1985, you can

bet that you were probably doing it at the Mall!
The mall was the center of American social life
and had all of the most important things that you
would need: food, fashion, and friends. If you
couldnt afford to hang out at the mall, or if you
were one of the poor losers who had to work in
one of the stores at the mall, you know that you
were missing out on some serious awesomness.

Regardless of what town or city you were in

in 1985, you were always in the same place
when you went to the mall. That is because all
malls are the same! You would not have to
worry about being somewhere that you were not
safe and you did not have to worry about the
mean punk rock dudes who were always
hanging on the street. Also, you could always
get the freshest new music at Tower Records!

Record Town
Midland Records
Tape World
Papa Gino's
Sbarros
Orange Julius
Taco Lindo
Spencer's Gifts
J.C. Penny
Sam Goody
Tilt
Wet Seal
The Limitid
The Gap
Antics
Radio Shack

Trancers Role Playing Game

10

1985

Maps

11

Trancers Role Playing Game

12

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To submit articles, artwork, or other content for consideration, please send
unformatted Microsoft Word or Google Drive documents and/or high
resolution (300 dpi) jpg or tiff images to
trancerhuntermagazine@gmail.com. Trancer Hunter Magazine is a free
publication, produced solely for the love and support of the Trancers Role
Playing Game. We do not offer financial compensation for submissions,
even if your work is selected for publication.
Please also send letters or questions to trancerhuntermagazine@gmail.com.