Written by So you want to play “EVERYTHING FREE: A Solarpunk TTRPG”? Did you hear it on the podcast, Solarpunk Presents? (Podcast episode if you haven’t heard it yet: https://shows.acast.com/solarpunk-presents/episodes/everything-free-a-ttrpg-about-a-moneyless-world) Or just chancing upon this page? This TTRPG is being workshopped with the intention of asking and attempting to answer the question: Can a moneyless society meet the challenges of the Climate Crisis faster than a society depending on money and repeatedly dealing with the drawbacks of ‘economics,’ and all the excuses we make for the false reality and ills of money as a system for calculating values and setting the pace of most things?
At Fastfrwrd we think we should create a value system around ecological benefit so that our daily activities and exchanges are based on the value to the natural surroundings, the growth potential to the benefit of nature and the creatures within it, including ourselves, but only the measurable, natural, scientific things, so not for example social benefits. That would lean into social credit which can become dystopian quite quickly. But the chemical reaction of a plant that can photosynthesize better now that microplastics aren’t in the soil… that’s measurable. We think it might be interesting to base our value systems and payout on the benefit to the natural surroundings that each actor presents.
Some people believe in ‘Gift Economics’ or ‘Sacred Economics’ which you can read about for free here, from Charles Eisenstein: https://sacred-economics.com/
That said, while we were influenced by Eisenstein’s words about the fact that capitalism rewards extraction, taking from nature, while protecting nature is undervalued; we draw the line at saying everything should be free. The Founder of Fastfrwrd has African lineage and some of her ancestors were enslaved. While a moneyless world is not the same as slavery, there is something about the emancipation of the enslaved that required something indisputably exchangeable, because the risk of a ‘free’ world is that some people decide that ‘free’ is only for their friends, and then fence off and guard and protect the resources they have dubbed to be free for the people they like. If they do so faster than others, then all of a sudden, they have cornered the now non existent market.
So this is a nuanced argument, in a world that has not overcome its prejudices, especially when times are hard, and climate is all about hard times. When people are scared, they might hoard, they might faction and sequester themselves, splitting off into their own little groups and acting as hurt children rather than healthy adults.
Of course, any transition we choose is based upon our decisions of who we want to be, who we wish to represent ourselves as, how we want to correct the past. However, perhaps Fastfrwrd’s Nature Benefit System & Currency is transitionary. That said, we might say, why wait. Perhaps we would have to ensure there was a saturation point of counseling available for massaging social bonds to be without conflict as much as possible. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
We at Fastfrwrd have a small superstition about the fact that this N.B.S. we have workshopped was affirmed during a very strict Carbon Neutral Strike process and the strictures of the process, the pain of trying to opt entirely out of the broken carbon cycle for nearly 2 weeks in 2024, and the relief felt when thinking about the Fastfrwrd N.B.S. at the time, might indicate that, more than the uncertainty of everything free, after years of alternative currency trial and error and the adventures but also MISadventures of a life trying to get by on alternatives to money, well. Maybe this system which is a step away from money but retains the wildcard effect that makes money so addictive, the fact that it can become anything else once the portions match, this may be something actually good.
A purist may say, there is no good in a thing that causes so much bad. Much like our response to plastic, where just nothing can be done with it no matter that it keeps your food fresh for a couple weeks and is water tight for things that might drip in your bag. The corrupting, corrosive effect of it all. The numbers, and the quantifying, and the attempt at imposing order on a nature that abhors a straight line, why don’t we just get away from it all?
Well. We ask and try to answer that with EVERYTHING FREE, A Solarpunk TTRPG.
If you’d like, you’re welcome to fill in our survey about your game experience, and if you record it and share it, even better!
Survey Link: https://fastfrwrd.info/blog/qsm_quiz/everything-free-a-solarpunk-ttrpg-survey/
Happy playing.