This is a Rant. I know I should write my own fiction with blackjack and hookers but just let me get it out of my system.
I've read some solarpunk at this point (mostly short stories) and the number of times that I've read the equivalent of "and we all decided not to be jerks to one another and agreed to a bunch of stuff" it's basically a meme at this point. Yes, Solarpunk doesn't need to be hard sci-fi, there can be fantastical elements, but can we get over the "we magically work as one humanity now"?
I think it's OK to have a world that, without mass media and government control, we would realise that people are friendly and getting things done is easier than it seems, but it's also OK for this to be done in pockets. It's OK for there to be raiders and selfish people and people who still endeavour to pollute and it's OK to have bad guys. It's OK for the indigenous ways to just be the norm rather than the exception, but there are still a lot of ancap crazies out there.
So, if you're writing climate fiction / Solarpunk, please consider not doing that. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Yes.
Some friends and I have been developing a tabletop RPG. It's a sandbox style game meant to provide the same kind of flexible general foundation for solarpunk that D&D provides for fantasy and Shadowrun provides for cyberpunk.
Part of what I wanted to achieve with this was giving players the feeling of living in the real world. People disagree. There are factions. Some of it is serious, some of it is silly.
Here is the game manual: Fully Automated! Solarpunk RPG
Here are the stories: Fully Automated! Campaign 1: Regulation
Here are the prefab characters, which give you a sense for what kind of characters you can play.
It's currently in beta release with the intention of releasing it fully for free by the end of the year, so you can share it with anyone you want. If any of this appeals to you and you'd like to join one of the play testing sessions, let me know.
Nice. It's on the reading pile :)