Bootlegging

Basic Information

Bootleg or bootlegging usually refers to making, transporting and/or selling illegal alcoholic liquor or copyrighted material; the term originates from concealing flasks of alcohol in the legging of boots. Bootleg may also refer to:

• Smuggling
• Rum-running, the sale or transport of liquor without regard to legal regulations and taxes
• Bootleg mining, hidden or illegal coal mining
• Bootleg (radio), the use of illegal equipment, frequencies, or operating procedures in two-way radio
• Bootlegging (business), the secret organization of an innovation process
• Bootlegging, a common colloquial slang term amongst owners of railroad speeders to describe the illegal operation of a Speeder on a railway.
• Copyright Infringement
• Bootleg recording, an otherwise unavailable audio or video recording distributed without the artist's consent
• Counterfeit merchandise
• Mashup (music), music which contains unlicensed samples of other music
• Bootleg role-playing games, illegally copied rulebooks for tabletop role-playing games

Bootleg is also the name of a couple books and films, a comic book character, several musical albums, and is another term for bell-bottoms. Here's two other uses of Bootleg that might possibly matter in the context of gaming:

• Bootleg play, a tactic in American football
• Bootleg turn, a driving maneuver

Sources

Bibliography

1. The above list is edited down from the much longer one at Wikipedia

Game and Story Use

• Wow. I had no idea that word had so many different meanings. That confusion can be put to work.
  • An NPC might have a reputation of being a bootlegger - a somewhat undeserved reputation because they do a different type of bootlegging than they've been accused of. The resulting confusion / frustration / complication could be the basis of a plotline, or just an element of characterization.
  • The PCs (or NPC police) overhear just a few words of a conversation between two criminals conspiring to bootleg. The authorities / investigators have some sort of crime to prevent, but not much of a lead to follow.
• Any setting with borders is likely to have smugglers - some of whom might even be the PCs.
• A PC Rockerboy in Cyberpunk 2020 might face reduced income if he doesn't figure out a way to stop bootleggers from undercutting his label.
  • Or, given the dubious ethics of most CP2020 characters, the PCs are probably the ones doing the bootlegging, and selling the music for dirt-cheap on the street. If the artist they're getting rich off has a contract with a megacorp, this is a dangerous game.