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View Full Version : Actual Play: My Matrix RPG


SteveD
11-16-2003, 07:16 PM
Again, set just after the first film. PCs are:
Isryphel (Jude Law) - gun bunny who believes the outer world is also a Matrix (matrix 3)
Rat (Seth Green) - sarcastic hacker with a potentially deadly curiosity (matrix 3)
Nirto (???) - adrenaline junkie driver and kung fu dude (matrix 3)
Eurydice (Angela Basset) - mother-bear hovercraft captain deadly when cornered (matrix 4)

I never really worked their deals into the game, or got their fates to work, but I think this is always going to happen sometimes. You have a shot and maybe it works maybe it doesn't.

It helps if you don't have a plot ready, I guess (like Kickers in Sorcerer). But I did this time, cos I wasn't feeling ready to go purely off the cuff.

Some people have arksed me how I can rip off any story for any game. See if you can pick this film....

Our heroes arrive at the bad end of town to retrieve a mysterious suitcase. Their guides ask for more money, but are run off. On the broken stone wall is scrawled black graffiti saying "Beware the Shadows". The gang avoid the booby trapped stairs, break open the security doors and find themselves in a high-tech bank vault, not the kind of thing you expect in a brownstone in a Harlem-esque place. They do some kewl flips over the lasers, grab the suitcase from its pressure plate, and run. Agents try and chase them to the exit, but they make some cool rolls and get away.

Back in the real world, they meet Morpheus who explains that the suitcase contains one part of a code. Ghost explains that the Matrix is just a computer program, and therefore, it contains information about itself - where information is stored,and how it connects to hardware. These are all stored in a central block, guarded by the Agents, impossible to get. But there must also exist backups - archives - hidden throughout the city in case soemthing goes wrong. The resistance has discovered a legend of a hidden archive, lost beneath the city. This "suitcase" now a disk, is part one of a key to a map to find the archive. The other part is with a rogue program called the Keymaker. They have to find him and get the second part.

So they go to a night club (things always happen in nightclubs) and meet the Keymaker's sexy daughter, played by Kelly (Lady Deathstrike) Hu. Steve hits a mental speedbump, unable to think of something she might ask for in return for the code (she mentions other buyers and asks for their offer). Now I know why they had to kiss Monica Belucci - it's hard to demand a price in the Matrix that is meaningful. Eventually, Pandora - for tis her name - demands simply that the Keymaster gets access to the archive also, and that she come along to ensure this.

They agree. They go upstairs to find the Keymaker. He says he has the code, but asks for the same thing - the archived maps are his key to staying away from the Agents. The lights go out. Downstairs there is screaming. The guys from Equilibrium - all black suits with tails and high collars - are clearing the place out and demanding the Keymaker come out. Gun-fu happens.

Isryphel guns them down from the balcony as the others run downstairs. Nitro, Eurydice and their charges run through the Kitchen, Rat stops to help Isryphel. The Shadows (for tis them) have 4,4 in their gunstats so chew up the PCs quite easily. Isryphel stops to reload and the leader, Tempest (played by Christian Bale) kicks him through a wall. Rat charges him, but he throws Rat over the bar into the liquor. Both go down bleeding.

Meanwhile, speeding away, Pandora explains that the Shadows are a group of awakened humans, who don't want to destroy the matrix or the machines: they simply want to be superheroes and gods, and rule the matrix with this nigh-infinite power. After all, if you could hack your world to achieve infinite wealth and control, wouldn't you? But this means stopping the revolution and fighting the agents, so the Shadows tend to be bad-ass mofos.

The two left drop off the Keymaker at the library and go to Grand Central Station with the complete map. Dodging cops and security guards, they reach the control room. Nitro goes one on one with Tempest and does some damage, and Tempest flees. Nitro uploads the disk into the navigation system, and down on the main floor, the giant track map shows an overlay, revealing the location of the archive. However, a chuckle from Tempest reveals he has seen it too, and he tells them he'll get there first.

We cut to Rat and Isryphel being tempted to join the Shadows, for they will soon rule the Matrix in all ways that matter, when they have the archive. Infinite wealth and power awaits. The boys are not impressed.

He drives off one way. The PCs get their car, but then they realise their friends are going the other way in a second car. They follow their friends, Eurydice shooting at tires with her shotgun. A great chase occurs. Isryphel and Rat start trying to escape inside the car. Midbattle, as Isyrphel is tryingto wrench a gun away from the Shadows in the front seat, the entire car gets clipped by a semi, and cut in half, leaving our two PCs sitting there, skidding along the road, with one Shadow's hand still on Isryphel's gun (not the rest of him, though). Cue lots of jokes about katanas. They dodge traffic, kill the remaining shadow, and get picked up by Nitro. Some good driving rolls means they are able to catch the midnight train, the only subway train that goes past the disused Old Museum sub-station, wherein the archive lies.

Tempest and his men are also on the train. They exchange banter, then kung-fu fight. Isryphel crawled forward to the Shadow's carriage on the roof, and drops down dramatically into the fight. Nitro is gunned down early on, and lies bleeding. Rat is forced to take cover behind a chair. Feeling the odds turning, Eurydice grabs Tempest and THROWS HIM THROUGH THE ROOF OF THE TRAIN. Then she jumps through it herself and starts fighitng him up there.

They fight a lot, each taking turns to scrape the other along the walls of the tunnels speeding by, chewing up rock and steel as they do. She takes some damage, but manages to kick Tempest back to the very edge of the train. He teeters, but doesn't fall. He responds by kicking her up into the ceiling a few times. Then she gets mad, and takes off her belt, which is one of those ninja nine-piece-staff-whip things. She kicks Tempest's ass royally, finally tripping him off the train and dragging him along side it as they speed forward.

"Looks like your plans for world conquest have been derailed!" she yells, and then he is pulled under the wheels. Meanwhile Isryphel has killed the last goon downside (shooting him so hard he launches out the front of the train and also gets run over). As the train clatters on, Nitro dies in the arms of his captain ("This is the end of the line for me, captain!....You'll have to find a new pilot now!" "I'll never find a better pilot than you, Nitro!")

Then, mysteriously, the train suddenly stops, in a strange, empty station. On the far wall, a box reads "Emergency Security Access." Rat breaks the code. Pandora says that she can't open it. It must be Isryphel. He does. Lots of shiny light explodes, and when it stops, Isryphel's body, in meat space, is dead, and a shiny, transparent, cricuit-crossed version of Isryphel remains. He has ascended and become The Guide. Now he knows where everything in the Matrix is, and what it all means.

Now they just have to use it.

Cue Rage Against the Machine. Roll Credits.

SteveD
11-16-2003, 07:21 PM
The game is here, btw: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=83016

(for now, now I've learnt things I'm going to do a revised rules-set and put it on my website.)

Some things I learnt about the system:

How much I fudge makes it hard for me to playtest with great intensity. :)

Success is quite common so there should be some guidelines on how to make failure suck badly. Also, it's worth pointing out that Matrix successes tend to happen at least 50% of the time, so they become commonplace. So better to have the camera-rotating hot shit happen only on the double successes, and just remind people what they can do with any success.

Or...have some guidelines and make some things just not possible without a matrix success. Not hard and fast rules, but just show the kind of scale of things that can happen with each success. Might be particularly important for flat tests (not against opponents) - much as I DESPISE difficulty tables, they might be useful. What tests require a matrix success or better, and so forth.

I also need to have some guidelines at least for when death (as opposed to losing plot immunity) should happen.

The system is way lethal, too - one bad roll can knock you out of the fight. Need to put in some guidelines on that too, I guess. GM tips. PARTICULARLY on how your body chips refresh (besides getting them for cool stuff). Scenes of downtime? Might look at MURPG, the way it gets chips back.

Matrix chips should give you an automatic matrix SUCCESS, not a matrix DICE. Probably the same for Body chips and Skill dice. They're not worth spending otherwise.

Six is a good point level to set players at. 3 is definitely the right number for all downloaded skills. The threat level is nicely balanced. One shots work really well, but as stated in the rules, campaign play should be avoided. It just works better that way.

Also, my players rock, and they were very patient with me when my brain exploded. And they did some superb kung-fu stunts. There were times when I actually wanted the system to reward them for it (like punching through the train roof). Might be something to include as an optional rule...although it doesn't fit with fortune in the beginning, I know.

Cheers,
Steve

SteveD
11-16-2003, 07:30 PM
Something else we discovered:

Saying anything in an Agent Smith voice is funny. We had Agent Smith vs Superman:

"So, Mister Kent...it seems you have been living TWO lives..."

and Agent Smith as Farmer Macgregor (from Beatrix Potter):

"So, Mister Rabbit....it seems you have been living TWO lives...one of these lives, you a cute little bunny with an adorable scritchy nose. The other, you sneak into gardens at night and devour lettuce and carrots. One of these lives has a future...."

Steve

Valadorn
11-16-2003, 07:53 PM
I read over the rules in the other thread and I like....I like enough that I might try those out on my own. I let you know how they go. I didn't see any problems with the rules off the top of my head, and I must admit that the idea of a working Matrix system gave me warm tingly feelings.

Malenfant
11-16-2003, 07:54 PM
Originally posted by SteveD
Meanwhile, speeding away, Pandora explains that the Shadows are a group of awakened humans, who don't want to destroy the matrix or the machines: they simply want to be superheroes and gods, and rule the matrix with this nigh-infinite power. After all, if you could hack your world to achieve infinite wealth and control, wouldn't you? But this means stopping the revolution and fighting the agents, so the Shadows tend to be bad-ass mofos.


Nice idea... but can't they just track down where the Shadows are broadcasting themselves into the Matrix in the real world and disable/destroy their ship? Or are they somehow awakened but not unplugged from the Matrix (which wouldn't make sense, since the Agents could easily track 'em down and possess them).

Jim DelRosso
11-16-2003, 07:57 PM
Steve, this game makes me happy, and makes me want to play. Are you doing another online one-shot anytime soon? :)

SteveD
11-16-2003, 08:05 PM
but can't they just track down where the Shadows are broadcasting themselves into the Matrix in the real world and disable/destroy their ship? Or are they somehow awakened but not unplugged from the Matrix (which wouldn't make sense, since the Agents could easily track 'em down and possess them).

Allow me to answer that question with WIRE FU IN EXPLODING CGI HELICOPTERS!

Jim - shmaybe. I'm a bit Matrixed out, but I could go another round. You gotta find me, though - I'm like the A-Team. If you need a GM, and nobody else can help, and if you can find me, I will be that GM.

Steve

Craig Oxbrow
11-16-2003, 08:10 PM
Originally posted by SteveD
Something else we discovered:

Saying anything in an Agent Smith voice is funny.
We kneeeew that alllllready, Misssster Deeee...

Uh, anyway. The Empire Strikes Back? - the bad guys are "Dark Side" reflections of the heroes with the same kewl powerz, tempting them with a deal to join them and rule the setting at their right hand.

Hmm. I like the Guide imagery. Also, bigass fight scene with Eurydice and Tempest. Rock.

SteveD
11-16-2003, 08:11 PM
Nope. Hint: this film was recently released on DVD.

Craig Oxbrow
11-16-2003, 08:14 PM
Urgl.

SteveD
11-16-2003, 08:21 PM
another big hint: to secure the suitcase from the vault, they had to take it off a pressure plate, and replace it with something else equally heavy.

cbeilby
11-16-2003, 08:22 PM
Oh great. Do they have to run from a giant boulder next? ;)

Craig Oxbrow
11-16-2003, 08:23 PM
That's a somewhat bigger hint...

SteveD
11-16-2003, 08:25 PM
I didn't say it was difficult. :) But what this does show is if I'd left that bit out of the game, my players might never have got it. Change the trappings enough and the original fades away, no matter how close the plot. Well, sometimes.

- raiders of the lost archive D

Chris Goodwin
11-16-2003, 11:34 PM
Does the system generate assloads of collateral damage and scads of dead civilians?

SteveD
11-16-2003, 11:40 PM
Dude, didn't you see all the architectural damage in that write up?

It was lacking some civilian deaths though, sure. But the system encourages that (see the combat example).

Steve

colbabe
11-16-2003, 11:59 PM
Hey, Nitro was played by stubble-controlled Orlando Bloom. BTW, wasn't Eurydice played by Michelle Yeoh? Scott?

SteveD
11-17-2003, 12:03 AM
Yes and Yes. Damn my brain. It's like one of those...things...that you drain water through...with the holes...

Burgonet
11-17-2003, 03:22 AM
Indeed, the role was being played by Michelle Yeouh (watch me spell her name wrong). I did flirt with Angela Bassett, but decided a Cantonese flyer captain would be a little different. But Angela was my second choice.

Burgonet
11-17-2003, 08:33 AM
Originally posted by cbeilby
Oh great. Do they have to run from a giant boulder next? ;)

Dealing with a killer boulder in the Matrix?

That is a cool idea....

:)

Jim DelRosso
11-17-2003, 09:55 AM
Originally posted by SALette
Dealing with a killer boulder in the Matrix?

That is a cool idea....

:)

The boulders are part of the Machines' psychological warfare campaign. They rarely manage to kill freeminds that way, but when they are successful, the cleanup duty on the hovercraft afterwards is very demoralizing. :)

JDCorley
11-17-2003, 10:45 AM
Originally posted by SALette
Dealing with a killer boulder in the Matrix?


Somehow I think it would end up looking like the rolling boulder from UHF's opening sequence.



Spatula City > Zion.

SteveD
11-17-2003, 08:10 PM
Except, cos it's the Matrix, the boulder will be wearing a black trenchcoat and sunglasses.

Craig Oxbrow
11-17-2003, 08:22 PM
And get in a fight with a lesbian steamroller. Obviously.

SteveD
11-17-2003, 08:24 PM
Oooh, how cross-genre-tastic! Tres zeitgeisty.

And that lesbian steamroller is getting a lot of work these days.