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Emerging: canon check, comments & inspiration please!

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Aria

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« on: <05-04-12/1211:03> »
I’m currently running a series of pbp games over on the DS forums under the Emerging title.

I’m fascinated by matrix phenomenon, technomancers and AIs on one side (although I’ll be the first to admit I’m shaky on the rules) and magic, immortals, etc on the other, not necessarily mutually exclusive, and for me the link with the Earthdawn universe is one of the inspiring aspects of SR – I just don’t know the 4th World information as well as I would like to.  So naturally I’ve tried to shoehorn all of the above into a single plot line!

I like the thought of players being part of a ‘big picture’ even if they only ever catch glimpses of it.  Hopefully I can plunder the combined wisdom and knowledge here to improve my games, make sure I don’t violate canon too badly (I like to stick with it wherever possible), and address some concerns about the dangers of ‘railroading’ players to tell my story.

Spoilers galore here but I’ve already dropped enough hints in my games and OoC information that it probably wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who is following events in Conspiracy Theories, Corp Intrigue etc. 

So, without further blather I’ll set out some of my thinking and the Players involved and then ask for pointers, note specific concerns etc

End Metaplot Goal
[spoiler]
Inspired by Eclipse Phase (yes I know it’s not meant to be the same ‘universe’ but I like some of the transhuman themes) and some of the clues and hints dropped in recent SR sourcebooks my ‘behind the scenes’ protagonists are trying to create eGhosts (with access to the Resonance) as an alternative to the ED kaers.  They are working indirectly for the IE Leonardo with some collaboration by other like-minded immortals. Earth could be abandoned while the Scourge is running wild and without humans to attract them preserves could be created for host bodies, important artefacts etc.  I never intend to reach this goal in-game, it’s just the background to events.
[/spoiler]
Major Players
[spoiler]
Stillwater Collective: They started off as a transhumanist group trying to blend tech and magic.  The protagonists mentioned above got hold of them and refocused them towards creating the kaers of the future.  They are funded by the monies that Leonardo extorted  persuaded Renraku to give him in exchange for his futuristic matrix technologies.  I have subsequently decided that this group has become too powerful with too many tricks up its collective sleeve so I’m trying to rip chunks of it (which was part of what the Deepwatch game was all about-see below).  Me getting carried away and then trying to undo any potential overkill is a repeated theme lol

They are exploring the possibilities offered by virtual worlds to hide in and have liberated/collaborated on/developed concurrently a copy of the Imago system (developed by Transys Neuronet) that allows an eGhost to be created online – with varying degrees of success so far. 

Aria (my alter ego, and representation of the present): She has two manifestations, an immortal linked to Leonardo, one of Dunklezahn’s original watchers (assuming having two ‘masters’ isn’t too great a stretch), and also an AI copy of herself using the Imago software (there’s a precedent for an AI copy of an immortal, a dragon no less – at least if you take the conspiracy theory book at face value).  She only ever interacts over the matrix and nobody knows which version they are dealing with (or even that there are multiple versions!).  She is a meddler rather than a passive bystander, working to some arcane agenda set down by Big D and Brightlight.  Part of her matrix presence is as overseer / Queen of the Citadel game node which I’ve introduced in the game threads…

The Old Man (representation of the past): Someone I’ve only really dropped hints about so far…another meddler from the ED era, one of Celedyr’s drakes, who is manipulating people towards his personal goal: surviving the future Coming.

Summer (representation of the future): A prophet, someone who sees the future unfold through the flow of data through the matrix.  Inspired by the little girl in the film Push, even down to the art work!  She has been used to drop hints to keep players on track and give them clues that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.  She dimly sees the apocalypse approaching and is desperately trying to avert it by making sure the right people are in the right place at the right time…again, as a TM she’s part of the future (as I understand it TMs are the only magic element that survives into the battletech universe, but I know next to nothing about it)

Other Players / Connections
Silk: Probably my favourite PC and the key protagonist in my Snapshots fiction. Child of runners and now a runner in her own right.  She is questing to find the truth about her mother’s assassination at the hand of Deepwatch operatives.  She has joined a new Balefire to try and flush out the figure behind the killing.

Balefire: Ah, a reminiscence of when I could still play RP face to face :-P I killed off the original incantation because in my mind they were too powerful again (Emerging Conflict).  I’ve since rebuilt them for the 2072 thread (and loosing the GM they are now in Snapshots).  A mirrorshades professional  runner team that was destroyed by Deepwatch agents.  It is now being reborn…

Shrike:  Silk’s mother, now an eGhost, created in the Stillwater matrix when she was killed.  She represents one of the first successful creations of an eGhost using their technology, although she doesn’t remember her past except in fragments.  She was the rigger for the original Balefire group (and one of my longest running PCs back in the day when it was face to face RP)

The Citadel:  A matrix game originally conceived by Aria as a way of assisting the Stillwater mission.  It is a multi-world universe where players can write their own worlds and see them realised.  It is a way of pooling ideas for environments for the future UV nodes but presented as a game format to get peoples’ interest.  It acts as a shadow node on the side lines and allows her to tap the pulse of current matrix trends.

Argent: A Celtic witch, married into French nobility, turned info broker and fixer.  She doesn’t really understand all the undercurrents and machinations of those that are using her (eg Stillwater) but is a canny operator and is beginning to follow the TM theme.  She is grieving for her husband who died on a run.  His guardian spirit went free and is now protecting the family and impersonating her husband to maintain the fiction that he lives (at least the legal side of his existence anyway…)

Fre∑dom: A matrix gang/tribe, formally in Redmond, but likely to relocate to Puyallup as they were targeted by TM hunters with eDogs who carted off a number of their Emerged.  Perhaps were I should have gone with Stillwater to begin with…something much lower key whilst still being interesting.  I think I will focus a new game around their activities (fight for survival) at some point…  They are led by Prospero, former spyder for the Brotherhood.
[/spoiler]
Emerging Games
[spoiler]
Emerging – The Brotherhood, a loose alliance of fixers in Seattle headed up by Monarch.  It didn’t get far as pbp games sometimes don’t…Behind the scenes Monarch is a techno hater and he was behind the Deepwatch attack on Stillwater, the attempted assassination of The Suit (a pro technomancer politician and Brotherhood member) and the attack on the original Balefire runner team (the Brotherhood’s main team).

Emerging: Conflict – Deepwatch (a merc unit) are employed to take down the dangerous terrorist organisation at the Stillwater enclave.  As Stillwater defend themselves they use their matrix tech to pitch the attackers into a UV version of the tower in an attempt to learn who sent them and why.  Monarch is behind the scenes manipulating the attackers and subsequently the Metroplex Guard attack on the tower.  Stillwater becomes a shell of itself but struggles on…(As a GM it was particularly satisfying when the players finally realised they were in a simulation :))

Emerging: End of Days – Back to the UV node to test a ‘future event’ hypothesis.  This one is limping along with a couple of players…it seems to have gone a bit overboard on the power level, guess it was based on whatever film I was watching when I conceived it :-P When the team eventually breach the Azzie facility I’m considering another UV twist like the Conflict one…this time they will meet a product of the Horror Artificer in the base…this in turn is able to corrupt the UV test program and throw them into chaos.  I’m not ready to unleash this on the real world but Stillwater will have to shut down their node to prevent it escaping…start from scratch time…

Emerging: Promised Land / Chicago – Concurrent with the EoD game.  A team is going to Blackwater in Chi Town (a TM haven inside a former bug nest!) because they’ve been told it has been compromised.  They need to get their charges to Stillwater (hopefully just in time / just after that group has gone) & E:PL / UK A team is escorting a TM from France to a haven in the UK.  Clearwater will be a much smaller version of Stillwater but the game is in the journey rather than the arrival, as with the Chi Town version below.  To link this one up with the Chi Town version (it works in the timeline) the place will be abandoned and they will need to head State side...

Possible Future Games
Emerging: Tribe – The Fre∑dom tribe have had to run and hide.  An exploration of their relocation to Puyallup and the struggles with normal folks and the hatred of TMs

Emerging: Circles of Power – How does the emergence affect high society?  A game revolving around European Nobles and their entourages (using some of the Jet Set sourcebook) and potentially a fall from grace.  Ties into Argent’s past and possibly the UnSeelie Court and their anti-elven machinations.

Emerging: Legacy – Silk has discovered that Monarch was behind the killing of her mother – a revenge run to an underwater facility in the South Pacific.  This somehow needs to be tied back to the TM issues too and I think the Stillwater group (in their sub) will get involved in transporting the team.

Other factors / themes
I want to make something of the mandatory registration of technomancers but I’m not sure where this sits in canon at the moment…

I want to play up the fact that the authorities are basically anti-TM or at the least frightened of their power.  The continuing antagonism seems to be borne out by the events in the latest Horizon book…?!?
[/spoiler]
My Concerns
I may be trying too hard to link various factions together from the SR universe.  In my defense, Aria et al. are meant to be meddlers who aren’t necessarily working at the strict command of their various masters.

Railroading.  I hate it when it’s done to me and I don’t want to do it to my players…equally though I know that I get carried away with telling a story and with pbp games (with large pauses between people posting at times) I sometimes have a tendency to direct events the way I want them to go…so, any observations on combatting this would be appreciated!

I don’t want my NPCs to dominate everything and I’ve been reigning them in from the start so that the players are key…but as the point above sometimes I get impatient to drive the action on and keep people posting and I can be a little blunt in using NPCs to drive people on.

So, having splurged all this out (partly for my own benefit to get me thoughts in order) does anyone have any comments or suggestions?  I’ll even take rants if they are constructive :D

As a final note, if anyone is inspired to come and play in one of my games, everybody welcome (we just might need to add some insider knowledge if you’ve taken the trouble to read through this lot)!!!
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CitizenJoe

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« Reply #1 on: <05-04-12/1331:50> »
Try like hell to get the players interacting with each other.  Don't even introduce your plot until they have started doing their own shenanigans.  PbP is notoriously hard on GMs because every player tries to be a lone wolf and only reacts and talks with NPCs.  They will suck your soul out through the keyboard if you let them.  Just give them some leeway as far as creating the shared game world experience and push them into interacting with each other.  That takes a huge burden of entertaining the players off your shoulders and lets them create their own fun.  Once they've got their own thing happening, that's when you introduce a little plot.

Or railroad the hell out of them if they aren't willing to take the reins.

Aria

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« Reply #2 on: <05-04-12/1439:38> »
Some have been more successful at that than others so far!  E:EoD was a great idea on paper but would be better run as a face-to-face I think.  Pbp doesn't lend itself to fast paced high octane milspec action  ::)  ah well, live and learn.  I'll round that one up soonish and move on...

Perhaps the Jet-set theme will encourage more player to player interaction, I hope so anyway!
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