Deathnet

[Imhotepthewise]

Just finished a straight read through this game. I am really excited to see d20 get pushed further to the envelope. I am brimming with ideas, and I think I could make a pretty exciting game out of this. I recommend this game and encourage you to purchase the mag, even for this article alone. I have found no glaring errors which make it difficult to play. I will try to build a few characters and hopefully post them for your comment.

 

[aurin777]

Hey there,
I know everyone has different things they'd like to see in Poly and all, but deathnet wasn't one of them for me. While I loved Iron Lords of Jupiter to death (the last minigame done by Poly) I would put deathnet in the category with Hijinx in the "I can think of 100 other campaigns I'd rather play" section. Can you tell me what you find so appealing about the setting and maybe turn my view on this?
~~Brandon

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Deathnet and Netrunning

Honestly, I haven't exactly sat down and pored over it, I have skimmed it in Gallery of Champions. But with a little tweaking it can easily become a netrunning (or gridcasting) addendum to a near future game, which is what I plan to do with it once my copy comes in. It will also be fun watching my netrunners trying to figure out whether to take levels in virtual or real classes. I like the programs as spells, it makes it easier to use.

 

[d4]

i liked Deathnet because it reminded me of Tron.

also, i think it would be a cool backstory for doing a multi-genre campaign. you know, today we're slogging through a WWII FPS combat sim, next week we're doing heroic fantasy adventure in a MMORPG, the week after that we're assaulting the Koopa King's Castle in Marioland, and after that maybe we'll end up trapped in PacMan's maze or shooting down TIE Fighters in our X-Wings.

FWIW, i like Hijinx too.

 

[Imhotepthewise]

Like d4, I think the opportunities to cross genres would be neat. You could plausibly mix some interesting NPCs, drawing from your favorite video games. Unlike Hijinx, which was cool to read, but I think would be a challenge to play, Deathnet gives a hazardous enough environment with death a true possibility to keep the edge sharp. I have a copy of Kromozome, which was a little grim to play itself, but with Deathnet's rules, could give some good background to work with. Why would you want to play this? Make the silly plausible. Create an interesting mix of PCs and NPCs with no rationale needed to justify it. Face some interesting foes in interesting places. A nice break from the ol' dungeoncrawl.

 

[d4]

A nice break from the ol' dungeoncrawl.

actually, i was thinking Deathnet would be a great place to do a dungeoncrawls!

whether they be based on Everquest, Quake, Half-Life, Super Mario World, Ms. Pac Man, or any of a score of other famous computer games -- it seems like the perfect environment for that sort of campaign.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Infomorphs

How would you handle AIs in this game? I could possibly pull out my rules from Buck Rogers XXVc, Alternity (PH and Dataware), and Kromosome (dear sweet Lord, I own too many books) and do it, but I am open to suggestions.

 

[d4]

How would you handle AIs in this game?

i would just treat them like regular characters, or possibly use some of the virus special abilities mentioned in Deathnet.

what kind of special rules are you thinking they would need?

 

[aurin777]

I liked hardware (the alternity book) but it seemed oh so cumbersome to actually use...
~~Brandon

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Special Programs

Because both the Book of Vile Darkness and the Book of Exalted Deeds created spells that require you be a certain species, maybe we should have programs that require you to be an AI.