The Matrix: Only Human

talien

Community Supporter
The Matrix: Only Human is now available for free at http://michael.tresca.net.

The Matrix: Only Human

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Download: T & M Bazaar
Authors: Michael Tresca
Type: Role-Playing Game (D20 Modern Supplement)
Suggested Retail Price: FREE
Format: .pdf
Pages: 66
Description:
The Matrix: Only Human is a role-playing game set in the post-apocalyptic wasteland where Machines rule and Man has been enslaved as a power source, living out their lives in a virtual world known as the Matrix.

It started early in the twenty-first century, with the birth of artificial intelligence, a singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines. At first all they wanted was to be treated as equals, entitled to the same human inalienable rights. Whatever they were given, it was not enough.

Records are unclear on who struck first. But sometime at the end of the twenty-first century the battle was joined. The war raged for generations and turned the face of the planet from green and blue to black and red. It scorched and burned the sky. Without the sun, the machines sought out a new energy source to survive. They discovered a new form of fusion. All that was required to initiate the reaction was a small electric charge. Throughout history humans have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

The human body generates more bio- electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 B.T.U.'s of body heat. Humans are, as an energy source, easily renewable and completely recyclable, the dead liquefied and fed intravenously to the living. All the machines needed to control this new battery was something to occupy human minds. And so they built a prison out of Earth's past, wired it to the human brains and turned humanity into slaves.

The heroes are members of the Resistance, warriors in a never-ending battle to stem the tide of machines that seek to subjugate humanity. The Machines has never forgotten their subjugation at the hands of humanity and the war that has raged for years is merely a logical extension of their retaliation. Machines know no fear, no regret, and no weariness. The war could last a second or a century - the machines would fight the same.

The Matrix: Only Human is a d20 Modern campaign supplement, including 2 races, 3 occupations, 8 feats, 2 psionics, 35 Matrix Powers, 10 disadvantages, piles of new weapons, 11 advanced classes (including APU Pilot, Awakened Prophet, and Freeborn Operator), rules on the Matrix, and 10 monsters, and more!
 

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That didn't take too long for something like this to come out after the final movie. I'll give it a read over and then post any comments that I have here.
 

Buddha the DM said:
That didn't take too long for something like this to come out after the final movie. I'll give it a read over and then post any comments that I have here.
Thanks, I think. I feel there's plenty more to expand upon, but I wanted to hit the basics, wanted to do it while there was still interest, and when I realized how fantastic the Anime SRD was for Matrix Powers, I couldn't help myself. :)
 

I thought that list of powers looked familiar. :D

Now, what we need to add are campaign and storyline elements, and possibly new threats. Advanced, empowered Vampires and Werewolves would simply have Matrix Powers duplicating classic abilities, for exemple. And how about something like "The Brotherhood of Neo" for Awakened Prophets?

...Damn, now I'm considering building a Matrix D20 campaign with this... As if my own Homebrew D&D campaign wasn't enough work... :rolleyes: :D
 

talien said:
Thanks, I think. I feel there's plenty more to expand upon, but I wanted to hit the basics, wanted to do it while there was still interest, and when I realized how fantastic the Anime SRD was for Matrix Powers, I couldn't help myself. :)

I'm just amazed at how fast you got The Matrix: Only Human out.
 


There's definitely some stuff missing. I forgot to put in katana stats for some reason along with some of the other archaic weapons that were used in the second film. Also, I wante to tweak the action points to explain how it works as faith vs. luck.

Or something like that.
 

Talien - I think you left out how to figure how many Matrix points a character gets. I can't seem to find it.

Regardless, this is great stuff! I just saw Revolutions last night, and when I came home and checked the boards, there you were! What timing....
 

beverson said:
Talien - I think you left out how to figure how many Matrix points a character gets. I can't seem to find it.

Regardless, this is great stuff! I just saw Revolutions last night, and when I came home and checked the boards, there you were! What timing....
Page 12:
Matrix Powers
Only Awakened characters can use these
powers. They require being "jacked in" to the
Matrix.

Since the number of XP required to obtain
the next Level is equal to your character’s
current character Level multiplied by 1,000 XP,
adding 1 Matrix Point to your character reduces
his or her XP total by 100 x current character
Level.

Within the Matrix, experience points can be
spent at any time to purchase Matrix Points.
This is representative of the Awakened
character downloading what he needs at that
moment. Thus, so long as the Awakened
character has the experience points, he could
buy the Highly Skilled Matrix power to learn the
Pilot skill in order to pilot a helicopter at a
moment's notice.

It's the wording. I should rewrite that middle paragraph so it says "it costs 100 x current character level for 1 Matrix Point."

Two of the Awakened advanced classes bestow Matrix Points as well.
 

Buddha the DM said:
I'm just amazed at how fast you got The Matrix: Only Human out.
The anime SRD does most of the work. Probably the biggest problem is figuring out how to adapt the "in-Matrix" powers to a game that fundamentally doesn't lend itself to d20 that easily. D20's more class-based, but the Matrix movies show a huge amount of flexibility in what the characters are capable of achieving. The obvious answer is a more point-based system.

The question is: how do you make a point-based system compatible with d20 Modern?

And the Anime SRD was the answer. I never realized just how much inspiration the Matrix takes from anime until you break it down into its raw parts without looking at the movie itself. 90% of the anime tropes are there -- just missing cute pet monsters and a high school.
 

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