When players don't show, turn to The Matrix

[Jeph]

I ran a game today. It was supposed to be a Star Wars game using the Feng Shui rules, this was just going to be our second session, the first one was awesome. I was really looking forward to it.

Half the players didn't show. ( /beats Corlon with stick). So I had three players to GM for, and didn't want to controll the other PCs. So, I asked what they wanted to play. They shrugged.

"The matrix?"
"Neat!"

So we played a game in the matrix. The system: You start with one die. For each 'embellishment,' you get +1 die. Discard all dice above 2. (Agents kept 3s and lower, citizens kept just 1s). Total em up. Compare to the other guys roll. It was emulating a system called Wushu, which I had forgotten the specifics of. So this is what we got:

Player: "I charge forward (+1D), Running up the side of the building (+1D) as I whip out my pistols (+1D) and unload a clip into his back (+1D), then come back down with a flying kick (+1D) and punch him so hard that he flies back against the wall (+1D) and slides down like jello (+1D)."

We got some 13-14D moves. It was sweet.

Considering I had all of three minutes to prepair, I thought the plot was pretty nice. One Agent ("Johnosn. Agent Johnson.") had malfunctioned, gone rogue, and seemed to be running from the other agents. The players were to find him and offer him help if he would assist Zion.

The three characters were Kotetsu, the walking tank (I'm talking cannon and all, here), The Yellow Dart, who faught with a huge sword in each hand thanks to the Matrix's flexible gravity, and Zero, the standard guy with a trenchcoat and lots of guns (and a wakizashi). In the first scene, Zero was looking for a nice car. Officer Jennings didn't like this. Officer Jennings ended up with his hed on the floor. A cat meowed. Zero started to drag Offider Jenning's body into an alley. A cat meowed. Zero let out a long string of profanities, and then learned how powerful Agents really were. He barely made it out. The six cops with Agent Brown weren't as lucky.

Second time they plugged in, they were more successfull. They still ended up being surrounded by FIVE agents, but Agent Johnson was able to buy them some time to get away. Overall, we had a helluva lot of fun.

So the moral of the story is: The Matrix is almost as useful as duckt tape.

 

[Cedric]

Feng Shui could work out well for a Matrix Game...

 

[Jeph]

I know. But this worked better. Anyways, I only had brought my SW adaptation of FS, not the core book, and we wanted rules-ligh. Like, real rules light.

See, the problem with running games in the matrix is, except for style, all characters are identical. So make the only mechanic style, and it's perfecto!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I always figured you could quite a lot of fun by starting everyone off with high level monks, and gradually introducing more Matrix-style weirdness to the story, and then right at the end of the session, have them forcibly 'unplugged' from outside, and explain to them that they had all these powers because of the Matrix, yadda yadda yadda, and the truth was they were all 14 year old martial arts wannabees.

Or something.

High level D&D monks = very close to the matrix.

 

[Carnifex]

Feng Shui probably would work well for a Matrix game, but I really like the simple little system you came up with. Nice off-the-cuff DM'ing!

 

[blackshirt5]

VERY NICE!

I've gotta use that one week when I don't have regular game ready for my players.

 

[Jeph]

In case you were wondering, the game I was imitating is Daniel Pond's Wushu Light for the Matrix. Looking over Wushu, what I did wasn't really very much like it, but I think I like my off-the-cuff system a bit better. Of course, I may be biased.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Feng Shui does make a nice Matrix game.

And the Matrix makes a superior context for Feng Shui. Brewing the two together makes for some very interesting games/settings that aren't really either but are nasty fun none-the-less.

The only problem with Feng Shui as Matrix is working out how the real world works in contrast with the Matrix mechanics and fun-wise and what the relationship between the Matrix, people, and the machines works out for any sort of greater narrative.

Basically, how the heck do you simulate/make fun to play the operator characters?

You can just make them part of the background of the other characters, but Dozer's a really cool guy and I'd love to see a way to making him part of the action.

Not too mention the dramatic potential to hovercraft chases and actual battles in the real.

 

[Fenes 2]

My only contact with the matrix came in a Shadowrun campaign I played in some time back. The campaign ran for close to a year until our PCs were "unplugged" and found themselves in a SF-campaign in space.

 

[CmdrSam]

The Yellow Dart

+5 points for a cool nickname

--Sam L-L