Matrix RPG

[kingandy]

What with spending so much time playing Enter the Matrix lately, I've naturally been toying with the idea of running a Matrix tabletop game.  (As you do.)  I doubt I'll come up with anything as complex as any of these guys though.  I was thinking of taking standard d20 (or Modern / Star Wars) and modifying it slightly...

I'd be going for a "fast and loose" playstyle, with none of that "realworld/digitalworld" division complicating things - the game would be wholly Matrix-side, except for maybe a couple of interaction scenes involving no dice rolls at all.  I've been toying with a couple of mechanics ...

• Slap a "Focus" trait in there - an expendable resource, used to add to any dice roll.  I was thinking of refreshing it entirely between scenes, making it equal to your Con score, and limit spending by Wisdom modifier.  Or the other way around.  'Cause it's about how much you can concentrate in the heat of battle, and concentration is based on Constitution ... or something.  I'd make it Concentration checks, but that's getting too close to Force skills, and this is supposed to be simplistic after all.  Actually, maybe multiply the amount/limit by a few times, I do see them pissing Focus ... maybe Wis x Level?  Or instead say you get your level in bonuses for every point of Focus you spend, which amounts to the same thing but keeps it in nice easy chunks.  (The nerd in me is suggesting that I develop classes and assign a different "Focus Bonus" progression to each of them ... agh.)
• A bunch of arbitrary rulings about  how much the Operator (an NPC here) can download into your mind at any given time.  Neo's mentioned as being remarkable for his skill-download capacity - normal humans can't take nearly so many at once.  I'd say you can take something like your Int modifier per day in add-on skills, chosen from the various Knowledge and Profession skills and maybe one or two others, and you'd get up to your normal level maximum in skill ranks.  You'd probably also be able to use a slot to download a feat - like Martial Arts or something ("I know Kung Fu").  I might even make it "Int mod at any given time" and you can chop and change as you want ... or some other limit on swapouts.  Maybe level-based (there's that "class progression" urge again).  So like, a level 7 rebel with 13 Int can have 2 skills or feats downloaded, and swap them 7 times a day (Total? Each?  Probably each).  That works.
• Players would be able to ask to use feats from any d20 source book, I'd consider them and pick and choose stuff that fits my view of what's do-able and what's not.  (No magic, so no Metamagic.  Maybe Item Creation...)  I'd even let them invent their own.  Feats that give you extra Focus or more I'm great like that.
• Bonuses for crazy-ass stunts, like in Exalted, because I like that and it suits the genre.

Yeah, that's about it for now.  Alternately I could just use Star Wars wholesale and bar some of the Force skills (the more esoteric ones like Drain Energy and Friendship).  Or, shit, Big Eyes Small Mouth.  I don't know, it's just idle musings at the moment.

In other news: Raj's headlights started playing up again on the way to work. Will have to see (in half an hour) whether this was temporary, or if they've gone again.

Plans for Birthday Week: Tomorrow - generating Runequest character with Chez Harber. Thursday - pubbage in Bolton. Weekend - The Incredibles at the Cinemas. Some of these events are depenedent on external factors like headlights.

Comments

[morningstar-lj.livejournal.com]

Yeah, use a single stat to govern the matrixey features of the game with a starting value that is derived from the other character stats by some means.

Skills/classes could become almost irrelevant since they can be downloaded on demand although there could be limitations on how many skills a person can hold at any one time, skills could degrade with time, carrying lots of skills or swapping them a lot could be fatiguing and cause a loss of focus (see Neos stress during the combat training.)

Another possibility is that a person might have a particular affinity for aquiring skills of a particular type e.g. Mouse picks up hacking/techy skills best, Trinity does well with vehicles etc. so you can still have some classlike features.

Another stat you could track is how much a character stands out from the crowds of non-free humans - call it 'Trace'. This would be linked to use of Focus and is an attractor for Agents. Hence if you start doing all kinds of cool improbable stuff you get randomly appearing Agents on your tail - how close they can appear to you and how well they can track you depends on your Trace - you can use lots of Focus moves to stay ahead of them but that means they are always popping up again around you - see the final Agents/Neo chase in the first film. The other way to lose them is to go to ground and let your Trace value drop like Cypher appears to do during the escape from the ambush.

meant to say this earlier

[kingandy]

"Hence if you start doing all kinds of cool improbable stuff you get randomly appearing Agents on your tail -"

Or, as we sometimes call them, Paradox spirits. Then we're seriously into Mage territory...