TooManySecrets
2009-09-05, 08:47 PM
Matrix Fanboy Law. Every gamer group contains or knows any number of dimwitted gamers who are (or were) just dying to use The Matrix as the basis for an RPG.
RPG Cliche List (http://web.archive.org/web/20080212091754/http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/rpgcliches.html)
So, making The Matrix-inspired RPG. One of the classic blunders, but I'm thinking about giving it a shot anyways.
The first thing to realize is The Matrix is essentially a superhero film. An unusual one, but trade in the trenchcoats for spandex and it would fit right in (well, at least into a 90s anti-hero sort of comic book). So why not use Mutants & Masterminds? With that in mind, and as a sort of proof of concept, I present the stats for an agent. I don't know what sort of power level conventions I'm going with, so for now, the agent is about PL 10 (all powers use Ultimate Power instead of the base rule book).
http://agentjohnson.co.uk/Matrix_Agents.jpg
Agent
I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit noting but air. Yet as powerful as they are, their speed and strength are but tethers to the rules of an unreal world.
STR 30 (+10)
DEX 30 (+10)
CON 22 (+6)
INT 16 (+3)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHA 10 (+0)
Toughness: +6
Fortitude: +10 (Base 4 + Ability 6)
Reflex: +12 (Base 2 + Ability 10)
Will: +5 (Base 5 + Ability 0)
SKILLS
Acrobatics +24 (14 ranks), Climb +21 (11 ranks), Concentration +15 (15 ranks), Drive +20 (10 ranks), Knowledge (Matrix!Current Events) +8 (5 ranks), Knowledge (Matrix!History) +8 (5 ranks), Knowledge (Tactics) +13 (10 ranks) Pilot +20 (10 ranks) [20pp]
FEATS
All-Out Attack, Improved Block, Improved Disarm, Instant Up, Personal Firearms Proficiency1, Power Attack, Stunning Attack [7pp]
POWERS2
Immunity 7 (Aging, starvation and thirst, need for sleep, suffocation effects, disease, poison) [7pp]
Immunity 10 (Ranged attacks; concentration duration) [5pp]
Super-Sense 1 (Extended vision) [1pp]
EQUIPMENT
Agent Earpiece3
Heavy Pistol
COMBAT
Attack +8, Defense +6 [28pp]
Power Points
Abilities 58 + Saves 11 + Skills 20 + Feats 7 + Powers 13 + Combat 28 = 137pp
1 Mastermind's Manual
2 In addition to the stated powers, the agent has a unique power related to it's nature as a computer program. The only way an agent can manifest in the Matrix is by "possessing" a human who is still hardwired into the Matrix as a full-round action. While "possessed" the residual image of the person changes to the agent's appearance. The target does not receive a save. If an agent is "killed" then the host human dies (in both the Matrix and the Real World) and the agent is free to "posses" another human in 1 round.
3 Functions as a normal commlink (M&M 135) with the addition of communicating from within the Matrix to the Real World.
And there you go. Rather prosaic, actually, but then again in the films the agents were never exactly subtle, just unstoppable forces of ... er, Matrix nature.
For anyone that's wondering, I'm using the Matrix and the Animatrix as the basis for most of the stuff, throwing in some of the Wachowski brother's original plans re: the nature of the Machines, and throwing in some stuff from the Invisibles, Equilibrium, Snowcrash, and VALIS. Might also throw out the One stuff as well (maybe, we'll see).
RPG Cliche List (http://web.archive.org/web/20080212091754/http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/rpgcliches.html)
So, making The Matrix-inspired RPG. One of the classic blunders, but I'm thinking about giving it a shot anyways.
The first thing to realize is The Matrix is essentially a superhero film. An unusual one, but trade in the trenchcoats for spandex and it would fit right in (well, at least into a 90s anti-hero sort of comic book). So why not use Mutants & Masterminds? With that in mind, and as a sort of proof of concept, I present the stats for an agent. I don't know what sort of power level conventions I'm going with, so for now, the agent is about PL 10 (all powers use Ultimate Power instead of the base rule book).
http://agentjohnson.co.uk/Matrix_Agents.jpg
Agent
I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit noting but air. Yet as powerful as they are, their speed and strength are but tethers to the rules of an unreal world.
STR 30 (+10)
DEX 30 (+10)
CON 22 (+6)
INT 16 (+3)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHA 10 (+0)
Toughness: +6
Fortitude: +10 (Base 4 + Ability 6)
Reflex: +12 (Base 2 + Ability 10)
Will: +5 (Base 5 + Ability 0)
SKILLS
Acrobatics +24 (14 ranks), Climb +21 (11 ranks), Concentration +15 (15 ranks), Drive +20 (10 ranks), Knowledge (Matrix!Current Events) +8 (5 ranks), Knowledge (Matrix!History) +8 (5 ranks), Knowledge (Tactics) +13 (10 ranks) Pilot +20 (10 ranks) [20pp]
FEATS
All-Out Attack, Improved Block, Improved Disarm, Instant Up, Personal Firearms Proficiency1, Power Attack, Stunning Attack [7pp]
POWERS2
Immunity 7 (Aging, starvation and thirst, need for sleep, suffocation effects, disease, poison) [7pp]
Immunity 10 (Ranged attacks; concentration duration) [5pp]
Super-Sense 1 (Extended vision) [1pp]
EQUIPMENT
Agent Earpiece3
Heavy Pistol
COMBAT
Attack +8, Defense +6 [28pp]
Power Points
Abilities 58 + Saves 11 + Skills 20 + Feats 7 + Powers 13 + Combat 28 = 137pp
1 Mastermind's Manual
2 In addition to the stated powers, the agent has a unique power related to it's nature as a computer program. The only way an agent can manifest in the Matrix is by "possessing" a human who is still hardwired into the Matrix as a full-round action. While "possessed" the residual image of the person changes to the agent's appearance. The target does not receive a save. If an agent is "killed" then the host human dies (in both the Matrix and the Real World) and the agent is free to "posses" another human in 1 round.
3 Functions as a normal commlink (M&M 135) with the addition of communicating from within the Matrix to the Real World.
And there you go. Rather prosaic, actually, but then again in the films the agents were never exactly subtle, just unstoppable forces of ... er, Matrix nature.
For anyone that's wondering, I'm using the Matrix and the Animatrix as the basis for most of the stuff, throwing in some of the Wachowski brother's original plans re: the nature of the Machines, and throwing in some stuff from the Invisibles, Equilibrium, Snowcrash, and VALIS. Might also throw out the One stuff as well (maybe, we'll see).