Seatbelt
2013-08-10, 05:55 PM
Hey folks. I'm running an Eclipse Phase 1-shot that is supposed to be a part of a two-part arc at GenCon.
In my session the party opens a gate and unleashes some universe destroying something or other and the game ends. In session 2 my friend is running a high level Pathfinder game where they defeat the Universe Destroying something or other.
My session will feature the party arriving at a space station in orbit of XX moon. They discover that the station was working on a Promethian AI (like a Good skynet, for those of you who don't follow the system) when the Fall happened (bad skynet).
The station is ALSO in geosync orbit with a Pandora's Gate (stargate?) on the moon's surface. They will have to go down to the Gate and open it.
There are two factions on the station, those controlled/Allied to the Promethian that has some inkling of the Gate's true nature and is intent on keeping it closed. Then there are those scientists who were working directly on the gate and they've been... indoctrinated, I guess. They've been struggling to open the gate but they can't leave the station because the AI faction controls the planetary lift. They've also been warped and twisted in crazy flesh monsters of various kinds.
Because of the weakening of the Gate/Prison the station is in a kind of temporal flux. So I have them arriving before the Fall of Earth to Skynet/TITANS. At first everyone seems normal. But as they move about there is much weirdness happening. I plan to have some future version of one of the NPCs who's been modified by the Promethian and maybe fills them in on some of what's happened on the station. The two factions will have been warring and the party will be caught in the middle.
Each of my PCs has a goal or objective. The DM of the next session will be playing the under cover bad guy. He's like a sleeper agent for the Thing Beyond the Gate. Once he discovers the AI on the station he needs to get access to it and corrupt it. Once the party discovers the Gate he needs to convince everyone to open it. Hopefully at the end he and the other PCs fight and it's awesome.
Another player is working for this techno-anarchist faction who believes that all information should be Open Source. They know about the gate and want it to be opened. His mission is to open it, and he has a gizmo to jam it open to prevent anyone else from monopolizing it for personal gain. So I have two PCs who desperately want to open the gate.
Player 3 is from the Crazy Tech Hating Dictators faction from Jupiter. He has intelligence that leads him to believe a true seed AI (the thing that becomes a TITAN or a Promethian) exists on the station and its his job to blow it up. His objective is completely opposed to Player 1, but not necessarily in conflict with Player 2.
So my problems are thus:
What do I do with the remaining 2 PCs? What kind of goal motivations could I give them that would create a little tension between players?
How exactly do they open the Gate? If it was easy the team of scientists could have done it already. But I don't just want it to be "roll your knowledge skills, then roll your engineering skills." I want them to have to do something.
Any other general suggestions or ideas would be hugely appreciated
In my session the party opens a gate and unleashes some universe destroying something or other and the game ends. In session 2 my friend is running a high level Pathfinder game where they defeat the Universe Destroying something or other.
My session will feature the party arriving at a space station in orbit of XX moon. They discover that the station was working on a Promethian AI (like a Good skynet, for those of you who don't follow the system) when the Fall happened (bad skynet).
The station is ALSO in geosync orbit with a Pandora's Gate (stargate?) on the moon's surface. They will have to go down to the Gate and open it.
There are two factions on the station, those controlled/Allied to the Promethian that has some inkling of the Gate's true nature and is intent on keeping it closed. Then there are those scientists who were working directly on the gate and they've been... indoctrinated, I guess. They've been struggling to open the gate but they can't leave the station because the AI faction controls the planetary lift. They've also been warped and twisted in crazy flesh monsters of various kinds.
Because of the weakening of the Gate/Prison the station is in a kind of temporal flux. So I have them arriving before the Fall of Earth to Skynet/TITANS. At first everyone seems normal. But as they move about there is much weirdness happening. I plan to have some future version of one of the NPCs who's been modified by the Promethian and maybe fills them in on some of what's happened on the station. The two factions will have been warring and the party will be caught in the middle.
Each of my PCs has a goal or objective. The DM of the next session will be playing the under cover bad guy. He's like a sleeper agent for the Thing Beyond the Gate. Once he discovers the AI on the station he needs to get access to it and corrupt it. Once the party discovers the Gate he needs to convince everyone to open it. Hopefully at the end he and the other PCs fight and it's awesome.
Another player is working for this techno-anarchist faction who believes that all information should be Open Source. They know about the gate and want it to be opened. His mission is to open it, and he has a gizmo to jam it open to prevent anyone else from monopolizing it for personal gain. So I have two PCs who desperately want to open the gate.
Player 3 is from the Crazy Tech Hating Dictators faction from Jupiter. He has intelligence that leads him to believe a true seed AI (the thing that becomes a TITAN or a Promethian) exists on the station and its his job to blow it up. His objective is completely opposed to Player 1, but not necessarily in conflict with Player 2.
So my problems are thus:
What do I do with the remaining 2 PCs? What kind of goal motivations could I give them that would create a little tension between players?
How exactly do they open the Gate? If it was easy the team of scientists could have done it already. But I don't just want it to be "roll your knowledge skills, then roll your engineering skills." I want them to have to do something.
Any other general suggestions or ideas would be hugely appreciated