A Splinter in Your Mind - Matrix Quest

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◉ CODA ◉​

Alice Lovelace
​
Resolve
3/3​
Detachment
2​
Skill
6​
Gear
6/10​

Paths​
Path of Resistance
Level 1
When you Fight.exe.
When you gratuitously blow something up as an act of resistance.
The first time in a session you tell an authority to go fuck itself.
XP: ◉◉◉◉◎
You may spend Resistance XP to add or subtract Harm you give or take, 1-1.​
Path of Truth
Level 1
When you Prompt.exe.
When you follow your curiosity in a way that doesn't advance the mission.
The first time in a session you discover something new about the Matrix.
XP: ◉◉◉◎◎
You may spend Truth XP to reroll dice when you Charge or Refresh, 1-1d6.​
Path of Enlightenment
Level 1
When you Disconnect.exe.
When you refuse to back down or run away from impossible odds.
The first time you run out of Resolve in a session.
XP: ◉◉◎◎◎
You may spend Enlightenment XP as if they were Detachment, 1-1.​
Moves
Beginning to Believe: You gain +1 Detachment the first time you Charge.
Stop Trying to Hit Me: You take -1 Harm when on the Defensive in Fights.
Mine Now: Spend a Full Hit in Fight to disarm an enemy of their weapon. If you then shoot them with it, take +1.
Try Again: When you attempt a Disconnect you failed before and have not yet succeeded at, you may input one 6 as a True Hit.
Bit of Help: When you spend Detachment on any move other than Disconnect, you get two +1s. They can be applied to the same die or different ones.

Stunts
Jump Impossible Distances Lvl 2*
Hit with Implausible Force Lvl 1
Dodge Implausible Ways Lvl 1
Act with Implausible Slight of Hand Lvl 1

​


CW: Very 90s.

Also, this is going to be a seriously fucked up quest. I'm going to be doing my damndest to channel an appropriately edgy, teen-rage vibe. Expect violence, drugs, sex, etc.

There's also going to be some Pretty Uncomfortable Dysphoria-ing, trans readers be warned.​
 
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Anyway, a thought.

If you can get a haircut in the Matrix that alters your RSI instead of reverting, and put on different clothes and stuff, should we ask Sprite to create a simulation of the meds Chrysalis takes? Give the system an in-universe reason to hurry up with updating the RSI. Or would the Matrix affects body thing make that a bad idea?
 
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open_sketch said:
"So what, you want to take over the Matrix, become the new Machine, huh?" he asked.
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Hm. You know, it hadn't occurred to me before, but I see how the Subversives could end up becoming just as bad as the Machine. Or worse.

The story pointed out that the Machine only wants to maximize output. Human sadism could make the Matrix even worse.

I mean, it seems unlikely that any human could terrorize the entire Matrix for very long (what with all the skilled revolutionaries). But, even if everyone became "redpilled", the Matrix would allow for massive invasions of privacy or other abuses.

Still, I don't see any alternative way to keep the majority of people alive after defeating the machine. It sounds like it would take years or decades to make enough real-world infrastructure to feed and clothe and house the population of the Matrix.

But I can understand how someone could believe the Matrix is just too dangerous to be allowed to exist in any form.
 
ancusohm said:
Hm. You know, it hadn't occurred to me before, but I see how the Subversives could end up becoming just as bad as the Machine. Or worse.

The story pointed out that the Machine only wants to maximize output. Human sadism could make the Matrix even worse.

I mean, it seems unlikely that any human could terrorize the entire Matrix for very long (what with all the skilled revolutionaries). But, even if everyone became "redpilled", the Matrix would allow for massive invasions of privacy or other abuses.

Still, I don't see any alternative way to keep the majority of people alive after defeating the machine. It sounds like it would take years or decades to make enough real-world infrastructure to feed and clothe and house the population of the Matrix.

But I can understand how someone could believe the Matrix is just too dangerous to be allowed to exist in any form.
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(Pssst. It's a metaphor about the conflict between capitalism and anticapitalism. In this metaphor, the Subversives are real-deal-no-shit-Bolsheviks)
 
Heh. Yes, I managed to pick up on the anti-captialist metaphor. I'm no master of subtext, but occasionally this blind squirrel finds a nut.

I didn't realize the Subversives mapped directly to Bolsheviks. Thanks for the tip.
 
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Salty said:
(Pssst. It's a metaphor about the conflict between capitalism and anticapitalism. In this metaphor, the Subversives are real-deal-no-shit-Bolsheviks)
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I do think it also holds true with the metaphor that there is a danger, I mean we know how history played out with Bolsheviks in reality ;)
 
ancusohm said:
It sounds like it would take years or decades to make enough real-world infrastructure to feed and clothe and house the population of the Matrix
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I'm not sure it'd take that long.

Consider, the machine already provides nutrients for everyone in the matrix, so there's a big infrastructure for food production already built. It'd suck and won't quite be enough but it's a significant start that'll scale easier than Haven.

For other infrastructure, we know that the machine has significant construction capacity. Those squid swarms are massive, and the resistance battleships are basically harvesting them sustainably, implying a significant production rate.

Of course, any war will devastate that infrastructure.

Organisation might be harder than getting the infrastructure built. A nation of half a million cant hope to onboard billions who have no idea what's going on, but that challenge exists both when keeping them in-matrix as well as out-matrix.

open_sketch said:
"Not like anything rots," Vector added. "I mean, they do wear down, they take a lot of work to restore, but every once and a while we pop the seal on a dead-end tunnel and there's just... Dozens, hundreds of them sometimes. Just left there. Parked."
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So, new threat.

Wreckers find a battleship and decide to keep it.
 
2.0 - The Library
  • Threadmarks
    • The white glow of the construct faded away, replaced with a cold grey room, dusty, neglected, cinderblock walls and shelves of moulding cardboard boxes and rusting tools. It was a little too small, the air stale, and it was a blessed relief when Thrash pulled the door open and A-team left.

    Outside, you could hear rain pattering against the asphalt.

    You were B-team, bodyguards. You, Enigma, and Sprite. The other three were going on the potentially much more dangerous mission of assassinating Old Town's archivist, a mission that might well result in attracting Agents. All you had to do was deter the Exiles with your presence.

    It was night, the glow of the streetlamps and traffic lights refracted through the thick downpour. You didn't have far to go, so much so that you made it there under umbrellas. The location was a bookstore, nestled in among brownstones, looking run-down and half-condemned, and Enigma knocked twice on the heavy door and stepped back.

    On the other side was a young woman who, after glancing both ways up the street, beckoned you in and locked the door behind you. There, on the other side, was a room overflowing with books. They were stacked three deep in the shelves, and piled atop them, and further boxes lay everywhere you looked, everywhere they'd fit. At the edge was an enormous old desk, and just visible behind the piles of volumes was an old man in a tweed suit, a ledger in front of him.

    "Frag has sent you?" he asked, cleaning his glasses against a rag. "I'm glad. Um, make yourselves at home, please."

    "Thank you," Enigma said, gesturing to the window, and you took position at the edge and glanced out the blinds. "What are the entranceways?"

    "Uh… front, rear, and the fire escape on the second floor, I think?" the Librarian replied. "I didn't know where would be safest."

    "Sprite, take him upstairs. Get him away from windows, make sure you have an escape route," Enigma said, then turned to the young woman. "Who are you?"

    "Um… I'm his assistant, I-" she stammered, "I'll stay out of your way, I just wasn't going to leave him." She moved to follow the Librarian up the stairs.

    "Jesus, you must pay pretty good," Sprite commented. "Come on, old man, let's get you upstairs." Enigma regarded the young woman, then stepped close to you.

    "I don't know her and I don't trust her. Keep an eye on her. I will watch the back door. If things go to plan, we will be out in three hours," Enigma said, drawing out his cell phone and flipping it open. "Vector?"

    You indicated for the young woman to come over to you, and she reluctantly moved away from the stairs and sat against the windowsill, anxiously glancing out the blinds herself. Enigma disappeared behind one of the stacks of books, and you resumed looking out over the street, trying to to panic every time a car passed.

    "So, what's your name?" you asked, looking away just a second. The young woman and the old man actually sort of looked similar, a family resemblance. You weren't sure what that meant.

    "Alexandria," she replied, "Lexi, if you prefer."

    "Well, hello Lexi," you said, trying not to sound too cold. "Coda. Working a bit late, aren't you?"

    "Well… somebody's trying to kill my… uh, my boss," she said. "I couldn't-"

    "Mhmm. So how do you know him?" you asked.

    "I, um…" She trailed off, her voice small. Like she was scared, or maybe ashamed. "He's my father."

    The answer was at once expected and impossible. You tried not to give any reaction one way or another, to not show too much ignorance that might be seen as weakness, but it did mean you could be a bit more direct.

    "Do you know what an exile is?" you asked, and she shook her head. "They're a program that was supposed to be purged, and went on the run. Breaking the rules, breaking their own code, with powers that have come from a corruption of their purpose." You'd learned all this yourself an hour ago, but you were rapidly learning the best way to project being in control was to pretend as though nothing surprised you. "Can you fight?"

    She shook her head with a sort of hopeless gesture. She couldn't, but she was willing to.

    "Alright." Your phone buzzed in one of the pouches lining the loose blue jacket you'd taken this time, one which obscured the shape of your frame, and you pulled it loose with a rip of velcro and flipped it open. "Yeah?"

    "Coda, I'm seeing something in the code I don't understand," Vector said. You could hear Chrysie beside him, talking to the A-team, "Building across the street, one to the left, second floor window above the door. What do you see?"

    You pushed the blinds open and scanned through, and your sunglasses briefly turned red as a laser swept across it.

    ---

    Roll 6d6. Input one +Twitch to dodge an incoming attack.​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Rolling, I guess.

    ...Aaaand I guess I'd want to spend that 3 on the dodging.
    Salty threw 6 6-faced dice. Reason: Better dodge that boolet Total: 17
    6 6 3 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 4 4
     
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    [X]3+1=4 for a partial

    If we only have one good roll I'm reluctant to blow it right away, and IIRC a full fail to dodge could make the whole scenario escalate more somehow so...
     
    [X]3+1 for a partial, and Coda was wearing body armor all this time.

    If you take a 3+1 for a partial and then reveal that you've been wearing body armor all this time, you can effectively end up with 0 net harm and land on your feet.

    I'd strongly consider doing something like this, especially since as I mentioned before Coda's new perk and her stats make her relationship with offensive gear kind of interesting since she can only use her perk when she's not doing damage from herself, which makes a lot of offensive melee gear of limited use.
     
    MJ12 Commando said:
    [X]3+1 for a partial, and Coda was wearing body armor all this time.

    If you take a 3+1 for a partial and then reveal that you've been wearing body armor all this time, you can effectively end up with 0 net harm and land on your feet.

    I'd strongly consider doing something like this, especially since as I mentioned before Coda's new perk and her stats make her relationship with offensive gear kind of interesting since she can only use her perk when she's not doing damage from herself, which makes a lot of offensive melee gear of limited use.
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    On the other hand, we have no incentive to pull the body armor out right this second since the first point of harm does nothing and can be healed off
     
    Would a full failure mean Coda takes a lethal shot? We could try to use up the 1 and the body armor if that won't end up with her bleeding to death or something.
     
    [X]3+1 for a partial, and Coda was wearing body armor all this time.
     
    Why in the *world* would you spend 3 gear on body armor now of all times? We're taking 1 Harm at most, and body armor would be soaking up to 3. Far better to grab a pistol to throw away our useless dice.
     
    [X]3+1=4 for a partial

    It's only 1 harm, and the armor is good for up to 3 harm. Let's not use it yet.
     
    Salty said:
    Why in the *world* would you spend 3 gear on body armor now of all times? We're taking 1 Harm at most, and body armor would be soaking up to 3. Far better to grab a pistol to throw away our useless dice.
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    My reading was that it'll stop up to 3 harm from bullets total, not that it would be used once for 1 source of harm.

    And Coda has very little need for gear, and she has a 6 already which means that if she's facing literally anyone with guns she can use their pistol to get rid of her useless dice, which would be better than spending gear on something else.

    And even if it is tactically suboptimal, it seems entirely in-character for her to do something like this given that this is literally her second mission period.
     
    Tetra said:
    On the other hand, we have no incentive to pull the body armor out right this second since the first point of harm does nothing and can be healed off
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    ...I have no idea how Harm works in this game. So I looked it up:
    open_sketch said:
    6s are Full Successes, 4-5s are partial Successes, and everything else is misses. In Fight.exe, every Hit or Partial Hit does 1 Harm: it only takes 1 Harm to take a bluepill (or bot) out. Every partial hit or miss inflicts 1 Harm on you: you can take 2 Harm with no consequences, then you get knocked down or out for every hit you take past 3 Harm (though you can keep getting up!) At 6, you're dead, and if you die in the roleplaying game, you die in real life.
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    Which doesn't describe what happens if we take a full hit instead of a partial one.
     
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    Derpmind said:
    ...I have no idea how Harm works in this game. So I looked it up:

    Which doesn't describe what happens if we take a full hit instead of a partial one.
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    IIRC Fight.exe is for when we try to Hit things, this is technically a different program with its own rules
    open_sketch said:
    Because on a miss, you do not get a choice.

    Artificial World is a game where damage and bad circumstances come and go very, very rapidly. It is mechanically designed as a race between your ability to recover from Harm, refresh dice, and Advance against a system that, by the nature of the dice system, will constantly be backing you into a corner and forcing you to do cooler and cooler shit to escape it.

    In other words, it's the Matrix.
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    the exchange which ends here explains some of dodging. It's worded ambiguously as to whether taking the full hit gives us GM's choice of harm or a worsening situation, or both those things
     
    [X] 1 - the sniper gets the drop on you and the situation gets worse

    Feel like this might be a good opportunity to use a 1
     
    [X] 1 - the sniper gets the drop on you and the situation gets worse

    this is just 1 harm, right?
     
    HeWhoAdds said:
    [X] 1 - the sniper gets the drop on you and the situation gets worse

    this is just 1 harm, right?
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    No it's exactly as it sounds. we take a harm and something about this situation gets shittier for us
    Well, as I said above it might be an "or", that's not entirely clear to me just yet, but the "the situation gets worse" part is definitely not flavor text if that's what you're wondering
     
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