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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I feel like I have aged a decade in this vote.

[X] Spend a 3 and a 4 on defence.
-[X] Spend our 6 and 1 on offence.
-[X] Charge.

We may as well keep the extra 4, because it is a partial, and having an extra Block does not actually do anything if we can't trigger our ability. Getting rid of the 1 so we can hopefully roll something better.
 
Admiral Skippy said:
[X] Spend a 3 and a 4 on defence.
-[X] Spend our 6 and 1 on offence.
-[X] Charge.
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I don't like this plan. A single 1 Harm isn't worth much by itself, and we'll be advancing time down here instead of dealing with the primary mission upstairs. More mechanically, we spend almost all our dice, but keep a single die instead of using up all of them for an Advancement. I'd be fine if we used up all our dice, or did something more clever than a straightforward single Harm. This plan does neither.
 
open_sketch said:
Yeah, such is the nature of testing and changing new systems. :I Eventually, it'll be good!
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Oh, it's not the system, it's that we have spent a really long time working out what to do on what is meant to be quite fast-paced fight scene, mostly due to player misunderstandings. No biggie.

Derpmind said:
I don't like this plan. A single 1 Harm isn't worth much by itself, and we'll be advancing time down here instead of dealing with the primary mission upstairs. More mechanically, we spend almost all our dice, but keep a single die instead of using up all of them for an Advancement. I'd be fine if we used up all our dice, or did something more clever than a straightforward single Harm. This plan does neither.
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I don't think it's a great idea to go upstairs whilst there's still a Twilight character trying to eat our face off. As someone pointed out earlier, by keeping them away from the Librarian, we're doing our job - in a choice between this fight happening upstairs or downstairs, we should actively prefer to keep it away from the person we're trying to protect. Enigma is going upstairs and he's much more experienced than us, and I believe Switch is up there, who is also more experienced than we are. Ultimately I think the best thing to do is to focus on the fight ahead of us - running upstairs is just going to have this adversary following us and I'm not sure how that helps.

The point about using up all our dice for an Advance is actually a really good one, though, so let's do that.

[X] Spend a 3 and a 4 on defence.
-[X] Spend our 6, 3 and 1 on offence.
-[X] Charge.

Spending a 4 in this way will just be a Miss, however it does at least mean that we are spending more dice on offence than defence, which means we do not lose the initiative in the fight and face Threat escalation. On consideration, this would be the best course of action even if it did not gain us an Advance, I think.
 
Admiral Skippy said:
Oh, it's not the system, it's that we have spent a really long time working out what to do on what is meant to be quite fast-paced fight scene, mostly due to player misunderstandings. No biggie.



I don't think it's a great idea to go upstairs whilst there's still a Twilight character trying to eat our face off. As someone pointed out earlier, by keeping them away from the Librarian, we're doing our job - in a choice between this fight happening upstairs or downstairs, we should actively prefer to keep it away from the person we're trying to protect. Enigma is going upstairs and he's much more experienced than us, and I believe Switch is up there, who is also more experienced than we are. Ultimately I think the best thing to do is to focus on the fight ahead of us - running upstairs is just going to have this adversary following us and I'm not sure how that helps.

The point about using up all our dice for an Advance is actually a really good one, though, so let's do that.

[X] Spend a 3 and a 4 on defence.
-[X] Spend our 6, 4 and 1 on offence.
-[X] Charge.

Spending a 4 in this way will just be a Miss, however it does at least mean that we are spending more dice on offence than defence, which means we do not lose the initiative in the fight and face Threat escalation.
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You are spending 2 4s when you only have 1. You have a 6, a 4, two 3s, and a 1.

Again, sorry about this everyone. It'll be worth it eventually probably!
 
Admiral Skippy said:
Oh, it's not the system, it's that we have spent a really long time working out what to do on what is meant to be quite fast-paced fight scene, mostly due to player misunderstandings. No biggie.
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That's fair, especially with the rules change happening... but at the same time @open_sketch is keeping a very fast pace of upates on this quest. So. I don't disagree with you but I also disagree with you.
 
[X] Spend a 3 and a 4 on defence.
-[X] Spend our 6, 3 and 1 on offence.
-[X] Charge.
Admiral Skippy said:
Spending a 4 in this way will just be a Miss, however it does at least mean that we are spending more dice on offence than defence, which means we do not lose the initiative in the fight and face Threat escalation. On consideration, this would be the best course of action even if it did not gain us an Advance, I think.
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I believe the rule was that if the sum of your defense dice exceeds the sum of your offense dice you lose Initiative, so it actually doesn't matter here since we'd be tied in the other scenario

But I do want that charge, and as much as I really want a Disconnect it's not worth spending a whole turn on defense to keep a 6 when who knows what is happening elsewhere
 
Okay, so the new combat rules are making my head spin a little bit, so I think I'm just not gonna vote on combat until I can figure it out.
 
This question applies to the old rules as well, as it arises from reading through the rulebook after getting really curious about playing this with friends...

With -1 to one stat, there are some moves where rolling a 6 will become a 5 and therefore we cannot ever get a full success. Is there supposed to be some way to boost that or supplement it temporarily, or is it intended that a character such as ours will never able to succeed on Troubleshoot? That feels a bit harsh, but perhaps there's a purpose...
 
[X] Spend a 3 and a 4 on defence.
-[X] Spend our 6, 3 and 1 on offence.
-[X] Charge.

We'll go with this then. Hopefully we can make this smoother going forward. Sorry about this!

Roll 5d6.
 
May as well.

EDIT: Not bad
Salty threw 6 6-faced dice. Total: 23
6 6 4 4 5 5 5 5 2 2 1 1
 
2.4 - Stay Still!
  • Threadmarks
    • As she closed, she grabbed one of the chairs at the end of the stacks, the books atop it clattering to the floor. She threw it underhand toward you as she broke into a run, as you barely sidestepped it before darting back to avoid a swing. Every move she made was aggressive, blindly so, stabbing out with open fingers that whistled as they passed through the air inches from your face.

    You caught her wrist and kicked up for her face, a narrow miss as she tore free. You kept up the initiative, darting in with a spinning kick low, and she effortlessly stepped over it and swiped for your chest. Just short, so close her fingers parted the polymer shell and your cell phone fell from its now-opened pouch.

    As she tried to come up for a second strike, you hit her full in the sternum with an open palm. She recoiled into the bookshelf with a wheezing laugh.

    "Will you fucking stay still!" she spat, as the door popped open and her friend came back in, not exactly looking pleased. "Where the fuck were you?"

    You didn't stand a chance two on one, but he was still across the room.

    ---

    It's still 1-v-1 for the next exchange, so Threat 2.​
    ​
    As balancing goes forward, I've decided to remove your negative stat. Redpills are basically competent at everything, you shouldn't have to work around a weakness.​
    ​
    Here's your Charge.​
    ⚅⚄⚄⚃⚁​
    Remember: Spend 1-3 dice on Offense (+Cool), then a minimum of 2 on Defense (+Twitch). 4-5 partials, 6s successes. If you spend more total on Defense than Offense, your enemy gets stronger, but it might be worth it.​
     
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    • [X]Use the 4 and 2 on defense (1 Harm in), and the pair 5s to counterattack (2 Harm out). Recharge
    going for a pair, hopefully
     
    Feels like the best way to split things here would be to

    [X] spend 6 + 5 on offense, then spend 5 + 4 on defense. Use the partial offense success to knock the enemy down, then use the full success to inflict harm.

    It might be worth spending the last 2 on offense and rerolling the entire pool since that's going to have to be used anyways, even if it means eating some Harm, because you have to use it up anyways and it does mean another recharge (and working towards an advancement). Also, using it now means you're not stuck with that failure next round, which might be a risk.

    Of course, we can always roll badly on Charge...
     
    MJ12 Commando said:
    Feels like the best way to split things here would be to

    [X] spend 6 + 5 on offense, then spend 5 + 4 on defense. Use the partial offense success to knock the enemy down, then use the full success to inflict harm.

    It might be worth spending the last 2 on offense and rerolling the entire pool since that's going to have to be used anyways, even if it means eating some Harm, because you have to use it up anyways and it does mean another recharge (and working towards an advancement). Also, using it now means you're not stuck with that failure next round, which might be a risk.

    Of course, we can always roll badly on Charge...
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    The Exiles seem to get up pretty quick, I'm not sure knocking one down is really worth it
    More notably though I really don't understand what the argument for not spending the 2 in your scenario is
     
    Tetra said:
    The Exiles seem to get up pretty quick, I'm not sure knocking one down is really worth it
    More notably though I really don't understand what the argument for not spending the 2 in your scenario is
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    The knockdown is to avoid taking further harm, since Coda is already likely to either eat harm or go into a worse situation from the partial success on the dodge.

    Coda could alternatively use guns, but she's only got 3 Gear and the guns which would let her dump all her dice cost a fair amount.
     
    [X] spend 6 + 5 + 2 on offense, then spend 5 + 4 on defense. Use the partial offense success to knock the enemy down, then use the full success to inflict harm.

    I'm thinking we want to clear all 5 dice but otherwise like MJ12's plan. Unfortunately not feeling cinematic enough to give you a cool description.
     
    MJ12 Commando said:
    The knockdown is to avoid taking further harm, since Coda is already likely to either eat harm or go into a worse situation from the partial success on the dodge.
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    We seem to be able to Refresh pretty readily, and thereby heal off chip damage, so overall I'm not feeling too threatened here yet

    Actually I have a question: We should, by my count, be two thirds of the way to an advance right now. If we do Disconnect and get an advance that way would we still be 2/3rds of the way to getting one from Charges, or would it just "fill the bar", putting us back to 0/3?
     
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    We really shouldn't fight 2-on-1, and I don't think our one attack can inflict enough Harm to disable our opponent. We need to use our Gear.

    [X] Spend 5 (+1 Twitch) on defense for 2 block. Fake-out an attack with the 2, pull out your katana (-3 Gear, +2 Harm) and use the 4 and 5 to inflict 1+2 and 1+2 Harm. Refresh by zoning out for a second at the first person/program you've ever killed, then turn to face second opponent. (Total: 6 Harm, saves the 6.)

    [ALT] Spend 5 (+1 Twitch) on defense for 2 block. Fake-out an attack with the 2, pull out your baton (-1 Gear, +1 Harm) and use the 4 and 5 to inflict 1+1 and 1+1 Harm. Use the 6 for 2+1 Harm to finish opponent off. (Total: 7 Harm, uses all dice.)

    We could also use guns, but we're fighting close-range. And guns run out of bullets.
     
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    [X] Spend 5 (+1 Twitch) on defense for 2 block. Fake-out an attack with the 2, pull out your katana (-3 Gear, +2 Harm) and use the 4 and 5 to inflict 1+2 and 1+2 Harm. Recharge by zoning out for a second at the first person/program you've ever killed, then turn to face second opponent.(Total: 6 Harm, saves the 6.)

    Holy crackers, I forgot how good gear is! I wanna save the 6, but I agree that we shouldn't dawdle too much. also the whole point of saving the 6 is to fish for a pair, so we're definitely gonna wanna Recharge in that scenario
    EDIT: it has been pointed out that the original post does mention Recharging, just called it a Refresh. my bad y'all
    EDIT #2: it has also been pointed out that Katanas cost 3 gear. I consider this acceptable
     
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