USH'S MATRIX GAME- The Download System, and Download/Loadout Reference Area v2.6
Downloading System v2.6
In the Matrix films, the Rebels make use of a system via which essential skills are downloaded directly into their brains.
Also, inside the Matrix, Rebels are able to defy reality- their minds, aware that they are not real inside the Matrix and do not have to obey the rules- allow them to be stronger, faster, and to do the impossible.
Technically speaking these are two seperate areas. But a. for convenience and b. because they both draw upon the same resource- the Mind- they are represented in my game by the same system.
How it works is simpler than it looks- if you can count, you can do it. The only real difficulties are in working out ahat set-up is best for you.
Here is how it works:
Each player has 45 units of memory inside his brain. Into this you can download things that will make you stronger, faster- and just plain better. Now, the first 35 points of those are your 'cold zone'. The knowledge there is as permanent and inflexible as anything you learn day to day- it took hours or days to put in and would take forever to get out again. So choose it carefully.
The final 10 points is your 'hot zone'. Skills (and skills only- not being stronger or faster or your special Focus powers) in here are skills that are very flexible. You can download them and upload them as needed. You may want to leave some of it clear in case you suddenly need to, for example, download how to use a helicopter. If it is full, don't panic, you can get rid of what is in there, it just takes time.
Veterans, whose brains have become more adapted to this, up and download faster than other players and so can be particularly flexible.
Incidentally, no-one should feel obliged to use all of their hot zone with skills- in fact, most of you won't. There is nothing wrong with using some of it for permanent stuff-. just the flexibility of the Hot Zone is there if you need it. It is up to each player to decide how much of their Hot Zone they will be using for in-game up and downloading.
Costs
Here is how much improvements to yourself cost, in memory. This is normally easy, but you must bear in mind two restrictions:
1. If you buy the same thing too many times it tends to go up in price. The amount you can buy befire it costs more is called the 'rollover point'.
2. If you start pushing past the maximum possible human limit (as, for example, most of you will want to with combat skills- because you want to be better than what should be possible!) you have to pay addtional penalties. This is called 'Performing the Impossible'.
Skills- if in the Hot Zone, can be up and downloaded as needed
+1 Martial Arts: 1 point
+1 Guns: 1 point
Remember that your Martial Arts and Guns skills both start at your Dexterity level before you add anything to them (and Veterans add +1 onto both as well).
Rollover point: 4. For both Martial Arts and Guns, it starts to cost double (as in two memory spaces for +1) once you have bought it four times (so it costs 4 to get +4, but 6 to get +5, 8 to get +6 etc.). Note this only counts for what you downloaded- a Veteran's +1 bonus does not count towards this.
Impossible Limit: 13. 13 is the human maximum for these skills. The penalties for going beyond them are as follows:
14: 1 point
15: 3 points
16: 7 points
At character creation, 15 should be the practical maximum.
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Increase a skill: 1 point.
Downloading skills in advance or as needed (like Trinity downloading the Helicopter pilot programme) is one of the main functions of the whole downloading set-up. 1 point will increase any skill by +3, and will also raise the max on that skill (normally 13) by 1.
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Permanent effects- cannot be altered even if in the Hot Zone
Increasing stats:
Increase a Primary Stat (Body or Reflexes): 5
Increase a Secondary Stat (Strength, Toughness, Dexterity or Speed): 2
(check the character creation thread to remember what you start at)
Rollover point: 2. You cannot increase a Secondary stat more than twice. A Primary stat costs 7 to increase a third time, and 9 to increase a fourth.
Impossible Limit: This depends on several things...
There are two impossible limits for Stats- the human maximum (10) and your template maximum (non-existant for a Hacker, 9 for a Veteran, 8 for a Natural). Template limits are easier to break because they are only impossible for you, not for humanity in general!
Here are the costs:
Breaking the Human Limit by one (primary): 5
Breaking the Human Limit by two (primary): 12
Breaking the Human Limit by one (secondary): 2
Breaking the Human Limit by two (secondary): 5
Breaking the Template Limit by one (primary): 3
Breaking the Template Limit by two (primary): 7
Breaking the Template Limit by one (secondary): 1
Breaking the Template Limit by two (secondary): 3
Note that once you go past ten you only have to pay the human limit, not the template limit. So a Veteran who gets a stat to 11 has to pay to break the Template limit once, but then pays the Human limit for the second point, not a human limit AND a second template limit. Hence, only Naturals ever have to pay two template limits.
You will note it is prohibitively expensive for starting characters to try and increase primary stats beyond the human limit. That is something for experienced characters to think about.
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Fu Powers- 2 for every one point
Gun Tricks- 2 for every 3 points
Fu powers and Gun Tricks are the performing of the impossible in martial arts and guns respectively. Gun Tricks cost more because they are more useful on their own- Fu powers need to be in combination and require Focus (see below). You pick your powers and Tricks from the list in the main rules area here:
http://www.killermovies.com/forums/f41/t14847.html
Note that Naturals get a bonus fu power for every three powers they buy.
Zion Combat Protocol: These Paths and Tricks are part of your mandatory basic training. At least 20 points of memory must be spent on Paths and/or Gun Tricks.
Raising the Fu Power limit: 1 point
The maximum amount if fu powers you can have is 20. For each point spent on raising this limit, the maximum increases by ten. Note that this only applies to powers actually bought in the system- the bonus powers a Natural gets do not count towards this limit.
Extra restricted power: 1 point.
Some hard to learn powers and tricks are noted as being 'Restricted'. You may only have one of these, of either type (not one each) with no penalty. Each restricted power you have after the first, of either type, costs you one point.
Special Powers: 1 point each
These Fu-like powers are not in Paths, but are bought at the cost of one point each. They are listed in the main rules.
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Focus: 2 levels of pool per point.
Focus- a term stolen from the computer game- is your ability to concentrate and focus your mind to realise and achieve the impossible. Paths (not gun tricks) are useless without Focus. The more Focus pool you have, the more continuously you can perform impossible things with Paths. Naturals start with four levels of Focus pool naturally before they download any.
Rollover limit: 4. After the fourth time you buy focus (eight points worth), you only get one point each time you buy it, instead of 2.
Impossible Limit: None, but Focus cannot go past 15 (at a cost of 10 memory). Naturals can only buy it up to 11 (costing 7 memory), as their Natural bonus of +4 would take that to 15.
The average Focus pool would be about ten. Adjust this to yourself according to how much you plan to be fighting up close as opposed to staying at range, how much you plan to do impossible things rather than just fight mundanely, and whether you take expensive Focus powers or not.