Originally posted by Captain REX
Hah, indeed you do...So, roster for the Shez and the Percy are looking good.
San, Burn, Cloud, Ares, Mors, Hephaestus, Azrael, and then three new recruits.
Now, I just have to find my old character load-out sheets for the California crew...
Barb will be back as well.
He's been pestering me about this for a year and a half 😐
Ok, some more info/clarifications-
Re: Oracle predictions. I will probably be asking the vets to look at theirs as well. Rather than field queries right now. I'll set up a whole new thread with it later, and we can tackle the whole area from scratch.
Re: setting. It is set between the first and second films. Basically, the One has been found (albeit with much scepticism abouit the Prophecy still around), but none of the challeneges to the entire setting found in Reloaded have yet appeared.
This is not actually a large time period to work in, so if the 'franchise' continues we may have to look post-Revolutions (though quite likely there would be a campaign set during the second/third film storylines first). If that happened, we would have to look at the MxO storyline, and decide to swing with it, or junk it and take an alternative view of the post Revolutions concept. Most likely is that it won't be denied but a story will try and exist that can ignore it as much as possible.
re: the wait. Heck, this hasn't even been playtetsed yet, folks. I remember flagging up the original Matrix game long before it started. I hope to get it started this year, but don't hold your breath for this summer. Training will commence in advance of the game plot.
Right now, a story exists, and a game system exists, and they are both ready to be tested, events that made me feel justified in posting this thread. But if you like my games and think they are of a certain quality, that quality comes at the expense of time taken to get things right. Training can help with the latter parts of playtesting, so that can make things come sooner than they otherwise might have done.
re: downloading. There IS a download system, based on the Role you take, and it is customisable. So trick, it's not completely gone, it is just nit as in-depth as it was. Lana- yes, you can still mess around with your combat ratings, however, that will be very difficult for an all-rounder. The system now is that download points spent on skills start building them from scratch and only apply if they become higher than skills already present. So, a Gunner who has no Martial Arts skill at all could easily spend a few points on getting a little MA. But an all-rounder would have to spend enough download points to create a new MA or Guns skill than the one s/he already gets for being an all-rounder before it had any point, because the two would not combine- you chooe one or the other. That is one of the principles of the new download system- customisation does not add on, it replaces.
re: Game system. Like my Prince of Persia system, the game runs without any pool or similar resource.
The tactical part of the game works like this- you can have lots of stuff downloaed into your head, but only a certain amount of your fu powers are in the 'hot' part of your download grid (called the 'cache'😉 at any one time. These powers give continual, permnanent bonuses to the way you fight or shoot, they do not need to be nominated for use.
However, when times are desperate, many of these powers can be 'tapped'. Tapping a power means it gives you a super-boost for the next turn (e.g when that Agent catches you)- but afterwards it will become inactive and not even give its basic bonus any more.
(Normally, 'tapping' a power involves the dramatic use of an impossible move that will invite a bullet time shot)
You can swap around powers between your cache and your spare each turn, but that doesn't re-activate powers you burned up by tapping, so eventually you will run out.
Every so often (the process is a bit random, so some gambling is involved) a 'Refresh' turn will come around, in which you can re-activate powers you tapped for use again. The amount you can refresh depends on your role and your template. Naturals, for example are very good at refreshing, so they are far more likely to tap powers for maximum effect, knowing that they can get them back faster than other players.
Good management of your downloaded resources is the key to success, and will be a requirement for victory on the Combat Path.
re: Plot. For those of you who don't know much about my games...
When setting a game in a franchise like this (be it Star Wars or Matrix), it becomes neither an excuse to just journey in the setting, nor is it an attempt to interact directly with the main plot. 'Enter the Matrix', for example, was the main plot of Reloaded seen from a different view.
That is not how my games work. Such plotline are acknowledged- Morpheus and Neo certaimly exist- but the game has its own independant plot and independant villains within the same setting. It also has its own questions- not too deep, but enough to cause thought- about the nature of reality, in the context of of how the setting of The Matrix causes people to ask such questions. These things are sometimes difficult to achieve and is one of the reasons development has been slow.
And as ever with the Matrix, it is as much about mystery as answers. I am pretty sure most people still have no diea about what happened with the whole Melitus thing last time. Hmm... about time I really went through that with people, actually.
Originally posted by Captain REX
I saw 'Training' mentioned. I think we should replay the old Combat Training we got when the Matrix RPG was introduced last time, when character sheets are available and people have figured it out.This'll take some getting used to, not having pool and swapping powers around.
I was so close to that door, if someone hadn't shot me in the back I think I could have made it...