The Weapons of Ascension

Cyberpunk is all about the toys. The computer decks, the cars, the robots, and especially, the guns. Project Sunburn was not about the toys. Thus, it was easy to get away with only have a half-dozen. Not here, though.

Ascension is a different dog. With more melee combat available, there needed to be an expanded hand-to-hand section. I've got a few goodies planned, including katanas, not-lightsabers, and razor-edged mohawks (Go big or go home, guys. It's cyberpunk). Part of the aesthetic I wanted was gritty, tense melee combat to really showcase the desperation created by living in claustrophobic urban sites.

But, this doesn't mean melee weapons are king. There are LOTS of guns, from simple pistols to man-portable rocket launchers. There's going to be at least five different kinds of shotgun shells, and several kinds of grenades. Frag, flash, concuss, etc. I wanted ammunition to be a tactical, as well as a stylish decision. Sure, you could walk in and choke someone. But wouldn't it be more fun to load up a full-auto shotgun with napalm shells, and really make an entrance?

There will be branded weapons. The brands are Kleinworx, and Judge Defense Solutions (or just Judge). And, just for kicks and giggles, they'll turn off if the player is using any products from the other brand. Why? Again, a tactical decision. Also, there may be a message in there about DRM in consumer products, which became very topical about a month ago.

Guns can tell very interesting stories. Even imaginary ones. I want the armory of the neon city to speak volumes about the culture, prevailing attitude, and problems of its people. I also hope, in the future, I can design more weapons this way.

And, especially, see the devious ways players can use them. Still one of my favorite parts of GMing.

Bite-sized thoughts 7

-The plot of the EE

As much as I rag on D&D for being narrow-minded in scope, it's comprehensive in what it does. The tone of the engine, and the narrative of the mechanics is very decisive: Kill the monsters, loot the chest, level up, and travel to exotic locations (if you're playing 3.5).

So, what about the Escapade Engine? Its mechanics are simple, usable, fun. There's no direction, per se. So, the obvious answer would be that it has no tone or mood. You just are, and you do, but to no particular destination.

Yes, and no.

The EE itself does not have a direction, in terms of rules. It was designed specifically for that reason. But, that's just the engine. The GM is the one in the driver's seat, and he/she/it makes the calls.

Hey, I just decided this now- all GMs will be referred to as "it" now. Take that, sexism.

The GM can make the tone whatever it wants to, in the openness. Gritty, light-hearted, fast, slow, dramatic, comedic, etc. The list goes on. A good GM will be able to narrow the scope through narrative and characterization, not requiring rules for such a thing. It's much easier to get distracted, but there's a larger selection of possibilities.

-Mundane tasks

A few weeks back, the RP group got tired of pizza. Every week gets a little tiring, so we decided to go for something different.

We ended up in a local grocery outlet, and were thinking either chow mein or fried chicken. Then we took fifteen minutes to decide. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. This is a group which, when combined, has done all the following in a timely manner:

• Performed strategic nuclear combat
• Made an ethical choice regarding the fate of a computer controlling the world stock market
• Made several covert dealings in a black market
• Fought off an army of zombies
• Disabled two comatose assassins, set as traps
• There's a lot more. There's much more.

These people, these titans among men, these avatars of a superior human conduct- couldn't decide what they wanted for dinner. It was hysterical to watch them idly stand around, deciding what their stomachs felt like.

It took less time to disable a bio-weapon aimed at the gulf of Mexico, and in the process lose two team members. The juxtaposition was staggering, and it made me think. What did Odysseus have for dinner last night?

The tone of Ascension

Sunburn was about the power of the individual. I recall saying, "... by putting the player between two opposing factions, a rock, and a hard place..." And, through this, expressing the power of a few exceptional people, just trying to find a way home through the desert of death.

Ascension, I realize, is similar. Shockingly similar. There are two major factions (things get a little twisty there, it'll make more sense once I write about how players went through it), lots of guns, and it's a very "lonely" atmosphere, mainly because the players don't belong to any particular group of people. There's lots of heads to talk to, but no one who has that critical connection. And that's very deliberate.

By far the biggest roadblock I'm at is the mix of genre. I walked in expecting it to be very cyberpunk (again, mostly Hardwired, but a teensy bit of Neuromancer), but I'm finding it's more of a generic dystopian fare. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I feel like without enough computers, the robot warfare is just a tacked-on piece of gameplay that doesn't mesh with the setting.

Speaking of which, I think I've come up with an intro. Rough draft, subject to change.

The year is 1993. The ozone layer is all but depleted, robots and automatic firearms are everyday items, the UN has declared war on China, and the rich and uber-elite live in space stations above the Earth. 

I was going for a bit of cheese, a la Escape from New York. The beginning of the whole thing is stolen directly from Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, but it totally fits the atmosphere. For example, there's something called a NEON weapon- basically a lightsaber that solidifies after it forms the weapons. A little bit of 1980's glitz goes a long way.

There's going to be handouts up the wazoo. Part of it is, they're all going to form a puzzle/roleplay solution for the very end (smart players will pick up on it). Another part is, I want to illustrate more of the world through annoying internet ads. For example:

• 12 dead in Havana, 6 hostages remain. Vote now at www.hbo.com/shows/ahouseincuba
• Guess what we bought twenty years ago? www.coca-cola.com/pepsi
• Mayor Rashton apologises for Soylent Green scandal, "We can only make so much, so quickly."

This is also proving to be kind of a challenge. The ads aren't supposed to be slapstick/black humor funny all the time. I'm not trying to undermine the normally serious tone of the entire RPG with little text ads. So, my plan is:

• 50% of them are just regular ads. I might actually take real ones, from the real world, and change the names around
• 40% of them are "funny" ads, like the ones above.
• 10% of ads are shock humor. These are meant to disturb and frighten the player.

I'm banking on about 30 ads to show up, and be distributed over the handouts. That's not enough for me to question my life, but it is enough to fill out nicely.

There's a little bit of Mad Max going into Ascension. That raw, carnal experience is something I relish, especially for one particular segment I've got in mind.

I'm still feeling very confidant about all this. I've got a list of the weapons (no stats, just feeling around), a general plot (it's very back-stabby and illegal. Perfect!), and a few characters. This is going to be a much more solid experience than Sunburn, and I'm really looking forward to showing it off.

New map format

It's been a long time coming. My best respects go out to anyone still using squares, but I just don't think they're right for this iteration of the EE. Maybe something more tactical will have them, this won't.

My thought was to take the major map, then break it up into control zones. Have another terrible, crappy MS paint map:

Guys, it's a crappy MS paint map. My end-goal for this was to be able to use real photos, but that will be a long ways in the future.

The overall map (two stairways on the banks of a spillway. Cool story?) is divided into various "control zones." It's not as tedious as squares, though not quite as tactical. My rules will be something similar to:

• You can make melee attacks against anyone in the same control zone
• You can make ranged attacks within reason. I might color-code them even more, and designate "lookout points" (towers, windows, teleporter fields, etc) that have a reigning influence over just about everything.
• It costs AP to move into a zone, not out. Some zones may have a higher AP cost, but I'm still waffling on this one.

Most zones I'm trying to keep about the size of a room, though larger rooms will have larger AP costs. I made the emplaced gun its own zone for simplicity's sake (who's on first?), though I could've done the same for the armored barriers on the southern shore. Or are those benches?

It's going to be interesting coming up with pictures to mark up, but I'm fairly confident in my ability to pull stuff out of my ass.

Project Ascension

For the new EE, I've decided to focus on making it a test, then a functional story. My goals are:

• Provide equal opportunities for every statistic
• Have a focus on a simple, usable engine
• Have fun

So, after some thought, here are my major themes for Ascension, as well as any examples I can think of.

-Those on top, usually stay on top.

Starting from the sewers below the city, the players will experience a lot of difficulty moving up- both geographically, and socially. There will be a lot of subterfuge required to eat their way to the top.

-A real friend is worth its weight in gold

At any point, the players can hire help. But, each kind of minion has drawbacks. Robots can be hacked, mercenaries can be bribed to change loyalties, and thugs like to pick and choose which doctrine they follow. But, there are a few characters in the world who are truly loyal, making them good companions.

-Money is air

Not literally. One thing I'm trying to do is drain the player's cash reserves as much as I feasibly can. There are lots of things to buy, and they're all expensive. This is to make money precious, like an HP bar. Players will constantly be on the lookout for more, for good reason.

-Corporate greed in ~50 years

Not so much a theme as a design mechanic. There will be two major arms manufacturers, whose products deactivate if the user has one from another company. It's like DRM, except it applies to your assault rifle and nanokevlar. There will also be a vending machine mafia, of sorts. When was the last time you bought something?

I feel like I'm stil missing a good chunk of it, but that's okay. My main inspirations are a cocktail of cyberpunk and regular sci-fi. Seeing as how this is a short(ish) story, I didn't want to do anything too deep for the length I have.

• Hardwired (both the book and the movie)
• C.H.U.D.
• Max Headroom
• Mass Effect
• Gattaca
• Neuromancer
• The trailer for Elysium
• Wargames
• Mad Max, to an extent

Again, mainly for mood. I'm really excited to see how it turns out, and see if I need to kick the EE's ass again. Until then, good hunting.

New Engine, new problems

It's a painful realization- Sunburn sucks as an engine test. It's true- the only important skills are ranged combat, survival, medicine, and carry weight. Not a very balanced test, if you ask me.

The new engine is a simplified version of the old one. There are eight skills:

• Strength
• Toughness
• Coordination
• Reflex
• Concentration
• Observation
• Speech
• Education

And that's it. Done. Over. Nothing more specialized. No individual skills, no educations, no traits, etc. I'm starting from the ground up on this one.

Speaking of which, so is the general premise of the test mission. I figured that an abstract journey through a desert, much akin to Samurai Jack, wasn't the best way to kick things off. So, I've decided on a romp through a large city in a generic cyberpunk setup.

So far, I've decided the whole theme is on altitude. The story starts in a sewer (probably bleeding, and alone), works its way up the city's skyline, then ends in a high-class orbital establishment. It has dramatic flair, and also makes a nice reference to Sunburn's progression along Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

No name for it yet. But, I can promise a lot more diverse content than "go here and kill that."

Religion

It was inevitable I was going to write about this. How couldn't I? RPGs lend themselves to a variety of subjects and themes, and religion is by far the most interesting.

Obviously, disclaimer: I'm agnostic, and I'm not trying to offend anyone.

~

I was raised in a Christian family. We went to church every Sunday, and any homeschool co-ops I went to during my early education were also Christian.

I was introduced to D&D when I was young. I was about eleven. It was exciting, it was engaging, and it made for great times. I had barely any idea what was going on, but I loved it.

Time-skip four years. I'm fifteen, just buying the "Big Three" (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual) for D&D 4e. Don't laugh, I didn't know any better. Obviously, I was looking for a group to play with. What's the point of getting all gussied up if you're going to stay inside by yourself?

There was a friend at the time who was interested in it. We both went to the same church, and we had similar tastes in... everything. For a little while, we were even planning to have a podcast called "Ship of Fools." It would've been great.

This is where things get complicated. Like so many other Christian families, hers was concerned about the magic and demons in it. It's understandable to me now, but it made hardly any sense at the time. You can play without demons and devils. There's also a few pages about the gods of the world, but they're ultimately meaningless and don't change anything except lore.

Magic is, by far, the biggest stumbling block in the game. Jack Chick even thinks so.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.ASP

At the time, I was Christian. Not a good Christian, but I agreed with almost all of it. And, I laughed at the idea of people taking objection to the magic in this. For one, this edition wasn't based on any "real" magic, unlike previous editions. It's just words, and the effects. It was no more "realistic" than comic books about someone who's invincible.

The funniest part to me was- what's there to be afraid of? Are these going to work? Am I, accidentally, going to create a fireball in my dining room?

But, ranting aside, rules were rules. Her parents didn't want their daughter going into a world of satanism (there are demons and devils, but you can play without them. In older versions, there are actual references to hell a la' Dante's Inferno, but any GM can write around it), and the group was shot down before we could get anything going. Pity, that.

~

Time-skip four years. I'm nineteen, almost twenty. The Escapade Engine is in shambles, but I'm salvaging what I can from the wreck. And, once again, religion rears its head. This time, I'm coming from a different angle.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I believe two forms of gameplay are exploration and roleplaying. These happen to be two of my favorites. And, one thing I was always fond of in games was religion. Everything from Unreal to the first Bionicle game had at least whispers of it, and I always enjoyed looking at the various locations designed for religious purposes. Cathedrals, circles of stone, great monuments to long-lost figures- the only visual difference between reality and some of them was a pixel count.

But, things fall through once you go deeper. There are no real-life worshipers of these fictional religions, and even the people who made them don't believe in it.

But, couldn't the same be said for everything else?

The locations aren't real, the characters aren't, and of course the events are over-the-top ridiculous. Yet, we immerse in them anyway, for escapism. Of course, I plan to add religious elements into my games. It would be a waste not to, in most cases. The religion is fake, the belief systems will be flawed and mostly transparent, but who cares? As long as it's immersive, and helps create a compelling world, I say go for it.

The same argument applies to magic, too. It's entirely fake, just numbers and letters on pieces of paper, influenced by the real gods of the realm- plastic dice.