Hi, I am running an Eclipse Phase campaign - "Promised Land" - for my gaming group, and wanted some help brainstorming the next instalment of the story.
So far the PCs have been based mostly on Mars, and have dealt with several potential exsurgent threats for Firewall. Some printed (Mind the WMD, Glory), some written by me (Bad Medicine, Zone Troopers, Spellbound).
Anyway, the campaign has started to take on a life of its own, which is the moment I know things are working. The players ended up rescuing who they thought was a missing Firewall Crow, but in fact they rescued a bad guy in the missing agent's morph. They didn't realise their mistake until they woke up on Mars several months later, having been restored from backups. No-one knows exactly what happened on the mission. The bad guy has in fact made off with their morphs and egos, and plans to have them brainwashed to work for him. I want to put the PCs up against their 'evil selves' - probably with goatee beards - even the octomorph ;-)
I am not sure how to bring this plot into being. So far ideas I have:
The PCs are arrested by the Planetary Consortium for illegal Alpha Fork creation, and are shown footage of themselves committing crimes.
What crimes could these be to bring the Consortium into play? How do the PCs escape? How do they prove their innocence?
The PCs have to chase themselves across the system to a final showdown at the edges of civilisation out in the Kuiper Belt somewhere.
I should also say am happy to share the adventures I have written so far if people are interested?
Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated!
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Help brainstorming a plot
Tue, 2013-10-15 10:22
#1
ottomancer
Help brainstorming a plot
Wed, 2013-10-16 09:30
#2
jasonbrisbane
I had something similar
I started something similar where the PC's woke up and had to hunt down their original ego's, knowing they were BETA forks and if caught, would probably end up being deleted (based on Lunar).
I gave some fairly easy hints - the hacker accessed their personal accounts (own VPN) and accessed the last emails, etc and went to the warehouse mentioned.
In the warehouse there were Triads looking for something (which they erronously tought would be in a secure transport crate).
The players again hacked into the Logs (after dispatching 12 triads!) and found evidence of another warehouse. They traveled to the dark side of luna and found the station/warehouse, only to find it had been emptied but hidden ni the station was a case with a farcaster - Their (new) firewall agent. He tells them about firewall and what its about and more importantly, what he knows about their original egos.
He tells what he knows and tells them to go back and rest whilst his contacts try to find out more about them - he sends them on a few random once off jobs on Lunar...(Characters spend earnt res points)
He then sends them a message and meets them; they took a crate from the warehouse to a secret location in the belt - "GPS" coordinates enclosed. PC's were believed to be carrying exsurgent virus and almost certainly mutated.
PC's go to the location and need to fight their way through a station filled with triads who are more scared of something else than them. (obviously)
PC's have to find evidence of the exsurgent risk, kill exsurgents (fire works good!) and blow up the station, eradicating any who can pin this on them. (PS: this is a triad boss' station so its all good to blow up!)
PC's will earn enemy triads but will have fun doing it...
Rundown: Basically drop hints that will lead from one area to another. Asfirst time EP players Im not making it too hard. Im hoping that as things get more complicated, they will gain more understanding of how it works and how they can use favors, networking, rep, etc and gain more data...
In the mean time, lead them on a bit with a few "random" adventures thrown in..
Hope that helps...
—
Regards,
Jason Brisbane
Thu, 2013-10-17 04:06
#3
ottomancer
Thanks for this reply, it
Thanks for this reply, it helps a lot. I just need to come up with the crime that their alternate selves commit, and then leave a breadcrumb trail of clues for the PCs.
Thu, 2013-10-17 07:37
#4
NewtonPulsifer
A big plot hole is the
A big plot hole is the characters are not going to be responsible for the actions of their evil selves.
Once they are reinstantiated through the regular executing the will, backup company etc. the reinstantiated people are the only legal alpha forks and they have no liability with regards to their evil twins.
So you need to make sure the PCs are illegally restored from backup and the evil twins have actual legal control over their life.
Another problem is ego kidnapping is weak sauce plots in my opinion:
http://eclipsephase.com/are-cortical-stacks-encrypted
http://eclipsephase.com/cortical-stacks-are-terrible-backups
The idea that espionage agents wouldn't keep sensitive data (including memories) on self-wiping encrypted storage boggles my mind.
—
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."- Isoroku Yamamoto
Thu, 2013-10-17 08:50
#5
Smokeskin
This wasn't just an ego
This wasn't just an ego kidnapping, the bad guy made it off with their morphs. The wet brain can't be encrypted and is ripe for the taking by an ego bridge, unless they have an implant to mush their brains upon capture of course.
And of course encryption and mind wipe implants can be broken or compromised in many ways.
Thu, 2013-10-17 14:59
#6
nerdnumber1
If you really want to mess
If you really want to mess with them, make them the brain-washed forks (brain-washed to make them think the bad guy (who switched morphs just in case the memory modifications weren't ideal) is their proxy and that other Firewall members are the bad guys. It would explain why their counter-parts are the ones with their morphs old morphs (what are the odds that he caught ALL of them with intact morphs?) Alternatively, you can just put hints that this *might* be the case and play it straight.
As for the legal issues of alpha forks, even if the law says one thing, it can sometimes be difficult to prove that you are the legitimate and legal owner of your identity. If bad guy is cunning enough and has the right connections, he might be able to make his doppelganger group seem more legitimate than then PCs (at least to the PC dogs that would delete them).
As for what kind of crime the PCs could be framed for, take your pick: murder, theft, indecent exposure, treason, sabotage, or IP piracy.
I think it might be more fun to make the doppelgangers delusional as opposed to just evil. Make them think they are Firewall agents with the PCs as the delusional pawns of nefarious forces. Or you can make them psycho-surgically compelled to follow the enemy, while being well aware of it and possessing the same values as the PCs. Evil twins are boring. Relate-able enemies that think exactly like you do and are no more evil than you are is a lot more interesting.
Thu, 2013-10-17 16:00
#7
ottomancer
Smokeskin wrote:This wasn't
That's exactly it - he has their morphs AND egos. The PCs are uncomfortable with versions of themselves running around working to this bad guy's agenda.
I also like this idea a lot. So maybe the other selves have been brainwashed into thinking they are working deep cover for an oversight or inner circle organisation within Firewall - sort of like SD6 in Alias - which mainstream Firewall is not privy to.
So the PCs eventually confront each other, but both have what they think is a valid reason for their actions, then doubt will start to set in... who is actually right...?
Sat, 2013-10-19 03:10
#8
nerdnumber1
Yeah, but they don't have to
Yeah, but they don't have to be deep cover. Firewall is a secretive cell-based organization, so their communication with the organization is often limited to a few contacts. If there was evidence that the organization was compromised, like an entire sentinel team being fork-napped, would only increase the need to keep information compartmentalized. Also, when was the last time your players questioned the information their proxy provided (and that is without psycho surgery)? Firewall agents sometimes do some pretty sketchy things in the name of the greater good.
I actually once had the idea of having a rogue Firewall agent decide to fork-nap a party to send on an unsanctioned op, telling them that Firewall was compromised.
Sat, 2013-10-19 13:31
#9
ottomancer
So the "bad" versions of the
So the "bad" versions of the PCs might just think they have a new Firewall handler? Very nice. :-)
Sun, 2013-10-20 03:21
#10
nerdnumber1
ottomancer wrote:So the "bad"
Yep! Heck, add some psycho-surgery and/or impersonation and you could get them to believe that the new handler is their old handler after a re-sleeve (though it would probably be safer to go with the new handler story, no need to over-complicate matters).
How can you really know the people telling you that the acts of espionage and terrorism in the name of the greater good are who they say they are? What will they do when they track down their forks knowing that they did nothing that the PCs wouldn't do I the same situation? It can be fun to mess with the party's heads.
Tue, 2013-10-22 13:42
#11
Leodiensian
"The Monster Is You"
I think this kind of plot is great to force some introspection upon the characters and players. In some of the subplots, look at how your characters are presented. Do they seem to favor certain tactics, such as a "nuke the site from orbit, only way to be sure" approach? Do they fanatically love, or perhaps loathe, a certain subset of people? Who are they loyal to?
Their renegade forks have all those traits magnified. It's the dark mirror you hold up to them, taking their characteristics and magnifying them to the point of monstrosity. They can see the effects of those ideals wrought horrifically across their path. They might find a whole city glassed to kill one man. Are you still sure nuking the site from orbit is the best way? Well, one of you is. You are the monster you are fighting, at least a little bit. Are you okay with that? Will you keep walking the current path you're on, or make a change to avoid this future?
Tue, 2013-10-22 18:04
#12
nerdnumber1
Leodiensian wrote:I think
Exactly! You do need to know quite a bit about the characters to accurately portray their behavior without making it feel right, which is why I haven't run this sort of scenario yet.