Hi all,
My name is {censored} and I have a sleeper agent complexe...
Well I am starting to realize that a lot of my "quest" end up being sleeper agents within the group etc.
As anyone noticed that it is too easy to just say : "yeah, you are a fork of the Evil guy! Mouahahahahhah".
Anywho, I am trying to stay clear of this for the next few missions so they are a bit surprised next time!
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The Sleeper complexe
Mon, 2011-05-30 16:54
#1
crisaron
The Sleeper complexe
Mon, 2011-05-30 17:57
#2
Axel the Chimeric
Re: The Sleeper complexe
The campaign I'm running for my current group involves them working for a security corp on Extropia trying to deal with an uprising of extremely violent nerds who have gone from merely obsessing over a cheesy space opera XP to dressing up in costume to taking hostages to perform blood rituals. After researching their backgrounds, nothing stood out except that their behaviours changed remarkably after they started obsessing over one of the show's races.
In the last session, they dealt with a reclusive memeticist and his now-insane former partner, the latter of whom revealed to them the nature of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, and that the cause of the violence might be the language itself.
Along the way they've racked up plot-hooks I'm going to spring on them later, such as freeing a possible Exsurgent, defrauding their way into an Ego Bank to steal an ego (the aforementioned Exsurgent), and attracting a lot of public attention despite them being people who should really be hiding from it.
So, no, can't really say it's been a problem for me. You have given me an idea for next time, though...
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[img]http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/982/exhumanbar.jpg[/img]
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Mon, 2011-05-30 19:10
#3
Yerameyahu
Re: The Sleeper complexe
As in Snow Crash, don't forget that the linguistic stuff is very *soft* sci-fi, though. ;)
Mon, 2011-05-30 19:32
#4
crisaron
Re: The Sleeper complexe
I also used a audio Hydra hack... yeah SnowCrash as good ideas for that.
Mon, 2011-05-30 19:34
#5
Yerameyahu
Re: The Sleeper complexe
Basilisk.
Mon, 2011-05-30 19:35
#6
CodeBreaker
Re: The Sleeper complexe
Medusa! We are doing Greek myths, right? :D
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Tue, 2011-05-31 09:11
#7
Arenamontanus
Re: The Sleeper complexe
What about a siren hack?
(Maybe a siren hack is a mini-YGBM that subliminally makes people curious or willing to approach something they normally would recognize as being dangerous)
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Tue, 2011-05-31 09:12
#8
Axel the Chimeric
Re: The Sleeper complexe
Never actually heard of that until now.
In this case, it's not the language magically rewriting people's brains. The language structure forces people to define all relationships based on hatred for them and concepts like love and compassion are only expressed by absence of anger and rage. This causes all interactions in a person's memory to become tinged with frustration and hatred until the person boils over and starts taking lives.
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[img]http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/982/exhumanbar.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/4473/scumbar.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/1396/gatecrasherbar.jpg[/img]
[code][@-rep +1, f-rep +2][/code]
Tue, 2011-05-31 09:16
#9
CodeBreaker
Re: The Sleeper complexe
A Siren Hack actually sounds like a better name for an auditory Basilisk Hack. Hmm...
Basalisk is visual, Siren is auditory. I like that. [i]steals[/i]
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Tue, 2011-05-31 09:58
#10
Yerameyahu
Re: The Sleeper complexe
Axel the Chimeric, I understand Sapir-Whorf, I'm just warning you that it doesn't really work like that. It's still pretty magical to use it as an explanation in scifi; akin to saying, 'the Psi 2000 makes us drunk because of polywater'. It's not an actual problem, but it's not 'real, hard scifi'. :)
Tue, 2011-05-31 10:37
#11
Axel the Chimeric
Re: The Sleeper complexe
I'm not saying that it's the hardest sci-fi out there; at most, this sort of language might make people who speak it considerably more irritable but that's about it. I was just saying that it's not hand-waving fairy magic.
It's hand-waving science magic.
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[img]http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/982/exhumanbar.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/4473/scumbar.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/1396/gatecrasherbar.jpg[/img]
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Tue, 2011-05-31 14:38
#12
Yerameyahu
Re: The Sleeper complexe
Whatever it is, it's still definitely fun (and more 'real' than Snow Crash). My favorite 'application' of it is Orwell's Newspeak, which totally belongs in EP.
Tue, 2011-05-31 22:03
#13
Axel the Chimeric
Re: The Sleeper complexe
I've been brushing up on that after having a read of Paranoia. I imagine it's very popular with the Jovians.
Anyone who knows how the mainstream media operates knows that it's unnecessary in the Planetary Consortium. If ad campaigns can convince women in third world countries to pay for tainted formula that kills their infants and make them believe the formula is safer than their own breast milk, you can damn well convince people of almost anything.
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[img]http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/982/exhumanbar.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/4473/scumbar.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/1396/gatecrasherbar.jpg[/img]
[code][@-rep +1, f-rep +2][/code]
Tue, 2011-05-31 23:45
#14
Tallai
Re: The Sleeper complexe
Siren hacks making people crazy? You could take a look at Pontypool. Once again soft science but a fun little take on rage and zombies through language.
As for sleeper agents, the joy of them being sleepers is that they can always just "not" be. While I prefer making a decision and sticking with it for a campaign, if they just jump on an idea that you haven't confirmed yet, punish them for using meta-game.
"'What did you do that for?!' he screams in agony and collapses."
"He was the bad guy!"
"You should probably find proof before the police show up."
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Wed, 2011-06-01 18:28
#15
LatwPIAT
Re: The Sleeper complexe
How shall I say this... Making players sleeper agents and not telling them about it, repeatedly, is going to quickly end up both predictable. ("So, guys, which one of us is the evil guy this time?" "Bob; he has the Edited Memories trait again.") and, I assume, annoying. When you make a player a sleeper agent, thus forcing them to give up control of their character to you, the GM, you're...
well...
Forcing them to give up control of their players. This is, generally, considered a Very Bad Thing[super]TM[/super] because it robs your players of their autonomy. Now, if it was just, say, Modified Behaviour or some sort, where the Players can work around it as a well-established limitation (being, you know, a [i]flaw[/i]), then it's fair, but to steal their character is kind of not nice.
And you've mentioned that they're not even surprised by it, which really should point out that you're about as creative as Alastair Reynolds at this.
Instead, you could make a Flock of Wolves. Flocks of Wolves are [i]awesome[/i]!
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