VR excites me!
Preamble
As well as our regular playing session that is streamed live on Twitch, I have some other tasty RPG bites that drop throughout the week!
Wednesday is always content day – from videos to blog posts like this one!
Sunday morning there will be a tweet or something similar posted
And of course, on the first of every month, there is the Mythras Matters Podcast.
But in this blog post, I want to talk about VR!
Where did Shadowrun go?
I used to run a weekly Shadowrun game on a Tuesday evening. But people drifted away from it so it slowly ground to a halt.
I like the concept behind Shadowrun. The mix of guns and magic. The metahumans and dragons. And the tech and the vehicles.
However, as the game updated to version 6, I saw a significant drop in the people who were playing the game and so I lost touch with the rules
But my desire for the concept continues. One aspect of the whole campaign feel was the riggers and deckers. I really enjoyed the way these were considered and the fact that one whole adventure could take place solely in the matrix really excited me. And then, came the technomancers with their sprites. I was silently in heaven!
But how could I capture what I loved in the games that I played?
Into space!
Before you get excited, I’m not talking about playing Spell Jammer again! Just as a quick update, I did offer to run a one-off 5e campaign, but sadly there was not even a nibble!
With M-Space being popular with the group, I want to develop the computing and rigging side of things. As I browsed the rules for both computers and drones in the excellent companion, it got me thinking about how I could incorporate the concepts I enjoyed most in Shadowrun into the M-Space campaign.
The matrix in Shadowrun often got very complicated and this was something I wanted to leave firmly behind. I want to keep the construction of the matrix without the need for multiple programs and decks. Often the more complex a concept becomes, the harder it is to understand or play it.
I have therefore decided that there are going to be few, if any, additions to the current rules.
More of the Narrative
Using computer skills, I want to bring into the game augmented reality and virtual reality. The rules covering these would be quite simple. Being joined to the matrix in VR makes all your skill checks at one difficulty level easier, but the damage will be applied directly to you and jacking out will require an opposed endurance or willpower check. If this fails then fatigue will increase.
When entering a system, the narrative will be used to create the host and all the running programs. The player will be able to describe their avatar and what happens when actions are taken. If in VR their actions will always come before the near world.
As the player moves through the host looking for information or for that camera to be shut down, then the computer skill will be used to decide on the outcome of the action. If the player knows beforehand the action and unlocks the outside door, then the skill check will be an extended task with the completion of the task representing that the task has been achieved.
Nasty Ice!
The host system will be able to react and attack the player if there are discovered. Combat will be opposed rolls of their computer skills or security level and damage will be the same as how stun damage is worked out in M-Space. I still have to decide on the amount of damage but possibly this will be linked to the hardware or software – this is still unknown
Whatever I decide on I want to create a system that is heavily based on the narrative with a minimal amount of rules!
But what of the technomancers?
Well for these I only have one thought – Q-Tech!
Outro
I’m looking forward to implementing the rules into M-Space. As you can see they are not completely created yet but they will be for the first session.
So if you do come along and watch us play live, or watch the reruns on YouTube, let me know what you think.
