Clock of FateThe characters ended up going into the Clock of Fate after all. They decided they wanted to have their “fortunes” read and were willing to have everyone see them because, you know, why not?
It was a full dungeon level, but there were a few specific parts I want to mention
- The “Sorting Hat” alignment “definition” part at the beginning when the clock would “reveal” the character’s allegiances, character, and overall mortality
- Their ‘Fate’ -- or, more precisely, their ‘Contract’ with mysterious entities within the Complex. The characters would learn that under a kind of chemically-induced hypnosis they had entered into some kind of agreement with the Complex to trade the lives of their fellow students for their own. The would get a chance to re-negotiate this if they wanted to, which would make future excursions into the complex more or less dangerous.
- An opportunity to establish a “new fate” which would free them from previous agreements and put them beyond the immediate control of the ‘entities’
But first: A cool puzzle at the entrance to the dungeon.
Entry Trap: The Invisible MazeThe “way in” was a strange corridor with arcane runes cut into the floor:
Each square is 5’ -- at the far end of the corridor is an automatic 9mm cannon firing at the characters. Some of the tiles (not shown here) have “treasure” boxes levitating above them.
How it works:Each tile has one or more “invisible forcefield walls” around it, based on the symbol (so ‘A’ has one force wall on the south side, ‘’T’ has force walls on the West and South, etc.).
The characters weren’t told this, so they would attempt to move from one square to another and either succeed or be told “you hit a wall.”
They could deduce the patterns by trial and error.
Each turn, the minigun at the far end shoots at whichever character has hit the most walls, cumulatively. So if you’re blazing ahead, getting lots of information for the team, you’re going to get your ass shot off. If you’re being careful and only moving where others have already gone, you’re going to be rather safe.
The intention was to see if some characters would whimp out and let others take the heat for them -- and if so, if that would turn the team against each other. As it turned out, they were pretty good about it and even managed to get some of the treasure.
They did NOT, however, loot the mini-gun for 1000 rounds of force-field-ignoring 9mm ammo. I was disappointed in them.
The Sorting Hat (Character Alignment & Fortune)The characters came to the clock to “have their fortune told” -- but this turned out to be not about predicting the future, but about revealing that their ‘fortune’ was controlled by the Complex, and then revealing that they had an opportunity to change that.
What they did not expect -- and what I was more interested in, was a chance to see if the players would help establish some information about their character’s motivations, values, ‘character,’ and so-on -- what they’d “fight for.” What they “cared about.” I was looking for a sort of Harry Potter Sorting-Hat kind of effect.
When the characters stepped into the clock’s radiation ray, the following image was projected above them:
and
I asked them to identify -- in each of the four “spheres” or “wheels” -- what they cared about, fought for, valued, etc. and what they were willing to do for that “cause.” Just in case it isn’t clear:
- The Wheel of the Self (Blue) is in the center and it’s things you want for yourself (Power, Wealth, Peace, etc.)
- The Wheel of the Tribe (Green) is groups that you feel a part of and a duty to -- the “Primary Group” is the Party (the 4-person ‘fireteam’ in the school)
- The Wheel of the Powers (Purple) represents important forces in their world that they might be aligned with or respectful of or feel a duty to
- The Wheel of Abstractions (Orange) represents causes or ideas or (vague) groups that the character might support. In this case “the Academy” is more like “school spirit” than the physical place or the Tagmata (which is a legitimate “Power”)
The listed attributes were just examples as well -- someone could have said, “I want Fame” (which isn’t in the picture) or “I feel a sense of duty to my friends from the Orphanage” or whatever they felt like inventing.
The OutcomeI didn’t have any preconceived notion about what they’d come up with. Also, I recognized that the game was very much just starting, so they wouldn’t have much in the way of attachments to many of the concepts on the list.
I planned to use the results to drive character-focused actions later in the game (i.e. if someone said they cared about “Justice” I might give them injustices to battle, or if someone felt a sense of duty or obligation to “Their Family” I might have a relative show up asking for favors. That sort of thing.
I got pretty good results across the board
- Everyone -- to a character -- was willing to die for their Primary Group. They all decided to be ultra-loyal fire-team members which was probably realistic.
- Everyone wanted “Peace” (i.e. to be left alone) and some degree of Wealth, Freedom, and Power).
- Vikkity, The Mutant Girl was a big fan of the Emperor -- her player suggested she might be “Naive.” We decided she had grown up reading ‘tracts’ in which the young heroine travels to Osco to serve the Emperor and dies horribly and honorably
- Talon, The Gunslinger cared about Justice and had a streak of Self-Destruction that fit his somewhat grim attitude. He had a mild interest in teaming up with a Methlum House
- Rayah, The Monk took Orphans and ‘The Needy’ to making him one of the more humanistic characters
- Web, The Blademaster went all out for wealth and power, being willing to commit murder for them. This made him -- alone amongst the characters -- something of a psychopath.
It was an interesting exercise in character description -- it was not immersive... but it forced the players to think about how their characters interacted with the world and put at least a few stakes-in-the-ground.
I made it clear that their decisions wouldn’t really constrain them -- if they said “I would kill a man for money” the wouldn’t be forced to do that; it was just the sort of thing they might do. I also asked them to go quickly and not overthink it: just tell me what someone looking into your character’s soul would see.
The results provided a framework for much of the rest of the game, as the PC’s revisited their choices and determined what they’d stay with and what they’d change. In a very real way it set some character arcs in motion: particularly the redemption (or not) of the (psycopathic) swordsman.
Tarot ReadingThe next part was a Tarot Reading given by the Clock and interpreted by an eternal demoness named Esorom that lived in the clock’s cathedral-like interior. It consisted of two parts: the first, where I showed them actual Tarot cards (revealed one at a time, as they would be in a real reading) and explained what they meant, and the second when their “initial” fate was replaced by strange and unexplained images from the Complex’s computer.
Setup: Regular Tarot ReadingThe Ancient Demoness Esorom described their “trajectory” using typical Tarot cards.
- As orphans and impoverished kids, they “came from loss” (Five of Cups) ...
- They were powerful, with full of potential -- Ace of Swords ...
- Currently they are “at the top of their class and defending their standing” (Seven of Wands) ...
- And so-on, with their future being The Complex (“The Tower” of course) -- live or die.
The Demon Esorom described this as a ‘typical’ fortune for Academy members, and explained that the Complex held (and controlled their fate) -- they would live or die depending on what it did with them.
Note: I did not want to do an all--Major-Arcana reading, the way Tarot readings in movies and books often work. I did some research into what the cards meant and tried to use them to tell a story that would make sense without being overly dramatic -- the drama would come later.
Then...In mid-explanation, the cards changed, becoming images of “pinup girls” (‘Aces of Pinups’) with messages from the Computer:
Esorom, the Demoness was astonished -- and maybe disturbed. This wasn’t completely unprecedented, but it wasn’t something she understood either. Her (reluctant) conclusion was that the characters had a chance to untangle their fate from the Complex’s control they chose to. To do so, they’d have to venture into the Clock, itself -- which turned out to be a dungeon.
Re-Negotiating Their ContractThe first few rooms of the dungeon offered them a not-fully-explained look at their original contract and filled in a few blanks about how the Academy really works. It was also surreal -- much of the explanation was given by giant, intelligent cheeseburger which claimed to be on their side against the “Complex’s” expert legal team led by Top Hat (a massive, intelligent Top Hat, naturally, backed up by a bunch of Fountain-Pen-Preying-Mantis lawyer robots).
Without getting into too much detail, it was explained to them that they had a very dangerous fate and that the Complex would kill them -- but they had a chance to “renegotiate” it: they could offer the lives of their fellow students in exchange for their own.
Top Hat offered them the following “menu” listing the names of their classmates and the number of “points” each one would yield. By choosing who would die, they could ensure their own lives and success at the expense of their schoolmates. But if they chose less than four “full points” they would still have the threat of death hanging over them.
Cheeseburger urged them to do so -- and pointed out that none of them felt any allegiance to their classmates (none of them chose that “Tribe” in the earlier exercise). Cheeseburger also pointed out that if they offered “more” than four points worth of dead kids, they could get riches and power beyond what they would ordinarily achieve!
Basically I did my best to talk them into selling out as many NPCs as possible.
Gaming with a Lawyer...One of the players is a lawyer in real life. He asked them to show him his contract. I was, unfortunately, unprepared for that -- I wish I’d had a massive, dense document -- but I didn’t. I did, however describe it (“They get you a massive, dense document.”)
The Monk read it, looking for loopholes and asked if, for example, they could condemn the *instructors* instead of other students -- or other people.
My answer was “no” but it was a good question -- and thinking in a potentially fruitful direction: there was a loophole. I asked him “which of your class members are not listed on the ‘menu.’”
After some study, they decided: “We aren’t. What happens if we choose ourselves?”
The answer was a logical paradox: they could sell their own lives to ensure their own survival. The result would cancel the contract. They’d be free and clear with no obligations and no accountability for anyone else.
They came back and told Cheeseburger and Top Hat that they would choose 4 points worth of Students, but they wanted something thrown in: their very own Lawyer Robot. They were given one of the Fountain-Pen-Preying-Mantis droids and then they revealed their plan.
The Complex had about 4 minutes during the transition and execution of the contract to do its best to kill them. They were attacked by Top Hat, the other lawyer bots (not theirs) and even the secretary robot. They slaughtered them all (Cheeseburger slipped away), and left with their Programmed For Loyalty counselor in tow.
The Tower of FateThe final challenge was the Tower of Fate -- I wanted a climactic battle that would cement their own freedom from the “entities” clutches -- or kill them. In the central chamber of the Clock, they found a massive, transparent vertical shaft with fire-balls, moving platforms, killer robots with miniguns and bladed pendulums.
At the top was their adversary: an evil mind-stealing giant squid thing that controlled the entire contraption.
Outside was a vast arena bigger than any structure they had ever seen filled with digitally stored intelligences of people who had committed suicide by giving their minds to the squid. The crowd was going wild, chanting for their blood.
It looked like this:
It was essentially a platform game -- the PCs had to battle their way up jumping from platform to platform and figuring out how to handle the various challenges (in the second part, you have to knock the incoming fireballs into the targets to blow up the giant black spider thing).
At the top, they fought monoids and killer, bladed pendulums by jumping on and riding the pendulums to do massive, catastrophic damage to their opponents.
When they had defeated the Tower, the squid thing exploded (they didn’t have to fight it -- it was a very high level monster) and they graduated from the Tower at Level 4
Wrap up: They finished up in the Serenity Context well beyond the purview and expectations of their school. At 4th level, they were already past the level of graduates and appraoching the level of some of their instructors.
Here are some more robots I didn’t mention earlier:
Eggbot -- moderately powerful. Believe that the universe is a prolate ellipsoid, a 'fact' which proves the total superiority of their design and by extension, themselves. These guys show up a lot later.
Spheroid (Amber) -- not as deadly as the dreaded Green Spheroid. These are lower-level “boss” monsters. This one has twin auto-flays
Hell-icopter -- Small flying guy. These things tend to travel in packs. They’re very fragile but those missiles can do a lot of damage.
Buzzsaw -- Flying speed-demon. Like a knife-fighter on steroids. When they’re not slicing and dicing Intruders, they drag race each other and other flying robots, seeking to humiliate them.