CYBER-PULP FANTASY CORE-Sample Adventure-How to Use

CYBER-PULP FANTASY CORE

© Jerry Harris 2013

Published here as Open Game Content.

(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Index.)

Overview Index 

Adventure Index

How to Use This Adventure

Decide on the killer.  Decide on what encounters you want to use.  Obviously, the other encounters are “red herrings,” but will lead to the killer eventually.  Decide on the clues and any twists or complications at the encounters.  As written here, things will probably not match up cleanly, thus you’ll be able to add your own surprises.

The Timeline Leading Up to the Murder

Lila developed a theory for a Total Consciousness Upload, but came to the conclusion that she needed a Drow Soul Crystal to make it work.  These artifacts are very hard to find, almost mythical.  She found out about the location of one from her relationship with a Neural-mancer Meat Puppet.

Lila stole a lethal Black Ice program (which could kill users on a computer) from the Puppet and offered it to her lover, Man-Zero, the Radical Humanoid.  She’d give him the activation code for it, in return for him stealing a Soul Crystal out of the private collection of reclusive business tycoon, Ophidian.  She gave him the layout and hacking cover for the job.

Man-Zero delivered the Crystal, but Lila hadn’t actually been able to crack the encryption on the Black Ice in the meantime.  She put him off and sent the Black Ice to the local Web Gypsy tribe, the Hopeless Romantics, for them break quickly, offering her (untested) research in return.

With the Crystal, Lila tapped into the A.I. (a subordinate processor of Supreme) at Lynn’s Arcade for extra processing power and initiated a successful upload test.  Unfortunately, Lila’s physical death occurred right after that.  The Virtual Lila became aware of the murder soon after it happened, but wasn’t able to access any of the detection devices in the apartment to see who did it.  She immediately put in a call to the police reporting a murder. 

Fearing for her own virtual existence, she quickly transferred herself to an outside computer system.  Virtual Lila has become aware that there are extensive net searches being made for her, thus forcing continuous transfers to other systems.  As long as she doesn’t make prolonged contact to another computer or Com, Virtual Lila is very hard to track.  Unfortunately, her consciousness is becoming corrupted, each transfer exacerbating it.  Virtual Lila won’t last much longer before experiencing a “Personality Crash.” 

Notes on Lila

--For a longer adventure with a big twist, Virtual Lila actually knows who did it, but will be leading the characters around all of the suspects to take out all of her enemies.  Alternately, she may know who the killer is, but is afraid that the characters won’t risk a confrontation with someone famous and dangerous, like the Neural-mancer, or super rich, like Ophidian. 

--If the players start getting frustrated about where to go next, have Virtual Lila show up and point them in the right direction.  In future adventures, the players should think for themselves more, but for an intro adventure, a little help is okay.

--There are actually several cameras in and around Lila’s apartment, but none of them will show a killer.  Of course, these records may show evidence of tampering.  They may have even been blanked.

--Optional plot thread: The police ruled Lila’s death an accidental neural feedback incident.  They may or may not be involved in a cover up, but given the neighborhood where this happened, the police had no qualms about closing the case quickly.

Some players may want to go CSI in investigating this murder.  They’ll have to hack the police database (DC 18) to get the original report.  Getting physical access to the body for additional examination, if they think there’s been a cover up, may be overly ambitious, but they might want to try it.  I’ll leave the details of that encounter and clues to find, up to you.  (And what if the body has been stolen from the morgue?  Who would do that and why?)