CYBER-PULP FANTASY CORE-Sample Adventure-Lila's Apartment Part 3

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

Lila’s Office

It’s a mess of computer gear, electronics, and other effluvia of a lifestyle that didn’t involving cleaning.  And it’s been turned upside down and rifled through on top of it.  The characters going to be hard-pressed to find anything worthwhile here without extensive searching, which they don’t have time to scavenge through right now.

Thankfully, an Advanced Data Pad on a desk comes on when the characters start searching.  Virtual Lila appears and winks at them.  The screen goes to a login, which automatically fills in, allowing unlimited access to the system.  The characters may want to just take it with it and look at it later, in which case, Lila logs it in for them then.  While her main computer data was stolen, this Data Pad contains a backup copy, which was overlooked during the murder.  What’s there, depends on what you want them to find.  

--A highly encrypted Black Ice security program (DC 30).  Essentially, it kills hackers by feedback who are unsuccessful in attacking a system it’s been installed on.

--A series of e-mails between Lila and the Hopeless Romantic Web Gypsy tribe.  They are discussing a deal to unencrypt the Black Ice program.  (The Gypsies are the only ones with the resources to crack something that hard quickly.)  She offers her research in return for the activation code for it.  Tell the characters that they have a contact in the tribe, Mazzy.  (Virtual Lila does uphold her end of the deal and transmits her research to the gypsies.  They in turn send Virtual Lila the activation code for her Black Ice.  However, the code didn’t go to this e-mail account and went directly to Virtual Lila.) 

--A series of e-mails between Lila and Man-Zero, the Radical Humanoid.  They are discussing a deal for Black Ice in return for a Drow Soul Crystal.  Lila brings up that she’s found a Crystal at the Savantech office.  Man-Zero offers to steal it, in return for the Black Ice activation code.  He’s also rather mushy in his communications, and Lila seems be to flirting with him.  The communications take a bad turn as Lila withholds the code, after Man-Zero has delivered the Crystal. 

--A series of e-mails between Lila and a Coffee Shop, Central Perk, which is about a mile away.  She’s making a series of complicated orders in a flirtatious manner.  The replies from the owner, Stanley, come back, either saying that the order is ready for pick up, or that he’s unable to fill the order and offers an alternative.  In either case, Stanley seems very eager to see her again and fulfill her needs.  There’s plenty of empty Perk cups littering the office.

--Lila’s research into Total Consciousness Upload.  This data will be way over the character’s heads, but it’s easy enough to see what it is.

CYBER-PULP FANTASY CORE-Sample Adventure-Lila's Apartment Part 2

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

Lila’s Front Door

The apartment is double-sized and more or less breaks down into the work area/office and the bedroom.  Since this setting is the only mandatory one in the adventure, everything afterward keys off it.  Here’s where you’ll make the initial choices for leads for the characters to follow up on.  Note that some of these choices are incompatible with each other, so don’t use all of them.  The front door, which has crime scene tape over it, goes directly into the office.  Here are some options for that front door.  Just use one though.

--A police sensor tag is also on the door.  It is DC 18 to Hack.  Any attempt at removing it or a failed hacking attempt will set off an auditory alarm and summon the cops, who will arrive in 3 turns (that’s a half hour, the cops don’t like coming to this neighborhood).  The Radical Humanoids upstairs will be there in 3 rds.  Any damage to the tag will shut down the alarm at least.       

--The keypad code has been changed.  The one the characters were given no longer works.  After three failed attempts at opening the door, it won’t open at all.  Worse, it will contact whoever changed the code.  If you decide it was the Humanoids that changed the code, they’ll be down in 3 rds and will have alerted the car full of reinforcements in 2 turns.  If it was Supreme, 4 thugs will drive up in 3 turns.  If it was Milo Sanders of U-Tech, his security chief, Randall, with 2 thugs (not his usual security guys) will show up in 3 turns.  (The Humanoids won’t want to let any of them in without a fight, so the characters will know they’re coming.)  All of these guys will want to know who the characters are and why they’re here, but have no qualms about shooting if need be.  They are looking for Virtual Lila and think the characters may have a lead on her.

--The apartment door is open.  Two agents (thugs) of Ophidian are inside ransacking the apartment, looking for the Soul Crystal.  As long as the characters aren’t noisy in entering the building, they’ll have the drop on them.  Otherwise, the thugs will wait and try to ambush the characters upon entry. 

Any thug captured will sing like a bird, in return for being let go.  See the Savantech section later for details on the Ophidian thugs.  Thugs from Supreme will say that they were hired by an Orc named “Smack” at Lynn’s Arcade.  The Humanoids at the building will talk if threatened.  They know who Man-Zero is (if he’s a suspect) and where he usually hangs out (the Warehouse). 

Randall will assure the characters that they are in deep trouble, which will only get deeper, if they don’t answer his questions.  However, if threatened with his life, he’ll bargain what he knows in order to be set loose.  Randall will say he’s looking for Lila’s killer or Virtual Lila and give the group his U-Tech business card.  Contact him if they have any leads.  (This guy won’t fight to the death here.  Don’t let him get killed.  Or if he is mortally wounded, lucky he had a hidden Laz patch.)

(Take note right here.  The players need to learn to negotiate, get the drop on people, and not shoot up everything in sight.  Most NPC’s do not want to be shot, and will talk their way out of it if they can.  The players may want to adopt that philosophy too.) 

CYBER-PULP FANTASY CORE-Sample Adventure-Lila's Apartment

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

Hook to Site

The characters are given Lila’s address and door code when they accept the job.

Location Description

Lila’s apartment is in the bad, Humanoid section of town.  This is one of those areas where being openly armed is a good idea.  Half-Elves and Dwarves will attract unwanted attention.  The apartment is on the third floor in a non-descript, four-story brownstone building.  Its most obvious feature is the 2 Orc guards standing at the front door.  You see, this is also the home of a Radical Humanoid cell, which is located on the fourth floor. 

The rest of the occupants are sympathizers, but basically indifferent unless directly attacked.  (Feel free to discomfort the characters with random, annoying neighbors.)  They actually appreciate the extra security (which comes with a fee).  The good news is that you won’t have to worry about the police showing up if there’s a firefight.  The bad news is that the Humanoids don’t have to worry about it either.     

Reconnaissance

It’s assumed that the characters will be visiting the building at night (soon after the meeting), but it really doesn’t make much of a difference in the encounter.  Neither of the outside Orcs are brandishing weapons, but it’s pretty obvious they’re guards, though not very attentive.  The characters will have an easy time observing the building, unless they just drive up and try to walk in.  With a little extra surveillance, they’ll be able to notice that there’s another Orc just inside the doorway.

Entry

The players should be encouraged to come up with their own plan for entry.  These are some obvious options.  Bribery, charm, and sneaking are viable, though any Elvish or Dwarvish presence in the group will cause a problem in negotiating.  Rushing the guards will alert the rest of the cell above and bring outside reinforcements.  Scaling the building is also a good option, even in daylight.  Figure a 1 in 4 chance of being observed (by an Orc guard or even a bystander) per person climbing during the day (no problems at night).  (The front and rear fire escapes can be used, but the group will be noticed by the building’s occupants.)  The outside windows are locked, but can be broken into fairly easily.  Climbing up the rear of the building will bring the characters to the bedroom part of the apartment.  1 in 8 chance of attracting attention from the Cell above with a noisy entry.

Radical Humanoid Cell
There are 4 Goblins and 1 Orc in their fourth floor studio apartment.  They’re indifferently planning their next terrorist attack.  They aren’t expecting any combat, but can be armed and ready in two rds.  If given time, they’ll also call in reinforcements.  In two turns, 4 more Orcs will drive up outside.  The apartment also contains a computer with information that the police or Samantha at the B-Board would find interesting (DC 12 to hack).  They have a small armory in the closet: 2 assault rifles, 10 clips, 2 boxes of grenades, 1 RPG, 1 C-4 charge.  (Using explosives here will bring police involvement.  And if the characters try to carry all this out at once, it’s going to be cumbersome.) 

Boxing Journal 3-9-14

Yeah, don’t expect this to be a regular feature.  Saturday night Canelo Alvarez fought Alfredo Angulo at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  I wouldn’t have cared but a co-worker’s girlfriend is obsessed with Canelo and Mexican boxing in general.  In an effort to know what they would be talking about on Monday, I felt compelled to watch.  Otherwise, since I have yet to see a good boxing match, I wouldn’t have bothered.  So, while the girlfriend plunked down $50 for the pay-per-view, I adjusted my antenna to get the Juarez station that was carrying the fight for free, and shockingly it was shown live.  (I can get about five different stations on Saturday nights that are carrying boxing matches.  I get the impression it might be a popular sport in Mexico.)

I skipped all the intros.  The guys looked fairly evenly matched in height, weight, and build, not so evenly matched in fans and looks.  Canelo is adored by a legion of fans, not only for his fighting prowess, but his looks.  The other guy, well let’s just say, was not in the ring for his looks.  Canelo was decked out in yellow trunks, with yellow gloves and yellow trimmed shoes.  It was a bold fashion choice likely inspired by his sponsor, Corona, who also had their advertising around the ring along with the Corona Girl ring girls.  In between rounds, the network was also showing a commercial starring Canelo.  I am not insinuating there was a fix in (it’s not the NFL after all), but clearly there was a favorite.

Here I am watching two big sweaty, shirtless guys hitting each other each, more or less suspecting I’m going to be disappointed, rather than watching a certain little local hottie newscaster. . . who’s sexual preferences are somewhat dubious, thus somewhat destroying my fantasy.  Disappointment abounds.  Bring on the sweaty guys. 

The fight begins.  Again, the guys seemed pretty evenly matched.  Annoyingly there was no round-by-round scoring by the commentators in between rounds.  Certainly you couldn’t go by the highly biased crowd noise.  They were gasping, oohing, ahhing, chanting, and cheering nearly continuously for Canelo.  The announcers were strangely sedate during the broadcast, at least in comparison to TV Azteca’s wildly enthusiastic commentary.  Not even understanding most of what they’re saying, they’re very entertaining. 

By the third round, Canelo’s great hair has gotten messed up.  That’s how you can tell when he’s facing a tough opponent.  Meanwhile, there’s this gorgeous brunette in a black evening gown in the front row.  She looks familiar, but I can’t place her.  I’m sure she’s famous somewhere.  In the eighth round, Angulo has gotten Canelo on the ropes, but the red-head counterattacks savagely.  Probably the best round of the match.  The audience can sense the fight is coming to a climax, one way or another.  Disturbingly, there’s a Mexican Pizza Hut commercial between rounds advertising a stuffed crust pizza with Doritos crumbs sprinkled on top.  Look Doritos, just stay in the damn bag!

While Canelo’s hair needs combing, it’s hard not to notice that Angulo's face is starting to look like a bloody pile of meatloaf.  (And he wasn’t that good looking to begin with.)  In the 10^th round, Canelo leaves his feet to deliver a left uppercut underneath Angulo's defenses, snapping his head back and sending him staggering into the ropes.  The ref, who up to this point had had little to do as the boys were going at it pretty cleanly, stepped in and called the match.  Strangely, both fighters seemed surprised by this call.  Angulo was still on his feet and conscious and aware enough to be angry.  Canelo stood there more confused than Angulo for a moment after the decision.  They both wanted to keep going.

Angry and confused myself, I put in a nearly unprecedented weekend call to my co-worker (also consider it was after 11:00 at night).  “What the hell was that?” I asked.  I was aware that two other fighters had died from injuries in bouts this year, and apparently that was the excuse for stopping the fight.  The officials have gotten a little nervous.  Maybe.  They did show a close-up of Angulo's face afterward, not only bloody, but both eyes were swelled shut, though he had little trouble seeing himself getting screwed.  At least the girlfriend was happy.

In sum, once again I have watched a boxing match that did not include knockout and ended with some controversy.  Here’s the part where I would usually say what I usually say after watching a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, “I’m never doing this again.”  And then I end up watching again.  (Yeah, I watched the Nationwide Phoenix race last weekend.  I don’t want to talk about it.)  UFC (MMA, whatever) fights that I’ve seen are sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes horrifying, but at least they’re not always the same thing for me.  I know there are good fights out there (like the last Pacquiao bout where he ended up on his face), I hope to someday see one.  

CYBER-PULP FANTASY CORE-Sample Adventure-The Suspects

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

The Suspects

If a suspect is confronted at an encounter, here’s some info to help role play it.

Milo Sanders

--Motive: Vengeful ex.  He was monitoring her research.  Milo waited until she’d had some sort of break through and then had her killed.

--Method: Lila was using equipment stolen from Milo’s company, U-tech.  He had a backdoor into her system and used neural feedback to kill her while she was jacked in.  He had his security chief, Randall, go in afterward and take the Soul Crystal.  The police have been bribed to cover it up.

--Alibi: Milo was still pining away for her and hoping for a reconciliation.  When he heard about Lila’s death, he put Randall on the case to find the killer.  Wants Virtual Lila as a memorial, to preserve her.

Man-Zero

--Motive: Jilted lover.  Lila had used him to get the Soul Crystal and then stiffed him on handing over the access codes for the Black Ice he wanted.

--Method: Used a contact poison that caused brain death that was activated by electrical contact (jacking in).  Using a Stealth Cloak, he grabbed the Soul Crystal and has tried to sell it back to Ophidian, whom he actually stole it from.  (Where did he get that poison?  Sounds like a Drow concoction.  Something to perhaps follow up on in another adventure.)  He’s convinced that Lila was withholding the activation codes from him and that they’re out there somewhere (like Virtual Lila).

--Alibi: Man-Zero was on the run from Ophidian’s agents for the theft, or was caught, interrogated and released by him. 

Neural-mancer Meat-Puppet

--Motive: Professional revenge.  Lila had used him for information to find a Drow Soul Crystal and stole a Black Ice program from him.   

--Method: Used an experiment “Soul Gun” and a Time Stop device to kill her and take the Soul Crystal and her research.  (Time Stop is a spell that the real Neural-mancer knows.  The Soul Gun is one of his current projects.  In game terms, it damages people’s negative hp and leaves them soul-less, but with their bodies unharmed.)

--Alibi: The Puppet was more worried that the Neural-mancer was going to find out about his screw-up and was hoping to pass off his relationship with Lila as a collaboration.  Her death has had him scrambling trying gather whatever he can from her research.  He’d especially like to get Virtual Lila, but even having the Soul Crystal may be worthwhile. 

Ophidian

--Motive: Punishment.  Lila used Man-Zero to steal the Drow Soul Crystal from Ophidian’s private collection (sounds like the kind of adventure the characters would want to be in on).  A capture and a terse interrogation of Man-Zero, lead Ophidian to Lila as the real culprit.  Her research intrigued him as well.

--Method: He killed her via a sympathetic magic ceremony.  Man-Zero, with his Stealth Cloak, grabbed the Soul Crystal and her research for him.

--Alibi: Ophidian didn’t find out Lila was behind the theft until she was already dead.  He still wants his Crystal back.

Supreme (Subordinate AI)

--Motive: Reaction.  Lila hacked the AI to get enough processing power to do her upload. 

--Method: The AI detected it after the procedure and killed her via neural feedback.  Hacking her system, the AI became interested in her research.  It sent one of its goons, Smack, to her apartment to get the Soul Crystal.  The AI looped all the detection devices there to hide the theft.

--Alibi: Didn’t track Lila down and hack her system until after she’d been killed.  It’s interested in retrieving Virtual Lila. 

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?) 

CYBER-PULP FANTASY CORE-Sample Adventure-Background

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

Background Info

Lila Magonel, a Half-Elf, was a rising star programmer for the high-tech company, U-Tech.  Brilliant, but by Corporate standards, too eccentric.  They eventually dismissed her for not producing marketable work.  But Lila wasn’t finished with her research into total consciousness upload.  First, she’d ripped off U-Tech for money and equipment during her employment.  They may have turned a blind eye to it while she was there.  If she came up with anything on her own, they might sue her later.  On the other hand, she was also having an affair with the CEO, Milo Sanders.

Via an anonymous contributor, Lila also received a large grant of funds.  This was courtesy of, outlaw arcane hacker, the Neural-mancer.  Or in this case, a Meat Puppet of the Neural-mancer.  The real thing is only vaguely aware of his Puppets’ actions.  Consciousness upload is also his area of specialty.  The Puppet, perhaps infatuated with Lila and/or her research, essentially partnered with her.  Lila had no qualms about stringing along another resourceful suitor.

Needing some muscle for a job, Lila made contact with the Radical Humanoid Movement.  She acquired (from the Meat Puppet) a dangerous computer virus (Black Ice-potentially lethal cyber attack software) and offered it her contact, a Half-Orc named, Man-Zero (that’s his Clan Tag, not his real name).  For his part, Lila needed specific magic item stolen from Ophidian, the mysterious Corporate magnate.  Man-Zero kept up his end, but Lila never entirely delivered on her end.  Theoretically, the Humanoids were supposed to be providing security for Lila at her lab.  Man-Zero was also infatuated enough with Lila to take any risk for her, including a dangerous theft.  She did not reciprocate his passion, however. 

Lila was also well aware of Supreme, the master computer for Incom and an Artificial Intelligence that has achieved sentience.  She managed to hack one of it’s remote, subordinate processors for more processing power.  Her access was discovered by the A.I.

Having just finished a critical upload experiment, Lila was murdered at her lab.  She had just finished uploading her own personality as a test.  The killer then took her computer with all of her research, and took the special, magic device she was using for the test, the Drow Soul Crystal.  There were no signs of forced entry or that the lab had been ransacked.  The body showed no signs of physical distress.  The multiple video cam’s simply showed her dying, alone, while hooked up to her exotic machine.  Seemed like an open and shut case for the police, who quickly closed it.  Perhaps, too quickly?

So, whodunit?  We have plenty suspects.  Well, I’m not going to tell you.  It’s for you (the Ref) to decide and for those sneaky players, who might be reading this, to find out.  What I am going to do is setup encounters that include possible clues, red herrings (false clues), twists, and complications.  From this, you’ll hopefully be able to mix and match elements (along with your own ideas), to create a unique adventure.  You decide on the killer and how many encounters you want.  Want a full blown, complex mystery, with blind alleys and twists?  Use the 48-hour time limit and do it.  Want a short adventure that gets to the point?  No problem, use the 24-hour time limit.  You can even repurpose unused encounters for another adventure.

Frankly, this adventure could go off the rails in any number of places.  You’re going to have to be flexible running this.  If the characters get totally off track or don’t know what to do, then Virtual Lila NPC should make an appearance at that point to nudge them along.  Or perhaps, the characters are suddenly attacked by a fairly weak force that can be interrogated and point them where they should go next.