D20 Modern 'Matrix' Campaign Setting? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

D20 Modern 'Matrix' Campaign Setting?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
robtheman74
Dec 14, 2009 11:36:10 Hello,

Apologies if this has been asked before, but has anyone seen/developed rules for running a game in the setting of the Matrix trilogy? I know there exists a free D6 WEG Matirx game, but I would much rather play under D20 rules. Any suggestions or links would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
#2
robtheman74
Dec 14, 2009 13:30:22 Nevermind, I did a little digging and answered my own question.
#3
TheRealOrion
Dec 14, 2009 13:41:13 Care to share with the rest of the class?

I found The Matrix: Only Human a few years ago. What have you found?
#4
space_cadet
Dec 14, 2009 18:07:38
Hello,

Apologies if this has been asked before, but has anyone seen/developed rules for running a game in the setting of the Matrix trilogy? I know there exists a free D6 WEG Matirx game, but I would much rather play under D20 rules. Any suggestions or links would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Even more interesting in my opinion would be to create your own Matrix Campaign rather than just rehash the Movie Trilogy and play "Neo".

Have you ever considered a D&D Matrix, or how about some other period besides boring modern times?
#5
trappedslider
Dec 14, 2009 18:35:12
Care to share with the rest of the class?

I found The Matrix: Only Human a few years ago. What have you found?

may have found cybersacpe's VRnet....
#6
TheRealOrion
Dec 14, 2009 18:45:13 Pardon me for getting all "English prof" on y'all, but it seems to me that the themes of technological, economic, and social alienation in The Matrix play best to a world in which the corporate institution has risen to power and the perssonal computer has become ubiquitous. Which is to say, it's a cyberpunk story. Those have a lot of trouble working outside of the contemporary period, somewhere after the mid-1980s. You might be able to cludge something together steampunk-style, but even then, the themes would clash, I think. I entirely support your right to play whatever game you like, of course. Don't let my hesitation stop you from having fun. It's just that The Matrix is embedded in some very specific, and current, themes and generic conventions, and I suspect they would lose a lot in the translation to a sword-and-sorcery campaign.

There are endless possibilities for a Matrix game that never even touches Neo and the Nebekenezer. Watch The Animatrix for inspiration, if you're interested. In the years before Neo's rise, there must have been hundreds of discreet missions and campaigns, either against the machines in the real world, or against the programmes within the matrix. Logically, from what we're told in Reloaded, there must have been other people who were very good at manipulating the matrix. Neo isn't actually the result of divine prophecy. The Architect tells us that he is the "sum of the remainder of an equation" or something like that. Basically, over time, more and more people resist the matrix, and among them there will be somebody who happens to be able to see it and manipulate it directly. To me, that means that there are probably hundreds of people who have the potential to be The One, but they hever get the chance. That's what the Oracle means when she says that he wasn't The One when she saw him for the first time, but he was later in the film. It's a process of becoming, not an eternal state of being. He isn't God or Jesus. He's more like Buddha. He learns enlightenment.

Anyway, my point is, within that mythos, you have loads and loads of opportunity to have your own games where people get closer and closer to techno-revelation, and of course, you're perfectly free to go "off script" and have your own revolution. Heck, you could set your game in one of the previous incarnations of the matrix (there have been five, after all) and stage a whole different story.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 robtheman74 Dec 14, 2009 11:36:10	Hello, Apologies if this has been asked before, but has anyone seen/developed rules for running a game in the setting of the Matrix trilogy? I know there exists a free D6 WEG Matirx game, but I would much rather play under D20 rules. Any suggestions or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
#2 robtheman74 Dec 14, 2009 13:30:22	Nevermind, I did a little digging and answered my own question.
#3 TheRealOrion Dec 14, 2009 13:41:13	Care to share with the rest of the class? I found The Matrix: Only Human a few years ago. What have you found?
#4 space_cadet Dec 14, 2009 18:07:38	Hello, Apologies if this has been asked before, but has anyone seen/developed rules for running a game in the setting of the Matrix trilogy? I know there exists a free D6 WEG Matirx game, but I would much rather play under D20 rules. Any suggestions or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Even more interesting in my opinion would be to create your own Matrix Campaign rather than just rehash the Movie Trilogy and play "Neo". Have you ever considered a D&D Matrix, or how about some other period besides boring modern times?
#5 trappedslider Dec 14, 2009 18:35:12	Care to share with the rest of the class? I found The Matrix: Only Human a few years ago. What have you found? may have found cybersacpe's VRnet....
#6 TheRealOrion Dec 14, 2009 18:45:13	Pardon me for getting all "English prof" on y'all, but it seems to me that the themes of technological, economic, and social alienation in The Matrix play best to a world in which the corporate institution has risen to power and the perssonal computer has become ubiquitous. Which is to say, it's a cyberpunk story. Those have a lot of trouble working outside of the contemporary period, somewhere after the mid-1980s. You might be able to cludge something together steampunk-style, but even then, the themes would clash, I think. I entirely support your right to play whatever game you like, of course. Don't let my hesitation stop you from having fun. It's just that The Matrix is embedded in some very specific, and current, themes and generic conventions, and I suspect they would lose a lot in the translation to a sword-and-sorcery campaign. There are endless possibilities for a Matrix game that never even touches Neo and the Nebekenezer. Watch The Animatrix for inspiration, if you're interested. In the years before Neo's rise, there must have been hundreds of discreet missions and campaigns, either against the machines in the real world, or against the programmes within the matrix. Logically, from what we're told in Reloaded, there must have been other people who were very good at manipulating the matrix. Neo isn't actually the result of divine prophecy. The Architect tells us that he is the "sum of the remainder of an equation" or something like that. Basically, over time, more and more people resist the matrix, and among them there will be somebody who happens to be able to see it and manipulate it directly. To me, that means that there are probably hundreds of people who have the potential to be The One, but they hever get the chance. That's what the Oracle means when she says that he wasn't The One when she saw him for the first time, but he was later in the film. It's a process of becoming, not an eternal state of being. He isn't God or Jesus. He's more like Buddha. He learns enlightenment. Anyway, my point is, within that mythos, you have loads and loads of opportunity to have your own games where people get closer and closer to techno-revelation, and of course, you're perfectly free to go "off script" and have your own revolution. Heck, you could set your game in one of the previous incarnations of the matrix (there have been five, after all) and stage a whole different story.