[Closed] Playtest - Homebrew Pbta sci-fi horror

This is a playtest of a post-apocalyptic PbP game of transhuman conspiracy and horror.

Our goal
To play one mid-length scenario, learning the game, playtesting the system and hopefully having a blast. Suspect this will be a 4-8 month PbP, but that's quite hard to predict...

Tone
Dark, moody, atmospheric. At times horrible and at times humorous. Hopefully moments will be gross, unnerving, terrifying, and disturbing. Note this generally needs to be played straight / serious, whenever you are In character. In the OOC thread we can (and should) be as light and have as much fun as possible.

Expectations
- Characters may die: They are people, not superheroes. Make the most of your time and have fun.
- Violence is deadly: Unless you are an expert at that, if you're in combat, you may have already lost. Like in real life, violence should be avoided.
- Odds are against you. Yeah, rolls are punishing and your PCs don't have special powers or tons of skills. I did that on purpose. Avoid risky things so you will not need to roll. Make difficult choices, take your chances when you have to, but don’t be foolish. You may lose your morph.
- Your mind is safe (I guess): If you lose your body, all is not lost. Your companions may recover your cortical stack and let you ghostride with them or even resleeve. You may be starving right now, but you are still paying your ego backup and morph insurance to that hypercorp, right? Just don't get crazy or it'll screw you up for good.
- Safe play environment. This is a horror game, and it can deal with uncomfortable topics. Please read the Safety tools, below. It's fine to make and describe our fictional characters as uncomfortable. It is not ok to make anyone, any player at our virtual table, feel uncomfortable with our words and actions (both in and out of character). Please speak up if you feel uncomfortable or if you notice anyone else might be uncomfortable.

Inspirations
Many films and series, including Alien, Prometheus, Terminator, Matrix, Blade Runner, The Expanse, Altered Carbon and Repo Man. There are lots of video games and RPGs in this genre too, but the setting in Eclipse Phase and Mothership comes immediately to mind and are major inspirations.



Safety tools
Lines & Veils: I normally have lines around all sorts of things -- sexual assault, violence against children, racism, sexism, etc... but in a game like this I generally prefer to leave more troublesome topics on the table as things that exist in the world, even though we should not focus on them on-screen. The threat of the thing might be a thing. So here I generally use veils rather than lines. But I will check that during session zero with the players.

The X-Card will be in play. We can stop in the middle of any scene that's making people uncomfortable.

Game system
The system is a homebrew, rules-light, Powered by the Apocalypse system, created specifically for PbP by me, inspired by Offworlders but adapted to this setting and the expectations above.

In it, you will roll 2D6 + Modifiers (Modifiers = 1 attribute + 1 relevant skill level). In a 6- you fail, 7 to 9 you succeed with a cost or complication, 10+ you get what you wanted. There are 4 attributes ranging from -1 to +1 and some skills ranging from 0 to +2.

All rules for the system, including character creation, are already available in the game forums. This game will be a playtest for the system as well, so expect some rough edges.



Post Frequency
Posts that move the story forward every 1-3 days are required. If you will be absent for more than 3 days, please tell the group, so we can continue on until you return (don't leave us hanging!)

Public forum
This game will be public, so people can follow and read our posts, if they want to.

Character generation
Chargen will be in a session zero, after the invitation. We will do this together.

Application
Please respond to this thread by 1 - sharing your favorite character from a dystopian or post-apocalyptic science fiction movie, series, or book, and 2- telling us something that you would like to see happen during our first game session.

This is not a first-come, first-served thread, so please apply even if there are already enough people.

Player Experience
No previous experience with any of the Powered by the Apocalypse RPGs are necessary. Mine is a homebrew system, after all. All game rules are in the forum and I'm more than willing to help.

Selection criteria (if necessary)
I'm looking for 2-4 more players and will use your application post and your public posts here on GP to decide who will receive an invite and who will go to the waiting list if, by any chance, there are more than enough candidates

Welcome All
This game is explicitly friendly to LGBT and any other minorities or marginalized groups, species, uplifited animals, robots, AIs and Infomorphs.

I'd love it. Sci-Fi horror is great. So I would like a shot at this :)

1 - Hoping games count here as well. Abby from The Last of Us 2. A very honest character driven by revenge, showing the dark sides of the good guy's heroics and twisting the perspective of villain and hero.

2 - Something I would like to see happen, or rather not see happen: one of the good things about horror is not knowing what is going on. The threat of something lurking in the dark is way better than seeing an actual big scary creature. So, that'd I'd love or rather avoid (seeing the actual danger).

Games count. =) Welcome aboard!

And just to give everyone a taste of our setting, here is a small vignette in this universe. This is not our actual adventure hook, just a teaser that I wrote.

---

The distant sun cast a pale, sickly glow on the derelict station, once a hub of commerce and diplomacy in the Main Belt. Now, it hung like a forgotten relic of a bygone era. The Consortium, the ruling body of transhumanity, had long since abandoned it, leaving only rumors and whispers of what had transpired here.

As the team of scavengers and mercenaries approached the station, their tactical network buzzed with unease, detecting structural problems and deviations from the station blueprints that they had downloaded during the mission preparation. The briefing had been vague, but one thing was clear: something dark and insidious had taken root on this forsaken outpost.

Inside the station's entrance, the air was stale, and the flickering lights cast eerie shadows on the walls. But something was still working in the local Mesh. A holographic message flickered to life, displaying the face of an unknown woman. Her voice echoed through the empty corridors.

"Welcome to the ruins of Station Sigma," she began, her words dripping with bitterness. "I am Director Elara Kresnik, the last survivor of the Consortium's betrayal. They abandoned us to an unspeakable horror, one they couldn't control."

Elara's image paused, and then she continued, her voice trembling. "Something... unnatural has infected the station's systems. It twists the fabric of reality itself, and its influence is spreading. We have to stop it, or it will consume everything."

---

A sharp, piercing light flooded her vision as she slowly regained consciousness. The sensation was disorienting, like being thrust from darkness into the blinding sun. Her new body felt foreign, unfamiliar, and she instinctively flexed her fingers, testing the sensations.

A voice, warm and reassuring, spoke from the periphery of her awareness. "Easy now, you've just undergone resleeving. Take your time."

Emily blinked several times, her vision gradually adjusting to the sterile, clinical surroundings. Tubes and wires were connected to her body, leading to a sleek and modern med-pod. It was a far cry from the decrepit, haunted halls of Station Sigma. Panic surged within her, and she struggled to sit up, only to be gently pushed back by unseen hands.

"Please, just relax," the voice repeated. "You've been through quite an ordeal. It'll all come back to you soon."

Memories were a haze, like trying to grasp smoke with bare hands. Emily could remember entering Station Sigma, the mission, and the eerie discoveries, but beyond that, there was nothing but a gaping void. Panic gripped her heart as she realized the last few days of her life were lost to her.

The room's door slid open, revealing a figure in a lab coat, the symbol of a medical technician. "You're doing well," the tech said, a hint of sympathy in their eyes. "Your cortical stack was damaged during the mission. We had to transfer your consciousness to a new sleeve to save you. Unfortunately, it seems some of your recent memories were lost in the process."

She tried to speak, but her throat was dry, and words eluded her. She simply nodded, feeling a mix of relief at being alive and frustration at the gaps in her memory.

"We're still piecing together what happened on Station Sigma," the tech continued. "But you and your team did something extraordinary. The threat has been contained, and for now, you're safe."

But something was wrong. She didn't feel safe. She felt powerful, smart… And something else… Something alien. Something evil.

The realization hit her like a freight train, as cold and brutal as the void of space itself. The threat from Station Sigma hadn't been contained; it had followed her, hitching a ride on her ego as she resleeved. Panic gripped her anew and she screamed.

This sounds very cool. I’d be interested

Got room for an Envoy?

I guess so :) Please apply by 1 - sharing your favorite character from a sci-fi, dystopian or post-apocalyptic science fiction movie, game, series, or book, and 2- telling us something that you would like to see happen during our first game session.

I will send the last invites by the end of the week.

Hi there! I just joined the site and am itching to get into a game. (I've also been wanting to try out some indie rpgs, and I like pbta games, so that helps quite a bit.)

1 - Gonna say Clementine from The Walking Dead games! I think it's really interesting see just how much she is shaped by the environment she finds herself in, and the way she really comes into her own over the course of the story is really compelling.

2 - For a first session I really just want to get a good sense for the characters and especially potential tensions between them. I love interpersonal drama. (in-game anyway :p)

1. I don't know that I have a favorite character. I'm more drawn in by the story itself. That being said, Ripley from the Alien movies and Holden from The Expanse spring to mind.

2. For a first session, like amymist, I'd like to get a good sense for the characters, but as a player, I'd like to feel like my feet are fully planted in the setting. I don't need to start in the midst of a firefight, but I'd like to have a good sense for what the stakes are.

1. It's tough to pick a favourite character, but two that stand out to me are:

Carter Burke, the treacherous Weyland-Yutani rep from Aliens who plots to smuggle a chestburster back to Earth inside his crewmates.

Charlie Holloway, the faith-stricken archaeologist from Prometheus who keeps taking wild swings (like taking off his fucking helmet on an alien world) until he finally touches one thing-he-shouldn't-have-touched too many and willingly immolates himself, his boundless faith finally shattered.

2. My favourite sci-fi/science fantasy trope is people succumbing to their own hubris by meddling with things they shouldn't meddle with and getting absolutely owned by an uncaring universe that's vaster and more powerful than they could conceive. That might be a bit ambitious for a first session, but I'd certainly love to see seeds sown in that direction.

Okay, I have sent out invites to Chloe, natknight, ForeverDED and amymist. Thank you for joining us and for your answers.

Everyone else, I'll keep you in mind in case someone drops. There will be ways to introduce new characters later on, if necessary. See you around! :)

We have started with Session zero but there are some new spots already. I'm looking for 1-3 more players.

Please apply by reading through our session zero thread in the game details above and 1 - sharing your favorite character from a dystopian, post-apocalyptic or horror science fiction movie, game, series, or book, and 2- telling us something that you would like to see happen during our first game session.

Hey, I'd be interested in joining up.

1 - My favorite character (that I could remember) is M-Bot from Skyward. He's a mushroom obsessed AI starfighter ship who constantly denies that his simulated emotional responses are just as irrational as emotional responses from humans.

2 - Riffing off the snippet you posted above, I'd like to see some people taken over and mind controlled by this entity, just like Shodan does from the System Shock series of games.

I'm just going to throw in my idea for my character here as well, and I can repeat it in the session zero thread (incorporating any feedback) if I get invited. I'd like to be corporate contract mandated life support tech that the life support corporations require any crew bring along with any ship using their tech. The reason given is that they don't allow anyone whose not employed by the corporation to interface with their proprietary tech, but that's ultimately a cover for the fact that they regularly run biological experiments on the crews the tech rides along with, as well as on people & organisms the crews come across in their travels.

Welcome aboard Clovermite. =)