Problem:
The imperial sailing ship HMS Nebular is on an expedition voyage to the distant star of Last Rigel. The gas giant is speculated to be home to a vapor of prized scientific value. However, the journey is doomed from the beginning by the presence of mutinous pirates aboard the ship.
Characters:
Loyals:
Isabella Starwind, captain (celestial compass)
Icarus Sunblade, engineer (cybernetic limbs)
Zara, alien navigator (living star map)
Lucius, academic (animate rope)
Mutineers:
Vortex, chief mutineer (life-drain cutlass)
Grax the Ironheart, elemental enforcer (gravity hammer)
Luna, specialist (shapeshifting amulet)
Wild Cards:
Whiskers, feline lookout (retractable metal claws)
Nymph, alien communications officer (holographic communicator)
Ship Locations:
Celestial Bridge (stardust storage)
Crew Quarters (zero gravity)
Mess Hall (food synthesizer)
Forge (weapons and ammo)
Inner Garden (melodic plants)
Astral Brig (simulation room)
The Nexus (mutineer HQ)
Yes, it’s Treasure Planet, sails and stars and all.
Matrix gaming online using the FKR discord server! I’ve been told matrix games can handle all terrains and this was our attempt to brave the digital front!
Initial Thoughts
One thing I wanted to do as a primary showcase of “playing scenarios, not characters” was to have more characters than players. We had a cast of nine characters between six players, so some doubled up. Interestingly, the leaders of the two major factions, the captain Isabella and lead mutineer Vortex were championed by the same player. Rather than shy away from a conflict of interests, we really leaned into it. Because we’re primarily playing to see what happens next, not asking “what’s my motive?”
With this, we could also do what many would describe as meta-gaming. For example, the whole table knew who the mutineers were. We all knew there was a betrayal coming. But how? Who finds out? What’s the fallout? These were more interesting questions than keeping secrets. This radical openness with information meant we could play with a wink and a smile: “Vortex the mutineer tells everyone that the best thing to do is to continue the whaling operation, despite how dangerous it is to the rest of the crew. It’s all playing into his plan.”
One thing came up that could seriously halt an RPG: real life. I was playing host, although I did little as the host besides writing and introducing the scenario; I never exercised the power of veto. As it happened, I was pulled away by events outside the game about two hours in. But the problem wasn’t resolved yet, play was still in progress.
What to do? In RPGs, the GM is the host and the engine of the game. If they’re done, play is over. Not so in matrix games.
I explained the situation and simply left. Play continued. In this high-trust environment, players could keep it going, continuing to ask of one another “what happens next?” I just started the storytelling campfire, anyone could stay in its light, enjoy its warmth. I may have gone to my tent and turned in for the night, but you can stay awhile. Not that I want to make a habit of leaving games early, but it demonstrates the integrity of the game to continue on, fueled by the problem, questions, and player interest.
Play!
As always happens, there was initial hesitation about this different way of doing things. Some things felt wooden. For example, it came up several times that two characters fought (it’s a space pirate game, of course there was conflict). Sometimes players would declare “Character A attacks!” and then stop. I would remind them to go further than that by stating the outcome of the attack (“Say what happens next”). Then other players could challenge if they wanted a different outcome or had a different idea of how things would be resolved. By the end, it was fairly comfortable for players to just say what happens.
Stances. Each player had their own approach to controlling characters. Some would inhabit the character, doing voices in a first-person mode. Others like myself opted for a pawn stance with third-person narration. Very compatible.
One oversight on my part was NOT constructing the locations for the journey, outside of the ship. The problem mentions Last Rigel, but what about the steps along the way? I ended up prompting the players a bit and we came up with a “Dora the explorer” 1, 2, 3 step journey. Easy money. But that’s something that should also be in the locations or inspiration sections of the scenario, my bad.
But having player input is also how we got the god-tier universal fuel station “Space Kwik Trip”:
Mapped out our path as we went!
Characters unironically saying “Space Kwik Trip” in serious conversations had me rolling. My players are first-class comedians.
One thing that worked really well was the toys each character had. The builds for each were really quite simple: Name, Title, One Cool Item or Feature. Shoutout to animate rope and shapeshifting amulet as dope magic items that became central to fun moments.
When questions came up about the specifics of what things like “living star map” meant, I just refused to answer. It was more fun to design a tool and then have players interpret. One silly example of this was the character Whiskers, the feline lookout who I had imagined as more humanoid, Khajiit kind of character. But then one player generated this:
Careful! It’s got claws!
And just like that, the world changed.
Making It Work Online
There were couple of tools I found helpful:
Writing Space
You have many options online for this. Virtual tabletops, whiteboards, other collaborative tools. I opted for Google Slides, super easy.
When it was all over…
The list of elements in the game reminded everyone which characters and locations were in play. Proper nouns are important!
Another great benefit of the space was posting pictures and inspirations throughout:
An impossible combination of images
Cool moments, scenes, and characters were captured in this collage that everyone had equal access to. This picture is VERY representative of matrix games: a themed scenario with many inputs, producing something greater than the sum of its parts.
Fortune Roll
The fortune roll, something I just bolted onto the main system. It was an extra appendage for introducing uncertainty. Because sometimes you have an idea of what could happen, but don’t necessarily want to choose…
When you say what happens next is something likely or unlikely to happen, roll 2d6. If the event is likely, only one of the dice needs to show 4 or higher to happen. If the event is unlikely, both dice need to show 4 or higher to happen.
Basically, likely = 75% chance, unlikely = 25% chance.
As an example use case, I had a character I could see living past a stabbing he received. There was a chance either way, but I didn’t feel compelled to say which was going to happen. So I said “it is unlikely that Lucius will survive this attack” and rolled (actually spun, see below). Moment of tension. “Ah dang, poor guy…”
Lovingly stolen from Chris McDowell’s matrix game.
Spinners
Totally customizable and just an absolute blast to have. Shared my screen and we shared the moments of uncertainty together. Dice actually roll too fast I found and with the delay in sharing screens, they’re not as fun as spinners, which take their time and draw you in. Every online table should use these.
Timer
Having one running always bumps up the tension! A player declared that they set a timed bomb to go off in three minutes. Another player immediately set the timer. Better act fast!
Gulp!
Polls
We didn’t use StrawPoll for this scenario, but I had a couple ideas for how one could come up. Voting in any large social deduction game (Werewolf, Among Us) is essential.
If the betrayal became SUPER civil…
So what actually happened in the game?
Many outcomes I didn’t expect. Before I left, it looked like the mutineers had the ship by the throat. Then a player told me later that there was an epic showdown between the two leaders and the loyalist captain Isabella came out on top. The mutineers were defeated and HMS Nebular cut short its doomed expedition with a final stop for snacks and drinks at Space Kwik Trip. Amazing.
There was hostages, doppelganger standoffs, imprisonment, bomb threats, bomb threat bluffs, a rock man flying through space, space bounty hunters, space whaling, unexpected and unceremonious deaths, hints of romance, and one gonzo communications officer.
A scenario, some players, and a little imagination is a powerful recipe for greatness.
What a time.