Introduction

Welcome to the Code Chasers Campaign.

Alright guys, we'll play our regular campaign in two weeks at the regular time. On Memorial Day, I will be running a single session game. We'll be using the Fate Accelerated Edition rules system and playing in the universe of The Matrix. In the future, if we're missing a few players, we'll likely play this instead of skipping sessions.

Before I go into any depth, who's available and interested in playing? It's not a requirement but I want a headcount. If you can't commit just yet, I need to know by Friday. If you're not interested, you're free to head out for the night. We'll see you in two weeks for our regular D&D campaign.

For those of you remaining, how long of a session do you want to play and when do we want to start.

Alright, now for some more in-depth information, this may take a bit.

As I said, the game is based in the universe of The Matrix a few years before the events of the film. Two prominent men, Locke, Commander of the Zion forces and Morpheus, Captain of the Nebuchadnezzar guide the Resistance forward in the Real and the Matrix. While Morpheus dreams of finding The One, the pragmatic Locke prepares the city of Zion for defense against a Machine attack. You are a crew member of the Nicodemus, the largest hovercraft in the fleet. Psikik and his first mate, Boxer, guide the Nicodemus and its crew, scouring the Real and the Matrix for upgrades to use on hovercraft and operatives.

We'll be using the Fate Accelerated Edition system rules which is considered a narrative focused role-playing game. It'll be different from D&D, but it's a rules light system that should be easy to pick up. The most important thing to know about Fate is that it is very focused on creating drama for the characters to experience and overcome or submit to. All of us will be working together to create this drama and it will be part of your jobs to create a compelling narrative for everyone.

So between now and Memorial Day, you'll need to do the following:

Read the FAE rulebook. It sells for $5 in softcover,$ 2.50 for a PDF, or even free. It's forty pages, should be easy for everyone here.
Join the Roll20 Campaign.
Create a Redpill character. You'll need to spend some time with me developing your character's history. So make sure you have some time to do that.
Be ready to play on Memorial Day.

Now is another chance to drop out for tonight. You've got the information you need to participate at this point. After this, I'll spend a bit summarizing the basics of a character and the Fate Accelerated Edition system.

Characters have six approaches (Careful, Clever, Flashy, Forceful, Quick and Sneaky), five aspects (High Concept, Ambition, Background, Conviction, Disadvantage), and three stunts (situational boosts). As a player, you'll use these characteristics throughout the game to create drama, solve problems, and advance the story. The approaches describe how your character does things. Are you a hammer and everything a nail? Then you'll use the forceful approach. Are you a performer with a flair for the dramatic? Consider the flashy approach. Do you like to keep your intentions (and yourself) out of sight? Then you'll use the sneaky approach. Aspects define your character, the should have positive and negative sides to them. For example, Psikik's high concept aspect is Captain of the Nicodemus. It will provide benefits when interacting with other operatives, but it also comes with the weight of responsibility, balancing the needs of one versus the needs of the many. Finally, stunts are situational bonuses, Boxer and Jaq.

To do something, players describe their action or intent, the GM will rule on the whether it requires a roll or not and what kind of action it is and what approach is being used. Then four six-sided dice are rolled, they have 2 +'s, 2 -'s and two blanks. The character's approach bonus is added. If it's contested, the GM will roll also adding appropriate bonuses. The player may then opt to spend a Fate point to either re-roll or invoke an aspect (Character, Situational, World) to gain a +2 to their roll. There are degrees of success.

Each player starts with 3 Fate points at the beginning of each session and can use them through the game. The only way to earn Fate points is through compelling invocations of the character's aspects. This is why it's important to make good aspects that have positives and negatives. Without any downside, you'll make the aspect unusable against you which means less Fate points to do cool things. Fate points can also be used to establish facts about the scene. For example, I might describe a lobby with a pair of guards and a metal detector and a keycard system. One of you could spend a Fate point to give everyone fake keycards that will let them pass through security.

People aren't the only things with aspects. The entire world has a pair of aspects, Mind Over Matter and Upgrades. Also locations and items during scenes will also have a few aspects. These can be invoked by players or the GM by paying Fate points just like character aspects.

Alright, that's all I'm going to go over for tonight unless anyone has a specific question. Read the rulebook (again it's only 40 pages short) and get in touch so we can go through character creation.