Trinity: The Minerva Protocol

[Dave ST]

This is a tentative recruitment thread.

I'm going to to throw up some ideas in this thread and I want feedback, input and ideas of your own.  Trinity offers a lot from  the standpoint of Sci-Fi, but not every one loves the same thing.  Some like space opera, others enjoy cyberpunk, others still like epic war stories like Dune and Star Wars while others still like exploring, such as Star Trek.

Nina tossed me a bunch of ideas, they meshed well with my own so I sort of came up with a fruit salad of ideas based of her material and my own.  So, mad props to Neeners for contributing to my madness for gaming.  Now, as you read you will see a lot of ideas and comparisons to games or movies you've already seen before.  Originality is, as all of us gamers know, dead.  However I believe that repackaging old ideas in new wrappers is just fine, it all depends on the story and how it's told.

So, here is my brain stew.

There were never Aberrants.  There was no aberrant war.  Mankind did make it to the stars.  In 2005 mankind's experimental fusion engine launched a shuttle to the stars and it made it all the way to Pluto in only a few weeks.  In 2006, Pluto was no longer a planet and by 2010 no one cared about it anymore.  Truth is, we found something there and brought pieces of it home to Earth.  What mankind discovered was that Pluto was actually not a planet at all but a frozen derelict alien space craft.  Fast forward a decade or so and thanks to the discovery of the alien craft mankind's technology is thrust forward by nearly two hundred years.  The greatest of these finds however is the discovery of 'cores', massive quantum computer cores capable of self discovery and learning.  In essence, true Artificial Intelligence.

For years with the assistance of A.I.s humanity prospered as several hundred A.I.s set up all over the world pretty much run everything and develop any and all new technology.  At this point you see where it's going... SkyNet level shit.  Like the Terminator or the Matrix, at some point the A.I.s decide the world would be better off without humanity and a war begins.  This war is similar to where the Aberrant war would have taken place a lot of the destruction to the Trinity World can easily be blamed on A.I..  Whatever event an Aberrant would have caused, an A.I. did instead.  For example the Esperanza disaster was an A.I. attack and the Psions couldn't stop it.

Where did Psions come from?  Simple, A.I.s made them, or at least helped them develop the tech for the Prometheus Chambers.  The A.I. think tanks were able to create and integrate a program capable of evolving humanity forward.  Humanity established the Psi Orders and things went from there, no aliens.

Since A.I.s are capable of hacking almost anything, mankind also needed to facilitate the need for technology that couldn't be hacked.  The solution?  Bioapps.  Bio organic weapons and tools that resonated with Psions and allowed them to battle the A.I.s without fear of their equipment shutting down.

Hardtech - In the years since technology has evolved with hardcore firewalls and fail safes.  While it's possible, it's still very uncommon for hardtech to get hacked regularly.

Humanity it close to winning the war, but with the world in the state that it's in, there's just too many problems going around to focus on any one thing.  The law and military are spread too thin and the lawless are taking advantage.  Of all the A.I.s only six remain, the Grigori: The Watchers.

Adopting the names of the Fallen Angels who had relations with humans and were cast from heaven as a result of the gifts they gave us, these last six A.I.s are the most powerful, the most deadly, and the most feared... they were the first.

Araqiel - An A.I. who dedicated its functionality to genetic research and the perfection of biological and plant based life.
Baraqiel - A logic based A.I. who monitored and researched all that happened all over the world via satellites and cameras.  It could predict crimes before they happened using patter recognition and statistical probabilities.
Kokabiel - In charge of the planet's energy and resource management.  This A.I. used to regulate all the world's power distribution.
Sauriel - Originally a tactical A.I. that calculated probabilities and odds of success in combat zones.  When it went rogue it became an unstoppable war machine.
Samiel - A dedicated psychotherapy A.I., it knows every possible way the human mind functions and how to exploit it.
Shamsiel - A medical A.I. dedicated to the preservation of life until it deemed mankind a pox, now it exterminates the disease that is humanity.

A.I. weaknesses:

1.  Their Core.  A.I.s are huge, they require massive amounts of processing power and energy to maintain functioning.  While most are capable of being anywhere in the digital world at anytime, they can not exist without their Core.  If you destroy an A.I.'s Core, no matter what presence it has in the digital world, it 'dies' forever.  Find the Core, destroy the Core, kill the A.I..
2.  Frames.  A.I.s are passive, they really can't affect the physical world too much, except through technology.  Frames are, essentially, robotic exoskeletons that the A.I. downloads itself into in order to affect the world.  Think 'the Geth' from Mass Effect.  Frames require resources to build, and bodies to assemble... or machines.  Killing a frame doesn't harm an A.I. at all, it just leaves the frame at the point of destruction.  However, removing all the frames, leaves the A.I. powerless to affect the world (unless it's hacked into local tech).

That's where I'm at...

Input.

[SalmonMax]

Seems like a cool starting point for a setting. Do you envision this as a wargame, with the PCs as soldiers against the AI? Or is the war the backdrop against which the game's events take place, while the PCs ply other trades?

It reminds me a little of Eclipse Phase (full disclosure, most sci fi settings involving space and rogue AIs remind me of Eclipse Phase), albeit with a very different set of circumstances surrounding the 'Fall.' That said, it does beg questions of locality. Is humanity ensconced in strongholds throughout the solar system, while the AIs crouch protectively over the burned-out husk of the Earth?

Are there AIs that sided with humanity at first? Perhaps to be betrayed and destroyed by them later, or to change sides? Or perhaps they remain, operating in secret to protect themselves from the anti-AI sentiment prevalent among humankind, trying to give their organic progenitors a fighting chance?

Sorry, I guess I have more questions at this point than input, but I feel like that just indicates my interest in the subject.

[Dave ST]

Questions are good.  I will answer all of these when I have more time.  Keep asking, though!

[Jeremy]

And likewise, are we dealing with a unified government or separate nation-states? What is the relationship between them and the Psi Orders?

[Justin OOC]

never been a bit fan of trinity, but what you're pitching sounds like it will be pretty damn awesome.  My question would be are the AI working together, hence an even number so that they cannot break ties and establish a one goal, one path forward plan adding an unseen weakness to them, or is each AI working alone towards its own goal, either with something unseen by humans providing a degree of control (a 2nd gen AI created by the AI themselves) or just on their own and that disunity presenting its own weakness?

 

[Nina]

Personally i would like the emphasis to not be on the war but rather  the next phase the settling of the solar system, extra solar colonies  and rebuilding. The war imo should be backdrop. Doesnt mean we cant have episodes involving the war but i really am not that intrested in a military game

If i were running it. The war would be over the sic asi that you detailed would be the ones that got away and can threaten from space. They replace the aberrants they are badily out of the picture but their threat is a constant worry. A good example is the ai war from space above and beyond.

I just dont think makjng this a war game would be a much fun

[Noir]

35 minutes ago, Nina said:

Personally i would like the emphasis to not be on the war but rather  the next phase the settling of the solar system, extra solar colonies  and rebuilding. The war imo should be backdrop. Doesnt mean we cant have episodes involving the war but i really am not that intrested in a military game

If i were running it. The war would be over the sic asi that you detailed would be the ones that got away and can threaten from space. They replace the aberrants they are badily out of the picture but their threat is a constant worry. A good example is the ai war from space above and beyond.

I just dont think makjng this a war game would be a much fun

What she said.

[Dave ST]

22 hours ago, SalmonMax said:

Seems like a cool starting point for a setting. Do you envision this as a wargame, with the PCs as soldiers against the AI? Or is the war the backdrop against which the game's events take place, while the PCs ply other trades?

The War would be a back drop, just like it is in Trinity.  Psions are not out there battling Aberrants 24/7, 365.  That would make for a boring game, honestly because it would be nothing but combat rolls.

Your characters will be Agents.  Proteus Division Section Minerva agents.  You will all be, quite literally, James Bond.  You don't exist and the things you do never actually happen and your skills are plied and traded all over the galaxy.

If you're a Mass Effect buff, you're a Spectre.  Or worse... a unit of Spectres.

So you may be dealing with A.I.s in one story, a drug cartel in the next, under cover in another, and sipping mai tais on a cruise to Fhloston Paradise with complimentary tickets to Diva Plavalaguna's concert right before you blow the place up in a hail of gun fire and one liners (and I better see one liners).

22 hours ago, SalmonMax said:

It reminds me a little of Eclipse Phase (full disclosure, most sci fi settings involving space and rogue AIs remind me of Eclipse Phase), albeit with a very different set of circumstances surrounding the 'Fall.' That said, it does beg questions of locality. Is humanity ensconced in strongholds throughout the solar system, while the AIs crouch protectively over the burned-out husk of the Earth?

Read the how the world is in the core book, replace every instance of "fucking Aberrant's" to "fucking A.I.'s" and you pretty much got it.  Oh, that dip shit Wycoff didn't blow though, so America is still pretty much America instead of a Quantum Tainted shit bowl.

22 hours ago, SalmonMax said:

Are there AIs that sided with humanity at first? Perhaps to be betrayed and destroyed by them later, or to change sides? Or perhaps they remain, operating in secret to protect themselves from the anti-AI sentiment prevalent among humankind, trying to give their organic progenitors a fighting chance?

There could have been, until you asked me to explain what could have been amazing in game plot points so I took them out because the surprise isn't there anymore.

There are no 'Good A.I.s'.  A.I.s are destroyed on sight, which is why there are only 6 left.  There are, however, V.I.s (Virtual Intelligence), the 'Agents' that run and operate on many computer systems.  While programed to be like an A.I., they are completely incapable of achieving sentience (they aren't Quantum Computer Cores, just really advanced algorithms)

To consort with an A.I. is taboo.  To not destroy one is illegal.  To actually work alongside one is... well, you're essentially Hitler, or a child molester in the eyes of the public.

22 hours ago, Jeremy Noctis said:

And likewise, are we dealing with a unified government or separate nation-states? What is the relationship between them and the Psi Orders?

"This war is similar to where the Aberrant war would have taken place a lot of the destruction to the Trinity World can easily be blamed on A.I..  Whatever event an Aberrant would have caused, an A.I. did instead.  For example the Esperanza disaster was an A.I. attack and the Psions couldn't stop it."

All we did was use A.I.s instead of the Aberrants... so... Psi Orders would be treated very much like they are in the core, especially since they are the only ones who can make the best use of Bio-Tech (and A.I.s can't hack Bio-Tech...)

13 hours ago, Justin OOC said:

My question would be are the AI working together, hence an even number so that they cannot break ties and establish a one goal, one path forward plan adding an unseen weakness to them, or is each AI working alone towards its own goal, either with something unseen by humans providing a degree of control (a 2nd gen AI created by the AI themselves) or just on their own and that disunity presenting its own weakness?

Yes.  They're working with a guy named is Roy.  He lives at 971 Plot Lane and is home between the hours of 5pm and 6am.  He averages 7-12 dice pools in most technical skills, is highly intelligent and usually has a cadre of armed Frames with him packing laser rifles.  They have 7 health levels each, and attack dice pools in the 7-10 range.  Don't use the door though, it has a motion sensor trap.  Use the air ducts instead, he's smart, but didn't think to trap those.  He has a bum left knee, so aim there to handle him in a hurry.  Defeat him and you win the game.

Were there any other general plot possible questions you needed answered or specific enemy weaknesses you wanted revealed, or did I just about cover everything?

What I will tell you is that, like the Aberrants, the A.I.s are weak (there's only 6 left).  They don't have unlimited resources, but they're smarter than anyone could ever hope to be, immortal and one A.I. can inhabit thousands of Frames or process thousands of tasks.  Being data, they can also be anywhere in the galaxy where WiFi is available.  Some even speculate that the 6 remaining Core's are not even on Earth anymore (after all, where could they be hiding when humans no doubt scoured the whole planet).

To touch base on what Nina said in her post, the war is a thing, but it would be back drop.  Sometimes the A.I.s pop in and cause trouble here and there, but this is not a military game, it's not Starship Troopers with robotic bugs.  I want to engage a definite Space Opera feel and touch on several genres... you will be 'Shadowrunning' one episode, space battling in another, chilling on a beach and relaxing right before you jump in your V.A.R.G. to drop the ro-beast smack down on A.I. doomsday cultists trying to blow up your favorite drinking hole, taking on everything from sci-fi ninjas to space pirates and doing it all over the galaxy in places we've completely made up because fuck it.  Your characters technically don't answer to anyone (but that also means most expenses come out of your pocket).  Think of the A.I.s, at best, terrorists.  Like Aberrant's they do little raids here and there to piss off humanity, but they lack the resources currently to actually cripple, destroy or wage a serious war against humanity... so... plot device.

Did that clear some things up?

Now... aliens?

[Jeremy]

Sure, aliens would be good too. Canon stuff like Doyen, Chromatics, Coalition & Qin? Or new stuff?

[Dave ST]

New stuff.  Trinity aliens are garbage.

[Nina]

Sounds good looking forward to getting started

[Dave ST]

This game would be slated for 2-6 characters.

If you want to talk out concepts, by all means, feel free.  Standard character creation (Core Book).

You are not required to play a Psion to be useful in this game.  Psions are no more powerful than ordinary humans, save for their Psi powers.  Don't feel like if you don't have access to Bio-Tech that you'll be getting hacked all the time and you won't be able to do your job with Hard-tech.  That's not the case at all.

Characters should have some means of protecting themselves.  You're agents after all.  It's nice to focus on all social skills, but a dot in one or more of the combat skills might save your life.  Also, I'm not saying don't make a niche character, but ask yourself 'can my character function on their own?'.  You may all have specialties, but that doesn't mean you corner the market in those skills.  It's how you define those dots that's important.

[Nina]

10-4 good buddy

Playersguide allowed?

[Dave ST]

Yes, I consider it an extension of the Core Book.

[Nina]

check!

[Jeremy]

Does that include the freeform Psi system then?

[Nina]

i doubt it

 

[Dave ST]

No.

[Nina]

My concept is a dual allegiance Telepath... Discovered by ISRA and dunked and trained by the Ministry as per multiple or split allegiances (see page 47 and 101 players guide) before returning to ISRA

[Nina]

Here is a sheet template with all abilities and backgrounds from the Core book and the PG

 

NAME:

ORIGIN:

APTITUDE:
NATURE:
ALLEGIANCE:

APPEARANCE: 

PERSONALITY:

BACKGROUND:

PHYSICAL

Strength ●

Brawl , Heavy Weapons, Might

Dexterity ●

Athletics, Drive , Firearms, Legerdemain , Martial Arts , Melee , Pilot , Stealth , VARG

Stamina ●
Endurance , Resistance

 

MENTAL

Perception ●

Artillery , Awareness , Demolitions, Investigation, Navigation,

Intelligence ●

Academics , Astrophysics, Bureaucracy , Computer, Engineering , Intrusion, Linguistics , Medicine, Military Science, Noetics, Science , Survival , Xenology

Wits ●

Arts , Gunnery, Meditation, Rapport
 

SOCIAL

Appearance ●

Intimidation , Style

Charisma ●

Etiquette, Instruction, Perform ,Savvy, Sentience Relations

Manipulation ●

Command , Interrogation, Subterfuge , Xenorelations

 

Backgrounds: Allies , Cipher , Citizenship, Clearance, Contacts , Devices , Followers , Identity, Influence , Mentor , Resources, Requisition, Status

 

 

Merits:
Flaws:

Willpower:

Psi:
Initiative:

Movement

Walk , Run, Sprint
Health Levels: Bruised 0, Hurt -1, Injured -1, Wounded -2, Maimed -3, Crippled -4, Incapacitated, Death

 

APTITUDE:

 

AUXILIARY MODES:

 

[Dave ST]

Thanks Neeners, I was going to post one up tonight.  Saved me some time!

[Dave ST]

Aight, so legit question...

How far off into Sci-fi do you want this?

Trinity is a great Sci-fi game, but it lacks a lot.  For example there aren't a whole lots of worlds you can go to since they don't have FTL capability (they need Psions to jump their ships).  Now, when I think Sci-Fi I think Mass Effect, Starfinder, FarScape, The Lexx, Alternity, The Fifth Element, Shadowrun, etc... (surprisingly Star Wars and Star Trek don't spring to mind).

I think Aliens, jacked up politics (which Trinity has thanks to WW's meta-plot) strange cultures, weird people, dark slums and impossibly beautiful skylines where the rich look down on the poor, I think space combat, reckless heroes doing impossible shit and staring death in the face and saying 'bitch please'.

The reason I ask... is because if we go with my kind of ideas... we won't even recognize Trinity anymore.  We'll be so far into the left field of sci-fi that we'll have rules to use and... well, that's about it.  The rest we'll be making up as we go.

So, again...

How far into left field sci-fi do you want this?

1. Vanilla (Let's not change too much, oh, and I'm also a big sissy, please judge me.)

2. Right in the quads! (Let's not go too weird, but I like aliens and people with weird powers and space ships.)

3. Red Pill, RED PILL! (Aight, Mad Hatter, let's get crazy.)

4. Ludicrous Speed, NOW! (The Omniverse explodes... but we don't notice cuz we ain't looking back to see that shit.  We got an after party to be at.)

[Nina]

Firmly in 2 here I like my sci-fi to  have at least a foot grounded in reality.

You don't want to use the teleporters no problem. maybe a friendly AI gave us (humans) the secret to a workable jump drive (basically teleport ftl without the psion) before his buddies cyber massacred him.

I'm more into the humancentric type scifi, Aliens imo should be alien and not too abundant, at least not the spacfaring kind. if you want to explore strange new worlds then we can find some aliens who are still primitive or we can find some evidence of now extinct spacefarers that's what i would do.

but again it is your game and you have to have fun too.

3&4 is what we have starfinder for

 

[Jeremy]

I'm flexible as to options. All of the stuff you're thinking seems fine to me.

[SalmonMax]

Nina has a point about Starfinder.

Really, any of those options could work for me, but it'd be cool to have a game that's science fiction as opposed to science fantasy.

You can put me down for 2 as well.

[Nina]

funny thing is I think dave would be better at running starfinder than me and I might do better running a game like this than i do starfinder

 

[Dave ST]

Here's the character generation rules, taken from the book.  If you're not playing a Psion, you should be using the 'non-Psions' section.  Hopefully this will make it easier for you guys.

Step One: Concept
Chose Origin, Aptitude (page 194), Nature (page 177) and Allegiance (page 179)

Step Two: Select Attributes (page 180)
Prioritize the three areas: Physical, Mental and Social
Choose primary Attributes (7 points / 6 for non-Psions)
Choose secondary Attribute (5 points / 4 for non-Psions)
Choose tertiary Attributes (3 points / 3 for non-Psions)

Alternatively you may 'pool' your attributes.  15 Attribute points for Psions, 13 for non-Psions and spend them however you wish.  Remember, all Attributes automatically start at 1 dot, don't short change yourself.

Step Three: Select Abilities (page 182)
Choose desired abilities (23 points / 27 for non-Psions)
Calculate skill totals

Step Four: Select Advantages
Choose Backgrounds (page 186) (7 points)
Choose Modes (based on Aptitude, page 194) (3 points)

Step Five: Finishing Touches
Record initial Willpower (5 / 3 for non-Psions)
Record Psi ([Stamina + Wits + Charisma] /2, rounded up)
Record Initiative (Dexterity + Wits)
Movement (walk 5m, run Dex+12m, sprint [Dex x 3] +20m)
Select Merits and Flaws
Spend Bonus points (15 points / 21 for non-Psions)

Spoiler

Birth Name:
Alias:
Nature:
Origin:
Aptitude:
Allegiance:

Physical:
Strength 1
-Brawl, Heavy Weapons, Might
Dexterity 1
-Athletics, Drive, Firearms, Legerdemain, Martial Arts, Melee, Pilot, Stealth, VARG
Stamina 1
-Endurance, Resistance

Mental:
Perception 1
-Artillery, Awareness, Demolitions, Navigation, Investigation
Intelligence 1
-Academics, Astrophysics, Bureaucracy, Computer, Engineering, Intrusion, Linguistics, Medicine, Military Science, Noetics, Science, Survival, Xenology
Wits 1
-Arts, Gunnery, Meditation, Rapport

Social:
Appearance 1
-Intimidation, Style
Manipulation 1
-Command, Interrogation, Subterfuge, Xenorelations
Charisma 1
-Etiquette, Instruction, Perform, Savvy, Sentience Relations

Merits:
Flaws:

Backgrounds: Allies, Cipher, Citizenship, Clearance, Contacts , Devices, Followers, Identity, Influence, Mentor, Requisition, Resources, Status

Aptitude:

Willpower: 5
Psi: 2

Health Levels:
Bruised 0 (1 hr / 1 day) O
Hurt -1 (1 hr / 3 days) O
Injured -1 (1 hr / 1 week) O
Wounded -2 (1 hr / 1 month) O
Maimed -3 (3 hrs / 2 months) O
Crippled -4 (6 hrs / 3 months) O
Incapacitated (12 hrs / 5 months) O
Death O

Soak:
Stamina-
Armor-
Base Total-
Armored Total-

Initiative:

Movement:
Walk- 5m
Run- 15m
Sprint- 29m

Gear:
Weapons -
Armor-
Clothing -
Personal Computer System-
Agent -
Tools -

Experience (total/spent):

[SalmonMax]

Ah, thanks for this. Helps tremendously, even with the books.