Aberrant RPG - Involving T2M

[NovaCorp]

I'm interested as to people's views on this - I know mine, and I'll give them at the end of the post.

The people involved - Chesney Hawkes (my once-pop star, now Utopian employee), Zenith (hacker) and Revelation (Aberrant with Teragen leanings and conspiracy theories spouting everywhere) are obviously not going to get on. Factions form, with most of the playerbase being indifferent or edging slightly towards the Utopian side (more due to clashes with the Teragen than anything else).

Zenith and Revelation tell a couple of other PCs about their intentions to raid a Utopian facility for information regarding their theories - this leaks back to Chesney, who obviously feeds the information upwards to Utopia. Before this point, Chesney viewed the two as possible Aberrants or Directive agents with Teragen leanings - knowing that, he points this out to Utopia who want to keep an eye on the two.

Zenith and Revelation raid the New York M-R facility, while the Teragen (Geryon, Shrapnel, Epoch and more) fight outside to provide a diversion - killing a few baselines in the process. Zenith and Revelation are now known sidekicks of some of the most wanted Teragen in the world. This means that a) at least one player character will attempt to arrest/subdue them on sight, and if other characters are seen with them they'll be tainted (with a little 't') by the association. They've both infiltrated an M-R facility, helped the Teragen break out several Novas held there, and Zenith walked off with a device capable of removing a Nova's powers at the end of the second-to-last session, for which she was being sought by T2M anyway due to the power of the device.

So - we have two Novas who have spouted anti-Utopia feelings, have taken part in a raid on an M-R facility with several prominent Teragen members, and have in their possession the aforementioned device which can turn a Team Tomorrow member into a baseline with a touch, instantly.

If you were the storyteller, what would your reaction be?

In character, ignoring the obvious fact that they're PCs, what should the response of Utopia/law enforcement be?

My feelings, aside from the fact that my character doesn't get on with them, is that they've taken things too far to be able to play their characters publicly anymore. Not only have they taken on the most powerful organisation in the world (and doubtlessly tipped off it's dodgy side that they're interested in it), but they've aided a Teragen smash and grab raid on America's M-R facility.

While I hate downtime action, realistically if they have any dots of resources they should disappear as their assets are confiscated and their bank accounts closed. Any non-Teragen backing or contacts should be thinking very seriously about whether they want to be associated with them anymore. They should be viewed in the same light as the Teragen, and forced into deep cover or even into the bosom of the Teragen themselves.

Given that they're the only players with even slight ties to the Teragen or other dodgy groups, this means they're doomed to playing 2-person sessions unless they have secondary characters.

Opinions?

[harlequin]

that's about what i would be thinking in your shoes. i'd suggest talking to the players about it and seeing what they think. they may be quite happy to "go underground" and come up with new characters or maybe just new identities. that could be fun too, have an unknown nova give them totally new identities and in return for the favor they have to agree to feed information about the group back to their "friend" you could have all sorts of fun with something like that. after all, who has taken an interest in the group, and how long will the turncoats be able to hide who they are?

[knave]

Sounds like an ideal opportunity to diverge the game into a nifty little fork. Make some more characters and play both the 'descending into the gritty world of the terragen' story as well as the grim hunt to do 'em in... ::smokin

[Alex Green]

Options:

1) Run two games (maybe having the other players making new PCs for the teragen game & vice versa).

2) Sneak the tainted PCs back in. (Maybe new ids, maybe even fleshmolding them).

3) Rehabilitate the tainted PCs. (This could be done a number of ways).

3a) They get captured and mindwashed (or even, this happened before the game started and they are now double agents, without their own knowledge).

3b) They blame someone else (maybe with a cyberpath helping to plant evidence).

3c) They get in a public (messy) fight with the Teragen (in comination with something else).

3d) Mind control. Either they were mind controlled or they claim they were.

4) They get enough blackmale material for PU to back off.