Recoil: Concept

[Lance D. Allen]

Recoil is a game idea that I started kicking around when I ran across a page of fiction I wrote while bored between classes. I've been having a hard time getting back into Mage Blade, with so much to do, so I decided I'd try something totally different for a while.

Recoil borrows concepts from a few different things, including Mage: The Ascension, The Matrix, That game that someone was working on way back when I first started posting here (Fulcrum was the working title, I believe), Quantum Leap and even to a small extent, Terry Pratchett's Diskworld novels.

I'm going to post the meat of the concept here, and see, first of all, if there's anything notably like it already out there. Secondly, I'm hoping to gather some questions that will help me flesh out the concept even more. Finally, if anyone is so inclined, some initial suggestions on mechanics that would fit the game style and theme, before I post what I'm already working on.

Without further ado:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Concept: You are a type of agent, but you do not work for a government, or any
corporeal organization. You work for a group which exists, for lack of a better explanation,
outside time and space. The mission of this group is far-reaching; to keep the world in existence.
Normally, the world wouldn’t need your help, but your group isn’t the only thing watching the
world from outside. Some other force, known to you as Oblivion, seeks to destroy the world
entirely.

   How you became what you are is still fuzzy to you, as is who you used to be. That you
were once a mortal human is all you really know for certain, and that you struggled upon death,
rather than giving in to Oblivion, long enough for a being who calls itself Mortis to rescue you.

   Mortis explained to you what is going on, and you agreed, either readily or reluctantly, to
help the group fight Oblivion. What any of you know about Oblivion is limited, but some little is
undisputed. Whatever destiny was in store for people who pass into death is no longer. Oblivion
has blocked all ways to the afterlife, be it Heaven, Hell, Nirvana or Valhalla. The souls of most
who die are destroyed utterly, except the few who’s conviction was strong enough that Mortis
was able to save them, like you. That Oblivion has active agents, whose nature is unknown, who
actively work to bring the world to ruin is also known.

   That is where you come in.

   You, and agents like you, return to earth to stop whatever actions the Naughtwraiths
(That’s what someone called ‘em once, and the name stuck) are attempting, whether it be simple
murder, or some more devious plot. Only problem is, you’re dead. So you have to return as a
soul, and inhabit the body of someone still living. Your control and synchronicity with that host
varies from person to person, so it might be sometimes a rough ride. The main equalizer is that
the Naughtwraiths must take hosts as well, unless they can succeed in ripping a Rift in the fabric
of space and time; which is what you’re there to stop them from doing.

How it plays out: Each session, or series of sessions, will center around a given mission. The
mission could be a short, violent and desperate battle, or it could be a mystery lasting for days or
weeks of earth time. There will be interludes on the Outside between missions which can, if the
GM so chooses, take up sessions of play as well. When on earth, the objectives of the
Naughtwraiths are singular; to lower the realm solidity, called Paradigm, of a given area, so as to
create a Rift so they may enter physically into the world. Their methods may be brutally direct, or
hideously subtle. But their goal is to shake the certainty of belief of the people in the area, as it is
belief which makes up the Paradigm. The goal of the agents is to eliminate the Naughtwraiths
before they can succeed, without significantly damaging the Paradigm themselves.

The agents will have their own skills and talents, as well as certain attributes of their own, such
as Synchronicity, Perception and Power. However, as they are not alive and physical, their
physical attributes will be based off of those of the host. Likewise, depending on their
synchronicity with that host, they may have use of the host’s knowledge and abilities. One of the
largest risks agents run is that of damaging the Paradigm themselves. If someone who knows
the host suddenly sees them doing something they normally couldn’t, such as speaking Russian
like a native, or doing a gravity-defying spin kick, it has the potential to damage the Paradigm.
Even worse than that, the agent does have certain abilities that are frankly impossible, which are
often necessary in dealing with the Naughtwraiths, especially if they manage a Rift. Anything that
might lower the belief of people in what is real and solid must be avoided whenever possible.
However, the Naughtwraiths have no such constraints...

[Mike Holmes]

Hmm. OK. It sounds cool, but I gotta say that there are a lot of people trying to build this game or something simiular of late. I'm not sure if the fact that none have materialized is due to the subject matter, or just the standard high rate of incompletion of RPGs. Hm....

BTW, there is a game called Knights of Torque and Recoil RPG. Probably won't be a concern, but just thought I'd mention it.

Mike

[Lance D. Allen]

Maybe there's something in the water...

::shrugs:: I'll keep working on it, anyhow. The mechanics I've got in mind are much simpler than what I'm trying to do with MB, so it'll be a refreshing change of pace. If someone else comes out and shows something that's farther along/better and is too similar, I may drop it then. Until then, it's something to occupy my mind.

As for the name, I suppose I ought to explain it slightly. The Coil is what game fiction calls earth/the physical realm, as in "the mortal coil" mentioned in poetry and some fiction. Recoiling is the action of re-entering the Coil as a passenger spirit. Hence the title. I doubt it's anything like the game you've mentioned, and I think the name is different enough to stand on it's own.

[anonymouse]

You mention Mage: the Ascension, but have you read Wraith: the Oblivion? It's my favourite of the World of Darkness series, though now out-of-print. If you haven't given it a looksee, I'd suggest picking it up, if for no other reason than to see how someone else did the fuzzy memory/kind-of-undead/fighting Oblivion and its servants-thing.

And your explaination of the chosen name (Recoil) just hooked me pretty good. =)

[Torrent]

If you can get a hold of a copy, you might take a look at Whispering Vault.  It has sort of a similar theme.  PC's are dead people given power to create bodies randomly through time and space.  Each mission centers about finding and fixing a flaw in reality caused by another form of being.  There is the idea of being Outside of reality.  In PC creation you even are supposed to describe your character's personal realm.

Torrent

[Lance D. Allen]

I've read through Wraith much more thoroughly than Mage, but it's been a damned long time for both. I remember combat in the corporeal world vaguely, but I only read it, didn't actually get to sit down and test it out.

What I borrowed from Mage is the concept that magic/powers/whatever can't be flashed about, because it might adversely affect the Paradigm/Paradox (coincidence in the sound. I didn't even think about what the Mage term was called until just now) by messing with how people view reality. I prefer my own take on the effects, though.. Rather than it just being "Oops, you get another point of Paradox. Something nasty is going to happen to you, if you don't stop doing that.." it's more "Oops, you've just lowered the local Paradigm another notch. Something nasty is going to happen to the world, and if you don't stop doing that, it'll be your fault..."

One thing that Wraith had that definitely won't get into Recoil, though there's definitely conceptual room for it, is Fetters. In Recoil, it doesn't matter who you were, or how you died (though the GM could use it for good story hooks, if he/you chose to develop it). Part of the feel I'm going for is the immediate, the now. The past is the past, and the future is the future, only the NOW really matters.

To add a few things..

Constant NPCs: There are 2 constant NPCs that the players will interact with on a regular basis. They are Prime, and Mortis.

Prime: Prime is the first 'agent' (I dislike this term) to be rescued by Mortis. He or she (for gender is unknown, at least at first) may have been a politician, a scientist, a priest or a mystic, or even a military officer. Nothing is known about the previous life of Prime, perhaps even by Prime themself. Whatever they were prior to dying and rescue by Mortis from Oblivion, Prime has shown amazing organizing capabilities, and has become the mind driving the whole struggle against Oblivion. Prime is the boss.

Mortis: Mortis is basically the guardian of death's gates. When it first realized that things were not as they should be, it rescued Prime. From there, it and Prime came up with a plan to battle the Oblivion, and attempt to reopen the ways into the afterlife. Mortis is essentially the engine that powers the group's operations. It is a sentient being, but with little understanding beyond what is needed to monitor the passage of souls. It's abilities, shared somewhat with the player characters, is what allows them to reenter the Coil to do battle with the Naughtwraiths. From there, training and the latent abilities of the soul are the tools they use.

Outside (waffling for a better term on this one, too): Outside is where Mortis exists, and by default, where the group bases itself. It is, in appearance, an infinite grey plane, but it's appearance, shape and function is entirely malleable. Basically, whatever the characters wish it to be, it is. Likewise, whatever they wish to look like, they do. For the most part, they take on human appearances, to train in the combative skills they will find useful when they Recoil. Their appearance may be what they think they looked like in life, some vaguely remembered relative or friend, a personal hero, or perhaps the host that they had last time they Recoiled. Prime is unique in that they rarely ever take a form. Even Mortis takes a form, usually something similar to the Grim Reaper, because that is what collective Paradigm imagines that death would look like.

Naughtwraiths: The name is something someone said once, and it stuck. Maybe it was Prime, maybe it was one of the other agents. Who knows? It's the most widely accepted term among the group (this word seems so generic..). It comes from the archaic word "naught" which means nothing, and wraith, which in mythology is usually some sort of spirit. So it is a spirit of nothing, which is appropriate for what they seem to be. They seem to require a physical host, the same as the player characters do, to have any direct effect upon Coil, so long as there is any Paradigm to block them from manifesting physically. When they have manifested in the past, they have taken a variety of forms, innocuous-seeming, or nightmare creature. When they manifest, they rapidly deteriorate the Paradigm around them, expanding the Rift that allowed them to enter the Coil directly. When they do this, they must be destroyed, which seems to stun the Oblivion briefly, because no more will manifest from the Rift for some time afterward. The Rift must be closed by the player characters before they recover, however.

Paradigm: Paradigm appears to be regional. So much can happen within a single area without a Rift forming due to total destruction of the local Paradigm. If the unreal influences leave the area before the Paradigm is totally deteriorated, it will slowly mend on it's own, as human skepticism and rationalization is a powerful thing. But once it deteriorates to nothing, a Rift is opened. Rifts are not visible to most people, but hosts for both the player characters and Naughtwraiths can see them, as well as certain others. Naughtwraiths will seek out a Rift, and attempt to use it to manifest into the Coil, leaving their host. Closing the Rift requires any Naughtwraiths within it to be destroyed or driven back first, then all people must be removed from the area of the Rift. From there it is just a matter of effort on the part of the PCs to close the Rift.

[Lance D. Allen]

If you can get a hold of a copy, you might take a look at Whispering Vault.  It has sort of a similar theme.  PC's are dead people given power to create bodies randomly through time and space.  Each mission centers about finding and fixing a flaw in reality caused by another form of being.  There is the idea of being Outside of reality.  In PC creation you even are supposed to describe your character's personal realm.

Torrent

Whispering Vault.. I read a review of that, and several discussions. I guess I somehow missed that part of it. Hm. I suppose I'd better go take a look at it, then, hmm?

Edit: Did a search for it on the web.. Anything solid and official seems to be hard to find, but I've pieced together the particulars. It does have a very similar theme, somewhat dismayingly so. But I think that, perhaps, my ideas are unique enough to have merit. I don't suppose it'll hurt one way or the other if I keep on.

[Tar Markvar]

What do you do in this game? I mean, aside from "fighting Oblivion," what are the characters' interests? Are they interested in life for its own sake? Are there political factions? How absolute is their duty to fight Oblivion (i.e., is it like the Ascension War "I fight the Technocracy when I get a chance, betwee lattes," or more like the Buffy "I fight evil because I have to and it's my duty above everything else"?)? What do these agents do between missions? Do they live on Earth or Outside? How supported are they? Do they have to set up their own franchises, a-la InSpectres?

I'm just curious. I'm fighting the "Storyteller Heartbreaker" influence. You've got my interest, and I want to know what makes these agents and their agency tick. :)

Jay

[Thomas Tamblyn]

whether it be simple murder, or some more devious plot

In a slight turnaround of classic question (what do the characters do) I'm very interested in what the naughtwraiths do.  I know the quote above was just a quick example and possibly misleading, but are the nuahgtwraith plots something along the lines of Quantum Leap scenarios?

Do the naughtwraiths organise devious murders, seperate best-friends-from-childhood and racketeer nunneries?  If so why are naughtwraith-inspired scenarios any worse than the hundreds of mundane examples that happen every day?

You might want to take a look at Nobilis, the excrucians in there seem similar to your naughtwraiths.  They find or create mundane problems, and sort-of invest them with magical energy to turn the stuation into a nettle rite - something that weakens the aspect of reality its related to.

Or perhaps the naughtwraiths are more elder-go style?  They offer power to people who perform strange rituals to create these Rifts?  Or perhaps the naughtwriahts do it themselves?  If so, how?  I know Naughtwraiths = bad but how do they do what they do?

[Lance D. Allen]

Tar: What do the characters do?

I figure at least some of the game will be exploration of why they are willing to fight. In the beginning, it's because Mortis rescued them from Oblivion, and Prime tells them that they have to fight it or else it will destroy the world. Very few people, even once they're dead I imagine, are really noble enough to want to save the world just for the world's sake, though. The world is full of nasty people, so you've got to have a personal reason to fight. But what? Your former life is nothing but a few hazy memories. Some, I figure, will fight because they form a bond with the rest of the group. Others may see something or someone when they Recoil that is enough to cause them to fight. Some rare few might fight simply for the cause. And some others might have the hazy impression of a family still alive from their former life. Some may want to go to Heaven/Valhalla/The Summerlands, and this is their only chance to do so.

Between missions, they exist Outside. They train, they learn, they mingle and talk. Pretty much anything they want to do, so long as it's Outside. Mortis won't allow them to Recoil without a pressing reason, usually to fight the Naughtwraiths. They're one single group, dependent upon Mortis to detect when a Naughtwraith is in the Coil, and to send them there.

A bit more on Mortis: Mortis senses the deaths of people, and how they enter into death. That is the only way it knows what is going on, except what the agents tell it when they're there. So when people die due to the influence of a Naughtwraith, Mortis knows. It then sends the agents back to stop it from happening. However, the Oblivion seems to be devouring the past, so that no more than 3 or 4 days prior to the Present exist. For similar reasons, the future is constrained. The actions of those outside the Coil can rewrite the future, cutting off a previously existing future from the central flow of what is, leaving it vulnerable to Oblivion.

Thomas: What do the Naughtwraiths do?

First off, what they are, or why they do what they do is left undefined. I'm letting individual gamemasters, if they choose to do so, define them. But what they do can be a variety of things. The complexitydepends on how powerful they are, as are more intelligent and devious as they grow in power. A single, low powered Naughtwraith might think only on the individual level, causing it's host to appear monstrous to a victim, and kill them. The effect, by itself, to Paradigm is minimal, as the victim's beliefs cease to affect the Paradigm when they die. A slightly more devious Naughtwraith may enter the body of a doctor, or priest and go on a massive public killing spree, taking several fatal wounds before allowing the host to die. People are shaken by this, seeing it to be a near impossibility that someone so devoted to life and helping others could do this, and withstand the injuries they did. On a much grander scale, A public speaker could spontaneously combust while in front of the largest crowd he'd ever had. All of these things would have varying affects on the Paradigm. Why the Naughtwraiths don't just use their powers in massive amounts to create the Rifts? Because, for one, they don't have a lot The weakest Naughtwraiths have no power at all, beyond what it takes to enter a host. The most powerful would still be no match for a rookie agent, one on one. So the more intelligent they are, the more likely they are to want their use of the power to affect more people. And the main reason that Naughtwraith's actions are worse than those of other, more mundane crimes and depravities, is the result if they are successful, a Rift, from which monsters enter our world.

Another thing which affects both agents' and Naughtwraiths use of the power is how strong the Paradigm is. Generally it is strongest in large public places, though it is also most vulnerable there, due to the mass amount of belief in how reality should be. The Paradigm acts as a resistance to any actions which seem to violate it. Thus, an agent would be able to expend power with ease launching fireballs at a cornered Naughtwraith in a deserted alleyway, and the Naughtwraith would find it much easier to fight back there. There would be little to no damage to Paradigm in that location.

On dispatching Naughtwraiths: There are a few ways which I've not fully decided on yet, but the easiest way by far is to kill the host. Whether this destroys the Naughtwraith, or simply sends it back to whence it came is unknown, and immediately unimportant. The problem is is that that sends another soul to Oblivion, as well. When a agent's host is killed, they return to Outside, where they must either wait, or attempt to reenter the Coil.

[Christoffer Lernö]

Another voice for Whispering Vault here. This is all very reminiscient of WV (an excellent game by the way). The backstory of WV was different, but the set-up seems nigh identical (external agency protecting reality, outside force threatening it, mission/episodes).

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Whispering Vault was a pioneer into this area, but there is A LOT left to explore in terms of possible take on this genre.

Lance, I think you pretty much HAVE to get Whispering Vault to compare ideas :)

[Thomas Tamblyn]

Ah - I see.  In a way, its a reversal of Mage the scension isn't it?  With the naghtwraiths being the mages and the players retroactively enforcing paradox.

I like the idea of keeping the naughtwraiths mysterious - especially their motives, after all, why are they opening rifts?  Perhaps they're not the bad guys after all.

Mortis and prime seem pretty dominating - did you intend them to be that way or is there some way that characters can rebel and go with the other side?  If nothing else, it might be interesting to have a group fighting against both naughtwraiths and a group of former servants of Mortis who have gone over to the other side.

[Spooky Fanboy]

You may want to give the Recoilers a Void stat or something that goes up when they are wounded or if they turn away from their concern on the mortal world. If their Void is too high, and they're near a rip, they can get sucked in and destroyed--for good.  So they've got to keep active in the world in order to survive. They still don't have to be nice people, but they do have to be active.

Just a thought.

[Lance D. Allen]

Thomas: By human standards, Naughtwraiths are definitely the bad guys, judged by their actions. Are they evil? That depends on the framework that you're using. Perhaps Oblivion is a necessary force, cleansing the universe for a rebirth.

On the other hand, I want to go to Heaven when I die, and anything that wants to stop me is EVIL in my book.

One of the ironies I like in the concept is that the players, while trying to protect the Paradigm, can themselves inadvertently destroy it and cause a Rift for the Naughtwraiths to enter.

And yes, Prime is dominating, at least in my vision of them. Mortis isn't, really. Mortis is curious and fairly amenable to what happens, as humans are a novelty to it. The only thing that Mortis is strongly against is Oblivion interfering with the passing of souls into the beyond. At least, this is my vision. I'm leaving them almost as undefined as the Naughtwraiths and Oblivion, for much the same reason. Individual game masters can personify them as they see fit.

Spooky: I've been giving thought to permanent PC death, but I've not decided on how to do it. They themselves cannot be wounded, only their hosts. I do like the idea of some sort of measure of how much they care. Their convictions are what allowed them to be rescued from Oblivion, rather than going quietly into that good night.

But that brings out the V:tM issue. Many feel that Humanity is a restrictive influence, because it's a measure of how far you can go before your character is done for, which is separate from injury and death, and is a restriction on how you play your character. The Paths offered to the Sabbat sect, and in the Dark Ages version of the game offer notably more flexibility, though. Do you think this might be an issue if I instituted some sort of Conviction stat?

[Ben Morgan]

One of the things I am seeing must be built in to any character in this game is that they do *want* to fight against Oblivion, in one way or another, for one reason or another. If they simply didn't care what happens to the world or themselves, they wouldn't have had the drive and determination to resist succumbing to Oblivion long enough to be rescued by Mortis in the first place (For reference, PCs in Sorcerer are, by definition, among the most driven and ambitious characters in the world. If they weren't, they wouldn't be sorcerers).

Having said that, I think there's certainly room for variation across the whole "really gung-ho, let's fight Oblivion" vs. "reluctant soldier, I just want to go home" spectrum.

-- Ben