Deepnight Revelation - GMs Thread
- Thread starter Tea Rex
- Start date
MonsterX
Emperor Mongoose
My own plan, should the players lean toward NOT completing the mission, is to reemphasize the danger presented by the Entity through psionic pressure on certain players - one of them was controlled by the Entity for a period in Deepnight Legacy, and another was subject to dubious and unsafe genetic manipulation by Zydarans making her psionically sensitive to Droyne related things and subject to involuntary clairvoyant visions. The campaign has also involved beacon devices placed by the Ancients, which the DNR is now carrying two of - when appropriate they pick up signals from paired beacons which the Ancients expedition dropped along the route, similar to the beacon buoys the DNR carries. These I also use to shape the DNR's route, and placing a beacon in the system where the shell is located might be useful - maybe give it some relationship to the shell.
An early theme which played out as political intrigue during the expedition planning on Giikur was the possibility of weaponizing the Entity. The PCs had to deal with an IN admiral and a weapons' researcher who were plotting to genetically manipulate tissue from the Entity, in order to control it so as to use it as a bioweapon against the Zhodani. The potential for this to go very wrong is obvious, and the PCs immediately sided with the opposing faction. There was also an apocalyptic cult splinter group from the Church of Voskhod with similar plans, only skipping the steps where they get control of it and take it Zhodani space first. My long range plan is to remind them toward the end of this theme, by introducing a scenario where they find a civilization did just that, and wiped itself out. It could be related to the Commonwealth colonies, for example, or something else, but the PCs will probably find a report, or weapons lab or something. I haven't worked out the details as it's still quite far in the future. (This even raises the possibility that someone in the crew is a sleeper for one of the aforementioned factions who will try to keep the weaponization data to give to actors back home...)
They are also carrying a Royal Authorization given them by Princess Ciencia, which could if needed also turn out to contain a reminder of their patriotic duty to the Imperium, in the form of a secret message to reveal itself if the ship's computer finds that certain conditions have been met. A rousing speech by the Princess would not only remind the PCs of what they are supposed to do, but also make plausible the support of key NPCs for undertaking dangerous, even suicidal, activities. Obviously, it can't be too specific, since the Princess can't have been aware of what they would encounter exactly, but it would be designed to put them in the sort of self-sacrificing mood they might need at that moment. Also, there are a significant number of non-Imperials aboard, due to en route recruitment and their feelings about this could produce interesting tensions.
So there are a few tools in the toolkit that I have ready to bring out, when and if we ever get that far.
An early theme which played out as political intrigue during the expedition planning on Giikur was the possibility of weaponizing the Entity. The PCs had to deal with an IN admiral and a weapons' researcher who were plotting to genetically manipulate tissue from the Entity, in order to control it so as to use it as a bioweapon against the Zhodani. The potential for this to go very wrong is obvious, and the PCs immediately sided with the opposing faction. There was also an apocalyptic cult splinter group from the Church of Voskhod with similar plans, only skipping the steps where they get control of it and take it Zhodani space first. My long range plan is to remind them toward the end of this theme, by introducing a scenario where they find a civilization did just that, and wiped itself out. It could be related to the Commonwealth colonies, for example, or something else, but the PCs will probably find a report, or weapons lab or something. I haven't worked out the details as it's still quite far in the future. (This even raises the possibility that someone in the crew is a sleeper for one of the aforementioned factions who will try to keep the weaponization data to give to actors back home...)
They are also carrying a Royal Authorization given them by Princess Ciencia, which could if needed also turn out to contain a reminder of their patriotic duty to the Imperium, in the form of a secret message to reveal itself if the ship's computer finds that certain conditions have been met. A rousing speech by the Princess would not only remind the PCs of what they are supposed to do, but also make plausible the support of key NPCs for undertaking dangerous, even suicidal, activities. Obviously, it can't be too specific, since the Princess can't have been aware of what they would encounter exactly, but it would be designed to put them in the sort of self-sacrificing mood they might need at that moment. Also, there are a significant number of non-Imperials aboard, due to en route recruitment and their feelings about this could produce interesting tensions.
So there are a few tools in the toolkit that I have ready to bring out, when and if we ever get that far.
MonsterX
Emperor Mongoose
s. 3 ep 14: The Threat from Outside
Opens with a series of shots of famous images of Droyne and Ancients sites, taken from scientific, popular culture, and conspiracy theory sources, and set to dramatic music.
Narration:
In 866, archeologist Erich von Danikin made an extraordinary discovery, investigating the ruins of an Ancient’s structure on Vanejen
[camera pans over stock footage of Ancients pyramid, definitely not on Vanejen, image of von Danikin looking at a tablet, a series of stock images of Ancients symbols flash over the screen, which have nothing to do with anything, but appear very dramatic].
von Danikin noticed references to a “doom” from “outside” in the texts and imagery
DRAMATIC DRUM MUSIC
Interview (presumably stolen from old recordings):
von Danikan: “I searched every possible existing literature, and came up with nothing. They were talking about a threat from outside.”
flashing through images of Ancients symbols again, this time artists’ interpretation of Ancients’ starships, in the frame with dramatic-looking stellar objects
Hardy Broderib sitting in front of shelves of serious looking books “Could Ancients explorers have ranged farther outside Charted Space than the current mainstream of Xenoarcheology is willing to admit? What dark threats might they have found there that so shook them to the core?”
DRAMATIC DRUM MUSIC
image of a piece of Ancients machinery with von Danikan standing in front of it
Narrator: badly shaken by his discovery, von Danikan began to search for evidence of Ancients expeditions beyond Charted Space.
AI simulated von Danikan voice reading from article text: “Certain neutrino bursts from distant sources may be evidence of beacons placed by Ancients’ expeditions to far flung locations. If we can find these locations, we might not only uncover the untold wonders of these Ancients site, but also uncover the secret which so disturbed the Ancients”
Flashing through images of satellites of exotic and improbable design in front of exotic and dramatic stellar objects, with lots of beeping.
Hardy Broderib sitting in front of serious looking scientific equipment: “Ancients were powerful beyond our imagining. Anything which scared them should also scare us”
Flashthrough of fanciful Ancients starships using fanciful weapons to destroy planets
DRAMATIC DRUM MUSIC
Narrator: von Danikan and his team died in an unexplained matter-antimatter detonation in 869. Was it an accident? Are Ancients somehow influencing human history even now? Was he ‘removed’ by rivals, or because he ‘knew to much’ and was too willing to share his knowledge with the public?
Image of a research station exploding, stolen without attribution from a popular film
Narrator: However, what he uncovered implies a dark future for humanity, a future which powerful forces are willing to kill to cover up.
DRAMATIC CONCLUDING MUSIC
roll credits
Hardy Broderib
Opens with a series of shots of famous images of Droyne and Ancients sites, taken from scientific, popular culture, and conspiracy theory sources, and set to dramatic music.
Narration:
In 866, archeologist Erich von Danikin made an extraordinary discovery, investigating the ruins of an Ancient’s structure on Vanejen
[camera pans over stock footage of Ancients pyramid, definitely not on Vanejen, image of von Danikin looking at a tablet, a series of stock images of Ancients symbols flash over the screen, which have nothing to do with anything, but appear very dramatic].
von Danikin noticed references to a “doom” from “outside” in the texts and imagery
DRAMATIC DRUM MUSIC
Interview (presumably stolen from old recordings):
von Danikan: “I searched every possible existing literature, and came up with nothing. They were talking about a threat from outside.”
flashing through images of Ancients symbols again, this time artists’ interpretation of Ancients’ starships, in the frame with dramatic-looking stellar objects
Hardy Broderib sitting in front of shelves of serious looking books “Could Ancients explorers have ranged farther outside Charted Space than the current mainstream of Xenoarcheology is willing to admit? What dark threats might they have found there that so shook them to the core?”
DRAMATIC DRUM MUSIC
image of a piece of Ancients machinery with von Danikan standing in front of it
Narrator: badly shaken by his discovery, von Danikan began to search for evidence of Ancients expeditions beyond Charted Space.
AI simulated von Danikan voice reading from article text: “Certain neutrino bursts from distant sources may be evidence of beacons placed by Ancients’ expeditions to far flung locations. If we can find these locations, we might not only uncover the untold wonders of these Ancients site, but also uncover the secret which so disturbed the Ancients”
Flashing through images of satellites of exotic and improbable design in front of exotic and dramatic stellar objects, with lots of beeping.
Hardy Broderib sitting in front of serious looking scientific equipment: “Ancients were powerful beyond our imagining. Anything which scared them should also scare us”
Flashthrough of fanciful Ancients starships using fanciful weapons to destroy planets
DRAMATIC DRUM MUSIC
Narrator: von Danikan and his team died in an unexplained matter-antimatter detonation in 869. Was it an accident? Are Ancients somehow influencing human history even now? Was he ‘removed’ by rivals, or because he ‘knew to much’ and was too willing to share his knowledge with the public?
Image of a research station exploding, stolen without attribution from a popular film
Narrator: However, what he uncovered implies a dark future for humanity, a future which powerful forces are willing to kill to cover up.
DRAMATIC CONCLUDING MUSIC
roll credits
Hardy Broderib is not a real scientist, but he does play one on TV; he joined the crew at Dostoyevsky, together with his dubiously acquired Ancients beacon, and is now embedded with the very annoyed Archaeological team of the DNR, he'll definitely pop up if needed to shift their course. His ambiguous relationship to the more "conventional" archaeologists of the DNR allows me a bit of distance from what he asks the players to do, and tits consequence, thus retaining player agency (if things go badly --- well, you probably shouldn't be listening to this guy).
Hardy Broderib
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