In Chris Klug’s “RPG Writing” class at CMU, we worked in writing teams to develop a story bible for an original RPG campaign for a given IP. I was on a four-person team working with the IP Mindjammer (originally created by Sarah Newton). Our original campaign was called Deletion:
The consciousnesses of eidolons – synthetics that have downloaded human memories called thanograms into their minds – across the Commonality have been disappearing from the Mindscape. On Old Mars, Lysander Oyoung (the president of Axon, a shell
corporation based in Sanguine, one of the planet’s metroplexes) has hired Petra Ductera and her investigative team to look into the disappearance of the mind of a high-ranking eidolon – Merrill Hyden.
Petra, a survivor of a poor Fringe World planet Strahlex who has slowly worked her way up the ladder by following the rules, finds artificial life unnatural and unsettling. This puts her at odds with both Clara (S3-371), the eidolon assistant to the team, as well as Olvère Elier, who is cybernetically enhanced due to an accident from years ago. Olvère has been brought onto the team due to his strengths in interrogation, empathy, and Mindscape connection, but Petra doesn’t see him as more than a tool.
Also on the team are Catalina Alianova, an impulsive, ex-military soldier who takes the lead in combat, and Linnaea Bright, the analyst and technical expert of the team. Catalina is a “shoot first, ask questions later” kind of person, but she is very protectful of Linnaea, who is not well-trained in combat but believes she can take care of herself nonetheless. Linnaea’s brother Tomas was one of the eidolon minds to go missing, and she has vowed to find out what happened to him at all costs.
The team starts investigating with the help of many eidolons that make up Old Mars’s population. However, these eidolons suddenly turn on the team and Clara’s mind goes blank. In her last moments, she reveals that had been investigating a particular eidolon, Elden, that points the team towards the real cause of the disappearances. When the team investigates further, they are surprised by Lysander, who tells them that since the eidolons that attacked are related to his corporation, he must investigate on his own.
Further investigation reveals that a Mindscape engineering team housed on Io Station designed the chip that Clara alerted Petra’s team of, and that this engineering team was manipulating the minds of the eidolons behind the attacks. But this engineering team, including the brilliant but somber Samuel Chase, is hiding a deeper secret – that, working alongside Lysander, they have developed a plan to “free” human minds from the Mindscape, which could mean the end of the Commonality as everyone knows it. It is up to the team, with the help of the mysterious and peaceful Kali, to stop it.
I was in charge of developing the storyline for Act 4. I also developed the original dramatic scene and encounter associated with Act 4. I also created the Player Character Olvère, along with his associated stat sheet, and the Non-Player Character Samuel Chase. Additionally, I wrote a short piece of music to add as a main theme for the campaign.
Matthew Floyd 