Fria Ligans forum

I'm looking to run Algebra as a four hour one shot, with a pacy noir feel and a twist (AI reveal) towards the end. Any tips regarding this module, what works, what didn't work?

You'll have a fair bit of work to do - the scenario is very light on real detail, and to be honest, it wasn't my favourite - some notes below:

1. I'm assuming you're playing it as a one-off with pre-gens, in which case, make sure you have very tech savvy characters otherwise huge amounts of info dumping will be happening from NPCs.

2. The PCs involvement is via manipulation of a call to their Patron and works best for groups with an established relationship, which you won't really have in a one-shot.. Some patrons make more sense than others in context of the investigation as well, I'd say this one works best with Mercenaries or Agents, although you could use Free Traders if you go the corporate troubleshooter route.
One major problem I had, and maybe I just misunderstood the scenario, was why Lazarus involved the PCs at all. The AI has already achieved most of its goals at Algebra before they arrive - its just missing that last crystal. I suppose its a quick "I can get them to get the last crystal out cos security" but there isn't a real reason why Bayit couldn't make a second attempt, or the AI couldn't just manipulate another employee to retrieve it.

3. You need to REALLY read p.32 a lot. This is an investigative scenario whose author basically has the cheek to say (on the previous page) "There is not enough room here to detail each individual trail of clues", which basically amounts to you getting no game-based investigation at all - there are a list of events that have happened and you need to build all the scenes, clues, NPCs to interview and so on. This annoyed me slightly.

4. Since you're having to make your own investigation, for the one shot you maybe need to ignore some of the story beats and focus on the ones you want to make pertinent. You're basically having them find faked stuff, work out that its faked, then work out how its being faked (and by what). I'd maybe concentrate on the hidden lenses, faked accounts and what they're being used for, and how the murder weapon got into the building. I simplified the religious stuff and have Lazarus posing as a "voice of the Icons" to manipulate Hukt and directly order the murder after Gabi has begun taking steps to isolate the AI.

5. Don't use the "players find a dropped mini-tabula" bit, its horrible and will have them rolling their eyes. Work the information on the tabula into the investigation you already had to write above,

6. Same with the "everything is on the Phylactery" - I think its much more satisfying for the PCs to find the faked data and work out that its faked or tampered with and reconstruct it. Then once they've done this a few times, they can find that the processing power came from the phylactery.

7. The players are going to find out who the murderer is pretty early on, cos they have access to the surveillance footage once they start investigating. They'll be looking for Hukt. They hopefully should work out that Hukt is borderline nuts and couldn't have done this all by himself, so they're looking for a second suspect. If they don't pick up on this, you'll probably need dar-Sala to nudge them.

8. You might need to work on the ending. Its either going to be "The Raid", with the PCs racing up the tower to destroy Lazarus, or they're going to be assisting Lazarus to ascend. If you want a techno-thriller, you should probably push for The Raid. Note, however, the complete lack of maps, layout information or staging tips for the Sky Tower. Time to write that bit yourself again.

Any specific questions, feel free to ask - but that should get you started. I actually changed the stuff with Bayit and the crystal quite a bit for my game, but I won't confuse the issue here.

Wow that's a great response thanks MutantFromMars, and sorry for the delayed response. Although it will be a one shot, it will be slotted into an ongoing campaign. The PC's have just left Jina (after completing Aram's Secret), and after Algebra of the Icons they will hopefully be going into Ghazali then MotI.

The PC's work for the Colonial Agency, and are a correspondent and technician. I feel I can make the link between Jina and Lubau, maybe by saying the Zalosian blockade has just been imposed and therefore all Colonial Agents are busy, and so the PC's have been asked by their patron to investigate the death on behalf of the Agency instead. Still have to figure this bit out properly.

I must admit that, although I love the idea of the AI influence (and if hidden well it could present a nice twist), I'll probably have to figure out what Lazarus' motive / reasoning is more clearly. I'll also have to thin some things out - ignore some of the story beats and focus on those I want to make pertinent, as you said. As I am leading into MotI, I thought I might emphasise the religious aspect and incorporate the Mystics Disease, fracturing relations between Firstcome and Zenithians, and the Zalosian Conflict, but at the cost of simplifying the investigation. Admittedly this might take some thought too…

I agree with the dropped mini tabula advice. I rolled my eyes when I read it. And I'll take your advice r.e. the phylactery. Likewise keeping the players on the right track with the murderer, I think I'll need to nudge them occasionally given it's a one shot.

I'll see which way the players want to go with the ending. I would prefer the ascension idea and keep them guessing as to whether Lazarus will ascend or not (a bit like whether Maud is a saint or not in 'Saint Maud'!), but if they want to destroy Lazarus then that's cool too. As you say I think there's a fair bit of work to do, but I feel that if I manage to resolve the background information and thin it down somewhat, there's a good little scenario in there!

Thanks again for you advice, much appreciated.

No problem.

I'll just add one further thing, since I hadn't read Wake Of the Icons when I first responded. If you're planning on running the whole Mercy of the Icons campaign, you might want to have the Ascension fail (if you're going that route), since it may clash uncomfortably with something that happens in this last part of the campaign.

No problem.

I'll just add one further thing, since I hadn't read Wake Of the Icons when I first responded. If you're planning on running the whole Mercy of the Icons campaign, you might want to have the Ascension fail (if you're going that route), since it may clash uncomfortably with something that happens in this last part of the campaign.

I thought the same thing and was a little bummed because i really liked the idea of ascension of an AI, but yeah that would clash and confuse players in Mercy.