The Matrix Roleplay

Paradise by the dashboard light

prologue
Morpheus has a very important announcement to make.
He contacts the players in their hovercraft.
I seem to have found the center of Machine City. The core of the
computers that run the Matrix. These computers are located at
these coordinates (gives coordinates). IF we could get inside
that core, there is no limit to what we could do. Just imagine:
The possibilities :
- We could enter the matrix without any limits. We would be
much stronger than agents, we would have the same powers as
if we enter the construct. Linked to our computersystems, we
could shape the matrix any way we want !
- We could shut down the matrix, liberating each and everyone
inside. Be carefull, dont do it, though. If you shut down the matrix
just like that, it is more than likely that you would kill every human
being inside.
- Taking away the matrix from the control of the machines would
enable us to liberate all humans and deprive the machines from
power. It would be easy to win the war.
Morpheus is wrong. He found the core to the first matrix: the
paradise. This matrix is outdated BUT still online, and there are
only 4 people inside. However, Morpheus is convinced he has
found the core to the matrix and in his enthousiasm he sends the
players right into the heart of machine city.
I wont lie to you. This mission is extremely dangerous. It is not
impossible that some of you will not survive. But remember you
will be heroes. There is a leak in the security system that we can
exploit from inside the matrix. If that works, it should be possible
for you to enter the machine city, unseen by the sentinels. From
there on, you are on your own. Good luck.

What has to be done?

1. OPENING A SECURITY LEAK. The players must go inside
the matrix, and blow up a building. Inside that building there are
programs that are necessary to scan machine city for human
lifeforms. If these are eliminated, then the machines wont see
the players who enter machinecity.
2. ENTERING MACHINE CITY. The players will find a plan in
the building that shows them a secret passage from a safe place
right into the heart of Machine City. There, they will find the
computercore that runs a matrix. Not the matrix they thought,
but a matrix nevertheless.
3. GET OUT WITH THE NEW KNOWLEDGE. With this new
knowledge, the players must try to get out of Machine City. The
secret passage will help them, but since the security leak will be
solved by then, they will have some robots in pursuit.

Opening the security leak

This shouldnt be too difficult. There is a building somewhere in
the matrix, and the players must destroy it. The building appears
to be a trainstation.
There are many people in the trainstation (so they cant simply
blow it up, unless they dont really care about the lives of all those
people). If the players blow up the trainstation and kill all those
innocent people, then Morpheus will take away the mission from
them (award skeptic points).
The players must make sure they only destroy the computers
inside and leave as many innocent people alive as possible.

Searching for the computers inside the trainstation is easy.

Behind the counter, in an office, there they are, but they are
guarded by policemen. If the players try to go behind the
counter with violence, the policemen will shoot. Use as many
policemen as you think necessary for a good actionscene.
The head of the trainstation, an old man called Jeremy Books,
fights along with the policemen and is as strong as an agent
(but he doesnt have the typical agent skills. He cant dodge
bullets and he cant jump into other bodies). As you may have
guessed, he is a program working for the machines, controlling
the security system from inside the matrix.
He has a map of the core of Machine City in the real world.
The map is a map of the real world, there is no such place in the
matrix. Why does he have it? Because there are powerlines in
the real world connected to the virtual electronic lines in the
matrix, thats how the security from the real world can be
controlled from inside..
If the players succeed in killing Jeremy and destroying the
computers, the operator can confirm them that the security of
Machine City has been broken, but only for a little while. Only the
rebels that are close to this place have a chance to enter and
leave in time. Guess what, indeed, only the players are close
enough to do the job.

Entering Machine City

With the map of the secret passage, it should be easy to enter
Machine City. PS. Since the map comes from the matrix, they
can upload it to the Construct but they cant take it with them in
the real world (but they can make a print, so that doesnt really
change much).
The secret passage is a long underground tunnel, it hasnt been
used in years. After about a kilometre, it ends on a shutter that
needs to be broken in order to open.
The players enter a room with seven jumpchairs, that are
connected to a mainstream computer. On every wall, they see
cocoons. Only ten cocoons contain bodies, all very very old
corpses, still alive but they look like they are at least 80y old and
in very bad condition. The other cocoons are empty. The room
seems abandoned, but the computer still works. The computer is
old and covered in dust.
There are robots in the room, old ones, like the robots you see in
the animatrix. They seem to be offline, none of them move.
It should be obvious that this old computer couldnt possibly run
a giant project like the matrix. Even the computers in the hovercraft are not as outdated as this machine here.
What will the players do?
If they destroy the computer, that kills the ten people in the
cocoons, an alarm goes off, and all the robots run towards the
computerroom (and they can see the players, of course).
If they understand that they are wrong and leave, they can. They
have enough time before the alarm goes off. But they wouldnt
know much more, would they?
If the players want to investigate, they can use the keyboard
and roll a moderate computer operation test. If that succeeds,
they see that this computercore is indeed running a matrix, but
not the matrix they know. This computercore is running the first
matrix that was ever made, the paradise. These ten people are
the last people that are inside it.
If they want to know more, they can enter this matrix using the
jumpchairs. Dont tell them this, but how are they going to leave
this matrix? No, there are no telephones in paradise...

Entering the paradise

If some or all of the players use the jumpchairs, they appear in a
forest. There are flowers, the temperature is perfect, everything
looks like paradise. But there are strange graphic bugs.
Give the players the impression to be in a virtual world as we
know it from computergames. If the players look at the trees,
they see that they are merely cylinders with texture on it.
The flowers moves in the wind, but it all moves exactly the same
way, The ground feels like its flat, the grass being nothing but a
texture. The sky is a blue texture that moves in a repetitive way.
This world is very small. Its a square forest, but if the players go
to the end they meet an invisible wall. Like all old virtual worlds,
there are invisible walls that limit the world. After a little while, the
players will meet the ten inhabitants.
These people, the old bodies in the cocoons in the real world, are
young and strong and healthy in their paradise. They dont wear
clothes other than some leaves. And they smile, they are very
friendly. Greetings, we are SO happy to have new people here.
There used to be many people here, and our world used to be
much larger, but most people left hundreds of years ago. We are
the only ones remaining.
The old people in the cocoons are kept alive during this time, but
they wouldnt survive a second without the cocoon protecting
them. They are the only people that kept faith in the paradise,
while all the other people lost their faith and awoke.
We are so happy to have you here. We havent had colour in
ages, now that you are here, Colour is back into our life. Thank
you for the green grass, the blue sky, the red roses. (he hugs
the players).
The people that left us all went to the big tree and ate from the
apple. They were send out of the paradise by God (eating the
apple gives the same effect as using a hardline in the matrix,
they disappear in code and awake in the real world).

Brainpower
you bring colour into our lives. This was not a way of speaking.
The paradise was in black and white when the other people left.
How come? The computer is not strong enough to build an entire
virtual world this size. No computer is strong enough. That is
why it uses the brainpower of the people that are inside the
cocoons. Having only ten people left, the processing power is not
strong enough to build a detailled world. That is why there are
texture problems, and there wasnt even enough power for
colour.
But now the player(s) have entered this matrix, its processing
power has increased and it automatically switched colour on. If
more people would enter the paradise, using the jumpchairs or
being captured in cocoons, than texture and rendering would get
better until it would be as good as the real world.
This is important. The players should understand that with every
human that enters or leaves the matrix, its processing power
increases of decreases. The computer is not very strong, but it
uses the processing power of the brains of everybody inside.
That explains why the machines cant use animals as batteries.
They need humans with brainpower.

Outdated matrix
Why is this matrix still online? When a matrix gets corrupted,
a person called the one is created to reset the matrix. In that
case, the old matrix is overwritten. But sometimes the old hardware is so outdated that the machines decide to start all over
again with a new matrix.
Instead of rewriting every single bit of code, it is way much interesting to copy existing code into the new matrix. Why rewrite the
code of trees, birds, plants? It saves valuable time if they create
a secret passage from one matrix to another to transport code.
The passages between the matrixes still exist. One passage can
be in the form of a railway, controlled by the Merovinger. Other
passages between the matrixes look entirely different, like
magical teleporters or black holes, and are controlled by other
people.

How many other matrixes exist? There may be as much as you

like, there is a medieval world, an egyptian world, so players can
- in other adventures - venture into another matrix where they are
chased by other types of agents. In the medieval world, for
instance, the agents are vampires and some rebels have the
ability to turn into werewolves.

Getting out of the paradise

If the players want to leave the paradise, the ten people try to
convince them to stay. They dont want to give up colour. If you
insist on leaving, we have no choice but to force you to stay
here. A fight will result.
If anyone of the ten people die during the fight, his body in the
real world will die too, dropping out of the cocoon and breaking
into pieces. This will cause things to happen in the paradisematrix too: colour will drop, textures will disappear, if only a few
remain then the world becomes a black and green vectorworld.
If the players want to convince the others to leave the paradise,
they sure will need lots of convincing power. However, it would
be funny if one of these young strong guys awake in the real
world, only to see that in the real world they are extremely old
and weak and unable to survive.
To get out of the paradise matrix, the players must find the appletree. The ten people could show them. Eating the apple is the
only way to exit this matrix.

Getting out of Machine City

After exiting the paradise matrix, look at how much damage the
players did. Are all the ten people still inside the matrix? If not,
the alarm goes off at once, forcing the players to run away at
once. Lots of modern robots run towards the computerroom.
There is still a long secret passage in which the players are
pursued by the robots. The robots are faster, so lets hope the
players have explosives.
If the players havent caused any damage in the paradise-matrix,
it all depends on time. After some time, the security leak will be
fixed and the alarm will go off anyway. If the players hurry, they
are out before the robots come.
In the worst case, sentinels are called to attack the hovercraft.
So if you want to have another actionscene, go for a sentinelhovercraft chase.

Epilogue
So Morpheus was wrong. He did find a matrix core, but not th
matrix core. However, the players now understand the processing power of the matrix. If they give this information to Zion, they
will still be called heroes.
This gives lots of possibilities for other adventures. Some
programs, like the keymaker, can open doors to other matrixes.
Some matrixes are abandonned, like the paradise, only running
some survival programs to keep the people inside alive. Other
matrixes still have agents that try to keep everything running.
All other matrixes have enough people inside to have a decent
virtual world without graphical bugs.
You can occasionally allow the players to enter another matrix,
to escape agents or by using a corrupt passage, as a part of a
story. Dont overdo it though, certainly dont give the players the
power to switch from one matrix to another.