Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Silicon Shadows- Places in the Datasphere (Numenera/the Strange)

Silicon Shadows

For most intents and purposes, adventuring through the datasphere is identical to a game of the Strange. For example, if the characters do find their way from one zone to another their interface goes through a process of recontextualization; their descriptor, their focus, and their equipment change to be appropriate for the new zone. It is worth remembering that, as a character can only translate to locations they have previously visited, new visitors to the datasphere are going to be heavily reliant on gates and other methods of finding their way into locations other than the zone they arrive in.
Within the datasphere recursions are datasphere zones, terms which may be used interchangeably, and the varying physical laws of these different zones reflect the differing nature and interpretations of the systems visited.



Beyond this, much of the changes to the Strange are social, with the implications that carries. There's generally not the same sort of worldwide social structures supporting datasphere exploration as there is in the strange. A particular aldeia which has a set of access pods may have a local tradition similar to the Quiet Cabal or the Estate. Perhaps a faction of Aeon Priests serve a similar function, using their ability to translate to link together a few aldeias and outposts. However, the splintered nature of the Ninth World limits the size and cohesion of such groups. While traveling from one recursion to another inside the datasphere is easier than accessing it from the outside.

Unlike running a normal game of the Strange, the GM may well want to keep the revelations about how the datasphere works and reel them out as with a group of naive characters who have just Quickened. If the GM wants to provide the characters an opportunity to have a little more knowledge skill with Datasphere Navigation would be a natural place to get that from. A trained person is probably familiar with certain aspects of the datasphere already, including at least an awareness of different datasphere zones, what the spark is and means (Strange p22), and their own peculiar abilities of translation. A character specialized in Datasphere Navigation understands the nature and relationship of Recursions, including the "unformatted" space that exists beyond the edges of these virtual worlds itself called the Strange (Strange p212), the difference between quickened and non-quickened inhabitants (Strange p22), and may have even had a previous visit to a recursion such as Ardeyn or Ruk through use by groups in the Ninth World that do traffic in the datasphere regularly.


~~*~~
Not a whole lot to say here that hasn't already been said. This is the benefit of using existing rulesets; provide basic translation and reskin the social aspects. 

No comments:

Post a Comment