 March 22, 2009 - 11:26am | One of my favorite features in AD rules were the robot rules and one my most disappointing features of AD rules was... drum roll.... robots! I loved rules for missions and functions as it just screamed to me to have robots do unexpected or extremely literal things as per their functions and mission. In fact very careful wording of a function by a GM could give rise to a situation that aggravates the PCs a little. What was disappointing was the near total lack of examples and missions (the rules gave some examples but they weren't really full examples of complete robots). As the impetus of this project was starting a small group through the Volturnus modules I thoughts a little robotic help might be called for to keep things from being to lethal early on. But since Streel's RAD division doesn't really want the expedition to succeed said robot would have some specialty programing. to outward appearance the security bot which was assigned to the team (after a last minute maintenance check of the 4 who are in cold storage with the drop buildings and vehicles turn up one with a malfunction- supposedly that one was pulled and since the team's equipment and supplies are already loaded the new robot is sent aboard with the other luggage to be stored in the internal cargo bays of the Serrena Dawn) is a level 4 or 5 robot with std body and hoverfan movement and a type 1 parabattery and a std. security lock bearing a plaque saying, "Property of Streel Corporation Only an authorized Streel Robotocist may remove." Bot resists anyone not a Streel Robotocist from removing the security lock. The robot has a true mission, true functions, plus an "official mission" and "official" functions. any attempt to list functions or mission must exceed the target number to succeed by 20 to detect the presence of hidden functions or hidden mission. knowing the presence of hidden programing is not the same as know what it is and another attempt at list functions or mission at -20% is needed to reveal them. The robot is capable of verbal speech and will answer questions concerning its mission and functions but will not volunteer information like its default settings (ie. a command of sentry without a specified location will operate at the default setting of 4m diameter). If the player look into what programs the robot has they will find Attack/defense program (expected), a Command Trigger Program & a Search and destroy program. it is aware of these to unexpected programs and cannot say why they are their in its memory or how they are to assist in its mission. The command trigger program is used, upon activation of a trigger (usually a code phrase), to overwrite or delete mission or functions or even programs. It can be used to partition the robot's brain and allow for higher priority mission and functions to operate in the background with the consequence that the "official" persona of the robot will function at one level lower mentally. A robotocist can often detect the presence of a command trigger program by noticing that what is an appearent lvl 5 robot is functioning like a lvl 4 for some reason though this would only be detectable by long hours of interaction with the bot. In the case of this security bot it is actually a lvl 5 warbot capable of search and destroy operations. Its true mission is: "Remain in proximity of Volturnus Survey Expedition 2 and destroy them upon receipt of command trigger." Function 1: Defines VSE2 with personnel records of the team members Function 2: Defines proximity as within 100m of the majority of the VSE2. Function 3: Defines the command trigger as the verbal phrase, "Orchid hates you" Function 4: Directs the robot to prevent tampering with security lock by any that are not a Streel Robotocist. The official persona of the robot is that of a lvl 4 security bot The "Official" mission is: "Follow VSE2 and obey their recognized Commands" Function 1: is identical to function 1 above and will work as a back up file for that function even if it is destroyed or corrupted Function 2: Defines recognized commands as: Follow, Sentry, Defend, Attack Function 3: Defines follow as remain within 20m of majority of VSE2 (default) or 3m of specifed VSE2 member Function 4: Defines Sentry as to watch a Sentry Location and alert VSE2 of any intrusion (will not attack intruder unless Sentry command is give with Defend or Guard commands) Function 5: Defines Sentry location as 4m diameter for default or as specified area by VSE2 member. (camp is to vague of a specified area and the robot will revert to default setting for this which means an intruder could enter the camp but if it remained outside of 2m of the robot the bot will not take any action) Function 6: Attack Defend commands follow std. definitions in Attack/Defense program but require a specific target for the command. The default for defend is the entirety of VSE2 and triggers when any are attacked. a proper use of the sentry command would entail a specific description of the area to be sentried and the robot would then report any intrusion. Pairing defend command with sentry would cause the robot to report intrusion and attack the minute a VSE2 member is harmed. A pairing of sentry with attack would cause the bot to report intrusion and attack immediately. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 22, 2009 - 12:17pm | All pirate officers are aware of the command trigger "Orchid hates you" Which means if they reach the bridge with said robot than Captain Skrag (i think the name is) could do the command trigger. I'd prefer to have the robot available at least in the desert to mess with the players a little with the specific wording of the functions for a specific purpose: They'll always remember their first robot and having problems with the functions should stick in their minds and under score the importance of careful wording of functions and missions and even make them a little suspicious of gift robots in the future. So I think the random occurance specified for the Serrena Dawn of the ship breaking up would need to occur before the party reaches the bridge or if they're having to easy of a time on the Serrena Dawn have Captain Skrag trigger the command phrase and use the robot's attack to escape. If the party gets down from the Serrena Dawn with the robot the ways they could detect the command trigger or hidden programing are: 1. team robotocist notices after long association that the robot is functioning lower than its ability. 2. team is just interested early on in tinkering with the robot's mission and functions. 3. Repairing the robot and the robotocist confirms the functions and mission are intact and not corrupted- chance to notice the hidden programming 4. The robot is capable of verbal communication and if asked he will reveal all programs stored in memory but will be unable to explain why he has 2 of them. PC will need to investigate further. 5. having repaired the robot will increase the likelihood that the robotocist will discover the fact that its operating at a lower level than its capable of. The hover fan movement was added as I thought it might be needed for the robot to stay with the part across the lake of fire in the caverns. of course if the robotocist discovers the hidden function concerning the command trigger and says it out loud then it will attack. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 22, 2009 - 1:35pm | Question: If the Bot is a Lvl 5 Warbot, but the PCs are told it is a Lvl 4 Security Bot, how will they notice that the hidden programing causes it to opperate at one level lower? (5 minus 1 = 4, and it is, as far as the Pcs know, a Lvl 4 robot. Wouldn't it be operating at Lvl 4, not Lvl 3? Lvl 4 is the Lvl it is susposed to be operating at.) |
March 22, 2009 - 10:30pm | The sub skill identify robot allows a character to identify a robot's lvl just by looking at it. So just by looking at a robot they'll know its a certain lvl in reality. I may have not been clear this robot appears to be lvl 5 and is in reality lvl 5 but a robotocist may notice that it is only functioning on a lvl 4 mental ability- that will go away once the command trigger activates and then it will function like a warbot lvl 5 using its search and destroy to the best of it's ability. I specified when the command trigger has partitioned a robot brain to allow a higher priority mission and functions to operate in the back ground that it would cause some slowing of the mental process as a slight limitation on that program. So it gives a chance to notice that a lvl 5 robot is behaving/ acting a little slow and that the outward personna is on par with a lvl 4 as described in the AD rules. I picked these levels as a security bot and a warbot can both be lvl 5. so it should be obvious that the robot's lvl is five but not so obvious that the robot isn't a security bot unless they spot the search and destroy program. This dumming down effect of this program would be most notice able at the level where a robot has verbal communication and the next lower level he does not as anyone who recognized a robot for its level should question why it isn't speaking when it could. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 23, 2009 - 7:58pm | First: I'm not trying to give you a hard time. I'm trying to learn something here. Just by looking at the robot a trained robotics expert can tell the robot's level - 5 - (if the ID Skill roll is made). On page 13 of the SF Expanded Rule Book: 1) It says that all robots of level 3 or higher can talk. So a Lvl 5 robot functioning at Lvl 4 should still be able to talk. Maybe Slowly? Because of the hidden programs it should be "running" a little slow. (Is this a House Rule?) 2) Level 4 robots can act "semi-independently". Level 5 robots act "independently" and "give orders to other robots". This is a pretty subtle difference. A trained robotics expert would have to pay close attention to see that something is wrong. As there are no other robots present, it will be hard to notice that this robot can not give them orders. The best clue to the robot's real type and mission seems to be the existence of the two hidden programs and the robots unwillingness to say what they are for. Very clever! |
March 24, 2009 - 11:06am | @: pineapple the whole trigger command program was something I just made up. I just reread the rules on robots and decided that how I was going to play the robot: making it slavishly loyal to the literalness of the official functions and only speaking in breif responses like it was almost having difficulty thinking was more on par with a lvl 3 robot and that its mission to search out and destroy the team members once it recieve it's command trigger would only really require a lvl 4 robot. Interestingly, the player who rolled up a Tech Pc chose technician and computers after asking what he needed to operate a space ship (I alotted 16 exp to buy skills which translated to 2 PSA and 1 non PSA skills for everyone). The other player chose to make a scout with military PSA and enviromental skill and 2 weapons skills. No robotics skill in the party! The NPC I was going to run was suppose to plug any skill deficits in the party but there was no way I was going to take robotics and then "discover" my own little surprise so I created a Yazerian Priest from the fanzine and took medic, Psycho-social, and martial arts skills. The party was issued the robot but now I'm unsure about how it should play out. So I may just have Captain Skrag on the Serena Dawn's bridge shout out the command trigger phrase and then the pirates retreat to the lifeboat bay and escape while the party is dealing with the robot. Each round I have the robot repeat the command trigger phrase as it attacks which should make it fairly obvious that its got some programing issues. I could even allow for damage to the robot to cause a short circut and cause both missions to remain in play after the trigger so that robot both tries to attack and defend the players so that as it shoots a PC it says the trigger command phrase then with its second shot is shoots itself while saying, "must defend PC x!" certainly makes him a little less lethal at this early juncture of the game especially since their is no robotocist to shut him down and a robots chance to hit is 30% + 10%/lvl. I created a non entity NPC called Brin who is a human female scientist, though a part of the team she wont come out of her cabin during the pirate attack because of a panic attack -maybe she was raped before by pirates. She's not suppose to be part of the adventure just an NPC that they'll be forced to deal with and make a decision concerning. i suppose I could re-write her a little to include robotics but I really wanted her as a hysterical useless team member to elicit some tough moral decisions from the players. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 24, 2009 - 9:07pm | It rather defeats the "fun" of the trap if an NPC has to figure it out. Only two players - that is tough. Robotics would not be my first choice for a player character, and forcing someone to take it is no fun at all. As Referee you seem to be very creative and should be able to work around this. It sounds like you already have. |
March 25, 2009 - 12:19am | It rather defeats the "fun" of the trap if an NPC has to figure it out. Only two players - that is tough. Robotics would not be my first choice for a player character, and forcing someone to take it is no fun at all. As Referee you seem to be very creative and should be able to work around this. It sounds like you already have. I'm considering not letting the pirate captain say the command phrase but force the technician PC to work on the robot unskilled- he nows machinery and computers he could struggle through working on the robot. If nothing else the robot surprise would have to be triggered at the pirate outpost or at the pirate city if it survived that long. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 4, 2009 - 6:42am | Ahh... tonight is when the 2 PC, 1 NPC & 1 mule robot party crash land on Volturnus I made their traitorous robot a mule bot, provided to be a beast of burden for the party. it has the above described "true" mission and functions but largely operates as a lvl 2 or 3 servant since I tend to pre roll certain random events like whether anyone would take damage and how much in the crash it turns out that the only one to take damage is the robot. This is interesting in that the PCs may just want to fix it but suddenly it will resist that activity. I could by GM fiat delete the robot being damaged but I think we'll let this ride and see what comes of it. The party may just discover the secret programing of the robot early on. Post Script: fairly obvious that the PCs would fix it as they travelled the 2 hours to the poisoned well and decided to camp the whole day to use solar stills to purify the poisoned water and work on the robot. Having brushed up on the chances to perform robotics under the AD rules we discovered that with a 1st level character and a lvl 5 robot somethings are near impossible to do like repair, and alter mission I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 15, 2009 - 11:21pm | I should have updated this thread earlier but the players did try to work on the robot and since the roboticist held onto and didn't turn in his old company ID card when forcibly transfered to this mission from prior position in STreel Corp I ruled that it would be accepted as by the robot as an authorized personel. They did discover the hidden programing and having already made several successful skill checks to this point there was discussion about what to do about the programing and so it was settled that the roboticist for the next roll he'd try to change the hidden mission form destroy to protect and succeed on that roll as well. all further rolls failed and he's now waiting till 2nd level to re attempt changes on the robot. They had left that little surprise in place for the NPC who said the trigger phrase but when a funnel worm tried to eat the robot they said the command trigger themselves on the theory that the robot might fight back against the funnel worm but since they weren't in danger I had him do nothing. It made for a rather desparate fight to save the robot who was carring all their water, food and much of their spare ammo (too many eggs in that basket) Edit: i did let the computer tech character assist and gave the skill rolls a small bonus for this. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 16, 2009 - 7:28am | A concise complied summary of the following;
...would be an EXCELLENT article for the zine. Here are a couple of ideas for topic headings;
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