how i ran analysis complete
Hey what’s up?
You good?
Cool.
Below is a an explanation of my process when running the second season of our show Out of Depth Plays: Analysis Complete. If you haven’t listened to it, you may not want to read any further than this because it’s going to literally spoil the entire show. So go listen to the show instead. It’s 12 episodes and pretty rad.
So you’ve been warned. From here on out it’s spoiler city.
I’ll wait.
…
Okay, they’re gone. It’s just us. I know some folks wanted to know the details behind the show so they can run it for their friends. I think that’s fucking awesome. So here’s what I can do to help. Keep in mind, I don’t write RPG modules. This is just an explanation of what I did -best as I can remember.
THE SETUP
The basic idea behind Analysis Complete is a crew is going on a long trip to a planet to investigate it.
After coming out of stasis they discover that their ship is crashing into the planet. Once they deal with that crisis they’ll quickly learn that they have already been on the planet for 267 days. When their ship was crashing it was actually in the process of LEAVING, and was sabotaged by a crew member who knew the truth.
The truth is this crew, the one your players are playing as, is not the original crew. They are clones made by the planet’s most powerful inhabitant: The Analyst. It took The Analyst that long to break down the original crew’s DNA and make the clones. However, these clones have certain biological gifts, dormant mutant abilities. It was sending the clones back to earth to see how they affect the human race.
MAKING CHARACTERS
We did character creation with everyone knowing they were going to be apart of this crew to go investigate a planet. So everyone could look at how they fit in with one another. After that I sent everyone a character questionnaire. You can use this one or make your own or not do it at all. It’s your game now.
PLAYER QUESTIONNAIRE
Before taking on this mission, you had second thoughts about accepting. What were those thoughts of?
This trip is meant to investigate a possible habitable planet like earth. Discovery would make you a major part of world history. The corporation that is investing in this journey, Pantodyne Industries, selected you because you display a certain aptitude. You deserve to be here.
What skill, accolade, or accomplishment do you feel caught their attention?During training you formed a relationship with another member of the crew(not one of the other player characters). It can be friendly or adversarial. Describe that individual and your feelings towards them.
You are traveling a year from home. Most of that time will be spent in stasis. What image or memory do you keep in mind as you go into hibernation?
Describe a failure from your youth that had a profound impact on your life.
What is a secret about your life that you’d never share with anyone?
What's your name?
Most of these are meant to give their character some connection to the world, and to give the impression that they are important. Sometimes old-school inspired games can feel like you’re playing the next “meat sack.” I wanted characters that had a reason to live and a desire to do something special, because it makes for a good show. You, of course, don’t have to do that.
THE CREW
Even if you don’t want to use a questionnaire, I highly recommend asking your players to each invent one other crew member on this ship. My players did this with the assumption that this would be their “backup character” should they die. That was never the case for me, but that can be for you and your table.
Really it was meant to create relationships that might cause them to make passionate decisions. So many NPCs feel like shields for death. But it’s when players invest in them that they become something worth saving. So get a head start and ask your players to invent some NPCs and some crew history.
Overall we had 10 characters. 3 PCs, 3 characters made my the players, and 4 NPCs that I made to fill in any gaps. I think that’s enough. But feel free to do it how you want. Less. More. Whatever you’re feeling.
GETTING THEM IN THE SHIT
Okay, so you’ve got a crew, you know where they’re headed, now we have to get them in the mystery. Obviously this is a little like a railroad at first. But once it gets going they truly have a lot of choice to do just about anything. Here’s how I set it up.
SCENE 1. WAKE UP
The crew comes out of stasis and have a week to get ready to land on Wolfram-16. This is really a getting to know you moment. You can introduce characters and relationships, and get your players roleplaying and exploring without any stress involved.
You can also foreshadow some elements or plant some seeds if you want. For example, in my world stasis is rumored to create some psychosis. So I had someone exhibit some odd behavior. Nothing too wild, just uncomfortable. It also served as a bit of a red herring for the players, in regards to why they lost so much time.
SCENE 2. WAKE UP AGAIN BUT WORSE.
When it’s about time to get to Wolfram-16, have the crew go to sleep and wake up in the stasis chambers again. This time the alarms are going because the ship is about to crash.
Not all the crew is present though. Only a few clones were made to go to earth. So randomly grab a couple of the NPCs. If you listen to Episode 1, I’m randomly choosing two names. They could have been just about anyone. The only two that weren’t included were Barry Camden(who was going to crash the ship) and The Captain – because I needed the group dynamic to have a power void. If one of your players wants to be the captain – great. But I wanted to avoid having an NPC with a clear authority over the PCs. That way they’re making the decisions not looking to me to give orders.
SCENE 3. LAND THE SHIP
After emerging from stasis the crew will discover that a crew member (actually the clone of a crew member) is crashing the ship in order to keep the clones from going to earth. The Saboteur has been gutted by an alien monster that they killed in their dying moments.
So lots of room for early panic rolls and fear saves.
Bottom Line: Someone has to try and land the ship. There are three different outcomes depending on what they roll:
If they succeed, the ship is flyable, but damaged in someway that it can’t fly unless repaired. This takes time and possibly a resource that can be found at THE HAVEN.
If they fail, the ship is absolutely wrecked and near useless.
If they critically succeed they can land the ship and use it at their leisure.
As you can tell all of these options can change the game drastically.
SCENE 4. WHAT IS GOING ON?
Once the ship lands, characters should be able to access the computer logs and discover they had already been on the planet for 267 days. Depending on how well they landed, these files may be corrupted and require more effort. They could also discover that there’s a huge gap in the logs. Out of the 267 days there are only logs of the first week and a half. You can put in some more foreshadowing by hinting at some strange events, but the gap is a result in the crew being kidnapped by The Analyst.
Other than the computers, there are some details players can investigate before even leaving the ship to explore. Like the dead crew member. Or the dead alien. Here’s where medics, scientists, and computer people have some time to shine.
Players should learn that the HAVEN, which is a modular habitat, is no longer in the cargo bay. That means that it’s built somewhere on the planet and could have answers or other crew members. So now you have somewhere to go.
You can get a lot of roleplay fun from all of this, as players collect data and debate the best course of action.
Most will decide to explore the planet to figure out what the hell went on. That’s where the map comes in.
a simple hex map of Wolfram-16.
EXPLORING WOLFRAM-16
I made a hex map for the players to explore. They can either find this in the ship logs or get it when they make it to the Haven. There are Mountains to the south, and rocky terrain around their starting location. There are forrests to the north, as well as a body of water. The special icons are points of interests to get their interest.
Points of Interest
The Caves. Northwest gray icon. Perhaps a small group of escaped crew members live here.
The Parabola – Far east. A massive bowl shaped indention that creates interference in tech equipment.
The Haven(orange squares) – Where the players can get some more idea of what is going on.
The Analyst Lab[?] -Where the original crew members are. Logs identify it only as a possible structure, not a land mass.
The X is where some insects attacked a crew member, which the players might learn from data logs.
The Belysa (the yellow thing) - Just land them near the Haven so it’s a natural first destination.
I didn’t bother giving the hexes a specific size in miles or kilometers. I just said they can walk two in a day. Depending on the weather or pace, they would have to make a body save or take Stress from the hike.
There’s a lot of gaps between the points of interest, so what do I do with those?
I made a random table of events and encounters.
I’d roll a d10 either during the episode if they entered a new hex or, if I needed something to happen. I didn’t know what was coming until the show started, but since I made the encounters nothing was really out of left field. Of course you can roll way in advance so you can prepare the session more thoroughly. And feel free to tweak this list to fit your own narrative. Add more!
1d10 Events and Encounters
Hound Attack
Weapon Cache
Barry Camden(or another lost crew member) hunting.
Hive Monsters
Captain Wakefield’s Last Stand (This became the fight in Episode 8)
The ATV
Someone’s powers start to develop. (This was Dr. George Asper in Episode 2. But could be one of your players.)
A failed Clone – (This was the first appearance of Cassidy Garland)
A PC’s camp (This was Rook’s Camp)
The Analyst tries to contact a clone in their mind.
WHAT IF THEY JUST TRY TO LEAVE?
It’s totally possible that your players repair the ship, or never damaged it, and just decide to bail on all this bullshit. Even though I felt like I’d created enough reasons for them to look around, I was still prepared for this possibility.
You could do some chicanery like have another Hound get on the ship and make a mess of their launch, forcing them to flee the ship deeper into the wilds of Wolfram-16. Just be careful with that kind of trickery. Don’t let the players feel like they never have a choice in the matter or that that this whole adventure is inevitable.
My solution would be to let them leave. If they leave they’d be intercepted by another ship (The Questgen one that showed up later.) That’s when you start having the clones, either the players or the NPCs they managed to bring with them, develop their powers. Now the game is about a group of clones discovering they’ve been mutated somehow, while freaking out another crew. Sounds like good drama to me.
This could lead to a very fun adventure, one that may lead back to Wolfram-16. Or it could go all the way back to earth or the closest space station where your players will try to figure out what the hell happened while hiding their new abilities. Maybe send them to the space station Prospero’s Dream in the Pound of Flesh Module.
WHAT KIND OF POWERS?
It doesn’t have to be what I did, which was some combination of psionics and super healing. Scroll through a list of random X-Men, and pick what sounds cool.
DO YOU HAVE PSIONICS RULES?
Not really.
I know. Lame, right?
I was kind of playtesting the idea as we went along. I didn’t want to complicate it because the character who got that power was only going to have it for an episode or two. So I played it similarly to the other stats, and just said if you can think of it, and roll low enough, you can probably do it.
However….
As we were playing, I did come up with an idea that you’re welcome to mess around with at your table.
Basic Ass Psionic Rules
Give them the new Psionics stat. Have them roll 2d10 + 30(or pick a number that sounds appropriate for the power level you want them to have.)
Give them some freedom to use it how they want. Every time they want to do something they have to make a Psionics check(roll under their stat)
When they fail a Psionics check, instead of giving them Stress, take points away from their Sanity score.
When their Sanity hits zero, you take over the character, because they’ve gone full Jean Grey Dark Phoenix.
How many points of Sanity do you take away? Depends on what they’re doing. Set the stakes before they roll.
Want to levitate that wastebin?
Lose 1 point of Sanity if you fail.
Want to control someone’s mind?
Lose 1d10 of Sanity if you fail. Now you have some of their memories are blurring into your memories as though they were yours.
Or something like that.
Just an idea.
BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS THE ANALYST? (and other small details)
I’m not saying.
Sorry not sorry.
That’s my little mystery. Not even Gail knows and if I’m not telling her, ain’t nobody got a chance. I like hearing people’s interpretation of what it was. I don’t want to take that fun from anyone. But I know what my Analyst was and that’s enough.
For you and your group The Analyst can be ANYTHING. You want it to be an alien creature – go for it. A robot run amuck? Go for it. You want it to be a whole civilization of aliens that live just off the map on the other side of the mountains – Fuck yeah, go for it.
Make it what you want it to be.
And that goes for a lot of the details from our show. Like, what’s under The Parabola? I knew it magnified sound so I thought it would be cool if it was like a giant musical instrument. But it doesn’t have to be that in your game. You could have a whole “dungeon” map under there to explore. Or some fearful alien species that use it The Parabola for defense.
Our game had to end in 12 episodes which certainly changes how we play. It meant I couldn’t just keep heaping complications and mysteries on the players, or they’d wouldn’t reach a satisfying conclusion before season’s end. You don’t have to do that. You can be a little more free wheelin’ with your game.
So for all of those folks who want to run their own version of Analysis Complete, I hope this helps. And if you do run it, drop me an email and tell me all about it.
Safe travels,
jae.
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