A system for running the Matrix

[spittingimage]

Matrix Resurrection popped up on NZ Netflix this past weekend. I'm lukewarm about it, but it did remind me of how I tried to devise a FUDGE hack to play it and how that might not have been the best system. Any suggestions? I figure if you're going to be faithful to the movie you'll need:

* A lightning-fast combat system.
* A mechanic to perform at superhuman levels briefly. Maybe by taking a point in a negative stat so players have to be strategic with their resources.
* A mechanic to swap expert-level skills in and out (almost) at will. Probably also an exhaustible resource.
* Mook rules, because armed blue pills are a genuine threat that you can punt through a window.
* Boss rules, because even if you gang up on an agent some of you will die before he does. And then he comes back.
* Some kind of grit/flesh HP rules, because red pills can walk it off after getting punched through walls but are soft and squishy to harm that gets past that.

 

[Endless Flight]

That reminds me of a D6 homebrew that I saw years ago on the web. A Google search and I found it at:

The Matrix Role-Playing Game

Last updated in May, 2003!

 

[Allen Varney]

Steve Darlington's There is No Spoon (2004)

 

[Mankcam]

Maybe Outgunned might be a good system for this.

It's by the creators of Broken Compass, and it's a variation of that system (now termed the Fortune game engine).
Its aiming for a more high-octane vibe, as opposed to a rollicking adventure flavour of Broken Compass.

It would need alot of retrapping to make it fit a Sci-Fi setting, but the engine itself hopefully captures the energised vibe that one might be looking for with The Matrix. It's version of 'Fortune Pts' are called 'Adrenaline', for instance.

Could be worth sussing out:
Outgunned

 

[sharps54]

You’d have to write the setting but Ubiquity could do this.

 

[Rated Aargh]

Way back in the before times, when the sequels hadn't yet appeared, Dan Bayn did The Wushu Guide to the Matrix. I am currently using it for a Matrix game, and it works exceptionally well. You won't find many systems that handle that action better than Wushu.