The Original A.R.C.H.I.E. Adventure is Kinda Lame

[Captain_Nibbz]

Hey all,

I was going back through and re-reading SB1 looking for things to steal and use. I finished reading through the ARCHIE adventure, and I found it . . . . distinctly lacking. Has anyone gone through and spiced it up or done work to make it more coherent?

For instance, what have you guys done with the town Lord? As it is, he's out of nowhere, doesn't necessarily tie into anything that adds to the plot, and can't even be killed technically.

I've been rolling around a few ideas, such as expanding the town to be more of a cover operation for ARCHIE (i.e. transplant the Shemerians here, most of the people living in town being synths, maybe use Hagan as the lord of the town instead, and the current lord as like . . . Frankenstein's Monster in the windmill on the hill, plotting his revenge against those that did this to him.)

What have you all done?

Thanks

[Warshield73]

Hey all,

I was going back through and re-reading SB1 looking for things to steal and use. I finished reading through the ARCHIE adventure, and I found it . . . . distinctly lacking. Has anyone gone through and spiced it up or done work to make it more coherent?

I ran the adventure when it first came out and then again with another group several years later and both groups loved it.

A few points though
-It helps to give the players a means of determining the connection between Archie and Cyberworks, I had them find a few old laptops and computer disks (yes disks it was 1991) that gave them data on what ARCHIE really was
-Allow them to figure out later that it was a decoy, again through the laptop
-The second group I ran it with they were in the base, destroying the decoy, when Archie summoned the Mechanoids. That made the adventure more interesting.

For instance, what have you guys done with the town Lord? As it is, he's out of nowhere, doesn't necessarily tie into anything that adds to the plot, and can't even be killed technically.

The Lord is directly connected to James T. and he can be killed, just hard to do so and none of the groups I have run have even tried to kill him. most just shot JT up, at least one time with magic.

I've been rolling around a few ideas, such as expanding the town to be more of a cover operation for ARCHIE (i.e. transplant the Shemerians here, most of the people living in town being synths, maybe use Hagan as the lord of the town instead, and the current lord as like . . . Frankenstein's Monster in the windmill on the hill, plotting his revenge against those that did this to him.)

That is a great idea but to me it sounds better for after the initial adventure. You know JT comes through riles things up, draws attention to it, Archie sends in the troops, Lord F runs, there you go

The one time I did this different was when the players gave me backstories and for a few character points, a house rule, they could let me add something. To one player, an operator I believe, I had him as a member of the Group that Hagan and Desmond Masters / Raven McCoy from the Rifter. This would have lead them to Archie without going through James T. but never got that far before the group ended.

Just my thoughts.

[foilfodder]

I enjoyed my run-in with Jimmy T, the Shermanians and A.R.C.H.I.E. 3 as a player back in the 90s. Having read through the adventure over a decade later, our group (cyberknight, headhunter and shifter) didn't have the technological skills to really put together the clues as to what was really going on but we had fun.

Later books expand on A.R.C.H.I.E. 3 and Hagan, the adventure in SB1 even states it was written with the intentiion that A.R.C.H.I.E. 3 survive the encounter. So, as an adventure made to introduce a few new foes into a Rifts campaign I would say it works just fine.

[slade2501]

This adventure has several points, some involving "early installment weirdness" and others like "Put on a bus" and "What happened to the mouse?". for example, JT, what happens to him after all this and through the years? What if he hooked up with the Mechanoids, or got captured/kidnapped by the Splugorth?
And the magitech town mayor who defies all known game rules? what about him AND the barely mentioned Mad Scientist who created him? I think these were deliberate, designed to make the reader hunger for more answers or to fire the imagination.

[Shorty Lickens]

The writers were still figuring out how to lay out a formal adventure in Rifts.
Lets be honest, this game is not easy.