I should have thought of this sooner...

[Amechra]

In my current campaign, my players are currently in a magitech fortress that they are in the middle of turning back on; they have the "AI" on backup power supply, and are thinking of turning the island its on into a pirate ship (simultaneously inventing piracy; it was something I should have seen coming, really.)

Of course, this coming session I'm going to be hinting about why the whole thing was switched off; basically, there's a "virus" infesting the power systems that will take control if everything is fully powered on. Knowing my players, they will turn the damn thing on anyway, so...

I kinda need tips on playing Shodan (for those of you who haven't played System Shock, think GladOS with a massive amount of "omnicidal megalomaniac" shoveled in.)

[Tonymitsu]

Shodan didn't really have any physical presence herself so most likely you will have to threaten them with the fortress itself.

The first thing she should probably do is activate a dimensional lock on the fortress to prevent them from leaving and teleporting about.  Next give her control over doors so she can trap the party in rooms and flood them with neuro-toxin gas (cloudkill), or fill them up with water.
Or if you really want to be mean seal the room air tight and have her suck the air out.

Giving her complete and total control over the structure of the fortress and you can add in crushing ceilings, floors that smash you into the ceiling, walls (with spikes) that squish you.  Give her the ability to rearrange the entire floor plan so she can put up new walls to separate the party as much as possible.

Alternately you could have servants in the fortress that were dormant until she woke them up.  Probably constructs.  Force golems from monster manual 5 can be nasty, given that they have an intelligence score and can actually use tactics.  There's the Shredstorm from monster manual 3 which is a construct swarm that's a lot of fun.  The Half-golem template from monster manual 2 would allow you to throw almost anything you want at the players, and thematically fits Shodan's habit of converting people into cyborg slaves.

[Amechra]

Excellent...

I will keep this all in mind.

Also, one of the players has a psychic connection to the fortress, so...

[Quillwraith]

This sounds like Castle Heterodyne to me. There might be inspiration there.


One thing with these characters is that they are usually not just insane and murderous. GladOS enjoys killing people, yes, but Science comes first.

[Amechra]

Ah, yes, Castle Heterodyne...

Might be a fusion of the good-ol' Castle and Shodan; the "virus" is a a bit more religious than them, being a god in and of itself.

It's going to bring the gods back! And happens to be possessing our good friend the dimensional seal over the realm where the gods were imprisoned.

There is no possibility for this to be bad...

[phaedrusxy]

Sounds like an old PC of mine.