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[wizwyrm]

So, I've been GMing for a year now, and I find myself trying to figure out how to spice up the world for my players. I've got the description of the physical environment down, but i'm having trouble figuring out how to incorporate the matrix and astral elements.

Help?

[AndyZ]

Want to tell more about your group? We could throw a number of ideas out there but few will be pertinent without more information.

I will say to complement them with the reality you've already made. The astral holds a strong aspect of life and death on top of the various elements. The Matrix is often the glitz and candy shell thrown on top of the dessicated physical plane.

[ShadowPavement]

Unfortunately we don't have a magic user in the group so I can't help you with that.

With our Hacker, we keep everything AR, which I find fun to describe with sudden warnings and alerts popping up right in his field of view as he hacks. Anything in VR I just do abstractly to speed things up so I can keep my other two players involved.

[Blade]

how to spice up the world for my players.

Lesbian elf-ninja-catgirls?

I've got the description of the physical environment down, but i'm having trouble figuring out how to incorporate the matrix and astral elements.

When I describe the astral plane, I describe the feeling the place conveys. I sometime use metaphors ("In the astral plane, the corridor looks much bigger. Spotless. Empty. Cold" in a sterile corporate environment) or state things plainly through feelings ("You feel nauseous" in a toxic place).

For the Matrix, the most usual way to incorporate it is with AR. It's everywhere and everyone accesses it. I rarely go in the details of the look of the AROs except when it could be interesting. For the VR, I choose a theme according to what the system designer could have chosen and roll with it.

[wizwyrm]

Well my group currently has a shape-shifting mystic adept who acts as the face, a heavy weapon using dwarf who names his guns, a golfing street sami ork wit a combat axe, and a former military medevac pilot who is the medic and driver. I'm working on getting a hacker in the party, but it doesn't look like its gonna happen.

[fistandantilus4....]

Like Blade said, AR is everywhere. So if your whole group is using commlinks, then they can all see the Matrix. The AR overlays can be everywhere. Describe the matrix overlay instead of the meat world. It runs with the physical in real time. Everything they interact with is through the AR interface.

Do you mean shape shifter litrally, as in he's an animal shifter character, or that he uses adept powers to change his appearance? Because if he's a dual being, than he should be seeing the astral all the time. You should describe the Astral to him all the time along with what he perceives with his eyes and ears. There's a lot more going on around everyone in the group than just the physical. Take some time to explain some other things that are around. Once they get used to the idea of these things being there, they'll eventually assume it and supply it themselves, so you don't have to.

It also helps to find more threats to them from these other layers of reality, to make them more aware of it. Wandering IC in a corp building that detects their commlinks or gear and attacks them via AR, or spirits on patrol in the astral. Nothing gets attention like a threat.

[wizwyrm]

Like Blade said, AR is everywhere. So if your whole group is using commlinks, then they can all see the Matrix. The AR overlays can be everywhere. Describe the matrix overlay instead of the meat world. It runs with the physical in real time. Everything they interact with is through the AR interface.

Do you mean shape shifter litrally, as in he's an animal shifter character, or that he uses adept powers to change his appearance? Because if he's a dual being, than he should be seeing the astral all the time. You should describe the Astral to him all the time along with what he perceives with his eyes and ears. There's a lot more going on around everyone in the group than just the physical. Take some time to explain some other things that are around. Once they get used to the idea of these things being there, they'll eventually assume it and supply it themselves, so you don't have to.

It also helps to find more threats to them from these other layers of reality, to make them more aware of it. Wandering IC in a corp building that detects their commlinks or gear and attacks them via AR, or spirits on patrol in the astral. Nothing gets attention like a threat.

The shifter uses the spell shapechange to transform into a tiger usually. I like the idea of threats tho, thanks!

[CanadianWolverin...]

I don't know if this will help any but when it comes to describing things and spicing them up, I just try to go to the basics of Who, What, Why, When, and Where + Sight (Normal/Thermo/Ultra/Low), Sound, Smell, Taste and Touch Perception.

With Matrix, I just think of Augmented Reality like the window(s) within what you are watching on tv, or like having multiple tabs and windows running on my desktop with the desktop as the person's normal sight - Virtual Reality I treat like the normal sight window gets switched out for just looking at the Augmented Reality windows, or like you get to choose what the background picture is ... even to the point of switching out the 5 senses.

Astral is the sixth sense; emotions, magic, and living things connected - the more tech and life-force-less something is in astral, the more black and white it is.

Again, hope this helps.