Echoes of the Neon Codex
“Before action, all consent. Before consent, all names spoken.”
Consent Codex Invocation: Each participant declares their safeword as “fiction” before play begins.
✨⛓️ This adventure honors the Tri-Engine of Heart, Pulse, and Mind.
🎭 Adventure Overview
Section titled “🎭 Adventure Overview”| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Setting | Velvet Chains & Voidlight – Neon Bazaar of New Zanshin |
| Tone | Cyberpunk-pirate melodrama, flamboyant theatrics, consent-forward social play |
| Safe Word | fiction – immediate pause and renegotiation tool |
| Drama Point awards | 1 DP for standout consent-focused roleplay (GM may raise cap for table preference) |
A stolen fragment of the Neon Codex—the ritual playbook that keeps corsair crews honest—has resurfaced. Retrieve or secure it before a public “interpretation” sparks a war between rival flotillas. The fragment radiates in three hues — crimson for Heart, violet for Pulse, and silver for Mind — each carrying an aspect of its forgotten truth. Expect neon-drenched negotiations, heist set-pieces, and dramatic performances.
⏱️ Adventure Beats
Section titled “⏱️ Adventure Beats”- Hook & Briefing – Contacted at the Consent Lounge to prevent misuse of the fragment.
- Investigation – Follow rumors through performers, data-divers, and tinkerers.
- Complication – Captain Marlowe’s crew attempts a public seizure during a ritual duel.
- Resolution Paths – Stage a heist, mediate a legal arbitration, or orchestrate a theatrical sting.
- Climax – Confrontation at the Spindle Belt salvage pits or aboard the velvet-draped flagship.
- Aftercare – Codify new consent clauses, secure allies, or brace for future political fallout.
🎯 Hooks
Section titled “🎯 Hooks”- Payment with Flair – Lira Voss offers credits and Drama Points for discreet retrieval.
- Debt of Honor – Captain Velvet calls in a favor to keep the codex out of coercive hands.
- Performance Circuit – A street poet trades a solid lead if the crew enters a public showcase.
🧭 Key Locations
Section titled “🧭 Key Locations”Neon Bazaar – Market District
Section titled “Neon Bazaar – Market District”- Senses: Holo-banners, bioluminescent silk awnings, shanty remixes, spiced oil and solder.
- Consent Protocol: Public mediation booths grant +1 to Diplomacy checks when used.
- Use in Play: Street performers as witnesses, data-broker rumors, Consent Lounge planning.
Spindle Belt Salvage Pits
Section titled “Spindle Belt Salvage Pits”- Senses: Tangled elevator cables and rusted hulks under mineral ash.
- Hazards: Falling debris, magnetic interference, salvage gangs.
- Drama Element: Rope-tying contests double as dispute resolution—great for social skill scenes.
Velvet Bridge (Flagship)
Section titled “Velvet Bridge (Flagship)”- Senses: Velvet drapes, brass rails, low blue light.
- Use in Play: Intimate venue for the final arbitration, duel, or codex reading.
👤 Spotlight NPCs
Section titled “👤 Spotlight NPCs”| NPC | Role & Motivation | Drama Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Lira Voss | Consent coordinator guarding Bazaar autonomy | Respectful ritual or safe-word oath grants 1 Drama Point |
| Marlowe | Corsair captain seeking to impose a universal code | Dignified ceremonial exchange may sway them or win a truce |
| Patch | Salvage foreman balancing profit and loyalty | Poetry or performance honoring his crew secures aid and 1 DP |
Use the character templates (obsidian-templates/) for fully statted versions.
📚 Scenes & Encounters
Section titled “📚 Scenes & Encounters”Scene A – Consent Lounge Briefing
Section titled “Scene A – Consent Lounge Briefing”- Goal: Learn who has the fragment and what stakes are in play.
- Checks: Diplomacy DC 16, Society/Streetwise DC 15, Performance DC 14 for goodwill.
- Drama: Performing a respectful ritual earns tokens or drama rewards.
Scene B – Lead Chasing Montage
Section titled “Scene B – Lead Chasing Montage”- Compile clues via quick skill challenges (target 20 progress over 4 checks). Failures attract salvage gang attention or increase rival alertness clocks.
Scene C – Salvage Pit Showdown
Section titled “Scene C – Salvage Pit Showdown”- Options: stage a theft, broker a nonlethal crew contest, or rig equipment for sabotage. Emphasize nonlethal stakes and consent mechanics.
Scene D – Velvet Bridge Arbitration
Section titled “Scene D – Velvet Bridge Arbitration”- Structured as a four-round skill challenge (target 60). Allow alternative resolution: dramatic duel, legal arbitration, or codex clause rewrite.
📈 Mechanical Guidelines
Section titled “📈 Mechanical Guidelines”- Negotiation DCs (medium): 15–18
- Heist/Stealth DCs (hard): 17–20
- Group Skill Challenge: Target 50–70 total successes depending on party level.
- Nonlethal Combat: Encourage grapples, entangles, and social consequences over lethal force.
🎁 Rewards & Consequences
Section titled “🎁 Rewards & Consequences”- Physical: Consent Tokens ×3, Silken Harness, 300–1000 salvage credits.
- Narrative: Ally status with Lira or Marlowe, secret Salvage Belt routes, upgraded Consent clauses.
- Drama Points: 1 DP for key consent-driven resolutions; 2 for spectacular theatrical solutions; 0 if coercion breaks consent protocols.
- Long-term: Failures invite corporate intervention; successes earn the PCs reputations as consent architects.
- Tri-Engine Effect: Consent Tokens earned during this adventure may convert 1:1 into Hope dice or remove a Fear token when used to reinforce mutual trust or emotional understanding.
🎲 Quick Tables
Section titled “🎲 Quick Tables”Market Leads (d6)
Section titled “Market Leads (d6)”- Street poet saw a cloaked figure drop a ciphered ledger.
- Silk merchant heard a “book of rulings” traded for rope art.
- Data-broker offers a partial trace for a fee.
- Salvager claims a gang nabbed a rune-etched artifact.
- Performer directs the crew to rope contest archives.
- Masked courier sells a lead for a dramatic public oath.
Salvage Gang Reaction (d4)
Section titled “Salvage Gang Reaction (d4)”- Bribable with dance or poetry.
- Hostile but nonlethal if provoked.
- Neutral traders seeking parts or credits.
- Helpful insider sympathetic to Lira’s cause.
🧾 Player Handouts
Section titled “🧾 Player Handouts”- Consent Oath (short): “We acknowledge our boundaries, our safe word fiction, and engage only in mutual consent. Let theater guide our action; let respect bind our choices.”
- Market Sketch: Annotated map labeling the Performance Circle, Data-Broker Row, Salvage Stalls, and Consent Lounge.
🌱 Modular Side Scenes
Section titled “🌱 Modular Side Scenes”- Rope-Art Workshop: Learn a nonlethal restraint technique (+1 to Grapple/Entangle for 10 minutes).
- Poet’s Duel: Win a performance contest to reduce a negotiation DC by 2.
- Holo-Forgery: Forge a harmless codex replica (Forgery DC 20) to distract rivals.
🛡️ GM Guidance & Safety
Section titled “🛡️ GM Guidance & Safety”- Always honor the safe word fiction—pause, reset boundaries, resume when all agree.
- Keep intimacy implied and theatrical; focus on negotiation, ethics, and dramatic stakes.
- Reward consent-positive play with Drama Points, narrative boons, and spotlight time.
- Consequences for coercion should be social: lost allies, strained reputations, legal arbitration.
🔮 Continuing Threads
Section titled “🔮 Continuing Threads”- A leaked clause sparks faction unrest—who profiteered?
- Corporate courts issue warrants for “unauthorized codex interpretation.”
- The Voidlight Engine awakens an ancient clause rewriting interstellar marriage rites.
🪞 Codex Resonance
Section titled “🪞 Codex Resonance”✨⛓️ In the neon afterglow, the Codex hums through three prisms—Heart for devotion, Pulse for passion, and Mind for reflection. Each interpretation reshapes the Ebonverse, but only when chosen in trust.
✨⛓️ The Codex now glows in three harmonies — Heart, Pulse, and Mind — united through performance and consent.
Bring neon flair, stagecraft, and heartfelt consent rhetoric to the table—let Echoes of the Neon Codex become the crew’s dramatic centerpiece.
{/FOLLOW THE SACRED SAFE WORD: fiction/}