Lost Interns in The Shattered Labs
An SLP Office Map
Rules for this Adventure
Overview
The world of the Shattered Labs is fast-paced and can, on occasion, involve more than one CEO at a time, which can lead to some pretty quirky situations.
Most of the time, no one needs to roll anything If a player says their character does something unless the CEO believes that their action has even a minor chance of failing (this can be widely interpreted). When dice are rolled, several factors can lead to a character’s success or failure. We’ll go into the quick details of each one, below.
Attributes
Like other RPGs, each employee working at the SLP has attributes:
Strength
Strength determines how physically tuned a character is, how quick they are, and how much damage they can handle.
For each Attribute Point in Strength, a character is given 16 Hit Points.
If the hit points reach 0, the character or employee dies.
Lore
Lore determines how quickly a character can learn, how much know, and how likely they are to act reasonably.
For each Attribute Point in Lore, a character is given 16 Mental Points.
If Mental Points reach 0, the character or employee dies.
Popularity
Popularity determines how persuasive a character is, how attractive they are, and how good they are at brown-nosing around superiors.
For each Attribute Point in Popularity, a character is given 16 Social Points.
If Social Points reach 0, the character or employee dies (at least on the inside).
For every four attribute points a character has, in a specific attribute, they receive an additional D16 bonus die when making a roll. Attribute Points are rounded down, so if a character has 7 Attribute Points in Lore, they receive one additional D16 for a roll. Once they have 8 Attribute Points in Lore, they gain their second D16.
The Corporate Ladder
Instead of levels, employees at the Shattered Labs go up or down the corporate ladder. This is a flexible system that the CEO can change to suit the story their company is going through. Here is our suggested ladder. Each rung of the Corporate Ladder provides an additional D16 bonus die.
Intern
Has 7 Attribute Points
Temp
Has 16 Attribute Points
Entry Level
Has 24 Attribute Points
Mid Level
Has 30 Attribute Points
Management
Has 34 Attribute Points
Vice President
Has 38 Attribute Points
President
Has 40 Attribute Points
If the acting CEO is guiding four HR interns to investigate the disappearance of the president of the department, for instance, they might change these position titles to better represent the characters being played, such as:
HR Intern
HR Temp
HR Recruiter
HR Associate
HR Manager
VP of HR
Pres of HR
Promotions and demotions are a common sight within the SLP Corporate Structure. CEOs can also restructure their Corporate Ladders before or after any adventure. While player characters typically only go up or down a single rung at a time, if someone rolled exceptionally well or poorly, they might go up or down two rungs, instead.
Employment Benefits
Employment Benefits are modifiers that CEOs can provide employees they are particularly keen on. Unlike Attributes and Skills, these benefits don’t always result in extra dice but can provide additional benefits. There are three basic benefits that follow employees around all SLP Research Facilities, but CEOs can add or remove additional benefits to their SLP franchise at the start or end of any adventure.
If a character has one Attribute that is at least two points higher than the next highest attribute, they gain one of the three Employment Benefits, below.
Strength Benefit: Your character gains two extra attack or defense dice.
Lore Benefit: Your character can identify a unique item or creature, or glean a piece of information when the rest of the party has failed.
Popularity Benefit: Your character can persuade any character to perform an action including Player Characters. You can use this ability on characters one rung up the corporate ladder and any number of rungs below. This action cannot lead to their intentional death or the death of characters or entities the targeted character would normally seek to protect.
Skills
The below skill list is not meant to be comprehensive. They are merely examples for new employees and CEOs.
Strength
Attack
For when you need to deal damage.
Pound on Object
For when you need to gain the attention of everyone in the conference room.
Intimidate
For when you need to wipe that smile off your smug coworker’s face.
Lore
Hacking
F0r wh3n y0u n33d to l33t.
Pencil Pushing
For when you need to look busy, you know how to fake it.
Research
For when you need facts. You know where to look.
Popularity
Joking
For when you need to lighten the mood.
Lying
For when you need to lie.
Sucking Up
For when you need to get on someone’s good side.
Each known Skill provides an additional D16.
Intern
Has 2 Skill Slots
Temp
Has 4 Skill Slots
Entry Level
Has 6 Skill Slots
Mid Level
Has 10 Skill Slots
Management
Has 15 Skill Slots
Vice President
Has 18 Skill Slots
President
Has 20 Skill Slots
Rolling
Most of the rolls in SLP are made using the D16. Below we reference a few ways to respond
Rolling a 16: You perform the action you set out to do and it goes without a hitch. You filed the right report, made an excellent cup of coffee, stopped the printer from bleeding, or hacked the printer.
Rolling a 9-15: You perform the action you set out to do, but a complication is introduced. Something makes your mid to long-term situation worse or more difficult. Your intern may convince his supervisor that the questionable tabs in his browser history are an honest mistake, but something more sinister than a supervisor may take note. You might subdue a monstrosity but make yourself open to attack from another.
Rolling a 3-8: You fail to perform the action. While you fail, you don’t completely screw up. Something positive still comes from the outcome or, at least, the damage is mitigated. Your intern may fall when crossing the chasm filled with enchanted razor-sharp business cards, but she might survive. You might fail to convince your boss about your browser history, but he might be into it.
Rolling a 1-2: Rolling with a one or two as the highest results in a complete failure. Disaster strikes. Your character falls into a portal to another time and is killed by raptors. There’s no getting around this and you cannot use Employment Benefits to worm your way out of the consequences. Considering the number of dice you'll be rolling, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever experience this but, be warned, in most situations, it’s a death sentence.
Example rolls
With these four key items: Attributes, Corporate Ladder, Employment Benefits, and Skills, we can now look at what rolls might look like for characters attempting to perform an action that is not guaranteed to succeed.
Nick is playing Kyle, an Intern with the Sucking Up skill and a Popularity of 4. Kyle is trying to ensure his entry-level colleague sees how quickly he can get the printer fixed each time leaks blood. The CEO overseeing this SLP Research Facility requires Nick to roll for this action.
Since Kyle is an Intern (we’re using our Corporate Ladder) they have a base 1D16 plus 7 Attribute Points.
Since they have 4 Attribute Points in Popularity, their Strength or Lore are, at most, a 2.
This means they receive the Popularity Employment Benefit.
This also means they receive 1 bonus die for this Attribute.
Knowing the Sucking Up Skill automatically provides an additional 1D16 bonus.
This means that Nick can roll 3D16, one for their corporate level, one for the skill used, and a bonus die for the Attribute used.
If Nick rolls poorly or wants to skip rolling he could use his Popularity Employment Benefit. Since this can only be used once per day, the CEO would make sure Nick hasn’t used this benefit, yet. If not, the CEO would ask Nick to describe how Kyle uses this benefit.
Nick rolls poorly and instead of tempting the fates with what befalls his character on the poor rolls, he says: “Wait! Kyle uses his Popularity Employment Benefit!” The CEO can determine if the poor roll sticks or if this is an applicable opportunity for the benefit. Assuming the benefit can be used in this situation, the CEO asks Nick to describe how Kyle uses the benefit. “Kyle uses his popularity to convince his entry-level colleague to fix the printer, instead. The next time their supervisor walks by, he’ll pretend he fixed it and take all the glory.”
Let’s take a look at a similar situation.
Nick is now playing Katy, a Mid Level Employee with the Joking and Hacking Skills and a Popularity of 11 and a Lore of 10. Katy is trying to ensure her high-level colleague sees how quickly she can depress the new intern, by hacking into the printer they just repaired to make it start leaking blood, again. The CEO overseeing this SLP Research Facility requires Nick to roll for this action.
Since Katy is a Mid Level Employee (we’re using our Corporate Ladder) they have a base 4D16 plus 30 Attribute Points.
Since she has 11 Attribute Points in Popularity and 10 Attribute Points in Lore, her Strength is a 9.
This means she does not receive an Employment Benefit.
This also means she receives 2 bonus dice each for Popularity and Lore.
Knowing the Joking and Hacking skills automatically provides a 2D16 bonus.
This means that Nick can roll 9D16, four for corporate level, two for the skills used, and four for the two attribute type bonuses.
Note: Using multiple skills utilizing the same attribute does not stack the Attribute bonus dice.
The highest die rolled in your dice pool determines your degree of success. Be warned, the SLP universe is dangerous and inhospitable, especially for interns. Almost nothing comes without a cost.
Let’s examine Nick’s rolls for both of the situations above.
For the Intern character, he rolls a 10, 4, and a 1. Pretty pathetic. The CEO determines:
“Your intern, Kyle, heads over to the printer that is slowly leaking blood onto the freshly installed carpet with a little more confidence than he should have. When he reaches his hand into the printer’s innards he feels a sharp jab of pain. Something has bitten him! “Wait!” Nick exclaims, “I’m going to use my Popularity Employment Benefit to smooth this out.” At this point, the CEO can decide whether or not to allow this. Our fictional CEO is feeling generous and gives Nick the opportunity he needs to avoid rolling dice.
For the Mid-Level character, Nick rolls a 16, 14, 13, 10, 10, 8, 7, 5, and 2. Not as pathetic. The CEO determines: “While her supervisor is nearby, Katy motions toward the printer that had just been fixed and cleaned up. Katy hacks the printer, so it leaks blood at a slightly faster rate than before, the intern who had just resolved this same issue breaks down and cries. Katy and her supervisor high five.”
You’ll notice that, just like in real life, it’s much easier for the Intern level character to screw up an action than it is for a comfy Mid Level, or higher, character.
Let us know what you think and what you’re most excited about by contacting us via feedback@shatteredlabspress.com.
Example Adventure
A Shattered Labs Office Map.
CEO Adventure Prelude:
This adventure is all about introducing your new employees to the Shattered Labs of your dreams. The interns need to navigate from Area 4 to Area 9. Along the way, let them get lost in the winding corridors of the Shattered Labs, choosing how creepy, adventurous, or funny this new realm is.. When reading the prologue, focus on the Multi-Dimensional Gate, and provide hints including, but not limited to, full-time employees running in the direction of where they think the gate might be, memories some of the interns have about what the gate might look or sound like, in order to guide them the right way.
Below we have a few samples that you can choose to use as players enter new areas or come up with your own descriptors.
1D4 Objects to Describe
| Roll | Description |
| 1 | A small cubicle wall about five feet high comes into view. As you walk around it you see that there is a desk with a computer on it and an office chair pulled up to the desk. The computer has no power and the chair’s wheels are covered in a thick tar-like substance, making it hard to move. |
| 2 | You see a water cooler in the distance. As it comes clearer into view, it’s easy to see that it’s empty. If a character tries to remove the bottle, they’ll find that it weighs just as much as if it were full. |
| 3 | You see a water cooler in the distance. As it comes clearer into view, it’s easy to see that it’s full of water. If a character tries to pour the water, nothing comes out. If characters pull the bottle from the machine, they'll find it is lighter than expected and there is no water inside. |
| 4 | A printer sits against the wall, there is a puddle of blood next to it. The lid to the scanner is open, like a gaping mouth. |
1D4 Sounds to Describe
| Roll | Description |
| 1 | As you enter the room, you feel as though all the sounds you had grown used to are now muffled. Even the employees around you are quieter than before. In the place of these missing sounds, you hear a distinct whisper echoing in your mind. …or maybe it’s out loud. “Burn the building down, if I don’t get a piece of cake next time…” repeated over and over again, with a slight stutter. It never grows louder or quieter. It begins and ceases as characters walk into this specific area. |
| 2 | Something screams into your left ear, “Wash your dishes, we’re not your parents, here!” |
| 3 | “Have you tried turning it off and on, again?” The voice that asks this is willowy and disappears into the background humdrum of the white noise machines and furnace. |
| 4 | You hear the clacking of someone furiously typing on a keyboard, followed by several repeated clicks of a mouse. After a while, the signal becomes a little more clear. Three seconds of heavy click-clacking and then three seconds of mouse clicks followed by three seconds of heavy click-clacking. Then silence for ten seconds, before the pattern begins to repeat. |
Player Adventure Prelude:
You have been trying to get one of the coveted internships at Shattered Labs Press for the last year. Now, your wish has come true. You and the other interns are ushered into a small HR conference room by a panicked-looking Mid Level employee who is on her cell phone saying: “I understand that this was scheduled in advance, but that is exactly why I asked that we not have interns begin their time here at the same time we turn on a very experimental multi-dimensional gate.”
It’s at that moment that the building begins to shake and the glass windows looking out into the hallway begin to rattle. As the last intern files hurriedly into the room, the door slams shut. The power cuts out. With no natural light coming into this conference room, the interns are plunged into complete darkness.
Soon, the lights flicker back to life.
Then the screaming begins.
You are suddenly in another room, surrounded by office chairs, as if in the middle of some corporate pagan circle. The HR representative is no longer visible. You look around and realize that the screaming is not coming from anyone in your group but from the building itself.
The professor who helped you get this internship is never going to believe your paper about your first day: that is if you can get back to your realm to write about it.
Areas
Description: This room is full of shelving units that are full of infrequently used office supplies. One of the shelves seems dedicated to physical mailing. There’s a 20ft (6.10m) roll of partially popped bubble wrap, sheets of “forever” stamps, large manilla envelopes, and sundry other mailing miscellany.
Exits: The only exit is back to a maze of corridors that, eventually, leads to either Area 3 or Area 7.
Description: You enter a room that can best be described as the most confusing kitchenette ever. A sink stands in the middle of the room, a refrigerator is open with lunch boxes from time immemorial. There is a note taped to the fridge that reads:
“Please remember to remove your food at the end of every other month’s third Friday, for consistent cleaning and maintenance.”
The rest of the kitchen is counters that aren’t connected, nor even facing the same way. Some countertops carry a microwave, coffee maker, and other commonly found office kitchen supplies. The coffee pot is full and the smell of day-old dark roast fills the room.
Exits: Exits to the North, South, and East. Exiting to the North leads to the hallway that leads to Areas 1 or 8. Exiting to the East leads to a maze of corridors that wind around to Area 7. Exiting to the South leads to Area 4.
Description: This is where the characters start.
What was once a normal conference room has turned into a massive open space large enough to fit several football fields. It stretches out in every direction. It goes 800 meters from north to south and 300 meters from west to east.
The player characters start in the middle of the room. They are surrounded by empty office chairs that are positioned as if the interns are standing where a large round table once stood.
Exits: Exits are to the north, to Area 9, and south, to a hallway that connects to Area 3.
Description: You can smell the stench of rot before you enter the room. Mold grows everywhere. Along with the mold, you can see piles of what appear to be the corpses of corporate printers and fax machines. It is clear that the spilled ink all over the floor is what has given the mold the ability to grow. Everywhere a character looks, there are words written out in the mold, itself. One pile of printers have grown the word, “Help!” out of the fungus around them.
Exits: The only exit leads back to Area 6.
Description: There are computers by the dozen here. Some of them look like fairly recent models, both desktops and laptops, and others look like they came from the 60s and 70s.
Exits: To the North is a door leading to Area 5. To the southwest is a door that leads back to a maze of small offices and hallways that wend their way to Area 8.
Description: As you enter the door, you are overwhelmed by the noise of gurgling water coolers as their tanks refill all at once. You can hear some laughter echoing throughout the room, a reminder of happier times.
Exits: The only exit leads to the North where a series of small offices leads to Area 2 or Area 3.
Description: As soon as you enter, you hear a door slam. You turn to look behind you, but the door you entered from is still open. You look back into the room and realize it is full of doors. Some of them have patterned glass top halves. Occasionally one of them will open, only to slam shut a few moments later. If player characters approach the doors or try to go through them, nothing happens.
As characters explore, ensure to mix in a bit of mystery by letting them see through a doorway into a different-looking Shattered Labs, only for it to dissolve as they try to enter through the doorway.
Exits: There are exits to the North, South, West, and East. North leads up to Area 6 and many dead ends and twisted corridors. The South and West exits lead to empty rooms. The East exit leads back to the hallway connecting Areas 1 and 3.
Description: Entering here, you see your primary objective. It’s a rectangular gateway that has numerous wires running to it. It looks like a large door frame, with no door attached. As you look into it you see the building that you started your first day in.
If a character watches another character enter, it’s as if the character disappears in front of them. They enter the gateway, but don’t appear on the other side. For the character entering the gateway, it feels as though they are on a rollercoaster riding through a pitch black tunnel for roughly a minute. Then, they’re back in the room they were in when the nightmare started, with the HR representative looking terrified as they pop into existence. Characters on the other side cannot hear or see interactions taking place in their original realm.
Objects thrown through react in much the same way. It takes a minute or so for them to enter the original realm and, once they enter, they aren’t seen or heard in the realm the characters are in.
Exits: There are three exits, to the North, South, and West. Navigating to the North or West exits results in lots of dead ends. Navigating to the South navigates players back to Area 1.
We hope you and your players enjoyed this dungeon adventure! Do you have a favorite realm? If so, what plane of existence is it on? Can player characters live there indefinitely? Please send your responses or feedback to feedback@shatteredlabspress.com or message us on your least hated social media of choice.
Have an adventure you’ve written up that you think would be a good match for our style? Send it to us at submissions@shatteredlabspress.com.
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