11 replies to this topic

[Captether]

Ive been thinking on the possibilities of a campaign surrounding the adventures of a VARG cavalry unit. They would be baseline troopers, all in service to the FSA, and trained to tackle aberrant, alien and psion units as well as dealing with rebel groups. These would be a pretty high-profile group (celebrity test-pilots and mascots), getting alot of air time and used as examples of FSA bad-assitude.

The FSA has that 1984/Fahrenheit 451 feel to it that I so love, with a little bit of Starship Troopers (the Book, movie and the cartoon!) mixed in for pizazz. Some concepts to play around with here:

Cold War style paranoia: There is a lot of real-world material to play with here. Fear of other nations political agendas as well as fear of Psion, alien and Aberrants will give ample fodder for stirring up patriotism and fear of the "other". Characters might be caught up in the hysteria or be full of questions. Party zealots or thought criminals?

Political Upheaval: Riots/demonstrations can get pretty sticky, especially when they don't disburse when told to. When a VARG squad mops up a group of "rebels" only to find out later that it was just hungry or sick people looking for help, what do they do?

CSA Spooks: The shadow of "Big Brother" should be ever-present, though not often seen. From "disappearing" friends and allies to sweaty debriefings where the characters leave feeling accused.

Corporate Corruption: Corporations are very powerful in the FSA, and their elite are "Nobles" that can get away with murder and worse if they have the right connections.

Internal Spies: Whistle blowers and CSA spies riddle all levels of the FSA. Can the PC's trust even their friends. lovers, siblings or team-mates?





Game Material

Mecha Squad Character Creation
As baseline, with the following changes.
Backgrounds: Bonus 3 dots in Equipment (representing his assigned hardware), 2 dots in Rank, and 1 dot in Resources (salary).
Abilities: Must have dots in Awareness, Engineering, Gunnery, VARG Pilot, two of Athletics, Command, Firearm, Navigation, or Pilot.

Backgrounds:

Backers
This is similar to the Allies Background, but the character does not know who his Backers are. The Backers are secret forces within (or outside of) the FSA who support the character for reasons of their own. Backers are a good source of drama and intrigue for the Storyteller, since she can attribute all sorts of motivations and characteristics to them.
* One Backer of moderate influence and power.
** Two Backers, both of them of moderate power.
*** Three Backers, one of them quite influential.
**** Four Backers, one of them very influential.
***** Five Backers, one of them extremely influential.

Equipment
Your character has jumped all the hurdles and cut all the red-tape necessary to gain access to high-tech field equipment, such as cyberware or a Noetic Scanner. You begin the game with one or more government-issue items, determined by the amount of dots you have in this Background. This is a one-time requisition, however; once that piece of equipment has been destroyed or lost, you have to roleplay your way into getting more (Rank helps in this task). Players are urged to look through the gadgets found in the Trinity Tech Manuel and the Cyberware section of Asia Ascendant.
* One Rank one piece of equipment.
** One Rank two piece of equipment, or two Rank one.
*** One Rank three piece of equipment, or a combination combination of other Rank items.
**** One Rank four piece of equipment, or a combination of other Rank items.
***** One Rank five piece of equipment, or a combination of other Rank items.

Favors
Through your actions, you have disposed certain individuals high up in the chain of command to favor you.
They are willing, and able, to intercede on your behalf. This is a powerful Background. A Favor can be used to get you out of a lot of trouble (hide a body, eliminate a witness, destroy paperwork, etc.). Favors are easy solutions to many problems and can be used to accomplish things that Allies can’t, or won’t. Each favor may be used only once, however, and then it is gone. The Storyteller is the final judge of what a Favor
can accomplish.
* 1 favor
** 2 favors
*** 3 favors
**** 4 favors
***** 5 favors

Rank
Unless this Background is purchased, the character is assumed to be of the lowest rank allowed in the agency concerned (Le. a junior agent in CSA a private in the Military). Government policy is strict in enforcing rank privilege; the player character with the highest rank will be in command of other player characters.
Player characters who abuse this privilege may find their authority undercut, resulting in poor performance on the field. This may ultimately cause the agent to be transferred or demoted. The Storyteller has the final say on how high this Background may be bought; no character should begin play higher than fifth in command of an agency. If three or more dots of Rank are purchased, the agent receives a Resource of 2,
instead o f the usual 1 (higher salary).
-2 Non-Citizen (2pt flaw)
-1 Standard Citizen, Trainee Private (Basic Military Training)
0 Private, Corporal / Airman / Seaman (E-1 - E-4)
* Sergeant, Staff sergeant / Petty Officer (E-5 - E-6)
** Platoon Sergeant, Sergeant Major / Chief Petty Officer (E-7 - E-9)
*** Lieutenant / Ensign (O-1 - O-2)
**** Captain, Major / Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander (O-3 - O-4)
***** Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel / Commander, Captain (O-5 - O-6)

I would appreciate any advice here.

[Captether]

Merits and Flaws

Antisocial (1/2pt flaw)
The character doesn't fit into society due to delusional (or maybe too realistic?) thinking, opinions or lifestyle. This flaw doesn't necessarily mean he is antisocial or that people mistreat him, but his and society's ways are different enough to cause trouble regularly - unpaid taxes, quarrels with officials, derision from the neighbours and police interest. As a one point flaw the character might display more religious zeal than people are comfortable with, be a conspiracy theorist or hippie. As a two point flaw the character is living a life openly outside society and most of its rules, perhaps as a drifter, member of a back-hill sect or militia. This flaw goes well with the unconventional lifestyle below.

Bureaucratic Vendetta (2pt Flaw)
Someone in your organization dislikes you and is actively out to get you. You don’t know who it is, or even if the person really exists. All you know is that you’ve run into a patch of unexplained bad luck. Memos don’t make it to your desk, you are assigned the worst duties, your gun is loaded with blanks.
Your hidden foe is not necessarily superior to you in Rank, he’s just in a good position to bum you. A secretary with a secret grudge can cause more problems than just about anyone else.  Whoever it is, she has covered her tracks well and will be hard to find. An invisible enemy hidden on the periphery of a character’s vision is a great tool for building a sense of paranoia in a game.

Blackmailed (1 - 2 pt flaw)
There is something in your past that you don’t want to come to light. Unfortunately, someone knows about it. This person (or organization) is demanding either outrageous sums of money, or more likely, services. He wants sensitive information in return for his silence. This is a 1 pt. Flaw if the secret is a relatively minor one which would merely cause great embarrassment or personal inconvenience if revealed. A 2 pt. Flaw indicates a much more dangerous piece of information.
Killing the blackmailer will only make the problem worse, but if the character is sufficiently clever about turning the tables on the blackmailer (i.e. finding out one of his dark secrets) the Storyteller may decrease or eliminate this Flaw - at least temporarily.

Dangerous Secret (2pt flaw)
You are privy to some top secret information that places your life in danger. What it is and how you got it is up to the Storyteller to decide. Unlike the Top Secret Access Merit, this secret does you little good and will put you in extreme danger if anyone finds out you possess it. Furthermore the source of your information is unstable or unreliable (an alcoholic coworker, an  aberrant, or someone who has recently disappeared), thus increasing the odds that you will soon be running for your life. The secret preys on your mind, giving you many sleepless
nights. You will be guarded and suspicious of all but your closest family and fitends - and maybe even them.

Ruin Rat/Waster (4pt flaw)
You have spent most of your life living in a ruined city or in the wastelands. Life was hard and brutal while you were growing up; food was always hard to come by, life was cheap, with packs of feral dogs, rats and people were a constant threat.
This took its toll on you, both physically and mentally. Either your Strength, Stamina or Appearance has a maximum score of 4 due to malnutrition and disease growing up, and you start with 2 fewer skill dots than everyone else. However, you have +1 die to any Endurance, Resistance, Streetwise or Survival rolls when in your home environment.

Siege Mentality (3pt flaw)
You are a “company man” through and through. You view your unit as an extended family of sorts. This can have its advantages, but it leads you to regard everyone else with an unfriendly eye. You suspect that most of the “civvies” out there hate your unit. You think they want to interfere with it, or even shut it down. Your contempt for the “little people” makes you far more likely to use your privileged position to dispense a
little “justice” of your own. This contempt extends also to the civilian legislators, who tie your unit’s hands without really knowing what is going on. You especially hate the traitors within the military who are trying to “reform” it. Characters with this Flaw think they are above the law, and so often break it. The worst excesses committed by the military over the years were the acts of those victim to this narrow scope of
thinking. Characters with this Flaw tend to see everything through “agency colored glasses,” and thus lack the flexibility to understand foreign mindsets. Add +1 to the difficulty to Empathy or Investigation rolls involving alien ways of thinking.

Total Bastard [2pt Merit or Flaw]
Your personality is so cold and ruthless that you really don’t care what other people do or think, aside from being able to mock them when they screw up or look bad. As a result either gain an automatic success to any social rolls involving the defacing or humiliation of others (Merit) or all social rolls dealing with strangers are made at +1 difficulty (Flaw).


Special


Psi Sink [7pt Merit]
You are as close to noetically neutral as is possible without having a Psi rating of zero and being considered an Aberrant. Psions (the subquantum energy packets, not the human beings) seem to flow into you at an accelerated rate, an effect that is vaguely disconcerting for psionically sensitive individuals in your immediate vicinity. Every time a psi power is used on you (even a beneficial one), roll Willpower. Each success cancels one success on the power in question and each success beyond the amount needed to reduce the Psi roll to zero drains the psion of one temporary Psi point. Additionally, any psi power used in an
attempt to detect you, including Attunement, is rolled at a +2 difficulty.
This Merit is only available to neutral characters with Psi 1.

Strong Latent [7pt Merit]
You are a latent psion who has not yet undergone the Prometheus Effect, but you already have a natural bias toward one specific Aptitude. Once per session, you may roll Psi; if you succeed, you gain your preferred Aptitude’s basic technique for the remainder of the scene. If you are ever activated to that Aptitude, you gain one additional dot to spend when selecting your initial Modes (for a total of four points) and a permanent point of Willpower. If you are activated to a different Aptitude, you gain one Auxiliary
Mode in your previously-biased Aptitude and you may purchase the other one-dot powers of your previously-biased Aptitude as auxiliary Modes at half the normal experience cost. This Merit may be purchased only for latent characters. Only one of the six core Aptitudes - Biokinesis, Clairsentience, Electrokinesis, Psychokinesis, Telepathy, Vitakinesis - may be selected. Teleportation and Quantakinesis require higher latency than other Aptitudes do.

Tainted (3, 5 or 7pt flaw):
For some reason you have the stink of Aberrancy about you. This may be because you have spent time in an aberrant cult, grew up in the Blight, or it may just be hereditary and beyond your control. This taint may be nothing more than a slight mutation or presence, or it may be as extreme as deformities and an aura of otherness.
For 3 points, this flaw means that you will always sense as "not quite right" to Attunement, which will certainly cause comment. You will also find yourself the subject of much attention from beings who share your form of taint.
For 5 points, you have some physical sign of your taint, from unnatural skin, eye or hair colors, to unusual scents or mysterious organs which serve unknown purposes. You are at +1 difficulty to social rolls and attempts to perform Medicine rolls without a thorough examination of you are at +1 difficulty. This Flaw may justify Unlocked Potential.
For 7 points, you are clearly touched by taint. Perhaps you have a third eye, or sharp carnivorous teeth, or glowing eyes, or downy feathers instead of hair. You trigger xenophobia in those who are prone to such a fear and have trouble fitting in. Psions can sense such an aura and will notice you automatically. You are at +2 difficulty to social rolls with normal people (+1 difficulty with aberrants), Medicine rolls are always at +1 difficulty, and powers which alter your body or aura may have unpredictable effects. This Flaw may justify Unlocked Potential or Psi Sink.
This flaw cannot be taken with the Strong Latent merit.

Unlocked Potential (5pt merit)
The events of the past century have had a profound impact on human culture, society and genetics. Recently, evidence has come to light that there are a handful of humans who demonstrate superhuman potential, without transforming into transhuman beings such as Aberrants or Psions. The unlocked potential allows the character to buy one Attribute (chosen when the Merit is purchased) to a 6. It is theoretically possible to have more than one Attribute that can reach superhuman levels, but no one yet has demonstrated this degree of ability. The Storyteller may choose not to allow this Merit without a very good justification; he may also choose not to allow more than one person in a group to have it.

[metaphysician]

Favors should probably be either reduced cost to purchase, or more of them for the dots.  After all, other Backgrounds can likely produce the same "problem solved" effects, most of the time, except without needing to permanently sacrifice points.

[Captether]

Favors should probably be either reduced cost to purchase, or more of them for the dots.  After all, other Backgrounds can likely produce the same "problem solved" effects, most of the time, except without needing to permanently sacrifice points.

The favors background is pretty powerful. Being able to "call in a solid" can change the course of a campaign, and fits well in the setting. Though Allies/Contacts, Status and Device could cover the result of Favors, Rank and Equipment, the versions above fit more with the FSA setting IMO.

Or am I re-inventing the wheel here?

[Sprocket]

The favors background is pretty powerful. Being able to "call in a solid" can change the course of a campaign, and fits well in the setting. Though Allies/Contacts, Status and Device could cover the result of Favors, Rank and Equipment, the versions above fit more with the FSA setting IMO.

Or am I re-inventing the wheel here?

Not as far as I can tell - the only problem is that you haven't specified if the PC gets any renumeration for the spent Favor, either in experience points or other Background dots.

On another relevant topic, I'd also like to point out that the Daredevils created by Process 418 would make  excellent foes for PCs in the campaign setting you've got here. While they're expecting to go up against aberrants, psions, aliens & rebels, Daredevils would present an unknown quantity. AFAICT, that'd be just the thing to shake up would-be badasses like you've described.  

[Captether]

Not as far as I can tell - the only problem is that you haven't specified if the PC gets any renumeration for the spent Favor, either in experience points or other Background dots.

On another relevant topic, I'd also like to point out that the Daredevils created by Process 418 would make  excellent foes for PCs in the campaign setting you've got here. While they're expecting to go up against aberrants, psions, aliens & rebels, Daredevils would present an unknown quantity. AFAICT, that'd be just the thing to shake up would-be badasses like you've described.  

I was thinking on those favors having to be replenished through roleplaying and xp expenditure. I want them to use those favors carefully.

Process 418, is that the Nippon or the Venezuelan Phenomenon ones?

[Captether]

Another campaign tweak to this overall concept is a squad of Corporate Mercs working for the FSA corporation Nova Starcraft. Such characters would have FAR greater mobility than FSA soldiers, but would still suffer the frustrating encounters with the paranoid culture.

All those space-ships, manufacturing facilities and special projects (Hard-tech FTL etc) need guarding. I see VARG mercs being sent on retrieval missions of downed vehicles and field testing new VARG innovations (such as stolen Nihonjin designs) as well as a little corporate espionage from time to time. The characters could be used to showcase new designs as well.


More Merits/Flaws[u]


Antisocial (1/2pt Flaw)
The character doesn't fit into society due to delusional (or maybe too realistic?) thinking, opinions or lifestyle. This flaw doesn't necessarily mean he is antisocial or that people mistreat him, but his and society's ways are different enough to cause trouble regularly - unpaid taxes, quarrels with officials, derision from the neighbours and police interest. As a one point flaw the character might display more religious zeal than people are comfortable with, be a conspiracy theorist or hippie. As a two point flaw the character is living a life openly outside society and most of its rules, perhaps as a drifter, member of a back-hill sect or militia. This flaw goes well with the unconventional lifestyle below.

Bad Credit History (1/2pt Flaw)
The character has a bad credit history. Although he might have Resources today, he will have a hard time getting credit. As a 2 point flaw there are repo men and angry creditors after him.

Openly un-conventional lifestyle (1pt Flaw)
The character lives openly in a way that irritates others or causes persecution. He might be an militant atheist, member of black Islam, Wicca, a Divisian or a sexual minority. The flaw hampers promotion and perhaps social situations with people of opposing views. It naturally goes well with the antisocial flaw above.

[Sprocket]

Process 418, is that the Nippon or the Venezuelan Phenomenon ones?

Process 418 is the Venezuelan Phenomenon (at least in part), IIRC. Unless the PCs are trying to operate in Nihonjin territory, I doubt they'll come into conflict with any Superiors (Nippon's artificially-produced Daredevils).

[Captether]

Process 418 is the Venezuelan Phenomenon (at least in part), IIRC. Unless the PCs are trying to operate in Nihonjin territory, I doubt they'll come into conflict with any Superiors (Nippon's artificially-produced Daredevils).

Oh yes, Daredevils would be a great deal of fun. I could see such fellers making great "super-soldiers" for the FSA as well. Perhaps created as-follows:

Player Characters
Daredevil characters are created identically to Psions though Paramorphs do not have a Psi, Quantum or Taint score of Aptitudes. Daredevils) gain 12 Transformation points, which may be spent as seen below:

Transformation Points
Trait Cost per dot
2 Attribute dots (max. 5 in Trait) 1
5 Ability dots (max. 5 in Trait) 1
Ability mastery* (max. three Abilities) 1
4 Background dots (max. 5 in Trait) 1
2 Willpower dots (max. 10 in Trait) 1
4 points in allowed Physical, Mental, or Social Merits

*A character must already have five points in an Ability to purchase Ability mastery. All rolls involving a Mastered Abilities count rolls of 4, 5, and 6 as successes, granting extraordinary success rates.

Daredevils piloting VARGs...  

[Captether]

For this campaign, I prefer baselines without daredevil status though. I want the story to be about extraordinary, but very human, characters.

Nova Starcraft VARG troopers sounds like a good way to go. Still very FSA, but not stuck in the military power structure and able to have more of a varied view on the setting.

That said, I have been pondering the following:

Cyberware
Operatives with at least three dots in Rank can acquire pieces of one-dot cyberware simply by paying the required points in the Equipment background. These characters do not need to have sufficient wealth to purchase those items with a listed price.

As Asia Ascendant states, only one dot cyberware is available outside of Nippon. But additional cyberware, with an FSA spin are called for.

Balance Safeguard: Cybernetic enhancements for the inner ear and enhanced neural receptors for spatial awareness give you the ability to roll with the hardest of punches and stay limber.
The character is completely immune to Dexterity-based dice pool penalties from injuries. She gains one bonus die to all rolls involving fine manipulation such as lock picking or surgery (never combat). Her rock-steady grip also doubles the effective range of all ranged weapons. As a side effect, the character never suffers any physical effect from being intoxicated. She can still get drunk, but the only outward effect of this is slurred speech. She’s perfectly poised right up until passing out. Tech: [Hard], Cost: 5

Brain Plug: This interface unit permits the user to plug his nervous system directly into a computer.  It allows for instantaneous transfer of information from the brain to the computer (and visa versa).  The bearer is still limited by the bounds of human abilities however. The character gains two dice for all Computer checks that are +2 or higher difficulty, as long as the character is linked with that same computer.  Tech: [Hard], Cost: 5

Claws: The operative has retractable claws housed in her fingertips, which slide out for use in battle. While unsheathed these blades prohibit the use of hand held firearms, and impose a +2 diff to all uses of weapons or equipment. The blades deal Str +2L damage. Tech: [Bio or Hard], Cost: 3

Enhanced Senses: This implant enhances the characters perception filtration system with a tiny peice of chipware implanted in the brain. The player gains two dice on all Perception rolls that deal with tiny details or things on the edge of human perception. When the character makes a ranged attack, the range is effectively doubled due to the characters visual acuity. Sensory overload effects are left to the storyteller’s discretion. Tech: [Hard], Cost: 4

Environmental Sheath: The character is encased in a synthetic skin that more efficiently recycles waste and protects the character from extremes in temperature. The character suffers no damage or penalty from heat less than 150 degrees C or cold above –30 degrees C. She is immune to heatstroke, hypothermia, and similar ailments. She can survive for triple the amount of time without water or food. This implant offers no protection from heat or cold based attacks. Tech: [Hard], Cost: 5

Headnet: The character has the equivalent of a permanent HUD Contacts Adapter (see Trinity Tech Manual page 87). This implant must be linked with an external computer or radio implant to use, allowing the cyborg to use those devices without the need for a screen of Holo emitter. Tech: [Hard], Cost: 3

Leg Enhancement: The muscles and bones in the operatives legs are greatly strengthened allowing for considerable increase in performance. The characters jumping distances are tripled for both horizontal and vertical movement. Similarly, movement on a bicycle is doubled. Tech: [Hard or Bio], Cost: 4

Limb Replacement: Cybernetic limbs are amongst the most common forms of cyberware, completely replacing a lost hand, arm or leg. Such implants do not offer any specific bonuses other than being extremely durable adding two dice to damages roll for any Brawl-based attack while using that limb as a weapon. Tech: [Hard], Cost: 3

Neobrain: A gruesomely pulpy implant created by regenerating brain tissues with biochips attempting to amplify the brain's cognitive functions. Those possessing this implant gain the benefits of the Eidetic Memory merit. Tech: [Bio], Cost: 3

[Sprocket]

For this campaign, I prefer baselines without daredevil status though. I want the story to be about extraordinary, but very human, characters.

Fair enough. Daredevils would be better used for making the rebels (and/or non-gov't. sanctioned organized crime) into a more viable threat to the FSA, anyhow.

[Arashi]

Perhaps one or two Daredevils would be cool in a rival regiment with which the characters regiment holds an old grudge about who is best, coolest and get the most women