So I have seen a lot of cool stuff with E3 this week and its influenced my thoughts to some degree.
Today I figured I'd bust out Hero System since its the most flexible game system on the market and use that to create a game campaign, which I might add I haven't done for Hero System yet.
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To start...
[Please not the image was gotten from the net and is meant to represent the what the city of New Angels is meant to look like.]
Setting: Sci-Fi - set in the year 2247
Rule Set: 6th Edition
Character Points: 175pts - 25pts minimum in skills - 25pts of Complications
Everyman Skills: GM should pick out ones that are appropriate for the setting.
Backgrounds: Characters can come from any walk of life but all live in the high tech city of New Angels. Back in 2056 the big one struck California. The west coast of the United States was left devastated to a degree. Some metro areas that were further inland were left mostly unharmed, cutting a wedge like shape up along the coast.
The recovery effort started with the city of angles, Los Angeles. Fifty years of construction rebuilt a city atop the bones of the old and was named New Angels. With the construction came a new way of building, creating a city that could with stand the aftershocks but one that would create the first city centered around modernization and futurist advancement.
By the year 2170 the city was one like no other. The first metropolis of the world, an ever growing and expanding city of the future. Few other cities in the world could hold a flame to it, save for Tokyo and Dubai.
With the evolution of the city came the evolution of technology, crime, and war.
Holographic displays for computers are now used. Computers themselves are powerful and can be compact, often attached to a belt or left in a pocket where a display emitter is worn on the arm like a watch.
Cybernetic and bionic enhancements are common placed with nanotechnology presenting new ways of manufacturing and perfecting of technologies.
In a city that has grown with each year, it has left room for any number of criminal factions to take hold. And technology and its growth has become something people have learned to fear and hate. This has given rise to new terrorist factions, ones that hate how technology has changed humanity and they often act with impunity against anyone who don't support their actions.
It is now the year 2247 and the terrorist faction "Viking" has taken more brazen attacks of that of other groups. And it is here that the players are brought in.
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Walks of Life
Player Characters should come from different walks of life to start. They shouldn't have any cybernetics/bionics, or at the least minor ones that allow a person to maintain a normal day-to-day life. The players should have a decent diverse array of normal skills. They can all be a group of friends who have know each other for some time now...or perhaps they all just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
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The Game
The players should all go through their day to day lives and the GM will need to get all the players into one place. How this is done is up to the GM. Options can include a:
- Concert
- Press Conference
- Everyone shopping in the same place.
- Everyone working in the same building.
The players have time to mingle around and get relaxed. As time passes the GM should roll 3d6, one time for each player. The idea is to determine what will happen wot the player with what is about to happen.
ROLL RESULT
3 to 10- The PC suffers 4d6 Killing damage.
11- to 14- The PC suffers 3d6 Killing damage.
15- to 18- The PC suffers 2d6 Killing damage.
Damage should not kill a player. If damage would end up killing the player reduce it so that they barely survive.
The amount of damage also dictates the extent of physical trauma their body received.
Body Loss Effect
25% or less Loss of a limb, internal damage.
26% to 49% Loss of two or three limbs, some internal damage.
50% to 74% Loss of all limbs, some internal damage.
75% or more Loss of all limbs, massive internal damage.
The players will awake in the hospital in their various states of harm. They awaken with some lucidity and are told about their conditions. After the doctor tells them a person (man or woman if you want) will come in and speak to them.
How things stand:
- The players are the only survivors of the terrorist attack by Viking.
- Viking enacted a series of city wide bombings against public venues, and businesses.
- Because of the attacks the Public Safety and Protection Bureau has decided that normal police protection is not enough and military action against the terrorists is necessary...but bringing in the military has its own problems as its likely that any military intervention would involve martial law which in turn would cause an all out war with the various criminal factions in the city with civilians caught in the crossfire. So a new option is necessary.
Players are given an option, they can spend years in recovery and let their insurance cover their expenses, or they can join the new division that is being set up to deal with Viking and the other criminal groups of the city. And no the division has no special name as of yet.
Joining the division will have perks:
- Good Pay
- Training
- All medical expenses will be covered.
- The latest in military grade cybernetic and bionic enhancement.
- Access to gear and equipment relevant for job activities.
Players should accept as it would break the game if they refuse...though you could allow them to do this, but then have an assassination attempt take place on them by Viking. The attempt is foiled by either a police officer(s) or by the recruiter for the new division.
Once player's accept the offer the GM should pass out a list of cybernetic replacements that can be gotten.
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--Building a List and Buying--
Characters will have to select from a series of different bionic limbs and cybernetic implants. There are a number of rules for doing this.
Civilian Implants/Replacements
Civilian implants and body replacements essentially offer no increases on Characteristics, or anything else. They may improve the characters PD/ED by a point or two to represent the extra durability of the artificial parts.
Enhanced senses can be gotten but bonuses should be limited to either negating penalties up to a -4, or providing a degree of immunity (up to 2pts worth)
Civilian implants cannot have built in weapon systems, even if a civilian has a concealed weapon's permit. Such implants are considered illegal as military and police implants are the only implants allowed to have built in weapons.
Nanomachines are used in a lot of manufacturing but also help with cybernetic implantation, so most people have nanomachines in their blood which helps their bodies to not reject implants.
Civilian artificial limb bionics look mechanical, but do have soft texturing, sensory input, and are generally easy for a person to maintain with one hand. Basically they are non-threatening looking. Special tools are needed though to unlock the coverings to access the internal workings of the limb. Internal cybernetics however require surgery to access.
Artificial limbs are generally not interchangeable and once in place remains that way. Full body prosthesis are possible as well, but the person's artificial body requires constant maintenance to ensure that they remain healthy. These are generally monthly checks in addition to the person's home care system.
Military & Police Implants/Replacements
Law enforcement and the military are allowed to have sturdier more intimidating implants. Bionic limbs do not have to look like normal human limbs, but for the most part limbs look relatively normal as most people have problems with the abnormal looking limbs. If anything some normal military or police bionics might have dual settings where they can look normal and then assume a more aggressive or alternate look.
Its at this level of cybernetics and bionics that bonuses to Characteristics come into play. These are also made of more durable materials and instead of offering a PD/ED increase they will grant Resistant PD/ED increase. Below are the rules for all cybernetics in the game, whether civilian or military.
--Rules for Cybernetics--
- Complication: Cybernetics (Distinctive Feature): Your body contains one or more cybernetic or bionic implants that are needed to maintain ones day to day life. (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures)
- Complication: Cyber-Maintenance (Dependence): Your cybernetics need maintenance once a month to maintain normal function/capability. Weakness: -3 To Characteristic Rolls and related rolls per time increment (Easy To Obtain; 1 Month)
- All bionics/cybernetics must take "Restrainable - Devices can be used to restrain one's bionics/cybernetics (-1/4)
- Limb replacements: Characteristic bonuses must be bought in +2 increments. Police implants will offer a bonus of +2 to a +6. Military implants will offer a +2 to a +12.
- Implants: Bonuses for police and military implants can exceed a +4 to a +12. Implants that don't offer a bonus can have around 2 to 22 points in it.
- Weapons can be implanted into cyber limbs, but are typically limited to one or two weapons depending on what they are.
- Nanomachines don't accelerate a person's healing, but can repair damage to cybernetics quickly. They can also stop bleeding and stabilize a dying person by temporarily repairing damage to the body. Nano-healers are not kept in the body and are kits that a kept on person as a syringe that one injects into their body/cybernetic. Nano-healers work very quickly with cybernetics as the nanomachines effectively reconnect anything that is severed. Storage cases generally have information on the person's cybernetics and general anatomy is uploaded to the nanomachines. Thus a fresh nano-healer can be plugged into the case, and then used. Even another person's nano-healers can have data overwritten with new data. And unsafe nano-healers are quickly identified and ejected from the case.
- Full Body Prosthetics: A person with this will need life support powers to help keep them alive depending on just how bad they are.
- Inherent Cybernetic Benefits: Cybernetics all offer an inherent benefit to a person's PD/ED. This is +1 PD/ED for civilian cybernetics - per enhancement. Military/Police Cybernetics however provide Resistant benefits, here you get +1 PDr/EDr for every 6 AP in the power instead.
Points available for enhancements = 150
Note players may want to hold onto some points (15-25pts) so they can apply them to Combat Skills to show the training they have received from the division.
It might be a good idea, as a GM to basically write up the cybernetics yourself and let players pick and choose what they want.
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--Weapons & Gear--
For the most part, since this is the future, you should take a look at existing weapons in the book. For the most part, weapons are going to only change in look and how they function. they aren't really going to be doing more damage, their just better at what they can do.
Options for weapons can include:
- Energy Weapon/Slug Weapon: This is the difference between a bullet and a laser. Energy weapons are more accurate (+1 vs. penalties vs. range), but don't necessarily do more damage. They often have fewer shots than slug weapons, but can set things on fire, and are often quieter to fire than them. Damage can be improved with upgrades to the weapon as well unlike a standard firearm.
- Improved Ammo Capacity: Slug weapons will often have improved ammo handling capabilities. Clips may hold smaller bullets with more punch to them, but they can thus hold more. Slug weapons also will likely be either caseless ammo based or will make use of a rail-gun mechanic where a powersupply is integrated in the clip along with a chunk of steel where pieces are shaved off and fired from the weapon - thus allowing for a large number of shots to be fired so long as the power supply holds out.
- Melee weapons would be largely unchanged. Some may have high tech equivalents that allow for more damage to be done, or for the weapon to have alternative functions. A high frequency sword would have a normal steel blade, but one that can vibrate at a high frequency that improves its cutting power (sort of making it into a saw).
- Explosives would be smaller and as powerful as todays explosives while normal sized ones in this setting would do more damage or affect a larger area (or both). For example a modern grenade is about the size of a person's hand...in the future that same grenade type might be about the size of a persons finger.
With worn equipment the technology would evolve where body armor is lighter and more resilient. Powered body armor would be common placed and used not only by the military but by the police as well.
- General body armor should be classified as light/medium/heavy/assault. Typically body armor in this setting would weigh half as much as it normally would. A subtype that can be applied to medium/heavy/assault is powered.
- Light Armor: Built on at most 20AP, and will typically have 1 to 4 PD/ED. Light body armor is often tailored body armor that can look like normal clothing. Tough clothing like leather's fall into this group, but older forms of protection like a leather jacket wouldn't benefit from being made of lighter materials.
- Medium Armor: This is built off of 20 to 50 AP, and will typically have 5 to 9 PD/ED. Medium body armor is capable of also including powered versions, where the armor is lighter and thus allowing the user better mobility.
- Heavy Armor: This is built off of 60 to 80 AP, and will typically have 10 to 13 PD/ED. Heavy body armor is incredibly resistant to damage and often has hard points on it for equipment and weapon integration. Typical powered armors use heavy armor as their basis.
- Assault Armor: This is built off of 80+ AP, and will typically have 10 to 15 PD/ED. Assault armor is bulky and slow moving but is always powered armor, and it allows the user to make use of weapons/equipment that often is only used on vehicles or from stationary positions. With out any powered assistance the armors weight bogs the user down making them even slower moving. Bomb disposal armor is an example of what assault armor is in appearance.
- Limitations: Armor does impose some limitations. Every 6 AP of in the armor's PD/ED should impose a -1 penalty to the user's DCV and DEX based skills.
- Powered armor has a few restrictions on what is allowed:
- Characteristic Bonus: A bonus should be given in a +2 increments. Bonuses gained should only apply to the character's Strength score, though a bonus to Body may imply the suits ability to absorb damage for the user. Speed bonuses could be applied as well but should be limited to a +1. A bonus to OCV & DCV should be a +1 to a +2. The limitations on these is that they are built on the same AP as normal armor. The only allowance is that Medium armor can have +10 AP over the normal AP limit. Heavy Armor will typically have an allowance of +20 AP over the limit. Assault armor however has no limits as it is now in the robotic armor group.
- Limitations: Medium armor's characteristic bonuses cannot be higher than the character's normal score divided by 2. If the bonus exceeds this then the user suffers a -1 penalty to their OCV per 1-3pts by which it is exceeded. For heavy armor however the bonus cannot exceed the user's full score. Assault armor however has no limits on the bonus that can be applied, but it does have its own problems to contend with. Assault armor imposes a Complication on the user. For Assault armor they are bulky and cannot enter most dwellings normally. Also they make use of their own STR scores instead of that of the user. Also all forms of powered armor have a limited functionality time limit is often differing from that of a day to a few hours depending on the power supply of the armor.
Other equipment and systems can be found in armor, but each integrated system does count against the armor's AP limits. If the item is not integrated and is affixed to a hard-point then it doesn't count against the armor's AP limits. As for the number of hard points a suit of armor can have, take the AP in the armor and divide by 10.
Now to determine the number of hard points a weapon or piece of equipment uses up, divide its Real Cost (RC) by 10. Gear put on a hard point can be removed from the armor in combat if torn off, otherwise it typically takes a bit of effort out of combat to remove.
Typically gear is not bought with XP. Instead the GM may assign the gear to the players or allow the players to choose what they need based upon the mission. As such the GM may wish to create some gear themselves, then allow the players to modify it within the point limits for each armor type.
Gear like this adds to anything the character has in terms of cybernetics to some degree.
- PD/ED does stack to some degree. Essentially you can choose to either use your normal PD/ED (augmented with cybernetics/bionics) or the one provided by armor, which ever is higher. The other score is essentially divided by 5 and rounded up to a minimum of 1.
- Combat Luck (and similar talents) count as a 3rd source of PD/ED. Now the PD/ED of this is also divided by 5 and rounded up to a minimum of 1.
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--Running the Game--
The campaign involves opportunities for both stealth ops, investigation, and straight forward combat. The metropolis of New Angels is home to well over 40 million people with plenty of opportunities for side adventures.
VIKING: This terrorist group is a constant problem in the city. Their members tout going back to better times like the days of the vikings, when there wasn't such an over saturation of technology and information. They particularly took the name Viking because of the visual inspiration that Vikings give people of violent invaders. They have invaded the city and intend on forcing change with violence. They are particularly hard lined against human augmentation (cybernetics), but also have a problem with too much high tech gadgetry.
They make use of low tech weaponry, though often modified to be more effective against the opponents they face, like making use of explosive arrows, or high frequency swords. They also wear viking like helmets with face guards to help hide their identities.
When an operation goes south on them or even if the succeed, they all scatter to the winds. Members usually don't know each other's real names, or anything about each other outside of Viking. even if they may noticed each other they won't typically communicate unless necessary. How they communicate with each other is still not known.
The Armstrong Crime Family: They hearken back to the old school way of doing crime, like how things were done back in the 1900's. They dress nicely, are polite, and have a sense of honor. They do a lot of dirty things and control a lot of people and places. Everyone knows that the family exists, and yet they take care to ensure that nothing ever leads back to the leadership. They have no problems peddling drugs, but won't sell to children. Anyone caught selling is given a stern warning at first. If they do it again then a lesson is taught. If the line is crossed a third time then the person doesn't typically live to make the mistake a fourth time.
The 82nd Metros: This is a gang that works around the 82nd metro area of New Angels. They are in constant opposition to the Armstrong as they show no respect to the crime family and act as a gang would. They are also often manipulated by both Viking and the Armstrong's into performing criminal acts for them as the gang is not known for being made up of highly intelligent people. The gang resents this of course and tends to lash out when they find out they were manipulated. They are typically punks that are into violence and looking for a quick way to make a buck.
Other Gangs/Criminals: The metropolis is immense and there is plenty of room for other criminals and groups. The three noted above are the big ones.
Adventure Hooks
- Getting Even: Present the PC's with an opportunity to to get even with Viking for what they did to them. Intel comes in about a possible target for Viking. There is an event going on the show off/announce a new prosthetic upgrade. Its highly likely that Viking will hit the event. the players can deploy to handle the situation as they see fit.
- Killer on the Loose: There is a serial killer on the loose murdering people. Who ever it is there is some information on them. They are heavily augmented based upon the physical damage done to the victims and the surroundings. Its possible that there is more than one killer working together with another.
- Gang War: A street war has broken out between rival gangs in a public place. The team is being dispatched to deal with the problem.
The Division's Purpose: As this is a question that will be posed by players. The Division serves as a final solution against the violence and crime in the city. They have been given clearance to strike against criminal factions in what ever way they deem fit so long as they protect civilian lives and property (with property they would like it not to be on fire or falling down if damage cannot be avoided).
Members are given leave to start investigations on their own, or to intercede in existing any situation they come across involving police activity. Members in particular are chosen based upon their incorruptibility and desire to bring criminal factions to justice. Victims of these various criminal factions are often the one's chosen as they are less likely willing to compromise for criminals.
Aside from undergoing cybernetic surgery (if needed), members spend 5 months undergoing training to learn CQC and basic combat techniques, and necessary knowledge on how to do one's job properly (thus players are encouraged to set aside at least 25xp represent this time spent learning new things).
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And that is that. Hope you folks enjoy and if anyone needs help with this then leave a message in the comments section and I'll post what ever it is I can help with.
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