Post by Gront on Feb 21, 2011 18:44:44 GMT -5
This is my first time being an official GM, so I'm trying to keep it relatively simple combat wise.
It is March 2059, and the Cold War continues still. A century of shaky truce, and neither the USSR nor the West has shown any sign of weakening. There are no more third-world countries; every square inch of land on the globe has been claimed by one side or the other. The Iron Curtain now splits not only Europe, but Africa as well. NATO eventually evolved into a full-fledged government, renamed the Atlantic Confederation of States, and now presides over the Americas, western Europe, and southern and western Africa. The USSR has annexed China and the rest of Asia aside from India and Pakistan, which are now uninhabitable due to a nuclear war between the two (both the ACS and the USSR deny any involvement in the affair, but most suspect that neither side is truly innocent in the matter). The event is guaranteed not to occur again, as both sides have developed barriers that prevent anything going faster than a thrown rock to pass over the border.
This shield technology has since been miniaturized and made affordable to the point where guns are all but obsolete. Modern combat is now primarily between shielded fighters brandishing either melee weapons or special chips that are designed to attack with energy. Shieldmakers have adapted their shields to absorb some of the energy from these chips, but ultimately the shields can only take so much, and a strong enough chip attack will eventually reach its target. Chips are also often equipped with elemental augmentations that will do extra damage to certain types of shields. Naturally, shieldmakers manufactured specialized shields to counter these elements, but those shields were found to be more susceptible to other elements, eventually resulting in something of a weakness triangle among the three most common elements: fire is weak to ice, which is weak to lightning, which, in turn, is weak to fire.
Ten years ago, a company called General Robotics released the first fully functional robot, a prototype that they hoped to develop for military applications (as the ACS is known to spend trillions of dollars on defense annually). At around the same time, two other companies, Machinations, Inc. and Deckard Mechanics began developing their own combat robots, leading to an eventual race between the three companies to be the first to produce a combat-effective robotic soldier. Ultimately, Machinations was the first to deliver, three years ago, in 2057. General Robotics ended up making more headway into personal robots, and released the first commercially available model, the Nester mk. 1, last August. Rumors had circulated that Deckard Mechanics continued to work on their design in an attempt to outshine Machinations' design, rumors which seem to have been confirmed by an announcement from Deckard Mechanics' CEO, Reginald Deckard, offering $1 million to anyone who could defeat a Deckard Assault Drone in their first public test run in New Juneau, Alaska. As of a few minutes ago, you are on a bus, headed towards the Deckard Mechanics testing facility in the center of New Juneau.
Stats
You start with 15 points to put into seven stats (each stat starts at 1):
Strength - Your ability to damage using physical attacks.
Defense - Your ability to resist physical damage.
Dexterity - Your ability to hit when attempting a physical attack, as well as your ability to dodge physical attacks.
Intelligence - Your ability to use chips to their maximum potential.
Fortitude - Your ability to resist energy-based damage (i.e. from chips).
Endurance - Determines how much health you have (HP=5 x END)
Speed - Determines the order in which you attack in battle, as well as how far you can move in one turn (more on this later).
Skills
You also have 10 points to put into seven skills. Skill totals are determined by adding the number of points you have invested in the skill to half of the related stat (rounded down). For example, if you add 4 points in First Aid and have 5 points in Intelligence, your First Aid skill total would be 6.
Heavy Lifting (Strength) - Increases the number of items you can hold at one time.
Guard (Defense) - Adds a chance to cancel critical hits from your enemies.
Stealth (Dexterity) - Your ability to avoid detection by enemies.
First Aid (Intelligence) - Your ability to heal yourself and others, especially during battle.
Tolerance (Fortitude) - Reduces the amount of extra damage you take from an element you are weak to.
Perseverance (Endurance) - Decreases the odds of you being killed (you'll get knocked out instead).
Metabolism (Speed) - Decreases the amount of time that it takes to recover from being knocked out.
Inventory
You start out with $2,000 to spend on equipment. If you don't spend it all, you can keep the extra for yourself. You may carry a maximum of five items (including what you have equipped), plus one additional item for every five points you have in Heavy Lifting.
Weapons give a set bonus to either Strength and Dexterity (for melee weapons) or Intelligence (for chips), plus a random bonus. For example:
Sample Weapon - Physical
Str: 3(+1)
Dex: 1(+2)
This weapon would have a standard Strength bonus of 3, plus a chance to have an additional point added. It also has a standard Dexterity bonus of 1, with a potential bonus of 0, 1, or 2 points.
Shields function similarly, but only give bonuses to Fortitude.
Chips have 100% accuracy, but damage from them are mitigated by an opponent's shields. Physical attacks go through shields, but have a chance to miss. If all else fails, you can perform a physical attack with your fists with no weapon bonuses.
If you want to join, submit a character sheet:
There's no limit to the number of people allowed.
Notes based on questions I've gotten:
Reason for Editing: Skills now are in the same order as their dependent stats.
The World, Still Divided by a Curtain of Iron
It is March 2059, and the Cold War continues still. A century of shaky truce, and neither the USSR nor the West has shown any sign of weakening. There are no more third-world countries; every square inch of land on the globe has been claimed by one side or the other. The Iron Curtain now splits not only Europe, but Africa as well. NATO eventually evolved into a full-fledged government, renamed the Atlantic Confederation of States, and now presides over the Americas, western Europe, and southern and western Africa. The USSR has annexed China and the rest of Asia aside from India and Pakistan, which are now uninhabitable due to a nuclear war between the two (both the ACS and the USSR deny any involvement in the affair, but most suspect that neither side is truly innocent in the matter). The event is guaranteed not to occur again, as both sides have developed barriers that prevent anything going faster than a thrown rock to pass over the border.
This shield technology has since been miniaturized and made affordable to the point where guns are all but obsolete. Modern combat is now primarily between shielded fighters brandishing either melee weapons or special chips that are designed to attack with energy. Shieldmakers have adapted their shields to absorb some of the energy from these chips, but ultimately the shields can only take so much, and a strong enough chip attack will eventually reach its target. Chips are also often equipped with elemental augmentations that will do extra damage to certain types of shields. Naturally, shieldmakers manufactured specialized shields to counter these elements, but those shields were found to be more susceptible to other elements, eventually resulting in something of a weakness triangle among the three most common elements: fire is weak to ice, which is weak to lightning, which, in turn, is weak to fire.
The Last Decade
Ten years ago, a company called General Robotics released the first fully functional robot, a prototype that they hoped to develop for military applications (as the ACS is known to spend trillions of dollars on defense annually). At around the same time, two other companies, Machinations, Inc. and Deckard Mechanics began developing their own combat robots, leading to an eventual race between the three companies to be the first to produce a combat-effective robotic soldier. Ultimately, Machinations was the first to deliver, three years ago, in 2057. General Robotics ended up making more headway into personal robots, and released the first commercially available model, the Nester mk. 1, last August. Rumors had circulated that Deckard Mechanics continued to work on their design in an attempt to outshine Machinations' design, rumors which seem to have been confirmed by an announcement from Deckard Mechanics' CEO, Reginald Deckard, offering $1 million to anyone who could defeat a Deckard Assault Drone in their first public test run in New Juneau, Alaska. As of a few minutes ago, you are on a bus, headed towards the Deckard Mechanics testing facility in the center of New Juneau.
You, the Players
Stats
You start with 15 points to put into seven stats (each stat starts at 1):
Strength - Your ability to damage using physical attacks.
Defense - Your ability to resist physical damage.
Dexterity - Your ability to hit when attempting a physical attack, as well as your ability to dodge physical attacks.
Intelligence - Your ability to use chips to their maximum potential.
Fortitude - Your ability to resist energy-based damage (i.e. from chips).
Endurance - Determines how much health you have (HP=5 x END)
Speed - Determines the order in which you attack in battle, as well as how far you can move in one turn (more on this later).
Skills
You also have 10 points to put into seven skills. Skill totals are determined by adding the number of points you have invested in the skill to half of the related stat (rounded down). For example, if you add 4 points in First Aid and have 5 points in Intelligence, your First Aid skill total would be 6.
Heavy Lifting (Strength) - Increases the number of items you can hold at one time.
Guard (Defense) - Adds a chance to cancel critical hits from your enemies.
Stealth (Dexterity) - Your ability to avoid detection by enemies.
First Aid (Intelligence) - Your ability to heal yourself and others, especially during battle.
Tolerance (Fortitude) - Reduces the amount of extra damage you take from an element you are weak to.
Perseverance (Endurance) - Decreases the odds of you being killed (you'll get knocked out instead).
Metabolism (Speed) - Decreases the amount of time that it takes to recover from being knocked out.
Inventory
You start out with $2,000 to spend on equipment. If you don't spend it all, you can keep the extra for yourself. You may carry a maximum of five items (including what you have equipped), plus one additional item for every five points you have in Heavy Lifting.
Weapons give a set bonus to either Strength and Dexterity (for melee weapons) or Intelligence (for chips), plus a random bonus. For example:
Sample Weapon - Physical
Str: 3(+1)
Dex: 1(+2)
This weapon would have a standard Strength bonus of 3, plus a chance to have an additional point added. It also has a standard Dexterity bonus of 1, with a potential bonus of 0, 1, or 2 points.
Shields function similarly, but only give bonuses to Fortitude.
Chips have 100% accuracy, but damage from them are mitigated by an opponent's shields. Physical attacks go through shields, but have a chance to miss. If all else fails, you can perform a physical attack with your fists with no weapon bonuses.
Melee Weapons
Brass Knuckles - Physical ($500)
A basic set of brass knuckles. They haven't really changed over the years.
Str: 0 (+2)
Dex: 2 (+1)
Steel Club - Physical ($1,100)
Kind of like the cavemen used, but harder.
Str: 2 (+1)
Dex: 2 (+2)
VibraBladeTM - Physical ($1,750)
Theoretically, a blade that vibrates at a high enough frequency should be able to cut through almost anything. This sword claims to do such a thing, but in reality, it's just a sharp sword with a vibrating handle.
Str: 5 (+1)
Dex: 2 (+3)
Chips
Flint (Fire) ($1,000)
Dontcha want to know how I keep startin' fiyahs?
Int: 3 (+1)
Spark (Lightning) ($1,000)
Shocking, don't you think?
Int: 3 (+1)
Chill (Ice) ($1,000)
Please go easy on the Mr. Freeze puns.
Int: 3 (+1)
Burst (Neutral) ($1,000)
It's okay to yell "pew pew" as you shoot it, but no one will actually believe it's the chip making the noise.
Int: 4 (+0)
Shockwave (Neutral) ($1,650)
Like Burst, but louder! That makes it better, right?
Int: 4 (+3)
Shields
BucklerTM - (no element) ($300)
Not to be confused with a regular buckle.
Fort: 1 (+0)
Buckler PlusTM - (Fire, Ice, or Lightning, pick one) ($500)
The "plus" stands for plus.
Fort: 2 (+0)
Defender 2000 - (no element) ($1,000)
We're already on 2000? What happened to 1 through 1999?
Fort: 3 (+1)
Defender 2500 - (Fire, Ice, or Lightning, pick one) ($1,200)
"Two-thousand five-hundred"? You know it's easier just to say "twenty-five hundred," right?
Fort: 3 (+2)
Other Items
Medibalm ($50) - Heals 2 HP per turn in battle for 5 turns (or just flat 10 HP outside battle)
First Aid Stick ($60) - Heals 5 HP instantly
Focus Pill ($220) - You gain +10 Dexterity until the beginning of your next turn
Adrenaline ($750) - Revive a knocked out ally with up to 25 health
Brass Knuckles - Physical ($500)
A basic set of brass knuckles. They haven't really changed over the years.
Str: 0 (+2)
Dex: 2 (+1)
Steel Club - Physical ($1,100)
Kind of like the cavemen used, but harder.
Str: 2 (+1)
Dex: 2 (+2)
VibraBladeTM - Physical ($1,750)
Theoretically, a blade that vibrates at a high enough frequency should be able to cut through almost anything. This sword claims to do such a thing, but in reality, it's just a sharp sword with a vibrating handle.
Str: 5 (+1)
Dex: 2 (+3)
Chips
Flint (Fire) ($1,000)
Dontcha want to know how I keep startin' fiyahs?
Int: 3 (+1)
Spark (Lightning) ($1,000)
Shocking, don't you think?
Int: 3 (+1)
Chill (Ice) ($1,000)
Please go easy on the Mr. Freeze puns.
Int: 3 (+1)
Burst (Neutral) ($1,000)
It's okay to yell "pew pew" as you shoot it, but no one will actually believe it's the chip making the noise.
Int: 4 (+0)
Shockwave (Neutral) ($1,650)
Like Burst, but louder! That makes it better, right?
Int: 4 (+3)
Shields
BucklerTM - (no element) ($300)
Not to be confused with a regular buckle.
Fort: 1 (+0)
Buckler PlusTM - (Fire, Ice, or Lightning, pick one) ($500)
The "plus" stands for plus.
Fort: 2 (+0)
Defender 2000 - (no element) ($1,000)
We're already on 2000? What happened to 1 through 1999?
Fort: 3 (+1)
Defender 2500 - (Fire, Ice, or Lightning, pick one) ($1,200)
"Two-thousand five-hundred"? You know it's easier just to say "twenty-five hundred," right?
Fort: 3 (+2)
Other Items
Medibalm ($50) - Heals 2 HP per turn in battle for 5 turns (or just flat 10 HP outside battle)
First Aid Stick ($60) - Heals 5 HP instantly
Focus Pill ($220) - You gain +10 Dexterity until the beginning of your next turn
Adrenaline ($750) - Revive a knocked out ally with up to 25 health
If you want to join, submit a character sheet:
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Sex:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Physical Description:[/b}(Can be verbal or a picture)
[b]Bio:[/b]
[b][u]Stats[/u][/b] (Remember, these start at 1)
[b]Strength:[/b]
[b]Defense:[/b]
[b]Dexterity:[/b]
[b]Intelligence:[/b]
[b]Fortitude:[/b]
[b]Endurance:[/b]
[b]Speed:[/b]
[b][u]Skills[/u][/b] (Put these in the form of "Stat: points (total)")
[b]Heavy Lifting:[/b]
[b]Guard:[/b]
[b]Stealth:[/b]
[b]First Aid:[/b]
[b]Tolerance:[/b]
[b]Perseverance:[/b]
[b]Metabolism:[/b]
[spoiler=Inventory](items here)
Extra money: $[/spoiler]
There's no limit to the number of people allowed.
Notes based on questions I've gotten:
- Your character must be human. I might hear you out if you want a character with cybernetic implants or something if it's a really good idea (PM me and we'll talk), but absolutely no robots/people trying to enter their own robots.
- Unlike your stats, skills do not start out with a point in them.
- You can only have one shield and one weapon equipped at a time. You may carry more, but switching them out in battle uses up a turn.
- When I say robots, I don't mean mecha. I mean human-sized, autonomous combat bots. Think the droids from Star Wars Episodes 1-3.
Reason for Editing: Skills now are in the same order as their dependent stats.