CORELINE (D20 Modern/D20 BESM Setting).

[kronos182]

Awesome stats.

I'm slowly working through the clone wars to force awakens in star wars stuff..

 

[marcoasalazarm]

In the view of things that have occurred, I have come to a conclusion:

I have absolutely no idea of how to do anything regarding Stingray Security Services. There is absolutely no way I can write anything regarding them in terms of organization, types of gear, personnel standards, or anything that cannot be exploited in some fashion or picked on that will not make them a "Redshirt Army".

I do not have the capacity to explain how they are not supposed to be one, neither before nor after this whole situation with CHIMERA. And in view of this whole "raising from the ashes" thing they are supposed to be performing, I also cannot foresee how I can pick anything for this instance (gear, personnel, whatever-the-heck) that I believe to be cool personally (because I believe, dunno, that it's a practical decision, like having them choose Glocks and Sig-Sauers over Desert Eagles and BlasTech DL-44s) for the sake of "cleaning up the closet", and it will not backfire and hit me on my freaking face.

So I beg you guys to help me here.

 

[kronos182]

I can't remember everything for stingray or chimera off hand.. but...
Well don't give them standard gear.. doesn't Stingray do some gimmick/custom equipment? And maybe all have a special trait/ability... like I think there is some team work feats, where they all get a bonus to something while they're all doing something, bonuses to cover fire, make a lot of use of such tactics like cover fire, fire teams and heavy weapon users.
Build a squad, say 6 guys.. one the leader, gives normal leader style bonuses, then you got the heavy guy, a scout/spotter who can give bonus to attack rolls to his squad after spending a round pinpointing targets or "suggesting" best firing positions. Two general soldiers that gain or give bonuses for flanking, aiding others, etc. Last guy is a defender type.. big bonus when using cover fire to defend squad mates, higher bonus to allies when setting up defensive positions, maybe bonus to attack roll or damage when a target provokes an attack of opportunity against a nearby ally...
Possible defender ability... defensive zone: as long as doesn't move more than five foot step, any enemies that are within the defensive zone and attack an ally within the zone, and in line of sight, provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender.

Mind you stuff like this might be better off as a npc class for the stingray security staff, but could be an advance class for pcs. HMM as a class, roles like scout, defender, etc could just be options in the class, kind of like talent trees.. everyone gets general stuff, like team work bonus, then pick role and get that talent tree.

 

[marcoasalazarm]

So something like 'wolf pack tactics'.

 

[kronos182]

So something like 'wolf pack tactics'.

Kind of yeah. But you have to make sure to make use of such with these guys, and maybe create some unique tactics to them only.
What kind of stuff does Stingray have that is exclusive to their forces? (I could attempt to find it all, but gotta go through a lot of pages in the thread).
If they had something like say.. the ability to temporarily go ethereal/intangible.. they can do sort of a tag team tactic, where one is hiding a bit of a distance behind the other.. the one in front attacks then goes ethereal/intangible and the one behind, who had a readied action gets a free surprise attack at the guy the front guy was attacking as the round passes through the space he is in. front man become tangible again the start of his next turn. this tactic works really well if such a tag team uses ammunition that also tags a target with a transponder that shows up on their HUDs, that way the guy in the back doesn't need to actually see through the intangible guy and the target get the cover bonus to defense from the front guy.

Or if had transporter technology (short range), have a shooter and a melee specialist.. the shooter has ammunition that acts as a tag/gps location beacon, which when strikes a target activates the transporter on the melee guy who is immediately transported behind the target shot and gets a free surprise attack and flanking.

 

[marcoasalazarm]

Well, here was a thought...

Inspiration for these guys (in my head) was the Colonial Marines from "Aliens" (having the "Technical Manual" by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, I can tell you with certainty that the only reason the setting loves making them Xenomorph chow with ease is because the fact they *can* become Xenomorph chow with ease is supposed to be a terror booster), the Imperial Guard (talking combined arms here. The group has superhumans, mecha, aliens, vehicles, whatever--they do the whole 'fight shoulder to shoulder' thing) and the Mobile Infantry (the Heinlein version, the guys that get trained like crazy. Also has the 'fight shoulder to shoulder' thing).

I guess something that is exclusive to them is the fact that they are combined-tactics monsters or something... dunno, really. They have a superhuman division that had been getting quite a lot of focus on fanfics so far, and I had this flash of thought that, to differentiate them from something like the Avengers and SHIELD or JLA and any random cop that pops up, the division was "one of the guys" in many ways--so rather than one bunch of cannon fodder guys waiting for Supergirl to save them, they do stuff like flanking while the bad guy is distracted by the person with spandex and counter-sniping the guys with the Kryptonite lasers (or something like that).

There is also the Hellsoldier Project--people who are, well, anti-superhuman Terminators. These guys have Pariah Genes (power-nullifiers, pretty strong ones), modified so much that you need seriously big guns to kill 'em off (and magic and superpowers and magi-tek don't work around 'em, so if you don't know how to use a gun or a grenade or even how to throw a punch, you're screwed).

To make a long story short, I didn't wrote about these guys extensively when I had the chance, and the check has been put on the table: they have been getting some pretty hefty humiliation on the fanfics that have been written for this setting (even a moment that was supposed to be, y'know, Guard-style "we, the normal guys, had some real bad odds coming at us--and we are still standing!" in message, some author took in context to be "oh, the bad guys were holding back!" Although in the author's defense, the whole situation has been a bit of a flame war).

Which, again, comes to what I was saying. If I write that (say for example) the Services use .50 Beowulf rounds on their assault rifles, with some kind of super-tech binary-propellant action that allows the bullet to be shot with the potency of a full-blown .50 BMG round (although, yeah, there's probably some issues with firing something THAT powerful from an M-14-sized gun)... the possible response is that it's still not enough gun to take down, say, Kid Goku (let alone the grown-up version with the "Super Saiyan God" crap) and who the heck are you kidding, sending men out to fight Fiction threats with that gun? Too 'awesome but impractical'--it's either overkill or nowhere near enough kill, every single time.

The Champions have been put on a pedestal by the other authors, and the one that wrote the 'holding back' thing makes it a big deal that Hellsoldiers block all powers around them in a radius--by having it that they also block the powers of allies, so they get in the allies' way.

 

[kronos182]

Well, here was a thought...

Inspiration for these guys (in my head) was the Colonial Marines from "Aliens" (having the "Technical Manual" by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, I can tell you with certainty that the only reason the setting loves making them Xenomorph chow with ease is because the fact they *can* become Xenomorph chow with ease is supposed to be a terror booster), the Imperial Guard (talking combined arms here. The group has superhumans, mecha, aliens, vehicles, whatever--they do the whole 'fight shoulder to shoulder' thing) and the Mobile Infantry (the Heinlein version, the guys that get trained like crazy. Also has the 'fight shoulder to shoulder' thing).

Ok.. let's see.. top of head.. the ones getting their butts handed to them could be more of the 'green' units, or ones not fully trained in certain anti-super combat.. as the Imperial Guard approach is basically they're cannon fodder, overwhelm with numbers.. think army ants vs human.. a few are annoying, a LOT is deadly.

I guess something that is exclusive to them is the fact that they are combined-tactics monsters or something... dunno, really. They have a superhuman division that had been getting quite a lot of focus on fanfics so far, and I had this flash of thought that, to differentiate them from something like the Avengers and SHIELD or JLA and any random cop that pops up, the division was "one of the guys" in many ways--so rather than one bunch of cannon fodder guys waiting for Supergirl to save them, they do stuff like flanking while the bad guy is distracted by the person with spandex and counter-sniping the guys with the Kryptonite lasers (or something like that).

Ok, combined forces tactics is good! Maybe play off the there hasn't been enough of the other units (the heavies like supers or, mechs, special tech guys) in a particular location at the time when an attack happened. This has been recently fixed due to heavy recruiting or those that were in training are now OUT of training and ready.

There is also the Hellsoldier Project--people who are, well, anti-superhuman Terminators. These guys have Pariah Genes (power-nullifiers, pretty strong ones), modified so much that you need seriously big guns to kill 'em off (and magic and superpowers and magi-tek don't work around 'em, so if you don't know how to use a gun or a grenade or even how to throw a punch, you're screwed).

Hellsoldier.. looking over the original post.. it's a little bare.. but the concept.. good.. Now, how to fix this.. Lower level ones affect an area around them, which yes, means affects allies within that area, that's why you team them up with non-magic/psionic/super powered user, per tech. Higher level (say lvl 4+) can actually FOCUS their ability to either smaller, and more concentrated (higher resistance/higher DCs for opponent to resist, making it harder for them to use their powers, but the hellsoldier has to be very close), or larger area but weaker (a bit easier to resist, lower resistant values), or change from a sphere around them to a cone or line in a particular direction.. in game terms means taking an action to concentrate and focus to a cone or line or smaller/larger area, and each round make concentration check to maintain that changed area as a free action, so can act normally. This allows friendly supers/magic/psychics to use their powers nearby, as long as not in the affected area.

To make a long story short, I didn't wrote about these guys extensively when I had the chance, and the check has been put on the table: they have been getting some pretty hefty humiliation on the fanfics that have been written for this setting (even a moment that was supposed to be, y'know, Guard-style "we, the normal guys, had some real bad odds coming at us--and we are still standing!" in message, some author took in context to be "oh, the bad guys were holding back!" Although in the author's defense, the whole situation has been a bit of a flame war).

Yeah.. you should have wrote a bit more before hand.. so now either Ret Con a lot.. or we hand wave in some excuse of more green units or those not quite fully prepared for those type of threats in those areas. A very large batch of fresh recruits, with full training and gear (Stingray spent time updating equipment and is issuing them to all new recruits but haven't fully distributed to older units).

Which, again, comes to what I was saying. If I write that (say for example) the Services use .50 Beowulf rounds on their assault rifles, with some kind of super-tech binary-propellant action that allows the bullet to be shot with the potency of a full-blown .50 BMG round (although, yeah, there's probably some issues with firing something THAT powerful from an M-14-sized gun)... the possible response is that it's still not enough gun to take down, say, Kid Goku (let alone the grown-up version with the "Super Saiyan God" crap) and who the heck are you kidding, sending men out to fight Fiction threats with that gun? Too 'awesome but impractical'--it's either overkill or nowhere near enough kill, every single time.

This where combined tactics (hellsoldier to dampen the power levels with lots of heavy firepower to just pelt with lead, and also use stuff like tranqs, stunguns and tangler grenades to slow them down for more heavy firepower to just hammer) is important.
Problem with the .50 beowulf function as .50bmg in a M14 package? Gadgets: miniaturize .50 cal from large to med, solved, advanced recoil dampening allows those with normal human strength to fire it (yes, real science and logic says the recoil makes this damn hard to handle, but this is a sci-FI game, we can make stuff up that works as long as it seems PLAUSIBLE). Now to use these against supers.. special materials.. depleted uranium or uranium rounds (look at my thread on DU and U rounds) for added radiation and armour penetration, explosive rounds, acid (who has acid resistance these days, hmmm?). Other specialty rounds are also needed.. this because a logistics problem in the long run. So a lot of grunts with guns focusing fire is needed for quick take downs when you've got limited amounts of specialty rounds.

The Champions have been put on a pedestal by the other authors, and the one that wrote the 'holding back' thing makes it a big deal that Hellsoldiers block all powers around them in a radius--by having it that they also block the powers of allies, so they get in the allies' way.

See above part on the Hellsoldier abilities.
As to the Champions.. gotta find the info on them again... but otherwise.. you'll have to start writing up info on how Stingray has been doing a massive build up for awhile, and just hadn't released all of the new stuff that it's been testing, building and researching for their new recruits.. so they've suffered some major set backs.. but this new group is starting to really make progress.
Perhaps also write in several of their elite groups that were testing new tech were working in secret/undercover, possibly infiltrating AOH to gather info that they've used in fighting supers, and possibly taking down some of their cells.

Hope some of this helps.
I can come up with game stats for any new gear you want.. and some ideas.. but need a little direction.

 

[marcoasalazarm]

Well, with the Pariah Gene and what you proposed with the training to shape things, I was thinking:

-Pariah Gene carrier--Template,
-Pariah aura shaping--Feat or some kind of Class, obviously only available to Gene carriers,
-Hellsoldiers--Template (dunno whether or not to have an additional Class for them a la the "Helix Warrior" of D20 Future).

 

[kronos182]

Well, with the Pariah Gene and what you proposed with the training to shape things, I was thinking:

-Pariah Gene carrier--Template,
-Pariah aura shaping--Feat or some kind of Class, obviously only available to Gene carriers,
-Hellsoldiers--Template (dunno whether or not to have an additional Class for them a la the "Helix Warrior" of D20 Future).

A template for Pariah gene probably would be a good idea. Or it could be a race, as if I'm not mistaken, from WH40K they are humans, but don't have any psychic potential, instead cancel it completely. .
Send me aPM with what your vision/version of the pariah gene is/does, what races limited to, any limitations, etc. AND what your ideal version of the hellsoldiers are supposed to be like.
Then we can work out a mk2 version, and you can weave them into the stories and adventures.

 

[kronos182]

While playing Pokemon Go recently, since the Gen 2 Pokemon are now released, got me thinking, are pokemon in Coreline?