CORELINE (D20 Modern/D20 BESM Setting).

[marcoasalazarm]

Even if they come willingly, they are stuck. Although I guess if they came "willingly", they would be better prepared than the guys who just manifested out of the blue after, say for example, getting blown up in their canon shows/universes. Or just 'blinked once and the world changed by the time they opened their eyes'.

Probably Elminster likes to use "carrier pigeons" to deliver to Ed. Fellas looking for excitement, wishing to leave everything behind. For what may or may not be the rest of their lives. There are some extensive warning speeches involved.

 

[marcoasalazarm]

Now the question is.... how much can be seen from the outside looking in? How much does the Elminster knows? Are the gods watching this like some kind of demented reality show?

 

[marcoasalazarm]

OK, so... trying to think of new classes. Anybody here has ideas?

 

[Lord Zack]

Is there some kind of bard-like/musician class for d20 Modern? You could also do a Newtype Ace class, representing characters like Amuro Ray.

I've been thinking of some ideas, including one involving Shinra from Final Fantasy VII. They would appear during the 23 hours, led by Rufus Shinra, deploying their military forces to battle other fictions. Then they would begin to rebuild areas damaged by fighting and their Urban Development department provides their expertise to build up various cties, including Auburn, NY and Syracuse, NY. A Mako Reactor is built on land formerly part of Fort Hill Cemetary in Auburn, NY, which provides power for much of Upstate New York. Of course Shinra is also up to some shady business, like BOW development, both utilizing the mutagenic properties of Mako, creating both monsters and their elite SOLDIER forces (another possible class?) and copying and further developing earlier designs by developed the likes of the Umbrella Corporation. Some of this is done in laboratories under Auburn, where Hojo is also secretly developing something called Project SII (a successor to Project S) without the knowledge or consent of the rest of the company, even Rufus. They also have other businesses like weapons development, mecha/robotics development (they constructed a modified Grungust in conjunction with the Tesla-Leicht Institute, which could be fitted with Materia and channel the magic through the mech, it was stolen by AVALANCHE and is currently piloted by an alternate of Cloud Strife), vehicles including cars and motorcycles and they are even considering getting involved in space exploration. They are opposed by AVALANCHE, which includes the heroes from Final Fantasy VII and other recruits

Syracuse, NY experienced and invasion by all manner of fantasy creatures, including a dragon. Reponse by Shinra troops is attributed with mitigating a lot of the damage and saving lives. Several fan-clubs have formed for SOLDIER personnel that participated in these operations. The monsters were largely driven out of the city or into various hiding places. Then Shinra troops discovered a dungeon while pursuing some monsters. It was discovered that many dungeons had appeared throughout the city and the surrounding area. Some of these dungeons where created by monsters as lairs, others just appeared and some were existing structures overrun by monsters. There was even a complex discovered under Destiny USA that was a twisted replica of the building above. So Syracuse began to attract adventurers who would delve into the dungeons. This area of monsters and dungeons extended to the surrounding area even as far as Auburn, which provides some protection for Shinra, if any monsters appear as a result of their experiments they will not be associated with Shinra.

 

[kronos182]

Hopper Bug
Hoppers are flying Arachnids used for hit and run tactics against small units, and as air support for large attacks. Essentially a Warrior with wings, they are swift and agile, but have lighter armoured exoskeleton. Instead of a large mandible at the front of the head, which is smaller, to allow for greater aerodynamics, they have a pincer at the rear of an added tail. They attack by grabbing and stabbing targets with their front legs, or grabbing with a pincer located in the rear of its tail. Hoppers are surprising strong, able to lift 1000 lbs with their pincer without slowing down, allowing them to lift troopers in armour and drop them from great heights.

CR 3;
Large aberration [Arachnid];
Hit Dice: 4d8+6; hp 22; Mas —; Init +4;
Speed: 30 ft, Fly 60 ft;
Defense 15, touch 14, flat-footed 11 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +2 natural);
BAB: +4; Grap +10; Atk +8 melee (2d6+2 pincer); Full Atk +8 melee pincer 2d6+2 and +0 melee 2 mandibles 1d6+1;
FS: 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.;
SQ: darkvision 60 ft., DR 3;
AL: Hive;
SV: Fort +2, Ref +5 , Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0;
Ability Scores: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 8, Cha 2.
Skills: Climb +2, Hide +9*, Jump +4, Listen +2, Move Silently +3, Spot +3, Survival +3
Feats: Weapon Finesse (Pincer).
Advancement: 4–6 HD (Large).
Organization: Found in groups of 1, pairs or swarms as large as thousands.

Species Traits
Bonus Feat: Hoppers gain Weapon Finesse (Pincer) as a bonus feat,
Damage Reduction (Ex): Hopper bugs have tough exoskeletons that provide DR 3, and Natural armour bonus to Defense +2.
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the Hopper bug must hit a single opponent at least one size category smaller than itself with a pincer attack. If it gets a hold (grapple check), it automatically deals damage from the pincer each round the hold is maintained.
Skill Bonuses: Hoppers gain a +2 species bonus on Climb and Survival checks, gains +4 to Grapple checks made with the pincer.
Camouflage (Ex): Hopper bugs are bred so their exoskeleton colouring matches their environment, granting them +8 racial bonus to Hide checks.
Armour Piercing (Ex): The pincer is designed to puncture and rend armour, with each ignoring 3 points of hardness/DR, and 1 point of Defense from armour/natural armour. A critical hit from the pincer also rends armour of large structures and vehicles, reducing hardness/DR by 1 with a successful critical hit. Objects of colossal size are not affected by this, but instead take 50% more damage on a critical hit.

Combat
Hopper bugs use swarm tactics with hit and run attacks, usually charging a target and grabbing it with its pincer, then lifting it up into the air, continuing to squeeze and cut with their pincer before dropping a potentially dead, or heavily wounded enemy down onto its allies to hurt them and sow confusion and lower morale with falling bodies.

 

[kronos182]

Rippler
A smaller variation of the Hopper, making them faster and more agile, however they have an even weaker exoskeleton, however they have the ability to launch a chitin spike over great distance, making swarms of Ripplers dangerous at both long distance and close melee ranges.

CR 3;
Medium aberration [Arachnid]; maybe medium
Hit Dice: 3d8+6; hp 28; Mas —; Init +6; maybe 3d8?
Speed: 20 ft, Fly 80 ft (16 squares) (good)
Defense 15, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural);
BAB: +3; Grap +2; Atk +8 melee claw (1d6+2), or +8 range spike (2d4, 19-20x2, piercing, 120 ft)
FS: 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.;
SA: Deadly Pass
SQ: darkvision 60 ft., DR 5;
AL: Hive;
SV: Fort +2, Ref +7 , Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0;
Ability Scores: Str 14, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 8, Cha 2.
Skills: Climb +4, Hide +10*, Jump +4, Listen +3, Move Silently +6, Spot +4, Survival +3
Feats: Weapon Finesse (Claws)
Advancement: 3–5 HD (Medium).
Organization: Solitary, squad (2-6), swarms

Species Traits
Bonus Feat: Rippler gain Weapon Finesse (Claw) as a bonus feat,
Damage Reduction (Ex): Rippler bugs have tough exoskeletons that provide DR 2, and Natural armour bonus to Defense +2.
Skill Bonuses: Ripplers gain a +2 species bonus on Climb and Survival checks.
Camouflage (Ex): Rippler bugs are bred so their exoskeleton colouring matches their environment, granting them +8 racial bonus to Hide checks.
Armour Piercing (Ex): The claws and spike are designed to puncture and rend armour, with each ignoring 3 points of hardness/DR, and 1 point of Defense from armour/natural armour.
Deadly Pass - Rippler Bugs can move their full aerial speed (a x4 move, 320 ft/64 squares) and gain a single attack action. To do this this they must fly in a straight line during the round in which they make their Deadly Pass. The target of this attacks suffers a claw attack, which take place when the bug sweeps past it on its flight path. This does not provoke an attack of opportunity. If the claw attack hits during a Deadly Pass, it inflicts triple damage, and on a critical deals six times damage, due to the speed and force of the blow.

Combat
Rippler bugs use swarm tactics with hit and run attacks, with many staying back and launching spikes at targets on the ground while others use their Deadly Pass to break up troop formations. Ripplers are also used as aerial support for ground based bugs, launching spikes as their ground allies close.

 

[Lord Zack]

The TransTech Transformers can apparently observe through probes as well as "listen in" through locations where the dimensional barriers are thin. So perhaps there are such connections between Coreline and other worlds, maybe worlds that are supposed to resemble the real world, such as Superboy Prime's homeworld and the version of Earth where the module "The City Beyond the Gate" from Dragon Magazine #100 takes place. Of course even in such places it would be impossible to travel from Coreline, though people might still try.

Does the barrier between Coreline and other worlds effect objects or only people? And does it only effect fictions or also pre- and or post-Vanishing humans?

Also I have been wondering how the "barrier" or whatever prevents Zerg and Arachnids from leaving the island of Hawaii works. Does it effect only those creatures that first appeared on the island? If a Zerg scouting brood arrived in the Sol System and somehow managed to sneak by Earth's defenses could they infiltrate the island? Maybe they might make a deal with the alternate of Kerrigan on the island to exchange the genetic essence they have collected. Even if they can't land Zerg can transfer genetic material using Bile Launchers. Thus the more unique strains found on Hawaii could spread beyond the island.

I am thinking of setting up a wargaming scenario involving Raynors Raiders intervening on Hawaii during the 23 hours. Though I also thought of doing an actual Starcraft II campaign aa well, though that would probably involve a lot more work.

 

[marcoasalazarm]

Well, one of the central ideas used to be, admittedly, that people could go through universes, but nowadays it's the fact people are stuck on the Core Timeline and all of the king's horses and all the king's men and even all of the so-called smartest and/or most powerful people in the multiverse haven't been able to solve the problem (so far). Thinking, blasting, inventing, hacking -- none of it has worked.

Dunno whether or not to add something like people being able to have two-way communicating across universes (something like the Elminster could still work as one-way "pigeons" being sent sound kind of cool (and kind of jerk-butt, too, but alleged gods can be like that)).

I can see alternate planes having Earth facsimiles of their own, or even full-blown parallel Earths having appeared on the Line (maybe that "counter-Earth" that shows up on some sci-fi stories, and Earths on other solar systems).

As for the barrier, it's supposed to be that anything Bug that tries to cross it to get out dies. Arachnids, viruses, creep, whatever -- same as the viruses on Raccoon City. Things can enter, but the monsters can't leave (I guess it's possible for other Kerrigans to send "pigeons" in to strengthen the forces and the Kerrigan on Hawaii has some other... insidious.. methods to contact out (like, I guess, psionically possessing some guy to transmit out to Korpulu).

The idea was there initially because while other people can say "oh, we could just drop the Sentry there for some bug-hunting" or whatever, I didn't saw it as anything else but a doomsday scenario. The field prevents that hell from spreading throughout the whole planet, but it definitely allows that one place to be a perfectly good representation of Hell on Earth.

I guess it still means there's ways for people to be infected with the Viruses or to get Arachnids (maybe they get samples that make genetic data models that they use to "3D print" the bugs? That's one way for one Kerrigan to send stuff to another, I think).

I don't know. We could discuss this detail. In general is about making it fun, in-universe and out -- they are a threat, but they are not an instantly apocalyptic threat... otherwise it would be all about dealing with the Queen B of the 'Verse and the Ashfords wanting to become gods 24/7 and everybody jumping on their bandwagon.


As for SHINRA having a base on Syracuse... maybe the Mako Reactor is not complete. There was some... successful, and pretty energetic... let's call it "protesting" and the Reactor was never completed. There's nobody sucking the Earth's Lifestream dry to power up his washing machine.

But the metaphysical damage, so to speak, is already done. The place is plagued with the constant appearance of monsters of the entire Squareenix catalogue. Anything from Moogles up to Heartless.

One of the reasons SHINRA has gotten the goodwill it needs to continue to function (on the Line, at least) is Materia. They are very good at finding, mining, refining and mass-producing it, and I guess as well as stuff like that mecha you mentioned they also are good at mass-producing other gear that has appeared on their productions... which means stuff like the Buster Sword or "Deus Ex" cybernetics (although... would that make Sarif a division of SHINRA? There's a good question...)

I think kind of the same happens with Weyland-Yutani: everybody knows the kind of (extremely censored) they are, but they have an edge over everybody else when it comes to the actual knowledge (and application thereof) of anything related to Xenomorphs, Yautja, Engineers, Space Jockeys and the myriad rip-offs of them that plague the Multiverse.

It's a pretty niche market (aside from, say, atmosphere processors) but it provides money.

((())))

As for Newtype Ace... ok, I think I have an idea or two for it. Maybe it could be a Prestige Class for Mecha Pilot, for one.

Dunno much about Newtype powers (of the shows and OAVs I saw, the only one I am sure of is part of the Universal Century was "War In The Pocket"), but on those shows most of the time it was like "psychic powers give me eyes on the back of my head", so that's the focus I would be going for in terms of special abilities.

I think there's stuff like psych powers providing juice and guidance for Funnels, or so I've heard from seeing the "Char's Counterattack" TV Tropes page, but again I don't know any true specifics about Newtype powers, so I think my focus will be a general "Ace with some additional power" angle.

And as for Bard... I thought there was a class on Urban Arcana, but I went and checked and nope, there isn't one. Silly me.

I can see two versions: one that is more of a general "rocker" or "impressive artist" in the sense of "can cause flash mobs with his astounding ability to perform art", which I guess can be upgraded to flash riots, and a closer-to-D&D "uses magic music" kind.

 

[kronos182]

The New Types seems more of a template maybe.. if a class, definitely only a prestige class that is only 3 to 5 levels at most.

As for modern musician.. I think I might have seen something in a pdf I downloaded at one point.. I'll take a look.

 

[AnimeSniper]

I have written in my Mecha notes that a Mecha Pilot achieves Ace Pilot status upon obtaining 5+ Kills whilst piloting their Mecha upon the battlefield be it ground, colony, or space.

For Newtype I feel that it should be a stats boost, a template, layered to the baseline Human SRD racial stats with one of the prerequisites being born in space or one or both parents being former citizens/operators of space.

Beings born in space would also be allowed certain Feats like the Zero Gravity Training at the GM's discretion... I have a few other allowances for related classes upon completing the necessary training for them.