I’m looking for four to six players for this. Please forgive the document. It’s a bit big. It is also possible that I'll be running the game on the Mythweavers board. The extra PbP features are a big sell to me.
A Few Quick things:
As a matter of necessity, I have not provided every single detail of the setting. Most likely, it will be necessary to work with me on concept and background (what planet you came from, etc.) Please as questions. I can’t possibly write everything everyone needs to know.
The Big Picture:
10,000 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space (the beginning of the common era in the Terran calendar), humanity has come a long way. Humanity and eleven other powerful species (as well as many minor ones) have joined together in a terrifyingly powerful military alliance controlled by 120 of the greatest military minds (10 from each major species) called The Coalition. The Coalition is not a government, however. It is an alliance motivated by mutual survival, physiological and psychological similarity (all but one of the major Coalition species is bipedal, and all are carbon-based, for example), economic interdependence, and peer pressure. Each member species is free to govern itself as it will. Most don’t govern themselves at all, regarding the practice as unfeasible given the size and dispersion of their populations. Instead, policy is dictated bys system and sector governments. As long as their quota for troops, supplies, and taxes is met, the Coalition couldn’t care less what the little beings do or don’t do.
It has been many thousands of years since the Coalition’s great campaigns of expansion. It now seeks to hold its territorial gains as it continues to expand slowly but inexorably across space (the Coalition now controls slightly more than a third of two different galaxies) against the constant but un-unified attacks of rival galactic powers, terrified of the Coalition’s steadily growing sphere of influence. The increase in wealth and stability within has also created ample opportunity for internal conflict and corruption—the coalition is infested with criminals of all sorts, taking advantage of security to prey on their own.
Tone:
Like the Imperium of Man, and the Galactic Empire, the Coalition is big and scary. In many ways (notably, industrial capacity), much scarier. Their enemies are too. As an exclusively military organization, the Coalition also morally grey in their approaches at the very best. They are an organization that regularly destroys planets because they can’t be bothered with the time and expense of an infantry assault.
The species of the Coalition are generally welcoming to other member species, but nonmembers suffer from extreme prejudice if they are even permitted in Coalition space at all. The Coalition has three unofficial classifications for a species or group: ‘One of us’, ‘enemy we aren’t fighting,’ and ‘enemy we are fighting.’ They have no ‘allies’.
Technology and other Stuff :
I think that d20 future’s PL system is stupid. This campaign doesn’t have a PL.
Most power is provided by highly efficient fusion. Railguns (magnetic ones that make sense) are the Coalition’s staple weapon, with other types filling more specialized niches. Materials science is incredibly sophisticated. Personal shielding and artificial gravity are both quite common. (PCs are issued a personal shield generator). Psychic powers exist, but are entirely irrelevant to this campaign. FTL travels through higher and more ordered dimensions (with a computer) or lower, more chaotic dimensions (with a living psychic navigator). Please ask any relevant questions. I can’t possibly write a full tech. primer.
Campaign Background:
The government of the Amber sector (the capitol city-world holds the same name), a major industrial sector, has raised several new sector defense OUs (they are not a part of Coalition’s military structure, though they can be called up to be so at any time) the smallest independently operating combat unit, containing 6,000 people at normal strength plus any associated vehicles and aircraft. (All Terran military units are mixed gender in theory, but the culture of each world changes this in practice). This is an all-human unit (the Amber sector’s population is about 70% human). Mixed units are rare and units with more than different three species are virtually unheard of because of the numerous logistical and cultural challenges.
You (the PCs) have all joined one of these volunteer units for whatever reason. After completing your basic training, your unit, the 96th infantry (militia) OU has received its first posting. You have been assigned to investigate a large orbital colony around a star with no other livable planets that has fallen out of contact with the Government of Amber. Command hopes it is a communications or internal systems issue rather than an attack, but they take no chances. The 96th, and two other units, the green 22nd light mechanized (militia) OU and the veteran 61st space combat SU (militia) (an SU is a highly specialized and usually non-independent combat unit with 3,000 members). These fifteen thousand troops have been deployed aboard the troopship Many Very Bad Things and the frigate Admiral Reed. Two corvettes, I See You and Azira have also been sent as escort ships. It is also rumored that Coalition SpecOp teams are accompanying the Colonial troops. Tension is high, and none of the soldiers knows what to make of their mission.
System:
This is the complicated bit of everything, and it may be off-putting to some people who don't want to deal with more house rules than usual.
The game itself is run using the regular d20 modern rules with only a few changes (see the house rules and character creation sections later on, which will break things down in detail).
Other aspects of a typical d20 future game have been removed while others have been added. Not all of these changes are relevant to the PCs, but are listed here anyway so you aren't unfairly surprised when they come up. They are listed below and explained in turn:
All. And I mean all of the items, weapons and armor in d20 future have been removed. I find that besides being too weak given the level of technology that should be available, most of the stuff doesn't make much sense. More importantly, though, it doesn't fit with the feel or the pseudoscience of the setting. Thankfully, this is largely irrelevant to the PCs. Since this is a military campaign, appropriate starting gear will be issued to each player.
Default mech and vehicles as well as the associated rules have been removed from the game. I find that they are inelegant at best stupid and inconsistent at worst (mech creation rules especially). Instead, I use Guardians of Order Games' (May the company rest in peace) D20 Mecha rules for both. This will not hurt the characters much in the campaign if it affects them at all (they won't have mechs, and vehicle combat will be rare if it happens at all), but it certainly affects my approach as the GM when throwing enemy vehicles at my players.
Cybernetics rules have been scraped. If you want cybernetics, speak with me about what affects you want to create and I'll put a price (relatively speaking, since money is irrelevant) on it with you.
Some changes to armor and weapon rules. Each of these will be addressed in houserules.
Other minor houserules which are too simple to be considered major changes
I use vitality and wound points. (Nothing new here. They seem to suit gritty scifi better.) The specifics will be covered in houserules.
This is the biggest change: I use the set of Classically Modern rules for custom class creation. This puts class creation entirely in the hands of the PCs. You can chose exactly the abilities you want your character to have based on your concept, not a published advanced class. The catch is that Classically Modern is a slightly intimidating document, with a lot of options. Thankfully, there are a lot of premade classes if you don't want to make your own. I think it's a great little (OK, it's rather large, actualy) set of rules, and I think I may attract a few converts. The link to the documents is here: http://www.freewebs.com/merlinsworkshop/index.htm
Character Creation:
All characters are fifth level humans with no FX abilities .
Classes are created using Classically Modern classes (flexible advancement)
Starting wealth is irrelevant, there is no need to roll for it.
Abilities are determined with a 32 point buy
Gear is issued as appropriate based on abilities and feats. Don’t worry about it. If you play a sniper, you’ll get a sniper rifle and all the other fun stuff a sniper needs.
Notes:
You are creating trained soldiers. Bear that in mind when making characters and choosing roles and abilities.
You probably want at least armor proficiency medium at least, if not heavy. Armor saves lives.
House Rules:
Weapon proficiency:
Characters are proficient with a number of specific non-exotic weapons equal to 5+BAB. Specific weapons means you would get proficiency with an M-16 rather than assault rifles. Proficiencies can be traded with 8 hours of training and a DC 15 check modified+BAB+int (you may take ten if you take 16 hours)
Taking an exotic weapons group proficiency feat: rockets, heavy machine guns, cannons, or exotic melee weapons (grenade launchers aren’t exotic weapons) grants you one free proficiency slot and allows you to add weapons of the corresponding type to your proficiency list/
Alien weapons:
You take a -4 when using a weapon not built for your species over and above nonproficiency penalties (-8 total) unless the GM says otherwise (I never will, but it has to be said). If you gain proficiency with an alien weapon, you still take this penalty.
Guns and automatic weapons in general:
Different rules for autofire and burst are used. Weapons have a few new statistics (Whoever on ENworld made these gets a cookie, but I can’t take credit):
Recoil: If you beat a target’s AC by this number, you hit with a second (or third, or fourth) attack. Recoil cannot be reduced below 2.
Shots per round: The maximum number of shots per round you can use
Armor penetration: The weapon ignores this many points of armor
Overpenetration: This potentially multiplies weapon damage to larger objects (which now have many more HP)
There are two types of autofire attacks:
Area autofire:
You fire 10 or more bullets into a 5x5ft area. Anyone in the area must make a reflex save with a DC of 5+(attack roll / 2) to negate damage. If the target fails by more than the recoil modifier of the shooter, the target is struck by a number of rounds equal to the difference between the save result and DC divided by the shooters recoil. Each additional hit deals full damage, but is also affected by the targets hardness/DR. For every 3 full rounds fired you can either increase the save DC by +1 or increase the area by +1 5ft square (must be adjacent to a previous square). You may increase the number of rounds fired in increments of 3.
Burst: a burst fires 5 or more bullets at a single target. For every 3 rounds fired, you gain a +1 bonus to hit. If you beat the target’s defense by more than the weapons recoil, additional bullets strike the target. The number of additional bullets that hit is the difference between defense and the attack roll, divided by the recoil modifier. Each additional hit deals full damage, but is also affected by the targets hardness/DR. You may increase the number of rounds fired in increments of 3
The following feats and conditions reduce recoil:
These bonuses stack if appropriate
supported, prone, bipod etc: -1
mounted on vehicle or stationary: -2
Using both hands: -2
Burst fire: -2 for burst only
Autofire: -2 for autofire only
Advanced firearms: -1 to all recoil
Vitality point/wound points:
The vitality points/wound points system can be found in Unearthed Arcana. A link is here: http://srd.pbemnexus.com/unearthedInjury.html (it’s the second to last item on the page)
Armor:
Armor provides hardness and bonus wound points. It does not provide an AC bonus. It is possible to make a called shot to ignore armor. The penalty to hit is -4 for light armor, -8 for medium, and -12 for heavy
How I Choose Players:
Hey, you finished all the reading! Good for you! I’ll take the first four to six workable concepts. Remember, getting to ‘workable concept’ may require a bit of specific discussion with me because there are things that do and don’t work concept wise.
A Few Quick things:
As a matter of necessity, I have not provided every single detail of the setting. Most likely, it will be necessary to work with me on concept and background (what planet you came from, etc.) Please as questions. I can’t possibly write everything everyone needs to know.
The Big Picture:
10,000 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space (the beginning of the common era in the Terran calendar), humanity has come a long way. Humanity and eleven other powerful species (as well as many minor ones) have joined together in a terrifyingly powerful military alliance controlled by 120 of the greatest military minds (10 from each major species) called The Coalition. The Coalition is not a government, however. It is an alliance motivated by mutual survival, physiological and psychological similarity (all but one of the major Coalition species is bipedal, and all are carbon-based, for example), economic interdependence, and peer pressure. Each member species is free to govern itself as it will. Most don’t govern themselves at all, regarding the practice as unfeasible given the size and dispersion of their populations. Instead, policy is dictated bys system and sector governments. As long as their quota for troops, supplies, and taxes is met, the Coalition couldn’t care less what the little beings do or don’t do.
It has been many thousands of years since the Coalition’s great campaigns of expansion. It now seeks to hold its territorial gains as it continues to expand slowly but inexorably across space (the Coalition now controls slightly more than a third of two different galaxies) against the constant but un-unified attacks of rival galactic powers, terrified of the Coalition’s steadily growing sphere of influence. The increase in wealth and stability within has also created ample opportunity for internal conflict and corruption—the coalition is infested with criminals of all sorts, taking advantage of security to prey on their own.
Tone:
Like the Imperium of Man, and the Galactic Empire, the Coalition is big and scary. In many ways (notably, industrial capacity), much scarier. Their enemies are too. As an exclusively military organization, the Coalition also morally grey in their approaches at the very best. They are an organization that regularly destroys planets because they can’t be bothered with the time and expense of an infantry assault.
The species of the Coalition are generally welcoming to other member species, but nonmembers suffer from extreme prejudice if they are even permitted in Coalition space at all. The Coalition has three unofficial classifications for a species or group: ‘One of us’, ‘enemy we aren’t fighting,’ and ‘enemy we are fighting.’ They have no ‘allies’.
Technology and other Stuff :
I think that d20 future’s PL system is stupid. This campaign doesn’t have a PL.
Most power is provided by highly efficient fusion. Railguns (magnetic ones that make sense) are the Coalition’s staple weapon, with other types filling more specialized niches. Materials science is incredibly sophisticated. Personal shielding and artificial gravity are both quite common. (PCs are issued a personal shield generator). Psychic powers exist, but are entirely irrelevant to this campaign. FTL travels through higher and more ordered dimensions (with a computer) or lower, more chaotic dimensions (with a living psychic navigator). Please ask any relevant questions. I can’t possibly write a full tech. primer.
Campaign Background:
The government of the Amber sector (the capitol city-world holds the same name), a major industrial sector, has raised several new sector defense OUs (they are not a part of Coalition’s military structure, though they can be called up to be so at any time) the smallest independently operating combat unit, containing 6,000 people at normal strength plus any associated vehicles and aircraft. (All Terran military units are mixed gender in theory, but the culture of each world changes this in practice). This is an all-human unit (the Amber sector’s population is about 70% human). Mixed units are rare and units with more than different three species are virtually unheard of because of the numerous logistical and cultural challenges.
You (the PCs) have all joined one of these volunteer units for whatever reason. After completing your basic training, your unit, the 96th infantry (militia) OU has received its first posting. You have been assigned to investigate a large orbital colony around a star with no other livable planets that has fallen out of contact with the Government of Amber. Command hopes it is a communications or internal systems issue rather than an attack, but they take no chances. The 96th, and two other units, the green 22nd light mechanized (militia) OU and the veteran 61st space combat SU (militia) (an SU is a highly specialized and usually non-independent combat unit with 3,000 members). These fifteen thousand troops have been deployed aboard the troopship Many Very Bad Things and the frigate Admiral Reed. Two corvettes, I See You and Azira have also been sent as escort ships. It is also rumored that Coalition SpecOp teams are accompanying the Colonial troops. Tension is high, and none of the soldiers knows what to make of their mission.
System:
This is the complicated bit of everything, and it may be off-putting to some people who don't want to deal with more house rules than usual.
The game itself is run using the regular d20 modern rules with only a few changes (see the house rules and character creation sections later on, which will break things down in detail).
Other aspects of a typical d20 future game have been removed while others have been added. Not all of these changes are relevant to the PCs, but are listed here anyway so you aren't unfairly surprised when they come up. They are listed below and explained in turn:
All. And I mean all of the items, weapons and armor in d20 future have been removed. I find that besides being too weak given the level of technology that should be available, most of the stuff doesn't make much sense. More importantly, though, it doesn't fit with the feel or the pseudoscience of the setting. Thankfully, this is largely irrelevant to the PCs. Since this is a military campaign, appropriate starting gear will be issued to each player.
Default mech and vehicles as well as the associated rules have been removed from the game. I find that they are inelegant at best stupid and inconsistent at worst (mech creation rules especially). Instead, I use Guardians of Order Games' (May the company rest in peace) D20 Mecha rules for both. This will not hurt the characters much in the campaign if it affects them at all (they won't have mechs, and vehicle combat will be rare if it happens at all), but it certainly affects my approach as the GM when throwing enemy vehicles at my players.
Cybernetics rules have been scraped. If you want cybernetics, speak with me about what affects you want to create and I'll put a price (relatively speaking, since money is irrelevant) on it with you.
Some changes to armor and weapon rules. Each of these will be addressed in houserules.
Other minor houserules which are too simple to be considered major changes
I use vitality and wound points. (Nothing new here. They seem to suit gritty scifi better.) The specifics will be covered in houserules.
This is the biggest change: I use the set of Classically Modern rules for custom class creation. This puts class creation entirely in the hands of the PCs. You can chose exactly the abilities you want your character to have based on your concept, not a published advanced class. The catch is that Classically Modern is a slightly intimidating document, with a lot of options. Thankfully, there are a lot of premade classes if you don't want to make your own. I think it's a great little (OK, it's rather large, actualy) set of rules, and I think I may attract a few converts. The link to the documents is here: http://www.freewebs.com/merlinsworkshop/index.htm
Character Creation:
All characters are fifth level humans with no FX abilities .
Classes are created using Classically Modern classes (flexible advancement)
Starting wealth is irrelevant, there is no need to roll for it.
Abilities are determined with a 32 point buy
Gear is issued as appropriate based on abilities and feats. Don’t worry about it. If you play a sniper, you’ll get a sniper rifle and all the other fun stuff a sniper needs.
Notes:
You are creating trained soldiers. Bear that in mind when making characters and choosing roles and abilities.
You probably want at least armor proficiency medium at least, if not heavy. Armor saves lives.
House Rules:
Weapon proficiency:
Characters are proficient with a number of specific non-exotic weapons equal to 5+BAB. Specific weapons means you would get proficiency with an M-16 rather than assault rifles. Proficiencies can be traded with 8 hours of training and a DC 15 check modified+BAB+int (you may take ten if you take 16 hours)
Taking an exotic weapons group proficiency feat: rockets, heavy machine guns, cannons, or exotic melee weapons (grenade launchers aren’t exotic weapons) grants you one free proficiency slot and allows you to add weapons of the corresponding type to your proficiency list/
Alien weapons:
You take a -4 when using a weapon not built for your species over and above nonproficiency penalties (-8 total) unless the GM says otherwise (I never will, but it has to be said). If you gain proficiency with an alien weapon, you still take this penalty.
Guns and automatic weapons in general:
Different rules for autofire and burst are used. Weapons have a few new statistics (Whoever on ENworld made these gets a cookie, but I can’t take credit):
Recoil: If you beat a target’s AC by this number, you hit with a second (or third, or fourth) attack. Recoil cannot be reduced below 2.
Shots per round: The maximum number of shots per round you can use
Armor penetration: The weapon ignores this many points of armor
Overpenetration: This potentially multiplies weapon damage to larger objects (which now have many more HP)
There are two types of autofire attacks:
Area autofire:
You fire 10 or more bullets into a 5x5ft area. Anyone in the area must make a reflex save with a DC of 5+(attack roll / 2) to negate damage. If the target fails by more than the recoil modifier of the shooter, the target is struck by a number of rounds equal to the difference between the save result and DC divided by the shooters recoil. Each additional hit deals full damage, but is also affected by the targets hardness/DR. For every 3 full rounds fired you can either increase the save DC by +1 or increase the area by +1 5ft square (must be adjacent to a previous square). You may increase the number of rounds fired in increments of 3.
Burst: a burst fires 5 or more bullets at a single target. For every 3 rounds fired, you gain a +1 bonus to hit. If you beat the target’s defense by more than the weapons recoil, additional bullets strike the target. The number of additional bullets that hit is the difference between defense and the attack roll, divided by the recoil modifier. Each additional hit deals full damage, but is also affected by the targets hardness/DR. You may increase the number of rounds fired in increments of 3
The following feats and conditions reduce recoil:
These bonuses stack if appropriate
supported, prone, bipod etc: -1
mounted on vehicle or stationary: -2
Using both hands: -2
Burst fire: -2 for burst only
Autofire: -2 for autofire only
Advanced firearms: -1 to all recoil
Vitality point/wound points:
The vitality points/wound points system can be found in Unearthed Arcana. A link is here: http://srd.pbemnexus.com/unearthedInjury.html (it’s the second to last item on the page)
Armor:
Armor provides hardness and bonus wound points. It does not provide an AC bonus. It is possible to make a called shot to ignore armor. The penalty to hit is -4 for light armor, -8 for medium, and -12 for heavy
How I Choose Players:
Hey, you finished all the reading! Good for you! I’ll take the first four to six workable concepts. Remember, getting to ‘workable concept’ may require a bit of specific discussion with me because there are things that do and don’t work concept wise.
I hate messing up.
