No relation to the Infinity tabletop game. I'm going to have to rename my system, I think. Oh well. I'll keep calling it Infinity for now. I can change it later.
Those of you that followed my original thread may be thinking, 'Infinity: Origin? That's not one of the settings mentioned?'. That's right. It's not (although I'll be pulling a lot from Awakening; maybe it's a sequel?)! Origin is a standalone campaign I am designing to trial the core of the Infinity system.
The premise is this:
Background
After the discovery of the exotic metamaterial known as 'Gnosis' on an Typheus, the first extrasolar colony, mankind had irrefutable proof of intelligent alien life. All that remained of that ancient civilisation was the Gnosis, trapped under layers of rock strata. It was discovered by accident; erosion had exposed Gnosis deposits indicating the material had been left there for tens of millions of years.
Study of the material provided remarkable insights into the nature of space; using quantum effects, certain configurations of Gnosis could enable faster-than-light movement of matter. The keys to the universe were in humanity's hands. Mankind expanded to the stars. Gnosis was found on several other worlds, yet never with any other evidence of the people that created it.
The Setting
Heimdal Heavy Industries is one of the great corporations of human space. With national powers fallen into irrelevance, the corporations own and govern everything. Heimdal has established several bases on a barely habitable planet called 'Quarry 86'.
You live at MacReady Base, an outpost remote even for Quarry 86's standards, where fissile materials are mined. The base is populated with Heimdal employees, its security force and their families. Every three months, a rover takes the base's product and delivers it to the spaceport, returning with fresh supplies for the base.
Life at MacReady Base is pretty boring, and you're so far from colonial space that you don't even have a planetary FTL tranceiver. That means news only comes every five years, when a cargo ship arrives. The last one came two years ago. Visits by indepentent spacecraft are exceedingly rare.
Maybe something interesting will happen. It'd make a change from the usual drudgery...
Characters!
I'll post a link to the Infinity ruleset and chargen stuff soon. For now, I'm okay with people expressing interest and coming up with concepts.
As far as tech level goes, think 'Aliens'. There's faster than light travel, humanlike androids, and all sorts of fun stuff, but the tech is still pretty gritty and 'industrial'. This is no Star Trek. For this test run, I may have to convince myself to be a bit more lenient about what gets to be in this universe.
The playable races:
Human: About what you'd expect. Plenty are minorly cyborged (digital headware and interfaces). Plenty more are not (some don't trust the corporations to put things in your brain and not poke around a little more than they should).
Synth: A human brain patterned into a synthetic brain and body. Like a human, but with peculiar strengths and weaknesses. They don't heal naturally and have poor energy reserves, but don't get sick, can be repaired, and have an innate affinity for machine interfaces.
There are no true AIs, unless you count the synths, and they're people.
Available Roles
I dunno. Probably anything goes so long as it makes sense at a mining base. Mining crew, mechanic, security, geologist, doctor, corporate stooge, etc. The base Overseer is going to be an NPC.
The Game Style
You can probably figure it out from the references. >:)
Warning: Don't join if you're squeamish.
Not squeamish. I would love to play test your system UR.
I'm up for a cyborg'd down-and-outer if there are any on the base. Perhaps a former cargo-loader operator injured and reduced in circumstances. Reads a lot of conspiracy theory, occult anthropology and mythology. An autodidact, and with virtual chip on shoulder and real chip in head.
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Another thing of note (you reminded me):
There's a covert organisation called the Gnostic League. They're cultish, rife with mysticism and oppose the corporate rulership. Officially, they're regarded as terrorists. Unofficially, they actually have some traction in parts of the population affected badly by corporate decisions (usually the poor). Not a good idea to go preaching about it on a corporation-run base, but you could be a member.
I'm in. Nothing like a nice industrial accident to turn a John Q Citizen into a esoterrorcist.
A small update:
While the system is point-buy, there are 'talent trees' that are somewhat like classes. You start with an initial ability and progress down a line (which may branch). You can have more than one, or ignore them altogether. In fact, it may make sense for a lot of characters not to start with them, as they tend to be military or combat-oriented. A character can be entirely viable without one.
The current ones are:
Bastion: Bastions are soldiers trained and augmented to be in the front lines of battle. They are hard to put down and provide protection for their allies. Bastions often have reinforced skeletons that make them tougher and also allow them to bear the weight of heavier weapons.
Medtech: Medtechs use advanced medical technology to support troops in the field. They can heal and enhance both living allies and synths. Their knowledge of biotechnology also allows them to dabble in experimental biowarfare.
Operator: Operators are digital wizards, using cyberware and keen programming knowledge to fight on the virtual battlefield. They can hack machines and weapons, impairing or subverting them. Operators can also command and coordinate allies through their tactical displays, highlighting priority targets and optimising firing angles.
Phantom: Phantoms are stealthy agents, using camouflage technology to hide themselves against the terrain or disguise themselves as others. In combat, phantoms are most comfortable up close with a blade or at range with a sniper rifle. (Stealth, Deception)
Reaper: Reapers are soldiers augmented to kill. Their first piece of cyberware controls their adrenaline and can push them into a controlled battle frenzy. Advanced training synergises cybernetic programming with martial arts to create a fast and fearless whirlwind of destruction.
There may be more (or less?) when I release the initial rules document (which should be soon).
I'm slightly interested as well...
Sorry for the delays!
I've been kind of distracted...
...by Starbound.
Any chance my former John Q Paycheque working man now injured down-and-outer could get black-market Reaper-tech?
I would love to play a Bastion.
Maybe a Soldier sent to infiltrate and destroy the group but instead sides with them?
Could even hybridize a Bastion/Phantom to create someone like Bato from GitS.
Uuuugh. Depression is awful. I'm going to try to get enough formatted that you can make characters this week.
Don't rush. We can wait til you are ready. And just know that we, or at least I am, willing to help however possible.
P.S.: I can't see Synth and not think of Synthetics from Almost Human...
Willing to help! I call dibs on the Phantom Class! Any chance I can get a cloaking device?
As for the story reference, it could be Dead Space, Starcraft, or Alien I'm guessing! Either way it should be interesting, especially if we have a redneck space marine somewhere! :P
And as for changing the name Infinity, just rename it something similar, Möbius, Ouroboros, Samsara, Mandala, ect.!
Also, Umbral Reaver, try chamomile tea. It's very relaxing!
Really you don't have to change the name but I guess you could name it Eternity. Maybe try and use the Quote: "Only 2 things are truly Infinite. The Universe and Human Stupidity."
Story-wise: I can't help but think of Haze as being a wonderful story for this. Corporate domination being challenged by a few Rebels.
Tech-wise: Are we looking at Railguns, Plasma Pulse/Impulse, or Physical Ammo being the most common/Highest Tech weapon types?
For Reference: Railguns like what the Fishermen use in Blame!. Plasma Pulse/Impulse are what is used in G.I. Joe: Renegades and Star Wars and Physical Ammo can range from Modern Weapons to the different types used in Almost Human.
Anything along the lines of Aliens, Starcraft Terrans, Ghost in the Shell. I dunno much about Haze.
Most military weapons are magnetic coil/railguns, and lasers, too. Conventional ballistics are used to deliver complex ordnance as well (which tend to do poorly at railgun velocities).
The only thing I see wrong is the technology to create a High Enough Intensity Laser makes Linear(Railgun/Magnetic Projection) weaponry obsolete. Plus the energy used for a single HIL Shot can be used to generate 5-10 Plasma Pulse/Impulse Shots.
Plus most Missile Warheads can be delivered via Linear Projection if the Force is throttled right.
In Haze you start off as a Corporations Elite Security Force/Private Military Soldier but eventually join the opposing Group. The Opposing Group is a Terrorist-esque faction. Think of it as akin to Red Faction but when you are part of the Corporate side you have access to a Combat Drug(Nectar).
The projectile weapons and lasers have different uses. Also, this is not super realistic.
Sorry I tend more towards Hard Sci-fi...
I'm guessing Lasers are more Tank/Ordinance while Railguns are G.I. Weapons?
I'm familiar with Aliens and Ghost in the Shell/anything Masamune Shirow - if anyone ever made a campaign based on his Orion 6 part series I'd be all over it like an ourobourotic karmaquation.
But I'm up for anything sci-fi.
Sorry I tend more towards Hard Sci-fi...
I'm guessing Lasers are more Tank/Ordinance while Railguns are G.I. Weapons?
Yes. Also, I couldn't find any useful references to realistic descriptions of plasma impulse weapons. All I got was the spaceship engine.
Same basis IIRC. Impulse would be more of a Shotgun with Pulse being the longer ranged. While conventional and linear weapons can fire rapidly or fairly rapidly plasma weaponry can't.
Really Plasma weaponry is "theoretical" right now mainly do to us not having a sufficient power source for it.
Umbral Reaver, to give you an idea of how a realistic plasma weapon would operate: it would have to have a powerful electrical field applied to a low pressure gas, heating it to to almost 180,000 degrees F. Then, from some compact side device, cause ions to fire at high speeds, colliding with the superheated gas and making it even hotter. The plasma would vibrate at an exponential rate and lead to miniature nuclear reactions. A mechanism would lower a magnetic containment field near the barrel of the gun, creating a channel magnetically charged, but allowing the plasma a channel to escape from (Magnetic field would probably have to be around 50,000 Gauss to properly contain the plasma without destroying the gun,). The user would probably need a lead lined suit, due to radiation from the mini-nuclear reactions, unless they did not care about radiation poisoning.
And nope, this isn't my theory, I read it in Darwin's World in 3.X, I believe!
That is the simplest way but there are other ways. Really Plasma & Ion Weaponry are similar enough to be confused or combined.
The hardest part of either is keeping it stable enough for repeated firing.
Trying to kick the depression. I'm still working on it! Most of the core rules are finished. Here's a preview of the Reaper ability tree! The specific mechanics are not really shown here, but you can get some idea. Relevant to the Reaper is the stress mechanic: The higher your stress (from taking wounds, seeing horrible things or performing difficult mental tasks), the better your strength but the worse your dexterity and mental stats.
You have received the initial training and surgical, chemical and cybernetic alterations to make you more effective in the heat of combat.
Effect: You no longer suffer a penalty to Dexterity from high Stress.
Requires: Reaper Training
You have received a cybernetic implant allowing you to voluntarily give yourself an adrenaline spike.
Effect: You may spend Energy Points to increase your Stress.
Requires: Adrenaline Implant
Due to early generations of reaper tech producing combat-crazed maniacs, the emergency flush was developed. It safely clears the reaper's system, essentially rebooting the brain to prevent mental trauma.
Effect: You may spend Energy Points to set your Stress to zero and become stunned for a round.
Requires: Adrenaline Implant
It's well known that the human body has limits in place that can only be surpassed by exraordinary desperation... or cybernetic alteration.
Effect: You may increase one or more of your Physical Statistics, and take damage each round proportional to the amount of increases.
I think that captures the essence of the Reaper, but of course there is much more.
I will take suggestions for what people would like to see in the character options. I have likely not thought of everything that would be good to include.
A bit of fluff!
While reaper technology was initially developed for military purposes, the techniques used to provide reapers with steady aim under stressful conditions soon found applications in other areas. It's not uncommon for surgeons to undergo the basic alterations in order to gain the preternaturally steady hands needed for extremely difficult operations. Reapers still have something of a tarnished reputation, however, even when their skills are put to nonviolent use. The stories of soldiers gone mad and slaughtering their own units or athletes destroying their bodies with cybernetic overdrives are hard to forget.
Only makes me want Reaper-tech more. Black market if you got it with all the plot hooks (favours owed to underworld slumlords, vendettas against chopshop surgeons, post-operative bio-feedback melancholy and cybernetic physiognomy rejection) you can muster!
That works perfectly. I can work that into the story.
OSW we could go the twin route and make mine legit Bastion Tech and yours black market Reaper Tech.
Also we are willing to help anyway we can.
Is this based on the d20 System?
Cause in my experience I have had more luck with d6 based systems for Sci-Fi.
It has some similarities to d20 but the core diceroll is 3d6.
Nice. So is it like a Tri-6 System or the Bell Curve Rolls introduced in Unearthed Arcana?
(Tri-6 requires Rolling under a certain number instead of over a certain number.)
Also I am thinking I will build a Synth Bastion/Phantom whose appearance is inspired by Batou from the original GitS Movies. Maybe replace the Eye Prosthetics with normal looking eyes.
Also I are you planning a Generic Tree? That is a tree that includes things everyone can take. Say short Ranged Radar/Mapping akin to the Soliton Radar from Metal gear Solid, Night Vision, Infrared, etc.
Random Question: Have you seen/heard of Nova Praxis?
I hate the FATE System with the fury of a billion burning Stars but this and a few other derived systems look awesome especially since they only ripped pieces of the FATE System that worked for the setting.
It is like a Frankenstein using parts of FATE with a bunch of others.
There will be a lot of abilities that anyone can pick up. Plenty won't require cybernetics at all.
Okay that explains how they can not be "Classed" then...
Here's a simple set of generic cyberware and the dangers of having it installed! Augmentations allow you to increase stats at a lower Character Point cost than increasing them naturally... and to beyond natural limits. However, each type leaves the user vulnerable to a particular kind of hacking.
Cost: 6 CP (I), 15 CP (II), 27 CP (III)
Effect: Increase your Agility Score by the augmentation’s rank. You can be forced to move if hacked.
Cost: 6 CP (I), 15 CP (II), 27 CP (III)
Effect: Increase your Dexterity Score by the augmentation’s rank. You can be forced to make ranged attacks if hacked.
Cost: 6 CP (I), 15 CP (II), 27 CP (III)
Effect: Increase your Fitness Score by the augmentation’s rank. You can be forced to fall unconscious if hacked.
Cost: 6 CP (I), 15 CP (II), 27 CP (III)
Effect: Increase your Strength Score by the augmentation’s rank. Decrease your Agility Score by 3. You can be forced to make melee attacks if hacked.
Special Note: A character with three or more different augmentations can be forced to take any physical action they would normally be capable of if hacked.
Wow...
I'm also going to post in with interest. Not sure what I'd be, if anything--maybe a base doctor MedTech? It might also be fun to be a semi-regular guy. We'll see.
Whoops. I took out the stat reductions from the rest of the augments. Strength shouldn't have that either.
Wow...
By the way, is there something specific you're going wow at?
Personally I'm wowing at the possibility of being hacked and puppeted! ;)
And +1 to Appleseedesque cybernetics. I'd love to be very modified, though I'm guessing there is a maximum in both Character points and funds initially...
And 3d6? Love it.
I am curious as to how this will interconnect with everything. Especially since I am getting Started with Shadowrun and Nova Praxis.
Still working on it. Run into a bit of a design bug.
Since the injury system uses results on a chart, each imposing particular penalties, 'damage over time' effects are hard to codify. It's easy to work out a DoT wearing away at your Health Pool each turn, but repeatedly rolling for injuries each turn once you're out of Health could get weird.
You get set on fire.
Turn 1: You lose 5 Health.
Turn 2: You lose 5 Health.
Turn 3: You lose 5 Health.
Turn 4: You lose 5 Health. No health remaining. Additional damage goes to a random injury chart.
Turn 5: You roll injury and get tendon damage in your right arm.
Turn 6: You roll injury and get temporary mental trauma.
Turn 7: You roll injury and get stunned for a round.
Turn 8: You roll injury and break your left leg.
???
I may have to make up multiple charts, for each damage type. It's a lot more work, but at least it will make injuries make more sense.
You get set on fire.
Turn 1: You lose 5 Health.
Turn 2: You lose 5 Health.
Turn 3: You lose 5 Health.
Turn 4: You lose 5 Health. No health remaining. Additional damage goes to a random injury chart.
Turn 5: You roll injury and get tendon damage in your right arm. []
Turn 6: You roll injury and get temporary mental trauma. []
Turn 7: You roll injury and get stunned for a round. []
Turn 8: You roll injury and break your left leg. []
;)
Srsly, perhaps the ultra specific hit locations could be made a little less specific for some of the splash/aura/area damage types, and then keep the specificity for more contained and random/less general/precise damage types?
The hit locations are on a d12:
1: Head
2-4: Torso
5-6, 7-8: Arm (left and right)
9-10, 11-12: Leg (left and right)
That's four injury charts.
Alternatively, I could make a fifth injury chart to represent overall nonlocational damage.
So your HP is per body part?
So if my arm gets set on fire the fire will slowly spread but my arm will be worse off than the rest of me? Or am I totally misunderstanding?
Your 'health' is universal. You only take 'injury', which is a condition with penalties (up to death) when you take damage beyond your remaining health OR get critically hit.
Critical hits don't do extra damage. Instead, they automatically cause injury even if you have health remaining.
Damage to a limb and damage to the head are no worse than each other when taking health damage; it all comes out of the same pool. However, injury to the head is much more debilitating.
So it is kind of like the Vigor and Wound Points Subsystem for Pathfinder? Only Injuries/Wounds are kind of like the Wound Penalties in Shadowrun.
Sort of. It'll be more clear when I post the full rules.
A simple example:
You have 20 health. You've taken 15 damage, so you have 5 remaining.
You take 10 damage to the left arm. You only have 5 health left, so that's subtracted.
The remaining 5 damage is added to a roll on the arm injury chart.
Example 2:
You have 20 health and have taken no damage.
You take 5 damage to the left arm, and it's a critical hit. You have 15 health left.
The remaining 15 health is subtracted from the injury roll on the arm chart.
Lower values on the injury chart are less debilitating or even trivial. Higher values are more severe, to the point of losing the location (death in the case of torso or head).
Ah. Makes a bit more sense but is odd to me.
Most games I have played like that have each area have its own damage value.
Like my own uses "Vigor" for general HP with Wounds being area specific and providing negative modifiers.
That's actually an option, although it does mean more bookkeeping. In any case, the 'pain penalty' you suffer to actions for having lots of damage on you (regardless of injury) is always the highest penalty; they don't stack. So if one location has taken a lot of damage, you'd still be overall penalised due to pain, but lots of locations having damage would still only impose the same penalty until you start rolling on the injury charts.
Interesting.
Mine I use it each location has 1 plus Endurance Wound Points with the Torso/Head, which is counted as one region, has (1+Endurance)x3 Wound Points. The negative Modifiers give you penalties to your overall dice pool, a Mechanic Akin to Shadowruns, and you take negatives that apply only to that Region or the Pain Negatives which comes from Stress/Vigor Damage. Though S/V is derived from 10 + Strength + Endurance +/-/various-other-mathimatical-symbol Modifiers.
Think of Wounds as the Physical Damage Track and Vigor as the Stun Damage Track from Shadowrun though without the stacking.
If you suffer double your Wound Points to a Region then it is considered lost.
This stuff is really getting cool.