The Accumulation of Capital (Syndicate/MCU)

[prometheus110]

[x] Reposition (further behind the generator)
[x] Trigger Fire Suppression System (trigger one or both of the CO2 and water-based fire suppression systems).
No. of Votes: 2
Nevill
Teocraso

Total No. of Voters: 2

Realising that your hailstorm of fire is having little effect on your enemies thanks to the thick armour of their riot shields, you pull away from the edge of the generator and pause for a moment as you try to think of a way to break up their formation. Mentally scrolling through your rapidly dwindling list of options, you freeze as an idea suddenly crystallizes in your mind and you grin savagely. Swiftly, you move away from the left edge of the generator you're using as cover and head towards its opposite edge, carefully staying away from the generator's metal body so as not to let your equipment collide with it and give away the fact that you're repositioning.

Within moments, you slide into place on the opposite edge of the generator and swiftly rise to a kneeling stance. Between the machine's bulky metal body and the battery in the opposite row, your field of fire is severely hampered but for what you're planning it's perfect. Hunching down, you bring your rifle's sight to your eye and line up your next shot before holding your breath and waiting for your enemy to appear.

Seconds seem to drag by like hours as the tension mounts, and you swear that your HUD's internal clock slows down as time crawls by. Like an insidious virus, the thought that the mercenaries spotted you moving enters your mind before, with a nervous flex of your hands, you force it aside and refocus on your goal. Suddenly, the first mercenary in their phalanx clears the body of the nearby battery and steps into view, and releasing a breath you didn't even realise you were holding, you have your DART highlight the Fire Suppression Systems' trigger. Nervously, you wait while the mercenaries steadily approach your last position and finally the last of them clears the battery. Smiling thinly, you trigger the Fire Suppression System and activate your trap.

Immediately, the deafening wail of emergency klaxons bursts out from all around you, the pitch and noise such that they could almost count as sonic weapons in their own right. Simultaneously, the murky darkness of the generator room is banished as dozens of emergency lights flare into life and fill the room with a macabre mix of blood red light and deep shadows that ooze menace. Before the mercenaries can react to either of those, however, the second stage of your plan interrupts. With the suddenness of a gunshot, dozens of spears of liquid CO2 lance down throughout the room from the ceiling above, followed swiftly by showers of water that turns to ice as the two parts of the suppression system interact in a way they weren't designed to.

To your satisfaction, one such jet of CO2 lands near the furthest mercenary to you, and you hear a shout of fear and pain as you see the liquid splash against what little bare skin he has. Moments later, the mercenaries are swathed in a foot-high fog bank of roiling CO2 gas as the liquid strikes room temperature concrete and boils viciously, and instantly the mercenaries start to cough as they start to breathe in the deadly gas. With the speed of panicked rabbits, the mercenary phalanx, minus the mercenary wearing sealed liquid armour, breaks apart as the riot-shield bearing troops dash forwards in an attempt to escape, unknowingly exposing their lightly armoured flanks to you.

As you raise your rifle to target the nearest shield-bearing mercenary, a little part of you mind notices that the remaining liquid armour equipped mercenary is carrying a Castellano shotgun.

That could be trouble, you note before opening fire.

Spoiler: Map Situation

====

Could I get a roll of 3D6?

 

[hcvquizibo]

ok

hcvquizibo threw 3 6-faced dice. Reason: lets go Total: 8

 

[prometheus110]

Spoiler: PC To Hit Roll

Roll: Finesse (3) *D6 versus 6
Player Roll: 8 versus 6 = Success!

Spoiler: Damage roll

Roll = 1D6+2
Merc #1: 6 damage - 2 toughness - 2 armour (body) = 2 wounds (2 wound left)
Merc #2: 6 damage - 2 toughness - 2 armour (body) = 2 wounds (1 wound left)
Merc #3: 7 damage - 2 toughness - 2 armour (body) = 3 wounds (1 wound left)

With a roar, your Kusanagi opens up on the confused mercenaries and a long stream of glowing bullets plunges into their sides and backs before punching through their body armour. Instantly, you see two of the mercenaries stumble and drop to the ground as dozens of bullets slam into their bodies, while the third merc half-twists towards you and raises his shield to block your onslaught. Your attack spent, you start to move back into cover when the fourth and final merc opens fire with his shotgun.

Spoiler: Explosive Round To Hit Roll

Roll: Finesse (3) * D6 (8 to hit nearby)
Rolls: 9 versus 14 = Fail To Hit Target (hits nearby)

With a sound like thunder, the Castellano shotgun roars and for a moment you think he's missed.

Then the world beneath your feet explodes.

Spoiler: Damage Roll

Roll = 2D6
Player: 3 damage - 3 toughness - 4 armour (body) = 0 wounds (2 wound left)

There's a moment of disconnect as everything goes black and you feel yourself go hurtling through the air. Despite knowing that you should be hearing the roar of generators and the rush of wind as you soar, all is silent save for a sound like the breaking of waves that ebbs and flows like the ocean. Slowly, you realise that you're hearing the blood rushing through your veins and then, without warning, you crash back to earth with a painful crack as your head slams into the concrete.

Momentarily stunned, you lie on the ground as hundreds of impossible colours swarm just out of reach like fantastical tropical fish. Meanwhile, lying just beyond the taunting colours, dozens of blurry white and blue masses hang like alien clouds suspended in the sky, their forms constantly shifting as you watch them. Despite your best efforts, you can't quite seem to recall what you're doing here…

Slowly, like a computer rebooting, you feel sections of your mind start to slot back into place and the clouds above your head eventually resolve into your DART's HUD. A moment later, the impossible colours vanish as your DART declares you fit for duty, and you remember what exactly is going on.

Mind whirling, you throw yourself back onto your feet and turn towards your enemies in time to see the fourth mercenary wrack their shotgun's pump handle determinedly as they stride towards you. Behind them, you see their three compatriots slowly starting to rise up and point their shields towards you.

Spoiler: Current Map

====

What do you do?
Combat Actions (choose one):
[] Breach the fourth mercenary's liquid armour, stun them, then shoot them.
[] Charge the fourth mercenary and attempt to disarm him.
[] Fire at the three riot-shield equipped mercenaries
[] Throw another grenade and, assuming you don't miss, open fire on them while they're distracted.
[] Reposition (where?)
[] Write in?

Remaining DART abilities (can pair one with a combat action):
[] Toggle Lights (turns lights on or off).
[] Overload Lights (cause the lights to overload and explode in a shower of glass and sparks).
[] Trigger Fire Suppression System (trigger one or both of the CO2 and water-based fire suppression systems).
[] Overload Battery (cause a specific battery to overload and release deadly arcs of electricity).
[] Backfire App (Causes the target chipped weapon to backfire and jam). [Ready!]

 

[Nevill]

[x] Throw the last grenade at the riot-shield wielding mercenaries.
[x] Overload Battery (cause a specific battery to overload and release deadly arcs of electricity).

 

[hcvquizibo]

[x] Throw the last grenade at the riot-shield wielding mercenaries.
[x] Overload Battery (cause a specific battery to overload and release deadly arcs of electricity).

 

[Tithed_Verse]

[x] Trigger H20 fire suppression system
[x] Overload Battery (cause a specific battery to overload and release deadly arcs of electricity).​

 

[prometheus110]

Voting will close in an hour as I want to get this section finished today.

 

[prometheus110]

[x] Throw the last grenade at the riot-shield wielding mercenaries.
[x] Overload Battery (cause a specific battery to overload and release deadly arcs of electricity).
No. of Votes: 2
Nevill
hcvquizibo

Thinking fast, you snatch your last remaining viral grenade from your harness with one hand and hurl it towards the central mercenary of the rapidly reassembling group before your DART has even finished setting the timer.

Spoiler: PC Grenade Throw roll

Roll: 3D6 (-2 from darkness) versus 8
PC Rolls: 10 (-2 = 8) versus 8 = Success!

As the dark cylinder leaves your hand, time slows to a crawl as the progress bar in the corner of your eye fills towards completion at a snail's pace. A moment before the grenade leaves the range of your DART, the bar fills up with a happy ding of completion before being replaced by a barely noticeable countdown. Instantly, the world snaps back into motion and the now active grenade seems to rocket away as time accelerates, the fourth mercenary opening fire an instant later as they approach.

Spoiler: Castellano To Hit Roll

Roll: 3 * (Finesse (3) * D6) versus Finesse (3) *D6
Rolls: 7 versus 10 = Fails!
Rolls: 13 versus 17 = Fails!
Rolls: 6 versus 12 = Fails!

Once, twice, three times the Castellano shotgun roars like a lion as the mercenary pumps round after round at you. Twisting once, twice, three times, you manage to dodge the cloud of uranium pellets thrown at you like heavy rain. Suddenly, the roar of the shotgun cuts off as the trigger clicks dry and with a start, the mercenary frantically starts reloading.

My turn, you think bitterly, and with that, you shift your attention to the battery behind the mercenary.

With a single thought, your militarised DART chip connects to the dumpster-sized battery's maintenance connection before unleashing a torrent of meldware a heartbeat later. As before, decades upon decades worth of cyberwarfare knowledge from both sides clash in a fraction of a second; defences falling, rising, and falling again and again as the battery's processor desperately tries to fend off your assault assault

Spoiler: PC Battery Breach roll

Roll: 3D6 versus 8
PC Rolls: 11 versus 8 = Success!

After an age of struggle in automated cyberwarfare terms, your DART reports that it has successfully breached the battery's defences, and with a thin smile, you tell the device to overload.

For a moment, all is quiet save the background rumble of generators and the rising whine of the overstrained fuel system. Then, without warning, there's a sound like thunder.

With a flash of light so bright that your DART is forced to activate your augmented eyes' polarized visors, the battery lets loose a bolt of electricity as thick as your wrist and easily ten meters long. Like a frenzied viper, the rope of electricity whips this way and that in the space of a few seconds, the brilliant cable of light smashing into fuel pipes and generators with equal abandon and spraying molten metal into the air. As quickly as it appears, the thick snake of electricity disappears and for a moment you worry that that was all.

And then the battery fails catastrophically and the real assault begins.

Banging, howling, and crackling, the battery lets loose a torrent of electricity as safeguard after safeguard fails and the accumulated energy of hours breaks free from confinement. Faster than you can keep up, the noise of the failure transforms into a solid wall of pressure that physically shoves you with each boom, and even with your eyes' polarization active you're forced to clamp a hand to your face and crouch down.

Hunched down low to the ground, the world seems to compress inwards until all that's left is you and the maelstrom of noise and light. Boom after boom rings out with the speed of a hummingbird's wing beats, each wall of noise accompanied by a brilliant flash that turns your hand transparent and freezes the world beyond like a stop-motion picture.

Spoiler: Electricity To Hit Roll

Roll: Finesse (3) * D6 versus 8
Merc #1: 9 versus 8 = Success!
Merc #2: 12 versus 8 = Success!
Merc #4: 8 versus 8 = Success!

Spoiler: Electricity Damage Roll

Roll: 2D6+2
Merc #1: 13 damage - 2 toughness - 2 armour (body) - 3 armour (shield) = 4 wounds (0 wound left)
Merc #2: 8 damage - 2 toughness - 2 armour (body) - 3 armour (shield) = 1 wounds (0 wound left)
Merc #4: 11 damage - 2 toughness - 6 armour (body) = 3 wounds (1 wound left)

Slowly, you feel the world expand outwards again and you realise with a start that the deafening and blinding light show is over. Removing your hand from your face, you rise up and look around at the scene of devastation.

Of the three shield-bearing mercenaries only the furthest one from the battery remains standing, the other two lying sprawled on the floor meters from where they were standing and smouldering lightly. The remaining shield-bearing mercenary, meanwhile, stands shocked; their mouth hanging open at the violence of the display and their pistol dangling loosely at their side.

An instant later, the viral grenade you threw seemingly a lifetime ago activates, and the final shield-bearing mercenary drops to the ground and screams.

Turning away from the neutralized threat, you look at the fourth mercenary and catch sight of an image from hell. Standing in front of the burnout wreck of the battery, the fourth mercenary's liquid armour hisses and crackles like a barbecue as water from the sky splashes against its now molten surface. As you watch, a shimmers starts to envelop the now radiant yellow surface of the mercenary's armour as hot air, rather than the armour's stabilizing field, begins to refract the light around them.

If you had to guess, you'd say that the safety systems in the liquid armour saved their life. And given the way they're wracking their shotgun, it protected their shotgun, too.

Spoiler: Current Map

====

What do you do?
Combat Actions (choose one):
[] Switch to single-shot and fire at the fourth mercenary.
[] Move in close to the fourth mercenary and take them out via melee combat
[] Fire at the remaining shield-bearing mercenary and reposition.
[] Write in?

Remaining DART abilities (can pair one with a combat action):
[] Toggle Lights (turns lights on or off).
[] Overload Lights (cause the lights to overload and explode in a shower of glass and sparks).
[] Trigger Fire Suppression System (trigger one or both of the CO2 and water-based fire suppression systems).
[] Overload Battery (cause a specific battery to overload and release deadly arcs of electricity).
[] Backfire App (Causes the target chipped weapon to backfire and jam). [Ready!]

 

[Nevill]

[x] Move in close to the fourth mercenary and take them out via melee combat
[x] Backfire App (Causes the target chipped weapon to backfire and jam). [Ready!]

Finish him!

 

[Erehwon]

[x] Move in close to the fourth mercenary and take them out via melee combat
[x] Backfire App (Causes the target chipped weapon to backfire and jam). [Ready!]

 

[prometheus110]

Voting will close in 20 minutes

 

[prometheus110]

[x] Move in close to the fourth mercenary and take them out via melee combat
[x] Backfire App (Causes the target chipped weapon to backfire and jam). [Ready!]
No. of Votes: 2
Nevill
Erehwon

Total No. of Voters: 2

====

Thinking quickly, you lower your head and charge towards the mercenary like a linebacker while bringing up the list of applications in the corner of your eye. With an almost subconscious flicker of your eye, you select the Backfire app and hurl it at your target; the semi-automated cyberwarfare tool opening a connection to the weapon and starting its attack as your powerful strides eat up the distance between you and your target.

Spoiler: Backfire app

Roll: Intelligence (3) * D6 versus 8
Player Roll: 11 versus 8 = Success!

With a thunderous boom, the shotgun's chambered slug explodes like a miniature grenade; depleted uranium shrapnel spraying out of the chamber and slamming into the still-molten surface of the mercenary's armour. Despite the suddenness of the explosion, the mercenary seems unfazed and simply tosses the jammed weapon aside before reaching for the pistol at his side. Immediately, you toss aside your rifle and throw yourself forward.

Spoiler: Player Charge Roll

Roll: Dexterity (3) * D6 versus Dexterity (2) * D6
Player Roll: 12 versus 11 = Success!

Spoiler: Melee Damage Roll

Roll: Strength (3) * D6
Merc #4: 8 damage - 2 toughness - 6 armour (body) = 0 wounds (1 wound left)

With a bone jarring crunch that knocks the wind from your lungs, you slam into the suited figure's waist, molten polymer splashing onto your back and shoulders as you slam the mercenary's body into the wreck of the battery behind them. Ignoring the starburst of pain that flares into existence across your shoulders, you push yourself away from the mercenary and send a lethal kick at their kidneys, but with cat-like reflexes, the mercenary blocks the blow with a forearm; their suit's armour cracking under the force of the blow and artificial muscle fibres visible straining.

Before you can pull away or try another attack, the mercenary counters with a savage blow to your knee.

Spoiler: Mercenary Melee Roll

Roll: Dexterity (2) * D6 versus Dexterity (2) * D6 (-1 die due to being countered)
Merc #4: 9 versus 5 = Success!

Spoiler: Mercenary Melee Damage Roll

Roll: Strength (2) * D6
Player: 8 damage - 3 toughness - 4 armour (body) = 1 wounds (4 wound left)
Stress gained: 1 (total = 2. 1 more point until rolling)

With the smack of meat hitting meat, the mercenary's palm slams into your knee and sends you spinning away. A stabbing pain shooting up through your leg as the joint protests its treatment. Twisting, you turn into the momentum and lightly spring backwards before steadying yourself and seeing that the mercenary took advantage of the space to push away from the battery.

Growling, you send a lethal glare at the mercenary before dashing forward and throwing an equally deadly punch at their visored head.

Spoiler: Player's Melee Roll

Roll: Dexterity (3) * D6 versus Dexterity (2) * D6
Player Roll: 12 versus 7 = Success!

Spoiler: Player Melee Damage Roll

Roll: Strength (3) * D6
Player: 7 damage - 2 toughness - 6 armour (body) = 0 wounds (1 wound left)

Despite your best efforts, the punch doesn't fully connect as the mercenary jerks their head backwards and your fist delivers a glancing blow before sliding off. Angry now, you send a quick flurry of blows to the mercenary's stomach and chest before they can counter attack; each blow too weak to injure them but followed quickly enough to keep the mercenary on the back foot.

Spoiler: Mercenary Melee Roll

Roll: Dexterity (2) * D6 versus Dexterity (3) * D6
Merc #4: 4 versus 10 = Fail!

Seeking to break out of your flurry of attacks, the mercenary aims a wild haymaker for your head only to have you duck out of the way and allowing them to overextend their arm.

Spoiler: Player's Melee Roll

Roll: Dexterity (3) * D6 versus Dexterity (2) * D6
Player Roll: 11 versus 7 = Success!

Spoiler: Player Melee Damage Roll

Roll: Strength (3) * D6
Player: 6 damage - 2 toughness - 6 armour (body) = 0 wounds (1 wound left)

With a savage blow, you jab a knife-like hand into the mercenary's exposed kidneys as their momentum carries them around. With a creak of protest, the thin layer of liquid armour protecting them there stiffens as it should, but you can see hairline fractures start to form in some of the damaged cells. Pulling back, you deliver a kick to the mercenary's lower back that causes them to stumble a few steps away before regaining their footing.

Narrowing your eyes, you tense your muscles and prepare to leap at them once more when they suddenly start scrambling for the pistol hanging at their side once more.

Spoiler: Player's Melee Roll

Roll: Dexterity (3) * D6 versus Dexterity (2) * D6
Player Roll: 11 versus 8 = Success!

Spoiler: Player Melee Damage Roll

Roll: Strength (3) * D6
Player: 10 damage - 2 toughness - 6 armour (body) = 2 wounds (0 wound left)

Leaping forwards, you crash into the mercenary just as they manage to draw their pistol from their holster and with a quick chop to the wrist you send the backup weapon skittering away into the darkness. Before they can react, you send a quick jab into their helmet and grin as their visor crack under the force and they go stumbling away. Pressing the advantage, you move in close and easily counter a few weak blows before sending another chop towards the merc, this one aimed at their throat.

With a meaty snapping sound, the blow connects solidly and the mercenary instantly goes limp like a puppet with their strings cut. As they crumple to the floor, you watch them for any sign of movement before being satisfied, and somewhat disturbed, by their body's stillness.

Turning away from the corpse, you retrieve your rifle and dispassionately deal with the still screaming mercenary who was caught in your viral grenade's detonation. Alone now, you shut down the fire suppression system before checking the countdown timer running in your HUD and sitting down with your back against a generator as the numbers turn red and start to pulse.

****

Three… You think as the floor starts to rumble once more. Unlike previous times, this rumble doesn't die away but instead grows and grows.

Two… Fuel pipes throughout the generator room start to burst under the pressure and spray their contents into the air like petrochemical showers

One… The rumbling, slowly growing in strength throughout, suddenly increases in power until it seems as if the whole world is shaking. As you watch, more and more pipes start to fail as they are literally shaken apart and oily waves of fuel slosh across the floor like an alien sea.

Coughing on the fumes, you raise your rifle and point it at a nearby pipe.

"Zero," you mutter before pulling the trigger.
====

OOC: Your SynDAQ Rating will be handled tomorrow as will character creation. Hard to believe that it only took 16 days and ~20,000 words to get there!

Article:

DART CHIP: SYNDAQ RATING

/ OPERATIONS MANUAL
Entry: SynDAQ Rating
Type: Executive performance, evaluation

FUNCTIONALITY
At the end of each mission, the internal performance monitoring subsystem in DART analyzes and ranks the in-combat performance of the executive.

Based on the executive's performance in the mission, an overall ranking is calculated. Users are to be aware that these operational rankings will be used in future promotion reviews and should strive to achieve the highest rank possible: //CEO

Your DART stores your historical high scores for each of these performance markers on an individual mission basis.

/ Performance Goals
ExecutiveOps analyzes executive performance on the following six parameters:

> Objectives Completed
> Total Kills (or effectiveness of stealth, circumstances depending)
> Resource Preservation (Human and Matériel)
> Budgetary Usage
> Time Taken
> Miscellaneous
/ end of entry

Source: SynDAQ Rating

 

[Nevill]

The rolls. The horror.

Who'd think the climax of the mission is going to turn into a slapfight.

Spoiler

 

[prometheus110]

The rolls. The horror.

Who'd think the climax of the mission is going to turn into a slapfight.

Spoiler

Click to shrink...

To be fair to the mercenary, they were literally on fire for a lot of it.

You have no excuse, though.

 

[Pyro Hawk]

If we can take some bonuses to dice rolling in Character Creation, I'm all for it... Because this question seems to have Cursed Dice... Not Troll, not Tsundere, not even Bard Dice... But Cursed Dice...

 

[prometheus110]

> Objectives Completed

• Infiltrated Facility
• Disabled anti-aircraft weaponry
• Destroyed Facility

> Total Kills (or effectiveness of stealth, circumstances depending)

• Enemies bypassed by infiltration team: 8
  • 8x Mercenary Troopers

• Enemies killed by infiltration team: 2
  • 2x Mercenary Troopers

• Enemies killed by executive: 9
  • 1x Cybernetically enhanced Hyena
  • 4x Mercenary Troopers
  • 3x Riot-shield Mercenaries
  • 1x Liquid Armour Mercenary

• Enemies killed by Distraction team: 20
  • 15x Mercenary Troopers
  • 2x Rocket Troopers
  • 3x Liquid Armour Troopers

> Resource Preservation (Human and Matériel)

• Infiltration Team: 4/5 squad members
  • 2x Liquid armour (minimal damage. Returned)
  • 1x EWAR Gear (Destroyed)
  • Agent Initiate (KIA)

• Distraction Team: 5/5 squad members
  • 2x Liquid armour (medium damage. Returned)
  • 3x Reactive Armour (medium damage. Returned)
  • 5x Level 2 weapons (minimal damage. Returned)
  • 1x EWAR Gear (Expended. Returned)

• Shrike Gunship: 1/1 (no damage. RTB)

> Budgetary Usage

• All budgeted items used. Overwhelming majority returned.

> Time Taken

• Sub-30 minutes

> Miscellaneous

• Prisoner captured.
  • Current Status: undergoing interrogation

Overall Ranking: CEO

 

[prometheus110]

Two Months Later

Rain hammers against the tin roof of your bungalow like someone tap-tap-tapping on your skull, each muffle tap causing a dull ache to flare up inside your hungover brain as the raindrops strike. Groaning, you squeeze your eyes tightly shut and roll onto your stomach before grabbing a pillow and pulling it over your head in desperation.

Why does God punish good people? You think to yourself as quietly as you can as the incessant hammering continues. Despite very much enjoying the array of drinks at the launch party last night, today you feel awful enough to consider swearing off alcohol entirely. Well, almost awful enough.

Groaning, you concede defeat and experimentally open one eye to a dimly-lit and spartan bedroom and wait for the sudden but inevitable betrayal of your DART. As if to oblige you, your DART's HUD immediately snaps into view with a gentle chiming sound as it decides that you're awake enough to start the day, and with a frown, you open your other eye. Despite being the result of direct nerve interception and overlay, you swear that the sudden intrusion of noise and colour into your life makes you queasy, and you half-heartedly think a curse towards whoever invented the DART.

Slowly pushing yourself off of your traitorously comfortable bed, you order your DART to partially depolarize the floor-to-ceiling windows behind you and to start the coffee machine. Slowly, like a veil rising from bottom to top, the windows slowly become transparent and let through the warm light of morning on a Cuban beach. With a grin, you soak in the view of sapphire waters and white sand knowing that it'll be a while before you can do it again. Sighing, you turn away from the heavenly view, move to the bathroom and look in the mirror.

You look like crap, to be frank. Highly-paid, very skilled crap. But crap nonetheless. Narrowing your eyes in mock-suspicion, you tell the mirror show you the latest news relevant to you and at the top is a section of an earlier interview with Alessandra Barone —host of the most watched news show in the world— about your recent heroics in the Okavango. Grinning once again, you order your DART to display your latest message and start cutting through the early morning cruft.

"So," says Alessandra, her husky French voice crawling directly into your brain via your DART, "let me get this straight."

"An executive on holiday, a former soldier turned poacher-hunter, and a squad of EuroCorp security personnel get tapped to stop an apocalypse cult from releasing a doomsday weapon from a defunct Syndicate and destroying the world as we know it, correct?"

"Essentially? Yes," you mutter the well-rehearsed response absent-mindedly as you shift a dozen messages into the trash. A moment later, your muttered response is echoed by the you on screen, albeit with considerably more enthusiasm.

Laughing, Alessandra touches one hand to her throat in mock-surprise before smiling brightly. "Okay," she says with a chuckle, "I think I speak for all my viewers when I ask: When is the movie coming out?"

"Well," you hear yourself respond humbly, "I wouldn't want to ruin the marketing plan..."

Before you even finish your sentence, the audience 'awwww' loudly in disappointment. Even knowing that each and every member was carefully selected from a pool of thousands by an AI and primed to respond thanks to subconscious cues injected into their brain by their DART, you can't help but be swept along by the tide of emotion.

"Buuuut," you hear yourself say, "I can tell my friend Alessandra that she should keep her schedule free for next February."

Rolling your eyes at the forced friendliness, you winnow your messages down to the final few and cut the feed entirely as the disappointed 'aww' of the audience dissolves into laughter.

The first message is from the head of EuroCorp security herself and is a courtesy letter letting you know that the prisoner your team delivered was exceedingly helpful. She also mentioned that, as per your promise, he wasn't harmed and was given a rather nice reward 'for services rendered.'

The second message is rather more interesting. It seems as if your old friend Damien Lockhart was passed over for promotion again. Getting passed over for two promotions in as many months at your cut-throat level of business? Sounds like someone's going to have to retire early. Shame.

The third and final message is…

"Oh god dammit," you mutter in annoyance as you scan over the contents.

'Heya, boss,' starts the short message from Ellie, your chipper executive assistant.

'I know you hate doing this, but the marketing people in New York would like you to go over your details again. They just want to make sure that they have the basics right before they feed it to the AI and have it write your biography.'

Growling, you open the accompanying attachment and start editing.
===

OOC: Welcome to character generation! Here you'll build the player character by assigning 11 points across 6 stats and by selecting both a background and a previous career track. Please be aware that you must have a minimum of 0 points in a stat after background and career choices are factored in

The uses of most of the stats should be pretty self-explanatory, but I've added descriptions for the ones that aren't, and you should feel free to ask me questions whenever.

Stats:
Toughness: 0
Strength: 0
Intelligence: 0
Charisma: 0
Dexterity: 0 (Used for athletic rolls such as running, jumping, dodging, and close combat)
Finesse: 0 (Used for rolls such as shooting, throwing, and other things that require accuracy or fine motor skills)

Wounds = toughness+strength.

Backgrounds:
[] Downzone Prodigy:

Somewhat looked down on by others in the corporate food chain as being an intruder into their rarefied heights, you've fought against stereotypes and biases for decades and in the process have become part of a new, hungry pack of EuroCorp executives. While some bitter losers might write ten-page manifestos about how diversity hires drag down the company, you know for a fact that you've had to work twice as hard to get the same amount of recognition.

+1 to Intelligence, Charisma, or Toughness.​

[] Middle-class Achiever:

A (figurative) step above the Downzoners, your purely middle-class family was inordinately proud of you for managing to get a foot in the door with EuroCorp thanks to an athletics scholarship. Though you've had to deal with your fair share of arrogant asses in your time slowly climbing the ranks, your drive and endurance slowly won over your colleagues and earned the grudging respect of your most ardent critics. While some doors still refuse to open for you due to your less-than-illustrious background, you can honestly say that you've made it far on your skill and drive.

+1 Dexterity, Strength or Toughness.​

[] Upzone Ladder Climber:

Born to a family with their heads in the clouds —literally— your first taste of success was when you got a job at a EuroCorp subsidiary run by a family friend and you've been hungry for more ever since. Wielding cunning and charisma like weapons, you swiftly advanced up the corporate ladder there before transitioning into EuroCorp-proper. Known as a bit of a shark, you've maintained your pre-eminence through a variety of means which rankles those you surpass, but which cause your bosses to love you. You've also shamelessly exploited the fact that, unlike some people whose backgrounds are less illustrious, certain doors are open to you that would otherwise be closed.

+1 Charisma or Finesse.​

[] Executive Brat:

As the scion of two EuroCorp executives, your parents ensured that you always had the best of everything as a child; tutors, schools, toys, gene-mods, you name it. If it was prestigious for a kid to have it, your parents made sure that everyone knew you did. Outwardly, you're the archetypal scion of the rich and powerful rulers of the world who sees countless hidden doors open wide without ever having to knock. Privately, you've never wanted for anything in your life and yet you've always felt that you've never been good enough or achieved enough. You push yourself constantly in an attempt to the best at everything, and you do everything you can to hide the cost from anyone who gets close to you.

+1 to any three stats, permanent +1 stress.​

Previous Career Track:
[] Research & Development:

Previously in charge of the research lab directly responsible for enabling this opportunity, the transition to your new role as head of an asset realization team was, while a little odd, something of a just reward for your achievement. While you've never held a gun before (mostly because that's what guards are for), you know that your impressive intellect and your extensive experience in both research and development will be vital to ensuring the success of the project.

+1 Intelligence and Finesse, and bonus to research projects (material and money cost reduction) or engineering projects (material and money cost reduction).​

[] Enforcement:

More at home in a uniform than a suit and tie, you previously headed up one of EuroCorp's elite Enforcer divisions and were personally present during several military actions in the Syndicate war. Indeed, it was the success of these operations (and your recent actions in the Okavango) that led to you being tapped for command of a Midas mission as, while you lack the R&D and Agent Operation credentials that most executives involved in the project have, you more than makeup for them in leadership ability, intelligence assessment skills, and combat experience.

Add +1 bonus to Finesse and Strength, and bonus to spy or security action rolls (extra dice or secret actions).​

[] Agent Operations:

Prior to your involvement in the latest EuroCorp experiment you were involved in Agent Operations conducted across the globe. Washington, Taipei, Melbourne, Moscow, and more, you commanded Agent activities in all of these locations and conducted tasks ranging from pure assassinations to thefts of technology and head hunting. While you primarily took on a mission control role during these operations, your familiarity with Agents and their abilities, and your own skill at identifying problem areas and/or valuable materials lend you an advantage over other executives when using the marionette system.

+1 Toughness and Dexterity, and reduction to agent-related project* costs (material and cash) or bonus to agent-related project* effectiveness.
*E.G limb replacements, cybernetic improvements, etc.

​

[] PR, Marketing, & Negotiation:

More at home in glitzy ballrooms than CICs, and in front of cameras than assault rifles, you're the first to admit that the change in career from PR & Marketing to interdimensional piracy is a bit of a weird one. Still, it seemed like a good idea at the time to apply when rumours started flowing of an exciting new opportunity that could lead to fame and fortune, and your impressive diplomatic abilities and calmness under (verbal) fire ensured you got it.

+1 Charisma and Dexterity, and access to secret diplomacy and relationship options where applicable.​

 

[Tithed_Verse]

[X] Middle-class Achiever
[X] PR, Marketing, & Negotiation

 

[prometheus110]

[X] Middle-class Achiever
[X] PR, Marketing, & Negotiation

Click to shrink...

You should probably assign the other 11 points unless you want to have 0 skill in everything. (I really hope I wrote that part in there )

 

[hcvquizibo]

[X] plan all the best TOYS

[X] Executive Brat
[X] Research & Development

Stats:
[X] Toughness: 2
[X] Strength: 1
[X] Intelligence: 4
[X] Charisma: 3
[X] Dexterity: 2
[X] Finesse: 2

 

[Nevill]

What was our stats distribution for the mission we just undertook? Just so we had a point of reference.

 

[Nevill]

[x] Gentleman Sniper

[x] Executive Brat
[x] Agent Operations

[X] Toughness: 1 (2)
[X] Strength: 1
[X] Intelligence: 2 (3)
[X] Charisma: 2 (3)
[X] Dexterity: 2 (3)
[X] Finesse: 3 (4)

[X] plan all the best TOYS

Click to shrink...

I think you have 2 more stat points. You have 11 basic, +3 from Executive Brat, and +2 from Researcher.

 

[Pyro Hawk]

@prometheus110

Just a question, but how problematic will the permanent +1 Stress from Executive Brat be? Or how hard will it be for the other three backgrounds to earn higher stats?
Because right now, I don't see any reason to ever take one of the other three options considering that it's a free 2 additional stat points and the +1 stress doesn't feel like it'll be a significant problem.

I mean, if Stress is really hard to reduce, easy to gain and/or exceptionally difficult to deal with, or an Executive Brat has a penalty to gaining additional stat points, then there's a reason... But not as it appears right now.

Also, can we get more information on what each stat does? I mean, sure, it's easy to figure out/we've been shown what they do whilst in 'Agent/Mission Mode'... But I'd like to know what each stat benefits in the 'Strategic/Project Mode'...

Like, and I'm just guessing here, Charisma benefits diplomacy actions, Intelligence scientific and engineering tasks and both probably work together to improve leadership. Toughness probably allows us to deal with stress easier and maybe gain additional personal/minor actions temporarily because we can 'tough out' the lack of sleep and the like needed to gain the additional time... but do the others have any effect?

 

[prometheus110]

What was our stats distribution for the mission we just undertook? Just so we had a point of reference.

Click to shrink...

You had three in everything because I figured it was best to give you a well-rounded character.


FYI, when you puppet an agent, you add the value of your stats to their's using the following formula: agent stat + (0.5*your stat) with your stat being rounded down to a minimum of 0. I.E if they have dex 2 and you have dex 2, they get raised to dex 3 because 2+ (0.5*2) = 3.

A similar thing occurs when you're running mission control for an Enforcer team. It's not entirely scientific, but it means that you're incentivized to choose between being a murder machine and a boss.

@prometheus110

Just a question, but how problematic will the permanent +1 Stress from Executive Brat be? Or how hard will it be for the other three backgrounds to earn higher stats?
Because right now, I don't see any reason to ever take one of the other three options considering that it's a free 2 additional stat points and the +1 stress doesn't feel like it'll be a significant problem.

I mean, if Stress is really hard to reduce, easy to gain and/or exceptionally difficult to deal with, or an Executive Brat has a penalty to gaining additional stat points, then there's a reason... But not as it appears right now.

Also, can we get more information on what each stat does? I mean, sure, it's easy to figure out/we've been shown what they do whilst in 'Agent/Mission Mode'... But I'd like to know what each stat benefits in the 'Strategic/Project Mode'...

Like, and I'm just guessing here, Charisma benefits diplomacy actions, Intelligence scientific and engineering tasks and both probably work together to improve leadership. Toughness probably allows us to deal with stress easier and maybe gain additional personal/minor actions temporarily because we can 'tough out' the lack of sleep and the like needed to gain the additional time... but do the others have any effect?

Click to shrink...

I borrowed the whole stress idea from Darkest Dungeons so there are actually two layers to it.

The first layer is the stress points themselves which you gain every time you're injured during combat or generally stressed out.

On their own, stress points aren't too bad as they don't impact you in any way and you naturally burn off stress over time, with that process can be accelerated by taking R&R. That said, once you have more than 3 stress points, I start rolling stress checks to see if you suffer a break. If you pass the check, nothing happens and you might lose a stress point but if you fail the check, you gain some kind of quirk and all your stress points are cleared.

The second layer of the stress system is quirks, and these can have a variety of effects. Among the effects are things such as permanent or semi-permanent stat changes, traits that give you buffs or maluses in specific situations, and PTSD and things of that nature.


Now, regarding how stats work on a strategic level, there's some leeway as to which skills can be used in a given situation due to activities requiring a mix of skills or skills having some overlap. That said, generally speaking, it works like this:

Strength: Used in working late.
Toughness: Used in dealing with stress (if you suffer a break, you can attempt a toughness check versus your stress roll to see if you ignore the effect but it doesn't clear your stress).
Intelligence: Used in engineering and research tasks.
Dexterity: No idea, I'll think of something
Finesse: Used in spying tasks.
Charisma: Used in diplomacy tasks.

 

[prometheus110]

Hey, I just want to let you people know that I won't be updating tonight.