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This post is gonna be pretty hastily done 'til I can piece together my ruleset again due to monitor failure.
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The year is 2257. The inhabitants of the Milky Way galaxy are mostly at peace with each other, save for the odd territorial feud. However, the Terran Confederation is suffering from considerable internal strife due to corruption and rebelling worlds on the borders of it's space. It cannot spare the forces to stamp out every single uprising...
The planet Almaren is a mix of tropical and desert terrain, with sharp shifts to ice at the poles. Almaren is primarily a mining colony, and is fairly prosperous, for the most part. However, in response to an earlier uprising, the Almaren Council have employed heavy-handed tactics to put down further rebellions in their tracks... or so they thought. Their plan has merely backfired, strengthening the existing Almaren Rebel Coalition considerably.
The Almaren Rebel Coalition (ARC) are mostly disenfranchised miners and civilians who have, simply put, "had it" with the Almaren Council's behaviour. They primarily use outdated kinetic weaponry and modified mining equipment, with occasional weapons stolen from CSF forces. Their vehicles are mostly modified civilian vehicles with kitbashed armour, though they do have a small pool of captured CSF vehicles at their disposal. Infantry armour consists of miner's trenchcoats lined with large pads and covered with thin-but-firm strips of well-polished metal. Whilst it is heavy and primitive, it proves useful against CSF laser weaponry due to it's reflective capabilities.
The CSF, or Colonial Security Force, is the Almaren Council's right hand, and consist of conscripted civilian personnel. Their loyalty, training and equipment are subpar, and they would pose no threat to an actual invasion force. The CSF primarily use laser weapons, backed up by missile launchers and portable laser cannons. They mostly employ R-19 Salamander Light Recon Vehicles (similar to today's HMMWV (aka Humvee) albeit somewhat advanced) and R-24 Wyvern Medium Recon Vehicles although they have a small pool of T-57 Guardian APCs and a small squadron of C-89 Saberfang Tanks. CSF armour is mostly composite-based and effective against hollow-point rounds, although less useful against full metal jacketed bullets.
A single CSF Wyvern with eight crew speeds off towards an abandoned mining complex for a routine recon mission...
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That's 2 NPCs and 6 players, for those curious. I can't say more without spoiling the plot. :)
This is not first-come first-serve. I will be considering people based on their roleplaying skill, the believability of their character, and spelling/grammar.
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Sheet;
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Species:
Specialty:
Appearance:
Personality:
History:
The signup rules are simple;
1. Semi-realistic scifi. That means;
1a. No psionics, magic, or other silly special powers.
1b. No supernatural beings. That includes, but is not limited to; angels, demons, vampires, ghosts, etc. etc.
1c. There are alien races, but see the rule below first.
1d. Humanoids are fair game, but anything weird and wacky is right out. I'm not going to faff around adjusting my ruleset just because someone wants to play a carbosilicate amorph.
1e. As a sidenote, Almaren is a primarily human colony, although it does have it's fair share of aliens too.
2. Your characters are CSF troops, and thus do not get any fancy-pants equipment. I'll notify you of what equipment you have later. See below for further information on how to influence your starting gear.
3. Your specialty will modify your starting equipment, so if your specialty is marksmanship, you might start with a sniper rifle. Specialties can be just about anything - medical, explosives, repair, electronics and so on.
3a. Try and make your specialties compliment those of other players. This means not everyone should be a front-line fighter.
3b. You don't have to choose a specialty, and you won't particularly suffer if you do so, so if you can't choose, just put "None".
4. Feel free to expand the Appearance, Personality and History sections beyond one line, but please avoid going overboard!
5. If you want to increase your chances of getting in, PM me some of your past roleplaying. This can work both ways, though. If I see that it's bad or unsuitable for the style of the game, then it might lower your chances.
6. LoA is one of my most ambituous projects yet, and is pretty much a base for my newest set of rules, including extensive modifications to the combat/interaction system. There are a lot of rules besides these, and I will post them as soon as I can. Don't worry though, they're not really complex and you aren't the one that has to do all the numberwork. After all, if I'm not having fun running things because I have to crunch too many numbers, something is going wrong. :grin:
7. This game's actions are decided by the roll of a d20. 1 is a critical failure, 2-10 are fails, 11-19 are successes and 20 is a critical success. Pretty simple. These numbers can change - more on that in the extended rules.
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Please form an orderly queue and I'll review your applications as soon as I can. If I feel there are some unintentional flaws in an otherwise good character, I may point them out to you.
I will probably be keeping the player list to 6 for the time being, but later in the campaign, an extra "squad" (who will get their own thread) might open up due to the way the storyline will work, and there will be opportunities to get in by replacing any characters who die in battle, or other circumstances...
If you want to ask questions, feel free to PM me or post in here. Don't ask stupid questions, though.
Lastly, I don't want to have to call in the mods, but if you don't get in, you don't get in. Also, I am tired of inactive or inexperienced players acting as dead weight in my games, so please don't try and weigh things down. The list below will be the confirmed characters - not everyone who signs up.
Player List:
1. Open
2. Open
3. Open
4. Open
5. Open
6. Open
~~
Extensive rules pending/below.
1. Critical Failure. If you were trying to disarm a bomb, you might futz it and accidentally set it off in your own face. Your gun might jam, overheat, or accidentally eject it's ammo.
2-10. Failure. For example, you might fail to dodge an enemy attack, or you might stumble when running on rocky terrain. Generally not too bad, but still...
11-19. Success. You aimed straight, threw well, dodged an attack, and so on. Nothing too amazing here.
20. Critical success. You quickdraw your pistol and headshot someone to your side without aiming, defused a bomb whilst blind and deaf (ie, with no guidance), or did something equally ludicrous.
In combat, you get two actions. For example, you can shoot twice (unaimed shots are called snapshots), or aim up to Aim I and shoot once, or fire a burst of shots (ARs and SMGs only).
Note that a difficulty modifier might be applied. A negative DM is good. A positive DM is bad. Negative DMs add to your success chances - a DM of -1 means you can succeed on a 10. A DM of +2 means that you'll fail even if you roll a 12. A DM can go as far as +/- 9 - a crit of either kind is still a crit of either kind... so you can still critically fail an really easy task. :)
You don't need to roll the dice for everything; just major actions (lock-picking, bomb-defusal, combat, etc.) - so don't worry about accidentally hurting yourself when you critically fail at closing a door and end up slamming it on your own foot.
DMs are used to account for many many things, such as terrain and aiming conditions, so for each major modifier, your DM may move one step.
DMs apply to every action with a dice roll, not just combat actions. For example, a character who has experience at picking locks may get a DM bonus when picking locks, but a DM penalty when trying to defuse a bomb or apply first aid.
Examples;
Fred has a sniper rifle with an 8x magnification scope and target identification system. This gives him an automatic -1 DM when sniping, as it allows him to more easily identify and hit his targets, even if he fires only moments after taking to his scope. However, his target is running across an open street. Their movement adds a +1 DM to Fred's fire roll, negating the bonus from his scope and ID system. However, let's say that Fred has been watching the street for a couple of minutes, and has been waiting for the target to make their move. Because he's ready and aimed at where he thinks the target is, he gets a -2 DM if they do make a run for it. Thus, he can succeed on a 9. But he can do better - we'll cover that later.
Sam is in the gunner seat of a fast-moving vehicle with a light machinegun. He is shooting at a stationary target who is behind moderate cover. Thus, he has a +2 DM to his firing roll - because he is moving compared to the stationary target, and because the target has cover.
Major Modifiers:
These can be positive or negative, and account for things like cover, movement, aiming, and so on.
Movement:
You cannot aim and move at the same time. Worth noting. Also, unless your target is moving at the same speed and angle as you are (in vehicular combat), you will suffer an accuracy penalty. This penalty is doubled if the target is moving away from you.
Aiming:
Aiming can be done to increase your accuracy. Simple as that.
There are three levels of aiming;
Aim I - this adds a -2DM bonus to your next shot. Takes one combat action.
Req: 2x or 4x scope
Only With: Pistol, SMG, AR, Shotgun
Aim II - this adds a -3DM bonus to your next shot. Takes two combat actions.
Req: 8x scope
Only With: Sniper Rifle, Bolt-action Rifle
Aim III - this adds a -4DM bonus to your next shot. Takes three combat actions.
Req: 10x scope
Only With: Sniper Rifle
Remember that aiming takes up combat actions. As noted, you need certain weapon modifications (which only work in tandem with certain weapons) and you cannot fit certain modifications on certain weapons.
Bolt-action Rifle note; pulling the bolt back to chamber another round counts as a combat action. Thus, your rate of fire is marginally slower than the sniper rifle.
It should be noted that shotguns are a very special case, in that their ammunition types have very significant effects on their DM. All SRs are issued with 8x scopes. These can be replaced with superior 10x scopes.
Finally, unless you use Tracer ammunition, then only the first shot in an aimed burst (yes, you can aim and burst) gets a DM bonus. Using tracer ammo gives all subsequent shots a small boost, even when firing in a burst, although it's not as good as FMJ or HP ammo.
Called Shots:
Making a "called shot" (aiming at a specific body part, for example, the head) can also modify your DM - positively or negatively, dependant on the circumstances. Aiming for extremities is harder, but can have handy effects (such as crippling the target, or having a high chance of instant-kill on a headshot) that can make it worth the effort.
For example, if you are trying to shoot a moving target in the head without aiming, you will have a very poor chance of success. On the other hand, if you carefully take aim (aiming takes more than one round!) then you can even the odds in your favour to have a greater chance of hitting your target.
Modifications, Equipment and Munitions:
Certain equipment can modify your DM when performing certain tasks. Adding a laser sight to your pistol gives you a permanent -1 DM bonus, for example. Wearing NVGs will give you a -1 DM bonus to all night actions, but a +1 DM penalty to all actions during the day.
Munitions:
Munitions are a special case. In some events, target armour may give you a DM penalty (because it's harder for you to hurt them if you do hit), but AP bullets negate the penalty. On the other hand, if you fire a burst with your assault rifle or machinegun, only the first bullet benefits from aiming - but if you use tracer rounds, all bullets after the first in the burst benefit (somewhat) from a DM bonus. Vehicle Armour adds a huge DM penalty to offensive small arms fire, but anti-vehicle munitions (like missiles) negate that penalty and have a DM bonus versus vehicles... but they themselves have a DM penalty versus infantry.
As a rule of thumb, anti-infantry weaponry is useless against vehicles, and vice versa. There are a few cases where this is not true, but these are few and far between.
Ammo tracking is "fuzzy". I'm not going to painstakingly keep track of all the bullets you have on you. Just remember to reload every so often! If reloading in combat, roll the dice. If you fail, you failed to find any ammo, but you can try again next round. If you critically fail, you failed to find any of the desired ammo type at all, and will have to use another. The moral of this lesson? Always have sidearms handy that use a different ammo type.
Interrupts:
Remember when I said Fred could do better? This is where interrupts come into play. At this point, our target has remained under cover, allowing Fred to get his full aiming bonus (-4 from Aim III, as stated earlier, plus -1 from his scope), and Fred's player has stated that Fred is specifically waiting for his target to make a run for it, to the point of tuning out everything else (this would give anyone trying to sneak up on Fred a bonus, by the way). Fred spots movement in the shadows of the alley, and suddenly his target decides to make a runner.
Fred rolls the dice for an interrupt, and gets a six. No dice this time.
Rewind. This time, he rolls and gets a seventeen. Fred interrupts (target is moving, +1DM) and makes a called shot to the head, adding a +5DM modifier. He rolls to hit. 14. Given his +1 total DM, he can't miss (he'd have to roll an eleven or below to miss), and puts a 10mm hollow-point shot clean through the target's head, dropping them just as they clear the sidewalk.
You can't make an interrupt whilst moving, either when walking/running, or when in a moving vehicle.
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The is no such thing as 'health', or any similar arbitrary tracking of vital functions. You will die if you get shot too much, especially in the torso or head, so do try to avoid doing stupid stuff. Also, if you do not treat wounds, you will bleed, sometimes profusely.
This is meant to be at least fairly realistic, so expect to be reduced to a fine mush if you end up sucking on a grenade or a missile. Likewise, if a heavy anti-tank laser punches a hole in your torso, don't expect to be getting up again.
~~
I know this may seem rather rule-heavy, but honestly, don't worry too much. I handle the numbers, so it's nothing for you to worry about. :)
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