[SWS] Mercenaries

 

There's another bandwagon going around, something about Randomness. There're rules, though I didn't actually read 'em, just sort of looked at them and acknowledged their existence before I just assumed I knew what the article was about. I did see, however, a certain entry absent from a certain random list. Message received, Birdman. Message received loud and clear. The response shall be cruel. 

Anyway, I ain't doing any of that nonsense. What I _am_ doing is taking a look at my collection of unfinished ideas and rolling for which one to work on. Then rushing slightly due to what day it is. And the winner is...

Mercenaries Redux

The friendly NPCs of Some Weird Sin are nebulously categorized into one of three groups:

1. Contacts - They're the black market dealers you speak to between missions. They're the informants you've hired to case a place in your planning stage. They're people who will happily take your money, but won't put themselves in danger for you. They're obtained through roleplay and the Fixer ability. 
2. Groupies - These are a weird combination of Contacts and Mercenaries. Enthralled by your charisma, they'll do nearly anything for you, even, eventually, put themselves in danger via combat. They provide a skill based on their current career, 10 inventory slots, and +1 to Defense and Attack. However, they don't want your money. No, no. They want favors. 
3. Mercenaries - These are what PCs would be if they didn't have Players playing them. They're other people in the same line of work as you, though each have a different advertised skill, based around (usually) the templates. They provide a +1 to Defense and Attack, and work for hard cold cash. No inventory slots, as they've their own shit to carry. 

That's fine and all. I mean, it's worked so far. Though lately, I've had me the hankering to complicate the Mercenaries a bit. Anyone can acquire them, might as well make it slightly pretty. So given that, Mercenaries now come in two flavors: Nobodies and Named. 

Nobodies
These are your basic, well, nobodies. Effectively just starting out in this life style, willing to do anything for cash. They ain't even got a name yet. They provide a +1 to Defense/Attack and will perform tasks based on their advertised skill. 

Job	Cost	Description
Chemist	₽300	Self taught. Fun at parties.
Cracksman	₽300	They've practiced a little with cracking a safe. They even did it once.
Driver	₽250	Fine as long as it's not a manual transmission
Electrician	₽300	Don't use the male-to-male connector they hand you.
Gunman	₽400	Sometimes you just need an extra gun.
Joeboy	₽300	Bodyguard jacked full of growth hormones
Lookout	₽100	They could literally be replaced with a remote camera.
Medic	₽650	They're pretty sure they can keep the patient alive.
Scriptkitty	₽550	Amature hacker with some questionable apps
VR Influencer	₽400	They have some following. Might be useful.

Not a complete list, mind. Just for exemplifying. 

Named
This is where it gets more interesting. These people are established and have names. Mind you, not legal names, but the nom de guerre that members of the merc community like to adopt. They also have hopes, desires, and unique abilities you can deploy in the field. They also provide a +1 plus their level (starting at 1) to the usual Attack/Defense. All this will cost you more though. 

So why pay the price? A few reasons:

1. You get what you pay for. Each has a unique ability they're able to use, not just access to a skill. You will have to buy it per use up front, however, with any unspent usage going to waste. 
2. They're upgradeable. Those hopes and desires I mentioned? While your character runs on XP, the Named Mercenaries run on meeting certain goals. "Find my father's killer." "Get my car back." "Steal the mayor's kidney." That sort of thing. You help them out, and you'll unlock an additional level (thus increasing their Attack/Defense bonus) and getting a new ability out of it. 
3. Domain play. This ain't the most thought out part at the moment, despite the idea banging around in my head for a while. Basically, if'n the PC crew starts looking to irk out their own turf among the gangs of the city, the Named Mercenaries are hireable to cover the boring parts of base building.  

Examples

Name - Role $PricePerJob 
Goals: Describes what the character needs you to do, in order to level up.
Dislikes: Witnessing the hiring PC engage or encourage this causes a loyalty check. 
Level 1 Ability (+CostPerUse): Describes the ability that the +CostPerUse is paying for.
Level 2 Ability (+CostPerUse): Describes the ability gained once the Named Mercenary has their Goal met.

Johnny Lockheart (he/they) - Pretty Boy $6000

Converse shoes, leather jacket, and a grin that could melt a steel beam, Johnny is Grade A Pretty Boy - a Face unconcerned with the mercenary gig - usually just in it for the Flash and Cash. He'll do the job you want, and he'll look good Beautiful while doing it. 

Goal: A friend of his from the club scene has gone missing and was last seen with technocultists. Be a dear and find them, would you?

Dislikes:  

Level 1 Ability (+$1000/use): That Damn Smile - After a failed social attempt by the supported PC, he'll swoop in with that smile of his, along with a little honeyed words, and allow for a second attempt at the check, now made with favor. 

Level 2 Ability (+2000/use): Disarming Smile - Literally. With a quick flash of the pearly whites and a wink that would have destroyed Puritan society in an instant, he's able to make the target drop whatever is in their hands. No save, he just does that.

"Tex" Redgrove (he/him) - Gunslinger $4000 
I want you to imagine Orville Peck with a Colt SSA Peacemaker strapped to his side. If you won't, I certainly will. But, also, use that as a character description. His cowboy themed attire often makes him the butt of jokes in the local merc community, but his deadly accuracy while shooting from the hip stifles any laughter. 
Goal: A local gang leader has taken his motorcycle as collateral. The debt has been paid off, but the gangbanger insists additional interest is needed. Damned if he's paying it. Help him get that bike back.
Dislikes: Liars and Cheats
Level 1 Ability (+$2000/use): Dead Eye - Performs a single ranged attack that automatically deals the supported character's Max damage to the target.
Level 2 Ability (innate): Fan the Hammer - Multiple Dead Eyes can now be chained up to six shots at a time across multiple targets. 
 

So What If a Named Mercenary Dies?

Well...did the PCs see a body? Did they confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was dead? No? Then guess who has some hot new cyberware and a burning desire for revenge!  Hell, even if they did, capitalism values not the sanctity of life and death if there's the possibility of profit. Jank the carcass full of cyberware, behold it to a megacorp that hates the players, and send the poor stuck-between-life-and-death bastard after them.

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Every Table has that one friend who wants to play, and we want them to play, but their awful schedule makes committing to anything nearly impossible. I'm currently that friend and because of that I've been fascinated with the idea of a class based around not always being able to make it. Something that can keep up with the other classes, even if it's been a while. Technically, yes, that's all of them, but new features are fun to get and the lethality of the system can make it hard get anyway after too many missed sessions.

Originally the idea centered around abilities powered by how many sessions you've missed. I'm still taken with the idea, but after some late night sci-fi, I went in a different direction. One where your "not knowing the plot" or "not having a clue about the current situation" is a feature. 

It's geared towards usage in Some Weird Sin, but there shouldn't be any actual hindrance in using it in another GLoG rule set or setting. It might get a little Mary Sue-ish, but c'mon, your friend can't make it often, and also there's the high lethality again.

The Leaper

Not a Batroc sort of leaper, mind you. More the Sam Beckett sort. Or Ben Song. (It was a decent follow up series and you fucking know it. Other than their pure cowardice at not continuing the outrageous future fashion trends.) 

You're someone from the future who has, for some reason or another, chosen to travel back in time, only to find out you have no actual control of where and when you're going. Also, instead of traveling through space, you seem to be traveling through aura - that is replacing the physicality of a person with your own, while wearing their aura and thus looking like them. That might sound weird, or unscientific, but you were foolish enough to step into an untested time travel machine. So, glass houses.

There's only one level to the Template as it's intended to grow in breath rather than depth. Delta templates still affect you, however.

Starting Gear: None

A. Quantum Replacement, Upgrade Points, Holographic Companion, Holographic Interface, Super Computer

Quantum Replacement

You jump into the initial scene of the current game session, physically replacing an NPC, but keeping their aura attached to you. Mechanically, this means you look like them, but carry your own stats with you from session to session. While you exist in their place, the NPC is in the future with your aura, kept sedated in a medical bay. Should you die while replacing them, they are forever trapped in the future. 

Additionally, this also means you don't have starting gear, or any gear, other than what the NPC had on them. 

Upgrade Points

You don't have the standard XP progress everyone else has. Instead, your Conviction is replaced with a goal related to the person you've replaced, often revealed by the Companion a moment or two after getting your bearings. Completing this goal nets you an Upgrade Point, which is spent on 'purchasing' Features of the Super Computer, which in turn adjust your abilities. Explain it however you feel most comfortable. Use the word "quantum" a lot.

Holographic Companion 

You've a Holographic Companion that only you can see and hear. Transmitted from the future through quantum signaling brainwave transmission bullshit, they're also able to see and hear your general surroundings, but not physically interact with them, or you. (Though sometimes they can sit or lean on unattended surfaces? It's not very clear). They serve as your connection between the present and the future, able to communicate with the rest of the support staff. Note, though, that while they are genuinely concerned for your safety, they have their own life they also have to attend to and may not be experiencing time in the same order or rate as you.

Holographic Interface 

In the future there exists a Holographic Imaging Chamber which allows your Companion to communicate with you, and see what you see. Through a series of technobabble that you didn't pay attention to, the Imaging Chamber is able to adjust your visual and audio experience based on the assorted abilities of the Super Computer. I'm going to call this an Overlay Attempt and doing so requires a 1d6 roll on your part, dealing 1 point of Fatigue damage on a 3+.

Super Computer 

The project operates on such a scale of unfathomable probabilities that normal computers, even future computers, aren't able to handle the calculation load. Luckily, there exists a multi-story, multi-room super computer covered in aesthetic lighting and containing more qubits than grains of sand on a beach. Also, maybe your DNA for some reason? It needs its own fusion reactor to meet it's computation needs. 

Features

Language Databases

Every point in this feature gains you access to an additional Language. Your Companion will slowly interpret or translate for you, potentially making things awkward. An Overlay Attempt is needed in order to speak said language.

Location Lookup

Every point in this feature improves the Super Computer's chances (x-in-6) of being able to locate a particular person at the current moment. Cycling through related camera feeds from the past takes a few moments, though, so be patient. An Overlay Attempt generates a visual trail to their location, allowing them to be followed if on the move.

Password Database

For each point placed in this feature, there's an X-in-6 chance the Super Computer can estimate the password for a given system. 

Signal Detection

Through better aligning with your biological neural network residual frequency and...uh...aura, the Super Computer is able to detect potential radio signals to decode and playback, given an Overlay Attempt. 

Skill Databases

Every point placed in this feature gains you access to an additional Skill. Well, not you, but the Super Computer. But, you can ask questions of it as you would normal Skill you had OR with an Overlay Attempt, you can physically use the skill as if you knew it yourself by following the training dummy only you can see.

Visual Augment

For each point put in this feature, the Super Computer is able to analyze an additional light frequency and display it over your vision with an Overlay Attempt. Frequencies include: Magnetic, infrared, x-ray, ultraviolet, radiation, light-to-dark, and dark-to-light. Only one may be accessed at a time and each change requires a new roll.

Additionals

Evil Leaper

Evil assholes from your future's future, trying to stop you from doing something you'll probably do in the future. Real jackasses. Because both of you exist within the holographic quantum display interface relay thing, you're able to see past the aura they wear to their real self underneath. I'm saying that you'll be able to actually be able to see them, and them you, rather than each seeing the person replaced. So you'll know 'em when you see 'em.

The Final Leap.

Finally got a decent schedule you can commit to and looking to get back to a normal template? Go on, then, cash out and send your Leaper on one final leap (they never make it home). Afterwards, take the number of Update Points you have, multiply them by 100, then us that much in Cred when making a new character.

<sidebar>

It just occurred to me that all this time I've assumed "Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home" meant he was still out there, continuing to leap and help people. It could just as easily be that, without Al's help, he screwed up the very next leap on his own and is dead, somewhere back there in the past. Like all those forgotten Cosmonauts.

</sidebar>

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[SWS] Hole in Your Soul, or Lack Thereof

 

A thing that ain't ever fully set right with me in cyberpunk games is how the installation of cybernetics always seem to make you 'less' of a person. Be it the lose of 'humanity' or 'soul', the wearer of such prosthetics is treated as less of a person. Okay, yes, fine, given the typical systems for this sort of thing, some form of balance needed to be found, but - maybe - that weren't it. 

Say you're out and about in your dystopian future of choice, minding your own business, just doing a job you were hired for, probably arson, no biggie, when some jerk starts screaming about "don't burn down my business" and swinging a katana who's edge has been honed down to an atom's thickness. Real day ruiner. Long story short, you're down an arm. Mechanically, you're still a 'full' person at this point (which is correct), but as soon as you decide to replace your missing limb with a prosthetic, you're somehow no longer fully human? Your soul is diminished because you've...had a surgery? 

Awful. Garbage. Get the fuck outta here. 

The human body is able to adapt in some amazing ways. You know when you pick up a set of tongs and you give them a good clicking to see if they still work? That's your brain forming and calibrating the new addition to your body that exists via the tongs. Ya getting your soul eaten every time you pick up a set of tongs? Hell, the sack of meat in your skull can even adapt to completely altered input, adjusting to the new orientation in just days. 

When you install cybernetics, you should be less worried that your somehow "less of a person", and more concerned that by integrating this technology into your body, you run the risk of being over dependent upon said technology and the people who control it. While some may have altruistic goals to providing the technology, ultimately the corruption of capitalism (which actually eats away at your soul) bring them to offering 'subscription plans' or 'cost cutting measures' or some other bullshit that cheats the consumer. 

Additionally, to address the 'balance' issue mentioned above: I don't...care? Some Weird Sin is perhaps too lethal of a system and if you want to jam your cyberarm full of weaponry, boom box, thief's tools, bar supplies, phone kit, kitchen sink, additional sensory organs, and whatever else you can imagine, go ahead. Enjoy yourself. Your character will probably be dead soon. Unbalance shouldn't be feared by the player, nor the General Manager. (But I'm the sort to give a character of a template variant a nuke, just for showing up)

Instead of harassing and insulting people with disabilities, I look to ask the player a set of questions to get them thinking about their choices, leaning into the roleplaying side of things, rather than the purely mechanical. The explanations offer more sub questions, to really press the issue if you want. It's neither a long, nor complicated list, but I have seen it help the player consider and role play their decisions. Which is something that, obviously, should be striven for. Far too often I've seen a Shadow run player say "I've got a chip in my head" at character creation, then it never get brought up again.

1. Why have you chosen to give up a part of yourself? 

Obviously, if the augment is replacing a missing part, this is apparent. But, if the player is replacing a perfectly working organic part: Why? What is leading you to give it up? Do you fear falling behind the competition? Or is it fashion wear you're trying to use to fit in? That part is you and has been since birth. Why get rid of it now?

2. Why make yourself a Product?

Despite what they try to tell you, personality can't be bought at Hot Topic. Not many people have what you're installing, sure, but it's still a Product made by a company. One unit out of countless thousands produced every single day. That meat was yours, and yours alone. Your new eyes are now shared, potentially, with any random person on the street. 

3. Which company do you bind yourself to?

Ultimately, you're giving up a part of your organic self and replacing it with company made product. Almost every company in the biomedical business has a version of the part you're looking for. You're now going to be dependent on their fabrication, their firmware updates, their back doors into your ware. What makes this company better? Why give your freedom to them? What are you planning to do when a back door hack into their software is discovered and almost any hacker punk can take control of your body part? 

4. What do you plan to do if they go out of business?

Cattle die, kinsmen die, all things must end. Including businesses in this corporate-eat-corporate world these days. What are you planning to do when the company goes out of business and the DRM expires, leaving a chunk of your brain unusable, locked behind security protocols, waiting for the key from a company that no longer exists. (I secretly hope the players look to jailbreak their gear and make it truly theirs, but that has yet to be) 

5. Cash or Credit?

In the possibly implied setting (or at least the one I use at my table, parts of which may have slipped into the rule book for space filling fluff. I drift, I admit it.) physical paper currency, such as the Soviet Ruble, is illegal as it is untraceable and easily hidden. Credits, on the other hand, store all transaction data to a distributed ledger, making every single transaction public and searchable. Will you keep your privacy after all this, or brazenly flaunt your actions? (There's a correct answer here) So after all the decisions are made, the process complete, and the doctors need paying. So "cash or credit?"

Again, not a terribly complicated list, but it puts the roleplay first and fresh in the player's minds. Giving other players and the GM a glimpse into the character's position. 

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Motivation and Bonds

 

I believe this started as a Goblin Punch post that then influenced Rise Up, Comus’ Bond system in his soon to be released His Majesty the Worm game; to which I am now filing the serial numbers off of and remixing a bit. Has he spoken about it before? I don’t recall. 

The original intent was to use this system in a Firefly themed game, but we can all see I ain’t getting around to it anytime soon. It would’ve probably have been most of Some Weird Sin rewritten in the voice I used for that one dragon post. 

Bonds and Motivation

No man is an island. Except for, of course, Island Pete. Though he’s technically an AI operating a colossal party barge out in international waters. The idea is sound, however. Everyone is connected to someone, whether we like it or not. We’re social creatures and tend to form bonds with others. In our grim, dark time, struggles these bonds are what tend to spur us on; to motivate us. To that end, and to squeeze more role playing out of the players, a few changes are getting made to the Conviction system. 

These may make Stable play cumbersome. I have no solution for that at the moment. 

Motivation

Let’s start here. What was called “Conviction” is now “Motivation.” Honestly, the name is more inline with the intent of the subsystem. “Why did you become a mercenary?” “What are you willing to risk your life for?” - Your motivation. 

Now, Conviction had a pool of points connected to it, that filled by one every time you put yourself in trouble for following your Conviction. Points could then be spent to add a bonus to a dice roll based on circumstances. (Also, in reviewing the system for fixing, I’ve realized the bonuses are going the wrong way. In a Roll Under system, the +4/+8 should be -4/-8.)

The points are remaining, but the pool is getting a little bigger. Each Bond (explained below) has a condition associated with it and, when the condition is met, that Bond is considered Filled and remains so until used. 

Filled Bonds can be used a number of ways:

• Provide a -2 bonus on d20 rolls unrelated to your Motivation

• Provide a -4 bonus on d20 rolls related to your Motivation

• Modifying a roll made in combat by the Bond’s Target, up or down, by 2. Both characters must be present (and alive) in the combat. 

• Remove a point of Lethal Damage from yourself. Must be accompanied by a motivational affirmation. 

I seem to have just talked myself into modifying the Assists system as well. No one made it to level 5 anyway. 

The values in the bonuses are lower, but you get them more quickly and they stack. You can spend as many as you wish in a round, even on other people’s turns, but the -2/-4 must be declared before the roll is made. 

Bonds

A bound is made between two players, one for each pair of players. Each Bond has a condition associated with it that must be met in order for the Bond to be considered Filled. I’ve provided examples of the bonds, but they’re mostly Neuromancer related as I’ve just read the news about the TV show and it is freshest on my mind. Don’t you worry, I’ll probably have opinions on that as more news comes out. 

Allies 

Other crew members that you’re professional and amicable with. This is the default bond. 

Example: Case and the Finn

Filled When: You make an ally laugh in and out of character. 

Antagonist

They may be part of the crew, but there’s no love to be lost between the two of you. This is not an excuse for being an ass to the other player, mind you. 

Example: Molly and Riviera

Filled When: You witness your antagonist fail a check. 

Best Friend

Maybe you’ve been best friends since childhood. Or maybe you met at a some weird guy’s basement to play roleplaying games. Either way, best friends tend to know each other better than themselves, and totally don’t get mad when the other steals content from their soon to be released game.   

Examples: John Anderson and Tina Bonemeal; Case and Molly

Filled When: You share a secret with your best friend

Bodyguard/Ward 

Someone on the crew needs a little extra protecting, and the Bodyguard sees that this happens. 

Examples: Turner and Angie Mitchell; Molly and Kumiko

Filled When: 

• Bodyguard fills when their Ward survives a lethal encounter (combat) without taking damage. 

• Ward fills when they get into lethal danger

Business Partners

The bloody gears of capitalism keep on grinding and, even though it’s enslaving and killing you, that doesn’t mean you can’t make a little something for yourself. 

Examples: Cowboy and Roon

Filled When: Business partners fill their bonds when a significant capital venture pays out 

Codependent

Codependent characters tend to rely on the support of each other, both emotional and physical, to shake off the crushing loneliness and isolation of modern society. 

Examples: Sarah and Daud

Filled When: Codependent characters fill their bond when they seek out emotional support and validation from the target of the bond. 

Drug Dealer/User

The Dealer is a man with love grass in his hand. The User, uh…uses. Uses drugs. 

Examples: Zone and Case

Filled When: 

• Dealer fills when they sell drugs to a User

• User fills when they buy the drugs from their Dealer

Employer/Employee

Turning players into the hired help. This is what it sounds like: One player is the employer, the other is the employee. 

Examples: Molly and Armitage; Wage and the Joeboys

Filled When: 

• Employer fills when they pay their employee an agreed upon payment or other reimbursement. 

• Employee fills when they perform a significant task to the benefit of their employer over themself (a Job). 

Lovers

Despite the cold harshness of the world, you two have found each other. If both players are okay with it (seriously, don’t get weird) a Lovers bound 

Examples: Bobby and Angie Mitchell 

Filled When: This bound is filled when you do something romantic for the other in character - be it tagging an overpass with their name or making them an 8-bit chiptune mix tape. 

Mentor/Protege

The mentor is someone with a wealth of knowledge to provide (or at least fake it). Their protege is someone they’ve taken under their training and guidance. Think jedi master and padawan.

Examples: Case and Dixie Flatline

Filled When: 

• Mentors fill this Bond when Protege follows your advice

• Proteges fill this bond when you ask the Mentor for advice and it is given. 

Ride or Die

This isn’t the first crew the two of you have been part of, and you’ve seen each other through thick and thin. With unquestionable certainty, you know they have your back. 

Examples: Hiro Protagonist and Y.T.

Filled When: You assist your partner in making a check. 

Rival 

A friendly competition never hurt no one. “Friendly” being the keyword. 

Examples: Molly and the Yakuza assassin (it’s not a perfect fit) 

Filled When: You see your Rival succeed in making a check. 

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Probably Gonna Make Everything One Damage

 
Whenever I'm faced with a powerful amount of stress, I tend to start stressing and fussing over things that neither need it nor matter. Really just start poking at things that work fine enough. Anyway, that led to this: 

I'm Probably Gonna Make Everything One Damage

One thing that always struck me as odd during play was the fact that you have to roll under to succeed in an attack, but then roll over to "succeed" in damage. Tradition, probably. But what to do? Convert to Roll Over like a normal person? God, no. Gross. Other ideas involve: 

1. Subtraction This clearly won't work. I can hardly get players to add. Having them work out something like "7-1d6" every other roll would really grind things to a halt. 
2. Damage Array While I still like the idea, it seems like a step in the wrong direction. Also, it would generate a bunch of work. Though, as I write this, I realize so would...
3. Making Everything One Damage One of the design philosophies behind the original GLoG was making things more simple, namely in reducing rolls. From two rolls to one, from one to none. This one largely gets ignored (from what I've seen), but here's a place to actually do that. 

An attack roll is basically just two rolls to determine one value: the amount of damage you do. Ranging from "none" to "max" it's a tradition that held on and hasn't, from what I've seen (not that I've really looked), been challenged. 

But it's also two rolls for one result. I like rolling the dice as much as anyone, but in holding with the simplification design principle, them rolls gotta get squished together. I suppose I could go the Into the Odd route and make all attacks automatically hit, thus making every character's turn automatic damage to someone. That seems too far to me, however. 

Basically, I've got the notion in my head that every attack is some form of gambit and should come with a risk. One that should pay off immediately. If you're gonna stand out in the open and/or foolishly fight fair, you should run the risk of failure (Attack roll), but receive a significant payout immediately (1 damage). 

Alright, but why 1 damage?

That value is coming from 2 seconds of intoxicated math applied to averages. Allow me to reproduce my hard to read scrawling:

Given 4d4 as the dice used to generate Constitution, and therefore HP, the average of the roll is 10 HP. 

Light weapons did roughly 1d6 of damage, making the "average" 3.5 damage.

Medium weapons did 1d8 for 4.5 damage "average."

Heavy weapons came in a 1d10 for 5.5 

With these values, to take a 10 HP "average" character down to zero, light weapons would require roughly 3 hits, as would medium weapons. Heavy weapons came in for only 2 hits. These hit amounts look good to me. Perfectly fine. Armor is important for a reason. 

In moving the damage range down to 1, HP will also need to be adjusted. Namely instead of the noble 4d4, the value becomes (4d4)/4, which drags the range down to 1 to 4, usually 2. Modified by templates and augments, this also seems fine. Don't get shot. 

 On one hand, while this will speed up combat and standardize weapon damage (let's be honest, I was obviously making the damage values up out of thin air. And I clearly had favorites.), it also means I'm gonna have to rewrite the gear list to make them stand out via special qualities. Which I probably should have been doing anyway. Also rewrite the combat section, damage section, augment section...

But it seems worth it. It feels better to me. When the time arises, I'll have to do a one shot to test it out. Might take a minute, but I should definitely do a play test before the rewrite. For once. 

Also, it seems like someone has done this before, but I can't place it. I'm sure that won't cause problems. 

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Bubble Head

 I ain't got time to make it pretty, but I've got time to force it up on you. Hell, I'm still on phone, so I don't know how big that image is gonna be. 

Bubble Head

Some poor bastard who's had a parasitic prototype of a military grade cyber augment forced upon him by some unknown party (Vitulus Aureus lab technicians) and some how made his way back into the general public. His actions and consciousness might not be his. 

The gimmick here would have been (players never met Vitulus Aureus "representatives") to teach the players to shoot the glowing red spot that was the Drone Control Unit on the figure's head. Rough, but not impossible, if they didn't get it. Quick and rather easy if they did. Which would have been good, because the system would have turned up on robotic tanks later. 

Update

Huh, okay, yeah. That was not the best time to be gone. 

There are questions, naturally. I will see if I can address them. 

When addressing puzzles, players typically have three options:

1. Fuck Around and Find Out
2. Use Knowledge
3. Run Away

This methodology can apply for component enemies, though with more aggressive results as the "puzzle" will not want to be interacted with or will be trying to interact with the players in a less than friendly manner. 

While usage of a Component enemy is relatively the same as a normal creature deployment, a small amount of effort must be engaged in by the game master/game designer. Namely, as the GM would describe a puzzle in detail, so too must they offer greater detail to the players than "bandit in leather armor." Communication is key here. Care must be taken to ensure that every non-secret piece of the puzzle is provided. Likewise, when the PC attacks or otherwise interacts, the GM should ask "how are you attacking and what are you targeting"?

"The frail, lithe figure stands his ground, though his eyes are ever distant. Upon the top of his head, lording over the figure, a cybernetic sensor array glares, unblinking, forever judging. A heavy shield composed of polycarbonate fullerene drifts quietly on micro fusion monojets tucked within its carapace, lurking hungrily around the figure as though a dog preparing to defend its master."

Here the description has noted the three main pieces: the meat body (just sort of there), the DCU (above the meat body, and suggested to be separate from), and the shield drone (circling the meat body). 

So what are the potential ways the players interact with it? Let's look:

Fucking Around and Find Out

The answer is not always on the character sheet, nor is it always in the GM notes. 

What if we shoot it?

Probably the opening move. The shield intercepts and the attack is absorbed.

What if we shoot it again?

Honestly, you might get lucky and do enough damage to the shield to break it, leaving the Meat Body defenseless.

What about an area attack? 

Probably gets through the Shield's protection. You're attacking an Area, not the Meat Body (pedantic). Also the shield can't really stop gas, can it? EMPs might also screw the system up.  

 

What if we break the monojets of the shield?

Hey! Now you're thinking. Damaging the jets probably slows the shield down, offering a "x in 6" chance of the attack getting through, where x is the number of monojets destroyed. 

 

What if we shoot the sensor array on top? 

It's not part of the Meat Body, so is unprotected. Then the Shield stops receiving information and the Meat Body is unprotected. 

What if we shoot the gun? 

Technically not part of the Meat Body and unprotected. It probably breaks. 

Using Knowledge

You HAVE been leaving lore around the dungeon, right? 

Remembering the post-it note on the discovered schematics complaining about how the Z-axis alignment was misaligned on the Shield orientation. 

Probably means the DCU at the top is unprotected. 

Remembering the Command word mentioned in the inner office email from the hacked system. 

Yelling it probably deactivates the system.

The game mechanics offer multiple ways of gleaning information not typically given in descriptions. 

Try using those to see if something else is available.

Remembering that one episode of Burn Notice where he used a thick wool blanket to trick a motion sensor. 

I wonder if that actually works?

Run Away

Honestly, how is this your problem? Run away and let someone else deal with it. 

Attacking a creature using it's weakness (werewolves, silver) is a stripped down form of this. Players know to use silver and/or Wolf's Bane on Werewolves because of previous Knowledge, and well known Fucking Around and Finding Out. The Werewolf's healing factor/damage reduction is simply a component of the beast, which is deactivated using the weaknesses. 

Yes, yes, it's not a terribly complicated puzzle, much like that first lock in the first dragon tomb you encounter in Skyrim, but it's there to ease you into it. More complicated examples to (possibly) come. 

As the enemy can (and should) attack your character sheet, this is similar to attacking theirs. It makes combat a bit more strategic, and certainly better than the boring "I shoot it." round after round after round. 

If it helps, "Bubble Head" can been seen as a collective name for three individual entities working together in symbiosis: 

1. The Drone Control Unit: Programmed to protect the Meat Body, but not itself, via orders given to the Shield. Sits above the Meat Body, like a malicious hat. 
2. Shield Drone: Only knows the world through data provided from the DCU. Only wants to protect the Meat Body. And only the Meat Body.
3. Meat Body: His name used to be Greg and he enjoyed bird watching. Now it's Unit #136 and he enjoys carrying out the violent orders of his handlers. 

The Shield Drone does not stop attacks against the Drone Control simply because it is not the Meat Body. However, without the Drone Control it can not receive input and goes offline. 

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