[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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Cardinal Goons

 The Pope is dead, again, and the leader of the capitalist world is proposing the dumbest thing ever, again, and now his mega rich followers have gone to the Vatican to combine the two situations. I needn't tell you how these people's messiah would whip the shit out of them with a whip of his own braiding. They lack self awareness and the critical thinking to realize this, however.

But, now a game of how Cardinals become Popes. Strangely it doesn't involve shedding skin during metamorphosis.

Cardinal Goons

The Gist

Six candidate Cardinals must delve into the catacombs of Vatican City. There, they will face unknown and terrifying challenges; tests to ensure their Devotion, Piety, and Infallibility. They must delve deep and retrieve the triregnum, to return with it and sit upon the Cathedra. 

But be warned: The throne only seats one. 

(You know Tunnel Goons? It's that, but with select cardinals. The majority is rehashed here for convenience.)  

Action Rolls

When the outcome of an action is uncertain, roll 2d6 + ability + 1/relevant item. If the result is equal to or greater than the assigned Difficult Score (DS), then it is a success. If the action is potentially dangerous (ie. attacking a roaming Head of John the Baptist), then the difference in the resulting roll and the DC is the amount of damage done. Basically, if you fail the roll, you take damage equal to the difference. If you succeed, you give the damage. 

Difficulty Score

Easy: 8 | Medium: 10 | Hard: 12

Inventory

The Inventory Score is how many things you can stuff into your adventure sack. Anything over this number causes a -1 to be added to your Pius and Sin rolls. 

Characters come with 3 unique items, but the rest of the pack is yours to fill. Or overfill, even.

Inventory Score starts at 8. 

Heath and Death

Heal starts at 10. When you reach 0, you are dead. 

Regain all Health lost by stopping for a meal of pasta and wine. This takes about 30 minutes.

Advancement

If you’re still playing this for some reason, you advance every 2 game sessions. Raise 1 attribute (below) and choose your Inventory or Health to also increase by 1. 

Attributes

Every character starts off with 0 or more points in the following attributes. 

Pius - Your ability to avoid the devil. Literally dodging away from him.

Devotion - Your dedication to scripture, both the written and spoken word.  

Sin - Your ability to do terrible things. Hitting, stealing, trials of the flesh.

Also, everyone speaks their native language and Latin. 

The Papabili

Cardinal Chook Duggery

_The Tree Hugger_

P 2 | D 1 | S 0

* Habit of Francis of Assisi - Allows for speaking with Animals.

* Corked Galero - Protects against swarms of things. 

* Crozier of Saint Fiarce - Functions as a Staff weapon, but also can cause Grasping Vines to grow (DC 10) 

Cardinal Giuseppe Archette

_The Studious_

P 1 | D 2 | S 0

* Scroll of Saint Floran (DC 10) - Spits a fireball at the target. Consumed on Failure.

* Scroll of Jude Thaddeus (DC 10) - Restores Health. Consumed on Failure.

* Finger Bone of Saint Anthony of Padua - Protects against the Undead as Armor. 1st degree artifact. 

Cardinal Godric Foundling

_The Knight_

P 0 | D 1 | S 2

* Armored Mitre - Dented and bloodied, but it perceivers 

* Sword of Saint Catherine - Yes, that one. 

* Rib Bone of Saint George - Provides divine protection from the knight of knights. 

Cardinal Ignacio Marquez

_The Red_ 

P 1 | D 0 | S 2

* Piano wire reinforced rosary beads

* Dagger (hidden within crucifix) 

* Red silk gloves

Cardinal Jean-Claude Chisanga 

_The Untouchable_

P 2 | D 0 | S 1

* Ankle Bone of Saint Christopher (DC 10) - When set to a trip line, causes an alarm to cry once the line is tripped. 

* Habit of Saint Nicholas Owen (DC 10) - Allows the wearer to appear to be up to five feet from their actual location. Consumed on failure. 

* Sack of Golden Caltrops

Cardinal Lucien De Vos

_The Raven_

P 3 | D 0 | S 0

* Toe Knuckle of Saint Casila - Aids in sneaking. 1st degree artifact.

* Lockpick of Saint Baldomerus - Set of lockpicks used by Baldomerus of Lyons. 2nd degree artifact. 

* Hand of Glory - Unlocks any door. Once. Consumed on use.

Cardinal Seamus O’Brien

_The Lich_ 

P 0 | D 3 | S 0

* Scroll of Saint Rita of Cascia (DC 10) - Raises a servant from a currently unused corpse. Consumed on failure. Fails if a servant currently exists. 

* Blood of Saint Januarius (DC 10) - Allows for the viewing of ghosts. 1st degree artifact. Consumed on failure.

* Thurible (as mace) - Billows sweet smelling smoke as it swings. 

Cardinal Stanislaw Kovacs 

_The Serpent Tongued_

P 0 | D 2 | S 1

* Pickled Tongue of Saint Bartholomew - When placed in the user’s mouth, anything they speak detects as the truth. 

* Scroll of Saint Joseph of Cupertino (DC 10) - Makes the target forget the last few moments. Consumed on failure. 

* Silver snake dagger 

Cardinal Tex Smith

_The American_

P 0 | D 0 | S 3

* Thoughts - Gold plated desert eagle. Twined with Prayers.

* Prayers - Gold plated desert eagle. Twined with Thoughts.

* Plate of Deep Fried Spaghetti (ration)

Doug Nash

_The Lost Tourist_

P 1 | D 1 | S 1

* Cell Phone - No reception

* Sacred Heart of Jesus statue (as Club) - Bought from the gift shop

* Tourist Guide Book - Good for looking things up. 

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[HMtW] Using Divination to Generate a Character

 

In His Majesty the Worm, character creation is simple enough: 5 multi-stepped steps for, if you've a character in mind, quickly getting up and going. 

But, what if you've no specific character in mind? Well, the game uses tarot cards. Just divine a character using said cards. Here's how!

Using Divination to Generate a Character

The idea is fairly straight forward: instead of using your brain meat to come up with a character, layout eleven cards from the players deck in the pattern shown below, then consult the charts. It can be further expanded to include random gear generation, but it'll need some adjusting and additional gear descriptions to make the math work. Basically, it'll take longer than I was looking to on this thing. I'll circle back to it.

The Spread

1. This is your Kith (Human, Fay, Underworld, Orc)
2. This is your Kin, basically for selecting a subtype of Kith. For humans, it doesn't matter, but regions have been provided for role playing purposes. 
3. This is your major attribute. The suit of the card determines which attribute a 4 is placed to.
4. This is your secondary attribute. The suit of the card determines which attribute a 3 is placed to. If the suit of the card is already in use, then look at the value. If even, move to the Right along the chain (Swords-Pentacles-Cups-Wands) until an unused suit is found. If odd, move to the Left.
5. This is your minor attribute. It determines your weakest attribute, in which you'll place a 1. I'm going to leave you guessing as to where to put the 2. Think as hard as you can. You got this.
6. This is your first motif. Card A represents the descriptor, and Card B represents the profession.
7. This is your second motif. Card A represents the descriptor, and Card B represents the profession.

8. This is your third motif. Card A represents the descriptor, and Card B represents the profession.

Kith and Kin

Motifs

Example

In case you can't read off my poorly lit floor: 

1. 3 of Swords              6.A 8 of Cups                       8.A 4 of Wands

2. 6 of Cups                 6.B 6 of Pentacles                8.B 9 of Cups

3. Ace of Cups             7.A Knight of Pentacles

4. 10 of Swords           7.B 10 of Pentacles

5. Ace of Swords         

1. Taking a Kith and Kin of Swords/Cups, we see this is a Human from the East. 

2. With Cups being the Major attribute, it gets assigned a 4 and becomes the adventurer's Path

3. Swords gets assigned a 3. A book nerd with a pension for violence.

4. With Swords already in use, and the card here being odd (Ace = 1), we shift suits to the Left, bringing us to Wands. With a Wands of 1, this person isn't terribly magically inclined. 

5. At first they were a Silent Friar. There's that book learning during quiet contemplation.

6. Then they made their way as a Numb Hunter. Looks like there was trouble at the monastery. 

7. But now wander as a Twisted Raider

Meet Licinius, a human from the eastern lands (Swords 3 | Pentacles 2 | Cups 4 | Wands 1). They were, once, long ago, a Friar bound by a vow of silence, who spent their time learning and reflecting on the creations of Mithras. That was until the Orc raiders came, and sacked the monastery for its idols and shiny bits. Being the only survivor, they attempted to hunt down the twisted Orc raiders for revenge, becoming what they hated in the process. Rumor has it the leader of the Orc raiders has taken the monastery's prized marble Mithras statue as a trophy, deep within the Underworld. Are you a bad enough dude to retrieve the statue?

Make up a House name and words, pick a mastered skill, and grab some gear. Simple. 

The longest part of the process was finding my tarot deck and trying to figure out how to take a decent picture. I failed at both, but the task still got done.  

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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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