Message:… Patron: Leader of a Modern Religion or Cult. Religion continues to strongly motivate and act as a force for uniting people. Even as humans became immortals, they still retained their compulsion for believing in a supreme order or power. Besides various strange and twisted cults devoted to all manner of icon and pleasure, the patron may be a high ranking member of the Church of Galactic Vision. The Vision Church has the largest following in the Tetra-League. The player may meet the Pontifex Maximus, Nial Fin, himself. However, this will never be an Ecclesiastic fanatic, though the patron may have at one time practiced those anti-MRD ideas of death sanctity.
… Quirk: Patron is physically superior to the norm, possibly a eugenic bred to be super-human. Patron is Durable in trait. Since Cruz abilities increase with their number by a phenomenon called biological boosting, the patron may be Cruz, aided by several of his companions.
… Mission: Spy, observe or obtain military information on exercises, troop positions or supply concentrations. Else, thwart a foreign spy seeking such.
… Twist: The players bio-computer interlink will suffer a joint malfunction at the start of mission. The players will be unable to ask their initial background questions about the adventure ahead, or else they will receive flawed retrieval of information. The players will get the wrong answer to some of their initial queries. This fact will become apparent later in the mission. The patron or agent of the rival has most likely caused this confusion to hide relevant facts or conflict of interest.
… Motive: Seeks long term financial return or to secure a monopoly on trade.
… Deviant Attitudes: Patron has just returned from travels. His reason relates to this fact.
… Clout or Hitch: Fortune in art and jewelry, but limited resources since he will not sell any of his collections.
… Cash Problems: Perhaps as many as three-quarters of the patron's troops will be traitors serving the rival.
… Unforeseen Difficulties: Current Patriarch of the Faith, the highest ranking theologian among the Ecclesiastics, personally will become involved.
… Unquessable Intersections: Untimely natural or accidental death will kill an important character during the mission. This loss should not be a player, the patron or rival. A historic figure may die and create extenuating events which hamper the mission.
… Rival: Consoler or Attorney, Adviser to Tetra-League, Jack Foster.
… Bonus Flesh-Out: Rival has a long record of arrests on various charges, some perhaps even with convictions. He may have served out his sentence long ago or was pardoned in the general amnesty of Era Nine.
… Enemy Forces or Threats: Laws. The rival and his forces represent the legal authority in the regions which the players cross. They can offer threat of legal action and call upon other law enforcement agents to aid them in their apprehension. This will mean the players are not as much in danger during battle of being injured as they are in being delayed.
… Ace-Hole: Maze Stronghold. The rival has a sanctuary in which the battle is bounded by obstacles which cannot be penetrated or crossed. Thus only limited flanking and maneuver is possible. Go "out of bounds," and you may not be able to return, ever.
… System Endgame: Automated Agricultural System that plants and harvests produce for processing and shipment throughout Tetra-League. The building blocks of real food: vegetables, bread and slaughtered livestock, just can't be produced except through farming. A Waste Converter which catalytically re-builds protein chains and recycles metallic vitamins was developed long ago for confined space flights; the fact remains it tastes terrible. The Converter is used to turn a person's excrement into a nutritional wafer. ("...just add water," he began to say as Keys chimed in, "Oh my Sssarge, I don't even wanna think about where the water hasss to come from.") The automated agricultural Systems exist to meet the demand for tasty food. Third-Party Restrictive Security, Meddling and Obstacles -- none, at most a few technicians on an irregularly scheduled repair inspection.
… World Jump & Die: Derrick Panetoid World, Covert Base or Derelict Station on which massive drilling platforms pump and deliver organic fuels to orbiting depots. There are no Taints on such a planet. Those infected were removed long ago. These are automated complexes with their own robotic security force. The only Immunes on the planet are temporary service technicians or literally hoboes, who stowed away on tankers and ended-up stranded on the surface. The residents are mostly crazy fools who exist in prefab, though high tech, shelters configured from stolen Components. These bums live off their MRD processors and Waste Converters. Immune Density -- low.
… Terrain Handicaps: Silica and sandstone gullies are occasionally clogged by multicolored columns, logs petrified millions of years ago. These low walls form a perfect barrier from which to defend behind. Tactical disadvantage meaning players may not select Diversion or Circle to Flanks for Tactical Assault; plus players suffer Adverse Conditions combat penalty when using Bounding Advance. Vehicular difficulty meaning penalty to movement rate; terrain is so broken that players must move at dead slow rate in ground vehicles. Also, during travel or combat in hover style craft, players suffering loss of control will damage vehicle and injure occupants.
… Climax Ground Zero: Public Housing Project or Taint's Home.
…
… Boon Alpha: This grants a free Battlefield Discipline at the start of each encounter during the adventure.
… Boon Beta: This grants automatic success for the first action involving Implants.
… Boon Gamma: This grants a free Power Generation at the start of each encounter during the adventure.
… Boon Delta: This grants a free Jury-Rig & Fabrication at the start of each encounter during the adventure.
… Boon Epsilon: This grants a free Bureaucracy at the start of each encounter during the adventure.
… Boon Kappa: This grants each player a bonus of absorbing an extra Abrasive during all encounters of the adventure.
… Boon Theta: This grants a free Code Triggered Orders at the start of each encounter during the adventure.
… Boon Iota: This grants each player a bonus of absorbing an extra Walking during all encounters of the adventure.
…
… Bane Omicron: Whenever anyone rolls for Internal Baffling, he must make two attempts and take the lower.
… Bane Sigma: Whenever anyone rolls for Rapid Burst, he must make two attempts and take the lower.
… Bane Psi: Whenever anyone rolls for Interrogate Man & Machine, he must make two attempts and take the lower.
… Bane Pi: Whenever anyone rolls for Incendiaries & Ordnance, he must make two attempts and take the lower.
… Bane Upsilon: This starts one or more encounters with someone in Reboot.
… Bane Tau: This starts one or more encounters with a Vicious wound.
… Bane Xi: Whenever anyone rolls for Sonic & Magnetic Boom, he must make two attempts and take the lower.
… Bane Omega: This starts one or more encounters with someone Target Tracked.
…
… A-Tech: Discover a device that grants a bonus to ignore the first loss of Skill penalty during the adventure. This artifact is activaly sought by TJ Boys as well as hostile agents. This artifact undergoes pass-fail test at the end of each adventure - win, lose or draw.
…
… King: Important NPC; flip carifying card and relate intervention to campaign theme. Reveal a Boon or Bane depending upon the alliance of King.
… Queen: Reveal something about the Patron. This will result in a Boon or Bane depending upon the disclosure.
… Jack: Either reveal a Bane or fight a battle. The battles should include a SpAT which will escalate across the adventure.
… 10: Advance the Phase, regardless of Boons and Banes. Players option to escalate and remove a SpAT or potential Bane.
… 9: Advance to Climax but only after all Boons and Banes have been revealed. Any fight here can erase one or more SpAT.
… 8: Fight and advance to Climax but only after all Banes have been revealed. The battles should include a SpAT which will escalate across the adventure.
… 7: Retrograde back to Phase B, if there are still adventure Boons and Banes. Otherwise, enter Climax.
… 6: Set-back, typically with combat. Add an SpAT which will escalate across the adventure. Retrograde back to Phase A, if there are still adventure Boons and Banes. Otherwise, advance to C.
… 5: Reveal Boon or Bane then resolve, often a fight; Advance to Phase C but only after all Boons and Banes have been revealed.
… 4: Reveal a Bane, typically a fight. If none remain, move to Phase C. The battles should include a SpAT which will escalate across the adventure.
… 3: Reveal Boon or Bane then resolve, often a fight; regardless, Advance to Phase B.
… 2: Reveal a Bane, typically a fight. If none remain, move to Phase B. The battles should include a SpAT which will escalate across the adventure.
… Ace: Reveal Boon or Bane and advance to Phase C. Players option to escalate to remove a SpAT or potential Bane. But doing so will move squad only to Phase B.
Note: SpAT are accumulative. e.g., if the enemy is in your Matrix, he will not be so easily thwarted by and by.
Yours,
IronRed
10-Nov-2023