The era of magic has long since passed. Megacorporations rule the solar system, controlling the three major planets and all stations in between. Governments squirm under the immense pressure of debt, allowing the corporations to dominate the lives of all their citizens. Trying to make an honest living… That’s the most foolish thing you can do. Steal, kill, cheat, lie. Do whatever needs to be done. Claw your way up and one day you might just have what it takes to become a Sellsword. This is a cyberpunk/fantasy RTD taking place in the Oculus System, a binary star system host to thirteen planets, three of which are habitable. The players play as Sellswords, corporate mercenaries that do various jobs for the megacorporations of the system. Shadowrun-y? Yes, very.
Character SheetName: Use your own style, or look below for naming conventions.
Race: There are seven major races, listed in the next post.
Appearance: The very minimum is there in the racial description.
Profession/Specialty: Hacker, brute, medic, soldier, etc.
Equipment: One primary weapon, one secondary, ammo (does not have to be recorded unless using laser or plasma weapons), anything else your character might have. 500 credits at generation.
Stats
Strength: Some melee weapon attack and most melee damage. Break down doors, crush things, be a barbarian.
Endurance: Damage resistance, recuperation, poison resistance.
Agility: Melee and range weapon attack. Ability to dodge.
Perception: Range weapon damage. Sometimes used in conjunction with intelligence.
Intelligence: Hackers and medics benefit from this stat. Used in conjunction with other stats.
Charisma: Negotiating, intimidating, bluffing.
Attunement: Ability to use or resist magic.
Luck: Chance you get a true crit, and many other things.
How stats workYour stat represents a percent chance that you get a plus one to your roll. Every hundred percent means a guaranteed plus one to the roll. A character with 120 in agility, for example, gets an automatic plus one, plus a 20% chance of another plus one. Negative attributes, on the other hand, can decrease your roll.
Everyone has a base 20 in all stats except for attunement and luck, which start at 0. You get 20 points to spend as you will, and can redistribute all base points. You can even decrease any skill. All skills except for luck and attunement can be decreased to -30, or increased to 80 at generation. The hard cap for these skills is 300 and minimum is -100. Attunement and luck start at 0, can be increased to 40, or can be decreased to -40 at generation. The hard cap for Attunement and Luck is 80, and the minimum is -100. Note that these two stats are extremely hard to increase.
Depending on the mission difficulty, you will be awarded stat points. It cost double to raise a stat above 100, and quadruple to raise it above 200. It cost double to raise Attunement and Luck from 20 to 40, triple from 40 to 60, and quadruple from 60 to 80.
How crits workLuck determines the percent chance a roll of 6 translates to a true crit. A true crit is like a 5, but much better. Negative luck works the opposite way. If you roll a one, there is a chance you can truly fail.
RollsTrue fail: You have utterly and truly failed. Only a cursed man can fail so completely.
1: Complete Failure: You have made your situation much worse.
2: Failure: Not a disaster, but you’ll be feeling the sting for a while.
3: So close: Just barely failed to connect, though all it has done is delay you.
4: Success: You hit your mark, convince your target, find the secret door.
5: Stunning Success: You destroy your target, rally your forces, uncover an artifact.
6: Oversuccess: You accomplished your goal, but at what cost?
True crit: Your success is divinely ordained; the pinnacle of Sellsword skill.
RacesAll racial stats ignore generation caps and minimums. These points cannot be moved elsewhere. These points do not increase the cost of the stat! For example, a dirthin can raise his Perception stat from 100 to 110 without paying double, for his racial stat is +10 to Perception. Beyond that, and up to 210, he must pay double.
Degwalker(Cityborn and Swampborn): A small kind from Hinte, these creatures hail from the swamps. In their natural state, the average degwalker is an oily, sneaky backstabber. In more civilized areas, degwalkers are meticulously groomed, attractive diplomats. Cityborn degs get a +10 to Charisma, and -10 to Strength. Swampborn degs get a +10 to Attunement and a -10 to Strength. Both types of degwalker can spit a contact poison that causes extreme, wracking pain. The poison can be applied to a weapon or used in a bite attack for greater effect. Cityborns use the naming conventions of the most popular race in the area, usually. Swampborn use primitive, or basic names, like Ukka-bend, Fire Seer, Lull Bak, or Din Walker.
Dirthin: A race from Lomans, primarily inhabiting the caverns below. With dark grey, to pitch black skin, and keen senses, the Dirthin make excellent infiltrators. They also have the ability to climb flat surfaces with retractable hooks in their skin. +10 Perception, -10 Endurance. Naming is seemingly random and diverse: Seven, Blue, Alex, Contaminate; with a family name that’s just as random: Sick, Atrium, Balance.
Human(Hintling): The common folk of the planet Hinte, a temperate planet host several sentient species. Hintlings look more or less like our humans. No alterations to stats.
Human(Lomaner): The human sub-type from the planet Lomans, the smaller, jungle planet. They are taller than hintlings, with green tinted skin and a certain greediness. +10 Agility, -10 Intelligence. Naming is nature based: Whirlwind, Bauxite, Boar; with a clan name: Gelin, Ricann, Roara.
Human(Gesoon): The humans from the tundra world of Ges. They are generally shorter than hintlings, with wide bodies and short tempers. +10 Strength, -10 Perception. Naming is simple compound: Roc-Duul, Gren-Duul, Til-Dull, Mant-Duul would all be of the same family.
Kharmino: Bird people who have two wings in addition to talon bearing arms. They used to be the strongest race in all of Hinte, though once magic was well understood they fell quickly. Though they are not as powerful as the other races in some aspects, some say they have a subtle advantage over everyone… They have the ability to fly while lightly armoured. +20 Luck, -40 Attunement. Their names are adjective followed by a family name, usually a verb: Blue Kill, Radiant Follow, Enormous Greet.
Ramok: The large and imposing Ramok are from Ges. With earthen coloured chitin plates for skin, these creatures can take a lot of damage. Their plates can resist regular bullets as well as kevlar, but are susceptible to energy attacks (Lasers, Plasma). +10 Endurance, -10 Agility. Naming is typically single words with titles given at adulthood, and changes as the individual accomplishes great feats. Venea the Green would turn into Venea the Lost. Incus the Simple would turn into Incus the Terrible. The first title is supposed to push the individual to accomplish greater things.
Vesuan: Amphibious creatures from Hinte, Vesuans are extremely tall and hairless, with black eyes. They are known for their philosophers and inventors, and their condescending attitude. They can breathe underwater, and swim quite fast. They can also see in the dark. +10 Intelligence, -10 Charisma. Their names are an adverb-noun/verb compound: Sublimely-Atom, Absolutely-Get, Devilishly-Grow.
EquipmentWhen you select your weapons, select a damage type and weapon type. If you choose to have a laser or plasma weapon, you lose your secondary weapon and all your starting credits, and gain seven magazines of ammo (for simplicities sake we’ll say all plasma and laser magazines have five attacks worth of ammo, laser and plasma melee weapons still require ammo). Weapon types can be as broad (Laser shotgun, knife) or specific (Arc thrower A10 Vesu Fryer, Laser-edge dai-katana) as you want. Weapons can be stupidly impossible. Like shotgun pistols, or flaming axes.
Types of Weapon Damage, in order of value:
Mundane: Knives, swords, chairs.
Ballistic: Range of abilities, magazines, usually loud, jamming, the works.
Explosive: Big boom. Ammo restrictions.
Rail: Higher penetration, usually slow fire rate.
Energy(Arc): Varied types, specialist, electricity based.
Incinerator: Destroys lightly armoured targets, scary fails.
Laser: Extreme damage, semi-quiet, expensive as hell.
Plasma: Melts through heavy armour, loud, slow fire rate, expensive as hell, scary fails.
Attunement and MagicThe Attunement stat represents your mind's and body's ability to comprehend, control, and react to magic. Magic works like this: Spells flit about on some parallel plane, attracted to those with high Attunement. Sometimes, the spell will allow a creature to cast it. The creature will get a mental ping, sensing the spell type and effect (most of the time). Then, they have the option to cast it as long as the spell stays connected to them. Sometimes, those with high Attunement (or high Luck) will gain a spell permanently.
Whether or not spells are sentient is highly debated. More religious folk tend to think they're spirits, sprites, or the dead. Scientists and warlocks will typically say they're simply magical entities, calling their realm the Mana Flux. Since the times of sorcerers, spells have somewhat receded from the universe. The Age of Magic ended when the first laser weapon was invented.