You gasp awake. Your heart, as loud as a lead slab dropped into an endless ocean echoes faintly. At first, for almost an eternity, you were greeted with darkness. Slowly, tormentingly, your eyes open, just as the memories come flooding back. And then the pain, the undescribable
pain of what just happened to your body hits you. Hard. your heart wasn't echoing anymore. The tremors felt like an earthquake every time it thumped, the very blood in your veins spreads the pain, making it worse.
And then it stopped. You were given the sweet bliss of unconsciousness, as the cryo tank surrounds you, and you feel the num and forgiving cold.
You are a soldier of the Yaerian Republic. One of the very best. Freshly augmented from the Zero Gravity Surgical Suites of the Military Station.
You are a Star Knight.
A tactical squad based RTD/RPG game set in the Yaeri-verse, the same universe as System Override. I will be using a system similar(blatantly copied) from the 888th Brigade system by Piecewise. You will be part of an elite squad of (counter) boarding soldiers, specializing in being the first ones on board and the last ones left. I removed the health dice system simply because my mind couldn't really comprehend it.
For all actions simple RTD rules. Roll a D6, add any minuses or plus’s, get the result. You can only have a maximum of +3 to rolls. If you have a +1, 4-5 is a total success, +2 means a 3-5 is a total success, and +3 equals to a 2-5 total success. 1’s and 6’s retain their failure and overshoot no matter how many +s you get. Although I will take into account the action you're attempting and how difficult it is, and from there I will decide what exactly happens, I may fudge the roll a little bit for or against your favor depending on the situation at hand. Your super soldiers, not bumbling idiots.
You're going to be super soldiers and super synthetics. Combats is going to be one-sided most of the time to the PCs favor with a chunky salsa type system that is geared by my digression. You can do up to three different actions: A primary, a secondary, and a tertiary. A primary action consists of shooting someone, using your profession tool (Like treating someone with a medkit or repairing a broken drain with a plumbers wrench), or set the mission related equipment up. A secondary either consists of switching weapons, throwing a grenade, or moving a large distance, or focusing on your primary task. A tertiary action consists of moving a small distance or focusing on not being shot while in cover. When you do not use your Secondary and Tertiary actions, it will be assumed that you are hunkering down and focussing on your primary task.
If you do not use your Secondary task to focus on your task, you will have a -1 in all gunplay and some technical rolls, in addition, the enemy will have a better time hitting you.
If you focus your Tertiary task on being in cover, the enemy will have a harder time hitting you unless you used your secondary task to move, then you can only use your tertiary action to move.
Name:
(The naming convention is simple, with four parts, for Yaerians. It consists of four parts, the first part is a name you're born with. The second part will “connect” with the first part of the name either with a hyphen for a professional attachment to something profound or an apostrophe for a personal attachment to something profound. The profound item or person is of your choices. The third part is essentially the last name while the fourth part denoted a highly regarded achievement or occupation. For Starknights, the fourth part of the name is -Purk. The Second part of the name is optional. Bonus points if it sounds like a fish trying to speak English. Battle Frames can pick any robot name they want, but the preferred designation is simple word followed by a number that increases when that model dies in battle. Noble 353, Hound 1, Etc.
Example names; Uril’Yimia Turge-Purk , Yahl-Tiwin Yara-Purk, Ampil-Yamil Wagh-Purk )
Gender:
(The Yaerian Republic doesn't discriminate, not when their people are the colors of the rainbow)
Sub-Species :
(Simple enough, The “species” list below will state exactly what kind of thing you can be. Picking the one in the list is high encouraged if not mandatory. It is to be noted that there are Sub-Species limits to act as a player whitelist control.)
Unofficial Occupation:
(Your self-described badass occupation, along with a nickname.)
Equipment packs
(Put the NAME of the equipment packs you have here!)
Appearance:
(Give a short blurb about your appearance, why not right?)
Backstory:
(This is where you put their backstory, and maybe some tear jerking description about current events.)
Skills:
(Place ONLY skills you have trained in!)
Abilities:
(Yes, you can only place the abilities you have here.)
Inventory:
(Place all the items in Equipment Pack items in here as well as any salvage you find.)
Condition:
(Unless the army made you wrong, you should be perfectly healthy, for now! denote any artificial prosthetic you received here as well.)
Now that you know the purpose of all the entries use the one BELOW DO NOT USE THE ONE ABOVE I WILL KILL YOU!
Post this with every action you do.
[b]Name[/b]:
[b]Gender[/b]
[b]Sub-Species[/b]:
[b]Unofficial Occupation[/b]:
[b]Equipment Packs[/b]:
[b]Appearance[/b]:
[b]Backstory[/b]:
[b]Skills[/b]:
[b]Abilities[/b]:
[b]Inventory[/b]:
[b]Condition[/b]:
Below is a fully filled character sheet as it should look like, with examples of particular situations that may happen.
Name:Blu-Yurg De-Purk
Gender:Male
Sub-Species:Psionic
Unofficial Occupation: Flutterbug
Equipment Packs:
Psionic Universal
Phazon Rifler
Appearance:Tall, for a Augmented. They look positively lanky, with a dull cyan coloring. One of their head-tails is misgrown, short and stubby. Their hardsuit is painted a dull metal grey with the lining black, although he could’ve painted it any color he wanted. If one looked closely, his legs are not actually part of the hardsuit, but a prosthetic.
Backstory: Dull. quiet. Deadly. He speaks with a harsh voice from smoke inhalation. “Flutterbug”’s specific psionic ability is in self control of his own movement speed. He is absolutely brutal with a combaat blade, and takes vicious glee with using it on any occasion he can.
Skills:
+3 Psionic endurance
+2 Psionic Amplification
+2 Close Quarters Combat
+1 Phazon Rifle
+1 Piloting
+1 Medical
Abilities:
Psionically bound Inertia: This Yaeria can control it’s own movement by its psionically enabled mind and uses it for the purpose of killing with a combat knife and a healthy dose of speed.
Sadistic: You take special pride in your horrific ability to kill people in such a way as to maim, break and destroy in a way that is absolutely disturbing. This has become a point of contestation with high command.
Paranoid: You have a second sense when it comes to ambushes, traps and general malaise when it's pointed towards your squad, maybe.
Inventory:
SK Hardsuit
Oxygenation Pack
Operator Medical System
Distress Pulser
Psionic Augment Base
Combat Knife
Phazon Pistol
2 Phazon Pistol Magazines
Survival Kit
Phazon Rifle
4 Phazon Rifle Chambers
2 Class 1 Fragmentation Grenades
Fusion Cutting Torch
Condition:
Dark and edged inside
Prosthetic legs.
For a Yaerians appearance, I’ve happily described it below, and below that is the choice of subspecies.
A Yaerian generally stands at around five feet eight to six feet two in height, male or female. They hold a wide variety of skin colors and have black, large and almost friendly looking eyes. They have three “heads-tails”, long and slightly thin appendages which hang from their heads, either at their shoulders or down their necks. Females are longer, as the space between them and the neck is a moist and damp area used to store their eggs. They reproduce similar to a salmon, in all that entails. They, compared to a human, are described as rather lanky. They have two arms, and two legs. They have a little bit of webbing on their feet, and they have six fingers, essentially two thumbs and five “index” fingers. This is often reflected in the machines they make.
An augmented Yaerian does change their height, though not by much. They gain muscle definition and mass, while they gain a couple metal ports on their spine, and any limbs they have lost in the line of duty are either flash cloned and augmented with the rest of their body or replaced with a high grade prosthetic that is just as capable as their old arm, it is the choice of the soldier.
Currently, there are three choices for Subspecies. Use them wisely.
Augmented: The bread and butter so to speak of the Yaerian StarKnight Program. They are essentially the standard Special Forces Supersoldier, they are the baseline of the new era. They can pick any skill they want, and any ability they want, unless it deals with being a Synthetic or a Psionic, Abilities and skills that can be picked will be demoted with a {A}
Only three(3) Augmented can be on the field at any one time until further notice.
Psionic: You're a one in a rather small chance! Born special, with an intrinsic and utterly baffling ability that only grows more lethal and powerful with age and experience. The Augmented program did NOT improve your abilities, merely complemented them, you can use them as fast as a person can aim and pull a trigger, which for you is very fast. However, with your utterly hellish training, and your focus on your psionic abilities. Psionics gets three abilities, but they must invest one into their chosen field of Psionics. You cannot invest your main (+3) skill point into a technical skill, I will mark the ones you can pick with a {P}
Only Two(2) Psionics can be on the field at any one time, and if a Psionic dies, there will be no replacements until a new batch of augmented come out.
BattleFrame: A machine, a heartless, soulless machine in the eyes of the Unitarian Empire. You are unfortunately not sentient, but you can still kill, and kill you expected. It is highly likely that your frame, although built in a very durable and outright masterful manner, will not survive the rigors and deadly events that the Starknights will take you with. That is why there are more of you and less of the Starknights. You are expected to die for them and are programmed as such, but you don't care, you're a soulless machine. You are less “skilled” than a person, for the simple fact that your mind only has so much space that can be quick-trained into it. You have 1 +3, 1 +2, and 2+1’s. All valid skills for a BattleFrame will be denoted with a {F} Feel free to describe your chassis, but I will have to approve it.
There can be up to (5) Battle Frames. Don’t worry, your corpse will be recovered and any valid parts reused, it is highly likely that you’ll be able to fight again, even after losing all four of your legs. Please denote where your Positronic Brain is stored in your appearance. If you lose your Positronic Brain your dead, game over, man.
Stay tuned for more, perhaps.
Skills
BY default, you will have 1 +3’s, 2 +2’s, and 3 +1’s, unless you're a BattleFrame. You can have up to two abilities. You will gradually improve and level up so to speak as you become more of a combat veteran, and you adapt to your implants and machinery.
Skills can be denoted by a {F}, {P}, {A} and/ or a {K} A {K} Denotes that the skill can be used by everyone.
{K}Phazon Gun: The mainstay of the Yaerian military. Fires small bolts of plasma, depending on the ship and location you are in, the weapon can fire bigger bolts without fear of killing everything you love. Has a tendency to light atmospheres on fire, and is not recommended to fire on Max setting unless in void operations. Comes in Snubnose and pistol variants. Considered the standard weapon of the Yaerian Consolidated Republic
{K}Linear Rifle: A Railgun, used to breach airlocks and shoot through walls. Comes with a safety setting that disables the Pierce mode for when atmospheres are a must in spaceships.
{K}Flechette Gun: A Futurists shotgun designed to kill battle frames, is deadly as it sounds and is used to clear rooms of unarmored personnel, friendly fire incidents on BattleFrames with this weapon are not uncommon, and have resulted in Platform disabling or termination, beware.
{A}{P}Salvaging: The act of cutting things apart into manageable chunks to carry in your inventory, along with making them usable in some situations.
{A}Robotics: The art of repairing, activating or deactivating BattleFrames and unidentified platforms, along with the various augments of the Yaerian Republic.
{A}Medical: The art of treating, mending or otherwise assisting wounded of the Yaerian Nature. It is expected of Starknight Medics to be able to deal with robotics in a minor way to be able to treat the semi-synthetic nature of Starknights.
{A}{F}CyberWarfare: It is to be noted that although Positron Minds CAN initiate hack ware intrusions to enemy computational systems, they are inferior to dedicated Yaerian Cyber Warfare specialists, and Battle frames can only go up to a +2 in Cyberwarfare.
{P}Psionics Amplification: the act of using Psionics in combat related applications.
{P}Psionic endurance: The mental conditioning required to be able to sustain Psionic abilities in the field.
{F} Internal Repair: The act of directing the nanite entities present in your system to repair your damage. Far, far less effective than external assistance, and requires complete focus.
{K} Close Quarters Combat: The act of fighting in close combat, without long bladed weapons, usually fought with bayonets attached to weapons, boot knives, or with some battle frames built in knives on their manipulating limbs. Battle Frames who specialize in CQC will have the option of replacing their arms with high-energy blades at the expense of being unable to use ranged weaponry.
{K}Plasmatic Weapons: Essentially a Phazon gun without any of the containment fields. Essentially a flamethrower, and should be treated as such. Considered to be a war crime in ancient times. but desperate times call for desperate weapons.
{A}Piloting: Piloting spaceborne vehicles, Starknights are not expected to be piloting Yaerian Vehicles, but there may be chances for Enemy vehicles to be present in Hangar Bays.
{A}{F}Explosives: All Starknight program constituents have been closely screened for any sanity to be seized before being allowed to handle the high-grade explosives of the Yaerian Republic. Oorah.
{A} Structural Engineering: Any Electrical, Mechanical or other less savory types of engineering focussed on the structure of structures. Will be commonly used to deduct maintenance tunnels, weak spots and perhaps optimal explosive points, and fix equipment.
If I have missed any glaringly obvious and useful skill, please PM me.
Abilities
Simply put, they are what make you, you. They might do some, they might do a little.
Iron-willed: You can easily fight back the pain, it’s second nature to you. Pain will not affect you when you get hurt, when in reason.
Paranoid: You have a second sense when it comes to ambushes, traps and general malaise when it's pointed towards your squad, maybe.
Prepared: You come loaded to bare. Multiply your ammo by 1.5.
Fleet-Footed: You can move fast, really fast. Spending a tertiary and a secondary action to move will count as being under cover when reasonable.
Sadistic: You take special pride in your horrific ability to kill people in such a way as to maim, break and destroy in a way that is absolutely disturbing. This has become a point of contestation with high command.
Disciplined: You're straight as a razorblade, and never falter under explosions, fire or close quarters combat. In scary scenarios, you're more likely to keep your head in the game and do the right thing.
Other? : Come up with a special ability and If it is approved you have that ability, and it can do anything that it was approved to within reason.
Psionic abilities are different. They are more like domains from which you can control, and in your case, it is neatly used to kill people, among other things. Describe a domain, whether it is fire, Gravity or Kinetic energy, or anything that fancies you, as long as it is not silly. You will have a way to kill with it, and maybe a couple other tactical uses. You will NOT be able to pick the mind as a domain, or anything near such. Otherwise, go nuts, it’s your character and it is essentially space magic without the magic.
Or is it?
You can put down a “reserve” for a whitelist spot of a specific subspecies and when a player/pawn is removed from the game, I will pick an individual to replace them. You will have to state which sub-species you want to become, and you can pick multiple subspecies, but when you are picked and you die, you HAVE to register for the whitelist again, but another player will take your whitelist spot if there were any behind you. Typically, wounds that are serious enough such as maiming or otherwise may result in a retiring from the program after a mission is over, depending on how severe it is. This typically means the loss of higher mental functions or your lower body, limbs can be replaced.
Currently, there are 3 Augmented slots, 2 Psionic Spots, and 5 Frame spots available for play.
If you do not post an action I will decide the action that makes the most sense for your character. If I have to do this three times your character is somehow removed from the game, typically non-lethally and another player reinforces the squad.
I’d like to thank Piecewise, Harry Baldman and a couple other individuals for setting me right on the path of making this RTD. Seriously. They rock.
The accepted
Coolrune206 - "Frunk" the Fixer and Breaker - Augmented Combat Engineer
Slick - "Thunderbolt IV the Defender - Battle Frame Shield Carrier
Crazyabe - "Ognip'pish turgle-purk the build Buster - Augmented CyberWarfare Specialist
Lenglon - Vision I the Wallhack Sniper - BattleFrame Drone Hive
Beirus - Guwat Torif-Purk the Unseen Hand - Psionic Ranger
The Limbo group:
The Dead:
A dear old Friend -PumplinJack