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== Preamble ==
{{Vat:Info}}
http://mqstout.com/vat-files.zip Contains:
{{Campaign}}
# A short, quick writeup (from the Witchcraft demo kit) of the Unisystem rules.
# The writeup from Dresden Files about aspects and concessions. This is a more flavorful/example-filled writeup than what the link to the FATE SRD has below.
# A snippet from the d20 Modern Unearthed Arcana book to set (some) mood about how the setting may feel.
=== Meeting ===
We will be meeting at Daryl's place Saturday 12 May 2012 at 2 PM for group creation -- including exchanging our expectations, some world building and character building.
What to do before coming? Read this page. Try to read the aspects links below. Think (shallowly!) about what character you'd like to play.
==== Character Creation Rules ====
As [http://tobiah.panshin.net/thegamemaster/ The Game Master] (page 32) suggests, these shouldn't have to be stated but must be anyway: there are four rules to character creation:
# The Legion of Superheroes Rule
#* ''"No two players may fill the exact same role in the party."''
#* This is easily avoided in Unisystem.
# The Scooby Doo Rule
#* ''"Your character is a person who exists in society on some level."''
#* This means your character isn't a loner. Isn't totally nonfunctional. And so on. Please try to get along well-enough.
#* Intra-party conflict can, will and should happen! Iron Kingdom's seemed (barely) reasonable; you worked together but disagreed about methods. Wilding's was too much (and was my fault for not reigning in too varied alignments).
# The "You are an Adventurer" Rule
#* ''"You are an adventurer. You go on adventures. You do not avoid going on adventures."''
#* You don't necessarily have to be truly heroic, but no roleplaying Wally from Dilbert. It won't be fun for you, nor for others. (Attempting to do so can also violate Rule #4.)
#* We've had successful and fun campaigns that seemed to violate this before, but they did not. In LRC, for example, we were still adventurers. We might not have been "Save the world!" top tier, for-the-glory heroes, but we were still adventurers.
# The "No Dark Secrets" Rule
#* ''"Your character is not out to betray the party. Period."''
#* This includes a self-destructive mindset.
#* Nor betray the world...
For this specific game I'm asking these few small facts:
# The character should be gainfully employed and GOOD AT what they do (the former's negotiable; the latter's a requisite). This should be something useful to an organization that does things related to investigating/researching/hunting/training the supernatural. (Yes, everyone will be working together as a unit in this organization. It's easily to for nearly anything to apply.)
# Your character will have at least one point in the Influence quality, reflecting your successful employment before joining the above organization. (This gives your character bonuses to interacting with or calling favors in from a particular group. Example influences: Law Enforcement, Journalism, Science, Political, Army, Intelligence, Criminal, Business... )
# Think of your character as a normal human in society. Due to the way Shadow works (see setting below) that's what you have been all your life. While you may (and many if not all of you probably will) have supernatural -- possibly even non-human traits, you've been a "norm" up until around the start of the game. During character creation, we CAN spend points on supernatural powers. We will start play slightly flashed back from that.
# Don't fret about mechanics! If you want me to build the character's stats, I will. If the system doesn't have what you want, and it's reasonable, we'll build it.
# You will CAST your character. It doesn't need to be an actor or someone famous, but do associate a real-life portrait with someone who would (visually) portray your character assuming it were a film.
=== Players ===
* Randy [[User:Wizardoest]] (remotely)
* Frank [[User:Frank]]
* Remy [[User:T3knomanser]]
* Mike [[User:Arz]]
* Eric [[User:Askewnotion]]
* Lindsey
* JR [[User:Imamonkeyeekeek]]
== Setting ==
=== World ===
It's "pretty much" the real world. Except it's not. It's a parallel nearly-the-same world (this allows for 'artistic license'). This world primarily differs in that extra-natural things kind of sort of do exist. They come and go in waves both spatially and (especially) temporally.
d20 Modern Urban Arcana and Shadowrun use a similar guise for bringing mystical elements into the modern world. Perhaps some times in the past really were inhabited by the shadow (maybe the world of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_Magica Ars Magica] is truly Earth's history).
The game -- at least initially -- will be site-based, with the site being one city and its surrounding areas. We will embellish this setting during our pre-game meetup (and throughout the game) by selecting sites or NPCs that interest us for further exploration.
=== Time ===
The game will begin in 27 December 1991 -- just a few days after the final dissolution of the USSR and the creation of modern Russia. AKA, a few days after the official end of the Cold War.
Why did I choose this time? It was primarily a choice of technology. Modern technology -- especially the prevalence of the Internet and widespread, affordable mobile communications -- makes certain things quite difficult. It's harder to suspend disbelief when these things are prevalent. I wanted some computer technology around though. When that narrowed the range, this event was clear to me as a world-shifting time where we can fork reality.
=== Comparisons ===
;Dresden Files
: Too full-blown conspiratorial, overpowered, and complicated by the various powerful courts and so on. This game will not have strong technology-hates-magic.
;Supernatural
: This is more like it. Things will be a bit less "entrenched" than the series portrays. As time progresses, it's likely to become closer to this than to others.
;Night Watch
: Pretty good comparison, but without strong "light" and "dark" poles. Also, few to no long-established lineages. What happens to "Others" who then become "initiated" to the supernatural -- that's the PCs!
== System ==
The system used for this game will be [http://www.edenstudios.net Eden Studios'] Unisystem. Unisystem comes in two flavors; we will be using the classic flavor, which includes the games Witchcraft, Armageddon, All Flesh Must Be Eaten and Armageddon. (The cinematic flavor is used for Buffy, Angel and a few others and will not be used except perhaps as inspiration.)
Some parts of the [http://www.faterpg.com/ FATE RPG] (the system used for Dresden Files and others) will be grafted into Unisystem. This will (primarily) be aspects. However, I ask you also to read over concessions to consider while playing. If ever any combats/conflicts require a map, I shall also likely invoke FATE's zone-based handling of them, rather than performing a gridded tactical combat (for which Unisystem does have rules).
If using aspects does not work out to my liking, it will be scrapped and the game will be (nearly) pure Unisystem.
=== Unisystem ===
==== Books ====
* Conspiracy X is the latest classic Unisystem core rulebook. It will be our top reference. We will NOT be using its setting (including professions) -- the game will not be 'militarized', revolve around aliens and conspiracy, etc. It's just the main reference for the rules.
* Witchcraft and Armageddon will be the primary source books for qualities and powers, with various All Flesh Must Be Eaten supplements rounding out the choices. Again, we will not be using the settings from these (including: organizations, angels/devil offspring, and so on -- though characters may be build that might utilize some of their powers lists)
* I have these books in print and will gladly lend them out. '''WITCHCRAFT is a free PDF on DriveThruRPG [http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/692/CJ-Carrella%27s-WitchCraft?it=1 here].'''
==== Supernatural Powers Types ====
=== Aspects ===
One part of the FATE roleplaying game is being transplanted from it into Unisystem for this campaign. Aspects can fit easily into any RPG with minimal effort. Think of them loosely as "always on" circumstance bonuses in D&D, or the allegiences system in d20 Modern or vices and virtues from True20. They flavorfully describe things in the game and can be used creatively to have a mechanical effect in the game.
Aspects don't only apply to characters, but also to anything that can be described. A battle scene in sewers might have an aspect of "dark, dank and dreary" applied to it. Any time this descriptor might apply to a situation for you, you can try to use it for a bonus (or penalty for others, as apropriate). In D&D terms (since that's what we're all most familiar with), you could use that to apply a penalty to an enemy's saving throw against fear, or as a bonus on your stealth roll (and so on). It only takes some creative storytelling! An added side effect of using aspects it it empowers research and knowledge type skills. Successful checks with these will let you learn of (or even establish!) an aspect around something that you can then use to your benefit. In fact, the campaign itself will have some aspects applied to it -- to help set the themes for the whole game.
To learn about aspects, read the following web links.
:This section (only 2.15.2 and its subheader "Powerful Aspects") will set the mood for what to think about selecting for aspects; what makes aspects good and not.
;Full details for aspects:
:http://www.faterpg.com/dl/sotc-srd.html#id9
:Please, if you can, read the whole chapter. Pay particular attention to the examples. You can safely ignore the other FATE-specific components (such as die rolls, etc) that might be in it.
:Describes how aspects possibly can change as the game progresses.
The specifics of how Aspects will be implemented in this campaign will be detailed after character creation.
If you want more details about aspects, the zip file linked at the top has the relevant pages from the Dresden Files RPG that covers them more fully, with more depth an examples. Remember, we're only using this part of FATE, so some of the things mentioned in the PDF might not be relevant.
What aspects will you need? We will generally follow the aspect-selection part of FATE's character creation. You will need one "high concept" aspect that broadly encompasses who you are -- something like a "race and class" analog -- one phrase describing who your character is. You'll also need a "trouble", which is an aspect that's a regular source of conflict (often, but not required to be internal). You'll also generate a couple paragraphs of "prior life events", each of which be distilled into an aspect.
Here's an example of Harry Dresden's aspects, as they would be at the beginning of Storm Front:
* High Concept: Wizard Private Eye
* Trouble: Temptation of Power
* Development aspects: My Mother's Silver Pentacle; Chivalry is Not Dead, Damnit; Not So Subtle, Quick to Anger; Epic Wiseass; Perpetually Broke
* [http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=798 Talking about consequences]
* [http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Harry-Dresden.pdf Full Harry Dresden character sheet] (The back has the creation part we'll be utilizing.)
* [http://www.scribd.com/doc/41356876/Generic-Unisystem-Character-Sheet A Generic Unisystem Character Sheet] (Though Unisystem characters can easily be done on just a notebook page.)
Why fight to the death? Concessions offer a take on surrendering ''or'' otherwise ending conflict without death. Keep this in mind during play. (Again, grit, consequences, cashing out, and other FATE-specific items are NOT being used. This really isn't anything too mechanical; it's largely a reminder that always fighting to the death is not so common in this kind of setting.)
Theme: Tipping Point Theme: Undiscovered Country Threat: Armies of the Unknown
(Also suggested: Lingering Power, Powerful Folklore, Corruption, Mysteries of Technology)
Areas
Listed in descending number of votes: Pittsburgh, Southern California/LA, Eastern Europe/Moscow, NYC.
(Also mentioned: Detroit, Seattle, Space)
About VAT
The VAT (Vulnerability Analysis Team) is a non-governmental, private, for-profit organization that is independently subcontracted to solve "issues" or tackle projects, usually requiring specialties not possessed by the hiring agent, at a competitive rate. While it itself is relatively small and often agile, it generally has to work at the bureaucratic pace of its partners and suppliers.
Rules
Clarifications
Compelling a foe Example
Sophia just learned that a terrorist-sniper has the All about the money aspect and asks, "How much for you NOT to kill us?" Joe spends a fate point to compel it to restrict his defensive options, stating "The sniper's too busy coming considering the option seriously to dodge." This makes the sniper's dodge task merely a difficult dodge task (just dodge, no skill, and not doubled) because of his internal distraction.
Rolling up/down (Rule of 10/Rule of 1)
If you roll a 10, roll again and subtract a 5. If the result is greater than 0, add it to 10 and that's your result. (Set result up by multiples of 5 and repeat on another 10.) 10 [10], 10 [15], 10 [20], 7 [2] = 22. 10, 3 = 10.
If you roll a 1, roll again and subtract 5. If the result is less than 1, that's your result. (Set result down by multiples of 5 and repeat on another 1.) [This varies slightly from RAW -- but only in execution algorithm, not in spirit. I do this to make the roll up/down methods match.] 1 [1], 1 [-5], 1 [-10], 2 [-3] = -13. 1, 8 = 1. When the final result is 1 or less, the outcome could be catastrophic.
Jumping
A character may high jump (Strength x 10) inches and broad jump (Strength) yards. Double these numbers with a good running start.
Strength 5 jumps 15 feet long and 50 inches (4 feet) high. Again, this is a guideline/suggested limit -- not a hard rule.
Alterations
The following are alterations from Unisystem RAW (in addition to Aspects):
Initiative will be D&D3 style -- rather than "declare, roll, then narrate" as written. (Subject to revisiting later.)
There will be no called shots.
Bullet types (armor piercing, etc) will not be used -- just normal ammunition. In fact (per suggestions in many books), bullet damage that exceeds armor will NOT deal extra-double damage. Shotguns are slugs only. This preserves many dramatic moments. Heroes take 4 shots instead of 1-2.
Various extra combat actions are not open for use: stances, various automatic fire modes, in-depth martial arts and so on. These may be added back in later once the system is more familiar.
"Drama points" will not be used. We will use Fate Points to fuel aspects, but they will be used ONLY to compel and invoke aspects.
Multiple actions -- you'll get one free normal and defensive action per turn. If you take more than one of either, cumulative penalties apply until your next turn. The cumulative penalties will reduce at the rate of 2 per turn, not all at once. Additional actions will also consume additional endurance. Additional actions happen later in the turn.
Penalties may be reset to 0 by spending a turn doing essentially nothing. (Tentatively approved by Daryl.)
You'll get one action and one defense every round no matter what you're doing. RAW only gives you this in melee. (If reverting initiative, this may disappear.)
The Gift does not automatically allow seeing of magic/essence, nor does lack of The Gift prevent it. It helps, but it's not binary.
Income dollar values (for Resources) are 60% of ConX given ones.
RAW on stun gun is insane... It does endurance damage in most combat situations.
Advancement
At least initially, XP will be awarded as follows:
1 XP per case for attendance
1 XP per case recapped on the wiki -- spendable on (normal) skills improvements only
1 Fate point given to a communal pool per relevant location or face filled out on the wiki
Desire to acquire new qualities or to pay off drawbacks must be discussed with the GM first. Qualities, if acquirable, can only be taken at training intervals. Attributes also may only be raised at specific times in-game. Skills and powers can be trained normally up to 4 without discussion; beyond that may require training arrangements. [This paragraph needs serious rephrasing to get the tone and meaning correct.]
Please keep an "XP spent" log either in a comment on your character page or on your character's talk page. Again, attendance XP can be spent on anything; wiki XP only for on skills. (Skills being only normal skills. Supernatural skills such as Anguish, etc, require normal XP.)
Changing Aspects
You can freely adjust your aspects until (before) Case #4. After that, adjusting aspects will require a plot device. If you initiate the aspect change (ie, GM does not), it may empty or reduce your Fate point pool.
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