Post by Nocturne on Jun 26, 2017 17:25:34 GMT
Hello all! So, I’ve been a fairly active player in the PTU community for a good while now, but I have never been a GM before and I decided a few months ago that it was time to give something back to the community that has provided me with so much entertainment. Without further ado, let me present to you, Triumvirate! This cyberpunk, or perhaps more accurately, post-cyberpunk campaign is inspired, among other things, by Shadowrun and Ghost in the Shell. Some people might recognize elements from the Babel setting in Do Porygon Dream of Mareep too.
Please read the document below. It will hopefully give you the information you need to build a character for this setting.
Triumvirate Background Document
Character Creation
As this is a full contact campaign, I advise you to build a character with some amount of combat skills. I will be taking three players and each character should be related to one of the three main factions of the setting, the league, the mega corporations, or the gods. Corresponding to the faction a player has chosen, their PC will receive an additional edge from the following.
Regardless of which faction you chose, your PC gains either the Elemental Connection or Mystic Senses Edge for free as well if they wish to have it. This represents the incredibly high amount of supernaturals in the world.
All playtests are in effect, except for the playtest capture rules. You may use the core and any of the splatbooks to make your character, however, Usurper from Blessed and the Damned and Glitch Bender from Do Porygon Dream of Mareep are not available for character creation. In general, please check with me on Skype if you’re using Blessed and the Damned content beyond the Touched Edge. Characters should be between the ages of 18 and 25. PCs start off at Trainer Level 5 and one Level 15 Pokemon with a single Egg or Tutor Move that corresponds to the playtest rules. Your chosen starter must be a non-(pseudo or otherwise) legendary Underdog that is not a single stager. If it evolves at or before Level 15, that’s fine, unless your chosen Pokemon is an Eevee. Eeveelutions will require a minimum Level of 20 to evolve in this game. Also, feel free to use Alolan Pokemon from the Alola Dex as starters if they meet the requirements.
You may give your Pokemon Skill Backgrounds if you so wish. It's not a requirement, but since it's more useful than not, I'd recommend you do so. Since this has been allowed after the start of recruitment, not having a Skill Background on your Pokemon won't factor into the choosing process and I'll likely let the chosen players pick one after I've chosen if necessary. I'd appreciate it if you did it before the cut off date though.
Players receive 15000 Pyen at character creation to buy items with. Anything left over after character creation is not lost, however availability of certain items after game start might be limited.
Weapons will use the cheaper costs in the core book, 2000 for Simple and 4000 for Fine.
As hinted at in the blurb, datajacks come free with the cyberization process and as such, anyone who wants a datajack can have one for free.
Restricted items: TMs that cost over 2500. The DPDoM weapons are off-limits for character creation.
Dex XP is in use and will be shared among the party.
Special Rules
This game will use one of the alternative rules in the core book for augmentations. These replace (not add to) the Augmentation Shock rules. See page 59 in Do Porygon Dream of Mareep. For convenience they are copied here too.
Since Augmentation Shock isn't being used, Upgrader's Emergency Reactivation and Efficient Installation Features will be changed to the following.
Recruitment will end on Saturday the 8th of July at 8pm GMT+0. A big thanks to Dark Shadow for making and updating a table of applicants for me!
This is not the Pokemon world as you know it. The year is 2036. 40 years ago was when gods first began to walk the earth once more. The presence of the man made god, Mewtwo, heralded a new age. The number of humans with supernatural powers shot up rapidly around the world, as if humanity was suddenly evolving in response to some unseen threat.
Then on the ‘mundane’ side of things, Team Rocket was an enemy that took a lot of manpower and a coordinated effort between Kanto’s forces to take down, rooted as it was in Kanto’s underground. The war with the criminal organization took the lives of many Trainers. It showed the world how fragile human life really was.
In the 40 years that have passed since then, mankind has witnessed the rise of other enigmatic gods from their slumber and the fall of new criminal organizations who tried to use them. These events have caused humanity to place a lot of importance on their growth as a species, resulting in advances in weapons manufacture and technology. Where mundane guns were the apex weapon 40 years ago, now it’s super advanced Laser Rifles and their ilk.
Technology has improved rapidly not only where weapons are concerned. After the wars with Team Rocket and other criminal organizations, many Trainers were left critically injured. Prosthetic technology has improved by leaps and bounds. Cybernetic replacement limbs became widespread. Nowadays they’re barely thought of as prosthetics. Almost every adult citizen has a cyberized brain at least, alongside a datajack, used to access the vast internet. This operation is done at the age of 16 when an individual’s brain is mature enough.
The advent of cybernetics has brought with it a new wave of cyber crimes. Corporations such as Devon and Silph are being hacked by runners, criminal mercenaries who work in the shadows of society, and the corporations themselves are far too mysterious to be clean. Things are often not black or white.
The Pokemon League has lost a lot of power since the events of 40 years ago. The war with Team Rocket, especially their use of Mewtwo and then subsequent wars with other Teams, who sometimes managed to temporarily bind gods to their will, left them weakened and they were often forced to request additional help from the companies that would become the mega corporations of today, as well as from allied gods. This culminated in a complete shift within the balance of power, as the mega corporations really made the league pay for their help, forcing them to cede land to the corps which would then become corporate soil. Mega corporations became regions unto themselves, in which employees gained corporate nationality in addition to their normal nationality.
These days, the three factions, the triumvirate of the league, the mega corporations and the gods, are constantly competing with each other. Each is vying for more power over the lives of the people, for different reasons. The league resents the power that has been taken from it, and wishes to regain its former glory. The mega corporations are hungry for more money and more power, as is the nature of capitalism. It’s unclear why the gods are so adamant about gaining more followers, but the prevalent theory is that their divine spark, the thing that allows them to exert such tremendous influence upon the world, is affected by not only the subconsciousness of humans and Pokemon alike, but even more so by the strength of the worship towards them.
You are three Trainers, one from each faction, who are just starting the gym circuit in the Kalos region. When the Ever Grande Conference of 2016 concluded, the gym circuit had been revamped in the face of the technology and abilities that humans were capable of using and Pokemon battling became a full contact sport. It is still one of humanity’s oldest traditions, and considering this status, it is no wonder that all major factions in the world want to have a stake in it. In order to resolve this issue, new ways of becoming a licensed Trainer were established. Rather than writing an application to the league, or simply having friends with league connections, now one can still do all of the aforementioned things, but can also be sponsored by mega corporations or even the gods, who have both risen to become factions that also wield great influence in the world. The mega corps basically can get a certain number of people past the Trainer application with assurance of their becoming a fully fledged Trainer. This privilege is usually given to the family members of high ranking or hard-working mega corp workers. Being sponsored by a god generally entails having an emissary of the god carry out relations with the League. They can get the god’s ‘chosen’ people past the application process, just like the mega corps. There is no equivalent process for the league anymore, though Pokemon Professors have been crying out for this to be changed, as in the past, they had the ability to simply choose people to become Trainers. At the moment, the league has their agents handle all prospective Trainers. There is an upside to being sponsored by the league however. The bursary that the league offers to exceptional applicants is quite lucrative and on par with the bursary that similarly exceptional Trainers receive from the mega corps and the gods.
In order to prevent the building of a one-versus-the-world mentality that became very common in Trainers, the League, who still administers all Trainers, forces Trainers to team up with two other people, forming a group. The gym circuit is not mandatory, but incredibly beneficial for a lot of positions, especially those that have anything to do with Pokemon. It’s hard to get some jobs if you don’t have an appropriate number of badges. However even a single badge means a lot due to the difficulty in acquiring them.
Then on the ‘mundane’ side of things, Team Rocket was an enemy that took a lot of manpower and a coordinated effort between Kanto’s forces to take down, rooted as it was in Kanto’s underground. The war with the criminal organization took the lives of many Trainers. It showed the world how fragile human life really was.
In the 40 years that have passed since then, mankind has witnessed the rise of other enigmatic gods from their slumber and the fall of new criminal organizations who tried to use them. These events have caused humanity to place a lot of importance on their growth as a species, resulting in advances in weapons manufacture and technology. Where mundane guns were the apex weapon 40 years ago, now it’s super advanced Laser Rifles and their ilk.
Technology has improved rapidly not only where weapons are concerned. After the wars with Team Rocket and other criminal organizations, many Trainers were left critically injured. Prosthetic technology has improved by leaps and bounds. Cybernetic replacement limbs became widespread. Nowadays they’re barely thought of as prosthetics. Almost every adult citizen has a cyberized brain at least, alongside a datajack, used to access the vast internet. This operation is done at the age of 16 when an individual’s brain is mature enough.
The advent of cybernetics has brought with it a new wave of cyber crimes. Corporations such as Devon and Silph are being hacked by runners, criminal mercenaries who work in the shadows of society, and the corporations themselves are far too mysterious to be clean. Things are often not black or white.
The Pokemon League has lost a lot of power since the events of 40 years ago. The war with Team Rocket, especially their use of Mewtwo and then subsequent wars with other Teams, who sometimes managed to temporarily bind gods to their will, left them weakened and they were often forced to request additional help from the companies that would become the mega corporations of today, as well as from allied gods. This culminated in a complete shift within the balance of power, as the mega corporations really made the league pay for their help, forcing them to cede land to the corps which would then become corporate soil. Mega corporations became regions unto themselves, in which employees gained corporate nationality in addition to their normal nationality.
These days, the three factions, the triumvirate of the league, the mega corporations and the gods, are constantly competing with each other. Each is vying for more power over the lives of the people, for different reasons. The league resents the power that has been taken from it, and wishes to regain its former glory. The mega corporations are hungry for more money and more power, as is the nature of capitalism. It’s unclear why the gods are so adamant about gaining more followers, but the prevalent theory is that their divine spark, the thing that allows them to exert such tremendous influence upon the world, is affected by not only the subconsciousness of humans and Pokemon alike, but even more so by the strength of the worship towards them.
You are three Trainers, one from each faction, who are just starting the gym circuit in the Kalos region. When the Ever Grande Conference of 2016 concluded, the gym circuit had been revamped in the face of the technology and abilities that humans were capable of using and Pokemon battling became a full contact sport. It is still one of humanity’s oldest traditions, and considering this status, it is no wonder that all major factions in the world want to have a stake in it. In order to resolve this issue, new ways of becoming a licensed Trainer were established. Rather than writing an application to the league, or simply having friends with league connections, now one can still do all of the aforementioned things, but can also be sponsored by mega corporations or even the gods, who have both risen to become factions that also wield great influence in the world. The mega corps basically can get a certain number of people past the Trainer application with assurance of their becoming a fully fledged Trainer. This privilege is usually given to the family members of high ranking or hard-working mega corp workers. Being sponsored by a god generally entails having an emissary of the god carry out relations with the League. They can get the god’s ‘chosen’ people past the application process, just like the mega corps. There is no equivalent process for the league anymore, though Pokemon Professors have been crying out for this to be changed, as in the past, they had the ability to simply choose people to become Trainers. At the moment, the league has their agents handle all prospective Trainers. There is an upside to being sponsored by the league however. The bursary that the league offers to exceptional applicants is quite lucrative and on par with the bursary that similarly exceptional Trainers receive from the mega corps and the gods.
In order to prevent the building of a one-versus-the-world mentality that became very common in Trainers, the League, who still administers all Trainers, forces Trainers to team up with two other people, forming a group. The gym circuit is not mandatory, but incredibly beneficial for a lot of positions, especially those that have anything to do with Pokemon. It’s hard to get some jobs if you don’t have an appropriate number of badges. However even a single badge means a lot due to the difficulty in acquiring them.
Please read the document below. It will hopefully give you the information you need to build a character for this setting.
Triumvirate Background Document
Character Creation
As this is a full contact campaign, I advise you to build a character with some amount of combat skills. I will be taking three players and each character should be related to one of the three main factions of the setting, the league, the mega corporations, or the gods. Corresponding to the faction a player has chosen, their PC will receive an additional edge from the following.
Mega Corps: Company Man - Trainers with this Edge can receive specialty gear from Mega Corporations at reduced prices.
The League: Sponsored Trainer - Trainers with this Edge can get offers on items that are subsidized by the League.
The Gods: Touched - Depends on Legendary chosen.
'Specialty gear from Mega Corporations' refers to items that will be mostly homebrew in nature, which will be made available during game play. 'Items that are subsidized by the League' are your regular PokeMart items. During game play PCs will receive offers and discounts on some of these items.
Homebrew specialty gear includes these examples:
Med Kit
Can be used as substitute for a First Aid Kit in order to use the First Aid Expertise Feature. By Draining 1 AP, any Trainer can make a Medicine Education and a Focus or Technology Ed Check on a target as an Extended Action. The target gains Hit Points equal to the sum of the results and is cured of Burn, Poison, and Paralysis. Costs 3000 Pyen.
Action Pill
Grants a Digestion Buff that allows the user to gain an additional 2 AP for the rest of the Scene, however they immediately lose a Tick of Hit Points. Costs 1000 Pyen.
Precision Pill
Grants a Digestion Buff that increases the user’s Accuracy by +1 for one full round. May cause addiction and health problems if used more than once per day. Costs 1500 Pyen.
The League: Sponsored Trainer - Trainers with this Edge can get offers on items that are subsidized by the League.
The Gods: Touched - Depends on Legendary chosen.
'Specialty gear from Mega Corporations' refers to items that will be mostly homebrew in nature, which will be made available during game play. 'Items that are subsidized by the League' are your regular PokeMart items. During game play PCs will receive offers and discounts on some of these items.
Homebrew specialty gear includes these examples:
Med Kit
Can be used as substitute for a First Aid Kit in order to use the First Aid Expertise Feature. By Draining 1 AP, any Trainer can make a Medicine Education and a Focus or Technology Ed Check on a target as an Extended Action. The target gains Hit Points equal to the sum of the results and is cured of Burn, Poison, and Paralysis. Costs 3000 Pyen.
Action Pill
Grants a Digestion Buff that allows the user to gain an additional 2 AP for the rest of the Scene, however they immediately lose a Tick of Hit Points. Costs 1000 Pyen.
Precision Pill
Grants a Digestion Buff that increases the user’s Accuracy by +1 for one full round. May cause addiction and health problems if used more than once per day. Costs 1500 Pyen.
Regardless of which faction you chose, your PC gains either the Elemental Connection or Mystic Senses Edge for free as well if they wish to have it. This represents the incredibly high amount of supernaturals in the world.
All playtests are in effect, except for the playtest capture rules. You may use the core and any of the splatbooks to make your character, however, Usurper from Blessed and the Damned and Glitch Bender from Do Porygon Dream of Mareep are not available for character creation. In general, please check with me on Skype if you’re using Blessed and the Damned content beyond the Touched Edge. Characters should be between the ages of 18 and 25. PCs start off at Trainer Level 5 and one Level 15 Pokemon with a single Egg or Tutor Move that corresponds to the playtest rules. Your chosen starter must be a non-(pseudo or otherwise) legendary Underdog that is not a single stager. If it evolves at or before Level 15, that’s fine, unless your chosen Pokemon is an Eevee. Eeveelutions will require a minimum Level of 20 to evolve in this game. Also, feel free to use Alolan Pokemon from the Alola Dex as starters if they meet the requirements.
You may give your Pokemon Skill Backgrounds if you so wish. It's not a requirement, but since it's more useful than not, I'd recommend you do so. Since this has been allowed after the start of recruitment, not having a Skill Background on your Pokemon won't factor into the choosing process and I'll likely let the chosen players pick one after I've chosen if necessary. I'd appreciate it if you did it before the cut off date though.
Players receive 15000 Pyen at character creation to buy items with. Anything left over after character creation is not lost, however availability of certain items after game start might be limited.
Weapons will use the cheaper costs in the core book, 2000 for Simple and 4000 for Fine.
As hinted at in the blurb, datajacks come free with the cyberization process and as such, anyone who wants a datajack can have one for free.
Restricted items: TMs that cost over 2500. The DPDoM weapons are off-limits for character creation.
Dex XP is in use and will be shared among the party.
Special Rules
This game will use one of the alternative rules in the core book for augmentations. These replace (not add to) the Augmentation Shock rules. See page 59 in Do Porygon Dream of Mareep. For convenience they are copied here too.
Augmentations affect a person’s life force or Essence. Rather than being limited by Capacity, Augmentations are subtracted from a Pokemon or Trainer’s Essence which starts at 10.
At the following milestones of Essence loss, the Pokemon or Trainer suffers deleterious effects.
7 or Lower: -1 Base HP
4 or Lower: The target becomes one step Weaker to Ghost-Type Moves. If they were previously Immune, Ghost Type Moves become Neutral.
2 or Lower: The target loses any Aura-related Capabilities they have, cannot learn or use Ghost-Type moves, or Moves with the Aura Keyword
0 Essence: -2 Base HP*
*Each effect is cumulative with the ones above it. A Pokemon or Trainer with 0 Essence therefore has -3 base HP.
At the following milestones of Essence loss, the Pokemon or Trainer suffers deleterious effects.
7 or Lower: -1 Base HP
4 or Lower: The target becomes one step Weaker to Ghost-Type Moves. If they were previously Immune, Ghost Type Moves become Neutral.
2 or Lower: The target loses any Aura-related Capabilities they have, cannot learn or use Ghost-Type moves, or Moves with the Aura Keyword
0 Essence: -2 Base HP*
*Each effect is cumulative with the ones above it. A Pokemon or Trainer with 0 Essence therefore has -3 base HP.
Since Augmentation Shock isn't being used, Upgrader's Emergency Reactivation and Efficient Installation Features will be changed to the following.
Emergency Reactivation
Prerequisites: Upgrader, Adept Technology Edu
Daily x2 - Swift Action
Effect: The user gains Temporary HP equal to their Technology Education Rank doubled.
Efficient Installation
Prerequisites: Upgrader, Expert Technology Edu
Static
Effect: You and your Pokémon gain a +2 boost to their maximum Essence and count
their Essence Loss as 2 higher for the purposes of Essence Loss milestones. You and your Pokémon can install multiple Augmentations in the same Slot.
Prerequisites: Upgrader, Adept Technology Edu
Daily x2 - Swift Action
Effect: The user gains Temporary HP equal to their Technology Education Rank doubled.
Efficient Installation
Prerequisites: Upgrader, Expert Technology Edu
Static
Effect: You and your Pokémon gain a +2 boost to their maximum Essence and count
their Essence Loss as 2 higher for the purposes of Essence Loss milestones. You and your Pokémon can install multiple Augmentations in the same Slot.
Recruitment will end on Saturday the 8th of July at 8pm GMT+0. A big thanks to Dark Shadow for making and updating a table of applicants for me!