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Guardians of the [Fragged Empire PbP]
Albino Bunny
JackieRegistered User regular
JackieRegistered User regular
It is over 10,000 years into the future.
Earth is forgotten.
Humanity is dead.
Genetic erosion, brought on by thousands of years of apathy.
You are one of many genetically engineered descendants.
Created by the eugenicist Archons (humanity’s heirs), or the vengeful monster X’ion.
A genocidal war has ravaged the known galaxy.
X’ion won, killing the Archons, destroying their empire, and then abandoning his army to vanish without a trace.
This event threw the galaxy into 100 years of brutal tribalism.
After 100 years, your people have just re-entered space.
No one knows what’s out there.
Four surviving races have banded together.
Not out of a common direction, but out of necessity.
No one knows where this new society is headed.
Each race is struggling for survival.
They need each other.
Earth is forgotten.
Humanity is dead.
Genetic erosion, brought on by thousands of years of apathy.
You are one of many genetically engineered descendants.
Created by the eugenicist Archons (humanity’s heirs), or the vengeful monster X’ion.
A genocidal war has ravaged the known galaxy.
X’ion won, killing the Archons, destroying their empire, and then abandoning his army to vanish without a trace.
This event threw the galaxy into 100 years of brutal tribalism.
After 100 years, your people have just re-entered space.
No one knows what’s out there.
Four surviving races have banded together.
Not out of a common direction, but out of necessity.
No one knows where this new society is headed.
Each race is struggling for survival.
They need each other.
Or, more specifically for you dregs you're muscle, men for hire, disgraced scientists and naieve fools who think that 'adventuring among the stars' is a noble and heroic profession. Fragged Empire is a game about recovering from a galaxy wide apocalypse, shifting through advanced civilisations stuff and trying to sell it without someone shooting you for your hard work. Also if you could avoid sparking off a second war that would likely shove everyone off the edge and into extinction that'd be great.
I'm looking to host a Play By Post for three to five player characters. The general sort of themes are going to be stuff like mercenary work, exploration, managing relationships with groups that hate eachother and salvaging technology beyond anyones comprehension. If you're interested read on into a quick intro of the game's fluff:
If humans aren't here who can I play?
Corporation
Humanish with a strong capitalist culture. The Corporation used to be known as the Vagarti, a race created by the Archons and then deemed a failure. Imprisoned on a single island under the stewardship of the Remnant. The war broke their shackles and since then they've thrown off the supposed inferiority they were dealt and embraced a highly capitalist society. Corps are individuals who look out for Number one (themselves) and measure the worth of someone by the size of their wallet. They provide the common currency in use for the Haven system, facilitate large amounts of trade and often aggravate other races with their dislike of viewing someones appearances and genes as unimportant characteristics. If you want to play a slick fixer in a trench coat, a space merchant who smuggles a little on the side or a scientist looking to sell patents to the highest bidder then the Corp are a fantastic choice.
Legion
Physically large, ape like creatures. The legion are the youngest of the races common to the Haven system, created by the Archons to provide soldiers for the war against the X'ion. Unlike the other races the Legion did not suffer through a space travel dark age and in many ways have the most stable society in the system. Regretfully said society is heavily authoritarian, taking the form of a military regime that (while a great strength in the war) struggles to hold control of their people. With many excessive decrees such as the recent exile of any legion performing mercenary work. Legion make great characters if you want to be the rugged mercenary, the veteran combat medic or gritty survivalist.
Kaltoran
One of the Archon's favoured projects. The Kaltorn are stocky individuals with four, pointy, elf like ears and a genetic memory that allows them to experience memories from their ancestors. Kaltoran society is often put at odds with the Corporation. They're excessively family focused, often trade in barter rather than real money and far more impulsive than the cold, calculating plan of a corp doing their job. They also tend to put less of a value on peoples brought looks after spending one hundred years barely surviving following the Nephalim almost bombing their home planet off the map. Kaltoran homes and technology are grimy, cobbled together messes made from spare parts and inquisitive thoughts about how things work. If you want to play a space rogue, an wise cracking smuggler or a scatter brained engineer the Kaltoran are likely for you.
The Nephilim
The Nephilim are less an individual species and more a catch all description for the creations of the X'ion. Coming in all shapes and sizes from tiny, insect sized spy creatures to monstrous beasts of war that can demolish a tank in a single swipe. Following the end of the war and X'ion's vanishing many Nephilim throughout the system went feral and uncontrollable. Haunting jungles and the dark alleys of cities alike. On Eden, where the bulk of the Nephilim fleet crashed, however a new order has being established; Under the mysterious influence of the Dewwi-Ich the Nephilim re-banded, re-constructed and set forth with the goal to survive and make something of themselves. In spite of the prejudice they recieve from both the Legion and Kaltoran.
The Nephilim are broadly divided into three categories. Pure bloods descended from those who fought in the great war (or combatants, some Nephilim can live an excessively long time). Hybrids who are a secondary class of citizens and are off spring of pure bloods or genetically created servants and the Emissaries, genetically created and possessing implanted memories and experience. The Emissaries are one of the Dewwi-Ich's projects, a breed that are physically similar to other races of the Haven system and whose primary mission is a diplomatic one. To mingle in other cultures and send the message that the Nephalim are no longer beasts with only an appitite for war. Nephilim make great characters if you want to look monstrous, to modify your own body or grow your own weapons (or ship!), to be a mad scientist or are interested in playing a character many will dislike.
And I think I'm going to leave it there for now. Will edit in more as we go on.
With regards to whether you need the book to play or not I'd say you don't but that having the book is a great help due to the amount of small things like perk trees and spare time points that will take time to comb over without access to the material.
Various people I think are interested:
@Solar
@Fuselage
People in X-wing who I promised to give first dibs:
@DaMoonRulz
@Elvenshae
@timspork's ghost
@Grunt's Ghosts
@Chrysis
EDIT: DERP, on the list of things I forgot, @ me if you're interested in joining.
Albino Bunny on
+2
Posts
I've never played FE but I've struggled and failed at DMing as well as being able to help look rules and ideas up. Also FE happens to be the acronym my job title uses so I'm made for this.
Never played the system before; is there a good starting primer?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
18 attribute points.
6 Primary skills trained
2 Personal combat skills
2 Ship combat skills
Everything else is... harder to do without the book to hand. Things like where to spend resources, spare time points and what your starting trait would be all are basically a matter of sifting through tables and figuring out what you want. Those are the kinda things that I'd talk through and discuss what kinda stuff you want for your character.
Also it's worth noting that attributes don't actually do anything outside of combat and qualifying you for traits stats except for a small +1 bonus if you roleplay a skill check well and have at least 2 in the stat it's associated with. So for the most part you're totally fine to play a dumb bio-scientist or a weak bodied survivalist.
In terms of HOW NOT TO DIE, there are a few things you probably want to consider having around in your crew:
1) guns are nice, but armour is fantastic. Shit hurts in this game. If you're not armoured a few good hits can have you down for the count and pretty much any shot that lands is going to be painful. Combine this with the fact that wounds and healing are a slower process than alot of RPG's and you're going to want something on your body if your job description isn't 'hide behind the rock'.
2) Speaking of healing medical skills are top priority. While only one person can make the roll at the end of fights it doesn't hurt to have a back up meds. In line with that don't forget that having toolboxes for whatever you wanna do helps with your rolls. What I'm saying is bring a med kit. Bandages help you stop people dying.
3) While armour and meds help an awful lot having big guns is helpful. Bigger guns allow you to punch through heavier armour that pistol rounds literally can't scratch. Add in the fact that they can fire further without penalty, have a bigger ammo cap and higher rates of fire and you might not live to regret that time you decided to take a fancy ghost cloak and pistol over a shotgun.
4) Think creatively. The three resource points you get at the start (four for corp! Go shameless capitalism) don't stretch into a lot of practical, professional grade gear. So maybe it's worth taking the negative modifications. To get you started it's always worth noting that smoke grenades are *free* so if your character's outfit leaves you a spare pocket, stuff in some mobile get the fuck out of dodge tools.
EDIT: In general, just consider that this game makes it possible to essentially make nerd ass characters that die in fights even though it forces you to take combat skills. Because in Fragged Empire what gear your character takes the time to maintain is as much a part of your characters DNA as their knowledge base or body.
Just be careful, my finger's on the kill switch.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
That's not to say they wont show up. I love Palantor too much to leave them in the dark. Just that I'm not really confident having them as main characters except maybe the Remnant.
It's better that I spectate and talk to you behind the scenes, my time is about to belong much more to work and much less to me. Plus I'm already slacking on two other PbPs.
Also I think I might try using the faster combat rules in the protagonists archive because PbP can get ground to a halt by combat in general:
Faster Combat
» All Weapons gain +2 Rng.
» All characters have -2 Defence.
» All characters have -10 Endurance.
» All spacecraft have -2 Defence.
» All spacecraft have -10 Shields.
It basically makes bullets scarier and more accurate. Which also fits in with the grittier aspects of the lore which I tend to work towards.
EDIT: Oh shit, there's rules for Palantor to be a singular AI networked among multiple bodies
This is going to be pretty much a stream of thoughts on PA till I have questions to answer or someone wants help with character creation.
Double EDIT: Also I think one of my favourite small bits of the lore is that the galaxy was incredibly boring back in humanities day. We never found aliens or weird space anomalies or anything like that. In response we took to bending the galaxy to our creative and scientific will. Leaving a legacy of a galaxy swirling with the fantastic and unknowable. It's at the same time incredibly depressing with the thought that we're all alone and so very human that we took it upon ourselves to rectify the situation.
Also all my readings are confirming that when I do play I'm playing a Palantor.
EDIT: Oh man, the Palantor's short story gets pretty dark about what existence a mechanical mind is:
Yuko sprang back and gripped her dagger tighter. The Mechonid was
dangerous. Yuko tried to concentrate, amid the screams of the dying
all around her. The Mechonids hardly seemed concerned. Yuko felt
alone amidst the chaos.
This isn’t right, Yuko thought. Her mind began to circle, looking
for a way out. All of this pain, she could feel it. There was nothing
Palantor could do to dim their emotions. She wanted to scream, to
cry. She didn’t want to be in this body anymore. She took one look
at the Mechonid, then ran. She could hear Kiki screaming at her, but
Yuko didn’t listen. She was aware of the Mechonid chasing her into
the jungle, but she didn’t care. She just knew she had to get away.
This wasn’t her! She wasn’t a soldier! She was a communications
expert living in a quiet city in a quiet place she couldn’t remember.
She had a pet cat, and someone who loved her. She took the train.
Dreams within dreams. For a flash of a moment, she could almost
feel the breeze from the bay blowing into her window. She felt
at peace.
Until the Mechonid’s sharp claws tore through her body. It all came
back in a rush as her face hit the cold mud. No. She had to fight.
Second EDIT:
The Remnant are well written as the religious guys without getting snooty about religious people. Probably helps that their god literally existed within living memory of what would be most Remnant character's grand parents.
EDIT: The Twi-Far have some bits of Artwork that you could legit think were from a D&D handbook. They're definitely by far the most fantastical and whimsical of the races.
EDIT: Now that I've got hold of the PA playtest notes I'm more than happy to allow Zhou, Palantor, Remnant and Twi-Far PC's if you're interested in the weirder races of the setting.
And yet he claims to like those same hybrids. Very confusing.
And he shall have twenty six after he is done grinding the last worthless waste of matter's face off for spilling his morning drink!
EDIT:
More Palantor master race quotes from the Protagonists archive:
for all these biologicals.” Message-coded Banthia_0243
as she stepped through the sphincter-like doorway
within the sprawling towers of Necronus, her polished
chrome body reflecting the haughty stares of the
disdainful Nephilim as they pushed past her.
“How about… meatbags?” Came the expected answer,
from Gardeth_097, as he shoved his way past a
particularly annoying chitinous Nephilim that was trying
to exert its dominance.
“Really? You lose 83.4479% recurring of your memory
allowance when you came out of the Network, and that’s
the archaic trope you keep?”
“Well, it seemed like it would be useful, with us living
inside a robot body and all.”
“Anyway, I was thinking. Apart from deletion, we
are effectively immortal, with only resources being a
hindrance to our coming back to life, yes?”
“I… suppose, yeah, but I still like ‘meatbags’.”
“… Of course you do. But I was thinking of the
differences between our kind and all of theirs, and the
main difference I can see, is that they are mortal. We
aren’t. We should refer to them as ‘mortals’.”
“Unless we get eaten by a Mechonid, or are particularly
poor and our chassis is wrecked...”
EDIT: The Remnant have a trait for being someone who the all-being ressurected twice and it requires the player character to have almost died and spent a fate point to live in order to qualify for it.
Do they have a monkey tail that makes them turn into a Giant Ape under a full moon?
Zhou can get a trait that lets them shift form into various things. Including a beast form.
Haven't played Fragged Empire before and this would be my first PBP game, but the setting looks awesome and I've been itching to try out a PBP game.
That said, I you have room and are willing to let a Newbie in, I'd be interested in playing a Legion combat medic (or something similar)
Plus DieDieDie who signed up first is a real life friend who I promised I'd give his slot to PA'ers if there was enough interest so we still have one more after that regardless.
Legion combat medic is good! No one ever wants to play the space apes, or medics, or people who shoot guns good. In spite of all of those being very practical traits to have!
If you have Steam I'm Albino Bunny on there. Either that or we can chat through character creation and stuff in notes, presuming you don't have the book to hand.
I actually was going to see if there was room and then buy the pdf of the rulebook. I'm a bit obsessive with trying to understand all the rules and the setting, so if I didn't have my own copy to read through repeatedly, I'd probably be a giant annoyance.
That said, I'll try to whip up a character and I'll send it your way for review (and obviously ask questions if/when I have them)
More likely I'm gonna fail and bug @Elvenshae who is master of spread sheets if the editable PDF's don't play nice with Google's stuff.
is that all they have for character creation adjustments?
From reading the fluff scattered about the Web, it seems like they kinda hastily stuffed themselves into bodies, so character-wise I imagine this character as getting drones because it feels lonely in the physical realm now.
Can you point me to the section that talk about negative modifications? 3 resource points seems so low to start given that's basically an outfit and a rifle only.
Edit: Or wait, does that mean taking modifications on the outfit (for example) that reduce the cost by one?
You can absolute have drones from level one. There's even Palantor specific perks for stuff like networking yourself among a bunch of them or operating through a disposable body.
I'm gonna spend today properly reading through Palantor lore to give you a more solid story blurb to work with. Those adjustments are accurate off the top of my head but I'll check nothing changed in the play test book I have.