[Other] Cascade Failure; Finding Answers Again

[Damionovich]

Game Name Cascade Failure; Finding Answers Again

Game System Other Roleplaying Games

Theme Survival, Roleplaying, Space Exploration, Combat

Flavour Post Apocalypse and Science Fiction

Plot Summary At the end of the 21st century, humans discovered the ability to colonize space and reach distant planets at record speeds. Background Humanity spread out and made first contact with several alien species. While these new encounters were quite different, they all agreed to cooperate for the benefit of their societies. Economies boomed with success, technology advances progressed at a faster pace than the populations could handle. Over the centuries humanity and their allies worked, studied, and did less as they increased reliance on artificial intelligence and robots to perform every function required for a luxury lifestyle. The system was flawless until 10 years ago. That is when the last remaining Agri-bots, Constructo-bots, and Ad-bots shut down forever. Too old to continue operating and nobody with the knowledge or ability to repair them. The following months, mass deaths from starvation, extreme weather conditions, and a rise in violence shook the alliances. Corporations built armies and tried to overthrow planets, but each lacked a critical resource one of their competitors possessed and those groups crashed into dust. Now, there are no more kingdoms, planetary governments or galactic authorities, just city states run by city councils and a mayor or a tough tyrant that torments their people into submission. Outside of the city limits are remnants of the old world; Libraries with books, computers with digitized information if you are able to restore the devices. There are massive ultra-green houses, salvage yards with archaic ground vehicles mixed with hover craft and inoperable shuttles. In orbit are star cruisers and frigates long abandoned. There is no money, you can't buy things. Everything is based on bartering whatever asset you own. Populations only consist of millions on a planet rather than the billions in the past. Now there are small groups who have already gathered the resources and are making their name in the stars and there is plenty of opportunity if that is what you seek. The challenge is finding the knowledge and using it to find the answers from the past. Applications Due Application due date 11;59 pm 22 September Number of players; Looking for 6-8 players Books being used; Cascade Failure (Free on Drive Thru RPG) Post rate; x3 per week or according to the players once game starts. I will be creating individual threads as well so players can explore when they are available without leaving others behind. Creation Method Attributes; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. All begin with 9 points. Additional 18 points to distribute on a one for one point system. NOTE; This game system doesn't add bonuses to the dice roll. Rather bonuses are added to the attribute and the player must roll their D20 under that goal. (Dex of 12 with a +2 bonus; Player must roll a 14 or under to be successful). FIRST COME FIRST SERVE; Those with completed concepts get in. I am not looking for the best novel, but a group that just wants to have fun without the added stress of huge blocks of writing. CASCADE FAILURE GAME THREAD Information to Provide Name; Race; Gender; Class; Age; Background concept.

Observations about the game system.

Your attributes are everything. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Everything a player rolls is based on these.
each attribute translates to D & D so you know what stat works with what tasks. The goal is to roll a D20 and roll the attribute or lower.

Intelligence and Wisdom are important.
Age provides benefits.

Skills are very different than I've seen in any other system. Each class has two 'class skills'

Empath Class; has Charm and Deceive. When using your class skill (Charisma based) you would add your LEVEL to your attribute. Example; You are a 3rd level Empath and trying to bluff a guard. You have a 14 Charisma and add the 3 levels 14 + 3=17 and in order to bluff the guard, you need to roll 17 or less.

Classes have abilities and players are allowed to increase the number of chances to try the ability.


Learning technology: The character rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to the number of chances they have, thus if you have 4 chances you roll 4d6. For each die result of 1, the character gains 1 Insight which accumulates over time and represents knowledge of the technology. (pg 58)

• +3 for any technology if Mature
• +1 for any technology if Adult
• +1 for any technology if Intelligence greater than 13
• +1 for any technology if Wisdom greater than 13
• +1 for any technology if Human
• +1 per level for any technology if an Engineer
• +1 per level for any medical technology if a Medic
• +1 per level for any vehicle technology if a Pilot; double if in expertise
• +1 per level for any computer technology if a Slicer

Saves; Each species has a major save and a minor save; When using your 'major save' the player adds the character level to the attribute associated with their major save. When using your 'minor save' the player will add half of their character level to the attribute.

Save	Attribute	Example
Breath	DEX	Quickly close mouth to hold breath
Fear	WIS	Stay in control despite powerful fear
Kinetic	CON	Prevent kinetic abilities from affecting you
Listen	WIS	Hear something in time to take action
Pain	CON	Keep functioning despite pain
Snap	DEX	Move quickly to evade something
Spot	WIS	See something in time to take action
Toxin	CON	Prevent toxin from harming you

[Dylan Scott]

Application Name: Tassari / Callee Sanu Miana Race: Tassari Gender: Female Class: Empath Age: Young Background Concept: Hydaria Station Exile Callee Sanu Miana was born and raised on the mysterious Hydaria Station, and like all her race was blessed with a natural curiousity and inquisitiveness, although in her case she was also blessed with empathic abilities and a stronger than normal racial preference for mind altering substances. it was during one of these drug induced sessions of "seeking enlightenment" that Callee damaged part of the station, venting precious methane. An unforgiveable sin for an orbital community of Tassari who rely on it to breathe. This was the final straw for the leaders of Hydaria station and she was exiled, to return only when she was grown and settled into his abilities. Some would say this was a merciful exile with a chance at redemption, but to those who know what happens to Empaths as the grow older and years of psychic intrusion takes its toll on the mind it was a deceptive trick. they knew there was no way she would stay sane enough to remember where they were by the time she was "mature" enough to return. For all her intelligence and Charm however, Callee was naive and inexperienced in the world and saw it as a big adventure, getting to explore the world after the collapse and away from the Hydaria station? what could be better than that, it wasn't a punishment at all she thought. It wouldn't take long though for the girl to realise just what had happened, she was ill equipped to deal with the strange world outside, barely learning Terran Language enough to get by. It was this limited vocabulary which resulted in her being called Tassari on her documentation. When asked what her name was at the first port, she was asked. "You Tassari, what is your name?", which she mistook as "You are Tassari?" so of course she answered. "Yes, i am Tassari". The port authority of course was in no mood to spend time translating for the girl and just stamped her as Tassari and passed her through. By the time she made some more patient friends and learned what had happened, she found the situation amusing and quite enjoyed the confusion on peoples faces when she showed her ID and adopted the name Tassari as her own. Stats & Motivations: WIP

[Effete]

Status: COMPLETE

Application Name: Jayce Whelard Race: Human Gender: Male Class: Engineer (Vehicle) Age: Mature Background concept: Military veteran/deserter turned survivor. Jayce watched the freighter touch down upon the landing field. Another shipment of damaged mechs, speeders, and other vehicles was arriving from off-planet. "They break 'em faster than we can fix 'em," one of the other mechanics said, distain edged with humor. But Jayce wasn't thinking about the work-orders that needed to be met, nor how they were expected to meet those demands with the dwindling supplies at hand. Jayce was thinking about the SitRep that came over the scanner from the freighter only minutes ago: they had only escaped the conflict by glassing an entire continent. Tens-, maybe hundreds-of-millions of people erased in a matter of minutes. The war had taken a desparate turn, and the callousness of the atrocities was beginning to eat away at the man. No one could even explain why they were fighting, just that one side needed to kill the other. The only reprieve from his thoughts was the knowledge that he wasn't alone. A couple of the other mechanics shared Jayce's doubts. They had a plan in the works to take one of the smaller transports and leave base, finding someplace secluded to lay low while they looked for a way off-planet. They only needed a good enough distraction. The blaring sirens woke Jayce with a start, and he stumbled from his cot into the hallway. It was an anthill of activity, with people rushing in every which direction, seemingly aimlessly. "What's happening," he asked a young leiutenant. The glassy-eyed youth looked at him a moment before answering. "Enemy vessels popped up on long-range scannners. They must have tracked that freighter that came in the other day." The officer barely slowed his pace, and he said this last sentence as a shout over his shoulder. Jayce disappeared into his quarters, slipped into his service uniform, and punched up a call on his commlink. The man on the other end barely needed any convincing; this was the distraction they were waiting for. "Can you fly?" Jayce screamed over the whine of the turbines. "Well enough," the heavyset man replied, struggling into the pilot seat and fumbling with the flight harness. Jayce had only taxied ground vehicles and mechs, but he never applied for his flight-certification. He wasn't sure about Torge, but judging from his answer, Jayce supposed not. He peered behind at the crew seats where the third man in their conspiracy sat. Brayd Kolp was an older gentleman with half a hand. Only a thumb and index finger remained, and those were dead to all sensation. Though he was the most experienced of the three, he flat-out refused to be the pilot on this venture. A fourth man sat across from Kolp, a thin-faced youth with a nervous expression. He was Kolp's apprentice and just tagged along after the old man. It was likely the boy had no idea what was even happening here. No point fretting over it now, Jayce thought, turning back to the co-pilot instrument panel. I have other things to worry about. Rumaging through the dusty interior of the small ship, a pang of nostalgia gnawed at Jayce. Here was the same model transport that took him away from base all those years ago. Twenty-six years...? No, twenty-eight! "Geez, when you say it like that, it seems so long ago," the man spoke to himself. He stood for a moment, lost in thought, before finally shaking himself back to the present. "Now then, let's see if there's anything useful in here."

[Effete]

Question:
I see a list for cybernetic enhancements, but nothing about cybernetic cosmetics. If I wanted to give my character a cyberarm as just a bit of flavor (no mechanical advantage), is that possible?

[Damionovich]

Originally Posted by Effete

Question:
I see a list for cybernetic enhancements, but nothing about cybernetic cosmetics. If I wanted to give my character a cyberarm as just a bit of flavor (no mechanical advantage), is that possible?

From what I've read, it would depend on the age of your character. Technology and Knowledge has been lost so characters younger than 30 probably would not have it. However, those older could have obtained such a limb before the last crash.

Also, there is a Golem race which is like a robot species. They can't be healed with medicine, they need to be repaired..so you'd need an engineer that 'knows' robotics.

Humans, Golems, Kuchit, Lirapto, Oreamnos, Sahae, and Tassari

[bananabadger]

Bumping up this game! First-come-first-serve, what a great opportunity to jump into a game immediately! Good luck, Damionovich!

[Damionovich]

Originally Posted by bananabadger

Bumping up this game! First-come-first-serve, what a great opportunity to jump into a game immediately! Good luck, Damionovich!

Thank You

[Effete]

Originally Posted by Damionovich

From what I've read, it would depend on the age of your character. Technology and Knowledge has been lost so characters younger than 30 probably would not have it. However, those older could have obtained such a limb before the last crash.

I'll just take this as a 'yes' then...?

Also, there is a Golem race which is like a robot species. They can't be healed with medicine, they need to be repaired..so you'd need an engineer that 'knows' robotics.

According the the class description, ANY Engineer can repair a golem, not just robotics specialists. I'd make a strong argument, though, that the latter would roll at a bonus.

P.S. - some of your thumbnails seem to be mislabled.

[Damionovich]

Originally Posted by Effete

Yes if your character is older than 30. I yes.
P.S. - some of your thumbnails seem to be mislabled.

I tried to match images the best I could, but with no real photos to fit many of those races..I just made them the best I could.

[Effete]

Originally Posted by Damionovich

I tried to match images the best I could, but with no real photos to fit many of those races..I just made them the best I could.

I understand that. I'm saying they're mislabled.
The one labled "tassari" looks more like a lirapto, and the one labled "lirapto" looks like it should be a sahae. There's no image that adequately matches a tassari.

[Damionovich]

Originally Posted by Effete

I understand that. I'm saying they're mislabled.
The one labled "tassari" looks more like a lirapto, and the one labled "lirapto" looks like it should be a sahae. There's no image that adequately matches a tassari.

OK.. See if these look better.

[OneDarkness]

posting interest, I am all for trying something new

Was looking at either engineer or medic, both are appealing so if somebody was thinking of one of them i am happy to go the other route.

[Effete]

Learning technology: I place
Age (Mature, Adult, and Young) each has benefits. Mature characters automatically get +3 chances to attempt, if you have a 13 or higher Intelligence you get +1 chance, 13 or higher Wisdom you get +1 chance, and Humans gain +1 chance. Engineers gain the number of Engineer levels added to the number of chances to learn a new technology. Once added up, the total number equals the number of D6 dice to be rolled. The actual number of chances a character gains to learn the technology is derived by the number of '1s' rolled. The number of 1s add to the # of D20s.

Example: Gerald (46 yr old Human Engineer (4th level) has a 13 Intelligence and 11 Wisdom) wants to learn about this hovercraft engine. He already gets on chance (D20), but before he rolls this he has a chance to earn more opportunities. He gets 4D6 for his class level, 1D6 for being human, 3D6 for his age, and +1D6 for his intelligence. That is 9D6. He rolls and gets 3 results of '1'. Now he gets a total of 4D20 to learn the hovercraft engine. IF he were physically repairing the hovercraft, he would roll against his dexterity; In this case he is trying to understand the principles of the hovercraft engine. His Intelligence score is a 13 he doesn't get bonuses for this scenario so rolls 4D20 trying to get a result of 13 or lower on each dice. In many cases, a single success is good enough, but the more complex a technology is an extended check must be made. You continue to roll your 4D20 and counting the results of 13 or lower. Each time you roll equates to an hour of study. IF you gain more successes than what was required, make certain you notate the number of successes for future use. Also, in this scenario Gerald reaches the threshhold of 20 to learn the Hovercraft Engine. He now adds that skill (Engineer; Hovercraft Engine) as a class skill.

Is this a homebrew rule?

Because the way Learning Tech works in the book is: each point of Chance provides 1d6 to the attempt. Each result of "1" is tallied as Insight toward learning the tech. Once Insight reaches a certain threshold, the tech is learned.

What you described is very confusing. It sounds like the player rolls Chance only to roll AGAIN to gain Insight (??). This makes it HARDER to learn tech because not only does a character need to get those 1s, they now need to earn successes on an Attribute Test.

What am I missing?

[Damionovich]

Originally Posted by Effete

Is this a homebrew rule? What am I missing?

That is my bad. Here is the official rule. I saw this and remembered some of it, but then couldn't find it a second time to post it...so I'll be posting rules as I see them so this doesn't happen again.

"The character rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to the number of chances they have, thus if you have 4 chances you roll 4d6. For each die result of 1, the character gains 1 Insight which accumulates over time and represents knowledge of the technology."

[OneDarkness]

Character Application Bruno Larkin Human, Male, 46 (Mature) Medic Concept Bruno grew up or spent a goodly portion of his life on La Hermandad on planet Neotum, and his family has been in the health sciences for more generations than many can remember, and most have always been quite happy to just be there for their patients and content with a peaceful life with few if any surprises. Many expected he would follow in the footsteps of his father and older brother, and set up shop on the colony and continue those traditions, but in all honesty he found it all rather boring with the same old things day in and day out, nothing new or exciting, nothing that pushed the boundaries of what he was capable of. In an effort to keep his talent he was offered positions with missionary groups looking to spread the good word and attract others to the world who believe in the faith, and for a few years it at least gave him something more but in the end it merely strengthened his resolve to leave. During one of his off world ventures he simply never returned, he has sent messages home via the occasional trader that might that way but he has been enjoying his time off world and has been all over the place over the years and his talents continue to grow even in these later years.