Future Wars RPG
|
Hey, fuck you mang.
The Future Wars RPG is coming - if you're interested in how it's going, check up on this page from time to time. |
Contents |
PREAMBLE
This is the page dealing with the Future Wars/Mindcloud RPG thing that I'm making. The goal here is to make a fairly simple but savage game that can be played entirely online over the Wiki by a moderately large number of players and with a minimum of moderation (and eventually none as the game takes shape).
I'll be posting up ideas and things to work on up here and please feel free to put up suggestions, ieas, questions and abuse. This is a huge neckbeard of an exercise, especially as I haven't attempted anything like it for a long while, so the more ideas and the like, the merrier.
At the least I'll need help with a good name for the damned thing.
Setting and Scope
The game is set in the moderately near future - during the famed Future Wars, in fact. The game "board" is a stylised map of the world broken down into the key sectors of the world. At the start of the game all of these sectors are controlled by Earth Government. Each player has a character, and they can probably start anywhere in the world why not.
The goal of the game is fairly open - it could be taking over the world, knocking over Earth Government, plundering and looting, or a combination of all these things. You can also just try to amass personal wealth as someone's loyal right-hand goon, wander around selling your services to the highest bidder, help prop up EG or any of the above. What you are trying to do is mostly influenced by your ideology, which is influenced mostly by your stats.
You probably can't "win" short of killing all other players, which might be hard as people can join or leave any time while the game is in session.
The World in Sectors
As mentioned earlier, the game is played over a map of the world made up of sectors, which are important provinces. At first these provinces will be quite large (while testing). They represent large population centres, economic bases which EG rests on, and resources. Australia might be a single province, and NZ, PNG and the Pacific Islands another. The U.S. might be six sectors, and so on. To represent changes in the world since the establishment of Earth Government, the sectors will have outrageous NEW NAMES, or else be renamed to archaic ones, more or less randomly. Australia will be Greater Antipodes, for instance.
Aside from resources/strucutres (not sure yet), provinces all have ratings for population, fortification, belligerence, and technology level.
Technology
The technology level is the same everywhere at the start of the game - Techno-Utopia. The tech. level is reduced by the effects of the Future Wars and are currently divided into five levels. The tech. level represents the standard of living for the average member of the sector, as well as the consequent level of organisation of the people in that sector. In descending order:
5. Techno-Utopia: The level that Earth Government needs to operate. The world of the Future Wars is not surprisingly futuristic. EG has been established mostly because everyone is getting around in transport tubes and voting by SMS. In any case, having established the world as it is, EG is heavily reliant on technology to keep the plebs in line as well as to provide services, manufacture anything and generally keep people entertained and spending. The major catalyst of the Future Wars is that the way of life EG provides is banal and fundamentally based on very fragile technology. All sectors start at this level of tech: at this level people are living long, pointless lives and the government sees all and knows all.
4. Hydraulic State: The level required for a large, centralised state to exist. "Hydraulic State" is a historical term which relates to the kinds of kingdoms that wielded vast amounts of power by controlling the water and food supply in the country. Only a strong centralised government could pull off the kind of infrastructural projects required to establish the conditions for major cities. Modern countries are Hydraulic States in game terms. They are still fairly fragile, relying as they do on the maintenance of centralised power. An invasion, natural disaster or failure of sucession in the royal family could topple one of these states - however, they are still much more robust than Techno-Utopias. Should a sector fall to this level from level 5, it will cease to be part of Earth Government. If it does this on its own, it will take on the default local name in the country's profile.
3. Civilised Outposts: The tech. level of this country has collapsed o the point where order cannot really be maintained outside of the major population centres. There may be warlords, serious organised crime or just murderous hordes roaming the countryside. Alternately, the leadership of the country is unable or just uninterested in maintaining order and services outside the areas where their immediate family lives and are generally just letting the sector go to hell. Things are pretty dire - modern examples of a Civilised Outpost Sector would be Iraq or Afghanistan, although it doesn't have to be quite that bad to get to this point.
2. Nomadic: Civilisation in this sector has come to an end and the people roam the land just to survive. The settlements that exist are entirely autonomous, heavily armed and very paranoid. Where larger populations exist they are utterly rife with feuding and horrific violence.
1. Devastated: A wasteland. The population is almost entirely gone. What is left roams the land in small family groups. Much of the country is uninhabitable. Death lurks around every corner. This secotr is considered to be permanently ruined and no longer generates any resources.
Fortification and Garrison
Every sector has a level of fortification, the types and features of which depend on what kind of government is in charge and how heavily the sector is fortified. Different governments use different kinds of fortification. Garrison is the military strength in a sector. Each sectors will generate different garrisons depending on tech level and government type. Garrisons represent military and police forces as well as roving gangs of paramilitary nutters and theological nincompoops. At the start of the game every sector has a standard Earth Government military garrison and perhaps a police one as well. Very few EG sectors have any kind of fortification with perhaps a couple of exceptions - like Rotterdam, which is the EG capital why not.
Population
Countries populations are modified by wars being fought in the area as well as tech level and how many garrisons are being supported by a sector. This might have some bearing on how much loot can be drawn out of a country each turn.
Belligerence
Every sector has a belligerence rating which indicates how stabby the populace is in general. A belligerent population is more likely to resist take-overs, overthrow the leaders, attack neighbours randomly and start wrecking up its own infrastructure. Belligerence is modified by the government in control and by garrisons. While all sectors have default belligerence levels of their own, all EG territory is always at 0 belligerence.
Huh?
Loosely speaking the goal is to destroy EG then take over huge chunks of the world, instituting one of the three political systems available to you on character creation. Others will be doing the same. Here are some fundamentals I would like included in the game which might give you some idea of how it should run.
Life is Fragile
Your player character is there for a good time, not a long time. While you are trying to follow your dreams of power, loot and women, other players are too, and even if they share your idea of a good way to run the planet, they probably don't want to share it with you. Characters will be easy to make and kill, and it will be easy to enter and leave the game any time.
Treachery
The game should reward personal gain. While it would be possible to amass loot and glory cooperatively, it must be easy to double-cross your partners in crime and have the same done to you. You should never be able to trust your allies.
Turn-Based
Nearly Automatic
While there needs to be some fiddling around with the wiki to have the game hosted online, I would like most if not all of the actions that can be done in-game to follow game mechanics.
RPG
Various aspects in the game will encourage role playing (playing your character correctly) without making the game wanky. It should be possible to make this fun and natural enough.
Multiplayer
Will probably work like Diplomacy with a secret order system after a time period allowing discussion, moves will take place daily or however often.
Player Characters
When you make your character they have three base characteristics and a political affiliation (more perhaps will be needed later).
The three basic characteristics are : Crom, SUB-TLETY and Neckbeard. They will be rated probably from 1 to 3. Each of these has three sub-skills, and each sub-skill will have three dependent specialty skills. (For now I am concentrating on the major ones and will work on the sub and specialty skills later - will need help).
Crom
Crom is the ability to hand out abuse and horror and receive the same in return. A high Crom score allows you to hurt things more and be able to take more damage from enemies. Crom is a kind of natural toughness mixed with sheer foulness of spirit- probably what Hunter S. Thompson would call "true grit". (STR+CON for nerds) Subskills: Involving the likes of kicking in doors, looting like crazy, toughing out injuries and laughing at danger.
SUB-TLETY
SUB-TLETY is the ability to act like a prick and not get caught doing it. The Count of Monte Cristo was SUB-TLE. SUB-TLETY increases the chance of hitting and the chance of avoiding being hit. (DEX+CHA for nerds) Subskills: Involving tricking people, cheating people out of money, assassination and general theft.
Neckbeard
Neckbeard is an indication of that kind of over-the-top obsession with the technical running of a thing or things - to the extent of neglecting hygiene. It doesn't imply intelligence, more just an obsessive attention to detail that concerns and amazes the outside world. (WIS+INT for nerds). Subskills: Anything technical, anything to do with technology or religion.
Traits
You accumulate traits from event or from your actions in game. An example of a trait is "Half Stepper", which you get if you take over a country and institute some other system of governance other than the one that your character supports.
Half Stepper
According to Big Daddy Kane, half-steppers are eaten. In a world as violent as that of the Future Wars, if you're going to go around the place half-stepping, you're going to get killed. In any case, you've gotten a reputation for half-stepping, and people rarely listen anymore when you open your mouth. Even your own plebs step to you. You get -1 to all rolls, 1/2 loot and every round get a 1 in 6 chance in EVERY country you own that your government is overthrown and replaced with a Plebeian government.
Government types
There are five government types in the game, of which characters can choose from three. They are, Earth Government, Pyscho-Patriotic Anarcho-Materialist, Illuminautistic, Crommunist and Plebeian.
Government type indicates the kind of government that will spring up in a sector when a character takes it over. This influences how much loot can be gained from the country, what kind of garrison it can put up and generally how the sector will act.
A character can set up a government different to his personal government type, but it comes at a large penalty and the character might get the Half Stepping Trait.
Earth Government
This is the one-world, all-encompassing monolithic government we've been railing against. Everyone is seen at all times, but of course nobody cares because it's all so convenient. This is default for every sector on Earth at the start of the Future Wars, and is comparable to Brave New World/ The Machine Stops u/distopiae. Features: Can put together some pretty impressive hardware (Ruby on Rails for instance) No belligerence means no chance of civil war or attacking neighbouring provinces. Doesn't generate any loot for the players (probably generates a bit for the bosses of EG, but they're not really part of the game). Can't be instituted or controlled by players at all - except through events which players can use on each other. Can only exist in sectors with the highest technology level (techno-utopia) REALLY SHITTY MUSIC
Patrio-Psychotic Anarcho-Materialism
AKA: Smash And Grab Capitalism. The character who uses this system of governance makes no bones about what they're in a sector to do - take everything of worth, stick their dick in the mashed potatoes and get the hell out. Smash and Grab Capitalists are playing for glory and loot, and absolutely nothing else. These characters usually have a high Crom. Features: Really fucks up the sector - destroys tech levels, increases belligerence, etc HEAPS of loot Can only have one fortified area in all the territory they own Can built low level fortifications in enemy territory (Terrorist cells/drinking halls) Characters are made stronger and get more benefit from artifacts, but garrisons aren't very technologically impressive. Populations do not like these kinds of leaders and will try to lynch them
Illuminautism
This shifty form of government tries to convince people that nothing's changed. You simply slide into the President's chair and silently begin weaving your web. Before they know it, the Illiminautistic is pulling all the strings and draining the coffers. People disappear in the night - and not just because they get drunk and stumble into the leaderafter a trip to the pub like they would in a Smash and Grab Capitalism. A nasty state of affairs indeed. Illuminautistics benefit from being very SUB-TLE. Features: Fairly good control of internal policy. Can build magnificent fortresses Spiffy uniforms for goons Can't make much use of artifacts but money stretches quite a bit further Garrisons are impressive Benefits from a high level of technology in a sector
Crommunism
A modified form of communism, mostly a state-based IOU system where beer serves as the national currency. Crommunists still manage to run their countries into the ground, but mostly through drunkeness than any particular ill-will on the part of the leaders. The Crommunist state is a massively complicated thing, which can be maintained only by those with the wooliest, most luxurious Neckbeards. Features: Large and cheap garrisons Can control a lot of territory (if they can hold onto it) Can build moderately good fortesses everywhere Fuck all loot for Crommunist leaders Not affected much by technology
Plebeian
The rise of Earth Government more or less rid the Masses (who know all) of the idea that people are capable of governing themselves responsibly. Still, with the Future Wars grinding on and sectors falling off the grid every other day, people have attempted to run their own affairs again. Plebeian governments can arise for a couple of reasons. If the technology level in an EG sector drops, it will become a Plebeian sector. If the EG falls in a country but isn't replaced by another form of government it will become Plebeian. If the character ruling a country abdicates or is thrown out or killed and not replaced, it will become Plebeian. Plebeian countries are run in a staggering variety of ways, but they all have some things in common - they're run poorly, and it's all very dull. Features: Can't be controlled except via event, they don't increase or decrease in technology or do anything much. Garrisons are always rather unimpressive local troops Can't overthrow Plebeian governments by event or from civil war in the country (well, you can, but it would just replace it with another Plebeian government).
