IOT Developmental Thread

[Tyo]

btw looking for cool guy to co-gm with

 

[JohannaK]

What kind of game?

 

[Tyo]

Can be anything really. No specific ideas currently.

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

I haven't stopped in in a while, but in preparing a map for my D&D party, I came across some excellent mapping software that could be used in a number of different types of games. It's called Hexographer, and you can actually get the base version completely free. I can think of many different times when I could have REALLY used this map system. It also allows for the ability to trace pictures into your hex-based map system. If I ever did a new IOT, this is the program I would use. If you want to pay money, there's other programs that allow for city/dungeon design too. Here's a sample, showing the map I made for travel purposes in D&D:

Spoiler :

 

[JohannaK]

Oh yeah, hexographer. I remember when Sone used it for that one game. I think I still have a ton of those maps with city emplacements and stuff marked out.

EDIT: Nope. Seems I deleted them all.

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

Oh yeah, hexographer. I remember when Sone used it for that one game. I think I still have a ton of those maps with city emplacements and stuff marked out.

EDIT: Nope. Seems I deleted them all.

Yeah, there's also unit markers for modern and primitive wars, which is neat, as well as ones for showing battle locations and so forth. What I liked most was how easy it was to pick up using it, doesn't require as many layering and so forth as Campaign Cartographer and other map programs I've attempted to use at one more or another. Just a nice point and click. Only thing I would like it to have would be a Undo button.

 

[Sonereal]

I don't really like the base version of Hexographer. I think the paid version might be a lot better, but the free version has so many arbitrary restrictions that it makes it very unfun to use after a while.

 

[Ailedhoo]

I haven't stopped in in a while, but in preparing a map for my D&D party, I came across some excellent mapping software that could be used in a number of different types of games. It's called Hexographer, and you can actually get the base version completely free. I can think of many different times when I could have REALLY used this map system. It also allows for the ability to trace pictures into your hex-based map system. If I ever did a new IOT, this is the program I would use. If you want to pay money, there's other programs that allow for city/dungeon design too. Here's a sample, showing the map I made for travel purposes in D&D:

Spoiler :

You have my intrigue.

What kind of game your planning? Strategic deployment of settlements will possibly play I guess? Is it alternative Earth? Fantasy? Sci fi? Low Fantasy? Sci Fantasy?

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

You have my intrigue.

What kind of game your planning? Strategic deployment of settlements will possibly play I guess? Is it alternative Earth? Fantasy? Sci fi? Low Fantasy? Sci Fantasy?

In the unlikely scenario I came back to do a game, it would probably be a retread of this:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=550265

 

[Ailedhoo]

In the unlikely scenario I came back to do a game, it would probably be a retread of this:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=550265

Then I hope for the likelihood to increase.

Good project

 

[Sonereal]

After a few weeks of drafting and a week and a half of private tweaking with others, here is a public draft of the ruleset. This is not the final ruleset, but is close to being the final ruleset.

I want opinions: balance, wording, questions, etc.

Spoiler :

Abrovord, the oldest and largest city on Mars, was established by Earth pioneers in 2005 under the auspices of an UN Mandate. For sixty-six years, Abrovord has experienced rapid economic and population growth thanks to the establishment of the Earth-Mars Gate, decreasing the transit time between worlds by 95%.

Terraforming of the Red Planet was expensive, but money was not an issue! Today, Abrovord is a vibrant metropolis teeming with tens of millions of individuals, hundreds of languages and religions, and an unquenchable thirst for upward mobility into the stars!

-----​

Ronald Bellbroke, the Third Big Boss of Abrovord, died Christmas Day of 2070. With no familial successors left, the fabled line of Big Bosses will now pass out of the family into the hands of the coalition of criminal syndicates and crime families that rule the city’s underworld.

In Blackhands, players will be asked to step into the shoes of powerful crime lords. The goal of BH is survival first. Players are encouraged to strike deals, form alliances, and break them in the pursuit of power and wealth. Remember, there is no honor among thieves, and the truly honorable are the first thrown into the furnace.

Setup

Spoiler :

In BH, one player will be allowed to play as the city’s police force, which has its own unique mechanics. Other players will be asked to play Bosses, a special position in BH signifying recognized strength and prestige. If you wish to run the Police, post your request in thread. I determine who will be the Police.

If you join after game start, you can only join as an Independent Underboss or take over a NPC Boss. An Independent Underboss works like a Boss, except only has 2 base Respect and cannot become Big Boss.

If you’re joining as a gang, fill out this sheet.

Gang Name:
Gang Leader (Specialty, Start Location):
Four Additional Members: Criminal Name (Specialty, Superior, Start Location): Superior means “who does this character work for in the gang”.
Gang History:

If you’re joining as the police, fill out this sheet.

Police Chief (Specialty, Start Location):
Four Additional Members: Officer Name (Specialty, Superior, Start Location): Superior means “who does this character work for in the police force”.

Orders, Hit Chance, and the Freeform
Orders are divided mainly into three parts: Spending, Movement, and Action.

Spending is exactly what you think it is: paying your guys, moving money around, etc. I require concise spending orders. No “all into”, “half into”, or “bank rest” style orders will be accepted. That money will just be lost.

Every character has a Movement and an Action. A Movement allows a character to move from their current location to any other location. An action is an action performed at a location. An action can be performed before a movement or after.

Many actions, such as attacks, revolve around hit chance. A character’s hit chance is the number a D10 rice must roll or higher to score. A 5+ hit chance means this character will hit on a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10.

Locations with defense bonuses lowers the attacker’s hit chance, not increase the defender’s hit chance. +3 Defense means a 5+ hit chance character hits on 8,9, or 10.

Outside of certain special actions, the game is very freeform. It is encouraged you to put yourself in the shoes of your character and imagine what they would do in a given situation.

Finally, you are playing from the point of view of your Boss, Underboss, or Police Chief character. The people under you, if they have movement/actions that you don’t put to use, will have agency to do what they think is best. They will spend their own money the way they think is best. This can be a good way to alleviate the micro you wish to deal with once your gang grows in size and stature.

Organization Structure and Pay

Spoiler :

The higher the rank, the more Respect a character inspires and the greater the pay they demand.

Big Boss: $200k/turn. 4 Respect. Prestige instead of Happiness.
Boss/Police Chief: $100k/turn. 3 Respect. Prestige instead of Happiness.
Underboss/Captain: $50k/turn. 2 Respect.
Trust/Lieutenant: $25k/turn. 1 Respect.
Associate/Officer: $12.5k/turn. 0 Respect.

A character’s rank is determined by who they work for. The Big Boss is the only character with Bosses and Underboss subordinates. Associates and Officers can’t have underlings.

The more horizontal your command structure, the greater the respect you command, but the more expensive your gang is to run. A Boss with four Underbosses needs to pay $300k/turn whereas a Boss, two Underbosses, and two Trusts only need $250k/turn.

Payment is not automatic. It must be included in your orders. You’re only responsible for paying your immediate subordinates. If you double pay a subordinate, their happiness increases by 1. Triple pay by 2. Quadruple pay by 3. You can give subordinates spending money in order for them to pay their own people and expand their own businesses.

If a criminal is not paid in full, their happiness or prestige decreases. Prestige characters lose Respect with negative prestige and gain respect with positive prestige. A Big Boss with 3 Prestige has 7 Respect.

Happiness/Prestige cap at -3 on the lower end and +3 on the higher end. Positives decrease by 1 at the beginning of order processing. Natural decay will never bring happiness/prestige into the negatives. At -3, criminals have a 10% chance per turn of leaving the gang and becoming contractors. At -3, police officers have a 10% chance per turn of retiring.

There are many, many other situations that can increase and decrease happiness. Some are detailed in the rules, while others will be unveiled as the game unfolds.

Tribute and Rackets

Spoiler :

Characters pay tribute to their boss at a 50% rate. The Big Boss can try to ask for tribute from Bosses, but the money won’t be automatically transferred like it will within gangs.

If a gang achieves 60%+ Respect at a racket location, it earns the income from that location. This income goes to the highest-ranking, most-senior, representative of the gang at the location.

If a combination of gangs achieve 60%+ Respect at a racket location and agree to a division of income prior to the income being handed out (in orders), this income will be split according to the rule in the above paragraph.

If no gang or combination of gangs achieve 60%+ Respect at a racket location, the Big Boss will divide the income among any gang with Respect at the location.

If the Police are not corrupt and achieve 60%+ Respect at a racket location, all criminals present at the location gain +1 Evidence. The Police cannot earn income from racket locations normally.

If the Police are corrupt, they play by the same Respect rules as criminals and can earn income from Racket Locations. Sub-60%, Big Boss rules from above apply. If the Police achieve 60% at a location, they gain the income but no criminals will accrue heat.

The Big Boss

Spoiler :

The Big Boss runs the criminal underworld and bosses may be expected to pay tribute to the Big Boss. The Big Boss has two major powers.

1. Can elevate an independent Underboss to Boss status.
2. Resolve Show of Respect conflicts.

Both of these powers can only be used while the Big Boss is at Bellbroke. If the Big Boss ends a turn outside of Bellbroke, any criminal at Bellbroke can call for an election.

Electing a Big Boss
Electing a Big Boss requires characters to move to Bellbroke and vote. Only a Boss at Bellbroke can be voted to the position of Big Boss. The winner of the election is whichever Boss commands the most respect at Bellbroke that turn.

If the former Big Boss is still alive, he can come and vote at Bellbroke with his Big Boss-level Respect.

The Police

Spoiler :

The Police of Abrovord receive money from the city government each turn. The police budget will grow by $25k a turn, 50k during a heatwave. The budget begins at $500k/turn. There is nothing stopping the Police Chief from supplementing his budget in less-than-legal ways.

Ultimately, the Police exist to destroy organize crime in the city, but has rules it must play by. Evidence must be gathered, and the Police Chief must balance increasing Heat with protecting his officers.

Organized criminals wish to evade police, but not necessarily kill cops. Assassinating the Police Chief every other day is a surefire way to cause a Heatwave. Unlike gangs, which can be wiped out completely, the Police can never be wiped out. The police will always receive a constantly growing budget, and there are an infinite number of Beat Cops and Transfers to draw from within the city and from off-planet.

The Police can be corrupt. The Police become corrupt when a corrupted cop becomes Chief of Police. All officers lose 1 Respect as long as the corrupt cop is in charge.

Arrest Warrants
Arrests can’t be made on the whim. A character must have an active Arrest Warrant. The amount of evidence required for an Arrest Warrant is 4 + Respect + Prestige. A Big Boss with 3 Prestige requires 11 Evidence (4 + 4 Respect + 3 Prestige) to be issued an arrest warrant.

Arrested characters are sent to Downwater. The only ways out of Downwater is by winning the trial (lower the case to -3), bail (which is temporary, and the trial continues while they’re out of jail), or escape (which immediately issues another Arrest Warrant and increases the case against them by 3).


While in Downwater, and while the case against them is 0 or higher, a character has a chance to crack. If a character cracks, they will increase evidence against everybody of equal rank to them by +2 if in the same “arm” of the gang and increase evidence of their superior by +2.

If a character cracks, they can no longer be bailed out, the case against them is dropped, and they stay in police custody in Downwater. Evidence produced by a cracked criminal is permanent until that character dies.

A character with an active Arrest Warrant has two choices: Wait out the warrant (evidence decreases by 1 each turn) planetside, or leave the planet for a while.

Bail
If a character is in Downwater, there are two ways out: A Lawyer or Bail. A Lawyer that reduces a case against a criminal to -3 will free the criminal from Downwater. However, that can take a bit. The second option is Bail.

Bail allows a character to leave Downwater, but for the case against them to remain open. Bail costs the following.

Big Boss: $300k
Boss: $150k
Underboss: $75k
Trust/Lieutenant: $37.5k
Associate/Officer: $18.75k

Triton and Bounties
If a character is in Downwater and the case against them reaches 3, the character is automatically sent to Triton and the Police Force earns a bounty based on the highest achieved rank of that character. Sending a Big Boss to Triton = $300k bounty. Sending a character to Triton generates Heat, again based on Respect + Prestige + 1.

If a character is out on bail when the case against them reaches 3, an Advanced Arrest Warrant is issued. If Arrested, the criminal is sent to Triton. If killed during the arrest, a halved bounty is generated and 1 Heat is generated.

Heat
Murders and arrests increase the Heat in Abrovord. Once heat reaches a certain level, a Heatwave begins. During a Heatwave, the police receive 50% more income and doubled income growth each turn during a Heatwave. To maintain the Heatwave, an impressive number of bodies and arrests need to be made each turn. When a heatwave ends, the requirement for the next heatwave increases.

10 Heat is needed to trigger the first Heatwave. Each criminal killed increases Heat by 1. Each police officer killed increases Heat by 7, 5, 3, or 1, depending on the rank of the officer. A Police Chief with 3 Prestige who is killed will increase Heat by 1 + 6 (2 * Respect) + 3 (Prestige) for a total of 10 Heat. Each criminal sent to jail increases Heat depending on the criminal’s rank.

Each criminal released from jail by a Lawyer decreases Heat.

When a Heatwave is triggered, evidence requirements are decreased by 1. Any criminal with too much evidence is immediately issued an Arrest Warrant. If a Heatwave required 10 Heat to begin, it takes 10 Heat a turn to sustain.

Crimewave (Corrupt Heatwave)
If the chief of police is corrupt and the city enters a Heatwave, the Heatwave is perverted into a Crimewave. During a crimewave, the police temporarily lose half their income from the government and permanent income falls by $25k a turn.

Special Projects

Spoiler :

If you have the cash, you can create your own rackets. The gang that creates the racket has +4 Respect in the racket. When creating your racket, name it.

Joy Racket: A Joy Racket works like Aqua. Costs $1 million and produces $100k/turn + works like Aqua.

Income Racket: An Income Racket is meant to produce money. Costs $1 million and produces $150k/turn.

Defensive Racket: A Defense Racket provides those inside the Location a defensive bonus, and entering the racket requires permission from the controller. +2 Defense, $50k/turn in income.

Combat

Spoiler :

Combat revolves around D10 rolls. A character has a Hit Chance, which represents their ability to hit. The higher the hit chance, the more likely a character is to Hit, Wound, and Kill.

Example: An Assassin attempts to assassinate a Boss. The Assassin’s chance is 4+. The dice rolls 6, hit! The Boss is wounded! Another D10 roll is performed to check of the Boss is severely wounded. The roll is 5, severely wounded! A final roll is done to check if the boss is killed. The roll is 2, not killed!

The Assassin escapes thanks to a Driver. The Boss is severely wounded and will die. Are there any friendly characters at the location who have not used a movement or a Driver who has not used an action? If so, they will take the Boss to an Doctor or the Hospital.

Order Complexity

Spoiler :

Your action orders can be as complex as need be, as long as they’re readable. For example, you attempted to assassinate a rival boss, but failed. However, you had standby orders that your boys in the street will be on the watch out for the rival boss if they saw him being driven through the streets to the hospital.

The wounded boss and his driver are ripping through the streets to get to the doctor and now have to deal with gangsters in The Streets taking shots at them.

Maybe there are gangsters waiting at the hospital for a certain boss to show up.

Orders with IF statements can be screwy.

Example: John and Bob make a deal. If John gives Bob $50,000, Bob will try to assassinate Alice. In Bob’s orders, he writes IF John gives me $50k, move to Alice’s location and assassinate Alice. John writes IF Bob assassinates Alice, give Bob $50k.

Nobody’s orders are completed in this example.

Victory

Spoiler :

There are two victory conditions.

A New Dawn
There is only one Boss left: The Big Boss. The Police are corrupt. Organized crime has won a bloody victory.

Bellbroken
Every Boss in the city has been killed or arrested. With no Bosses, there can be no Big Boss. This is a great victory for the Police, and a greater victory for Abrovold.

Specialties

Spoiler :

Criminals and Police have specialties. Specialties are the characters, and determine many facets of how that character can interact with the world and others.

Criminal Specialties
Assassins: The Assassin can attempt an Assassination with their action. An assassination has a 4+ hit chance. The Assassin works best when supported by muscle (Enforcers, Foot Soldiers, etc) or paired with a Driver who can help the Assassin escape. During normal combat, an Assassin only has a 7+ hit chance.

Doctors: The Doctor is an alternative to White Petal. A critically wounded criminal who is taken to a Doctor immediately will survive their wounds. Because Doctors usually have less equipment available than White Petal, each additional criminal taken to the Doctor the same turn has a halved chance of survival.

Example: Alice and Bob are taken to John the Doctor. Alice, a Boss, is treated first and has a 100% chance of success, so she survives. Bob has only a 50% chance of survival, and dies.

Doctors have a 8+ hit chance.

Drivers: The Driver knows the streets of Abrovord like the back of their hand. Drivers can perform a special action that allows them to move from their current location to The Streets, or The Streets to any location. The Driver can carry other criminals with him as well.

Example: A Driver and Enforcer use a movement to move to The Streets. The Enforcer attacks another criminal and wounds them. The Driver uses his action to move both himself and the Enforcer to the Docks before other criminals of the rival gang can retaliate.

Enforcers: Enforcers are the muscle of a gang. They have a 5+ hit chance. Each enforcer in a location halves the success chance of rival recruitment attempts. An Enforcer can use an action to Bodyguard a character, giving that character a +1 Defense so long as the Enforcer is alive.

Foot Soldiers: A Foot Soldier criminal can be recruited from The Streets for $125k and cannot be used the turn they are recruited. For an additional $125k, they can be assigned to another criminal for a turn to gain that character’s specialty. If there is a specialty you want, but no mentors with that specialty, you must spent $250k instead.
Foot Soldiers have a 7+ hit chance. Foot Soldiers cannot specialize to be Brigadors. Foot Soldiers can be mentored by criminals in other gangs if the other gang gives permission. One character can mentor multiple Foot Soldiers.

Good Guys: A Good Guy is an entertainer, a go-getter, a friend. A Good Guy can increase the happiness of another character in location by 1 as an action. They also have the ability to corrupt rival criminals and police officers if the target’s happiness is below 0.

A corrupted officer or criminal will follow their boss’s orders like usual, but can also follow your orders so long as it is feasible. Corrupt criminals and officers stop taking orders once they rise to the position of Boss or Police Chief.

Brigadors: A Brigador is a mercenary brought in off-world for $250k. Brigadors have a 6+ Hit Chance and can attempt assassinations (using the 6+ Hit Chance). Brigadors can bodyguard a character, granting that character +1 Defense. Brigadors may arrive with a random cybernetic implant.

Lawyers: The Lawyer’s job is to lower the case against select criminals. When the case against a character reaches -3, they are released from Downwater and all evidence against them is cleared. The more criminals the Lawyer is working to free, the lower successive chances. 8+ Hit Chance.

Example: John the Lawyer is working to free Alice and Bob (in that order). For Alice, the chance of reducing the case against her by 1 is 100%, 2 is 50%, and 3 is 25%. For Bob, the same turn, the chances for 1 is 50%, 2 is 25%, and 3 is 12.5%.

Wizards: Wizards are special individuals with the mental capacity required to handle two cybernetic implants at once. Their base hit chance is 7+.

Police Specialties
Beat Cops: A Beat Cop can be hired from Downwater for $125k. For an additional $125k, they can be assigned to another officer for a turn to gain that character’s specialty. If there is no officer with the specialty, pay $250k instead. Beat Cops have a 7+ hit chance. One character can mentor multiple Beat Cops. Beat Cops can bodyguard a character, granting the guarded character +1 Defense.

Detectives: The Detective’s job is to produce evidence against a criminal. To produce evidence, the Detective must use a Detection action against the character in the location with that character. 2-4 evidence is produced. Certain actions and events may automatically produce an Arrest Warrant. Detectives have a 5+ Hit Chance. Detectives can bodyguard a character, granting the guarded character +1 Defense.

Internal Affairs: Internal Affairs can target character in a shared location for investigation, revealing corruption. The chance of successfully finding corruption is divided by the number of characters targeted. 8+ hit chance.

Prosecutors: The job of a Prosecutor is to get criminals sent to Triton. A Prosecutor will attempt to get the case against a character increased to 3. The more criminals a Prosecutor is working against, the lower the successive chances. 8+ Hit Chance

Example: John the Prosecutor is trying to get Alice and Bob sent to Triton, in that order. The chance of increasing the case against Alice by 1 is 100%, 2 is 50%, 3 is 25%. For Bob, the chances are 50%/25%/12.5%.

Special Division Commanders: A Special Division Commander commands powered-armored special police forces not too concerned with arrests. The Special Division Commander has a 4+ hit chance and can shrug off one hit in combat. SDCs can use two cybernetic implants at once.

Transfers: A Transfer costs $250k and arrives at the spaceport. Transfers have a 6+ hit chance.

Vice: A Vice is police officer already deeply familiar with the criminal underworld. Vice can target a location with a honeypot for an action. 2 characters at the location will be randomly selected and gain 1 evidence against them. Vice has a 7+ hit chance.

Getting Around: Locations to Know

Spoiler :

There are ten locations in Abrovord that criminals need concern themselves with. A few of these locations are Racket Locations.

Bellbroke Mansion: Since the days of Abrovord’s founding in 2005, Mars has had a criminal underbelly. Bellbroke, a 23-year old stowaway on the UNS Laeves, rose to become the undisputed goddess of Mars’ underworld. Declaring herself Big Boss, all syndicates of note paid their respects or risk their lives.

The second Big Boss constructed Bellbroke in 2037 in her honor. When it is time to elect a new Big Boss, the winner is the Boss with the most respect in Bellbroke. Criminals in Bellbroke receive +3 defense from outside attacks.

When there is an election, the doors to Bellbroke are open to all criminals. When a Big Boss is in resident, the Big Boss has the right to ask criminals to leave. A criminal may not enter Bellbroke peacefully without the Big Boss’s invitation first.

The Streets: The Streets is a general location. The Streets offer opportunities for income, and many dangers as well. See the section on Building for more information.

Downwater Police Complex: Downwater is where arrested criminals go before being shipped to Triton. Once a criminal ends up here, there are only three ways out: Bail, a Lawyer, or Death. Downwater provides its “guests” +3 defense. Any gang can send one of their criminals to prison, but this decreases happiness/prestige.

White Petal Hospital: White Petal Hospital, for the criminal underworld, is a doctor of last resort. A criminal suffering from sudden bullet-in-the-gut syndrome can be saved by the doctors of White Petal Hospital, but is vulnerable during recovery. Not to mention that people showing up with bullet wounds tend to attract the police. +1 Defense.

Nathaniel White Spaceport: Need manpower? Is the heat too high and you need to get away? For $250k, you can call in a Brigador to fill your ranks. Or, if a criminal ends his or her turn at the NWS, he or she can leave Abrovord. While off-planet, the criminal still gains income from street businesses and tribute, but can’t become Big Boss. +3 Defense.

Triton: Triton isn’t a location you can actually send people to, but I’m putting it here for completion sake. Triton is a moon orbiting Jupiter, and the name of the prison built there designed to house the most dangerous of criminals. When a criminal is sent to Triton, they’re removed from game. There is a very small chance of them returning, but don’t get your hopes up.

Racket Locations
Aqua: Aqua is a portal to the underworld and one of the hottest nightclubs on Mars. Generates $100k. A character sent her can be told to Enjoy Themselves as an action, which is the only reliable free way to increase happiness/prestige in the game.

The Clean Room: The Clean Room is where magic is produced, processed, and packaged for sell on the streets or export to rich Inner Solar residents. Whichever gains wins the show of respect in the Clean Room gains $200k.

Olympus Mons: Olympus Mons is a neighborhood of tightly-packed tenements and shops. Whichever gang that wins the show of respect in Olympus Mons gains $300k.

Nicky’s: Nicky’s is a proper, fine establishment of proper, fine men and women exchanging services for cash. Enough said about that. The gang that wins the show of respect here gains $400k.

Spaceport Industrial: The Nathaniel White Spaceport is for passengers. The Spaceport Industrial is where all the heavy lifting is performed. This location generates the single highest income for organized crime on Mars at $500k.

Cybernetics

Spoiler :

All characters can receive a Cybernetic Implant. Certain characters, like Brigadors, arrive with an implant. Wizards and Special Division Commanders can have two implants. There Legal and Restricted Implants. Legal implants can be installed by anybody at White Petal Hospital. Restricted Implants can only be installed at White Petal Hospital by police officers and the Clean Room for criminals.

There is a 10% chance of surgical complications if getting an implant at The Clean Room.

Getting an implant installed requires an action.

Legal Implants

Neural Network ($250k): Actions of intelligence (Good Guys, Lawyers, Prosecutors, Detectives, Vices, Internal Affairs, Doctors) have a greater chance to succeed.

Cybernetic Eye ($250k): +1 Hit Chance

Secondary Heart ($250k): When severely wounded, the character is merely wounded. When “killed”, the character is merely severely wounded. Attacker requires an additional roll beyond the kill roll to really kill a person with a secondary heart.

Perception Chip ($250k): +1 Defense

Gecko Drive ($250k): No recovery time needed when severely wounded.

Restricted Implants

Nerve Staple ($250k): White Petal Hospital will NEVER perform this operation. The Nerve Staple sets the character’s happiness to a permanent 0. This character cannot be corrupted, caught in a honeypot, or made to give up evidence while jailed.

However, this character receives a -2 Hit Chance penalty, -1 Defense, and a penalty to intelligence actions.

Hero Injectors ($375k): When this character hits, they hit hard. Typically wounding shots severely wound. Typically severely wounding shots kill. However, killing shots throw this person into a blood rage, and boy, do you not want to be there when that happens.

Godly Perception Chip ($375k): +2 Defense, at the cost of paranoia. -1 Happiness/turn.

 

[Robert Can't]

A lighthearted IOT set on the Playgrounds of Primary school

 

[Shadowbound]

btw looking for cool guy to co-gm with

Hello. I would also like a co-gm to keep me on track.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Getting into the IOT groove slowly... might GM a game after I take my Graduate Exam on November 1st.

Here's an alt history I was working on for use in it. Debating names, but "Red Cold War" seems appropriate.

Spoiler :

“Too many people are starving!”

Those were the words President-elect Roosevelt heard before he received a mortal bullet wound to the stomach while giving a speech in February 1933. Despite the best efforts of the President-elects’s physicians, he succumbed to his injuries, and Vice President-elect John Nance Garner succeeded him, being inaugurated as President on March 4, 1933.

Much less friendly to unions, deficit spending, and very favorable to the segregationist tastes of his Texas base, President Garner was not terribly interested in carrying out many of the progressive, “New Deal” promises of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Neither the Democratic nor Republican Parties held a majority in the House, as the Farmer-Labor Party held several seats that gave them the deciding vote. Alienated by the conservatism of the President, the Farmer-Labor Party was not a cooperative ally in President Garner’s policies, and the economy continued to remain sluggish with little in the way of initiatives to fix it.

In the subsequent midterm, the Democrats lost ground to the Republicans, but also to the Communists and Socialists, who picked up a token number of seats. Real damage came in 1936, however, when a powerful northern labor movement, disappointed in the Southerner Garner and not optimistic about the prospects of returning the Republicans to the White House, backed a variety of socialist candidates. The Republicans and Democrats lost ground in Congress, but President Garner was able to keep his seat thanks to a divided Republican vote.

Garner’s nightmare was born shortly after the election, when the socialist parties resolved to create a coalition. Parties that were all too similar outright merged, leaving only the Socialist Party and the pro-Moscow Communist Party as the left-wing entities. Despite their differences, the two Parties arranged a secret agreement: they would endorse a unified candidate in 1940.

What happened was even more dramatic than expected. After the socialists used the continuing strength of the Depression to take control of the House and Senate in 1938, they ousted Garner with the Socialist Norman Thomas crushing him in the 1940 election. Though a Socialist, he kept the movement attuned to American ideals, valuing American religiosity and praising pacifism, hoping to avoid the revolutionary violence that led to the rise of the Soviet Union. His lack of outspoken internationalism (unlike the Communists) made him appealing to far more Americans in the wake of the War in Europe declared a year earlier.

Washington had been paralyzed for 8 years by a conservative leader, and Thomas sought to keep the United States from breaking apart at the seams. While the Soviet Union had kept a tight lid on its activities, there were whispers of abuse and oppression within the Soviet system… and that was enough for Thomas to choose not to create another Soviet Union. “We will come together as a people, not as soldiers on the battlefield.”

Thomas began the move towards market socialism. High taxes and deficit spending soared as Thomas not only funded food and basic housing for citizens, but began to buy up several depressed companies. These stakes in companies would in turn be placed under workers’ control, and they were asked to pay regular installments on a low-interest loan out of their profits.

Capitalists were somewhat alarmed by Thomas’ actions, but not entirely. Though Thomas was attempting to buy out many businesses, even Uncle Sam’s pockets were not that deep. Furthermore, buying out capitalists merely gave them more money to spend on other projects. It was only natural the Communists were also discontent with Thomas’ policies, only supporting it as a short-term measure.

With increased wages as a result of worker cooperatives, progress was sufficient enough to float Thomas to victory in the 1942 midterms. With an increased mandate and much of the population in crushing poverty, Thomas floated his most radical proposal (as promised to the Communists): the wealth tax. Thomas’ Buy Out program merely modified capitalism, but the wealth tax would destroy it outright, by taxing the incredibly wealthy into oblivion. Buying Communist rhetoric, Thomas said that it was perfectly just to confiscate the bulk of the fortunes of men like the Rockefellers, as compensating them was akin to compensating slaveholders.

All Hell broke loose. The capitalists, not finding many sympathizers among the poor or middle classes (the latter having been exempted from the bill), took whatever they could find of value and fled to the Southern United States. The conservative South, as much as it would benefit from the government spending Thomas proposed, had never been entirely on board with the Socialist program due to its implicit inclusion of racial equality. Northern and Western oligarchs were all too happy to make their home there, and pick up the language of racial supremacy if it would make poor Southern whites overlook their class differences.

Using a great portion (albeit not as great as what Thomas would take) of their wealth, the capitalist leaders were able to push Southern leaders towards a second secession. In a Declaration of Independence riddled with Revolutionary and Confederate nostalgia, the Southern governments and their militias seceded from the Union once more, stating that the Supreme Court had no authority over the people’s wishes. Constructing a slightly more centralized government than the Confederacy to avoid its issues, the South awaited Washington’s answer.

The pacifist Thomas approached the South with a compromise. Given the large quantities of wealth that had been nationalized, there was no pressing need to pursue those who had fled into Southern territory. Financial transactions would be frozen until the debts were paid, however. Finances aside, however, Thomas arranged a compromise: the South would be allowed to secede. His only request was that both countries have distinctive titles to avoid any disputes over legitimacy.

Within a week, the United Socialist States of America and the Confederate States of Dixie emerged from the former United States. As the USSA mandated cooperative ownership in all businesses and put on the final trappings of its welfare state, the CSD used the infusion of wealth from capitalist immigrants to rapidly develop its economy.

With Thomas showing little interest in the wars happening across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Japanese had pushed into British territories in Southeast Asia. There was continuing anxiety over the USSA changing its direction, however, and the Japanese began to contemplate an assault on the USSA to secure the Philippines.

Such an attack, it would turn out, might not have been necessary: with the easy secession of Dixie, the Philippines asked for expedited independence, having governed themselves since 1935. Many Filipinos were anxious at the idea, fearing this would invite Japanese aggression, but Filipino nationalists argued they’d have to fight the Japanese sooner or later, having learned American war planners were not confident in defending the Philippines.

No sooner had Thomas let go did the Japanese make their move. As tales of the slaughter from the Japanese occupation reached American ears, Thomas lost support. He kept the USSA out of the War, but the Communists were happy to use the public’s flip-flopping support for isolationism to their advantage, ousting him in 1944.

With the Communists in power, they redirected the public angst over the atrocities in the Philippines to the atrocities committed by the Germans against the Soviet peoples. Arguing that the USSA could not do much to help the Filipinos, but could still help the Europeans (a fact that resonated well with the white supremacist leaning of many Americans), President Henry Wallace secured a declaration of war against Nazi Germany, which was slowly but surely losing ground in Poland to the Soviets. The discovery of death camps sealed the deal for the American public.

Germany called for help from its Japanese allies, but the Japanese were savvy. The Americans had opted to leave the Philippines to Japan, and rather than worry about two industrial superpowers, they annulled their alliance with Germany. Glossing over their own war atrocities, they said they simply could not ally with a state that butchered defenseless civilians.

In the coming months, America’s Depression ended as war production soared, and American forces soon invaded France with some naval support from a reluctant (still being capitalist) Britain. Adolf Hitler surrendered in his Rhineland bunker, expecting humane treatment from the Americans, only to be handed over to the Soviets as a gesture of goodwill by President Wallace. Notes of the torturous treatment of Hitler would be released following Stalin’s death.

Wallace successfully ran for a second term in 1948, and an unprecedented third in 1952, but the possibility that he might shift the United States towards Stalinism was shattered in 1956. Stalin had passed away in 1953, and just as Wallace prepared for a fourth term to take advantage of the postwar prosperity, a secret speech by Khruschev was leaked in several American newspapers, exposing Stalin’s crimes. The goodwill towards the Soviets that the Communists had proudly espoused cost them dearly, and Wallace lost the 1956 election. The new Socialist majority swiftly passed a two-term limit on the Presidency, and President Darlington Hoopes asserted that the socialism as practiced in the United States would be a “Western” socialism, with a strong foundation in human rights and dignity.

Communists fought an uphill battle to keep their name from being synonymous with tyranny. They restructured their party platform to omit any discussion of the Soviet Union, having generic language about world communism and state ownership of key industries, rather than the entire economy.
It is now 1961. President Hoopes has won another term, but he faces a world in the grip of a Cold War. While Khruschev’s actions served to condemn Stalin, they also stoked distrust towards the Soviet system. Wallace’s push towards state socialism in the areas occupied by the USSA has been reversed, and Europe now sees an iron curtain between libertarian socialism and state socialism.

In Asia, the Japanese Empire endures, but word of strong Communist insurgencies in China and Southeast Asia has reached American ears. Will the USSA remain neutral, or honor the cries of “Never Forget Manila?” The USSA has developed an atomic bomb that it could use for leverage, but there are rumors Moscow may also have one.

Britain has stood strong as a capitalist democracy despite being sandwiched between two monolithic socialist powers, and has successfully federalized the former Empire into the Commonwealth Alliance Treaty Organization, or CATO. There is talk of admitting Dixie into CATO, though the Commonwealth is cautious to avoid earning the ire of the USSA.

The rest of the world is ripe for competition. Take command of a superpower and spread your ideology worldwide, or play another power and make the most of your situation.

In short:

-FDR is assassinated, the US never adopts the New Deal, and the Depression leads to the rise of the Socialist and Communist Parties

-The rise of socialism sees a flight to the South, which declares independence. The remainder of the US converts successfully to a mixed market socialist economy.

-The Socialists pursue non-interventionism; Japan takes the Philippines shortly after independence and war is avoided with the USA

-The Communists are able to take office and declare war on Germany to aid the Soviet Union; Japan deserts the Axis. The Communists lead a successful war effort and occupy part of Western Europe, though less in OTL due to entering the War later (the Soviets reach the Rhine).

-The Communists use the victory of the War to foster relations with the USSR and win two more terms.

-Khruschev's condemnation is leaked to the public and prevents a fourth Communist term; the Socialists impose term limits on the Presidency and proceed to undo the state socialist economies that the Communists built in Western Europe.

-Modern day: the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere remains, but is fighting Communist insurgencies in China and Southeast Asia. Britain, the last of the old capitalist democracies, successfully federalizes the Commonwealth into CATO. The libertarian socialist USA and state socialist USSR gear up for an extended Cold War.

"Why not fascism?" Some will ask.

Well that's what the independent, rather reactionary Dixie is for. Also, as memory serves, there's already tons of AHs that make the US turn fascist, so I wanted something different. Finally, I think American individualism is strong enough that it'd be easier to sell libertarian socialism than fascism in a time of desperation.

 

[Sonereal]

So I'm going to do that thing I've been doing to CivOasis's WW2 timeline.

In the subsequent midterm, the Democrats lost ground to the Republicans, but also to the Communists and Socialists, who picked up a token number of seats. Real damage came in 1936, however, when a powerful northern labor movement, disappointed in the Southerner Garner and not optimistic about the prospects of returning the Republicans to the White House, backed a variety of socialist candidates. The Republicans and Democrats lost ground in Congress, but President Garner was able to keep his seat thanks to a divided Republican vote.

Forget about a President Garner in 1936. It is definitely not clear that the Democrats wouldn't simply put up another candidate, with FDR's "legacy" ideas behind him. The Democrats definitely had these types of candidates in droves, such as Huey Long. A "powerful labor movement" is not going to back the SPUSA or, god forbid, the CPUSA, when it is already a powerful force in the most powerful party in the US at the time.

Garner’s nightmare was born shortly after the election, when the socialist parties resolved to create a coalition. Parties that were all too similar outright merged, leaving only the Socialist Party and the pro-Moscow Communist Party as the left-wing entities. Despite their differences, the two Parties arranged a secret agreement: they would endorse a unified candidate in 1940.

No they wouldn't.

The SPUSA and CPUSA wasn't just "pro-Moscow", the SPUSA was anti-Stalin, and there is no way these parties gain enough power between 1932 and 1940 to win 1. The White House and 2. Controlling majorities in both Houses and 3. Half the Supreme Court.

What happened was even more dramatic than expected. After the socialists used the continuing strength of the Depression to take control of the House and Senate in 1938, they ousted Garner with the Socialist Norman Thomas crushing him in the 1940 election.

No.

Like I said, there was already a powerful arm of the Democratic Party that was fielding candidates with ideas similar, if not more extreme, than FDR's. We have Huey Longs. We have his copycats. We have the OTL Union Party which can easily fold into the Democratic Party.

Though a Socialist, he kept the movement attuned to American ideals, valuing American religiosity and praising pacifism, hoping to avoid the revolutionary violence that led to the rise of the Soviet Union. His lack of outspoken internationalism (unlike the Communists) made him appealing to far more Americans in the wake of the War in Europe declared a year earlier.

So what makes him different from the Union Party, which IOTL received more votes in 1936 than the SPUSA and CPUSA put together despite not even existing in 1932?

Pacifism is not an American idea. Isolationism and pacifism don't hold hands in the United States. How does the coalition between the CPUSA and SPUSA not collapse when three-fourths of it are actively fighting against what the other quarter really clearly wants and has as its stated goal?

Washington had been paralyzed for 8 years by a conservative leader, and Thomas sought to keep the United States from breaking apart at the seams. While the Soviet Union had kept a tight lid on its activities, there were whispers of abuse and oppression within the Soviet system… and that was enough for Thomas to choose not to create another Soviet Union. “We will come together as a people, not as soldiers on the battlefield.”

Too bad the CPUSA, a wing of the coalition, is IOTL already actively working for the NKVD.

High taxes and deficit spending soared as Thomas not only funded food and basic housing for citizens, but began to buy up several depressed companies. These stakes in companies would in turn be placed under workers’ control, and they were asked to pay regular installments on a low-interest loan out of their profits.

1. The Supreme Court will not let this happen.
2. The State governments will not let this happen.
3. There would be a coup before this would happen.

Capitalists were somewhat alarmed by Thomas’ actions, but not entirely. Though Thomas was attempting to buy out many businesses, even Uncle Sam’s pockets were not that deep. Furthermore, buying out capitalists merely gave them more money to spend on other projects. It was only natural the Communists were also discontent with Thomas’ policies, only supporting it as a short-term measure.

What are Group 1 Projects for $500, Walter?

"Capitalists" in the United States not being entirely alarm with the SPUSA/CPUSA in charge? The same industrial-banker core that hired Pinkertons? The same one that allegedly tried to recruit generals to overthrow the government IOTL just five/six years earlier?

With increased wages as a result of worker cooperatives, progress was sufficient enough to float Thomas to victory in the 1942 midterms. With an increased mandate and much of the population in crushing poverty, Thomas floated his most radical proposal (as promised to the Communists): the wealth tax. Thomas’ Buy Out program merely modified capitalism, but the wealth tax would destroy it outright, by taxing the incredibly wealthy into oblivion. Buying Communist rhetoric, Thomas said that it was perfectly just to confiscate the bulk of the fortunes of men like the Rockefellers, as compensating them was akin to compensating slaveholders.

1. The Supreme Court will not let this happen.
2. The State governments will not let this happen.
3. There would be a coup before this would happen.

These three points will come up repeatedly because despite this allegedly being a "socialist democracy USA TL", the proposals and setup only work if there had been some violent coup or revolution.

All Hell broke loose. The capitalists, not finding many sympathizers among the poor or middle classes (the latter having been exempted from the bill), took whatever they could find of value and fled to the Southern United States.

With this logic, no socialist/communist revolution should ever fail because capitalists wouldn't find many "sympathizers" among the poor or middle classes.

The conservative South, as much as it would benefit from the government spending Thomas proposed, had never been entirely on board with the Socialist program due to its implicit inclusion of racial equality. Northern and Western oligarchs were all too happy to make their home there, and pick up the language of racial supremacy if it would make poor Southern whites overlook their class differences.

Forget about the Conservative South. Lets talk about the Conservative North which also was not down for racial equality either. White Northerners weren't liberals in any modern sense of the word when it came to race relations. How does the SPUSA/CPUSA even win in 1940? Did the Democrats literally just vanish entirely?

Using a great portion (albeit not as great as what Thomas would take) of their wealth, the capitalist leaders were able to push Southern leaders towards a second secession. In a Declaration of Independence riddled with Revolutionary and Confederate nostalgia, the Southern governments and their militias seceded from the Union once more, stating that the Supreme Court had no authority over the people’s wishes. Constructing a slightly more centralized government than the Confederacy to avoid its issues, the South awaited Washington’s answer.

Given the Supreme Court would have rejected a lot of measures taken by the SPUSA and CPUSA, there is no need for secession. Secession doesn't make sense here. It would be a violent counterrevolution, not a secession.

The pacifist Thomas approached the South with a compromise. Given the large quantities of wealth that had been nationalized, there was no pressing need to pursue those who had fled into Southern territory. Financial transactions would be frozen until the debts were paid, however. Finances aside, however, Thomas arranged a compromise: the South would be allowed to secede. His only request was that both countries have distinctive titles to avoid any disputes over legitimacy.

No.

Thomas would be impeached. Thomas would not be able to get this through the Senate or House unless the SPUSA ITTL looks NOTHING like the SPUSA IOTL ideologically.

The rest of the timeline just continues to break down from this point to the point of insanity that ignores American cultural and political attitudes of the 1930s and 1940s in favor of a Mary Sue version of the United States that can be ruled by the SPUSA/CPUSA AND still be a democracy.

Somehow, the European War is still being waged in 1944 even though the USA is pacifist/isolationist more than OTL but still somehow sending the arms and supplies to the UK and USSR needed for both to carry out their respective war efforts.

-FDR is assassinated, the US never adopts the New Deal, and the Depression leads to the rise of the Socialist and Communist Parties

How does the Socialists/Communists go from 2.5% of the vote in 1932 to what I presume is a SP victory in 1936? The 1930s United States was marked by powerful personalities, and IOTL we have people like Huey Long and Father Coughlin.

I don't see the South leaving before 1936, given Nance was FDR's VP. I also don't see socialists getting more than 10% of the vote in 1936.

I get it. You're trying to make a timeline with Commie USA, Confederacy, etc., and twist it into a Cold War setting. CivOasis is doing the same thing, albeit through a 1933 Business Plot.

But this timeline breaks down too quickly, and too easily. Things don't follow naturally from the point of divergence and suspension of disbelief only gets one so far. People are able to accept a lot of what happens in Red Alert because there is time travel and a bunch of timey-wobby technobabble. When these "CPUSSA" timelines try to ignore that inherently sci-fi core of Red Alert and just write a timeline, things get weird and people notice this weirdness.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Forget about a President Garner in 1936. It is definitely not clear that the Democrats wouldn't simply put up another candidate, with FDR's "legacy" ideas behind him.

Wouldn't canning him alienate the South, though?

A "powerful labor movement" is not going to back the SPUSA or, god forbid, the CPUSA, when it is already a powerful force in the most powerful party in the US at the time.

"Most powerful?"

1932 gives the Dems the Presidency, but the idea here is that without the New Deal, the Fifth Party system doesn't emerge. A conservative Garner doesn't solidify Democratic dominance because he's against Keynesianism. So we end up in a weird limbo where Republican dominance has been shattered, but Democratic dominance isn't happening either.

The SPUSA and CPUSA wasn't just "pro-Moscow", the SPUSA was anti-Stalin, and there is no way these parties gain enough power between 1932 and 1940 to win 1. The White House and 2. Controlling majorities in both Houses and 3. Half the Supreme Court.

That's why we have the Depression with no end in sight due to a government that doesn't seem to want to do anything.

Isolationism and pacifism don't hold hands in the United States. How does the coalition between the CPUSA and SPUSA not collapse when three-fourths of it are actively fighting against what the other quarter really clearly wants and has as its stated goal?

Too bad the CPUSA, a wing of the coalition, is IOTL already actively working for the NKVD.

And as noted, that's why they eventually make their move.

1. The Supreme Court will not let this happen.
2. The State governments will not let this happen.
3. There would be a coup before this would happen.

"Capitalists" in the United States not being entirely alarm with the SPUSA/CPUSA in charge? The same industrial-banker core that hired Pinkertons? The same one that allegedly tried to recruit generals to overthrow the government IOTL just five/six years earlier?

1. The Supreme Court will not let this happen.
2. The State governments will not let this happen.
3. There would be a coup before this would happen.

I guess I can always modify things to be a little more bloody.

With this logic, no socialist/communist revolution should ever fail because capitalists wouldn't find many "sympathizers" among the poor or middle classes.

And in this case, they didn't.

Lets talk about the Conservative North which also was not down for racial equality either. White Northerners weren't liberals in any modern sense of the word when it came to race relations.

And yet, the North is not as dependent on a racial order. Public vs private racism and all that.

How does the SPUSA/CPUSA even win in 1940? Did the Democrats literally just vanish entirely?

An anti-Keynesian is in power. People are disinterested in both parties by this point. Garner doesn't win in 1936 because he was that awesome, so much as he was an incumbent in a time when no one could really field a good alternative.

Given the Supreme Court would have rejected a lot of measures taken by the SPUSA and CPUSA, there is no need for secession. Secession doesn't make sense here. It would be a violent counterrevolution, not a secession.

Fine by me. A little blood keeps things interesting.

 

[Tani Coyote]

So basically I have five games that I feel an interest in running. Thoughts on which ones you would find the most interesting are appreciated.

-Red Cold War. The rise of Socialists and Communists in the United States has radically altered the world. The Empire of Japan continues to rule East Asia, and the British Empire has reformed into an Imperial Federation, the last defender of capitalist democracy. The Soviet Union has a much larger network of client regimes in Europe in light of delayed American entry into World War II. The world now pivots between two major and two minor superpowers. Players can elect to partake in the government of the superpowers, or try their luck as one of the major or minor powers.

-Multipolarity V. Through a mix of diplomacy, war and intrigue, the world has been united under the Federated Union of Nations. The Union possesses unparalleled military and economic power to quell nationalist sentiments, and despite its friendly façade, it is no secret that it is willing to spill blood to survive; the Imperial trappings betray that enough. Rather than playing as nation-states, you take the role of NGOs. Whether your playstyle is legal, semi-legal, or extralegal, your goal is to amass as much influence over regional and global politics as possible. MIGHT have a space colonization element to create some extra competition.

-SlyOT. Based on the Sly Cooper lore, a world where most governments have become corrupt to the point of ineffectiveness. INTERPOL has become an NGO superpower, responsible for keeping a lid on the worst elements. Gameplay would center on criminal organizations. Similar to IOT V, but with a much bleaker setting. Remember, people like the Coopers are only “good” because everyone else is so much worse.

-New World Order. A disease ravages the world population, but those of indigenous American ancestry are largely unaffected. The indigenous and mestizo populations of the Americas find themselves in an unprecedented position of socioeconomic advantage. Having been exploited for centuries, they now have the technology and numbers to reclaim everything that was taken from them, and more. Players will be presented with the option of running either increasingly powerful American nations, or trying to hold on against the tide as one of the ruined Old World powers.

-American Empire. Basically Rome: Total War with the game centered on America and in the Modern Age. Your goal is to bring power and glory to your faction within the Empire. You are welcome to play a non-US power, though of course note that this reality has it so everyone else is a distant second at the minimum. No idea on the exact timeline differences, though presumably the United States started as a constitutional monarchy and something really bad happened to the Soviet Union/Russia. Maybe I'll get a little sci-fi/fantasy up in there to justify it more.

 

[JohannaK]

Red Cold War, New World Order, American Empire seem more interested. I would probably pick Americsn Empire out

 

[Omega124]

MPV or American Empire for me, please

 

[Sonereal]

American Empire.