Graph Paper Games

Wow, one week in and I'm already bored with my own "April A to Z Concept."  I think that, rather than continue to grind my way through the whole "deCom" concept, I can simply synopsize how the campaign would work. PC's are heavily armed cyborgs with possible anti-social tendencies.  In short, your typical RPG group. Adventures initially revolve around killing bigger and badder robots. Roleplaying opportunities exist between the RPG group and other deCom crews, government officials, and shady arms dealers. The campaign really gets rolling when there's a shift in the system, e.g. the mimints turn out to be more intelligence than believed, the First Families get anxious about how they've created an uncontrolled mass of super-soldiers in their own back yard, or (SPOILER ALERT) the Martian AI satellites begin to connect with the mimints and/or deCom command heads. I didn't get around to mentioning the Martian AI satellites?  Oh well, they'r...

On the coast of New Hokkaido is the city of Drava.  Originally a small fishing village on the coast, Drava became the beachhead for the military campaign to reclaim the large island.  When the Mecsek Initiative began, Drava was abandoned by most of the government military personnel and replaced with deCom.  Only a small group of logistical military personnel remain on Drava serving as military police, strategic command, housing maintenance, food services, etc. At any given time Drava contains between 500 to 1000 deCom participants, living in plastic fabricated housing.  Twice a day large hovercraft travel between the mainland and Drava, bringing in deCom crews and taking them back to civilization where they can resupply, get major medical attention, or just go home. For the most part, crews are housed together with separation by the sexes largely ignored or maintained just in a building-by-building level.  The military oversees most of the law enforcement, bu...

In addition to cutting edge weaponry and (for those who can afford it) paramilitary vehicles, one of the most important tools for deCom is cyberware.  Cybernetic implants that improve reaction time, senses (especially sight), and auto-medicate during times of injury and common.  Others implant weaponry, or genetically modify their bodies with animal DNA or enhanced muscle tissue.  But there are two other cybernetic implants that are very important for deCom. The first is the cortical stack, a universal cybernetic implant usually grafted onto a body shortly after birth.  A person's brain activity, their very personality, is converted to a digital format, and then downloaded onto a cortical stack and re-implanted in the body.  From then on, the cortical stack controls the body.  The stack is impact-resistant and is located at the base of the skull.  When a person is injured, the stack can be removed and the consciousness uploaded into another body, suc...

Forty years ago, the government of Harlan's World faced multiple crises: a downturn in the economy, growing discontent over the ruling oligarchy, burgeoning governmental budgets,planetary overpopulation, and the threat of the mimints on New Hokkaido .  To counter these problems, the First Families launched what became known as the Mecsek Initiative, which included draconian cuts to governmental infrastructure and the creation of the Bounty and deCom. Put simply, the government would offer a cash reward for any destroyed mimint.  Rather than allocate military forces to the Uncleared zones, freelance mercenaries called deCom (for "decommissioners") would be licensed by the government.  The government provided the most basic of billeting and coordination for deCom members, who in turn would have to provide their own weapons, equipment, cyberware , and other tools of the trade. An entire economy was created around the Bounty, as underemployed (and potentially violent) ...

Artifical Intelligence Three hundred years ago the rebellion against the government of Harlan's World by the Quellists was entering into its final phase.  Certain factions among the Quellists, sensing their cause against the aristocracy was doomed, hatched a plan to create a series of self-replicating robots, guided by crude artificial intelligences, which could continue to cause havoc long after their defeat.  The project was successful, and the robots, called Mimints (military machine intelligences), managed to kill or drive back most of the residents of the island of New Hokkaido. After three hundred years, the artificial intelligences that control the mimints are far from sophisticated, usually only possessing simple patrol/kill programming.  Others bear the semblances of humanity, but are incapable of true human interaction, instead constantly pontificating on the socio-political and economic philosophies of Quellism when encountered by radio or digital communi...

I've been waffling on doing this blogging challenge on the grounds that I'll be away from home for over a week, and am not sure that I'll have access to the internet or the opportunity to blog during that time. But, I'm a sucker for a dare, and given that Adam over at  Barking Alien  is doing it, not to mention a few other friends, I thought I'd at least give it a try.  What I'll probably do is attempt to pre-write the blog entries for the days I'll be gone, and then schedule their uploads in advance.  That's a bit more pressure on what is already a loaded two weeks, but I think I can manage it. Rather than do another run of supervillains again, like Adam is doing, I decided I would outline an RPG campaign called deCom based on the book Woken Furies by Richard Morgan, the third of his "Takeshi Kovacs" series.  While not based on the main plot of the book, deCom instead focuses on a side-plot of the book, the vast area of Harlan's W...