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Stock #: DOJHERO600
ISBN: 1-58366-036-4
256 pages, Trade Paperback, Perfect Bound
Retail: $31.99
Author: Steven S. Long
Artists: Storn Cook (cover), various (interior)
Available Now!
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Dark Champions for the HERO System 5th Edition is an
excellent genre book with detailed and comprehensive coverage
of many aspects of game play that are of incalculable value
to a GM and playgroup interested in playing a MetaCyber campaign,
and it is assumed that this setting would be implemented using
the rules and content provided therein, adapted as necessary.
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Though it has some influence from the superhero and science
fiction genres, MetaCyber is principally a gritty action adventure
game, and is most ably expressed as a Dark Champions campaign.
This document simply describes how the information contained
in Dark Champions can be used in the context of a MetaCyber
campaign chapter by chapter.
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CHAPTER 1: GENRE
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Though excellent material, this section is high level genre
concepts and is of minimal direct use to a MetaCyber campaign,
though the Elements section starting on page 23 is handy for
GM's as useful things to keep in mind.
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CHAPTER 2: CHARACTER DESIGN INFORMATION
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The basic information in Chapter 2 is very relevant to a MetaCyber
campaign, though some adjustment might be necessary to suit
the setting. Any section not noted below is assumed to be used
completely unchanged.
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CHARACTER BACKGROUNDS
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All of the character backgrounds listed in Dark Champions can
provide good fodder for MetaCyber character backgrounds.
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- Intelligence: Most Security Forces (Sec Forces),
almost all government military organizations, security consultants,
and industry thinktanks employ and in some cases train people
for Intelligence roles in the MetaCyber setting.
- Law Enforcement: In the PacFed region Law Enforcement
is privatized in the form of security companies and Sec Forces,
while other nations such as the New Confederacy, still have
state funded Law Enforcement. Many military and paramilitary
organizations also have some equivalent to Law Enforcement roles.
- Martial Arts: Fighting arts of all sorts are commonly
practiced, particularly in the Pacific rim.
- Military: As noted previously there are a multitude
of military, paramilitary, Sec Forces, privatized armies, and
merc groups that could produce characters with some form of
Military background.
- Criminal: Reformed or not, there is a good deal
of organized crime, particularly Asian themed groups such as
the Yakuza and the Triads.
- Self Trained: There is a good deal of latitude
for characters that are either self-trained or fell into a line
of work by circumstances and fate.
- Student: Education is not as automatic of an assumption
as it once was and it is quite expensive; most people get their
advanced educations via a binding contract with a sponsoring
corporation. However failed students are fairly common, and
at least some fall into exciting lives filled with danger and
adventure.
- Survivor: This background is as feasible as it
ever is and can work especially well for characters that start
play with a lot of Cybernetics; they survived some ordeal at
the cost of their humanity.
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PACKAGE DEALS
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The Package Deals in Dark Champions are largely usable with
some logical adjustments in a MetaCyber campaign. Packages requiring
special consideration are mentioned below:
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- Cat Burglar: Electronics and general computing
knowledge would prove useful.
- Hacker: Almost always will have some variation
on the "What a Cool Laptop" ability, which will often
represent some kind of NET terminal. Many Hackers also have
some cerebral Cybernetics, particularly a data link.
- Terrorist: change name to Corporate Saboteur;
modify Knowledge Skills to suit.
- Police Officer: change name to Sec Force Grunt;
modify Knowledge Skills to suit.
- BATF Agent: change name to Gunrunner; modify Knowledge
Skills to suit, drop Law Enforcement Perk.
- DEA Agent: change name to Drug runner; modify
Knowledge Skills to suit, drop Law Enforcement Perk
- FBI Agent: change name to Senior Security Consultant;
modify Knowledge Skills to suit.
- Secret Services Agent: change name to Corporate
Financial Security Consultant; modify Knowledge Skills to suit,
replace Law Enforcement Perk with Corporate Stature and replace
Professional Skills with PS: Accountant and PS: Collections
Agent.
- Various Special Forces Packages: Usable for a
broad variety of character backgrounds; simply rename as appropriate
to the role they are being used in.
- Vigilante: rename to Street Talent, modify or
drop Psychological Limitation. This Package does a good job
of simulating a Runner that got their start on the streets without
some more formal background training to call on.
- Any Package not specifically noted is basically usable as is
or with minor tweaking which should be obvious.
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SKILLS
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Dark Champions gives good coverage to various skills that are
of particular use to MetaCyber characters. The Expert
Skill Enhancer is allowed, with GM approval. Specific information
regarding Skills that are given special handling in the MetaCyber
setting are available in the Character Creation document.
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PERKS
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Perks play a major roll in MetaCyber campaigns. Of particular
note is the Business Rank table under Fringe Benefits
for use by corporate NPC's. Of special note, Reputation
is a very important ability to Runners.
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TALENTS
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All of the information given in this section is directly applicable
in a MetaCyber campaign. Further, it is expected that Rapid
Healing will be very common.
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DISADVANTAGES
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All of the information given in this section is directly applicable
in a MetaCyber campaign. Particularly notable it is assumed
that Floating Hunters, or Organization Hunters are the
norm and specifically named Hunters are the exception.
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SUPER SKILLS
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Baring GM Veto, all of the abilities in this section are usable
in a MetaCyber campaign.
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However, access to Super Skills is limited by Origin. Only Adepts
and Tubers are allowed to have them, and there are caps based
upon total character points, which are described in the
Adept and Tuber
documents.
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RESOURCE POINTS
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Resource Points work very well in a MetaCyber campaign and are
assumed to be in use.
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CHAPTER 3: FORENSICS
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This chapter is full of incredibly useful information in generaly,
but none of it is particularly useful in most MetaCyber campaigns.
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CHAPTER 4: COMBAT & ADVENTURING
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All of the general guidelines given in this section apply to
MetaCyber campaigns; some notable options that are assumed to
be in effect follow.
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MANEUVERS
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All of the combat maneuvers specifically noted in this section
of Dark Champions are assumed to be used in a MetaCyber campaign,
though individual GM's as always have complete control over
which Maneuvers are in use in their campaign.
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NOTE: the "TARGETING WEAPONS AND GADGETS"
table on page 181 is particularly useful to MetaCyber campaigns.
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DAMAGE
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If there is one thing you can be sure of, its that characters
can be expected to take damage in a MetaCyber campaign. There
are several ideas relevant to this that are expanded upon in
Dark Champions.
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HIT LOCATIONS
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Hit Locations are used, as is the Additional Hit Location
chart, and the Adjustable Hit Locations optional rule.
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NOTE: actually the Adjustable Hit Locations rule has
been my house rule since about 1998; not sure if its just a
case of concurrent innovation or if one of my ideas made it
into the game. Either way, glad to see it in.
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I recommend that AoE damage simply use generalized damage rather
than rolling for a Hit Location for logical reasons, but no
harm is done by using the official version.
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WOUNDING
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Wounding is a matter of personal preference on the part
of the GM; personally I find that in small groups using the
Wounding rules stacks the deck versus the PC's since if the
group all take damage in close segments, it can cripple their
ability to react and make a bad situation unrecoverable. In
a larger group this isn't as likely to happen and in fact provides
another good reason to have teammates -- to cover you when you
get shot.
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A good middle ground I've found is to force a Wounded EGO check
when a character takes BODY damage to the head, stomach, or
vitals. This makes a certain amount of logical sense and keeps
characters from cowering every time their arm or leg is grazed.
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DISABLING
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Disabling is used rather than Impairing, and in fact
plays to a certain facet of the setting; characters taking a
lot of damage that suffer a disabling wound get pushed into
using Cybernetics to offset their injuries. However, this should
be used with some care by the GM unless they want every character
to end up as full conversion borgs.
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NOTE: if a GM does not want to play up the Cybernetic
aspects of the campaign as much, or do not think their playgroup
would appreciate having their characters getting permanently
maimed, the Impairing rules on page 416 of HERO System Fifth
Edition Revised (5ER) should be used instead of Disabling.
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KNOCKDOWN
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Knockdown is used, but personally I wouldn't allow the
"Does Knockdown" Advantage to do an automatic Knockdown
as suggested on page 186; the usual means of determining if
a character is knocked down or not should be used in my opinion.
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BLEEDING
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Bleeding is not recommended for use in MetaCyber games
for the same reasons noted on page 186; however characters will
still "bleed out" if below 0 BODY as described on
page 413 of 5ER.
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CRITICAL HITS
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Critical Hits can be used at the GM's preference. Personally
I have my own "Critical Success" rules which I use
that I call the "Rule of Three".
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RULE OF THREE
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if a character (PC or NPC) rolls a natural three on a 3d6 roll
under type of check then they have the option of either taking
"max effect" or an "epiphany".
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MAX EFFECT
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If the three was made for an Attack Roll max effect is the maximum
possible damage or effect with that attack (treat all effect
dice as having rolled 6's).
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If the three was made for a non attack roll, not only does the
character win any opposed roll (even if the opponent made their
roll by more) or succeed at their task, but they do so in a
stylish looked-cool-doing-it fashion which is also justification
for gaining a "Display of Power" bonus to a Presense
Attack made sometime within the next few actions against anyone
that observed them.
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EPIPHANY
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The character has a flash of insight regarding the skill or
ability that they rolled a three for and their competency with
that ability is expanded. The character gain +2 character points
to allocate towards a bonus with that skill or attack. For attacks
this translates into a +1 OCV Combat Skill Level with that attack.
If a skill this translates into either a +1 or +2 with that
skill depending on whether the skill is on the 3/2 or 2/1 costing
model. If the three was rolled for a familiarity, the familiarity
becomes a full skill instead.
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This can not be used to upgrade existing levels; for example
a character could not opt to bump an All Combat level to an
Overall Level with the 2 free points gained in this fashion
-- the 2 pts must be spent specifically for the task they were
gained from.
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However, levels gained in this fashion can themselves be upgraded
later with experience. For example a 2pt +1 OCV level with a
specific kind of pistol could be upgraded to a 3pt "Pistols"
tight group level later on.
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MINIONS
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Due to the higher point levels and high lethality of a typical
MetaCyber campaign minions (also known as mooks, agents, grunts,
chumpions, or similar terms), which is to say nameless, generic
opponents of substantially less skill than the PC's, are not
as prevalent as they are in some campaigns simply because they
don't represent any form of threat unless used in high numbers
or are equipped with gear that makes them more dangerous. Personally
I use this house rule to deal with the KO'd vs. STUN issue that
can occur in the HERO System for MetaCyber and other similar
violent settings:
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CHUMP DROP
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Any minion reduced below 0 BODY or below -30 STUN is assumed
to be dead unless it serves the story for them not to be. Any
minion reduced below half their BODY or below 10 STUN take x2
Effect from Presense Attacks related to making them stop fighting
or to run away.
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HEALING AND RECOVERY
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Healing and Recovery is a key element in MetaCyber campaign.
Characters should keep track of not only their total BODY loss,
but also each wound that they took. In general
Paramedics and skills related to being a surgeon or doctor,
and the normal process for recovering BODY over time will be
the most common means of healing. Some high tech equipment listed
in the equipment section uses the Healing Power, but that should
be the exception. The Enhanced Healing and Minor Wounds
options given on page 190 of Dark Champions are both recommended
as well.
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GUNFIGHTING
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The Gunfighting section given in Dark Champions is very relevant
to MetaCyber campaigns, but not all of the options are equally
appropriate.
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RANGE MODIFIER
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Personally, I do not alter the Range Modifier; I've found
that it just causes confusion with more experienced players
that are used to thinking in terms of the existing increments,
and it slows down combat for no real gain. Characters wanting
to be particularly good at long range have a variety of options
for overcoming the penalties. Also, there are already too many
advantages to sniping in a campaign like MetaCyber to further
encourage it by making range modifiers less restrictive.
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BLOWTHROUGH
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I allow Blowthrough, but due to the extra time of calculating
the damage to determine if it is successful, I would only allow
it when a character specifically declares that they are attempting
to do it.
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CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT
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This optional rule is highly recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
Especially bulky weapons not shown on the list such as miniguns
and rocket launchers should have even greater initiative penalties.
Some Cybernetics and gear can make a character so bulky and
heavy that they have similar issues shifting their bulk around
in close quarters. A GM can use the adjoining chart as an extension
of the Close Quarters Combat rules.
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Cyberarms
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-1
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Cyberlegs
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-1
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Dermal Plating
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-1
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Heavy Dermal Plating
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-2
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Exo-skeleton
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-2
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Hard Points
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-1 each
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* This penalty applies only for purposes of
determining when a character's Phase occurs.
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GRACE UNDER FIRE
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This optional rule is not recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
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RECOIL
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This optional rule is not recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
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RELOADING
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This optional rule is recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
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SLOW FIREARMS
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This optional rule is not recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
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STORM OF LEAD
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The optional rules detailed in this section are generally not
recommended for MetaCyber campaigns. However, individual GM's
could certainly implement some or all of them and find a balance
that worked for them if they wanted to.
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CINEMATIC GUN FIGHTING TRICKS
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All of the options listed in this section except
Unlimited Ammo are in the spirit of the kind of feel
and action a MetaCyber campaign is all about.
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CHAPTER 5: WEAPONS
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MetaCyber campaigns use this chapter in its entirety, though
many of the actual weapon names should be changed to terms and
manufactures appropriate to the setting. Additionally, with
the exception of a few "futuristic" weapons, the new
weapons given in the Equipment section of this site use the
firearms and ammunition charts detailed in Dark Champions.
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MANUFACTURERS
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The adjoining translator gives a manufacturer equivalency from
real world to the MetaCyber setting for major brands.
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Simply proxy the MetaCyber company for the one given in the
weapons charts starting on page 242 of Dark Champions. For added
style a GM might also want to modify any obvious monikers.
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For example a Colt Anaconda would be a Gallo Anaconda in the
MetaCyber setting, or perhaps tweaked to be a Gallo Puma; similarly
a Colt King Cobra might be a Gallo Roaring Lion in the MetaCyber
setting.
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OPTIONAL WEAPONS
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The content provided for "Other Weapons" is all assumed
to be in use in a MetaCyber campaign.
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CHAPTER 6: GEAR
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The contents of this chapter are recommended for use in a MetaCyber
campaign.
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CHAPTER 7: ADVERSARIES
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Due to the nature of a MetaCyber campaign being set in the future
and having an altered timeline from the real world, most of
the material in this chapter is not directly relevant; though
some is such as the information on the Yakuza. However
GM's can still use the content provided as is and just assume
that all or most of the forms of organized crime described exist
in the MetaCyber continuity too, or else as fodder for similar
organizations in the MetaCyber campaign.
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CHAPTER 8: GAME MASTERING DARK CHAMPIONS
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With relatively little adjustment to suit the idiom, this chapter
provides a lot of good material and ideas that are as usable
in a MetaCyber campaign as they would be in any other Dark Champions
campaign.
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CHAPTER 9: LIBRA
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This chapter contains numerous characters which can all be translated
into MetaCyber versions.
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LIBRA VIGILANTES
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This group of Vigilantes can be used as the basis of a Runner
team quite easily; adding an extra 25 base points to bring them
up to the campaign assumed starting point of 125 + 100.
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Full conversions of all five members of LIBRA are provided here collectively.
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Character Sheets:
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LIBRA VILLAINS
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All of the provided sample villains are easily adapted to be
used in a MetaCyber campaign.
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ABADDON
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This guy is pretty tough as is. Just switch out some of the
gear in his Equipment Pool for higher tech versions and he works
just fine.
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CALIBER
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Another perfect fit for MetaCyber as is. Tweak his background
to make him more of a Runner than a criminal, and there you
go.
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CROSSBOW
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This character isnt a very good conceptual fit but could be
tweaked around to more of a MetaCyber character if a GM wanted
to use him. He might be a candidate for a meta with animal affinity
/ control powers, which would at least make his use of "pets"
more feasible in the context of the campaign. Alternately or
in addition to he could be more of a Cybernetic type, and his
"pets" could be Cybernetically enhanced (and controlled)
animals.
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This character works well in a MetaCyber campaign, but instead
of a drugrunner make him a former Runner that sold out to start
his own company, FENRIS Security Consulting, a firm that specializes
in contract reprisals on Runners. Though he seldom does fieldwork
himself anymore, he built his company by investigating Runs,
hunting down Runners, and killing them or otherwise exacting
a punishment upon them according to his employers wishes. He's
virulently hated by Runners across PacFed, but few Runners want
to face off against him or his company thanks to the messy "pro
bono" reprisals he's undertaken versus those who have messed
with him in the past.
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The following upgrades bring Fenris up into the high 500's,
more than a match for most Runners one on one.
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FENRIS' UPGRADES:
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Change his contacts to corporate contacts, his Criminal Rank
to CEO of a small company Business Rank, up his Equipment Availability
to the 10 point version, change Spanish to German.
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Upgrade his 2 All Combat CSL's to Overall Levels and add +1
Overall Level (+14 points)
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Increase Vehicle/Base Points to 200 (+75 points)
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Make him a Tuber with the following abilities:
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FENRIS' TUBER PACKAGE:
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Explosive
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+20 STR; No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Increased Endurance
Cost (x2 END; -1/2)
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Manic
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+10 DEX; No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Costs Endurance
(-1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1)
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Clever
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+5 INT
+5 PRE
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Impressive
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+20 PRE
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Accelerated
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+1 SPEED
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Brutish
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+10 PD
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Tireless
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+20 END
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Tough
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Damage Resistance (8 PD / 8 ED), Hardened (+1/4)
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Strong-legged
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Leaping +5" (Accurate)
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TOTAL COST: 100 Points
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Give him the following BodyTech:
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FENRIS' BIOWARE:
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Low-Light Retinal Filters: Nightvision (+5 points)
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Auto-Polarizing Retinal Filters: Flash Defense (Sight)
5 points; (+5 points)
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20/10 Correction: +2 PSLs to Offset Range Modifier All
Attacks (+6 points)
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20/10 Correction: +2 PER with Sight Group (+4 points)
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Synthetic Muscles: +10 STR, No Figured Characteristics (+7 points)
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Synthetic Muscles: +3 DEX, No Figured Characteristics (+6 points)
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Distinctive Feature: BioWare Enhanced;
Detectable with Special Equipment; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures,
Not Concealable; -5 points
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TOTAL COST: 33 Points
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TRIGGERHAPPY
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This character works perfectly as a Gunner/Boomer as is. Just
make a minute twitch to his background (not even much of one),
and he's perfect as a Runner known for his utter ruthlessness.
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