So, I've been really obsessed with a game called Rebel Inc lately, and as I am prone to do when I'm obsessed with a video game, I'm acting like a wasteland scavenger and trying to grab whatever bits and pieces I could use for my games. I have already looted XCOM Enemy Within and XCOM 2, Payday 2, miscellaneous D20 (Pathfinder included) and GURPS sourcebooks for parts, and now I'm looking at looting Rebel Inc.
Basically, my idea is that 2 Lawful Neutral Kingdoms, have been at war for 200+ years, and war weariness finally caught up and a peace treaty was sign. As a token of good faith, a mixed unit from the two kingdoms has been formed, tasked with maintaining the peace. The PCs are combatants (people from many backgrounds have been dragged into the war as it dragged on) from both nations who have a vested interest in keeping the peace. But since it's just a token effort, it's painfully understaffed and underfunded.
From now on, every time I say "month", I mean 28 days.
So I will define the important concepts:
Funds: The funds that the unit can spend. They cannot be spent on personal purchases for the PCs, they can only serve for operation related expenses. The PCs can also contribute their own personal money to the funds.
Funding: The amount of money added to the funds every three months.
Tensions: The general anti-other-kingdom sentiment. Tracked separately for the two kingdoms. Should one kingdom's tensions go beyond critical mass, the war is reignited and the campaign is lost.
Area: An hexagon from a kingdom.
Population unit: An arbitrarily large group of citizen.
Supporters: A population unit that are supportive of the joint unit.
Neutrals: People who just don't care.
Hostiles: People who see the existence of the joint unit as an affront to the soldiers who died in the war or other such notions. A Hostile population unit counts as two population units for the purpose of calculating general support levels. Only Operations and Initiatives can turn Hostiles into Neutrals.
Subversive elements: A mysterious third faction (a cabal of necromancers who have a use for the huge body count? A conspiracy trying to weaken both kingdoms to take them over?) trying to reignite the war. They can take Agitation or Disruption actions.
Specialists: Named NPCs who can be sent on Specialist Operations.
Contacts: Minor NPCs who are assisting the joint unit and live in an area. They have a passive and an active ability. Uses Pathfinder rules. Critical failure on a task can alienate the population depending on the consequences.
Passive ability: An ability from a contact that they can use every month. Higher risk is more effective, but obviously more risky. The party can use the ability at Risk 1 for no cost unless specified, but for contacts with minimum risk or that require funding, the party can refuse to use the ability.
Initiatives: One time spending with one time effect. Covers bribes, emergency aid, and other ways to ease tensions, cajole the population or cultivate contacts.
Operations: Deployment of specialists and/or PCs in an area for a specific purpose. Has a specific duration, consequences for success, failures (some operations can fail without impacting the situation), a Bonus objective, and may or may not have rules for trying over and over again (usually, if failure has no consequences, progress made during the first attempt reduces retry DC). Some operations may require or benefit from funds being invested.
Bonus objective: If the operation is a success, an extra task can be attempted. An extra roll in Specialist Operations, or more detailed requirements for Active Deployment. Failing the Bonus Objective has no consequences, accomplishing it gives extra rewards (usually a Contact or Funds).
Specialist operations: Operations undertaken by a specialist. Specialist Operations taken by specialist from one kingdom into another are penalized, though Reputation from the PC leader and Supporters in the area can mitigate or cancel it.
Intel Operations: Operations that have the objective of rooting out Subversive elements.
Military Operations: Counter insurgency involving Mass Combat or Active Deployments. Can sometimes be Specialist Operations.
Active Deployment Operations: The PCs are deployed and will act as a typical PC party.
Agitation: The subversive elements spread baseless but convincing rumors, turning Neutrals into Hostiles.
Disruption: False flag operation and general chaos, turning Supporters into Neutrals, Neutrals into Hostiles, and raising tensions.
Stabilized area: Any area where supporters represent at least 50% of the population. Reduces Tensions over time.
Alright, basically, the PCs have two ways to win.
An military assault on the Subversive element's HQ (but finding it is going to be more difficult), making stabilizing the areas much easier as the Subversive elements lose cohesion.
Stabilizing every area, freeing resources to locate and assault the Subversive element's HQ.
I plan on using the relationships from Pathfinder's Ultimate Campaign (renamed Teamwork, can go up with operation success, can go down with operation failures) to represent the Specialists (each specialist is assigned to a PC that makes sense), high Teamwork gives buffs to the Specialists, and specialists with the highest ranks buff each other if operating in the same area, Reputation and Fame, also from Ultimate Campaign, for the bonuses from Prestige Points and the capability to reduce the penalties when assigning a foreign specialist, and Contacts, given Passive abilities (use once a month) and Active abilities (can help Specialist Operations and or Active Deployment Operations, or other strategic bonuses).
Now that the foundation is posed, I will see if it sticks, how to improve it, and start looking into operations and initiatives to give the PCs options.
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Hello everyone!
So, I've been really obsessed with a game called Rebel Inc lately, and as I am prone to do when I'm obsessed with a video game, I'm acting like a wasteland scavenger and trying to grab whatever bits and pieces I could use for my games. I have already looted XCOM Enemy Within and XCOM 2, Payday 2, miscellaneous D20 (Pathfinder included) and GURPS sourcebooks for parts, and now I'm looking at looting Rebel Inc.
Basically, my idea is that 2 Lawful Neutral Kingdoms, have been at war for 200+ years, and war weariness finally caught up and a peace treaty was sign. As a token of good faith, a mixed unit from the two kingdoms has been formed, tasked with maintaining the peace. The PCs are combatants (people from many backgrounds have been dragged into the war as it dragged on) from both nations who have a vested interest in keeping the peace. But since it's just a token effort, it's painfully understaffed and underfunded.
From now on, every time I say "month", I mean 28 days.
So I will define the important concepts:
Funds: The funds that the unit can spend. They cannot be spent on personal purchases for the PCs, they can only serve for operation related expenses. The PCs can also contribute their own personal money to the funds.
Funding: The amount of money added to the funds every three months.
Tensions: The general anti-other-kingdom sentiment. Tracked separately for the two kingdoms. Should one kingdom's tensions go beyond critical mass, the war is reignited and the campaign is lost.
Area: An hexagon from a kingdom.
Population unit: An arbitrarily large group of citizen.
Supporters: A population unit that are supportive of the joint unit.
Neutrals: People who just don't care.
Hostiles: People who see the existence of the joint unit as an affront to the soldiers who died in the war or other such notions. A Hostile population unit counts as two population units for the purpose of calculating general support levels. Only Operations and Initiatives can turn Hostiles into Neutrals.
Subversive elements: A mysterious third faction (a cabal of necromancers who have a use for the huge body count? A conspiracy trying to weaken both kingdoms to take them over?) trying to reignite the war. They can take Agitation or Disruption actions.
Specialists: Named NPCs who can be sent on Specialist Operations.
Contacts: Minor NPCs who are assisting the joint unit and live in an area. They have a passive and an active ability. Uses Pathfinder rules. Critical failure on a task can alienate the population depending on the consequences.
Passive ability: An ability from a contact that they can use every month. Higher risk is more effective, but obviously more risky. The party can use the ability at Risk 1 for no cost unless specified, but for contacts with minimum risk or that require funding, the party can refuse to use the ability.
Initiatives: One time spending with one time effect. Covers bribes, emergency aid, and other ways to ease tensions, cajole the population or cultivate contacts.
Operations: Deployment of specialists and/or PCs in an area for a specific purpose. Has a specific duration, consequences for success, failures (some operations can fail without impacting the situation), a Bonus objective, and may or may not have rules for trying over and over again (usually, if failure has no consequences, progress made during the first attempt reduces retry DC). Some operations may require or benefit from funds being invested.
Bonus objective: If the operation is a success, an extra task can be attempted. An extra roll in Specialist Operations, or more detailed requirements for Active Deployment. Failing the Bonus Objective has no consequences, accomplishing it gives extra rewards (usually a Contact or Funds).
Specialist operations: Operations undertaken by a specialist. Specialist Operations taken by specialist from one kingdom into another are penalized, though Reputation from the PC leader and Supporters in the area can mitigate or cancel it.
Intel Operations: Operations that have the objective of rooting out Subversive elements.
Military Operations: Counter insurgency involving Mass Combat or Active Deployments. Can sometimes be Specialist Operations.
Active Deployment Operations: The PCs are deployed and will act as a typical PC party.
Agitation: The subversive elements spread baseless but convincing rumors, turning Neutrals into Hostiles.
Disruption: False flag operation and general chaos, turning Supporters into Neutrals, Neutrals into Hostiles, and raising tensions.
Stabilized area: Any area where supporters represent at least 50% of the population. Reduces Tensions over time.
Alright, basically, the PCs have two ways to win.
An military assault on the Subversive element's HQ (but finding it is going to be more difficult), making stabilizing the areas much easier as the Subversive elements lose cohesion.
Stabilizing every area, freeing resources to locate and assault the Subversive element's HQ.
I plan on using the relationships from Pathfinder's Ultimate Campaign (renamed Teamwork, can go up with operation success, can go down with operation failures) to represent the Specialists (each specialist is assigned to a PC that makes sense), high Teamwork gives buffs to the Specialists, and specialists with the highest ranks buff each other if operating in the same area, Reputation and Fame, also from Ultimate Campaign, for the bonuses from Prestige Points and the capability to reduce the penalties when assigning a foreign specialist, and Contacts, given Passive abilities (use once a month) and Active abilities (can help Specialist Operations and or Active Deployment Operations, or other strategic bonuses).
Now that the foundation is posed, I will see if it sticks, how to improve it, and start looking into operations and initiatives to give the PCs options.