IMTU Archetypes 2: Marines

1.2 Marines

The marines are the close combat arm of the Navy, performing ship defense and boarding actions. They are hands down the scariest close combat fighters in the setting because firing pistols on spaceships is not terribly smart. When NPCs their main weapons are sabers, quiet arrogance and a fanatical devotion to the emperor.

1.2.1 Marine Commander

You’re from the classic lead from the front, out fight the enemy, don’t give up the ship Marine – Marines work their way up from private to officer status so you’ve years of experience to back up your reputation. You’re very likely still in possession of some advanced biomods. Whatever your background you’re dedicated, tough and well able to command troops in any engagement, from the front, where a real commander belongs.

Body 5, Mind 5, Reflexes 5, Meta 0

Divide 6 points amongst your stats, with no more than 4 points in any one.

Skills

Command 12; Computers 9; Drive 8; Gambling 9; Guns 10; Info 9; Intimidation 10; Intrusion 12; Investigation 10; Martial Arts 12; Status 11

Shticks

Pick 3 shticks between Bio and Blade shticks

1.2.2 Marine Incursion Leader

One of the toughest jobs for a Marine is the incursion crew, who at the first on board enemy ships, sometimes fighting in soft, or even hard vacuum. You were one of these, and damned good at it – scary and effective, you could often end encounters just by your arrival and a growl.

Body 5, Mind 5, Reflexes 5, Meta 0

Divide 6 points amongst your stats, with no more than 4 points in any one.

Skills

Command 10; Drive 8 ; Guns 9; Info (choose) 10; Intimidation 12; Intrusion 11 Martial Arts 13; Sabotage 11; Status 10

Shticks

Shtick 1- Marine Vacc Suit Training: you have mastered moving and fighting in a vacc suit. You suffer no penalties when wearing one or in zero gravity. You are also cleared to use a mech suit, (Advanced Vacc Suit skill is a prerequisite). Marines generally disdain their use, but you can run one.

Pick 2 other shticks between Blade and Bio shticks

1.2.3 Marine Security

Marines maintain security on capital ships, and you had that difficult job. This might have been done through special training and biomods, through hard-nosed pragmatism, or perhaps a willingness to bust heads, but you managed to keep the peace in a chaotic environment. Those skills have some use in the broader galaxy.

Body 5, Mind 5, Reflexes 5, Meta (Bio) 1

Divide 5 points amongst your stats, with no more than 4 points in any one.

Skills

Command 11; Computers 10; Deceit 9 Drive 9; Guns 10; Info (Choose) 10; Intimidation 11; Intrusion 9; Investigation 13; Martial Arts 11; Medicine 10; Status 9

Shticks

Pick two shticks between Blade, Bio and those listed here.

Shtick 1- Blink Speed Forensics:

Shtick 2- Human Lie Detector: 

Alternate History and Horror in Feng Shui

Feng Shui is well on its way to a long awated second edition and though I was in on on the playtest I can't share much. I can share that Robin Laws' goals for this game were to make the template system even faster to use, and to even more focus on the preferred campaign frame of the PCs being the new incarnation of the Dragons moving from one butt-kicking site to another.

All well and good - it's his game after all - but when I've run it I've always wanted a slower burn on my conspiracy. There's a lot to be said for "someone shows up to explain the incredibly convoluted chi war and basically anyone not on your team is either an enemy now or will be one later" as a way to get the game moving, but there's also something for both non-chi war games and those where the PCs are slowly inserted in, being courted by multiple sides (perhaps in opposition to one another) and playing with the politics that are inherent to the setting but minimized by the Dragons campaign frame.

One area I want to touch on today is how the malleable history of the chi war gives room for some real horror. To explain, Feng Shui has 4 separate time junctures for action, and acquisitions or losses of Feng Shui sites in an earlier juncture change the downsteam history. Every normal person remembers the new history. the PCs, however, and anyone else who has traveled through the Netherworld (and likely through time) remember their old history unchanged. Eventually most abandon the 'normal world' because their external past changes so often in so many subtle ways that they have no frame of reference - a handy device for removing the complex interpersonal relations that are secondary to the Dragons frame.

That historical malleability, however, is a fertile ground for horror. I got some good mileage out of events in my 1001 New York Nights campaign - the PCs were top officers in a NYC 'flying squad' sent out to handle rough cases - not just in how the conspiracy was roping them in, but how the conspiracy was altering their pasts to make them more amenable to joining, or how once they had unwittingly entered the netherworld they started sliding out of sync with the rest of the squads remembered reality. I could easily ramp this up to 11 and make the game about both butt kicking action and the disintegration of ones history, the sort of trade off that powers horror gaming like Call of Cthulhu.

Imagine if you will the PCs entering the Netherworld without realizing it, returning home and finding over the next few sessions their case files change, their jobs change, their friends and enemies shifting roles and so on as the world alters around them. That's room for horror. And I expect I'll come back to that even after Feng Shui 2 comes out.