Supers Thought Experiment - Does System Matter?

One aspect of the supers RPG market that I've been commenting on for a while is that there is a dearth of "focused" games, unlike the fantasy market. Fantasy gamers know that D&D is going to offer a very different experience than Runequest, which is in turn different from Warhammer, and that one shouldn't use D&D to capture the feel and tone of Warhammer, and vice versa. No comments on which is a mechanically superior system, as they are aiming for very different things. 

In contrast, until recently the Supers market has been dominated by systems that claim to do all sorts of Supers equally well - they can handle Heroes for Hire and the Avengers, Dark Knight style Batman and the Justice League, Tom Strong and the Authority all with equal ease. In my experience, this is hogwash, and while I have played enough supers systems that I could say that I know for sure, I want to do a little experiment: taking a single character from a finished campaign and seeing how he looks in every major system I can. How do the mechanics of the system shape the character, what he can do and how he might be played. I am hopeful that some of the other supers gurus reading this - whswhs wrote GURPS Supers, Chadu wrote Truth and Justice, mnemex was a playtester for Marvel Diceless, Cambias wrote for Hero, and whoever else has a preferred system - might take their hand at translating the character to their preferred system, but if not I'll go it alone. 

The character is Dr. Zachary Zevon, the Indestructible Man, the Smartest Man on Mars, from Dan Harvey's defunct Liberty League PBEM. Dr. Z is the leader and Reed Richards analogue of a team of adventurers and explorers who gained their powers over kinetic energy via a failed attempt to recreate the Philadelphia Experiment (the offshoot technology of which was what made Martian colonization after WWII possible - the game took place in New Philadelphia on Mars). His particular power is projecting invisible force fields, which he uses to give the world the false impression that he is personally invulnerable and superhumanly strong. His force fields are highly versatile, and he also has an array of personal inventions that he carries with him on missions.

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Level 

1. Heightened Intelligence A: +17: Irradiated by IF energies when an attempt to replicate the teleportational effects of the Philadelphia Experiment, Dr. Zevon, the smartest man on mars, gained his power of indestructible force fields.
2. Heightened Charisma A: +11
3. Weakness Detection. 1 action, 170' range, learns target weakness scientific basis for powers and combat style (gaining +4 to hit and -4 to be hit by that target).
4. Force Fields (Modified): Zevon can generate invisible fields of nigh-indestructible force. These attack as Force Field, with a Power Requirement of 1 per blast, 0 to catch, 1/2 impact damage repelled or all impact damage that penetrates. Zevon's fields can lift things and exert force -- an attack or free-standing field has capacity of CxLvlx5, while a field braces on the ground can support ten times as much. His current field strength is 400lb, with a blast damage of 1d6. This has a range of 130'. Each Force Field takes 1 action per turn to maintain, and as a defense it reduces the base chance for most physical attack types to a 0.

Weight: 180           Basic Hits: 4  Agility Mod: 0
Strength: 12           Endurance: 13
Agility: 15               Intelligence: 35
Charisma:20          React. Mod.: 3
Hit Mod. 4.14         Hit Points: 17
Dmg. Mod.: 5         Healing Rate: 1.2
Accuracy: 2            Power: 75
Carrying Capacity: 273          Base HTH Damage: 1d6
Movement Rates: 40 " Running (Base)
Det. Hidden: 24%   Det. Danger: 28%
Inventing Points: 9 Cash: $ -
Inventing: 105 %
Origin and Background: (Martian/American) Science x2, Engineering
Legal Status: Recognized by New Philly/Mars government & police.
(Sec. Clearance = 0 )

Other Information: Zachary is known as the smartest man on Mars. He's knowledgeable in most fields of science, and an expert in the high energy physics connected with the Philadelphia Experiment and Project Rainbow. This means he's skilled at modifying, designing and building anti-gravity, space drives, high-energy power sources, dimensional sensors, and other aspects of advanced tech. He's also an expert at analyzing powers, their uses and their weaknesses.

Inventions
One of Zach's more profitable inventions is Energy Fabric - a material with an indeterminate IF charge, making it highly resistant to damage, able to adapt to the IF powers of its wearer and a effective form of insulation. Uniforms made of Energy Fabric give a x2 "roll threshold" for firearms, heat & cold. Obviously, Zach's own uniform (red slacks & shirt, silver gloves, boots & belt, League emblem [silver liberty bell with red dot in its center and two silver ‘moons’ in ‘orbit’ outside of the bell] on breast) is made of this material.

Another significant invention is his design for Artificial Intelligence Emulators: these are not true AI, but incredibly complicated fractal programming techniques that do a good job of simulating it. These serve as processors in the Liberty Lair’s computer systems and as the operating software for Roberto, the Lair’s robotic butler. Otherwise Roberto is a modified Gibson Industries robot. Zach makes quite a bit licensing the AIE to Gibson Industries, but Roberto’s programming is generations more advanced than the commercial versions.

Using the processing power of the linked AIE systems, Dr. Z was able to make limited nanite surgery possible. This is his Nanite Reconstruction Surgical Equipment (NuRSE for short). Those inside one of NuRSE’s chambers regain their healing rate in HP after 5 minutes of confinement, and another in one hour – after that initial burst of closing wounds, setting bones and so on, it acts as general medical supervision, increasing daily healing by x1.75 (1/20th Zach’s INT, as per the V&V rules, p. 27). The system also gives additional chances to resist poison or disease at the 5 minute and 1 hour marks. This bulky prototype is still under wraps in the Lair

The League’s Communicator Systems use cutting edge IF technology, sending messages through parallel dimensions to other communicators. They are not affected by distance or obstacles and can’t be traced or intercepted. They do still suffer from lightspeed limits, but are a step towards Zach’s goal of Ansible technology.

Finally, Zach developed Personal Environment Generators for the League when operating outside the domes or in space. Using a limited gravity attraction force field to hold in atmosphere (and the warmth of that atmosphere) They will provided an unprotected body about 5 minutes worth of uncomfortable life in hard vacuum. For a someone with resistance to environments, a protective spacesuit or just in the standard Martian climate, it provides several hours of warm, clean atmosphere through oxygenation and air scrubbing, but no combat defenses.

These represent his five spent inventing points. Everything else is just tinkering existing gear.

Gear
As mentioned, Roberto is a modified Gibson Industries robot. Gibson industries is an Earth firm, once owned by Americans but heavily invested in by an unnamed Japanese company located in Chiba. Roberto’s 1-4 were purchased before this near-takeover, and Zach has double checked them for security purposes before uploading his more advanced software. Roberto’s higher AIE’s make him much more lifelike than others of the type, and at Jack’s instance Zach gave the robot a more human appearance to go along with his more human attitudes – he followed Jack’s direction on the robot’s appearance, who now bears a striking resemblance to the Earth actor Cheech Marin. Jack would change this, but the public perceives Roberto as a human employee of the League and would react poorly to Zach modifying him now. (Roberto is treated as an “Android” in V&V rules, with a body power of interfacing with the League’s comm system, an 80% human appearance and an Endurance of 25. He has no special combat abilities, but is treated as 2nd level through experience. This is far superior to the average GI robot, but only through the introduction of Zach’s AIEs. It is possible that people with more skill at facial molding could get a higher % human when combined with the AIEs.)

Zach also carries a StrattonTech Scanner, a common enough device in labs, with a design made popular by the Star Trek TV show. It is about the size of a hardcover book, and looks much like The Book from the Hithchiker's Guide TV shows, but with a larger screen. The Earth versions act as PDAs, cellular phones, wireless computer-links and a small holographic display potential. Martian Versions add air quality testers and sensors to pick up the strength of the local gravity field for people going outside the domes. Scientific versions add in scanners for electromagnetic radiation scanners for work in physics labs. Zach’s is a top of the line Martian Scientific version upgraded with his faster AIEs and linked via his extra-dimensional communicator tech to the League’s computers (which lets it act as an emergency remote control for their vehicles). This is often his first line of attack with any scientific problem, but the machine is limited even with his advancements.

Zach’s toolkit is an impressive device -- actually it’s three toolkits, each small enough to fit into a pocket, and combining in a variety of ways to give him any conventional tool he may need. These are not uncommon on Mars, and heck for enough money Sharper Image will sell them. Zach’s is the best available, provided for free by the company -- a sort of celebrity endorsement. Just having him be seen to use it is a big boostss potent "skills" in V&V - out of a possible 7 + weakness. V&V offers a sizable range of power levels inside a single team, and a lot of variation in how those powers interact and what the player can do with them. His "inventions" are all an expenditure of the games "Inventing Points", which are one use resources that increase each level. His fame and fortune are just player decision with GM agreement, as the game doesn’t have mechanics for those. He is, in many ways, a pretty standard V&V player character when it comes to power level.
V&V can, in play, be either highly fluid or very rigid when it comes to how a hero’s powers work. Dan was a fluid GM, letting me use the force fields to mirror super-breath by pushing people away, heightened hearing by setting up large resonating membranes, explosive strength by sliding force fields into cracks and expanding them and a super-loud voice with an invisible megaphone. Few of these are listed in the power description, but the write up for Force Field gives the player a lot of leeway in the creation and manipulation of force field shapes. The mechanics of the V&V Defense system mean that Dr. Z was reliable invulnerable to physical assault, though it would tire him out if his field was repeatedly hit. Most of the threat came not from the amount of damage in the attack but the small chance that any one attack would score a "hit" and therefor

V&V Rules Mods Pt 1

These are an attempt to pull together some simple rules mods that uild on Monkey House Games’ Villains and Vigilantes in a way that fits with the original game’s ideas.

2.6 A-B Basic Hits and Agility Modifier

Using weight as a mechanical underpinning as always been one of my favorite aspects of V&V, but it causes problems when powers allow height and weight changes. To mitigate these problems rather than recalculating you can consult the attached chart and

1)      Increase carry cap by Weight Multiple

2)      Increase the number of phases between actions from 15 to the Initiative Interval, so the larger character acts less often.

3)      Start dividing any damage done to the character by the damage divisor, with results less than .5 points reduced to 0. This mirrors the increased durability without recalculating Hit Points

height X	weight x	Init Interval	dam divisor	Avg Ht
1.15	1.5	16	1.25	6 Ft, 7 i
1.25	2	17	1.75	7 Ft, 2 i
1.45	3	18	2	8 Ft, 4 i
1.6	4	18	3	9 Ft, 2 i
1.71	5	19	3.5	9 Ft, 10 i
1.82	6	20	3.5	10 Ft, 6 i
1.91	7	20	3.5	11 Ft, 0 i
2	8	20	4	11 Ft, 6 i
2.08	9	21	4.5	11 Ft, 11i
2.15	10	21	5	12 Ft, 4 i
2.23	11	22	5.5	12 Ft, 9 i
2.3	12	22	6	13 Ft, 3 i
2.35	13	23	6.5	13 Ft, 6 i
2.41	14	23	7	13 Ft, 10i
2.62	18	23	9	15 Ft, 1 i
3	27	25	10	17 Ft, 3 i
3.5	43	27	15	20 Ft, 2 i
4	64	27	20	23 Ft
4.5	91	29	25	25 Ft, 11i
5	125	29	30	28 Ft, 9 i
5.5	166	29	35	31 Ft, 8 i
6	216	31	40	34 Ft, 6 i
6.5	275	31	45	37 Ft, 5 i
7	343	33	50	40 Ft, 3 i

Drive Shticks and Ship Design

2.5.2 Piloting Shticks

The following are the piloting related shticks. I have removed any that make your vehicle better since I do intend to make vehicle creation rules (albeit very fast and loose ones) since the ship is a key narrative space rather than the thing you grab the wheel of to get in the fight.

Counterslam

Opposing vehicles take +3 Chase Points from

Bumps for each shtick you have in this, up to 3 shticks.

Floor It!

+1 Handling when an opponent narrows the gap with you for each schtick you have in this. Up to 3 shticks/

Hold on Tight

+2 to Chase Points dealt an enemy vehicle when you close or narrow the gap with it; add another +1 for each   extra shtick, up to 3 shticks.

Riding the Edge

For a 1 point Fortune spend you can decrease the shot cost of you ship actions (both drive and guns) reduces by 1 for the remainder of the sequence. Once done the sequence is over the stress does 5 chase points to the ship.

Neve Tell Me The Odds

Pay 1 Fortune to ignore any negative modifiers to Piloting from obstacles and conditions until end of fight.

Oh No You Don't

As an interrupt after your vehicle takes Chase Points spend 1 Fortune and 1 shot to reduce your vehicle’s total Chase Points by 5.

Ram Speed

For each Shtick in Ram speed add +1 Crunch when you ram or sideswipe a vehicle, or +2 to your Damage Value when you hit a pedestrian. You can take this up to 3 times.

Tools of the Trade

After you make a successful Martial Arts attack with vehicle tool as an improvised blunt weapon, spend 1 Fortune as an interrupt to give it a Damage Value of 15 until next sequence.

2.5.3 Ship Design & Shticks

I can, and likely will, build out a whole bunch of vehicle stats, but let me lay out a really simple mechanism for building vehicles as if they were characters; the focus here is on Scout ship to Free Trader sized vehicles that the PCs might actually fly

In all cases they have Acceleration, Handling, and Frame of 5, Classic of 0. They also have 5 points to split between those, with no more than 4 in any stat.

Is this looks like character creation, give yourself a cookie.

Shticks come next: There are 12 ‘spaces; on a Free Trader sized ship once you take out controls, drive and crew cabins (it has space for 3-6 depending on how you partition out the rooms). Each player who has a character on the crew is able to pick a shtick from the list below (though they don’t have to – we let each player pick so everyone has a stake in the shared space of the ship). They all have a space cost on the ship, which reduces the money the ship can make on each trip. And if we were going to go nuts on Resources as a real thing we’d care a lot about, but we don’t. So basically any cargo is going to have a 1 Resources #, which is the number of Spaces you need free for the Jump 1 trip to score 1 Resources. The best cargoes have a low 1 Resources #, while the most common ones have a high number. Illegal ones generally have much lower 1 Resources #s for all the obvious reasons.

Ablative Armor (1 space each)

The ship has armor on it that wears down under attacks. Still, it gives 10 extra life points for each time you take this, up to 20 more. This costs Resources 1 to replace

Classic Model (1 space each)

You’re driving an out of date ship where everything is bigger and clunkier and you lose space because of that but it’s also a classic model, the sort that keeps on working forever. Each shtick you have in this up to 3 gives the ship a bank of Fortune Points to spend on any ship related action – either in chase scenes or to reinforce the bonus of other Shticks.

How is this still flying? (1 space)

The ship is a quirky mess of jury rigs and work-arounds that take up space and confound the unwary. This doesn’t provide you any immediate benefit, but anyone other than the normal crew tries to pilot, repair, sabotage or modify her it is at such a penalty that the original crew will get the ship back when it breaks down and strands the thieves some-where awkward, or be able to escape confinement within in and retake the ship from the pirates.

Hyperspectral Sensors (1 space)

This is a top of the line sensor array that gives a +2 on any rolls made to sense or detect things around the ship. This is usually an Info/Science roll but it could be something else. In any event, this is better than normal.

Jump 2 (3 spaces)

For a sizable investment in space you can have a Jump 2 drive rather than a Jump 1 drive. This opens up several new routes, but the loss of space is prohibitive. A Jump 3 drive costs 10 spaces (7 more than a Jump 2) and is all but out of the range of this sort of ship, though tight quartered scout ships might have one.

Maneuvering Rockets (1 space each)

These give a +1 Handling; Handling can’t be higher than 9, but you can take this multiple times.

Navi-Computer (1 space)

You have a superior navigation system that gives you a +2 bonus on Navigation rolls (or the skill at 8 if no one on board has it). And yes, the navi-computer takes up as much space as a missile bay or tons of grain shipment. It’s Traveller. You’re lucky the damn thing doesn’t have a reel to reel memory tape.

Reinforced Spaceframe (1 space each)

These give a +1 Frame; Frame can’t be higher than 9, but you can take this multiple times.

Repair/Fabrication Space (1 space)

There is a repair shop, with a nice rack of tools and the tools needed to create many key ship components. Having this on the ship gives a +2 on an Repair tests to fix the ship and a +1 on any other Repair tests.

Secret Compartments (X Spaces)

You can designate a certain number of spaces as beign Secret Compartments. These are hidden and hard to access and can’t be used for other cargoes but it does give you cargo space with a Deception 13 to avoid being spotted by the authorities. No more than 1/3^rd of your space (round up) be Secret Compartments.

Science Lab (1 space)

This is a well-stocked science and medical lab on the ship. This lets you add a +1 to any Info: Science or Medicine rolls on the ship and gives an increased survival chance for Low Passage guests if you bother to track their status.(It’s now a Medicine 3 roll rather than Medicine 7)

Ship Gun (2 spaces internal, 1 external)

This is a ship to ship weapon that does 15 damage on a hit; that can be Chase Points to another ship (resist with Frame) or Wound Points to a human (resist with Body). What’s that? It makes no sense for a guns that ear through ship armor to do that little damage to humans? Hahahahaha! Have you never seen an action movie? The guns can be obvious or concealed except when firing at no cost as either choice brings advantages and disadvantages. If you have more than one gun you can have more than one gunner shooting on the ships actions. An external gun requires someone outside in a vacc suit to aim and fire.

Ship Missiles (1 space)

Missiles do a damage of 16 against human sized targets or 20 against vehicles (and take out Fighters on a roll of 4+) but have a capacity of 4 and a reload of 10 shots. Damage from these weapons is resisted with the ship’s Frame. (Note – don’t get hit by missiles!) Unlike Ships Guns you can’t have someone outside firing them to save space.

Superior Drive (1 space each)

These give a +1 Acceleration; Acceleration can’t be higher than 9, but you can take this multiple times.

Well Stocked Bar (1 Space)

The ships has a better than normal stocked galley and bar. In addition to any morale improvements this gives you it lets you sell your accommodations as Middle Passage with a straight face (Low Passage is freezing the passengers, or cramming them in like sardines). If you hire additional entertainers (2 entertainers per passenger) you can even stretch things with a good sales roll as High Passage for a one jump trip; each High Passenger takes at least 3 spaces.

Example: IMTU Chimera

Acceleration 6

Handling 7

Frame 6

5 players: Science Lab; Extensive rack of repair tools, Socked Galley & Bar; Hidden Gunnery Unit; Secret Compartments 

IMTU Drive Shticks and Vehicle Combat 1

2.5 Drive Shticks

The players were asking after these so I feel I have to work in some elements of high speed chases and ship to ship combat for this game. I don’t know how common these were in CT (though speaking with an old CT player his group apparently had a lot of them) and the ‘everyone on the same ship’ doesn’t lend itself to the Fast and Furious style chase fights of Feng Shui so will be modifying some elements of the Star Trek RPG.

2.5.1 Ship Combat Essentials

My main goals are keeping things exciting and giving everyone something to do. My secondary goal is to have the ship combat mirror regular combat as much as possible in its mechanics. These are mostly compatible.

Scaling

In a regular fight the scales are Mook, Named, Mech and there are slightly different rules for each level of opponent to ease bookkeeping. Same thing her, where the scales are Fighter, Trader and Capital ships.

Fighter ships are analogous to Mooks: they do not have health points and are either sill fighting or out of the fight. They can be dangerous if they are really skilled or appearing in masses but since they aren’t the scale that PCs normally operate at we’re glossing them over. They have a single score for attacking, dodging & maneuvering.

Free Traders serve the same function as Named PCs, and they cover any vessel of similar size, which also means some combat ships. They have health tracks and rely on different skills for what they’re doing, in part so multiple PCs can contribute dice rolling for the action.

Capital Ships are the really big ships, either the large navy vessels or the big merchant ships. They have large amount of armor that let them soak up an enormous amount of damage and can be festooned with weapons. They fight by slugging it out because they’re too big to dodge.

This is a very superficial explanation of the FS2 drive rules. Go purchase those for the real high octane thing.

Basic Rules

As I intimated before the system is really abstract. Chase Points are the equivalent of Health, and if your enemies get to many of them before you do you get to decide what happens to them: do you escape them, are they blown to smithereens, do they have to stand down and be boarded? This should make sense in terms of your tactics for the fight but you ultimately get to decide. Similarly if you get too many Chase Points first they get to decide what happens to you. Fighters, as Mook equivalents, don’t have Chase Points and instead are taken out if your maneuver or attack has an outcome of more than 5.

Vehicle Stats

Vehicles have 4 stats that take the place of a character’s stats.

Acceleration

Use this in place of Reflexes for Initiative.

Handling

This takes the place of Body for Maneuvers – as the acting party it’s your Handling +2; defenders just use Handling.

Frame

Takes the place of Body for ramming and sideswiping. It’s Frame +2 if you’re hitting, Frame by itself to shrug off hits.

Classic

This is a special Fortune point pool that applies only to the most enduring ship models. The Beowulf class free trader, for example, has a Classic of 2, because it is one of the longest serving models out there. These ships will usually have lower vehicle stats, being nothing special, but will run forever and come through in a crunch.

Action Skills

Initiative is determined by the vehicles Acceleration score. This determines when the ship can go – not necessarily the people in the ship, who may be able to do other things.

Every 3 shots the ship can take action as if it were a player character (or take a snap shot to go faster for a penalty, or g more slowly for a bonus). Those are going to be rolls against Piloting, Guns or both depending on the described action. For simplicity’s sake these two are linked, so the pilot taking a lot of active dodges will deny the gunner clear shots and delay their actions. The pilot and gunner (who may be the same person) have to make the rolls to do these things.

Bridge Skills

Hrm, this gets a little confusing since they are not necessarily skills used on the bridge, but…. In any event all of the usual rules for bridge skills supporting action skills apply – a 3 shot action and a die roll against the target’s Mind score to, if successful, give one ally a +2 on their next roll. This has several uses in space combat

Command can coordinate two other PCs actions, so giving either the gunner or the pilot a +2 on their next roll. Often a complex maneuver that needs split second timing, the PCs providing the bonus can feel free to describe whatever insane thing she wants the others to accomplish.

Info: Science makes use of the ships sensors and comn arrays to detect opponents (this can always be used to replace Mind for these perception checks), but also to predict opponents moves based on their drive signatures, locate weak spots on their ship, jam their sensor arrays to make them easier to dodge or pilot and so on.

Repair can be used to fix the ship (restoring health points lost) but as with the Medicine skill it can only be used once a fight with a shot cost of 6, so there are tactical decisions as to when to use it. Until that point PCs can use the Repair skill to super charge or modify the engines or other systems for a Drive bonus or fiddle with the targeting or missile loads for a guns bonus, or come up with some other tech idea.

Through the Comms system any PC can try to engage in social combat (deception & intimidation, possibly command and trader) to defuse the fight or throw off the opposition. Usually in the heat of a gunfight this is limited to the usual +2, so lets not get the theory that your Intimidation 13 will end all fights before they start forever.

Other skills can be used as the players and GM deem fit the scene, but the rules are usually the same. 

IMTU Memetic Shticks

2.4 Memetic Shticks

Here’s another place where we are seriously diverging from Classic Traveller. The psi-powers as writ just didn’t fit the world we were using (I really didn’t like the ‘magic’ feel to them when everything else, saving the Jump drive, was fairly hard SF). Memetics and Biomods fill that gap, as both are newer twists on super-human powers in SF stories.

Our Memetics are a combination of hypnosis, meme theory carried to an extreme and a galactic human linguistics code touched on in John M. Ford’s Princes of the Air and turned up to 11 in Neil Stevenson’s Snow Crash (and other places). Ultimately the strongest progenitor of the memetic powers are the Bene Gesseret from Dune, since that has strong antecedents in the imperial SF that informs CT.  People with the proper training are able to influence or even control humans, implant suggestions, erase memories and similar feats of mental prowess.

Memetic training is not incredibly rare. Characters with a 13 or higher in any socially based Bridge skill can claim a memetic origin for the extreme skill rather than a bio mod.

Like Bio-Mods, Memetic shticks require Meme point spends for more powerful uses. There is no Memetics action skill so trying to use it in combat has the standard bridge skill in combat rules unless a Meme Spend option says otherwise.

2.4.1Memetic List

Command Presence

You are naturally able to command attention and respect so your orders carry more immediate force. This is intended as a combat use ability and therefore requires a Meme spend.

Meme Spend: you can temporarily end any conflict with a barked command and a brandished firearm. Everyone stops what they’re doing and has to talk. If your opponents restart hostilities after talking, you get a pre-initiative Outcome 16 guns check on the target of your choice (which need not be an opponent).

Memetic Download

You have a sizable amount of information loaded into your mind over which you do not necessarily have control. This is an advantage so it’s not going to possess or control you. You and the GM can define the broad contents of the down load and you will gain one immediate benefit from it (such as speaking a language, or knowing how to use an obscure device) but that’s the extent of the immediate advantage.

Meme Spend: With a 1 point Meme spend you can consciously access the memetic download. This just gives you key pieces of information in the area covered by the download, either provided by the GM or your suggestion.

Memetic Transfer

You are able to, with a short whispered conversation transfer vast amounts of data into another sentient being that understands your language. If used in a casual way the utterance of a single syllable into someone’s ear will transfer the immediate plan of action and their part in it, or similar amounts and complexities of information.

Meme Spend: with a 1 point spend you can make someone the recipient of a Memetic Download shticks to unload an enormous amount of information – your entire life, essentially - assuming they have the skills to unpack it, or temporarily give someone a skill you have at your skill level at the outcome of your Memetics tests or your skill level, whichever is lower. While the memetic download is permanent the skill transfer lasts a single scene.

Registering

This is the act of asking someone a series of innocuous direct questions in order to learn how to tailor your commands to them later. Make a Memetics test against your targets Mind stat. If successful you can add that outcome to any social rolls against the target for the remainder of the scene. The target only registers what you’re doing on a critical failure or if they already know this ability exists and you have it, in which case they may deduce it normally.

Meme Spend: with a one point spend you are able to use the Voice shtick on your target, assuming you have it. Yes, you have to spend a meme point to even activate the other ability.

Voice

The ability to control others merely by work choices, body language and the shadings of tone in the high speech. This lets you use your Voice skill to compel obedience in others. At the baseline level this lets you influence thoughts and motivations, even more than you can with Registering. Any successful Mind check and the target will rationalize a way to follow your instructions for the scene, unless you order them to do something suicidal. PCs are able to burn Fortune points to break out of this, and make a Mind check every few minutes to likewise resist control, as can named opponents; Mooks are putty in your hands.

Meme Spend: with a 1 point meme spend (over and above the one needed to Register someone enough to use this shtick at all) you can take physical control over the target with a Voice roll against their Mind. Mooks do whatever you tell them for the remainder of the scene. Named characters will be under your control for the remainder of the sequence in a fight, or for a few minutes otherwise – unless they spend a fortune point to break free.

Human Lie Detector

Your senses are attuned to various nuances in speech, tone, stance, facial expression and so on that make you impossible to lie to. You will always detect straight up lies and have a +3 on Investigation rolls to see through more complex Deceits.

Meme Spend: with 1 point you can immediately allocate blame for a complex event based on body language, speech patterns, etc. You must be able to interview the people involved, either in a group or individually.

Linguistic Origins

Every world has a slightly different way of speaking, looking and acting that someone trained in memetics can learn to read and identify. With a Memetics test against their Mind (or Deceit if they’re actively trying to fool you) you can tell someone’s social rank, area of origin and schooling.

Meme Spend: With a one point spend you can perform Sherlock Holmes level background deduction on all life circumstances down to individual background events. The GM will either provide you something prepared or you can throw in your own plot elements.

Meme Space

You have been trained to enter a hypnotic state and let the superflow of the memetic universe wash over you. In practical terms this means you can make a Memetics roll to have the GM remind you of anything that had occurred in play so far and indicate what other plot elements it connects to without telling you exactly how.

Meme Spend: with a 1 point spend you can either ask the GM how any plot element links exactly to other things that have already happened or get an oblique reference to how it will tie to things happening in the future. All the standard caveats about precognition in RPGs apply.

Memetic Clairsentience

With any viewing of a conversation – be it a grainy video footage or peering at the people through a crowded room – you can observe every facet of the conversation, from topics to specific quotes to body language.

Meme Spend: with a one point spend you slip into a hypnotic state and are able to hear any conversation that is currently happening near you (say, on the same space station) or in the immediate past (last week) as long as you know who all the participants are. Or were.

Memetic Manipulation

This is the ability to set up long term memetic trends to influence a culture. This has few practical applications in the realm of game play, but any player with the Memetics skill can permanently spend one Meme point (the spent point still counts against the cost of buying more) to initiate such a change in a system-wide environment over the course of several months. Exactly what this is and entails is left to the player and the GM to determine.