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"This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."


Steve

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There are a thousand and one people on the Global Frequency.

 

A worldwide independent defense intelligence organization with a thousand and one agents, all over the world. Anyone you know might be with them. It's the world's little open secret. You could be sitting there watching the news and suddenly hear an unusual cellphone tone, and within moments you might see your neighbor leaving the house in a hurry, wearing a jacket or a shirt with the distinctive Global Frequency symbol... or, hell, your girlfriend might answer the phone, and then put on her Global Frequency badge and promise to explain later... for all you know, they have your file, and you'll be recruited next... anyone could be on the Global Frequency, and you'd never know until they got the call...

 

...from Aleph, central dispatcher for the Global Frequency, getting her orders from Miranda Zero, creator and operator of the organization. Not her real name, but the only one you're getting. Her real name and identity were erased from the world's records the moment she went into business for herself. Global Frequency is run on the cash she made doing bad things in the Nineties, and on the hush money paid her by the G-8 industrialized nations for...

 

...for what the Global Frequency does. Clearing up after the 20th Century. Keeping an eye on the bad mad things in the dark that the public never found out about. All the black projects, the mad science, the chilly encounters with the unknown, the Cold War traps... they're all sitting there like landmines. Eventually someone will trip over one of them. Global Frequency are there to catch them when they fall, and defuse the mines before they explode into mainstream consciousness and cause more pain and horror than they already have...

 

Are you on the Global Frequency?

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

The one problem I foresee is that GF stories generally rely on having the person with the right skills present at the proper place and time. Not always, but generally so, and I think from a character creation standpoint, it would take a lot of the surprises out of sessions.

 

Of course, it also would work best as a collection of linked one-shots.

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

Not necessarily...

 

The TV pilot had a (very) small team of adventurers who then worked with specialists to help get the job done. This could work for a RPG campaign a number of ways:

 

1) The simplest way is run it as a normal modern adventurer campaign with the same PCs each session and use the GF angle to explain how and why the PCs are involved, it's a super hook to get the action started from the get-go. The other GF agents then become "helpers" for the PC and resources, but of course in RPG tradition are of limited use.

 

2) A more complex way would be to have the players make up a number of PCs, maybe 3 or more, which they can then "plug in" to the adventure each week based on the nature of the adventure. For example, each Player makes up a fighting guy, a scholar/expert of some kind, and something weird. Then at the start of the session GM tells them what kind of adventure this will be (in broadest terms) and they can pick which one they will use for that adventure. (This also allows the players to select according to their mood for that week.)

 

3) And at the other extreme, just run it as 1-shots with the whole GF thing being the hook to bring disparate PCs together. The GM would tell the players what type of game this will be, they make PCs, and things go!

 

Actually, I think GF is one of the coolest RPG ideas I've ever seen for running modern adventure games. If I currently had a group, I would have run a campaign or two of it already.

 

Rob

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

I've never gotten around to tracking down the TV pilot. Come to think of it, I only read the first six issues, and that was about a year ago, so my memory is a bit cloudy. It does sound like a nifty idea for a campaign; certainly more attractive to me than the technothrilers and vigilantes approach of most DC campaigns.

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

I came across the pilot on a bit torrent site by accident, and I downloaded it since I recognized the name from the comic. The actress playing Miranda Zero (the head of GF) was most recently seen as Admiral Kane (sp?) on the new Battlestar Galactica. She seems really good at playing tough women.

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

I came across the pilot on a bit torrent site by accident' date=' and I downloaded it since I recognized the name from the comic. The actress playing Miranda Zero (the head of GF) was most recently seen as Admiral Kane (sp?) on the new Battlestar Galactica. She seems really good at playing tough women.[/quote']

 

 

Would that be Michelle Forbes? She played Ensign Ro in the (now) old Star Trek: TNG.;)

 

ME

:cool:

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

I wish I'd seen the pilot...just out of curiosity. Loved the series.

 

That would be a cool idea for a campaign, now that I think about it. A nice Dark Champs run, complete with reasons for bringing everyone together, rotating characters (if needed/desired)...

 

Hrm...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

I just finished watching the pilot...Not too bad. the first half was kind of weak but I did end up enjoying it in the end.

 

The chance of it actually making it to air would be exceedingly remote especially since they have already turned it down once.

 

It's amazing what gets cancelled and what gets renewed sometimes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

The one problem I foresee is that GF stories generally rely on having the person with the right skills present at the proper place and time. Not always, but generally so, and I think from a character creation standpoint, it would take a lot of the surprises out of sessions.

 

Of course, it also would work best as a collection of linked one-shots.

 

I see this as a great way to encourage your players to create different characters than they normally would and a great device to keep a campaign from becoming stale. I would do thusly:

Each "story arc" would be anywhere from two sessions (episode) to ten (epic adventure) at the end of each arc I would tell my players that the next GF call will be to such and such types of experts and they can create new characters together to fit the niches or dig out old characters from previous adventures that fit the bill. I love the idea and I'm going to buy the trades this weekend and put something together. Thanks for the inspiration, Steve!

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

How do you convince your players to continue making different characers without the 'rewards' of XP' date=' though?[/quote']

I think a small batch of rotating characters would suffice, say three or four per player. That way you can revisit 'em every so often. After a few GF calls you'd probably have enough characters to draw on anyway.

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

That sounds pretty cool to me. The stories would seem sort of surreal, though with only going into the strangeness of each GF call instead of the regular life of the character.

 

It might help to establish the norm by detailing (or forcing the player to detail) what a regular day for their character might be. Otherwise, it would make the world seem like a very strange place as opposed to the norm bieng 'normal'.

 

- Another rambling post brought to you curtesy of Savinien

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Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

I bought the two trades of Global Frequency last week when I was in Sacramento for training. Good stuff. I like the idea of new characters every adventure with recurring agents, I'd hope players would generate new characters because they're enjoying the game, without the awards of xp. I guess I'd handle it by giving them higher point totals to reflect their expertise and experience. Like all characters are built on 75/75 plus a Global Frequency package and some predetermined experience bonus that may vary from character to character depending on concept. "The Rookie" wouldn't get fifty bonus points, but he may have a very unique skillset or power-like skill to explain his recruitment by Miranda Zero.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re: "This is Aleph, and you're on the Global Frequency..."

 

You could do something like give the pc's very little experience, but that experience would carry over from character to character. Or, you could actually give them more experience, but that experience can only be used for 1 character, and a combination of them both.

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