Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

It's really cold in Nunavut this time of year. Obviously someone's hand was shaking.

[Eldos]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

I bought my pdf the other day and am pretty happy with it. Layout is good, the contents is logically set out and the setting seems pretty good. Although I’m not really an Anime fan this really filled a niche as I was looking for a 6th ed campaign setting that I could do something with without having to work up a whole bunch of rules for the setting.

My (exceedingly small) group meets in a couple of days and I’m going to see if I can generate interest, I’m hopeful. If all goes well, in a couple of weeks I’ll set up another forum here with a game log and adventure guidelines.

All in all, well done and wish me luck.

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Per Ed Healy (Atomic Array)

 

It looks like K5 may make the Top 10 on this week's RPG Countdown.

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

I bought my pdf the other day and am pretty happy with it. Layout is good' date=' the contents is logically set out and the setting seems pretty good. Although I’m not really an Anime fan this really filled a niche as I was looking for a 6th ed campaign setting that I could do something with without having to work up a whole bunch of rules for the setting.[/size']

My (exceedingly small) group meets in a couple of days and I’m going to see if I can generate interest, I’m hopeful. If all goes well, in a couple of weeks I’ll set up another forum here with a game log and adventure guidelines.

All in all, well done and wish me luck.

 

That's great to hear! And please, don't let "anime" throw you off. If you want to play a more Western-style cyberpunk, just take out the cat-eared replicates and the espers and all's good. If you have any questions/comments just ask, and I hope to hear more about your game.

[AnotherSkip]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Oh yeah! It does my tiny' date=' blackened, shriveled Art Director's heart good to hear that! [/quote']

 

 

 

 

Teh Bunneh still has a heart?

 

I thought that was sold in the first round of bidding?!?!?!?

 

 

How close is it to Cyberpunk/Shadowrun?

 

I may try to encourage my Fellow Gm with a cyber heart to buy a copy.... (not Teh Bunneh BTW)

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

How close is it to Cyberpunk/Shadowrun?

 

I may try to encourage my Fellow Gm with a cyber heart to buy a copy.... (not Teh Bunneh BTW)

 

Hmm... you could use the rules and equipment as a basis for running either setting, just take out the replicates and espers and mecha.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Teh Bunneh still has a heart?

 

Sure. I've got lots of 'em in my trophy room!

 

How close is it to Cyberpunk/Shadowrun?

 

I may try to encourage my Fellow Gm with a cyber heart to buy a copy.... (not Teh Bunneh BTW)

 

There's a solid 25 pages of cyberware, another 6 or 8 for Cyborgs, plus a good chunk of Cyberspace stuff, plus nearly 50 pages of weapons, vehicles, and equipment all appropriate for a cyberpunk campaign. Not to mention all the character templates and background stuff that could be pulled for just about any near-future campaign. So, yeah, I'd say you could use this as a pretty solid base for a Cyberpunk or Shadowrun (combined with Fantasy Hero and the Hero Grimoire, of course) game.

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

And... I'm slowly collecting material for a companion volume. More gear, more cyber, background on Lace & Steel (and running an L&S campaign), a 4th soundtrack, more NPCs....

[matrix3]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

And... I'm slowly collecting material for a companion volume. More gear' date=' more cyber, background on Lace & Steel (and running an L&S campaign), a 4th soundtrack, more NPCs....[/quote']

 

I'd be interested in how a whole L&S campaign would work. I think it would be great as one shot breaks from a main campaign, provide some color and a fun change of pace.

[Steve]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

And... I'm slowly collecting material for a companion volume. More gear' date=' more cyber, background on Lace & Steel (and running an L&S campaign), a 4th soundtrack, more NPCs....[/quote']

 

Interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing more on a L&S campaign and additional background. I'm sure there are also underground street fighting matches going on away from the bright lights and television cameras.

 

More Kazaei 5 is good. Perhaps for a 2011 release?

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing more on a L&S campaign and additional background. I'm sure there are also underground street fighting matches going on away from the bright lights and television cameras.

 

More Kazaei 5 is good. Perhaps for a 2011 release?

 

There's an essay on my website dealing with L&S... but I want to revise and update it. L&S is actually less deadly then I'd initially imagined, because some common sense took over, as well as reading up on actual gladiator games.

[yamamura]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Will you take suggestion for the sound track?

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

I already made soundtrack 4 (MegaTokyo). If people have suggestions or soundtracks of their own, I'd love to see them.

[Eldos]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Alright, I'm going to pitch my game to my players tonight. Even if they aren't interested, I'll probably create a couple of adventures and post them up here. The following is my intro to Kazei 5 in Australia

 

Australia in Kazei 5

The Australia of 2030 has faired far better than the US. There has been no civil war and the bird flu which killed millions in Asia has left Australia virtually untouched. There are now 30 million people in Australia, however, nearly 4 million of those are 'Genies' employed almost exclusively in far flung rural areas working on farms and in mines.

There have been many changes and much upheaval though. The Federal government has less power than many of the mega-corporations that exist in the country, often being forced to agree to terms it normally wouldn't consider. The state governments no longer exist (along with the state borders) but local councils have more power and are usually either bloated with corporate donations or impoverished because of the lack thereof.

Crime is rife! Although the Australian Federal Police swelled their numbers when the state governments disappeared, they had no way to cope with the influx of crime syndicates fleeing the hard hit regions for the relatively lush pickings of the Australian environment.

This has led to the hiring of large numbers of private security contractors, known colloquially as 'peace keepers' (as well as many other, less flattering names) they act as a deterrent against street crime but are really little more than mercenaries and engage in little or no investigation. There are also large numbers of private security firms willing to protect those that can pay.

Private investigation companies are also popular and range from large scale investigation companies that promise to track anyone or anything to smaller companies geared toward servicing the standard Salaryman. These often work closely with the overworked Federal Police presenting them with evidence of crimes committed. When this occurs, prosecution usually occurs quite swiftly and has even caught out several high ranking executives who’s corporations almost always just as quickly disown them and leave them to their fate.

Punishments for crimes have also changed. The death penalty for almost all major crimes has been reinstated, a new form of electrocution is used, dubbed the 'Electric Bed' but is considered far more humane than the old fashioned electric chair.

A more common and popular form of punishment though is 'Indenture'. Termed 'limited slavery' by civil rights groups, the convicted party loses most of their rights under the law for a specified period and is forced to work for a group appointed by the court. There are several corporations that exclusively use labour from such sources; one such corporation, 'Unitex Industries', is known for extremely harsh conditions and will even, for a fee, send footage of a convict suffering to interested parties.

The major cities have grown larger and are sprawling urban jungles dotted with large Archologies. Some suburbs will be neat and prosperous where corporate interests ensure that the council has a budget to work with. Others are run down ghettoes, largely lawless where even large groups of heavily armed peacekeepers look nervously over their shoulders.

In rural areas company farms with Genie workers labour to pull resources from the land. It is this work that has kept Australia prosperous. Square kilometers of crops and solar array's provide food and power for the rest of the country and sell their excess to the world.

Most of these farms are tightly controlled, the term 'Open Archology' has been coined as they have their own security, communications and their isolation means that their is little outside influence on them. While this might seem quite authoritarian, the vast majority of the Genies that work on these farms report that they are happy with their lot. Although some say that with nothing to compare their lives to they quite literally don't know what they are missing.

Under Australian law though, all of the Genies are regarded as human, with all the rights and responsibilities. Most of them are even Australian citizens as caps were imposed by the government of how many non-Australian labourers resource companies were allowed to employ within Australian borders.

While it might be suspected that these farms and mines rape the land for resources, they mostly practice quite renewable or at least, low environmental impact methods. The Global environmental change has led even the greediest corporate executive to realize that harsh, quick harvesting leads to diminished profits in the future. Investors have certainly learned this.

While the farms and mines are well regulated, outside their carefully monitored borders true anarchy reigns. Bands of outlaws, often heavily armed, raid where they can for resources. Alongside cracked and pitted old roads one will often find craters, spent cartridge cases and burnt out, rust covered vehicles. These bands are usually people who have fled from the urban areas before they were forced to accept whatever justice people felt they deserved. They are known to possess the ruthlessness of people with nothing to lose and a massive desperation for resources.

Along the coast and up to the mountains exist the domains of the privileged. When many of the coastal towns were flooded by the rising ocean, the wealthy acquired property on higher ground and built modern day palaces. Spectacular views are the order of the day with every convenience and luxury at the touch of a control, or often just a thought into an electronic synapse. Many dream their whole lives to live in such a place and some that finally achieve that goal, never venture back to the city that allowed them to live this dream.

Character Creation

250 points

Max Stat: 50 Max Spd: 6 Max CV: 10 Max DC: 10 Max Active pt: 70 Skills: 90-150pts Max Def: 15/15r

Perk

Private Investigator License – 2 points

Registers the identity of the holder of the license with the Australian Federal Police as someone entitled to investigate crimes it also allows them to carry a concealed weapon. It also allows a PC access to purchasing the Military Gear Perk (5 points). The Street Level Gear (3 points) is open to all PCs.

Resource Points 60 equipment and 10 contact. These points can be pooled between party members. Equipment points will change with successful/unsuccessful professional skill rolls so PCs may not wish to allocate all of their points as they will have to remove some equipment. Equipment from Kazei or Dark Champions can be used. PCs will also start the game with a vehicle (Honda Plex) and a base (office and accommodation in Ormond, Melbourne).

Background

PCs will be old friends who have finally scraped enough together to start their own business as Private Investigators. They have recently opened their office in Ormond, Melbourne. Ormond is a poor suburb with aging but still functional infrastructure usually inhabited by older corporate workers and younger factory workers.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

I'd be interested in how a whole L&S campaign would work. I think it would be great as one shot breaks from a main campaign' date=' provide some color and a fun change of pace.[/quote']

 

the reptonfa has swung

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Alright, I'm going to pitch my game to my players tonight. Even if they aren't interested, I'll probably create a couple of adventures and post them up here. The following is my intro to Kazei 5 in Australia

 

Background

PCs will be old friends who have finally scraped enough together to start their own business as Private Investigators. They have recently opened their office in Ormond, Melbourne. Ormond is a poor suburb with aging but still functional infrastructure usually inhabited by older corporate workers and younger factory workers.

 

Let me know how it goes.

 

And to reiterate -- there is a K5 mailing list, that I can set people up on, where I'll be occasionally posting news and new material and the like.

[redwulfe]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Can hardly, wait to pick up my copy this weekend. It sounds great.

 

Red

[yamamura]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Everyday I head home hoping to find a UPS package on my door step. Maybe today:D

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Everyday I head home hoping to find a UPS package on my door step. Maybe today:D

 

Yeah, same here.

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Everyday I head home hoping to find a UPS package on my door step. Maybe today:D

 

Yeah' date=' same here.[/quote']

 

Thirded, but I'm always disappointed...

 

Maybe I should order something.

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Thirded, but I'm always disappointed...

 

Maybe I should order something.

 

...

 

Don't make me smack you.

[Eldos]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Okay, only one of the guys showed up last night but that's okay, I was only expecting to have two PCs at most anyway - I pitched the game to him and he's specking up a character. We'll probably be starting up in about two or three weeks - I'll post up how the game went afterwards and after the complete adventure I'll put up the adventure notes that I have so if anyone wants to crib from me, they can.

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

Given time, I can host stuff like this on the K5 website.

[mkultra]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

I've purchased the pdf from DriveThru (would have downloaded from Hero Games but it cost $10 more, ouch). I'll get the print version once my FLGS has it. I've been waiting to get my hands on this for a long time and I am very impressed. Mike S. has done an amazing job. Between this book and the titles on the 2010-2011 release schedule, it is a very good time to be a HERO player.

[Susano]

Re: Announcing Kazei 5, Second Edition

 

I've purchased the pdf from DriveThru (would have downloaded from Hero Games but it cost $10 more' date=' ouch). I'll get the print version once my FLGS has it. I've been waiting to get my hands on this for a long time and I am very impressed. Mike S. has done an amazing job. Between this book and the titles on the 2010-2011 release schedule, it is a very good time to be a HERO player.[/quote']

 

Thank you!