Help, need FBI Pkg & Advice

[Redmenace]

I need some idea on what would go into an FBI Agent package. I know that there is a division between forensic pathologists and agents with Law degrees and those two skill area are easy enough to figure out as is Weapons fam: Small arms and Fed. Police powers.

 

It's in the other areas I'm gray about. Any help and or useful links would be appreciated.

 

Secondly, amyone out there use the FBI in their Champs campaigns? Any advice on the way to present and play, use in the campaign and or annecdotes are welcome.

[Lord Liaden]

I've long referred to the overview on the FBI provided in the 4th Edition Dark Champions sourcebook, An Eye for an Eye, although that info is now eight years out of date. Probably good enough for government work, though. Since all of it is derived from public sources, I'm sure Steve Long won't mind if I try to summarize it here:

 

The FBI is divided into three branches. One, Law Enforcement Services, has three subsections: Identification (including the fingerprint library), Training (also gives seminars to other law enforcement agencies), and Laboratory (divided in units such as Serology, Explosives etc.). The second branch is Administration, and the third is Investigations.

 

There are specialized units within the FBI dealing with organized crime, criminal psychology and profiling, terrorism, and many other crimes. The FBI has specialists in every field of law enforcement. FBI agents are referred to as "special agents."

 

Steve also gave a sample FBI package in that book, and that I would prefer not to transcribe entirely. I'll just say that it included Deduction, Streetwise, Stealth, WF: Small Arms, one KS or Science appropriate to the agent's concentration, one additional Skill, PS: Federal Law Enforcement Agent, KS: Federal Criminal Law and Procedure, one Contact, and the Perks Fringe Benefit: Federal Police Powers and Concealed Weapon Permit. The Skills were at the basic level. The package also had the Disadvantage: Watched by the FBI 8-.

 

I hope that's of some use to you.

[Redmenace]

Out of the Ballpark Lord Liaden, thanks. I have Eye for an Eye but it's in storage, knowung what book I need is going to save me hours of excavation time. The summary will do nicely till then.

 

Thanks again

[Vondy]

Re: Help, need FBI Pkg & Advice

 

Originally posted by Redmenace

I need some idea on what would go into an FBI Agent package. I know that there is a division between forensic pathologists and agents with Law degrees and those two skill area are easy enough to figure out as is Weapons fam: Small arms and Fed. Police powers.

 

It's in the other areas I'm gray about. Any help and or useful links would be appreciated.

 

Secondly, amyone out there use the FBI in their Champs campaigns? Any advice on the way to present and play, use in the campaign and or annecdotes are welcome.

 

Well, there is a division between their scientific division at headquarters and agents, but many FBI special agents have advanced degrees in a wide variety of subjects (accounting, law, and psychology are quite normal), and some of their special agents are in fact forensic pathologists who work both at headquarters, and out in the field. It is not uncommon for a regular field agent to have an MA or MS, or even, in some cases, a PHD, or JD.

 

They also train special agents to serve as crime scene investigators, and most field offices have a small cadre of agents who are trained as such (as well as having a group of agents trained in SWAT tactics). In addition, the FBI has a Critical Incident Group based at their headquarters that responds to major crimes nationally to do forensic work that is beyond the field office's capacity. It has about 40 people.

 

A special agents package should ignore these specializations. In fact, I would build a special agents package - what a BA or MA who graduated the academy would know. Advanced degrees beyond those (such as law, for instance), which are possible for field agents, should be background skills and perks purchased by the character separate from the package.

 

In addition, you should have some "specialist" packages for special agents who have been given additional training or gone back to school in order to gain specialized positions, such as "forensic specialist," "basic swat team training" (for the guys at the field offices), "advanced swat team training" (for the hostage rescue team, who are on par with the special forces tactically), "criminal profilier" (which would also require a PHD), "Violent Crimes Investigator," "counter intelligence" or "counter terrorism" section, or even "organized crime section."

 

The FBI would be the natural and most obvious agency for handling super-human issues in a world without an agency dedicated for that purpose, and it wouldn't be a novelty for them to create a new investigative division for it. Nor would it be a stretch for them to expand the concept of the HRT to include the use of advanced technology to respond to meta-human incidents. In my game the FBI has a National Meta-Crime Task Force and the AMP (armored meta-police) Squadron (light power armor). They also have two special agents who are metas. They handle law enforcement involving metas, while the the freedom patrol (three special operations teams of metas), are a component of the defense department (and conduct counter-terrorism, warfighting, direct action, peacekeeping, intelligence operations, and critical incident response (when meta human rampages threaten national security) - involving metas).

 

The FBI website is extremely informative and I recommend you take a look. It has an org chart, a page with links to ALL of their investigative programs, an extensive FAQ, and the like.

 

http://www.fbi.gov

[Redmenace]

Thanks D-man, I appreciate you taking the time and interest. Right now I'm working on a anti-superhuman FB Ispecialist team ala Seal Team 6 and Hostage rescue forces. You've given somethings to consider and a particularly appreciate the FBI's role as most likely to have jurisdiction over supers.

 

In your campaign, how do the different Domestic Govt. agencies share the superhuman population with regards to recruiting? I'm torn between individual recruitment and a kind of agent pool under the FBI that would be lent out on a job specific basis ala when the FBI aids local law enforcment on a serial killer case.

[zornwil]

Originally posted by Redmenace

Thanks D-man, I appreciate you taking the time and interest. Right now I'm working on a anti-superhuman FB Ispecialist team ala Seal Team 6 and Hostage rescue forces. You've given somethings to consider and a particularly appreciate the FBI's role as most likely to have jurisdiction over supers.

 

In your campaign, how do the different Domestic Govt. agencies share the superhuman population with regards to recruiting? I'm torn between individual recruitment and a kind of agent pool under the FBI that would be lent out on a job specific basis ala when the FBI aids local law enforcment on a serial killer case.

 

I hope you don't mind an "extra" answer.

 

In my world, the various government agencies do not cooperate re super recruitment/handling, and that's been a problem, one that was illuminated by some of the chaos in responding to 9/11. Since then, the Homeland Protection Office has created a series of liaisons for each part of the country. Those liaisons deal EXCLUSIVELY with the supers in that area, establishing contacts with them and enlisting them as needed. These liaisons are agents who report directly to the President (in theory; they have the right to go to the president but in practice work through an intermediary, which I haven't determined precisely who that will be yet) and are highly anonymous.

 

In my world that "exclusive" relationship is/will be undermined by competing agencies (at least for the initial period).

[Vondy]

In my game the first paranormals appeared immediately after WWI, but their numbers remained markedly low until the late seventies and early eighties. There were paranormals in WWII, but the only consistent part of the government that bothered with them was the FBI (who established the "suicide squad" in the 20's (a group of normal meta-criminal busters)), which became the meta-crime task-force. Even with the increase in numbers there are only about 2,000 know metas in my world, and about half as many trained supernormal operatives (batman types) - half of whom are in the US. The governmen't response was extremely low key until 1992 when it became appaerent they had a real problem, which is when the freedom patrol was formed.

 

In my game law enforcement agencies recruit paranormals in essentially the same way they hire normals, though they may put more effort into finding such candidates and encouraging them to apply. The candidate must meet all the requirements and pass all the checks and tests. Thus, the paranormals work directly for the agency that recruits them, thoug I'm sure a director of another agency could pick up the phone and ask for an assist (these guys do all know eachother).

 

The FBI has 2, the Marshalls Service has 1, and the Secret Service has 1 (guess who he guards).

 

Some local and state agencies have them, too. The Texas Rangers and San Francisco have 1 each, and the NYPD has 2.

 

The military, on the other hand, doesn't recruit paranormals in this fashion. Since paranormals 1) don't fit neatly into the military framework, 2) aren't in ready supply (and aren't reliable resources as a result), and 3) have never been deployed in such a way as to force doctrinal changes, the miltary has decided small "special operations units" (much like the one from WWII) is their best option. As such they supported the creation of the Freedom Patrol, which maintains three teams who conduct covert and direct action operations for the defense and intelligence communities. If the domestic folks run into something so major that they can't handle phone calls are made.

 

Since the FP director is on the NSC SIG (National Security Council Senior Interagency Group) those who would need than have access.

 

The department of homeland security could become a sort of tasking office for meta-humans who work for agencies under its umbrella (centralizing them), or it could just leave them in place as potential resources as the need arrives. I've opted for option 2.

[Redmenace]

Thanks D-man and Zornwil. 'm seeing many parallels. Part of the reason I asked about other people's campaigns was to see if everyone was doing things radically different from me. So far that isn't the case. There are some differences to be sure but nothing too far off.