zakueins

Actually, all of their billing goes through the Auditing department of the Department of Agriculture or the Department of the Interior. It explains away the airplane tickets.

It's more a "cinematic" superhero version of the CIA and MI 6-black ops operating in a manner somewhat beyond the pale, doing the things that "rough men" do (to quote George Orwell) to ensure that we can sleep safe and sound at night. And, the lack of a name is deliberate. After all, you can only interrogate for what you know to exist...

I can't wait for the PRIMUS source book, if the UNTIL guide is as good as anything else. Hell, maybe I should write the frelling PRIMUS sourcebook....

Team Members : Dark Avenger, Ghost Sniper, Snake Skin, Hellion, Whispered, New Sun. There is no "black ops" or "killer" unit within PRIMUS. There has never been, and there never will be. The rumors are false and I won't waste time repeating myself. -Press Secretary James Hawthorne PRIMUS Press Conference 11/3/02 They are the ghosts. A team with no name. No sanction beyond the orders of the Golden Avenger, and nearly a thousand blank, signed Presidental pardons. "Special Circumstances" is the nearest thing the team has to a name-with the exception of Dark Avenger and Ghost Sniper (whom are on the PRIMUS payroll), everybody is paid via a compicated scam involving the Department of Agriculture. A majority of the team's work is "hostile extraction"-if there's a bench warrant out there for someone, Federal judges don't care how the suspect got there, as long at they show up. Several terrorists and meta-humans, including the Nest Leader of the Coventry Nest (whom was wanted in a series of metahuman B&Es in Boston), discovered themselves waking up in an American courtroom somewhere. A few times, their job is to cause a mess. Currently, Special Circumstances is tasked with "VIPER harrassment"-finding VIPER nests anywhere in the world, and seeing how much property damage they can do before they're forced to retreat. Assasination and "black bag jobs" is also their stock in trade. During Gulf War II and the operations in Afganistan, Special Circumstances was involved in "road-paving" operations-dealing with hostile metahumans and humans that might have been a threat to Coalition forces.

Ghost Sniper would be hitting all of her NSA and PRIMUS contacts-HARD. If she felt that she was "beyond sanction" in this matter, she'd do whatever it took to verify this information, and do whatever it took to ensure national security.

Ghost Sniper would hang him from the nearest tree. With wire.

ERFs are what you eat in desperation. They're so bad that not even the Xenos will eat ERFs. And, yea, I heard about those same ration bars, that look like colored pool chalk.

So, no rading of Starguard caches of hardware during the Empire era so we can steal the Neat Toys?

Has anybody managed to get ahold of a copy from their FLGS? I'm still looking around mine for one.

Almost forgot to add.... Radio Perception/Transmission, OIF (-1/2), w/linked KS:Encryption 21- 12 pts-The Mark III's encrypted radio link with other Oberon combat suits. Spacial Awareness, 360 Degrees, OIF (-1/2), 21 pts-Displacement sensors, only in the Mark V and beyond.

Excellent! I built the Oberon on the KISS principal-if you get too complicated, you just cause a mess and that's not any fun.... Next up in My Alien Wars, the first generation of guns for the solider-Bead and Dart Guns.

Project Oberon was one of the many projects begun under the aegis of the Excaliber Program. Like most of the other Excaliber projects, it's goal was augmentation of the human soldier to make individual soldiers much more capable combatants. Project Oberon was a program to build a practical suit of powered battle armor, giving a trooper some resistance to infantry-carried weapons as well as enviromental protection. However, the program grew out of control, as the Mark I and Mark II Oberon suits blossomed into one-man legged tanks (the Mark II weighed nearly three tons), and cost-overruns threatened to kill the project. In 2290, a new design team lead by Dr. Jeffery Dyson took over, and stripped down everything down to the basics. The result was the Oberon Mk. III, which was first fielded with Marine Force Recon units in 2300. The core of the Mark III Oberon was the basic life suport system-rated to keep a user alive for at least a week without external support or supplies. It used a combination of CO2 scrubbing and self-contained oxygen supplies to keep the wearer alive, and supplimented this with sufficent suit rations to keep the operator fed. Game Stats:Life Support (Self-Contained Breathing). OIF (-1/2), one Continuing Charge that lasts one week (-0), 7 pts; Life Support (Does Not Need To Eat), OIF (-1/2), eight Continuing Charges that last one day (-0), 2 pts. Built into this sytem was a layered series of pseduo-muscular fibers. While their operation reqired training, it did allow the wearer to nearly double his strength and slightly increase his personal speed. The muscular fibers were self-powered (using any motion of the operator, even breathing, to continue to recharge themselves when not in use). Game Stats:+15 STR, +1 SPD, OIF (-1/2), Does Not Affect Figured Characteristics (-1/2), 14 pts. The Mark III's armor was a series of layered ceramics and composite materials, with several thin layers of gold foil and insulator to prevent radiation penetration and EMP effects. The armor was a "hard/soft" mixture, with the joints using a heavy duty ballistic fabric that was fairly resiliant to attack. This presented some problems in field repair, as the armor would require the replacement of damaged or destroyed plates, rather than repair. Game Stats:15rPD/15rED, OIF (-1/2), 30 pts. 7 pts Power Defense, OIF (-1/2), 5 pts. Life Support (Safe vs. High Radiation, Low Pressure/Vacuum, High Temperatures, Low Tempratures, High Pressure) 6 pts) The suit incorporated, in the helmet, the same UA multi-visual system that was designed to be "clipped on" to trooper helmets. Defense against bright lights and loud sounds were increases as well. Game Stats:5 pts Flash Defense (Sound/Sight groups), OIF (-1/2), 6 pts. Sensor System (10 pts. multi-power, OIF (1/2), slots are:IR Perception (Sense, Telescopic +3), Night Vision (Sense, Telescopic +3), Ultraviolet Perception (Sense, Telescopic +3), Telescopic Vision (Vision Sense Group, +6 to PER rolls), 11 pts. An integrated fire-control computer was built into the Oberon, designed to increase the accuracy of standard infantry weapons carried by soliders (the Mk. III had no built-in weapons, unlike the Mk. I and Mk. II). The system occasionally "threw" a target when aimed, but it was normally very reliable. Game Stats:+4 OCV for ranged combat, OIF (-1/2), 14- Activation Roll (-1/2), 10 pts. Integrated into the suit's backpack was a small Manned Manuvering Unit-mostly used to get a man in armor across from one ship to another or to ease combat in Zero-G enviroments. On a planet, it would allow the operator to make a few power-assisted leaps. Game Stats:20 pts Multipower (OIF, -1/2), Powers Are-Flight 10" (only in space/low-G enviroments (-2), 4 charges of 5 minutes each), and Leaping 20"(4 boostable charges, -3/4), 15 pts). It costs 103 points to have an Oberon Mk. III suit of powered armor. During the War, improvements and variants were built to fuifil various mission roles. In 2330, the Mark III Mod B suit was deployed. This suit added several minor improvements, but primarily included slightly better armor (16 rPD/16 rED), an improved fire control computer that was dead-on accurate (remove the Activation roll), and two "bunny ears" designed to be stuck around objects to allow the wearer to see what was happening (Clairsentience, Sight and Hearing Groups, 0 END, Restrainable, OIF, Limited Range, 20 pts). Design rationalizations meant that the Marines were able to Issue the Mod B to all of it's troopers. 2345 saw the apperance of the Oberon Mark IV-it was almost entirely a Mark III Mod B suit, but it added several small improvements in sensors (Sensor Multipower increased to 15 pts, increase all Telescopics to +5 and +8), and suit strength (+20 STR). It also added the first integrated weapon into the Oberon-a "pop out" vibro-machette mounted in the forearm. Game Stats:3D6 AP HKA, OIF (-1/2), STR bought as AP (15 pts), 60 pts. 2358 saw the Oberon Mark V, in sufficent time to participate in the Cleansing of the Militarized Zone and the start of Operation Future Peace. Design rationalizations and the industrial power of the Core Worlds made Mark V suits avalable to most of the UA military-most combat troops were wearing Mark V Oberons, and the Mark V added a layer of thermal superconductive armor, making it much more resiliant to attack by directed energy weapons. Game Stats:25% Resistant Energy Damage Reduction, OIF Armor (-1/2), 10 pts). The last generation of "wartime" Oberon powered armor was the Mark VI, which definitely started to see "feature creep" enter into the desgin. Reverse-engineered anti-gravity and thruster technology allowed the Mark VI to fly on it's own self-contained battery system and make powerful thruster-assisted leaps. (Remove all the limitations on the Flight multi-power slots, add 0 END (+1/2) to the multi-power, 22 pts). The suit added a grenade launcher in the backpack, designed to feed grenades from an internal magazine and fire them much further down-range. Game Stats-+50 STR, OIF (-1/2), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Only To Make Standing Or Prone Throws Of Grenades (-2), 12 pts). The Mark VI was issued exclusively to the Marines from 2374, while it entered general production in 2396.

(EVIL GRIN) I was just thinking of all sorts of scenaros involving food that would be useful.... "Okay, we got ammo, we got medical supplies, but we did lose that last container that had our rations and it's behind Xenophore lines. And we're going to go get it." "Behind those lines? Are you crazy? There have to be at least a million of them between us and that container!" "Well, we do have plenty of EFRs..." Long pause. "I think we can get about half-way there without trouble if we use those canyons a few miles down."

Re: What would your character do...Christmas Edition Go rent "Enemy At The Gates". Ghost Sniper is going to turn San Francisco into Stallingrad, and those Elves are going to be dying-one by one. Then, she'll take down Santa.

Ghost Sniper has her eye on this nice rifle at the local gun shop, the sort of gun you use for taking down elephants or small armored vehicles. Yes, she probably has more guns than she'll ever shoot in a lifetime, but such is life.

Mine as well. Which is why I want this genre to be done right.

Meals Ready To Eat(MREs)- Also called "Meals Rejected By The Enemy" and "Meals Ready For Execution", MREs were univerally regarded as the bane of every solider's existance. Each MRE was packed in a tough plastic bag, which held- *The entree, containing a chemical heating element that would heat the meal up to eating temperature in less than five minutes and hold that temperature for another twenty-five minutes. The bag has a zip-top opening for eating the meal. *A "chew-toy" or cold food item-usually crackers or biscuits, with a form of spread. *Powdered coffee or hot chocolate, with triple the caffeen count. *A "dessert" item, usually some form of candy. *A "condiments" pack, holding chewing gum, a wet towelette, a dry napkin, small quantities of salt and pepper, and some simple eating utensels. MREs came in two menu types-breakfast and lunch/dinner. The breakfast menu had eight items, and the lunch/dinner menu had thirty-two items. Opinions on the meals varied, from "good" (Chicken and Rice) to "average" (Steak Strips and Potato Wedges) to the "Shits and Mash" of Spagetti and Meatballs. The menus were designed so that in each case of 30, at least half of the items could be eaten by religiously observant soldiers of any type. A case of 30 was intended to feed a combat platoon (ten men) for a day, giving a breakfast meal and two lunch/dinner meals. MRE etiquite was simple-you pulled a brown and two grey bags from the case without looking. Once you saw what MREs you had, "trading" occured, like on any playground. Trying to force someone into a "bad" trade (giving the unit's Moslem all the pork meals) was seen as being unfair, and usually resulted in a (polite) beating. Most of the MRE meals were fairly under-spiced, and most troopers added their own condiments. The usual choice of condiment was Tabasco sauce, but a few "heretics" liked the "face-burner" sauce made by the Jhinu. UA doctrine stated that troops were only to live on MREs for six days, with the seventh day being given to Field Mess-level meals (similar to a cafetera meal). However, most troops in the field lived for months on MREs, occasionally supplimented with "pogie bait" (pre-packaged snacks and munchies). The lifespan of an MRE was supposed to be twenty years before disposal, but during the Rebellion, some Rebel troops were eating MREs packaged during the Xenophore Wars, and surviving. Suit Paste- For troopers in powered armor and/or Combat Enviorment Suits, eating MREs was impractical. The way around this was "Paste" (technically, "Field Rations, Hands Free, Pressurized Enviroment"). Paste came in about ten flavors (usually "sweets" from chocolate to applesauce), and was of the consistency of thin stew, to prevent any digestive problems during consuptions or excretement. Two cans of Paste were sufficent for a soldier in combat, and most troopers had loaded about twenty cans. Paste was actually popular among the troops, and many troops took to having Paste instead of "sit down" meals or MREs when avalable. However, UA doctrine stated that whenever possible, troops were to only have Paste rations during field operations. Emergency Field Rations- Emergency Field Rations, or EFRs, were universally regarded as a fate worse than death. Starvation was much less painful than eating EFRs, but slower. Each EFR was a yellow rectangular brick the same size as a bananna, with an attached, sealed one pint pouch of water. The EFR had an single-use internal heater, which could warm up the ration to a temperature of about 80 F in sub-zero temperature. An EFR had a constiency of a somewhat soft biscuit, and they all came in one flavor-"applesauce" (which troopes tended to call appleshit), and the choice of eating was either to eat it "raw" (unheated) or "warmed", or to pour the water into the EFR container and eat it as a (warm or cold) goo. Three EFRs were rated sufficent for human survival in most enviroments, and most troops carried a day's worth of EFRs somewhere in their kit. A standard survival meal kit had twelve EFRs and twenty-four additional bags of water. A common punishment during Basic training was "only EFRs for today!".

If they used "Starship Troopers" the movie as their basis for the game, they might as well have chewed off their own feet. (Unless you have a Doogie Howzer/Nazi fetish...). I'm signing up for Digital Hero, mostly to get into the playtests-by the time I'd found out that there WAS a playtest for Alien Wars, it was Too Late . And, I can suspend my disbelief in Superhero games pretty easily-it's supposed to be over the top/wild/crazy ("How come nobody recognizes him just because he brushes his hair and puts on glasses?" "Don't knock it, it works.").

Personal opinion? It's...okay. Not good, not great, okay. My biggest problem is the weapons-at the technology you need to build fusion reactors, gauss/railguns are easy to make (since you use magnetic fields to contain a fusion reaction), and having "cased" weapons would be more trouble than it's worth. (Maybe I'll post some weapons here, if people are interested). Also...I have to be able to suspend disbelief to really get into a game, and it's hard with this one-the whole "trench warfare meets space" aspect of the game is hard. It would have been nice if there were books that are a good "inspriation" for the campaign, as well as some other items. It's good, and I don't mind buying it, but it could have been better.

It can be done, you just have to define what kind of "supers" these beings are. The high-powered metas are going to be the "special operations" troops-you want them a bit wild and wooly, able to think quickly on their feet and complete the mission without a lot of "advice upstairs". If/when I ever manage to get my campaign off the ground, this is the hallmark of "Section"-each of the branches of the military, the Secret Service/FBI, and (entirely unofficially and without sanction, of course (NOT!)) the CIA/NSA has some metas. Section 1 is the "oooh and ahhh" team-they're the ones that parade with the President, show off inter-service cooperation and such. Section 2 and 3 is the Army's, Section 2 being the "heavy hitters"-bricks and mobile artillery; with Section 3 being the "Rangers/light fighters". Section 4 is shared with the Air Force and NASA-two of their metas are capable of reaching orbit on their own, and one can do FTL. Section 5 and 6 are the Navy-including a were-orca. Section 7 and 8 are the Marines. There's a "friendly" rivaly between Sections 3 and 8 (Marine Recon vs. Rangers). Section 9 is the Secret Service/FBI team-investigators, the really good interrogators and such. There is no Section 10. Fnord. For the "one trick supers", we have the Joint Metahuman Task Force. Got a guy that has N-Ray vision and nothing else? He's in the JMTF's "Rapid Response Unit" (anywhere in the Continental United States within an hour by Slinger!), he's the one with the sniper rifle. The level of power is more a "Commando HERO" game-a bit tighter controls with some flexability.

He's a "True Immortal"-one of the few remaining. Standard four-colors Champions! w/a semi-anime influence (think a mixture of Hellsing and Witch Hunter Robin for the influences), vampires come in one of three kinds-weak and dumb, average and pretty tough, and ancient and powerful. True Immortal blood is probably THE most potent form of blood in existance fot a vampire-drinking it is akin to doing crystal meth, while drinking a double shot espresso, and gargling Red Bull. To mages, True Immortal material is also useful for a LOT of spells. The bones, for example, are perfect for immortality potions.

Here's a character conception problem that I'm having. The character I'm creating is a "True Immortal"-and if a Vampire detects them, the Vampire will do ANYTHING to get ahold of them, to drain them of blood. The smell of them, in the words of one particular British vampire-"Is a drug that is nearly impossible to not take." Do I buy this as a very odd, limited, No Consious Control Mind Control or some other means?

Re: What would your character do? #23 Ghost Sniper: "Some child-molesting, goat-fucking, ass-fucker gave my SISTER Cyberline! She knew not to take it, everybody that I knew was specifically told NOT to give her any." Then, she's going to find the person that gave it to her. Ghost Sniper will find out who ordered it, all the way to the top-and kill them all.

You've captured the chief Henchbeing of your Campaign Master Villan (CMV). The CMV is planning to set off a bomb so powerful that it will vaporize the entire city (easily a 200D6 EB RKA Explosive), and the timer is set for exactly six hours. Your team can make to where the bomb is in at least one hour, and there is no time to evacuate enough people out of range to make any difference in the body count. The problem is, only the Henchbeing knows where the bomb is, and he isn't talking. And doesn't care if he/she/it gets blown to bits. And there is NO time to find it by any other means (i.e. the location has Invisible to Sight/Sound/Mental Effects). What means would your characters use on this Henchbeing to get the information you need, in time?

Re: What would your character do #22 Is the forcewall technology or magically-based? And, do I know the supervillan (very low roll on the KS:Supervillans skill)? Ghost Sniper has a NND (only stopped by mystical force fields/force walls or double chocolate fudge) that she can use to take down that supervillan. Then, if she got in and found the guy that killed the hostage, it would be, "Okay, left or right?" Then, she'd start to cut the legs, then the arms, of the killer off. One limb per dead hostage. Ghost Sniper takes a VERY low view of people whom kill innocents.