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Old 12-02-2009, 10:16 PM   #1
Qoltar
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Default [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

Alright I might be starting an INFINITE WORLDS campaign as the GM.

If you're a fan of "NCIS" or maybe watch the "CSI" variations this question is for you.

If there are crimes or murders that ISWAT or their parent organization has to investigate - what would that team be like?

How would the usual templates be altered?

Also, all those investigative shows normally have a 4 to 5 character team and each character fills a certain niches or role.

Whats a good mix of investigator or 'scout' roles for an INFINITE WORLDS type campaign?


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Old 12-02-2009, 11:37 PM   #2
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Qoltar View Post
Alright I might be starting an INFINITE WORLDS campaign as the GM.

If you're a fan of "NCIS" or maybe watch the "CSI" variations this question is for you.

If there are crimes or murders that ISWAT or their parent organization has to investigate - what would that team be like?

How would the usual templates be altered?

Also, all those investigative shows normally have a 4 to 5 character team and each character fills a certain niches or role.

Whats a good mix of investigator or 'scout' roles for an INFINITE WORLDS type campaign?


- Ed Charlton
I'd expect SWAT would employ actual detectives who are experienced Infinity Operatives rather than insert a ranking ISWAT agent on the order of C31.

Most murders are going to be just that: Murders. They happen to involve ISWAT in some manner that gives them Jurisdiction in the case. Hell, for all I know, they've found a Law & Order Fantasy Parallel, got Prof. Headley to cast a spell that cures the retired Lenny Briscoe of his Cancer and recruited him as a Detective.

For that matter there are several Sherlock Parallels.
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Old 12-03-2009, 12:57 AM   #3
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

The notion of Gibbs and his NCIS team recruited to ISWAT amuses me.

None of them have much in the way of family that would miss them (one sister in the case of McGee, who would actually be a decent recruit and Ducky's senile mom who could be put in a rather nice home or cared for by ISWAT)

Heck they could hook up with .alt work Kate for an expanded team -- TCIS -- Temporal Criminal Investigative Service
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Old 12-03-2009, 01:36 AM   #4
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

Umm... Wouldn't it be the Justice division (or sometimes Security) that
do the actual investigating? That's its job, after all.
(And the description mentions a Crime Scene: Infinity campaign...)

The Forensic Technician from GURPS Cops and the Medical Examiner and Specialist from GURPS Mystery would be the obvious templates to either
run through the Academy or mix with the I-cop template.
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Old 12-03-2009, 01:55 AM   #5
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

Well, you wouldn't be playing a game that was confined to Homeline, so I suppose that most investigations will take place on various otherworlds. Your investigators are not going to have any genuine enforceable police powers in most of their investigations, they aren't going to be able to get or serve warrants, they aren't going to be able to call in patrol officers or SWAT, issue BOLOs, search databases, or identify fingerprints. They'll find it very difficult to take suspects in and question tem in interview rooms. And they will only be able to conduct routine police investigations (interviewing witnesses, canvassing neighbourhoods, sealing and examining crime scenes etc.) using fraudulent credentials. Which would be risky.

I guess they might be okay on worlds that don't have their own police. And as the examples of Vidocq and Henry Fielding show, a little method goes a long way when criminals aren't prepared for it.

But in most cases, the characters are going to be private non-citizens, with no authority, without even legal residency, nosing around crime-scenes and witnesses with no reasonable account of themselves and no explanation for where they got a stack of sophisticated investigating equipment.

It'll be nothing like NCIS. More like PIs or spies.
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Old 12-03-2009, 05:44 AM   #6
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Qoltar View Post
Alright I might be starting an INFINITE WORLDS campaign as the GM.

If you're a fan of "NCIS" or maybe watch the "CSI" variations this question is for you.

If there are crimes or murders that ISWAT or their parent organization has to investigate - what would that team be like?

How would the usual templates be altered?

Also, all those investigative shows normally have a 4 to 5 character team and each character fills a certain niches or role.

Whats a good mix of investigator or 'scout' roles for an INFINITE WORLDS type campaign?

- Ed Charlton
Crimes that ISWAT has to investigate? Stuff that's too much for the regular Infinity services to handle so ISWAT has to be called in? That would be things like murders of the highest-ranking members of Infinity as well as most important Homeline figures during their outtime travels. Outtime crimes that could severely hamper Infinity's efforts, significantly endanger the Secret on class Z worlds, threaten the very existence of parallel Earths etc.

The usual templates wouldn't need altering - a majority of ISWAT operatives are outtimers who were already extremely capable before being recruited, so standard training templates as those presented on p. 186 of Infinite Worlds and further are not quite applicable. Look at those NPCs presented in the Basic Set - that's the make-up of an average ISWAT team.

The team would have to cover a number of necessary skills. Those for investigation, social engineering, information analysis, data penetration, surveillance, infiltration, disposal of evidence... And of course, once the perpetrator is identified it will be necessary to apprehend him or dispose of him. All of that completely undercover with no support to fall back on since most investigations will take place on parallels where the characters have no real authority and must keep their existence a secret, as Brett already mentioned. GURPS Action 1 has excellent templates that pretty much cover all of it, so you could start from there.

Of course, this is only the baseline since we're talking about ISWAT here. The team should have access to exotic knowledge, abilities and skills in order to successfully cope with the challenges. Mundane skills aren't of much use when you have to track a spellcasting parachronozoid with stolen Infinity tech/information.

Last edited by Exxar; 12-03-2009 at 05:51 AM.
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Old 12-03-2009, 06:05 AM   #7
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

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Originally Posted by Exxar View Post
That would be things like murders of the highest-ranking members of Infinity as well as most important Homeline figures during their outtime travels. Outtime crimes performed by homeliners that could severely hamper Infinity's efforts
Umm... No. Those are still Justice or Security division business.
You don't send in SWAT teams to investigate a murder, regardless of how
important the victim is. You send the detectives and forensic technicians.

Now, there may be the occasional Great Detective that's ended up in ISWAT,
but he would still be, as is the habit of Great Detectives, either be butting
into Justice division's official investigation or asked to help them.
And the latter not because the crime is too much for Justice division to handle
(as in the magnitude of the crime - Justice division handles genocide and
mass slavery on a depressingly regular basis), but because it is too baffling for
experts with TL8 equipment and science, or because it is within the Great
Detectives area of non-mundane expertise.
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Old 12-03-2009, 06:16 AM   #8
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

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Originally Posted by Xenarthral View Post
Umm... No. Those are still Justice or Security division business.
You don't send in SWAT teams to investigate a murder, regardless of how
important the victim is. You send the detectives and forensic technicians
.

Now, there may be the occasional Great Detective that's ended up in ISWAT,
but he would still be, as is the habit of Great Detectives, either be butting
into Justice division's official investigation or asked to help them.
And the latter not because the crime is too much for Justice division to handle
(as in the magnitude of the crime - Justice division handles genocide and
mass slavery on a depressingly regular basis), but because it is too baffling for
experts with TL8 equipment and science, or because it is within the Great
Detectives area of non-mundane expertise.
I'm not talking about SWAT, I'm talking about ISWAT and the only relation they have to SWAT is that they're extremely capable. Just as you say at the end of your post, those people solve stuff that's baffling for TL8 experts. Detectives and forensic technicians won't turn up squat if for example Van Zandt's lifeless body were found in his bed without any signs of violence or other physical evidence because a Cabalist snatched away his soul.

That's what you call ISWAT in for.
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Old 12-03-2009, 06:24 AM   #9
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

Okay , maybe I phrased things badly.

What I'm specifically thinking of is the 1st new episode of this current season of "NCIS".

Agent Tony DiNozzo was tied to a chair for mosty of it. The whole episode had him being interrogated and telling parts of the story via flashback to a "bad guy" interrogator. As he did so he gradually named each member of the team and said what specialty role or niche was ....and with Gibbs.

I'll try not to 'spoil' that episode - but when he got to Gibbs it was a good zinger moment.

That made me think of roles or mix of specialty roles in RPG campaign groups of players.

For example......

STAR TREK-type Away Team:
Commander
Security-type
Science specialist
Doctor or medic.
two more characters - usually armed security, or maybe medical or science specialisats

D&D/DUNGEON FANTASY-type groups:
Fighter/soldier
Mage or Wizard
Cleric
Paladin
Thief
Maybe another fighter or a mage

THAT kind of thing.

As in what would be a good mix of specialty roles or niches for an ISWAT-rogue group.
Just had a parallel thought :
Could there be "Rogue-ISWAT" teams that are wanted for a crime - but are still working for the side of the Good Guys?


- Ed Charlton
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Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me....


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Last edited by Qoltar; 05-04-2010 at 10:24 AM.
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Old 12-03-2009, 06:39 AM   #10
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Default Re: [IW] ISWAT "NCIS" (or CSI-type) roles and characters....

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As in what would bne a good mix of specialty roles or niches for an ISWAT-rogue group.
It could be done in many ways, here's one five-man example:
  • Combat op - the guy who does most of the work in finding, destroying or capturing the perp. The guy who stands up to the perp and keeps it off other members if it's some kind of a monster. The guy who covers those members of the team that are less inclined for combat if they get in a hot situation.
  • Investigator - the guy who finds physical clues, analyzes data and pulls all of the pieces together.
  • Face/infiltrator - the guy who does all of the social engineering and infiltration necessary to perform the task.
  • Techie - the guy who handles all tasks related to surveillance, technology, data penetration etc.
  • The brain - the scientist, occultist and general know-it-all of the group.

Because of the broad range of tasks such a team would have to perform, it's difficult to determine a single best or most representative group make up. There is a multitude of areas of expertise that have to be covered within the team, and how that is divided among members can vary greatly.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Qoltar View Post
Just had a parallel thought :
Could there be "Rogue-ISWAT" teams that are wanted for a crime - but are still working for the side of the Good Guys?
Well, since ISWAT doesn't exist officially, that could very well be possible. Although I don't know why they wouldn't just make all of that stuff go away.

Last edited by Exxar; 12-03-2009 at 06:46 AM.
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