[Action] Vigilante Justice

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Onkl

The Patron insists on cleanly executed missions, or they get a deduction of Patron Points. Also, no collateral damage. So planing is essential, this is where the Investigator and Infiltrator play their role. To leave no clues behind, the Cleaner is also a must for every group.

The more clues and carnage the group leaves behind, the more "Heat" they get (I'm still unsure how to implement this, but it should work a little bit like the "Stars Rating" in GTA).

One idea I had for my old Modern Action RPG design project, was that characters who were employed (by government organizations, organized crime bosses, or individual patron-like NPCs) would have a Slack stat and a number of Influence Points, defining their relationship with the employer.

Influence Points were mainly for a law enforcement-like structure, e.g. spent to be able to have a suspect arrested based on not-quite-sufficient evidence, or have charges dropped, and so forth. I didn't have a lot of ideas for it, and it was a bit similar to the Pulling Strings abilities from GURPS Conspiracy X, or the similar rules from GURPS Action volume 1.

The Slack stat represented the degree of trust that the employing agency (or crime family, or individual patron-like NPC) had in the employee PC, so every time the PC screwed up seriously, a Slack roll was to be made (modified according to how severe the screw-up was), and if that roll failed, or Fumbled, or Fumbled badly, the PC might get a private reprimand, or a public reprimand, or get suspended (temporarily losing his formal or informal rights as an agent, e.g. Legal Enforcement Powers in GURPS), or lose his job permanently or even lose his job and be charged with serious crimes.

The idea was that during character creation, or character advancement, individual players chould choose to spend points to increase the Slack stat, so that they'd be more likely to get away with worse mistakes or indiscretions.

You might be able to come up with a similar stat to use in GURPS Action.

Another possibility is to have left behind-evidence influence the roll to see whether and how much the PCs get paid, after a completed mission. IIRC the rules for rolling to get paid are at the end of GURPS Action volume 2. I don't recall them with much clarity, but it's probably possible to squeeze in some negative modifiers there, based on the amount and severity of evidence they've neglected to clean up.

Another possibility again, a bit simpler, is to use a Black Marks system, applied to the entire PC team as a whole. Each mission they mess up gives 1 Black Mark, or 2 if they mess up big time. Once they hit 3-4 Black Marks, they then become saddled with the duty to perform an unpaid cleaning-up mission (no salary, no ammo replacement budget, no nothing), and that mission removes 3 Black Marks (although since it's a high-risk mission, it can add a further 1 or 2 Black Marks, or unlike normal missions it can even add more than that). Until they do that one (and achieve a Black Mark total that's less than 3), they cannot get any paid missions, nor can they choose to skip the one clean-up mission their patron assigns to them and ask for a different kind of clean-up mission. That is of course rather simplistic, and also very heavy-handed, and does not give the players any ways to spend starting or experience CPs to be resistant, in some way, to these Black Marks.

[Onkl]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

One idea I had for my old Modern Action RPG design project, ... , to these Black Marks.

Very interesting. So far I thought about using some form of the Horror Corruption mechanism. I'll have to test it in yet another test session.

[Onkl]

I want the cleaner to be able to destroy evidence with an innate corrosive attack (as suggested upthread).

I came up with the following:

Corrosion Attack (Contact Agent, -30%; Prepreation Required (1 minute), -20%; Accessibility (Only on evidence), -20%) [3/level]

What do you think about the accessibility, is that priced ok?

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Onkl

I want the cleaner to be able to destroy evidence with an innate corrosive attack (as suggested upthread).

I came up with the following:

Corrosion Attack (Contact Agent, -30%; Prepreation Required (1 minute), -20%; Accessibility (Only on evidence), -20%) [3/level]

What do you think about the accessibility, is that priced ok?

Sure (in a very cinematic Action setting, as it is extremely meta), but if you put the Disadvantageous form of Contact Agent on it, it won't affect anything with DR, which would include a lot of evidence-type objects. I'd swap that out for Melee: Reach C w/ No Parry instead.

[Onkl]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Sure (in a very cinematic Action setting, as it is extremely meta), but if you put the Disadvantageous form of Contact Agent on it, it won't affect anything with DR, which would include a lot of evidence-type objects. I'd swap that out for Melee: Reach C w/ No Parry instead.

Thanks so much, I didn't know that... have to reread the limitation!

Yes, it is very meta. But I'm still testing and I will have to see what my players say about it. I think I would explain it a bit like: You seem always to be able to mix some form of acid together to get rid of evidence.

Cheers!

Onkl

[The Benj]

I'm not seeing the point in this Advantage, as compared to just making a Skill roll and making the evidence disappear by mundane means.

[Onkl]

Originally Posted by The Benj

I'm not seeing the point in this Advantage, as compared to just making a Skill roll and making the evidence disappear by mundane means.

You are right, a cleaner already has a ton of options at his disposal to let him get rid of evidence. These are mostly skills, some of them require equipment.

I do see a unique use though - since you could be naked in a barren wasteland and still destroy evidence; how often this will occur though, is a different matter all together.

So it comes down to yet another option a cleaner will be able to choose from when creating his character. And that is what I am looking for here... options for the players.

You could also ask, why a Shooter needs more than one Guns Skill? They all kill the opposition in the end. I guess it's just the how that matters..

Cheers

[The Benj]

I just feel like you could achieve much the same effect with Perk that reduces the penalties for improvised or missing equipment.

Following that gun metaphor, this is more like the HERO route of making guns as powers.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by The Benj

I just feel like you could achieve much the same effect with Perk that reduces the penalties for improvised or missing equipment.

That would be awesome. Perks, or a sort of heavily modified Talent. Combine enough of those, and you approximate MacGyver.

Hero System has its Penalty Skill Levels mechanic, which serves the exact purpose of reducing specific penalties , e.g. one PSL for Range penalties applicable to one or a few skills or all skills, or a PSL for Missing Equipment penalties, and so forth. Originally, in the 5th Edition core book, they were for combat "skills" only, but then later, IIRC in The Ultimate Skill for 5th Edition Revised (or maybe 5E unRevised?) non-combat PSLs were added. As far as I know, very little has ever been done with them officially, which is a sincere pity.

I'm doing something like that in Sagatafl too, or trying to, anyway. One trait lets the character function as if Improvised Equipment is merely "Shoddy", the next better step (for all skills), and even function as if he has Improvsed when he has No Equipment although the later costs Brilliance Points.

And a few more traits that do other things. One reduces the penalty for using goofy skills for Complemtary Skill rolls, at a cost of Brilliance Points every time the reduction is used. It's meant to simulate advanced lateral thinking, but limited by the BP cost so that it won't get overused.

[Onkl]

Another topic I would love to get your input on is something I call HEAT.

Please have a look at the following graphic.

After each session, the GM sums up all the deeds done by the party. If a threshold (See the middle column) was reached, the GM will roll secretly against the correponding number in the threshold box at the begining of the following session. If the roll is a success, Law Enforcement appears and makes life hard for the party.

Once the party accumulates 100+ HEAT one of the following two options is going to happen:

If 100 HEAT mark is reached for the first time and the party has at least one Patron Point (see below) left, their Patron contacts them, warning them of their imminent uncovering but also shedding 10 HEAT, as the patron desperatly tries to keep them safe.

In all other cases, all characters have to replace their mandatory disadvantage Secret [-30] with Enemy (Law Enforcement, Hunter) [-40] and Social Stigma (Public Enemy #1) [-20].

I am grateful for any and all advice and criticism you might have. As you see, the "Reduces HEAT" column is still pretty vague. Also, what do you think about the threshold levels? Too narrow, too broad?

Cheers

Onkl

edit: Forgot about Patron Points. Patron Points is the loot the party gets in this game. The more precise and silent the party executes the missions for their patron, the more points they get. They can spend them on one time uses (Reduce HEAT, get Medevac, get Equipment...) to get base upgrades or to get an Ally for the whole party.