[Infinite Worlds] So, what exactly does C-31... do?

[awesomenessofme1]

He's a giant combat robot who can in no way disguise himself who's part of an organization that needs to infiltrate places and isn't allowed to reveal that they're from another world. There's only a handful of worldlines where he'd have any chance of being allowed, and most of them are pretty much quarantined anyway. At least Iotha can wear a hat. So exactly what purpose does C-31 serve?

[Aletheus]

Likely, get sent to missions where secrecy is unimportant, and one must immediately charge in with guns blazing.

[johndallman]

He's the combat reserve, for when an operation goes utterly wrong and overwhelming force is required to extract agents. You find somewhere to conceal him, and if the mission goes well, he doesn't have to do anything.

Many players don't enjoy that role in a team, but some do. I've seen it occupied by characters varying from snipers to fire magicians.

[Blind Mapmaker]

I imagine, it gets a lot of base protection duty. But let's not forget there are hellish timelines or uninhabited ones, both without real need for secrecy besides making sure Centrum does not get wind of them. C31R07 is perfect for those.

And if you want to go for a silly campaign: Maybe it has an elephant suit stashed away somewhere...

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Aletheus

Likely, get sent to missions where secrecy is unimportant, and one must immediately charge in with guns blazing.

I sort of thought that was the entire point of ISWAT. You want to do undercover investigations, join the I-cops. And Infinity presumably has other entire divisions that collect data on worldlines that have no criminal involvement. But you don't call in the SWAT team until you're pretty close to the charge in with guns blazing part of an operation.

Admittedly that leaves you wondering why some of the [other] iconic characters are part of the same team, so yeah, but then a lot of fictional "teams" don't seem well optimized for what they are supposed to be doing - partly because fictional teams get assigned to much more varied jobs than real ones would.

[Anaraxes]

Remember the intros to the original Mission: Impossible TV show? There's always this scene where the team lead (Dan Briggs / Jim Phelps) is flipping through a folder full of pictures of possible team members, seeing what skills he has available and getting inspiration for the clever plan (as silently evidenced by his deep reflection). He pulls a few out as he goes through for the final team.

Of course, that team always just happens to include the series regulars. And sometimes there's a guest star or two with some novel skills.

It's a way GMs might consider framing their special ops team games. The PCs may well know each other from previous operations (whether in Budapest or not), but they were all brought together for this one mission. They're not a fixed, organized unit. They might well wind up working together multiple times. And they might go on other missions in between, but the game isn't telling those stories.

Also a good way to work in a bit of troupe-style play if players want some variety in their characters. (Tell some of those in-between missions, too.)

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

And if you want to go for a silly campaign: Maybe it has an elephant suit stashed away somewhere...

If it's pink, that'll take care of it entirely. Nobody would report seeing that.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

He could operate on timelines without a native population, maybe hunting dinosaurs. Or poachers.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by malloyd

I sort of thought that was the entire point of ISWAT. You want to do undercover investigations, join the I-cops. And Infinity presumably has other entire divisions that collect data on worldlines that have no criminal involvement. But you don't call in the SWAT team until you're pretty close to the charge in with guns blazing part of an operation.

I think ISWAT has a much more generalised view of "Special Weapons and Tactics" than a American police SWAT team. They're for cases where ordinary cops or soldiers can't do the job, but that doesn't mean the job requires ultra-violence. Of course, having ultra-violence as a fall-back tactic is always handy. Looking at what the example team does:

• C31R07 provides ultra-violence, plus quite a lot of technological detection capability, and very good Strategy, Tactics and computer/robot repair skills.
• Dai Blackthorn gets into places nobody else can, and provides good thief skills (although adding some Disguise would help).
• Louis d’Antares provides someone who has the looks, skills and attitude to move in high society anywhere Western-derived, and carries a horrendously powerful weapon that most worlds won't recognise.
• William Headley is the researcher, medic and non-combat magician.
• Iotha understands fantasy parallel worlds, spots unusual ways of travelling between worlds, and is the specialist sniper.
• Sora is a dangerous combatant in places you can't take any weapons, is Dai's backup on infiltrations, and understands organised crime.
• Janos Telkozep is a finance and high society expert, political manipulator, and provider of nightmarish deaths to people who don't believe in the supernatural.
• Xing La solves your transport and navigation problems thoroughly, and can help a lot with investigations.

A group like this can't go around as an overt "party of adventurers" like a Dungeon Fantasy party. They need a base, or bases, and sub-groups go out and do different parts of a mission. You need players to behave like adults and find each other entertaining to play this way, but when you have them, this kind of game is excellent.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

And if you want to go for a silly campaign: Maybe it has an elephant suit stashed away somewhere...

And if you want to go less silly: hologram disguise. Probably not as a human, but it means he can sit somewhere as an object until overwhelming surprise is needed.