Ideas for a New long-term Campaign

[Cheeseball]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Oh, just noticed. Ten years in the military. Qualified for both SEALs and Delta. Deployed six times. As far as I can see* the very basic and minimum training to qualify for those is around 6 months each. Add at least the same time for advanced skill training so you'd be allowed into the field. That's 2 years of training. So over the next 8 years the character managed to deploy 6 times and fit in time for additional and required training?

*From Wikipedia and GURPS Special Ops

"The current standard ratio for active-duty troops 1:2, which can only be broken with defense secretary approval. For the reserve component, the current 1:4 standard would bump up to at least 1:5."

"Special operations deployments tend to be much shorter, perhaps only three to six months, but reset and training cycles in between are much shorter, often resulting in operators who deploy every other year, or more."

From

1:3 deployment-to-dwell ratio to be standardized under DoD policy starting in Nov
By Meghann Myers

[newton]

Originally Posted by Aldric

It's not just you, but there is not much else besides the huge block of text regarding this NPC.

Point totals for the PCs, any particular rule or hourserule, available factions, a lot of stuff is totally unknown, so it's kinda hard to help.

Yeah, also the OP explicitly asked about the statistics in the statblock being reasonable at the end. Though the second question, making an equally strong criminal, hasn't been tackled in this thread yet.

[Cheeseball]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

I don't understand the personality - description or traits. "Outgoing", "optimistic", and "psychotic"? Also "fierce" and "rough". I have trouble combining those in my head into a coherent picture. Of course, I don't have to, since I'm not playing the character. But it does seem like most of those words could have at least a Quirk-level mental trait.

Are cinematic heroes of that level common in the setting? That is, it seems hard to be Overconfident at 686 points unless you're going to stumble into some peers or a team of street-level supers. "Your ego's writing checks your body can't cash" only applies if you can't, in fact, cash those checks.

Are the PC young and naive (+2 reaction territory from Overconfident), or are they also experienced SF operators (so in the -2 territory). Not that PCs are compelled to make reaction rolls, but it's a guide -- and the same question applies to the actual NPCs. Do the SEALs and Delta dislike her due to past experience with her - however successful she might have been?

How many points will the PCs be built on?

Hello,

actually I did not want to put a limit on the budget of the player characters. As long as they make sense, I've preferred to leave that decision up to the players. There will be those who make petty criminals, and those who make "superspies" in the style of Jason Bourne. What is really difficult for me is to conceptualize a character that can rival this one, because I don't think there are facilities or intensive training programs for criminals.

[Cheeseball]

Originally Posted by RGTraynor

... is it just me, or is this thread pretty much devoid of any discussion of the "new long-term campaign," or any ideas thereof, and entirely focusing on critiquing a single proposed GNPC?

Kinda diving down a rabbit hole here. Me, in the OP's shoes, I'd be putting that design energy into stuff about which the players will actually care. What the GI Mary Sue has for a Guns (LAW) skill vs her Guns (Light Machine Gun) skill isn't likely to be one.

Actually, it is, because depending on the team they choose, they will also have to face some NPCs or others. So to speak the NPCs will function as allies of the teams, when appropriate.

[Cheeseball]

Originally Posted by Aldric

It's not just you, but there is not much else besides the huge block of text regarding this NPC.

Point totals for the PCs, any particular rule or hourserule, available factions, a lot of stuff is totally unknown, so it's kinda hard to help.

Well, anything is suitable. From South American drug cartels, to African warlords, Middle Eastern terrorists, Chechen death squads, humanitarian aid groups, Interpol agents, municipal police, SWAT teams, etc. Players are free to create their own factions, based on the real world, or fictional within the sense of reality.

[Aldric]

Originally Posted by Cheeseball

Hello,

actually I did not want to put a limit on the budget of the player characters. As long as they make sense, I've preferred to leave that decision up to the players. There will be those who make petty criminals, and those who make "superspies" in the style of Jason Bourne. What is really difficult for me is to conceptualize a character that can rival this one, because I don't think there are facilities or intensive training programs for criminals.

As long as the characters have their time to shine, anything is fine. I doubt they'd enjoy being the mooks in someone else's story however.

That said, there most definitely are training facilities for rival agencies, and even criminal groups might have their training programs, plus a life on the line might hone a few skills.

[newton]

Anyway, on the topic of an equally powerful criminal, I think what you might want to try is to make the criminal not equally skilled but rather less "skilled" but have a significant leg up Anna in terms of advantages either physical or social.
You could also justify having more points in martial arts(even in styles with weapon components) than spec-ops because generally they get into a lot more brawls

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Cheeseball

What is really difficult for me is to conceptualize a character that can rival this one, because I don't think there are facilities or intensive training programs for criminals.

There's nothing really preventing a former soldier - special operations or otherwise - from going criminal, particularly if they are able to get involved with organized crime (or form a group with their old spec-ops buddies, like an evil variant of the A Team). And, with a pool of previously-trained operators to draw from, such organizations certainly can - and have - set up their own training schools. Particularly for a cinematic setting wherein "superspy" is an available character archetype, I see no issue with such operators functioning equally well on all sides of the conflict.

[Donny Brook]

As far as a rival goes, a good quality intel Ally Group, a well-equipped good quality field support Ally Group, and a highly specialized infiltration sniper specialist (with perfect hair) would be able to take her down quite handily.

In GURPS, no mundane human who puts herself in combat situations is safe from a well placed bullet.

[dcarson]

An interesting character idea might be the best thief because their family has been for generation. The old TV show It Takes a thief, Alexander "Al" Mundy, whose father Alister "Al" Mundy had been the best, and his father Albrecht "Al" Mundy before him. So no training school but home schooled by the best with generations of experience to pass on.