Time to move on to other genres - today, I will use another game called F.I.S.T., “Freelance Infantry Strike Team”. The tagline for the game is ‘Paranormal mercenary roleplaying game’, and while I haven’t played it yet it has been on my list for a while now. The game lists influences like A-Team and Metal Gear Solid, and I think that is very clearly represented in the mechanics. The game has been in several charity bundles, so chances are many readers already own a copy.
PCs in the game are members of F.I.S.T., which in turn is a freelance mercenary group employing people with extraordinary talents. The game manual hints rather obliquely at F.I.S.T. maybe not being the good guys exactly but often fighting very bad people indeed.
So, shall I make an operative?
First, I choose two traits from a list of a hundred. The list is numbered, and while the manual doesn’t say so this obviously means we can roll for inspiration. I will roll 4d100, and pick the two I like most.
I get 28, 31, 72, and 87. This equals Forage, Genius, Sharpshooter, and Teleport. I choose the latter two. How about we look at the descriptions?
SHARPSHOOTER: if you name a specific body part, possession, or component of something you’re attacking with a ranged weapon, you will always hit it, disabling that part rather than dealing damage.
TELEPORT: you can teleport yourself, and any items you are wearing or holding, to a safe location within your line of sight at will. If you want to teleport under fire or to somewhere you can’t see, roll +TACTICAL to avoid accidents.
Mmhhh… I call her Martha d’Aubaine, black sheep of the d’Aubaine family (hope someone will spot the reference) who had a run-in with the wrong kind of genius scientist when she was a kid. Martha can walk through shadows, but the exposure to alien energy her teenage buddy caused left her a bit unstable. She can be very intense and has two modes - ice cold and murderous anger. Indulging in the latter made her realize early on that she doesn’t have a taste for the family business of politics, and vastly prefers killing people. And she soon found out that she has a real talent for hitting people with bullets, which comes in handy. By now a large number of enemies did not see dark tendrils swirl in the shadows behind them, shortly before they never saw anything at all, anymore. The agency has given her the Codename ‘Darkness’.
The game uses a simple narrative system inspired by Dungeon World. When rolling, the result of 2d6 is added to a fitting attribute, and the result maps to failure, success with complications, success, or critical success. There are no moves or similar mechanics. To make Darkness complete we need to see what her Attributes are. All start at 0, and they are FORCEFUL, TACTICAL, CREATIVE, and REFLEXIVE. The two chosen traits come with points added to some attributes, Sharpshooters get +1 REFLEXIVE, and Teleporters get another +2 REFLEXIVE. She is a monster when it comes to shooting, dodging bullets, and other actions needing fast and/or precise action.
Darkness also gets some gear from the trait selection, a revolver (1D6+1 damage, Sharpshooter), and a flare gun (1D6 damage). Beyond that, she could have gotten some armor (but didn’t), has 6 HP Max, and 0 War Dice. I assume everything else should be clear, War Dice are dice that can be added to one roll per session. Then I get to choose if she gets +1D6 HP, a pistol, or a War Die. Let’s give her the die.
Finally, I need to choose a role for her. Each role can occur in a team once, so if we had a team we would discuss a few things now. Ah well. Darkness is a Wildcard. This means I have to choose a “primary vice or source of pleasure, such as money, romance, thrills, or pain”. If she manages to get a fix in a session in a way no one expected, she advances. Mmhhh… as d’Aubaine she could have had money, power, and drugs. The thrill of the kill or pain seems too obvious. How about we say her shadowy teleport comes tied to unknown entities which constantly whisper to her, except in rare cases when the connection gets blocked. While she enjoys who and what she is, she does want some reprieve from the whispers from time to time. In a way, I am punting the ball to the GM to decide what exactly makes the things shut up.
And that is Martha “Darkness” d’Aubaine, ready to lay down some mayhem.
No comments:
Post a Comment