Session 0
Stage 1 - Setup
Overview:
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Before the players could step foot on Rivetons streets, and prepare to handle the onslaught of events that awaited them, they had to establish themselves in the city.
As high level characters with a lot of power, they were asked to take on an area of city management, and design an "Evil Corporation" related to it in order to form the basis of their influence within the city. They then used the following steps to flesh out these concepts, and make them a mechanical part of the gameplay experience.
These companies would provide them with resources, staff, and other benefits that would help them operate on a City Wide scale during the campaign, granting them an additional layer of power fantasy and narrative upon which events could be built.
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Step 1 - Shape Your Company:
Each player received 60 points to spend across a Company Stat Sheet of my design, utilising 6 stats as with standard characters.
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Finances - The Company's monetary wealth, once finances have been determined, assets can be purchased.
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Public Appearance - The Company's public appearance and reputation.
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Corporate Intelligence (Espionage) - The Company's ability to gather information on competition etc.
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Spin and Marketing - The Company's ability to spin events and manipulate the masses
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Forceful Acquisitions - The Company's muscle and military force
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Diversification - How diverse is the company, is it split across multiple holdings making the player safe, or loaded into one venture
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Each stat capped at 20 to ensure a more even distribution and help create well-rounded companies that could theoretically function.
When performing a company action during the campaign, players will then roll against company stats to determine the success of that action
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Once initial stats have been established, those values will increase or decrease in tandem with the campaign as the companies shift direction, expend resources, or suffer catastrophes / boons.
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Step 2 - Shape Your City:
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At this point in the story, the players have all helped to independently shape Riveton, and now ascending to the role of council, must solidify its path into the future.
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The council is given 60 points to spend across unique City Stats, which will be used when the city needs to perform an action on a grand scale.
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Coffers: The monetary wealth of the city.
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Military: The military power and skill level of the city guard.
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Medical Power: The medical technology and techniques available in Riveton.
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Technology: The current technological level of the city.
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Defences: The non-militia based defensive capabilities of the city.
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Resource Stockpiles: Stockpiled resources for emergencies etc.
Each stat also contains several bands that determine the nature of the city element related to that stat, acting as rough guidelines for what resources the Players should expect to have at their disposal during city events. These are intentionally left vague to provide the DM with room to expand upon them as required.
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Examples:
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Military:
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0-5: Civilian Militia, barely trained, weak-willed
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5-10: Standard Militia, solid training, medium-willed
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10-15: Heavy Militia, raised in a caste from birth, strong training, strong-willed
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15-20: Templars, raised in caste from birth, radicalized, intensive violent training, unbreakable.
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Medical Power:
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0-5: Basic Field Care, Disease is a threat, recovery from wounds is medieval
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5-10: Basic Hospitals, Disease is treatable and preventatives exist, recovery in modern day
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10-15: Steam-turgy, Vaccinations have wiped out most diseases, recovery enhanced through tech, basic genetic involvement
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15-20: Oracular, Disease all but wiped out save for big viruses, genetic modification is common, recovery and cellular regeneration possible.
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Technology:
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0-5: Might and Magic: Roman-esque army, Swords / Shields / Magic, Remedial Steam integration
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5-10: Powder and Power: Rifles, Cannons, Sword, Considerable Steam integration
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10-15: Steam and Steel: Steam Weaponry, Radio Transmissions, Television
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15-20: Dynamo and Destruction: 40k-esque Army, Steam Dynamo Weaponry ​
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The Final stage of establishing the city is to determine it's "HP", which is reflected in the population level of the city. Players pick a single member to roll a d100 (x100,000), defining a baseline population for Riveton. The value rolled is then compared to a banding chart to determine the state of the city based on the amount of citizens currently within it's walls, and any modifiers, conflicts or benefits that that value may entail.
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Population: Roll 1d100 - Number of Citizens
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0-25 - Low Population, Resources are difficult to gather, operations can’t run as efficiently, progress slows to a halt
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25-49 - Med-Low Population, Resources are plentiful, and operations can run well, but the populous is susceptible to extinction from catastrophe, progress slow
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50 - Medium, Resources are Balanced, Progress is good, some threat of extinction
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51-75 - Med-High Population, Resources are somewhat sparse, employment is booming, populous is susceptible to plague and class warfare, progress high
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75-100 - High Pop, Resources are scarce, lower classes are on the verge of starvation, progress is strong, threat of plague and civil war high.
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With these stages completed, the groundwork was laid for players to begin establishing footholds, creating tenuous alliance and planning for the oncoming storm of events that they would have to manage as a council. To be continued, in Part 2!