FATE of the Liberation Union Strike Team

[WritesNaughtyStories]

1 hour ago, Icarian Dreams said:

Also, I did not quite communicate this clearly — I am not imagining my character's BioFrame as being operational after the initial scene, or in any way significantly threatening to Emily.

I have no position on what BioFrame your scion ends up with beyond the one you like. If that's the lonely one back at the Firebase, groovy. If that's trucking off behind Scyllia in one you had all along, great. If one gets delivered tomorrow morning, also cool. If there's one that gets shot out from under you and you take something else, that's just as good.

Scyllia is tiny, less than half the size of most other BioFrames. There is no stand-up fight that is safe for her. You will end up with a BioFrame, just not one that fights Scyllia.

Here's a thought: what if a quantum Kaiju shows up while Emily and Magda are sneaking up the river? Lots of things can happen and we'll see where the fiction leads.

Edited yesterday at 03:06 AM by WritesNaughtyStories

[Icarian Dreams]

3 minutes ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

Scyllia is tiny, less than half the size of most other BioFrames. There is no stand-up fight that is safe for her. You will end up with a BioFrame, just not one that fights Scyllia

At no point did I want to fight Scyllia.

I don't have a strong idea on what BioFrame I'll end up with yet either. Wanted to get the main character idea down first and then figure out what works both narratively and thematically. The one back at the base seems as the obvious choice, I suppose. 

6 minutes ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

Here's a thought: what if a quantum Kaiju shows up while Emily and Magda are sneaking up the river? Lots of things can happen and we'll see where the fiction leads.

Can you say a more? Does that involve me anyhow?

[WritesNaughtyStories]

It's a GM "trick" that no matter what the players do, some predetermined thing happens. The classic is in a dungeon there's an ogre. Doesn't matter what door you go through, the ogre is behind that door.

In this case, as Emily pilots Scyllia up the river a Kaiju heads out of the ocean towards your outpost. What happens next is up to you and @WickedCadrach. Magda will begin to fade into the background because with a second player she's less useful. Though I love the character and her relationship with Emily, I hate the meta of the GM having a player character.

If you are interested in playing the scion, may I suggest Fallen Hive Elite as your high concept?

[Icarian Dreams]

Ahh, the quantum ogre. I didn't make the connection. With a high-tech setting like this, my mind went to the literal

Agreed with the high concept; it's a good starting point. I should probably start thinking what her Trouble should be. Hrmm.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

Getting into the story is the big thing. Get a name and a description and jump in with a post at the outpost. We've been adding Aspects and stunts as they evolve in the fiction and I think that has worked very well.

I expect this young woman has had soft sheets, new clothes, eaten regularly (as do even the poorest citizens) and air that's warmed in winter and cooled in summer. There are comforts and safety that are part of the Hive that are not available to the Union.

For your Trouble, I would suggest things to point at being a sheltered young woman who finds herself in a very different world. Stuck between worlds is close, but doesn't quite get to the discomfort of a hardscrabble existence of living in shipping containers with people who yell, cry and fuck for all kinds of reasons. Kuzko from Emperor's New Groove comes to mind. Or a proper French lady who finds herself in a Viet Minh village in Vietnam.

How's this for why you didn't fight the Kaiju two days ago: you were with the reaction force that showed up to deal with LUST DF and were ordered to stay, "protect the outpost from Kaiju and Union rebels".

One BioFrame isn't really enough to do that job though, is it?

Edited yesterday at 04:00 PM by WritesNaughtyStories
A new, reorganized and expanded edition.

[WickedCadrach]

@Icarian Dreams I'm just going to drop the GoogleDrive link for Emily's character sheet in case you want to make a copy for sorting out your fallen scion (or just to get a more mechanical grip on what Emily's already bringing to the table). 

Depending on how aggressively we want to push the Hive trying to discreetly 'execute' the scion, we could tease a villain NPC and have a Trouble like Director Tanaka Wants My Head or Lt. Faraday's Promotion Will Be Signed in My Blood. Something more general might be The Hive Has a Grave Picked Out for Me. These are a touch wordy, but you get the idea. The Stuck Between Worlds trouble is definitely something that could be tapped often, though. 

[WritesNaughtyStories]

The Price of Freedom is Treason?

[Icarian Dreams]

12 hours ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

For your Trouble, I would suggest things to point at being a sheltered young woman who finds herself in a very different world. Stuck between worlds is close, but doesn't quite get to the discomfort of a hardscrabble existence of living in shipping containers with people who yell, cry and fuck for all kinds of reasons. Kuzko from Emperor's New Groove comes to mind. Or a proper French lady who finds herself in a Viet Minh village in Vietnam.

I have been already thinking along the lines of A fish out of water — I'm not happy with this phrasing yet either, but I think it goes in the direction of what you have in mind. (Admittedly, these sort of troubles have also some overlap with the high concept, which could arguably be invoked in similar circumstances. I think — you'd definitely know better than me whether that's the case, though)

Something like Born with a silver spoon/Raised in luxury could carry the implication just as well (and are probably even closer to the high concept), just by the virtue of being put in the circumstances you described in the game itself. At the same time — and mostly on a bit of a sidenote — I'm not sure I want to make her too sheltered; to better explain what I mean: I imagine that there is quite a bit of overlap in how people behave, with both sides being essentially two opposing extremes. Yelling, crying, and fucking for all kinds of reasons would be probably something she'd have been exposed to, not among the rabble — but among the elites she had lived between all her life. Of course that doesn't account for the sudden lack of silken sheets and brainwashed personal servants, but I think there's something to be explored with the similarities and differences of the pretend freedom that the nobility showcases in private and the rough, but arguably sincere liberty that life with the Union brings. I think the parallels are just as interesting here as the contrasts. But I'm going off on a tangent.

@WickedCadrach I do quite like your idea of bringing a face to a threat as well, at the risk of such a Trouble being harder to reliably invoke — especially with the group being already quite adversarial towards the Hive (and vice-versa) which might make the conflict a little too close to what's already, you could say, the team's trouble. I think there's something to be found here if we were to focus on more specific aspects rather than the general ones — something like Hive's chief bio-engineer wants my head in a box or something else which would similarly focus on a specific subpart of the Hive's threat. Give the antagonist a slightly more unique spin and also suggest potential areas that my character could have knowledge off by the virtue of having to defend herself from these people.

Also, here's a couple aspect ideas that just randomly came to my mind, mostly unrelated to the prior conversation. Maybe something will spark interest:

• "I used to hunt these people for sport"
• "My execution will be televised"
• "Power is the only language I know"

7 hours ago, WickedCadrach said:

I'm just going to drop the GoogleDrive link for Emily's character sheet in case you want to make a copy for sorting out your fallen scion (or just to get a more mechanical grip on what Emily's already bringing to the table). 

By the way, thank you so much for this sheet. I freaking love excel character sheets, and I'm definitely making a copy of this one to keep track of shiz. :D

13 hours ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

How's this for why you didn't fight the Kaiju two days ago: you were with the reaction force that showed up to deal with LUST DF and were ordered to stay, "protect the outpost from Kaiju and Union rebels".

One BioFrame isn't really enough to do that job though, is it?

I don't mind this, though I'm still keen on the idea of being sent to the place under a false pretense to get rid of by the orders of someone in the Hive. I know this runs into the issues of going back on the Union's intel that the settlement is undefended, but I think there's way to work alongside that, from the intel simply not being complete, through the operation being clandestine and not really officially supposed to happen, to the character being sent to the outpost for non-military purposes and ending up trapped there (I imagine high Kaiju and Union activity would make traveling out without a larger escort difficult).

I like the idea of politics happening in the background, I like the idea of my character being unfortunately tangled in these politics by the virtue of whom she's related to (we could make that a trouble if we can word it well :p). I think the fact that me being in the outpost is unexpected is just a ripe opportunity to set up some hooks for some deeper storytelling in this direction.

22 hours ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

If you are interested in playing the scion, may I suggest Fallen Hive Elite as your high concept?

On a side-note, how about changing the High Concept to something like Hive General's Daughter (or maybe even Hive General's Firstborn Daughter?) or Heiress to a Tech/Food/Chem-Baron? I feel like the "fallen" aspect is already implied by the virtue of the story and the circumstances she will end up in, and this could be a good opportunity to expand on what her and her family's background actually is.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

I think I have a good idea for Trouble:

I wasn't born a rebel

It gets to the heart of being a little alien but dedicated to where she is while hinting at the cost of that choice.

I have a lot of questions about the set up. I like the idea of you being put here on purpose, but why? It's possible she doesn't know, but then she probably doesn't know it's a death sentence. If she was here for the first Kaiju attack and ran to her BioFrame but it wouldn't come on explains why there was no defense by the outpost. But the Liberation Union stopped the Kaiju and didn't attack the outpost. Did she see any of the Hive news coverage? I'm sure command explained the frame not activating as a glitch with it not being connected to the outpost's security network or something, but does that jive with what she saw? And then the reaction force attacked the Union, lost a frame but that's all anyone knows. She was there, what happened after? Did they stay to reinforce your one lone frame? If they didn't, is she beginning to think it's a set up?

As for Hive politics - and what it means for how I run the game - I have been mostly using a crush focus on this lone Union Strike Team which means I haven't given Hive politics much thought. I'm not sure I want to zoom out but I don't want miss out on an opportunity to have an interesting antagonist.

To that end, name the commander or exec who targeted you and why. If the Union successfully takes the outpost, that person will be targeted for execution and flee to the wastes and have a very personal vendetta.

My hope is this will give us an interesting antagonist - without me having to write thousands of words of exposition to lay high society intrigue.

[Icarian Dreams]

1 hour ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

As for Hive politics - and what it means for how I run the game - I have been mostly using a crush focus on this lone Union Strike Team which means I haven't given Hive politics much thought. I'm not sure I want to zoom out but I don't want miss out on an opportunity to have an interesting antagonist.

Yeah, I get that, and there's no need to diverge if you don't want to. I'm mentioning hooks, but it's up to you to decide whether to follow up on them or not.

1 hour ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

I have a lot of questions about the set up.

Okay, I'll try to answer them sequentially:

Quote

For what purpose was she put in the spot?

As mentioned before, probably to her death. Why is she supposed to die? My assumption would be to hurt or send a message to whomever she's related to — might be an attempt to swing the military funding vote by targeting a vocal opposition leader, might be something more personal, a long-standing vendetta between two Hive clans/factions.

Quote

It's possible she doesn't know, but then she probably doesn't know it's a death sentence.

I don't quite see how this follows. It's hard to see a trap until you're caught in it, and I imagine getting stranded in the outpost surrounded by Kaiju could very easily be the moment she realises there's no way she can go back, especially if no-one's answering her calls for backup or escort back.

Quote

If she was here for the first Kaiju attack and ran to her BioFrame but it wouldn't come on explains why there was no defense by the outpost. But the Liberation Union stopped the Kaiju and didn't attack the outpost.

It could be the mech not coming online, it could be issue with logistics, it could be that her frame got damaged when she was actually getting here first and is not operational. Or she just didn't have one, or was told she'd get one here but didn't.

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But the Liberation Union stopped the Kaiju and didn't attack the outpost. Did she see any of the Hive news coverage?

I really don't see why she would see the coverage. As far as I understand, the propaganda is likely targeted at the elites far from the action, because it makes no sense to show propaganda to emotionless masses, where propaganda literally relies on emotions to make an impact. It makes even less sense to show said propaganda to the group that's being sacrificed as part of that very propaganda piece. My assumption would be that she noticed the cameras, figures out something is fishy, but doesn't really know what exactly is being broadcasted.

1 hour ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

I'm sure command explained the frame not activating as a glitch with it not being connected to the outpost's security network or something, but does that jive with what she saw? And then the reaction force attacked the Union, lost a frame but that's all anyone knows.

You lost me here. But Imma preface this by saying it could very well be so that communications got sabotaged and she doesn't have a direct way to contact command. Or it could be like you said, up to you.

I don't follow the fragment about the reaction force. I assume by reaction force you mean the unit my character was leading/a part of? If we go the direction of her having arrived with a team to defend the outpost, which we haven't yet hard established. Was there a scrape with the Union? I was under the assumption that both sides have only been facing off against Kaiju so far. I'm also under the understanding that the "lost frame" is the one you mean was rescued in-game. How much do we know about that frame? Honestly, it might be helpful if you could give me a short rundown on what has happened in the story so far, chronologically — I've been reading through the main thread, but it's been honestly quite hard to follow at times.

Quote

She was there, what happened after? Did they stay to reinforce your one lone frame? If they didn't, is she beginning to think it's a set up?

Okay, this part makes me think the reaction force is something else? Were there already other frames at the outposts? I was under the understanding the the outpost had no defenses? Help x.x

[Icarian Dreams]

Oh, also, this:

2 hours ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

I think I have a good idea for Trouble:

I wasn't born a rebel

It gets to the heart of being a little alien but dedicated to where she is while hinting at the cost of that choice.

I think it's the best out of the ideas around this theme so far, but I am going to repeat my concerns that this will likely overlap with the high concept too much. We're ending up with two aspects that are essentially both saying that she had an "aristocratic" upbringing/roots.

I'm pretty sure that whether we stick to the high concept you suggested or go with one of my ideas I gave in my last post, they are going to be invokable in very similar circumstances to this trouble, with very similar consequences. It's just different phrasing of the same idea.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

2 hours ago, Icarian Dreams said:

I really don't see why she would see the coverage. As far as I understand, the propaganda is likely targeted at the elites far from the action, because it makes no sense to show propaganda to emotionless masses, where propaganda literally relies on emotions to make an impact. 

They're numb, not stupid. "We are being destroyed." Is an emotional argument at its most powerful, but it is an intellectual one that can be used to reasonably justify defending oneself.

2 hours ago, Icarian Dreams said:

It could be the mech not coming online, it could be issue with logistics, it could be that her frame got damaged when she was actually getting here first and is not operational. Or she just didn't have one, or was told she'd get one here but didn't.

I have suggested all of these at one point or another. They all have equal merit in my eyes, whatever suits you most.

She's your character, who she is and how she came to be at the outpost is up to you. What I know is there was no response to the Kaiju from the outpost and there is not more than one Hive frame there. There are no walls, no turrets - nothing in the way of defenses. Emily and Scyllia made a thorough sensor sweep with pretty good rolls, so the data they collected is accurate. After the fight a small force of Hive BioFrames showed up and lost one frame to Strike Force Delta Foxtrot. As long as what's happened in the fiction already remains true, whatever you want to be the case in the outpost is up to you.

On the High Concept and Trouble, I think you're right, but I had it in mind that you were thinking of changing the high concept. Perhaps Disillusioned Hive Cadet is an approach to High Concept that points to an elite background and military competence (though you could argue Promising  might replace Disillusioned) and leaves Trouble more reasonably I wasn't born a rebel.