Blackguards: Now Powered by FATE!

[Rhamnousia]

This is my second (and much better-planned) attempt at running a Bastards campaign. Between starting this thread and getting around to actually doing something with it, FATE Core was released and it's kind of my new favorite system, so that's what I'll be using for this game. The entire SRD can be found here.

[ic=Who are the Blackguards?]
The Blackguards are the killer elite of the Bastard's Bastards, a special operations force numbering little more than a hundred, each as superior to the typical Raider as a Raider is to a backwater landeswehr militiaman. Whether battle-hardened warhorses recognized after long and bloody careers or exceptionally-gifted wunderkinder who found themselves quickly fast-tracked through the ranks, nearly all Blackguards got their start in one of the regiment's four battalions: the primae inter pares of the Furious First, often called "glorywhores" for their snobbish superiority and arête ethos; the amazonian terror-troopers of the War Witches, airborne specialists who strike like lightning and take no prisoners; the grim-eyed assault pioneers of the Greyjacks, who understand the value of overwhelming firepower better than any; and the sociopathic reavers of the Carrion Cats, a motley crew of unrepentant war criminals even by the Bastards' lax ethical standards. Regardless of where they came from and what they did to earn it, once she is branded with the Black Spot, a Blackguard is forever set apart from the rest of the regiment. Outside the traditional chain of command, they are afforded even more autonomy than most and answer only to Boudicca Bastard and her battalion commanders. If a typical line infantry regiment is a hammer and the Bastards are a stiletto, then the Blackguards are the very cutting edge of its blade.

As befits such a crack outfit, members of the Black Guard can have their pick of any weapons and equipment in the Crimson King's armory. Some continue to carry the standard-issue Raider assault carbine out of habit, but the more adventurous carry everything from high-capacity LMGs and modified anti-tank rifles to old-school magnum revolvers and Sphere-made plasma-casters. Blackguards are issued more advanced tactical webbing harnesses with which to carry the huge range of gear they often carry: tactical headset, clip/drop harness, magnoculars, burglary or mechanics tools, breaching charges, ruggedized data-slates, zip-cuffs, etc. [In mechanical terms, assume a character is carrying the basic equipment needed to use any of their skills or which makes thematic sense for them to have, unless stated otherwise.] The only universal aspect of their kit is that by long tradition, all Blackguards exclusively wear (you guessed it) black.[/ic]

[ic=Character Creation]
Creating a Blackguard more or less follows the default FATE Core rules, tweaked slightly to better represent characters who are more talented, experienced, and important than most but who aren't significantly more durable:

• Fifteen skills: 5 Average (+1), 4 Fair (+2), 3 Good (+3), 2 Great (+4) (30 skill points equivalent)
• Skill cap at Great (+4)
• Refresh 4
• 5 free stunts
• 2 stress boxes to start
• 7 aspects

In addition to the default skill list, I'm adding the Explosives skill, which encompasses throwing grenades, placing demolition charges, and ordinance disposal.

Overcome: Use Explosives to destroy inanimate objects. Or you can use it to disarm a bomb, opposed by the original bomb-maker's skill.
Create an Advantage: Explosives is commonly used to create an advantage. Blowing the right things up can act as a distraction, a smokescreen, or even cover fire.
Attack: Explosives also includes knowing how to set bricks of plastic explosive to take out enemies, how to properly throw a grenade (up to one zone away), and so on. Keep in mind that everyone in the zone (friend or foe) who isn't protected by cover must defend using Athletics to get behind something!
Defend: Explosives is normally not used to defend.

For those of you new to the FATE system or just in need of some extra inspiration, the Evil Hat Productions Wiki has an excellent list of Stunts for you to peruse. Stunts can be used to represent specialized or exotic equipment, or you can model a particularly valuable piece of gear by taking it as an Aspect.

Lastly, there are a few things you might keep in mind when creating your Blackguard. The overwhelming majority of Bastard's Bastards (by which I mean between seventy and eighty percent) are female-identified, if not necessarily biologically female; trans-fem Bastards, who make up a sizeable contingent, often distinguish themselves by tattooing or scarifying their lower jaws. Extreme displays of aggressiveness, competitiveness, and other stereotypically "masculine" traits are celebrated in women but not tolerated in men, so male Bastards tend to be more subdued, even submissive. Bastards come from all walks of life, from refugees to runaway princesses, so don't feel like your character has to have a conventionally military background. Whereas sections often develop a collective sense of identity, members of the Black Guard are much more likely to be individualistic eccentrics.[/ic]

[ic=Operation WOLFCATCHER NINE]
It has been nearly eleven Imperial months since the Zekkarine Aristocratic Confederation launched its campaign of massive expansion into neighboring systems at the behest of its newly-elected President, the ambitious young Margrave Aleksandre von Kennedy, who's a little too eager to plunge the ZAC into a multi-front war if he thinks it will bring him wealth and prestige. The standing armies and navies of the twelve elector states alone are some of the largest in the Rim, but what they possess in raw manpower they lack in actual expertise, so the Confederation is has been paying out small fortunes to mercenary units willing to undertake operations its own forces are unsuited to, which is pretty much anything that doesn't involve drowning the enemy beneath a sea of cannon fodder. It's been a staggeringly-profitable venture for the Bastards so far, but now the ZAC Third Army Group has hit an obstacle and is threatening to derail the entire campaign.

The obstacle in question is Andizhan, the capital city of the second moon of Illana's Dowry, which happens to be the lynchpin of the ZAC's conquest of the system. When they say that all roads lead to Andizhan, for once they are not exaggerating; not only is it the capital, it's the primate city of the entire planet. The city is almost ten thousand square miles, and that's not taking into account the pastoral farmland encircling its outskirts. Called the City of Ivory and Gold by pretentious historians, Andizhan is admittedly a masterpiece of Neo-Kostantiniyye style and urban planning, which brings a certain indescribable harmony to what would otherwise be an overpopulated sprawl. Unfortunately, the wide boulevards and densely-packed districts mean that it's as much a fortress as it is a palace, but the Margrave himself has explicitly forbidden the use of nuclear weapons, orbital bombardment, or any other strategy that would save us the trouble of flushing out the defenders one foxhole at a time. A combined force of the War Witches and Carrion Cats, the Ixan 31st Mechanized, and the Lurian 7th Legion, with assistance from Poor Company and Darkhorse mercenaries, managed to effectively decapitate the defender's command structure during the initial assault three weeks ago. Any organized resistance should have evaporated almost immediately afterwards, but militia forces continue to stymie any attempt at a second breakthrough and the longer the fighting goes on, the more of the city gets reduced to gilded rubble and the smaller our reward gets.

Intelligence reports that the secret to the defenders' stubborn success is a small detachment of Ironmonger military advisors hired by the Guild Lords of Andizhan, who are training and coordinating militia forces from an unknown location within the city. It is the decision of Bastard High Command that rather than sweep the city with conventional forces and risk alerting the advisors going to ground or escaping off-world, to deploy a Blackguard death squad to track them down and capture them if feasible. If not, terminate them with extreme prejudice. We have unconfirmed reports that other rival merc units may be at large in the city, backers unknown.[/ic]

[sparkletwist]

I'm in. And not just because it's my system. :grin:

[Lmns Crn]

I'd love to be a part of this.

[Humabout]

This is intriguing.  When do you plan on holding sessions?

[Steerpike]

Are you envisioning this as a one-shot/brief series of games, or an ongoing game?

[Rhamnousia]

I'm thinking a brief game or two to see how things work, but if people like it it could certainly morph into a longer campaign. One of the advantages of the military fiction genre is, like your Tenebrous game, it's pretty easy to justify people jumping in and out of it.

[Steerpike]

Sounds good!  If there's room and/or if the timing worked out, I'd participate for sure.

[Xathan]

If this is still a thing and there's room, I'm so there.

[Rhamnousia]

Sorry for the long wait you guys, this is still very much a thing. Character will be created using 25 points in Skills and 2 Special Abilities. And not to cramp anyone's style here, but the Bastards are canonically like 70 percent female-identified, so yeah.

[ic=Skills]
Athletics - Physical tasks. Moving quickly, dodging ranged attacks, lifting, and so on.
Melee - Fighting physically, whether it's fists or swords, or defending against the same.
Ranged - Making attacks from a distance, whether it is guns, thrown weapons, or whatever.
Perception - Knowing what's going on. Spotting things that are amiss.
Charm - Talking to and getting to know people in a generally agreeable fashion.
Medicine - Patching up wounds, healing stress, and diagnosing illnesses.
Mechanics - Fixing (or sabotaging) mechanical or electronic systems.
Persuasion - Being a bit less agreeable. Presence, leadership or outright intimidation.
Deceit - Lying, cheating, and stealing. Also covers hiding and sneaking.
Knowledge - Science, lore, or whatever the character is good at.
Occult - Having a sense of that which is beyond. Useful to resist (and maybe cast) magic.
Willpower - Enduring and surviving, and otherwise dealing with hardship.
Vehicle - Operating a car, driving a carriage, or anything else involving a steering wheel.[/ic]

[ic=Special Abilities]
Athleticism (Requires Athletics 3) - It'd be easier to outrun your bullets. You get a +2 bonus to all Athletics rolls. You can increase this bonus to +2d6 for your next roll by spending an AP.
Berserker (Requires Melee 3) - You can go into a combat frenzy, during which time all of your melee attacks and maneuvers get a +2 bonus, as well as intimidation attempts using Persuasion, Willpower rolls to shrug off adverse effects, and other such things that would be aided by being in a berserk frenzy. In addition, no matter how badly you miss, you can always spend an AP to hit with a negative complication, which should be related to your frenzy. However, the frenzy ends when the combat does; it cannot be turned off at-will, and skills like Knowledge, Charm, and Deceit have a -5 penalty while it is active.
Center of Attention - You really shine when you are the star of the show. As long as you're the center of attention, you get +d6 on all your rolls.
Deathsinger (Requires Performance 3) - You've mastered the weird, wailing art of the deathsong. Once per scene, as a full-round action, you can make a Performance-based attack that inflicts d6 Stress against every enemy in hearing range.
Divine Favor - The terrible goddesses of the Rim leer favorably at you. If you spend an AP and pray (or perform some other suitable ritual) for a short time, you can roll an extra d6 on the skill of your choice for the rest of the scene.
Extra Awesome - You gain 1 AP at the beginning of every play session, in addition to whatever other AP you might gain.
Fierce Attack - You attack powerfully and without hesitation. Your weapon damage die is one size larger. In addition, on a successful hit, you can spend an AP to add +5 damage or add an automatic combat maneuver.
Hexes (Requires Occult 3) - You are versed in a range of petty but useful witcheries. You can make combat maneuvers using your Occult skill, usually opposed by Willpower, but sometimes by the enemy's own Occult.
Jane of All Trades - You have a wide range of abilities, but are master of none. You get a +2 bonus on any skill roll made with 1 die, and a +1 bonus on those made with 2 or 3 dice.
Maneuver Master - Nobody puts the maneuver in "by fire and maneuver" quite like you do. All combat maneuvers you attempt get a +2 bonus, and a successful maneuver can, at your option, also deal d4 damage.
Meritorious - You're exceptionally decorated, even for a Blackguard. You get an extra 5 points worth of merits.
Natural Charisma (Requires Charm 3) - You get a +2 bonus to all Charm rolls. You can increase this bonus to +2d6 for your next roll by spending an AP.
Needle Man (Requires Medicine 3) - You have a grisly affinity for anatomy and know just where to strike to turn the whole thing off, adding a plus +2 bonus to your melee attacks only.
Rocknrolla (Requires Ranged 3) - You drown your foes in a sea of hot lead. You can make a ranged attack with your primary weapon against every enemy within range, but must spend the next round reloading before you can attack again.
Simple Soul (Requires Willpower 3) - You are not affected by the esoteric, subtle effects of magic. Attempts to resist enemy magic get a +5 bonus, and you can use Willpower even if you'd normally have to use Occult.
Sleight of Hand (Requires Deceit 3) - You can make combat maneuvers using your Deceit skill, usually opposed by Perception, but sometimes by the enemy's own Deceit.
Sneak Attack (Requires Sleight of Hand) - As long as it is plausible you could go unnoticed, before your attack, you can make a simple roll with Deceit vs. an enemy's Perception. If you succeed, you can immediately roll your attack with +2d6 and use one die size larger than normal for damage. However, failing the initial simple roll instead gives the enemy a +2d6 bonus to defense, or a -7 penalty against a static target number.
Toughness (Requires Willpower 3) - You are remarkably difficult to kill. Enemy hits have their damage reduced by one die size, and enemies can never score critical hits or get a damage bonus for your bad dodge roll]. Pests rolling a d2 simply cannot damage you at all.
Vision (Requires Perception 3) - Eyes like Nemesis herself. You get a +2 bonus to all Perception rolls. You can increase this bonus to +2d6 for your next roll by spending an AP.
Wire Rat (Requires Mechanics 3) - Never a crossed wire. You get a +2 bonus to all Mechanics rolls. You can increase this bonus to +2d6 for your next roll by spending an AP.[//ic]

If there's a concept you desperately want to play out, I could certainly amend the list to accommodate it. Details on the game itself and a Doodle to work out a suitable time for everybody will be coming shortly.

[Xathan]

Figured I'd start posting my character because I'm pumped. :)

[ic=Ulima "Dafuq" Amegopha]

Ulima is a child of the Bastards, that much is clear. Exactly what she is, however, is up to much speculation. She was found in the middle of buttfuck nowhere space, a weird cult-colony on a low gravity world orbiting a pulsar, comprised of nuhus from across the known spheres. Most of the nuhus died when the Bastards showed up, suiciding themselves against the flak storm. Others ran.

Ulima was left behind.

Kept by the Bastards out of sheer curiosity, the infant Ulima was obviously something strange, which meant she barely stood out. Vaguely human shaped, best theory about her is that she's what happens when dozens of different nuhus have crazy cult sex for generations while being bombarded by radiation and injecting themselves with mutagens and local parasites. As an adult, she stands about six feet tall on double-jointed legs that end in clawed talons. Her skin is a pale, near albino white, and her eyes – a total of 11, five on each side of her head and a larger, cyclopean affair in the center of her forehead – are a mixture of red, gold, and blue. From her back sprout five radially spaced tentacles, each one splitting at the tip into smaller affairs for more delicate manipulation. Her hair is knotted into dreadlocks, each one died a different color.

[Actual history and stats coming soon]
[/ic]

[Rhamnousia]

So, I'm relaunching my aborted attempt at running a Bastards game. Is anybody still interested in participating?

[Weave]

Depending on scheduling, I'm so down for this.

[Steerpike]

My schedule these days is not great, but I'd love to participate if the timing is right.

[Rhamnousia]

The more (and soberer) I read that blurb, the less I like it, but everything else so far is pretty much ironclad. Are people familiar enough with how FATE character creation works, or would they like me to post a sample character profile?

Also, I'm open to suggestions for your unit name. It should ideally sounds like a cross between an illegal CIA death squad and a riot grrrl band.

[Rose-of-Vellum]

I like the mission update, Superbright. If you're still planning on running this, and I'm free when the rest of the group is, I'd like to play.

A sample character would be nice. I'm not very familiar with FATE, so I've been doing some reading.

As for a unit name, here's three quick suggestions:

Norsupyssy: IRL, another name for an "elephant gun". Might fit since the elite unit is about being able to penetrate targets lesser units cannot/hunting more dangerous game.

Bulldyker's Brides: Beyond other relevant connotations, bulldyker is an alleged nickname/derivitive of Boudicca.

Coffin-Cats: Or some similar alternative like dirge-cats, casket-cats, etc.