Formally the Tribes thread over on Dumpshock, it is time to breathe some new life into this part of the Seattle shadows!
The
story will principally focus around three tribal groups: the Mechanicals (a technopunk/steampunk tribe that live off scavenged tech and make useful things with it for trade at the Crime Mall etc.), an offshoot ghoul tribe called the Greys (more on them later) and the Fre∑dom Tribe (a mix of technomancer and hacker tribe that provide matrix services, including a bit of pirating software etc.). PCs could be from any of these groups, runners working for them, or possibly even another small Puyallup (or even Seattle) tribe of your own creation (provided there is scope for interaction with the other PCs).
Rather than a traditional ‘run’ with meet, legwork, action and aftermath, I will probably run this as a series of snapshot events that provide a flavour for tribal life in the Puyallup barrens. Character driven events are particularly interesting and I’ll explore those whenever I can! Depending on the number of PCs I might split the game in to sub groups so that it isn’t too unwieldy (at least that’s the plan…).
We have an Obsidian Portal Campaign page which players are encouraged to add to… an example for the tribes can be found
<<here>>Premise:
Things have not gone well for the Puyallup urban tribes in the last few years.
Fre∑dom and the Mechanicals, originally on the edge of the Puyallup barrens and working together to survive the predations of the other more violent locals, have weathered hit and run attacks as well as the daily grind of living in the barrens. They’ve suffered from an inexplicable flu like virus that has laid waste to this area of the barrens and the last straw was when some sick fragger dropped a load of ‘weaponised’ feral ghouls into the centre of town during a summer celebration.
The tribal leaders decided they would be safer deeper into the barrens. Not ones to abandon their kin that meant they could also separate their newest ghoulish members from wider metahumanity. The abandoned town of Orting offered a unique opportunity…on the edge of Hells Kitchen, and too hostile for most squatters, it is close to the Petrowski farms whilst not being too far from the Crime Mall or the junk yards that represent the Mechanicals’ primary livelihood. A decaying geothermal plant overlooks the town, long abandoned following the Crash of ’29, this will become the ‘castle’ to the newest tribal settlement. Around the town itself the tribals have begun to construct walls (having learnt from their mistakes), and their sensor web stretches out beyond the Puyallup river and out on to Hells Kitchen in the other direction.
Character Gen:[spoiler]
Sum to 10. I would prefer characters to be more ‘street’ than optimised killing machines. I’m not going to rigidly enforce that in the rules but as a guide it would be nice to soft cap gear availabilities around 10 and not max out magic or resonance stats.
Note that karma accumulates much more quickly than a typical pbp. In a slight variation to the master OoC (where you get 1 karma and 2000 nuyen per 2 IC posts), I propose (subject to some play testing) that we divide the total IC post count by 2x the number of PCs which equates to more or less the same thing but makes it a cumulative team effort rather than individual.
In addition there are up to 10 karma (+20,000 nuyen) for posts to the Obsidian Portal campaign page. 1 for filling in your character sheet, 2 for detailed back story, 1 for a character sketch or image, and up to 6 for contact or location entries in the wiki.
I’m aiming for a reasonable posting rate of 1-2 posts per week so that we don’t start to outstrip the ‘street’ premise of the game.
Lifestyles are capped at a maximum of ‘low’ and the area outside the Mechanicals complex has the ‘dangerous area’ modifier if you want to live out there. Inside it is a secure area (you get the 20% lifestyle increase as a freebie as I’ve already proven that ‘secure’ is a mutable condition…). Note: you get access to the Local Grid thanks to Fre∑dom’s ingenuity.
Due to the Mechanicals scavenging ‘steampunk’ styling can be applied to any piece of gear for no extra cost, and equally no game effect other than the style of the thing![/spoiler]
Tribes Useful Info:[spoiler]
Established Facts (either IC or otherwise):
Mechanicals
- Tribe Leader: Osha [Oyl], mystic adept and community healer [Connection 3]
- Former Tribe Leader: Spindle, Rat shaman, still lurking around. There are questions about his sanity…
- NPC Tribal Members: Cam, (human adept, tribal enforcer) & Firebox (human mage) are both deceased following the original events in Emerging Tribes 2072. Bit is a dwarven Mechanicals tech
- Tribe Size: Despite recent losses, around 100 people
- Active Combatants: 15-20 adolescents-adults
- Technomancers: Currently 2 (+any PC TMs)
- Mages / Adepts: 4 magic users (+any PC magic users)
- Living Space: The ‘castle’ – a repurposed geothermal plant on the ridge above Orting. Some of the turbines are running again to provide power to the town below. The town itself is mostly abandoned domestic properties. Municipal buildings are the focus points for setting up the hydroponics and green houses and these are roughly barricaded off from the rest of the tribal lands. There is the start of a wall around the whole of the town to keep the scavengers at bay.
- Former Living Space: A series of linked light industrial buildings south of the Puyallup district near Underworld 93. Typically the ground floors/ basements were devoted to working spaces with upper floors handed over to cellular living spaces that are continually evolving. Roof top gardens / green houses were rigorously protected as they were a prime target for neighbouring groups.
- History: Started around 16 years ago.
- Example Tribe Handles:
Spindle, Cam, Firebox, Fender, Piston(s), Boiler, Driveshaft, Sprogget, Spring, Flywheel, Cog, Cylinder, Rocker, Bearing, Treadle, Mech, Bit, Hobber, Plane, Mill, Gouge, Theodolite, Ratchet, Gear, Pendulum, Pinion… anything old world mechanical/clockwork [Struck through have been used in the IC previously but that’s not to say they couldn’t be used again, or a variant of them]
Fre∑dom Tribe
- Tribe Leader: Prospero, Mundane Hacker, [Connection 4], virtual reality lifestyle, living in the back of a truck trailer in the basement of the old mall. Rarely meets anyone in the flesh, even his own tribe members.
- NPC Tribal Members: Jazz, technomancer, enforcer, Nimbus: Tribe security, Ashes: Tribe comms, Briar, decker, eBreeze: Matronly techno guild head
- Tribe Size: Around 30 members currently
- Active Combatants: 10-15 adolescents-adults
- Technomancers: Currently 9 technomancers of various streams (+any PC TMs)
- Mages / Adepts: 3 magic users (+any PC magic users)
- Living Space: The old South Hill Mall was once their home after they turfed out the thrill gang (the Spined Drakes) that had been resident there before that. Now they are sharing space with the Mechanicals whilst maintaining a hidden presence at the mall
- Matrix Architecture: They have a single host based on a converted nexus in Prospero’s trailer which is sculpted as a tropical island paradise. There is a resonance well lurking somewhere in the mall with rumours of something more…
- History: The Tribe began life around 2070, initially as a staging post / clearing house for people who were recruited or wanted to join the Transhumanist group, the Stillwater Community on the eastern edge of the Redmond Barrens. They sought to distance themselves when Stillwater was attacked by merc forces and subsequently came under intense scrutiny by the metroplex authorities.
In April ’72 the group lived on the edge of the Redmond Barrens before being targeted by TM hunters. Several members were captured (and experimented on) by Sintec. Many more were killed. The Balefire runner team broke the captives out and returned them to the tribe. The tribe relocated to Puyallup on the word of a TM
Oracle called Summer. They dislodged a gang from the mall called the Spined Drakes who later came seeking revenge, backed (or led) by a group of Dissonant TMs who seemed to be hunting for Summer
[/list]
The Greys
- Tribe Leader: Cam, formerly a Mechanicals enforcer
- NPC Tribal Members: none so far
- Tribe Size: 12 sentient members, 6 brain damaged members
- Active Combatants: all of them!
- Technomancers: None
- Mages / Adepts: 2 magic users (+any PC magic users)
- Living Space: Abandoned houses on the edge of Orting
- History: When the Mechanicals were attacked in ’75 by the ‘weaponised’ ghouls, there were inevitably a spread of infection. Rather than abandon their kin, the Mechanicals persuaded the ghouls to come with them when they relocated to Orting. They now form a first line of defence for the tribe
[/spoiler]
So some food for thought, please feel free to ask any questions!