Jasonchu
GMing way too much~
tl;dr: sci-fi detective game with eldritch horror accents and players in both cooperative and competitive roles.
Terminal Velocity is a Sci-Fi Corporate Noir set in the far flung future where corporations have replaced nations and governments, and inter-stellar travel is as common as international flights are in modern day. Each player acts as an investigator from one of the major corporations that essentially rule the known universe as a corporate oligarchy.
Players have three branches of character advancement which come from each of the corps: Cybernetic Implants designed by Cyberco, Genetic Modifications developed by NuU (Neaumann und Unterbrink, but pronounced “New You”), and Eldritch Imbuements harnessed by The Judas Society. As a highly paid professional, you can afford to get advantages from other corps than the one you work for, however, this is not advised. All three advantages mess with your head, but mixing them is worse since they lessen each other's effectiveness. Cybernetic Implants attack Genetic Modifications and interfere with the flow of Eldritch Imbuements, making them less effective. Genetic Modifications change the body in ways Cybernetic Implants aren't designed for and make the body more prone to mutation from Eldritch Imbuements, increasing botch chance for injuries. Lastly, Eldritch Imbuements corrupt the programming of Cybernetic Implants and taint the tissue of Genetic Modifications, increasing botch chance for malfunctions.
By themselves they can get bad enough. As you become less human and more machine, you will find your emotions becoming muted and your concern for human life being boiled down to simple numbers and equations. As your genetic code strays further and further from what it was, you will begin to have alien thoughts, feelings, and impulses. And as you delve deeper and deeper into the secrets of impossible geometry and the beings that live between the stars and in other dimensions, you will start to lose your grasp on sanity and become more deranged, obsessed, and paranoid.
You start off with one Advantage from one of the three categories, which also shows which of the three corps you work for. The system revolves around investigation, a bit of combat mixed in, and with social interaction being RP (I do rolls for combat, but not social interaction), so the better designed and more believable a lie is the more it’s believed (lies to NPCs must be labled, lies to PCs need a PM sent to me to inform me that it's a lie). Characters don't have their own stats, only what is given to them by their advantages, so being able to tell someone’s lying is either detected by an implant/mutation/imbuement or is just guessed at by the player. The exception to this is Merits and Flaws, which show a notable advantage or disadvantage the character naturally has, such as being absolutely ripped, a total genius, or a huge klutz.
Social Merits and Flaws are usually not allowed as this would require the player to act accordingly, but there are exceptions such as being particularly beautiful or having a bad reputation and other things that can affect first impressions or reputation, but not how elegantly you talk, how pedantic you sound, etc.
As the investigation twists and turns, things will inevitably start to come crumbling down until a final confrontation happens that not everyone gets to walk away from. After that we will either start a new game or advance this one, revealing hidden truths that take the case to a whole new level.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Terminal Velocity is a Sci-Fi Corporate Noir set in the far flung future where corporations have replaced nations and governments, and inter-stellar travel is as common as international flights are in modern day. Each player acts as an investigator from one of the major corporations that essentially rule the known universe as a corporate oligarchy.
Players have three branches of character advancement which come from each of the corps: Cybernetic Implants designed by Cyberco, Genetic Modifications developed by NuU (Neaumann und Unterbrink, but pronounced “New You”), and Eldritch Imbuements harnessed by The Judas Society. As a highly paid professional, you can afford to get advantages from other corps than the one you work for, however, this is not advised. All three advantages mess with your head, but mixing them is worse since they lessen each other's effectiveness. Cybernetic Implants attack Genetic Modifications and interfere with the flow of Eldritch Imbuements, making them less effective. Genetic Modifications change the body in ways Cybernetic Implants aren't designed for and make the body more prone to mutation from Eldritch Imbuements, increasing botch chance for injuries. Lastly, Eldritch Imbuements corrupt the programming of Cybernetic Implants and taint the tissue of Genetic Modifications, increasing botch chance for malfunctions.
By themselves they can get bad enough. As you become less human and more machine, you will find your emotions becoming muted and your concern for human life being boiled down to simple numbers and equations. As your genetic code strays further and further from what it was, you will begin to have alien thoughts, feelings, and impulses. And as you delve deeper and deeper into the secrets of impossible geometry and the beings that live between the stars and in other dimensions, you will start to lose your grasp on sanity and become more deranged, obsessed, and paranoid.
You start off with one Advantage from one of the three categories, which also shows which of the three corps you work for. The system revolves around investigation, a bit of combat mixed in, and with social interaction being RP (I do rolls for combat, but not social interaction), so the better designed and more believable a lie is the more it’s believed (lies to NPCs must be labled, lies to PCs need a PM sent to me to inform me that it's a lie). Characters don't have their own stats, only what is given to them by their advantages, so being able to tell someone’s lying is either detected by an implant/mutation/imbuement or is just guessed at by the player. The exception to this is Merits and Flaws, which show a notable advantage or disadvantage the character naturally has, such as being absolutely ripped, a total genius, or a huge klutz.
Social Merits and Flaws are usually not allowed as this would require the player to act accordingly, but there are exceptions such as being particularly beautiful or having a bad reputation and other things that can affect first impressions or reputation, but not how elegantly you talk, how pedantic you sound, etc.
As the investigation twists and turns, things will inevitably start to come crumbling down until a final confrontation happens that not everyone gets to walk away from. After that we will either start a new game or advance this one, revealing hidden truths that take the case to a whole new level.
Let me know if you have any questions!
