Smoke and Mirrors

Background

The world didn't end in 1968, or 2012, or 2020. Or at any date when it was predicted to end. But always, doomsday seemed to be creeping ever-closer. First it was the threat of nuclear Armageddon, then the threat of bioweapons, and then and most damning, the threat of economic collapse and a depression to end all depressions.

But humanity was strong, and has survived despite the rot at its core, a rot that had been festering for thousands of years. There are those who seek to end the world, and those who seek to preserve it. This shadow war has been fought for uncountable millenia between groups that have stayed hidden in the shadows. But as 2038 draws closer, this battle has finally spilled into the streets. Gangs of cultists duke it out with paramilitary commandoes. Creatures that were once human, enhanced by grafts from extradimensional beings, stalk the streets, fighting to preserve what they have willingly sacrificed, or fighting to destroy what they can no longer have.

The masquerade is wearing thin, and the war is being revealed for all to see.

Choose your side.

Setting

BosWash Conurbation, formerly owned by America, Incorporated. Made of towering skyscrapers and idyllic suburbs, it is sterile and perhaps the closest thing one can get to utopia in this world, but that merely lets the citizens inside ignore the horrible poverty of the outside. Outside the fences and automated guard turrets there are the slums, the secondary economy of criminals, prostitutes, and vagrants who came here to find riches and ended up becoming one of the dregs of society. Although life was never good, rumors of horrible things have been spreading recently, and slum-dwellers have been going missing, one by one. The police don't care, and if anything have gotten more hostile to the poor lately.

It all comes down to the Umbrella, a protective dome being grown over BosWash by experimental nanotech to protect from ultraviolet radiation. Designed to be selectively permeable to most types of radiation, it would mean that people could finally walk out in the open without requiring high-SPF sunscreen or getting horrible cancers and disfigurements. Of course, there is a cloud for every silver lining, and there are prophecies of an "Undying God" which will rise again once "the sun sets forever upon the dead heart of a nation's power". And what is BosWash but a new the capitol of the defunct United States? Vague as the prophecies are, preventing them from coming true is your job.

You are invisible warriors, fighting an invisible war against a foe which seeks nothing less than to resurrect a god.

Conspiracies

Ever since ancient times, men and women have banded together to fight the unknown, the creatures that lurk in the darkness. Over time the knowledge has become codified, these groups have become more effective, and they have disappeared deeper into the shadows, as not to alarm the ones who are unwilling or unable to deal with the reality of the situation. And as this has gone on, they have become ever more like the foe they fight, skulking in the shadows, using unsavory tactics, hiding from a populace which would not be able to tell the difference between destroyer and savior. But protection requires sacrifice, and there are still those who are willing and able to make that sacrifice.

Origins

Smoke and Mirrors: Origins

Mechanics

Smoke and Mirrors: Mechanics

Assets

Agents

Agents are the people in your organization who go far, far above and beyond the call of duty. They are heroic figures who don't die easily and are much more likely to accomplish a mission. Although your personnel can be trained, equipped, and given duties, Agents generally do them far, far better. Agents make better use of equipment, are less likely to be discovered, and far less likely to get killed off than mooks are. Given the expenses of items such as arcanotechnology, relics, and advanced armory equipment, Agents are far more likely to recieve high-end equipment.

Combat Agents

Dutch. John Matrix. Rambo. Jack Bauer. You know combat agents by many names. Every one of them is an investment to be treasured, and will mow down fields of mooks. Combat Agents specialize in kicking ass, whether it's with knives or with a suit of power armor and a rocket launcher in each hand.

Combat Agents can carry up to 2 weapons, 1 armor, and 3 miscellaneous items. They have no limit to implants or specialized training.

Intelligence Agents

James Bond. Sam Fisher. Solid Snake. Altair, even. Intelligence Agents are much better than normal spies at infiltrating enemy hideouts and foiling their plans. However, if caught in a fight most of them can handle themselves fairly well, and have significant combat ability of their own. They make excellent espionage agents, as well as deadly assassins.

Intelligence Agents can be given 1 weapon, 1 armor, and 3 miscellaneous items. They also do not have implant or training limits.

Personnel

Personnel are your lifeblood. Although Agents are far more powerful, they are also much rarer. Personnel can play multiple roles, and a compact without personnel is one that will soon collapse. Personnel can be assigned to duties, each of which has a requisite of support staff-personnel assigned to support staff cannot be assigned to a role.

Jobs

Smoke and Mirrors: Personnel Jobs

Special Skills

Smoke and Mirrors: Special Skills

Equipment

Equipment is used to give your mooks something to fight with. Bare hands versus horrible extradimensional claws is generally not a winning prospect. Equipment can be bought, or it can be produced. 1 Production can produce 1 wealth worth of equipment, however it only costs 2 wealth to use 3 units of production. Therefore, producing your own equipment has a notable cost advantage. Furthermore, equipment that is produced does not suffer from black market markups.

Personal Equipment

Smoke and Mirrors: Personal Equipment

Vehicles

Smoke and Mirrors: Vehicles

Facilities

An organization needs facilities to function. Facilities are bought like just about anything, and house your infrastructure as well as other equipment. Facilities require security, so too many of them will spread you thin. Too few, and you put many eggs in one basket.

Warehouses (cost 10): Warehouses are fairly cheap facilities built on cheap land. They are fairly good places to store things relatively discreetly, although excessive activity inside may cause suspicion.

Workshop (cost 25): A workshop is a place where people work. Workshops are differentiated from factories owned by front companies because they are generally run by people who know that they're hunting monsters for a living.

Business (cost 25): Whether they have a cover story or operate out of a shady alleyway, businesses generally house your illegal wealth infrastructure.

Laboratories (cost 30): Labs are used for R&D, which generally means dissecting live examples of extradimensional beings for fun and profit. Analysts double as lab workers, which is unrealistic but we're already looking at this in very high detail.

Clinics (cost 30): Clinics are useful for recovering agents. You can send them to regular hospitals but most wounds in the line of duty are going to be very unusual and draw attention.

Safehouses (cost 10): A safehouse is a place to stay that'll let you keep yourself from being discovered before the heat dies down.

Special Traits

Smoke and Mirrors: Special Traits