Metal Catgear Solid

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

What I played . . .

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

. . . what I expected . . .

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

. . . what I got

Game Concept

It is 20XX and the world is at war. Not the big wars of fiction pitting tank corps against tank corps on massive frontages, but dirty little intercine conflicts as the world collapses under the pressures of continued globalism, nationalism, capitalism, socialism, accelerationism, conservatism and a dozen other -isms, all fueled by advanced technology. What will the Earth be like when it emerges from this? Nobody knows, certainly not you. You are the ghosts of small wars, built or rebuilt to fight, and expected to die for your masters advantage. Instead you found common cause.

Survivors of a mission that was supposed to end in your death as part of an international power game that barely makes sense, now you are soldiers without borders, working for the only cause that makes sense: yourselves.

Character Creation

Archetype

All characters have an Archetype. This is what is special about them and their core competencies (beyond shooting people, anyhow). In addition to skills and skill points, archetypes also grant Affinities; these multiply the effect from spending character generation points on the field in question.

Supersoldier

The simplest and most familiar archetype is the Supersoldier. These men and women are highly-trained and highly-skilled, often the veterans of elite national military formations. With minds and bodies honed to razor edges, they are in effect living weapons and are home on the battlefields of Sudan as they are of Camden, New Jersey. Many will have picked up some minor cybernetic ugprades or replacements.

Skill Points: ?

Attribute Affinity: 4

Skill Affinity: 2

Cybernetic Affinity: 2

Equipment Affinity: 2

Power Affinity: 1

Themed Superpower

Nobody is quite sure what to make of these - unscientific nonsense like telepathy, unnatural luck, the ability to speak to animals or the dead . . . some people speak of nanomachines, others of ancient mysticism, still others of recessive and dominant genes. Most simply consider them mass delusions of the battlefield, especially since they seem to difficult to capture on recording devices. They may even be right.

Skill Points: ?

Attribute Affinity: 3

Skill Affinity: 1

Cybernetic Affinity: 1

Equipment Affinity: 1

Power Affinity: 4

Cyborg

Cyborgization (also known as mechanization or simply 'borging) has become a mature science by 2050 and many fighters - and wannabe fighters - have replaced much if not all of their bodies with machinery. These posthuman warriors are stronger and faster than any meat body, but they are also often unfit for civilized company - it is all but impossible to disguise the fact that one is a 'borg.

Skill Points: ?

Attribute Affinity: 2

Skill Affinity: 1

Cybernetic Affinity: 4

Equipment Affinity: 1

Power Affinity: 0

Hardsuit Pilot

Using much of the same mechanical technology as cyborgs, hardsuits are armored exoskeletons, ranging from power armor to miniature multiped AFVs. Most carry heavier weapons and stronger armor than regular foot toops, at the price of being bulkier than cyborgs and requiring more dedicated training to use. More importantly, you can walk into a bar without having half a dozen guns pointed at you.

Skill Points: ?

Attribute Affinity: 2

Skill Affinity: 1

Cybernetic Affinity: 1

Equipment Affinity: 1 (5 Hardsuit)

Power Affinity: 0

Spook

Sppooks are the knowledge brokers, the intelligence operatives and shady characters that surround and bind together the myriad conflict zones of the 21st century. Some operate entirely from the shadows, others fight from the front lines with their own pet drones.

Skill Points: ?

Attribute Affinity: 2

Skill Affinity: 3

Cybernetic Affinity: 1

Equipment Affinity: 2

Power Affinity: 1

In Depth

Powers

The source and nature of Powers is intentionally left unclear; they are meant to represent both the concrete superpowers found in fiction and the mythmaking, exagerration and 'I knew a guy'-ing that happens in real life; for example it is obvious that a man, no matter how beefy, cannot carry and shoot half a ton of Vulcan cannon and ammunition. However, with the appropriate Power, he can - and perhaps later, when the official records are written, it turns out it wasn't a Vulcan cannon at all, but a .50 caliber machinegun, and he only fired it in single shot. But for those there on the battlefield, it was a Vulcan. And that is what matters. Don't sweat if it's consensual hallucination, badly-edited memoirs or reality warping - it just is.

With this in mind, an important element for Powers is Banality - how likely your power is to work, based on the general acceptance of those around you to bullshit. Banality (at least in MCS terms) generally correlates inversely with proximity to fighting, with first-world cities full of those who've internalized the processes of informed skepticism highest of all - not to mention ubiquitous streaming Youtube uploads. Banality affects the blatantly implausible the most (gratuitous superstrength, necromancy, etc), affecting the merely unusual less if at all (surviving a surprising number of bullets, escape artistry).

Powers are also Themed - one does not get to simply pick a smorgasbord of whatever seems cool. Everyone with Powers must select one - and only one - Theme and can then select powers from that Theme. This limitation exists because MCS is not a superhero game, but a war game - Powers are simply one facet of that, not the focus.

Themes (incomplete!)

Minor

The Minor theme is a grab-bag of 'peak human' abilities; things that stretch the boundaries of just what humans can do, but do not break them. All of the powers from the Minor theme suffer from little to no penalty due to Banality.

Associated Powers: Snake Eating, Peak Sense, Healing, Hunch, Suppressed Presence

Superhumanity

This theme is mainly concerned with blatantly superhuman feats of athleticism.

Associated Powers: Peak Sense, Healing, Regeneration, Superstrength, Superspeed, Superjump, Limit Break, Iron Shirt

Animal Ken

Animal Kinship is a theme that centers around man's relation to animals, though it also includes the adoption of some animals traits as well.

Associated Powers: Peak Sense, Hunch, Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals, Empower Beast, Snake Eating, Beastial Form, Suppressed Presence

Mysticism

With this theme, the sublime and mysterious powers of the supernatural are yours to command - sometimes, for a price.

Associated Powers: Precognition, Illusion, Necromancy, Spirit Speech, Possession, Ressurection, Lay Hands

Psychic

This powerful and versatile theme offers a variety of mental powers at a high risk of Banality and mental illness.

Associated Powers: Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, Precognition, Suggestion/Dominate, Telepathy, Mind Read, Illusion, Hunch, Limit Break

True Faith

You are clearly the inheritors of the crusading spirit - or a modern day Saladin.

Associated Powers: Ressurection, Lay Hands, Animal Friendship, Conversion, Iron Shirt, Synergy

Martial Arts

Orientalism is alive and well with this theme of powers imported from the highest peaks of the Himalayas.

Associated Powers: Chi Balance, Iron Shirt, Peak Sense, Healing, Regeneration, Chi Blast, Snake Eating, Superjump