new RPG we are running!

Adam and I have made up an RPG. It looks like people think it will be fun. I am posting the rules (such as they are) here so I can have a permanent link on the game blog. Just in case players loose the rules email they'll get.

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Welcome to Department λ. This is an online RPG played using time-consuming skills week on week by email and quick time skills in live time sessions over the Internet using Roger Wilco.

Adam and I will be your GMs taking the role of the Department by weeks and Agents by live sessions.

Useful links for the game:

Email -

departmentlambda@googlemail.com

Blog -

http://departmentlambda.blogspot.com

Roger Wilco voice comms -

http://rogerwilco.gamespy.com/products/downloads/rw_win_dload.html

Game Table for dice rolling -

http://gametable.galactanet.com/

Character Gen.
Please make up your character using the following information. There is a good chance we have forgotten something, or our descriptions are unclear, so please ask if you have any questions.

You will need a CallSign

Each Controller has six skills;

Hacking – operation time-scale >2hours. This is your personal ability to extract data on a subject by hacking.
Programming – operation time-scale >2hours. Your personal ability to program solutions which can be used during a live operation. To erase a HHD, corrupt specific data, copy-cat email...
Engineering – operation time-scale = minutes to hours. During a live operation your ability to assess electronic (or otherwise) gadgets, locks, machines etc. You can give direction to Agents on disarming, unlocking, perverting etc. these items. Can be used to plan out engineering solutions to problems you expect to face.
Contacts – operation time >2hrs. The people you know who can give you information.
Command – operation time Tactics / Combat co-ordination – operation time = minutes to hours. You can plan out an operation given the correct data on location, operating Agents etc. You can also visualise comprehensively an operation in progress and come up with on the spot solutions.

You will start with 3d6 in each of these (this is Basic Level for a skill and is the minimum you can have)

We give you 5d6 to split over the skills. There are no limits on this – you can start with one skill at 8d6 and the rest at Basic Level.

These are the only things you need to do to make a character. Once you have a callsign and skills assigned, email that information back to departmentlambda@googlemail.com

Using skills
When you are using a skill to achieve an objective we will assign a target number of successes. These successes can be gained over a succession of days, so long as you make no other dice roll between those successive dice rolls. If you need to make cumulative dice rolls, the target number will increase for each attempt by one or more successes.

[example; Shadow is attempting to hack into a corporation building for detailed maps of their security systems. She emails deparmentlambda on day 1 to inform us of her activity and is spending all day on this task using her 7d6 in hacking. departmentlambda issues an email informing her that she needs a total of 8 successes to get that information, that she has been unsuccessful today but is making some headway. Shadow decides that she wants to continue this hack on day 2 using all of her dice and informs us. On day 2 departmentlambda informs her that she will now need a total of 9 successes to get that information and that she has some limited data gathered, but not the complete information she wanted. Shadow considers taking the hack into day three, estimating the difficulty will increase to 10 successes required but decides instead to take this limited data so she can undertake further activity this week on other things. She emails departmentlambda to this effect and we send her the information she has gathered.]

Collaboration with the Department – if you want you may work closely with the Department on a line of enquiry. This involves full disclosure of your findings and will lead to results posted at the Blog, but will give a dice pool equal to your skill plus the number of DD you wish to spend.

Game Play
Plot seeds will be posted at departmentlambda.blogspot.com. Use these as inspiration for questions and research you think might be required. You have two options for research;

ONE – email a notification to departmentlambda@googlemail.com that you are working on a line of enquiry using your own skill. Describe the enquiry, indicate to us how much of your skill you want to spend on this investigation. You can spend all of your skill on one enquiry, or split your dice over two or more enquiries in any day. You will receive a result privately to your email. Your dice pool will refresh each day at midnight.

TWO - email a requisition for information from the Department. Describe the information you require and indicate how many of the Department Dice you wish to spend from the pool of Department Dice available to you for any assignment. You will receive a result publicly on the Blog.

In both cases information will be issued based on the number of successes we rolled on your behalf.

You may collaborate on investigation (email each other to chat about the game) we do insist though that you Cc departmentlambda@googlemail.com for any correspondence – to avoid any 'by the way... we're in costume and we've stolen a car' moments. You are anonymous, individual operators, so you may not pool dice for the purposes of research. You may, of course, hack/program/contact people in reference to the same things – and will probably get richer information because of it.

Live Time
During Live play you will be working with and through your Agents. You will give them commands and will receive responses directly from them. They will roll dice to determine successes. You may not split your dice pool during livetime – any attempt gets your full attention. Your dice pool will refresh after each attempt.

We will use Game Table for dice rolling and Roger Wilco for communicating.

Department Dice
You will receive a number of Department Dice per scenario. These can be spent on the following things;
Research, using Department resources
Agents with specialised knowledge or skills
Equipment for your Agents

This number will be advertised to you at the onset of an investigation. Spend them wisely.

Department Dice may be cut for future operations if the Department feels that they have been squandered. If prime Agents or equipment are requisitioned and then lost, for example.

Agents
Agents start off with Basic Skill (1-3d6 determined randomly) in the following skills;

Unarmed combat – Basic level, this covers the ability to punch or kick out defensively. Higher levels indicate degrees of skill in formalised unarmed combat disciplines.
Stealth – Basic level, this gives the agent the chance to walk sneakily. Higher levels indicate the ability to perform complex actions more silently, like lock-picking, climbing or hiding.
Awareness/notice – Basic level, they can observe a room for the obvious and relay that information to a Controller. Higher levels indicate particularly observant Agents, or those who can interpret the importance of fuller description of spaces.
Athletics (climbing, lifting, jumping &c) – Basic level, Agents can use ladders; lift moderate weights (up to 25kg or so); will maintain condition during an operation – average adult atheticism. Higher levels indicate particular athleticism; climbing the outside of buildings; having greater strength; exceptional all round fitness – solider/marine level athleticism.
Cyberwear (having it, using it under duress) – Basic level, Agents have two way voice communication hardwear, they can respond vocally with no external indication of doing so. They will be in constant contact using this. Agents also have email delivered to the inside of their eyelids, this can be used to send text or images to the Agents but it will take them a moment to read the data. Agents can take photographs and send them to Controllers via email, this takes a few minutes. Higher levels in this skill indicate an ability to conceal their cyberwear, or having better integrated cyberwear. The maximum number of items of cyberwear an Agent can have is equal to the number of Department Dice spent on this skill.

Requisitioning Agents
Agents will have a unique callsign.

A basic Agent costs 4 Department Dice.
Using further Department Dice Agents can be requisitioned who are competent, specialised or expert in particular skills;
Buying a new Basic Skill costs 1 DD, and gives the Agent 1-3d6 in that skill;

To upgrade from basic;

Buying Competency costs 1 DD, Competency represents 4-6d6;
Specialisation costs 2 DD, Specialisation represents 7-9d6;
Expertise costs 5 DD. Expertise represents 10d6 or higher

These costs are not cumulative. You may buy Specialisation without first buying Competency, for a skill that an Agent currently has at Basic level.

Skills higher than this are not commonly available.
Agents skill levels are determined randomly within the indicated bands.

Equipment for Agents
Equipment can be requisitioned for Agents and will cost Department Dice. Since there are loads of things you might want I will make up a shopping list as we go, based on the things you have asked for in the past.

As an indication;
Sidearms – 1 DD
Automatic firearms – 2 DD
Missiles – 5 DD
Explosives – 3 DD
Medical kits – 1 DD (these come with instructions to count as Basic Skill in Field First Aid. First Aid is a skill that can be bought.)
GPS – 1 DD
Night Vision equipment – 2 DD
Vehicles – 8-12 DD

Any items purchased will require a relevant skill – i.e. Purchasing a Firearm, an Agent will need a Firearm skill to use the weapon.

Any item can be equipped as cyberwear, up to the maximum number of cyberwear items your Agent can have. The relevant skill to the item is always rolled; Firearm skill for guns, Surveillance skill for spy equipment, Lockpicking skill for lock picks &c. Cyberwear skill is only rolled for concealing cyberwear.

XP Dice
You will be awarded XP based on your success in an operation. These can be spent on a one-for-one basis directly after any operation. You will not have a chance to spend them again until after the next operation.

Have fun!

Amy and Adam.