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Stock #: DOJHERO600
ISBN: 1-58366-036-4
256 pages, Trade Paperback, Perfect Bound
Retail: $31.99
Author: Steven S. Long
Artists: Storn Cook (cover), various (interior)
Available Now!
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Dark Champions
for the HERO System 5th Edition is an excellent genre book with detailed and comprehensive
coverage of many aspects of game play that are of incalculable value to a GM and
playgroup interested in playing a MetaCyber campaign, and it is assumed that this
setting would be implemented using the rules and content provided therein, adapted
as necessary.
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Though it has some influence from the superhero and science fiction genres, MetaCyber
is principally a gritty action adventure game, and is most ably expressed as a Dark
Champions campaign. This document simply describes how the information contained
in Dark Champions can be used in the context of a MetaCyber campaign chapter by
chapter.
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CHAPTER 1: GENRE
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Though excellent material, this section is high level genre concepts and is of minimal
direct use to a MetaCyber campaign, though the Elements section starting on page
23 is handy for GM's as useful things to keep in mind.
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CHAPTER 2: CHARACTER DESIGN INFORMATION
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The basic information in Chapter 2 is very relevant to a MetaCyber campaign, though
some adjustment might be necessary to suit the setting. Any section not noted below
is assumed to be used completely unchanged.
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CHARACTER BACKGROUNDS
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All of the character backgrounds listed in Dark Champions can provide good fodder
for MetaCyber character backgrounds.
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- Intelligence: Most Security Forces (Sec Forces), almost all government
military organizations, security consultants, and industry thinktanks employ and
in some cases train people for Intelligence roles in the MetaCyber setting.
- Law Enforcement: In the PacFed region Law Enforcement is privatized
in the form of security companies and Sec Forces, while other nations such as the
New Confederacy, still have state funded Law Enforcement. Many military and paramilitary
organizations also have some equivalent to Law Enforcement roles.
- Martial Arts: Fighting arts of all sorts are commonly practiced, particularly
in the Pacific rim.
- Military: As noted previously there are a multitude of military, paramilitary,
Sec Forces, privatized armies, and merc groups that could produce characters with
some form of Military background.
- Criminal: Reformed or not, there is a good deal of organized crime,
particularly Asian themed groups such as the Yakuza and the Triads.
- Self Trained: There is a good deal of latitude for characters that
are either self-trained or fell into a line of work by circumstances and fate.
- Student: Education is not as automatic of an assumption as it once
was and it is quite expensive; most people get their advanced educations via a binding
contract with a sponsoring corporation. However failed students are fairly common,
and at least some fall into exciting lives filled with danger and adventure.
- Survivor: This background is as feasible as it ever is and can work
especially well for characters that start play with a lot of Cybernetics; they survived
some ordeal at the cost of their humanity.
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PACKAGE DEALS
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The Package Deals in Dark Champions are largely usable with some logical adjustments
in a MetaCyber campaign. Packages requiring special consideration are mentioned
below:
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- Cat Burglar: Electronics and general computing knowledge would prove
useful.
- Hacker: Almost always will have some variation on the "What a
Cool Laptop" ability, which will often represent some kind of NET terminal.
Many Hackers also have some cerebral Cybernetics, particularly a data link.
- Terrorist: change name to Corporate Saboteur; modify Knowledge Skills
to suit.
- Police Officer: change name to Sec Force Grunt; modify Knowledge Skills
to suit.
- BATF Agent: change name to Gunrunner; modify Knowledge Skills to suit,
drop Law Enforcement Perk.
- DEA Agent: change name to Drug runner; modify Knowledge Skills to
suit, drop Law Enforcement Perk
- FBI Agent: change name to Senior Security Consultant; modify Knowledge
Skills to suit.
- Secret Services Agent: change name to Corporate Financial Security
Consultant; modify Knowledge Skills to suit, replace Law Enforcement Perk with Corporate
Stature and replace Professional Skills with PS: Accountant and PS: Collections
Agent.
- Various Special Forces Packages: Usable for a broad variety of character
backgrounds; simply rename as appropriate to the role they are being used in.
- Vigilante: rename to Street Talent, modify or drop Psychological Limitation.
This Package does a good job of simulating a Runner that got their start on the
streets without some more formal background training to call on.
- Any Package not specifically noted is basically usable as is or with minor tweaking
which should be obvious.
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SKILLS
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Dark Champions gives good coverage to various skills that are of particular use
to MetaCyber characters. The Expert Skill Enhancer is allowed, with GM approval.
Specific information regarding Skills that are given special handling in the MetaCyber
setting are available in the Character Creation document.
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PERKS
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Perks play a major roll in MetaCyber campaigns. Of particular note is the Business
Rank table under Fringe Benefits for use by corporate NPC's. Of special note,
Reputation is a very important ability to Runners.
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TALENTS
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All of the information given in this section is directly applicable in a MetaCyber
campaign. Further, it is expected that Rapid Healing will be very common.
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DISADVANTAGES
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All of the information given in this section is directly applicable in a MetaCyber
campaign. Particularly notable it is assumed that Floating Hunters, or Organization
Hunters are the norm and specifically named Hunters are the exception.
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SUPER SKILLS
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Baring GM Veto, all of the abilities in this section are usable in a MetaCyber campaign.
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However, access to Super Skills is limited by Origin. Only Adepts and Tubers are
allowed to have them, and there are caps based upon total character points, which
are described in the Adept
and Tuber documents.
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RESOURCE POINTS
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Resource Points work very well in a MetaCyber campaign and are assumed to be in
use.
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CHAPTER 3: FORENSICS
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This chapter is full of incredibly useful information in generaly, but none of it
is particularly useful in most MetaCyber campaigns.
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CHAPTER 4: COMBAT & ADVENTURING
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All of the general guidelines given in this section apply to MetaCyber campaigns;
some notable options that are assumed to be in effect follow.
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MANEUVERS
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All of the combat maneuvers specifically noted in this section of Dark Champions
are assumed to be used in a MetaCyber campaign, though individual GM's as always
have complete control over which Maneuvers are in use in their campaign.
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NOTE: the "TARGETING WEAPONS AND GADGETS" table on
page 181 is particularly useful to MetaCyber campaigns.
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DAMAGE
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If there is one thing you can be sure of, its that characters can be expected to
take damage in a MetaCyber campaign. There are several ideas relevant to this that
are expanded upon in Dark Champions.
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HIT LOCATIONS
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Hit Locations are used, as is the Additional Hit Location chart, and the
Adjustable Hit Locations optional rule.
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NOTE: actually the Adjustable Hit Locations rule has been my house rule since
about 1998; not sure if its just a case of concurrent innovation or if one of my
ideas made it into the game. Either way, glad to see it in.
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I recommend that AoE damage simply use generalized damage rather than rolling for
a Hit Location for logical reasons, but no harm is done by using the official version.
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WOUNDING
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Wounding is a matter of personal preference on the part of the GM; personally
I find that in small groups using the Wounding rules stacks the deck versus the
PC's since if the group all take damage in close segments, it can cripple their
ability to react and make a bad situation unrecoverable. In a larger group this
isn't as likely to happen and in fact provides another good reason to have teammates
-- to cover you when you get shot.
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A good middle ground I've found is to force a Wounded EGO check when a character
takes BODY damage to the head, stomach, or vitals. This makes a certain amount of
logical sense and keeps characters from cowering every time their arm or leg is
grazed.
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DISABLING
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Disabling is used rather than Impairing, and in fact plays to a certain facet
of the setting; characters taking a lot of damage that suffer a disabling wound
get pushed into using Cybernetics to offset their injuries. However, this should
be used with some care by the GM unless they want every character to end up as full
conversion borgs.
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NOTE: if a GM does not want to play up the Cybernetic aspects of the campaign
as much, or do not think their playgroup would appreciate having their characters
getting permanently maimed, the Impairing rules on page 416 of HERO System Fifth
Edition Revised (5ER) should be used instead of Disabling.
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KNOCKDOWN
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Knockdown is used, but personally I wouldn't allow the "Does Knockdown"
Advantage to do an automatic Knockdown as suggested on page 186; the usual means
of determining if a character is knocked down or not should be used in my opinion.
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BLEEDING
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Bleeding is not recommended for use in MetaCyber games for the same reasons
noted on page 186; however characters will still "bleed out" if below
0 BODY as described on page 413 of 5ER.
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CRITICAL HITS
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Critical Hits can be used at the GM's preference. Personally I have my own
"Critical Success" rules which I use that I call the "Rule of Three".
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RULE OF THREE
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if a character (PC or NPC) rolls a natural three on a 3d6 roll under type of check
then they have the option of either taking "max effect" or an "epiphany".
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MAX EFFECT
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If the three was made for an Attack Roll max effect is the maximum possible damage
or effect with that attack (treat all effect dice as having rolled 6's).
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If the three was made for a non attack roll, not only does the character win any
opposed roll (even if the opponent made their roll by more) or succeed at their
task, but they do so in a stylish looked-cool-doing-it fashion which is also justification
for gaining a "Display of Power" bonus to a Presense Attack made sometime
within the next few actions against anyone that observed them.
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EPIPHANY
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The character has a flash of insight regarding the skill or ability that they rolled
a three for and their competency with that ability is expanded. The character gain
+2 character points to allocate towards a bonus with that skill or attack. For attacks
this translates into a +1 OCV Combat Skill Level with that attack. If a skill this
translates into either a +1 or +2 with that skill depending on whether the skill
is on the 3/2 or 2/1 costing model. If the three was rolled for a familiarity, the
familiarity becomes a full skill instead.
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This can not be used to upgrade existing levels; for example a character could not
opt to bump an All Combat level to an Overall Level with the 2 free points gained
in this fashion -- the 2 pts must be spent specifically for the task they were gained
from.
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However, levels gained in this fashion can themselves be upgraded later with experience.
For example a 2pt +1 OCV level with a specific kind of pistol could be upgraded
to a 3pt "Pistols" tight group level later on.
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MINIONS
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Due to the higher point levels and high lethality of a typical MetaCyber campaign
minions (also known as mooks, agents, grunts, chumpions, or similar terms), which
is to say nameless, generic opponents of substantially less skill than the PC's,
are not as prevalent as they are in some campaigns simply because they don't represent
any form of threat unless used in high numbers or are equipped with gear that makes
them more dangerous. Personally I use this house rule to deal with the KO'd vs.
STUN issue that can occur in the HERO System for MetaCyber and other similar violent
settings:
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CHUMP DROP
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Any minion reduced below 0 BODY or below -30 STUN is assumed to be dead unless it
serves the story for them not to be. Any minion reduced below half their BODY or
below 10 STUN take x2 Effect from Presense Attacks related to making them stop fighting
or to run away.
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HEALING AND RECOVERY
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Healing and Recovery is a key element in MetaCyber campaign. Characters should
keep track of not only their total BODY loss, but also each wound
that they took. In general Paramedics and skills related to being a surgeon
or doctor, and the normal process for recovering BODY over time will be the most
common means of healing. Some high tech equipment listed in the equipment section
uses the Healing Power, but that should be the exception. The Enhanced Healing
and Minor Wounds options given on page 190 of Dark Champions are both recommended
as well.
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GUNFIGHTING
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The Gunfighting section given in Dark Champions is very relevant to MetaCyber campaigns,
but not all of the options are equally appropriate.
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RANGE MODIFIER
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Personally, I do not alter the Range Modifier; I've found that it just causes
confusion with more experienced players that are used to thinking in terms of the
existing increments, and it slows down combat for no real gain. Characters wanting
to be particularly good at long range have a variety of options for overcoming the
penalties. Also, there are already too many advantages to sniping in a campaign
like MetaCyber to further encourage it by making range modifiers less restrictive.
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BLOWTHROUGH
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I allow Blowthrough, but due to the extra time of calculating the damage
to determine if it is successful, I would only allow it when a character specifically
declares that they are attempting to do it.
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CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT
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This optional rule is highly recommended for MetaCyber campaigns. Especially bulky
weapons not shown on the list such as miniguns and rocket launchers should have
even greater initiative penalties. Some Cybernetics and gear can make a character
so bulky and heavy that they have similar issues shifting their bulk around in close
quarters. A GM can use the adjoining chart as an extension of the Close Quarters
Combat rules.
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Cyberarms
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-1
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Cyberlegs
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-1
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Dermal Plating
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-1
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Heavy Dermal Plating
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-2
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Exo-skeleton
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-2
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Hard Points
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-1 each
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* This penalty applies only for purposes of determining when a
character's Phase occurs.
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GRACE UNDER FIRE
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This optional rule is not recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
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RECOIL
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This optional rule is not recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
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RELOADING
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This optional rule is recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
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SLOW FIREARMS
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This optional rule is not recommended for MetaCyber campaigns.
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STORM OF LEAD
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The optional rules detailed in this section are generally not recommended for MetaCyber
campaigns. However, individual GM's could certainly implement some or all of them
and find a balance that worked for them if they wanted to.
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CINEMATIC GUN FIGHTING TRICKS
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All of the options listed in this section except Unlimited Ammo
are in the spirit of the kind of feel and action a MetaCyber campaign is all about.
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CHAPTER 5: WEAPONS
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MetaCyber campaigns use this chapter in its entirety, though many of the actual
weapon names should be changed to terms and manufactures appropriate to the setting.
Additionally, with the exception of a few "futuristic" weapons, the new
weapons given in the Equipment section of this site use the firearms and ammunition
charts detailed in Dark Champions.
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MANUFACTURERS
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The adjoining translator gives a manufacturer equivalency from real world to the
MetaCyber setting for major brands.
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Simply proxy the MetaCyber company for the one given in the weapons charts starting
on page 242 of Dark Champions. For added style a GM might also want to modify any
obvious monikers.
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For example a Colt Anaconda would be a Gallo Anaconda in the MetaCyber setting,
or perhaps tweaked to be a Gallo Puma; similarly a Colt King Cobra might be a Gallo
Roaring Lion in the MetaCyber setting.
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OPTIONAL WEAPONS
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The content provided for "Other Weapons" is all assumed to be in use in
a MetaCyber campaign.
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CHAPTER 6: GEAR
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The contents of this chapter are recommended for use in a MetaCyber campaign.
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CHAPTER 7: ADVERSARIES
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Due to the nature of a MetaCyber campaign being set in the future and having an
altered timeline from the real world, most of the material in this chapter is not
directly relevant; though some is such as the information on the Yakuza.
However GM's can still use the content provided as is and just assume that all or
most of the forms of organized crime described exist in the MetaCyber continuity
too, or else as fodder for similar organizations in the MetaCyber campaign.
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CHAPTER 8: GAME MASTERING DARK CHAMPIONS
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With relatively little adjustment to suit the idiom, this chapter provides a lot
of good material and ideas that are as usable in a MetaCyber campaign as they would
be in any other Dark Champions campaign.
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CHAPTER 9: LIBRA
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This chapter contains numerous characters which can all be translated into MetaCyber
versions.
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LIBRA VIGILANTES
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This group of Vigilantes can be used as the basis of a Runner team quite easily;
adding an extra 25 base points to bring them up to the campaign assumed starting
point of 125 + 100.
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Full conversions of all five members of LIBRA are provided
here collectively.
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Character Sheets:
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LIBRA VILLAINS
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All of the provided sample villains are easily adapted to be used in a MetaCyber
campaign.
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ABADDON
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This guy is pretty tough as is. Just switch out some of the gear in his Equipment
Pool for higher tech versions and he works just fine.
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CALIBER
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Another perfect fit for MetaCyber as is. Tweak his background to make him more of
a Runner than a criminal, and there you go.
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CROSSBOW
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This character isnt a very good conceptual fit but could be tweaked around to more
of a MetaCyber character if a GM wanted to use him. He might be a candidate for
a meta with animal affinity / control powers, which would at least make his use
of "pets" more feasible in the context of the campaign. Alternately or
in addition to he could be more of a Cybernetic type, and his "pets" could
be Cybernetically enhanced (and controlled) animals.
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This character works well in a MetaCyber campaign, but instead of a drugrunner make
him a former Runner that sold out to start his own company, FENRIS Security Consulting,
a firm that specializes in contract reprisals on Runners. Though he seldom does
fieldwork himself anymore, he built his company by investigating Runs, hunting down
Runners, and killing them or otherwise exacting a punishment upon them according
to his employers wishes. He's virulently hated by Runners across PacFed, but few
Runners want to face off against him or his company thanks to the messy "pro
bono" reprisals he's undertaken versus those who have messed with him in the
past.
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The following upgrades bring Fenris up into the high 500's, more than a match for
most Runners one on one.
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FENRIS' UPGRADES:
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Change his contacts to corporate contacts, his Criminal Rank to CEO of a small company
Business Rank, up his Equipment Availability to the 10 point version, change Spanish
to German.
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Upgrade his 2 All Combat CSL's to Overall Levels and add +1 Overall Level (+14 points)
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Increase Vehicle/Base Points to 200 (+75 points)
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Make him a Tuber with the following abilities:
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FENRIS' TUBER PACKAGE:
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Explosive
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+20 STR; No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2)
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Manic
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+10 DEX; No Figured Characteristics (-1/2), Costs Endurance (-1/2), Increased Endurance
Cost (x3 END; -1)
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Clever
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+5 INT
+5 PRE
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Impressive
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+20 PRE
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Accelerated
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+1 SPEED
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Brutish
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+10 PD
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Tireless
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+20 END
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Tough
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Damage Resistance (8 PD / 8 ED), Hardened (+1/4)
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Strong-legged
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Leaping +5" (Accurate)
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TOTAL COST: 100 Points
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Give him the following BodyTech:
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FENRIS' BIOWARE:
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Low-Light Retinal Filters: Nightvision (+5 points)
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Auto-Polarizing Retinal Filters: Flash Defense (Sight) 5 points; (+5 points)
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20/10 Correction: +2 PSLs to Offset Range Modifier All Attacks (+6 points)
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20/10 Correction: +2 PER with Sight Group (+4 points)
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Synthetic Muscles: +10 STR, No Figured Characteristics (+7 points)
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Synthetic Muscles: +3 DEX, No Figured Characteristics (+6 points)
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Distinctive Feature: BioWare Enhanced; Detectable with
Special Equipment; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures, Not Concealable; -5 points
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TOTAL COST: 33 Points
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TRIGGERHAPPY
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This character works perfectly as a Gunner/Boomer as is. Just make a minute twitch
to his background (not even much of one), and he's perfect as a Runner known for
his utter ruthlessness.
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