Post-apocalyptic/bio-punk campaign w/ Metric RPG System

[Tlon]

Hey folks, I have a lot of time on my hands due to the pandemic and so I want to continue testing this Metric RPG System. If you want to see something of what the system looks like you can see the other campaign I have started here where we figure out a bit of the flow. I will post the Metric RPG ruleset (in so far as I have adapted it) in a following post.

For this campaign I am looking to do a post-apocalyptic/bio-punk setting:

The Yawning Maw

In the near future humanity masters the technology of genetic engineering, ushering in the Protean Age. Hybrid animals are bred to serve the new conditions of the world, the alteration of the human body begins in earnest, and diseases are weaponized for war.

A virus mutates among the billions. Named the Last Chimera the ensuing pandemic kills 90% of humanity and alters the genetic makeup of many animal species. Global society collapses over a chaotic six month period known as The Thinning.

Thirty years on and nature retakes it's own. The Last Chimera has returned megafauna to the world and has created sapienfauna - species made intelligent by its effects. Humanity lives in small scattered settlements now, surviving on the bones of the old world while trying to avoid the predators of the new.

I am looking for 3-4 players to play the role of scouts/explorers, sent out by their disease ravaged settlement to the ruins of an old metropolis in search of medicine. Experience is not needed - new players are encouraged. They will alternate traveling between dangerous wilderness and navigating the new post apocalyptic societies. Technology level is about present day with genetically engineered additions: things like glow worm lamps, medical leeches that heal wounds as they suck blood, high yield varieties of certain crops and etc. As mentioned above this also means wandering megafauna: giant bison on the great plains, massive elk in the rockies, monstrous grizzly bears in the north. Sapienfauna are animals that have been mentally enhanced by the Last Chimera: crows that understand simple human devices and practice primitive agriculture, wolves that have a sophisticated howling language allowing them to coordinate complex tactics in larger numbers, and etc. Humans remain mostly unchanged, aside from the population shift. The Last Chimera was deadly to the genetically modified so Naturals make up most, but not all, of the survivors left in the world.

Character sheet looks like this:

Name:
Attributes
Intellect -
Psyche -
Physique -
Motorics -

Skills
Intellect Based
Rhetoric
Drama
Logic
Visual Calculus
Encyclopedia
Conceptualization

Psyche Based
Suggestion
Empathy
Authority
Volition
Esprit de Corps
Inland Empire

Physique Based
Half-light
Shivers
Physical Instrument
Endurance
Electro-chemistry
Pain Threshold

Motorics Based
Composure
Perception
Hand-eye Coordination
Reaction Speed
Savoir Faire
Interfacing

Character Description: 500 words or more

Items: Personal items unique to your character. Can include weapons. You can assume that generic equipment (sleeping roll, rations, canteen, etc) is already on your person.

Post here with a character sheet if you are interested or if you have any questions!

 

[Tlon]

Metric RPG System: Main Statistics​

Attributes
{Minimum of 1 and maximum 6 in any one Attribute. 12 points total to spend.}

Intellect - Raw brain power, how smart you are. Your capacity to reason.
Psyche - Sensitivity, how emotionally intelligent you are. Your power to influence yourself and others.
Motorics - Your senses, how agile you are. How well you move your body.
Physique - Your musculature, how strong you are. How well your body is built.

Skill Descriptions
{The Attribute value from above is the skill cap for all skills based on that Attribute. Start with 2 points to spend along with 1 Signature Skill, which increases the skill as well as increasing that skill’s cap by 1.}


(Intellect Based)
Rhetoric - Practice the art of persuasion. Enjoy rigorous intellectual discourse. Cool for: Ideologues, Conversationalists, Would-Be-Politicians

Rhetoric urges you to debate, make intellectual discourse, nitpick – and win. It enables you to break down arguments and hear what people are really saying. You’ll spot fallacies as soon as they’re used – what exactly did the waiter leave out of their testimony? What was the dancer trying to divert you from? Was that double entendre intended?

At high levels, Rhetoric will make you an impressive political beast – one whose beliefs are impenetrable. Which is to say, one whose mind will not change; one who will calcify. With low Rhetoric, though, you’ll have a hard time shooting down any argument. Nailing people to their testimonies will be nigh impossible.

Drama - Play the actor. Lie and detect lies. Cool for: Undercover Cops, Thespians of the Stage, Psychopaths

Drama urges you to treat the world as a stage – and on it, to perform. It will enable you to lie, to concoct the most elaborate and wonderful stories; to take on ingenious personas and perform acts of stagecraft in an entertaining amalgam of fourberie and deceit! As well, it enables you to see through would-be actors and their false antics. If they lie, you’ll know. Immediately.

At high levels, Drama may render you an insufferable thespian – one prone to hysterics and bouts of paranoia; for to know the world's a stage is to know that Truth is a Vanity. However, with low Drama you cannot lie – or discern when others lie.

Logic - Wield raw intellectual power. Deduce the world. Cool for: Analysts, Pure Rationalists, Obviously Logicians.

Logic urges you to analyze the living daylights out of the case. It enables you to piece evidence together, detect inconsistencies in statements, and impress everyone with your astonishing conclusions. It’s the bread and butter of many a detective.

At high levels, Logic will be able to solve even the most complicated puzzle. You will be very proud and thus susceptible to intellectual flattery; for those blinded by their own brilliance often miss important clues. With low levels of Logic, you’re going to have a hard time solving even the simplest puzzles. Even if you find the pieces, good luck putting them together.

Visual Calculus - Reconstruct crime scenes. Make laws of physics work for you. Cool for: Forensics Scientists, Tactical Fighters, Math-Minded People

Visual Calculus verses you not only in the laws of the state, but the laws of nature. It enables you to create virtual crime-scene models in your mind’s eye. You’ll see how a bullet shattered the glass and from that trace its trajectory with mathematical precision. You’ll also count so many footprints – and at a glance discern shoe size and design; as well as the height, weight, and gender of the one who wore them.

At high levels, Visual Calculus makes the world reveal its secrets to you – but you may be so absorbed by your mind-diorama, you don’t notice as crooks steal your pants. However, at low levels, your mind’s eye will be blind. Reconstructing crime scenes will be difficult without outside help.

Encyclopedia - Call upon all your knowledge. Produce fascinating trivia. Cool for: Thinkers, Historians, Trivia Freaks

Encyclopedia makes you a know-it-all, turning your mind into a database of facts. It enables you to draw on these facts innately, offering a wealth of background knowledge to all things related and unrelated to your case. Who knows when the history of cigarette brands will provide the breakthrough you need to arrest a murderer – or when knowledge of pre-revolutionary guns might save a life?

At high levels, Encyclopedia shares this wealth of knowledge to an almost overwhelming degree – while it may give you crucial breakthroughs, it more often will clutter your mind with useless tidbits. With low levels of Encyclopedia, though, you’ll be forced to work with only the clues in front of you. Without any background knowledge, copping is going to be tough stuff.

Conceptualization - Understand creativity. See Art in the world. Cool for: Creatives, Psychedelic Fanciers, Critics.

Conceptualization has a special role it wants you to play in this world – that of the Artist. It enables you to make fresh associations, to delve into world-concepts from Jan Kaarp’s postmodernist karperie, to Revachol’s arabesque architectural style dideridada, and even the concept of HARDCORE – and then, importantly, to add your own contribution to these works.

At high levels, Conceptualization makes you go big – perhaps too big. It is ostentatious, demanding grand displays. Why live life when you can throw yourself into a live volcano? At low levels, however, you will be unable to see the world in a creative light. You’ll be unable to contribute to conversations in an art gallery. Only boring people will invite you to their dust parties.


(Psyche Based)
Suggestion - Charm men and women. Play the puppet-master. Cool for: Diplomats, Charmers, Sociopaths

Suggestion urges a soft-power approach. If people think they want what you want, you’ve already won. This skill enables you to implant ideas into the minds of others. You can make the citizens like you more. You can make gangsters turn on each other, too; many crime-rings have been broken by just a little doubt, after all.

At high levels, Suggestion makes you affable to everyone and more resistant to their charms in turn. But all that schmoozing and oozing charm will make you slimy. And you’ll know it, even if no one else does. With low levels of Suggestion, though, you’ll have difficulty getting any kind of rapport with others. You’ll be alone, both during the day and at night.

Empathy - Understand others. Work your mirror neurons. Cool for: Judges of Character, Interviewers, Interrogators

Empathy breaks into the soul of others and forces you to feel what’s inside. It enables you to notice social cues others may miss: perhaps a hidden sadness you could coax out a little more, a strange joy from someone who should be bereaved, or a hidden resentment that could return to harm you later.

At high levels, Empathy really puts you in other people’s shoes. You’ll cry for their sorrows, punch walls to relieve their angers, and become unstable. With low Empathy, however, you’ll be an ungainly beast unable to talk to anyone without upsetting them.

Authority - Intimidate the public. Assert yourself. Cool for: Leaders, Experts of Psychological Warfare, Respect-Junkies

Authority urges you to assert and reassert your dominance over those around you. It enables you to understand the power dynamics of groups of thugs, know how far you can push a perpetrator, and how to establish control of situations.

At high levels, Authority demands respect; even a perceived slight could send you into knee-breaking mode. With low Authority, however, you’re forever in awkward situations – like when you suffer psychological breakdowns after you yell at teenagers and they laugh at you.

Volition - Hold yourself together. Keep your Morale up. Cool for: Sane People, The Well-Adjusted, The Non-Suicidal

Volition urges you to be a good guy – to others and to yourself. It enables you to resist temptation: be it in a bottle, between a pair of legs, or at the end of an iron barrel which promises oblivion. Volition gives you the will to finish the investigation, improving your Morale – one of the two health pools in the game.

At high levels, Volition makes you hyper-sane. When you’re about to get funky, it keeps you normal. It’s a bit of a party-pooper. At low levels, however, you’ll have little Morale. Without it, you’ll be profoundly unstable, falling apart at the seams as you make irreversible mistakes.

Esprit de Corps - Connect to your identity group. Understand its culture. Cool for: Loyal comrades, culture aficionados, pretenders.

Esprit de Corps represents your connection to your identity group. Whether that be cop, outlaw, farmer, merchant, or etc., you are able to recognize the subtle shorthand and shared knowledge of your identity group and are able to witness flash-sideways scenes as they play out.

At high levels, you’ll be the very heart of your collective: not only willing and able but obliged to take a bullet for your companions. However, without Espirit de Corps you’ll be flying blind, unable to understand discreet remarks colleagues make in high-stakes situations; remarks that might just save your life.

Inland Empire - Hunches and gut feelings. Dreams in waking life. Cool for: Dreamers, Para-Natural Investigators, Mental Creators

Inland Empire is the unfiltered wellspring of imagination, emotion, and foreboding. It enables you to grope your way through invisible dimensions of reality, gaining insight into that which sight can’t see. What’s really going on? What do these enigmatic riddles mean for the world-fate?

At high levels, Inland Empire animates the inanimate. You’ll have conversations with your clothing, conversations that may change the course of the investigation if you’re not thrown in the loony bin first. With low Inland Empire, however, you’ll be void of imagination – and character. And then how will you shape the cosmos?


(Physique Based)
Half-light - Let the body take control. Threaten people. Cool for: High-Strung Investigators, Shoot-Now-Ask-Questions-Later-Types, Surprise Haters

Half Light is your fight-or-flight response. It enables you to sense the way situations are about to turn. It injects palpable fear into your heart – fear that urges you act before it’s too late to act ever again; fear that makes you frighten others. It is the aggression that lets you squeeze every last drop of information out of a person.

At high levels, Half Light makes you ultra-attuned to the world. It is perpetual fear – of your own shadow, of someone else’s name or scent. You’ll be ready, always, to pounce and physically interrogate passersby. At low levels, however, you’ll find your survival instinct is lacking. And your methods are limp-wristed. Those who respect violence will not respect you.

Shivers - Raise the hair on your neck. Tune in to the world. Cool for: The Deeply Rooted, The Wisest of the Street Wise, The Genuinely Supra-Natural

Shivers come when the temperature drops and you become more keenly aware of your surroundings. It enables you to hear the world itself, to truly belong to the streets. It is a supra-natural ability; old wrongs play out in present time, scenes across the city happens in front of you. But who is speaking to you?

At high levels, Shivers may make you seem mad – as you listen to the world, you don’t listen to others. Your companions may begin to worry. With a low Shivers, though you will seldom hear the world speaking to you – and if you cannot hear it, how can you ever save it?

Physical Instrument - Flex powerful muscles. Enjoy healthy organs. Cool for: Muscle Men, Bare Knuckle Brawlers, Gym Teachers

Physical Instrument is not only your muscles and your skeleton – it is your ability to use them effectively. It enables you to do push-ups, sit-ups, knock-out punches, and 360-degree spin-kicks. It’s a one size fits all solution to thriving and surviving in a physical world.

At high levels, Physical Instrument breaks doors, chains, and bones, and it makes you laugh at the namby-pansies who can’t. You’ll be manned-up, encouraging others to curl iron until they’re manned-up too. At low levels, however, you’ll have a hard time arresting anyone who isn’t infirm or already dead. Indeed, engaging in physical confrontations could leave you in either state.

Endurance - Take the blows. Don’t let the world kill you. Cool for: Fighters who can take a hit, Lookouts who don’t sleep, Human Batteries

Endurance is your metabolism and circulatory system. It improves your Health – one of the two health pools in the game. It enables to survive. Who cares if you can’t aim a gun, if you can take a few bullets? Why be afraid of drugs that hurt your health if you’re a very, very healthy man?

At high levels, Endurance enables you to take a few knocks to the head, enjoy a greater quantity of drugs, and shake off a few cardiac arrests – it makes you a powerful man, who looks down on the weaklings who can’t keep up. However, those with low Endurance are likely to struggle. The body is frail already, and the flesh will often be tested. And if it doesn’t pass, it dies.

Electro-chemistry - Go to party planet. Love and be loved by drugs. Cool for: High-Fliers, Party Enthusiasts, People who need Lightning

Electro-Chemistry is the animal within you, the beast longing to be unleashed to indulge and enjoy. It enables you to take drugs with fewer negative side-effects. It also enables you to better investigate lurid matters – if you need to understand a chemical breakdown, or talk to someone blasted out of their mind, or understand sexual dynamics, Electro-Chemistry is there to guide you.

At high levels, Electro-Chemistry makes you a man of unrestrained pleasure – an unrepentant Lothario who leers at people with a bottle of speed and a plastic bendy straw in either hand. But with a low Electro-Chemistry, you’ll be too innocent to be effective. Without a working knowledge of drugs and sex, the world will be difficult to understand.

Pain Threshold - Shrug off the pain. They’ll have to hurt you more. Cool for: Unstoppable Fighters, Guys who don’t die, Masochists

Pain Threshold ignores damage so you can push on, bloodied and crawling, to the bitterest end. It enables you to negate damage you would otherwise take. Even mental pain – heartache and loneliness. In fact, these things can become a thrill you see out and perversely revel in.

At high levels, Pain Threshold turns in on itself in seriously unhealthy way, with full-on self-destructive behavior. With a low Pain Threshold, however, you will suffer too easily. Even a slap from a teenager will make you whine and complain.

(Motorics Based)
Composure - Straighten your back. Keep your poker face. Cool for: Card Players, Military Fetishists, Cool People

Composure wants you to not crack: or, at least, it wants you to not crack in front of other people. It enables you to put up a strong front. It keeps your emotions hidden from the world and helps you to read the body language of others – to sense the cracks in their own composure. As well, it keeps you looking good while you do it. You’ll rock that disco outfit a lot more if you don’t slouch.

At high levels, Composure makes you tuck your gut in and maintain a stern expression. Even lying in bed late night when no one else can see you, you’ll have to keep it up. You’ll never be able to stop. With low Composure, though, you’ll always be the first to crack. Every cop’s got a point when all that fear and rage comes spilling out – and the ones who unleash it doesn’t stay on the force much longer. Perhaps worse still, you won’t even make the ranks of the Fashion Police.

Perception - See, hear and smell everything. Let no detail go unnoticed. Cool for: Fine Detail Detectives, Sensualists, Urban Scavengers

Perception wants you to be open to the world – with eyes, ears, and nose working at full capacity. It enables you to take in what others don’t notice. The little wad of bills hid away in the sugar bowl; the odor of an animal hiding nearby; the gulp of a suspect, after claiming they’ve nothing to hide.

At high levels, Perception takes in every final detail of the physical world – enough to overwhelm all but the strongest mind. However, with low levels, you are going to miss out on everything. After all, you can’t arrest what you can’t see, hear, or smell.

Hand-eye Coordination - Ready? Aim and fire. Cool for: Trick-Shooters, Snipers, Jugglers

Hand/Eye Coordination loves the interaction between you and things that fly in the air. It enables you to catch coins from mob bosses, shoot straight, and understand firearms intimately. Want to know the precise make and mark of a pistol? Hand/Eye Coordination’s got you. Want to shoot someone with it? Ditto.

At high levels, Hand/Eye Coordination makes you deadly – supposing you’ve a weapon in your hand. But once you do, Hand/Eye Coordination will compel you to take the shot – even if it’s not the best approach. At low levels, however, you’ll be even more of a disaster in waiting. Because when the guns go off – and they always do – you’ll probably hit the wrong target.

Reaction Speed - The quickest to react. An untouchable man. Cool for: Shot-Dodgers, Thinkers on their Feet, Pinball-Heads

Reaction Speed is the agility of your body and mind. It is instinct. It enables you to dodge punches, knives, bullets. Also suckers punches of the verbal kind. You’ll be more streetwise, never lost for words or lacking a witty comeback. Your mental alacrity lets you connect little details on the fly, working in tandem with your Intellect skills.

At high levels, Reaction Speed makes your twitch-reflex freakishly good. However, when your body acts before your mind, innocent situations can turn bad fast. You’re high strung, overly alert. At low levels, though, you won’t be the one shooting first – which probably means you won’t be shooting at all.

Savoir Faire - Sneak under their noses. Stun with immense panache. Cool for: Acrobats, Thieves, Unbearable Show-Offs

Savoir Faire urges you to be better than you are: it urges you to be disco. Slip by others like a boxer, then tumble out the back with unexpected acrobatics. It enables you to move with silent footsteps, to groove to a good beat, and to lift useful evidence off marks without them noticing. It also makes you a cooler dude, whose athletic flair will certainly impress the citizenry.

At high levels, Savoir Faire will make you the King of Cool – which is as much to say, the most stylish douchebag. Nobody will see you until you’re ready to be seen; and then, they’ll get the full treatment, whether they want it or not. At low levels, however, you’ll be a bumbling, feckless person unable to catch pair of keys thrown to you without losing an eye.

Interfacing - Master machines. Pick locks and pockets. Cool for: Machinists, Tinkerers, Instrument Players

Interfacing wants you to connect to machines: to use and improve then, because that makes you a better human organism. It enables you to understand interactions with machines – be that how to repair the motor of a motor carriage, how to analyze the way a suspect used a pen, or how to re-figure electrical circuits. It even lets you steal keys off a keyring without being noticed.

At high levels, Interfacing will isolate you from society – why bother with people when you can talk to machines? And why bother with things like money when you can just pocket that display sandwich? At low levels, however, you will have a crucial part of the world cut off from you. Machines of one kind or another are everywhere and doing without them will be difficult.

Gameplay Overview​

Any player may attempt any task by taking the appropriate Skill Point value, adding it to the Attribute value it’s based on, and then adding those together with a 2d6 roll. E.g., to attempt breaking down a door a character with 3 Physique and 1 point in Physical Instrument would add a total of 4 to a 2d6 roll. If the sum is higher than the difficulty of the task, the action succeeds. These are known as Active checks and each awards 1 XP. Passive checks are handled behind the scenes by the GM, who will alert the player of successes and award no XP. A player gains a new Skill point to spend on Skills or Thoughts every 5 XP.

Each player has 1 HP for each point of the Endurance skill they have, and 1 Morale Point for each point of the Volition skill they have. Rolling an Obvious Failure (a 1 and 1 or snake eyes) deals a 1 point penalty to either Health or Volition, depending on if the skill is FYS/MTR based or INT/PSY based respectively. Rolling an Obvious Success (a 6 and 6 or boxcars) heals 1 point to the respective stat.

On reaching 0 Health or Morale the player is eliminated from that encounter.

Thought Cabinet​

All players start with 1 Thought Cabinet slot.

• Buying a Thought costs 1 Skill Point
• Buying additional Slots for the TC costs 1 Skill Point
• A player cannot hold or buy more Thoughts than they have slots for.
• 12 Slots maximum

Thoughts are like items that take in-game time to research. While being researched the Thought inflicts debuffs and when the Thought is complete the debuffs convert into powerful buffs. These buffs last for as long as the Thought remains in the player’s Cabinet. Old Thoughts can be replaced with new ones, however, this destroys the replaced Thought permanently. Thoughts are made available to players throughout the game - think of them as items - and they have access to buying them whenever they gain a Skill point.

An example Thought:

Detective Costeau
Problem: Detective Raphaël Ambrosius Costeau -- when you say it, it feels like you're taking a bite of lemon meringue while sitting on the terrace of a seaside cafe. On a cool summer day. In Sur-La-Clef. It's everything you're *not*. You haven't created many things during your stay in Martinaise, but you've created this. A fancy, sophisticated name that makes you sound intelligent. And that no one seems to *acknowledge*. Don't you feel like you deserve a reward for coming up with something so special? And what would that reward *be*?

Solution: Monsieur Costeau, the reward for coming up with your classy new name has arrived. What are the attributes Detective Costeau should gain in? *Obviously* Savoir Faire and Esprit de Corps. You know *exactly* what they do and what those words mean. They're *refined*. Like *you*. You have a ton of that fancy stuff. And if the world can't accept Raphaël Ambrosius is your name -- you will always be Detective Costeau to yourself. R.A. Costeau -- sophisticated culture-detective. Specializes in ancient things and art.

Research Time: 2h 30m
Contemplation:

• -2 Conceptualization: An idiotic idea

Completion:

• +1 Savoir Faire: This one sounds fancy, let’s have this
• +1 Esprit de Corps: Yup, fancy, let’s have this one too

The Problem and Solution sections are for the player to write. The buffs and debuffs are decided by the GM. The Completion buffs are kept hidden from the player until the Thought is complete. Thoughts are made available to players after specific in game events, such as the end of a quest or scenario.