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Space Mobsters for Guardian IRE Day

Started by Genghis, August 01, 2018, 06:03:11 PM

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Genghis

Note: the stats have now been edited in light of MarkoSkoll's guidance.

I'm not very experienced at Inquisitor, so thought I'd best post my characters for the upcoming Guardian IRE playtest day for vetting by the community.  I've attempted to confirm to the Conclave Standard for them, but am not sure if my 2 Grymn (small abhumans) may be a bit weak.  My characters are (L-R): Johno, Anna, Sweenikov & Brody



Andrei Sweenikov (aka The Sween-Dog) – Mob Boss
WS  BS      S     T    I  Wp  Sg  Nv   Ld
65   61  60(80) 63 60  56   53  63   71

Abilities: semi-ambidextrous: 10% penalty for off hand
Equipment: Shotgun, bionic arm (S50 - factored into stats above), +2 armour, may parry, counts as armoured gauntlet), bionic eye (with Image Intensification & Infra-red sensors) & heavy clothing.

Andrei Sweenikov (aka The Sween-Dog) is the deputy, long-time best friend and drinking buddy of the most powerful mob boss (Mikhail Askimov) in one of the largest cities on the planet.  Growing up as street tough in a poor neighbourhood, he & Askimov rose through the underworld ranks to eventually assume control of the mob in their city.  Along the way, Sweenikov has sustained several injuries – more from drunken mishaps than losing fights – including an ill-fated drunken attempt to break into the spaceport which cost him his left arm.  Fortunately, over the years, his 'business interests' have permitted the purchase of several successively better bionic replacements.  His current arm is considered top of the range by the standards of the regular imperial citizenry on his planet, and is specially hardened to make it useful in a scrap.  Although naturally right-handed, Sweenikov has spent a lot of time training to fight with his bionic arm, and has (partially, at least) learnt to compensate for his right-handedness and make good use of his bionic strength in a scrap.  Already capable of affecting a very intimidating persona when required, the casual flexing of his bionic arm only adds to the effect.  In his younger days, Sweenikov was blessed with handsome, boyish good looks and was something of a ladies' man; although a little more grizzled around the edges these days, he is still a snappy dresser and able to turn on the charm when required.



Anna Moiseeva – Cat Burglar
WS  BS  S   T    I  Wp  Sg  Nv   Ld
67   51  58 55  62 52   41  47   51

Abilities: Blademaster, Combat Stance - Defensive, Scale Terrain & Stealthy, Feminine Wiles (contextual +20% to persuasion roles)
Equipment: sword, knife, stub gun, lock pick set, light clothing & kevlar corset (3) - sexy, yet practical.

Anna is an accomplished cat burglar, adept at scaling, sneaking, and discreet breaking and entering.  She started her 'career' working on her own, but her activities soon brought her to the attention of the mob, and was made an offer she couldn't refuse.  Now working under the mob's auspices, she continues to ply her trade.  A reasonably skilled fencer, Anna is more than capable of seeing off any unwanted attention while she is about her business.  An attractive woman in good shape (and often wearing an outfit that accentuates said good shape), Anna is not above employing her feminine wiles when required, and has avoided many sticky situation by sweet-talking a smitten security guard into looking the other way.



Brody – Mob Hacker (Grymn)
WS  BS  S   T    I  Wp     Sg     Nv   Ld
33   47  42 48 42  45   58(83)  35   43

Abilities: Small Target (-10%)
Equipment: Lasgun w. telescopic sight, torch & laser pointer, advanced cranial hacking implant (+25% when interacting with computers/electronics) & light clothing.

Brody is a Grymn – a stable sub-species of abhuman distinctive for being significantly smaller than a 'standard' human, but still all in proportion unlike the more 'squat' physique of the, err, Squats.  Although society on her world doesn't officially discriminate against the Grymn, they're not exactly treated equally by the authorities, and tend to gravitate towards the margins of polite society.  From a young age, Brody displayed an affinity for computers and electronics but, being possessed of something of a rebellious streak, she channelled this interest towards the less than entirely legal aspects of the field.  Quickly developing her skills as a hacker, she rose in status within the hacking community and, inevitably, came into contact with the mob.  By then the charismatic Askimov, who was something of a hero amongst the city's downtrodden Grymn populace, had assumed control of the mob, and Brody was happy to accept his job offer.  Askimov was willing to invest in his new tech specialist and Brody was fitted with an advanced cranial implant, allowing her to interface directly with any computer or electronic item with an external port, thus massively enhancing her ability to get up to electronic mischief.



Johno – Mercenary employed by the Mob (Grymn)
WS  BS  S   T    I  Wp  Sg  Nv   Ld
61   69  45 52 61  57   42  53   62

Abilities: Rock steady aim, Small Target (-10%)
Equipment: Lasgun w. reflex sight, laser pointer & torch, stub gun, knife, heavy clothing with body armour for the torso (3 on abdomen, 4 on chest) & an open helmet (4).

Johno is a Grymn, currently in the employ of Deano 'Mother[EXCOMMUNICATE]er' Jones' mercenary outfit, which maintains a close affiliation with Askimov's mob.  A 15 year veteran of PDF service, Johno is an accomplished infantryman who was lured away from regular service by the prospect of the pay and adventure to be had as a merc.  Askimov calls upon the mercs when he needs extra numbers, or a situation warrants a slightly more high-end military approach than the mob's run-of-the-mill muscle can supply.  Although a merc and, ultimately, in it for the money, Mother[EXCOMMUNICATE]er's mercs have a reputation for professional commitment to their job (and the very dogged pursuit of anyone who double-crosses them).  Additionally, Askimov's highly publicised outreach work in the poorer Grymn communities has earned him the loyalty of a lot of Grymn, Johno included.



As for how these guys are getting tangled up with the events of the Guardian...

Andrei Sweenikov knocked on the door, and heard a flurry of activity from behind the plush door, followed by the command "enter".  As he walked in, he saw the 'secret' door sliding closed behind Mikhail Askimov's desk and caught the sound of female giggling echoing through before the door settled into place.  "You wanted to see me boss" he said.  "Yeah, grab yourself a drink and take a seat" Askimov replied, gesturing to one of the plush armchairs opposite the desk.  "As ever, the drink and girls are making people incautiously talkative downstairs, and it seems one gentleman in particular has an interesting tale to tell..."

So far, so routine, thought Sweenikov.  The combination of opulent surroundings, beautiful girls, good drink and other more illicit substances loosened a lot of tongues in The Warren, the Mob's club and centre of operations.

"It seems" continued Askimov, "that this gentleman, a Rogue Trader – or so he claims – has come across information about some sort of super weapon, a forgotten piece of archeotech sat gathering dust just waiting for us to put it good use." 

"All very interesting boss, but Johns with that kind of story are ten a penny in this city.  What makes you think there's anything to this?"  "Well", Aslimov replied, "I took a walk of the club earlier to catch Jessica singing, and exchanged a few pleasantries with the gentlemen concerned.  He's certainly a lot wealthier than we often see here, and there's something about him.  It's plausible that he's really onto something." 

"So, are the girls, err, pumping him for information?" asked Sweenikov, with a sly grin.

"I've got Odessa and Tilda on the case, let's just say he'll be having a very good night's sleep.  The girls will grab his data slate, Brody and Big Rob can give it the once over before we slip it back and he'll be none the wiser when he wakes up."

Two stories above Askimov's office, Odessa and Tilda put the Rogue Trader's slightly unfocussed look down to the drink, although it didn't seem to be putting him off his stride.  Little did they know that he had cranial implants that were receiving a transmission from the bug he'd managed to plant on the mob boss' jacket earlier in the evening. 

A little while later, as he feigned unconsciousness (whatever they'd slipped into his drink having proven no match for his gene-altered metabolic system), he noticed Tilda surreptitiously extract his data slate from his jacket, where it lay strewn on the floor amongst a trail of lingerie.  She and Odessa gathered up their clothes and tip-toed out of the room.  Maintaining the outward appearance of deep sleep – you never knew who might be watching – he reflected that there were some aspects of his job he did rather enjoy.  Assuming the mob's hackers were as good as he'd been led to believe, they should find the data slate just challenging enough to unlock before the morning – anything too easy and they'd be suspicious.  If everything went according to plan – and he'd made sure it would – those fools would do all the hard work and bleeding, and his patron's involvement in the whole escapade would never even be suspected.

The next day, Askimov and Sweenikov were reviewing the contents of the hacked data slate.  "Well Boss, it looks like your instincts were right, this could be a game changer."  "Indeed" mused Askimov, "this could be our ticket to the big time, I've always felt there was more to life than running just the one city.  I need to remain in situ lest our rivals notice my absence and get suspicious that we're up to something, so I want you to take the lead on this; take Anna, Brody and Johno, and start chasing this down, but keep it low key..."

(Within their particular pond, these guys are pretty big fish, but set against the context of interplanetary events and Inquisitorial machinations, I suspect they are going to find themselves so out of their depth...)
"We are the night-born, we are the children of the otherworld, we are the wolves from Antumnos"

MarcoSkoll

I'd say they should all have most of their stats about 10 points higher.

I'm seeing a lot of stats in the 40s or even 30s, which tends to be the ball park for "mediocre" or "untrained" skills - but the thing is, one way or another, Inquisitor characters tend to be somewhat exceptional.

Of all the uncountable trillions of people in the galaxy, Inquisitor games are about the people who meant something, even if it was just sheer coincidence that they managed to be of any significance.
When it comes to a World War II story, for example, audiences don't want to hear about Joe Bloggs who went over, lost his leg to a mine on his second day and then died of an infection because they didn't have enough penicillin available. No, we go back to pick and choose the stories of the people who were lucky enough not to die horribly.

However, as we don't really get any other way to rig "this just happens to be the one person of millions who was lucky enough not to immediately die", player characters should still have reasonable stats even if they're not a certified badass in the fluff.

Quotenot sure if my 2 Grymn (small abhumans) may be a bit weak
I'd generally recommend that even the absolute frailest characters aren't given a Toughness of less than 40, as it makes them so frail they're not fun to play or play against (although IRE tries to adjust the balance a touch to stop them being quite so horrifically brittle). For diminutive characters, I'd represent their size more in a low strength than a low toughness. (They probably shouldn't have a very high toughness, but something in the 50-60 range isn't unthinkable).

QuoteAnna is not above employing her feminine wiles when required, and has avoided many sticky situation by sweet-talking a smitten security guard into looking the other way.   (I'm trying
It looks like a thought trailed off here.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Genghis

#2
Thanks for the pointers MarcoSkoll.  I'd erred on the side of caution in estimating the power level for Conclave gaming circles and clearly came in way too low.  I've adjusted the figures so they are hopefully more appropriate now.  I've also noted that the Grymn are small targets & given Anna a couple of skills.  (All changes made in my original post.)

I'd been pitching them more as the mobsters & street toughs that they are, and scaling their stats to be tough but normal(ish) civilians (other than the veteran Johno).  This would have worked at the level I've gamed at in the past, but Inquisitor is clearly one of those systems where groups have a different feel - we weren't really going quite as much down the exceptional individuals route.  Hopefully they'll now be better suited to the sector-changing shenanigans they're about to find themselves mixed up in.

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 01, 2018, 08:46:53 PMIt looks like a thought trailed off here.

Good spot.  I was going to remark that, although not a deliberate initial planning aim, it seems like I ended up channelling a combination of Catwoman & Emma Peel when I was creating Anna.  I'm not sure if I should boost her WS a bit and/or maybe give her a suitable combat skill (maybe Blademaster or Combat Stance: Defensive), but I don't want to make her an overpowered melee monster.
"We are the night-born, we are the children of the otherworld, we are the wolves from Antumnos"

MarcoSkoll

She wouldn't be an overpowered melee monster even if she was a fair bit more skilled. With only a sword, she will be somewhat a challenged against tougher or armoured characters, and potentially quite outmatched by anyone with a more dangerous weapon like a chainsword.
And the thing is that even for skilled characters, melee combat in IRE can be fairly brutal.

Looking at those stats, I'd still be tempted to push up some mental values here and there. Picking out specific examples...

Even if violence was a big factor, to get to (and stay) at the top of the heap in the mob, you're going to have some brains - so Andrei's Sg 46 seems rather on the low side. (Even if the entire reason he's here is that he was duped, you can actually still be pretty smart and get fooled by the Inquisition).
A few more points of Wp might also seem appropriate. You don't get to a position like that without ambition and personal drive.

If Anna is supposed to be good at sweet talking guards, she probably needs a higher Ld value than 43, as this represents the character's ability to influence others.

I'd also be inclined to push up Brody's Sg a fair bit. As it is, she's not really a fierce combatant, so it's entirely reasonable to make sure that she can contribute to games by doing the smart stuff instead (even if she had a pretty high Sg, the other characters would still have to do a damn good job of giving her cover).

~~~~~

As an aside, I forgot to mention that it's generally a good idea not to incorporate a bionic arm's strength into the base strength stat, as it complicates calculating things like jump distances and knockback that really don't make sense to include arm strength in.
I tend to recommend a value like 60(80) where the latter factors in bonuses.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Genghis

Thanks for the further guidance, I've adjusted the original post again with the following:

Sweenikov: Upped Sg (I'd been thinking in the pure academic terms in the Conclave character guide - he's now equivalent to degree level, but it's a degree in street violence and organised crime)

Anna: Upped WS & Ld a bit, added Blademaster, Combat Stance: Defensive & Feminine Wiles (a made-up ability for a contextual +20% to persuasion tests - giving her the edge in-character, without pushing her general purpose Ld too high)

Brody: Upped Sg by 5, and increased the hacking bonus by 5.  That gives her a Sg of 83 when doing the techy computer stuff that is her forte.  Her skills are very focused so, as with Anna's Ld, I didn't want to overpower the general purpose stat.

Apologies for being a pain with this, but I guess its better to fix now rather than tip up with inappropriate characters.  (Maybe I just need to get around to building the Power-armoured Inquisitor with Tau Pulse Blaster and her Sslyth bodyguard with bolt pistols & chainswords I've been planning.  There's no way I could pitch them as underpowered... ;))
"We are the night-born, we are the children of the otherworld, we are the wolves from Antumnos"