Branching Out

The thought had occurred to me a while back that it might be possible to make at least something of a living writing short stories for submission to magazines. With the impending termination of my current job being a viable source of primary income, the idea of writing stories has suddenly sprung back to life!

I am currently at work on 3 stories of differing subject matter. The bad news is that there will be a delay between when I send these out and when the income will potentially come in. The good news is that any one of them, if published, will pay my expenses for a month.

Here are some small snippets from 2 of the stories I am writing: "ARMAS Assault" and "Spokesman". Enjoy!

ARMAS Assault

**Attention: Senior Director Daita

**Origin: Shimazu Isao, Director of Special Projects, LiChing Division

**Date: 23.7.754 AP.

**Subject: Test Subject # 312-G

Good afternoon Senior Director,

It has come to my attention that “Project R” is in need of new test subjects. While the relative scarcity of candidates has hindered our progress so far, we have located what I believe to be the ideal subject.

She is currently a Sergeant, assigned to an assault/rescue mecha armor squad (ARMAS, I believe it is called) in the Central Shizuhama Police Department, Izanami. Her record is outstanding and her fitness reports highly encouraging, but what I find most intriguing is that all of her superior officers indicate that she possesses exceptional mecha synergy. Their team reports all speak very highly of her mecha control abilities, and it is for this reason that I wish to contact her regarding a place in Project R.

Her file is attached. Should she meet your approval, I will set out for Izanami and contact her immediately. The Shin-Vector corporation has already set about preparing the simulator for her use.

Your time is always appreciated, Senior Director.

Respectfully,

Shimazu

It was cold in the hangar. It was always cold in the hangar. Being a kilometer off the ground could do that to a building, even with the most efficient heating systems. Nami Takahashi zipped the front of her combat suit all the way up to keep out the chill. Despite all the synthetic polymers designed to absorb shock and adverse temperatures, there always seemed to be a leak somewhere.

She checked over her suit one more time, making sure all the connections were clear, then looked up at her machine. The Shin-Vector “Spartan 4” was a sight to behold. Just over 4 meters tall and 2.5 meters wide, the metallic humanoid was a marvel of modern engineering. Coated with thirty two millimeters of thalium armor and armed with the latest in assault-class firepower, the Spartan was the pride of the ARMAS. The latest in Shin-Vector’s line of Drudge Exoskeleton Systems, the Spartan 4 had gained admiration from those it worked for and a sensible dread from those it worked against. Large shoulder plates carried the heavy artillery: a Yokozuka M-42 26mm Machinegun and a Montaver MBR-3 140mm Missile Launcher. In its right hand, the Drudge held a Type 2 Tactical Assault Weapon; a Montaver M-1D 32mm assault rifle and an ASR-56 45mm shotgun underneath it.

Obeying orders from the central command office located at the rear of the hangar, the front of the Drudge opened at the chest, lower abdomen and legs, allowing Nami entrance to the metal behemoth. A small whirring noise issued from behind Nami’s head as the Drudge extended its Neurojack connectors. A small metal jack slowly crawled towards the plug at the base of Nami’s skull. With a slight jerk of fiber muscles, the cord sprung the jack into place, connecting Nami to the machine.

She blinked, then felt the sickening lurch as her vision was yanked from her eyes and thrown up into the cranial sensors of the Drudge. Her field of vision now covered a much wider area, considerably higher off the ground, and was augmented with a tactical display containing weapon data, engine output and targeting vector. Her mind gave the command for her body to raise her left hand, but instead of seeing a hand and arm made of flesh, the bulky armored gauntlet of the Drudge lifted itself into her field of vision. She opened and closed the fingers, tightening and loosening the fist to make sure the synth muscles worked properly.

Spokesman

As so many things do, the movement known as “Malcolmism” started small and snowballed into a global phenomenon. It all began with advertising. Young male centerfolds in clothing catalogues circulated in the spring with a new model among the pages: a bright-looking, European-built patrician named Malcolm Tessaria.

His popularity was small at first. Jeans modeling to start with, then shirts, formal wear and on to underwear. Then markets other than the fashion industry began to take notice of him. It was something more than a fantastic body and a pretty face. Something intangible in his eyes that would rivet you and command your attention whether or not he was selling a new tuxedo, a flannel shirt, coffee or underpants. The image of Malcolm Tessaria was like nothing the advertising agencies had ever seen before. Any product that bore his likeness was bound for great things. Before long, nearly every product bore a Malcolm likeness or endorsement. Malcolm jeans, Malcolm Breakfast Cereals, Malcolm Hair Care. More endorsements followed. Restaurants, theme parks and even a city, just outside New York.

Three years after his introduction to the world of media, the name “Malcolm” had become synonymous with anything hip, sheek or cool. “That’s so Malcolm!” the kids would say. And then, Malcolm did the last thing people expected. He endorsed a presidential candidate. The media fury was nothing short of a hurricane. A famous spokesman endorsing a political candidate? Why not. Malcolm’s candidate won by a landslide and even though his name wound up as little more than another contemporary president, the name of Malcolm Tessaria lived on.

The years went by, yet the image of Malcolm never seemed to age or fade. People began to wonder if Malcolm was in fact a real person. When asked about Malcolm, the advertising agencies would simply shrug and say “I’ve never met the man, but I respect his privacy.” The exact nature of Malcolm was never made public, yet his endorsements persisted. Everyone wanted everything they owned to be a Malcolm-approved brand. And before anyone realized it, they had what they wanted. A decade came and went before people stopped thinking about Malcolm. Every single product that came into or went out of the country had Malcolm’s approval on it. He had become more than a household name. He was the household. Just when it seemed as if people were about to let Malcolm Tessaria slip into the realm of the unconscious, Malcolm burst back on the scene with a new product to sell: religion.

What does it look like to you?

I asked my testers this, and they were split down the middle. Here's the question. In the picture, does it look like the electrical stuff is on the inside or outside of the person's head?

This, by the way, is a Gen-Drone. It is a type of humanoid machine designed to work in environments that are hazardous or undesirable to humans. This particular Gen-Drone is a Class B: one that is composed of mechanical components, somewhat reminiscent of the original Terminator. The electronic stuff in the picture is *supposed* to be part of its brain and external connection hardware (Neurojack), though as I said, half my testers thought it looked like that was on the outside of the head.

Thoughts?

PS - Gen-Drones are largely manufactured my Japanese-descended corporations in the world of Neurojack, hence the kanji indicating that this is a "Human Machine Type 3". Those kanji are, to the best of my knowledge, the right ones. Feel free to correct me if I am in error.

Will Martial Artists who read Neurojack come and kick my arse?

Probably. Here's why.

((Quick note: my Prototype system ranks skills as Simple, Complex and Very Complex in order to facilitate dice rolled, number of points needed to gain a skill level and how often bonuses are awarded. Simple skills roll a d8 (with a target number of 5), gain a level ever 4 points, but can only have a maximum bonus of +4. Complex skills roll a d10 (target 6), gain a level every 6 points and get a max bonus of +5. Very Complex skills roll a d12 (target 7), gain a level every 8 points and get a max bonus of +7.
Why rank complexity? Because performing brain surgery is a hell of a lot more difficult than riding a bike. Why the gain in points required to level? Again, because learning to ride a bike is a lot easier than learning to putter around someone's brain without killing them. Why a bigger bonus for VC skills? Because there is a larger knowledge base necessary for performing those skills. You need to have a lot more knowledge under your belt to even attempt brain surgery than you need to attempt to ride a bike. Obviously, these analogies are simplistic, but the principle remains valid.))

Initially, I had one of the combat skills as "Martial Arts". It was generic and covered everything, giving some hefty bonuses to physical stats. I grew tired of this when I realized that all my playtesters invariably ignored the other combat skills in favor of Martial Arts. I had created a group of amateur ninjas. This could not stand.

So I set about redoing the "Martial Art" skill, breaking it up into many skills in several different categories, complexities and areas of focus. All in all, I came up with around 30 different martial arts skills, divided up mainly into area of origin: styles from China, Japan, the western world (namely Spain and Germany) and "Gunkata" which drew mainly on the American frontier gunman. Each area of focus had several martial art styles of differing complexity that would offer certain battlefield benefits.

For instance, the Chinese martial art "Kongminmai" (named after Zhuge Liang's surname "Kongming". Ref: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms") allows a player to "predict the outcome of a battle days in advance." In game terms, this translated to a massive reaction time in the form of a +3 dexterity bonus.

Ex 2: The Western martial art "St. Mark's Defender" gives a 10% armor bonus at certain levels that, when at the maximum Skill Level of 12, gives a total of 70% more armor.

I was more or less content with this style of martial art, but I felt that things had become a bit too specialized. In aiming for something a bit more complex than "generic", I shot too high and hit "overly complicated." I cooked up a middle ground that runs along the lines of "Martial Art: Upper Body Focus" and "Martial Art: Pistol Gunslinger" in which most Martial Art skills gave bonuses to strength, dexterity and a to-hit bonus at certain skill levels. I'm not sure if I like this yet. It's a step up from a single Martial Art skill, but I wonder if its still a bit too generic. "Small Melee Weapon" can cover a lot of ground that isnt necessarily similar. Fighting with a small mace is a lot different than fighting with a short sword.

Mind you, I wasn't trying to elevate one Martial Art above the other, though it came out that way. I suppose I could've just labeled all Martial Art skills as "Very Complex" instead of ranking some of them as Simple and Complex, like other skills, but (and I'm no expert on the subject) are all martial art styles really created equal? I didn't think so.


The jury's still out on this one.

Advertisement

This is a sketch I did a while ago. Not sure where it will fit into the text, but I'm sure I'll find a place for it somewhere.

My Japanese could be considered elementary at best, and I have no experience with Russian or Chinese, so if you can read those languages and find my text horrible, forgive me, I did the best I could with dictionaries.

The sketch I was going for was originally supposed to be a visual representation of a caption on a chapter heading. The chapter was on the introduction of the Neurojack itself while the caption was an advertisement for Neurojack implantation surgery. I thought I'd do something with someone looking like a 50's detergent commercial, but somehow this came out instead.

I think its for the best.

Simple or Complex, Part 2

After talking it over with my testers, I think I'm going to leave it as it is. I thought it might come down to this, and our conversation proved my instincts correct: most gamers would rather have a larger score because it sounds better. Consider it this way: a Stat rating of 40 confers a +8 bonus. Unanimously, my testers thought that a rating of 40 sounded better than a rating of 8, even though they are functionally identical.

I guess (in this case at least) bigger is better.

Simple or Complex?

I am currently experiencing a conundrum with regard to Statistics representation. For the uninitiated, "Statistics" refers to the traits that make up one's character in an RPG. Things like physical strength, manual dexterity, street smarts, knowledge and perception are the usual fare when it comes to character composition. For Prototype, I have the following stats.

Strength: raw physical power.
Nastics: physical dexterity; how quickly and gracefully one moves.
Perception: powers of observation, hand-eye coordination.
Intelligence: book smarts.
Smarts: street smarts, charisma.
Looks: physical attractiveness.
Guts: physical endurance, how many punches you can take before you buckle.
Minerals: mental endurance.
Luck: how much the forces of the cosmos favor you.

These Statistics are rated from 1 to around 40 (can be higher depending on race, but that's not an issue at present). In order to reflect one's superior Statistics, high stats get a bonus to die rolls while low stats get a negative roll. Ratings of 10 and 11 are considered average and confer no bonus. Penalties start at 9, with a -1, and go down 1 point per rating. So, 8=-2, 7=-3 and so on. The catch is that low Stats will go up quickly, since it's easier to get from "Lousy" to "Average" than is to get from "Average" to "Superhuman". Ratings of 12 and up confer a +1 bonus every 4 levels, so Stats of 12 confer a +1, 16 gives a +2, 20 a +3, etc.

The only exception is Luck. Luck begins at 1, which =+1 for Luck and only Luck. Each rating of Luck confers that bonus. 2=+2, 3=+3, -5=-5. The question which is running through my mind at the moment is whether or not all Stats should act as Luck does, for the sake of simplicity, or whether I should leave it as is.

On the one hand, I like the idea of having a more expanded rating system, as it allows for more of a grey area. A simplified system would probably only have ratings ranging from -8 to 8.

There are many successful games which capitalize on both schools. Heavy Gear has a very simple system while other games like World of Warcraft utilize complex formula to calculate Statistics. While I dont wish to get as complicated as that (it makes little sense to me how exactly a bonus of "+25 Defense" does not actually increase your "Defense" stat by 25, but I'm sure they have a method to the madness somewhere) I do feel that it adds a certain depth to things.

Decisions, decisions.

It all starts with a Prototype

If you're here and reading this, it either means you're a friend/relative, or you're someone interested in reading about my series of games. In either case, welcome! Studio Topia is a loose association (3 people) who have banded together to create tabletop role playing games.

Studio Topia found its roots in my Junior year of college at Western Washington University. It stems both from a good friend of mine who wrote his own RPGs and from a monumental inspiration I received from a Comics & Diversity Class I was taking at Fairhaven College. The initial result was a very rough draft of my first game, "The Neurojack Chronicles." After some initial success with a Beta version and some playtesting, I continued on and created a fantasy game called "Red, White and Black." As time went on, I added more games to my repertoire, found a graphic artist friend of mine to do layout, and an artist to illustrate what will eventually be printed books. While none of the games have been fully prepared for the book treatment as yet, Neurojack is closer than ever to a state of publishing readiness.

The Neurojack Chronicles

Ah, my very first game. I mentioned it all began with a Comics & Diversity class at Fairhaven. This is true. The final for the class was to create a comic book, in one form or another, that included diversity in some way. My initial idea was to do a story about a futuristic SWAT team on a colony world that utilized mecha (large robots) as a type of advanced armor. I seem to like acronyms and it was the acronym for the mecha that eventually led me to develop the Neurojack world. Dubbed "SPARTANS" (Self-contained Power-Armored Robotic Tactical Assault UnitS), these mecha would eventually grow into one of the driving forces behind the Neurojack world.

I drew a lot of my inspiration from one of my favorite RPGs, Dream Pod 9's "Heavy Gear". Set on the colony world of Terra Nova in the 61st century, Heavy Gear focused heavily on mecha combat and had a rather interesting setting. The world itself was divided, both physically and politically. Much closer to the sun than Earth, the climate on Terra Nova was much dryer and forced most of the populace to concentrate either in the northern or southern poles, where the temperature was not as harsh. Covering the entire equator of the planet is a vast desert known as the Badlands, which is sparsely settled by raiders, pioneers and others seeking to find their own way.
Mired by constant warfare, Terra Nova was hotbed of conflict, rife with intrigue and huge battles.

The world of Neurojack drew heavily from Terra Nova: the planet on which I set my story, "Asperian", is also divided politically and geographically. Northern and Southern governments maintain an uneasy peace despite vastly differing policies while the planet itself is divided by an enormous archipelago that coats the planet's equator. Various island nations exist in the "Equatorial Chain", though they pale in comparison to the might of the polar governments.

The Northern government, built primarily upon corporate mining conglomerates, is concerned primarily with profits and protecting their business interests. The South, by contrast, is occupied with preserving the agricultural stability of the planet and protecting the environment from the sort of degradation witnessed on Earth. The South also has the distinction of being the home of the first colonists to settle Asperian.

Add to this mix a new type of metal called "Illuminus." Illuminus possesses super-tensile properties, allowing the construction of kilometer-high buildings and nigh-impenetrable armor. Additionally, Illuminus can act as fuel in the environment of a fusion reactor, providing power for several years before needing replacement. It was the discovery of Illuminus that brought the mining conglomerates to Asperian in the first place, but there is more. In reaction to the reckless development exhibited by the mining corporations, various elements in the South began a covert terrorist war designed to subvert the agenda of the corporations. Among their number was a brilliant scientist who discovered a third for of Illuminus: liquid. Known as "Mercurial Illuminus", this liquid metal can be consumed by people known as "Imbibers" to transform them into something more than human. Through the use of Imbibers and terror tactics, the Southern rebels take their private war to the north.

There is a lot more to the game that I am leaving out, but this is the general foundation. Conflict is built on political ideology, nationalism, racism and social discrepancies.