Editing Genius The Transgression/Chapter Four:Special Rules and Systems (section)

== Beholden: ==

=== Creating Beholden: ===

Beholden aren't born from axle-grease and stray polymers. They are regular people, except that they have been consumed by the Genius' Inspiration and see the world exactly as she sees it.

A person's worldview can be broken down, gradually or suddenly, by a genius, allowing him to create a new beholden. This requires a demonstration of the genius' wonders (which incurs Havoc like normal if handled) and an expenditure of Mania equal to the subject's Willpower.

Once this is done, the genius rolls Inspiration + Presence vs. the subject's Resolve.

''Dramatic Failure:'' The genius cannot make that person into a beholden until his Inspiration increases.

''Failure:'' The geniuses cannot make that person into a beholden. It is possible to try again.

''Success:'' The subject becomes a beholden unless she spends a point of Willpower to resist.

''Exceptional Success:'' The subject becomes a beholden.

Suggested Modifiers: The subject's interaction with a wonder orphans it, temporarily or permanently (-3), the subject only looks at a wonder (-1), the genius spends only a minute or two talking with the subject (-1), the genius spends over an hour talking to the subject (+1), the subject has gone on some "grand adventure" with the genius (+3)

People also occasionally become beholden on their own accord. Repeated exposure to mad science will eventually drive a person beholden, but geniuses have found this transformation nearly as hard to predict as what exposure to mad science will cause a mere mortal to catalyze.

=== Being Beholden: ===

Beholden are interesting psychological studies. Though as intelligent, creative, and competent as they were before their change, beholden are incapable of engaging in high-level theoretical thinking. They lack metaphysical, philosophical, political, religious, ethical, or scientific thought-structures. (Or perhaps their conscious minds simply can't access them.) A beholden has no preference for political candidates or political parties. She does not subscribe to any religion, nor does she actively reject the tenets of any religion. She cannot formulate an argument for or against any ethical or political stance, such as vegetarianism or welfare. She may still cling to vestigial beliefs out of stubbornness, habit, or cultural identity, but she cannot really understand why she does.

The only exception to this behavior is when a beholden interacts with a genius. Then, the beholden takes on the philosophy and thinking mode of that genius. This ideological parroting is what makes a beholden so useful to the Inspired.

This condition affects beholden surprisingly little. They still retain an instinctive moral system (measured by Morality). Most beholden would feel disgusted and repulsed by cold-blooded murder, but when asked to justify this feeling, they would be unable. Beholden can still engage in planning and form practical models of the world around them: a clatch of beholden sent to kidnap a doctor can prepare, coordinate, and execute a plan as well as their Skills and Attributes would allow. But they would be unable, for example, to offer an ethical or philosophical justification for their actions.

=== Stray Beholden: ===

Some beholden are "strays." They lack a worldview of their own, and thus are certainly beholden, but they also lack a master to tell them what to do and think. This tends to happen in one of four ways. First, a genius might die, leaving her beholden without direction and focus. Second, a regular person, often a scientist, might see something so wondrous that it shatters their ability to formulate a view of the world, while not pushing them quite far enough to catalyze. Third, some bardos create beholden naturally from members of their population. Finally, beholden might forcibly and instinctively reject their master due to extreme moral differences; mad scientists on the fast-track to Illumination often shed all but their most heinous Igors.

To escape the bonds of a repellent master, the genius' Obligation must differ from the beholden's Morality by five or more points (either way, though usually it's a moral beholden and a monstrous mad scientist). Once per month, or once per scene if someone makes a Manipulation + Persuasion roll to convince the beholden of the error of his master's ways, the genius can make a Resolve check vs. his master's Inspiration.

''Dramatic Failure:'' The beholden cannot attempt to free himself again until the genius' Obligation moves even farther from the beholden's Morality.

''Failure:'' The beholden remains a servant of the genius.

''Success:'' The beholden is freed and becomes a stray.

''Exceptional Success:'' The beholden is freed and is no longer a beholden.

''Suggested Modifiers:'' Beholden fears for his life (+3), beholden has been mistreated (+1 to +3), genius has made promises to safeguard the beholden (-1), genius is friends with the beholden (-1) Stray beholden, however they appear, cannot recover Willpower until they have a master again. Worse, they gradually go insane as they lose the ability to make sense of the world. Every month, roll Intelligence + Resolve.

''Dramatic Failure:'' The stray goes completely insane and becomes catatonic, dying shortly thereafter. 

''Failure:'' The stray takes a -1 penalty to all actions as he loses his ability to form connections and build a coherent view of the world. At -5, the stray goes insane as if a Dramatic Failure had been rolled.

''Success:'' The stray remains stable.

''Exceptional Success:'' The stray reestablishes contact with the pattern-generating part of his mind. He is no longer beholden, and all penalties are removed.

''Suggested Modifiers:'' Psychological exercises (+1), difficult and violent month (-1), rejected by another mad scientist (-1), with a group of three or more strays (+1), with a group of ten or more strays (+2) These stray beholden are eager to find a genius to latch onto, even risking abusive and morally dubious relationships in exchange for being given a worldview again. Geniuses looking for Igors often learn about good places to look in their immediate area. It seems that every major metropolitan area has some place―a half-forgotten coffee shop, a tiny bardo inside an apartment block, a neglected basement office at the local community college―where the strays congregate, talking about old times under their masters and trying to remember what it was like to believe something. Most geniuses know how to find this place, which the Lemurians call a catasta, where they know they can find beholden desperate for employment and purpose.

=== Promoted Beholden: ===

Beholden can catalyze, becoming full geniuses. Many geniuses begin their careers as beholden who are set apart for an eventual Breakthrough. Also, sometimes when a genius dies, one of his beholden will catalyze, either suddenly or as a gradual process amidst the wreckage of what the genius left behind.

This transformation is up to the Storyteller; here, like elsewhere, there are no hard and fast rules for how and when a person becomes Inspired.

=== Dirty Work: ===

While many beholden come from scientific fields, others are recruited from the police, the military, or special forces. Some geniuses even train their beholden in these fields in order to guard their laboratories and strike out against their enemies. This is represented by Beholden Prowess, which is purchased as part of the Beholden Merit.

Sometimes a genius does not want to get her hands dirty, or she lacks relevant training for some kind of field work. In this case, she may be able to send her beholden to do her dirty work.

Dirty work can be anything from a meet-and-greet to theft to assassination. If it's not dangerous, there's no need to roll, but most dirty work is dangerous and requires a dirty work check (with a starting number of dice equal to the beholdens' Prowess) to succeed.

Difficult actions or actions against difficult targets incur a penalty set by the Storyteller. The Storyteller should use the following guidelines based on the power and security level of the target.

* Regular citizen: +1
* Armed forces veteran, beat cop, security guard, paranoid or security-minded person: No modifier
* Person with combat and awareness training, such as a detective, soldier, or security specialist, or minor public figure like a local celebrity: -1
* Highly competent person such as special forces or wealthy or moderately influential person such as a selectman: -2
* City- or state-level figure such as a mayor, crime boss, head of a major corporation, or state senator: -3
* A national or international figure such as a senator, billionaire or president: -4
* Opposing Beholden: Equal to Beholden Prowess.
* Orphan wonder: Equal to rank
* Genius: Equal to Inspiration

The differing size of the two groups is also important:
* Beholden outnumber target by 50%: +1
* Beholden outnumber target by 2:1: +2
* Beholden outnumber target by 3:1: +3
* Beholden outnumber target by 4:1: +4
* Beholden outnumbered by target by 50%: -1
* Beholden outnumbered by target by 1:2: -2
* Beholden outnumbered by target by 1:3: -3
* Beholden outnumbered by target by 1:4: -4

The beholden also suffer a penalty based on how complicated or dangerous the activity to perform is.

* Surveillance: 0
* Harrying Attack or "Sending a Message": -1
* Theft: -2
* Destruction or property, demobilizing, or serious inconvenience: -3
* Military-style Strike: -3
* Assassination: -4
* Kidnapping: -5

Add the penalties together. So, if beholden are sent to steal from (-2) the police (-2) that outnumber them by 50% (-1) the total penalty is -5.

A group of beholden can be used for dirty work a number of times per chapter equal to their Number.

The Storyteller can adjust this modifier to any degree based on specific circumstances, or even outright refuse certain attempts at dirty work that would derail the story or avoid dramatic conflict. The Storyteller should usually refuse any attempt to kill or capture a genius with an Inspiration equal to or greater than that of the character assigning the dirty work, or other metanormal creatures of similar power, but any disruptive or disinteresting act is subject to veto. On the other hand, the Storyteller should encourage the use of dirty work to simplify the collaborative's own missions or to support their actions.

Once the penalty is determined (and if the dirty work is not rejected out of hand), the genius can spend Mania to increase the roll. The genius can spend a number of Mania points equal to her maximum per-turn expenditure on outfitting, briefing, and enhancing the beholden. Once that's done, roll the dice.

''Dramatic Failure:'' The beholden fail spectacularly and gruesomely. The genius permanently loses a dot in either Beholden Number or Beholden Prowess (the genius' choice) as his troops are massacred. Dirty work cannot be attempted for the rest of the chapter.

''Failure:'' The beholden fail to achieve their goals. Casualties and disruptions are light, but incur a cumulative -1 penalty per failure. This penalty resets at the end of the chapter.

''Success:'' The beholden do something right. The goal is accomplished.

''Exceptional Success:'' Not only is the goal accomplished, but it doesn't count toward the maximum number of dirty work uses during the chapter. Further, the morale boost wipes away any cumulative penalties.

''Suggested Modifiers:'' Instructions are unclear or ambiguous (-1), beholden are unfamiliar with task (-1), task is outside beholden's talent suite (-2), beholden are specialized for the operation (+1), more than half of the beholden are equipped with wonders relevant to the operation (bonus equals rank of lowest-ranking wonder), beholden must operate publicly (-2)

==== Summary Execution: ====

Murdering beholden can improve their performance after a failure. This permanently reduces Beholden Number by one, but removes all accumulated penalties in that chapter and prevents new ones from accruing for the rest of the chapter. Further, the genius can roll Presence + Intimidation before all future dirty work checks until the end of the chapter; successes are added to the dirty work dice pool. Summary execution for incompetence is at least an Obligation-4 transgression.

=== Dealing with Big Groups: ===

A collaborative with large numbers of beholden and automata can quickly grow unwieldy. The Storyteller needs to balance players' (fair and understandable) desire to benefit from their Axioms and Merits with a desire to keep the story moving forward. A battle with seven geniuses is hard enough to run; one with seven geniuses, eleven beholden, and 20 killer robots is unmanageable. A Storyteller can invoke a few rules to simplify things.

Beholden do not generally go "on adventures" with geniuses. Storytellers can make case-by-case exceptions, but mostly, even combat beholden focus on guarding the lab and performing dirty work. They don't join their masters during temple lootings, murder investigations, or streets brawls against manes. However, dirty work can be conducted at any time: encourage the collaborative to, for example, have their beholden perform harrying attacks on their enemies while the geniuses themselves slip into their enemies' lab. 

While automata can travel easily with geniuses (assuming they're not conspicuous), coordinating large groups is inconvenient and difficult. As a rule of thumb, the Storyteller can assume that a number of combatcapable servants (beholden or automata) can conveniently follow the group equal to the highest Presence in the collaborative. Beyond that and logistics dictate the group should break down into smaller parties. 

Finally, there are times when all the collaborative's beholden and automata need to be put into action: a massive raid on an enemy airship, for example, doesn't just call for 2-5 robot servants backing up the mad scientists. In this case, despite the beholden and automata working closely with the geniuses, the Storyteller can use rules for massive battles

==== Massive Battles: ====

Sometimes the collaborative will want to bring their full forces to bear. They spot a 50-strong Hollow Earth Nazi patrol in the deep desert. Etherites attack their underwater fortress. It's time for an epic confrontation with their Illuminated former mentor and her spider servants. Only a massive engagement, with dozens of minions (beholden and automata), makes sense. But who wants to roll dice for whole platoons? Even dicefiend players can grow bored, and Genius: The Transgression is not a tactical war game. In that case, a system for massive battles can help move the action along.

This system is not a realistic simulation of mass combat. It is intended to provide some color and running commentary while the PCs fight that is not entirely based on Storyteller fiat. To run this sort of battle, first divide the battle into two groups: the main battle, where the PCs will fight against a powerful group worthy of their abilities (usually from half to double their own number) and a secondary battle, where the collaborative's minions duke it out against enemy minions.

Handle the main battle normally. Every turn, after everyone has acted in the main battle, roll for the results of the secondary battle.

First, figure out the total numbers on each side, as follows:

{|
|+
|'''Number of Minions'''
|'''Number Rank'''
|-
|1
|1
|-
|2 to 5
|2
|-
|6 to 11
|3
|-
|12 to 29
|4
|-
|30-49
|5
|-
|50-99
|6
|-
|100+
|7
|}

Then, note the Prowess. For beholden, Prowess is equal to the Beholden Prowess dots each group has. For combat-capable automata, Prowess is equal to rank. (The Storyteller may need to determine equivalent Prowess for non-combat-oriented automata, but this is normally an all-or-nothing thing: either an automaton can fight well and has Prowess equal to rank, or it can't, and can't contribute anything useful to the fight.)

To conduct the secondary battle, roll a competing Number + Prowess check.

''Failure (equal number of successes):'' Stalemate. Neither side gains the edge in the battle.

''Success (one side gets more successes than the other):'' The tide shifts. The victorious side pushes their enemies back, and some break through the line. A number of minions equal to the winning side's Number or the number of successes (whichever is lower) push through and join the main battle. Roll initiative normally for these minions. (If there are already minions of the same type in the main battle, the Storyteller can instead give the new minion an initiative score equal to his similar allies.) 

''Exceptional Success (one side gets five or more successes over the other):'' Breakthrough/Collapse! The winning side scatters or vanquishes their enemies, forcing a total withdrawal of the losers. The secondary battle is basically over. All of the victorious minions join their genius allies in the main battle, perhaps leading to a total rout.

==== Mixed Prowess Groups: ====

If there are two groups on the same side (for example, some two-dot beholden mixed in with some rank-4 automata), roll the dice for Number, then roll the number of dice for each Prowess rating, but only take the higher result of the second roll. For example, in a mixed group of 20 minions (Number 4), some with Prowess 1 and some with Prowess 3, first roll four dice for the Number. Note the result. Then roll one die for the Prowess 1 minion and three dice for the Prowess 3 minions. Of those two rolls, take the higher result, and add it to the number of successes rolled on the Number dice.

If the tide turns in favor of a mixed-Prowess group, randomly determine which type of minion joins the main battle. Chances for each type to join the main fight are equal.

=== Conclusion and Recovery: ===

At the end of the entire fight, it's time to determine casualties. This isn't precise and requires some eyeballing. An entirely routed side (the other side received an Exceptional Success) loses three dots of Number. A side that suffered more successes than it allowed over the course of the fight loses one from its Number. A side that gained an Exceptional Success or that got more successes than it suffered suffers minimal casualties that do not reduce the group's Number.

Reduced Number isn't permanent―the collaborative doesn't have to purchase more Beholden Merit dots, for example. But casualties will have to be replaced by recruiting more beholden or building more automata, which can take time.