Underground Polis

A Play-by-Post game of urban Sword & Sorcery, using houseruled Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition.

Underground Polis follows the exploits of a squad of the Sewer Guard, a police force tasked with patrolling the ridiculously vast network of sewers, catacombs, tunnels and caverns beneath the sprawling fantasy metropolis of Artheia. The game aims to mix dungeon crawling, Weird Tales and good old Sword & Sandal movies with action cop shows, set in an amalgam of a Classical Greek polis, Imperial Rome and fantasy cities from Ankh-Morpork to Zamora.

• Recruitment thread
• OOC thread
• IC thread

The Cast

Player Characters

• Character 1 - an undefined something, played by Player A
• etc.

Non-Player Characters

• Major NPC 1 - an undefined something with some relation to the PCs
• etc.

Story So Far

These are the adventures of the intrepid Left Hand of the 7th Arms of the 13th Company of the 2nd Home Legion of the City of Artheia.

Important Notes

• Note 1
• etc.

The City

Situated at the mouth of the mighty river Erion on the north coast of the Inner Sea, boasting a million citizens, the City of Artheia is the greatest center of human habitation in the known world and a giant shining jewel atop the golden crown of civilization.

Depending on one's perspective, it's also kind of a dump.

Artheia is an expansive city state that lays claim to lands far outside the city walls, with numerous colonies all around the Inner Sea and several along the major inland trade routes to the North and East. "Artheia" usually refers to the entire state, the city proper being called "the City of Artheia" or most commonly just "the City".

Surroundings

Cultivated farmlands cover the fertile plains of Artheia, broken here and there by woods and grassy hills where livestock graze, extending several days' journey from the City in every direction but South where spreads the Inner Sea.

Government

Artheia is ruled by a triumvirate of elected officials called Dictators: the Prince, the Mayor and the Marshal. The Prince represents the City in general and its nobility in particular in foreign matters, and also commands the Foreign Legions. The Mayor represents the trade guilds and merchant leagues and thus, at least in theory, the common citizens; he has the final say in matters concerning trade and domestic issues. The Marshal is tasked with defending and keeping order in the City, and commands the Home Legions; he also has ultimate authority in matters concerning the same.

The Dictators are elected by the Elector Council, a body consisting of all the nobles holding estates within the City itself, the heads of all the officially recognized guilds and merchant leagues based within the City, and the generals of all the Legions. In theory each ruler is elected for a term of no more than seven years at a time, but again the practice differs: while the office of Mayor does usually pass around as intended, it is exceedingly rare for the current Prince or Marshal not to get re-elected, owing half to political corruption and half to a long string of genuinely competent individuals holding the offices.

In theory all three are supposed to have equal authority, but in practice the Prince generally trumps the Mayor, who in turn trumps the Marshal. Fortunately for democracy, the threat or occasionally outright act of open rebellion has been shown time and again to trump all three. In any case, the Dictators actually delegate most matters and everyday decisions to the Senate, ninety civic officers elected by public vote among the citizens (a citizen being any free person who owns property within the City walls) who take care of running the City through a veritable horde of secretaries, assistants and junior officials.

Home Legions

There are two legions permanently stationed within or near the City. The 1st Home Legion patrols the lands surrounding the city, keeping peace in the countryside and acting as the first line of defense against invasion. The 2nd Home Legion operates within the City itself, enforcing the law and protecting the City (and, ideally, the citizens) from internal threats. Under all but the most extraordinary conditions, this is the only armed force allowed to act within the City proper.

Popular but unsubstantiated rumor insists there is a 3rd Home Legion, a sinister secret police force of spies and assassins. Authorities scoff at the very notion.

Every legion, Home or Foreign, is composed of a number of Companies of varying size, usually 100-300 soldiers, plus support personnel. These are divided into groups of ten soldiers called Arms, and each Arms comprises two Hands of five men.

The Districts

The City is divided into twelve districts, each officially signified with a number but also possessing a nickname used in all but the most formal contexts (and several less flattering ones not usually referred to in polite company). Each has one of the first twelve Companies of the 2nd Home Legion assigned to it.

1. Citadel - The seat of power at the very heart of the City, containing the palaces and offices of the three Dictators and most of their senior officials, including the Senate. Situated at the highest point in the City, the white marble halls and gilded domes of the Dictatorial complex are an awesome spectacle, especially at sunrise and sundown, bathed in majestic brilliance above the shadowed City below. This was the site of the original fortress around which the City was formed, and is still well protected by a sheer cliff falling two hundred feet straight down into the Seaport harbor on one side and massive walls of ancient red granite on the others; the City has been breached by enemies before, but the Citadel remains impregnable.

2. Market - The great town square and surrounding neighborhoods at the end of the City's main street, Victor's Way, downhill from the Citadel and next to the Seaport. The City's social and economical hub as well as its de facto political center, this is where most citizens and visitors gather for business and leisure, by day and night. Right next to the square is the , a huge amphitheater where public trials and executions are staged, along with grand plays, sporting events, political debates and other such entertainment.

3. Seaport - The main harbor of Artheia, a partially man-made semicircular bay on the east bank of Erion just upriver of the Citadel. It's protected from storms by the Citadel cliff itself. There are commercial and public port facilities, a large shipyard with several drydocks and an entire suburb of commercial warehouses. The large community of boat people living on the river just off the main harbor, a sort of floating slum, is widely considered an informal thirteenth district (and a bloody nuisance).

4. Grove - A mishmash grouping of temples, shrines and religious fixtures of all sorts, erected around the site of an ancient sacred grove west of the river mouth. The grove itself is long gone - chopped down, says legend, for the funeral pyre of the last Artheian Emperor centuries past - but the name still sticks. Lesser temples huddle close together like the shelters of the homeless, mazy and slum-like, while the houses of more affluent deities rise above the mass surrounded with ample breathing room. Roughly in the center of the conglomeration stands the Temple of All Gods, a vast green copper dome on grey-veined marble pillars, housing shrines to every god worshiped in Artheia. Anyone who wants to start a cult is welcome to set up altar in here, although floor space is precious and bitterly contested; less popular contenders crowd in the open area around the Temple, trying to stir up enough sympathetic elbows to secure a space inside.

5. Wardock - An island in the middle of the river mouth that harbors the military port and main barracks of the 2nd Home Legion, as well as the famous Lighthouse of Artheia. The great river-spanning chains that can block entrance to Erion and the Seaport are operated from here.

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8. Pits - The newest and poorest part of the city. It began as a quarantine area for the infected during a devastating plague some thirty years ago and hasn't improved much since.

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The Sewers

Ancient, extensive and exceedingly complex, the sewer system of Artheia is one of the unsung wonders of the world.

It is constantly under repair and modification, and has been for a thousand years. There are still open sewers in some parts of the City, but mostly the system comprises a baroque, chaotically sprawling mess of aqueducts, sewage drains, storm drains, ventilation shafts, access tunnels, storage rooms, ancient streets and buildings, abandoned catacombs, natural caverns and gods alone know what else dug out or buried under the streets. The very bedrock is essentially porous on a gigantic scale.

Every now and then someone makes an effort to map the whole mess out, but no one has ever devised a sufficiently accurate means of navigating underground, nor been able to keep up with the constant changes brought on by all the repairs, expansions and alterations. For that matter, no one has any idea of the full extent of the system. It underlies the entire City and spreads some distance outside the walls, too, but exactly how far is unclear. According to some explorers it seems to reach further afield the deeper you go, and it goes deeper than anybody you've ever heard of can tell.

The Sewer Guard

Comprising the 13th through 16th Companies of the 2nd Home Legion, the Sewer Guard holds jurisdiction under the ground.

The Rules

Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition core rules, with the following tweaks.

Character Creation

All characters start at Power Level 8, with 120 Power Points to spend on Attributes, Skills and Feats.

Bonuses granted by equipment do not count towards PL limitations.

NOTE! 15PP of this starting total should be used on abilities and possessions that either come with the job or are required for getting in. This includes:

• no physical abilities below 10; 0PP
• +2 Attack bonus; 4PP
• +2 Defense bonus; 4PP
• 20 skill ranks total, and at least 1 rank in each, between Climb, Knowledge (streetwise), Knowledge (Tactics), Notice, Profession (soldier), Stealth and Swim; 5PP
• 2 ranks of the Equipment feat (see below); 2PP

You can choose not to pay all that, saving some PP for other uses, but unless you have some significant redeeming qualities to make up for your shortcomings, you'll likely be seen as a slacker not worthy to bear your shield; you'll be on thin ice with your superiors and looked down upon by your peers. Personal friends and other PCs probably excluded, naturally.

Abilities

All abilities are capped at 26. Remember, by the book an attribute rating of 25 represents the "best ever; peak of human achievement".

Normal Power Level limitations apply to Attack and Defense bonuses and all saves.

Skills

Skills are capped at 13 ranks, as per standard Power Level limitations.

Boating - A new skill for handling small watercraft. Rafts are often used to maintain the aqueducts, and can come in handy down in the sewers, too (beats swimming in human waste).

Computers, Drive and Pilot - These are of no use in this setting, obviously.

Craft - The electronics specialty is not available. Chemical is replaced by alchemical (see below).

Feats

Artificer - Used to brew potions with Craft (alchemical) and to create talismans, wards and other such magical doodads.

Benefit - You can buy ranks in the Benefit feat to gain honors and ranks in the Legions. You technically have authority over any guardsmen that you outrank, including other PCs, though this is mostly confined to your specific command chain. Don't let the power go to your head if you want to be able to actually trust your less decorated teammates, though. Nobody likes a petty tyrant. Nobody likes a jumped-up waste of salary, either, so don't overdo it by blowing all your points on status, and make sure you have what it takes to actually earn your rank. Benefit ranks correspond loosely to actual ranks in the Legions:

• Rank 3 - Corporal
• Rank 6 - Sergeant
• Rank 9 - Lieutenant
• Rank 12 - Captain

The rank of Corporal is a requirement for being granted command of an Arms, and commanding an Arms is required for the rank of Sergeant. You must be a Lieutenant in order to get your own Company, and must have your own Company in order to be made Captain. Of course, in practice the guy in command is simply the highest ranking officer currently present. See Minions, below.

Fearless - Hell no.

Minions - If you want to actually command a hand, an Arms or even a full Company, you must buy them with the Minions feat: at least 5 men for a Hand, 10 for an Arms, and 100-250 for a Company. These will all be common soldiers, not extraordinary individuals like the PCs and certainly not fanatical followers. A common guardsman should be built with about 45PP, using the Soldier in the back of the main book as a guideline; thus, an Arms would cost 6 ranks of Minions and a Company 9 or 10. Note that you also need the appropriate rank to wield such authority (see Benefit, above).

Ritualist - If you want to use magic, this is the way to go.

Powers

Only PPs gained from drawbacks can be used to buy powers. We're all just human here in this setting, and possessing mystical powers makes you a rare and suspicious freak. There's always a mark, always a price to pay - even if it didn't cost you dearly to attain such inhuman abilities in the first place, you're paying just as heavily for having them now.

The Guard will take you, they'll take anyone, but even they don't have to like you.

The drawbacks should be related to the powers in some way: light allergy for darkvision or blindness for precognition, a weakness or vulnerability to one thing for an immunity against another, etc. Associated complications like phobia, obsession, ill repuation or prejudice would also fit.

Power drawbacks can be used to lower the price of a power, but since they can't reduce the price below 1PP, you need points from character drawbacks to get started.

Equipment

Personal gear and other material assets are bought with the Equipment feat, as per the core rules. Below are some guidelines for building equipment suitable to the setting.

All guardsmen have two ranks of Equipment by default, giving them 10 Equipment Points of issued materiel. For the sewer guard, standard issue equipment consists of:

• Quilted linen vest - Toughness +2, crit negates; 1EP
• Round target - Defense +2, Deflection +2; 4EP
• Short sword - Damage +2, crit range 19-20; 4EP
• Small lantern - partial light in a 10ft. radius; 1EP

If you prefer, you can buy your own equipment instead of using the standard issue gear, but to meet regulations it must include armor and weapons at least equal to those issued, and you must use at least 10EP on it.

Weapons

Weapons are bought with the Blast and Strike powers. Below are some guidelines for representing different kinds of weapons:

• Melee weapons use the Strike power
• Most melee weapons have the Mighty feat; exceptions include things like whips.
• Weapons that can be swung or thrown have the Thrown feat.
• Ranged weapons that cannot be used in close combat use the Blast power.
• Pointy blades, like most swords and daggers, have the Improved Critical feat.
• Polearms have the Extended Reach power feat.
• Excessively large weapons, e.g. pikes or huge swords, have the Limited flaw in tight spaces.
• Blunt weapons, e.g. clubs and staves, have the Stunning Attack feat.
• Anti-armour weapons, like warhammers and heavy crossbows, have the Penetrating extra.
• The save DC bonus provided by one-handed weapons, thrown weapons or bows cannot exceed +4.
• The save DC bonus provide by two-handed weapons or crossbows cannot exceed +6.

Shields

Shields use the Shield and Deflection powers.

• The dodge and block bonuses provided by a shield cannot exceed +4.
• Neither bonus can exceed the other by more than 2 levels.
• Very large shields have the Limited flaw in tight spaces.

Armour

Armour is built normally using the Protection power:

• All armour has the Weak Point drawback, for -1EP total cost.
• Metal armour has the Impervious extra.
• The Toughness bonus provided by non-metal armour cannot exceed +4.
• The Toughness bonus provided by metal armour cannot exceed +6.

Other Resources

• Invisible Castle - The online dice roller of choice.
• The Atomic Think Tank - The official site for M&M discussion.
• Water and Wastewater Systems in Imperial Rome - Some atmospheric insights and useful reading about ancient plumbing.