Neon Xtinction

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History

As far back as records have been kept, there have always been those with extraordinary abilities. Heroes and demigods, legends and myths, their exploits are woven through history. They are supers, men and women born with - or gifted - incredible powers, to be used for good or evil as they see fit.

Likewise, monsters have always been a part of human history - enormous beasts, terrible predators, and hybrids that belong to no sane world. Some were clearly allegorical, representing fears, sins, and natural disasters, but some truly existed, endangering humanity with their terrible power. But when a monster threatens, heroes rise to stop it.

In 1954 the first kaiju, Dakkuma, emerged in Japan and proceeded to lay waste to the city of Okinawa. The monstrous reptile-arthropod hybrid was soon engaged by Captain Cosmic, the world’s preeminent (and most powerful) superhero. Their battle lasted for three days, covered hundreds of miles, and ended with Captain Cosmic tired but triumphant and Dakkuma apparently dead at the bottom of the Marianas Trench.

Since then, the kaiju have become a constant threat to humanity: building-sized monstrosities resembling no form of natural life, but with traits of reptiles, insects, crustaceans, and stranger things, possibly massive strength, limitless endurance, and strange and alien powers. They appear without warning, often from the sea or from large stretches of wilderness, and seem driven to crush and destroy the cities of humanity. Since the appearance and fall of Dakkuma there have been many more, and of late their attacks have increased in frequency and intensity.

Coinciding with the rise of the kaiju, supers - always a rare presence in the world - have become more common, and have demonstrated increasingly potent powers. Though none has yet come to light who can match the powers of Captain Cosmic, the masked vigilantes and super-athletes of old have given way to supers with far greater powers, including flight, elemental control, strength and toughness almost equal that of a kaiju, and more exotic abilities.

Project Gilgamesh was founded to make use of these young heroes and their talents. The brainchild of TITAN, the Tactical Initiative for Threat Anomaly Neutralization, Project Gilgamesh recruits teenagers who demonstrate extraordinary superhuman abilities with the aim of training them into a fighting force capable of defending humanity against the increasing threat of the kaiju.

The first recruits for Project Gilgamesh have been gathered.

This is their story.

Rules

Setting Rules

• An Arm And A Leg: If a Wild Card has no bennies, they can still choose to make a Soak roll. Regardless of the results of the Soak roll they immediately gain an appropriate hindrance: One Arm, One Eye, or Slow (Major). This Hindrance lasts until the end of the next session and cannot be healed otherwise.
• Combined Attacks: Support an ally’s attack to deal +2 damage, +4 with a raise
• Comic Book Combat: Combined Attacks, Knockback, Power Stunts, Synergy
• Conviction: Heroes gain Conviction Tokens that can be used to add a d6 to all Trait and damage rolls for one round.
• Expanded Conviction: In addition to the standard uses, Conviction can be spent to:
  • Reroll a Critical Failure.
  • Force an enemy to reroll a single Trait roll and use the new roll.
  • Negate a Benny used by another character.
  • Conviction may be gifted to another character who is Trusted (see below) for immediate use.
• Death & Defeat: A Wild Card who is incapacitated by lethal damage gets an immediate Vigor roll to potentially recover.
• Larger Than Life: Wild Cards may take one additional Major or Minor hindrance, gaining points for it normally. This extra hindrance must be a mental/social hindrance.
• Mega-Destruction: Superpowers and kaiju attacks cause massive property damage.
• More Skill Points: Heroes start with 15 skill points instead of 12.
• Never Surrender: Incapacitated Wild Cards are dealt initiative cards normally. On a Joker they regain consciousness and rejoin the fray.
• No Finishing Moves: Downed Wild Cards are immune to Finishing Moves
• Popcorn Initiative: Players may post in whatever order, as they are available to do so. The GM will have NPCs act whenever it makes sense. The edges Quick and Level-Headed, and the hindrance Hesitant, do not exist. Cards will still be drawn for the sake of Jokers and complications.
• Throwdown: Ignore the Unarmed Defender rule.

Stress

When characters become severely upset or emotionally hurt they may become Stressed. Stress is a mental status effect that applies whenever it is logical - whenever a character receives terrible news, experiences a traumatizing event, or suffers a great emotional blow. The GM may declare that a character has become Stressed as appropriate; the player may voluntarily choose to become Stressed as well. If the player chooses to become Stressed, they gain a benny.

A Stressed character subtracts 1 from all Smarts- and Spirit-based Trait rolls, and cannot spend bennies to unshake - they must succeed on a Spirit roll to do so.

If a character would become Stressed when they already have the Stressed status, they instead gain a temporary hindrance appropriate to the situation and their personality. This hindrance persists until removed; see below.

Stressed is a special status effect in that it does not fade naturally; instead, a character must make a Spirit roll at -2 to clear it. This roll can be made only once per day, after a period of rest (typically in the morning after a night’s sleep).

There is a second way to clear Stress: with the help of a friend. Another character (who is not Distrusted) can spend time with the Stressed character, helping them relax and work through their issue. This can take a variety of forms, from a conversation to guided meditation to recreation of various sorts, and takes about an hour. At the end of this time the Stressed character makes a Spirit roll at -2 while their friend rolls to Support. This can only be attempted once per 24 hours. If the Spirit roll is a critical failure, the Stressed character gains a temporary hindrance if they did not already have one!

If a character is afflicted with both Stress and a temporary hindrance, a success on the Spirit roll removes the Stressed condition but not the hindrance; a raise removes both. If the Stressed condition is removed, the hindrance can be removed the same way (but not until the next normal opportunity). The hindrance remains until removed, and if the character becomes Stressed again, that status must be cleared before they can attempt to remove the hindrance.