Difference between revisions of "Savage X-COM"
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Revision as of 11:56, 18 March 2024
Contents
X-COM: UFO Defense
In 1947, Army Air Corps personnel from the 509th Bomb Group report the crash of a "flying disk" in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico. Some reports claim that there were two objects, and that one actually housed three alien beings: two dead and one alive. Before the end of the day, Army Air Corps officials retract the story, claiming that the object that crashed was actually a weather balloon. The existence of alien beings is categorically denied.
All of the "weather balloon" debris and other physical evidence of the "Roswell Incident" are quickly whisked away to Wright Airfield in Ohio.
X-COM was initially founded in the 1959. Originally created as an American counter-intelligence organization, aimed at providing a rapid response unit against a communist invasion, the agency was retasked to counter extra-terrestrial incursions by Director Faulke during the Outsider Incident [DETAILS REDACTED BY ORDER OF THE COUNCIL OF FUNDING NATIONS].
Following the successful resolution of the incident, X-COM was reformed into an international agency that would have jurisdiction over all extraterrestrial affairs, named the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit. The Council of Funding Nations was quickly formed by international treaty to govern X-COM, and then quickly sank into obscurity. X-COM was mothballed and remained a hidden relic of the cold war. Despite the events of 1962, the nations of the world still believe that aliens pose no true threat to the world and that global unity against a common foe is hardly required. The details of the incident, X-COM and the CFN are buried and kept hidden from the public. The Cold War proceeds for another thirty-nine years.
The Council of Funding Nations, throughout this time, maintained a few X-COM bases under the guise of being national military bases and keeps its eyes on highly qualified individuals in the event that the program needs to be reactivated. Each year, the members of the Council meet and update their recruit list. The goal throughout the rest of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is to have a list of experts ready, so that the X-COM project can be reactivated within days of a decision. The Council members are keenly aware that humanity is no longer alone in the universe, and that they will one day return.
In 2017, Unidentified Flying Objects started appearing with disturbing regularity in the night skies. Reports of violent human abductions and horrific experimentation strike terror into the hearts of millions, and began to spark mass public hysteria. While at first, these are just regarded as rumors and urban legends, the sheer scale and public nature of these incidents means that by 2019, the majority of the public believe that aliens are real and are active on earth, and there are documented cases of human abduction commonplace through sparsely populated regions. Every major news organization has reporters dedicated full time to tracking and reporting on cases of alien attacks, though the specifics behind the aliens remain unknown to the public. All attempts by national governments to cover up the crisis fail horribly, and only spark more public outcry. Confused denial does nothing to stem the tide of panic. The tipping point is Maine. A high profile abduction of three hundred people in a small, coastal town in 2018 is live streamed to the internet by several citizens, and an embedded reporter with the National Guard unit that responds to the attack. After this, the government denials stop.
The Council proposed the reactivation of X-COM following their initial report into UFO activity in 2017, but at that time, the individual nations of the world feel that the situation is containable, and a leak of the X-INT report to the public resulted in confused denials on a political level.
The scientific community attempted to make contact with the aliens on several occasions, but receive no response. Though the disappearance of the scientists who attempt to walk into landed UFOs could be seen as a kind of reply.
Many countries initially tried to deal independently with the aliens. In June 2019, Japan established an anti-alien combat force; the Kiryu-Kai. Equipped with Japanese-made fighter aircraft, the Kiryu-Kai certainly looked like a powerful force. However, after 5 months of expensive operations, they have yet to intercept their first UFO. Other national agencies had a similar lack of success. The lesson was clear: this was a worldwide problem which could not be dealt with by individual countries.
Intelligence agencies and military organizations around the world quickly discovered that these aliens were not working alone, numerous organizations had quietly cut deals with the aliens outside the providence of national governments. Criminals, cults, and syndicates were quietly operating with the aliens behind the scenes on an international scale.
An answer had to be given. While national agencies were preparing their own responses, old treaties were being called upon and an agreement was being reached.
On December 11, 2019, representatives from the world's most powerful countries met secretly in Geneva. After much debate the decision was made to authorize the Council of Funding Nations to reactivate the X-COM project. Following the meeting, the Council immediately begins calling in the names on its list, recruiting the finest military, scientific and engineering minds on the planet, and start recruiting the best soldiers and pilots to serve as humanities front line. The initial briefing to these recruits was given on New Year’s Eve.
X-COM officially reactivated on January First 2020, with a mandate to preserve human life and protect earth from the new alien incursion.
Several military bases around the world are being reassigned to X-COM for their usage. Our story begins at a little known base known as Area 51, which has been partially requisitioned for X-COM's North-America West operations...
Setting Rules
- Best of the Best: Payers start with 16 skill points instead of 12, and get an extra attribute boost and edge at character creation; to represent being drawn from the world's best units.
- Creative Combat: When making a successful Test check in combat and getting a raise, roll on the Creative Combat page on page 137 for the extra benefit
- Elite Forces: Characters can spend a Benny to gain the one-time use of a Combat Edge. They have to meet the Rank and any Edge requirements as usual but can ignore Trait requirements. Multiple Bennies can be spent in one round for multiple Edges, either for different effects or in order to meet a needed requirement to gain another Edge. If duration matters for the edge, it lasts until the start of their next turn.
- Gritty Damage: Whenever a Wild Card takes a Wound, roll on the Injury Table and apply the results immediately (but roll only once per incident regardless of how many Wounds are actually caused). A hero who takes two Wounds from an attack, for example, rolls once on the Injury Table. Injuries sustained in this way are cured when the Wound is healed. Injuries sustained via Incapacitation may be temporary or permanent as usual. A Shaken character who’s Shaken a second time (from damage) receives a Wound as usual but does not roll on the Injury Table.
House Rules
- Initiative: Initiative in Savage Worlds uses playing cards, which has trigger various edges and effects (such as the Joker). We will still draw cards (rather, I'll draw cards and tell you what you get) to determine these effects, but the actual initiative will be using popcorn. First a PC goes, then a NPC (or group of identical extras), then a PC, etc. etc. and switch back and forth until everyone has gone. The reason for this is because, in my experience, it makes play by post games go much faster instead of having to wait for individual people's turns to come up. People can go when they're available, instead of waiting for both their turn to come up and for them to be available.
Character Creation
Character creation will use the standard Savage Worlds rules. Characters must be human (at the start of the campaign) and go through the regular creation process, with the exception that money is not involved.
For gear, as members of a military unit, X-COM operatives, obviously, do not have to buy their own guns. Instead, they can take any items they want from the list of X-COM equipment, up to their maximum carrying capacity. At the start of the game, only human gear is available, but in unlimited quantities. Eventually, more advanced gear will become available and there may be restrictions on how much can be taken into the field. All weapons and equipment should be selected from the list in the wiki, as opposed to the core book. If you feel something is missing, let me know, and I may add it if I agree.
In the event that access to money becomes relevant for the plot, any X-COM operative can be assumed to be have a few hundred dollars or the local equivalent. Rich and Very Rich characters will have access to much more. A character with the poverty hindrance will never have enough money if they need it for some reason.
Characters
Former Squadmates
Links
Setting
X-COM Structure
Area 51 Dramatis Personae
Timeline
UFOPaedia
After Action Reports
Character Creation
New Hindrances
New Skills
New Edges
Equipment
Weapons are listed with generic stats and a series of examples. As Tier One operators, X-COM Sword Team operatives have wide personal latitude in choosing their weapons. And since they came from a wide variety of military backgrounds and units, X-COM command feels that the comfort of using preferred weapons outweighs the logistical disadvantages of multiple different weapons, primarily since X-COM teams aren’t expected to spend long times in the field away from the base. Shield teams have a more standardized base of equipment, using MP5s, Mossberg 590A1s and G36Cs as primary armanents; with P220 and P226s for sidearms. They also wield a mean stun baton.
New Keywords
Armor
Primary Weapons
Secondary Weapons
Melee Weapons
Expendable Weapons
Weapon Mods
Drones
Personal Gear
Vehicles
