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Free20: Details of the Future Written by Chris A. Field Cover Illustration by: Anthony Cournoyer (Shaman’s Stockart) Interior Illustrations by: Vic Shane, Amanda Webb. All images are copyright their respective creators, and are used with permission. www.otherversegames.blogspot.com Requires the Use of the D20 Modern Core Rulebook, Published by Wizards of the Coast
The future is a foreign country, impossibly complex and fast moving. Everything is different in 2107, beyond just the obvious fact that an well armed pagan techno-utopia wages war against a Christian theocracy using posthuman supersoldiers as its primary weapon. The details matter more. Details of the Future is a FREE mini-
sourcebook collecting these details. A collection of system-free random creation charts that let you randomly build minor NPCs, back ground events and set dressing. Since these details are system free they are equally useful in a D20 Modern based Otherverse America campaign, clinic management sims run using the upcoming Frontlines of Choice system, or any other modern or near-future cyberpunk, espionage or sci-fi game you play in.
Traumatic Pasts The happy childhood is a relic of the preWar past. Most of 2107’s teenagers were born during the last days of the Abortion War, and though they came of age in the post-Treaty era, they still have dim, nightmarish memories of air strikes and Powered assault warning sirens splitting the night’s peace. The 22 nd Century’s adults have it worse: even those who didn’t fight in the War themselves probably have scars. After all, railgun rounds don’t discriminate between soldiers and non-combatants. So what went wrong with your life, and did the pain give you the impetus to pick up the gun or go post-human? Roll d20 to find out. Roll 2d20 if God really hates you.
D20 Result
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Your Tragic Past Your f amily had money once, but lost its f ortune during the War to a combination of bad business decisions, a debt to some gang bangers, and a bombing that got blamed on collateral damage but was anything but accidental. You were raped or molested by someone you trusted with your lif e. A car or plane crash k illed a good chunk of your f amily.
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Your mom died in a home invasion. The 'banger who did the crime is set f or release in a couple of years.
5
Your f ather was executed by his own side f or selling intel to the enemy. You've seen the same proof the ' jury' did, but remain unconvinced….
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You did seven years in juvie f or manslaughter, but the bastard deserved it, and it was the most righteous k ill you've ever made…..
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A stray shot f rom a military- grade assault weapon came through your bedroom wall and took your lef t arm with it when it lef t.
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Playing around with an ion pistol you f ound cached out behind your apartment, you shot and k illed your best f riend.
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Back - splash f rom a psi- duel that took place within a couple of block s of your home drove you nearly insane. Af ter the suicide attempt, you spent the next ten months in a group home, putting your mind back together. The f irst person you ever loved lef t you f or your best f riend.
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O ne of your parents did a tour of duty, deployed to a distant outcolony, and has been missing in action f or a decade now, af ter a Lif espawn incursion.
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You had an ideal suburban childhood. At least APEX of f icers burst through the door to tak e down your mom f or what she did during the Abortion War.
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You were raised willf ully ignorant in a home- school Enclave hell by a psychopath. You didn't learn to read anything beyond your own name until you were 12, and the visions of Hell you were taught still wak e you up screaming. You grew up on the streets, surviving on church handouts and prostitution, at least until you got old enough to start slinging drugs. Your f amily were ref ugees f rom some place even worse than War- era America. They came here to give you a chance at an education, a job and a bit of saf ety. Things didn't exactly work out as planned…. Your parents were Covenant believers, and they trusted a psion using some barely understood and probably illegal psi- technique to awak en your past lif e memories. You acquired some k ind of psitalent, a head f ull of nightmares, and a new f oster f amily to replace the idiots that thought giving you f alse memories of being garroted as a witch in 1452 Spain was a good idea. A natural disaster annihilated your home, and someone you loved. You were born with a ragged and f ailing immune system, and spent the f irst f ive or six years of your lif e in hospitals. A good percentage of your internal organs are cybernetic or f orce- grown replacements. You agreed to run with some local badasses on a robbery where every single thing went wrong. You were k idnapped by a f anatic f rom the other side, who k ept you in a cell and brainwashed you f or f our years, until you barely k new who you were anymore.
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Ubasti Details The genetically engineered lions known as Ubasti are one the most unique races in Otherverse America. Already instantly recognizable as an alien, Choicer intellect, these great cats make excellent player characters or tough, honorable and indomitable adversaries. A few quirks of pelt color, the addition of unusual cyber-systems or other decoration can make one particular Ubasti particularly stand out in your players’ minds. As always, you can read d20 across the two columns, or roll twice. You can choose to give your Ubasti one, two or more traits.
Tattoos of the Otherverse Body modification is a major theme of Otherverse America. From inking Save Roe on your bicep to having reflex augmenters implanted in your lumbar spine, if you live in this world, you’ll change your body in accordance with your beliefs. Need some ritual ink or prison tattoos for a NPC or want some inspiration for your own character’s look? The tattoos chart is broken into Lifer and Choicer tattoo columns, though nothing is stopping you from mixing and matching as desired. Note that these tattoos aren’t segregated by age: CEOs or street punks are equally likely to wear them. If you want more variety from this chart, just play around with tattoo placement, color or other minor details.
D20 Result
Unusual Ubasti Physical Trait
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1
One eye scratched out by another Ubasti
2
Hairless, pink shrapnel scars on legs and belly
3
Compound optics band cybernetics in place of natural eyes
4
Bobbed tail, capped with a decorative gold band decorated in hieroglyphs.
5
Claws have been replaced with milk - white polymer blades
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Missing several teeth on lef t side of the f ace
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Substantially smaller then the norm f or the breed.
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Dark grey pelt streak ed with patches of blue and white f ur.
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Walk s with a limp, f avoring right hind leg.
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Mane has been braided with intricate red k notwork .
Freak y genitals that are impossible not to notice. Lef t f oreleg replaced with bionics. Missing an ear. Top of paws have been shaved and intricately tattooed with pagan symbols and runes. Wears an extremely f ine 'toga' symbolizing a respected position in the Global Pack . Mangy and half starved, a runty outcast. Gigantic paws with an additional, f unctional toe on each paw. Body has been reinf orced with obvious dermal plating and cyber armor. Missing one limb completely, but still gets around ok ay. Nursing or pregnant f emale. Both f orelimbs and breast have been replaced with heavy cybernetics.
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Red silk ribbons tied around each paw.
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Spine has been repaired with brown and crimson cyber- implants.
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Wears a load bearing black vest and carries equipment f or a humanoid partner or f riend.
Wears Egyptian style neck laces and pectorals.
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Extremely well def ined musculature, possibly augmented.
Gold or silver ring through nose and similar piercings on each nipple.
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Mismatched eye color.
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Calico patterning rather then the usual drab pelt.
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Monochromatic pelt (black , white, auburn, other naturalistic color)
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Hairless burn scars along the right f lank and shoulders.
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Especially thick , sof t pelt.
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Forehead and breast are streak ed with some brilliant color (blood red, bright gold, stark white)
Body is a roadmap of old bullet wounds, more than 30 easily visible entry wounds.
Teeth inlaid with gold f iligree and tiny gemstones. Fat and lazy, moves slowly and clumsily. Fur has been dyed neon- orange and covered with C hoicer slogans f or a clinic def ense rally. Wears a luminous pentacle (cosmetic implant) embedded in the throat. Gigantic and bulk y, pushing the upper limits of its Size Category One of the oldest living Ubasti, muzzle going white.
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Lif er Tattoos
D20 Result
Choicer Tattoos
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A nano- active woman's symbol on the palm of the dominant hand, that glows a f aint crimson.
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A bicep piece showing an updated "Rosie the Riveter' with a blood red cyberarm as a post- War addition.
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A f ull back piece showing Persephone emerging f rom Dark prison ink just below the belly button of a stylized f etus and the underworld as a badass cyber- girl, and the the words "Wish I'd Got to Meet You" words "Fif th Redline Inf antry 2067- 75"
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Luminous aquamarine protective runes on the f orehead and lef t cheek .
5
A f ull sleeve on the right arm of k ids playing soccer, rendered all in shades of red and pink .
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A retro- style pinup of a nude Sof tling girl on the lef t shoulder.
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A glowing, nanoactive k not of red and gold f ire over the lef t eye.
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Intricate blue and green C eltic k nots running f rom the toes all the way up to mid- belly, covering the legs and buttock s completely.
Lower jaw and neck have been tattooed with photorealistic, f ull color muscle and bone.
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A pair of cartoonish Choicer "Persephone" hard suits in gold, each with a dif f erent weapon, f acing each other in the hollow of the clavicles.
Forearms and hands have been tattooed with simplistic black and white bones.
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Two dozen pro- choice slogans, rendered in red, yellow and blue block letters, twelve on each f orearm.
A f ull back cross rendered as hundreds of tiny, interlock ed Choicer energy pistols.
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Glowing lines of bluish f orce, in circuit patterns across the chest and abdomen.
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Three blood red, spiraling slashes, lik e claw mark s as a sleeve on the lef t arm.
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O ld N orse runes f or peace, strength and healing, rendered in chrome, down the length of both arms.
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A silvery Dianac triple crescent worn just above the genitals
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A swarm of bees f lying of f the shoulder and down the right arm.
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O ld style RAIN BO W spectrum bands across the f ingers lik e rings.
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Three Lif er sigils, x- ed out by red lines, on the inside right wrist.
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Three 'whisk er' lik e triangles on each cheek , in blood red.
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Abstract red and brown shapes on the dominant hand, resembling an ob- nan cyberlimb when viewed f rom a distance.
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A lunar crescent around each eye, which changes color slowly throughout the day.
A tiny, Dias De Los Muetros- styled sk ull in black and white on the f irst joint of each f inger. The Lif er Sigil with the words "First To Fight: Brook line Expeditionary Force, Charlie Platoon" above the heart
Grinning, f iery sk ulls rendered in black , purple and yellow on each k neecap. An upside- down American f lag (an old one, only with 52 stars), dripping blood on the lef t shoulder. A bracelet of interlock ed black and pink f etuses, worn on the lef t wrist. A pair of rail guns, worn over the heart, with the motto "N ever Lay It Down"
The same verse f rom Deuteronomy that the Closers quote, written with mathematical precision on the right side of the chest. C olorf ul stick f igures of a man, woman, and 5- 6 k ids of various ages across the shoulders. Heavy black ink under each eye, and tear motif s running down the cheek s. Matte black sleeves on each f orearm and calf . C rack ed black hearts, each side with an equally crack ed f etus inside, on the back of each hand. A map of the continental USA with several battle sites mark ed by ink ed bullet wounds, on the chest. A series of warning symbols, f rom poison alerts to Lif echain warning logos, worn down the right leg. A prison ink ed version of the Sigil, in jet black on the bicep.
A black and white cross tattooed over the lef t eye.
A photorealistic, machine- applied k atana with a black hilt, down the spinal column.
wealthy Choicer micro-grav ballet dancer who bought superhuman DNA to improve her performance….and to get revenge on the culture who rejected her for Philosophical training when her sociopathic tendencies became apparent.
Serial Killers & Sex Predators of the 22 nd Century Serial killers and sexual predators make ideal villains for mixed-allegiance campaigns. Most predators tend to be loners, unable to function in a working society, and only tangentially connected to either of the pseudonations. Sexual predators also commit crimes so vile and disturbing that even the most fanatical Lifer or Choicer will work with ‘the enemy’ to bring the predator to justice, however reluctant the cooperation. Hunting a child murderer in the bowels of the Savannah Enclave is a good reason for a gaming group composed of a couple of Lifer gunslingers, a cybered-up Ásatrú clinic defender, a Lifer Vindicator and a passionate young Midwife to get together, and maybe even stay together….. As always, you can either roll d20 and read across the row, or roll multiple times and combine the results for a more diverse crop of monsters. You should note this chart produces ‘cinematic’ serial killers rather than realistic psychopaths. While most are male, there’s quite a few potential female villains lurking inside this builder chart.
Making Monsters Oh, this is going to be sick. Let’s roll up three serial predators and see what kind of freaks come out of the woodwork. •
7-15-10-8: Moving with unearthly grace across Topeka’s low skyline, a fully masked sniper (likely female) is killing and dressing out Ubasti. After she took out Ramases Threelegs, one of the most beloved of all Kansas’ feline war heroes, a joint APEX and Choicer task force began hunting the nimble female stalker. The killer is secretly Hannya Lourdes, a
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5-3-6-6: Theodore Strugiss, formerly ‘The Black Bonesaint’ of the Georgia Peach A.O.G., has become the nightmare of Choicer Atlanta. Using skeletal combat drones, he invades the home of an unwary Choicer woman, and the rapes don’t stop just because she dies. He carefully selects victims that won’t be missed for a few weeks, living with his victim’s rotting carcass for as long as possible. The Neverborn murderer claims to be, and genuinely believes, he is more human in the hours just after a kill. 12-6-3-10: Tommy Tsang has a dangerous fantasy life where he is a suave assassin, above the law and conventional morality. He kills any man or woman who catches his eye, silently and mercilessly strangling them with carbon steel garrote. He works as a DJ in San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Brownsville TX night clubs, and fakes allegiance to whichever side will keep him safest at the moment. He is equally familiar with Lifer and Choicer culture.
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D20 Result
Name
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Darnell Harris
2
Elsbeth Oak wood
3
Joseph Wick
4
Paul Everett Richards
5
Theodore Sturgiss
6
William Shane
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Hannya Lourdes
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Kyle Cranston
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Jacob Hill
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Juan Gonzalo Salazar
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Samantha Cromwell
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Tommy Tsang
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Stephan Verdugo
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Alec Jenner
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Tamar Hilton
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John J. Pendell
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Vincent Wyner
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Tony Cervantes
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Clarissa Miles
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Teresa Handf ast
CHART CONTINUES..... NEXT PAGE
Hunting Grounds
The American Southwest
The Choicer "Crimson Coast"
Atlanta, GA
The Federal Metroplex, DC
The Florida panhandle
South Texas
The Ba ja Peninsula
Wealthier Boston neighborhoods
The Lif er Deep South
New Orleans, LA and East Texas
New England
Seattle, WA
Honolulu, HI
The Midwest
Choicer territories in Kansas
Around Las Vegas, NV
Salt Lak e Enclave, UT
Manhattan, NYC
College campuses in Los Angeles, CA
Migrates seasonally, roll twice and combine
D20 Result
Prof ile
Crimes
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Nanof easter Powered (Warf orm) 5, Strong 1. Work s as a day laborer, travels with a Razor clan.
Rapes, k ills and cannibalizes older teen boys.
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Smart 6, Field Medic 2. Employed at a hospital ER, pick s victims f rom the rank s of abused spouses.
Kills women by in jecting nearly untraceable nano- toxins.
3
Mechanic Charismatic 3, Smart 1. Migrates between Lif er and Choicer culture to avoid detection.
Pedophile who streams live k iddy porn on Mesh.
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Fast 3, Smart 5. Favors alien victims, and is a sk illf ul computer hack er.
5
Strong 2. Poses as a prostitute to lure in male victims.
Kills with a k nif e, all k ills captured by CCTV cameras, staged meticulously by the k iller.
Dumps dissected older male bodies in rivers and hunting trials.
Kills single Choicer women, moves into their homes f or several week s. Necrophile.
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Neverborn Powered (summoner, shooter) 10, Fast 2. ExLif er special operations, now homeless by choice.
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Charismatic 3, Powered (honey trap) 1. Pick s up victims in nightclubs.
Serial rapist with cutting edge cybertech.
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Fast 4, Strong 4, Soldier 2. Does private security work f or a military weapons megacorp.
Perverse 'big game hunter' stalk ing Ubasti.
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FCB Strong 3, Tough 2. Has a labor- model chassis illegally modif ied f or combat.
Beats pre- teen girls to death bare handed.
10
Fast 3, Powered (ref lex)1. Free runner who escapes over the roof line.
Rapes and k ills adult victims of both gender with a garrote.
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Powered (shooter, density control) 5. Has mastered many Choicer- specif ic Ob ject Philosophies.
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Powered (Shapechanger) 3. Researches victims with Ob ject Reading talents, inf iltrates their lives bef ore strik ing.
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Fast 3, Gunslinger 1. Former APEX candidate, washed out f or psychological reasons during boot camp.
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Dedicated 1. College drop out and general loser. Powered (MS Strength, Warf orm) 6. Went mad af ter bootleg gene therapies went wrong. Wanted to be a clinic def ender….
Disintegrates or atomizes victim's body with heavy weapons, most victims are never f ound.
Keeps college age f emale victims alive f or months bef ore k illing them.
Goes on random shooting sprees and sniper attack s.
Celebrity stalk er who has spent years in and out of asylums.
Delusional. Hunting the members of a f amous Lif er squad s / he read about incorporated into f antasy lif e.
Kills middle aged women dressed in Choicer styles with large caliber handguns.
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Strong 1, Fast 3, Soldier 5. Former member of the Lif er "Garbagemen" death squad. Wanted war criminal.
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Dedicated 6, Tracer 2. Work s as a crime beat reporter f or a mesh- blog.
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Strong 3. Unwashed schizophrenic steroid case that's barely Child molester with a pref erence f or pre- teen boys. employed.
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Kidnaps wealthy newborns f or ransom.
Smart 5, Field Scientist 1. Earns money as a drug chemist and by installing illegal gene- mods. Has several Lif echain f eats!
Uses tailored, illegal genemods to permanently brain damage college- age girls.
Strong 4, Tough 2, Martial Artist 3. Brawler who mak es money in illegal boxing matches against Lif er 'borgs.
Attack s pregnant women and beats them until they miscarry.
First, roll 1d10 to determine the mega-corps’ politics. 1- Exclusively Choicer. 2-4 Moderately Choicer but does business with everyone. 5- Completely apolitical or Fed-Gov aligned 6- Exclusively Fed-Gov. 7-9 Moderately Lifer but does reluctant business with outsiders. 10- Exclusively Lifer.
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After that, you can either roll d20 and read across the row, or multiple d20s to generate a more complex mega-corp, as always. So what does the corporate scene look like, circa 2107? I’ll roll up three random businesses and find out. Note that the first roll is a d10 check to find out what faction the company pay allegiance to, and the rest are d20 rolls. •
Businesses & Minor Mega Corps The following businesses can be found in any suburban stripmall, shopping archeology or retail district. While these corps might have an allegiance to either Lifer or Choicer, they usually do business with both sides, and try to stay neutral… not out of tolerance or pacifism, but because selling to both sides is simply better business. A few companies are strongly aligned one way or the other, and are virtually unknown outside their pseudo-nation’s territory.
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8-14-17-13: Sandoz Small Arms is a Lifer aligned firearms manufacturer, though Choicers unable to afford proper firepower sometimes carry their tech. The company is constantly under investigation for OSHA violations- the corporation cuts corners as much as possible, and minor workplace accidents are common. 2-10-3-6: Marcus Strone Automotive is an auto retailer in Choicer Sacramento. Like many local businesses, it was incorporated using venture capitol from Stonecutter investors, and has a good reputation among both human and xeno customers. 4-19-18-3: A relatively new firm, Gargoyle Cybersystems incorporated in 2105, but the medial cybernetics manufacturer has lined up a few juicy subcontracts with the Covenant. The firm is responsible for the maxillae articulators of Covenguard cyberhands, a contract they won because Gargoyle’s CEO is married to a Woven Circle appropriations committee member.
Corporate Name
Corporate Identif ier and Industry
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Appolyon
Produce (wholesale produce and groceries) groceries
2
Familyf ire
Media (pop culture and religious drama)
3
Hestia- Bryne
Automotive (mid range hover sedans and light truck s)
4
Olympus
Pharmaceutical (prescription drugsand lif estyle genemods)
5
Marretta
Sleepsaf e (cof f in hotel chain)
6
Pigeontoe
Suborbital (near orbit passenger / cargo aerospace)
7
Heartgrains
Agri- business (huge, mechanized f arms and hydroponics)
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Princess Pumpk inhead
Convenience store f ranchises
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Candlewick
Clothing (high f ashion women's' clothes)
10
Marcus Strone
Industrial Gear (lif e support and hostile environment gear, commercial grade powered armor)
Extremely cheap but f airly low quality by industry standard.
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Lif epointe
World Comm (commercial electronics and Mesh communications)
Some of the best computer security in the world.
12
The Ellis Sisters
Starf light (of f world travel and cargo, FTL capable starships)
13
Signed N' Sealed
Mineral Exploitation (asteroid mining)
14
Sandoz
Burgers (chain of f ast f ood restaurants)
D20 Result
Talbot & Timier
Suites (high end hotels and suites)
16
Horseman
Realty (middle and upper class private homes & small commercial properties)
17
Rank in
Small Arms (slug thrower handguns and light, 'less lethal' energy weapons)
18
Taylor / Stone
Cybersystems (medical prosthetics and 'lif estyle' implants mostly)
19
Gargoyle
Bionics (military grade cyber systems)
20
Rhinehart
Attorneys and Law (civil, f amily and corporate law)
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Business Dealings Stores are dusty, disorganized, and look lik e something out of the 1970s, very low tech. Huge but f airly low-k ey donor to its f action. Politically connected, always gets good government or pseudo- national contracts. Plagued by endemic internal thef t & embezzlement Launders money f or the Mexican cartels Stonecutter owned and f unded. Excellent reputation as eco- f riendly Rudest employees in k nown space. Prices double or triple the norm f or the industry.
Business is always on the verge of bank ruptcy & f oreclosure. Dangerous and unpleasant work ing conditions. Cult- lik e, customer service intensive atmosphere. Subtly discriminatory towards members of the rival f action. One aspect of a larger mega-corp with a diversif ied portf olio Currently experimenting xeno-tech and biologicals to develop new products. Recently sold of f to a rival megacorp. Big changes are coming. Hires post- humans almost exclusively. Staf f are corrupt and cynical, but good at their jobs.
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Twenty Street Vendors Street vendors can be found in designated areas of most Choicer and many Fed-Gov citiesseveral blocks of streets where vehicle traffic is prohibited and a general fairground atmosphere predominates, at least on days where the weather and the terrorists cooperate. These semipermanent merchants are usually liscensed by the city government and often found in the same places. In Lifer cities, the working poor might set up small, unlicensed stalls outside restaurants and church parking lots, hawking their (often uniquely Lifer) wares. Sometimes visiting Full Pro-Life nomads or wandering Razor clans set up a merchant stall selling halfway inedible food, creepy Christian art, or second hand clothes or hand-me-down toys, and are off counting their money before the cops show up.
Ten Choicer Street Vendors 1. The well-scrubbed, gleaming pink and silver kiosk is the property of Salon 73, and displays a dizzing assortment of organic make-up, skin care products and low tech beauty aids, as well as a few self-guiding cosmetic genemod injectors. The kiosk is staffed by Hilde Hernandez, a seventeen year old Choicer clinic defender, Ásatrú to look at her, proudly displaying a thick golden nose ring and the bruises of her last street fight. She’s visibly embarrassed to be seen working a part time job at a Lifer owned kiosk, and does just enough business not to be fired. 2. A Mechanic post-human wearing a big red name tag proclaiming him as George (real name Andrew Helikos) and
declaring that he’s “PROUDLY CHOICER” is selling new and used Escort Vests and Polychain at standard prices (see the Otherverse Armory) just a few blocks away from an impending clinic defense. Light body armor hangs on neat racks, grouped by size. The armor looks good (Spot/Perception DC 20+1d8) and the seller’s got a good line (+9 Bluff modifier) but it’s factory-reject crap. It works as promised for 1d4 battles, before falling apart.
jobs, they refer clients to the company’s main office across town. 6. Daydreaming Data is an automated
stand that sells magazines and popular Choicer-penned fiction, in paperback and e-book format. It also prints out ondemand newspapers, using media preferences and interest tags uploaded by a customer’s smartlight or palmtop computer. 7. Katamia “Kitty” Markaros is an
3. Thousands of tiny vials and airtight baggies filled with ritual and medicinal herbs are arranged neatly across an archaic, hand-assembled wooden desk. The proprietor is a clean shaven, tanned 50 year old dressed in comfortable summer weight brown robes named Winterhart Cole. He’s a low level superhuman (Powered Hero (terraformer) 3) from the Delight outcolony; if he doesn’t have the herb you want, he can flash grow it in specially made nutrient pots in less than a minute. 4. A smartlight cartoon carp swims in the air above this tiny, one woman sushi stand. The owner and sole employee is a middle aged and moderately cyber-enhanced woman (Jill Tokagai) who expertly works her knife in between compulsively checking political and stock market news via her internal Mesh card. 5. A fully water proof and mildly climatecontrolled plastic tent encloses CyberStat, a compulsively neat cyberelectronics kiosk. Two clerks, one Mechanic (Suresh Devarajan) and one full human (Trent Connell) work inside. They can diagnose common problems with commercial-grade cybernetics and smartlights, run standard virus scans, and perform basic implant cleaning and even a few minor repairs. For more complex
extremely distant third cousin of the ruling family of the Choicer nation, and as such her lunch time gyro stand is under discrete surveillance from a pair of very low ranking Bedchamber Guards. Her side of the family hasn’t spoken to a Nicellos in ten years, at least, but she is still a target, especially for Razor ransom kidnappers. 8. Primitive Dreams is an outlet for the
products of a local art school, and a different student works the kiosk each day. Today it’s James of the Wise Craft , a cocky 19 year old whose arms and naked chest are covered in Choicer tattoos. The store sells handmade leather, crystal, stone and ceramic amulets, pentacles cunningly woven from blood red wood, and ceremonial stone athames, including a pair of silvery blades of unknown alloy and unbelievable beauty. 9. The entrance to this claustrophobic kiosk is draped in dark velvet half curtains. Inside, amateur commercial geneticist Valerie Hera’s Candle sells over the counter genemods in self guiding applicators, with an emphasis on sexual and contraceptive gene tech. She also sells handmade ritual candles and soaps, some of which also contain rudimentary genetech applications.
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10. Chang’s Coffee, run by Ray Chang,
serves decent coffee and pre-packaged pastries. It’s known for its Half Grey and Stonecutter brews (at least those drinks that most resemble coffee and are most palatable to humans), and has a large and loyal non-human clientele. For many xeno-immigrants, the coffee stand is one of the few places they can find native drinks.
Ten Lifer Street Vendors 11. The Cahill Razor clan, out of Mississippi, is selling beer and surprisingly good BBQ cooked on three tiny grills in the back of their pickup. The truck itself is a battered old behemoth, at least 75 years old, crudely converted to a hover drive, and plastered with sun-faded anti-abortion bumper stickers and animated holo-foils depicting a ruin of fetal tissue being transformed to a beatific Neverborn toddler. It takes a second, but you realize the undead toddler is the girl (Baby Judith Cahill) grilling beef fajitas on the truck’s far side, now seemingly college-aged. 12. Two short blocks from an impending rescue, a fat old grandmother ( Geraldine Doughty), is selling tied bundles of white roses, irises, lilies and tiny baby booties designed to be placed on a ceremonial grave of the unborn, not worn. She did five years combat service with the Arkansas AOG from 2061-66, as proudly announced by her monogrammed purple and gold hat.
scenes of terrified, weeping Choicer sinners and red-armed cartoon Midwives fleeing the judgment of a warrior Jesus in gleaming golden armor. Inside, 8-10 actors ranging in quality from genuinely good to laughably amateurish act out the traditional roles and scenes of a Lifer hell house for the price of a ticket. 14. An ancient, leathery Hispanic man (Sergio Gonzales) sits in the cab of his rickety pickup truck and reads Spanishlanguage celeb-manga, while his ten year old grandson Paul Espinosa conducts business. The two are up from Lifer Florida with half a ton of non-genetically engineered oranges for sale. 15. A slender and hyperactive black kid who goes by Risk Carrolton has set up shop within sight of a cheap ‘coffin hotel’. His wheeled kiosk contains travel sized soaps, toothpaste and brush combos, three packs of fresh underwear, socks and t-shirts, and other travel necessities, including cheaply printed devotional paperbacks and Lifer focused celeb-manga. 16. Suzette Bachman works
out of little more than an opened leather portfolio laid on a hovering table top. Inside each clear plastic divider is an amateurish but complex pen drawing depicting some overly gothic religious scene or piles of mutilated Choicers done on one-use notebook paper. The art is collected from Lifer ‘dedicated rescuers’ doing time around the country. Bachman sells on consignment- the convict’s family gets about 25% of each high-dollar sale, Bachman herself pockets the rest.
17. Defiance Defense, a regionally known 13. The Abilene Horrorshow has come to
town. The crew operates out of a converted semi-truck painted a purple so dark it’s almost black and airbrushed with
armorer has set up a sleek, masculine, all black market stall selling nickel-finish knives, conventional ammunition (9mm, .45, .38, ect, nothing too exotic) and
power cells for energy weapons, and gun cleaning kits. The store keeper is an old school Lifer vet ( Bill Wayans) who somehow finished the War with his rights unhindered by the Treaty of Boston, and will occasionally sell ceramic or cellulose combat knives or even a light energy pistol to somebody he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is a Lifer gunslinger. Defiance pays off the local cops to look the other way, and mostly slips under the political radar. 18. A pregnant fifteen year old with electric blue skin (Hannah DeLance) is playing a smartlight puzzle game and studiously ignoring anything resembling a customer. Her tiny kiosk consists mostly of a pale purple peg-board displaying thousands of Lifer pins and buttons, anti-abortion sticker sheets and holofoil, and Super Dolfie keychain charms and chibi babies and stuffed animals, all in various shades of purple and blue.
their crowded, bullet scarred RV. They are trading for homespun spider-silk dresses that are more than slightly bullet proof, excellently balanced arrows, towels, sheets and bedding and children’s clothes, all in the same soft grey.
Citizens of the Covenant Need to quickly populate a Choicer city, or rapidly build up a roster of sympathetic Choicer innocents to defend when the restaurant the player characters are eating at is besieged by a Lifer Ghost? You can do so with a few rolls. You may either roll D20 once and read the results along a single row, or roll three times to build a more complex bystander. The fun in creating charts like these is rolling on them, and seeing what characters and story hooks emerge. I roll three times, and get…. •
19. Jonas Olkirk, a coin enthusiast with a
popular Mesh-cast on gold currency and conspiracy theories has set up a market stall in town, as he does every six weeks or so. He is accompanied by Dale Guttolf (Tough Hero 2), a full conversion cyborg whose drab urban camo hull is accented with neon purple, works as the merchant’s bodyguard. His secure, modular assembly kiosk takes in electronic and paper currency and changes it to finger-length gold ingots, for use after ‘the impending World Collapse’. His shop also sells survivalist pamphlets and Rapture prophecy books that verge on the illiterate. 20. A trio of Neverborn women ( Hester Vale, Traci Lopez, and Child Delores Wynn) from the Neverborn community of Redemption, up in the high north, have set up a trading post out of the back of
•
•
12-9-12-15: Lady Esmerelda Williamson, a privileged teenager who grew up on the human Embassy on Kor, and is more comfortable in the howling, windswept and hellish deserts the Stonecutter species calls home far more than she is in Choicer America. 20-6-13-10: Jose Yoshiko is a racial combination uncommon today, but fairly common in 22nd Century San Francisco. He works as a low level AI trainer/programmer for Talk2Me Comm-plex, but has more of a spiritual life than his fellow office drones realize. He’s been seriously considering starting his own small coven based on old Blue Star Wicca traditions. 14-16-16-5: Charles Cunningham is an idealistic Gardnerian Lineage witch who utterly rejects violence and works in a commercial geneticist’s office, specializing in purely defensive and cosmetic gene-mods. He the only gene-tech on staff who doesn’t have grey-market combat gene-mods of his own installed.
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D20 Result
Character's First Name
Character's Surname
Prof ession and Class Levels (ordinary or heroic, at your option)
Personality
1
Joy
Serai
Commercial Cyber- Mechanic (Smart 3)
Bitterly sarcastic, lost f amily during the War, doesn't lik e Lif ers but doesn't hate them either.
2
Amberdance
Sergovia
Rising Mesh- porn star (Charismatic 2)
Dating a recent Half Grey immigrant f rom the archeological dig in the Procyon System.
3
Lady Victoria
Stonef ire
Near Orbital Commercial Pilot (Fast 3, Smart 1)
4
Lord Richard
Gonzales
Doctorate student in archeology (Smart 2)
5
Barrett
Gardner
Industrial robotics engineer (Smart 3, Powered (genius) 1)
6
Felicia
Yoshik o
Advertising agent (Dedicated 2, Smart 1)
7
Frank lin
Al'Trahani
Clothing retailer (Charismatic 1)
8
Seek er
Stardane
Local artisan and micro- f armer (Dedicated 2)
9
Tatiana
Williamson
Covenant Inf antry (Tough 3, Soldier 1)
10
Gerald
Ravensdaughter / son
Police Of f icer (Fast 2, Powered (shooter) 1)
Undergoing a cataclysmically messy divorce Short tempered and of ten irrational Utterly committed to nonviolence and the Wiccan Rede.
Born in a Lif er enclave, f amily def ected during childhood. Mother was a war hero. Dedicated transhumanist with tons of implants & genemods.
Talk ative and gossipy, talk s down to Lif ers. Considering f orming a coven of their own.
Entertainment blogger (Smart 1)
Political ambitions, and connections on the Woven Circle.
Gussano
High school student (Fast 1)
Secretly anxious f or war to break out to prove personal courage.
Greensong
Mik elson
Corporate drone (Dedicated 2)
14
Charles
Figeroa
ER Surgeon (Smart 4, Field Medic 1)
Promiscuous and carrying on two or three relationships.
15
Elaine
Mountainwind
Restaurant owner (Tough 2)
Recent arrival f rom an outcolony, still uncomf ortable on Earth.
16
Amanda
Cunningham
OTC Geneticist (Smart 2)
Leads imaginative, improvised rituals f or f riends and neighbors.
Endless supply of slightly disturbing reminiscences.
11
William
12
Lady Esmeralda
13
Fernandez
Beloved baby sister is a Midwif e.
17
Andrew
Kerrington
Xeno- psychologist (Dedicated 3, Smart 1)
18
Kyrie
Nicellos
Midwif e's apprentice (Dedicated 1, Smart 1)
19
Demeter
Sparrows
High school or college teacher (Smart 4)
Streetf ighter with some White Hand, Black Moon training.
20
Jose
Wolf circle
Semi- pro athlete (Fast 4, Powered (ref lex) 1)
Remembers several past lives, very serene and wise.
Ultra protective of f amily, spouse and home.
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