Tinker Titan Rebel Spy

Holographic pixels bloom into a shaky, distorted image of a man, Director Donlan Thorn, a minister of Heritage in a formal, grey imperial uniform, before the noise on the signal clears enough for the image to give a firm impression of the man.  A hard, lined face looks out from the holographic recording, a close-cut salt-and-pepper mustache beneath his nose, and a peculiar, non-regulation set of goggles rest on his brow, ready to be tugged down over his eyes, matched by an air-mask hanging loosely around his neck.  He plays with a tumbler of thick, black gooey drink between his gloved hands.

After regarding the holographic recorder for a moment, he speaks in deep, gravelly tones. "As I predicted, the Grist expedition has proved fruitful.  I found what I promised you, but the local insurgency grows increasingly aggressive, and threatens to undermine my... our... discovery.  But when I move against it, your governor fights me at every turn."

He takes a frustrated drink from his tumbler, and then slams it back on his desk, and leans forward, his deep voice lowering to a growling register. "Worse, I suspect a traitor in our midst.  My... our... project is in danger.  I need outside help."

And with that, the holographic recording ends.

EDIT: The campaign is now filled.  Thank you for everyone who expressed interest!

Welcome to the Empire

The Emperor's Hand himself has hand picked agents to send to Grist, to put down the local insurgency, ferret out the traitor, help Donlan secure his discovery and bring it back to Sovereign, the Imperial Capital.  You are one of those agents.

Tinker Titan Rebel Spy is the first of a series of playtests of the Psi-Wars setting.  The intent here is to see if the setting material and game mechanics I have is sufficient to run a campaign.  The idea is to keep it a short campaign (a few sessions, though we'll see how sentiment goes). The purpose of the game is to ensure that I have all the tools that I need to make an Imperial game happen, to make sure you, as players, have everything you need to make a character, and that we can all play well.

The game will be monthly, on the third Saturday of the month, starting at 4pm central European time to 8 pm central European time.  That should be 10 am to 2 pm eastern US time, for reference.  For voice, we'll use the Tinker Titan Rebel Spy voice channel on Discord, and we'll use Roll20 as our gaming platform.

Tinker Titan Rebel Spy is intended for 5 players, and I currently have three.  Thus, I have room for two more!  If you want to join, leave a comment on this blog post, and come join us on the Psi-Wars channel on discord, which you can find here. That's the primary point of contact for all Psi-Wars playtesters.

What I will need from you as a playtester is your own character, a willingness to give feedback and a helpful attitude! That's it!  The point of the scenario is not to playtest the scenario, so you don't need to stress test the design of the scenario itself, only the mechanics behind it.  Can you make a decent character? Is it easy enough to follow?  Does gameplay feel right to you? Etc.

Character Options

All characters will be imperial characters.  Especially appropriate characters include:

The Commando (there will definitely be combat)

The Diplomat (there will be social interaction and convoluted politics, though your legal immunity won't do much for you)

The Fighter Ace (there will be some space combat; I'm curious to see how he handles outside of space combat)

The Officer (There will be politics, space combat, large scale planetary combat, and the need to carefully plan)

The Security Agent (The game will feature crime, insurgents, and investigation)

The Spy (The game will feature double dealings, traitors and covert investigation)

Rim characters are possible, but will have to play as "Prison Soldiers."  The most applicable characters would be Assassins, Bounty Hunters and Scavengers.

Avoid the mystic.  The Psi-Hunter will have some psionics that he can deal with, but not much.  If someone wants to play a Space Knight, I'm alright with that, but their not the main focus of the playtest.  I'd want at most one space knight, and only to see how he compares with typically imperial characters.

Your characters will have access to Warmain, an Imperial Dreadnought.  If you take a character with Military Rank 6, you may command the Warmain, if you wish.  I want to see if a Psi-Wars game can handle a dreadnought without breaking down.

You will make your characters with minimum interaction from me, not because I think it's a good idea, but I want to see how well the templates work.  I would appreciate it if you wrote down some thoughts as you made your character: what works, what seems unclear, whether you could make the character that you wanted, whether the character that you made fit your expectations or not, etc.  For making your character, use the Heroes Iteration 6 Draft 2 found here.  For things like Martial Arts, Psionic Powers or Cybernetics, use the old Iteration 5 documents.  For your Imperial Character considerations, use The Imperial Character Considerations Post


EDIT: The campaign is now filled.  Thank you for everyone who expressed interest!

Current Characters

Damari Nash, played by Miles, is an Imperial Intelligence officer who has trained extensively cybernetic disciplines and the Neo-Rational philosophy. The Emperor's Hand chose Damari because Damari grew up on Grist and, though he is loath to speak of it, knows the planet well. Damari Nash is an Imperial Spy with Humble Origins and the Experienced (Hacker) power-up.

Commodore Sharo-To Graves, played by NateParrish, grew up on an industrial world now controlled by the Cybernetic Union.  After a life of crime, the new army of Federation saw potential in him and recruited him to fight the great galactic invasion.  With a growing hatred for the decadent aristocracy of the Federation, he sided with the Emperor during the civil war, and remains a stalwart officer.  He commands the Warmain, an Empire-Class dreadnought, and was chosen by the Emperor's hand for his knowledge of the Cybernetic Union, which borders the Empire near Grist.  He is an Officer with the Outcast origin and the Magnate power-up.

Evander Rook, played by Nemoricus, is a Knight Commander of the Order of Imperial Knights.  He has been trained in the Way of the Void, a serene and patient form of force swordsmanship, and is a telepath with the power of Aspect.  Why the Emperor's Hand chose him isn't clear; some rumors suggest that the order came from the Order itself, or that the Emperor himself selected the Knight Commander to go to Grist.  In either case, he is there to supervise the more delicate aspects of the Director Dolan Thorn's archaeological find.  He's a Space Knight with the Imperial Academy origin and the Magnate power-up.

Lord Captain Nal Adru, the Red Knight, played by salsathegeek, is a cavalier fighter ace of an aristocratic family that (mostly) sided with the Emperor during the fall of the Federation.  He serves a secret role in the Imperial Navy as a black-ops commando, granting him additional access to high tech toys and secretive orders. His exact agenda on the mission, fittingly, is unclear.  He is an experienced fighter ace with an aristocratic background.

Sherri Grace, played by Kalzazz, is a former gunslinger who's run afoul of Imperial law.  Released from prison for this one mission, the Empire has promised her freedom in return for her cooperation in helping them ferret out the traitor.  She is an experienced bounty hunter from a humble background.