Wrestle enraged gargoyles on rain-slick ledges high over dark city streets! Endure the rew psychic fury of the dreaded soul dog! Above all, watch out for the insidious Greys, as they kidnap human women and steer the destiny of entire nations!
Our only defense against these terrifying foes is the Company, which takes conspiracy from theory to practice. As one of its best recruits, you'll endure five years at the hellish Academy, where only the best of the best graduate and failing grades become tombstone inscriptions. Upon becoming a black op, you'll possess attributes and deadly expertise to make mere normals tremble.
You'll need them – because it's all true. Ancient alien visitors and recent arrivals, things slithering in sewers and alleys by night, dark plots by paranormal cabals to bend humanity to their will – all these dangers and more lurk in society's shadow.
Odds are you'll die in style. Your job is to take as many of them with you as you can.
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Gurps 4e: Black Ops
Good evening, recruits.
I'm sure a lot of you are wondering why you are here. Some of you might even be having second thoughts. Believe me, I was there once myself. I can tell you right now that a third of you won't live through the training. This is your last chance to turn around and walk out that door. You'll wake up tomorrow morning in a hospital bed. You'll have a bandage on your head, and your memory loss will be explained by an unfortunate fall or a car accident. Thank you, sir. Good luck to you, ma'am. Anyone else? Good, let's proceed.
I'll be blunt. Humanity is under siege. Some threats are alien, some natural, some supernatural, and some we aren't sure about yet. The Greys see us as guinea pigs, tagging people like animals and whisking them away to be used in their twisted experiments. The vampires have schemed to manipulate society through money and political power for centuries, keeping themselves quite literally at the top of the food chain. To the brainsuckers, we are merely hosts, bodies to be used and discarded.
I can see some of you shaking your heads. You probably think I'm joking, maybe insane. Some days, I wish I were. Once you've gone down the rabbit hole, there's no going back. It's all very real, and you'll have plenty of time ahead of you to see the evidence for yourself.
We picked you for black ops because you were good. In the next five years, we'll mold you into something even better. You'll learn to push your bodies and minds farther than you could have thought possible. You'll learn secrets that even the president doesn't know. You'll handle tech that's ten, twenty years ahead of what's out there right now. You'll learn to kill the things that threaten us, and you'll do it without anyone outside this organization knowing about it.
Most of the world is blissfully unaware of what we're up against, and we'll do anything to keep it that way. The truth is out there, and it's our job to find it, then kill it.
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Characters will be built on 650 points. All characters start with The Company as a Patron (150 points), and Zeroed (10 points) advantages. All characters must take the disadvantages Secret: Possible Death (30 points) and Extremely Hazardous Duty (-20 points). These advantages and disadvantages do count against the 650 point total, so include them in your calculation. You may pick an additional 20 points of disadvantages and 5 points in quirks. I'll allow additional points in disadvantages if you are willing to roleplay them well and justify their existence through back story.
The following requirements must also be met:
Attributes
1) No Basic Attribute below 12.
2) Perception and Will are 10 by default, which is also the minimum. Both may be increased by buying them up from 10.
3) No more than -2 levels to any other Secondary Attribute.
4) ST is capped at a max of 25 to start, all other attributes at 18. Attributes may be increased above these limits in play.
5) Extra Basic Speed is capped at a +1 (four levels) at character creation.
6) Characters with Powers may get some leniency on the above.
Advantages
1) Advantages should fit the campaign flavor. All those listed in the Character Creation Reference thread are fine. Ask, otherwise.
2) Wealth, status and reputation are not as important in this type of game. They may be occasionally helpful.
3) Rank cannot be raised above 0 except through play.
4) Allies are discouraged, but allowable through a character's alternate identity. If you want an ally, justify it. Allies will be built by the GM; players may give general description to build from. Allies can be either 25% or 50% of a character's starting point total. The exception to this is allies that are not people, such as very smart equipment.
5) The Company provides Alternate Identities as needed. If a character spends points to purchase an Alternate Identity, it is secret even from the Company. Be careful, though, if one of these is found out.
6) Magic is not allowed.
7) Powers must be psionic in nature.
8) Characters must know English and should know at least two other languages from the following list at Native level: Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Chinese(Mandarin/Cantonese), Arabic(Egyptian)
Disadvantages
1) Use the list under Character Creation Reference, or ask. Truly debilitating disadvantages (Epilepsy, Lame, Severe Delusion) are out.
2) Pick disadvantages that you actually want to roleplay. It's better to have one disadvantage you actually want than four that you picked to get the most points possible.
Skills
1) Characters must possess, at minimum, 1 wildcard skills appropriate to their Company division or group role
, with at least 36 points total in wildcard skills.
Update: I'm going to allow it at 24 points instead of 36, but you must either put all 24 points or have a skill of 15 or better in a single wildcard skill.
2) At least one Guns skill (or the wildcard Guns!) must be known at a level of 14 or higher.
3) Skills encompassed by a wildcard skill can be improved separately. Just treat the Wildcard level like a default and improve the individual skill with points.
4) Techniques based on wildcard skills are possible. Pay normal cost to buy a technique for a single skill within that wildcard, or double cost to buy the technique for all applicable skills within the wildcard.
Other Considerations
1) Psi power is supposed to be rare. If you wish to play a psi, make them interesting. (Hint: A character with a flawed or nuanced power is more interesting. Be creative.) I will allow one psi, possibly, maybe, two, depending on the number of players.
2) Character death or disabling injury is possible. The high character point values justify really tough challenges. On the other hand, I'm not out to try to kill everyone (had a GM like that once--not fun). If your character should be killed, you may create a new one at the previous character's point total, plus any additional points earned in play to that point, plus any current pool of requisition, to enter play either at the start of the next mission or at some convenient point of the GM's choosing.
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