Thursday, June 26, 2008

Oral Accounts of the Liberation of Timmins, TN 1917.

"I don't know how it was for the men in the 76th Regiment. Those Red Dragons had it rough though. But I guess I can tell you how it was for me," Bill "Brick" Norita sat in the small chair uncomfortably. The chair creaked with every breath he took. Brick was a massive man, with arms like slabs of meat and a torso shaped like a water cistern. He looked across at the trideo recorder, "It started back in 1914 when the CEF occupied Timmins..."

------------------

"Residents of Timmins," Ben Cantor read aloud, "you are hereby subjects of the New Earth Commonwealth. Cooperate, and prosper. Resist and be punished. Your fruitless lives as colonials are over. You are now reunited with Mother Earth, who only asks that you work and contribute to ..." he tossed the leaflet onto the barroom floor, "this is the rhetoric of totalitarianism. This is the rhetoric of slavery. None of us asked to be reunited with 'Mother Earth,' who abandoned us to our fate so many cycles ago. My friends," Ben swallowed hard. He knew that his next words would shape his destiny unlike any other words he had ever uttered: "we must resist these tyrants with every breath."

Brick rose to his feet, "I'm with you!"

Others followed. Ben Cantor was now a freedom fighter.

-------------------------

"We bided our time, see," Brick sipped from a glass of water, carefully setting it back down on the table, "some of us wanted to start blowing up things and causing all sorts of problems...but Ben...Ben wouldn't hear it. Then we heard that Zagreb and some of the other Mercantile cities got hit with ortillery...that shut us up real good. He was right all along. So we bided our time. We hid guns, and stockpiled as best we could...found out which of the keff we could bribe, and which we knew we had to ... well ..."

-------------------------

"Here you are, Dr. Zivoniev," Ben nodded as Brick set down the last crate of Wounder Rotgut, "four crates of Wounded Knee's finest."

The CEF officer nodded, his hands reached for something in his coat. There were angry glares from the resistance members.

"It's alright," the doctor chuckled, "I'm not carrying a weapon," he smirked, "I'm a doctor. Here," he pulled out an envelope, "the information you asked for is all there. Now, can I have a hand with this-"

There was a muffled, flitting 'zap' as Ben pulled the trigger on the suppressed pistol. The doctor fell to his knees, gurgling blood.

"I thought we..." he grasped at his neck.

"I'm sure you did, Doctor."

--------------------------

"They found Zivoniev's body two days later in the red light district. I don't know how many people died," Brick swallowed hard, his eyes tearing up, "when they did a retaliation sweep, but I know that Zivoniev did experiments...seeing as how Terranovans have had genetic drift or something from Earthers...and well...we all agreed that Ben did the right thing."

He covered his face for a moment, and then looked at Kain, "that was the first time I saw a dead body up close."

-------------------------

"Sweet merciful..." Brick couldn't believe his ears, "they nuked themselves?"

"No Brick. The UMF used nukes on Keff forces on their land. There's a whole belt of the savannah just west of here that's all hot now," someone explained.

"That's awful! I've got family out there!"

"Yeah...it's gonna get worse too," Ben Cantor said from the bar. In late TN1916 the rigours of leading a large part of the resistance in Timmins had taken their toll. Ben looked tired, ragged, jaded and soulless, "the Keff's probably going to move their forces from the Ashington basin back here...just think of it, a division of angry GRELs who've just been nuked, holed up in Timmins." He let that sink in slowly. Everyone in the safehouse quietened down as their minds got down to the nitty gritty.

The radio crackled to life: "This is Radio Free Timmins, broadcasting to you live from deep within occupied Terranova. For those Party members among us, we greet you as comrades. For those aiding the resistance, we salute your valiant efforts. If you're Keff tuning in, go back to the vat that decanted you. The latest news: the large Earther force that landed in Baja has been completely annihilated by a combined North-South assault. Also: Apple Pie, Red Herring, Black Rock Springer."

------------------------

Brick chuckled, "Black Rock Springer. That was the code. When we heard it, we almost let out a cheer in that little safehouse. That was the code for a full-on revolt against the Keff. Open combat. Ben had us organized into a battalion by then, and our weapons were hidden and stockpiled. We fought hard. The GRELs were tough, but we knew the streets, and the alleys. But most importantly, we knew how they thought. Kill the human officers and the hypnotraining that they fall back on makes the GREL too predictable. But it wasn't easy. No sir. Still, we did it," Brick smiled, "we did it."

------------------------

"So you see Mr. Cantor, someone with your history from the Southern Republic poses too much of a security risk. We simply can't have you join the Party," the commissar said sheepishly from across the desk.

"I see."

"We thank you for all your help. You will not be forgotten."

"Clearly," Ben stood and walked out of the small concrete room. Brick was waiting for him outside the Party compound that made up the center of the city of Timmins.

"What did they say?" the giant asked as they walked towards the bus stop.

"Once a Southerner, always a Southerner. I really can't stay here, Brick."

The large man's face darkened, "those ... " he let out a deep breath, "I have a cousin in a small commune outside town, called Washburn. I bet they'd love to have a war hero like you living there."

-----------------------

Bill "Brick" Norita sipped his water, looking at Kain as he put the glass down again. He looked thoughtful for a moment, considering what Kain had just proposed, "sure Mr. Delacroix, I'll sign on."

Friday, June 20, 2008

19 June 2008 Enter Sam-dra

We congregated around the local salon; the good, the badlanders, and, heralded by the exploding Jager outside, the ugly. Like moths to the fire, the more weathered quatuor of our party stepped outside without a moments pause or reasonable apprehension. This peaceful mountain community had been instantly transformed into a scene of chaos as motorbikes raced to and fro, Rovers bearing assault rifles and hearts full of malice buzzed around, devoid of any calculated plan of attack, they were driven by base instinct alone. Our first salvo cut into them like a shotgun in a knife fight. After drawing the attention of the perverse assailants we broke into more tactically sound action. I dashed for the caravan to collect my rifle; Gade charged into the fray and began putting his new vibro-machete to gruesomely good use. Covered by Sam’s new acquaintance Sandra, Tarmalin and Delacroix headed north and south respectively as the battle began in earnest. While Gade furtively mamed and killed unsuspecting rovers with sanguine efficiency, Sam moved boldly into the open, a hail of 11mm death leaping from alternating revolvers. One miscreant after another fell to his lead as he moved forward, spotting two adversaries under cover behind a building, Sam circled around behind them with impressive speed and before they could so much as piss themselves, the gunslinger dove behind them, steel barrels blazing. Gade ferociously severed legs, thoracic cages and assault rifles with impunity. Meanwhile Kain has been caught in crossfire and got pinned down before narrowly avoiding a soundly lobbed grenade. By this time I had found my rifle and a purchase from which I began cleaning the immediate area of the more deeply entrenched enemies, their cover did not spare them the death from above though.

And nearly as suddenly as it had begun it ended; the rovers withdrew back to the mountains. The remainder of our group had not suffered any injuries, taking refuge in the salon. As the gun smoke cleared the local law quickly solicited our help to track down these savages and dispatch them once and for all. Guided by clear moral imperatives we did not hesitate and by nightfall were freezing in the high ranged of the Pacifica Mountains. It was an unexpected encounter with far removed mountain villagers which transformed this simple counter-offensive into a sad and strange story of woe. The mountain people, bereft of all the sophistication of the modern world were easy pray to the despicable rovers, three of their woman had been stolen and after some initial tensions and linguistic barriers we joined forces to bring these villains to heel.

A day later we were in position; I watched over the camp with my deadly accurate tool, Gade had moved in close and quietly, waiting to rain hellfire down on the rovers with his SAW. Delacroix snuck into their midst to find the captives, when he did, he also discovered the gruesome depths of the depravity of these abhorrent creatures. Overwhelmed with disgust Delacroix at once engaged six of the vile creatures. Four fell before they could return the fire. We took this as a signal to begin the scourge of the wicked. Like the scythe of Death itself, the heavy calibre machine gun indiscriminately laid waste to the camp as I dispatched those who sought to escape. Tarmalin mercilessly executed any wretch of opportunity as he advanced to help the now physically and psychologically wounded Delacroix. It was soon over; too soon, as these heinous men deserved more suffering then they met.

The bodies of the victims were recovered and returned to their people for their last rites. The sombre mood left no room for a sense of victory in the hearts of our group. The mood was not lifted when we returned to the mining town to find the caravan we had come on had left without us. Our friends welcomed us silently, sensing much had happened in the last four days. Collecting disparate means of transportation we quickly and quietly set out for the western side of the Pacific range. Sam rode with Ellen on a pair of barnabies, San, Carmichael, Gade and Prabal shared the over-laden jeep. As the party rolled out I waited on the bike a moment, Kain by my side. He looked out into the distance, the expanse of half the world sprawling out before his gaze, several harsh days travel lay ahead but I sensed that his eyes and his mind probably didn’t focus on that. I gave a look over my shoulder at the quiet mountain town that had done us no favours and suggested we get the hell out of here, with a silent nod and a loud gunning of the throttle in accord, we did just that.

Taken from the journal of Dr T. Chambers.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Blank Vehicle Record Sheet


HEAVY GEAR VEHICLE RECORD SHEET
NAME:VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS

SIZE:
MODEL:CREW:

BONUS ACTIONS:
CLASS:CREW SKILLS

PILOT:

GUNNERY:
MOVEMENT
PRIMARY COMBAT:
PRIMARY TOP:
SECONDARY COMBAT:
SECONDARY TOP:
MANEUVER:
ELECTRONICS
SENSORS:
COMMUNICATION:
FIRE CONTROL:
ARMOUR
LIGHT DAMAGE:
HEAVY DAMAGE:
OVERKILL:
WEAPONS
CODE-NAME:RANGEDAMACCRoF/CLIPSpecial
















































PERKS
NAME:RATING:GAME EFFECTAUX




























FLAWS
NAME:RATING:GAME EFFECTAUX




















DEFECTS
NAME:RATING:GAME EFFECTAUX




















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Blank Character Sheet


HEAVY GEAR
CHARACTER RECORD SHEET
EXPERIENCE/
MONEY
IDENTIFICATIONCHARACTERISTICS
NAMEAGE:ATTRIBUTES


AGIAPPBLDCREFIT
PROFESSIONHEIGHT






INFKNOPERPSYWIL
RANKWEIGHT






SECONDARY TRAITS
UNITHAIRSTRHEASTAUDAD







NATIONEYESPHYSICAL STATUS


INJURYSCOREARMOR#
PERKS/FLAWSFLESH (-1)



IDEEP (-2)




INSTANT DEATH




SYSTEM SHOCK
SKILLS
NAMECMPLXLVLBONUSNAMECMPLXLVLBONUS








































































































WEAPONS
TYPERANGEDAMACCRoF/CLIPRELOADSSPECIAL



































EQUIPMENT














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Friday, June 6, 2008

A Simple Flashback: 2

Anastacia Sliebowitz was not happy. She looked over the gears in her hangar with a mix of disgust, relief and annoyance: disgust that her gears - hers because she maintained all of them - were all damaged badly. Relief that despite the fact that so much of her gears had been turned to scrap, not a single pilot was dead. In fact, all the Regulators had survived. But there was annoyance. She had an hour before the recon team set out, and she had more than a day's work to do.

Lloyd Dunn sighed angrily to himself, sitting in his office just down from the Regulators' building. He couldn't escape the fact that at least some of what Delacroix had said was spot on. He was wrong not to have trusted the marshal with the information about those gears. He knew it. And there wasn't any way to make it up to him either. Dunn frowned and put it out of his mind, focusing on the datadisk readout in front of him. The AST Mission requested his presence tomorrow morning. Time was running out for Baja.

Julie Pojhola was crying. She sat in her room in the Hangover Inn, cradling a picture of her daughter. She blinked through tears, gazing at her daughter's face. She hadn't been able to carry out Hill's orders to kill Kain and Sam. The New Baja Gang would know that something was wrong. Julie's daughter was in terrible danger. After a moment, she put the holopicture away and checked the safety on her pistol. It was time to put an end to this.

The Regulator recon team was tired, but they kept up a strong front. Avatanya sat quietly and clenaed her assault rifle. Josephina nodded off in a corner of the armoury, her armour and weapons ready beside her. Emil sat cross-legged on the floor, triple checking primer cord, satchel charges and detonators with practiced ease. Ethan hummed quietly, running some diagnostics on his electronics rig. Kelly was curled up on a bench, writing a letter that would never reach her family. The Regulators were tired, dirty and bloody. But they kept up a strong front.

Preston Hill frowned darkly as he sat in the jeep, leaning against the door. The car sped along some old road in the Karak Wastes. It was late afternoon and he was deeply, deeply troubled. Preston was not a pawn of the Southern Republic. He repeated the statement in his mind like a mantra, but the marshal's words kept bothering him. His gang, his ideals, his life had been subverted by imperialism, greed and violence. A nerve gas attack on civilians! Indiscriminate shelling of Baja. The destruction of Baja's only surviving water tower. He never wanted any of this. He was right not to have trusted Xiao, but all that was over. Preston Hill sighed and gave a sidelong glare at the mercenary driving the jeep. He would have to figure something out, and fast.

A Simple Flashback

"Koldur, tell me about the Old Woman of the Desert," Kain said.

The two men had been sparring for over a week now, and the notion that somehow Sam's gunfighting abilities and Koldur's martial arts skills were linked through this Old Woman character was finally beginning to dawn on Kain as unsettling.

"What do you want to know?" the big Sandrider said.

"Well, how did you come to meet her?"

"When I went on my first...er...how would you say it...vision walk as a boy...Most of my people, well, the first born are usually still-born. But I was not. So I was seen as special...Jonus Herasi, is the term we use," Koldur and Kain sparred for a few moments, the Sandrider pressing the Southerner hard, "I was alone in the mountains and I saw her. We communed and I see her periodically since then."

"And she told you to join the Regulators?" Kain's tone was almost incredulous.

"She told me that when the invader leaves, our world will need people who stand for order, justice and rebuilding. Because the invader will return one day."

"But who is she?"

"She is the sand dunes," Koldur replied, "and the Stoneheads. The peaks of the Pacifica, the glacier of Pioneer, the swamps in Siwa. Honestly, Kain, I stopped wondering many cycles ago. She has only imparted wisdom to me."

"And presented you with challenges, it would seem."

"Yes."

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Disposable Pack Gun

http://www.geekologie.com/2008/03/transformer_flashlight_turns_i.php

Baker Street Irregulars

Led by a girl in her early teens, Sasha, this band of urchins was discovered living underground in the network of tunnels below the space port. Orphaned, the score or so of children had eked an existence out on stored rations and some sort of semi-toxic fungus. Approaching a feral state, the Ewoks, er, children, assisted the team sent underground to disrupt the Iron Renegades salvage operation.

Afterwards, the children were brought to New Baja, under the particular care of Marshal Delacroix. They are presently housed in the new underground city, under as much guardianship asthe Revisionist church can exert on the wild bunch.

Iron Renegades

ORGANIZATION

Leadership:

Strength: Demi-Company
Affiliations: Independent;
CURRENT STATUS: DESTROYED

Quotes:

Profile:
This group of Badlands mercenaries and desperados posed as a mobile salvage operation.

Activities:

Gade Vonyran's first encounter with the Marshals of New Baja commenced when he through a Gear grenade through the window of their office during a raid on the town.

Assets:


Resolution:

The New Baja Regulators, assisted by the turncoat Gade, retaliated in force, breaking the back of the Iron Renegades and thwarting their attempt to scavenge the space port.

Paxton Security

I can't believe everybody hates us and wants to hurt our feelings.

ORGANIZATION

Leadership:

Strength:
Affiliations: Paxton Arms; Peace River
CURRENT STATUS: ACTIVE

Quotes:

Profile:

They seem very, very angry.

Activities:

Harrassing us for no reason.

An interlude

"What do you mean, 'they broke through the jamming?'" Avatanya Brom hollered over the comm, eyes wide, hands gripping the wheel of the Longrunner truck she was trying to keep from careening off the rough desert road.

"I mean," Bill Pearce growled back, not uncalmly, "that our Warrior's anti-rover ECM suite is not holding its own against Paxsec's advanced electronics."

A short staccato burst of cannon-fire tore up the ground ahead of the caravan as it sped across the Karak Wastes, towards the foothills of the Pacifica mountains.

"Unidentified caravan, this is Peace River Defense Force Echo-Six. Halt and stand down for inspection! This is your final warning," the pilot's voice was almost sarcastic.

Behind the caravan, seemingly unfazed by the dust that seven large trucks can create, a pair of Scorpion attack helicopters kept close chase.

"Sigh..." Bill Pearce knew what was going to happen next wasn't good for this group in the long run, "alright Ari, that's your cue."

"Got it!" the lanky pilot in the Spitting Cobra heavy gear flicked a few switches and then swallowed hard, "open the door!"

The 'Spit' was in the rear bay of the Behemoth gear-transport truck at the back of the caravan. The door dropped, hit the ground with a loud bang, and drove up more debris. Ari was greeted with the unpleasant sight of one of the Scorpion choppers flying low to the ground and right behind him. He gripped the controls and grinned. The Spitting Cobra's missile lock warning klaxon sounded.

"Surprise!" Ari squeezed the trigger, firing a large salvo of rockets at the lead helicopter.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Sam -- Overview














Sam: Equipment

1. Gun
2. Other gun.
3. Other other gun.
4. Quiet gun.
5. Bullets.
6. More bullets.
7. Extra bullets.
8. Underpants.
9. Sweet trenchcoat.
10. Electric talking device.

Sam: Sheet - Feb 2011

1. Sam has a gun. It goes "pow! pow!"

2. Watch Sam shoot the gun. Shoot, Sam, shoot!

3. There is a car. The car goes "vroom! vroom!"

4. Sam can shoot very well. But he cannot drive very well.

5. In fact, Sam drives the car rather poorly.

6. There is a gear. The gear goes "vroom! pow!"

7. Sam can drive the gear better than he can drive the car.

8. But Sam cannot drive the gear as well as he can shoot.

the end

HEAVY GEAR
CHARACTER RECORD SHEET
EXPERIENCE/
MONEY/
IDENTIFICATIONCHARACTERISTICS
NAMEAGE:ATTRIBUTES
Sam Tarmalin
AGIAPPBLDCREFIT
PROFESSIONHEIGHT20010
Zen Gunslinger
INFKNOPERPSYWIL
RANKWEIGHT00121
NA
SECONDARY TRAITS
UNITHAIRSTRHEASTAUDAD
NA
013054
NATIONEYESPHYSICAL STATUS


INJURYSCOREARMOR#
PERKS/FLAWSFLESH (-1)15


+ SambidextrousDEEP (-2)
30


+ Posse (pts)INSTANT DEATH
60


+ Wealth (1) SYSTEM SHOCK6



FEAT TREES
GUNSLINGING - Zen Reroll, Combo, Called Shot, Shot on the Run, Trick Shot

SKILLS
NAMECMPLXLVLBONUSNAMECMPLXLVLBONUS
Acrobatics
2
Melee
1
Athletics
2
Navigation, Land
1
Combat Sense
3
Notice
2
Dodge
3
Parachuting
1
Drive
1
Pilot, HG (Blitz Ig)
2
First Aid
2
Riding
1
Gambling
1
Sleight of Hand (QDraw)
2
Gunnery, HG
2
Small Arms (PST)
4
Hand to Hand
2
Stealth
2
Heavy Weapons
1
Streetwise
1
Human Perception
2
Survival
1
Info Warfare
1
Tactics
1
Interrogation (Cntr)
1
Teaching
1
Leadership
1
Throwing
1
Mechanics
1




































WEAPONS
TYPERANGEDAMACCRoF/CLIPRELOADSSPECIAL























































































































WEAPONS














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Hermes 72 - Heavy Gear RPG - Most artwork Copyright 2002 Dream Pod 9, Inc.