All-In Design Journal 2: Aces Assemble!
John Polojac, who contributed Spare Parts to the Wild Cards adventure anthology All-In, is back with another article about Wild Cards and how to make the adventure anthology All-In work and seem more "realistic" for you and your players.
This article is all about making your Wild Cards games feel more like what you see in the novels and centers on how get a "team" of characters together while still maintaining the flavor of the books.
All-In Design Journal 2: Aces Assemble!
One of the more difficult four-color concepts to credibly translate into the Wild Cards setting is the super-team. The only group approximating a super-hero squad in the stories was the Four Aces. Other such gatherings were one-shot or short-term such as the Ace team took part in the Siege of the Roxbury. While many SCARE Aces worked together on a semi-regular basis, there was no standing team. But an ongoing role-playing series will likely involve characters adventuring together on a regular basis. This presents a GM who wishes to stay true to the spirit of the books with a problem.
Chapter Six of the Green Ronin Wild Cards sourcebook addresses this hitch, suggesting six frameworks for Gamemasters and players to use in assembling teams. The soon-to be released All-In anthology presents players with new options to get their characters together. Contained in the book are scenarios where the players are Wild Card celebrities involved in a charity fundraiser, freelancers hired to quell bad publicity for a trendy night club, or Ace mercenaries working for the Russian mob. Following is a more-in depth look at these and other "non-standard" series frameworks.
Bottom of the Deck (Power Level 6+)
What rule states the protagonists have to be heroes? Leaving aside vigilantes such as Yeoman who worked outside the law, several major characters in the Wild Cards setting are criminals, though perhaps not out-and-out villains. These include Cash Mitchell, the Sleeper, and the sneak-thief Wraith. Criminal enterprises always have work available for Aces, specialized jobs that require more-than-human abilities. These include both mundane organizations such as the Mafia and groups like the Astronomer's Masons and the Shadow Fists.
In a Bottom of the Deck series, the characters operate on the wrong side of the law. Depending on their particular abilities and inclinations, the players take on the roles of assassins, super-powered couriers for illegal goods, bank robbers, mob enforcers, or corporate spies. The PCs might be free-lancers like the infamous Sleeper, selling their services to the highest bidders, or they could be associates of a large syndicate (the Mafia, the Russian Mob, or a resurgent Shadow Fists). Casting the player characters as criminals provides a ready-made reason for them to come together. They have either all been recruited for the same job or work for the same mob.
Dark Waters (Power Level 8+)
Mercenaries are in great demand today. So-called private security contractors work as bodyguards, military advisors, and peacekeepers in nations wracked by wars, natural disasters, and civil unrest. Whether they are employees of a larger concern or strictly freelancers, these private soldiers can go places and do things regular military personnel cannot. They are also rewarded far more handsomely for their activities. Experienced soldiers of fortune command small fortunes to fight on behalf of Third World governments across the globe. And of course, Ace mercenaries are the most highly prized soldiers on the planet.
In a Dark Waters setting, the characters travel across the globe, selling their services to nation-states and international corporations. They find themselves up against Marxist guerrillas in South America, terrorist groups in the Middle East, and starving, desperate villagers in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States, they are hired to protect visiting foreign dignitaries and safeguard elite business interests. They may be called on to maintain law and order when federal authorities cannot cope (as was the case in the aftermath of Hurricane Karina). Inevitably, they end up against other Wild Cards, discovering they are not the only Aces willing to trade on their talents in this mercenary manner.
The Neighborhood Watch (Power Level 4-6)
Black Shadow is long gone. The Great and Powerful Turtle is no longer seen in the skies overhead. Dr. Tachyon abandoned his own clinic. Even the Fort Freak police officers who are not corrupt are outgunned and outmanned. Violent gangs such as the Demon Princes and the Werewolves roam the streets. Organized crime syndicates have their tentacles everywhere. The neighborhood is considered last and least when New York City invests in education, housing, or job creation projects. The district suffers from crumbling infrastructure, overcrowding, and inadequate medical care. Jokertown is the poorest, most dangerous neighborhood in Manhattan.
The characters in The Neighborhood Watch series are ordinary Jokertown residents who have banded together to take back the streets. While they may not be as powerful as true Joker-Aces, they are by no means pushovers. Some possess Deuce powers, minor Ace abilities, combat experience, or medical training. Many just bring plenty of extra size, muscle, and attitude. Their ranks are not limited to Jokertown's "respectable" residents: they include alcoholic ex-police officers, exotic dancers, and rehabilitated ex-convicts. But they are all committed to making their neighborhood a better place and protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Acting without official sanction, they face harassment by the authorities and violent opposition from the gangs, but they bravely soldier on.
Celebrity Crusaders (Power Level 6+)
The winged Peregrine is a popular media personality as well as a former SCARE agent. Despite his lackluster movie career, Golden Boy was an early TV star. The late Lizard King remains a legendary rock icon. Even non-entertainment figures such as Dr. Tachyon, Hiram Worchester, and Modular Man routinely associated with A-List types before their circumstances turned for the worse. Aces command attention almost by their very nature; they are natural born celebrities.
Ace celebs have been involved in numerous political and social causes over the decades, ranging from the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War to AIDS relief in Africa. Unlike their real-world counterparts, A-List Aces can contribute more than their names and fortunes to their adopted causes. The Wild Cards novel Aces Abroad chronicled the adventures of high-profile Wild Carders as they undertook a worldwide fact-finding tour. A Celebrity Crusaders campaign follows in this vein, featuring the players in the roles of glamorous, jet-setting Aces out to use their status to change the world. They inevitably encounter greater challenges than they anticipated, as they find out the perks of fame and wealth do not render them invincible.
Strange Visitors (Power Level 8+)
The Wild Card plague-Retrovirus Takis-A was first created as an otherworldly bio-weapon. While originally meant to be released under more controlled conditions, there is no reason the genetic chaos loosed on the planet's population still can't prove valuable. The fleeting contacts between humans altered by the virus and aliens have ignited interest in the Wild Card phenomenon among the extraterrestrial races. Various aliens hope to take advantage of the Takisian experiment. They have numerous motives for doing so. Aces would be excellent shock troops if they could be coerced or enticed into serving. Even the jaded Takisian aristocrats were impressed by Wild Card abilities when they encountered Captain Trips and Popinjay in the novel Double Solitaire. And a perfected Wild Card virus would make for an outstanding weapon of mass destruction.
In a Strange Visitors series, the characters are extraterrestrials sent to observe the results of the Wild Card virus first hand. The player characters can assume the roles of Takisian nobles and possibly their bodyguards, sent to more about their aborted experiment. They may be publicly known, posing as diplomatic envoys while keeping their true mission secret, or they may operate clandestinely by passing as human Aces. A variation would cast the PCs as peasant freedom fighters and escaped gene-slaves, who traveled to Earth in the hope of finding allies against their former masters.
Alternately, the PCs might be Network agents, sent to assess the threat posed by what their Takisian rivals unleashed on Earth. The genetic diversity and superior technology of the elite Network agents allow them to match all but the most formidable Wild Carders. But like their erstwhile comrade Jube the Walrus, they will be forced to pose as Jokers due to their strange appearances. Elite operatives from advanced societies may not take to being treated as a despised minority. Will they come to loathe humanity? Develop a fondness for humans despite mankind's many failings? Or remain detached from the world, focused solely on their mission? And what will happen if the Takisians learn of their presence on Earth?
All-In is available now! Pick it up at your local gamestore or pick it up at the Green Ronin Online Store!
