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Discs! Brethren! Pie! (Under construction) Paint It Green (Under construction) Legalese: Creative Commons 3.0 Noncommercial Sharealike, Attribution to Robots Everywhere,LLC This content is provided to you ad-free by Robots Everywhere, LLC |
FlipsideStratMILLENNIUM: THE SECRET WAR The Messiah rules on earth, the world is gird in light. Most of the Earth hasn't seen the night sky in years. You are agents of the Shadow. You have 1000 years to defeat Fate. The players each represent a team of agents, saboteurs and black marketeers operating in the world of Left Behind: Kingdom Come. They must compete for influence while cooperating in order to stop the End of Days. Optionally, one player may run the global government under King Jesus; if this does not appeal to any of the players, the global government will operate on a script. While extremely powerful, the global government has the disadvantage of being almost exclusively reactive. There is a neutral faction, The Other Light, which represents the narratively sanctioned opposition to the global government. TOL is mostly run by dice rolls. TOL SCRIPT The Other Light uses the same tools as the players, and it is implied that the Shadow operates within the TOL framework to some degree. TOL will station cells in as many regions as possible, generate the minimum amount of support necessary to build a base, and then use the base to manufacture the army that will be deployed against Jerusalem on turn 50. YAHWEH SCRIPT Yahweh is primarily reactive; all He has to do is run out the clock. TOL and Shadow successes will trigger a reaction from local ministries, COT, and the Tribulation Force. Biblical heroes and angels move around the regions in a pattern that is so inscrutable as to be indistinguishable from random. Overt displays of disobedience by the enemies of Yahweh, such as overt warfare or a region openly siding with them, will trigger Acts of God. Victory conditions:
Defeat conditions:
Gameplay: The game can last 50 turns, each representing 20 years or one generation of rebels. At the end of the 50th turn, Satan is released, the anticlimactic Final Battle takes place, and Yahweh wins by destroying the Earth. The players must cooperate in order to prevent this outcome. The world map is divided into region, each of which can contain one or more tokens. THE BAD: These tokens are under player control.
THE GOOD:
* Tsion Ben-Judah is the Trib Force's master debater. He will automatically win any debate by shouting down the opponent and exercising narrative control over the audience, effectively nullifying a subversion attempt. * Captain Rayford Steele is the Trib Force's leader and airliner pilot. He can act as a base all by himself and call down Acts of God. * Chloe Williams is the Trib Force's logistics expert. She can act as an infrastructure team all by herself. She has a glorified body. * Cameron Williams is the Trib Force's media expert, and leader of the COT. He has a glorified body. THE UGLY:
REGIONS Each region has a local government in charge of the day-to-day running of that region. At the start of the Millennium, they are all loyal to Yahweh, but this can change; Shadow groups can subvert the government, while Yahwist groups can bolster or restore the original loyalty. Each region has a specialty (Agriculture, Industry, Arts) but is largely self-sufficient unless an Act of God occurs. A region has a number of scores associated with it. needs a minimum infrastructure score in order to function at all; if that is not maintained,
THE ARMY OF LIGHT The Other Light exists as a way to build Satan an army, so that it can get annihilated in one instant at the end of the Millennium. This is accomplished by building secret production facilities and stockpiling weapons; presumably, near the end of the Millennium focus is shifted towards training troops. Any armies raised by TOL are removed from play until turn 50. THE ARMY OF DARKNESS The Shadow can likewise raise an army, although overt use of it is likely to result in a series of Acts of God - Shadow teams that want to use a direct approach may do so, however. Any armies raised by the Shadow are considered by a regional government to belong to another region, and used for false flag operations. A Shadow army can defend a base, or be used as a sacrificial pawn to allow infiltration of New Jerusalem. ACTS OF GOD Logically, divine punishments such as a drought, local flood, plague or the Interdict would reduce support for Yahweh. However, due to the intense fear that they generate, support is actually increased. An Act of God can also be more fine tuned; an agent may die of a heart attack for no visible reason, a base may be struck by a lightning storm, and so on. Some items such as heart-plugs and tesla coils may counter the effect.
PROGRAM CARDS A faction can launch a program to build a specialized weapon, facility, or doctrine. Programs have have an infrastructure cost to symbolize diverting a region's production from local needs - simply remove the relevant infrastructure from the region to begin a program. To ensure sufficient buy_in from the population, your support in that region must be greater than the program cost by a factor of (value). Programs require a preexisting base, which cannot be used for anything else while the program is being run (the program cost already includes the base's output). Media Saturation - A media saturation program allows shifting support between factions; normally this is done to raise support, but it may also used to lower support. This program must not necessarily be deployed in the same region it is built in: for example, it is possible to saturate the American Northwest with media from Japan. Requires: Cell. Convoy - A convoy program negates a "Drought and Famine" Act of God upon a region. Cost: (power) infrastructure from an Agriculture region. Requires: Team. Subterranean Facilities - A subterranean facilities program negates a "Sodom and Gomorrah" Act of God upon a base as the underground facilities quickly allow reconstruction of the aboveground setup. Cost: (unit) infrastructure from an Industry region. Requires: Base. Posthuman Hardening - The posthuman hardening program negates a "Smite" Act of God upon a team - . Cost: (unit) science. Requires: Cell. Satellite - A satellite program launches an object into low Earth orbit. This can be used for positioning, communications, or surveying - whatever its purpose, it results in a small increase in infrastructure from your faction to all regions. However, there are diminishing returns, so each successive satellite returns half the gains. In addition, when the satellite is launched, new pictures of the cosmos beyond the firmament's canopy result in a recruitment bonus. Cost: (unit) science, (unit) infrastructure from an Industry region. Heavy Lift - A heavy lift program launches one Notark component into low earth orbit. In addition, when the component is launched, new pictures of the cosmos beyond the firmament's canopy result in a recruitment bonus. Cost: Owned territory, (unit) science, (unit) infrastructure from an Industry region. Giant Explosion! - Whether it is the restoration of an ancient nuclear warhead, the careful planting of multiple caches of conventional explosives, or something entirely new such as a seismic demolition system, this emulates a "Sodom and Gomorrah" Act of God. Cost: Owned territory, (unit) science, (unit) infrastructure from an Industry region. Requires: Team. Army - An army program raises a military unit. The unit type depends on the region: Infantry for agricultural regions, Mechanized for industrial regions, and Unconventional for arts region. In general, Unconventional beat Mechanized beat Infantry beat Unconventional . SUBVERTING A REGION When the support for one group exceeds the sum of the support for the other two, an attempt to subvert the region may be made. This can take the shape of occupying government buildings, formally running for an election, becoming the non-elected ruler's trusted advisor, and so on. Note that outright taking over a region from Yahweh will likely result in an Act of God! In a subversion attempt, the subverting team rolls its highest attribute (military, espionage, persuasion) against the corresponding attribute of the best team or cell from the currently ruling faction. If successful, the region changes allegiance. The advantage of outright owning a region are few, but important: The region's specialty can be changed, and some program cards require owning a territory. TEAMS Teams have three stats: overt, covert, and nonviolent. The "overt" stat is used for direct strikes against cells, bases, or other teams; a team can be used to lead army units into an all-out fight. The "covert" stat is used for indirect strikes such as sabotage, espionage, and subversion. The "nonviolent" stat is used for debates, diplomatic efforts, and peace brokering. Teams are moved around on the map, and are used to initiate actions; they can found cells. CELLS Cells are the basic organizational structure of any faction, whether it be a welcoming Children of the Tribulation mission house, a poorly hidden TOL den of supposed iniquity, or an efficient gaming shop that doubles as a Shadow meeting hall. They are used for recruiting for roving teams (a team with more, or better, people in it is more effective), most nonviolent tactics, and some violent tactics. Cells have three stats: overt, covert, and nonviolent. The "overt" stat is used for direct strikes against cells, bases, or other teams; a team can be used to lead army units into an all-out fight. The "covert" stat is used for indirect strikes such as sabotage, espionage, and subversion. The "nonviolent" stat is used for debates, diplomatic efforts, and peace brokering. Cells are stationary, are used to support teams and continue actions, and can construct bases. If a player's team is eliminated, a cell sheds its infrastructure and turns into a roving team. BASES Bases are larger installations that can contribute to a region's infrastructure, build military might, or conduct what little scientific research goes on in the Millennium. While cells can scatter and reform after a raid, making them hard to eradicate, bases may be destroyed by military action and are in that sense more fragile. Bases are large installations that can be used for production. Their only stat is productivity, which can be used for research rolls, added to the region's infrastructure each turn, or subsumed into the development of a program. ARMY An army can belong to one of three types (Infantry, Mechanized, Or Unconventional) and only has a military stat; the military stat of an army can be added to that of a cell or team, but at the price of bringing their other two stats to zero as long as the army is attached to the cell or team. Armies can be used to fight other armies, destroy bases, and pillage a region (this either destroys infrastructure or steals infrastructure into another region at a 2:1 ratio). Of course, an army that pillages a region will reduce support, so the best army to do that with is one that has been subverted. 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