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Heavy Gear Write Up

Started by Iron Dragoon, December 30, 2005, 11:05:39 PM

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Iron Dragoon

This is a brief overview/description of Heavy Gear, if anyone is interested after reading this, let me know and I will send you the books.

Heavy Gear is a Sci-Fi game. The focus of the game's universe takes place on a planet called Terra Nova. This planet was once a colony of Earth, but because of an internal political conflict, the Earth withdrew into its self and abandoned all of their colonies. After the abandonment, Terra Nova fell into war, all the factions of the planet wanting control. Int he process of these wars, the humanoid fighting vehicles Gears entered the scene first as refitted work vehciles, and then with the GP-01 Hunter as full military units. Their humbers and roles have been increasing ever since.

After going through a series of wars, Terra Nova was split, politically, into the Northern and Southern Alliances, separated by a vast waste land circling the planet called the Badlands. The Badlands are where most of the recent wars took place, and many relics of military equipment can still be scavenged there, and skirmishes are once again being fought there, as well.

The main powers of the planet are the Northern Lights Confederacy, The United Mercantile Federation, The Western Frontier Protectorate, The Southern Republic, The Mekong Dominion, The Eastern Suns Emirates, and the Humanist Alliance.

-Northern Lights Confederacy: This society is driven by 'moral superiority.' The Norlights seem to be on a perpetual crusade to ban everything they perceive to be morally questionable. Paradoxically, they have a deep respect for the democratic political process, and accept freedom of expression as a basic unalienable right. This, however, does not prevent another person from using their freedom of expression to publicly denounce another's view. Norlight culture is driven primarily by the militant Sorrento Revisionism religion.

-United Mercantile Federation: This society is based on the idea that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Every person and group is expected to earn their keep, including the government. Capitalism and competition are central to their world view. They consider wealth the essence of power and the measure of a person's worth.

-Western Frontier Protectorate: The Westerners are defined by which clan they belong to. They are loyal to family above all else, including the Protectorate. The clan is the primary factor in determining what social status and occupation the individual will have. The rigidity of the society has also produced a strong youth counter-culture which is radically liberal. These youth lash out at their elders with social critiques and anarchist political views, yet retain many values of their elders. Especially the strong emphasis on the family's honor and reputation.

-Southern Republic: The most valuable possession of any Republican is his individuality, they take great pains to be different from any other person in existence. While most foreigners view them as contained anarchy, the Republicans find personal strength in their social diversity. They believe this diversity provides a constant renewal of ideas and concepts, preventing their society from stagnating. The only universal political view held by all Republicans is their belief that their league's imperialism is beneficial to all parties involved. This belief is ingrained into them as children and is almost unshakable. Republicans act in a paternalistic manner, often interpreted as egotism and condescension, and are honestly shocked and confused when other Southerners are offended

-Mekong Dominion: The Mekong people are best described as eternal pragmatics. Mekongs believe the ends do justify the means and have very few scruples about using whatever method is necessary to achieve their goals, though most will not cross into illegality. To the Mekong citizen, material wealth is not a goal in itself, but the social power that wealth brings is very respected. Mekong social views are equally pragmatic. They believe the old maxim, "you only live once," and savor life's pleasures at every opportunity. By Northern standards the Mekong are utterly corrupt and without morals. This is a flawed perception, however. The Mekong simply have a different system of morality based around certain rules of polite behavior and the means of gaining and losing face.

-Eastern Suns Emirates: Easterns are best classified into three groups: upper, middle, and lower class. Each group is clearly defined by birth and does not mingle with the others. Moving up in society is absolutely unthinkable. Upper class Easterns are complete hedonists and sensationalists. They live for the moment and most are completely amoral. To them, the world is a toy to be played with and the lower classes are merely brutes whose purpose is to facilitate the lifestyle of the upper class. There are exceptions, but these are just that--exceptions that prove the rule. Middle class Easterns are taken from their families during early childhood and brought up in a radically pro-Upper Class environment. Not surprisingly, they are fanatically devoted to their rulers. They truly believe in the upper classes right to rule, gladly helping to suppress 'traitors' who rise up against their masters. Lower class Easterners have little choice but to struggle onwards through their daily lives, hoping to avoid the attentions of their masters. Most of them are very passive, preferring to vent their frustrations through bloodsports.

-Humanist Alliance: Humanist society also divides into three main groups: Preceptors, Protectors, and Commoners. Preceptors take the role of benevolent father and mother figures. They are pensive and diplomatic, but capable of swift action when time is short. Preceptors prefer diplomatic solutions to problems set before them. Protectors are perceived as strong elder brothers and sisters. They are naturally emotional, but display firm self-control in times of crisis. Protectors are very physical when expressing anger or affection, and are generally uncomfortable when having to rely on language alone. Commoners are often referred to as young brothers or sisters, the ones who need to be cared for by other, more responsible members of the society. Humanist commoners tend to follow this ideology, often acting like over sized children. They are both emotional and physical, but are socially conditioned to dislike violence.

Each one of the alliances is basically a group of City-States working together. The inhabitants of these individual cities all have their own unique outlooks and social structure. With the number of them, I'd basically be transcribing the rulebook and world companion over. Instead, if anyone wants more detailed information on those things, I'll be more than happy to send them the books..

Now, on to the fun stuff =D

Gears are basically a cross between a mech from MechWarrior and a suit of Power Armor. Most are bipedal, while there are other versions which are tracked or quadrupedal. Gears typically have a one man cockpit and are best classified as an Infantry Fighting Vehicle. The cockpit consists of a seat that is housed in the upper chest of the gear, with the 'head' of the gear coming down and closing itself over the head of the pilot, typically. Inside there is an array of sensors. Older gears used a combination of a HUD and holographic displays, while the newer models use virtual reality technology implanted into the pilot's helmet. The 'brain' of the Gear is the CPU, and is housed in a Black Box under the pilots chair. The CPU is actually a neural network, and is complex enough that older CPU models have been rumored to have developed the ability to predict it's long term pilot's desires and actions. There are also rumors of Gears having developed their own personalities to a degree..

Because of the highly advanced learning ONNet CPU and literally centuries of experience with Gears, subroutines and methods for all varieties of fine manipulation using the gear's hands have been either pre-programmed into the interface, or can be imitated using glove harnesses to the side of a pilot's normal joysticks.

Because of this, most Gear weaponry are just scaled up versions of typical weapons. An assault rifle still looks like an assault rifle, and a sniper rifle still looks like a sniper rifle. Because of this, Gears can recover and use weapons from fallen units, just like a person can take a gun from a body. This mobility and fine control also allows for close range hand to hand combat, which has prompted the production of melee weapons as well. Everything from small combat knives to swords is available for use with a Gear.

With the advancement of Gears, there has also come an advancement of older military types; tanks, airplanes, aerodynes, helicopters, ect. Tanks come in a verity of mobility types from tracked to hover. The advent of hover technology and Terra Nova's peculiar magnetic properties has also led to the dawning of the Landship. Massive naval combat ships and carriers which utilize hover and magnetic repulsor engines to speed across land.

Aircraft have changed roles as well. Instead of Air Superiority, they serve now as Air Support. The creation of certain weapons (high energy lasers and particle beams) made aircraft weak, as they were, and have now evolved into low altitude fighters. Slower in speed, yet highly agile, with advanced stealth packages.

Personal weaponry hasn't changed much over the millenia, the typical chemical slugthrower with its jacketed lead projectile and combustive powder in a cartridge still rule the day on the basis of reliability and ease of manufacture. Man portable lasers exist, but with their bulky capacitor backpacks and fragile lens arrays, are hardly suitable for much beyond urban sniper fire where the weight won't be such an encumbrance over long distances. Someone along the way invented vibro-blades, though their expense and relative weight keep them from universal issue, like lasers.

Character creation is done with a d20/d6 system found in the Silhouette Core book (which I have in .pdf if anyone wants it..) The character stats are separated into these parts: Attributes, Secondary Attributes, and Skills.

The attributes are Agility, Appearance, Build, Creativity, Fitness, Influence, Knowledge, Perception, Psyche, and Willpower.

-Agility: This is your physical prowess and level of coordination.
-Appearance: This is your physical comeliness, your looks, and physical attractiveness.
-Build: Physical size and mass.
-Creativity: Innovation and quick thinking.
-Fitness: Physical conditioning and endurance.
-Influence: Charisma and persuasiveness.
-Knowledge: Education and logical thinking.
-Perception: Alertness and ability to discern details.
-Psyche: Mental health, empathy, and luck.
-Willpower: Mental endurance and conviction.

The secondary attributes are dependent on both skills and attributes, and are: Strength, Health, Stamina, Unarmed Damage, and Armed Damage.

-Strength: Raw physical strength.
-Health: Physical well-being and resistance to disease.
-Stamina: Physical endurance and wound resistance.
-Unarmed Damage: Damage inflicted in hand to hand combat.
-Armed Damage: Base damage in melee combat

Skills are rated on a 1-5 scale, and some also have a Complexity rating, shown as '2/4.' This shows while the character has a skill level of 2, it has a complexity of 4. The skill rating is basically how 'good' your character is, the complexity shows his level of general knowledge in the field. For example, an aircraft pilot with a piloting skill of 5/1 would be a whiz with propeller planes (skill 5), he wouldn't know how to fly anything more complex than a propeller plane (complexity 1).

The skill list includes more than 40 separate skills, ranging from Animal handling to Zero-G piloting and combat, with many sub-skills, and many skills interacting and affecting each other. There is also a list of perks and flaws.

The books list basic character archetypes, but you are not restricted to playing a 'class.' You can take whatever skills you want, and go down whatever path you want. This game, unlike D&D, requires a certain amount of party support. If you have three people piloting Gears, you need a Gear Mechanic, for example. While the system allows for flexibility, a Gear pilot with mechanic skills will only be able to fix up to a certain level of things, and will still require a dedicated mechanic to fully upkeep his Gear at some point.

The listed Archetypes are: Archaeologist, Badlands Marshal, Caravan Trader, Demolition Specialist, Desert Guide, Field Medic, Field Scientist, Field Technician, Gear Duelist (Basically an Elite Gear Pilot. They are chosen as 'champions' of their regiments/units), Gear Pilot, Gear Trainer, Infantry Trooper, Killer/Assassin, Military Police, News Reporter, Police Officer, Private Investigator, Smuggler, Strider Pilot, Strider Soldat (weapons officer on a Strider), Mordred GREL (genetically engineered soldiers).
This is not the greatest post in the world, no... this is just a tribute.

Dracos

It's a pity we didn't get  something off in this :\
Well, Goodbye.