[WRITING] Miscellanea's Misbegotten Daughter (c)

[Ioreth]

I loved your 'Stumbling in the Dark' poem, Expendable. Like I said in the original thread, I was left with a catharsis of great magnetism! Btw, what made you want to do quiet introspection? Just curious.

[Expendable]

Sorry, I missed this. I was depressed.


New story, this is just for fun.

The Badgers Are Back in Town.

“So what do you think they’re doing?”
The guard glanced up at the monitor at the four figures huddled around a makeshift table.
“They’re playin’ cards.”
“They ain’t moved a muscle in five minutes.”
The guard glanced back at the monitor, then shot his partner a dirty look as he leaned for the phone. “You couldn’t have said anything sooner? Hey, what’s that…?”

Someone was laughing in the hallway. Turning, the two guards jumped to their feet as the Warden, flanked by the Shift Captain and a squad came around the corner.
“They’re here!” the Warden yelled happily, waving the papers in his hands. “I’m finally rid of those miscreant rodents! Which cell are they in?”
“Cell one-thirteen, sir. But I think…”
The Warden had already turned away to the entrance gate to the Ward. “Buzz me in now!”
“Uh, yes sir!”

Brutus glanced up from his book and sighed at the three paper-mache badgers hunched around the table, cards in their paws. Looking around, he reached over and checked what cards each were holding. Faux-Buttons had a pair of threes, Faux-Toothpick had three queens, while Faux-Shark had a small straight or a small flush, depending on if you counted the cards hidden up his sleeves. With a sigh, Brutus picked up the cards he’d dealt. All hearts. Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.
He froze, then rechecked his cards.
“I… I don’t believe it…! It’s a Royal Flush!” he breathed, bounding to his feet and jumping. “THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!”
Someone stepped in front of the cell door. Brutus’ smile froze, then fell as he recognized the Warden and his men.
“This is the worse day of my life,” the giant badger sobbed, slouching.

“Prisoners 0063, 0064, 0065, and 0066, stand up! I have your release orders!” The mannequins didn’t move. The Warden frowned, a slight tick making his eye blink. “What’s going on here?”
With a sigh, Brutus side-stepped, revealing a small hole in the cinder block wall. “Hey boss! Hey boss!”
After a moment, a dirty-faced Toothpick appeared, holding onto a purloined kitchen spoon. “Quiet, you idiot! You tryin’ ta get da warden anna… oh. How’s they hangin’, your Warden-ship?”

“You want me to throw them back in Solitary?” the Section-Captain asked, pulling out his blackjack.
“What, are you crazy?” The Warden demanded, then turned back to shake the papers clenched in his fist. “Toothpick, I’m finally rid of you lot! Release papers! Get the hell out of my prison”
“Not a problem,” Toothpick smirked. He leaned into the hole. “Hey, youse guys! C’mon back, we’re sprung outta this joint!”

The Warden turned and handed the papers to the Section-Captain. “Get this mess cleaned up and them out immediately!”
“Say Boss,” Toothpick asked as Buttons and the Shark climbed out of the hole. “You think we can catch a shower or somethin’ before we go?”
“Oh,” nodded the Section-Captain, waving at his men to bring over the fire hose, “I think we can work something out.”

“Didn’t I tell you guys we was gettin’ outta this joint taday?” Toothpick grinned, tugging on the points of his zoot suit as they strode out the front gate of the prison.
“Yes, Boss,” the three badgers chorused. All four jumped as the gate slammed shut behind them.
“So uh, Boss, what we gonna do now?” Buttons demanded.
“What do you think we’re gonna do now?” Toothpick smirked.

My cell phone rang just as my doorbell did. With a sigh, I answered the phone, pressing it against my ear as I crossed to the door. Just my luck, it was a robot call.
“This is the Police Department with an automated message for Ex Pendable,” it began as I opened the door. “Four convicts were released today…”
“Hey doll, ya miss us?” Toothpick asked, grinning up at me. He held up a rope.
“Oh no, not you guys again…!”

[Expendable]

another story, just for fun.

All Badgers Great and Small


"Dis is it, boys!" Toothpick said, his namesake quivering at attention as the four badgers in their Zoot suits stared down the street at the bars and night clubs. "We're gonna paint dis town red!"
"Uh, Boss?" Brutus said, lifting a five-gallon paint can. "All I could find was this purple paint."

The namesake stopped, then snapped upright as the tiny badger de capo spun around angrily.

"PURPLE?!?" he raged, balling his right paw into a fist. "Nobody goes ta paint da town 'purple'! Why I oughta...!"

"Boss!" Buttons interrupted. "Where's the gurl?"
"Eh? Brutus, you ignoramus, where's the gurl? You were supposed ta keep an eye on her!"
"Boss! There she goes!" the Shark yelped, pointing at the fleeing figure ducking running up some stone steps inside a building.
"Well, don't you all stand here lookin' stupid or nothin'," Toothpick snapped, pointing at the door. "Get after her! Now!"
"Uh, Boss?" rumbled Brutus as they ran to the steps. "Do you think we should be goin' in there?"
"We need da gurl, so YES!" Toothpick yelled, throwing open the door and darting inside - and into the spotlight.

"Halellujah;" called out the preacher at his podium, waving his hands at all the people sitting there. "I want to welcome everyone who came out tonight, choosing to spend their time with the LORD instead of courtin' Satan in some dark, smoky, dismal night club! Now let me hear you all say 'amen'!"

"Amen!"

"Take yer hats off boys," Toothpick hissed, yanking his off his head. "It ain't respectful."

"Now, what do we have here?" the preacher asked, spotting the badgers at the entrance. "It looks like some of the LORD'S creatures have decided to bless us tonight. Have you come to seek the salvation of the LORD?"

The audience turned in their seats to stare at the four badgers. Toothpick winced at all the staring eyes, clutching his hat tigher, but he stepped forth.
"Eh, not quite, Preacher. Da four of us was treatin' our friend to a night on da town, on account we was away fer a spell, just to show dere ain't no hard feelin' or nothin'. Only we lost her and was hopin' one of yer good folk here mighta seen dis dame come in just a moment ago?"

"I seen her!" a woman said, pointing towards the door for the Ladies' room with her closed fan. "A girl came in just a moment ago, then darted in there!"
"Thank ya kindly, Ma'am," Toothpick beamed. "We'll just go and check on our friend. Sorry fer interruptin'."

"Halellujah;" the preacher called out. "That what was lost has been found! Like the Parable of the Lost Lamb! Let me hear an 'amen'!"
"Amen!" thundered the audience.
"Now in recognition of these fine Christian creatures, let us stand and sing, 'All Things Bright and Beautiful'."

The organist rifled through her book, then began playing the opening notes as the audience stood up.

"All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all."

"Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings."

"All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small...."

The preacher smiled as he gazed fondly at his congregation, then frowned. The badgers were carrying a struggling young woman who was all tied up and gagged out the front door!

"Hey!" he yelped in surprise, pointing to the back of the church, but all anyone could see when they turned were the bright lights of the night club across the street - and a five-gallon can of purple paint standing forgotten in the aisle.

[Ioreth]

Nice to see you posting in here again, Expendable. I liked both stories. They were certainly unique. Sorry to hear you've been depressed, however. Personally, I've found that it further motivates my writing. Anywho, they were quite a laugh. Nice use of dialogue. The ex cons talked like straight up shysters lol! Gotta love it. Even the names were creative. Toothpick was especially. For some reason, I can't help but think of the amoeba boys from the Powerpuff Girls. At the end, when they forgot the purple paint, leaving it in the aisle way, it was comical. But I also wish to know what they were doing with the girl. Then again, it's cool that you left it so open. The first story made me rather curious as well. May I ask, what was your inspiration here? Oh, and it was also neat how you incorporated 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' and how the organist played it for the church goers.

[Expendable]

Oh, they're very much like the Amoeba Boys - the Badgers never quite get it right.

I like freeform roleplay, like what we have going on here in CityScape, only I've not had any luck keeping any games going here. On another forum I visit, I got into a D&D game where the dungeon master threatened in the out of character thread to sic the badgers on us, and I'd just seen the Weasels on Roger Rabbit. Suddenly, I had this quartet of mobbed badgers to badger myself with. I'd write up these little scenes in ooc where they'd call the dungeon master "Boss" and see if he needed them to do any work, like "show me the business". I've been having fun with them ever since. ^ _ ^

And yes, the DM loved my imaginary mobster friends.

When the D&D game petered out (*sigh*), I noticed that the newbies in the intro thread could use some help, so I'd write up a quick scene where the badgers would appear, haul me out of the back of their car or a trunk on a cart and I'd do a quickie rundown of the site rules. (The badgers would never work over here - unless I turn them into tanuki?) Anyway, it was a fun way to give them the information they needed on how to go from newbie to accepted member. They'd also appear in troubled rp ooc threads, ready to help me pack if it looked like the game was going under. They've popped up in a few other places.

The roleplay site is running writing contests for the month of April, so suddenly two badger stories presented themselves. I'm hoping for more, they're fun to write. However, I've had sites vanish on me before and they've had a few database errors. So to safeguard the stories (and I'm a closet show-off), I decided to post them in a few other sites as well to keep them safe.

The first story, the topic was "elation"; the second story had three topics - purple paint, "Hallelujah;", and night clubs. Come to think of it, I'm a little stuck for the current contest. The DM took us to Ravenloft before the game petered out, and I started this bit with vampire minstrels in ooc... (mine do not sparkle in sunlight - they catch fire and complain about it afterward when they're brought back.)

The Terrible Two
(topic: Terrible Two)

This is a quick and dirty story, sorry.

A terrible wind blew the tavern door open. Swearing mightily, the tavern keeper darted from behind the counter and struggled briefly latch it shut again. Only to yell as he turned to find two strange men standing behind him.
"Where in the Seven Hells did you come from?" he blustered. One of the men raised an eyebrow behind his smoky lenses, then pointed behind the tavern keeper.
"Ve used ze door," Vladimer said. "It vas open."
"What?!? I mean, I didn't see you come in."
"No, you did not," Vladimer shrugged. "You vere buzy vith ze door."

"Well, uh, okay," the Tavern keeper blustered, struggling with his vistor's strange accent. The two were strangely dressed - dark capes, tall brimmed hats with blue silk tied around the base, and dark glasses in wire frames that stood out from their strangely pale skin. Still, while their appearance was off-putting, their clothes looked to be well-made and expensive, without the bristling of many weapons many travelers possessed. "So, what can I do for you, gentlemen?"
"We're lost," Demitri said, with only the barest traces of an accent. "We were on the road and saw your light, but to be honest we couldn't read any signs. Where are we?"
"This here is Terrible."

"Eh, I vould zay no zo bad?" Vladimer shrugged, looking around in confusion.
"What? No, no, that's the name of the town, Terrible."
"Vhy vould you...?" Vladimer began, only to have Demitri step forward.
"I'm sorry about my friend, he can be a little hard to understand sometimes," Demitri replied. "But how did your town wind up with a name like Terrible?"
"Well, the first family ta settle here were my kin. And we only stopped because our horse died."
"Oh, I can see..."
"Course, when the horse died, he landed on my great, great, grandfather."
"My, how..."
"We had to dig a well a dozen times. Then we had a dragon come out the swamp the first year, bite the leg offa one of the pigs. Then...."

"I am beginning to zee a trend," Vladimir interrupted. "I do not understand vhy your family stayed."
"We're just outside the boarder, so the king's men couldn't execute their warrants - or us."
"But of course," Vladimir shrugged, glancing amusedly back at Demitri. "How zilly of me."
"So what can I do for you gentlemen?"
"It is more perhaps vhat ve can do for you?"
"Eh?"
"Zad to zay," Vladimir sighed, "But ve have been traveling a long zime und our funds are nearly exhausted."

"So, you ain't got no money," the tavernkeeper said, now on more familiar ground. "Got all the help I need, so I don't..."
"Zhis is a tavern, yes?" Vladimir asked.
"We're wandering minstrels," Demitri said, producing a mandolin and strumbing a chord. "Figure if we played for your town folk, meybe collect a few tips, we could have a warm corner to stay in tonight."
"So you want ta play fer your supper, is that it?"
"Yes, exactly," Vladimir replied, turning to give Demitri an amused look.
"Well, I think we can work something out."

The volume of the crowd in the main room dropped somewhat as the two musicians strode past the long tables towards the fireplace, Vladimir tuning his violin as they walked.
"So," Demitri asked as he took his place on Vladimir's left. "What do you think we should start with for this crowd?"
"I zhink we zhould ztart vith zomething zimple, like Bobby's zong."
"Uh, are you sure, with your um, 'accent'?"
"Nonsense, everyzhing vill be fine."

"If you're sure," Demitri shrugged, stepping forward. "Good evening Terrible! How are you all tonight?"
There were a few grunts.
"Okay, really glad to be 'here', tonight. For our first song, 'Red Red Wine'."

Vladimir dragged his bow across the strings, producing a squeel that made everyone's teeth go on edge, then began to sing as he continued to play.

"Red red vine, goes to mi head, makes me forget I need her zo. Red, red wine, it's up to you, all I can do...."

An overripe tomato flew out of the crowd, splattering over Vladimir's face and violin. The crowd roared with laughter.
"Oh, no," Demitri winced, burying his face in his hand.

Vladimir with calm precision tucked the bow under his left arm pit, then used his free hand to wipe away the worse of the mess from his face.
"Perhaps zhere iz zomething you vould rather hear..?" he asked, only to get pelted again by more rotting fruit and vegetables.

"Vhy iz it alvays rotten tomatoes?" Vladimir asked as he turned to lay down his violin carefully on the mantle, ignoring the crowd for a moment, then sighed.
"Vladimir, we could just leave...?" Demitri urged, then caught the red look in his friend's eyes.

The screaming was drowned out by the wind.

In the twilight of the next day, a sergeant at the boarder watched two fine gentlemen walking up the road as a few of the men walked past them on the way to the tavern in the distance.
"Good evening, sirs," he greeted them. "Welcome to Trinity."
"Gut evening to you, too," the tall blonde replied, handing over his papers. His friend followed suit.

"Everything looks to be in order. Are you here for the carriage to the capital? It's leaving shortly. You may want to step into the public house for a quick drink to fortify you on the road."
"No, zhat vill not be necessary," Vladimir said as they crossed the boarder. "Zhe tavern in Terrible was more zan zufficient."

By the time the first soldier came running back, yelling his grizzly news, the carriage carrying Vladimir and Demitri was long gone. Still, after sending a squad in pursuit, the sergeant described the two men to the best of his memory to the scribe. In the scriptorium, backs bent to work on creating the wanted posters for the "Terrible Two".

[Expendable]

The Badger of Avon
(topic: Stare - not my best.)

"Three kings," Toothpick grinned, laying down his cards.
"Three over a pair," The Shark smirked, spreading out his hand on the table. Buttons groaned, shaking his head as Shark raked in the pot.
"We need some fresh blood in here," Toothpick scowled, then turned to where Brutus was reading. "Why is it everytime I turn around, I see you with a book in your hand? Doncha want ta get inta the action?"
"No boss, I like keeping my money in my pocket more than keeping it in The Shark's pocket," Brutus said, smiling slightly.

"But all that readin', it an't healthy. I know it's gotta be boring."
"It's not all boring."
"Yeah? Whacha reading now?"
"Shakespeare."
"Hey, I hurd of dat guy. Read me some."
"You sure, boss?" Brutus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I said read!"
"Okay boss," Brutus shrugged.

" From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dress'd in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew...."

Brutus paused, looking up. Toothpick, Buttons, and The Shark were staring at him blankly. After a moment, Toothpick cleared his throat. " So uh, dhere's more of dat?"
"Oh yes, Boss."
"Eh, I don't get it."
"I shoulda read you Hamlet," Brutus sighed, closing the book.
"Yeah, what does Hamlet have?"
"A skull, murder, revenge...."
"Hah! Now you're talkin' my kind of language!"

[Expendable]

Science Fiction Badger Feature
(theme: It Came from Outer Space)

Another shovel-full of dirt flew out of the hole, then Brutus asked, "Is this deep enough, Boss?"
"Deeper!" Toothpick yelled, not even bothering to look up from his cards. "Boss wants ta make sure when we bury this, it stays buried!"

"Hey boss, the bag's movin'," Buttons said, staring past the tiny badger de capo.
"Eh?" Toothpick scowled, looking over his shoulder. "Better go over there and hit it."
"You got it, Boss," the trigger-badger nodded grimly, picking up his Tommy gun.
"No, no! Use a shovel. We ain't tryin' ta attract no attention here!"
"Awww."

As Buttons walked around the hole, Toothpick and The Shark stared at each other for a long moment, then together peeked at the Button's cards. Behind them, there was a few muted clangs as the badger wailed a few blows onto the bag until it laid still again.

"Boy, this is hard work," he sighed, wiping his brow.
"Tell me about it," Brutus laughed.
Buttons froze.
"Boss? Boss! I think something's comin'!"

There was a flurry of activity behind him as the two badgers straightened, pretending nothing had happened.
"What's comin'?"
"I think it's a plane."
"Someone's flying a plane out here?"
"I.. think they're crashin' a plane out here!" Buttons yelled, diving for cover as something brightly lit whooshed by overhead. Moments later, there was a tremendous racket as it smacked into the ground and ran into the trees.

"What da hell was dat?" Toothpick demanded, his namesake dangling forgotten from his lip. He'd taken cover next to the tree stump they'd been using as a table.
"Do you think the Feds found us, boss?" The Shark demanded, crouched on the other side.
"Yeah, we scared them so much dey decided to crash on us," Toothpick sneered.
"Boss! Someone's comin'!" Brutus hissed, ducking inside the hole.
"It's Grand Central Station over here!" Toothpick hissed angrily, but ducked down as he heard the approaching shuffling of feet through the fallen leaves.

What staggered into view was a tiny figure, about their height, wearing a silver space suit, clutching some kind of gun. It paused at the mouth of the tiny clearing they were hiding in, sweeping the ground - and it saw the bag.

It walked around the hole Brutus was cowering in to kneel down next to it, tucking the gun back in its belt before it started working on the knots.
"No!" Toothpick cried out. Shocked, the tiny spaceman pulled out his gun, turning towards the badger mobster - but it was too late. A soiled yellow thong crawled out of the bag and leap onto the spaceman's helmet.

A high-pitched scream of terror came from inside the suit, the spaceman dropping his gun in a frantic attempt to peel off the thong that clung to it.
"Buttons, seal dat bag before any more of 'm escape! Shark, go help dat pilot!"
"Ain't no pot big enough, boss!" The Shark yelled back, still cowering behind the stump.

The spaceman collapsed. A massive paw reached out of the pit to grab an edge of the writhing thong and pealed it off.

"I got it boss!"
"Good work, Brutus! Let's get it back in da bag and get this buried before somebody else shows up!"


Minutes later, the four badgers were running through the woods to their car, the spaceman drapped under Brutus' massive arms.

"Boss, next time <pant> the Boss needs <pant> his used thongs buried, <pant> let him send <pant> somebody else, huh?" Buttons managed.
"Shut up <pant> and stay <pant> shut up! <pant>"

At the car, Brutus threw the spaceman in the back with The Shark and Toothpick while Buttons crawled into the front seat, Tommy gun at the ready as the giant badger started the car and got it racing down the dirt road, away from the crash site.

"Hey Boss, meybe we should take the pilot's helmet off? I don't know if he can breathe too good."
"Ain't got nothin' better ta do."

After several minutes, they managed to twist and lift the helmet off.
"Geez Boss, it's a monkey! A green monkey!"
"Eh, you'd be green too if ya just crashed in da middle of nowhere and one of da Boss' thongs got you. Let it sleep, some things are just too much, ya know?"

[Expendable]

New Year's Door

The birth of a new year
Celebrated beneath my feet.
Glasses clanked and music thumped
Yet somehow I fell asleep.
It was only for a moment,
When a door I've never seen
Creaked open and eyes stared out at me.
"No time! No time!" a tiny grandma cried,
Tottering out from behind the gloom.
"The new year is almost on us," she scolded,
"We got to clear this room!"
Tall and short I dimly saw
As they poured out from that door,
Their tiny hand took my things
Even my smelly socks lying on the floor!
But before I could complain,
Softly gleaming ghosts
Silently took each and every place.
I reached out to touch one
But the grandma slapped my hand.
"What's left is just for looking,"
And she smiled a little sad.
"Hurry now, we're running out of time!"
She scolded as they began to push my bed.
"It won't fit," I cried,
but they only pushed some more.
At One there was a thump
And I tumbled to the floor.
Party horns were blowing
And I tried to clear my head.
Everything was where they were
When I had gone to bed.
But for a moment I thought I saw
Behind me in the gloom
A door closing where none had been....

[Expendable]

Like most people, I started role-playing D&D. It appealed to the writer in me - rather than just watching or reading about someone's elses characters having adventures, I could make characters that play in a shared world with other players. I've played a few systems - GURPS, Classic Traveller, Star Trek, Abberrant. I even got my hands on a copy of Big Eyes, Small Mouth, one of the few anime role playing games and classic Dr. Who.

But gaming became harder - expensive books with glossy pages, lack of players, lack of time to play. Online forums gave me a chance to do freeform role-playing and from there I branched out, but I miss the fun of system playing. So I've been working on and off on a homebrew or guerilla game I call "Samizdat".

Samizdat is a sort of universal anime role playing game that tries to start simple then build up in complexity. You start with a base character with some basic stats, then select skills. These skills are paired with your stats to create a target number that can be rolled using regular dice - a simple gaming mechanic. Beyond the base books would be expansion books in a particular genre - magic, space, supers, etc. These combine with the base books to allow you to play almost anything.

More details to follow.

[Expendable]

So for character creation, I'm using Archetype, Stats, Gifts, Flaws, and Skills.

• Archetype is used to establish a dominate personality - The Innocent, The Orphan, The Hero, The Caregiver, The Explorer, The Rebel, The Lover, The Creator, The Jester, The Sage, The Magician, The Ruler.
  
• Stats are the basic ability scores - Intelligence, Wit, Charm, Strength, Reflex, Stamina. Each are rated 1-5 as poor, below, average, above, or superior. Stats can be improved using experience points up to level 5, with each level costing twice the level amount. So someone wanting to improve a level 1 stat to level 2 must pay 4 experience points. From level 2 to level 3 will cost 6 experience points. You must pay the cost of each level - if you wanted to go from level 2 to level 4, you have to pay both the level 3 and level 4 costs. Improvements can only be purchased after the experience points are awarded at the end of the adventure.
  
• Gifts are special abilities, such as excellent night vision, internal compass, etc. that the character has and can be used to award applicable skill check bonuses.
  
• Flaws are mental or physical defects the character has - night-blindness, stubborn, OCD, etc. These can be used to assign applicable skill check penalties.
  
• Skills are what the character has learned to do. Each skill is rated from 1-5 and is paired with an ability to generate a target number for a skill check. So if you wanted to make a roll on Perception with a character who has a skill of 3 and a Wit of 3, the target number would be 6. So rolling two dice, if the result is 6 or less, you were successful. A roll of 7 or higher is beyond your skill.

Because skills are paired with a base stat, there is the possibility of a Skill Zero Check, where the target number is the base stat only. So if someone attempts to do a Perception-0 roll with a Wit of 3, they have to score three or less to succeed.
.
The Game Master can decide that the circumstances that required the skill check come with a penalty or bonus of 1-2 points. If you're in a dark room and have the flaw of night-blindness, you get an automatic penalty of -1, while a character who has night vision would have a bonus of +1. Likewise if you're trying to hit a distant target, the Game Master may assign a skill check penalty of -2.
.
During Character Creation, nobody can have a skill level of 5 and only one skill at 4. The idea is to work at it. You can increase your skill using experience points at a cost equal to that level, so the cost of going from level 2 to level 3 is three points. You must also pay for each level - so you cannot go from skill 1 to skill 5 by paying only 5 points. You have to pay level 2 + level 3 + level 4 + level 5 or 14 points.
.
In some cases, a skill may have pre-requisites in the form of a Gift or other skills. In order to take skills in Surgery or Psychiatry, you have to have at least Medical-3. To learn magic spells, you need to have the magic gift.
.
And for that matter, if you're an archer, you need to have a bow to use that skill.
.
To simplify magical skills and special abilities, I'm treating those as skills.

[Expendable]

Silly me. I need to change the list of Archetypes to Anime ones.

[Expendable]

I read something recently on Privilege. Sometimes privilege is a gift, sometimes it's something that comes with the job. It could be a patron, a company car, even a badge and arrest authority. I wonder if that is something that should be included in the character description? Have to think about it.

[Expendable]

Expendables

Prisoner 49-0327:


Good morning. It is now Thursday, August 1, 2143 09:43 AM Earth GMT.


Your appeal has been rejected, and you have been scheduled for termination on Tuesday, December 31, 2143 at 11:45 PM.

However, you may still be of use to the Corporation.


On May 1, 2143, the Corporation won the rights to the Lyca system, on the edge of Known Space. Lyca IV is a gas giant, suitable for fuel processing. Gamma, the third of Lyca IV's moons, has a breathable nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere but is subject to extreme low temperatures during its night cycle. It is primarily covered by water, but there is one island.


Survey probes have discovered an artifical structure on Gamma's island. This structure is not of human origin. As the other planets of the Lyca system are incapable of supporting life and none has been identified on Gamma, we assume this structure is of extraterrestrial origin.


The survey crew reported the structure to the Corporation, then followed protocol by landing a survey team to explore the structure.


Robotic explorer units were deployed, but were disabled when they crossed into the structure. Units were recovered and examined, no fault was found. Further examination suggested their systems were overwhelmed by random magnetic fluctuations. Two units were shielded and sent in.


They did not return.


Five of the human crew volunteered to enter the structure. Communication was lost immediately on entering the structure. A fiber optic tether was provided for wired communication, but communication was lost 45 minutes after entering the structure.


They did not return.


Your mission objectives:
1. Explore the structure.
2. Recover whatever remains of the Survey Team.


Because this mission is rated as Extremely Dangerous, please note the following conditions:


1. Attempt to escape or tamper with your security collars will result in your immediate termination.
2. Failure to achieve mission objectives will result in your immediate termination.
3. If you are able to only discover what happened to the Survey Team, your sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment (without suspended animation).
4. Recovering a dead body belonging to the Survey Team will reduce the term of your sentence by two years.
5. Rescuing a surviving member of the Survey Team will reduce the term of your sentence by five years.
6. Terminating a surviving member of the Survey Team or a member of the crew delivering you to the planet will result in your immediate termination.
7. Disable whatever is affecting robots and communications will reduce the term of your sentence by ten years.
8. Provide substantial information on the purpose of this structure, your record will be expunged and you will be released on the inhabitable planet or station of your choosing.
9. An Enterprise Expert System will be provided to assist and monitor you while you are on Gamma. Failure to return with the Enterprise Expert System will count against your sentencing and may delay your rescue from Gamma.
10. Any unauthorized departures from the surface are subject to immediate destruction by the Corporate ship in orbit.


Please state if you accept this mission.

[Ryuuko]

That sounds like the beginning of a great Sci-Fi adventure, RP or Story.

[Expendable]

Thank you, it's a roleplay idea that I put together. I'm hoping it will help me flesh out my homebrew system for space opera play.