The greatness of B-movies brought to life at your table!
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CITIZENS OF PLANET EARTH,
Greetings again, today, on this second day of our campaign!
It is I, regular earthling James, operating within normal parameters. Nothing fishy going on at all. Ha, fishy.
Have you had a chance to check out our Early Access Playtest Document yet? We've called it a "pared-down version" of the game, with enough rules, pre-generated characters, and a scenario to get you going and enable you to play of the year-end holidays and get-togethers.
Truthfully, though it's stripped down from the complete manuscript, there's A LOT there. If you are looking for a sense of the game, reading that and watching the actual play video (and maybe checking out this Storypath system overview) should give you a pretty good idea of what we've got cooking.
Now, even though we've shared a lot of the game already with just our first update, we wanted to preview a little bit more... so here's an excerpt from the Archetypes chapter detailing the Scientist characters to be found in THEY CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA!
The scientific method: hypothesis, experiment, gather data, repeat. Over and over, scientists experiment and question their reality on the quest for knowledge and to understand the unknown. These plucky gatherers of wisdom use their discoveries to protect and defend humanity in its time of need. But their quest for understanding can get them into deep trouble. After all, curiosity did kill the cat.
Who doesn’t want to be recognized for their hard work? Scientists spend most of their time in thought, working on the next big project or doing advanced calculations no simple layperson could dare understand. Many see Scientists as over the top, spewing jargon or connecting strings of thought aloud in a mess that only makes sense to them.
Many Scientists are considered “mad” by those not of the profession, particularly in this time of invasion from the seas. Certainly, they are the only Archetype to exist that doesn’t react with a mix of fear and hatred when first confronted with some of the awful creatures slithering up the shoreline. Scientists feel compelled to study these creatures, in some cases ordering capture missions for research and dissection, in worse cases wanting to get to know the creatures a little too well, so as to understand their technology and methods.
Appearance
Science is an unforgiving mistress and it often takes special tools and clothing to do proper work. Sometimes, one needs a radioactive suit or a lead vest. Sometimes, one needs to carry miles of tubing over one’s shoulders. Sometimes, one is covered in gargantuan squid blood. It happens! In the mundane world, Scientists try to wear what is fashionable at the time but the randomly exploded pen or chalk dust gives quirks to their appearance. Thick glasses and pocket protectors abound while lab coats always do look so fashionable. Tweed coats and conservative skirts cover up the raw talent and monstrous genius under the surface.
Scientists are also apt to more liberal styles of dress outside of their career. Why would simple clothing styles have any bearing upon their fantastic minds? They often push the boundaries of style, from beatnik black berets and sunglasses to fantastic patterns that catch the eye. The world is full of beauty, why not help it along? The oddest Scientists clad themselves in the iridescent costumes worn by some aliens, of the opinion that the aquatic threat introduces more than death to humanity: They bring fashion!
Lifestyle
Scientists are guided by their wonder and curiosity. Their lives reflect this in myriad different ways. There are those who become part of grand hobby organizations, enriched by the ability to practice both a craft and social nuance. Perhaps they join lodges of town secret societies where they are able to debate esoteric mysteries of hard science and traditions passed down by so-called ascended masters. Maybe they are just really into leading their Girl Scout troop that meets in their basement on Tuesday evenings. Whatever the case may be, Scientists enrich their lives through progress and experimentation.
A facet of this experimentation is testing the boundaries of the human mind, body, and spirit. Scientists are fond of enjoying speculative medical advances to boost their existence. They may personally test alien technology or relics upon themselves or loved ones. They are even known to recreationally smoke the occasional cannabis cigarette to entice “greater cognitive function, man.” They draw the line where cannabis may induce communist thought, however.
Connections
Scientist connections are often in position of power or servitude, as the Scientist lives and dies based on lab assistants and generous funding. Some example connections include:
• Former Student
• Government Researcher
• Grant Approval Processor
• Lab Technician
• Materials Provider
Skills
A Scientist’s four associated Skills often revolve around fields of academic learning or obscure trivia. Recommended Skills include Culture, Enigmas, Medicine, and Science.
Trademarks
Scientist Trademarks often accentuate the eccentricity or assumed intellect of the Scientist, as their knowledge and study of the alien threat comes through use of Skills. Some Scientist example Trademarks include:
• Mental gymnast
• The smartest person in the room
• Surgeon General
• A taste for danger
• High blood pressure
• Force of nature
• Streams of jargon
• Seeing beauty in horror
Scientist Trademarks compound pure force of will with the unhinged mind. When left to their own devices, Scientists can forge information into something as sharp as a blade or as deadly as a bullet. When one combines unwavering will to live with the ability to literally bend the laws of reality itself, you are in for a good time kicking fishy tail.
Tropes
All characters start play with three Tropes, with the Scientist’s player choosing two from the Scientist list, and one from any of the other Archetype lists:
Weird Science You aren’t even sure what it does. Roll one extra die on actions when you are using an alien device (weapon, console, medipack, etc.), even when you lack any familiarity with it.
Medical Genius It’s a good thing you’re a doctor, otherwise treating your friends could do more harm than good. Roll one extra die when treating another character to remove an Injury level.
Outside Funding You can get some pretty big-ticket items with your grant, but there are limits to what you can spend the money on. No to trash bags, yes to laser death rays.
Atomic Power You have a single item that is nuclear powered. When used in combat it has the Deadly tag. Otherwise, it provides +1 Enhancement when used for its specific function.
Physics Need Not Apply You know all there is to know about physics, which means you know also that sometimes it just doesn’t work the way we think it does. Roll one extra die when choosing to defend against incoming attacks.
Breakthrough Discovery You’ve made a breakthrough. It could be a new medical technique, or a new way of punching aquatic aliens, but it’s all your hard work. Gain +1 Enhancement when using your discovery.
With My Bear Hands It sounds like an experiment gone wrong, but in your world, everything is all right. Roll one extra die on all Might-related rolls.
That Was Only Theoretical You’re a scientist, everything has a proper place in the world. Natural laws don’t just break because some alien says they do. You refuse to believe what you see, which seems to help. Ignore one alien power used on you each scene.
I Just Need a Small Sample The biological agent can be reverse engineered to provide an antidote/cure/poison/really anything you need it to do. All you really need is a small sample.
Eureka! You’re really good at putting clues together and figuring out the bigger picture. Gain in-depth understanding of a clue once a session.
For more information on the Scientist Archetype, as well as expanded information on all of the other Archetypes included in the Early Access Playtest Document, tune in tomorrow for our next update, where we'll share the first three chapters of the manuscript in a Backers Only special post!
Have you told your friends at the soda shop about this game yet? Water you waiting for? Quick, before this campaign is fin-ished - spread the word! Share on your social media and in your social circles!
And warn everyone! THEY CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA!
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.