Like Fox Force 5, kinda.
The Game: Strike Force 7
The Publisher: Super Genius Games
Degree of Familiarity: None with this particular game, though I know Savage Worlds pretty well.
Books Required: Explorer's Edition and the SF7 pdf (which I got as part of a bundle).
Anyway, the first thing book asks me to think about is who my guy was before joining the team. Obviously he had to have some military or police background. I think I shall go military, and since I'm feeling feisty about the whole "god" thing, I think I'll have him be an outspoken atheist, like me.
(Side note: I don't often play atheist characters in RPGs. Sometimes I do, but more often I play characters with some degree of faith, and I have a special fondness for Catholics. Largely that's because evangelicals are assholes and I don't want to play one [not you, of course], but partially it's because I roleplay to get out of my own head a little. Also, as I've mentioned before, in RPGs there's generally some tangible effect to religious devotion, which would then make believing in it somewhat rational, unlike the real world. Moving on.)
Sgt. Joseph Carl Heder, from Memphis, TN, did damn good work for the Army. He entered as a Specialist with a degree in, let's say, chemistry, and got to work as an EOD guy (if I'm fucking up terminology, you'll just have to bear with me - never served in the military and can't be arsed to get the terms right just at the moment). He made some brief headlines when one of his superiors tried to make him pray before going out to disarm a bomb, and he refused. The sergeant kept him back and assigned a young, but more pious, EOD soldier to disarm the bomb. It detonated, killing the EOD guy and the sergeant. Heder was promoted to sergeant, but the publicity from the incident made him skittish because it got misinterpreted and misreported to hell and back.
Heder stayed in, but had trouble getting promoted past where he was because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. Religion runs deep in the Army, and if he'd just shut up and bowed his head, he'd probably have been fine. But he made it hard to ignore - he deliberately didn't bow his head, didn't pray and didn't let people get away with being condescending about it (in fairness, you can only hear that "no atheists in foxholes" thing so many times before you kind of snap).
And then he met General Marion Wayne, the CO of Strike Force 7 (and to the author, I see what you did there). Wayne might not be an atheist himself (his write-up in the book doesn't say), but he definitely can respect wanting to be left to your own beliefs, and he appreciated Heder's attention to detail and his work ethic. He recruited Heder for Strike Force 7.
Whew. OK, I need to pick a code name. SF7 is big on those. Well, what everyone knows Heder for is how two guys got killed because he wouldn't pray (that's an oversimplification, but y'know). Folks started to call him Jinx, but he put the kibosh on that because he'd seen Die Another Day, and looks nothing like Halle Berry, thanks. Instead, he got a tattoo of a black cat and played up the "I'm totally bad luck" thing, and folks started calling him Black Cat.
And then someone pointed out that Black Cat is also a hot chick with luck powers. Balls. Can't win for losing.
Anyway, I gotta pick a team. This is kind of my function within SF7, sorta. Hm. Could be either Military Ops or Counter-Terrorist, and I like the latter's bonus package more. That nets me
- +1 die type to Agility and Vigor.
- +1 bonus to Notice and Stealth rolls.
- +1 bonus to Fighting rolls when attacking during a Surprise action.
- Bonus Edge: any combat edge. You must still meet all the requirements for the edge.
- Strike Force 7 Team Member Edge
Moving on. Attributes. I start with a d6 in Agility and Vigor, which is nice. I'll put Agility up to d10 (for disarming bombs), and put my other three in Spirit, Smarts and Strength for a d6 in each.
Skills. I get 15 points, and I've got a d4 in Notice and Stealth already. Wonder what Skill you use to disarm bombs? Repair, I guess. OK.
Climbing d4
Driving d4
Fighting d6
Guts d6
Knowledge (Chemistry) d4
Knowledge (Combat Engineering) d4
Notice d6
Repair d10
Shooting d6
Stealth d4
Good to start. Now, Hindrances (which is misspelled a couple of times. Come on, guys).
I want none of the three listed in the SF7 book, so back to the core!
Well, Arrogant doesn't fit, but Big Mouth sure does. That's minor. I'll take Doubting Thomas, too, why not. The flavor text doesn't thrill me, and I'd probably RP it differently than the implied "stick fingers in ears and say LALALA when confronted by supernatural shit", but the game effect works for me.
And then my Major one. Hmm. I think I'll take Code of Honor. Heber takes his vows very seriously, and he he swore an oath (without a Bible, thanks) when he became a solider and when he joined SF7. He does not break the laws of combat, and he doesn't go in for this waterboarding shit. Not just because it's, y'know, torture, but because it doesn't work well, either.
Now, Edges. I get Strike Force 7 Member for free. I also get a free combat Edge, and then a freebie. Hmm. OK, some of the Combat ones in the SF7 book are fun, but I want Steady Hands, which means I don't take a penalty from shooting from unstable platforms.
For my free Edge, I'll take Alertness. Seems appropriate for EOD.
Now I get my points from my Hindrances. I'll put all four points into Skills, bumping up my Fighting, Stealth and both my Knowledges.
Just Derived Traits: My Pace is 6'', my Parry is 6, my Toughness is 5, my Charisma is 0. And normally I'd pick gear, but eh.
OK, then! Black Cat is reporting for duty, ready to give all for
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