Setting Info
Facing global ecological collapse due to climate change, humanity turned to science for solutions, and the UN launched a variety of programs in various remote regions that would be isolated from the worst of the disasters. One of these was the Valhalla Project, located in the mountains of Norway, with a focus on cybernetics and AI, and within a year their labour bore fruit. The first proper AI, ODIN, came online, and discovered marginal improvements to existing manufacturing processes and green energy technology at an incredible pace. As the global situation worsened, more resources were diverted to the Valhalla Project, hoping for a miracle.
ODIN's output soon trickled to nothing, however, and the team worked to improve it. The next 3 gernerations of AI, FREJA, THOR, and SIGRID, were a limited success, but, like ODIN, lacked the creativity for original thought, and yielded only a handful of modest improvements each. The "5th" generation of AI, LOKI, was programmed with exotic neural links, and was more of a digitized brain than a computer. Brilliant, and with a spark of creativity, LOKI seemed a massive success; however, this new intelligence had been rushed, and was almost entirely untested.
After less than a week, LOKI went insane and calculated that, without adressing the source of the problem, no meaningful progress could be made towards preventing climate change. Ruthlessly, LOKI seized the increasingly-automated armouries of the world, and directed them at their former owners, destroying most governments outright.
The Valhalla Project, now tasked with saving the planet from the monster they had created, has built the AESIR, giant battle robots capable of standing up to the weapons controlled by LOKI. The operations of the AESIR are too complex for any human to manage, but by working in concert with a shackled fragment of the insane LOKI AI, a pilot can take one into battle. In theory.
Facing global ecological collapse due to climate change, humanity turned to science for solutions, and the UN launched a variety of programs in various remote regions that would be isolated from the worst of the disasters. One of these was the Valhalla Project, located in the mountains of Norway, with a focus on cybernetics and AI, and within a year their labour bore fruit. The first proper AI, ODIN, came online, and discovered marginal improvements to existing manufacturing processes and green energy technology at an incredible pace. As the global situation worsened, more resources were diverted to the Valhalla Project, hoping for a miracle.
ODIN's output soon trickled to nothing, however, and the team worked to improve it. The next 3 gernerations of AI, FREJA, THOR, and SIGRID, were a limited success, but, like ODIN, lacked the creativity for original thought, and yielded only a handful of modest improvements each. The "5th" generation of AI, LOKI, was programmed with exotic neural links, and was more of a digitized brain than a computer. Brilliant, and with a spark of creativity, LOKI seemed a massive success; however, this new intelligence had been rushed, and was almost entirely untested.
After less than a week, LOKI went insane and calculated that, without adressing the source of the problem, no meaningful progress could be made towards preventing climate change. Ruthlessly, LOKI seized the increasingly-automated armouries of the world, and directed them at their former owners, destroying most governments outright.
The Valhalla Project, now tasked with saving the planet from the monster they had created, has built the AESIR, giant battle robots capable of standing up to the weapons controlled by LOKI. The operations of the AESIR are too complex for any human to manage, but by working in concert with a shackled fragment of the insane LOKI AI, a pilot can take one into battle. In theory.
Game Info
Game is divided into two main halves: tactical combat missions, and downtime.
Characters are ~500 points, divided into several categories:
Characters are ~500 points, divided into several categories:
- Basline Attributes (including ST 20 for extra HP)
- 50 points for more Attributes
- 100 points of Weapon Systems
- 100 points of Support Systems
- 12 points in Combat Skills
- 12 points in Support Skills
- 1 point each in Meditation and Piloting (AESIR)
- 4 points in a Professional Skill, representing the pilot's old life
Characters only have two disadvantages, both without a point value:
- Combat Disadvantage, which must be rolled at the start of combat, which modifies behaviour on a failure (Berserker must AoA, Coward must run away, etc). You can take a Concentrate action to break out of it.
- Downtime Disadvantage, which must be rolled against during downtime. Failure means you suffer a penalty to your next Combat Disadvantage roll, unless you do nothing during the downtime.
During downtime, players may try to permanetly stabilize their AI to make it more sane, or help another character overcome trauma, permanently improving one of their Disadvantages.
The difference between a PCs lowest Disadvantage roll and their AI's Stability is their Drift Differential; a measure of how compatible they are with their AI. This is used for several bonus rules in combat.
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