Cross Posted to the CB boards, since I thought it might get lost in the noise over there:
The Steel Circus
"Greetings Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada." -The Last Starfighter
"Games? You want Games? I'll give you Games..." -Tron
The Steel Circus is an underground online gaming circuit. Easily accessible, officially illegal, and constantly evolving, the Circus provides a place for the young to be heroes.
The Circus makes use of leaked ultra-classified Gear schematics to simulate combat. These combats are carried out online between teams of young hackers and robot jockeys. The best Circus jockeys can make their fortunes from the exploits of their avatars. Rumor insists that some pilots, who vanished from the circuit, were selected by the Hexaedron for elite military training.
Each team has a Senior Pilot, 2 Junior Pilots, and 5 Jesters. The Pilots each receive a TAG code, and the Jesters a simple infantry code. Combat is highly ritualistic: points are scored when the Jesters 'count coup' on an enemy TAG, and the game ends when one side's Pilots have all been eliminated.
Mayanet can't broadcast the Circus, but that stops no one from watching. Millions tune in every weekend to see who will win the latest round of fights. Will The Black Senpai finally defeat The Golden Boys? Will Perfect Slash continue her meteoric rise from 5th ring Junior Pilot to 1st ring contender in less than a year? Will Metalmonk ever win a match?
The Rules
Rules are as Infinity except where specified below.
Retreat! rules are not used in the Steel Circus.
The Enemy LT is always the Senior Pilot.
Army Selection: point costs are not used. Each force must contain 3 TAGs. Tags in the Circus are called 'Chariots'. Chariots use a standardized stat line that can be 'leveled up' over time by scoring in the rings.
Terrain: It is encouraged that a Steel Circus battlefied be more or less evenly laid, as the Circus itself hinders the player who takes first turn.
Initiative: Each Steel Circus battle begins with a moment of silence called the Long Breath. During the Long Breath, each player bids a number of orders. The minimum bid is 2, there is no maximum. Each player separately and secretly chooses his bid. The bids are revealed simultaneously. The player with the low bid takes second turn and second deployment. The player with the high bid takes first turn and first deployment. Only the player who takes first turn loses his bid in regular orders.
Victory: When the last TAG of either side is eliminated, the player whose team scored the most Vexes wins. Teams win 1 Endorsement for each TAG kill, and a number of XP equal to the number of Vexes scored.
Army Building:
Jesters:
MOV: 4-4
CC: 13
BS: 10
PH: 10
WIP: 13
ARM: 1
BTS:-3
W: 1
Skills: Regular, Impetuous, Deresolution, Respawn.
Weapons: None
Equipment: Vex (1 per spawn)
Chariots & Pilots:
M: 6-4/4-4
CC: 13
BS: 10
PH: 14/10
WIP: 13
ARM: 6/1
BTS: -6/-3
W: 3
Pilot Skills: Regular, V: Courage (Senior Pilot: Lieutenant, Both Junior Pilots: Chain of Command)
Chariot Skills: --
Pilot Weapons: Pistol, Knife
Weapons: Chain Colt, Mk12
(note: The CC, BS, and WIP actually belong to the Pilot and can increase as he earns XP. The MOV, PH, ARM, BTS, W and Weapons belong the the Chariot and can be improved through endorsements. Skills are divided for tracking purposes. Attributes after the slashes above belong to the Pilots if they dismount)
New Equipment: Vex
A Vex is an entirely virtual object that has no real world counterpart. It has several deployment modes and is used for exactly one purpose: to score points in the Steel Circus. Vexes are the sole province of the Jesters. A Chariot or Pilot can never carry, deploy, or use a Vex. It does not cost any kind of order to 'change' the mode of a Vex. A Vex is assumed to instantaneously configure itself to whatever mode the Jester requires.
Mode 1: Latent
In Latent mode a Vex is deployed like a mine. It will then automatically activate if any enemy Chariot enters its 8"ZoC, always ignoring Jesters and potentially scoring a point. Unlike a mine, the controlling player may not choose not to detonate the Latent Vex. A Latent that is triggered during an Enemy Chariot's Overrun action will not score, as the enemy Chariot has crushed the device under its merciless metal boot. Latent Vexes can removed or stolen in all ways as a mine, and a Latent Vex has no defense against a CC attack by an enemy Jester. A failed ARM roll with ARM 0 destroys the Vex.
Mode 2: Limpet
In Limpet mode the Vex can be thrown like a grenade. A Limpet has a strong magnetic pull towards enemy Chariots. If the Vex hits, it will score. Limpets can be thrown speculatively, but there is no template.
Mode 3: Lance
In Lance mode, a Vex will score in place of an ARM roll after winning a CC against an Enemy Chariot.
New Skills:
Deresolution: A Jester who no longer has a Vex may voluntarily Deresolve at the end of his controlling player's turn. Deresolution does not provoke AROs. Unconscious Jesters may Deresolve at the end of any player turn, even if they still possess a Vex.
Respawn: In the Impetuous phase all Killed or Deresolved Jesters must return to the arena. This return is resolved using the Inferior Infiltration deployment rule. Respawning Jesters may not appear in base contact with an enemy Chariot. Respawning costs 1 order. Jesters must use their impetuous order to return to the arena, this order cannot be canceled in any way. A respawned Jester regains any expended ammunition that he used, including his Vex.
Endorsements
Used to upgrade a Chariot. The Senior Pilot must always have at least 50% of the team's Endorsement points.
(Use the Pano/Nomads/Yujing Spec op Table for weapons & attributes. 1 Endorsement = 1 XP)
Other purchases:
3rd Weapon: (without purchasing this upgrade, either the Mk12 or the Chain colt must be removed to allow a new weapon) 1E
Dual Weapon: 1E (allows purchase of a second weapon of the same type as one already possessed, does not supercede Third Weapon, ie, if a second Chain Colt is purchased without also purchasing 3rd Weapon, then the Mk12 is lost)
Refit Mk12: Purchase any other weapon at -3E cost
Refit Chain Colt: Purchase any other weapon at -2E cost
Light Flamethrower: 6E
Chain Colt: 2E
Heavy Flamethrower: 4E
Heavy Shotgun: 3E
Chain Rifle: 3E
Panzerfaust: 4E
XP:
Experience can be used by Pilots and Jesters to gain skills and equipment. The Senior Pilot must have at least 33% of the Team's XP, and all the Jesters total XP cannot be more than 33%.
Attributes and Skills per the Pano/Nomad/Yujing Spec op tables. Jesters may not carry any weapons, but may have equipment and skills from the P/N/Y spec op tables.
Notes:
Have only playtested once. It worked ... sort of? Really hope someone tries it out and helps to refine it.
It's nutty. Just wanted a new way to play deathmatch Infinity, and use all those TAG models that sit at the bottom of my bag and almost never see the table.
Then the TRON element, because the goofy game I came up with just didn't make sense with the gritty black ops theme of Infinity. But hey, the Human Sphere has teenagers and there's no reason to think that they're not playing video games 175 years from now
I LOVE the Last Starfighter and Ender's Game. The idea of a Hexaedron representative in a black uniform showing up like Major Anderson to tell some smartass kid that he's going to be a Squalo driver just makes me all geek-happy...
