Hackers (the movie) inspired game [Looking for a GM]

[TheHangedOne]

Would anybody be interested in a light, system-based RP based around the movie Hackers ? It would be set in a somewhat bleaker, more dystopian-like 1980's; basically it's Cyberpunk, minus all the future gadgets and stuff.

The game would be played using a homebrewed system called Modempunk.

Character Profile

Handle: (This is what you go by in the Hacker community, and online)
Real Name: (Full birth name)
Reputation: (How does the world view you? Are you some dweeb that the girls point and laugh at? Are you a tough ass biker bitch? Are you reliable? And so on, so forth. )
Personality: (What are you like? What sort of appearance do you give to the outside world?)
Background: (Your history; the events that have made you who you are. Try to cover why you're a hacker or a phreaker, how you got your first taste of it, any major accomplishments you've had, etc.)
Appearance: What do you look like?

Stats: See Character Creation below for what to put here.
Athletics:
Computers:
Guns:
Health:
Phreaking:
Presence:
Talking:
Unique:
Life Points:

Weapons:
Any weapons you acquire through play or purchase at character creation goes here.
Gear:
This can be equipment that helps you do your thing, like a nifty custom-built computer, your favorite form of transportation (which costs no 'gear' points), etc.

Character Creation

Every stat is rated on a scale between 1-10.  Roll the d12; if you get your stat or less you succeed at a task.
All of your stats start at 1, and you get 25 points to spread between Athletics, Computers, Guns, Health, Phreaking, Presence and Talking.

The Unique stat is different. You don’t put any points into it when creating your character, and your Unique stat is always 10.

A stat of 6 is average, meaning the character will succeed in the action about half the time.

ATHLETICS
Athletics involves running, skateboarding, punching, swimming, and pretty much any other type of physical activity. It is a combination of strength and dexterity.
COMPUTERS
Computers involves writing codes, hacking, and general knowledge of systems and software.
GUNS
Guns are things you shoot.
HEALTH
Health covers your stamina (How well you can handle things like overexertion, poison, alcohol, or getting the piss beaten out of you).
PHREAKING
Phreaking involves subverting infrastructure like telephones to your own ends.
PRESENCE
Presence is how commanding and interest-capturing you are.
TALKING
Talking measures your ability to bullshit, either in real life or over a modem.
UNIQUE
Your Unique stat lets you pull off something awesome that your character could conceivably do, like whipping out a floppy with a virus on it at just the right time, or disguising yourself as a secretary to infiltrate a business. The GM can decide whether or not what you want is possible.

You can roll your Unique stat twice per game. Unlike other stats, your Unique stat is always 10 (before any modifiers). You don’t need to specify what your Unique stat is - it’s something to call on when you need a miracle.

Combat Rules

Combat in Modempunk can be pretty deadly, especially when guns are thrown into the mix.
Every character has Life points. Your life point total is equal to your Health stat +3, and decreases when you are injured.

Punching or kicking damage alone usually can’t kill someone - only knock them out. If you lose your last life point from punching or kicking, make a Health check +2. If you pass, roll the d12. You wake up after that many minutes.

If you fail, roll the d12 and divide by 2. You wake up after that many hours with one life point. You heal when the GM says you heal.

If you lose your last Life point from being shot or stabbed, you’re toast. It’s up to the GM to decide what happens at that point. If you aren’t dead, you’d better have a good excuse.

Every weapon has a modifier that changes the stat you use to attack with it. Brawling weapons like clubs and knives have modifiers that change your Athletics stat. Guns have modifiers that change your Guns stat.
Ex: A pistol has a Guns modifier of +2. If Amy’s Guns stat is 3, then her Guns stat counts as 5 when she’s using a pistol. On the other hand, a machine gun has a Guns modifier of -3. There’s just no way she can handle that.

Some awkward weapons - like a brick or a wooden board - impose a penalty on the Athletics stat because they’re hard to hold or use. Some guns are hard to use or control - these lower your Guns stat.

FIGHTING:
To hit, kick, or stab someone, roll Athletics (adding any modifiers for a weapon if you have one). If you succeed, you roll the d12 and divide the result by 2 (round down). The damage modifier is added after this.

GUNS:
Every gun has a modifier to your Guns stat. Usually, this raises your Guns stat, making it more likely that your roll will be equal or less than your stat. Every gun has a modifier to its Damage.
To fire a gun, you roll your Guns skill (adding any modifier from your gun to your Guns stat). If you succeed, you roll the d12 and add your gun’s Damage. Don’t divide your roll’s result - guns do the full d12 damage.

Weapons and Gear

WEAPON Athletics Damage
Club          +2          +2
Garrote     +2          +4
Knife         +3          +2
Sword       +1          +3
-----------
WEAPON     Guns     Damage
Machine gun -3           +5
Pistol           +1           +1
Rifle             +2           +2
Shotgun      +3           +3
Uzi               -1            +3
-----------
DESIGNING GEAR:
As a general rule, any gear that a character can easily carry on them will give a +1 to a +3 bonus to a stat. Typical Modempunk characters start the game with 4 points of gear.
A piece of gear can boost a stat by a max of +3. Multiple pieces of gear cannot be combined to increase this (so don’t bother taking a pair of +2 blue boxes in the hopes of getting a +4 to Phreaking).
-----------
WEAPONS AS GEAR
If you want a weapon, look at its damage bonus.
Fighting weapons (knives, clubs, swords and garrotes) cost half their damage, rounded up (so if you have a knife, it counts as 1 point worth of gear).
Guns cost their damage (so owning a shotgun will cost you 3 gear points).
-----------
BODY ARMOR
Generally, characters don’t start with anything but street clothes. If you happen to find something better, here are some guidelines:
>A Kevlar vest removes 4 points of damage from gunshots.
>Riot armor (which includes a helmet) removes 6 points of damage from melee attacks and three points from gunshots.

Atmosphere Notes

Keep the hardware (and the tone) firmly in the 1990s.
Home computer monitors are usually two- or four-color, but adapters can be made to allow televisions to be used as screens.
“Portable” computers weigh at least 5 pounds.
Pop culture is essentially the same in this world as in ours - the same cultural figures, brand names, etc.
The kids have come up with a lot of novel workarounds for technology limitations. The players should have some leeway with regard to what their electronics can do. Floppy disks can hold as much or as little as the story calls for.
Electronic bootlegs are lower quality than “official” media, but they’re free and uncensored.

[Senti]

Well you know I would be interested :)

[Marie Reynolds]

Hmm can i play the Mountain dew bottle that always faces the camera. sorry just had to.

[TheHangedOne]

Hmm can i play the Mountain dew bottle that always faces the camera. sorry just had to.

Only if you really want to.  ;D

[yasarra]

I love this movie. *grins*  Whether or not I play, I'd love to at least read along.  Hackers, Real Genius, Pump Up the Volume...   ;D 

[TheHangedOne]

Glad to see another interested person, Yasarra.

I have edited the first post to contain character creation information, and the light rules.  If there's any questions, feel free to ask. I am looking for a DM to create and run a campaign around this, if possible, and around 4-6 players (including myself).

If their are any questions, feel free to ask.

[TheHangedOne]

Handle: C0urier
Name:   Johnathan "Johnny Boy" Baker
Reputation:  A pretty cool guy, even if he is pretty much a newb to the fine arts of mucking around with electronics.. He is reliable, and usually doesn't cost that much, either. A total newb when it comes to the fine arts of hacking and phreaking, but he provides worthwhile services to those that need them.
Personality: Pretty straight laced when he's working, and even when he's not. However, he does have a somewhat mischievous, wild side, which he shows when he is comfortable enough around other people.
Background:  He's always been a bit of a rebellious sort, which is how he easily fell into the Hacker culture. However, he seriously lacks coding skills, despite his intellect. During his senior year in high school, he got a job working as a courier; he is now 19, and not bothering with college, but keeps at his job, and runs a small side business. For a negotiable fee, he will work alongside Hackers that are doing physical hacking, and offer them help; he can keep an eye out for them, he can make sure they get somewhere safe, even drive the getaway motorcycle.

Ever since the extreme legislation made against pirating and hacking, he has also begun working as a courier for those who want to transport "sensitive" information around.  He has a small network in the city established, knowing several of the big name Hackers, and drug dealers. This also makes him a fixer, and something of an information broker.

Athletics:     8
Computers: 3 (+1)
Guns:       1
Health:        5 (+1)
Phreaking:   2
Presence:    5 (+1)
Talking:        8
Unique:       10
Life Points: 8

Weapons:
Knife  (+3 athletics, +2 damage)

Gear:
Custom-built Laptop (+1 Computer)
Cool Shades (+1 Presence)
Motorcycle Armor (+1 Health)
Motorcycle
Skateboard
Rollerskates

[yasarra]

The original movie, as I recall, was set in NYC.  Will this be in the same place, or do you have somewhere else in mind? Also, the original was mid-90s, since Kate Libby's laptop had a K6 processor, and they didn't come out until about 97.

[TheHangedOne]

Whoops, that was a slip of the hand; thanks for pointing it out, yasarra. Corrected 1980's to 1990's. And yes, I was thinking about setting it in NYC. However, I might leave that detail up to whoever decides to GM.

[Latooni Subota]

Huh, that's . . actually a rather interesting idea. Color me interested. (Edit: As a player)

. . . HACK THE PLANET! *FIST PUMP*

[TheHangedOne]

HACK THE PLANET! HACK THE PLANET!  ;D

[AlgaeNymph]

When's the deadline?  I've only gotten my ons/offs half done and that's geared for when I'd play submissive rather than dominant characters.

Then again, my ons/offs for doms is "likes femboys, hates alpha males, perma-stubble, and bottoming."

[TheHangedOne]

No deadline for registration. We'd need a GM first.

[Teague]

I'm definitely interested. You had me at Dystopian 80's. *goes to listen to some Soft Cell, and Gary Numan*

OH GOD.. My brain just spat out a flash of concept for a Ferris Bueller type thing for this setting.

[TheHangedOne]

heh. Howdy, Teague. ;)

I think we have enough interested players, so now we just need someone to GM.

[Teague]

*wavies at Hanged* You were one of the reasons I wandered in and looked

[TheHangedOne]

Thank you for the compliment.  :D

[AlgaeNymph]

UNIQUE
Your Unique stat lets you pull off something awesome that your character could conceivably do, like whipping out a floppy with a virus on it at just the right time, or disguising yourself as a secretary to infiltrate a business. The GM can decide whether or not what you want is possible.

You can roll your Unique stat twice per game. Unlike other stats, your Unique stat is always 10 (before any modifiers). You don’t need to specify what your Unique stat is - it’s something to call on when you need a miracle.

By "per game" you mean "per game session," right?

Also, how does character advancement work?

[TheHangedOne]

By "per game" you mean "per game session," right?

Also, how does character advancement work?

Per session. Although, since this will be done on forums instead of on IRC, I am thinking of dividing the game up into segments of one week (in-game) time, and saying that during that time, you will get two rolls, and you can't stockpile them.

As for advancement, you'll get one start point to assign per month (four segments).

However, I'll ask everybody's that posted interest so far: Does that sound fair and balanced? Admittedly, the system I picked out is lacking in some areas.

[Teague]

What are you looking for in a GM?

[TheHangedOne]

What are you looking for in a GM?

Reliability and creativity.

[AlgaeNymph]

Handle: (This is what you go by in the Hacker community, and online)
Real Name: (Full birth name)
Reputation: (How does the world view you? Are you some dweeb that the girls point and laugh at? Are you a tough ass biker bitch? Are you reliable? And so on, so forth. )
Personality: (What are you like? What sort of appearance do you give to the outside world?)
Background: (Your history; the events that have made you who you are. Try to cover why you're a hacker or a phreaker, how you got your first taste of it, any major accomplishments you've had, etc.)

What about personal appearance?

[TheHangedOne]

What about personal appearance?

Oi, that would be another one of my mistakes. I have added in an appearance section.

[CaptainErotica]

Do you still need a GM for this? I don't have experience with this particular game system, but I do have years of GM experience. Besides Im guessing this gaame would be roll light and more focused on player interaction.

[TheHangedOne]

Yeah, still need a GM. And it's rules light, and roll light. Definitely focused on the role-playing.  :-) If you want to GM, feel free.