DX - Double Cross

[RSGAlex]

This may be something of a strange post, because I want to try running a system I’ve never run before. Not in real life, not in IRC, not in a forum, just never run it. So this isn’t exactly going to be a normal call for players.This call is actually going to be at least two calls for three to five people willing to venture into unexpected territory with me, for a short time.

But I should probably go and explain what Double Cross is, right?



In the bright lights and dim shadows of the world, the setting of Double Cross quite closely resembles our own. But, go further, into the blinding lights and choking darkness of the world, and there lies the Renegade Virus, the people that use it, and the groups that use those people.

The Renegade Virus is a source of incredible power, and those that can use that power are called Overed. The powers range from the straight forward to the esoteric, and a single Overed might be able to fight an army battalion and win.

But the Renegade exacts a price from those that can use it, a cheaply irreplaceable price; loss of humanity. Where from a bad awakening to their powers or overuse, some are eaten out by the power of the Renegade and become monsters called Gjaum, slaves to a base instinct, but with powers beyond those of a normal Overed.

And the two great powers of this hidden world, the Universal Guardian Network and the False Hearts groups, each vie for utterly different visions of the world, and ten-thousand other small groups each seek their own goals, be it business as usual or promotion of some goal.

As an Overed, you know the truth of this world, and yours is a life of sacrifice, secrets, and conflict. Whether you seek to preserve the old world or birth a new one, you shall fight and sacrifice, for aren’t there things worth even your humanity?



Alright, the prose was nothing great, but that should get across some of the major points of the setting. Shadowy Supers powered by the more inquisitive, less hateful cousins of the Bydo.

Overed Overview

Overed are divided up, generally speaking, by Breed and Syndrome. Breed is how many Syndromes an Overed shows, and Syndrome is what kind of powers an Overed shows. The most common Breed is Crossbreed, where an Overed shows two Syndromes and as such, the level of power a Crossbreed can reach is considered standard. Pure Breeds only express one syndrome, but they have a few tricks that only they can perform and also have a higher maximum strength to their Syndrome’s powers. Tri-breeds are a relatively new occurrence, and have the greatest breadth of powers available, but have several powers plain out of their reach and they top out slightly below a Crossbreed in most cases. Their third syndrome is referred to as the sub-syndrome and is more restricted than the other two.

There are a dozen syndromes confirmed to exist.

Angel Halo - Manipulates light. Creates illusions and lasers with equal ease.
Balor - Manipulates gravity by use of “Evil Eyes”, can even warp Time-Space.
Black Dog - Manipulates internally created electricity. Cybernetic Implants are also possible.
Bram Stoker - Manipulates blood both to attack and to heal.
Chimaera - Manipulates the body by acquiring animalistic characteristics to gain superhuman strength and speed.
Exile - Manipulate the body as it is. Use bones and nails as weapons or relocate vital organs.
Hanuman - Enhances nervous system for speed. Can also create sound waves for various purposes.
Morphus - Manipulates matter, making things from other things, or creating and controlling a kind of ‘sand.’
Neumann - Enhanced memory, faster thinking, and intuition.
Orcus - Creates a “Domain” and manipulates what lies within it.
Salamandra - Manipulates heat, both in fiery and icy attacks and in altering physical ability.
Solaris - Creates chemicals. Can alter people with drugs and poisons alike.

Group Overview

The two biggest powers are the UGN, the Universal Guardian Network, and Free Hearts. The UGN is a sixteen (roughly) year old organization whose stated purpose is to further the co-existence of Overed and Humanity and defend the world from Free Hearts. It is organized as such; at the top is a twelve member committee called "Axis" that holds the highest authority in the group. Below them are the national branches who organize their own individual branches in different ways. Officially by city, but in different areas a 'city' branch might actually cover a city and a large amount of surrounding land and in others there may effectively be multiple branches to a single city.

UGN agents are divided into three categories; Agent refers to anyone not raised by the UGN or UGN Children that have made it to twenty. Child refers to an Overed that has been raised for several years in a UGN facility, either because they are orphans or their powers were determined to be a grave threat to their parents. Illegal refers to any Overed not officially a member of the UGN but that cooperate with the group when circumstances dictate. An Illegal's reason for not joining is generally respected, but they do not have the full support of the UGN.

The truth of False Heart's goals is murky at best. The only really well known things about their goals is that they have no desire to hide the existence of the Renegade Virus and the Overed and are more than willing to use both Overed powers and more traditional ones to further their goals be it destruction, advancement of some cause, or just enjoying themselves at the expense of others.

Another thing that is known is that the organization of False Hearts is that of a web. There is a central hub, supposedly called "Central Dogma" but otherwise individual cells don't necessarily have any connection or formal command structure between them.

Most other groups are quite small, or fragments of larger things and rarely have reach beyond a kilometer from where their agents are. Some of the exceptions include Strangers, a network of Overed in the JSDF, Tempest, a group of Overed in the US military dedicated to discovering new military uses for Overed powers, the Guild, a world-wide criminal networks that harbors  criminal Overed and Renegade-abusing individuals in exchange for favors, and Tindalos, one of the few well informed civilian anti-Overed groups in the world.

But, segueing back not-quite-seamlessly to the topic of getting people, I should probably give a few more specifics on how things will be organized and then go into more chargen stuff. If the order of things makes no sense, assume I missed an editing pass or was tired, drunk, or both when copying it.


This initial call will be for a test run of the rules as is (using one of the pre-made scenarios in the books), and then a trial or two of the random scenario generation rules from Public Enemy, and then and finally a trial or two of a house-rule I’ll want to implement for the final call.

The test run of the rules will be for 4 people (give or take one) and will use the pre-made characters or ones made using the Creation rules. Full Scratch will be available afterwards for those with the book and a desire to try it. Those without the book or knowledge of the system will be considered, although for the sake of sanity and efficiency, they’ll be limited to the pre-mades and the quick creation method.

A summary of each pre-made character (with commentary in curly brackets) will follow, because that’s step one in the quick creation method, choosing one of the pre-made statlines.

For Space

Wild Card

The Wild Card is a very straightforward character. Just last Thursday, he or she was a normal high-school student with normal high-school student worries and desires. Then last Friday the Wild Card became a Pure Breed Chimaera Overed. This person's still rather new to pretty much everything, but having one of the more straightforward Syndromes means that the Wild Card is a literal monster on the battlefield.

{The Wild Card, as a Pure Chimaera has superhuman body, normal human senses and mind, and slightly above average human social abilities. The power set is also quite straightforward, consisting of the ability to turn into a part animal or animals battle form that can’t use things other than their fists, make the users’ fists stronger than the giant rocks and trees that the Renegade gives them the power to use. They also have the ability to make their melee attacks even stronger and to move unhindered by things such as enemies in the way, blockades, or even people fighting.

If you take a trait Lois instead of one of your three lasting Loises, you default to the Renegade Crystal, which means you’ve got a crystal of Renegade material fused into your body. Once per scenario you can gain 1d10 Encroachment and get a bonus to your Critical Value.}

Speeding Bullets

Speeding Bullets is somebody that’s been raised by the UGN, having awakened to their Overed powers at a young age. Now they work in the field as an agent, default cover is that of an Ordinary High-school Student. As a Tri-breed Angel Halo, Morpheus, and Neumann Overed, Speeding Bullets possesses senses sharp enough to count as a superpower.

{Speeding Bullets is all about being a shooting game protagonist. The profile has the ability to make guns out of next to nothing, the ability to hit harder with guns (and the Concentrate power on this profile is associated with that power’s Syndrome), and make shots just blow through armor. Oh, and the ability to use two weapons at once, and in such a way that they act as one stronger weapon as a permanent improvement.

Your assumed trait Lois is Dual Personality, which represents a secondary personality that emerges under certain conditions and is an expert about using and in using your Renegade Powers and fighting. Once your Encroachment Rate is at 100% or more, you gain an additional +4 dice bonus to all checks you make, but get one less die to use during Backtracking. You may define other circumstances under which this secondary personality comes out, but only get the mechanical benefits at 100% ER.}

Noble Blood

Noble Blood is a person who, at a relatively young age, has attained leadership of a UGN branch due to a mix of Overed powers and desire to protect those weaker than Noble Blood is. Being an Overed, that safely covers most of humanity. Default cover is a HS student. As a Cross Breed Bram Stoker and Exile Overed, Noble Blood is almost as strong as Wild Card and has great senses.

{Noble Blood has only one Exile power to start with. It lets them take a small dice penalty to make a melee attack against any one target they can see. They can spend HP to make a weapon which gets stronger with each HP spent or to make melee attacks hit harder. They can also make an enhanced attack hit strike an area, selectively, once per Scenario to start. Concentrate affects Bram Stoker powers, obviously.

The default trait Lois for Noble Blood is Leadership, which lets them aid another character in the same scene. It can only be used once per Scenario and gives a -1 bonus to Critical Value and +5 dice.}

Evergreen Apostle

The Evergreen Apostle is a UGN agent through and through. For years, the Evergreen Apostle has worked at fighting Gjaum and False Hearts and at hiding the existence of the Renegade virus from the world at large. But a crack in the agent’s loyalty has appeared when it became known that Alfred J. Caudwell joined False Hearts. Still, the Apostle works with the UGN, because even wracked by uncertainty, the Evergreen Apostle can still save the people in front of them, right?

{The Evergreen Apostle is a Crossbreed Overed, Solaris and Orcus syndromes. The powers are all about supporting or healing allies, with Berserk requiring an 80% encroachment rate to use, but also being quite powerful. The Keystone Formation power lets an Orcus Power affect three people at once, and so can be used to give everyone a quick boost, but only once per Scenario to start with. Any offense will be done with fists or purchased weapons, but buying a power that uses a Mind or Social skill is probably a better long term buy.

The default trait Lois for the Evergreen Apostle is Backup, which lets them call upon the help of the UGN. Three times per Scenario you can use a stat of 10 and skill of 5 instead of your own stat or skill for a check. You can get dice bonuses from a high Encroachment Rate or discarding Tituses, but not from powers.}

Truth-Seeker

The Truth-Seeker is a private detective, and became one out of a desire to find the hidden truths of the world behind the lies of the world. A few years ago, the Truth-Seeker found out about the Renegade Virus and this knowledge lit a fire in the detective. Finding out a literal hidden truth has lead to the Overed seeking out even more hidden truths, and fighting Gjaum is just a side-effect.

{This Overed is a Cross-breed Black Dog and Hanuman Overed. This means that, in addition to blasting enemies with soundwaves and super-lightning bolts, the Truth-Seeker can fly like an ionocraft and fight better by fighting to a rhythm. The big lightning attack can only be used three times a Scenario, but can selectively hit an area, as long the Overed’s not in that area. The sound blast ignores armor and combined with Concentrate:Hanuman and Battle Beat is a solid, if expensive offense.

The default trait Lois for the Truth-Seeker is Thunder Lord, which grants them one level of a unique power “Mikatsuchi” which lets the Overed trade two dice from the accuracy roll for three dice on the damage roll. Usable once per level of the power per Scenario.}

Defender of Dreams

The Defender of Dreams is a young artist, either just about to leave the world of adolescence behind or just about to enter the world of adulthood. They didn’t really have much of a dream before, and learning of and gaining Overed powers only exacerbated that. And therefore, the one without a dream to pursue has become dedicated to protecting the dreams of others. After all, a normal human can’t really compete with an Overed.

{The Defender of Dreams shows the Salamandra and Angel Halo syndromes. The default set of powers is almost entirely Angel Halo (and the light based parts of it at that) so there’s lasers, blinding flashes of light to escape or maneuver with, focused lasers that do less damage but cut through armor, with a giant plasma blast available at 100% ER. The Defender of Dreams also can’t really hit people or things that are up close, but that’s not too big an issue.

The default trait Lois is the Secret Weapon. This gives the character a choice of one special item at the cost of a permanent +5 to base Encroachment Rate. The default choice is the R-Controller an arm mounted device that enhances any power that uses the RC skill, which is both of the Defender of Dream’s default attacks, giving a +5 dice bonus three times per Scenario.}

Vermillion Blade

The Vermillion Blade is a UGN child in a literal sense, born to UGN Overed parents and raised in UGN facilities. This gives the agent a bit of a strange view of the world; the Vermillion Blade knows that the UGN isn’t quite a humanitarian organization, but isn’t nearly bad enough to make the Overed consider switching to False Hearts. The default cover for this agent is a student, probably placed somewhere important.

{The Vermillion Blade is a Cross-breed Overed, syndromes of Salamandra and Morpheus. They’ve got the abilities to make weapons, set them ablaze or make them cut through armor like wet rice-paper, and can make a bridge of ice to help them move about unhindered. Their concentrate is focused on their Salamandra powers, so they can hit even harder when they light a sword or mace ablaze.

The default trait Lois for the Vermillion Blade is the Counter-Renegade. Their particular strain of the Renegade Virus is hostile to other strains, allowing the Overed to spend 3 HP to gain two dice on a damage roll. This can incapacitate the user, is always on, is optional, and only paid if the attack hits.}

The Idealist

The Idealist is a Purebreed Orcus Overed who has become disillusioned with the UGN. This is something of a problem, as the Idealist has been a branch chief for a while. There’s no fear of this person joining the False Hearts groups, though. The disillusionment comes from the feeling that the UGN has gone from a group that tried to foster human and Overed coexistence to merely a secret society that uses the overed as tools. But the Idealist still believes in the idea of coexistence, and tries to lead the branch by example.

{The powers of the Idealist manipulate the domain and animals in the domain into attacking enemies. The default power set has some issues with being unable to deal with enemies that can get up close and personal to the Idealist, but can manage nasty attacks that are hard to dodge. All the powers either make the attack power hit harder or more accurately and the example combo is a good show of how to use them together.

The default trait lois for this profile is Animal Master. In addition to the purely flavor addition of being able to command many animals with one of the default powers (Animal Tamer), it grants the “Animal Attack” power which lets the Overed make a powerful attack using animals in the Overed’s domain up to three times a Scenario.}

Purple Lightning

Purple Lightning is a Tri-breed Overed agent of the UGN who has traded in a normal arm for a Renegade transformed cyber-arm. If asked, the agent would say that the power wasn’t worth the cost, but also wouldn’t say that they regretted the decision. In this shadowy world, power is needed to continue living, after all, and with this power Purple Lightning sees their duty as  giving others the option to be able to choose.

{Purple Lightning has the syndromes of Black Dog, Hanuman, and Neumann. Their sole Neumann power (to start with) is Combat System, which should probably be associated with the Melee skill for best effect. The other powers either take advantage of the enhanced arm, by allowing the character to defend others without it taking an action or by making the strikes stronger and armor ignoring, or are Concentrate: Hanuman.

The default trait Lois for Purple Lightning is Full Cyborg. It represents large amounts of the Overed’s body being mechanized with high-grade implants and covered in human-like synthetic skin. Any non-Taint damage taken is reduced by ten points but this raises the character’s base ER by 5. In addition, if ever inspected, make opposed Perception checks. If the inspector wins, they can tell that the Overed’s body isn’t human.}

Reaper’s Hand

The Reaper’s Hand is a delinquent, plain and simple. If not for the somewhat vague code of behaviour the individual has, it’s likely that the Reaper’s Hand would be one of the nastier monsters around. The combination of Exile and Chimaera powers make this person more capable than most at solving every problem with their fists.

{The Reaper’s Hand has some pretty simple power choices. It’s got a once per action power that lets the Overed defend allies without this affecting the Overed’s actions, can turn a limb into a powerful weapon with a good mix of strength and defense, and powers to enhance attacks with that limb. While the Wild Card is better at damage, the Reaper’s Hand is better at defending, both other and the Overed’s own person.

The default trait Lois for the Reaper’s Hand, Tyrannos, changes this up slightly. It adds 6 to the attack power of any melee attack, but weapons other than the Overed’s fists are destroyed after making the attack.}

Shining Void

The Shining Void is a researcher, plain and simple. They work for the UGN researching the Renegade. After all, it’s something of a raw deal. The infected either get super powers or die, and in the first case they’ve still got a life-long trial to face and failure means becoming a monster, which is just another form of dying. The Shining Void joined the front lines, hoping for a breakthrough in research to be found in doing.

{The Shining Void is another support character, and if used beyond the first scenario, should get some kind of attack power or at least one of the Solaris syndrome’s nastier debuff powers. As is, the character has the ability to heal, buff, do either to an area (starting at once per Scenario, and it’s selective) and even revive the incapacitated once ER hits 100% (also once per Scenario, but the limit doesn’t raise).

The default trait Lois, Catalyst, is a powerful buffing ability During the initiative process the player can choose an active Renegade carrier and they gain an additional action that turn. It can only be used once per Scenario.}

Bloody Bullet

The Bloody Bullet was a police detective and now is both a police detective and an Overed. The stark contrast between being a law abiding officer then and being able to point a gun at (usually Overed) children and not getting in trouble for that, hell even for firing without warning and killing them, has left the Bloody Bullet looking at the world in a strange way. Something like the time-traveler’s dilemma, the younger self’s always a fool and the older self’s always and asshole.

{The Bloody Bullet’s a Cross-Breed Morpheus and Bram Stroker with a power set that is very simple to grasp. Create gun. Fire gun using powers to make it hit harder or ignore armor or both or even both with an AoE, albeit once per Scenario.

The default trait Lois that the Blood Bullet has is Alchemist. It enhances Morpheus powers that create objects, in the case of the gun creating power the Bullet has, the gun gains five attack power, but its ER cost is raised by two.}

World Seeker

The World Seeker is a journalist with an interesting philosophy about life as it is now. As an Overed, the World Seeker hides among humans and hides the truth. As a journalist, the World Seeker is a person that seeks out the truth and works to bring that truth to the public. There’s no contradiction between the two jobs because, eventually, all the articles that couldn’t be made public are just waiting for the day when the truth comes out.

{The World Seeker is a Cross-Breed Balor and Black Dog Overed. The main offensive power of the World Seeker is a Balor power that makes a ranged weapon by gravitationally accelerating bits of debris. At the initial level it’s a weaker handgun with a better range. The other powers serve to enhance this attack, either adding dice to hit or adding damage by losing dice on the attack roll.

The default trait Lois for this character is the Chrono Trigger. This power lets the World Seeker travel back in time, but only by a handful of moments. Mechanically, it lets them gain 1d10 ER and alter the result of a die on a roll they made by one. If this brings the dice number over the Critical Value, the die may be rerolled as normal. The ability can be used three times a scenario, and can be used multiple times on a single roll, but an individual die can only be altered once.}

Ruby Eyes

NB: The Cover must be changed to use this pregen. Therefore it won’t mention how this one fits into society.

The Renegade Virus is rather amazing. It grants super-powers to humans, enhances tools and animals, and at times seems almost aware. In the case of the Ruby Eyes, the almost in that statement is wrong. Despite being nothing more than a mass of Renegade Virus, Ruby Eyes is also a living, thinking, breathing person.

A living, thinking, breathing person that’s very much based off of something from urban rumor or human religion and mythology, but a person none-the-less. Through Ruby Eyes and other Renegade Beings, the virus seeks to better understand humanity. To what end and why, none know. But it happens all the same.

{The Ruby Eyes is a Tri-Breed Balor, Bram Stoker, and Angel Halo. The power-set is capable of acting far faster on the first round from anticipation, can fly by jumping good, and strikes with gravity. Once per scene the Renegade Being can constrain people with webs of blood. Twice at high ER. The power that grants the Renegade Being a human form also lets them better resist their Impulse and also raises the base ER by 5. More powerfully, this Renegade Being can tap into its origin as a thing of Legend and just plain use its brains a bit better for the rest of the scene.

The default trait Lois for Ruby Eye is Divinity. This means that the Renegade Being based itself off of a divinity or demon, although how loyal it is to the original source, if it thinks it’s actually the being (or is), and other such details can vary from being to being. Mechanically, the Being is a master of one kind of natural disaster and can invoke that disaster during the Initiative Process once a Scenario. The disaster can destroy a building, vehicle, or incapacitate all Troop-type enemies in one Engagement. At GM discretion, it can also affect  NPC Extras.}

Step two is generating or making Personal Data. Most of it is set-up for the lasting Loises a character will have. Impulse and Awakening are the only ones with direct mechanical impacts. For this reason, the charts are all roll or choose, which has the meaning the words imply.

The first part of the Personal Data is Origin, which is where the character came from. Like all the Personal Data tables it comes with a recommended Lois. Renegade Beings have a different version of this chart.

Next is the Experience chart which has a number of variations for different kinds of backgrounds, not just a simple human/Renegade Being split.

The third chart is Encounter, which has the Origin Table’s Renegade/Human split. It represents an encounter with an in setting NPC, who also is the recommended Lois for the table.

The Awakening chart is a twelve entry chart that you roll a d10 on, and it details how the character awakened to their powers and also is half of the base Encroachment Rate (ER) calculation. This puts Birth and Death beyond a normal roll, but they can both be chosen.

The Impulse chart is another twelve entry chart that you roll a d10 on, and it also has mechanical impacts. One is that it gives a very broad emotion or other mental state that can overcome the Overed during times of extreme stress. It also is what drives the Gjaum that the character might become. It is the other half of the base Encroachment Rate. The two unrollable results on this table are Release and Hatred.

At this point you should have, either as your own ideas or from the charts, three Loises to create. The steps are simple, first, give the Lois a name. Second, roll or choose two Emotions, one positive and one negative, that the character feels in regards to the Lois. Make one the conscious one and one the unconscious one. Repeat and that is it for your lasting Loises.

The last step is to finalize and write down anything that you didn’t have yet, which could range from things as important as a name and code name to relatively unimportant things like hair highlights, blood type, and favorite drink.

If you want to get a random set of Personal Data results post and label the following rolls: 3 d100 rolls to split between Origin (Human or Renegade Being), Experience (Student, Adult, Criminal, UGN, or Renegade Being), 2 d10 rolls (Awakening and Impulse), and then 2 d100s for each Lois (positive and negative).