The year is 20X7. A great deal of wondrous technological advances have come to light, including but not limited to genetic splicing, hoverboards, mechanical enhancements of body parts (cyberlimbs), and computational technology. Some level of modification is as common as piercing and tattoos are today, although extreme amounts like demon-style horns or angel wings are notably memorable.
Various psionic talents have begun to emerge as the mind is sufficiently understood to unlock the latent abilities claimed to be held for years by various mystics throughout the ages. Some such abilities aren't even fully understood yet.
As such, various government agencies have created task forces in order to study and handle such threats. Tokyo, being on a major fault line, has had any number of sudden incursions when the earthquakes come. Japan has the Unknown Lifeform Tactics and Reconnaisance Agency, known as ULTRA for short.
Its members rarely have any official standing in law enforcement or bureaucracy beyond that which they've received from transfers. Some of the beings from other dimensions, trapped on this side, have been offered positions and security in exchange for their silence. Although word has begun to leak of the true nature of the fault line, the primary concern is keeping the country from falling into panic.
This is a Big Eyes Small Mouth 3rd edition game that I'm considering running. Characters will have 350BP and the Mythic Benchmarks listed on page 9 (other than Percentage of Points. Allocate points however you want.)
Practically every human currently on the planet is Chipped. A tiny datachip implanted inside the back of the neck allows for wireless access with all the functions of a supercomputer controlled by the mind, as well as virtual reality. Not being chipped is a 3 point defect, but be careful before taking it, since you'll have a much harder time communicating with your team.
ULTRA does not by itself provide Organizational Ties, but you can take it if you either have people in a particular area or if you've gotten a fake license that checks out.
For those who look distinctly inhuman, a holographic emitter may be suggested. It's an Item version of a one-dot Alternate Identity, roughly the size of a CD player, and costs only one point. Remember that having Alternate Identity affects defects.
I'm not a big fan of Defects, but since I know that people take them, just be warned that I tend to use them against people. That said, I have absolutely no issue with people taking "freebie" flaws where they show symptoms of a flaw but can overcome it when absolutely necessary. The only Ism that's apt to come up is due to being inhuman, and I wouldn't take more than -2 for that.
Not sure how I'm going to do skills yet. Suggestions are welcome. (I don't really get the difference between "hard" and "soft" science fiction.) I'm toying with the idea of saying that you either take zero ranks or three, and anyone who takes three is just THAT good, so that only combat will be bogged down by too much rolling, but dunno if that's worth doing.
I handle initiative by letting all the players go, and then the NPCs go, and then all the players go again. Trying to hold people to a tight initiative score slows things down and isn't worthwhile to gameplay.
Not 100% I want to run this but let's see what interest is like.
