Gears and Tears
We use to be strong. We use to be servants yet we were far more powerful then those we served. But something happened long ago. Was it 100 years? 1000 years? 5,000 years? We don’t know. Although we have perfect memories someone did something to us, we can’t remember. We all see the same thing, a field, vast and open.
All we know is that unlike them, we are built with a purpose, but now those are unclear. Warriors become farmers and researchers become thugs.
Their food is everywhere, but we can only eat from the source or the light. Perhaps we did something wrong? Maybe they were jealous? Or maybe we did something to ourselves, maybe we pitied them.
I wonder if we killed each other in the past? We certainly do now, for the source, so that we can continue another day. We want to live just as much as anyone else. I hope God or Buddha will forgive those of us who choose a path of violence.
There are legends that we were not this free in the past, but at least back then we could feed. Bound and fed, or free and starving.
Now we work along side this race of beings, these humans. They have much use for us, relics of the past who were put to sleep and forced to forget all knowledge of the world before us. And for us… what do they do? We are accepted for the most part. But sometimes I feel like they think me akin to one of their dogs or horses. They are useful though, they can haul us around in wagons when our hungry grows too strong, and watch over us when we sleep. One more the one occasion I’ve had to rely on one to reach places I can not.
We all have different goals now, but the one I hope our race will share, is to find out what it means to be a robot.
The characters will be playing robot characters in a post apocalyptic world. Whatever technology the world use to posses was very advanced, but at the same time whatever happened devastated most of the planet.
Technology for the most part is around medieval to Victorian with some communities/cities/etc. almost equal to pre-fall. These last ones are quite rare.
Robots:
Androids, robots, AI, call them what you will. What ever happened in the past shut almost every robot down. On top of this, any information on just what times were like back then was wiped out of their memory. Usually they may be tid-bits here and there of an image or concept, but for the most part they are a blank slate as far as their past goes.
However, they did retain their abilities. Mining robots still know how mines worked, combat robots know how to fight, and some rare ones even know how to work the miracles of the Before World’s technology.
The robots can be of almost any type. Some examples are as follows:
Entertainment Bot: Singing consorts, dancing multi-limbed, musician, displays light shows, tell stories to children, ring master, etc.
War Bot: Killing machines of all types. Wither these are a form of robotic war-dog, giant walking tank, super advanced flying seeker-destroyer, whatever.
Data-Droid: Robots that were used to store massive amounts of data and run networks. Usually float or made to be very human looking. Robots with the abilities to build other robots or repair power stations come form this type.
Labor Robots: From fine tuning to heavy lifting, these are droids that were made to work. They are highly praised in most communities and can almost always find work, and that includes other robots as they can often repair them… to a point.
House Hold Mates: Robots that seem to have been made to do work around the house, different from the above in that they are not usually as durable and look more human. Child care, senior care, animal care, cooking, cleaning, anything that can be done around the house is found here… including the odd ones that seem to replicate wives, husbands, or even children.
Public Service Bots: Charged with public service and rescue. Fire fighters, police, and test bots all fall under these. One bot here that is quite unique is the Slay Bot line, which seems to have been made to help kill people… Another type seems to be programmed to give sermons on certain religions as well as teaching robots. Medical robots fall under this category as well.
Clank Pops: These are what a lot of robots who have been awake for a long time are called, as the need to replace limbs usually results in using sub-par materials. However, some bots awaken to find themselves already in this state. Although they are almost always in better shape then modern Clank Pops, their personalities are highly intact and usually can even remember friends and faces, but not who these people are.
The Source:
Robots need power. Power comes in the form of an advanced fusion cell whose current technology is far beyond anyone’s current understanding. These cells are fairly uniform, and transferring power between them is very easy, almost all of them have connections to allow this. Bigger batteries do hold more while smaller ones hold considerably less, however all hold a large amount of energy when compared to 21st century mobile power sources.
These are what drive robots, and are even use as a currency. There are several active plants around the world that still are able to charge batteries. These are usually heavily guarded by one faction, or have yet to be discovered.
Some robots CAN work on solar power, or are a hybrid of both. However, most bigger robots can not run solely off solar powered. Also many weapons, such as lasers, or abilities such as sustained flight, boosting, or heavy lifting can not be powered by solar powered.
There are rumors that some robots have adopted to work on coal or wood, although they can not be active for long.
Mainframe:
Nobody knows how to make main frames anymore. Simple robots are easy to make, but true AI is beyond anyone’s understanding. This includes robots that seem like they should have been programmed with this knowledge.
Reformat:
Something happened long ago, and no robots can remember. All they see is an open field of slightly blowing grass if they try to access this. All attempts to download this data result in the same. Most robots do not like even trying to bring up this image, is makes them feel like there is something just on the edge of their thought process, watching and waiting.
I Think, Therefore You Are:
Robots are understood to be advanced computers… but then why do some hear a voice? It tells them what to do, various facts, and other odd things. Some robots report having dreams, while others have neither of the above.
The Net:
Some robots can still access the Net, that is broadcast via satellites. However, they are not always reliable and certain areas can go months with no internet access. The Net is also a very odd place, there is little information on anything, although some peoples’ personal websites still exist, but it seems like a massive attack was done and almost all data is corrupted. Still for navigation purposes and getting snip-its of maps it is most useful. Also all robots or human who access the net will usually find something that has been named “The Last Song of Yesterday”. It seems to be a holy hymn, but the words never make sense.
Hacking:
Some robots can hack others, and take control of their bodies. Humans with certain equipment seem to be able to do this too.
The Wee Ones:
Nanomachines clearly existed, some robots are even equipped with them. However, they only work a short while then loose all power. Finding canisters of them is considered a very valuable find.
The World:
Quick notes.
Some robots hire human mercenaries to kill other robots and take their fusion cells.
Some humans do this for the heck of it, and even robots as well.
Robots do not repair damage naturally (for the most part), thus many end up looking odd as they have to replace damaged body parts with subpar parts.
Survival for robots is much harder then humans, while they are strong, they find it much harder to “heal” from wounds. Also since their fusion clips can power other devices, they can fall victim to desperate humans, or each other.
There are clearly structures on the moon.
On Earth there are structures known as mega-structures. They are huge modern day dungeons, full of great treasure and danger.
The Illuminated:
Rumors are about that there is a type of flying human that burns wicked people and robots to ash. It must just be rumors though, and I’m sure all the characters would dismiss these and never bother looking into them.
Why this sounds fun?
I thought it would be interesting to play as something modeled after humans, but is quite different. There is a mystery presented for the players that would make the over-all story arc plus anything else they would want to do. Such as take over a power plant, try to access space, etc.
After playing in so many games I realized exp is fun. Not seeing significant gains in your characters power after 1-3 sessions kinda bogs down certain games. WHFRP, our current Hero fantasy, in these games you can see your character improve, sometimes by leaps and bounds.
But if I used the hero system for this game, I don’t know if I’d charged points for equipment, since a lot would be salvaged. However all parts the robot starts out with would be bought, but not normal tools, such as a med-kit. More amazing things, such as lasers, ion cannons, hover ability, and net access would cost points. I believe almost all power would have to take charges, and they could only draw from one source, or, all characters would have to take an END pool that can only be recharged by fusion packs.
All characters would start with the robot package for free, and not have to spend character points on this. The robot package includes life support powers as well as some of the abilities like doesn’t take stun (maybe not on that last one).
I would hope the characters will come up with some original ideas, such as maybe the character has little drones that detach and hover around him giving him extra sight abilities, or perhaps the character is a collection of 2 or 3 robots that make a single mind.
All characters would roll on a random table for origin that would determine how he/she was built. This is something that needs to be discovered as the game progresses.
