HAVOC!
toolset for Mothership Sci-Fi Horror TTRPG by Tuesday Knight Games. inspired by Kallidora Rho’s WARHOUND. I recommend checking out Mechs in the City by BigSmog for Mech rules. I do plan on writing my own, eventually.
Adult Content. CW: Body Horror, Medical Horror, Drug Abuse, Implied SA and Exploitation, Loss of Agency, Gaslighting.
Warden Tips:
I know that this is a super niche within a niche within a niche, and the audience for this is likely very self-selecting (you know who you are), but I still feel it’s always good practice to leave some guidance, just in case.
- Know your table. This subject matter isn’t for everyone. It necessitates not only trust and maturity from the Warden and players, but structural safety measures. It should go without saying that everyone at your table deserves dignity and safety. Respect lines, veils, flags, and fade-to-blacks. This is not an opportunity to power trip. This is not an opportunity to harass other people at your table.
- It’s highly recommended that the Warden plays “The Handler”– especially for the first time– and that they play her optimally, bordering on supernatural. She is THE archetypal Handler.
- Do not treat Loyalty like brainwashing. Treat it like temptation, release, catharsis, absolution, salvation. Convince your characters – and your players – that they want it.
- Treat Loyalty like Stress: give, take, and Save when it feels appropriate.
- Discourage heroism. There is no “saving” a Hound. There is no breaking their conditioning. There is no essential “you” underneath a Hound. They are irrevocably changed. If one truly wants to “save” a Hound, they must embrace them as they have become, and help guide who they will become in the future … which first requires taking them.
- Encourage hounds to fight and compete amongst themselves for the praise and attention of the Handler.
- Be careful Collaring player characters. Seriously, don’t be weird, and understand the implications it has for your table. It’s totally fine to take them over as an NPC, or to avoid that situation entirely should you have a CREW playing alongside these characters and mechanics.
- TOKENS and Loyalty represent the same thing from two different perspectives. Play accordingly.
- Spend and gain TOKENS wisely– use them to develop the relationships between characters. Build tension, drive conflicts. Tear one down to build one up, only to switch. Save them at the last moment. Appear at their most vulnerable. It is especially important that a Warden not abuse their role as an NPC Handler.
MECHANICS
The Handler and each of their Hounds are locked in a dance on a razor’s edge. Love, hate, fear, devotion, debasement, praise, dissociation, exhilaration. Flying from intimate holds to acrobatic dips, the Handler must maintain tight control over the choreography, and the Hound must trust their lead. One wrong move, and the internal contradiction can tear a Hound apart.
LOYALTY
Collared Hounds belong to a PC or NPC Handler, and as such, have a Loyalty Save. Loyalty represents the push and pull within yourself, an alignment system where one side is a magnet and the other is crumbling under the sheer force of your Handler’s magnetism.
Whenever you feel internally conflicted, consider disobeying a direct order, begin succumbing to immense psychological pressure, or any other time it feels appropriate, gain 1 Stress and make a Loyalty Save. On a failed save, lose 1 Loyalty and gain an additional 2 Stress. If you succeed, you shirk off the intrusive thoughts, gain 1d5 Loyalty, and lose that much Stress.
Collared Hounds may elect to make a Loyalty Save in lieu of a Fear Save in combat.
Androids are unaffected by Loyalty, and of no interest to Handlers.
COLLAR TOKENS
If Loyalty represents the internal turmoil of submission, COLLAR TOKENS represent the relational currency of domination, the exploitation of suffering to transform a subject into an instrument of violence and production.
Each relationship between a Handler and an individual character has it’s own discrete balance, up to a maximum of 10 per.
Handlers gain COLLAR TOKENS any time one of their Collared Hounds succeeds on a Loyalty Save, or causes a target character to fail a non-loyalty save (see: Collaring) or Panic roll.
Handlers may spend COLLAR TOKENS to grant Hounds [+] to Combat checks or Fear Saves, or add Xd10 to Loyalty Saves where X is TOKENS spent.
COLLARING
An effective Handler isn’t just capable of training Hounds, but can create them too. With simple, brutal honesty, and just the right words, they are able to reveal the gaps in your armor and the cracks in your psyche. At first, they surprise you. They aren’t the cruel torturer you imagined them to be. Then they get into your head. They tell you what you are going to do and why with an unshakable confidence. They aren’t mocking you. Just being honest. You swear, and scream, and threaten, and weep, and resist, you harden your resolve, and you may even feel like you’re winning. But the thoughts only get louder. And that’s all it takes.
A Handler may cause a character who is not collared to make a Sanity Save [-], to gain their first COLLAR TOKEN. The target character may choose to fail this save. To gain a second TOKEN, the target character must have 10 or more stress or a relevant condition (Doomed, Death Wish, Spiraling, (see PSG, p. 21) etc. or any other condition which implies lasting trauma or crisis which could serve as a vulnerability) when inflicting a Sanity Save [-]. Finally, if the target character has 15+ stress or a relevant condition, the Handler may impose a third Sanity Save. On a failed Save, the character gains the Collared condition, and their current stress is converted to minimum Loyalty.
______________________________________
| | |
|CT | PREREQUISITE |
|___|__________________________________|
| | |
| 1 | NONE |
|___|__________________________________|
| | |
| 2 | 10+ STRESS or Relevant Condition |
|___|__________________________________|
| | |
| 3 | 15+ STRESS or Relevant Condition | < --- Collared
|___|__________________________________|
CLASSES
HOUND
You exist in a state involving very little in the way of individual consciousness. Like a dream. You aren’t a hero. You aren’t a saint nor a sinner. She gave you that. Absolution. Freedom from this angst, from freedom. Everything that burns, everything that rips you apart, you want to suffer with your body. You’d rather have a hundred wounds, whips, anything, anything would be better than that agony of the mind, that creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and caresses and never hurts quite enough. Don’t think about it. Let go. Have faith. Unceasing devotion to someone higher than yourself, to Her. Her praise is mana, her touch divine. Don’t think about the blood rushing, the throbbing, the tearing, the warmth which envelops you, you, who you were before, your friends, your comrades, their eyes, wide open, betrayal, hatred, terror, bathed in sound and fury, calling a name … you- your name? No … you don’t have one. Not anymore. Memories are demons trying to burn the edges of the present. It’s best to leave them dead.
+20 Combat, -10 Intellect // +10 Fear and Sanity Saves // +5 Minimum Stress // +1 Max Wounds
Trauma Response: Gain +2 Stress whenever you are referred to by your old identity. [+] on Saves when obeying a direct order from your Handler, but must fail a Loyalty Save to disobey them. Start with the Collared condition.
Skills: Military Training, Mech Piloting (Expert)
Inventory: Titanium muzzle. Collar.
Installed Slickware OGRE, Black Box, Remote Uplink (see APoF, p. 18) configured to Handler’s server, PROVIDENCE (see CYBERNETICS)
HANDLER
You know what makes a person tick. What makes them stop ticking. When a person is subjected to trauma, cracks form. Sometimes great chasms and dramatic shatterings, but just as often, small hairline fractures. If one has ears to hear, and you listen closely, you can hear the little tick-tick-tick of cracks spreading, invisible, like glass on a hot day. You know how to insert yourself into those cracks, pry them open, take each individual piece and reform it into a beautiful mosaic without allowing the entire piece to crumble. Delicate enough to twirl in between your fingers, sharp enough to cut when and where you want it. Something at once less than and more than human. You know how to make them tick to your tempo.
+20 Intellect // +30 Fear and Sanity Saves
Trauma Response: Hounds gain [+] on saves while obeying your direct orders, but may fail a Loyalty Save to disobey you. Whenever you critically fail a check or save, all Contractors and Collared Hounds lose 2 Loyalty; the latter Panic when you die.
Skills: Linguistics, Psychology, Military Training, Command
Inventory: Leather Crop Whip. Executive’s Uniform (Leather Boots) (AP 7). FN Slug Revolver (see PSG, p. 12)
BACKGROUNDS
HANDLER
0.) SECURITY You never cared much for people. In fact, you don’t really see them as people at all. You walk through life surrounded by dogs. Discipline: that’s the problem. Always has been. But you know discipline. She saw that in you. She taught you that there are better ways to kick a dog into submission. Things are going to change around here.
-10 Intellect, +5 Combat // +10 to Body
You may use Fear or Body instead of Sanity Saves, or strike Collared Hounds to gain COLLAR TOKENS. Your Hounds lose Loyalty twice as fast. Hounds collared by you are particularly aggressive, and must be restrained at all times barring the battlefield.
1.) HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT You have always thrived at the intersection of people and profit. You see people for what they are: valuable assets which add to the long-term value of a business. Many of your colleagues scoffed when you said you chose to work in HCM because you considered yourself a people person. They said it was your job to cull the weak and unnecessary, to shift resources from bottom-performing assets to top-performing ones, to champion differentiation and employee productivity. And where are they now? While they eat each other, you perfect your craft. While they choke on vinegar, you catch flies.
You gain COLLAR TOKENS from praising and training your collared Hounds. Rewards – compliments, pets, etc. – increase loyalty twice as fast. Your Collared Hounds are well behaved and well organized, and gain [+] when launching coordinated attacks.
2.) MERCENARY You’ve fought on both sides of this war. You’ve struggled, watched friends die, good people cut down like so much meat. After a time, you learned it was better to get paid before stepping in front of fire. Over time, you learned how to fight, how to survive, how to cut ties and run. Over time, you learned to put yourself first. What is it She sees in you, exactly? Only one way to find out.
Gain Mech Piloting.
You gain COLLAR TOKENS from winning skirmishes with your Hounds, or from having them skirmish each other. You may join your Hounds in battle– felling enemies causes all Collared Hounds to gain 2 Loyalty.
HOUND
0.) Rebel You used to raise the banner of the rebellion, eat with comrades, live in the trenches. You took pride in your idiosyncrasies, your adaptability. Even when things were at their darkest, you could always look up to the titans who came before you, the ones on the pin-up posters on your wall. But courage and icons weren’t enough. The rebellion was driven deeper and deeper into the mountainsides, the caves, the forests, your supply lines disrupted and dwindling. battle after battle, news spread of brutal, bloody defeat. The fight for change became a fight for survival. You – all of you – used to have heroes. An idol to worship, a figure to comfort you in the black. When they began to disappear, rumors spread. When they turned back up, twisted, savage, traitorous, no one could explain it. You sought answers. You found one: never meet your heroes.
Starts with 15 minimum Loyalty.
Pro: +10 to Combat against rebel forces. Rebel enemies have [-] on Fear saves. Con: Sanity Save [-] when receiving rebel communications, or fail all Combat Checks for the next 1d10 turns.
1.) Corporate Soldier You fucked up. You don’t know how, but you did. One day you were called to Her office. You thought you were due for some kind of promotion, or at worst, reprimand. Nothing could have prepared you for the test which followed. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say it was rigged … but you do. This is where you belong. There’s no shame in it. Shame is beyond you now. Anybody any good at what they do, that’s what they are, right? Do what you were made to, and all will be well.
Starts with 30 minimum Loyalty
Pro: Gain Athletics, Firearms or Hand-to-Hand Combat. +10 Body Save. Con: Gain 2 Stress and [-] on Sanity Saves each day without combat.
2.) Volunteer It was a rumor at first. Then, an idea. You nodded your head in agreement, laughed when other people brought it up, hid from them and from yourself. You caught yourself thinking it. Interrupting the thought with a “that’s horrible!”, as if to convince anyone reading your mind that you didn’t want it. But the thoughts became more intrusive. Too much to bear. You knew the risk, and did it anyway: you had to know. And then you saw it. You saw how … empty they were. The bliss on their faces. The way they could be shaped, wielded, used. You saw what She’d done for other people and you wanted it for yourself. And so you sought Her out. And to think … you hesitated.
Starts with 40 minimum Loyalty
Pro: You want to be here, your doubts are easily extinguished. [+] to succeed on Loyalty Saves. Con: -10 Body.
3.) Kennel Bred In the beginning, there was only Her. Then, she made the First. Next, the Kennels. Soon, the Kennels began to fill. Finally, they began to multiply. She was the first thing you saw. You’ve never known anything else. You’ve never wanted to.
Starts with 50 minimum Loyalty
Pro: You have no former identity to reference. You may treat off-duty cycles in the Kennels as Shore Leave. You may make Loyalty Saves instead of Sanity Saves. Con: You are single minded in your devotion. Gain 10 Stress and Panic on failed Loyalty Save.
4.) Mercenary Maybe you craved adventure, maybe you needed the money, maybe you were just good at it. Either way, you ended up here, fighting on the losing side of a war in which you never meant to take sides. You made friends. Some of the nearly convinced you to join up. But you were never really one of them. A lone wolf. That is, until the day you met Her. You can’t quite remember how you got here. Were you fighting? Pinned down, surrounded, captured? Surely, the old you would have never surrendered. That’s what makes you such a Good Girl. The ferocity. The independence. She took the best parts of you, and taught you how to hunt in a pack.
Starts with 10 minimum Loyalty
Pro: You can go nearly wherever you please without incident. Lose 2 Loyalty and gain 1 Stress on failure. It costs an additional COLLAR TOKEN to impose [-] on you. Con: You are highly competitive. Gain 2 Stress whenever bested by a pack mate.
DRUGS
Starlight | 5kcr | 20 days microdosage. 1 full dose. Comes preinstalled in PROVIDENCE compatible injector capsule. | Psychotropic. Dissolves the ego. Subjects report feeling light and heavy at the same time, like swimming. Addictive. -5 Stress, +2 minimum Loyalty for duration of dose. Full dose grants +50 Loyalty for 1d5 hours, and permanently adds +1 minimum Loyalty.
Gravity uproots itself. The first wave of nausea hits as the room around you swims and you begin to lose your balance. You can’t remember who you are, what you are. There is no You. There is only Her. Radiant, awesome, a goddess made of stars. The rest of the world fades away - how could it not? Her gravity pulls you in. Her very gaze is a blessing. Her touch is rapturous. Your need fills your body, drips out of every pore, and for a moment you think you might be crushed under the sheer vastness of Her presence, but Her word rewrites reality. You can endure this. There is only Her. You are an extension of Her will. Service becomes meditation. Her stars light the path to Nirvana.
CYBERNETICS
“PROVIDENCE” Endocrine Control Implant | 25kcr [ contract price 1/2 ] | A line of cheap, secure, military cybernetics which hijack the endocrine system in order to induce and regulate emotional, reproductive, metabolic, and developmental responses/functions. Includes programmable bay for automatic drug administration over time or on trigger (must be compatible with autoinjector or aerosolizer. Compatible drugs can be stored in appropriate pressurized capsule for 500 cr).
I’ve also been dabbling again. Wanted to make a theme for the larger project I’m working on for this. As with the tools/rules/setting, more to come. In the meantime,