Interest Check - CASE & SOUL (FitD) Worlds on Fire

The System
CASE & SOUL is the second mecha-focused rpg written by Briar Sovereign. Built on the bones of Forged in the Dark, CASE & SOUL cuts it down to a breezy 44 pages so you can get into the action quickly. Designed with one-shots and short campaigns in mind, I think I'll be able to showcase a lot of its charm even at the speed of pbp. If you're curious, you can find it right here for ten dollary doos.

I'm not really a fan of the Factions in the base game, so I decided to channel a bit of Armored Core and Super Robot Wars to make a setting of my own.

The Setting
The year is 2237. Once caught in an ecological death spiral, mankind has rallied with the discovery of an ancient alien facility within the Earth's moon. Called the [Lunar Cradle], the available evidence suggests that it was used to coordinate the terraformation of Earth to its current garden world status. International scientific efforts worked to understand and reverse engineer this [Extraterrestrial Over Technology]. To assure that this technology would not be monopolized by any one nation, the [Central Authority of the Sol Planetary Republic] was established, headquartered in an international orbital colony.

Using EOT, CASPR stabilized the environment of Earth, and mankind began to spread throughout their solar system. On Mars, ruins were discovered suggesting the nature of those who had left the Lunar Cradle behind, an alien race called the [Astevallia], who seemed to have been worshiped as gods by some early human societies. New examples of EOT lead to new fields of study being opened. Most celebrated of these was the development of the first [Space Fold Engine], which promised to open the door to the first extrasolar missions as mankind reached out into the greater universe.

Before the first Space Fold Engine equipped ship could be completed, however, disaster struck. The orbital colonies around Jupiter, which were responsible for the majority of space craft fuel in the system, went dark. Initially, it was believed to be a catastrophic technical issue, but long distance scope revealed explosions, and slowly transmissions began to reach other outposts of people crying for help, screaming about monsters. In this confusion, the first waves of invaders were landing on Mars, targeting major population centers and clearly seeking to maximize their casualty count. Unlike Jupiter, which was a fairly small population strung out among refinery stations, Mars was able to mount a proper counteroffensive, bogging down the invaders as conflict stretched across the red planet.

Closer to Earth, CASPR faltered in its response strategy, as the internal politics became factionalized and the regulatory body ground to a halt. Frustrated at being shackled by the indecisiveness of bureaucrats and politicians, an alliance of military veterans, opportunists, and those disaffected by CASPR's policies founded [ARES] - Armed Resistance to Encroaching Sapients. ARES began a civil war against CASPR, seeking to take control of CASPR's military holdings and organize them to the defense of mankind. CASPR, for its part, was caught completely off-guard by the sudden appearance of ARES's own military assets, but refused to surrender to a terrorist organization.

While the civil war grinds on, the Martians continue to desperately fight for their lives. If a resolution isn't found soon, the invaders may come to Earth to find a fractured and exhausted mankind unable to resist them. With everything balanced on a knife's edge, even a single unit might determine which way mankind's fate may fall.

Posting Frequency
Between 3 and 5 posts a week (alas, I'm rarely free on the weekends).

The Players
I'd like to find between three and five players to make this one happen, I'm open to newbies and FitD veterans alike. There are no restrictions on playbooks or Moves. Given the realities of pbp speed, I'm going to go ahead and allow players to begin with 2 Moves rather than 1, even though I intend this to be a campaign.

Just to help get my plans up and running, I would appreciate of those expressing interest would go ahead and vote for the Crew Type (this is basically a sub-class that everyone in the group benefits from, and helps slant the game towards certain kinds of stories). The options are:

Assault Force crews are dangerous, straight-forward soldiers & mercenaries
- Likely to be in the thick of the CASPR/ARES Conflict, determining a winner through force
Infiltrator crews are stealthy thieves, saboteurs, and agents
- Likely to be involved in espionage, securing assets, and solving mysteries
Vanguard crews are bold and brave explorers, rescue teams, and surveyors
- Likely to be on their way to Mars, gaining intel on the mysterious invasion force
Psycho crews are strange and esoteric employers of psychic abilities
- Likely a specialist force deployed from the Lunar Cradle
Broker crews are diplomats, deal-makers, and negotiators.
- Likely to be working with independents, trying to tip the conflict through connections

This sounds really interesting. I've never played a blades / forged in the dark game, but I am very interested in the sci-fi genre and I've played a PbtA game, which I hear means it won't take long to learn a FitD game. I don't own the book, but if it is important to do so I'd be willing to get it. Since I don't own the book i don't know what playbook I'd use, but i'd vote for a Vanguard group, but assault would also be okay with me.

Ah, yes. I got so eager to start getting my ducks in a row that I forgot it was kind of unreasonable to make someone pick up a book for a game that may or may not get off the ground. I'll amend that part of the IC.

Forged in the Dark games are characterized by a few things. There tends to be very clear mission objectives (with very loose mission parameters), followed by downtime (where you take a single Down Time Action that helps you recover, or manage things in the background), then the next mission comes along. Another common feature is the existence of Factions, who you kind of manage your reputation with, though it's quite common for the PC's themselves to be outsiders using the conflicts of larger groups towards their advantage.

The dice are pretty different from PbtA. Generally speaking, rather than having distinct Moves, the Stats outline an approach (for example: if you're trying to do something sneaky, you'll use Skulk). The higher your stat, the more D6 you roll (from 0 - 3, generally), and then you take your highest die from the lot. A 1-3 is a miss, a 4-5 is a partial success, and a 6 is a success. You can always use whatever approach you like, but the fictional positioning will determine your Position (how much danger you're in) and your Effect (how effective your methodology is). That said, CASE & SOUL combines Position and Effect together and just calls is Position, so it's even easier here.

That said, if they're not brothers, PbtA and FitD are at least cousins. They're both very Narrative First beasts, and they both leave the dice in the hands of the players, so I think you'll be able to make the adjustment pretty easily.

Sounds interesting. I watched an hour long video on how blades in the dark is played. If you are okay with it, I will get the book if I am selected as a player and the game gets off the ground

Yup, interested if you’ll have me and I’m not being steamrolled by work when you get rolling…

Interested. I've got most of the Blades in the dark stuff, just never got to play. I like the idea of Vanguard or Assault as well.