Recruitment - [Fight with Spirit] Bulwark!

The Pitch
A new year and a new season for the ISSAC. Hundreds of universities throughout the Sol system will be looking to claim the title of the best Bulwark team in system. Tensions will run high, tears will be shed, but no one knows the outcome.

Will it be the old favourites in their storied mechs, or the underdogs with their scratch-built robots? Maybe it’ll even be the people perpetually in second who finally win the semi-finals? Who can say…

I’ll be looking for a team of five pilots to take on the role of a Bulwark team, for a science fiction sports narrative taking place in the year 2250. The game will have sequences both on and off the pitch, and will be about the characters rather than getting bogged down in mechanics. How you design your mechs and what the world of Bulwark looks like will be (almost) entirely up to you. So, does the spirit run in your veins?
The System
I’m planning to use Fight with Spirit for the game; a rules lite diceless game designed with sports in mind. It has a focus on the narrative and the relationship between the players. It’s a game designed to allow dramatic action and narrative both on and off the court.

The game is highly collaborative, and features rules for players to make the team and the bonds between their characters as a key part of character creation. It’s only as detailed as we choose to make it.

No prior experience with the game is needed, and neither is owning a copy of the rulebook. All the assets needed for character creation and gameplay will be provided as we go. All I’ll be looking for is some enthusiasm for dramatic mecha action.

For more information about how the game runs, here are some tutorial videos from the creators;
- Character Creation
- Gameplay

Character Creation Notes
All characters will be university students. They’ll have a minimum age of 17. They don’t have to have been born in the Sol system, but they will have to be attending the same university as your fellows.

The game will help build information of how you know each other, who’s closer to who, and the network of our character’s relationships. It’s worth thinking of what your characters commitments are, how they came to be here and where they want to be going forward.

All LGBT and minority groups are welcomed and encouraged!

Controversial Themes
The main one will be violence, fowl play, adult language etc. Anything you’d expect from a sports drama or anime. No character will die, or preferably be injured, as a rule. Exceptions can be made for injuries if the narrative works, but only if the characters are comfortable.

This game is supposed to be fun and light-hearted, but it’s also a sports drama set in university so use your own discretion regards to that.

Anything else?
No, I think that’s everything. Any questions or an interest in applying? Just let me know, and I hope to see you courtside! :3

Perhaps make it Inter Sol System Academy Championship?

That would make sense, yeah...

I just want to say I love the concept and would join if I wasn't full on games! Good luck!

Okay, after skimming the ruleset, I want to try this. I'm not sure I understand the setting well enough (some things being ambiguous for me), but even just the ruleset experience. On that front, however, I'm still fuzzy on whether there is a distinctions between partially and fully playing through a trait/drive, but that's something to tackle later.

Because of how character and team creation works I've left a lot of the setting ambiguous so anyone interested can take ownership of their part in it. That said, if you have any questions about the setting I can answer here then I'll be more than happy to do so!

This looks like a lot of fun. I've just watched the videos and I'd be willing to give this a red-hot go.

- The year is 2250. Is it meant to be a setting with major technological and social changes, like the Culture, Transhuman Space, the Singletonverse, the Sunflower/Freeze-Frame-verse? Or is it Trek-like 'what if 1950s but extended three centuries into the future', Robotech/Macross, Gundam, Alien/Avatar/Cameronverse? Quirky 90s kitchen sink like Babylon 5, Star Control, and (honorarily) Mass Effect?
- There's mention of not necessarily being from the solar system. How big is the settled part of space?
- Are there aliens? If yes, what sorts?
- Are there Terra-derived but nonhuman playable entities, such as AIs, uploads, uplifts, human-derived biomodified species and the like?
- Is the solar system demographically varied like the planet is today, or is there a single hegemony (or at least a small handful of them) that assimilates all peoples by melting them down in the pot until the major differences are forgotten?
- That mecha seems pretty big, and presumably expensive. The PCs are youngsters. How did they end up with those? Is the setting enormously rich by our standards, making a trivial for anyone to have a big mecha (or spaceship)? Or do all the PCs come with deep pockets one way or another (some from wealthy parents, some from corporate sponsorship fought for with fierce competition)?

Ah, yeah, gotcha.

So with regards to technology and culture; I'm thinking along the lines of Iron Blooded Orphans or Halo tech levels. A sort of five minutes in the future where comparative to our own technology it's advanced but it's nothing utopic. Out of system space travel is fair game, but we haven't settled thousands of worlds and it would be a big commitment (not unlike moving to another continent in our current world. Not common, but not at all unheard of either.)

Hopefully this answers the questions about settled space.

As for aliens; I wasn't originally planning on aliens. I won't say I hate the idea and want to make aliens distinctly off the table if people really want them, but they weren't in my original ideas. If aliens were included I'd likely ask for any PC aliens to be humanoid for the sake of keeping the mechs relatively standardised. If they're not PCs then anything's fair game!

I could see AIs being available, because again the basics are pretty available nowadays. I wouldn't think uploads or other more obscure terra-derived types. They seem potentially a bit too advanced for the technology level of the setting and / or timeframe.

The solar system is definitely intended to be demographically different. While each planet will likely have it's own planetary government, each planet will have more than one subdivided culture. I feel like, for me at least, it makes more sense this way. After all, if a country can have multiple cultures then it stands to reason a whole planet would even if it's unified.

The mechas likely won't be as big as the ones in the pictures, those are mainly there for a bit of mood and feeling. I was picturing around 15-20ft. Still by no means small though, and yes expensive. Since our players are on uni teams they'll be sponsored by their institutions along with any sources they can get. There are some traits that will push characters into being sponsor favourites, so this can in turn become important to the narrative.

It's not unheard of for the exceptionally wealthy to have private mechs or spaceships, think like celebrities having their own private jets, but it's again not a common occurrence.

Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions.

Hmmm. Halo. But without modified human-derived species, if I understand correctly, so not only no Spartans, but also no 'modest' parahuman clades (like THS Metanoia or EP Splicers).

What are the AIs like? Are there fully-sapient ones by the year 2250? What is their legal status?
I'm not particularly gunning for playing an alien, but I think it's good to know whether they are in play and if yes, what sort and what role in the narrative they take up.
Having none does simplify the range of possible answers.
Hmm. Planetary government. So there's still a trend towards assimilation and sameification, and different peoples being lumped into joint jurisdictions even more compared to the now, but it's not system-scale yet.

Have you decided what planets are settled, to what degree, and what needs to be known about them for choosing to play someone from a given planet (or living on it)? And are there planets which are (at least for now) not under a single government?

A thing I consider significant regarding settlement on other planets: is there gravity-adjustment tech in the setting, and does the setting have successful (to whatever degree) terraforming?
Oh, academies also acting as sponsors, huh. I did not expect that. Interesting. So if they're spending government money on that stuff, I guess that still indicates the setting is, while not eutopian, pretty well off.
This is helpful. Thanks. And sorry for the barrages of questions. I am the sort who gets obsessed over these sorts of details because they influence how I think of settings and characters and make decisions both in character creation and play/portrayal.

The main reason why I've gone for now Spartans or similar is purely because I don't want supersoldiers or the like to be a major narrative point. There could potentially be some kicking about somewhere, but I want to focus on "humans" rather than posthumans. There's a whole lot of ethical debate that could be drawn on with regards to genetic modification in sports which I'm not sure the game system can cover effectively. That said, if you're heart is set on tying that into your character then I'll reiterate the setting is subject to change within reason.

As for AI. Sapient? yes. Legal? mostly. I can't imagine their role in society would be the same as humanities, but I can see them being readily present within reason.

I was thinking there's the potential for every planet in Sol to have some degree of "settlement". The form that takes would be more varied, but can be anything from biodomed cities to suborbital residential stations. More along the lines of local gravity adjustment and terraforming, along with areas which would be left to have the gravity of their host planet. There's a real focus on research, but proper terraforming and environmental manipulation hasn't been achieved yet.

The spread of wealth isn't intended to be even across the Sol system or beyond. I'd imagine Earth, Mars, and maybe one or two other places hold upwards of 60% of Sol's wealth per capita. Further afield you may find more wealthy institutions and organisations, but the individual person would be less affluent.

No problem! I'd rather potential players ask questions and engage, I'm more than happy to include my players in these creative processes.

I have a spot for 'low-key' artificial humanoids/near-humans, such as the genemodded newbie lawyer in the Century City TV series, bioroids and parahumans in Transhuman Space, Friday in Heinlein's story, Androsynth in Star Control, and the like. But my heart is not set on anything of the sort, and I'm not trying to force these themes in, just checking which ones might be available.
Present as player characters or no?
Local gravity adjustment . . . so localized gravity generators within city limits, right? Meaning that e.g. Martians are probably somewhat acquainted with moving in several gravity fields, including the human-standard one and likely a gradient all the way to the Martian natural one, right?

I hear you. I can't say necessarily what are hard limits at the moment, but I think I've covered the general idea around genemodded characters. If you do find an idea popping up then we can always talk it out later on.

I hadn't thought of AI as player characters, but I suppose as long as they have an android host body they can use out of mech (for social events, or conducting post match interviews etc) then I suppose it could work. My question there would be why is the AI a "student" of the university we choose?

Exactly. Most people not from earth will have a range of gravity levels they're used to.

See, this is why I tried to investigate what AIs are like and what their social and judicial status is (as agents). Because depending on how they fit into the setting, they might be not too different from humans (e.g. like in Greg Egan's Singletonverse, where they still need upbringing, and where human-like socialisation is one of the more straightforward ways of getting a well-adjusted AI). Different settings treat these very differently, so it was worth checking. But the replies indicate that it's unlikely to be a direction worth continuing investigation in, which is fine.

This sounds like an interesting idea,I'd like to get into this.

Are there any text/print references I can take a look at in lieu of the videos?

Well, there's the book.

Alright,I've taken a look at the core rulebook and for the most part I like what I see. I think I can be a part of this.

If nothing else needs preparation for now,I'm ready...to await further instruction.

It seems we have three candidates at this point. Will we be waiting for a specific date and/or for a specific higher number of candidates before we can begin the campaign, team, and character creation process?

Sorry, got delayed on setting up the game for campaign, team and character process. I've sent invites now, although it'd be great if we could get two more players!

This looks like it could be fun, so put me in coach.