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View Full Version : Original System Redemptionist (Original System; PEACH)



Jormengand
2016-06-15, 03:41 PM
Introduction

Normally, I would put the introduction in a spoiler tag; a little "This is the design theory behind my game, read it if you want, don't if you don't" idea. But I won't, because this is fairly important and the design process for this game began arguably before I even had any idea I would make anything like it, with the creation of one of the most awful role-playing games ever created, which some argue to be worse than FATAL.

Let me explain.

Recently, I came across a game called Racial Holy War. It follows the adventures of one or more white supremacists in a dystopian future where the have caused the apocalypse in a "Fiery blaze of disaster". I had a look at it, and in-between all the racist... [I]stuff, lurked a few genuinely good game ideas. You could probably run a game of it without any racism at all with just a re-fluff, but I want to go a little further: re-write the game, take out the core premise of the game (I considered calling this game Holy War) and make a new game out of it.

RaHoWa (as it is abbreviated to) can be found online in pdf format with a quick Google search. Do not Google it.

The Redemptionists

Scattered in the world lie fragments of an obscure cult, the Church of Redemption. They are, to most, the bad guys, but they see themselves as holy warriors, bound to rid the world of disaster. At their best, they are efficient, valourous vigilantes, going where no officer of the law would risk their skin to see the law done; at their worst they are the criminals themselves, murdering those who do not fit in with their beliefs.

Upon initiation, each would-be redemptionist pledges allegiance to one of nine holy orders, though one order has been destroyed and is never spoken of. Initiates are told there are nine, eight are listed, and the novices are left to make their own judgements should they even notice the discrepancy.

Of the remaining orders, each has its own qualities, from the Order of the Illuminated Scroll who study the scripts of the Church of Redemption, as well as learning from other books they may happen across, to the Order of the Sacred Assassin, who kill their foes with silent efficiency.

These are the redemptionists. Dare you join?

The Warmaster and the Redemptionists

The Warmaster is the name given to the game master, the storyteller, the person responsible for controlling encounters with friends and foes, as well as the story and what occurs during an adventure. You choose what the redemptionists fight and what they have got themselves into. Unless using an existent adventure, the Warmaster will have to make one up.

Players are the rest, those who create a character - a redemptionist - and make that character's decisions when it is that character's time to act.

Possible adventures include assassinating a disagreeable media personality, attacking drug cartels, or working to protect the innocent against gang violence, depending on whether you're feeling evil, neutral or good. Redemptionist is a game about violent cultists, but that does not force them to be evil.

Character Creation

You are a redemptionist.

You walk into the room with the other novices. The first thing people see is not your strength, or your skill, but your appearance. They see your apparent gender, your hair, your eyes, your tattoos, your sense of fashion. The first thing they ask is your name. Write these down. And then they ask, how did you join the redemptionists? When did you see the light? Write down some basic details about who your character is, and whether they're good, evil or neutral, or what moral rules they follow if this trichotomy seems a little trite to you.

The second step is to determine your basic attributes. These are power, dexterity, health, heroism, charisma, intelligence, wisdom, and intimidation. You have 100 points to put between them. You can put anywhere from zero to twenty points in any one.

Third, you choose the order to be initiated into. The orders are described in their own section.

Fourth, you gain two skills from your order and choose any two more skills. Skills, again, are described in their own section.

Finally, your character starts with 1000 credits, which are used to purchase items.

The Attributes

A character has not eight but twelve attributes, although they can only put points in eight at character creation. The other four are respect, honour, hit points and defence.

Power represents the raw striking power of a redemptionist or their foe, as well as their lifting power. A character can only lift their power in pounds before becoming encumbered, taking a -1 penalty on all physical rolls and reducing their speed by 5 feet. A character trying to lift over twice their power takes twice this penalty, and so forth until the character tries to lift over 6 times their power in pounds and cannot move.

A character making an attack with a melee weapon reduces the Target Number by half their power rounding down and increases their damage by half their power rounding up.

Dexterity represents not only dexterity but agility. Characters sometimes use their dexterity to react quickly to being surprised. A character making a ranged attack reduces the Target Number by their dexterity.

Health determines your hit points. A character gains hit points equal to their health every level.

Heroism represents raw bravery. At the start of a combat, heroism is important to prevent being intimidated during the intimidate step.

Charisma is used when trying to convince someone of your justness or your logic. It represents not only your own ability to convince, but your understanding of social techniques someone might use to convince you. When trying to convince someone, you use ten plus the opponent's charisma as the Target Number and subtract your own charisma from it. The warmaster may add or subtract up to 10 for a particularly reasonable or unreasonable request, or simply declare the request impossible. You cannot usually attempt to convince enemies of anything unless they are willing to talk. You may be able to convince a gang leader to let you pass without violence. You probably cannot convince a contract assassin to abandon their mission of killing you.

Intelligence is used to solve puzzles and gain information through investigation. Of course, an intelligence roll should not be used to justify skipping a manual investigation where one is warranted, but should instead be the character's deductive reasoning is important, rather than the player's investigative skill. Intelligence is used to recognise footprints and decipher writing. Brute force is used to investigate a criminal hideout.

Wisdom is used where normal reasoning and logic fails: it is a knowledge you happen to have, an intuition or hunch about the nature of a person, or anything else that falls into the box of being mental, but not intelligence or charisma based. It is the great "Other mental ability", the anything else roll. While wisdom should not allow the impossible, what it does allow is practically anything that minds can accomplish without logic, charm, bravery or fearsomeness.

Intimidation is used to intimidate people in the intimidate step. Weird, huh?

Respect is a measure of how respected and heard-of you are. If your respect is higher than your charisma (which is unlikely but possible) you can use respect to try to convince them (but not to prevent being convinced). Your respect is equal to your character's level, unless your character performs an act of heroism above their station or is disgraced among their peers.

Honour is the subjective sense other redemptionists have of your morality. If respect is how well people know you, honour is how well they want to know you. You invariably start with an honour of 10 as you are initiated. Performing evil acts which people know were committed by you will lose you one to two points of honour; the opposite is true of good acts. Many characters may initially refuse to deal with those of low honour. Some will refuse to deal with those of high honour - if your chapter of the Church of Redemption is a group of vigilantes they can expect that criminals will refuse to deal with you if you are honourable, while if your chapter is violent and misogynistic then a woman who has heard of you will also only deal with you if you are disgraced among your kind.

Hit Points are a measure of how much vitality, energy, and sheer force of will your character has. A character starts with 25 hit points, plus hit points equal to their health for being a first-level character. At each additional level, the character gains hit points equal to their health.

Defence is a measure of, put simply, how much armour you are wearing. A character reduces any damage taken by their defence, to a minimum of zero.

The Holy Orders

There are nine holy orders. One has been disgraced, cast out of the Church of Redemption and never spoken of aloud. The other eight, however, are the orders you may choose from. They are as follows:

Order of the Burning Sword: Burning Swordsmen are those who seek to engage their foes in a brutal melee combat, looking them in the eye as they end them. They get Hand-to-Hand Fighting and Weapon Speciality (Melee) as automatic skills. They get a +2 bonus to power, dexterity, and intimidation. They add their level to attack and damage rolls in hand-to-hand combat.

A female member of the order is still called a Burning Swordsman.

Order of the Holy Inquisition: Holy Inquisitors are leaders of the redemption. They are the standard-bearers and fore-runners of the holy warriors. Holy Inquisitors are natural leaders even if there are others among their company with a higher rank. They get Exceptional Ability (Charisma) and Exceptional Ability (Respect) as automatic skills. They get a +2 bonus to charisma, intelligence and wisdom. Their respect and maximum respect are increased by their level (so their respect is normally twice their level).

Order of the Silver Legion: Silver Legionnaires are the rank and file warriors of the Church of Redemption in one sense, and yet unique and specialised gunners in another. Whether they tote pistols or machine guns, they are a force to be reckoned with. They get Weapon Speciality (Any one) and Exceptional Ability (Heroism) as automatic skills. They get a +2 bonus to dexterity, heroism and health. They deal 1 point of damage extra per level with a firearm attack.

Order of the Illuminated Scroll: Illuminated Librarians are the investigators and researchers of the Church of Redemption. This does not stop them being competent warriors in their own right, though, and they are responsible for protecting the holy texts they carry. They get Exceptional Ability (Intelligence) and Exceptional Ability (Wisdom) as automatic skills. They get a +2 to intelligence and +4 to wisdom. Because a scholar will be respected by practically anyone if they phrase their methods of study right, the librarian can, whenever he likes, choose to add or subtract his level from his honour for the purposes of a single encounter.

For example, if they are a member of a criminal redemptionist group, and they meet a member of law enforcement, they may wish to present themself as a simple ascetic, unrelated to the acts of their companions, and thus reduce their effective honour. If they later meet a Holy Inquisitor, they may wish to increase their effective honour. If they encounter a Holy Inquisitor and a member of law enforcement at the same time, they can't increase their honour for the inquisitor and reduce it for the enforcer.

Order of the Heroic Sacrifice: Heroic Saints are inspiring figures. They are unbreaking in the heat of combat, and unrelenting in their fervent assault. They get Inspire and Sermon as automatic skills. They can re-roll to Inspire and do not suffer the effects of being intimidated (even though their allies do).

Order of the Sacred End: Sacred Assassins are dark, foreboding murderers. They kill silently from afar, with a strange fighting style midway between traditional sniping and hell-for-leather massacre, getting the target in their sights before unloading as many bullets as it takes to kill them. They get Weapon Speciality (any one) and Open Lock as automatic skills. They get a +4 to dexterity and +2 to power. They add 10 feet to the short range and long range of their weapon per level.

Order of the Divine Example: Divine Exemplars are those who keep in perfect shape to fight the forces of evil (or at least, the forces who oppose the Church of Redemption) as an example to others. They get Exceptional Ability (Power) and Exceptional Ability (Health) as automatic skills. They get +2 to dexterity, power and health. They add 1 foot per level to their movement per round.

Order of the Eternal Health: Eternal Healers are generally less gung-ho than their companions, as the responsibility falls to them to make sure that their allies stay alive. They get Sermon and Scavenge as automatic skills. Because they have actual medical ability as well as simply inspiring their allies to fight through the pain, they heal twice as much when they use a Sermon.

Order of the Lost Knowledge: Lost Scholars were those who infiltrated other societies to convert them to the redemptionist cause. However, they quickly reveled in forbidden technology, sought out false gods, and strayed from the path of the light. They must be destroyed. A lost scholar is an enemy, not a player character, but someone is inevitably going to want to play as one: they have Open Lock and Scavenge as automatic skills, get +1 to Dexterity, Charisma, Intelligence, and Intimidation and +2 to wisdom, and succeed on using complex objects or identifying religions or religious traditions, objects or paraphernalia without having to roll.

The notion that Lost Scholars are powerful magi is unfounded, and probably the result of them using weapons that make them seem magical (such as swords with an oil chamber so they can be set on fire without any obvious intervention to do so).

Skills

Skills are abilities that a character has, such as the ability to craft items, repair guns, or drive vehicles at dangerous, breakneck speed around a corner while people are trying to kill you. You start with rank 1 in two skills from your Order and two skills of your choice. You gain more when you increase in level.

A few skills are listed as involving a "Target Number". This is explained in the section on Actions and the Target Number.

Craft, Exceptional Ability and Weapon Specialisation all require that you choose a sub-skill - for example, Craft (Weaponry) or Exceptional Ability (Heroism). You can take ranks in two sub-skills of the same skill, in which case you track them as though they were two entirely unrelated skills.

There is no reason that a redemptionist could not have other skills. In general, a skill should be of fairly limited use, allowing you to do one thing, and reducing the Target Number by 5 per level of the skill.


Computer Use

It's a modern world we live in, and computers are everywhere. A knowledge of how computers function is essential for accessing dark websites (easier than many would have you believe). You subtract five times your computer use skill from the Target Number whenever you are using a computer or similar device (unless you are, say, weaponising it).

Craft

You can use the craft skill to try to make an object out of its components. You cannot be generally good at crafting; you must choose and note one thing that you can craft. You may be an architect and have Craft (Buildings), and although this seems as though it might not be useful in general, the craft skill has other uses.

You subtract five times your craft skill from the Target Number when:

- You attempt to craft an object of the relevant type from its components.
- You attempt to repair an object of the relevant type.
- You are called upon to know about the structure or function of an object of the relevant type.
- Your skill in crafting the relevant object is called upon for some other reason.

Drive

In general, you do not need to roll to drive a vehicle as initiates are taught to drive cars, motorbikes, and sometimes even light tanks. You do need to roll to drive an unfamiliar vehicle (though in general you can keep rolling, once per turn, until you pass), to perform a stunt with a vehicle, or to drive fast enough to catch up to, or escape from, someone. You subtract five times your drive skill from the Target Number for all rolls related to driving any kind of vehicle (experience with driving a car is assumed to "Carry over" to other cars, motorbikes, or even aircraft - after all, vehicles are designed to be intuitive, and that usually means making them mostly the same - to such an extent that it usually doesn't make enough of a difference to bother with the maths).

Exceptional Ability

Choose one of your abilities that you could put ranks in at the start, or respect. Your maximum and current rank in that ability is increased by your Exceptional Ability total for that skill.

Hand-to-Hand Fighting

You get an extra hand-to-hand attack each round per skill rank you have in Hand-to-Hand Fighting.

Inspire

You inspire your allies at the start of combat. During the intimidate step, you have a 10% chance per skill rank of preventing your allies from being intimidated.

Open Lock

You subtract 10 from the Target Number to open the lock on an object.

Repair

Repair allows you to fix things when they break, put simply. You subtract five times your Repair skill from the Target Number when trying to repair any object.

Scavenge

You are good at finding things. You subtract five times your Scavenge skill from the Target Number when trying to find something that is hidden, or when trying to scavenge for supplies. You can, by moving at a quarter of your normal land speed for a day, obtain 1d6 days' worth of food per skill rank in Scavenge. For example, if you have a Scavenge skill of 3 and are traveling with your companion who has no Scavenge skill, you provide 3d4 days' worth of food for yourself in one day so long as you travel at a quarter speed (your companion needs to follow at this speed to accompany you, of course), though you can share half of it with your companion.

Sermon

You can deliver up to two sermons per day to your companions - after that, the sermons start to sound empty and hollow. You restore 1d6 hit points per skill rank with each sermon delivered. A sermon cannot reasonably be delivered in combat.

Weapon Speciality

Choose Pistols, Assault Rifles, Shotguns or Melee. With that weapon type, you deal extra damage equal to your Weapon Speciality ranks with that weapon and reduce the Target Number by your Weapon Speciality ranks.

Actions and the Target Number

Whenever you take an action, if there is a possibility of meaningful success and meaningful failure, you roll for that action. You do not bother rolling to see whether you put one foot in front of the other and walk on a pavement, nor do you roll to see whether or not you can walk on a cloud. You do, however, roll to walk on a tightrope.

Your roll is made with a single twenty-sided die or "1d20" (or three six-sided dice - "3d6" - if you are using the d6 approximations variant). You must attempt to equal or beat the Target Number. Sometimes the Target Number is given; often it is not. The Target Number for firing one of the guns given in this book and hitting your target is given, but the Target Number for trying to open a lock while suspended upside-down underneath it is not. The Warmaster should pick a Target Number between 0 (for really easy tasks) and 100 (for practically impossible tasks). Here are a few examples:

0: You shouldn't be bothering to roll this check.
10: Lowest charisma check Target Number. (Charisma)
10: Intimidate an average member of the public with a gun. (Intimidation)
18: Lowest short-range Target Number for a ranged weapon. (Dexterity, Weapon Specialisation)
20: Decipher a script in a simple code. (Wisdom)
20: Target Number for light melee weapon. (Power, Weapon Specialisation)
25: Target Number for heavy melee weapon. (Power, Weapon Specialisation)
25: Highest short-range Target Number for a ranged weapon. (Dexterity, Weapon Specialisation)
30: Balance on a tightrope without falling off. (Dexterity)
31: Highest long-range Target Number for a ranged weapon. (Dexterity, Weapon Specialisation)
40: Highest charisma check Target Number without special skills. (Charisma)
40: Know offhand a specific, fairly specialist piece of information such as the method of observance of a particular religious ritual. (Wisdom)
50: Kick down a brick wall. (Power)
60: Survive arsenic poisoning. (Health)
70: Build a working motorbike by yourself. (Intelligence, Craft (Vehicles))
80: Repair a door frame that has totally collapsed in on itself so that you can walk through it. (Intelligence, Repair, Craft (Houses))
90: Overcome a mental condition by sheer force of will (Heroism)
100: Understand a language unrelated to a language you've ever read. (Wisdom)

Now, obviously, most of these are impossible on a d20 (and more are impossible on 3d6). However, the descriptions of the ability scores and skills show you which ones apply to what kind of rolls, reducing the Target Number. For example, the difficulty 60 roll is essentially impossible: you can only apply your health meaning that, without a favourable circumstance (the presence of a trained medic might reduce the Target Number by half their intelligence) you cannot pass the roll without at least 10 ranks in the Exceptional Ability (Health) skill, which you are unlikely to have. However, the difficulty 80 roll allows the application not just of intelligence, but repair and craft (houses). A 25-intelligence architect might reduce the target difficulty by 75 if they have 5 ranks in each skill, making it relatively simple despite the much higher original Target Number.

Weapons, Attacking and Combat

You're not an architect; you're a redemptionist. It takes years to build what you can destroy in minutes. You are, at the end of the day, fighting a holy war, and ready to purge your foes in holy fire. Or bullets. Bullets will do.

To start a combat, the side which is starting the combat goes first. Put simply, if you pull a gun on someone who isn't expecting it, it doesn't matter if they're armed to the teeth and quick on the draw: you're going to get the first shot. Everyone else then rolls 1d20 and adds their dexterity to the roll, and then acts in that order. Initiative is rolled the moment someone pulls a gun or a weapon, not once they've had their action.

Then, still before anyone gets to act, the intimidate step takes place. If there are two sides in a battle, then each side adds up their intimidation scores, divides it by their foes' heroism score, rounds down, and then if the result is 2 or more, applies the following results:

2: Intimidated side gets +2 Target Number on all rolls.
3: Intimidated side gets +5 Target Number on all rolls.
4: Intimidated side gets +10 Target Number on all rolls.
5 or more: Intimidated side gets +10 Target Number on all rolls and immediately forced to flee (quadruple-move away from foes; see below) for one round per intimidate result over 4.

It is possible that both sides intimidate each other. It is also possible that both sides immediately flee from each other!

If there are more than two sides in a battle, then for each side only count the highest intimidation total of any one group of opponents who are all allied against them. For example, sides A, B, C and D are all rolling for the intimidate step. A and B are not fighting each other, and A and C are not fighting each other. To see if group A are intimidated, compare A's heroism against the higher of C's and D's intimidate. To see if C is, use the higher of B's and D's intimidates, and to see if D is, use the higher of A+B or C, as A and B are both allied and fighting D. In general, this is an edge case, but it bears mentioning.

In combat, you can take up to four actions every round, except that an attack counts as two. You could reload, move, and attack, or attack and attack, or move, move, move, and move once more. If fleeing because of the intimidate step, the only action you're allowed is to quadruple-move away from the enemies (unless you have nowhere to run, in which case you move as far as you can and then take the rest of your actions as normal).

An attack may consist of multiple shots or swings. For example, Hand-to-Hand Combat increases the number of melee attacks you make. If you are wielding two pistols you can attack with each one. If you have a weapon with more than one shot per attack, you can shoot multiple times with them.

A move consists of moving your redemptionist (or opponent of the redemptionists) up to 30 feet from his original location. It is suggested to use a scale of about 1 inch = 5 feet, which helpfully makes 1 centimetre about 2 feet (which is in turn about 60 centimetres, if you care about such things). Rather than using square-based measuring, you should use true position and measurement.

Other actions in combat could include reloading, throwing a weapon to someone, drawing or putting away a weapon, tying a knot on something or cutting a rope, or practically any other action you can imagine occurring in the heat of combat. Some may count as more than one action. Simple actions such as talking or dropping objects don't count as actions.

Resolving an attack is where it gets interesting.

First, check your weapon's short range and long range (if you have a long range on your weapon; melee weapons do not). You must be within your long range (or short range, if your weapon doesn't have a long range) to attack with your weapon. Then, choose your hapless target and proceed with the following:

- If you have a ranged weapon, make sure it's loaded with enough ammo. You need to spend one ammo from your weapon for each attack you want to make, and reloading a new clip takes an action.
- Check how many shots your weapon is able to fire, or how many swings you can make with your melee weapon. For example, a light auto-pistol is semiautomatic and has 3 shots, so if you wield two of them, you get 6 shots. The number of attacks you can make with your melee weapon is equal to one, plus your Hand-to-Hand Combat skill. You do not gain any appreciable benefit for wielding two melee weapons.
- Find your weapon's Target Number for the range you're at. For example, the heavy pistol has a Target Number of 19 at short range, 21 at long range. A knife just has a Target Number of 20. If you try to wield two pistols at once, the target number is 5 higher than normal.
- Roll to hit with your weapon. Go on, it'll be fun!
- If you do hit, deal the weapon's damage.
- If you're entitled to another shot, you may choose a new target, then go back two steps. If not, you're done.

Experience

As your redemptionists go about their business, killing and burning merrily, they will inevitably get better at things. They will pick up new skills, for example, and improve their physical and mental prowess in a way which someone who isn't pushed to their limit every day simply wouldn't. Each time a redemptionist gains a level, they gain 10 bonus points, and must spend them immediately. 4 may be spent to learn a new skill. 2 may be spent to improve an old skill by one rank. 1 may be spent to improve one of the eight starting abilities by 1 point. However, no skill or ability may be improved more than one rank (or learned, and then improved a rank) per level up.

Each enemy defeated is worth some amount of experience. To earn a new level, you must earn experience points equal to five hundred times the level you are currently, in addition to those you needed to reach that point. There is no maximum level, but at very high levels you may quickly run out of things to spend points on.

Enemies

The enemies you will encounter are legion, from preachers of faiths that oppose yours, through gang members, to Lost Scholars themselves. This is not a comprehensive list, but it provides some quick, easy encounters. Assume each enemy has enough ammunition to last the battle.

The entries are listed something like this:

Name
Description
Sub-name: PW N DX N HT N HR N CH N IN N WS N IT N HP N DF N LV N XP N CD N
Special:
Equip:
Sub-name: PW N DX N HT N HR N CH N IN N WS N IT N HP N DF N LV N XP N CD N
Special:
Equip:
Sub-name: PW N DX N HT N HR N CH N IN N WS N IT N HP N DF N LV N XP N CD N
Special:
Equip:
Sub-name: PW N DX N HT N HR N CH N IN N WS N IT N HP N DF N LV N XP N CD N
Special:
Equip:
Sub-name: PW N DX N HT N HR N CH N IN N WS N IT N HP N DF N LV N XP N CD N
Special:
Equip:

The name is simply the name of that type of creature. Gang member. Lost Scholar. Law enforcement agent. Description is a short description of that type of creature and the threat they pose to the Church of Redemption. The sub-names are names of a specific type of creature - police officer or special operative, Lost Knowledge Initiate or Lost Knowledge Saint, the difference can be immense. The list of two-letter abbreviations tells you the value of the enemy's power, dexterity, health, heroism, charisma, intelligence, wisdom, intimidation, hit points, defence, level, experience and credits carried. Special tells you anything unusual about the creature you're fighting. Equip tells you typical equipment carried by the creature.

Law Enforcement
Law enforcement is a constant enemy to more criminal chapters of the Church of Redemption, and a grudging ally to those who tread the path of the righteous.

Police Community Support Officer: PW 12 DX 11 HT 12 HR 8 CH 12 IN 10 WS 11 IT 7 HP 37 DF 6 LV 1 XP 50 CD 0
Special: The PCSO has the following special ability:
Request Backup: A PCSO can radio for help or, if they haven't even time (or ability) to talk, activate an emergency mode on their radio which immediately sends out their location via GPS. If the emergency mode is activated, 1d6 police officers arrive in 3d6 minutes (3d6*10 rounds). If the PCSO radios for help, twice the number of the PCSO's aggressors in AROs arrives in 2d6 minutes.
Equip: Body armour

Police Officer: PW 13 DX 12 HT 12 HR 8 CH 12 IN 10 WS 11 IT 8 HP 49 DF 6 LV 2 XP 200 CD 50
Special: The police officer can radio for backup just like a PCSO can. In addition, the police officer has the following special ability:
Pepper Spray: The police officer can, once during the combat, use their pepper spray to blind and disorientate their opponent within 5 feet. The opponent is limited to 2 actions per round and the Target Number increases by 5 for 1 minute.
Equip: Light melee weapon, body armour.

Armed Response Officer: PW 13 DX 12 HT 12 HR 10 CH 12 IN 10 WS 11 IT 10 HP 49 DF 6 LV 2 XP 300 CD 50
Special: AROs carry pepper spray and can radio for backup just like police officers.
Equip: Light melee weapon, medium rifle, body armour.

Special Operative: PW 14 DX 13 HT 13 HR 12 CH 12 IN 10 WS 11 IT 14 HP 90 DF 8 LV 5 XP 400 CD 100
Special: Special operatives carry equipment such as battering rams and explosive charges to get through locked doors. They can take two actions to smash through practically any wall or door. They have the following:
Weapon Specialisation (Assault) 2 ranks
Equip: Heavy melee weapon, light machine-gun, body armour, heavy helmet

Arbiter Noone: PW 25 DX 16 HT 19 HR - CH - IN 23 WS 19 IT 24 HP 272 DF 11 LV 13 XP 1000 CD 300
"I know you will not come quietly. But you will come."
Special: Noone is a soulless husk, and has no heroism or charisma scores, but is never intimidated or persuaded. It has the following special abilities:
Unique: Arbiter Noone is unique, and therefore only one exists!
Hand-to-Hand Combat 5 ranks
Weapon Specialisation (Melee) 5 ranks
Equip: Heavy melee weapon, body armour, heavy helmet, armoured jacket



Gang Members
Gang violence can be harmful or helpful to you, but either way the redemptionists are almost always going to get involved in it. Either way, gangsters are simple foes who jump into the fray or fire off a load of shots.

Brawler: PW 16 DX 8 HT 12 HR 13 CH 6 IN 8 WS 9 IT 12 HP 37 DF 1 LV 1 XP 100 CD 100
Special: None.
Equip: Heavy melee weapon, light jacket

Gunner: PW 9 DX 16 HT 11 HR 9 CH 8 IN 10 WS 10 IT 11 HP 36 DF 1 LV 1 XP 100 CD 100
Special: None.
Equip: Medium rifle, light jacket

Heavy: PW 12 DX 7 HT 12 HR 10 CH 8 IN 8 WS 9 IT 15 HP 49 DF 5 LV 2 XP 300 CD 200
Special: Heavies use double their power for carrying capacity.
Equip: Heavy machine gun, heavy vest, light jacket

Gang Leader: PW 14 DX 14 HT 14 HR 14 CH 16 IN 13 WS 13 IT 16 HP 123 DF 9 LV 7 XP 600 CD 300
Special: Gang leaders have the following:
Inspire 3 ranks
Hand-to-Hand Combat 2 ranks
Weapon Specialisation (Pistol) 2 ranks
Equip: Light melee weapon, heavy auto-pistol, armoured vest, armoured jacket

Ten-shot Tony: PW 14 DX 30 HT 17 HR 23 CH 21 IN 23 WS 19 IT 18 HP 229 DF 3 LV 12 XP 1000 CD 200
"Well, I could fill you with lead, or I could not fill you with lead. On balance, filling you with lead sounds more fun."
Special: Tony can reload his weapons instantly, even during another action. He has the following:
Unique: Ten-shot Tony is unique, and therefore only one exists!
Weapon Specialisation (Pistol) 10 ranks.
Equip: Two machine-pistols, armoured jacket.

Order of the Lost Knowledge
Lost Scholars, members of the disgraced ninth order, may still be of aid to the redemptionists, or they may fight against them, depending on what is at stake. They fight using forbidden technology to give them the appearance of mages.

Lost Knowledge Initiate: PW 10 DX 10 HT 10 HR 11 CH 12 IN 14 WS 14 IT 11 HP 35 DF 0 LV 1 XP 100 CD 50
Special: Lost Knowledge Initiates succeed on using complex objects or identifying religions or religious traditions, objects or paraphernalia without having to roll. They have:
Scavenge 1 Rank
Open 1 Rank
Hands of Fire: Lost knowledge initiates craft miniature flamethrowers on their wrists. Once during a combat they can spend two actions to deal 2d6 damage (ignoring defence) to everyone but themself within a 90 degree, 15-foot radius semicircle centred on them and pointed in any direction.
Equip: Light Pistol

Lost Scholar: PW 13 DX 10 HT 11 HR 12 CH 13 IN 15 WS 15 IT 13 HP 47 DF 1 LV 2 XP 200 CD 100
Special: Lost Scholars succeed on using complex objects or identifying religions or religious traditions, objects or paraphernalia without having to roll. They have:
Scavenge 1 Rank
Open 2 Ranks
Hand-to-Hand Combat 1 Rank
Fists of Might: Lost Scholars deal 1d12 damage on a successful melee attack (plus bonus damage for power). They can also use the Hands of Fire ability and it does 4d6 damage.
Equip: Light pistol, light jacket

Lost Librarian: PW 15 DX 12 HT 12 HR 13 CH 13 IN 15 WS 17 IT 14 HP 73 DF 3 LV 4 XP 300 CD 200
Special: Lost Librarians succeed on using complex objects or identifying religions or religious traditions, objects or paraphernalia without having to roll. They have:
Scavenge 2 Ranks
Open 3 Ranks
Hand-to-Hand Combat 1 Rank
Arms of Absolution: Lost Librarians use their special arms to increase their melee damage to 2d12, and can use the Hands of Fire ability to deal 6d6 points of damage. They can also apply forces at a distance, pushing things at a range of up to 30 feet, but fine control is impossible and it is possible to block this ability (which relies on pulses of air being blasted out of the forbidden technology).
Equip: Light auto-pistol, armoured jacket

Lost Archivist: PW 16 DX 13 HT 13 HR 15 CH 16 IN 18 WS 21 IT 17 HP 116 DF 9 LV 7 XP 600 CD 300
Special: Lost Archivists succeed on using complex objects or identifying religions or religious traditions, objects or paraphernalia without having to roll. They have:
Scavenge 3 Ranks
Open 4 Ranks
Hand-to-Hand Combat 2 Rank
Frame of Power: Lost Archivists have all a Lost Librarian's abilities, but the range is doubled and the damage is 3d12 for the fists and 8d6 for the fire. They can also fly short distances, but cannot end their turn flying. They don't take falling damage.
Equip: Body Armour, Armoured Jacket

Archivist Ari'El: PW 20 DX 15 HT 17 HR 21 CH 19 IN 25 WS 26 IT 21 HP 212 DF 11 LV 11 XP 1000 CD 350
"Knowledge isn't power, but it certainly helps."
Special: Archivist Ari'El succeeds on using complex objects or identifying religions or religious traditions, objects or paraphernalia without having to roll. They have:
Unique: Archivist Ari'El is unique, and therefore only one exists!
Scavenge 5 Ranks
Open 7 Ranks
Hand-to-Hand Combat 3 Ranks
Body of a God: The ultimate in lost technology, said to contain the actual ashes of a dead deity, increases Ari'El's melee weapon damage to 4d12, and allows them to use the Hands of Fire ability at double range and 10d6 damage at will (not just once per combat), and to fly, moving at 60 feet rather than 30 but still needing to land at the end of each turn, and to manipulate objects at up to 60 feet away. Also, it restores 1d6 hit points to Ari'El every single turn.
Equip: Heavy auto-pistol, Body Armour, Armoured Jacket, Heavy Helmet

Heretics of the Faith
Other cultists, other religious leaders, or self-declared gods are usually considered enemies of the Church of Redemption. They are allied where they find common ground in their scripture.

Cultist: PW 9 DX 14 HT 11 HR 9 CH 9 IN 10 WS 10 IT 12 HP 36 DF 1 LV 1 XP 100 CD 100
Special: Cultists have utter faith in their cause. No matter how badly intimidated they are, they won't run from combat.
Equip: Light pistol, light melee weapon, light jacket

Partisan: PW 15 DX 9 HT 13 HR 11 CH 8 IN 10 WS 9 IT 13 HP 38 DF 1 LV 1 XP 100 CD 100
Special: Partisans have utter faith in their cause. No matter how badly intimidated they are, they won't run from combat.
Equip: Light pistol, light melee weapon, light jacket

Fanatic: PW 17 DX 11 HT 15 HR - CH 4 IN 7 WS 4 IT 23 HP 70 DF 0 LV 3 XP 200 CD 0
Special: Fanatics can't be intimidated, but no-one is inspired by their mindless aggression either - as such, they have no heroism value. They have:
Hand-to-Hand Combat 2 ranks
Equip: Heavy melee weapon.

Heirophant: PW 10 DX 12 HT 11 HR 21 CH 21 IN 23 WS 13 IT 12 HP 91 DF 3 LV 6 XP 300 CD 400
Special: Heirophants are leaders of cults and churches. They have:
Inspire 7 ranks
Equip: Medium shotgun, armoured jacket

Saint Anna: PW 7 DX 23 HT 8 HR 29 CH 26 IN 19 WS 17 IT 24 HP 97 DF 6 LV 9 XP 700 CD 300
"I will never die until the world unites behind me."
Special: Saint Anna is the goddess incarnate of an obscure cult. She has:
Unique: Saint Anna is unique, so there is only one of her!
Inspire 10 ranks
Goddess of the Godless: Saint Anna inspires her allies to feats of glory, reducing all of their Target Numbers by 5.
Sworn Pacifist: Saint Anna cannot attack.
Immortal Soul: If Saint Anna would die, there is a 95% chance that she stands back up again on 33 hit points.
Equip: Body armour

Weapon List

The following lists all weapons and their vital statistics.



Name
Target Number
Damage
Shots Per Attack
Short Range
Long Range
Long Range Penalty
Clip Size
Weight
Price


Light Pistol
25
1d8
1
20 ft
100 ft
0
10
1
100


Heavy Pistol
24
1d10
1
30 ft
120 ft
+2
10
1
200


Light Auto-Pistol
23
1d12
3
20 ft
100 ft
+4
15
1
300


Heavy Auto-Pistol
22
1d8+1d6
3
30 ft
120 ft
+6
21
1
400


Machine-Pistol
21
2d8
5
20 ft
60 ft
+10
30
2
500


Light Rifle
22
1d12
3
60 ft
200 ft
0
21
4
300


Medium Rifle
21
2d8
3
60 ft
200 ft
+2
27
4
600


Heavy Rifle
20
2d10
3
60 ft
200 ft
+4
30
5
900


Light Machine Gun
19
2d12
5
30 ft
80 ft
+6
40
6
1200


Heavy Machine Gun
18
3d10
5
20 ft
60 ft
+10
50
7
1500


Pellet Gun
23
3d6
1
10 ft
50 ft
0
5
4
200


Light Shotgun
22
4d6
1
15 ft
60 ft
+2
5
4
400


Medium Shotgun
21
5d6
1
15 ft
60 ft
+4
5
4
600


Heavy Shotgun
20
6d6
1
15 ft
60 ft
+6
10
5
800


Auto-Shotgun
19
7d6
3
10 ft
40 ft
+10
15
6
1000


Light Melee Weapon
20
1d6
Varies
3 ft
-
-
-
2
30


Heavy Melee Weapon
25
1d12
Varies
5 ft
-
-
-
3
50



Armour

The following table lists all sets of armour and their effects. You can wear one helmet, one jacket, and one vest or set of body armour at a time.



Name

Defence

Weight

Cost



Light Helmet

1

3

100



Heavy Helmet

2

5

200



Light Jacket

1

3

50



Heavy Jacket

2

6

100



Armoured Jacket

3

9

150



Heavy Vest

4

10

200



Armoured Vest

5

15

300



Body Armour

6

20

400




Die Equivalences

Not everyone has access to d8s, d10s, d12s and d20s. 1d8 is about 1d6+1. 1d10 is about 1d6+2. 1d12 is about 2d6. 1d20 is about 3d6. These are obviously slightly inaccurate, but the difference is minimal as long as one is consistent.

Conclusion

So ends the Redemptionist role-playing system. My aim was not high - only to make a game that was better than RaHoWa out of the same mechanics - and I hope you agree that I've succeeded. Thanks for reading.