The Ryand Corporation

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This is a GURPS based campaign

The Campaign

The Time: Modern setting, sometime within a year of real-time date...at least to start with.

The Player-Character: A human (homo sapien), sex and sexual preference determined by the player.

Range of Campaign: The range of the campaign may be open-ended. Just figure that anything is fair game.

This is to be cinematic, hidden magic world. Magic does exist, though is cast somewhat differently than in a standard High Fantasy campaign. This will be described in detail later.

Background: You live in or around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (within about 50 miles of the D/FW Airport). You may have just moved here, or you may have lived in the area a long time (maybe all of your life). Your character may or may not know any or all of the other characters. If you know (or know of) the other characters, it may be by reputation only, casual acquaintance, or may be best friends. This is up to you and the other players as to what acquaintances, if any, there are.

You were just hired by the Ryand Corporation ostensibly because of the skills you possess, but you feel that there may be other reasons behind this. At the interviews, they seemed at least as interested in your belief that there is more to the world than what is seen, asking questions about what you thought about science fiction, ghosts, horror films, the occult, the afterlife, ESP, and the possibility of parallel worlds that quantum theory purports as well as questions pertinent to you skills. They also showed an interest in any sports, martial arts or military training you might have had (assuming these weren't the skills you were selling), and whether your passport was up-to-date. If it wasn't, or you don't have a passport, it was waved off with a "we can get one quickly when we need to."

You are not that concerned with the lines of questioning because of your belief that there is more to the world than what is seen. You've had some sort of experience, and maybe even some training to reinforce this belief, and from what wasn't said during the interviews, you think you be able to learn more of that hidden world.

You are a little unclear on the specifics of your job. Pay is slightly better than expected, and the benefits seem great. There will be a large amount of travel and it has been indicated that you will most likely be working as part of a team of consultants working to solve time-critical problems.

Your Character

150pts total, with a maximum of 50pts Disadvantages and 5pts Quirks.

Your Advantages, Disadvantages, Skills and Quirks can come from practically any world-book from any time frame prior to and up to today's technologies, but not including any Super skills or Powers.The campaign is considered Cinematic, so Cinematic abilities can be used, and expect the bad guys to possibly have these capabilities as well. If a skill is obviously not a standard, every-modern-day skill, something in the character write-up should give an explanation (I'm a member of the Irving Fencing Team.....I'm in the SCA.......Bow-hunting is something my daddy taught me-it's more of a challenge, and more sporting than killing a deer with a high-powered rifle....etc.). You should mention where most of your character abilities came from within your background story, or the GM may charge you an Unusual Background if the ability comes without . Other allowances, limitations, etc., are listed below:

Age: You are assumed to be an adult. 18 would be the absolute minimum, and would probably bump upwards dependent upon how highly skilled you are.

Wealth: Average wealth is $20,000. You should have the skills and abilities that would provide at least this much money. How you spend the money is up to you. If you wish, you can be paying off a car or house, and owe money on these. It presently costs about $125 to train for and purchase a concealed carry permit for Texas (not counting the cost of the gun). Some items are listed in the book, though realize that the prices are based on the year they became available, so you may have to account for inflation to make the prices correct. Many items you might want are not listed. If you come up with a reasonable price for an item, I probably won't have a problem. Prices can be found in catalogs or on-line. If you find a wonderful price that I might not believe, bring justification. Likewise, if you want hard-to-get or controlled items, let me know, and I'll let you know if they are available to you, and how much it will cost.

Advantages: You can have almost any of the Advantages that would be available to a normal human. You are literate in your default language. Your wealth will be Average or better, but will be only for Starting Money, and will not be a consideration for pay once the game has started.

Disadvantages: You will have a Maximum of 50pts. You may not take Sadism, Split Personality or Weirdness Magnet. Since you will need to be active, you should not have any severe Physical Disadvantages. If you have an Enemy, he/she/they will be limited to 10pts maximum (you may gain one or more during game-play). As mentioned before, your Wealth should be at least Average (the scenario below should explain why). Pretty much any other Disadvantages available to a modern human are allowed to you.

Skills: You may learn any skills that are available for modern day, though there should be a good background reason for skills not generally in use in this background/culture. A wide range of skills, Mental and Physical, will be useful (ie. well-rounded characters). While Mental skills will prove most useful, some physical skills may aid the party at times, and there may even be some combat now and again. You should have at least one skill you're really good at, but have several others that you're at least somewhat competent at.

Martial Arts: You can learn Martial Arts using the GURPS Martial Arts book. GURPS Swashbucklers may be used for fencing skills. Taught By A Master and other such cinematic skills and advantages are available.

Magic: You can have Magical Aptitude, and you may know up to 4 spells. You will need to write up in your background how you came to learn magic, but because of the nature of this campaign, you will not need an Unusual Background for this. The usual mana level for our world is lower than the norm for Fantasy, but variable. While spells can be cast normally with little further consideration, Hermetic Magic as delineated here is also available for use.

Psionics: Psionic abilities are not available at this time. 4th Edition psionics show up as a part of the Powers book, which seems more geared towards Superheroes, and doesn't seem appropriate for this campaign

Beliefs: Part of your background and possibly your skills includes the fact that you do believe that there is more to this world than what is usually seen, have had at least some experience in your life that lends credence to this belief, and took this job in part because you think you'll learn more about that hidden world.

Cinema Points: There will be times when something simply has to work (should you cut the red, green or blue wire) or maybe has to fail (that head shot you just got is going to ruin your entire day) for the characters to succeed. The heroes always tend to happen to bend over when the villain pulls the trigger and other such things. With the potential lethality of today's weapons, this would seem to give the edge to the characters when one of them just has to dash across that open field against automatic weapon fire in order to save the day.

Each character will start with 2 Cinema Points. They will gain 1 save point per play session. 1 point will affect actions in the following way:

Thus a Critical Failure could be changed into a Critical Success for 3 Cinema Points. You can never hold more than 5 Cinema Points. Holding any greater than 5 will be lost.

The Start of the Opening Scenario

This is the morning of your first day of work. Based on the address given, you arrive at a non-descript building in an industrial park in southern Irving. The mirrored glass front door has the letters "RC" stenciled on it, and there's a piece of paper taped to the glass with and arrow and "Ring Bell For Service" on it. The arrow points to a doorbell.

When you ring the doorbell, you hear a buzzing sound come from the door and a voice saying "Step in, please." Upon entering, you find yourself in a room about 8'x8' with a potted plant, two overstuffed chairs and a metal door on the far wall. There's a buzzing at the metal door and a striking-looking brunette in high heels and a red party dress opens the door, saying in an Australian accent, "You must be [your name]. I'm Courtney. Come in and follow me to the conference room. Orientation will start in a few minutes. Help yourself to some food and drink while you wait." There are at least three people already in the room. About then you hear a buzzing sound from back by the front door and she gestures towards a buffet table and leaves you in the room with the others.

If you have any questions, please ask me.