and many Juicers are dropping everything and heading to New
town, Arkansas. Furthermore, word has it that the CS is also hir
ing scouts and mercenaries, should any of the characters be
interested. The player characters might want to investigate the
goings on in Arkansas, whether they 're Juicers or not. Even
those who despise the CS might feel compelled to "check things
out" to get a better idea of what these fascists might have in
store for the country. Or they may go to find work among the
communities who fear Coalition reprisals, like Kingsdale,
Tolkeen (the most likely target of a CS military campaign) or
other nonhuman communities, freedom fighting organizations
and non-allied kingdoms.
Any number of adventures involving the Coalition, Juicers,
spies, bandits, and others can occur on the way to Newtown. If
the G.M. wants the characters to play a role in the Uprising and
its aftermath, this is a great way to get them involved.
Bring me the head of Diego McDonald: Diego McDonald,
the international Deadball champion, has left El Paso, breaking
numerous contracts for competitions, endorsements, and other
lucrative activities, and a lot of people are unhappy about it. A
group of mercenaries are hired to find McDonald and bring him
back, alive if at all possible, dead otherwise. In addition, a
500,000 credit bounty is offered to anybody who can bring the
Juicer back alive; 75,000 if he is killed - that would not help
his employers' bottom line, but it would at least give them a
measure of revenge.
Diego has heard about the Prometheus Treatment and has
gone off to get it. He is desperate, starting to feel the symptoms
of Last Call, and will do anything to cheat fate. He is traveling
with his lover, Lynda Peterson (4th level Mega-Juicer), and a
small band of four fans (Juicer Wannabes, all 3rd level). They
are using a modified Mountaineer A TV with extra passenger
space, armor (upped to 200 M.D.C.) and a few weapon systems.
The player characters can play a variety of roles. They can be
the mercenaries hired to find McDonald (their job complicated
by scores of other bounty hunters looking to beat them to him).
If they are, will they be swayed by the Juicer' s plight when they
learn of it? Will they help him get the treatment? McDonald will
fight to the death; he has nothing to lose. The only bargaining
chip to use against him would be Lynda. He will comply with
demands in order to protect her from harm.
Alternatively, our heroes can be fellow travelers who inad
vertently meet (and befriend?) McDonald and get caught in the
crossfire between the mercs and bounty hunters who are out to
get McDonald - dead or alive ! Do the characters intervene on
either side' s behalf?
The Chaos Months
The Coalition announcements create a great deal of excite
ment and apprehension, as well as chaos and death throughout
the Midwest all by itself. In many kingdoms, from Ishpeming to
Los Alamo and the Pecos Empire, the same drama plays out
over and over. Thousands of Juicers, hired as mercenaries for a
period of 2-4 years, either ask to be given a leave of absence or
desert their posts. In Northern Gun/lshpeming, over a thousand
Juicer mercenaries just up and walk away, daring their employ
ers to stop them. Caught by surprise, the authorities let the Juic
ers go, and then had to take measures to prevent the remaining
6,000 to 7,000 in the army from following suit! Desertions of
135
1 0-40 continue to occur on a weekly basis. In some cases, skir
mishes between augmented humans and other soldiers have bro
ken out when they tried to stop the deserters. In other cases,
joyous (and drunken) Juicers have started riots, looting and pil
laging in twisted acts of celebration. By mid- l OS , desertions and
sporadic fighting has contributed to the deaths of over 2,000
people and countless injuries and acts of vandalism ! A harbinger
of things to come are reports of open rebellion at some of the
border towns.
Meanwhile, the first Juicer contingents started arrIvmg in
Newtown. By the summertime, several thousand Juicers had ar
rived. The rulers of the city, Governor Hornsby and General
Orly, agree for the first time in years, both concluding that to
house the Juicers inside the city would be a tragic mistake. In
stead, they establish a Juicer Camp on the outskirts of the city
and start building a set of fortifications around Newtown itself.
Before the arrival of the Juicers, the city did not have a defen
sive wall; for decades, heavy patrolling and other preventive
measures had kept the community safe. Now, Orly had his engi
neers raise a set of temporary M.D.C. fortifications, just in case
things get ugly.
Those first few months are chaotic and frantic. The tales of
the cure are just being heard in the most remote comers of North
America, places like the West and the far South. More and more
Juicers hear the siren call promising normal years of life, and
start heading toward Newtown - many of them without a good
idea of where Newtown is. Hundreds of Juicers looking for the
town are deceived by con-men, robbed and even killed along the
way. Gangs of bandits start following Juicer bands, trying to
take out any stragglers. In most cases, however, the enhanced
warriors are more than able to take care of themselves, and many
a bandit finds himself on the receiving end of his own brutality.
Adventure/Scenario Ideas:
Finding Newtown: Player char
acters who decide to get the Prometheus Treatment or to check
things out, will have to get there first. They can expect all man
ner of brigands and monsters to try to swindle, rob and attack
them along the way.
Juicer Mutiny: The player characters are passing through the
small kingdom of Farristown (or any number of places like it), a
modestly successful settlement with perhaps 1 ,000-8,000 people
living in mud huts and the occasional wooden house. The local
defense force is made up of six headhunters, five Crazies, and a
dozen Juicer mercenaries. When news of the treatment reaches
Farristown, the Juicers walk out on their contracts. When the
other mercs try to stop them, a shoot-out ensues, leaving five hu
mans and Crazies dead, as well as four Juicers, before the desert
ers are able to make their escape. The town sends out messen
gers asking for help - not only has the community been left al
most defenseless, but the deserters are burning and pillaging the
countryside as they go. If the player characters agree to help,
they have to find a way to stop eight Juicers (this may require a
fight to the death, or could be worked out with diplomacy, or
anything in between) and then have to help the town defend it
self. A dragon, evil mage, a pair of demons, a group of powerful
mercs or bandits may try to conquer, enslave or ravage the vil
lage and its people. Our heroes may find themselves momentar
ily stuck protecting these helpless folk from any manner of
danger. Or the characters could train a local militia (equipped
with weapons and armor taken from the dead Juicers and/or ban
dits), or even serve a stint as the town' s defenders, but doing so
might leave the characters out of the major events of the Upris
ing.
136
The Beginning of the End
The original Operation Phoenix Rising called for the assem
blage of an army of 30,000 to 40,000 Juicers at Newtown. Both
General Orly and Governor Hornesby (who feels betrayed by
Ultra-Tech Incorporated and Andrew Anderson) protests this
part of the plan. General Orly said that he would either need two
entire divisions placed under his command, or he would not be
responsible for what tens of thousands of Juicers might do to the
city. The plan was then modified so that Juicers would be given
the Prometheus Treatment and then sent towards New Chilli
cothe to the North in groups of 10,000, each group divided into
two Juicer Divisions, under Coalition officers.
Regrettably, the Juicers arrive faster than anticipated, making
the first few months total chaos. Teams of UTI scientists under
Coalition escort go from the city to the Juicer Camp and estab
lish a number of small Prometheus Treatment sites while the
main Treatment Center in town is completed. Each Juicer is
given a computerized card with an appointment date, coded to
his fingerprints so the card cannot be stolen and used by more
recent arrivals. There are occasional brawls and tension, but for
the most part, the Juicers seem willing to cooperate.
Upon entering a Treatment Center, the Juicers are given an
"explanation" of how the Prometheus Treatment works. They
are told that the Treatment is experimental so nobody knows
how long the life of a Juicer can be extended, but research sug
gests 20 to 40 years (all lies). The patients are told that a new
chip must be inserted in their brains, a minor surgical procedure
that will take an hour. After the chip is installed, the Juicers
needs to take special tablets on a weekly basis (a falsehood; the
tablets are harmless placebos), and that the tablets will be pro
vided only if they continue to cooperate fully with the Coalition
States' military, whom they have committed to serve for the next
two years. Most Juicers accept this in good faith and are cheer
fully cooperative even in the cramped and chaotic surroundings
of Newtown. Many who had been suffering the effects of Last
Call and other problems come out of the operating rooms feeling
better than ever. An atmosphere of joyful exuberance seems to
fill the entire makeshift camp. On the first day of treatments,
over 200 Juicers are given a new lease on life (or so they be
lieve). Within the next few days, over five hundred Juicers re
ceive "the treatment."
Adventure/Scenario Ideas:
Arriving in Newtown: The char
acters make it to the city and are treated to a strange spectacle. A
beautiful settlement, surrounded by makeshift fortifications and
further surrounded by a sea of tents and vehicles of every de
scription. The first impression is that the city is (already) under
siege.
For the time being, no Juicers (or any travelers) are admitted
into Newtown. Ways to sneak in are possible, but risky; the Coa
lition soldiers have been ordered to shoot first and ask questions
later. The characters have to make themselves at home on the
open fields around the city, in rather unsanitary conditions, and
surrounded by Juicers and mercenaries, some of whom are look
ing for trouble. Any Juicers in the party will get their appoint
ment card to undergo the Prometheus Treatment. Unless the
G.M. wants to condemn a character to death (or he wants a
player character to become a renegade Phoenix Juicer), he
should set things up so the Uprising erupts before he receives
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