This is another tiny blurb from the rough draft of the game I'm working on called Broken Contract. Previously I posted the Introduction to the background, as well as blurbs about Breakers (laborers who break their work contracts and flee indentured servitude) and Enforcers (bounty hunter posses that hunt Breakers to bring them back to work). As it stands these will be the three groups the initial game will be based around. After the blurb I'll write a bit more about what the game intends to be.
Security Officers
Security Officers or Prods oversee the daily toil of the Tracted on behalf of the Corp they work for. Ensuring quotas are met and the work is done gives them their purpose. They exist to ensure that Contracted do not slack off, inflict calamity upon themselves, sabotage their work, or attempt to organize. They serve as the de facto police, supervisors, and in a bloody minded and militant way as the middle management of the dark and twisted life that causes so many to risk their necks before enduring another day under the boot of the Prods.
Many corporations prefer to keep their Security Force in-house, but private Security Firms are big business as well. Often there are layers to a the corporate security structure, with in-house security being better armed, better paid, and invested in the continued profitability of the corporation they work for. The private Security Firms are employed because they are a much cheaper option. Private Security Officers are poorly paid and are given inferior equipment and training. They provide warm bodies, semi alert and semi capable, who are there to provide greater numbers when needed. Still, their lot is superior to that of the common worker, and they know it and have little desire to upset that paradigm.
In the event of any sort of work stoppage or Break attempt, Security Officers are paid to intervene and stop not only the Breakers, but to shut down any widespread frenzy that it might create. Riots need to be crushed before they can start and that is where their training excels. Overseers and Officers employ shock batons, arc pistols, and repeater rifles with rubber bullets to great effect bringing the hammer down on any budding insurrection without significantly damaging corporate property.
-Nick Baran (with Rob Ferrick)
What Is Broken Contract? (or What Does It Intend to Be?)
Broken Contract is a Sci-Fi Wild West 28mm miniature board game. It is set in a dystopian future where humanity has begun colonizing the stars, but most folks live in indentured servitude to draconian mega-corporations. Though most accept their lot in life, there are those who yearn to be free of their masters. They break free from their mining colonies, agri-domes, and factory cities in the hope of starting a new life on the frontiers of whatever backwater planets they are enslaved on. These once contracted laborers are called Breakers for short. But the mega-corporations can’t let a strong back go, particularly when there are still debts to be paid. Assuming that Breakers manage to escape through the grasp of corporate Security Forces and make it out onto the desert plains, bounty hunters are then hired to bring them back alive to complete their contract. These bounty hunters are called Enforcers.
Game play in Broken Contract mixes the simplicity of a dungeon crawler board game with the depth of a skirmish war game. As a “high adventure” game, the mechanics are meant for fast and furious game play, and offer some of the same experiences that a true table top RPG or a first person shooter video game would offer, with the ability to leap over obstacles and dive roll under a closing door. Of course that also means the risk of falling or being crushed to death! To facilitate these ends the Characters have 16 Stats to help determine how well they can do things from fighting in hand-to-hand to patching up an injured comrade. Additionally, each Character can perform 3 Actions per turn so that they can jog to a better firing position and shoot a gun, or they could jump over a mining cart and hit that Security Officer they’ve been mean-mugging all day with a shovel. In the next turn they might want to throw them down a vertical mine shaft? It’s a difficult Action to perform but you can try! To add to the excitement, a Character who still has Actions left can Interrupt an attack by dodging, defending themselves or fleeing; among other things. Everything is resolved with a simple roll of a 6 sided dice to keep the game simple and flowing.
If anyone has any questions or is curious where this is going, ask away. I'd love to hear from you.
-Nick