Tabletop Roleplaying in a Biopunk Dystopia
Human 2.0
UPDATE- 29.09.2017
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I am excited to announce the launch of Beta Version 0.2 of Human 2.0! Based on player feedback and ongoing playtesting, as well as the countless voices that expressed approval and disapproval on Reddit (you know who you are, you lovely people!), the newest version of Human 2.0 promises to be easy to learn, engagingly rewarding to play! A brief summary of the changes made:
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- Overhaul of the Dice Mechanic: Human 2.0 now runs on a simple, intuitive D6-based system, designed for ease of play without sacrificing the ability to tell a compelling narrative. This should help new players get to grips with the mechanics and jump right in!
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- Removal of the Skills System: This mechanic was too clunky and ill thought-out. It's been removed, replaced with more expansive rules to cover using your Attributes creatively to solve problems, rather than just relying on a complex mish-mash of rules!
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- Combat Rules Condensed: In a similar vein to the X-COM series of video games, combat has been simplified without foregoing tactical depth and player engagement. What was once a monolith of rules has been condensed to just 3 pages, enabling you to fight epic battles without any of the hassle!
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- The Humanity System: Your character experiences transformative moral, psychological and societal changes as their biomodification erodes their connection to mankind.
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- Birthrights and Technoselves: A 'Race/Class' system designed to make characters more customisable and yet retain a clear, distinct and compelling identity.
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- The Transhuman Specialisations: Ever wanted to have a scorpion tail or bat-like wings? Ever wanted to transform into liquid metal and shoot electron jolts out of your eyes? With Transhuman Specialisations, a form of higher-tier Character Customisation, you can!
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- Rework of Existing Biomodifications, Psionic Powers and Equipment: Bringing everything in line with the new D6 system, and making Equipment less bitty and difficult to manage with a streamlined Availability system that cuts out the need to balance currency.
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- Better Character Progression: Clearer, more open and streamlined Character Customisation, focussed on promoting player choice and depth, whilst tying in to the new Humanity System in a meaningful way.
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We do hope you enjoy the new ruleset, and look forward to hearing your feedback. Lore and background is still to come- look out for that over the coming weeks!
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Best,
The Human 2.0 Team
(All on his Lonesome...)
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Welcome to Human 2.0
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Human 2.0 is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game set in a biopunk dystopia. Players take on the roles of Contractors, genetically augmented post-humans who dwell in the murky underworld of the Cage. In their travels they will face challenges like no other: vat-grown slaves evolved to question their DNA, corpses resurrected by arcane science and the geological devastation of an Earth bled dry.
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Currently, the Human 2.0 Game System is in the early beta phase of development. All rules, from Character Creation all the way to Combat, and more besides, are provided FREE OF CHARGE for you to download, play and enjoy.
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We at the Human 2.0 team, or more precisely I, am grateful for your support. Everyone who downloads the rules, plays the game or offers feedback is a valued and trusted member of our community. I look forward to where the game takes us.
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So, download, read, play and enjoy. And let us know what you think of Human 2.0...
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All the best,
Ben Worsfold
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'The only limit to our potential is not found in Nature. Rather, it is found in how willing we are to change'
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In the year 2197, mankind exhausted the last of the Earth’s natural resources, triggering an ecological collapse on a catastrophic scale. The skies churned with poison; the rivers ran black and sour. Almost overnight, all but a handful of species became extinct. In time, civil order collapsed. Violence and looting ran rampant through the streets. The planet, so long abused, had slowly begun to die.
As a final desperate measure, an experimental initiative was renewed. It proposed the construction of the Cage, an impenetrably vast network of platforms and stations that would be locked in low orbit by the Earth’s gravitational field. It was a monumental undertaking, the first of its kind in human history. Faced with annihilation, however, there was little choice.
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Three years passed. Great metal struts were raised into space, woven together in a lattice that straddled the globe. Upon it buildings were constructed, fed by towering pipelines that siphoned sluices of magma to fuel the enormous turbines clustered within. An artificial nation was laid across the sky, so huge as to blot out the sun. All that was left was poured into it. How much was sacrificed, how much was lost, can never be known. It does not matter. In time, the work was complete. vessels were loaded with refugees, marshaled by impromptu guards. People at last began to make the final exodus from the world they had called their home.
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And so we arrive at the year 2347. The fragile peace between the Districts has become vulnerable. The design of the Neural Network, a mnemonic database in which the brain-taped minds of man can conjoin, has thrown the balance of power, so carefully maintained, into doubt. The surge in popularity of separatist groups and violent protest has caused further distrust and conflict. Furthermore, psionic mutants- those that can wield mental energy as an extension of their will- have emerged across the Cage. The Districts fear them, as well as the horrors other mutations may bring. And a burgeoning criminal underclass has taken to colonizing the Dead Zones, forming micro-nations that threaten the security of those around them. The atmosphere is tense. It is a dangerous time to be alive.
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YOU are one among millions, born in the confines of the Cage. YOU have never seen or set foot upon the Earth, growing up in an artificial world with the grey planet beneath you, lifeless and imposing. YOU are faced with a society poised on the brink, one all too ready to collapse into chaos- the same chaos that doomed your forebears. But YOU are prepared. Your body and mind are augmented, whether by wealth or by force. YOU are no longer one of the masses. YOU can decide your own fate.
YOU are Human 2.0.
