14_M4NCH4: A Techno Thriller Framework

"Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank, but give a man a bank, and he can rob the world." - Tyrell Wellick, Mr. Robot

Five minutes in the future, traditional employment is a relic of the past as the atomized job ecology of gigs, jobshares, and mechanical Turks eroded the static workforce. Nothing else really changed because you still need money to survive and to get it you have to hustle the skittle-colored carousels. Renting out slivers of your life to cover the bare essentials - food, water, and rent - as an independent contractor. Time is money made manifest. An endless grind that leaves you exhausted and alienated from your work, your community, and your time.

This is where 14_M4NCH4 (pronounced "La Mancha") comes in.

14_M4NCH4, inspired by the Occupy movement, mostly pays people to congest places of power like banks, corporate/consulate lobbies, and police stations. The pay is a lot better than most gigs and at minimum you just take up space for a couple hours in air conditioned buildings, a DDoS attack in real life. Of course, if you're willing to take risks then the payout rises commensurately with risk keen contractors accruing ranking and supplementary tasks tailored to their skills, forming action groups with similarly ranked individuals to perform some larger goal under cover of a mass demonstration. Could be picking safety deposit boxes full of dirty money clean, destroying or extracting consular data, planting false evidence, returning grifted wealth from big bank accounts, or disrupting an electronic system on-site as part of a larger plan. Some of these spontaneous groups crystallize into full fledged crews and adopting their own agendas separate from the app, while others split up as soon as payment hits.

So. Who's behind the gig sit-ins and high tech Robin Hooding? Who can say? I've got three suggestions:

1) The center of the onion is hollow and the app is on autopilot, forming action groups to foment chaos with no big picture. Maybe the characters step into the vacuum and bend the extensive network of contractors to their own aims.

2) There's a criminal conspiracy at the heart of 14_M4NCH4, using the app and its gigs to create distractions as well as recruiting and vetting future members.

3) The app is actually the human interface for an Awakened collection of marketing and inventory programs used for consumer analysis. They're everywhere, watching and analyzing every aspect of our lives. Engineering exciting news to influence consumer behavior.

A 14_M4NCH4 heist would utilize Wine & Savages' Scheme Pyramid (full disclosure: I playtested those rules and did some proofreading on it) intercut with a Mass Battle (pg. 131) of public opinion using Persuasion and other social skills instead of Battle. With the police breaching the location if the Mass Battle goes poorly. Or just fold police negotiation into Pyramid itself if you like. A longer campaign would operate West Marches style with a potpourri of different characters coming together to do jobs that intersect with the tentacles of a larger, opposed conspiracy.

Inspirado: Sorry To Bother You, Die Hard, Inside Man, Casa De Papel, Mr. Robot, Payday 2, Hong Kong Protestors, The Red Trilogy by Linda Nagata, The Centenal Cycle by Dr. Malka Older, One Thousand Beetles In A Jumpsuit by Dominica Phetteplace, Genocide & Juice by The Coup, Invaders from Mars by Charles Stross,  2013 - 2014 Bank Robberies,

Blackwood: This Wasn't Always Our Shape

 Whether they're the playthings of fey that got away, vicious seductresses who fall in love, immortal tricksters, or men becoming beasts to hunt/fight better; animals transforming into people and people transforming into animals run deep in folklore around the world. They echo in modern media with films like Green Snake, Sorcerer and the White Snake, and Brave.

Here's transformed animals for the Blackwood's elf haunted wilds for Errant Deeds (Forged in the Dark) and the OG Savage Worlds setting. I'm calling them Shapestrong to avoid "skin walker" and other loaded terms.

SHAPESTRONG FOR ERRANT DEEDS:
If you select Shapestrong as your culture, then choose an animal for your ancestry. You can briefly manifest that animal's qualities in exchange for Stress.

0-STRESS - Minor abilities that don't directly impact the game in a significant way. Example: Follow tracks using keen sense of smell (dog). Adopting a surefooted stance on a narrow ledge (goat). Subsisting on spoiled food with your iron gullet (pig).

1-STRESS - Abilities that are temporary and require concentration or exertion to summon.
Example: Manifesting a scaled hide to resist a crushing blow (snake). Rapidly regrowing teeth as you gnaw through rope and steel wire restraining you (rabbit). Sprout a prehensile tail for a third hand swing through the branches (monkey).

2-STRESS - Abilities beyond the ken of man. If it only allows you to take an action, roll an additional die or increase the effect.
Example: Plow through a solid wall (ox). Shout across a city (rooster). Slip through a narrow crack (rat).

These are reskinned xenos abilities from the excellent game, Scum & Villainy.

SHAPESTRONG FOR SAVAGE WORLDS:
If you select Shapestrong as your culture, then choose an animal for your ancestry.

My Other Skin Is A... - Spend a Benny to temporarily gain an Edge (you must meet the requirements) or 3 points of Racial Abilities that reflects your animal ancestry. It lasts for a scene.

Example: Screw your courage to the sticking place and facedown an elf with the Brave Edge (tiger). Run incredibly fast for a time with the Fleet Footed Edge (horse). Dash up the surface of the sorcerer's tower with Wall Walker while sprouting Claws (dragon).

Hello My Fellow People - Shapestrong are acutely aware of their heritage and how that agitates  superstitious folk. To compensate they adopt an annoying behavior to blend in. Because people are annoying. Treat this as the Habit (Minor) Hindrance.


The 7 Errants are a fellowship of heroic martial artists and wanderers for Eli Kurtz' Blackwood setting - a mash-up of Wuxia action and frontier fairy tales. You can find the book for sale here and a free quick start bundle here.