- Corporation (rpg)
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Corporation (rpg) 
Designer(s) James Norbury Publisher(s) Brutal Games Publication date 2006 Genre(s) Science Fiction System(s) Brutal Engine Website http://www.corpgame.com/
Corporation is a science fiction role-playing game created by Brutal Games, it has been inspired by many Science fiction films and books including The Fifth Element, Gattaca, Johnny Mnemonic, and Total Recall. It has a small but growing fan base worldwide. The game makers have also set up a forum for players to use to ask questions relating to the fictional world the game is set in, the rules and even to discuss scenarios.The game is available for purchase in both book form and as pdf files.
Games are often played in a cinematic style. Description, storytelling and role-playing often being more important than dice rolling.
Contents
The game system
The System is the mechanics of the game. It lets a player character behave in a reasonably realistic manner. There are a wide and varied selection of different system, Corporation uses one called Brutal.
Character creation involves assigning points to seven statistics, or attributes. These 'Stats' range from 1 to 10. A player also assigns set levels to a number of skills.
During game play a Gamesmaster will ask a player to make certain rolls, with a target number based on the most appropriate choice of one Stat and one Skill. If the player rolls equal to our under this number they are successful in the acton they had decided on.
Critical hits and misses
A roll of double 1 means something especially good has happened and the GM can help the players out a bit. A roll of double 10 means something bad occurred, maybe a gun misfired or you broke your hand punching through a wall.
Circumstances such as quality of equipment or the profession of the Agent can alter which doubles are considered criticals.
Background
Corporation is set in 2500 AD. Five Corporations wield such power and influence they can all but make their own laws. The wars they once waged upon each other have left the planet deeply scarred but from the ashes they have brought about a new era in human development. Citizens in the game world live peaceful lives in gleaming Spire Cities while mankind takes its first tentative steps into colonising the solar system. Since the end of the Corporate Wars and the founding of the United International Government (UIG) there have been no global conflicts and crime has hit an all time low.
Each Corporation seeks to shape the world to its own ideals, but enemies are always waiting to take advantage of an overextended competitor. Enter Agents, the roles the players take in a game of Corporation: cybernetically altered and bio-modified humans fielding the most advanced technology money can buy. These men and women act as street level executives dealing with issues the Corporations cannot openly tackle.
The world
The game setting used in Corporation is very different from that of today. Following a long and savage war between the Corporations on their rise to power, a large portion of the world was left devastated and barely habitable.
Spire cities
Spires take many forms from simple yet stunningly tapered towers to immense pagodas and gnarled gothic constructs. The base of a typical Spire is 1–2 km across and generally about 800 to 1000 floors high. A typical Spire houses about half a million Citizens and has a 20% commercial / 70% Citizen / 10% corporate makeup.
A Spire is built around a single central column which contains the service networking system (SNS) for the whole building. The floors are built onto this column which allows the Spire to sway a small amount. The walls are effectively then bolted onto the side of the floors to create the characteristic cone.
Open cities
Some cities were not damaged too badly in the wars and as such are still functioning today. They are very much like the cities of the 21st century with modern conveniences and problems. These are referred to as Open Cities and many Citizens prefer them to the Spires, although they are harder to police and so in general have higher crime rates, more disease and overall worse conditions. Two of the most famous Open Cities are Los Angeles (often called Neuvo Angelos) and Tokyo.
Relic cities
In times gone by, all nations had powerful religions and many of the cities of the old world arose around and housed religious ideals. The Order of The Faith control several cities and sites which once held great religious significance. These are known as Relic Cities and are the bastions and training grounds of the Order. The belief in these sacred places has been rekindled and the Devoted of the Order now guard their cities fiercely. Once again these places are as sacrosanct and revered as they once were. Relic Cities act as reservoirs of faith; the telepathic energies of the Faithful well up in the cities resulting in profound effects. They radiate power and instill into those who visit them a sense of awe.
Old cities
Where great cities once stood now lie wrecks. What are commonly referred to as Old Cities are now the last refuge of the poor and hunted. In 2231 the Shi Yukiro struck, they had finally mastered a perfect global defence and were able to attack without the fear of counterattack. They made unreasonable demands of the West insisting on tithes of food and resources in exchange for safety from Japan’s D-Shift strikes. The west would not comply. This was one of the turning moments in the Corporate Wars and the end result created the hazardous hell holes which are the Old Cities.
This was, of course, not the case in Japan where their cities stood strong behind the defence systems. The UIG are still technically in governance of the Old Cities but their efforts seem to end at policing them, and aside the reduction of pollution, they make few moves to improve them. The sprawling cities grow in crude messes of scavenged parts and badly built extensions. The weapons used in the wars were mainly designed to eliminate the populace leaving the buildings untouched, so many of the Old Cities are structurally intact, but with decades of neglect and badly failing services they are little more
The Corporations
The Corporations play several roles in the game. Player characters are generally employed by one of the 5 Corporations. Other options, which will be expanded on in later source books, are employment as a Bounty Hunter, by the UIG (United International Government) or as a citizen. Once a player has chosen their employer, the other Corporations act as both enemies and allies, sometimes at the same time. Agents from other Corporations, controlled by the GM, may be on their own mission that has a positive or negative effect on that of the players, depending on the scenario.
The Corporations of the game world, and a description of their influences, outlook and attitudes, is as follows.
The Ai-Jinn
The Ai-Jinn Corporation dominate a large area of mainland Asia of the game world. Their legitimate business practices revolve around the macrostructure and mining industries but their real strength lies in the seedy world of crime. Most Ai-Jinn Agents are able criminals and have their roots within the world’s organised crime syndicates such as the Chinese triads, Japanese yakuza, Russian organisatziya and American gangsters.
These associations create vast criminal networks which facilitate the Ai-Jinn’s activities and allow them to operate beyond the reach of the law. Ai-Jinn Agents often mix with the underworld, establishing gangs and setting up illegal businesses while kidnapping, extorting and blackmailing their way to success.
Comoros
Less of a Corporation and more of an alliance, Comoros oversee the game world’s education and cultural integrity. They originally began as a necessary affiliation between India and Africa but over time have grown into one of the few superpowers who seem to have the wellbeing of humanity at the top of its agenda. Comoros’ power is a sleeping monster, their mastery over telepathics dwarfs the other corporations and although they seldom flex their muscles, when they do the results have been devastating.
This spiritual enlightenment comes at a price; Comoros are woefully underfunded and their merciful, altruistic tendencies have set them back a long way in the technology war. As a result they must buy most of their equipment from the other Corporations and operate on a stringent budget. Comoros Agents work with reduced cash and poor equipment but have access to a telepathic legacy few can claim. Their missions will than those of the other Corporations and will tend to have an overriding theme of improving the world rather than exploiting it.
Eurasian Incorporated (E.I.)
Eurasian Incorporated specialise in the health and leisure industry which generates them enormous amounts of capital. Additionally they are the best financiers in the world. Although they are easily the wealthiest of the corporations, the level of available cash brings with it decadence. Eurasian Incorporated Agents are flashy, well dressed, carefree and unconcerned with the effects of collateral damage.
When a typical E.I. Agent is faced with a problem his default choices tend to be blow it up or throw money at it. Although not every E.I. Agent thinks this way, so many do that as a corporation, their operational skills tend to be less honed than their rivals. E.I. Agents can expect expense accounts, fast cars, tailored suits and luxury accommodation.
Shi Yukiro
The Shi Yukiro corporation combine the refined efficiency of modern Japan with the philosophies and ritual of their ancient ancestors. Their field of expertise lies in highend technologies whose prevalence in the modern world has assured them an unshakable position among the game world superpowers.
Shi Yukiro Agents almost universally tend to have the greatest respect for their country and a strong sense of cultural identity. Their operational methods include stealth, high-tech surveillance, carefully deployed weaponry and of course, lightning displays of martial prowess. Shi Yukiro Agents mix the latest murderous technologies with codes of conduct dating back centuries. They act as the blackened knives of the Corporation, waiting in the darkness for any who would threaten their standing or impinge their honour.
Western Federation
The Federation make the best weapons in the game world and that fact has ensured that in this day of universal warfare, they can count themselves one of the largest and most powerful corporations on the planet. Their territory spans all of North America and a significant part of South America but as yet they have not expanded into the rest of the world.
Their policy is of old fashioned values and clean living. Although heavily criticised by many, has given them a strong hold on their resident population who find the Federation’s way, although imperfect, to be a realistic and acceptable alternative to the poverty, crime and squalor that is prevalent in much of the world. Federation Agents are well paid and extremely well armed. Federation divisions operate much like American Special Forces units and their mastery of military operations affords them a significant advantage in urban skirmishes. Their missions can range in scope as much as any Corporation but tend to lean towards ‘sweep and clean’ or ‘seek and destroy’.
References
- Player comments about the Corporation game at www.corpgame.com
- Review of Corporation at www.gnomestew.com
- Review of Corporation at www.iguk.com
- Interview with James Norbury at www.geeknative.com
- Interview with James Norbury at www.gnomestew.com
External links
Categories:- Espionage role-playing games
- Science fiction role-playing games
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