Cryptic Alliances

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Cryptic Alliances

Postby Blood axe » Sat Nov 19, 2016 7:32 pm

Cryptic Alliances was a fun idea in Gamma World. It should be brought into Mutant Future. It gives the characters a reason for meeting, travelling together, and golas to aim for. A common purpose. Though there is nothing wrong with a character from a different group, publicly or in secret. (spy?)

My favorite was the Crusaders or Friends of Justice.

Friends of Justice (Crusaders) –( Superheroes)
Someone found an Old World comic book and got an idea......
These beings have been chosen by extraordinary powers just like heroes before the apocalypse to fight for truth and justice. Some are very effective protectors some die fairly quickly. Anyone with skills, who submits to the hero oath and has the might to survive is welcome to join as a hero. Artist members record and tell of their deeds with crude picture stories and figurines which are collected by fans across the wasteland. Fan rank members are very common and some control shrines to the heroes of the ancients. Cult heroes wear colourful uniforms


==============================

Feel free to post your ideas for a Cryptic Alliance.
To defend: This is the Pact.
But when life loses its value,
and is taken for naught -
then the Pact is to Avenge.
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Re: Cryptic Alliances

Postby Malcadon » Mon Nov 21, 2016 10:59 am

Years ago, I posted the following under Religions, in the MF Wiki:

The Naturalists
This is comprised of loose bands of fanatical nature-enthusiasts. Their members live off the land as primitives, and reject anything that is not apart of it, like metal or plastic tools, permanent shelters, and even clothing. They see civilization as being destructive to the world. Members are mostly mutant plants and animals, but there are humans - pure mutated and artificial - who have come to reject civilized trappings. Unfortunately, humanity is poorly built to live off of nature in a naked state, much less in a world radically altered by radioactive fallout (or equivalent). Far from the idealistic "Hippie tree-huger" image people would assume of them - at least most people who runaway to join them, tend to act this way - those who live long in this movement are rugged and highly capable outdoorsmen - if survival and wilderness lore is not second nature to you, you will not live long. They have subtle ways to identify themselves to fellow members, which can vary from area to area, but it can be quite obvious to everyone, when they are made up of filthy, naked hermits.

Pop-Cults
This is not one type of group, but a broad category of cults that form around some pop-culture reference. This might be a "league" of costumed human mutants or tech-using (pure) humans, who fight crime within a city area. It might be a church of Elvis Impersonators, who sees "The King of Pop" as a messiah-figure, and makes pilgrimages to the long fabled kingdom of "Graceland". Even the concept of mutant animals worshiping an old cartoon mascot (see the picture above*) falls under this category. The possibilities are endless, as Mutant Lords are free to come-up with with their own ideas, based on real life (or fictional) pop-culture references and phenomena.

*a pic from the GW2 Gamma World module of Baders worshiping Wisconsin State mascot Bucky the Badger.
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Re: Cryptic Alliances

Postby Blood axe » Tue Nov 22, 2016 2:52 am

A more complete version......


Friends of Justice (Crusaders)

TECH: II
TYPES: Mutant Humans (25%); Mutant Animals (20%); Plants (5%)
NUMBER: 1d4
BASE: A (3d4)
SECRET SIGN: None. Each being in a
clan has its own individual uniform.
LOCATION: Near certain major post-holocaust
cities across America and
Canada, particularly on east and west
coasts.
DESCRIPTION: This loosely-structured,
mutant organization was started when a
group of beings began to imitate the
habits and beliefs of certain costumed
heroes they saw in ancient comic books
and movies. The Friends of Justice
groups may be joined only by those
beings with superpowers, physical and
mental mutations of great power (GM’s
discretion required). Local Crusader
groups are devoted to defending the
major city nearest them and take considerable
pride in their home towns.
The Friends are constantly on the go,
seeking out and destroying everything
that they consider to be evil or a
threat to their home city. Needless to
say, this sometimes includes other Cryptic
Alliances.
To defend: This is the Pact.
But when life loses its value,
and is taken for naught -
then the Pact is to Avenge.
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Re: Cryptic Alliances

Postby Malcadon » Tue Nov 22, 2016 9:42 am

I remembered that there was a superhero-themed CA in Dragon Mag, but I forgot they were the Friends of Justice you put down. (issue #93, page 78. Good stuff)

While looking up that, I found* this neat list of Cryptic Alliances, grouped by type. (Note: Cover pic is NSFW)

*How did I not know about this list? I have this guy's blog on watch!
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Re: Cryptic Alliances

Postby sniderman » Wed Nov 23, 2016 1:27 pm

Image
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Re: Cryptic Alliances

Postby Jay_NOLA » Fri Nov 25, 2016 8:40 pm

Gobinoid Games' The Scribe of Orcus had a couple of Mutant Future ones in the last few issues that Ryan Denison, one of the authors of Mutant future did.

Scribe of Orcus #3 "Faction 1: Bringers of the Light"
Scribe of Orcus #4 "Faction 2: The Luds"
Scribe of Orcus #5 "Faction 3 : The Steel Clad"

Gamma World had a bad habit of changing the background of the various Cryptic Alliances as time went on, even among the same editions. One that was fun was the Empire of the Sun. Detailed in Polyheadron and Dragon magazine. (A 3rd article of them was going to be done but never materialized.)

The Ranks of the Fit was another favorite of my old players.
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Re: Cryptic Alliances

Postby Malcadon » Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:15 pm

Jay_NOLA wrote:Gamma World had a bad habit of changing the background of the various Cryptic Alliances as time went on, even among the same editions.

One of the changes that I never liked (from what edition, I cannot remember), was to make The Friends of Entropy (aka Red Death) into a gang of savage marauders. That is, in later editions, they were depicted as a gang from a Mad Max-type movie, were they raided communities and travelers, fueled by insanity and bloodthirsty rage. In one case, they were noted as being mercenaries who would hire themselves out for blood and domar. To me, that is just wrong!

In the first edition, they were presented like the Thuggee bands from India. That is, they would sneak their way into a band of travelers, and in the night, while most of the travelers are asleep, they would kill the watch and murder everyone else while they slept. They were not insane, but soberly follow an ideology ingrained into them since early childhood. They are extreme nihilists. They see all intelligent life — including themselves — as an adoration to the natural order of the universe. They are without greed, lust, or self-preservation. Any sense of empathy is to spare the world of the blight of intelligent life. Their only goal in life is to stay alive long enough to see that all intelligent life on the Earth is purged one and for all! They will take any means necessary to achieve their mission in life, with wide-spread fatalities and suicide being the most desirable outcome. Acting as Thuggees makes a lot more sense than out-out bandit raids, as communities would stand stronger to a force of outsider aggressors, while the strategy of infiltration and quiet murder effectively turns the basic notion of community — a unity of people for mutual protection and survival — on it's head!

*wiping blood-stained knife with red cloth*

Any questions? :twisted:
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Re: Cryptic Alliances

Postby Blood axe » Sun Nov 27, 2016 8:08 pm

Good to see some fellow Gamma World fans! Im thinking when Mutant Crawl Classics is released we may see some more post-apoc gaming. They will even have factions like cryptic alliances.
To defend: This is the Pact.
But when life loses its value,
and is taken for naught -
then the Pact is to Avenge.
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Location: Famine in Far-go

Re: Cryptic Alliances

Postby Jay_NOLA » Sun Dec 18, 2016 8:01 pm

2 old Dragon Magazine articles in issue #25 had a good bit of info on the Red Death. I’m not sure if this is the 1st change to the way they are depicted or if they were always meant to be this way. One of the articles is a fiction piece that focuses on the leader of the Red Death, Blern. Blern is also on the cover of that issue. The other article gave some info on Alliances and had stats for the current leaders.

Malcadon wrote:
Jay_NOLA wrote:Gamma World had a bad habit of changing the background of the various Cryptic Alliances as time went on, even among the same editions.

One of the changes that I never liked (from what edition, I cannot remember), was to make The Friends of Entropy (aka Red Death) into a gang of savage marauders. That is, in later editions, they were depicted as a gang from a Mad Max-type movie, were they raided communities and travelers, fueled by insanity and bloodthirsty rage. In one case, they were noted as being mercenaries who would hire themselves out for blood and domar. To me, that is just wrong!

In the first edition, they were presented like the Thuggee bands from India. That is, they would sneak their way into a band of travelers, and in the night, while most of the travelers are asleep, they would kill the watch and murder everyone else while they slept. They were not insane, but soberly follow an ideology ingrained into them since early childhood. They are extreme nihilists. They see all intelligent life — including themselves — as an adoration to the natural order of the universe. They are without greed, lust, or self-preservation. Any sense of empathy is to spare the world of the blight of intelligent life. Their only goal in life is to stay alive long enough to see that all intelligent life on the Earth is purged one and for all! They will take any means necessary to achieve their mission in life, with wide-spread fatalities and suicide being the most desirable outcome. Acting as Thuggees makes a lot more sense than out-out bandit raids, as communities would stand stronger to a force of outsider aggressors, while the strategy of infiltration and quiet murder effectively turns the basic notion of community — a unity of people for mutual protection and survival — on it's head!

*wiping blood-stained knife with red cloth*

Any questions? :twisted:
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Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2015 4:40 pm


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