Ahimsa. Ahimsa is a collective term for all types of non-violent actions. Protest marches, sit-ins, mass non-cooperation, civil disobedience, blockades & strikes. Requires Dedicated follow- ers or Strong Leader.
Black Ops. Secret missions used for sabotage, assassinations, terrorism & kidnapping.
Cellular. The Circle is divided into self-sufficient cells with as little contact as possible with each other.
Connected. The Circle is well-connected, perhaps through old acquaintances, relatives or extensive bribes.
Cultural Heritage. The Circle is an integral part of the society it belongs to. INF cannot be fully reduced.
Dedicated Followers. There is a spirit of dedication within the Circle. It can be due to natural causes like good leadership or forced upon the members with shame, sur veillance & brain washing.
Fear. The Circle has a fearsome reputation.
Functional Stupidity. Members have a certain way of always sub- optimizing their actions to suit the Circle’s limited goals rather than anyone else’s (or society as a whole).
Info Retrieval. Through espionage, infiltration and briber y the Circle gains useful knowledge about its opponents.
Legal. The Circle has got a well-trained staff of law yers always ready to target opponents with lawsuits and threats.
Media. The Circle is ver y skilled at PR and has good relations with the media in general.
Memes. The Circle has a knack for spreading its world views through word of mouth.
Node Based Circles
A convenient way to work with Cir- cles is to create them as interlock- ing nodes. That way you can start with a small local Circle, and work your way up to bigger and more powerful Circles in several steps. This is an easy way to structure a longer campaign or a string of sce- narios: the players start investiga- tions relating to a small Circle. At the end of the scenario they find clues leading to a slightly more powerful group acting behind the small one, and at the end of the second scenario the clues point to yet another Circle and so on. The Circle nodes can be created top-down or bottom-up, but start- ing out small (bottom-up) is a good way to keep both feet on the ground during the creative process. Using Attributes
Attributes can be used in sce- narios to indicate how a Circle re- acts to changes. Will they call in their law yers or send an assassin when the characters start pok- ing around? The Attributes can be used both to indicate what reac- tions are likely to be (highest At- tribute is likely to be used first, if the situation is appropriate for it) but also how efficient that reaction will be (a Circle with Troops 10% will perhaps only have a few sloppy guards, while Troops 85% will rep- resent a well-trained elite group with top of the line gear).
161 CIRCLES
Mob. With a large enough mob even trained troops will back off. Use Thugs for small scale trouble-making.
Politics. With members at home in the corridors of power, the Circle can influence political decisions.
Sanctions. The Circle is using its powers to block an opponent economically.
Secrecy. The Circle’s members and operations, and even its existence, are kept secret. Use this as a negative modifier for characters researching the Circle.
Security. Always war y of attacks, the Circle’s security is tight. Passwords, id checks and clearance levels are common.
Spread. Different parts of the Circle reside in various locations. The Circle cannot be reduced below a certain SIZ, unless at- tacked globally.
Strong Leader. A charismatic leader is a strong focus point for the Circle.
Territory. The Circle has some territor y of its own. Higher value indicates either larger areas and/or higher quality.
Troops. Well-trained militar y personnel is kept by the Circle. Welfare. The Circle supports society by offering education, char- ity, health care and so on. Not always for altruistic purposes, but also to gain a strong local support.
Traits
Traits are defining important aspects of a Circle that are not easily covered by Attributes. This can be significant details like a dress code, typical behavior, diet restrictions and so on. This is a chance to add some color to the Circle, making it stand out in the player’s memories.
Stat & Attribute Levels
Below are some suggested power lev- els for Circles, and what values to as- sign to them.
Low Level: Use 10 stat points to spend freely on stats. Distribute 150 attribute points or 70 points to one attribute and 40 to two. Random method: Roll INF, SIZ and RES on 1d6. Roll 1d100 twice on the Idea Table. Finally pick 3 Attri- butes resonating with the ideas (using the same Attribute values as suggest- ed above).
Medium Level: 25 stat points. 250-320 attribute points or 90 points to one at- tribute, 70 to two and 40 to one. Ran- dom method: Roll INF, SIZ and RES on 2d6. Roll 1d100 twice on the Idea Table. Finally pick 4 Attributes resonating with the ideas (using the same Attri- bute values as suggested above). High Level: 40 stat points. 450-550 at- tribute points or 90 points to two at- tribute, 70 to three and 40 to two. Ran- dom method: Roll INF, SIZ and RES on 2d6+6. Roll 1d100 twice on the Idea Table. Finally pick 7 Attributes reso- nating with the ideas (using the same Attribute values as suggested above). Player-Controlled: For Circles created by the players, spend 2-4 stat points per player and a total of 150 attribute points equally divided among the play- ers.
162 CIRCLES