Infra-Red Rewrite: History

hey infra-red wasn't very good
i started over
i guess this is also a sample page for the book
oh yeah this is going to be a book

 

Infra-Red: Mechanical Nonsense

Due to its setting, Infra-Red's system moves quite far out from OSR orthodoxy.

It uses 6 stats: Athletics (ath), Driving (dri), Espionage (esp), Preparedness (pre), Shooting (sho), and Socializing (soc). Each skill starts as a 1, and characters have 6 points to assign between them, with a cap of 5 in a skill.

I use these stats instead of the traditional 6 because they focus more on what the PCs are assumed to be in Infra-Red: government investigators. I chose to use a point-buy system because there are a small enough amount of skills and points that this gives the player control without it being overwhelming.

For skill checks, you roll 1d6 and try to get equal to or below the skill being used.

Progression is inspired by Lost Pages' 1d6 Thieving: after failing a check with the skill 5 times, it goes up by one. If the skill is above 5, you roll multiple checks at once.

For example, a skill of 7 means you roll 2 dice, one against 5 and one against 2. if either die succeeds, you succeed.

Infra-Red Part 2: The United States

THE UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT

THE UNITED STATES IS CURRENTLY RUN BY JOHN F. KENNEDY, A DEMOCRAT. FOREIGN RELATIONS HAVE WORSENED SINCE THE TAKEOVER OF BRAZIL, LEAVING THE UNITED STATES ALONE AGAINST ITS MANY ENEMIES.

MILITARY

THE AMERICAN MILITARY IS CENTERED IN WASHINGTON, D.C AND FACILITY 1, BUT THEY ARE BEGINNING TO TEST CONTROLLED INFRALS IN VIETNAM AND BRAZIL.

THE ICRA IS GENERALLY REGARDED AS PART OF THE MILITARY, BUT IS GENERALLY USED IN DOMESTIC ACTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL. THE ICRA DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO MILITARY EQUIPMENT, BUT ARE USUALLY GRANTED INFRALS DURING OPERATIONS IN BRAZIL. THEY ENJOY AN UNUSUAL DEGREE OF FREEDOM: ICRA ASSET COLLECTION TEAMS TASKED WITH RECOVERING INFRALS ARE GIVEN ALMOST COMPLETE AUTONOMY AS LONG AS THEY FOLLOW THEIR MISSION'S OBJECTIVES AND MINIMIZE CASUALTIES.

LIFE IN THE US

THE UNITED STATES HAS BECOME MORE AND MORE DIVIDED SINCE THE TAKEOVER OF BRAZIL. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS HAVE ABSORBED DISPLACED BRAZILIANS, INCLUDING MEMBERS OF THE MNB, OR MOVIMENTO NACIONALISTA BRASILEIRO: A VIOLENT BRAZILIAN NATIONALIST GROUP.

AS MNB MEMBERS PUSH CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS INTO EXTREMISM AND VIOLENCE, THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT RESPONDS IN KIND WITH SWEEPING POLICE MILITARIZATION INITIATIVES.

OUTSIDE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, LIFE CONTINUES AS NORMAL: THE ICRA HAS SUCCESSFULLY HIDDEN INFRALS FROM THE GENERAL POPULACE, FEARING THAT THE DISCOVERY OF ALIEN LIFE WOULD CATAPULT SOCIETY THE REST OF THE WAY INTO COMPLETE CHAOS.

CURRENT EVENTS

1. PROJECT HIGHRISE HAS MADE IT'S FIRST BIG BREAKTHROUGH, HAVING DISCOVERED HOW TO CONTROL INFRALS: ELECTRIC SIGNALS DIRECTLY TO THE "BRAIN" USING METAL NEEDLES CONNECTED TO BATTERIES.

2. SOME MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNMENT THINK INFRALS MIGHT BE NEEDED TO QUELL RIOTS

3. MNB MEMBERS ARE PLANNING AN ATTACK ON A FACILITY IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

4. ICRA ASSET COLLECTION TEAMS SUSPECT A GROUP UNAFFILIATED WITH THE MNB TO BE HOLDING INFRALS IN A WAREHOUSE IN NEW YORK

Infra-Red: Memories of the Past

The Wound opened in late 1952, in a rural portion of Brazil. after nearly decade of unproven stories of strange, crystalline creatures wandering through Brazilian towns, the Brazilian government announced an incredible discovery: a gap in reality, named The Wound, that the creatures had been coming out of.

Image courtesy of Scrap Princess, who is better than me in every way.

In the space of a month, war broke out in Brazil as the United States invaded, planning to take control of The Wound. As the war continued, sanctions mounted against the U.S., with much of Europe cutting trade off completely.

After the Brazilian takeover ended, the American government built Facility 1: a titanic complex of reinforced concrete atop The Wound. 

The creatures emerging from The Wound - known as Infrals - were captured and John F. Kennedy created the ICRA (Infral Containment and Research Agency) and Project Highrise to find a way to use Infrals as weapons and stop opposing nations from acquiring them.