Hi, my group and I are new to Burning Empires, and I’m new to GMing. Last night we ran through some of OMAC, and I’ve got a couple questions.
My players want to gather up some ‘soldiers’ via General Leaf and Julius Arnot. I’m not really sure how to handle this. They both have affiliations to the military, does this allow them to raise troops? If so, what exponent are they? Or is this just a comradeship type affiliation?
They also want to attack the prison, how many and of what exponent abilities are the guards?
My players want to gather up some ‘soldiers’ via General Leaf and Julius Arnot. I’m not really sure how to handle this. They both have affiliations to the military, does this allow them to raise troops? If so, what exponent are they? Or is this just a comradeship type affiliation?
I haven’t played that scenario, but I did just look at the Burned up character for Arnot. He does have an affiliation w/the Omac Garrison Anvil. So that might be a potential route to gaining some assistance.
If the players want Arnot to try to get some soldiers then the best thing (I think) to do would be to have Arnot make a Circles test to find another officer willing to aid him. I figure you could work it like so…
Base Circles Obstacle : Ob 1
Occupation : Common to Circles (No Modifier)
Station : Higher By One Iteration (A Commanding Officer) +1 Ob
Attitude : Outright Loyal/Willing to Attack : +3 Ob (maybe +1 Ob; judgement call)
Knowledge : Unimportant (No Modifier)
Skill : Varies
Place/Time : Varies
Arnot could make a Circles test at around Ob 3 or Ob 5 depending upon your judgement. If the players want a more skilled commander then they would need to bump up the Ob accordingly (p. 348). If they are trying to get this in a Building scene it’s no additional Ob, but there is a penalty for pulling stuff in at the opening of a conflict scene or during a conflict scene.
I say that Arnot would need to Circle up a C-O, because I think it’s generally understood that once you get someone via Circles it’s assumed they have their troops or whatever. If you look for a gang leader they come with a gang. And so forth. I’d say the troops would have basic exponent 3 abilities. The players might try to modify that if they look for the commander of an elite formation, but that would make the occupation uncommon and make the Circles test rougher.
They also want to attack the prison, how many and of what exponent abilities are the guards?