He's approved! I like the chemical angle you've gone with, does he make them himself?
The IC will begin when everyone who expressed interest posts character, but if we don't hear from them in a couple days we'll just go ahead.
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but there is a fairly high drop-out rate around here and people don't tend to tell others when they've lost interest.
A Different '78: The Vietnam War ended in 1973 to an anonymously deployed bacterial weapon, killing most life in the country including thousands of U.S. soldiers and Soviet interests. The devastation was shocking to both sides, and nuclear war seemed unavoidable -- until a breakthrough in anti-nuclear weaponry led to the creation of the Anti Ballistic Missile System in Britain, which was quickly stolen and implemented around the world.
The ABMS, while initially a miracle, has given both sides reason to expand the development of alternate weapons for the war that both sides are set on avoiding; by way of totally eliminating the other side without having to resort to a costly conventional war. Little by little the ethical restrictions on weapon research are chipped away, and each day the world inches closer to devastation.
Spies are the big players in this costly game, fighting an endless tug-of-war of sabotage and espionage -- and each year they're being outfitted with more advanced gadgets to aid in their invisible war.
The United States: The U.S. has become withdrawn and xenophobic over the years, which is reflected as they barely maintain formal relations with other nations. Expect U.S. spies to be extremely patriotic; and don't expect them to hesitate if you're in front of the barrel of their gun.
The Soviet Union: The Union has begun to splinter, numerous of dissidents are rising within their ranks and brutal policies have been enacted to keep them in line. Expect Soviet agents to be de-sensitized to this line of work, the patriots are becoming disillusioned by their own country and many cope through emotional detachment.
Britain: Cameras and police line every street of Britain now, as they're unwilling to let the mistake of the stolen ABMS plans repeat itself. Despite a decrease in personal freedom, the standard of living has generally increased and their economic troubles have mostly disappeared. Expect British spies to be charismatic and cunning; many have a strong sense of personal freedom and their job allows them to work with little restriction.
Name: Your characters name or alias.
Faction: What faction your spy works for, if any, and how devoted they are to it.
Appearance: Spies tend to look as average as possible, but many have identifying marks or are unusually handsome or ugly.
Background: Be vague here, things that the other agents would be able to tell from your mannerisms or skills.
Skills: Be they violent or diplomatic, technical or physical, agents are defined by their skill sets.
Signature Gadget: Every spy has their signature gadget. It could be anything from a special gun, car, or even a seemingly innocuous article of clothing.
A picture is not required but you can include one if you want to.
Remember that despite the grim setting, it is by no means grounded in reality. Get creative with your characters and gadgets!
Of course, I'm more explaining my own thought process here than trying to pitch it as the end-all-be-all solution.
I have a possibly irrational aversion to rping without any kind of kind of mechanics at all (unless it's something that wouldn't require any like a slice of life rp) so any chance to discuss systems is exciting for me.
So this has been fun, I'm eager to see what Rhymer thinks of things.
I think there may be a misunderstanding here, the tokens don't just represent armed forces, they're an abstraction of the factions resources from soldiers to morale to propaganda.
Considering the original plan was to resolve things in the "least-asshole-ish way possible" I'm pitching this as a way to keep things fair and semi-strategic without getting anyone bogged down in keeping track of individual units or stats.
Anyway I'm not saying your idea is bad or anything -- I'd be happy to use it if everyone else wants to -- I just don't think that amount of detail is necessary for this particular thread.
EDIT: Sorry but I'm not sure that your surplus suggestion is in the spirit of the thing. The point is that you're gambling your resources while trying to guess how many your opponents will use, in order to use up as little resources as possible. If you allow the surplus rule than the risk/reward nature of the bet goes out the window.
Considering the time it would take to organize and deploy all of your forces -- not to mention the effect it would have on the citizens of your faction, I'm not sure it's as problematic as you make it out to be.
Using all of your tokens is akin to a very large chunk of your population taking up arms, if not most of it, and something like that would only be done in desperate measures.
Replenishing your tokens gradually, rather than once a year, would make more sense however so I'll give you that.
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