Bay 12 Games Forum

This is an adversarial duel game built off of my Pumsy's Seeds magical girl system.  You play as semi-magical SWAT trying to kill a magical girl, basically.  The magical girl is played by another forumite (through PMs), who has promised not to read this thread.  I'm running it mostly because certain people keeping bugging me to restart Pumsy's Seeds, or run something based on it.  And I like asymmetrical PvP ideas.

Yes, the lore is super dark.  That's an unavoidable consequence of running a game inspired by the basic concept of "hyper lethal magic child tries to murder a bunch of SWAT before they murder her".

All missions will take place in an area which has been locked down with an invulnerable barrier, which blocks virtually all contact with the outside world.  The magical girl is somewhere inside--but beyond their presence, you are likely to have no information about where they are, or what their capabilities are.

To assist with finding your target, you will be provided with two soultrackers.  These are tablet-sized machines that can be activated to send out a sonar-like ping, which will tell you roughly in what direction the magical girl is in.  The magical girl will be aware of this ping, and get similar information about your location.

The soultrackers also are the only way to remove the perimeter barrier.  Once the magical girl's soul is captured, you can send a signal out to bring it down.  It is vitally important that the magical girl not capture both of your soultrackers--she will use them to remove the perimeter barrier herself, and escape.

During most missions, HQ will send in a reinforcement wave after you have taken some losses.  This isn't reliable, as manpower is limited, but it's normal.  ((Read: If a bunch of people die early (which I expect to happen), there will be one or more respawn waves for at least the earlier deaths.  This might not happen if the match is much more balanced than I expect.))


The players in this thread will all be playing on RTD rules.  Chunky salsa.  The magical girl, on the other hand, will be playing on Pumsy's Seeds rules.  You can read the OP of that thread if you want to, or you can play blind for a more "immersive" experience.

For those who actually do read the list of powers magical girls get... no, this is not fair.  That's why you get respawns.  But losing is fun, right?

The two people who have been bugging me to run something like this for literal years.

After they go maybe I'll run more, and be more fair about who gets to play a magical girl.  Maybe I won't.  I dunno, depends on how fun the game is for me and you.

Free gear, everyone gets these:

0: Comms with the team.  Biometric locks disable them for anyone except you, so you don't need to worry about children spying on your chatter.
0: Basic Crash assault rifle.  Very lightweight and maneuverable, without being as weak as a submachinegun.
0: Black patrol uniform.  Provides no armor, because anything cheap isn't really gonna help.  Optionally comes with face concealing gasmasks or balaclavas in case you want to hide your identity; the press seems to dislike us for some reason.


Expensive gear.  You get three tickets to spend.

1: Heavy powered armor.  Weakly antimagic, and makes you very resistant to harm without slowing you, but the weight and strength of the powered system just about cancel out.  Purely defensive.
1: Neurally integrated Exoskeleton:  Makes you strong enough to fight toe to toe against any child, and improves your speed and reflexes to boot!  Comes with a heavy melee weapon of your choice to utilize your new strength.  DOES NOT offer any real protection, but works well with powered armor.
1: High-grade firearm:  Gets advantage in a specific situation of your choice (close quarters, sniping, etc), as well as an ammo bonus (Very high damage, silent, etc)
1: Waist-mounted grappling hooks:  Hands-free, nearly silent, and can pull you upward at great speed, or pull something towards you.  Skilled users can use these to virtually fly in some environments!  Less skilled users tend to crash and break limbs.
2: Magic jetpack!:  Allows you to fly without requiring rolls for any basic movement, is totally silent, and special soulkill cladding prevents the magical girl from hearing the tortured screams of the baby bird spirits which are being used to power it!  What more could you want?
1: Grenade launcher:  A magazine-fed grenade launcher.  Comes with your choice of: fragmentation grenades (high lethality in a large area of effect, but near worthless against heavy armor); Tear gas grenades (tear gas is not CS gas, but an opaque magical gas that causes crippling existential despair); or Euphoria grenades, (Each contains the bound soul of a puppy which was overdosed on euphoriants; upon detonation, fills the area with a disorienting amount of blissful happiness, causing anyone nearby to essentially become drunk for a short time.  These may restore a magical girl's magic slightly.)
2: Devastator rocket:  A rocket launcher, comes with only two rockets.  Intended for anti-fortification roles.  Can easily destroy a small building, and also negates almost any kind of magic in the area it hits.  The negation effect will last for a period after detonation.
1: Resistor:  An improved version of the stanard issue suit which grants you very strong magic resistance, and has a woven-in kevlar vest.  Does not interfere with your own magic.  Magic resistance can be impaired by damage.
1: Negator:  A long metal rod strapped to your thigh.  Can be activated or deactivated at the start of your turn.  Disables your magic while active, and negates most magic in a radius of one meter around you.  Will continually alert the magical girl to your position while active.
1: Smother Mines: A set of three bulky mines that come with a dual payloads.  First, a regular (if very high yield) fragmentation explosive, and an overloaded negator with an effective radius of about six meters, which will burn out after one full turn.  The mines have a particularly involved setup process, and can be set to one of three activation modes: Remote detonation with a button; detonation upon the detection of a nearby magical girl's soulgem; or detonation based on nearby magic.  The latter can be activated by many SMAK operative powers, and is therefore very dangerous.
1: Three Fluffballs:  Three living balls of fluff, fast asleep.  They experience emotions similiarly to humans.  When left somewhere unattended, they will feel excessive fear due to abandonment, which magical girls are sensitive to; most cannot distinguish between a fluffball's fear and a human's fear.  Your helmet has a built in HUD keeping you updated on your fluffball's mental state.
1: Rainbow Autoinjectors: Several vials of experimental magic-strengthening drugs, strapped to your upper arm and set to inject on a simple button press.  They have four effects, all temporary: Firstly, they replace any pain you may be experiencing with an overwhelming happy bliss, allowing you to fight even while grievously wounded; secondly, they allow you to sense magic and emotions, much as a magical girl does; thirdly, they strengthen your natural magic in chaotic and unpredictable ways; finally, they often induce intensely vivid hallucinations.
1: Duellist's Cage:  A large device worn as a backpack. When activated, creates a eight-meter wide sphere around you, made of the same indestructible perimeter barriers that are used to trap the magical girl in the first place.  Prevents literally everything from passing through.  Unlike the perimeter barrier, this one will fail and turn off after two rounds.  Reusable, sometimes!
1: Automated turret:  A box with a deconstructed robotic turret inside.  Takes a bit to set up, and entirely immobile once placed, but is perfectly accurate.  Note: Sometimes shoots the wrong targets.  Also, perfect accuracy does not equate to always hitting; some targets can dodge bullets.
2: Mindjack Companion:  A personal clone with one ticket of gear (in addition to the free stuff), and no magical power.  Gets its own actions and rolls, but cannot navigate on its own; must either be escorted by a player, or left to guard a specific location.  When a player dies (including you), you may choose to allow them to possess your mindjack.  They preserve their magical power.
3: Woodsman Minimech:  A three-meter tall bipedal mech armed with miniguns instead of hands.  Has the best armor available to you, including a fair degree of magic resistance, and the dual miniguns allow you to make two attack rolls per turn.  However, it is slow, bulky, limited in close quarters, and tends to instill a false sense of overcondidence.
3: Tactical nuclear bomb: These generally are much more effective against us than against magical girls, but we have a lot in stock, so... here.  The casing is heavily armored and extremely magic resistant.  Can optionally come with a dead man's switch.



...Oh, are you looking for the medical supplies?  Don't worry.  If you get wounded you'll probably die very quickly.  We'll be sure to collect your soul and put you in a mindjack, after the magical girl has been captured!  We'll even give you more tickets to spend, if you do well before meeting your end!

Important note:  There is no limitation on how many times you can use your power.  It's all infinite.  Also, all powers always function when used; none of them depend on a roll to manifest... though shooting at someone with lasers or hitting them with an axe still requires a successful roll.


Mobility: You permanantly have advantage on any rolls to maneuver, like dodging or doing parkour, and have moderately heightened abilities.  Run faster, jump higher.

Telekinesis: You have two telekinetic hands which can reach and grab anything within about four meters.  They require line of sight, and have strength equivalent to your natural strength.  Using them for even complex actions is free and can be done every turn.

Manabolts: You can fire lasers from your body at a rate of fire around 400 rounds per minute.  Each has power comparable to a rifle round.  Alternatively, you can fire one really big laser once per turn.  That one explodes!

Close combat: You have advantage in melee combat, and have moderately heightened physical strength and reflexes. 

Regeneration: Immediately regenerate any nonfatal wounds which could heal naturally.  Lost limbs cannot be regrown, but bloodloss is generally nonlethal.


Painless: Immune to pain, and wounds affect you less.  Upon death, you will survive for two turns as a physical ghost which is entirely immune to bodily harm and cannot be stopped, with advantage on all rolls, and full access to the gear you had on death.  Then you die as normal.

Effigy: You have a second body, which you may split your gear with.  It must remain close to you at all times, and once it dies, it cannot be resummoned.  Only you may occupy either body, unlike a mindjack.

Beacon: Causes you to glow with an inspiring light.  Provides all nearby allies with strong resistance to magical debuffs, and makes it difficult for an MG to target them rather than you.  This power always alerts the magical girl to your position.

Martyr: Once a turn, you may injure yourself.  The wound is mirrored identically on your target.  This effect always hits, and requires line of sight.


Sixth Sense: You are always aware of everything within about four meters of you.

Masquerade: You appear as an indistinct shadow, difficult to make out.

Mimicry: Choose a gear item which costs one ticket.  At any time, you can transform any part of your body into that item of gear, and said gear item fully regenerates from any damage.  You cannot revert any transformation, and mimic items are unusable if detached from your body.


Determination: You are an inspired, brave, and happy individual, full of indomitable hope and optimism!  Nothing gets you down; you're totally immune to fear and sadness!  You don't need any fancy magic to win this, you'll do just fine with your issued equipment!

Prediction: Every turn you will be given three d6 results.  They will be used instead of random rolls on your next turn.  If you roll more than three dice, those results will be rolled as normal.

Teleportation: You can teleport up to four meters away, three times per turn.


Outburst: You can summon and throw up to two powerful magical grenades per turn.  They are significantly stronger than fragmentation grenades from a grenade launcher, and can be used effectively for demolition.

Irrestistible Dance: Since a song.  While you sing, everyone in earshot must dance continually; if they try to move, they will have to succeed on a roll to do so.  Your teammates have been specifically trained in synchronized dance, and therefore have advantage on this roll.  _{This bonus doesn't apply to the magical girl version.}

Duet with Reality:  Link a lyrical song, and name one or two environmental or personal effects that fit the song.  You sing along to that song really well, causing those effects to manifest around you.  Environmental effects will apply to your surroundings, building over time; personal effects will apply to nearby enemies, allies, or yourself (or all of the above) depending on the song.  Strength of environmental effects build over time, and strength of all effects may vary on how well the song fits (and whether I like it).  This power always immediately alerts the magical girl to your location.

Resounding Echoes: Shout to create shockwaves which can push entites around in any direction.  They're imprecise, and not strong enough to knock down a braced soldier.

Smol Nova: Die, and explode with force similar to a demolisher rocket.


Empathy: If you land a physical attack on a magical girl, you will deplete some of their magic, and possibly gain a second magical power which is similar to one of the girl's powers.

Shield: Summon a nearly invulnerable wall of force somewhere within line of sight, once per turn.  The shield is just a bit larger than a human torso.

Absolute Faith: An ally of your choice has +1 to all rolls.  You can freely change which ally benefits, but must make contact with them to do so.


Triage: Touch one or more living people.  You may transfer any or all wounds one of them has (including yourself) to any other person you are in contact with (including yourself).  ANY wounds work, including loss of limbs or bisection.

Convalescence: Touch another person when you activate this ability.  A magical tether will connect the two of you (from your heart to theirs), as long as you remain within about four meters of them.  While this tether is active, any wounds they suffer will almost instantly regenerate.  Does not work if they've suffered wounds before the effect.


Immaculate Soul: You are immune to magical debuffs.  Except for sadness.  You're secretly very envious of all the cool stuff your teammates can do.  Lucky bastards...