RIP - Syndicate

Introduction

Foreword

Syndicate can be used as you see fit, it is not tied to things explained later. It is your campaign and games, after all. If you do not like something, change it. If you want crude realism, use it that way. Syndicate is very flexible. If you want a detailed combat system, borrow it from some other game. If you want another kind of world, take it from other place. Things here are only to give you ideas, to get you started, to inspire you.

In Syndicate, action is everything. Act fast and think later. Do not bog down with character sheets, dice rolls or equipment lists.

Welcome to the dark future of the mid-21st century. World politics are strongly influenced by huge corporations struggling for power. Human life in huge cities is cheap, fast and without future. Most of the Third World countries are completely polluted and demolished in countless wars.

Syndicate is a roleplaying game for futuristic action/agent movies. If you have never played roleplaying games before, this is one place to start. Find an experienced game master (a person that runs RPGs) and start playing. Details are not described here, find another RPG for that.

Basic Rules of Syndicate

Before you follow these steps, it might be a good idea to check out the campaign details from your gamemaster. Some people do not like characters who are more successful than the gamemaster's own miserable life.

Action is everything. Do not bog it down with character sheets, die rolls or equipment lists. Think too long, and your character is wasted.
No detailed system. Do not expect to get exact information on success, combat or skill rolls. There is none. Concentrate on playing and leave the details to the GM.
Play your character. All skills, abilities and other such things are so simplified that roleplaying is the only real way to distinguish the characters from each other. And if your character is a professional, so be it.
Play it cinematic. Slide down the hills while firing. Cover when fired at, and make short attacks before ducking again. Take example from any good action film. But remember, normal campaigns are not as cinematic as some films. Realism is still there.
Be careful. You can still be easily killed; cinematic does not make you invulnerable. Do not be stupid and charge a dozen armed men. Or try to survive a 20 meter drop.
Play different characters. You do not have to be a hitman or killer to survive in Syndicate. Wit and skills play an important part, and trigger happy people just get more easily killed.

The Corporate World

It is year 2037 and the world is a much meaner place to live in. Big corporations rule the economic world and crush all those who oppose them. Skill and knowledge are power, and those without either are worth less than nothing.

First came the wars in the Third World. Countless bombings with biological and chemical weapons demolished most of the African, Asian and South-American nations.

Then came the global depression, famine and collapse of the political system in weaker countries.

The fusion was invented but various resources started to run out. Recycling and reproducing were enforced and the real power moved to those with power plants.

After the wars and the collapse of the totalitarianism, the corporations expanded their power into Third World countries, making them more and more dependent on corporate power and technology. Finally, in some countries, a vote could be hired and thus the corporations could buy votes from the poor.

For new resources and food, mass production was moved to the oceans. Gigantic corporate food droids collect seaweed and other plants from the sea, in order to produce cheap synthetic food and materials for everyday goods.

How to Start?

Read the rules about characters, character creation and check the equipment. Get the feel and idea and inspiration behind Syndicate.
Create your character. Consult the GM where applicable. Feel it, do not calculate it. Select your stuff according what is suitable and feels good, not by numbers in the table. Do you want a 100% professional always dressing in a suit, wearing and using just the most professional equipment. Or a reckless computer and electronics wiz going anywhere, anytime, following the latest cyberfashion.
Got the attitude? Now, you are ready to enter the corporate future...

What's New?

Players of the Syndicate: Dark Era may ask, what is new in this new Syndicate. The answer is: almost nothing. The system has been simply moved to separate part, so it is now that generic RIP system. And of course damage system is much more simplified, I never used it anyway...

Oh, of course some point values have changed. And quickness attribute is removed, and a new attribute, social is added for social conversations.

For 4th edition, these is some modifications in equipment (especially guns), but nothing big. Just making things even more realistic.

Syndicate Filmography

To get the idea and world behind Syndicate, some movies can be used as inspiration:

World/technology: Robocop, Running Man, Strange Days, Nemesis, Ghost in the Shell, M:I 2
Mood: Desperado, Terminator, Any John Woo Hong Kong movie, Matrix

Realistic Environment

In Syndicate, my goal has been to create a very realistic near-future RPG. There is some very advanced things like cybertechnology, but main aims are consistency and a believable world. As part of this, all technology is based either to current high-end things or predicted ones, and based on information from various professionals and sources. Anyway, I have had no enough resources to double-check all sources, and some things change as years go by. Thus, if you have any big flaws in game system or world defination, please let me know.