“Special Division Six Logistics? It’s a myth – a persistent one I’ll grant – but do you really believe they could hide something like that in plain sight?”

-General Hawk

Making Your Player Character for Prophet’s Song:

You begin the Prophet’s Song campaign as an agent of Special Division Six Logistics (SD6L), a covert black ops organization that claims to be a secret branch of the United States intelligence apparatus. Instead of following the standard character creation rules outlined in the G.I. Joe rulebook, consult the step-by-step guide provided below. The Prophet’s Song campaign relies on a specific concept and milieu that needs to be reinforced by the characters.

Step Zero: Theory-crafting and discussion with the GM and fellow players. Develop your character concept. With archetype in mind.

Step One: Choose Your Archetype: The Anti-villain, The Broken Bird, The Double Agent, The Experiment, The Misguided Patriot, The Reclamation Project, or The Reluctant Asset. The archetypes are described below.

Step Two: Set Starting Essences. As per the usual rules with the caveat that your archetype will provide two extra essence points.

Step Three: Select Influences. As per the usual rules. Some archetypes will offer some suggested Influences.

Step Four: Choose an Origin. As per the usual rules. Some archetypes may offer suggested Origins.

Step Five: Select a Role and Focus. As per the usual rules. Some archetypes offer suggested Roles, and one archetype has a mandatory Role and Focus.

Step Six: Finishing Touches. Total up your derived characteristics such as defenses. Make sure to note the General Perk you receive from your Archetype as well as your basic equipment.

Step Seven: Let the game begin!

Character Archetypes:

The Anti-villain:

You should be the hero – once upon a time you were exactly that. Then something tragic happened that changed the trajectory of your life. Getting justice seemed impossible, but then a man came along and told you that he was part of an organization that would do everything in its power to help you get vengeance in return for your dedicated service. You have questions about SD6L and its methods, but you are willing to put them aside in pursuit of your goal because they have the resources you need. So long as your new allies hold up their end of the bargain, you remain dedicated and will fulfill the missions they ask of you. Still, some part of you longs to be the less compromised person you were before your life changed forever. You may or may not be aware of the true nature of SD6L and should discuss that in consultation with the GM.

The Questions:

• What kind of hero were you before the tragedy that changed the course of your life?
• What was the nature of the tragedy itself?
• Who – or what – has made you ready to compromise your own principles for vengeance?

Pop Culture Example of the Anti-villain: Michael from Nikita (2010).

Starting Essences: 12 points to distribute among the four essences as you choose and then add +1 to your Smarts and Social essences. Remember that each point in an essence also gives you a skill point to be invested in that essence’s skills.

Suggested Influences: Angry, Desperate, Professional, Specialist, Tragedy, Violent

Suggested Origins: Air Force, Army, Covert Ops, Intelligence, Navy, Strategist

Suggested Roles: Commando, Infantry, Officer, Ranger, or Vanguard.

Free Starting General Perk: Dig Deep. Your determination is unquestioned.

Limitations: Cannot take the Green perk.

The Broken Bird:

Your life can best be described as a horror show. It may or may not have started out that way at the beginning, but it eventually turned into a living nightmare. Whether you started out as an orphan or were born into a wealthy family only to see your parents murdered, your world has long been one of pain. Despite that – or perhaps because of it – you learned resilience early on. Whatever the traumas of your life, they unsurprisingly led you down a dark and tragic path that resulted in a horrific crime that would have seen you locked away for a very long time or perhaps even executed. Resigned to your fate, you were surprised to wake up in an underground training facility where you were told that you were going to be trained for a new life and given the skills you would need to serve a special division of the CIA as a field agent. SD6L cleaned you up, purged the drugs from your system, taught you discipline, and trained you to fight, blend in, and get the job done. Now reforged from the ashes of your old life, you’re beginning to wonder why exactly they chose you.

The Questions:

• Did your life begin at the bottom or did a tragedy change the course of your life and lead you into despair?
• What was the nature of the crime that landed you in enough hot water that your life would have effectively been over if not for SD6L’s intervention?
• What was it that SD6L saw in you that made you worthy of extraction and subsequent investment in your training?

Pop Culture Example of The Broken Bird: Nikita Mears or Alexandra Udinov from Nikita (2010).

Starting Essences: 12 points to distribute among the four essences as you choose and then add +1 to your Speed and Social essences. Remember that each point in an essence also gives you a skill point to be invested in that essence’s skills.

Suggested Influences: Angry, Checkered Past, Desperate, Disenfranchised, Indoctrinated, Mistrustful, Nobility, Tragedy, Violent.

Suggested Origins: Bully, Civilian, Corrupt, Criminal, Gifted

Suggested Roles: Commando, Infantry, Ranger, Renegade, Vanguard

Free Starting General Perk: Always Alert. Between the challenges of your previous life and your new training, you’ve learned to always be aware of your surroundings.

Limitations: Cannot take the Green perk.

The Double Agent:

Unlike many of your colleagues, you know the truth about SD6L and their real affiliation, purpose, and agenda. Either you discovered the truth and went to the proper authorities to offer your assistance in taking the organization down from the inside, or you are a G.I. Joe operative in deep cover. You have a handler who may task you with counter missions and can provide you with assistance or resources from time to time, but you are also in the precarious and dangerous position of having to hide those affiliations and intentions from superiors and potentially your fellow team members. Yours is a lonely and dangerous path.

The Questions:

• Were you a G.I. Joe operative inserted into SD6L as a deep cover asset, or were you originally a loyal SD6L operative who somehow learned the truth and ended up as a double agent working to bring down the organization from the inside?
• What is your motivation to bring down SD6L? Is it simply because the awful truth is too much for you to accept and you must do what’s right or is your motivation more personal in nature?
• How do you feel about your fellow operatives? Many of them believe they are serving the greater good, but can you be certain how they will react to the truth?

Pop Culture Example of The Double Agent: Sydney Bristow from Alias or Alexandra Udinov from Nikita (2010).

Starting Essences: 12 points to distribute among the four essences as you choose and then add +1 to your Smarts and Social essences. Remember that each point in an essence also gives you a skill point to be invested in that essence’s skills.

Suggested Influences: Any

Suggested Origins: Covert Ops, Gifted, Intelligence

Suggested Roles: Commando (Infiltrator or Spy in particular), Officer (Battlefield Psychologist)

Free Starting General Perk: Linguistics. The ability to speak multiple languages is of unquestioned utility to a master spy.

Limitations: Cannot take the Green perk.

The Experiment:

Your past is a bit murky to you – almost as if it is a story that you were told rather than events that you lived through. Either way, you feel a strange sense of loyalty to SD6L, almost like it’s the only real family that you’ve ever had. You do know that you’re different and that you have strange innate abilities that others don’t possess. At the end of the day, you need to turn those gifts toward the missions you are given. After all, what wouldn’t one do for family?

The Questions:

• Who exactly are you? What is the nature of the experiments that happened to you and when did they occur?
• Were you always affiliated with SD6L in some way, or did you have another life before?
• How do you feel about your new life? Do you worry about your humanity?

Pop Culture Example of The Experiment: Black Widow of Marvel Comics fame.

Starting Essences: 12 points to distribute among the four essences as you choose and then add +1 to your Speed and Smarts essences. Remember that each point in an essence also gives you a skill point to be invested in that essence’s skills.

Suggested Influences: Indoctrinated, Specialist, Tragedy

Suggested Origins: Test Subject

Suggested Role: Any

Free Starting General Perk: Engrafted Mutation. The experiments conducted on you altered your genetic code and mark you as different.

Limitations: Any starting alterations you possess must be mutations rather than cybernetics.

The Misguided Patriot:

You were told that your country or perhaps even the world needed you. Recruited into SD6L for your skills, you believe wholeheartedly that your service to this covert agency is for the greater good. The world needs a watch dog capable of doing the hard things that more public facing entities simply can’t do. Completely unaware that there might be deeper concerns related to SD6L and its operations and activities, you do the best that you can with your skills to serve the greater good.

The Questions:

• What unique skills or abilities do you possess that made SD6L want to recruit you in the first place?
• Why did you slip under the radar of other organizations, allowing SD6L to recruit you before someone else got to you?
• How do you feel about the work that you do? How do you feel about your colleagues?

Pop Culture Example of The Misguided Patriot: Marcus Dixon or Marshall Flinkman from Alias.

Starting Essences: 12 points to distribute among the four essences as you choose and then add +1 to two different essences of your choice. Remember that each point in an essence also gives you a skill point to be invested in that essence’s skills.

Suggested Influences: Any

Suggested Origins: Any

Suggested Roles: Any

Free Starting General Perk: Team Player. You are always willing to do what it takes to get the best results for the team.

Limitations: None.

The Reclamation Project:

You died – or at least very nearly did. Using experimental cybernetic technologies, SD6L brought you back better then ever. They gave you a second life and now you’re better, faster, and stronger. You owe your life to the dedicated scientists and technicians at SD6L as well as the leadership that decided you were worth the investment. Whenever you are tempted to question the nature of the assignments they give you, you are reminded of the investment they made in you.

The Questions:

• What happened to you that necessitated experimental cybernetic life-saving measures?
• Did you have an affiliation with SD6L before your accident? If not, why were they willing to expend so much effort to save you?
• How do you feel about your new life? Do you worry about your humanity?

Pop Culture Example of The Reclamation: The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, or Mike Peterson from Agents of SHIELD.

Starting Essences: 12 points to distribute among the four essences as you choose and then add +1 to your Strength and Speed essences. Remember that each point in an essence also gives you a skill point to be invested in that essence’s skills.

Suggested Influences: Any

Suggested Origins: Air Force, Army, Assassin, Civilian, Covert Ops, Criminal, First Responder, Intelligence, Marine, Navy

Required Role: Infantry (Variant).

Free Starting General Perk: Cybernetic Part. You are as much machine as man – or woman – now.

Limitations: Any starting alterations you possess must be cybernetic in nature rather than a mutation.

The Reluctant Asset:

You were always gifted – the best at what you did, whether that was computers, medicine, explosives, or some more esoteric field. Unfortunately, you also liked to push the boundaries a little too much, and one day that brought you to the attention of the wrong kind of people – the kind of people all too willing to tell you that you now worked for them, or they were going to turn you over to the authorities for your crimes. What’s a genius misanthrope to do? You figured that you’d play along until your genius mind came up with a way out. Only now do you realize just how difficult that might be. You are at the very least aware that SD6L is not who they claim to be. Discuss with the GM exactly how much about the organization you know.

The Questions:

• Reluctant assets are only forced into service when they possess a very specialized skill that SD6L desires to use for their own ends. What is yours?
• Do you like your work or do you detest SD6L and only fall in line for fear of what they might do either to you or someone else that you care about?
• How do you feel about the work that you do? How do you feel about your colleagues?

Pop Culture Example of The Reluctant Asset: Seymour Birkhoff from Nikita (2010).

Starting Essences: 12 points to distribute among the four essences as you choose and then add +1 to Smarts and one other essence of your choice. Remember that each point in an essence also gives you a skill point to be invested in that essence’s skills.

Suggested Influences: Any

Suggested Origins: Civilian, Corrupt, Criminal, Engineer, Gifted, Iconoclast, Scientist, Strategist

Suggested Roles: Technician (Any)

Free Starting General Perk: Create Chaos. When people talk about out of the box thinking, they’re thinking about you.

Limitations: None.