Sunday, November 19, 2017

Some Ideas for Pink Mohawks

The ol' 'Pink Mohawk' is a nebulous term, but basically what it boils down to is 'A wilder, louder, playstyle.'

The terms, as I've mentioned a couple times, are all a little nebulous, and by no means are a perfect descriptor of anything, but as it usually goes-Pink Mohawk is the former, with Black Trenchcoat being the more serious, hard-boiled games that emphasize more sneaking, subterfuge, and stealth-sure, they can have combat, but it's likely done with a silenced pistol or garrote(if fatal), or with some quick subdual combat and some shock batons/gel rounds(if not); either way, it's about doing things on the down-low.

Demolitions can happen in either game; in a Black Trenchcoat game, they'd probably go about it by having the party's ork firearms expert play the role of the classic janitor after some sneaking about, as he passes the details of the building to the team demo expert. After a set time, they plant charges in the geometrically specific areas and blow the place, and are gone with no trace.

The Pink Mohawk brigade just blows the thing up however. No, Pink Mohawk need not be a bloodbath; it's perfectly Pink Mohawk to have a vigilante group who throws rainbow-paint spewing concussion grenades at baddies, tying them up with colored streamers and leaving them in an area with a spray-painted unicorn who farts rainbows on the wall outside the latest media center. Basically, it's much more obvious.

(There is a middle-sometimes called 'Mirrorshades', other times Black Mohawk...or even Pink Trenchcoat, that just signifies you play your game sort of on an in between.)

All of that said, again, the terms are nebulous, and you don't need to adhere to any(we play lots of styles in one campaign!), but if players are interested in a more loud 'n fun style, I have here a few campaign idea suggestions that might fill the role.


Big Game Hunters. This one is a great use of perfectly legal heavy ordnance. Some of those critters are, well, fraggin' BIG, and you often need extremely loud measures to take them down...occasionally needing clever measures as well. Also doubles as a pretty lucrative campaign as some of the bounties on the big critters can get pretty big. (It's suggested you have a mage or two in this one, since some critters tend to be REALLY resilient to mundane means. Yes, mages can use assault cannons too...) Also gives Riggers a chance to use Big Ass Drones and giant autocannons and helicopters and drek. Possibly a highly dangerous campaign as well, mind you, but for Pink Mohawk Big Game Hunters is a definite good idea. There are plenty of corp installations that are in more remote areas that risk attack by things(Juggernauts exist...) that teams like this could be hired to bring on. More 'Light Gray Hat' types could find work taking out big beasties who like to


Mercenaries. The nice thing with merc campaigns is they can run the gamut of loud or quiet; but they can certainly run loud. If battling other armies is more their fare, try a merc campaign. Mercs can also be a wide variety of moral types-just because you have large weapons, you don't necessarily have to kill everything you come across. As for 'Morals'-you can play it 'gun 'em down' Commando or Expendables style if you prefer more black comedy, or the less-lethal, 'Light Gray' but still loud A-Team style where the team doesn't really kill(they just leave lots of co-lateral damage), so there is likewise something here for many depending on what you like. Teams can run about anything, of course.


Demolitionists. Another fairly obvious bit; sometimes, drek needs to be blown up-offshore oil rigs of rival corps, or perhaps testing labs, or whatever. The team gets hired to blow up said drek. You probably want explodey skills like, well, demolitions for this(though throwing explodey things also works, as do missiles launched at things.) In any case, there is always a need for stuff to blow up; this group is likely to just do it loud.


A Distraction Team. Sometimes, you need a distraction to take the heat off of Team B to do their stealth-and-subterfuge in another place. While being the Distraction Team tends to be highly dangerous(I think Big Game Hunters probably have it safer, heh), it IS a good use of teams who like to be loud. Eventually Johnsons might hear that this team is really good at blasting holes in walls and such and they hire them to take the heat off of the more quiet teams they send to the same people, in a different area, where the real job has to go down. Granted, this one the PCs aren't necessarily respected in, but it IS a job, and it'll probably pay pretty well.


Gang Members. This can run the gamut of power; from the Ancients down to a third-tier gutter gang to anything in between, but gang campaigns make perfect instances to be nice and loud. You might not have as much technical heavy ordnance(I mean, gangers can get it), but you can at least be pretty loud and Pink Mohawk. (Ancients are an example of a gang who can get some bigger stuff.) I mean some of the classic artwork portrays pretty crazy gang fights happening.


These are only five examples; but use your imagination, of course! You can also combine these('Mercenaries' plus 'Big Game Hunters' could have the team be a crack team hired to take down the rampaging, mutant Juggernaut in the center of Denver, Godzilla style one job and to demolish something the next.)


As for some more 'Pink Mohawk' tips:


-I highly suggest you just ditch Availability rules for these and let anything go. Some of the more Big Loud Fun stuff tends to be above the legal limits for the start(unless you're playing SR2, then just don't use the optional rule.) I mean our table never uses these anyway, but if yours does, for this type of campaign, I suggest waiving it or at least upping it several levels.

-Allow Hand of God to be used more than once; I'd say even three times. IMO, Pink Mohawk has lots in common with crazy action flicks where the protagonists survive odds many times over; this can be symbolized here. I wouldn't make it unlimited, of course, but three times instead of once I feel might give the campaign more of an 'Action Movie' feel.

-Definitely don't penalize co-lateral damage as much in this one. I mean the runners are being hired to blow stuff up most of the time, after all. That being said, loss of life is something that you'll have to talk over; are you going for Rambo or the Expendables, the A-Team, or something in between(where perhaps very bad people are taken out, but others aren't.)


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This is again by no means an exhaustive list; but its something to perhaps get you started. Hope this helps out some folks who are curious to get a campaign like this going!

I should have some more fiction up soon that I'm tinkering with, as well!

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