Uprise is designed to be played as small skirmishes, or indeed a series of them, set in the near future of 2054. Pollution has forced humanity into Spires, self-supporting bastions that protect life inside from the toxic world that had been created by the unsustainable civilization that now lay under the dunes of deathly sand.

In the infancy of the 21st century, pollution was at a peak. Humanity was reaping more from the planet than could be remade, and in turn filling it with the waste. Rivers became contaminated and the landscape ruined by the various pollutants, chemicals and choking clouds of gas that spewed from the buildings of humanity. Governments across the world realized the threat that was encroaching on them, and moved to act against it, but the point of no return had long since gone. The ecosystems of Earth strained more and more to keep the world alive, but finally stalled dramatically. Sweeping dunes of toxic ash engulfed entire cities, preserving the bodies in their hideous pain-wracked state before they perished. Thick clouds of smog spewed from atmosphere, blotting out the sun and engulfing nations in its choking grasp. Declaring a state of emergency, each nation built self-sustaining mega-cities to be filled by their best and brightest. The Spires.

As the most celebrated citizens of each country were immigrated to these mighty towers, billions followed, begging for refuge from the self-engineered hell that had taken their friends and family. The Governors of the Spires showed mercy upon the masses of people, ordering the construction of habitats for them against recommendation, sacrificing themselves to control the city and make certain that the systems that kept the populace safe from the outside ran perfectly, at the cost of their lives. The Governor’s chamber contains nothing but dusty old corpses in rich finery; one or two may still be alive, but every second is wracked in agony. They are left in solitude. The final act before all communication was severed between the Spires was simple; to bring about the Peacekeepers, who would keep order in place of the Governors. They still hold close today, protecting the secret of the hierarchy and the Spires to ensure survival.

The lower tiers of the Spire are filled to bursting with people from all backgrounds; the only thing in common between them is the level of bitter hatred towards the upper classes; indeed, the divide is great between them and the higher echelons. Whereas the higher Spire contains the highest levels of care for each person within its walls, the lower has next to no level of it; people die alone from hideous diseases, their slum homes burned to the ground by their closest family and friends to save them. Corrupt lords take control of the sectors with lethal force; bands of thugs beat and maim people, robbing their houses and stealing people from the streets. But now the lowest fight back. Several weapon plants that produced items for the Peacekeepers have been overthrown and taken over. Now that they have access to weapons, the lowest are called to arms by teams of warriors all working towards the same cause.

The Rebellion fight for equality and freedom among all classes through any means possible, aiming to either turn the governors to their side or kill them trying.

The Peacekeepers are the mailed fist of the Upper Spire, there to keep law and order among the citizens. They strive to protect the Spires at all costs, knowing that the collapse of the Upper Spire would doom the entire populace to death.

You must choose whether you want to protect the Spires or remake them. Make it a wise choice; the smallest action can have fatal consequences.

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
Finalized the title/logo. Hope you enjoy.

Uprise is designed to be played as small skirmishes, or indeed a series of them, set in the near future of 2054. Pollution has forced humanity into Spires, self-supporting bastions that protect life inside from the toxic world that had been created by the unsustainable civilization that now lay under the dunes of deathly sand.

In the infancy of the 21st century, pollution was at a peak. Humanity was reaping more from the planet than could be remade, and in turn filling it with the waste. Rivers became contaminated and the landscape ruined by the various pollutants, chemicals and choking clouds of gas that spewed from the buildings of humanity. Governments across the world realized the threat that was encroaching on them, and moved to act against it, but the point of no return had long since gone. The ecosystems of Earth strained more and more to keep the world alive, but finally stalled dramatically. Sweeping dunes of toxic ash engulfed entire cities, preserving the bodies in their hideous pain-wracked state before they perished. Thick clouds of smog spewed from atmosphere, blotting out the sun and engulfing nations in its choking grasp. Declaring a state of emergency, each nation built self-sustaining mega-cities to be filled by their best and brightest. The Spires.

As the most celebrated citizens of each country were immigrated to these mighty towers, billions followed, begging for refuge from the self-engineered hell that had taken their friends and family. The Governors of the Spires showed mercy upon the masses of people, ordering the construction of habitats for them against recommendation, sacrificing themselves to control the city and make certain that the systems that kept the populace safe from the outside ran perfectly, at the cost of their lives. The Governor’s chamber contains nothing but dusty old corpses in rich finery; one or two may still be alive, but every second is wracked in agony. They are left in solitude. The final act before all communication was severed between the Spires was simple; to bring about the Peacekeepers, who would keep order in place of the Governors. They still hold close today, protecting the secret of the hierarchy and the Spires to ensure survival.

The lower tiers of the Spire are filled to bursting with people from all backgrounds; the only thing in common between them is the level of bitter hatred towards the upper classes; indeed, the divide is great between them and the higher echelons. Whereas the higher Spire contains the highest levels of care for each person within its walls, the lower has next to no level of it; people die alone from hideous diseases, their slum homes burned to the ground by their closest family and friends to save them. Corrupt lords take control of the sectors with lethal force; bands of thugs beat and maim people, robbing their houses and stealing people from the streets. But now the lowest fight back. Several weapon plants that produced items for the Peacekeepers have been overthrown and taken over. Now that they have access to weapons, the lowest are called to arms by teams of warriors all working towards the same cause.

The Rebellion fight for equality and freedom among all classes through any means possible, aiming to either turn the governors to their side or kill them trying.

The Peacekeepers are the mailed fist of the Upper Spire, there to keep law and order among the citizens. They strive to protect the Spires at all costs, knowing that the collapse of the Upper Spire would doom the entire populace to death.

You must choose whether you want to protect the Spires or remake them. Make it a wise choice; the smallest action can have fatal consequences.

First of all, the enemy character to the attacker attempts to deflect attacks, known
as ‘Deflection Saves’. You take the difference between the Speeds of the faster
character and slower and add it to 4. That number equals what you have to roll
equal to or above on a D6 to deflect the blow. If the total is higher than 6, it is
impossible to save. You take one against each attack, and for every time you fail,
another attack has gotten through.

 Trondheim wrote:
Hmmm after having reread this I think the armor save thing is somewhat over complicated. but it should be easy enough to learn after a few games. Also I do like the add on to the terrain part, but I failed to see any new additions to the weapons, perhaps a faction specific armory would be smart? Since a low spire gang is not gonna have access to a assault suit and a mini gun if you understand what I mean

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:

 Trondheim wrote:
Hmmm after having reread this I think the armor save thing is somewhat over complicated. but it should be easy enough to learn after a few games. Also I do like the add on to the terrain part, but I failed to see any new additions to the weapons, perhaps a faction specific armory would be smart? Since a low spire gang is not gonna have access to a assault suit and a mini gun if you understand what I mean

Scavenging.

Although I'll certainly think about it.

Squig, how about if I converted the dice to D12s - D6s?

BlapBlapBlap wrote:Just converting a slightly updated version of 'Remove the head...' to add to the OP.

Do you like the newest ruleset?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm not sure about faction specific armouries. I understand the notion, but it feels too complex. Plus, there's always the black market and such.

TheAngrySquig wrote:I'd rather have equivalents. Try stuff like heavy armor for the spire troops and layered sheet metal for the rebels

 Trondheim wrote:

TheAngrySquig wrote:I'd rather have equivalents. Try stuff like heavy armor for the spire troops and layered sheet metal for the rebels

Layered sheet metal......Are you insane? Even for a game this seems somewhat unhinged, unless you restrict this to the bezerker class only. And a normal human walking around with x amount of sheet metal to stop bullets will not be of great value if you need said person to scale a building or move trough rough terrain. But if provided to a heavy gunner or sniper to increase his/her protection against return fire it could work.

 Trondheim wrote:
Well how about the absence of armor with the exception of Kevlar and regular body armor for the low spire gangs, and Iron man has such a low standing in my mind that I would rather imagine Blap naked but I see your point.
If everyone has the same gear with a few minor differences this game will become very, very dull very fast.

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
OK, as an added incentive, anybody who playtests and helps me gets an exclusive book containing the rules.

To find what you need to roll to hit, subtract your Accuracy from 7. It will only go to a
2; any excess that would lead to a number below 2 can be used later when it
becomes more difficult to hit. The extra points are essentially stockpiled until they are
needed, i.e. after taking a particular stance, then they are applied to the model.

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
OK, as an added incentive, anybody who playtests and helps me gets an exclusive book containing the rules.

Stances: At the beginning of moving a Character, you must choose what stance they are in, or state what stance they are forced to choose involuntarily. The only exception is if they choose to fight in combat, in which case they skip stances. The stances each confer advantages and disadvantages to the character, and go as follows:

Taking Cover: (only allowed when base is in contact with a piece of terrain). -1 to the amount that an enemy model has to roll to hit the character, but must be on opposite side of terrain to enemy to gain advantage.

Alert: The model must halve its movement, but in return, it gains +1 Accuracy against enemies.

Aiming: The model may not move, but gains +2 Accuracy and +1 Strength to their gun.

At Ease: The model uses its Basic Profile.

Sprinting: The model gains D6 extra movement, but may not make any attacks. Automatically counts as having 5+ armour.

 Trondheim wrote:
Well so far I dont hate anything, but if you are going to start demanding GW prices will! However since you have stated you will not commit such a sin I will try to get a test done during this week.

I must say I do like your plot line, and setting. I almost got a Judge Dred feel when I read it

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
Sounds like a plan.

Also, stances:

Stances: At the beginning of moving a Character, you must choose what stance they are in, or state what stance they are forced to choose involuntarily. The only exception is if they choose to fight in combat, in which case they skip stances. The stances each confer advantages and disadvantages to the character, and go as follows:

Taking Cover: (only allowed when base is in contact with a piece of terrain). -1 to the amount that an enemy model has to roll to hit the character, but must be on opposite side of terrain to enemy to gain advantage.

Alert: The model must halve its movement, but in return, it gains +1 Accuracy against enemies.

Aiming: The model may not move, but gains +2 Accuracy and +1 Strength to their gun.

At Ease: The model uses its Basic Profile.

Sprinting: The model gains D6 extra movement, but may not make any attacks. Automatically counts as having 5+ armour.

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
Sod it, I'll release it for free on here, just tell me what I could to smooth it all off.

 Lord Magnus wrote:
Movement:

Have you thought at all about negative modifiers to armour, and increasing the range of armour available?

If you had your armour on the stat system for d12s (which is good) you could potentially represent everything from clothes (12+) as well as down to people with riot shields (maybe broken doors in case of the rebellion .. I think it would add a little more meat to your ruleset, and vary your content a little more.

Who goes first?
Before anything else happens, each player rolls a D12. The player who gets the highest result will act first in deployment and phases, and the second highest will act second in deployment and phases, and so on in descending order.

Turn layout
Each player will move, shoot and assault models in the same phase, where the players act in order, to represent the constant chaotic movement of fighters in the Spires. There are 3 phases; Movement, Combat and Shooting which we shall go into detail about now. The results of the phase will be resolved afterwards.
If a player rolled for the first actions in movement and deployment, then they will move first during the movement phase, then the second will move, and so on. This is continued throughout all phases, i.e. the combat with the first player to act takes place first before others are resolved, even if with the last player, and they will also shoot first. However, if a model is killed before it’s actions, i.e. a model shoots it down, it still can fight before it is removed from the board.

On wings of fire
This is a scenario designed purely for fun, which you can also innovate.
Not all of life inside the Spires is spent fighting. During moments of ceasefire, people will participate in sports. One of the most popular is the Alley Race, a fast paced race to a central point during which the models are able to fire weapons at each other, real or fake. Either way, the opposition have to stop after a while of being shot at. Occasionally, these can even take place over entire districts of the Spires. The Peacekeepers normally leave these alone due to their frequency.
The rules for this scenario are simple; each player has one model, which he can spend 15 units on. Each player starts in a different location, each an equal distance away from a marker you shall place in the exact centre of the board. After deciding the order of deployment and action in phases, the objective is simple.
Your model must make its way to the marker in the centre of the board. It can only win by being the only model in base contact with the marker at the end of a turn. This can be achieved by any means necessary; you can gun down opponents, take them on in combat, or just run their before anybody else.
There are no teams, the game is a free for all, and it lasts indefinitely.

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
Oh, also, my reasoning behind TLOS is just ease. I haven't had any experience outside of it.

 Lord of Timbraxia wrote:
I wouldn't complicate the game any further. Although my playtest wasn't strictly rules-legitimate, and I was solo-gaming, I felt that the level of detail was 'enough', if you get my meaning.

Adding anything more would push it that little bit over the edge from 'social game with depth' to 'argharghargh NO'.

I like it as it is. Get that artwork through, pretty-fy that PDF up, and I'd dare say you're good to go.