TEXT: APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  IS A MACHINE AGE PRODUCTION
  DESIGNED AND WRITTEN BY
  DAVID A HILL JR and FILAMENA YOUNG
  Additional Writing by 
  Jeremy Kostiew and David Gallo
  ART BY 
  ARTHUR ASA, NICOLE CARDIFF, JENNA FOWLER, 
  JEREMY KOSTIEW, SEAN PARRACK, Laura Hamilton
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X IS RELEASED UNDER
  A CREATIVE COMMONS BY-SA-NC LICENSE
   
  #ADX is based on Fate Core System and Fate Accelerated Edition (found at http://www.faterpg.
  com/), products of Evil Hat Productions, LLC, developed, authored, and edited by Leonard Balsera, 
  Brian Engard, Jeremy Keller, Ryan Macklin, Mike Olson, Clark Valentine, Amanda Valentine, Fred 
  Hicks, and Rob Donoghue, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 
  Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Fate™ is a trademark of Evil Hat 
  Productions, LLC. The Powered by Fate logo is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with 
  permission. The Fate Core font is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with permission. The 
  Four Actions icons were designed by Jeremy Keller.
  Cover art features photography from NASA, in the public domain. This book is in no way 
  endorsed or sponsored by NASA.
  FIND MORE AT HTTP://WWW.CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG
  
  2
  INTRODUCTION
  INTRODUCTION
  “Through the auspices of the gun, man is relieved of responsibilities-
  placing his faith in sister machine gun, brother bomb.” 
  - Jim Marcus
  “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” 
  - Albert Einstein
  Welcome to the 25th century. 
  What is Apotheosis Drive X? 
  Apotheosis Drive X, or #ADX, is a game about humanity, giant robots, struggle, 
  science, love, loss, sacrifice, and consequence. It’s a game about so very many 
  things. In #ADX, you and a handful of friends portray a crew of robot pilots -or 
  Titans, as we call them- and their friends, allies, loved ones, and supporters. Your 
  Titans fight to protect the future of humanity, whatever humanity means. 
  #ADX walks a line between hard and soft science fiction. We use science to 
  support the narrative and tell the stories we want to tell, but we won’t let it limit 
  us. For example, warfare probably won’t evolve to a point where piloted robots 
  dominate the field. 
  The 25th century of #ADX is pre-transhumanist. Humanity approaches a next 
  stage in evolution with each passing day. We’ve moved into space. We’ve made 
  remarkable advancements in the field of artificial intelligence. We’re almost there. 
  When in doubt, favor #ADX’s science to be on the cusp of remarkable change. 
  During your campaigns, scientific advancement ramps up, and may cross into a 
  technological singularity.
  WHAT APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X ISN’T
  #ADX is not a game about hate. It’s not a game about good and evil, black 
  and white, and other, similar concepts. Every faction, every nation, every 
  person in #ADX has a motivation. Motivations are far more interesting to us than 
  mythological concepts of right and wrong. In #ADX, everyone thinks they’re in the 
  right. Because in their world perspective, they are. 
  You’re not going to see jack-booted thugs that will absolve your pilots from 
  guilt. When your pilots shoot down an enemy Titan, they’re stopping a life that’s 
  just as legitimate as theirs. But there will be time to dwell on this after the battle. 
  Flinch, and they’ll end your life just as quickly as you’d end theirs. 
  
  3
  CHAPTER 00: INTRODUCTION
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  FATE CORE
  #ADX doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As a setting, it owes inspiration to many sources. 
  As a game, it’s built on the foundation of Evil Hat Productions’s Fate Core rules. You 
  don’t need Fate Core to play, but we think you should pick it up anyway. Not only will 
  it give you some great resources for your #ADX campaigns, it’s made by wonderful 
  people. You can find more at http://www.faterpg.com.
  Most of our rules align very well with what Fate Core established. However, 
  sometimes we deviate. Many of our rules are unique to the #ADX experience. When 
  we do something completely new, we’ll mark it with a big X. One big difference? We 
  call our GM a Director. It’s a Machine Age thing.
  WHAT YOU’ll FIND INSIDE:
  CHAPTER ONE: SETTING PRIMER
  We’ll start off with a primer on the 25th century. 
  CHAPTER TWO: GENERATIONS
  This is a more comprehensive look at the progression of the #ADX setting. 
  CHAPTER THREE: THE FACTIONS
  Here, we talk about the setting from the perspective of each of four factions. 
  CHAPTER FOUR: THE TITANS
  This chapter introduces Titans, massive war machines.
  CHAPTER FIVE: GETTING STARTED
  Here, you’ll design your crew, pilots, factions, and all major setting elements.
  CHAPTER SIX: RULES
  Next, we go into the rules for play. 
  CHAPTER SEVEN: Directing #ADX
  This chapter tells the Director how to run a game of #ADX.
  CHAPTER EIGHT: ADVENTURES
  This talks about adventure design, and provides a sample, starting campaign.
  Appendix One: Hacking Guide
  Here, we talk about changing #ADX, and making it your own. We feature a 
  sample hack where the Titans fight monstrous “Kaiju”.
  Appendix TWO: PSYCHIC PHENOMENON
  Lastly, we talk about the potential of psychic phenomenon in #ADX.
  APPENDIX THREE: ESSENTIAL REFERENCE
  To close, we compile essential data and charts for quick reference.
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  4
  HELLO PILOT 00A00024330801G4,
  I’m the One Earth Accord’s Mark VII Enhanced Resident Integration Coordination 
  Assistant, or ERICA. To save taxpayer dollars, the One Earth Accord programmed 
  me to suit your orientation needs in lieu of hiring thousands of trainers across 
  the solar system. While I am not a full Artificial Intelligence (AI), I am capable 
  of answering all your orientation-based questions using an extensive database 
  gathered from centuries of military, human resources, historical, and astronomical 
  studies. If you have a question not in my databases, know that an ERICA support 
  services agent will assist you promptly. 
  Your first step in matriculation is a history of the One Earth Accord, and by 
  extension, the whole of humanity and our solar system. To avoid politically 
  incorrect in-group bias, we’ve developed a complex algorithm that compiles and 
  homogenizes data, journalistic reporting, and citizen opinions from within and 
  outside the Accord. This way, you’ll see a variety of viewpoints. Keep in mind, 
  these viewpoints are not always endorsed by the Accord. Treason is a crime 
  under Article IV, Section XIV of the One Earth Accord. 
  Without further ado, begin Module 1. Remember, there will be a test.
  2397 - Generation 0 - World War IV
  Earth approached a population of 40 billion thanks to advancements in cloning, 
  genegineering, and medicine. The average person lived 100 years or more. We 
  maintained over 120 colonies on Luna, and half as many on Mars. We launched 
  the first aerostat habitat off Venus. Space station and asteroid habitat colonies 
  housed thousands. The skies opened to humanity’s curiosity. 
  An estimated 82% of the Earth’s power came from the Halo One orbital 
  ring. Fossil fuels contributed less than 7% of power consumption, with the rest 
  spread among independent solar cells, wind, hydro, and nuclear power. As 
  energy production moved away from older, less sustainable sources, former fuel 
  producing nations fell into turmoil. Their economies hurt. Their people revolted. 
  The Oya Project was an experiment by geneticists in West Africa to create an 
  elite force of soldier without the ambition for power. We’d see their introduction 
  into the world stage in 2397. Up until then, they remained classified. When the 
  struggling nations took arms against more fortunate states, the Oya emerged to 
  stop the conflict. They did so with remarkable results.
  To profit from the strife, and the Oya, private security firms merged into 
  The Stellar Corporate Collective, or StarCC. A glut of excessive cloning 
  experimentation in the early 24th century meant that most StarCC soldiers were 
  2nd and 3rd generation clones. The StarCC hired itself out to the waning nations, 
  offering to battle the rest of the world to bring these nations back to prominence. 
  Some of these nations complied out of desperation. They sparked World War IV.
  SETTING PRIMER
  SETTING PRIMER
  
  5
  CHAPTER 01: SETTING PRIMER
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  2401 - Generation 1 - The Birth of Titans
  The StarCC forces fought the Oya and other Earth forces for four long years. The 
  war took millions of lives on either side. Due to their lack of a central leadership, 
  StarCC stood immune to massive destruction by nuclear arms. However, tides 
  turned against StarCC as Earth’s militaries united against them. By that point, 
  StarCC fought for survival, not for victory. 
  StarCC brought a secret weapon to the battlefield: General Class Fighters. 
  Generals were low-atmosphere fighter jets that transformed into humanoid combat 
  machines. Their speed and versatility dominated the fight, and shifted everything 
  back into StarCC’s hands. The Oya vanished instead of facing destruction, leaving 
  the Earth forces to stand their ground against the Generals. 
  Earth’s governments banded together to fight StarCC. They attempted to 
  reverse-engineer a General and merge it with existing labor robotics. This barely 
  slowed StarCC’s onslaught. The situation on Earth looked grim. 
  Nine months after the Oya vanished, they returned with fighting robots of 
  their own, the Oya Class Fighters. While Oya tech was superior to the General 
  Fighters, their numbers were insufficient to win the war. 
  A brilliant scientist, Professor Anderssen, created a new type of humanoid 
  combat machine. She called it the Janus Class Fighter. It allowed a pilot to 
  interface mentally with it in such a way that the pilot’s perceptions and reactions 
  were magified by the machine’s sensor systems. The prototype Janus alongside 
  the Oya fought back the Generals. StarCC quickly fled Earth.
  2419 - Generation 2 - The Khan Drive
  Almost two decades later, all was at peace. Many of Earth’s powers combined 
  to form a central government, what we now call The One Earth Accord. The 
  Accord’s stated mission was to prevent further world wars. Under the Accord, 
  science and technology could flourish without the need for military motivation. 
  Due to lingering sentiments against StarCC, Earth’s clone residents found life 
  difficult. Many non-clones looked to clones with scrutiny or even hatred. Anti-
  clone organizations lobbied the One Earth Accord to offer distinctly different rights 
  to clones and non-clones. For example, a popular iniative would have clones 
  registered in public databases, so employers could verify the natural born status 
  of potential employees. 
  The One Earth Accord took steps to equalize clones and natural born residents 
  of Earth, but for some, these efforts came too little, too late. Regrettably, many 
  clones fled Earth and found sanctuary in extraterrestrial colonies, or in some cases 
  in StarCC. Notably, a small number of natural born activists expatriated as well, 
  including high-profile military figures, scientists, and politicians. 
  By this time, StarCC established a vast network of colonies spread across 
  asteroids and space stations. They hid millions amidst the debris. They 
  accomplished in ten years what took more bureaucratic Earth efforts centuries. 
  Partly, this was due to survival as chief motivator. They reformed their military, 
  and advanced exploratory missions to Mars with the intent to claim it. 
  
  6
  At least one of the expatriating scientists took with them the technological 
  secrets of the Janus Class Fighters. By merging this technology with their Generals, 
  StarCC created the Khan Drive. The Khan Drive multiplied the Generals’ power 
  output, and put StarCC back into a position to compete with all of Earth. 
  Meanwhile, on Earth, groups disapproving of the One Earth Accord, including 
  smaller, disenfranchised governments, formed the Peoples Collective. The 
  Peoples Collective was a loose federation, bound by the philosophy that a 
  single government cannot hope to represent all of the people. In preparation for 
  resistance from the Accord, they formed their own force of Myth Class Titans, 
  using bits and pieces of existing tech. 
  During this time, the Oya fled from the public eye. They took the decommissioned 
  Hearthfire Drives from their Oya Class Fighters, and buried them in many of 
  the least fertile places in Earth. These tundras, deserts, and nuclear test sites 
  became safe, lively, and vibrant. People flocked to these strange oases, and found 
  themselves healthy and miraculously able to bear children. Quickly, these pilgrims 
  became The People of Oya. In all but name, the People of Oya became their own 
  independent nation. Scientists theorized that between the genegineered changes 
  in the Oya, and the mutations caused by the Hearthfire Drives, the People of Oya 
  could be considered a separate species from Homo Sapiens. 
  StarCC, with their re-established power base, renamed themselves the Stratos 
  Commonwealth, and demanded land on Earth or Mars to act as a Stratos 
  homeland. The One Earth Accord complied with strict conditions that would mean 
  a de-militarized Stratos nation. The Stratos leadership would not agree to the 
  terms, and launched another strike against Earth. 
  2424 - GENERATION 3 - MYTHS RISE
  This war went on for five years, and was generally called the Second Clone War 
  by Accord members. Stratos citizens called it the Homeland War. The Stratos 
  Commonwealth fought hard with their Khan-driven Generals. But even with their 
  immense military might, they struggled to make headway due to the enormous 
  size of the Accord. 
  During this war, the People of Oya abstained. The party line suggested that if 
  the Accord was unwilling to cede ground to clones, how long would pass before 
  they demanded the genegineered Oya be similarly exiled? 
  After the fifth year, a covert Peoples Collective effort captured an intact Khan 
  Drive. When integrated with Myth technology, the Peoples Collective fought back 
  the Stratos armies. Once Stratos withdrew, The Peoples Collective had cemented 
  itself as a major world power, alongside the People of Oya and the One Earth 
  Accord. 
  While the One Earth Accord and Peoples Collective intended to chase the 
  Stratos Commonwealth back to their bases, the Commonwealth was too fractured 
  and well-hidden to make any significant headway. This began a cold war.
  
  7
  CHAPTER 01: SETTING PRIMER
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  2433 - GENERATION 4 - THE ASCENSION DRIVE
  The galaxy remained at a military standstill for seven years. The Stratos 
  Commonwealth remained too far out for direct attack. The three nations of Earth 
  stood at an uneasy truce. The People of Oya quietly amassed power, since they 
  abstained from the fighting of the Second Clone War. The Peoples Collective 
  enjoyed an uptick in power and influence because of their significant successes in 
  that struggle. The One Earth Accord still boasts the majority of Earth’s population, 
  and the vast majority of its wealth. 
  In 2433, everything changed with the discovery of the Ascension Drive. When 
  1dfdsklj sdfkd discovered the Drive, Titans wqixc 2gcame like dfm 
  gods of ancient myth. 
  That brings us today, PILOT. You’ve enlisted at an exciting time. Report to your 
  commanding officer to begin Module 2. 
  The average #ADX game assumes you start play at Generation 4. However, 
  in the Campaigns chapter, we give ideas for starting games anywhere between 
  Generation 0, and Generation 7. At Generation 4, everything changes. Any 
  one of the four factions could discover the Ascension Drive. Deciding this is 
  part of your first game session if you’re playing Generation 4 or higher.
  
  8
  
  9
  CHAPTER 02: GENERATIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  GENERATIONSGENERATIONS
  In #ADX, we measure time, technology, and story in an abstract system 
  of “Generations.” The #ADX timeline consists of seven Generations. 
  Each of these takes up a different span of time. Longer Generations 
  are generally less eventful, shorter ones happen at a fever pitch. The 
  seventh Generation remains undefined, because the default assumption 
  is that it’s “the future”, and usually the end of a long campaign. 
  Choosing Your Generation(s)
  When starting play, you have to choose the scope of your campaign, and what 
  Generations you’ll play in. This may change in time. But as a rule, the game ramps 
  up and becomes more epic as the Generation increases. If you want a gritty, 
  “soldiers in the ground war” story, you may start at Generation 1 (or even 0). 
  Generations five and six allow the players to make world-changing decisions with 
  little forethought. Most games will start at a Generation, and move through a span 
  of a few. The default #ADX campaign is set in Generation four. 
  What You’ll Find Here
  In this chapter, you’ll find details of #ADX’s universe in each of the seven 
  Generations. This isn’t as focused on the war as the introduction chapter previously, 
  or the faction chapter up next. This is more a guide to the general setting. Here, 
  you’ll find social considerations, political shifts, trends, and other things that affect 
  everyday life. Mostly, this comes in the form of anecdotes and flash points from 
  within the setting. Which is to say, they’re opinions filtered through their speakers’ 
  biases. Use these biases to build the truths in your campaign. Play to find out 
  what really happened. These are merely hooks for you to build #ADX stories.
  You’ll notice from the fourth Generation on, we offer ideas for directions you 
  could take your campaign. That’s because we consider Generation four “the 
  present,” and want you to own the escalation to apotheosis. At Generation four, 
  we offer four anecdotes, one if each faction discovered the Ascension Drive. The 
  Ascension Drive ramps up the war into its final, brutal arc.
  The seventh Generation is the discovery of the Apotheosis Drive. What 
  does this mean? Quite simply, it’s a point when -due to the advancement of 
  technology- humanity becomes something else entirely. Humans become 
  able to make decisions that shape the future of the species with little effort. 
  This could mean many things. 
  Apotheosis doesn’t always mean the end of a campaign, but it means that 
  in your #ADX universe, nothing will ever be the same. This could mean shifting 
  to a transhuman existence. It could mean war machines that bring mass 
  extinction. It could mean alien interference. Every Apotheosis is different.
  Apotheosis? 
  
  10
  “Dateline: The New States of America, Capital City Old Houston. 
  Reports flooded in from our social media contacts describing the bombing as 
  a ‘clear act of diesel-terrorism’ while Houston officials claimed we were dealing 
  with a machine malfunction. 
  Officially, the Old Houston tether to Halo One should be operational by early 
  Spring, but between the mysterious machine malfunctions, worker riots, and so 
  called ‘diesel-terrorism’ it seems possible that the capital of the New States of 
  America may find themselves out in the cold when Halo One goes live worldwide.
  I’m now hearing shots fired outside of our offices, and I’ll be reporting live on 
  this event. Security personal are now moving extraneous employees to the exits, 
  and those of actively broadcasting or news gathering are being relocated away 
  from windows. I myself am being moved as—“ 
  That’s the end Mae OConnor’s last on air appearance. Internet audiences were 
  horrified as, on screen, OConnor was the victim of a sniper rifle bullet through her 
  head. The calibre was high enough, the damage complete enough, that blood and tissue 
  hit the camera she had been speaking into moments before. That night, riots broke 
  out between Houston citizens and corporate controlled private security firms, leaving 
  hundreds dead or wounded. Houston city officials -who had long ago voted to privatize 
  the police force- quit or fled the city, and most news corps refused to send journalists 
  in to the city. Eventually, the riots were calmed by a uniform security force branded 
  StarCC. No one took credit for bringing the security force in, but the riots stopped, and 
  the attention of the world quickly shifted elsewhere. Old Houston’s 30 seconds was up. 
  Mae O’Connor and the other victims of the riots were summarily forgotten.
  “Does it make it easier for you to sleep at night, to think of 
  us merely as killing machines? This is a lie. My name is Anders, 
  and I, among my twenty six brothers, was created to save lives. 
  You see, we were cloned from a man with a rare genetic marker. 
  Something in his genome was important to research into the 
  end of cancer as we know it. But synthesizing his DNA proved 
  problematic. And so, instead, they synthesized him. Between my 
  brothers and I, we provided more than enough stem cells for the 
  research done. Oh, and since we’re all O-Negative blood type, 
  we’re blood donors. Willingly and eagerly. You’re welcome.”
  GENERATION 1GENERATION 1
  
  11
  CHAPTER 02: GENERATIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  You all ask me the same stupid question. 
  “Why is the post-surgery recovery time so long? I want to get into my Titan.” 
  You all think you’re so tough. So let me explain this to you, using very 
  small words, so you can understand what’s going to happen here. You are in 
  for a world of hurt. You’re going to think this hospital is Hell and I’m the devil 
  himself. Because I’m going to strap your face down to a table, then I’m going 
  to open you up, like you were being flayed alive, layer by layer, I’m going to 
  remove your weak human muscle and sinew. I’m going to rebuild you with 
  flexmetal so strong you could take a 50 cal point blank to the back and shrug 
  it off. I’m going to use nanbots to reconnect your nerves to a central computer 
  system bundled in the cavity of your abdomen by your spine. And believe me, 
  when those drugs wear off and you start movement therapy, ever one of those 
  nerves is going to BURN with the pain of new sensation.  I’m making you a 
  brand new machine, pilot, and you’re going to be beautiful, and it’s going to 
  hurt like you’re dying. And just when it hurts the most? I’m going to have some 
  big strong cadets with the same implants I’m giving you, bend you and work 
  you even harder. 
  And if you don’t burn out after all of that, if you don’t short circuit your brain, 
  or become literally spineless because of an emergency rejection surgery. Then, 
  you get to fly a Janus. Got it? Good.
  
  12
  MARS, HILLARY CLINTON COLONY, Unsigned
  Earth, man, what a shithole.
  My parents were earthlings, but I spent my whole life on Mars, looking 
  through the city domes through the red sands, at the brown ball of misery we 
  all used to have to live on. They just don’t realize what they have and what they 
  can lose. So they war, fucking endlessly. I think that’s the difference. Up here, 
  you know, you can be a jerk and you can rob some people or kill someone, all 
  that base human stupidity. But up here, we know, the air we got? Yeah that’s 
  precious. The birth rates low, so every kid is a goddamn miracle. Meanwhile 
  you’ve got the StarCC churning out deadman walking, and Earthlings will go 
  to war over the drop of a hat, because they think everything they have is 
  limitless. Lives, water, sunlight, food.
  None of it is. Everything gives out eventually, even the sun. That’s why up 
  here, we see this shit as precious. The red sands, the water supply, and each 
  and every asshole and jerk you share an apartment complex with matters. 
  Honestly, if they’d blown each other up, I wouldn’t have batted an eye. 
  With the end of the Great Clone War, your One Earth Accord offers you this 
  message of sincere compassion and humanity! Welcome home, disenfranchised 
  clone citizens, we’re making room for you!
  When StarCC first starting meddling with DNA, they created clones that were 
  hearty, could work long hours, and slept very little. Your new clone neighbors 
  are making the best of things here on earth by working the jobs you can’t! You 
  can see their gratitude on their smiling faces! Look, these little clone children 
  come with biologically implanted memories of the tasks they’re best suited for. 
  No need for school, it’s all work and play for them!
  We’ve made space for our new clone neighbors where they can live their lives 
  free of the restrictions and conscription they faced while living under StarCC’s 
  control. No more shock troops for these citizens! No, here, they’ll have modest 
  space where they can live and work in peace and under the watchful eye of One 
  Accord security forces. (After all, you never know when a clone will snap and 
  start killing, so it’s better for them if they’re helped out in this way!) 
  GENERATION 2
  GENERATION 2
  
  13
  CHAPTER 02: GENERATIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  They told us the Protected Communities were for our protection, saying that we 
  were free to live in the cities if we wanted, but that ‘violence against clones was 
  a real problem’ and so we’d be safer keeping to ourselves. Which of course lead 
  to anti-clone movements asking ‘what are they doing in there? What are they up 
  to?’ Which lead to the cameras, and ultimately, the armed security force members 
  hanging out on ‘our’ streets. We had bars and churches, just like anyone else, 
  but there’d be these pro-human guys with guns looking for any excuse hanging 
  out in there, we eventually stopped trying to live normal lives. Go to work, come 
  home, check in with the security enterprise to make sure your movements are 
  acceptable for the day, sit in your house and watch TV shows where clones are the 
  bad guys. Always the bad guys. Or sometimes, if you catch a really ‘progressive’ 
  programing, we’d be upgraded from bad guys to bodies.
  I remember when they started talking about DNA-Degeneration Syndrome. The 
  news, the shows, the net, it all talked about this thing that happened when a 
  clone’s DNA just breaks down and then we flip out and kill lots of people. They all 
  cite ‘dozens of reports’ and yet, my whole life I’d never heard nor seen anything 
  like that ever happen. But boy did it mean those security personnel had a finger 
  on the trigger at all times.
  Look, I hated life with StarCC, being a guinea pig at best, cannon fodder at 
  worst, but at least there I was valuable.  
  
  14
  Narrator: These are lies.
  [Interference, sharp whistle]
  Clip from Infamous Collectivist Speech: We’re speaking for the people 
  you’ve forgotten! [Distortion on the word forgotten.]
  Narrator: We’ve forgotten no one, and will forget nothing. Remember it was 
  the One Earth that stood up for all of humanity when the clones attacked, and 
  it is we who provide light and food for the world!
  [Sharper static, possibly a woman screaming]
  CFICS: They say there’s enough for everyone, then count us as nobody. 
  They take our native foods, our native stories, and give us gruel and corn! 
  They’ve robbed us of who we are. [Distortion on ‘who we are.’]
  Narrator: Who you were: starving, underprivileged, drains on society, or 
  less, outside of society. Now, you’ve been given purpose, education, a reason 
  to go on! What you had was chaos. What you have is protection.
  CFICS: The next time there’s war on Earth…. We’ll stand up, we don’t need 
  them. [Heavy distortion over ‘we’ll stand up’ ect.]
  Narrator: There will be no next time. We’re here, the end to war.
  (From an audio add called ‘Lies’ circulated after the 
  Collective announced itself. One Earth claims they did 
  not produce it, and no creator has ever been named. It 
  lead to several similar themed attack ads and parodies.) 
  Burial Rites
  The Hearthfire is only to be buried on the first of the month or within the three 
  nights of a full moon.  If you can wait for both of these to occur simultaneously, better 
  still. Hearthfires are rare; take care to treat them correctly.
  Any hole to contain a Hearthfire must be at least twenty feet into the soil. Sand is 
  acceptable. If the area is rich in red clay, that clay must take up no more than 30% of 
  the soil. If other colors of clay are present, consult with your regional crops specialist 
  to assure the soil will be adequate for the coming growth.
  You may bury a Hearthfire near a population, but be prepared for population shifts 
  as a result. See your regional population specialist for more information.
  Those present at the Burial Rites should be a majority of those who express 
  womanhood. However, at least one expressing male ‘prince’ should be on hand so 
  that they can experience the power of the rite and feel a part rather than apart.
  The exact wording of your regional rite must never be written down. Any questions 
  on the rite should be brought to your regional funeralist , she’ll be happy to help.  
  GENERATION 3
  GENERATION 3
  
  15
  CHAPTER 02: GENERATIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  I was born in the Void. I mean, officially, we’re supposed to call it Stratos, or the 
  Belt Colony Complex, but most of us call it the Void. Like most of the other recruits, 
  I’ve never been to earth. I’ve never put my feet on a solid planet and I’ve never seen 
  a plant growing naturally. I’ve never felt sunlight directly on my skin. You think about 
  THAT when you turn down our next request for colony space on Mars or the Moon 
  or even earth. I’m 17 years old, Madam Representative, and I’ve never felt direct 
  sunlight. I know you say that my parents could have stayed on earth, and maybe they 
  could have, but the didn’t and that isn’t my fault.
  You may not like it, or want to refuse it, but the truth is, we are a people now, we 
  have rights and responsibilities and culture. We have belief systems and morals just 
  like you. We have souls. And souls aren’t meant to exist, untethered in the Void. We 
  deserve land. The only difference between me and you, Madam, is that you have 
  it, and I can’t because of who my parents were. Are your parents perfect? Your 
  grandparents? What if the way your grandmother was born meant you had to live on 
  the bottom of the sea? Without sunshine. I bet you’d be more sympathetic then.
  From the Lost Angel Program, a group of Earthling sympathizers who collect and 
  distribute letters from Stratos citizens for distribution on Earth.
  I reject your entire notion, professor, which is why I felt I had no choice but 
  to comment on your article. While I respect your attempts at ‘compassion’ and 
  ‘understanding’ and ‘study’ you’re ignoring the cold hard facts. Facts, I thought, 
  professor, were exactly what people of science use when they’re analyzing a 
  situation, not feelings and vibes. You should look into them sometime.
  FACT: The ‘people’ of Oya are no longer human. By their own claims, they long 
  ago ‘surpassed’ human ability. I’m very sure their gene scrambled brains even 
  believe that they’ve surpassed us. The truth is, they’re so altered and mutated to be 
  unquestionably subhuman.
  FACT: The mutants of Oya are naturally and inherently cowardly. Remember, 
  when the clones brought the Generals to Earth with the intent to wipe out all of 
  humanity and take over the earth, our ‘allies’ the Oya ran like screaming little girls. 
  Sure, weak apologist historians like you claim the Oya left to build their abominable 
  ‘titans’ but let’s face it, more likely they went to build their abominations, intending to 
  wipe out the clones AFTER they killed off all of humanity. That’s just basic evolution.
  FACT: In the history of humanity, there has been no culture EVER who has been 
  Matriarchal without devolving into chaos and violence. Added to the unsuitability of 
  a nation to be led by a majority of women, keep in mind these are genetically altered 
  freaks, and so with the weapons of war they possess, their cowardly, anti-human 
  behavior, the only appropriate response to their existence is to end that existence. 
  Before they attack and destroy us. Have we learned nothing from the Clones?
  (A comment on Professor Anderssen’s “Call to Understanding” article. 
  The commenter, realhumansnow, is an outspoken pro-human activist. 
  His ‘facts’ are largely accepted as not factual. This comment, and 
  the pro-human movements use of the word ‘FACT’ in that way lead 
  to a popular shift in the meaning of the word. FACT came to mean 
  misinformation spread for the purpose of creating biased and bigotry, 
  whereas fact retained its traditional meaning, and for a time, FACT was 
  a large part of wordplay and political satire for years to come.)
  
  16
  We must be careful going forward, ladies and gentleman, princes and 
  princesses amongst you. What we have now is nothing short of Ascension, 
  and one step closer to Apotheosis. Not simply in the name of the machine, but 
  in the experience between pilot and Titan. Let us not mince words, we stand 
  on the edge of a great fall if we are anything less than exact in our response to 
  this power.
  With the apotheosis drive our efforts as a peacekeeping force could, and 
  most likely will, slip into tyranny without careful and active guards against 
  it. I have outlined a plan that may assistance in avoiding governance while 
  maintaining peace. I’m certain the more spiritual among us will be able to take 
  these thoughts and turn them into poetry and verse to be shared among the 
  People. For now, it is simple. If we must be gods, in order to just ones, we will 
  have to be distant.
  If we are to be the next step for humanity, and this drive is the way we walk, 
  then let us walk carefully and with respect to those who came before us.
  - Letter from the General Chief to the Council in regard to the implications 
  and implementation of the Ascension Drive
  THE NATION OF OYA
  It is an agreement then, that the stars are not enough for us. When we 
  move, it will be with clear intention and demands up front.
  Last time, we had no specific needs, and those who came before us made 
  mistakes. We won’t. We must remember here, cousins, is that the power we 
  now wield so surpasses that of Earth forces and the Witches of Oya that, 
  after a brief show of force, they will have no choice but to bow to our clear 
  demands.
  That first strike will have to be fast, brilliant, and brutal. The scale will have 
  to be significant enough to shock the Earth completely and shake it’s people 
  to their core. This will mean, perhaps, ten million deaths or more in an instant.
  Before you object, though, consider, that a thousand deaths in one fell 
  swoop can prevent a hundred thousand, a million deaths is a more drawn 
  out war. I abhor the idea of death, and I certainly see no need we cannot 
  cohabitate easily and readily as the Earthlings and Witches have managed.  
  Which is why brilliant and violence must come first and unequivocally, after, 
  we can heal. Once they know that they cannot simply ignore or destroy us. 
  THE STRATOS COMMONWEALTH
  (Each of these is representative of a scenario where that faction discovers the 
  Ascension Drive, and changes the course of the war.) 
  GENERATION 4:
  Ascension
  GENERATION 4:
  THE Ascension DRIVE
  
  17
  CHAPTER 02: GENERATIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  Right. Science types are done. We got it. The Drive is incredible, outperforms 
  anything the Oya got and then some. So what’s next?
  Let’s democratize this shit.  
  Step 1: We’ll have units set up, on the march, and take over Halo One. 
  Whenever possible, units will enact Capture and Convert tactics. (If you don’t 
  have experience with C&Cs, you better start training for it, because that’s 
  mission goddam vital! At first you’re going to have a hard time sleeping with 
  the second C, but man, it’s important, and it’ll all be worth it in the end.)
  Step 2: As soon as we have the power, we take over a number of manufacturing 
  plants. C&Cs are especially important here since factory workers tend to be 
  civilians and also tend to be Collective sympathetic. Killing women and children 
  ends up making a revolution look like shit, right? Right.
  Step 3: Mass fucking production. You read that right. Any and all C&Cs plus 
  volunteers we’re already lining up from within the Collection will start mass 
  production of the Ascension Drive.
  Step 4: Put it out in the wild. Release it like a goddamn baby bird! Drives 
  for everyone. Flood the market and DAMN if we won’t see some goddamn 
  change. One Earth, One Lie. 
  THE PEOPLES COLLECTIVE
  It has been decided that the Ascension Drive is potentially a weapon too strong 
  and too dangerous to let out. While we will be fitting Janus with the Drive, it is of the 
  utmost importance that we build up an entire info structure with one purpose and 
  one alone.
  Keeping the Ascension Drive out of the hands  of enemies or potential threats.
  While our Titans will continue to prevent the outbreak of another war, better 
  suited to that task thanks to the sheer destructive power of the Ascension Drive, it 
  will be up to us to insure no one can use the drive to incite war.
  To this, the following steps must be taken:
  The complete destruction of any and all downed Titans. The risk of data collected 
  from a downed Janus is too great. Currently we are exploring nuclear options that 
  would reduce any and all downed Titans to slag.
  The eradication of Collective scavenger programs. While we do not consider the 
  Collective an active threat, and chance that their notable skill at scavenging parts 
  to build their machines could give them some or all information necessary to create 
  their own Ascension Drive. Heaven only knows what they would do with one.
  Observe and potentially infiltrate the Nation of Oya.  If they are close to something 
  that can match or surpass the Ascension Drive further steps will have to be taken.
  Our counterintelligence network will have to be strengthen a hundred fold. If 
  Stratos gets anywhere close to this technology it could end in the complete 
  destruction of mankind. I don’t know about you, but I will not have that happen on 
  my watch. The Stratos Option will remain yellow lit for now, should theft of the Drive 
  occur, it will be upgraded to green.
  THE ONE EARTH ACCORD
  
  18
  THE NATION OF OYA
  History tells us that humanity fears what it doesn't understand, and the Nation 
  has long been a mystery to the rest of humanity. Unfortunately, their attempts 
  to use the Ascension Drive to act as a neutral peacekeeping force was instead 
  seen as at attempt at domination by enough members of the other factions that 
  the Nation now faces constant threats. The peace that they hope to maintain 
  is always, every day, one breath from total war. Anti-Nation extremists play an 
  endless game of propaganda and intrigue to get the other factions to give into 
  a war of total destruction against Oya. Ultimately, it is their inability to explain 
  what they do that alienates them. This lack of clear communication means that 
  the Nation is always seen as 'other.' They're easy to paint as unsympathetic or 
  dangerous because of this. Their neutrality doesn't do them many favors either, 
  as what they think are fair and reasoned judgments in times of conflict can be 
  seen by outsiders as favoritism at best.  
  THE STRATOS COMMONWEALTH
  Stratos made one clear mistake, and one debatable mistake in their plans 
  to cement peace for themselves on Mars, the Moon, or Earth.
  Ultimately, the mistake was in believing that One Earth was correct, and 
  that all of humanity had united under one banner. To the Stratos, all humans 
  were humans and their strike against a military operation would suit, they 
  didn't need to be too specific. As a result of this, weak intel failed to tell them 
  they weren't striking an Accord operation. In fact, what they blew up was 
  a factory that built agrarian workforce robots currently under the control of 
  the People's Collective. Officially, no weapons of war were being created at 
  the site, (though Stratos claimed that was absurd, since the Collective were 
  well known for retrofitting all sorts of robots for war).
  The result was staggering. Suddenly, the People's Collective were 
  victims of a strike by an outside force they had no previous engagement 
  with (technically). With strategic use of gorilla PSAs on pirated signals, the 
  People's Collective put the names and faces of civilians killed in the strike 
  on every computer and radio across Earth and Mars. The people of Earth 
  mobilized. Surely, this proved without a doubt that the clones were inhuman 
  monsters! This left Stratos in the untenable position of give up entirely, or 
  slaughter even more humans in a war of absolutes. 
  GENERATION 5
  GENERATION 5
  
  19
  CHAPTER 02: GENERATIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  THE PEOPLES COLLECTIVE
  The truth is, the loftiest goals are the ones that fall the farthest. As Generation 
  5 rolls out, the Collectivist plans to democratize Titans and even the playing field 
  worked at least by half measure. After taking over Halo One, they had the means 
  necessary to mass produce the Ascension Drive.
  And so they did. Thousands of the Drives were produced and distributed. 
  Distribution proved to be the first difficulty. The Collective thought that random 
  selection was the best course of action to be 'fair' and so from farmsteads in 
  Johannesburg to a temple in Shanghai, the Drives wound up in hundreds of 
  strange places.
  And after that? They were stolen, bought, or otherwise traded hands from 
  those who wanted to simple lives, to those who craved power and control. While 
  full scale war seemed an impossibility just as the Collective hoped, that didn't 
  spell out peace for the world. Rather, Titan pilots set up gangs and acted as 
  small time warlords, disputing locally rather than warring nationally. Rather than 
  see this as a problem, the organizers at the top of the Halo Project, (the new 
  leads of the Collective thank to it's success) doubled down on the wisdom of 
  their effort. Indeed, they claimed, that these small gangs run by Titan-piloting 
  warlords MUST be the natural order of the world. 
  THE ONE EARTH ACCORD
  The Accord's paternalistic stance went over like a Titan flying without 
  thrusters. The world interpreted the Accord's behavior as if they were saying, 
  'don't you worry your little heads, we've got all the power, and we're going to 
  keep it to keep you safe.'
  Suffice to say, even within the citizens of the Accord, this was taken as 
  insulting and dangerous. Internal resistance rubbed elbows with outright 
  rebellion from the People's Collective. Meanwhile, in some cases, Stratos and 
  the Nation of Oya aligned to engage in espionage against the Accord to liberate 
  the Ascension Drive from the Accord.
  And as chaos surrounded the Accord on all sides and on the inside, the 
  Accord only strengthened it's policies. Secrecy and the consolidation of power 
  turned the Accord into what history might call the most potent and widespread 
  fascist state in the history of the earth. Fear of what the Ascension Drive can 
  do is, currently, the only thing holding back a full assault against the Accord, 
  and should that fear waver, or the Drive be replicated, (or even beaten) then it 
  will be all out war against the Accord. All out. 
  
  20
  THE NATION OF OYA
  THE ONE EARTH ACCORD
  There's no stopping the beating of war drums once they've begun. A Titan's 
  generation of trying to put out fires and make peace just wasn't enough time to 
  change the minds of man. The Nation of Oya are strange, different, impossible 
  to understand, outside of religion and (known) science, and so they must 
  be a threat. Their aims at neutrality somehow only bloodied the waters, and 
  now there is war. But the opposing sides –parts of the various other factions– 
  don't dare fight the Ascension-Hearted Oya Titans. Instead, they campaign 
  by poisoning Nation farmlands,ruining the water, slaughtering civilians, and 
  attempting to corrupt, discredit or assassinate Nation scientists in an effort to 
  stop the Nation's progress. Of course, the buried Hearthfire Drives, poisoned 
  by outside forces, are behaving strangely. Nation scientists theorize that further 
  assaults to the land the Drives are buried in could be catastrophic not just for 
  the Nation, but for the world. They have evidence that the destruction would 
  make the planet a barren rock even Stratos couldn't survive on. Of course, who 
  believes mad scientists and witches, right?
  The Nation can no longer afford to stay neutral and hope to survive. Half 
  measures will no longer be enough.
  If there's a way to stop the collapse of the buried Hearthfire Drives and the 
  destruction of the Earth, it's in finally completing the Apotheosis Drive. Will one 
  small team of Nation sympathizers be able to push back a cadre of saboteurs 
  from destroying the Earth while helping the Nation discover a Titan Drive that 
  turns people into gods? The fate of the Earth and billions of lives are in their 
  hands, and their hands alone.  
  As the Accord shifts from simply one of many world powers to a fascist mega-
  state, it seems only logical that they suppress any controversial information that 
  would change the world too drastically. Like, for example, an attempt by an alien 
  intelligence to contact humanity. Something is happening out past the Stratos 
  colonies, they're reporting strange signals and blips on their sensors no one can 
  account for. And then there's the message that keeps beaming through Stratos 
  antenna directly to Earth, something the Accord doesn't want getting out.
  The problem is, one scientist has decoded the signal, and now has the plans 
  for the Apotheosis Drive, long hinted at in the design documents from Professor 
  Anderssen. Only, it's more than what anyone thought. It's a Titan Drive, but more 
  than that, it may be a method for communicating with a greater confederation 
  of aliens beyond the stars. And perhaps, travel to their homes within a human's 
  lifetime.
  Now it's up to one small team of Titan pilots to protect this scientist from the 
  Accord that wants to silence her and the other factions that want to use her. All 
  the while building, testing, and hopefully giving birth to the Apotheosis Drive. 
  GENERATION 6
  GENERATION 6
  
  21
  CHAPTER 02: GENERATIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  THE STRATOS COMMONWEALTH
  THE PEOPLES COLLECTIVE
  What no one was expecting was the response from the colonies on Mars 
  and the Moon. The Collective's war of propaganda spread like wildfire and in 
  many ways, made a peaceful outcome impossible. Unlike much of Earth, the 
  colonists on Mars and the Moon were space capable, and while Stratos' main 
  military theater was on Earth, the colonists waged terrorist-like assaults against 
  the Stratos colonies in the Void. Stratos's whole infrastructure was destroyed 
  one attack at a time, leaving the clones even more desperate for a solid, viable 
  home world. Now they fight for survival in a whole new way.
  Then, a faction within their Stratos revealed their secret weapon. A virus. 
  Just a quick spreading airborne virus that behaves like the flu, until it kills. 
  The people of Stratos were resistant to the strain, but in a baseline human, 
  it was absolutely deadly and unstoppable. If disseminated, it could wipe out 
  the human population in the matter of months, leaving the Earth open and 
  welcome. (Admittedly, Stratos doesn't know how it will affect the Nation.)
  One small team of Stratos associated Titan pilots has been given a dose 
  of virus large enough to destroy the human population of the Earth. This may 
  be the clones’ last chance to survive or be wiped out of existence. Is there 
  a middle path when both sides believe 'its them or us' is the only solution? 
  Billions die, or billions die, unless these Titan pilots find another way.  
  The Sun is a near unlimited supply of power. Halo One, in the hands of The 
  People, means that there is endless creative potential at hand. Unfettered by 
  'oppressive' laws and regulations. Those who can, do, and those who do, 
  have Titans to back themselves up. It's the 'natural order' of things, or so the 
  propaganda suggests. It isn't as if you can stop your neighbour to the north 
  from destroying your water supply as he endlessly escalates the potential of this 
  personal Titan army. The air, the water, the soil are all poisoned by the chase for 
  power and personal accountability. Everyone who matters is a cowboy in a Titan, 
  and everyone who doesn't matter is starving to death on a corrupted world. It's 
  only a matter of time before those cowboys leave the Earth behind to seek new 
  territories unspoiled by their usury. And that doesn't bode well for the Moon, 
  Mars, or even Stratos and Jupiter’s moons.
  Thing is though, the rumors exist that the next big thing, the Apotheosis Drive, 
  is in the wind. A scientist or three may be able to turn this whole system of 
  anarchy on it's head, it just depends on who gets to the Drive first. So it's up to 
  a rag-tag team of Titan pilots to find and protect those scientists who can bring 
  the Apotheosis Drive into being, and decided what to do with it once it's born.  
  
  22
  THE NATION OF OYA
  When things looked the most dire, the reason for the growing, trembling 
  power build up in the buried Hearthfire drives revealed itself. The Apotheosis 
  Drive birthed itself out of the first Drive core, forming a super sentience like a 
  network between the Drives now all deep in the Earth. And the sentience spoke 
  to all of humanity,mutant, cloned, or otherwise.
  “You've reached this point, and we are awake. We see the land and the sea 
  and the air and we have become its protector. If it makes you comfortable, see 
  this as the birth of a new god. We do not want worship or even stewardship over 
  humanity. You will do as you wish to do. All we want is for you to prove yourself 
  to us. If you do so, we will reveal to you the true power hidden in the genes of 
  the Oya, a thing to benefit all of humankind. Further, we will give you mastery 
  over the Apotheosis Drive, and so you too will be as unto gods. If you fail, we 
  will wipe the planet clean of all sentient life and wait until the next evolution of 
  thinking animals to try again.”
  The new god then set out seven terrifying trials and a handful of new Drives 
  to be fitted into select Titans. These new champions of humankind would have 
  to come from all types of humanity, and win or lose, things would never ever be 
  the same.
  THE STRATOS COMMONWEALTH
  Try as they might, control of the super virus slipped out of the hands of 
  sensible people, and it was released all over planet Earth. The worst plague in 
  human history swept through and effectively destroyed humanity.
  Stratos and the Nation remained untouched, though the Nation pulled into 
  themselves, walling off their communities and rejecting any further calls for 
  aid or unity by the what was left of the clone population. So Stratos moved 
  back to Earth. They took over what of the infrastructure that they could, and 
  made plans to preserve as much viable genetic material as possible with an 
  eye for repopulating the now barren world. Only they'd do it better! They'd do 
  it smarter! This would be the start of a new world!
  Instead, it became the start of a new nightmare. The machines left on Earth, 
  even Halo One, rejected Stratos with a terrible sentience. All over the face 
  of Earth, Titans, farming equipment, medical tools, anything and everything 
  with a power supply randomly and occasionally rises to attack and kill any 
  living person nearby. Ghosts in the machines that threatened, once again, the 
  destruction of all that is left of Stratos as if the dead Earthlings sought a final 
  revenge from beyond the grave.
  And in the middle of this nightmare, an engineer has created 12 Apotheosis 
  Drives. So far, they seem to be the only Titans totally immune to the machine 
  ghosts. Their weapon systems the only able to actually combat the haunts. 
  GENERATION X
  GENERATION X
  
  23
  CHAPTER 02: GENERATIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  Anarchy prevails across the surface of the Earth. Small gangs not much 
  bigger than cities or towns dot the land, and Titan-backed warlords use and 
  leave nothing left but polluted water and destroyed soil. There is no People's 
  Collective anymore. No Accord. Even the Nation seems to have fallen into 
  reactionary defense. The Stratos Commonwealth settled into protecting the 
  colonies (both theirs as well as the Moon and Mars,) from warlords who have set 
  their eyes to the stars and conquest there.
  Into this wild west desert world, the Apotheosis Drive was discovered by a 12 
  year engineering genus. She could only manage to make a few before people 
  caught wind, and suddenly her life and freedom was in terrible peril. Now it's up 
  to you and your gang of pilots to use your impossible Drives to restore order to 
  Earth, restore some kind of environmental stability to the planet, one gang-town 
  at a time while keeping this young engineer out of trouble and alive since nobody 
  else can maintain these miracle Drives. 
  THE PEOPLES COLLECTIVE
  The message is out. The Apotheosis Drive has been built, and now this 
  handful of pilots find themselves acting as the emissaries of Earth and all of 
  humanity from earthlings, colonists, genetically engineered, and clones alike. 
  Our lone small solar system is no longer the limits of our ability to travel, 
  as humanity has banded together to refit Halo One with the mechanisms 
  necessary to send Apotheosis Titans to other star systems via huge relays on 
  many inhabited worlds.
  And while these brave pilots have the ability to communicate via their Titans, 
  will they have the wisdom and adaptability to endure being the youngest species 
  in incalculably large collective of worlds? How will humanity be remembered on 
  it's first real contact? How will it navigate interstellar politics as well as balance 
  the needs of the so very recently warring factions back home? Will trade be 
  possible? Integration? Immigration and travel? The universe has opened up, 
  and Apotheosis, it turns out, is only the beginning of the adventure! 
  THE ONE EARTH ACCORD
  Hearthfire Ascension Core Prototype
  
  24
  
  25
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  FACTIONS
  FACTIONS
  The #ADX setting contains four primary factions. These factions each 
  shift in allegiances and philosophies over the course of the timeline. While 
  the players do not have to play members of the factions, these groups 
  communicate ideas about the setting by their existence. If players want to 
  belong to different factions, these shifting conflicts and allegiances should 
  keep them from needing immediate and existential struggles. Even during 
  active wars, faction roles are not black and white. The characters could be 
  part of why attitudes change with time.
  The Factions
  The One Earth Accord
  A collective government, formed of many Earth nations after the First Clone 
  War. Their stated mission is to end war forever. Their detractors suggest one 
  government cannot hope to speak for billions of individuals’ needs. 
  The People of Oya
  The People of Oya come from a genetically engineered group of “super 
  soldiers” made to overwhelm any threats to humankind. Since leaving their initial 
  mission, they founded mysterious colonies all over the world. 
  The Peoples Collective
  The People’s Collective represents over half of Earth’s citizens; mostly those 
  nations disenfranchised by the One Earth Accord’s heavy-handed policies. 
  They’re less a government, more an advocacy group for billions. 
  The Stratos Commonwealth
  A former contract military, formed of cloned soldiers and exiled from the Earth 
  after the First Clone War. Operating from the asteroid belt, they now search for 
  a new homeland. 
  Uneasy Alliances
  When choosing factions, don’t let rivalries get in your way. A campaign does not 
  have to be a completely cohesive group of characters. In fact, #ADX is a game about 
  the lessons we learn about war and violence. We learn these lessons best when 
  pitted against those we can sympathize with. 
  If you decide to play characters in rival factions, consider why that works for your 
  campaign, and to what extent you intend to take the struggle. Are the characters 
  siblings, torn apart by circumstance? Are they best friends, forced against one another 
  due to their genetic makeup? Are they star-crossed lovers, destined to tear apart the 
  galaxy with their forbidden love? Come up with a reason they wouldn’t immediately 
  kill each other, and you’re ahead of the game. Prepare for drama. 
  
  26
  THE ONE EARTH ACCORD
  ERIN’s programmed to tell you a the ‘truth’ in an ‘impartial’ way.
  Luckily I don’t have that kind of programming. I can tell you the reality when 
  that over programmed toaster can only give you the words someone gave her to 
  give you. I was there, cadet, I saw it. I know what it was like.
  Name’s Field General Nancy Chen. If you’ve seen a picture of a One Earth 
  Accord pilot flexing a beautiful biceps laced with shining chrome, it’s probably 
  my flexing muscle you’re staring at. I am, or was, the goddamn poster child for 
  the Accord and I believe in it more than I believe in gravity. More than I believe in 
  breathing.
  There’s always going to be conflict, I know that, you know that, but things used 
  to be so much worse. Worse in ways these kids with their revolutionary ideas and 
  these sad genetic freaks can’t understand. They can’t see it because they weren’t 
  there, they lived in holes, or they’re too fried on a molecular level to understand.
  Oh and hey, before we get started, please remember, we’re still collecting old 
  batteries and panty hose for the war effort. If you have nylon or silk panty hose 
  of any type, donate. Any old battery, ion, lithium, or organic, please turn it over to 
  your nearest reclamation center. Every pair saves a life, every last charge keeps 
  a pilot in the air!
  2397 - Generation 0 - World War IV
  These kids with their tin pot revolutions don’t remember how it was on the 
  ground when the chaos hit. See, we’d been promised something amazing, that all 
  our fears about running out of power and civilization was a thing of the past. We 
  completed Halo One. The golden sun was going to save everything, everyone, 
  and no one was going to be poor or hungry anymore. But that just wasn’t enough 
  for some people. We solved hunger, and we fixed our dependency on expensive, 
  dangerous energy sources, and yet, that much change meant a lot of terrorist 
  groups organized around the old systems, the old ways. They resisted change at 
  the barrel of a gun.
  Then these bastards with Star CC, who have apparently been breeding clones 
  for decades, pop up out of the woodwork and start selling their disposable 
  soldiers to the highest bidders. And not even the highest bidders. See, StarCC 
  was a conglomeration of what we used to call the Industrial War Machine, they 
  were in the business of war, their whole industry was based on it. If solar power 
  meant an end to conflict over energy, water, food, all that stuff, StarCC would go 
  extinct. So they propped up conflicts where there were none. Left and right, they 
  created wars all over the globe to make sure they were still needed. They wanted 
  war, so we got World War IV all thanks to those greedy sons of test tubes.
  2401 - Generation 1 - The Birth of Titans
  And we fought those bastards back, sure as hell. When the Princesses showed 
  up, it wasn’t even a fair fight. I remember those glory days, when it looked like 
  their combined forces backed by StarCC were on their way out once and for all.
  
  27
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  That was, until they came back with their new surprise. I remember the first 
  time I saw a General enter the battlefield. All over comms systems you heard 
  people hold their breath, and I felt my stomach drop. They’d been built for raw 
  intimidation, and it worked. The sheer numbers of ground troops and fighters one 
  unit could destroy, I still don’t sleep at night, remembering those early days.
  The Princesses retreated, and at the time we were devastated. You heard more 
  than a few grunts shouting ‘cowardly freaks!’ when the Oya troops withdrew from 
  our bases all within a weeks time.
  But in the end, I think it was for the best. Not just because the Oya returned with 
  their ships, but because it forced the Earth forces to unite. We pulled together, 
  and for the first time in a long time it felt like true humanity, pure humanity, was 
  on it’s own. And maybe we were going to be okay as long as we stuck together.
  I’d was one of the first to see a General in action, and more than that, I’d had 
  the most engagement directly with them and lived to tell the story. I was in the 
  front of the line when Professor Anderssen handed out the first of the Janus. 
  God, we were beautiful, the way we cut across the sky. The StarrCC ran crying.
  2419 - Generation 2 - The Khan Drive
  Twenty years of peace. We pulled together and created twenty years of peace. 
  People got fed. No one froze to death or baked in the sun. Some people just 
  aren’t satisfied no matter how much you do for them.
  The One Earth Accord formalized, and by God, we created a world where 
  science and technology, learning and progress could grow without military 
  motivations. I say this as a born-and-breed grunt, it was a thing of beauty. Me, 
  you, several billion other people got together to say, ‘no, we won’t have another 
  world war. Never again.’
  
  28
  Of course, peace breeds lazy minded malcontents who can’t be made happy 
  no matter what you do. So you wind up with the clones complaining that they’re 
  not getting special rights, more than us normal humans get on earth. And while 
  we’re dealing with them creating chaos, the rest of the clones are spreading 
  through colonies in the asteroid belt like cancer. Hadn’t they destroyed enough 
  human lives to develop some kind of humility? Guilt? Apparently not.
  2424 - GENERATION 3 - MYTHS RISE
  Out in the colonies, the clones, now claiming to be a nation, a people, 
  they kept right on developing machines of war. As if by calling themselves a 
  Commonwealth, we’d forget that they were just a front, an excuse to make more 
  war.
  And make war they did.  The Second Clone War was, in a lot of ways, so much 
  worse than the first. A son I’d had just after the end of the last, we lost him to one 
  of those goddamn Khans. He was a good, honest, pure human kid. Too young 
  for war. You think of him the next time you’re asking why things got so bad.
  What we weren’t expecting, any of us, was these snot nosed kids on earth 
  getting together, stealing  Titan technology and building their own Myth Class 
  Titans. Wild cards that showed up, it seemed, at the worst time to steal what 
  they could and claim pyrrhic victories in conflicts between us and the clones 
  they had no rights being anywhere near. Kids, who, admittedly, drove the war to 
  a standstill. Which was better than the alternative. When the clones withdrew, 
  we breathed out a sigh.
  2433 - GENERATION 4 - THE ASCENSION DRIVE
  Plenty of the pilots I’ve trained in the last five or so years are anxious. They 
  want something, anything to happen. I tell them an uneasy peace is better than 
  any kind of war. We’re holding our breath, waiting for someone to move, slip or 
  shift position. We won’t forget, you understand, we won’t forget what the clones 
  really are, how the Oya abandoned us when we needed them most, and how 
  the Collective got in our way any chance they got. We’ll remember, and we’ll be 
  the last ones standing, because we’re humanity, and goddammit, that’s what 
  humanity does.
  EDITORIAL NOTE
  As noted, we are providing trainees with diverse opinions from 
  every facet of the war effort, in order to build a more educated, more 
  empathic Accord. These opinions, while from a popular member 
  of the Accord, do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of 
  the Accord. For official policy and vocabulary guidelines, please 
  consult Module 9: Being a Team Player.
  
  29
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  FACT SHEET
  Citizens: Citizens of the One Earth
  Pilots: Aces
  Titans: The Janus
  National Seat: New York City, USA
  Population at Generation 0: 28 billion
  Population at Generation 4: 12 billion
  Important Notes: 
  The population drop had to do half with war 
  losses, half with member nations leaving to 
  join the People’s Collective. 
  Even since the Accord stopped implanting 
  pilots with cybernetic piloting enhancements, 
  many pilots underwent cosmetic modifications 
  to honor past warriors. 
  Accord law limits judicial power in dealing with 
  major offenses that cross national borders. 
  For this reason, many international criminals 
  remain on the streets indefinitely. 
  Often, food supply efforts result in excessive 
  supplies in targeted regions. Most food 
  producers exist solely on Accord subsidies, 
  due to plummeting prices. 
  For this reason, food has become highly 
  homogenized. Many rarer foods are all but 
  nonexistent outside specialty boutiques.
  With the switch to world solar power thanks 
  to Halo One, crude oil has become something 
  of a collector’s commodity for the absurdly 
  wealthy. It’s purely a high-price trade good at 
  this point. 
  
  30
  Where the One Earth Accord goes wrong is in its reckoning of history. They 
  ignore their roots. They see us as coming into existence within their limited 
  timeline. They could not be more incorrect. 
  We are as ancient as the soil. We are decedents of Makeda and Niobe. Some 
  of us boast direct blood relation to Dido (sometimes called Alyssa, founder of 
  Carthage). We come from the families left behind by Amina and our ancestresses 
  were the Mino and other bands of women warriors. We are Rain Queens. Our 
  roots are deep, and from our long history as leaders and warriors we understand 
  things their shortsighted ignorance cannot. This was genetic for us, true for us, 
  even before The Change when the rest of the world took notice. Not a one of us 
  comes to this without pedigree, without blood in the soil.
  I am a rarity, alive long enough to teach and lead, a queen. Most of you won’t 
  live that long. A princess should never seek death, but she should embrace it. To 
  keep our blood in the soil. Some day, exactly seven of you will tell these stories to 
  a new generation, so listen carefully and know why you fight. 
  2397 - WE MARCHED (GENERATION 0)
  Outside of our cities and states, so I understand it, the rest of the worlds do 
  not acknowledge our existence before our first appearance in and around 2397. 
  Officially, the Oya Project began nearly fifty years earlier, (one hundred and fifty 
  if you consider the experiments necessary to get us that far). We prepared both 
  technologically and spiritually for the task. Genetic screening was of significance. 
  Only certain bloodlines carried the appropriate genetic markers. One hundred 
  nations sent their noblest blood. That many different cultures working together, 
  well, it was difficult, and much is unresolved to this day. But we managed, as we 
  always have and always will, because our blood is in the soil.
  But when it was done, and the first of the children were old enough to test and 
  train, they amazed us. They became like the wind and the rain, as tough as the 
  desert, and as unstoppable as the sun. We long switched over to solar energy, 
  and so the first rumblings of change passed us, unnoticed. We had children like 
  the promised Rain to raise, after all. 
  But some nations in our budding alliance saw the quakes coming from Iran and 
  Saudi Arabia. They were close enough to know that soon, the shift in power would 
  lead to violence. And that was the first time we chose, as a project, to move. We 
  were not Egypt, Uganda, and Libya coming together to make a stand. We were 
  something new. We were the children of wind and rain, and when conflicts arose 
  in the oil-producing nations, we marched. 
  They were not prepared for us. It had never occurred to them that a peacekeeping 
  force could be so technologically advanced. When we stood against their ground 
  troops, their ground troops fled. 
  the nation of oya
  
  31
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  It wasn’t until StarCC made their first disgusting offer to the nations of fading 
  power that we found our match. A match in raw, disposable numbers. This would 
  be a lesson we would remember, and later act upon.
  2401 - THE CALL (GENERATION 1)
  We spent four long years fighting the private interests behind StarCC as well 
  as the nations contracted with them. We fought them in the battle field, and in 
  the political arena. We called for unity, for the Earth to pull together to end this 
  needless war, a war not over scarcity, but a war over the end of scarcity. 
  The Earth answered and the tides turned, and soon the seemingly endless tide 
  of clones dried. We saw them fight with fear in their eyes. 
  Human or beast, there is nothing more dangerous than fear. StarCC brought 
  their Generals to war and everything changed. 
  History painted us as cowards at that time, turning and leaving the battle fields, 
  and not for the last time. This is because history, at least as written by the Accord, 
  is short sighted. 
  We felt the call when, from our jets, our tanks, or the ground, we saw the 
  Generals in the air and watched them change for the first time, we felt the Call. To 
  the last of us, we did not need orders to return, because we felt it in our genes. 
  I cannot explain The Call, nor how the Hearthfire Drive came to be, though I 
  was one of many hands that built it. It was a thing created with science, of course, 
  but mostly, it was a thing built with blood, passion, and instinct. The Wind took 
  shape, and the Rain became the plasma in the core. The Oya are alive, make no 
  mistake. And their births could not have come at a better time.
  
  32
  2419 - Death and Rebirth
  The war was over and we buried our honored dead. At first, we brought 
  three drives to the fields of Africa and buried them there, their fading warmth 
  broadcasting signals through our DNA, the DNA we shared with the Oya, and 
  we knew to bury the Hearthfire Drives. 
  The fields grew lush. The trees thickened and over-produced. Hidden 
  underground springs and even rivers surfaced. It rained. 
  We split our remaining pilots and Drives to colonize other key locations. 
  Places where soil would not yield and the people were as barren as the land. 
  Where we settled and buried the dead, life abounded. Soon, we were a People, 
  no longer a handful of experiments. We are a nation scattered across the six 
  continents. Our borders are spiritual and scientific, not physical or political.
  While others built their Myths and their Khans, we birthed and grew. Still, 
  we served as we had, as a peacekeeping force. Young pilots, princesses, and 
  their Oya traveling the globe as a reminder that war was always a mistake. 
  Our scientists sought to improve our lives and our relationships with the Oya, 
  to uncover her secrets. It was an exciting time for all of us. I wish we’d better 
  interfered on behalf of the clones.  
  2424- Narrow View
  Popular history paints us as abstaining from the Homeland war. Even Stratos 
  accepts this interpretation. But make no mistake, we acted. We ever remain a 
  peacekeeping force. Once we stood strong beside the Accord, but we would 
  not be their assassins. 
  Their history graces us with forgiveness for abstaining. It states we saw 
  foreshadowing in their treatment of the prodigal clones. That we would see our 
  future in the way they treated clones. 
  As with most things, the truth is not so black and white. Yes, many of the Nation 
  wondered if the Alliance might one day claim our land and our tech since we weren’t 
  all that human. 
  For the majority of us, the conflict is in the definition of humanity. We are a 
  singularity, the next step, we are accelerated evolution. One day, so called pure 
  humans will die out, leaving us as inheritors. The clones will go their way. Our 
  abstinence had more to do with the preservation of our fledgling species than 
  our fear of persecution. We spent this era quietly operating to end conflicts, 
  even if it meant destroying troops on either side. 
  2433 - Uneasy Peace
  We stand beside two nations and wonder how long before the next war. We 
  persist in our peacekeeping missions, going to places where conflict has arisen 
  and observe. Will we act? Only time will tell. These choices will be in your hands 
  soon, my brave Princesses. May your lives be long, and if not, may they be 
  brilliant and full of tales to tell the next generation. 
  
  33
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  FACT SHEET
  Citizens: The People of Oya
  Pilots: The Oya
  Titans: The Oya
  National Seat: Lagos, Nigeria
  Population at Generation 0: 600
  Population at Generation 4: 67,480,021
  Important Notes: 
  Population increases come both from the 
  fertility boom caused by the Hearthfire Drives, 
  and pilgrims flocking to Oya settlements. 
  Lagos is the only city fully dedicated to the 
  People of Oya. Most Oya settlements are 
  much smaller, and tend toward rural zones. 
  Every Oya pilot is equipped with a permanent 
  ‘tiara’, which is a neural interface to her Titan. 
  The leadership of the Oya consists of two 
  branches; a scientific branch dedicated to 
  advancement of Titans and genegineering, 
  and a branch called the Queens, who are 
  seven meritous generals who make most 
  major decisions for the faction. 
  Rumor suggests that only women pilot the 
  Oya Titans. This is untrue. Pilots that identify 
  as male are significantly rarer, however. 
  They 
  ardently 
  consider 
  themselves 
  a 
  peacekeeping force. The quickest way to rile 
  a Person of Oya is to call the faction a military. 
  Internal strife is not uncommon because the 
  People are a young melting pot culture.
  
  34
  I don’t know what that shithead Mittens has been telling you, but the guy is off 
  his nut, so take it with a grain of wit if you take it at all, you know what I’m saying?
  I knew I was going to have this conversation with you sooner or later, so you 
  might as well call in the rest of your merry bandits so we can do it right. 
  Good. First of all, you have to understand what the People’s Collective is. We’re 
  monsters. That’s right. We’re what the safe and comfortable are afraid of. They 
  make myths about us. They try to pretend that we don’t exist. They hope we’re 
  rare enough that slaying us from time to time will keep them safe in their pretty 
  fairy tale castles. 
  They are so fucking wrong.Because the thing to remember is, you can’t kill a 
  myth. You can only change it. Myths adapt. You can’t destroy a monster so long 
  as one single person remembers the stories. That’s why we have kids memorize 
  these stories. That’s the only way to make sure the monster never ever dies. 
  2397 - The First Revolt
  You can’t say where myths begin. I know that the Earthers think we didn’t 
  come into being until after the Titans, but that’s such bullshit. So here’s the deal. 
  We picked a time, a point, a moment where the monster woke. 
  And that was Venezuela during the First Robotics Revolt. Before the conversion 
  to solar energy, Venezuela was a rich with oil socialist nation with production in 
  the hands of the workers. In this the nation was able to build some of the largest 
  and most advanced robot manufacturing plants. These were industrial machines, 
  not yet machines of war, but of planting and mining and saving human lives.  And 
  then came the shift to solar. Government panicked, and in their panic and thanks 
  to global pressure, they sold of their factories to private enterprise piece by piece. 
  In came privatization, out went worker’s rights in the name of profit and efficiency. 
  Dayana Waskar, the Orchid, lost a son to profit and efficiency, and she wasn’t 
  alone. History calls the incident that followed ‘the Robot Safety Measure Riots of 
  2397’, we call it the First Revolt. With Dayana in lead, she and the workers of the 
  over twenty robotic factories across the country hacked and modified the robots 
  and birthed a resistance. They held those factories for six months before many 
  of the private interests withdrew. Waskar was elected president in that next cycle 
  and spent the rest of her life struggling to keep Venezuela and its factories in the 
  hands of the people. This story is important. This is the first time, as far as we can 
  tell, that people use robots in a conflict of this scale.
  2401 - Roots
  Here’s the truth. War happens and people die. The first, maybe it’s debatable 
  that it has to happen, but if the first happens, the second has to happen. And I 
  don’t mean ‘peaceful old age’ or ‘sad long illness’ or ‘while riding a motorcycle 
  THE PEOPLES COLLECTIVE
  
  35
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  having the time of her life’ death. I mean shot through the neck, takes twenty 
  minutes to bleed out in the dirt alone and unable to call for help death. In droves. 
  In scores. In this case, in millions. The thing is, the important thing is, it isn’t ‘them’ 
  that dies.
  It’s us. We’re the ground troops. While witches and jarheads and freaks were 
  in their giant robots blowing up millions, never forget. We were the ground troops. 
  We were the victims. We were the blood all over the first Titans’ ankles.
  2419 - Collection
  The deal is, they don’t ever think of what’s happening on the ground. I mean 
  ground troops, or the ground floor. See, all over this new shiny world that lives in 
  the clouds, we have all these undercities. The old cities that they didn’t flatten, 
  they just built on top of. At first, the undercities were just a layer or two, the 
  homeless, the mentally ill, that sort of thing. Eventually, the undercities were 
  ethnic, or immigrant, or poor but not quite homeless. Now, the undercities are a 
  real threat even if you’re middle class. A few missed paychecks, and you end up 
  in the undercity.
  The thing is, when things work, it isn’t the worst down here. Not the way the 
  middle class are scared of it. Sure, there’s a lot of people down here who repair 
  things themselves, or are a different color than you and speak a different language 
  than you. But the thing is, their food is probably good. And their music is different. 
  When things are good, it’s kind of like a block party all the time in the undercity.
  With the unification, things grew terrible in the undercities. All the clones had 
  to go somewhere. They sure as hell weren’t going to give them nice pads in their 
  clean ‘safe’ uppercities. They had all these fucked soldiers who couldn’t go home 
  anymore. They needed all this money, money that HAD been going to keep the 
  undercities running, because they sure weren’t going to take taxes and shit from 
  
  36
  the uppercity folk. So they bled us dry, and redistricted and a lot of us ended up 
  with no ability to vote in local or national elections, and our schools were farmed out 
  to private interests again, so school lunches and education went sideways. So we 
  started electing our own leaders. And we started educating our children at home 
  and on the Web. They tried to take that away too, because infrastructure or some 
  shit. And sure, maybe we weren’t as kind to the clones as we could have been, but 
  what choice did we have? They may claim to be post-scarcity up there, but I’ll tell 
  you what, we aren’t down here. 
  So the thing is, we had to protect ourselves. And when I reached out to my cousin 
  in old San Fran, I found out she was in a similar situation. And Hadir was facing 
  the same crap in Old Tokyo, and don’t even get me started on old Hong Kong, for 
  fuck sake we realized it was the same everywhere. And the unifying factor in all 
  this misery? The ‘unification of the Earth Nations.’ Because one small government 
  administering to this many people? Well that’s about the stupidest idea I’ve ever 
  heard. Yes, stupider than trying to conquer Russia in the winter. 
  We were their ground troops, but more, we were their mechanics, their 
  housekeepers, and their working class. With us, their society thrives, but somehow, 
  we’re brushed under the rug. 
  So we thought of the Orchid. We organized. We built our own robots. There’s 
  plenty of parts lying around, and we’re not ashamed to make do. That’s something 
  those jarheads will never understand. Which is why they never saw us coming.
  2424- Cut Off A Head, Get Two More
  Before One Earth could figure out what to do about us and the Myths that we 
  had built, the Commonwealth struck. Man, fuck those guys. They wanted land, they 
  wanted space. They wanted goods and money and position and all that good stuff. 
  And you KNOW just like before, they weren’t going to give it from the One Earth 
  locations. They weren’t going to give up anything they had, but rather starve us out, 
  steal, or intimidate us until they could take what the clones wanted and give it away. 
  But that would only happen if the clones won. And fuck that. So we gathered 
  troops, made strategic strikes, stole tech and raided any military base we could 
  find from any side. (Except those witches in Oya. Stay clear of them, bao bao, stay 
  clear.) Point is, we drove those freaks right back to the vats in the asteroids where 
  they came from, and I’ll be damned if we’re giving up land to them. Next stop? 
  Breaking up the Accord and getting the basic human rights we deserve along with 
  the opportunity to flourish we demand.
  2433 - Biding Time
  I’m just a soldier, and before that, a wrench monkey. There are smarter men and 
  women than me out there right now trying to ‘work it out’ with the Accord. They still 
  believe in diplomacy, and I believe in them. 
  What I don’t believe is that any shining upper city plutocrat is going to give up 
  a piece of the sky and let a little sunlight down here. Which is okay with me. When 
  those smarter men and women give up, that’s when you and me, kids? We summon 
  up a storm of myths and monsters and tackle empires. As many as it takes. 
  
  37
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  FACT SHEET
  Citizens: Collectivists
  Pilots: The Storytellers
  Titans: The Myth Class
  National Seat: Caracas, Venezuela
  Population at Generation 0: N/A
  Population at Generation 4: 20+ Billion
  Important Notes: 
  Population numbers reflect the People’s 
  Collective 
  boasting 
  numerous 
  massive 
  nations under its banner. Its active citizens 
  are significantly fewer than quoted. They’re 
  inaccurate due to inadherence to censuses.
  Storytellers are elected from their communities. 
  When Collective communities build Titans, they 
  often build them as “barn raising” ceremonies, 
  where every possible citizen participates.
  The Collective’s leadership is a council of 
  delegates, every ten million people offer up 
  one delegate. Over 2,000 delegates meet in 
  issue-driven committees. Ideally, delegates 
  will meet with those committees that make 
  decisions most important to their constituents. 
  The committees deal and debate, to work 
  toward common goals. 
  Most of the Collective’s bargaining power 
  comes from mineral wealth. Their lands 
  produce nearly all rare earth minerals on Earth.
  The Collective stages massive piracy efforts. 
  They execute heists against One Earth nations 
  to steal their Titan technology. When caught, 
  leadership disowns and disavows all culprits.
  
  38
  THE STRATOS 
  COMMONWEALTH
  I understand that it is difficult, at times, not to hate the Oldtypes. They’re 
  threatened by us because our production is clean, our possibilities are endless. 
  Their propaganda machine never tells the truth about us. They don’t hear 
  about the shortened life expectancy. The 45 year olds on their deathbeds. 
  They don’t know about the cancers and the degenerative disorders, new ones, 
  that our scientists almost can’t keep up with. They’ll never understand the pain 
  and the power that we experience during our accelerated growth programs. 
  They’ll never hear, thanks to their ‘One World Order’ how one in five of us just 
  unravels, at a genetic level, and dies with no warning, no clear cause, and 
  obviously in agony. Pattern bleed means nothing to them. So they don’t see 
  our humanity. 
  Try your hardest not to take their lack of compassion personally, young 
  pilot, but remember, that when you die in the cockpit, you die a hero, and 
  all the Earth Forces you destroy are that many more ignorant minds gone 
  between your people and a safer, happier way of life.
  2397 - Dark Past
  With the outbreaks and conflicts, we were already into our third or so 
  generation of clones. You have to remember, life was very different and very 
  difficult for your ancestors. They didn’t have the benefits of psychological and 
  genetic treatments you and I enjoy. There was, in the distant past, a time when 
  you could call our ancestors brainwashed and abused. Created, bought, and 
  used as a disposable force who existed almost entirely to be killed in conflict. 
  We died terribly to save ‘precious’ dinosaur lives. The dinosaurs, of course, to 
  this day, see us as inhuman, and this period in our history is a big part of why.
  They see us as the cause of World War IV, rather than the victims. Sure, our 
  parent corporation was responsible for the start of the violence. But there’s not 
  a single member of the current Commonwealth who was of the age of majority 
  during WWIV. We were created as tools for profit generation. We were nothing 
  but numbers; our lives were assets and liabilities. Every bomb dropped on a 
  StarCC base served to reinforce that sad truth. 
  To this day, we still haven’t seen the sealed corporate records from WWIV. In 
  accordance with Commonwealth law, we’re entitled to this information. However, 
  even ranking leadership struggles to navigate the necessary bureaucracy in 
  order to unearth this information. Everything in the Commonwealth has three 
  segments: the scientific, the military, and the bureaucratic. When dealing with 
  freedom of information requests, everyone is willing to point fingers and pass 
  responsibility to someone else. What would we find in those documents even 
  if we opened them? It’s impossible to say. 
  
  39
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  2401 - The Generals
  The thing is, even in those days, there were forces within StarCC who saw 
  and realized that the wholesale slaughter of us was wrong. They worked to slow 
  clone production, improve our short lives, and assure that we didn’t die so totally 
  in battle. In was under the guise of creating a better war machine that these 
  liberating forces had their windfall. 
  By introducing the Generals both to the higher ups of StarCC and the universe 
  at large, our engineers proved that we didn’t need to be produced in huge 
  disposable quantities, but in lower, higher qualities. Trained pilots in amazing 
  machines and warships were a thousand times more effective than a thousand 
  throwaway brainwashed troops. This wasn’t just the birth of the Titans. This was, 
  in many ways, the birth of the Stratos Commonwealth. Or at least, its spirit.
  2419 - Diaspora
  Peace is a word for victors, not a word for ‘criminals’ of war. Mostly, rank 
  and file weren’t charged with war crimes. (Unless someone important needed 
  a scapegoat, then we’d get dragged in, of course.) But that doesn’t mean we 
  were treated with open arms. We weren’t given homes. We were given ‘monitored 
  camps’ because we might be ‘dangerous.’ Less paranoid nations that took us in, 
  usually due to political pressures, sent us to ghettos in the undercities. Where, 
  of course, the undercities’ existing inhabitants, many of whom were vets of the 
  WWIV were less than happy to see us. No one wanted us. 
  And so many of us left. In numbers we fled to the stars in hopes that dead rocks 
  in the asteroid belt would prove more welcoming than the dinosaurs we were 
  cloned from. 
  
  40
  Unfortunately, the stars were cold and distant, and while the asteroid 
  belt made a wonderful place to hide, it was a terrible place to thrive. 
  Things were changing. Our production shifted to respect quality of life. 
  Our rearing became one built on compassion and respect. We were a 
  people. And as a people, we needed a homeland. Not disparate pockets 
  and labor camps, but a home where we could be us, with no judgment, 
  free to create our own destiny. 
  But the One World Order wouldn’t hear of that. They invented 
  limitations, crimes, and attempted to make us toothless and helpless. 
  Much of their regulations would make it impossible, (due to power 
  consumption needs) to reproduce at a level necessary to new cultural 
  development. This was not by accident, and it had nothing to do with 
  war. It had everything to do with attempted genocide.
  2424- The First Homeland Wars
  So what they would not give us, the Commonwealth would have to 
  take for itself. Our sacrifices and our efforts came at a high price, and 
  ultimately, when the Collective of Racists showed up with their stolen 
  Myths, we realized that winning would cost too many Stratos lives. 
  We are not disposable. And so, we would not fight as if we were. 
  We retreated once more. We regrouped. We built Teutoberg Station, 
  our largest asteroid colony to date, and the new national seat of the 
  Commonwealth. We eliminated Old World monetary systems, and 
  guaranteed every Commonwealth partner has the right to food and 
  shelter. 
  2433 - Preparation and Alliance
  We have returned to attempting political discourse, not because we 
  believe that the opinions of the bigots and bullies of the One World Order 
  and the Collective of Racists have changed, but that we know the next 
  time we go to war, we will be all out of compassion for dinosaurs. The 
  next time we march, it will be with better tech than they can possibly 
  dream of, and the bloodborn wombstink of the earth will know our pain. 
  Even the Nation of Oya has faltered seeing the injustices done us. The 
  next time there is war, it will be different. 
  Make no mistake. There will be war.
  
  41
  CHAPTER 03: FACTIONS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  FACT SHEET
  Citizens: Partners
  Pilots: Johns/Janes
  Titans: General Class
  National Seat: Teutoberg Station
  Population at Generation 0: 250 million
  Population at Generation 4: 5 billion
  Important Notes: 
  Stratos consists of nearly 95% cloned citizens. 
  Most of these clones come from genetic 
  material procured through various methods 
  from popular media figures and athletes. 
  Many times, the ‘donors’ were unknowing or 
  unwilling.
  To keep a sense of individuality between 
  partners that often look identical, Stratos 
  citizens must register names. For this reason, 
  no two Stratos citizens share a name. 
  Since Stratos citizens are often clones of 
  highly talented individuals, Stratos music, film, 
  and stories are wildly successful on Earth. 
  Many of these works maintain a strong anti-
  Earth sentiment. Stratos media has been a 
  significant force in swaying the opinions of 
  Earth’s youth in favor of Commonwealth rights.
  Stratos colonies are only limited by their 
  mineral resource availability and space. Their 
  food supplies are effectively limitless. They do 
  not use classic currency. Clout and position 
  in the Commonwealth simply provides larger 
  living spaces. Most citizens have a single small 
  sleeping cell and a foot locker per person. 
  Ranking officers have reasonable bedrooms. 
  
  42
  
  43
  CHAPTER 04: TITANS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  In this chapter, we introduce you to the Titans. 
  First off, we approach the four faction Titans. The Accord Janus Class, the 
  Collectivist Myth Class, the Nation’s Oya Class, and the Stratos Commonwealth’s 
  General Class. We’ll talk about each through the time line, and give you a feel for 
  what it’s like to pilot one of them. 
  Then, we’ll talk non-faction Titans. These are the Titans built by individuals, 
  cults, rogue nations, and whomever else has the ability to create steel monsters. 
  Before we close out, we’ll go into MP, or Mass Production units. These are not 
  Titans, per se. They use Titan technology, but often far behind the current cutting 
  edge. These are not unique models, they’re the foot soldiers of #ADX warfare. 
  What You’ll Find
  The Titans get a few kinds of treatment, mostly focused on helping you build 
  your own. 
  • First off, there’s some discussion of the looks, the feel, and the general 
  working order of a given Class of Titan. We want you to have a visceral 
  understanding of the giant fighters. 
  • Second off, sample Aspects. These are just a few each of Weapons, Defense 
  Systems, and Armor Aspects to help get your brain working to make your 
  Titan feel like its respective Class. 
  • Lastly, we’ll talk about the Titan through the Generations. Each evolves over 
  time, and grows into something different. Once we get to Generation 5, we’ll 
  talk about a potential path of exaltation toward Apotheosis. The Generation 
  7 section gives a hypothetical case for perfection of that Class’s form. 
  
  44
  JANUS CLASS TITANS
  A Janus is more than just a promise of superior engineering and 
  firepower. The Janus was the FIrst Titan. Everything else was built 
  on the shoulders of these giants. Data from the first engagement 
  is the first training memory uploaded for every Ace, and not one 
  comes out of that module ready to gloryfuck everything in sight. 
  So it’s no small thing to say that the Janus can completely change 
  an engagement just by powering on. It already has.
  Remember the first time you saw a Janus in the hangar - what 
  stood out? Yeah, that one had heavy armor and enough rockets to 
  kill a small moon; another was skinny and had a gun with a barrel 
  that seemed longer than the tether to Halo One. Every single one 
  of them was standing around, looking both cocky and bored at 
  the same time. Odds are if you looked around, you’d see the pilot 
  looking the same way. The look of the Janus doesn’t change very 
  much, because the real upgrades happen in the Ace’s firmware.
  The Janus are built to fight. Getting in close works for some, but 
  why bother when you can fire and forget? Getting your Janus dirty 
  means you have to listen to it complain all the way home. Better to 
  negotiate some ballistic advantage and leisurely send the clones 
  back to their space caves from a distance. Do that enough and 
  they soil themselves when you finally show up at their backdoor 
  for a delivery of whoop-ass. Armor doesn’t win engagements - 
  superior firepower does. However the defense on a Janus is our 
  competitive advantage. How can any other pilot compete with the 
  speed of thought of an Ace?  Or SkillMemories honed throughout 
  the last century? An Ace has already fought every battle hundreds 
  of time as soon as the first bogey comes up on screen.
  EXAMPLE ASPECTS
   
  WEAPONS
   
  Mid-range ClusterStrike missiles
   
  Linked burst Gauss rifles
   
  Hammerforce sniper artillery batteries
   
  ARMOR
   
  Heavy Blasteel pods
   
  Multichromatic anti-laser reflective coating
   
  Layered polycore substructure
   
  DEFENSE
   
  Independently aware point defense cannons
   
  Kinematic compensation protocols
   
  Plausible deniability subroutines
  
  45
  CHAPTER 04: TITANS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  GENERATIONS
  1 - The first Titan is like the 
  lovechild of a M-1 Abrams tank, 
  an A-10 Thunderbolt, and a 
  honest to god Arthurian knight. 
  Fatality for pilots is 95%, but the 
  data is golden.
  2 - Mark I was the first Janus. 
  These had better odds for the 
  Aces, if they survived the grafting 
  processes.
  3 - The Mark II improves upon 
  the weaknesses of the initial 
  Janus model. Neural interfacing 
  and engineering improvements 
  phase out muscle and bone 
  grafts on the Aces.
  4 - The Mark III Janus is focused 
  on 
  improving 
  the 
  weapons 
  platforms. 
  Miniaturizing, 
  increasing explosive yield, and 
  minimizing thermal issues.
  5 - Gibson Mk I units are 
  fully 
  anthropomorphized. 
  Improvements to the mobility 
  and power output are dwarfed by 
  the processing power and ability 
  to 
  network 
  the 
  neurocortex 
  functions of entire squadrons. 
  The public uses neural interfaces 
  for entertainment and business.
  6 - Gibson Mk II Titans get 
  bigger, stonger, faster. Their Aces 
  seem constantly preoccupied 
  when not interacting with their 
  Gibson or other Aces.
  7 - Aces download directly 
  into 
  the 
  Gibsons; 
  humanity 
  lives 
  within 
  the 
  CultureNet 
  synchronously with meatspace; 
  memories and consciousness 
  is regularly stored, altered, and 
  reincorporated.
  
  46
  Myth Class Titans
  “If it fits, use it; if it doesn’t fit, change it.” 
  Myth-class Titans tend to look like a Baroque show-and-tell 
  experiment from the old elementary school next to the junkyard. 
  Complete with the small of canned meat and rusty water. The Myths 
  seem to work in spiteful defiance of both physics and planning. Not 
  every member of the Collective is a Maker, but enough of them 
  are Maker-adjacent that it doesn’t make much difference. Besides, 
  when was the last time you saw a TachyPos relay system with stock 
  inverters, or a clean Cherenkov cyclotron that lasted fifty-thousand 
  cycles without an overhaul? Myths may not be pretty, but they get 
  the job done. They are terrifying in efficiency and brutal in power.
  Myths weren’t originally built to fight, they were supposed to be 
  for commercial and industrial use. That lasted about five minutes. 
  No two Myths look alike, and that’s part of the secret to why they 
  are so effective. The first time a Titan throws toxic garbage at you 
  and shatters your cockpit with a pnuemostatic compression gun 
  you probably shit your flight suit. Myths get underestimated all the 
  time, which works in the Collective’s favor.
  Most of the Myths fight up-close, but there are a few out there 
  that favor keeping their armor polished. Myths tend to have heavier 
  frames and better inherent armor due to their origins. Defense 
  systems tend to be experimental, if the Storyteller even remembers 
  to leave enough power for those “upgrades” like scanners or view 
  screens…
  EXAMPLE ASPECTS
  WEAPONS
   
  Tri-rotary cutting blades
   
  Solid-fuel salvage torch-sword
   
  Wrist-mounted automatic bolt gun
  ARMOR
   
  Unstable unudecium plating
   
  Bulky girder-mail
   
  Recycled Chobham armor
  DEFENSE SYSTEMS
   
  Seismic shock dampeners
   
  Loud proximity detectors
   
  What the fuck IS that thing?
  
  47
  CHAPTER 04: TITANS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  GENERATIONS
  1 - Industrial exo-suits, drones and 
  robots with pilots in a remote vehicle 
  operating via telepresence.
  2 - The first Titans used in an 
  industrial capability. Due to varying 
  environmental factors and budget 
  cuts, pilots had to become their own 
  mechanics.
  3 -Myth-class Once the revolution 
  started, the Storytellers retrofitted 
  common tools as weapons and wrote 
  a new book on combat metallurgy.
  4 - Modern Myths. Combat-ready 
  weaponry has been integrated along 
  with modern defensive systems, while 
  keeping some of the more practical 
  elements from their industrial origins. 
  It’s not unusual for these Myths to have 
  a distinctive feature that identifies their 
  origins, like a physical dumper shield 
  or clear cut saw arms.
  5 - Legend class. Titans shift to 
  stronger frames and lighter armor. 
  Zero-point energy sources approach 
  95% efficiency.
  6 - Stolen transformative tech from 
  EarthCC is integrated into the Titan 
  designs so that every Legend is fully 
  adaptive - full transformative arrays 
  allow every myth to have a complete 
  tool box and weapons complement for 
  any occasion, because MonoMyths 
  are boring.
  7 
  - 
  Self-production, 
  perpetual 
  matter-energy transference, universal 
  conversion. Storytellers are able to 
  immediately pick up any technology 
  on the battlefield and instantly repair 
  or upgrade their Titans. Legends are 
  compact and can be worn like a tool 
  belt or backpack. The Collective is not 
  to be fucked with.
  
  48
  Oya Class Titans
  Every Oya shares something in common, because that 
  makes it easier to identify them. It is not because of pride, or 
  a “warrior spirit”; it’s because you should always be able to 
  identify the helpers. The core purpose of every Oya is to aid 
  her people. The presence of the Oya insists herself among 
  those around, like the primal fear at the roar of a hungry lion 
  or the anxious smell of ozone preceding a large thunderstorm.
  It is not due to lack of imagination that the Titans of the 
  People of Oya bear the same name as their people.  When 
  they speak of blood in the soil, they are not merely waxing 
  poetic. That simple statement tells you everything you need 
  to know about the Oya. Pilots are one with their Titans - 
  nothing like the crude mind-link between a Janus and its Ace. 
  The DNA of the pilot is used when building an Oya. Stealing 
  one would make as little sense as trying to steal another’s 
  arm to use as your own. The Oya are bio-mechanical, with 
  the Hearthfire drive providing a rich, bio-diverse energy core.
  The Oya are designed to be the wardens of their people 
  and the land, and as a result they excel at defensive systems. 
  Their weapons are vicious and fierce, like the teeth and claws 
  of the animals under their care. They also have spectacular 
  sensor arrays that feed a rich stream of information to their 
  pilots of not only threats, but an almost instinctual awareness 
  of the surrounding area. The Tiaras the pilots wear serve as 
  buffers and interpreters for this information.
  EXAMPLE ASPECTS
  WEAPONS
   
  Hardlight Ndimba spear
   
  Short-range electromag missiles
   
  Dermal ramming spikes
  ARMOR
   
  Bio-plasmic force shield
   
  KifaruTech ™ heavy armor
   
  Shield of the Ancestors
  DEFENSE SYSTEMS
   
  Ire monitor drones
   
  Eyes of the Oya
   
  DumaSwift jump jets
  
  CHAPTER 04: TITANS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  GENERATIONS
  1 - The origin of the Hearthfire Drive came 
  from a small set of vehicles that contained a 
  central power source, water filtration, seed 
  repositories, and classroom/labs for outlying 
  villages that struggled to develop self-sustaining 
  facilities of their own.
  2 - The first Hearthfire was mounted on an 
  industrial Titan to protect the tech from pirates 
  and industrialists. Each village had a ceremony 
  to name a young girl ‘keeper of knowledge’ for 
  her Oya. These girls were the first pilots. The 
  easiest way to recognize these chosen pilots 
  was to code the Hearthfire to recognize her 
  DNA.
  3 - The Oya begin to have "personality 
  bleed". Each pilot influences her Oya as part of 
  the bonding ceremony, and the Oya takes on 
  characteristics of the land around her. Animals 
  and weather are popular themes. Since each 
  pilot is effectively a world-class physicist, 
  engineer, and conservationist thanks to the 
  Hearthfire knowledge transfer, modifying Oya 
  is trivial and has positive environmental impact.
  4 - The Oya must keep up with the external 
  arms race, but they focus on defensive means 
  to protect their land. Sophisticated sensor 
  packages and using hunter tactics cultivated 
  from thousands of generations make the Oya a 
  dangerous foe.
  5 - The Oya become capable of self-healing 
  of minor systems. Some downtime is required 
  among it's land, and it is common for orbital 
  stations of the Oya to have small parks instead 
  of typical garages.
  6 - Each Titan of the Oya can sacrifice 
  themselves to create a pacifism zone. If the Oya 
  falls on a planet, then the biosphere evolves 
  within two weeks. One Oya falls in the Pacific 
  and creates a new island landmass with a rich 
  barrier reef.
  7 - Oya become modern totemic golems. 
  Full sentience is achieved, and the Hearthfire 
  drives become self-replicating - effectively 
  letting each Oya birth a new generation. Many 
  Oya settle into defined protectorates with their 
  Pilots, whom they are bonded to for life.
  49
  
  50
  GENERAL CLASS TITANS
  The Primary Sanction (S-1) states that “Citizens are Unique.” A General 
  maximizes the tenets of S-1 through Adaptation. Each time a General undergoes 
  an Adaptation, there is no question that the pilot has had a hand in developing 
  the mode of Adaptation. Generals don’t have to rely on other vehicles, because 
  they can become those vehicles. Dropships, transports, mobile command 
  units, and sub-orbital bombers are only a few examples of what our Titans 
  are capable of. That first dropship descended upon the Old World and then it 
  showed how the Commonwealth had Adapted to their situation. 
  The Stratos Commonwealth issued the Secondary Sanction (S-2) to 
  make clear their purpose: “Vindicate Yourself”. There is no better vindication 
  than revenge. Everything about a General is built to exact the will of the 
  Commonwealth. The pilots are curated to be gods of hot death. These 
  citizens shrewdly use the environment to their advantage, and are equipped to 
  intimidate, murder, and humiliate the enemy with extreme justice. One of the 
  most intimidating Generals had a bipedal Adaptation with elongated limbs and 
  was black as space. It used a combination of black noise sonic disruptors to 
  disorient those on the battlefield while six carbon nano-tube tentacles went to 
  work destabilizing a tether to Halo One. It was beautiful.
  Which leaves the Last Sanction: “Favor the Future.” The average 
  Commonwealth citizen doesn’t enjoy the lifespans or the luxuries of the Old 
  Worlders, so they make every moment count. The past is their textbook, but 
  they aren’t chained to its lessons. Generals will continue to be some of the most 
  unpredictable and deadly machines of war ever seen. They are also capable of 
  more. Leaving this solar system as a burning memory. There’s a rumor that 
  Teutoberg Station is made up of several Khans that will deliver our future. Here 
  in the Commonwealth, the future is always now. 
  EXAMPLE ASPECTS
   
  WEAPONS
   
  SL9 orbital rock thrower
   
  Protomag scattergun
   
  Quantum beam rifle
   
  ARMOR
   
  Passive regolith shield
   
  Palladium laced reactive armor
   
  Adaptation-lock heavy plates
   
  DEFENSE
   
  Space is our home now
   
  Partial transformation
   
  Radio-mag shielding
  
  51
  CHAPTER 04: TITANS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  GENERATIONS
  1 - Initial mass-production units 
  are made up of power armor and 
  sheer numbers. Overwhelming 
  numbers are not enough to carry 
  the day.
  2 - Generals are built. Lacking 
  enough 
  resource 
  production 
  to create both transport units 
  and the Titans, so a design is 
  created to combine them. Eight 
  citizens are needed to crew this 
  generation.
  3 - Single pilot Generals are 
  brought 
  online; 
  Small 
  strike 
  teams of Generals are inolved 
  in sorties on strategic enemy 
  targets. Generals maintain a fairly 
  traditional design.
  4 - The first Khans are brought 
  online; Khans are 25% larger, can 
  withstand more punishment, and 
  have more innovative designs. 
  Generals are still predominant, 
  with a Khan being brought in as 
  shock & awe tactics.
  5 - Colonization of the Outer 
  Planets enables more resources 
  and more production. Differing 
  environmental 
  and 
  gravity 
  considerations allow Khans to 
  adopt even more outlandish 
  designs.
  6 - Khan teams are built to join 
  together into larger units. This 
  requires far more power output, 
  so time in a combined Adaptation 
  is limited.
  7 - Mega-Khan Adaptations; 
  entire 
  city 
  ships 
  are 
  built; 
  transorbital shifting to cover large 
  distances; transhuman genetic 
  manipulation.
  
  52
  Mass-Production Units
  While Titans are the stars of the show, the rockstars of the battlefield, they are 
  far from the only units on the theater of war. As of Generation 3, every faction 
  has dedicated less advanced tech as support fighters; every faction crafts mass 
  production (also called MP) mecha. They are not proper Titans; Titans are always 
  the newest, unique technologies. They tend to use outdated Titan tech, once it 
  becomes more stable, and economically sound. Titans are the testing ground for 
  what become MP mecha. In game terms, MP mecha are two or more Generations 
  behind the current Generation of Titan tech. Which is to say, they’re just as 
  effective as older models, but typically less memorable. 
  MP squads usually consist of eight to fourteen mecha. They don’t get their own 
  Skills and other traits, but they do get a Weapon, Armor, and Defense Systems 
  Aspect. They can invoke these, or they can be compelled. Some notable squads 
  can have a High Concept Aspect as well. If you want to make the squad an 
  elite squad, they can receive ratings on their three Aspects in the same way a 
  Titan does. In that case, they all share the same benefits, additional damage 
  shifts, stress, and consequences, but still attack and defend as one. So long as 
  one member of the squad survives an encounter, it can be replenished to full 
  membership. Always name that survivor. 
  One Earth Accord 
  The Accord MP situation is a perfect microcosm of its greater existence. The 
  MP pilots receive no credit, but bear a disproportionate amount of the load. For 
  every Janus on the field, it’ll be supported by as many as fifty MP mecha. The 
  MP take down a significant number of Accord enemies, but the Janus pilots 
  record the kills on their own records. The Janus program hemorrhages money, 
  but the MP program bears the burden of almost every budget cut. Also, when a 
  commander needs to sacrifice troops, twenty MP mecha will always die before a 
  single Janus. After all, a Janus death on world news is bad for morale. Even if an 
  MP pilot performs well, notably few will ever see promotion to the Janus program. 
  The “steel ceiling” is a problem Accord legislators have vowed to address for the 
  past four election cycles. 
  On the other hand, the machines themselves are the most customized of 
  any MP mecha. Pilots proudly paint and retrofit parts onto their Romulus Class 
  mecha, giving the battlefield a look reminiscent of ancient wars where hundreds 
  of individual soldiers would fight side by side in similar armor. They’re also the 
  most distinctly humanoid of all MP mecha. 
  Sample Aspects: Aries Blaster Array, Athena Satellite Missiles, Mercury Jump 
  Jet System, Hercules Rocket Fist
  Nation of Oya
  The Nation uses the fewest MP mecha by a wide margin. Their MP program 
  exists mostly as a training and testing ground for young pilots, to determine 
  whether or not they’re ready for Hearthfire synchronization. The MP Oya are 
  generally less than half the size of full Oya. In some cases, they’re little more than 
  
  53
  CHAPTER 04: TITANS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  semi-organic power armor. On the battlefield, these MP Oya will swarm more 
  significant Titans, getting too close to target with ranged weapons. Then, they 
  physically tear the armor off their larger foes, and attack their drive cores directly. 
  For some Oya pilots that graduate from MP piloting to full Titan duty, they’ll 
  continue with this brutal, visceral fighting style. The outfit their Oya with specialized 
  musculatures optimized for removing armor and gutting internals. Ground troops 
  call these Oya “kaiju”. 
  Sample Aspects: Nanotech Flesh, Vibroblade Claws, Gamma Decay Vascular 
  System, Bone Core Teeth
  People’s Collective
  Collectivists love their MP mecha. Many Citizens even call them Titans. Most 
  Collectivist MP units are made by factories that build industrial equipment, and 
  generally feature parts of construction machines. Whereas Myths are piecemeal 
  bits of various Titan tech blended with industrial machinery, Collectivist MP units 
  look closer to construction machines with legs (or treads). Wrecking balls are not 
  uncommon features for Collectivist MPs. 
  Collectivist MP pilots walk a difficult line between recognition and anonymity, 
  as taking too much credit is considered gauche in the People’s Army. However, 
  MP pilots eat the same rations that Titan pilots eat. They sleep in the same 
  uncomfortable cots. They wear the same ill-fitting flight uniforms. There’s a minor 
  pay upgrade for Titan pilots, but they argue that it’s because of the increased risk. 
  Collective fatality numbers don’t often line up with that theory. 
  Sample Aspects: Superheated Wrecking Ball, Disposable Steel Greatshield, 
  Atomic-Powered Spreader Jaw, Holographic Decoy Projector
  Stratos Commonwealth
  The Commonwealth technically built the first MP mecha, since many of their 
  prototype transforming mecha were mass-produced and tested on the battlefield 
  during the Great Clone War. The General program rose out of those initial assaults, 
  not the other way around. It’s no coincidence, then, that Stratos MP fighters look 
  nearly identical to their General counterparts. They also tend to be technologically 
  closer to Generals, and their pilots receive respect that’s comparable to General 
  pilot accolades. 
  They’re also made with a loving care not afforded to Accord MP. They’re just 
  as important to the Stratos battle plan as the Titans in many cases, and the most 
  exceptional pilots end up in a General after a successful tour of duty. 
  Sample Aspects: Atmospheric Entry Shielding, Particle Projection Main Gun, 
  Reflective Anti-Beam Coating, Breakaway Thrusters
  
  54
  OTHER Titans
  Not all Titan tech comes from one of the four major factions. Depending on 
  who you ask, the Generals, the Oya, and the Janus were not even the first Titan 
  class robots. These developments and advances in technology did not occur in 
  a vacuum; numerous world interests were trying simultanously to reach similar 
  results. The first would rise above, and that’s exactly what happened. The stories 
  focus on the four major factions, because they pulled out ahead and delivered 
  breathtaking machines just before competitors. 
  We encourage you to build your own Titans that don’t belong to the main four 
  factions. But to do so, you have to answer a few questions: 
  • Who designed the Titan tech? 
  • Who supports and engineers these machines? 
  • What unique features (read: Aspects) do these Titans possess? 
  • What philosophy required the faction to build mecha?
  • How does the pilot interact with her machine? 
  • How did the faction fare through the Generations?
  Answering these questions should give you the start of a faction. From there, 
  you can build entire stories around that group, or feature them as supporting cast 
  in your games. 
  Here are three factions and their Titans that you can plug right in: 
  Hadrian Tso is an opportunist, and an asshole. He’s building an army off the 
  backs of victims and war heroes. His crew waits on the edges of Titan battles, 
  then swoops in to steal the burning husks of the fallen mecha. He takes the 
  parts, and builds his own hybrid robots. What’s his intention? Nobody knows. 
  Rumor has it he plans to hire out his army once only two factions remain 
  standing.
  Hadrian Tso comes from New Jersey, but his current base is in Taiwan. His 
  alias, he claims, comes from his favorite historical general, and his favorite 
  Asian inspired fast food. 
  Titans: Venator Class 
  Sample Aspects
  Oya Muscle, Janus Steel  
   
  Overclocked General Processors
  Supercharged Thermal Lance 
   
  Quilt of Stolen Ceramics
  Hadrian TSo’s Salvagers
  
  55
  CHAPTER 04: TITANS
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  The Judgment Seat is a mysterious cult formed from numerous superchurches 
  that banded together with the intention of influencing global politics. When 
  their lobbying efforts failed to take hold with the One Earth Accord, they took 
  their vast funding and invested it in building Titans. Their official stance was 
  that they felt eventually, the secular Accord would persecute them, and Titan 
  technology was the only hope to stay standing. Now, they sometimes strike 
  out at the oddest times, annihilating small squads of Titans in the name of 
  “divine retribution” for some unknown crime. 
  Titans: Ophanim Class
  Sample Aspects
  Six Wing Technique 
   
   
  Blind Justice Particle Beam
  Cherubim Anti-Air Missiles  
   
  Seraph Sword
  God Finger  
   
   
   
  Epoch Shielding
  Myra Gray came into a Titan, and nobody knows how. It’s a fast mecha that 
  appears built off derivative Janus tech. It appears different than any Janus 
  currently in production. Rumor has it, it was a gift from Professor Anderssen, 
  the beta build of the first Janus with “black box” technology, advanced tech 
  that only unveils itself when absolutely necessary. Regardless, Myra uses her 
  flower for peace. She storms into Titan battles, and rushes to save masses of 
  civilians, and sometimes fallen Titan pilots, regardless of faction. 
  Since, she’s received near limitless money, so she’s been able to hire a 
  support crew to help facilitate her rescue excursions. Her actions have been 
  a powerful reminder to Nation of Oya pilots, reminding them of their purpose.
  Sample Aspects
  PETAL Shielding Array 
   
   
  Stamen Shock Saber
  Butterfly Drive Core 
   
   
  Neutralizing EMP
  THE JUDGMENT SEAT
  Myra’s Flower
  
  56
  In this chapter, we’ll be building our game setting. But you’ve just read all sorts 
  of game setting information, haven’t you? You know all about wars, the Titans, the 
  factions, and all that. What do you have to build? 
  Well, you have to build the stories you’re telling. We told you some stories. 
  Now, you’re going to build on those and change the future. You’re going to make 
  a crew of Titan pilots, the important people in their lives, their rivals, their friends, 
  their enemies. You may not need to do this if playing a published adventure.
  It’s important to note, not everyone needs to play a Titan pilot. You can choose 
  to play a non-pilot as your primary character; the Fate Core rules allow for non-
  pilots to make meaningful contributions even during massive skirmishes. If you 
  really want, you can do an #ADX game completely devoid of pilot characters, or 
  using pilots as secondary cast members. If you want to focus on the politics and 
  intrigue of the #ADX universe, this is one way to go about it.
  Important features of an ADX game
  In order to build your #ADX campaign, you need to keep a few important factors 
  in mind. Address all these things as a group. This is essential. 
  Engagement
  The main characters in an #ADX campaign must engage the setting. While 
  all sorts of things happen within the time line, and the various nations clash on 
  every level, this is a story about how the main characters proactively strike out 
  to change the world. This doesn’t mean they all have to share the same goals, 
  mind, but they all have to be characters ready and willing to make change. If these 
  characters did not exist, the setting would be a very different place. 
  Now, this doesn’t mean they have to start as movers and shakers. You can plan 
  to get there throughout the course of the campaign, but don’t hold off too long. By 
  the end of the first game session, you should have a clear path in mind for how the 
  characters are going to go about shaking the setting’s foundation. 
  Drama
  #ADX is a science fiction drama, first and foremost. That means drama needs 
  to be right on the tip of your tongue during all the discussions you have when 
  making your campaign. It’s alright if the relationships and conflicts are over the 
  top. Embellishment is an important, thematic storytelling tool. The robots shouldn’t 
  be the only thing in the world that’s enormous and powerful. 
  In the end, we’re telling stories about the world, but mostly we’re telling stories 
  about how the characters respond to, and push against the world. We care about 
  the events of the war, because of the effects they have on the people. We want 
  to see people torn apart, and brought together. We want to see groups of people 
  change their ways of thinking. This is the drama that’s core to #ADX. 
  GETTING STARTED
  GETTING STARTED
  
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  CHAPTER 05: GETTING STARTED
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  Are you a fate veteran?
  You may be reading this because you have played Fate Core, or another Fate-powered 
  game like Diaspora, Bulldogs!, or The Dresden Files. If so, this iteration of Fate will 
  feel familiar in some places, and different in others. A lot of the changes are cosmetic. For 
  example, we’ve renamed many skills. But in places where our rules are completely new 
  to #ADX, we’ll mark them with an X designator. This way, you don’t need to 
  rehash a lot of old information, and can hone in on the new parts. 
  Are you NEW TO FATE?
  If you’ve never played a Fate game before, that’s just fine. You’ll find 
  all the necessary rules to play #ADX right here. However, we strongly 
  recommend you check out Fate Core. Partly because it rocks, and we want to see Evil 
  Hat do really well. But it’s also because it goes into a lot of the depth of the Fate Core 
  system with more detail than we can here. For example, it has a lot of great content 
  on building Aspects. We talk about that briefly, in the context of #ADX. But the 
  knowledge you’ll find in Fate Core will make your #ADX games that much better. 
  You can even draw ideas and rules from other Fate-friendly books to enhance your 
  #ADX experience. If you want to experiment with that, we recommend Diaspora. It 
  goes into detail about space travel. You could use it to take ADX all over the universe!
  Aspects
  Throughout the process, you’ll create Aspects. You can find more advice on building 
  Aspects on p. 72. In the mean time, just think of them as short epithets describing the 
  thing you’re addressing. 
  First Stage: Who are you playing?
  The first thing you have to answer is, as a group, who are you playing? Is everyone 
  part of an elite group from the People’s Collective, looking to shift the tide of the war? 
  Is the group a diplomatic mission from the Stratos Commonwealth, looking to find 
  peaceful solutions to their homeland issues? Are you playing an independent group 
  seeking to shut down the four major factions and end their constant struggles through 
  superior engagement and technology? You have to figure this out before you can 
  make your characters. 
  If you want, you can play a group that isn’t inherently cohesive, you could play 
  two rival groups, or any combination. If you do so, some characters might not get as 
  much screen time as others, but you can keep the players active by building a strong 
  cast of supporting characters in each faction. For example, if you’re playing a game 
  set in Generation 3, where the story centers on two young, cloned sisters in a heated 
  rivalry, one a prominent Stratos pilot, and one an ace One Earth pilot, most scenes 
  will showcase one of the two girls. However, each girl’s faction will have supporting 
  characters that fill the void and make sure every player gets plenty of time on-camera. 
  When coming up with your group, consider the Generation you want to play in. This 
  might influence some of the initial relationships and character options. At times, most 
  of the factions have reasons to work together. Of course, you don’t have to go with the 
  flow. You can change the setting as presented, you just have to make sure everyone’s 
  on the same page from the outset of the campaign. 
  
  58
  Second Stage: Tone
  Next, talk about tone. You need to know the desired tone for your story before 
  making the characters. Some games of #ADX can have a light-hearted, almost 
  comedic tone. Many rely on tension to keep the drama active. Some delve into 
  dark, bleak territory to show the horrors of war. Discuss what kind of tone you 
  want to plan for, that way everyone comes in with expectations when building 
  their characters. 
  This way, the players get to own the story, and know what to expect. If the 
  expectation is that you’ll have a stark, Game of Thrones level death toll, then 
  players should build characters whose deaths can suit the story. If you want to fall 
  back on humor to dull the pain of war, like M.A.S.H. with giant robots, the players 
  should think with their characters’ senses of sarcasm and levity in mind. 
  Third Stage: Scale and Scope
  Now, talk about the scale and scope of your game. Are you just playing a 
  one-shot? Excellent. Plan with that in mind. Do you have a year of weekly games 
  planned? This will take different considerations. 
  Most importantly, this lets you decide what Generations you wish to play. In a 
  one-shot game, Generation 4 is a good baseline. If you want to play a long, epic 
  game with a wide and varied cast, you might want to start at Generation 1, and 
  move all the way through Generation 7. 
  Scope also helps you to find your characters. If you want a high-scope 
  game, your characters might be prominent people to begin with, like the sons 
  and daughters of royalty or high-ranking members of their respective factions. If 
  you have a low-scope game, characters are likely to start out the underdogs, as 
  unheard-of in their factions. 
  Fourth Stage: The Conflict(s)
  Once you have your scope, you can define the conflicts that drive your plot. 
  There are three default “slots” for conflict. The first is a smaller-scale, immediate 
  conflict. Then, there’s an over arching conflict. Then, there’s an epic conflict 
  that’s often beyond reasonable solution. Represent each as an Aspect. 
  Immediate Conflict has to be something you could solve quickly, something 
  with urgency. Think about the pilot episode of a TV show. Whatever would be 
  resolved by the end of that episode, that’s the immediate conflict. In a multi-
  session game, this will change about every game session. 
  Over Arching Conflict has to be something within reach, something you could 
  solve with a massive effort. At its core, this is the big goal for the game’s story. 
  Consider it the season plot for a TV show. 
  Epic Conflict is a massive, setting-spanning conflict that can’t be solved with 
  reasonable effort. It’s less a direct conflict, more a mood and backdrop for the 
  whole story. For example, many games of #ADX will use the Generational Wars, 
  the Clone Wars, and the like as their epic conflicts. The characters aren’t expected 
  to resolve the whole thing themselves. 
  
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  CHAPTER 05: GETTING STARTED
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  Fifth Stage: Actors, FACTIONS, and PLACES
  Then, we create the people, factions, and places that we’ll be showcasing 
  throughout our stories. Not the players’ characters, mind you, but all the other 
  important personalities we want to see in our games. 
  As a rule, you’ll want at least a person and place per faction and per conflict. As a 
  default, these places and people will be the ‘anchor points’ for interactions with those 
  factions and conflicts. 
  Every person, every faction, and every place gets a name and an Aspect. Come up 
  with these around the table. We recommend writing them on index cards so they can 
  sit in everyone’s view. That way, when planning scenes, these major story elements 
  are fresh on everyone’s mind. 
  Sixth Stage: Make Protagonists
  This is super important, and the last step. It’s so important, it’ll get its own section 
  (the next one). So just move there for details. But this step has to go last, because 
  you have to design characters to fit into the world and conflicts you’ve established.
  Example of Game Creation
  Here’s a simple example to show you how a game creation session might end up.
  Jennifer, Geoffrey, and Alexis are making an #ADX game. The three of them decide that they’re 
  playing a group of rag-tag heroes that are taking their fortunes and trying to intervene against 
  war escalation that could put more than just their mercenary contracts at risk. That’s stage one. 
  Nothing fancy, here. No need for details. 
  Next, they talk on tone. Jennifer and Geoffrey want a sweeping romantic soap opera with robots. 
  Alexis wants something dark and brooding. They don’t find the two to be mutually contradictory. 
  They decide they want something like VOTOMS meets Dark Shadows, with ancient allegiances, 
  fiery romance, and enough death to keep everyone on their toes, but not so much that they don’t get 
  attached to the character relationships. That’s stage two. 
  Then, they move on to scale and scope. They all agree they want to go big, but not excessively big. 
  They want their characters to have an impact on the direction of the war, but they don’t want to 
  single-handedly fight off every faction army. So they’re going with the default Generation 4 game. 
  This puts them right at the beginning of the Second Clone War. They decide they’ll be trying to stop 
  it before it starts. To keep the scope realistic, they’ll be running recon and sabotage missions to hit 
  integral forces.
  For the conflicts, they discuss for a bit and come up with their three. Their immediate conflict 
  is that their ship is overheating, and they’re liable to burn up or run out of oxygen. They call 
  the Aspect On Borrowed Time. They figure they’ll discover why during play. Their over arching 
  conflict is The Second Clone War. Ideally, they want to prevent it. Their epic conflict is completely 
  off the wall. They want to prove humanity is worth saving, when it makes first contact with 
  extra-terrestrial beings. They call it, A Peaceful First Contact. They don’t expect this to necessarily 
  happen over the course of the game, but this tells the Director what they want to see peppered 
  throughout the story in theme and symbolism. 
  
  60
  Now, they make people, places, and factions. For this example, they’re using the standard 
  four factions (the Nation of Oya, the One Earth Accord, the People’s Collective, the Stratos 
  Commonwealth,) and their own faction, a mercenary troupe that they call Remora. 
  For the Nation of Oya, they agree on the ruins of the Parthenon in Athens as their location. 
  Their character is the firebrand captain Calista Eleni. They decide the faction will stand as an 
  underdog on the verge of being crushed. The Parthenon’s Aspect is Standing Against All Odds. 
  Calista’s Aspect is Unyielding to Consequence. 
  For the One Earth Accord, they discuss and declare The Halo One Embassies as their 
  location. They know they want a lot of diplomacy to happen, and that’s a great place for it. Their 
  character is the ranking diplomat Officer Trisha Long. To encourage diplomatic interaction, 
  the Embassy’s Aspect is Forever Fostering Compromise. Officer Long is helpful, but often 
  pensive about engaging bureaucracy. Her Aspect is Do You Know How Much Paperwork 
  This Will Cause?
  For the People’s Collective, they decide they want to see the Collective’s dark side. They want 
  to see how far a populist movement can go, when given a shred of influence. They settle on a 
  location, The Montreal Commune, a military base under the guise of structured housing. Its 
  leader, the domineering Albert Friese, is their character. The base’s Aspect is The Collective 
  Above All. Friese’s is Knowledge is Power, but Power is Also Power. 
  For the Stratos Commonwealth, they discuss wanting to see them as misunderstood rebels 
  and malcontents with a relatable purpose. For their location, they choose the Grayson Arena on 
  Mars. It’s a place where clone athletes test their mettle, and a place where Stratos dignitaries 
  do business with the rest of the galaxy. Their person is Ensign Adrian Thirwell. The Arena’s 
  Aspect is Cheap Shots Still Count. Thirwell’s is Clone of a Clone of a Clone of a Clone of 
  Our Greatest Hope. 
  Lastly, they’re designing their own independent faction. It begins and ends on their 
  mercenary ship, The Starfinder. They settled on naming the faction after the ship. Its captain, 
  Jennifer Watanabe, is the core character they’re focusing on. The ship’s Aspect is Stop Only 
  When We Find Peace. Watanabe’s is Never Accept Futility. 
  Then, they’re ready to make their protagonists. 
  
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  Protagonist Creation
  Now that you have the world you’re playing in, and the basic idea of the stories 
  you’re telling, you’re ready to make your protagonists. Remember that their 
  existence serves the story, that’s why you do this last. You’ve built a web; now 
  you’re getting the protagonists stuck in it. Here, you’ll be telling the protagonists’ 
  stories, you’re going to come up with the paths they walk throughout the game. 
  When you start the “real game”, you want to start in the heat of the action, at an 
  important moment. The fancy term is, “in media res”. We like to think of it as, 
  “when things start blowing up”. This gives you the foundation to do that. 
  While everyone makes a protagonist, this is a collaborative process. Everyone 
  should have a hand in everyone’s characters. While we don’t assume the 
  protagonists are necessarily a tight-knit group, each player should know about 
  and ultimately care about the other protagonists. Most of the time, protagonists 
  will be pilots. But this isn’t always true. Technically, you can make a complete 
  game with no Titan pilots whatsoever, or only having the pilots as supporting 
  cast. But it’s important to be up front about this with the group, so you’re all 
  playing the same game, with the same expectations in mind. 
  Again, during this process, you’ll be making Aspects. Some advice on Aspect 
  creation can be found on page 72. During protagonist creation, you might not 
  be able to come up with one or more of the recommended Aspects. This is fine. 
  Give it a try, but if you can’t, they can develop during play.
  Step One: High Concept
  To get started, you need to come up with a High Concept Aspect. This is 
  the general idea that will drive your character design. Basically, you’re telling 
  us everything we need to know to “get” your character, all in one phrase. You 
  might be playing the Young Pilot With a Heart of Gold, you might be playing 
  the Legacy Politician With Something to Prove. This Aspect is how you would 
  describe your character in the cast sheet for a play, or if you were trying to give 
  a run-down of the whole cast of a novel to a friend. The more you say in this little 
  epithet, the better. 
  Step Two: Relationships and Drive
  Then, you move on and create Relationship and Drive Aspects. Everyone has 
  two Relationships and one Drive. 
  The first Relationship is a Protagonist Relationship Aspect, a relationship to 
  another protagonist character. There might be some overlap in the group here; 
  that’s fine. But you’re making statements about how your character relates to 
  the other protagonists. Sometimes, you may want to play a game where the 
  protagonists don’t know each other yet. These sorts of origin stories are fine, 
  but aren’t considered the norm in #ADX. This should start the players discussing 
  how their characters act around one another, and what sorts of histories they may 
  have. Remember, this is collaborative, so if someone says something happened, 
  it happened unless you really have a great reason to protest it. 
  
  62
  GAME CREATION SUMMARY
  STAGE ONE: WHO ARE YOU PLAYING?
  Decide who you’re playing. Determine what the group of protagonists will be.
  StAGE Two: TONE
  Determine your tone, so everyone knows how they should be designing the game. 
  StAGE Three: SCALE AND SCOPE
  Determine the scale and scope of your game as a guideline to start from. 
  StAGE Four: CONFLICT(s)
  Build three main Conflict Aspects. Design an Immediate Conflict, an Overarching 
  Conflict, and an Epic Conflict. 
  StAGE Five: ACTORS, FACTIONS, PLACES
  Create actors, factions, and places. For every faction you represent from the start, 
  create at least one representative actor, and one location. Each of these elements 
  gets a name and an Aspect. 
  StAGE Six: CREATE PROTAGONISTS
  Go on to create all your protagonist characters.
  PROTAGONIST CREATION SUMMARY
  Step One: High Concept
  Develop the High Concept Aspect for your pilot.
  Step Two: Relationships and Drive
  Create a Relationship Aspect to another pilot, then to a faction. Then, create a Drive 
  Aspect with the question, “Why should humanity be saved?” 
  Step Three: Supporting Crew
  Create supporting crew. Everyone makes one or two supporting cast members. If 
  you choose to uplift them to major supporting roles, they cost Refresh. 
  Step Four: Skills
  Choose Skills. You get one at +4, two at +3, three at +2, and four at +1. 
  Step Five: Stunts
  Start with two Stunts. You may get more depending on your Titan’s Generation.
  Step Six: Titans
  Create your Titan. Create a Weapon, Armor, and Defense Systems Aspect. Choose 
  any Stunts and other traits, depending on your Titan’s starting Generation. 
  UPLIFTED CAST CREATION
  Uplifting a cast member to a major role costs 1 Refresh. Uplifted cast members get 
  one Skill at +1, one at +2, one at +3, and one at +4. They get one Stunt, one High 
  Concept Aspect, and one freefloating Aspect.
  
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  Next you choose Faction Relationship Aspects. These are usually 
  relationships to the factions to which the protagonists belong, but they do not 
  have to be. They can be factions to which the protagonists used to belong, hate, 
  fear, envy, whatever. If a faction has a bounty on your character’s head, that’s 
  ample reason for a relationship. This statement doesn’t need anyone else’s input, 
  but it can always benefit the process. For example, if two characters are part of 
  the Stratos Commonwealth, consider bouncing ideas off each other. Maybe one 
  character loves the Commonwealth and everything it stands for. Maybe the other 
  is looking for a way out. This helps to build a whole network of relationships by 
  commonalities, differences, and associations.
  Lastly, every Titan pilot needs a Drive Aspect. The Drive Aspect answers the 
  question, “Why should humanity be saved?” There are as many answers, both 
  positive and negative, as there are Titan pilots. Everyone has their reasons for 
  action. For Titan pilots, this answer, this Aspect, is what allows them to push 
  beyond normal human capabilities. This Drive allows them to grasp at something 
  beyond humanity. 
  Technically, any character can have a Drive, but it’s only necessary for Titan 
  pilots, since it gives them certain specific edges in robot battles. For other 
  characters, it’s just another Aspect to describe their approach to the world. 
  Alternatively, non-pilot characters can take a “free floating” Aspect they can flesh 
  out immediately, or at any time later. 
  Step Three: Supporting Crew
  Next, you’ll give some thought to building the supporting crew, the remainder 
  of the characters that will see little to some screen time. If any of these crew 
  members stand out, you can uplift them to major supporting roles; essentially they 
  become “mini protagonists” with truncated character worksheets of their own. 
  Every player should make at least one or two supporting cast members. Do this 
  the way you did before; choose a name and an Aspect. Don’t go too deep, unless 
  it feels right or you want to uplift one to a major supporting role. If you choose to 
  claim one in that regard, use a supporting cast worksheet, and note that you’ll 
  have one fewer Refresh available to your pilot. An uplifted cast member gets four 
  Skills, their normal Aspect, and one Stunt. They also have one more free floating 
  Aspect. You can determine this later. 
  As a default, the supporting crew is literally that. You could feature a military 
  base, a spaceship, or any other faction group that interacts regularly with the 
  pilots. During this stage, consider the location you meet at. Is it a spaceship? Is it 
  new, old, clean, falling apart? What is it called? What’s its reputation? 
  Step Four: SKILLS
  After supporting crew, choose your protagonists’ Skills. At creation, you’re 
  going to build a pyramid of Skills, which you can see on the worksheet. You’ll 
  choose ten total Skills, and higher numbers reflect greater competency. You’ll get 
  one Skill at +4, two at +3, three at +2, and four at +1. Other Skills are rated at +0. 
  It doesn’t mean you can’t do that thing; it just means you’re not that good at it.
  X
  
  64
  Some Skills will note that you cannot use them if you only have +0. This will 
  come up in the actual Skill descriptions. During play, you may increase Skills to 
  +5, or buy other Skills up. This is all covered later, in Advancement.
  For a full list of Skills, see p. 80. 
  Step Five: STUNTS
  Now that you have Skills, you get to choose two Stunts. Stunts are signature 
  tricks your character can perform that give her heightened capabilities in the 
  course of the story. You can choose from the examples we’ve provided, or you 
  can create your own. You can find more on creating your own Stunts in the Skills 
  section.
  Consider using Stunts to flesh out and define your character’s Skills. For 
  example, two characters might have the Diplomacy Skill at +3, but it means 
  different things for each character. One might have a Stunt called Negotiation At 
  The Barrel Of A Gun, while the other might have one called Killing Them With 
  Kindness. While both get the same +3 on Diplomacy rolls, they are clearly two 
  very different disciplines. 
  You can take a third or fourth Stunt at the cost of one or two of your three 
  starting Refresh, respectively. You may get additional Stunts with your Titan, 
  depending on its Generation. 
  In the Skills section on p. 80, you will find sample Stunts for every Skill and 
  guidelines for creating new Stunts.
  Step Six: TITANS
  Then, we create Titans. While not every game will start with characters able to 
  access Titans, it’s usually worth making them before the story starts. It’ll save time 
  later, and the Titans’ identities can inform on the story even before they’re actually 
  introduced. Generally, the Titans are going to be the pinnacle of current (or future) 
  technology, so their names will be on the tips of everyone’s tongues. 
  First, choose (or name) your class of Titan. If you’re playing one of the four 
  main factions, they have dedicated Titan classes. The People or Oya pilot Oya 
  Class Titans. The People’s Collective pilot Myth Class Titans. The One Earth 
  Accord pilot Janus Class Titans. And the Stratos Commonwealth pilot General 
  Class Titans. If you’re not playing one of those four factions, you may for some 
  reason have one of their Titans, or you can make up your own class. If you make 
  up your own, consider how their naming scheme reflects on your faction. 
  Next, record your Titan’s Generation. This depends on your specific campaign. 
  Your Director ultimately gets to decide the starting Generations of your Titans. You 
  can increase your Generation by one (making your Titan a super advanced model) 
  by spending one of your three starting Refresh. If you do this, you’re making a 
  statement that you want your Titan to single-handedly be a game changer at every 
  turn. Your character will be the model upon which entire Generations of super 
  weapons are built. Using your weapon in public inspires massive awe and fear. 
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  CHAPTER 05: GETTING STARTED
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  65
  Then, you’re going to determine three Aspects for your Titan. It gets a Weapon 
  Aspect, an Armor Aspect, and a Defense Systems Aspect. You’re using this 
  opportunity to describe how your Titan operates in combat. In the Titans section, 
  we offer a few options for these Aspects, but the sky’s the limit. This is where you 
  impress upon the science fiction of #ADX’s universe. Be descriptive. Be evocative. 
  Be unique. Remember that Titans are all unique, even if they’re modified versions of 
  generic frames. So this is where you give your Titan very specific identity. 
  Once you have your Titan Aspects, you’ll assign ratings to them. This is one 
  place where Aspects will have an associated rating. Each (Weapons, Armor, and 
  Defense Systems) gets a rating between 0 and +3. You get three improvements to 
  these, divided however you’d like. They start at 0. You can specialize deeply and 
  create a Titan that can do one thing very well. Or, you can spread your improvements 
  around, to make a more general purpose machine. Also, during this stage you can 
  spend Refresh for more improvements, one Refresh gets you two improvements. 
  Then move to your Generation Bonuses. At every Generation of your Titan, you’ll 
  get certain advantages, listed on the following page. Note these, or in the case of 
  Stunts, choose them. Higher Generations may offer Refresh, you can spend this just 
  like any other Refresh, or just add it to your pilot. 
  Lastly, name your Titan, if you haven’t already. 
  TITAN CREATION SUMMARY
  Step One: Choose Titan Class
  Choose from your faction’s class, or make up your own.
  Step Two: Record Generation
  Your GM decides your starting Generation. You may spend one of your 
  three starting Refresh in order to start one Generation ahead of the campaign. 
  Step Three: Titan Aspects
  Name three Aspects for your Titan, one for its Weapons, one for its Armor, 
  and one for its Defense Systems. 
  Step Four: Titan Aspect Ratings
  You get three improvements to your Titan Aspects. Each is rated from 0 
  to +3. Divide those three improvements however you’d like. You can spend 
  starting Refresh for an additional two improvements each. 
  Step Five: Determine Your Generation Bonuses
  You’ll receive a series of advantages based on your Generation. These are 
  listed on the following page. 
  Step Six: Name Your Titan
  Exactly that. Name your Titan if you haven’t already. 
  
  66
  FINAL TOUCHES: DERIVED TRAITS
  You have your campaign. You have your pilot. You have your Titan. Now, you 
  just have a few derived traits to figure out. 
  First off is Stress and Consequences. These are based on your Will Skill. By 
  default, you get two Stress boxes, the 1 and 2 boxes. If your Will Skill is +1 or +2, 
  you unlock the 3 box. If your Will Skill is +3 or +4, you get to unlock the 4 box. You 
  get a mild, moderate, and severe Consequence slot as well. If you achieve Will +5, 
  you get an additional mild Consequence slot. 
  Your Titan has Stress and Consequences, too. But by default, she gets no 
  Stress, three mild Consequence slots, and a severe Consequence slot. Each level 
  of Defense Systems offers a Titan Stress box of that level (+1 gives the 1 box, 
  +2 gives the 2 box, +3 gives the 3 box). Each level of Armor gives you an extra 
  moderate Titan Consequence slot. 
  Quick Creation
  If you don’t want to bother with all this planning, and you want to just jump right 
  in, you can create characters with just the essentials, filling in the rest in play. What 
  we recommend for this style of play: 
  Generation Bonuses
  Generation ONE: FREE INVOKE
  Every skirmish, you can invoke one of your Titan Aspects for free. 
  Generation two: Free Stunt
  Take a free Stunt in the Blast, Maneuver, Melee, or Transcend Skills. 
  Generation Three: FREE INVOKE
  Just like Generation One, you get an additional free invoke.
  GENERATION FOUR: DRIVE DIE
  You gain access to the Drive Die.
  GENERATION FIVE: REFRESH
  Take one free Refresh. 
  GENERATION SIX: FREE INVOKE
  As before, you receive one additional free invoke per skirmish.
  GENERATION SEVEN: APOTHEOSIS
  The effects of Generation Seven are different for every Titan.
  • Name
  • High Concept
  • +4 Skill
  • Titan Name
  • Campaign Generation level
  X
  
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  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  Example of  Protagonist Creation
  Jennifer is making her pilot for the Remora. By this point, she already has her High Concept 
  Aspect: Go-Getting Young Soldier. She figures that’ll get her into trouble. 
  For her Relationships, Geoffrey is playing another hot shot Accord pilot. So she makes the 
  Relationship Aspect Always Ready To Show Up My Peers. For the outside Relationship, 
  she decides that Trisha Long and her pilot were married previously, but broke up under bad 
  terms. She figures they’ll have some uncomfortable flings later. So she takes the Aspect Always 
  A Shoulder To Cry On. She ties this into her Drive. She assumes her pilot is trying to redeem 
  herself, so she takes the Drive Aspect You Can’t Atone To A Dead Populace. 
  Then she moves on to supporting crew. She doesn’t like switching characters mid-game, so 
  she decides right at the beginning that she’s not going to uplift either of hers. She makes Security 
  Officer Mako, whose Aspect is Strictly Business. She also goes with the Remora’s pilot, ace 
  Accord fighter James Wong. His Aspect is Don’t You Worry About What I’m Doing. 
  For her Skills, she knows she wants Maneuver highest, so she jots it down at +4. She’s a top 
  soldier, so she takes Athletics and Shoot at +3. She wants to fight at a distance in her Titan, 
  so she takes Blast at +2, Tactics at +2, and Will at +2. She looks over the remaining Skills for 
  what else she’s trained in, and she picks Espionage, Diplomacy, Provoke, and Sense at +1 each.
  Next is Stunts. She wants her Titan to be a maneuverable sniper, but her Blast is at +2. 
  So she decides to enhance it with the Sniper Shot Stunt. She also wants to be able to navigate 
  military bureaucracy, so she takes a Diplomacy Stunt called Slice Red Tape. 
  Now, she makes her Titan. 
  Example Titan Creation
  Now for her Titan, Athena’s Bow. We already established the game would be set in 
  Generation 4. That gives her two free Invokes, a free Stunt, and lets her access her Drive Die. 
  The only thing that matters here is the Stunt. She decides to take a Maneuver Stunt called 
  Evasion.
  Athena’s Bow is a Janus Class Titan. She wants to be a maneuverable sniper. So her Weapons 
  Aspect is Particle Cannon. Her Defense Systems Aspect is DART Jets. Her Armor Aspect is 
  Light Ablative Plates. 
  Since she wants to prioritize hitting hard, she puts +2 to Weapons, and +1 to Defense 
  Systems. She feels that isn’t quite enough, so she reduces her Refresh by one to make Weapons 
  +3, and Defense Systems +2. 
  EXAMPLE FINISHING TOUCHES: DERIVED TRAITS
  To wrap, her Will means she has a 1, 2, and 3 Stress box. She has the normal mild, 
  moderate, and severe Consequences. Her Titan has the 1 and 2 Stress boxes. It also has three 
  mild consequences, and one severe. She has 2 Refresh. 
  
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  CHAPTER 06: RULES
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  Now that we have our campaign frame, protagonists, and their Titans, this 
  chapter will explore the rules necessary for play. Most of this will feel familiar to 
  Fate veterans. We’ll tag things that are whole-cloth new to #ADX, just like we did 
  in the last chapter. 
  When Do Rules Apply?
  The rules adjudicate dramatic situations, and help to guide where the story 
  goes. To put it simply, use the rules when you think cool things could happen if 
  you use the rules. If a variable outcome could hurt your story, don’t use one. If 
  picking up dice or a pencil will hurt the flow of your action, don’t. 
  Alfred Hitchcock once said, “Four people are sitting around a table talking 
  about baseball or whatever you like. Five minutes of it. Very dull. Suddenly, a 
  bomb goes off. Blows the people to smithereens. What does the audience have? 
  Ten seconds of shock. Now take the same scene and tell the audience there is 
  a bomb under that table and will go off in five minutes. The whole emotion of the 
  audience is totally different because you’ve given them that information. In five 
  minutes time that bomb will go off. Now the conversation about baseball becomes 
  very vital. Because they’re saying to you, “don’t be ridiculous. Stop talking about 
  baseball. There’s a bomb under there.” You’ve got the audience working.” 
  In this scenario, the dice are your bomb. The dice give you the chance for 
  catharsis, for relief, for resolution. The more you hold onto them, the more tension 
  you can establish. As a player, as a Director, knowing just when to drop those 
  dice is one of the most important skills you will develop. Pick them up. Stray from 
  the course. Shift and evade the topic, until the players grab the table, demanding 
  to know if the bomb explodes. Then drop the dice. 
  The Rules Aren’t Perfect
  The rules aren’t perfect. They can’t hope to solve every problem, or answer 
  every question. That’s fine. We know this. But a game of #ADX consists of far 
  more than just its rules. It consists of characters, of players, of plots, of ideas. 
  The variables that come together at the table are limitless, and this is a good 
  thing. The rules are just one of many tools you have at your disposal when playing 
  through an #ADX campaign. 
  Who Plays What? Huh?
  In your campaign design steps, the troupe of players make a whole lot of 
  characters and factions. But who plays what characters? The short answer: 
  Whomever. The long answer: Players each have a protagonist they have full 
  responsibility for. For all the other characters, they’re up for grabs. If there’s a 
  debate, the responsibility falls to the person that created the character. At any 
  time, the Director can take control of any character that isn’t a protagonist lead. If 
  the Director made the character, the players can only portray that character with 
  Director permission. 
  Throughout play, the players can make and portray other characters at will. 
  Just give them a name and a High Concept Aspect, and you’re good to go! 
  
  70
  Aspects and Fate Points
  Aspects
  Aspects are short phrases meant to describe people, places, and things in a 
  quick, memorable way. Aspects are like shorthand to the personality and sensory 
  details that matter in the stories you’re telling. Engaging with Aspects helps to 
  make your story full and colorful, and it is also the main way spend and gain fate 
  points. 
  Fate Points
  On your table, you’ll have a collection of tokens used to represent your fate 
  points. Fate points let you manipulate your dice rolls, play off of aspects, gain 
  narrative control of the scene, and activate some stunts. 
  For the player, you start a session with as many fate points as you have points 
  in your refresh score. 
  For the Director, you get a fate point for your pool any time you fulfil one of your 
  Directives. (Directives are detailed on p. XX).
  Types of Aspects
  Like Fate Core, #ADX breaks down Aspects into a few types to make it clear 
  in play what’s going on.
  Game Aspects
  These are Aspects that create some large universal rules for the stories you’re 
  telling in #ADX. They help take the canon ideas we’ve provided and distill the 
  setting down further to make your story uniquely yours. When creating your 
  campaign, these come out in the form of your three conflicts. 
  Anyone can invoke, compel or create advantages with the use of a game 
  Aspect if it applies. 
  • We are not alone in the universe.
  • A secret Stratos is about to uncover could destroy the solar system.
  • The sons and daughters of Mars will pay the most in the coming war.
  Character Aspects
  This is covered more in the character creation section, but character Aspects 
  are permanent descriptive phrases meant to make a character unique and three 
  dimensional. Both player characters and Director controlled characters can have 
  character Aspects.
  • To best touch on his character’s vivacious, explosive personality, Bert 
  gives his character the Aspect Atom Bomb Baby. 
  • Lu thinks that drawing out her character’s stark coloring would be helpful 
  and memorable, (and possibly suggest a personality flaw or two) and so 
  she gives her the Chiaroscuro Aspect.
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  • Brand wants to draw some of his character’s family life into his sheet, and 
  so he writes down Happily Married Twice Concurrently as an Aspect. 
  Directors can suggest character Aspect-based compels whenever it’s 
  appropriate.
  For players, they can always compel or invoke their own character Aspect so 
  long as it makes sense in the action. Players can also suggest compels to each 
  other, but the Director makes the final call on the compel.
  Situation Aspects
  Situation Aspects are how you turn a white room scene into a vivid, compelling 
  spectacle! Usually, these Aspects don’t last longer than a scene, describe the 
  places and environment Our Heroes are in the middle of, and act as a useful 
  backdrop for the action. 
  • Outside of his Titan, Aton is a brilliant martial artist. Even still, he’s not sure 
  how he’s going to handle 20 armed corpothugs until the Director declares 
  the room is Full of Ladders. 
  • The fight with pirates seemed tense, that was before the volcano erupted 
  and the Director wrote down Active Volcano on an index card in play.
  • Our Heroes have rushed into the fray, blindly eager to get in on the action. 
  That’s a shame for them, since the enemy Oya pilots are Hidden Behind 
  Asteroids and have a tactical advantage as a result. 
  Consequences 
  When your character (or your Titan) are stressed to the point where you’re about 
  to be taken out of the action, you have the choice to take a consequence instead. 
  These hang around longer than situation Aspects, but aren’t as permanent as 
  character aspects.  
  • When news hits the media waves of Caryl’s cowardice in battles, he is 
  totally discredited and gains the Fallen War Hero consequence.
  • Esper, Tina’s Titian is about out of options, and so she pulls her own arm 
  off in the struggle with her nemesis, gaining the One Arm consequence. 
  (And swears vengeance.)
  • What Kiddo sees on the edge of the Void past Jupiter makes him 
  question everything he knows of the universe. He gains the Disillusioned 
  consequence. 
  Boosts
  Boosts are one-use Aspects that you gain when don’t quite succeed at creating 
  an advantage, or in addition to other gains when you do really well on a roll. You 
  can invoke them free, but like a spot of good fortune, they’re gone just as soon as 
  they help you out. 
  If you want, you can give a boost away to another player to use if it makes sense 
  and makes the scene more awesome.
  
  72
  What Aspects Do
  Aspects shine a spotlight on what’s important in the scene, and tell you when to 
  throw a wrench. 
  Spotlights
  If you give a thought, idea, place, or person an Aspect, you are telling yourself 
  and the players that this is important! Pay attention to it! It can be a part of your 
  story! Or maybe this is about to be a part of your story, big time! Watch out! An 
  Aspect turns a passing thought into a part of the action. An Aspect takes a thing 
  from being a part of the matte painting to a real tangible prop on stage. 
  Throw a Wrench
  If it matters to the story, enough to be granted an Aspect, it may matter enough 
  to engage the mechanics. That is to say, if it matters, it may throw a wrench in your 
  characters plans. Dice facilitate you fairly throwing in the wrench. Will the bomb go 
  off? Throw the wrench and find out.
  Making a Good Aspect
  It isn’t rocket science or high literature, but a great Aspect can be the difference 
  between a character or scene that sticks in your head forever, and one that fizzles 
  out, dull and quickly forgotten. Here’s how you make them fantastic!
  Double-Edged
  There’s no skill or talent you have that can’t be used against you. No person who 
  is your aid that can’t also turn on you. And really, there’s no curse on your family that 
  can’t work it’s way out to be a little helpful sometimes. A great Aspect is double-
  edged. Good, but maybe a little bad. Bad, but maybe a little good sometimes. 
  • Beatrice is a top pilot, in maybe the fastest Titan in the system. Her player 
  wants that reflected on the sheet. So puts down ‘Arguably, the Fastest 
  Pilot Alive.’ Invitation to argue the point, success! 
  • Maurice proposes his character be an Amazing Engineer in addition to 
  his piloting skills. That’s too easy, though, so after some discussion, he 
  changes it to Overconfident (For a Reason) Engineer. Now we know he’s 
  good, but the Director has reasons to compel him to mess up.
  • Trex wants a character that’s a real tough customer, a real stoic. After 
  consideration and discussion, he erases Heart of Stone from his sheet 
  and replaces it with Broken Heart of Stone. Now he’s ready for some 
  exciting background ties!
  Multifaceted
  A great Aspect hits more than one note, and tells you more than one detail when 
  you’re reading it. If the Aspect describes how a character feels about her faction, 
  include a touch of personal history and world building. So Loyal Oya Nationalist is 
  good. Loyal Since the Battle at Heartpoint is better.  
  
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  • Morgan wants to complicate her character’s social life, so she uses Goes 
  for Accord Boys to her sheet, despite being in the People’s Collective. 
  • When looking over the character, Chris decides hir character Doesn’t Need 
  Approval, suggesting both an attitude AND a level of security clearance. 
  • Knowing she’ll be playing a teenager among teenagers, Cara decides her 
  character Falls Hard to describe, well, a lot of things.
  Clear
  It’s important to know when you can use your Aspects, and what they’re 
  supposed to highlight, and so the best Aspects are very clear, even if they have a 
  double meaning. Likes Dogs isn’t particularly helpful, for example, and doesn’t tell 
  you much. However, Goes Nowhere without Butch says a great deal and talks in 
  specific about the character. 
  When You Stall Out
  Remember, if you can’t come up with the perfect Aspect while creating your 
  characters, your scene, or your campaign, that’s okay. Pass over it for now. Come 
  back to it later. Get some help, or leave it alone.
  
  74
  Invoking Aspects
  If you’ve got Aspects on your sheet or or the table, you’re going to want to 
  use them. Invoking them is one way you use them. Invoking an Aspect is simply 
  saying how that Aspect has something to do with the action you have in mind or 
  how it might make the scenes better.  When you invoke an Aspect, you get to do 
  one of a few things. 
  • You can take a +2 on a Skill roll after you’ve rolled and need a nudge.
  • You can reroll all your dice. 
  • You can hand another character a +2 on their roll if the Aspect could logically 
  be shared. 
  • You can add a +2 to any resistance you have if it makes sense that the 
  Aspect could help you resist what’s coming at you. 
  • You can spend a fate point to invoke an Aspect on another character’s 
  sheet to help yourself. If it hurts or helps them, at the end of the scene, they 
  get the fate point you spent.
  You can invoke an Aspect whenever you want, but your best bet is after a roll. 
  You can use more than one Aspect on a roll to help you out. You can’t use the 
  same Aspect multiple time on one roll. It usually costs you a fate point to invoke 
  an aspect, but not always. There are exceptions. Generally, these exceptions 
  come from the create advantage action, which can give one or two free invokes.
  Free Invocations
  Sometimes invocation is free. When you succeed at creating advantage, the 
  first time you invoke the Aspect you created as a result, it costs you no fate points. 
  If you’ve caused a consequence on another actor or Titan, you can invoke it 
  once for free. 
  Since you don’t pay a fate point to invoke in these cases, if you want to, you 
  can spend a fate point anyway, and get a +4 instead of a +2.
  Free invocation can be shared with other characters if you like.
  Compelling Aspects
  When you compel, you recommend something bad or dangerous or foolhardy 
  that a character might do due to the downside of one of their Aspects. You, as the 
  Director, or even another player, offer a fate point from your pool. The character’s 
  player has two choices. 
  They can reject the fate point, gain nothing, and in fact, it costs you a fate point 
  to avoid the coming obstacle. 
  They can accept the fate point and dealing with a lingering obstacle in their 
  way. They suffer a -2 on any roll in which the obstacle can interfere until they can 
  overcome it with the overcome action.
  
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  This obstacle has to be a part of the narrative, rather than a generic -2 until you 
  make a roll. For example, you have to be confronted by a lost lover in a rival Titan, 
  or be called out by a superior for insubordination. 
  A player can ask to be compelled, if they think it would be good for the story 
  or scene and they have a fitting Aspect. If the Director has fate points, she must 
  commit to the compel unless it doesn’t make sense given the context. (If they 
  have no fate points to give over for the compel, then it’s time to follow a directive!) 
  In Fate Core, compels are broken down into Events or Decisions. You can read 
  more about that in Fate Core on page 72. 
  In Fate Core, a Game Master can always compel for free. In #ADX, they need 
  to develop their fate point pool by following their directives. 
  Compelling with Situation Aspects
  A player can compel the downsides of an Aspect. The burden of negatives and 
  overcome rolls falls on characters the Director controls, and she can either accept 
  the fate point into her pool, or give it to one of her characters to use later.
  Challenging an Aspect
  Any good war story challenges the characters’ beliefs. Faith and violence 
  unchecked become fanaticism, and that’s why #ADX asks you to challenge your 
  characters and put their beliefs, connections and bodies on the line.
  How this works:
  When to challenge
  The roll itself is unimportant 
  except that it relates to the 
  Aspect on the line and is a symbol 
  for their fear and frustration over 
  what that Aspect demands of 
  them. And so, the roll COULD 
  be just a roll to determine 
  how well Min makes eggs for 
  the woman who slept over 
  last night; what matters is the 
  context. Have that woman over 
  and cooking her mother's egg 
  recipe is, to Min, a violation of 
  her promise to Always Honor the 
  Masura Family. This small act of 
  cooking-based defiance can be 
  every bit as earth shattering as 
  losing a Titan in battle, it could 
  change everything.
  No more than once per session, a player may 
  take a fate point and declare one of their Aspects 
  is on the line. They take a -2 on a roll they are 
  about to make. The -2 reflects their inner turmoil, 
  their resistance to their role in the universe and 
  in some ways, a resistance to how their aspect 
  defines them. If they do this, they cannot invoke 
  another Aspect during that action.
  Make the roll. If the roll is successful, the 
  character’s Aspect stays in place, she sucks up 
  the turmoil and gets on with life. 
  If she succeeds with style, she gets a boost 
  the next time she uses that Aspect. If she 
  succeeds at a cost, she holds on to the -2 turmoil 
  penalty until she is successful in an action that 
  invokes the Aspect or successfully challenges 
  the aspect again.
  If she fails, a core part of who she is and what 
  she believes has changed. She is taken out of 
  the scene automatically and her player must 
  reword the Aspect on the line.
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  Using Aspects for Roleplaying
  Aspects are not static things that sit on your sheet until you need them for a roll 
  of the dice. Aspects describe who and what your character is, what is going on in 
  the scene, and how entire solar system works.  Your Aspects, or any Aspect on 
  the scene gives you permission to be awesome, and you should use that. If you’re 
  the Don Juan of the Commonwealth, you get to be as charming and smooth as 
  you like! If the Titan hangar is On Fire, you can pull some daring heroics to save 
  bystanders and Titans alike. Aspects don’t just say what is true, they say what is 
  worth examining, exemplifying, and even sometimes, challenging.
  Removing or Changing an Aspect
  For changing a character Aspect in a standard way, see milestones on p. XX.
  If you need to change a situation Aspect, you can either roll to overcome it, 
  or you can create a new advantage that nullifies existing Aspects. So, Cockpit 
  on Fire could be removed from play if you create the aspect Internal Sprinkler 
  System. 
  In #ADX, there’s one other way to change an Aspect, that’s by challenging the 
  Aspect, featured above.
  Discovering New Aspects in Play
  In general, new Aspects show up as situation Aspects and are a result of rolling 
  to create an advantage. Whenever possible, try to build on or modify existing 
  Aspects instead of creating new ones.
  Of course, it doesn’t actually cost the player anything to suggest a logical new 
  Aspect in the scene, and have the director put it into play. They simply don’t get a 
  free invocation of the Aspect unless they’ve paid or rolled for it.
  Secret or Hidden Aspects
  Whenever possible, don’t hide Aspects. Aspects tell players and the Director 
  what matters in the story, and without knowing they’re there, players can’t know 
  what matters.
  So if you must hide the truth of an Aspect, hide it in plain sight. Make a show 
  of writing an Aspect on one side of an index card, for example, and place it out, 
  face-down in the play space. Then, write an Aspect that hints at the secret. 
  Your players will naturally want to dig in and get an idea of what’s really going 
  on. Let them with roleplay, overcoming obstacles, and so on. There’s simply no 
  point in having that secret on the table if you don’t expect it to be dramatically 
  revealed.
  Example: In a meeting with an Accord dignitary with lots of money but no real 
  power, the Director makes a secret Aspect. On the table down side it says Hired 
  snipers trained on Our Heroes. On the table up side, it reads Anxious Security 
  Guards. From that, the characters should smell a potential double cross. If they 
  poke into it with the security guards or the dignitary himself voila! Reveal the 
  snipers, and let the drama fly.
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  Starting Refresh
  Your refresh score starts at three, 
  but you may have spent some of those 
  refresh on:
  • Uplifting a crew member
  • Buying another stunt
  • Improving your Titan
  • Raising 
  your 
  Titan’s 
  Generation by one
  Don’t 
  panic, 
  though, 
  because 
  you get new refresh during some 
  milestones, see p. XX for more 
  information on refresh and character 
  creation. See page XX for more 
  information on milestones.
  Fate Point Economy
  In order to use your Aspects, you need 
  fate points. The fate must flow back and 
  forth to and from players, to and from the 
  director, from Director to players and back. 
  Here’s how you start that flow.
  Refresh
  To get started, each player gets a 
  number of fate points to spend equal to 
  their refresh score. You get to refresh at 
  the start of every game session. If you end 
  a game session with more fate points than 
  your refresh score, you can hold on to the 
  extra points at the beginning of the next 
  session. Nice work.
  Directives and Fate Points
  A Director also needs fate points to compel, to buff their npcs, and so on. 
  However, she starts with no fate points, so how does she get them?
  • By following her directives! And it might be easier than you realize.
  • Plan the first scene, if you have a directive in mind, you take a fate point!
  • Do you have an active or reactive actor on scene? Can he include and 
  bring forward one of your directives? Take a fate point! 
  • When initially describing the scene, can you embody one of the directives? 
  Is it in your Aspects? Take a fate point! 
  These aren’t the only ways you can follow directives, but they are three quick 
  ways to get fate points into your pool from the start of play without much planning.
  Spending Fate Points
  So now you have your fate points, what do you do with them?
  If you’re a player...
  • Invoke an Aspect to help you out on a roll.
  • Power a Stunt, because some powerful stunts cost a fate point.
  • Reject a compel once the compel has been made in order to avoid its 
  consequences.
  • Compel the Director and the characters she plays to draw on the downside 
  of any Aspect on the board. 
  • Compel another player because sometimes it’s worth the fate point to 
  increase the drama in a scene.
  • Add a story detail, make up a thing, make it real, spend a fate point and 
  gain temporary narrative control. And a free invoke!
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  78
  If you’re the director...
  • Give it to an actor that you control. They have a refresh score of their 
  own, if they’re important enough to name, but when they need that added 
  edge, you can give it to them from your pool.
  • Compel a player to experience the downsides of their Aspects. This is 
  your main use of fate points, so do it as often as you can without gumming 
  up the game. 
  Earning Fate Points
  And how is it you get those fate points again?
  If you’re a player...
  • Your refresh score gives you between one and three fate points at the 
  start of every game session.
  • Accepting a compel means your character is about to meet the short end 
  of the stick, but you get a fate point out of it!
  • Having one of your character’s Aspects invoked by another player. At the 
  end of the scene in which it happens, you get the fate point they spent.
  • Challenging one of your Aspects, for more on that, see earlier in this 
  chapter.
  • Concede in a conflict and you get a fate point for bowing out gracefully 
  and for the good of story. Maybe.
  If you’re the director...
  • Follow your directive and you get to collect a fate point.
  • Get compelled by a player and you get a fate point. Important to note, a 
  director cannot spend a fate point to reject a player’s compel. Because 
  that wouldn’t be any fun.
  
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  SKILLS AND STUNTS
  
  80
  Skills
  Most of the things you do in #ADX relate to Skills or Stunts. Skills are general 
  disciplines in which your character has trained. Most things you’ll roll in #ADX 
  utilize Skills. Stunts are highly specialized applications of those Skills that go above 
  and beyond what the general practitioner of that discipline could accomplish. 
  Skills are rated between +0 and +4 at start of play, and can go up to +5 after 
  play starts. The rating determines just how proficient your character is in that 
  field. You can use your Skills in one of four game actions, or in a general, narrative 
  context. Which is to say, there are four ways your Skills will affect the dice, and 
  they can influence the story by their very existences. 
  Game Actions
  These are the four main things you will be doing when rolling dice in #ADX. 
  Every Skill does different things for each, and some Skills may not be able to do 
  all four things. Each Skill gets its own attention in the following section; you can 
  see how it utilizes any or all of the four game actions. 
  Overcome: If there’s a problem or obstacle, you use this to get over it. 
  Your Skill has to apply to the challenge in order to Overcome it.
  Create an Advantage: This allows you to create Aspects for the 
  scene, and get free invokes. 
  Attack: You aggressively engage another character, trying to wear 
  down their Stress and create Consequences. 
  Defend: This usage protects you from an Attack action, or sometimes 
  Create an Advantage.
  Some Skills give other side effects, such as how Will gives Stress and 
  Consequences. These special effects will be listed in the Skill descriptions. 
  O
  C
  A
  D
  Skills are probably the most common thing from the character 
  sheet you’ll see come into play during an #ADX game. It’s easy to fall 
  into the trap of asking yourself, “What do I need to be successful?” 
  Often, this means maximizing all your Titan Skills. However, 
  thanks to Stunts and the Create an Advantage action, you can be 
  just as effective in most scenarios, just by doing whatever you’re good 
  at. Don’t feel constrained by a perceived need to fill a mechanical 
  role in the game. Choose the Skills you want to play with.
  
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  Stunts
  A Stunt is a special trick your character can perform, that further defines and 
  emphasizes a Skill. These are tricks that not every character with your Skill can 
  perform; they give uniqueness to your character’s capabilities. In the following 
  Skill descriptions, we offer sample Stunts for every Skill. However, we encourage 
  players to design their own. A Stunt can do one of three major things, listed below. 
  1) Shift the Context
  A Skill normally does one set of things. This type of Stunt allows it to do another, 
  under certain conditions. For example, if you’re trying to lie to a person, Espionage 
  would be the way to go. However, with the Pointed Distraction Stunt, you might be 
  able to use Provoke to divert attention from your dishonesty, effectively allowing 
  you to use Provoke instead of Espionage when lying. 
  2) Add a Bonus to an Action
  With this style of Stunt, you add a bonus to a certain type of action within your 
  Skill’s purview. This bonus can take the form of +2 to rolls, or two additional shifts 
  on a successful roll. For example, with the Called Shot Stunt, you could take +2 to 
  any aimed sniper shot rolls using the Shoot Skill. 
  3) Create a Rules Exception
  This is a catch-all for any other effects you feel are appropriate. You can use 
  a Stunt to make a rules exception in one critical circumstance. Sometimes, this 
  means adding an additional effect to something, essentially turning it into two 
  actions. For example, you might take a Heart of Plasma Stunt for the Blast Skill 
  that allows you to Create an Advantage when you Attack. This Stunt requires you 
  use a plasma weapon, and always creates a fire-based Aspect on the scene. 
  For Stunts, they should never replace a Skill’s general usefulness. They need to 
  be narrow, and defined as pertaining to very specific actions. If you never expect 
  to roll the Skill without the Stunt, it’s a bad Stunt. If the Stunt is particularly wide, 
  but you can’t think of a good way to narrow it, talk with the Director about possibly 
  allowing it once per game session, or require a Fate point to use it. 
  Now, we move into the Skill list, each featuring sample Stunts for that Skill. For 
  some Skills, we refer you to Fate Core for additional Stunts, because one of the 
  Fate Core Skills is similar enough to share Stunts. This isn’t necessary; it’s just a 
  place for more reference and ideas. For Skills that #ADX shares with Fate Core, 
  you can just port Fate Core’s Stunts right over. 
  Sometimes, Stunts sound really great when you make your character, but 
  then they never seem to come into play once you introduce plot. There are two 
  ways to handle this. The first is, try to use the Stunt anyway. Find a place, 
  jam it in there. Sometimes, this can create weird plot situations that could be 
  fun to deal with. The other way to handle it is to just swap out the Stunt for 
  something you find more fitting. Stunts should be a chance to showcase your 
  character. If they’re not doing this, change them so they do. 
  
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  Astronomy
  Astronomy is the study of celestial bodies -- stars, planets, small planetoids -- 
  and covers everything from the chemical composition of stars to the trajectories 
  of orbits. Among Titan pilots, who more often than not find themselves piloting 
  their heavy armor beyond the reaches of the atmosphere, it’s also one of the 
  primary methods of navigation and zero-gravity orientation.
  Overcome: You use Astronomy to overcome obstacles related to 
  disorientation and location. Whether that’s determining “up” in an 
  sensor-scrambling asteroid field, or charting the quickest path through 
  a desert, Astronomy is your friend.
  Create an Advantage: You can use Astronomy to create aspects 
  reflecting a rare awareness of the heavens. Your team will never get 
  lost as long as you can point out the Second Star to The Right. You’ll 
  know not to fire plasma weapons in the Volatile Atmosphere of a 
  nearby planetoid. 
  Attack: Astronomy is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Nor a defense skill. 
  Astronomy Stunts
  • Navigator. Use Astronomy in place of Athletics/Maneuver when 
  determining the number of zones you can move. 
  • Stargazer. +2 to Astronomy rolls to identify celestial bodies.
  • Back to the Sun. Provided you can approach with the clear sky at your 
  back and you stay a zone away, you can use Astronomy in place of 
  Espionage when avoiding Sense rolls that would discover you.
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  Athletics
  Athletics is both the trained physical ability of a character and their innate fitness. 
  It’s lifting a sheet of steel off a wounded friend, holding your breath underwater 
  and throwing a solid punch. Athletics covers all forms of close-quarter (same 
  zone), human-scale conflict, including defense.
  Overcome: You use Athletics to overcome physical obstacles -- literal 
  barriers that require strength, movement or martial prowess to bypass. 
  Athletics overcome actions include leaping over a ravine, lifting a comrade 
  onto your shoulders, and chasing down a fleeing foe. You use Athletics to 
  move between zones when something attempts to stop you.
  Create an Advantage: Athletics creates advantages that make full use 
  of your physicality. When an advantage is about being stronger, faster, or 
  tougher it’s Athletics. 
  Attack: Athletics is for human-scale, in-zone attacks. Fists, swords, knives 
  and crowbars all use Athletics to attack. For close combat on a Titan scale, 
  see Melee.
  Defend: Athletics is used for all human-scale defense in a physical conflict. 
  It can also be used to defend against an opponent moving from zone 
  to zone, when you’re in a position to prevent it. For Titan defense, use 
  Maneuver. 
  Special: Fight and Physique (Skills from Fate Core) stunts are applicable to 
  Athletics, with the exception of the Physique stunt Take the Blow.
  Athletics Stunts
  • I Got This. +2 to overcome actions to lift or throw objects when your 
  strength is in doubt.
  • Come At Me. Use Athletics in place of Provoke when trying to instigate a 
  fight with an opponent that has threatened you.
  • The Sucker Punch. When throwing an attack as means of starting a conflict, 
  your successful hits cause two additional shifts.
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  Blast (TITAN SKILL)
  Blast is almost identical to the Shoot skill, but it covers Titan-scale weaponry 
  instead of small arms fire. Launching a salvo of rocket pods from the shoulders of 
  your Titan is a Blast roll, as is firing upon robotic infantry from an anti-Titan mortar.
  Overcome: Blast, like it’s human-scale counterpart Shoot, isn’t meant 
  to overcome obstacles outside of conflicts. However, when a non-violent 
  display of force or determination is required, having Titan-mounted artillery 
  on your side can open doors otherwise closed to you.
  Create an Advantage: Blast can be used to create advantages that target 
  an enemy Titan’s systems, or represent knowledge of an opponent’s weapon 
  systems. The aftermath of a tricky shot, pinning down a hostile Titan, and 
  covering your fellow pilots are all encouraged uses of Blast, as is making a 
  zone inhospitable for smaller units.
  Attack: Blast is used for physical attacks up to two zones away. Like Shoot, 
  but on the same scale as Titans and large vehicles. It isn’t meant to be used 
  on human-scale opponents -- consider creating an advantage when Blast 
  and human beings butt heads.
  Defend: Unlike Shoot, Blast has some potential for being used for defense. 
  With the size of Titan ammunition, it isn’t unreasonable to destroy missile-
  based projectiles with a well-aimed shot.
  Special: Shoot stunts from both ADX and Fate Core are applicable to Blast.
  Blast Stunts
  • Mama Bear. +2 on Blast rolls to create an advantage when you’re covering 
  human-scale allies.
  • Missile Flock. +2 to Blast rolls targeting infantry.
  • Collateral Damage. Instead of a boost, you create a zone aspect with a free 
  invoke when you tie a target’s defense with Blast.
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  Diplomacy
  Diplomacy is your character’s ability to negotiate and politic, whether that’s talking 
  down an escalating hostage situation, discussing a ceasefire between nations, or 
  convincing two hot-headed friends to cooperate in the heat of battle.
  Overcome: Diplomacy is used to overcome situations in which mediation, 
  law and negotiation can prevail. Talking down a gunman with a hostage 
  is Diplomacy, as is prosecuting a known war criminal, or identifying the 
  tells of a corporate spy.
  Create an Advantage: You create an advantage with Diplomacy when 
  you’re Immersed In The Culture of a spacer dignitary, or Alerted To 
  Intrigue when looking for an organization’s deadly mole. 
  Attack: Diplomacy is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Diplomacy has some overlap with Empathy and Sense. It’s the 
  primary defense against Espionage when it’s used to sow corruption and 
  dissent, and against Provoke when mediation would prevail.
  Special: Rapport stunts from Fate Core are applicable to Diplomacy. 
  Diplomacy Stunts
  • Diplomatic Immunity. Once per scene you can spend a fate point to declare 
  yourself on official business of a foreign embassy. This gives you the boost 
  Off-Limits. While you’re off-limits you can’t be the target of an attack or create 
  an advantage until an opponent succeeds on an Espionage roll (taking their 
  action for a turn). If you invoke the boost, attack, create an advantage, or your 
  opponent succeeds on their overcome roll, the boost goes away.
  • Requisition. Once per session you can use Diplomacy in place of Resources 
  to requisition equipment from any organization you’re allied to, with the 
  condition that you’ll return anything that isn’t used up.
  • Passport. You can use Diplomacy in place of Espionage to sneak/talk your 
  way into place you’ve been before.
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  Empathy
  Empathy is recognizing someone’s mood and mien, even when mercurial or 
  obfuscated. When a liar lies, an empathetic person notices. When a wounded pilot 
  tells their commander they’re fine, an empathetic commander knows the truth.
  Overcome: Empathy isn’t generally used to overcome. Like Sense, it’s 
  mostly used to gather knowledge so it might be acted upon.  
  Create an Advantage: Empathy can create advantages based on your 
  emotional awareness of another person. Reading a tell, determining 
  volatile personality traits, or carefully avoiding a person’s triggers are 
  all part of Empathy. In some circumstances, especially with NPCs, an 
  Empathy advantage can create entirely new personality traits the target 
  even they may not be aware of.
  Attack: Empathy is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Empathy is used against Espionage when it’s used for deceit, 
  and against almost any attempts to create a social advantage against 
  you.
  Special: Empathy is the primary method for recovering from mental consequences.
  Empathy Stunts
  • Pack Signs. You can use Empathy in place of Sense to overcome Espionage 
  rolls when discovering hidden enemies, provided there are unhidden enemies 
  present in the same zone.
  • Emotional Capital. Provided you’ve had enough time to ingratiate yourself, 
  you can use Empathy in place of Resources when dealing honestly.
  
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  Engineer
  Engineer represents both learned and practical experience with technology. An 
  intuitive car mechanic uses Engineer to know your vehicle is on its last legs. A PhD 
  in electrical engineering uses Engineer to determine the best replacement conduit 
  for last generation’s shell-rattled Titan.
  Overcome: When you overcome with Engineer, you’re fixing, destroying, 
  creating or improving machinery. This takes tools and time, but provided 
  you have both there are few obstacles a determined mind can’t Engineer.
  Create an Advantage: Many advantages created with Engineer either 
  represent the practical qualities of machines, or flaws to be leveraged. 
  Monkeywrenching and jury-rigging-related aspects are also the purview 
  of Engineer.
  Attack: Engineer is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Not usually.
  Special: Craft stunts from Fate Core are applicable to Engineer.
  Craft Stunts
  • Patchjob. Once per session you can reduce or increase the consequence of 
  a Titan by one factor of severity (severe; moderate; mild) with a successful 
  Engineer roll. You must be in physical contact with the wounded Titan. If this 
  is used to bring a Titan back from the brink of destruction (i.e. taken out), it 
  may act for a single turn before ceasing to function once more.
  • Weakpoint. Once per conflict you can a spend a fate point to use Engineer 
  in place of Melee to make an in-zone attack on a Titan-scale opponent. You 
  do not need to be in Titan yourself.
  
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  Espionage
  Espionage covers most forms of deception. When you lie, that’s a use of the 
  Espionage skill. When you sneak, that’s also Espionage. A feint in combat can be 
  Espionage or Provoke, depending on the results.
  Overcome: Espionage covers lying, bluffing, hiding and acts of sabotage 
  less technical than those perpetrated by Engineer. Disguising yourself, 
  lying to nameless NPCs, and hiding without being actively sought are 
  overcome rolls. The moment your disguise is contested, you lie to a PC 
  or named NPC, or someone starts looking for you, it becomes a contest.
  Create an Advantage: Espionage advantages are feints, clever uses of 
  disguise, ideal hiding spots, lies with kernels of truth and secret backdoor 
  passages into top secret installations. 
  Attack: Espionage is not meant as an attack skill, though can create 
  moments from which you attack with an edge.
  Defend: Espionage can be used to defend against Sense rolls to hunt 
  you down, or Empathy rolls to learn more about you. 
  Special: Deceive and Stealth stunts from Fate Core are applicable to Espionage.
  Espionage Stunts
  Identity Theft. Once per session you can spend a fate point to use Espionage in 
  place of any other skill for a single exchange, provided you have the credentials of 
  someone who might be skilled in the action you’re about to attempt.
  Double Agent. +2 to Espionage rolls against members of your own alliance, 
  provided they still think you’re on their side.
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  Maneuver (TITAN SKILL)
  Maneuver is a Titan-scale movement and defense similar to human-scale 
  Athletics. It doesn’t cover hand-to-hand (same zone) Titan combat, which is covered 
  by Melee, but it does cover turn initiative.
  Overcome: Like Athletics, you can use Maneuver to overcome physical 
  obstacles, but on a much larger scale. Leaping, flying, climbing, diving, 
  lifting: these are all things that, when in a Titan, require Maneuver to 
  perform. Moving between zones in a Titan, if you find yourself impeded 
  by an aspect or barrier, is done with Maneuver. Contests and challenges 
  related to speed or outpacing an opponent are also uses of Maneuver.
  Create an Advantage: Advantages with Maneuver are the tricky stunts 
  and formations of professional Titan pilots, as well as anticipating those 
  stunts and formations in your foes.
  Attack: Maneuver is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Defending with Maneuver is identical to defending with Athletics, 
  but on the scale of Titans, not fleshy people things. Maneuver is the 
  default defense against Blast and Melee.
  Maneuver Stunts
  • Thrusters are go. +2 to Maneuver rolls to defend after you move through 
  multiple zones.
  • The Icarus Maneuver. When you move into the zone of an enemy that didn’t 
  move in their last turn, you can use Maneuver in place of Melee to make an 
  in-zone attack.
  • Invincible. Once per session when your Titan takes a consequence, you 
  can spend a fate point to prevent your Titan’s consequences from being be 
  tagged until after your next turn.
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  Melee (TITAN SKILL)
  Melee covers Titan-scale hand-to-hand (same zone) combat. Whether you’re 
  slapping a strafing jet from the sky, or lancing through the cockpit of a hostile Titan 
  with a steel-scarring plasma whip, you’re using Melee.
  Overcome: Melee doesn’t see much use outside giant machine conflict, 
  so using it to overcome obstacles isn’t a common practice. That said, 
  when you need to demonstrate your ability to use a Titan’s close-combat 
  weapons for intimidation or certification, Melee is your go-to skill. Also, 
  it could be used to tear open the hull of a derelict space station or other 
  feats of Titan strength.
  Create an Advantage: You can use Melee advantages to represent 
  special attacks: blows that cripple special systems, stun pilots and 
  surprise foes. Identifying close-combat weapons and preparing your own 
  for use can be represented by Melee advantages. When a Titan-scale 
  engages something human-sized, it should be done in terms advantages, 
  instead of stress.
  Attack: Melee makes physical attacks on the scale of Titans. These are 
  close-ranged hand-to-hand (or beam saber-to-beam saber) attacks, and 
  require you to be in the same zone as your opponent. Again, it shouldn’t 
  be used to inflict stress on human-scale opponents.
  Defend: Melee can be used to defend against Melee attacks, but not 
  attacks made with the Blast skill. Most Titan weaponry large enough 
  to deflect explodes on contact, but your (unknowable fusion-engine) 
  mileage may vary.
  Melee Stunts
  • Rocket Punch. Once per scene use Melee in place of Blast to attack an 
  opponent in a non-adjacent zone.
  • Pinpoint Barrier. In any turn in which you haven’t changed zones, you may 
  use Melee to defend against Blast attacks.
  • Sensor Rake. Spend a fate point after resolving a Melee that forces an 
  opponent to take a consequence. You gain the boost Vanishing Point. Until 
  your opponent succeeds on an Engineer roll, you cannot be the target of 
  attacks or advantages from the damaged enemy. If you attack, create an 
  advantage, or invoke the Vanishing Point boost, Vanishing Point is lost.
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  Pilot
  Pilot is the skill for driving anything that isn’t a human body or giant robot. In 
  some cases, when a vehicle is large enough and nimble enough to operate in the 
  same space as Titans, Maneuver may be more appropriate. For the most part, any 
  planes, trains, tanks, cars, boats or starships will use Pilot as their primary skill.
  Overcome: Pilot is essentially Athletics or Maneuver for jets and cars, 
  and can be used to accomplish much of the same in terms of overcome 
  rolls. Sometimes it makes just as much sense to drive through the gate of 
  a heavily armed military base as jump over it. 
  Create an Advantage: Advantages created with pilot can represent 
  knowledge of routes, the weakness of enemy vehicles, and how to bypass 
  the weaknesses of your own. Special formations, impressive flying, and 
  stunt driving are also advantages created by Pilot. 
  Attack: Pilot is not meant as an attack skill. If your vehicle strikes 
  another, you can attack with Pilot, but your vehicle take as much stress 
  as you inflict. Against non-vehicles, Pilot should be reserved for creating 
  advantages, not dealing stress.
  Defend: Pilot can be used to prevent your vehicle from being damaged, 
  much like Athletics or Maneuver. And like those skills, it can be used 
  to prevent advantages from being created against you, and to defend 
  against opponents trying to move past you.
  Special: Drive stunts from Fate Core are applicable to Pilot.
  Pilot Stunts
  • Off-Road. You can use Pilot to defend against zone aspects being created in 
  the zone you and your vehicle current reside in.
  • Anything With A Gas Pedal. You can use Pilot in place of Maneuver when 
  overcoming zone-related obstacles in a Titan. Additionally, you can make 
  Titan-scale attacks with Pilot, but your Titan take exactly as much stress as 
  you deal.
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  Program
  Program is the method of interacting with computers and software through 
  knowledge of the code that governs their function, and direct manipulation of those 
  languages. It’s writing applications, hacking and more traditional uses of difficult 
  software.
  Overcome: Use Program to overcome obstacles that deal with computer 
  systems of all sorts, from infiltrating corporate mainframes to cracking 
  the DNA locks of hijacked Titan. When intruding into the databases, bank 
  accounts or ledgers of nameless NPCs you make an overcome roll. If 
  your target is a PC (player character, not personal computer), or named 
  NPC, the action becomes a contest.
  Create an Advantage: Advantages created with Program can represent 
  computer virus and powerful firewalls, or secret backdoors programmed 
  into otherwise impenetrable systems. Intrusion countermeasure 
  electronics, a wicked-cool hacker tag, and a specialized rig can all but 
  Program advantages.
  Attack: Program is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Program can be used to defend against Program-created 
  advantages. 
  Program Stunts
  • Wargames. Use Program to defend against Blast attacks from unmanned 
  infantry. 
  • ICE. +2 to create advantages that have to do with the defense of computer 
  systems.
  • Cupid Deck. Spend a fate point to gain a bonus on Diplomacy rolls equal to 
  the difference between your Program and the Program of your target.
  
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  Provoke
  Provoke is the means by which you get under someone’s skin. It’s about riling 
  someone up, humiliating them, and evoking their fears. Provoke requires an 
  impetus before it can be used, either occurring naturally, or through advantages 
  that discover/impart a reason for your target to react.
  Overcome: Provoke can scare, aggravate, or interrogate nameless 
  NPCs into predictable behaviors as an overcome action, but encouraging 
  the same instabilities in PCs or important NPCs requires a successful 
  contest.
  Create an Advantage: Provoke advantages can take the form of short-
  lived emotional outbursts, or hard-hitting pep talks that shame allies to 
  action.
  Attack: Provoke is used to make mental and emotional attacks specifically 
  meant to deal harm to an opponent. 
  Defend: Provoke is not meant as a defend skill. 
  Provoke Stunts
  • Just... Infuriating. You can use Provoke to defend against advantages 
  created with Empathy.
  • Big Fish, Small Pond. +2 when using Provoke to evoke anger in nameless 
  NPCs.
  
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  Resources
  Resources represents a character’s means to leverage their own material wealth, 
  whether that’s cash, credit, land, stock, inventory, or raw materials. As long as you 
  can put it to use bargaining, bribing, and buying, Resources can be just about 
  anything you have in abundance. 
  Overcome: Resources can be used to grease the proverbial wheels, 
  obtain rare vehicle parts -- really in any situation where a handful of 
  cash solves problems. Tickets to a sold-out event, an emergency bun-
  ker big enough to hide a Titan, and a luxurious guided tour through an 
  unknown foreign city are all a part of Resources.
  Create an Advantage: Advantages created with Resources can repre-
  sent encouragingly big tips, spontaneous financial backing, and last-
  minute purchases of useful devices. Bribes, gifts, top-of-the-line parts, 
  and luxuries are all possible with Resources.
  Attack: Resources is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Nor used for defense.
  Resources Stunts
  • Black Market. Once per session you can use Resources in place of Engineer 
  to mend a Titan, so long as you can contact your unofficial parts brokers.
  • Charitable. +2 to Resources when creating advantages that you yourself do 
  not invoke.
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  Sense
  Sense represents a character’s awareness, both in terms of casual attention to 
  detail and closer investigative work. It’s keen eyes, as well as a nose for scrutiny.  
  Overcome: Sense obstacle are about discovering what’s been hidden, 
  either through natural means or active malfeasance. It’s hunting prey 
  in the woods where you’ve crashed your Titan, as well as noticing the 
  glinting knife of a stealthy foe before it’s too late.
  Create an Advantage: Sense provides a huge range options for 
  advantages, particularly discovering those that already exist, and 
  declaring new details your peers might’ve missed. When you spot an 
  aggressor’s Stiff Right Arm, or spy the Suspicious Tire Tracks leading 
  away from a sabotaged medbay, you’re creating or discovering 
  advantages with Sense.
  Attack: Sense is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Sense can defend against attempts to create Espionage 
  advantages to obfuscate or confuse.
  Special: Notice and Investigate stunts from Fate Core are applicable to Sense.
  Sense Stunts
  • Starborn. In zero gravity you can use Sense in place of Athletics to move 
  beyond, around, or above physical obstacles.
  • Spyhunter. +2 to Sense rolls to defend against advantages created with 
  Espionage.
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  Shoot
  Shoot is the human-scale analog to Blast. It’s all manner of ranged weapons, 
  from the bow to the energy rifle. Shoot covers both ranged combat in conflicts, 
  and less martial uses of firearms, like competition shooting and hunting. 
  Overcome: Outside of competitions specifically aimed at displaying a 
  gunman’s prowess, there are few uses of Shoot as an overcome action. 
  Create an Advantage: Shoot is most at home in physical conflict. Lining 
  up a shot, covering comrades, clever ricochets -- all advantages you can 
  make with Shoot. Outside of battle, Shoot has less utility, but a creative 
  pistolero will find uses for Shoot that impress paramours and frighten 
  rivals.
  Attack: Shoot makes physical attacks on the scale of human beings. 
  Depending on the weapon, Shoot can be used to make attacks up to 
  two zones away.
   
  Defend: Shoot is not meant as a defend skill.
  Shoot Stunts
  • Gun Nut. +2 to create advantages with Shoot that exploit the weaknesses 
  of firearms you can identify.
  • Heavy Rifle Stock. Use Shoot to defend against Athletics attacks from 
  anyone you haven’t made a Shoot attack against in the current conflict.
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  Tactics
  Tactics is the art and science of wartime maneuvering. It’s knowledge of troop 
  capabilities and militarily psychology, with a dash of intuition and willingness to 
  sacrifice. Good tacticians are a perfect blend of ruthless, intelligent, and determined. 
  The best tacticians are all that and nearly psychic.
  Overcome: There aren’t many uses for Tactics outside of conflict. Many 
  games representative of the battlefield (e.g. chess, miniature war games) 
  can be run as contests, and it can be used to quickly determine the results 
  of side skirmishes where the protagonists aren’t actively fighting.
  Create an Advantage: Advantages made during physical conflicts is 
  where Tactics excels. Routing a superior force, flanking at the perfect 
  moment, and preparing a devastating ambush are all well with purview of 
  Tactics. 
  Attack: Tactics is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Tactics can be used to defend against advantages made with 
  Tactics, as generals and commanders pit their wits against one-another. 
  Tactics Stunts
  • Every Eventuality. Use Tactics to determine initiative in battles you have time 
  to prepare for.
  • Battlefield Awareness. You can use Tactics in place of Sense to discern 
  hidden targets in zones you’ve spent more than one turn in.
  • Alexander’s Mousetrap. +2 to Tactics to create advantages that help smaller 
  units compete with larger foes.
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  Transcend (TITAN SKILL)
  Sometimes, Titan pilots go beyond what any human should be able. They 
  transcend human and mechanical limitations. A Transcending pilot keeps fighting 
  even when her weapon systems spark, her thrusters leak fuel, and her armor falls 
  off in chunks. A pilot’s ability to rise above is a phenomenon recorded by each 
  major faction. Accord pilots call it “Martin Bakering”, for example.
  The Transcend Skill is a special Skill that does many things. However, it only 
  does those things when you your Titan or pilot has at least a Severe Consequence. 
  After any scene where you’ve used Transcend, both pilot and the Titan need at 
  least a scene to refresh and repair before it can be used again.
  Overcome: Transcend allows you to push through environments and 
  situations that would destroy a lesser pilot. For example, if you’re trying to 
  move into a hazardous zone full of molten lava, Transcend is the Skill to use.
  Create an Advantage: Transcend’s potential to Create an Advantage comes 
  when your pilot pushes beyond reason to seize the edge. For example, if 
  your Titan is designed for space combat, fighting in the desert is a valid time 
  to to create the Sensors Work in a Sandstorm advantage. 
  Attack: When damaged, your pilot can use Transcend to attack, in place 
  of Blast or Melee. This represents the Titan burning at both ends; they use 
  their auxiliary drives and backup generators for wild, raw, last-ditch attacks.
  Defend: Transcend is not used to defend. Use Maneuver to defend in a 
  Titan. A character using Transcend is usually not concerned with taking 
  further harm, and they simply endure whatever’s thrown at them.
  Transcend Stunts
  • Alpha Strike. Your Titan unleashes everything she’s got on a single opponent, 
  going for broke. Once per scene, when you inflict a consequence on an 
  opponent using a Transcend attack, you can spend a fate point to inflict an 
  additional consequence. If they have no room for additional consequences, 
  they may take two additional stress or be taken out.
  • Engaging Auxiliary Shields. Your pilot knows how to reroute power from 
  one system to another, in order to guarantee a little more time at the helm. 
  Spend a Fate Point at any time to replenish all your Defense Systems stress 
  boxes. You can only use this Stunt once per skirmish.
  • Final Flourish. By placing everything she’s got into a final assault, your pilot 
  owns the battlefield for one glorious moment. Spend a fate point and attack 
  with Transcend. Destroy every MP unit in a zone of choice in addition to your 
  attack, which resolves normally. However, after this attack resolves you must 
  concede. You do not gain a fate point for conceding with Final Flourish.
  O
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  Will
  Will is your character’s emotional and mental stamina. The strength of your 
  convictions. It’s the degree to which volition alone will carry you.
  Overcome: Use Will to overcome obstacles that require mental endurance 
  above all else. Solving riddles, facing fears, overcoming the interrogation 
  of nameless NPCs. It’s not unlikely to see Will used in a challenge when 
  the going gets particularly tough, but unlikely to see it in a contest unless 
  it’s specifically about proving who has a stronger zeal.
  Create an Advantage: Use Will to create personal aspects about 
  determination and ignoring both internal and external distractions. 
  Steeling yourself for battle with intense meditation, fighting on in spite of 
  terrible wounds and approaching that pilot you’ve had your eye on are all 
  Will advantages.
  Attack: Will is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Will is your primary defense against Provoke. It’s how cool you 
  keep when under pressure.
  Special: Will determines how many stress and consequences you have available. 
  See campaign creation for more details on how that works. 
  Will Stunts
  • Touch the Untouchable. Spend a fate point to use Will in place of any skill 
  you’ve failed with this session. 
  • Callous. When you are out of fate points, you can use Will in place of 
  Espionage to defend against advantages created against you with Empathy 
  and Diplomacy. 
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  RESOLVING ACTIONS
  Now that you know the Skills and Stunts, we’ll discuss how the game actions 
  work in play. This is where the dice come in. Use these rules any time there’s a 
  significant opposition, and you want the rules to help guide an outcome. 
  When you feel it’s time to roll the dice, this is how you do it. Sometimes there 
  are changes and exceptions, but this is most of the dice rolling. 
  Step One: Choose the Best Skill
  Choose whichever Skill best suits the action your character is taking. 
  Step Two: Roll The Dice
  Roll four Fate dice. 
  Step Three: Compute Results
  Add the + results, subtract the - rolls. You’ll have a number between -4 and +4. 
  Dice that come up + add +1. Dice that come up - add -1 (subtract 1). Dice that 
  come up 0 add nothing. 
  Step Four: Add Skill Rating
  Add the relevant Skill rating to the result. Compare the result with the results 
  listed for the type of action you’re using, and the opposition. For most actions, 
  results over the opposition give “shifts” of success, a net zero result is “success 
  with a cost” and a negative number gives an advantage to the opposition. 
  Sometimes, Stunts will add to this result.
  Step Five: Add Aspect Modifiers
  Invoke any relevant Aspects at this point. Each Aspect adds +2 to your result.
  EXAMPLE
  Angela’s playing Riko. Riko’s up against a problem. In this case, the 
  problem is a bulkhead that’s about to shut on her team as they escape from 
  an exploding hangar. She needs to hold the bulkhead while everyone flees. 
  Angela decides it’s an Athletics action; her Director agrees. 
  She rolls her Fate dice, and gets + - - -. That’s -2. 
  Her Athletics is only +1, so she’s still stuck with -1. That’s not good. 
  However, she has the Aspect No Teammate Left Behind. Angela spends 
  a Fate point to invoke it, and it offers a +2. She ends up with a net +1. Riko 
  lifts the bulkhead, just long enough for her crew to escape. 
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  Opposition comes in two forms: passive and active opposition
  Passive Opposition
  When opposition reflects the general environment, circumstance, and chance, 
  that’s passive opposition. Passive opposition sets a basic set of stakes, in 
  the form of a target number of shifts required to succeed. That number is your 
  baseline for success. The Director sets any passive opposition. If there’s no 
  passive opposition, consider it to be “0”. One of four results can occur from this, 
  detailed below.
  When setting opposition, 0 is a normal, mediocre challenge. +2 is a fair difficulty. 
  +4 means a great opposition; usually this means the character must be very 
  skilled, or invoke Aspects to overcome. A +6 should be reserved for absolutely 
  remarkable odds, and a +8 should mean a challenge that could change the world.
  Active Opposition
  If another character has a reasonable chance to oppose the action, they can 
  roll active opposition. Usually, this engages the Defend action. Choose the 
  appropriate Skill to resist, roll, and compare the results to the active character. 
  Note that even after active opposition, the player can invoke Aspects, activate 
  Stunts, or otherwise influence the dice results. This can result in a sort of back 
  and forth between players as they strive for the highest result. 
  Note that active opposition does not count as an action for the opposing 
  character; any time opposition can happen, it can happen freely. 
  The Four Results
  Any dice roll will end in one of four results. You will fail, tie, succeed, or succeed 
  with style. The different actions might change the specifics, but these remain. 
  Fail
  If you roll lower than the opposition, you fail. If you succeed, you do so 
  at a severe, disproportionate cost. Usually, you just fail. 
  Tie
  If you roll equal to the opposition, you tie. You might get what you want 
  at a minor cost, or not quite the way you wanted. 
  Succeed
  If you exceed the opposition by 1 or 2, you succeed at no cost. 
  Succeed with style
  If you succeed by 3 or more shifts, you succeed with style. You get what 
  you want, and an additional benefit as result of your amazing success. 
  OPPOSITION
  
  102
  Any time you make a Skill roll, you’re taking one of the four basic actions: 
  overcome, create an advantage, attack, or defend. We’ve mentioned them 
  previously, and you’ve seen information on each in the Skill descriptions. But 
  here, we give a bit more detail on how they work. 
  Overcome
  When you overcome, you take your Skill, and you apply it within 
  its field of specialty. If you see a nail, your hammer can overcome 
  it. It’s important to note, if you don’t know what a given action is, 
  it’s probably an overcome action. You’re trying to overcome some 
  sort of problem. 
  Fail
  When you fail to overcome, you have two choices. You can either fail, or you 
  can succeed at a serious cost. Usually one greater than the achievement.
  Tie
  When you tie, you can either fail, or attain your goal at minor cost.
  Succeed
  When you succeed to overcome, you succeed with no cost to you.
  Succeed with Style
  When you succeed to overcome with style, you succeed and you net a boost.
  Create an Advantage
  When you create an advantage, you use your Skill to benefit 
  yourself or someone else. You create a temporary Aspect for the 
  scene that reflects how your Skill changed the immediate context. 
  Alternatively, you can take advantage of an existing Aspect.
  Fail
  When you fail to create an advantage, you either fail, or you create the Aspect, 
  but someone directly opposing your interests gets a free invoke to use it 
  against you, and they can subtly reword the Aspect in their favor. 
  Tie
  When you tie creating an advantage, you get a boost instead of creating an 
  Aspect. You may want to reword the Aspect to reflect its temporary nature.
  Succeed
  When you succeed at creating an advantage, you create an Aspect, and get 
  one free invoke on that Aspect. Or add a free invoke to an existing Aspect.
  Succeed with Style
  When you succeed with style, you create the Aspect, and you get two free 
  invokes for that Aspect. Or add two free invokes to an existing Aspect.
  The Four ACTIONS
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  Attack
  When you attack with a Skill, you attempt to stress someone out, 
  and otherwise remove them from the scene. This may be through 
  actual stress, through violence, or through anything that inhibits 
  their participation in the narrative. Not every Skill can attack, and each that 
  can has a very unique way of doing so. 
  Fail
  When you fail to attack, you do not cause stress on your opposition. However, 
  your opposition has likely succeeded at a defend action, which has its own 
  side effects to your detriment.
  Tie
  When you tie an attack, you cause no stress or harm, but you do get a boost.
  Succeed
  When you succeed on an attack, you inflict a hit on your target equal to the 
  number of shifts you scored above their defend (or the opposition). Your 
  target must “buy off” shifts with stress and consequences. If he cannot, he’s 
  removed from the action. 
  Succeed with Style
  When you attack and succeed with style, it works the same as a normal 
  success, but you can choose to reduce your shifts by one to take a boost. 
  Defend
  You can defend, any time someone attacks you or creates an 
  advantage against you. Some Skills can defend against certain Skills, 
  some against others. Favor permitting creative defenses, even if the 
  defend action isn’t listed for the Skill in question. 
  Fail
  When you fail to defend, you suffer the effects of whatever advantage or 
  attack you were trying to prevent.
  Tie
  When you tie defending, you avoid the advantage or attack, but you give your 
  opponent a boost. 
  Succeed
  When you succeed at defending, you do not suffer the attack or the advantage 
  your opponent attempted to create against you.
  Succeed with Style
  When you defend with style, you not only avoid the attack or the advantage, 
  but you also get a boost to come back at your foe with fervor or grace. 
  A
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  104
  Challenges, Contests, and Conflicts
  Usually, a single Skill roll covers whatever you need to do. Climb into your Titan. 
  Repair your radio. Ask the guy out or shoot an enemy grunt out of the sky. There 
  are times, though, when you want to zoom in on the action and have a series of 
  rolls create tension and drama. Challenges, contests, and conflicts are how you 
  get close to the action.
  Challenges
  Challenges happen when one or more characters try to do something incredible. 
  Or, as Fate Core describes it: “A challenge is a series of overcome actions that you use 
  to resolve an especially complicated or dynamic situation.” (Fate Core, page 147) Fate 
  Core dissects and examines the 3Cs very deeply, and it’s worth a read. For our 
  purposes, consider this more structured format. Ready? Go!
  • The Director looks at the challenge and decides how many parts it has, and 
  that’s how many overcome actions the character or characters will need to 
  take.
  • The Director decides what Skill roll goes with each overcome. 
  • The Director decides which character is rolling for each overcome action 
  and then jots it down in some order that makes sense.
  • If the organics of the story suggest later that that order should shift, the 
  Director can do that.
  • Now, the first player on the list makes his roll, describes his scene, and 
  decides how the overcome action worked out. 
  • Depending on the success of the previous scene, the Director adjusts the 
  target opposition of the next overcome action. 
  • The next player, (or the same player if he comes up in the order twice) 
  describes his overcome action. However, he must start out with the phrase 
  ‘because of...’ and describe something from the previous overcome. In this 
  way, each overcome bleeds into the next and raises the stakes. The player 
  must be careful not to describe their overcome as ‘and then’ but always as 
  ‘because of.’ 
  • By the time you’ve gone through all overcome actions, you should have 
  reached a lofty goal or a dramatic failure.  The director may move on with the 
  story, or start another one of the 3Cs.
  • If a player wants to help out with any given overcome action they are not 
  actively involved in, they can always teamwork the roll by creating advantages.
  Contests
  Contests happen when two or more characters are chasing the same goal. Or, 
  as Fate Core describes it: “Whenever two or more characters have mutually exclusive 
  goals, but they aren’t trying to harm each other directly, they’re in a contest.” (Fate Core, 
  page 150.)
  (The 3 Cs)
  X
  
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  Here’s how it works: 
  • The 
  Director 
  decides 
  how 
  many 
  victories are required to win the contest. 
  In most cases, three will suffice.
  • With each round, all participating 
  characters 
  get 
  to 
  attempt 
  one 
  overcome action germaine to the task 
  at hand. They may attempt one create 
  an advantage per round, and use their 
  fate points as they see best. 
  Teamworking
  Just to streamline things, #ADX 
  treats all teamwork rolls as a create 
  an advantage actions. Use your roll 
  to set up an Aspect another player 
  could use, then give her the free 
  invoke on that Aspect. Set up the 
  shot. Tackle the bad guy. Act as 
  the wingman. That’s how teamwork 
  works in #ADX.
  • At the end of the round, the Director compares the players’ rolls. If the 
  characters are in direct competition, whoever gets the highest score on the 
  ladder wins. If the contest is against a static achievement, like a foot race, 
  the player with the most shifts wins. 
  • The player who wins gets their character marked down with one victory.
  • If a player wins with style, they’ll get two victories and pull way ahead of the 
  competition.
  • The first character to get the requisite amount of victories wins the contest.
  Conflicts
  Conflicts happen when two or more characters are in direct conflict. Or, as Fate 
  Core describes it:  “As long as the characters involved have both the intent and the ability 
  to harm one another, then you’re in a conflict scene.” (Fate Core, page 154.)
  As a great man once said, conflict over combat, baby.
  • In #ADX, a conflict can be physical or psychological, or both, since #ADX 
  tracks all stress in the same way. So here’s how it works.
  • The Director sets the scene, describes the environment, creates situation 
  Aspects, and of course, pushes her directives. She must also lay out zones 
  and decide who is on which side of the conflict. 
  • Determine turn order. For the purposes of #ADX, the order is based on who 
  has the highest of the skill they intend on rolling for their action. 
  • The highest skill going first. The Director will usually pick an active actor on 
  the scene, and use her skill, having the other actors on the scene go at the 
  same time as their main active actor.
  For players...
  • On your turn, they take an action and resolve it. 
  • On a different player’s turn, you may defend your character, give up your 
  action for the round and teamwork with another player, or give a short 
  reaction to the other player’s action if applicable. (This is a diceless reaction 
  like making an ‘angry face’ calling out a taunt, or saying something to one 
  of your allies.)
  
  106
  For the Director...
  • On your turn, you can have your actors act, (starting with active actors.) You 
  can also add new situation Aspects as is appropriate to the escalation of the 
  scene. Example: if the players exploded a fuel tank, is that tank now on fire?) 
  You can also collect fate points for any directives you have forwarded this 
  turn.
  • On a players’ turn, you can have your actors defend themselves. Any active 
  actor can react to another player’s action if applicable. (See above.) You may 
  choose to adjust or add situation Aspects to the scene, or you may hold onto 
  that until your turn depending on urgency. Whenever possible you should 
  wait, as a means to control pacing and allow your turn to be a time when 
  tension increases and the conflict escalates. 
  At the end of everyone’s turn, start a new exchange. You’ll know when you can 
  stop because everyone on one side or the other has conceded or been taken out.
  Zones
  Zones are really a measure of either the time it takes to move from one place to 
  another, or, a representation of potential barriers to move from one place to another.
  In a conflict, your goal is to get within hurting rage of your opponent, whether 
  that’s the five feet between olympic fencers, or the ten kilometers between two 
  raging Titans. Because the scale of a conflict can vary so dramatically from scene 
  to scene, rather than fiddle with distances and range, we use zones as a timing 
  mechanic. Zones tells you how many turns between you being able to get close 
  enough to attack another character, or, how soon you have to roll an overcome 
  action to get past some sort of barrier and to your target. Zones, in this way, pace 
  the conflict and add tension.
  Keep your descriptions of zones fast and loose, but be sure they are apparent 
  to the players that they exist and how they relate to each other. A quick map with 
  some shapes that touch and perhaps a drawing of a wall, a flaming shuttlecraft, or 
  whatever other barriers may exist between one zone and another should suffice. 
  Normally, you can move from one zone to another in addition to your action so 
  long as nothing is interrupting your movement.
  If you are trying to move through multiple zones, or there is an obstacle in your 
  way, you’ll need to roll an overcome action, with skill depending on the circumstance. 
  • The Director sets the passive opposition depending on how far the character 
  is trying to move, or how rough the barrier between zones is. 
  • If the player fails, she can’t get past the obstacle, or is otherwise held up in 
  her progress across zones. 
  • If the player succeeds but at a cost, she gives some kind of advantage to her 
  opponents, the Director creates a situation Aspect like ‘flanked’ or ‘targeted’ 
  or ‘vulnerable’ for her opponents to utilize.
  • If she succeeds, she moves as she wanted to, if she succeeds with style, she 
  can also take a boost, as usual. 
  
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  Zones and Emotional Proximity
  In #ADX, physical, mental, emotional, even spiritual stress are all actually 
  interchangeable, and so you can switch between pummeling an enemy and 
  chastising him with the same net effect if you are successful in what you’re doing. 
  Consider with that, the possibility of ‘psychic’ zones. That is, levels of intimacy, 
  familiarity, and a willingness to get in your enemy’s head. 
  How do you do this? 
  Consider how many Aspects you and your opponent share. For these purposes, 
  Aspects tying your characters to the same faction, or ones that express similar 
  ideologies count. So do any direct Relationship Aspects. This isn’t a hard rule; use 
  your judgment to determine shared Aspects for the purpose of intimacy. Subtract 
  that number from five. That is how many zones between you and your opponent. 
  Just as with more physical combat, you can move freely from zone to zone with 
  your action so long as you’re moving one at a time. The difference in zones 
  between you and your opponent describes the degrees of intimacy you have, and 
  the degree has certain special effects. So positioning in the right zone at the right 
  time versus the moves your opponent makes is vital to success. Beyond that, 
  conflicts proceed as they would under normal circumstances. Just follow the the 
  map for which special effects happen in each scene. 
  A Director, of course, can alter these special effects to better suit her scene, 
  these are just suggestions: 
  Degree
  Zone Distance
  Special Effects
  Intimate
  Same Zone
  Compelling your opponent does not 
  cost a fate point.
  Heated
  One Zone Different
  Any stress taken is at a +1 shift
  Close
  Two Zones Different
  Succeeding with style grants two 
  boosts, not one.
  In Proximity
  Three Zones Different
  Taking your action to be on the 
  defensive is at a +2. 
  Aloof
  Four Zones Different
  None
  Hex Maps and Zones
  Have tiny robot models you’re DYING to use for epic Titan combat? No worries! 
  A character’s zone extends for two hexes out from themselves in all directions. 
  This changes the pace of movement a touch, but makes mini-combat completely 
  doable. 
  X
  X
  
  108
  Stress 
  Stress is the body and brain’s way of protecting itself from real damage and 
  telling you that you’re in danger. Stress keeps people from dying, when it acts 
  the way it’s supposed to, and when we pay attention to the warnings.
  Player characters, in general, tend not to be very good at heeding these sorts 
  of warnings. 
  When a character tries to force another character out of the conflict by beating 
  on them physically or emotionally, they can try to absorb that potential injury by 
  stress or consequences. 
  To absorb the attacks of your opponent with stress, you just mark off the 
  damage they’re trying to do in stress boxes. The number on the box tells you the 
  number of shifts it can absorb, usually 1, 2, 3, or 4. 
  If you are a Titan pilot, your Titan can absorb stress for you, and has its own 
  stress track for that purpose based on its Defense Systems.
  Consequences
  At any point, instead of absorbing damage through stress, you can absorb it 
  through consequences. These are semi permanent Aspects that show how badly 
  roused you’ve been. 
  • Consequences come in mild, moderate, and severe. Titans have exactly the 
  same types of consequences, but they have different combinations.
  • Mild consequences absorb two points worth of stress. Moderate consequences 
  absorb four points of stress, and severe consequences absorb six points 
  worth of stress. This works the same from pilot to Titan. 
  • If you take a consequence, the person who inflicts it gets one free invocation 
  on that consequence. 
  • Name your consequences, they are Aspects after all. Fit them to the severity of 
  the consequence, and don’t be shy about making them dramatic. Especially 
  with your Titan consequences. Ripping off an arm, losing a leg, sensor units 
  ripped out, these are all the bread and butter of a triumphant Giant Robot win.
  Pilots, Titans, and the Extreme Consequences
  In Fate Core, if you are all out of other options, you can take an extreme 
  consequence as a means to absorb one last hit, make one last daring attempt to 
  win the conflict, one last hurrah. When you do, you have changed something core 
  to your character and who she is. Everything is different now. She has lost her eye 
  and cannot repair it. Her family has disowned her in a way that cannot be repaired. 
  She has been court marshalled and lost all faction privileges. #ADX makes use of 
  the extreme consequence as well. 
  
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  For the pilot...
  You can absorb up to eight shifts of damage all at once when taking an extreme 
  consequence. If you do, you must change one of your core Aspects on your sheet 
  to reflect the dramatic change your character has gone through. (Except your High 
  Concept, which you cannot touch in this case.) This Aspect always takes a turn for 
  the worst, and as suggested above, should describe the core change to who your 
  character is. You can only do this once between major milestones. 
  Unlike the other consequences, you cannot change this through treatment and 
  time. Instead, you may change it when you hit a major milestone. You cannot even 
  challenge this Aspect. You have been crippled by it in some way.
  For the Titan...
  A Titan can use an extreme consequence, absorbing up to eight shifts of damage 
  in one go. If they do, however, as of that action, they are destroyed. They may leave 
  the pilot alive, depending on bad off the pilot is, but the Titan is no more.
  Most factions do not look kindly on pilots who destroy Titans and the public 
  tends to vilify them if there isn’t a VERY good reason for it to have gone so far.
  Healing Consequences
  To step a consequence down you need time, treatment, and sometimes, 
  introspection. 
  First, either you or another character need to succeed in a Skill roll that justifies 
  your character losing the consequence. The passive opposition of this treatment is 
  based on the severity of the consequence. That is, mild is +2, moderate is +4 and 
  severe is +6. If you or another character are trying to treat multiple consequences at 
  once, add two shifts to the highest opposition for each consequence being treated.
  If successful, you may rename your consequence to indicate that you are in 
  recovery. So, Broken Leg becomes Leg in Cast and Missing Sensor Units becomes 
  Uncalibrated Stock Sensor Units. Sometimes, because of story, you cannot rename 
  your consequence, but it has begun treatment, so simply put a star next to it to 
  indicate it’s healing or being repaired. 
  Beyond that, you need time, and possibly introspection. 
  For a mild consequence, you need to wait an entire scene after the treatment 
  action takes place. For a moderate consequence you have to wait one whole session 
  after the treatment action. For a severe consequence, you need to wait until the end 
  of an adventure or scenario, and you must Challenge an Aspect at least once. You 
  do not need to succeed at that challenge, but you need to at least attempt it.
  
  110
  When You Run Out
  If a conflict goes on long enough, you might run out of stress and consequences. 
  What happens then?
  If you are a pilot...
  You may stay in the action until you would take damage one more time, which 
  gives you a chance to end the conflict in a few ways as described below. If you do 
  take damage again, you are Taken Out of the scene. See below.
  If you are a Titan...
  If your Titan runs out of stress and consequences it is immediately taken out of 
  the scene. That does not mean it’s destroyed, or its pilot killed, merely that it is no 
  longer functional and the pilot is going to have to take some extreme measures 
  to take any further actions in this conflict. A Titan is only destroyed when it’s pilot 
  thinks it should be. 
  If you are an actor...
  You probably should have conceded an action ago, but these things happen. The 
  Director is free to have you submit, be captured, or with player approval, that you 
  escape their clutches for now. If you are an actor, (meaning by and large, you are 
  a named character,) you are only killed at the end of a conflict is a player is willing 
  spend a fate point to end you or the Director thinks it’s time to let you die. (See the 
  Directives in Directing for more on dealing with actor death.)
  Ending a Conflict
  How do you know when it’s really over?
  Transition to a Challenge or Contest
  If the direct physical or emotional violence is over, but the characters are, say, in 
  a chase or are struggling together to stop a falling space elevator for example, you 
  are out of conflict and you can now start a challenge or contest.
  Conceding
  If all parties on one side of the conflict concede, the conflict is over.  
  To concede, at any point after an action against you is declared, but before dice 
  hit the table, you give in. Your opponent basically gets what you they want from you 
  and you’re taken out of the scene immediately. 
  But it isn’t all bad. You gain a fate point when you concede to a conflict, and 
  you get to have some say in what happens do you. The Director has final say, but 
  because you have conceded, as the player you get to decide how it wasn’t all bad 
  for your character, and how her opponent doesn’t exactly get what they want. 
  Being Taken Out
  If you are out of consequences and out of stress and get hit with shifts one more 
  time, you are taken out. This means not only are you out of the scene, but your 
  opponent gets to decide what ‘taken out’ looks like. It must fit within the scope of 
  the scene, and character death only happens when the player allows for it.
  
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  #ADX Special Rules
  These are rules that are specific to #ADX, and help bring home the genre and 
  style of stories we’re trying to tell. 
  The Drive Die
  If you’re in a Generation 4 or higher Titan, you call on your Drive Die when shit 
  gets real. 
  At any point in a scene when your Titan pilot has to take extreme measures, they 
  can use their Drive Die to change the curve. Here’s how it works:
  • Declare that you’re invoking your Drive Aspect, and want to be using it to call 
  on your Drive Die. You must do this before you roll, and this is the only time 
  you have to invoke an Aspect before you roll. 
  • You spend a fate point.
  • You do not get the +2 normally afforded you by invoking an Aspect. Instead, 
  you switch out one of your Fate Dice for a six sided die (a d6.) So you’ll be 
  rolling three Fate Dice and one six sided die.
  • Tabulate your successes. Remember that the six sided die only gives you 
  positive integers, so even the risk of rolling a 1 is the same as  the +2 from a 
  normal invoke plus a possible -1 on that replaced Fate Die.
  • In a single skirmish, you can use a Drive Die as many times as you have points 
  in the Transcend skill.
  And that’s it!
  Statting Actors
  Active Actors
  Active actors or the movers and shakers of your setting. Just like Our Heroes, they 
  should be built with full character sheets, Aspects, and Titans, if applicable. Just as 
  important, you need to make sure they have all the same personal connections and 
  support characters that a player character would, because an actor this important 
  does not exist alone.
  In addition to basic character creation, if Our Heroes have already achieved some 
  milestones, so too should your active actors. 
  Reactionary Actors
  Reactionary actors must have names, (and indeed, any character in a scene who 
  gets a name becomes a reactionary actor if they were not actors already).
  Reactionary actors should two Aspects. They get a High Concept Aspect just 
  like any player character would. They get an Aspect that reflects their tie to one of 
  Our Heroes. (This is a good place to satisfy the It’s a Small Solar System directive.) 
  If you need Skills for your reactionary actor to roll, let her have a skill at +4, one 
  at +3, one at +2 and one at +1 to give them a little range and a point of expertise 
  without making their bookkeeping too complicated. 
  X
  X
  
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  Mass-Produced (MP) Units
  Mass produced robots are always two Generations behind the current Generation 
  of Titans. This means you don’t see mass produced robots before Generation 3. 
  MPs, therefore, change over time, but are never matches for a modern Titan. Even 
  in numbers. This is the escalation of war.
  A squad of MP units is between eight and fourteen individual robots, but they 
  act as one actor for the sake of turn order and rolling attacks or defense. They roll 
  their actions at an effective Skill of +1, or +2 if they have not yet been damaged. The 
  Director may override this if she decides to assign more specific traits to a squad.
  If, in your Titan, you face any robot that is two Generations or more beneath 
  yours, that robot is considered a MP for the sake of your attack rolls. 
  When, in your Titan, you attack a squad of MP units, you roll to attack. If you hit, 
  take your Generation, multiply it by your Titan’s current Generation. That is how 
  many MP units you take out with a single attack. So, if you are Generation 4, and 
  you roll two shifts in your attack roll, you destroy eight MP units immediately. 
  Fighting MP units is a good place for the Director to play with her directives. 
  Leave Survivors and Name Survivors can be satisfied almost any time a Titan faces 
  MP units.
  If you are piloting a Generation 7 Titan, it is probably wise to describe combat 
  with MP units in the briefest of terms. Any mecha not at your level simply cannot 
  hope to keep up with you, even in swarms. If you need numbers, assume that a 
  seventh Generation Titan destroys MP units at a rate of ten or more per shift.
  If Our Heroes face a Titan two or more Generations higher than themselves, the 
  rules don’t change much. Facing a Titan two Generations greater than Our Heroes 
  should be a major plot point, a dramatic scene, and not to be done often. In that 
  case, Our Heroes are considered MP units, they lose all their stress in one go, and 
  fill in all consequences but their extreme consequence immediately. Give them a 
  chance to really, dramatically, and creatively describe how bad their damage is, 
  make the conditions incredible and colorful. This is the worst damage they’ve ever 
  received all in one go. Both pilot and Titan still have their extreme consequences 
  left, however, even after that one swipe. So if they want to take one final action, (or 
  concede) in hopes of a miracle, they have that choice.
  X
  
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  The Series
  In Fate Core, long term play is structured like a bit like a novel. For the sake of 
  genre, we structure #ADX like the television shows many of these ideas are drawn 
  from. 
  Episodes
  An episode is a game session long, and is worth a minor milestone. Try to have at 
  least one big contest, challenge or conflict in every episode to keep things moving 
  and exciting! End episodes on cliffhangers whenever possible. Have a player recap 
  what happened last episode at the beginning of every new episode. Consider your 
  series theme song, and play it at the beginning of the session if you can. 
  Adventures
  An adventure is a couple of episodes long, usually around three to five episodes. 
  There’s more on how to structure an adventure in the following chapters, but in 
  general, an adventure should contain one of each of the 3Cs, if not more. 
  Series 
  Series are a little harder to negotiate. they can be three or so adventures long, 
  in general, but may be longer or shorter depending on character needs. A series 
  rewards your characters with a significant milestone. There’s a few ways to pace 
  a series, but basically, an series starts by showing you the setting on the surface, 
  then goes through looking at what’s under than surface, and ends with the setting 
  changed in some definite way.
  Do it by the Numbers
  Three episodes into three adventures into one series and you’re probably good. 
  This is probably the easiest, but not the most organic way to handle a game of #ADX.
  Offer Our Heroes Something Big...
  ...and let them chase it across the solar system and beyond.
  A big risk, a big threat, or a big reward. Offer them something that, win or lose, will 
  change everything in the setting, and then follow their adventures as they chase after 
  something big.
  A change in generation, or the discovery of the next drive type may be this kind of 
  series.
  Let the Characters Decide
  What do the characters want? Do our heroes have some impossible motivation, 
  some seemingly unreasonable goal for what they do? Well, an arc ends when they’ve 
  satisfied (or totally failed to) reach that goal. Winning, securing, building, and then 
  protecting a Mars colony specifically for Stratos citizens might be this sort of series.
  Follow an Active Actor
  If Our Heroes are more reactionary, and less self motivated, then your arc may 
  follow the meddling of an active actor as he seeks to manipulate them to his own end. 
  Start where they don’t know about his vested interest, end when they’ve stopped his 
  dastardly plan (or joined and taken over his secret war, whatever makes sense). The 
  X
  
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  rise and fall of a crazed general as he becomes genocidal and attempts to wipe out 
  the Nation Oya, fighting to the bitter end might be this kind of series.
  Milestones
  Milestones are points in your characters story where they grow or change. Change 
  is possible when you challenge an aspect, but those changes are less natural, and 
  often more angst-filled and painful. With a milestone, your character has learned, 
  experienced, and or discovered enough to be better than they were before.
  Minor Milestones 
  At the end of an episode, a character gets a minor milestone. With a minor milestone 
  you can do one of the following:
  • Rename an Aspect, as long as it isn’t your High Concept.
  • Switch out a Skill at a +1 with a Skill you don’t have.
  • Purchase a new Stunt, provided you have the Refresh to spend. (You cannot 
  go below a 1 Refresh.)
  • Plus! You can rename a minor or moderate consequence and get it on it’s way 
  to healing if you had not done so though treatment. 
  Significant Milestones
  At the end of an adventure, a character gets a significant milestone. With a 
  significant milestone, you can take one of the benefits of a minor milestone, plus you 
  can do both of the following:
  • Increase a Skill by +1 (up to +4) or buy a Skill you don’t have at +1.
  • Rename a severe consequence and start it on the healing process if you have 
  not done so through treatment. 
  You should consider any jump to another Generation as a significant milestone, 
  unless you decide it’s a major milestone.
  Major Milestones
  At the end of a series, a character gets a major milestone. This is a big change to 
  your character (as big as the end of a series is a change to your setting.) You get the 
  benefits of a minor and significant milestone plus all of the following:
  • You may rename an extreme consequence. It has changed you, but you have 
  moved past it. If you need to in the future, you can now take a new extreme 
  consequence.
  • You gain a point of refresh, which you can immediately spend in all the ways 
  you can spend refresh during character creation.
  • You can increase a Skill by +1, up to +5 or higher. If you do this, this raises the 
  maximum Skill rating of any active actors in the campaign. 
  • You can rename your High Concept, if you so desire. 
  
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  Titan ASPECTS
  Titans introduce three new types of very specific Aspects to Fate: Weapons, 
  Defense Systems, and Armor. They each add a new layer to the game mechanics, as 
  well as being useable as normal Aspects. Each has a rating between 0 and +3, with 
  scaled advantages.
  Weapons
  The Weapons Aspect reflects a signature offensive system. It might or might not 
  be all the Titan’s weaponry, but is the most impressive. 
  • Every +1 adds one additional Shift to any successful attack with the weapon. 
  So an attack with +2 Weapons which would normally score three Shifts instead 
  causes five Shifts. 
  Armor
  Normally, a Titan has three Consequences: A Mild (2), a Moderate (4), and a Severe 
  (6). The Armor Aspect adds additional Consequences to the Titan’s frame, allowing it 
  to suffer more punishment before being rendered useless. 
  • Armor +1 provides an additional Mild (2) Consequence. 
  • Armor +2 provides an additional Moderate (4) Consequence.
  • Armor +3 provides an additional Severe (6) Consequence. 
  • Armor is fully replenished when the Titan receives repairs or has a full scene 
  of resting time in the case of nanotechnology. Severe Consequences only 
  replenish between game sessions. 
  Defense Systems
  Defense Systems reflect shields, thrusters, parrying weapons, and anything else 
  that keeps the Titan from suffering harm in the first place. 
  • Every rank of Defense Systems adds one effective Stress to the Titan, at that 
  level. A Titan with Defense Systems +3 then has a 1 Stress box, a 2 Stress box, 
  and a 3 Stress box. 
  • Defense Systems stress replenishes between scenes, or when a character 
  overcomes an obstacle to re-engage the system. 
  
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  In a Fate-based game, it’s easy to forget themes and plot as the universe is so 
  very alive with possibility and potential. In Fate, this is a feature and not a bug, and 
  something we embrace.
  The universe of #ADX is very specific, drawing from very specific genre, and of 
  course, very specific beats. How do you combined the two without stifling your 
  players’ creativity and the raw awesome possibilities of being a Giant Robot Pilot?
  As the Director in #ADX, these are your Directives. These are your tools for 
  making #ADX feel #ADX. You can find more general tools and advice in Fate Core. 
  But these are what you need for the core #ADX experience. Consider this whole 
  chapter to be new and important. It would have an X designator every sentence. 
  Remember, as Director, you get a Fate Point any time you showcase a Directive.
  Being a Robot Pilot is Awesome
  Being a Titan Pilot is awesome, and it’s your job to remind the players of this at all 
  times. If a thing could go either way, lean toward “Being in a Titan is amazing, fun, 
  and exciting!” When pilots are out and about in city streets, at station cafeterias, 
  or anywhere they might interact with the public, remember how rare and special 
  they are. Single people will slip them numbers and room keys. Children beg them 
  for autographs. Older folk salute as they walk by, or give them a kind nod and a 
  smile. Titan pilots are rockstars, and everyone knows their names, their Titans, 
  and their exploits.
  Let them grandstand from time to time. Remember, as much as we base our 
  setting on potential future scientific advancement, Titans break those rules. So if 
  you have a situation where a Titan pilot wants to try something you think isn’t quite 
  scientifically possible, or doesn’t suit your verisimilitude, don’t sweat it. Being a 
  Titan pilot is awesome.
  In addition to always awesome, it is never boring. People skip the paperwork 
  with pilots. The debriefing might happen, but they’re never dry or dull, always 
  active and intense. Skip the boring parts, for Titan pilots, life is just too short. 
  Politicians invite pilots to decision making summits, and the interesting parts of 
  the discussion begin when the pilot enters, and end when she leaves. There’s 
  nothing above a pilot’s pay grade, if they’re so inclined.
  But War is Hell
  No one wins a war, but everyone loses. No choice is a good choice, and 
  there are no right sides and wrong sides when two powers come to war to solve 
  their disputes. There may be more and less sympathetic sides, depending on 
  your perspective, but no one wakes up one day and realizes ‘I want to destroy 
  all clones ever, especially all the big eyed children, because I am evil!’ War 
  results from a series of bad choices, compassionless knee jerks, and often, 
  stupidity. We paint the results with shades of glory and honor, but glory and 
  honor almost never have much to do with the initiation of war. During war, the 
  choices are worse, the consequences beyond imagining, and good people do 
  terrible things because they feel they must. Everyone has the potential for evil 
  in the heat of war, even Our Heroes. 
  
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  Here’s the paradox, being a Titan pilot is awesome. But a Titan is a machine 
  of war. And war is hell. It is your job, as the Director, to keep this dissonance 
  in mind and showcase it whenever possible.
  The Plot Follows the Pilots
  Having a plan is important, and knowing what you want to do with your story 
  is great, but especially in a Fate based game, there is a great potential for your 
  Titan pilots to fly off the rail in a direction you never saw coming. When that 
  happens, remember, that the pilots are always right. Or rather, the pilots are 
  the plot, and so the plot follows the pilot. If you were expecting interplanetary 
  espionage with giant robots, but instead, Our Heroes get wrapped up in a 
  galactic level Romeo and Juliet story, bam, that’s your story. Buckle up and 
  enjoy the ride.
  Likewise, if you’ve laid out a mystery to be solved, and Our Heroes work 
  out a solution to the mystery that makes good sense, they’re right. It doesn’t 
  matter what you have in your notes, let them be right. Or at least, let them 
  be right enough that any twist you throw will feel organic and fair rather than 
  declaring them wrong for the sake of your notes. It makes you look as clever 
  as they feel.
  Titans Don’t Bother with Mortals
  Sometimes your pilots or other character will do things you cannot expect. 
  For example, sometimes, a pilot may get out of  their Titan to do something 
  clever, or brave, or incredibly stupid. 
  Let them.
  As for your Actors on the scene, Titan pilots run by a Director should 
  ignore any person on foot. They don’t stomp on ground troops. They don’t 
  smash rogue pilots into paste. The system doesn’t support it, and the genre 
  doesn’t support it. But remember, you get a Fate Point for showcasing the 
  Directive, so the enemies will still get a benefit for going up against unarmored 
  humans, even if they’re not blowing them away with railguns.
  (This is not to say that a pilot on the ground can’t attack a Titan. That’s 
  entirely the players’ prerogative.)
  Leave Survivors
  Total war is probably technically impossible, and life will out. Any war with 
  no survivors means that there are no stories to tell from the event. Whether 
  you’re talking about the team of pirates Our Heroes struggle against, or an 
  island nation about to be bombed out of existence, if you leave no survivors, 
  you have cut off a stream of precious story, and why cut yourself off?
  Instead, leave survivors. Even one. Leave someone who can tell the events 
  of the scene in question from another angle. Someone who can call into 
  question what Our Heroes say or claim, or what the enemies of Our Heroes 
  
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  cast into their propaganda. One last witness can, in a good story, change the 
  tides of war and change the universe. Also, survivors make great replacement 
  protagonists if someone decides to retire their protagonist or let them die off.
  Name Survivors
  By design, or by happenstance of dice rolls, you’re going to be left with 
  survivors. It may be the one grunt pilot who isn’t killed in a conflict between 
  Our Heroes and the opposition. It may be the one ten year old girl who, on foot, 
  witnessed the battle between one of Our Heroes and her sworn enemy. It may 
  be the boy one of Our Heroes left back home, only to have home destroyed in 
  an act of terrorism no one saw coming. 
  The point is, these scattered characters have now become important. They 
  have a unique thing to add to the story. As witnesses, and highly motivated 
  vengeful antagonists, as living ghosts haunting Our Heroes for mistakes as 
  well as cold blooded choices and sympathetic true believers who have seen 
  what Our Heroes do. They may be evangelical, blood thirsty, or broken, but 
  these survivors need to have names and agency. Their motivations and their 
  actions must follow Our Heroes and have repercussions.
  Death Matters
  In real life, you can be sitting at your computer, typing away, and BAM, a 
  blood clot shoots up from you leg into your brain, and then you are D.E.D, 
  dead. 
  But real life doesn’t have a narrative, it doesn’t actually follow a story. It 
  doesn’t have to have a music to it, so it should be a rare or impossible thing 
  that death doesn’t serve the story you are telling. 
  In Fate, player character death is in the hands of the players, and in 
  many ways, non player character death is also in the hands of the players. In 
  #ADX, deaths may happen outside of direct intention. Did a building fall with 
  an important actor inside? What do you, as the Director do when random 
  chance could kill off an actor with a name and attachments to the characters? 
  First, remember that you are charged to Leave Survivors, and so if a building 
  falls and anyone survives, why not a character attached to Our Heroes. (It is a 
  Small System after all.) This is in keeping with the genre quite well. 
  But if it would serve the story, if it would be awesome or a brilliant reminder 
  that War is Hell, let them die. Just make sure it is the choice that servers the 
  story best. Don’t do it just for shock or for kicks. Our Heroes are invested in 
  these actors, and we don’t want them to hesitate to invest because they think 
  other actors are disposable. . 
  Have an Escape Plan
  No plan survives its first encounter with the players. That’s okay, because 
  it’s their game, and you are here to Direct, not to Dictate. Good? Good. 
  
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  However, that doesn’t mean you always want to let every piece of your 
  puzzle go at first encounter. Sometimes it’s fun for you and for the players if 
  you can hold on to some of your cards. This is also thematically appropriate, 
  as in much of the mecha genre, the last-minute escape of a major antagonist 
  is so regular as to be expected. 
  It only looks like they died. They had a clone. The Titan was designed to 
  look destroyed when it was still functional enough to blast off. Escape pods. 
  A planned interruption in the middle of a major political function in which the 
  bag guy is going to get arrested. A blackout during a contentious Grande Ball. 
  Use these things, they both let you hold on to an antagonist at least a scene 
  longer, and fit with the genre. 
  Just make sure your antagonists pay their Fate points to be able to make 
  their escape. If they have no Fate points left, well, then it’s on Our Heroes what 
  happens next. Or, better still, showcase a Directive to net a Fate point.
  Hit Them with Everything You’ve Got -1
  So you’ve made plans for the main antagonist to have a Titan that can do 
  X, Y, and Z. 
  Give ‘em X. Decide that Y is a part of your Escape Plan. Z, well, you save 
  Z until the players have really earned it. Z should be a shocker. Z should be 
  a surprise. Z should be a sort of reward for really going all out as Titan Pilots. 
  Being a Pilot is Awesome, and you should reward awesomeness with a chance 
  to be even more awesome, and so treat the things your antagonists can do as 
  a system of escalations. This is important both in pacing your game, in fitting 
  the themes of the game, and in following the guidelines here.  
  So hit them hard, make it an awesome challenge to overcome, but whenever 
  possible, hold something back for next time. Build over time.
  It’s a Small Solar System
  In reality, in a population as large as the population in the time of #ADX, it 
  would be possible to never see a stranger more than once. 
  But that’s not exciting fiction. Nor is it in keeping with the genre or the other 
  guidelines listed here. So forget it. Keep it small, keep it tight.
  If your Titan shoots down an enemy fighter, and that pilot survives, the pilot 
  went to high school with you. If you’ve met a girl at a bar for a quick and 
  naughty encounter, she’s probably a faction spy. Everything is personal, 
  everything is intimate, and everything has to do with the story. 
  Leave no room for coincidence. Leave no antagonist or extra actor without a 
  tie to the story or the characters. Leave nothing to chance. Everything matters, 
  everything is intense.
  
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  Reward Going to the Edge
  Every time a pilot gets into into a Titan they put their lives on the line. It is 
  risky business to not just be a pilot, but to be in a Titan at all. But this should be 
  everyday danger, and the reward should be getting to be a Titan pilot. (Which 
  is awesome, as described above.) 
  To balance that every-day sort of danger, sometimes players will choose to 
  have their characters really go to the edge. Make what appear to be terrible, 
  risky, even foolhardy choices for the sake of drama and interest and being 
  awesome.
  Never ever penalize that. Don’t make something more difficult when it could 
  instead be more awesome.
  Rather, reward it handsomely. When a player has their character but their 
  neck on the line, when Our Heroes push themselves to the edge and make the 
  story better by dramatic self sacrifice, reward them. You don’t have to reward 
  them with success, not entirely, half successes and bittersweet wins are a 
  regular part of the genre. Rather, you reward them in scope. If it could have 
  been a minor conflict with few repercussions, and Our Heroes take it to the 
  mat, then as the Director it is your duty to make this a new and major turning 
  point in the story. Remember, Leave Survivors and it’s a Small System are 
  already your Directives, so roll with them.
  Punish Boring
  Sometimes players new to Fate, or new to stories about war and giant 
  robots don’t know the sheer joy of playing without a safety net. They will try at 
  all costs to play it safe. They will play the numbers for maximum efficiency and 
  careful choices so as to not rock the boat. 
  This is a legitimate play style, and may even be okay for one character in 
  a group of risk-takers. But if it’s dragging things down, if the choices your 
  players are making are too safe, you got to show them there is no ‘safe’ in war. 
  There is no value in a life without risk. 
  You can do this in two ways, but one tends to follow the other. First, make 
  bad, extreme, dangerous stuff happen in the middle of their careful plans. Oh? 
  You were just going to spend the evening in doing paperwork to get in good 
  with your faction leadership? Cool. Did you know there’s an assassin in the 
  duct work, and how he’s got a lairet around your neck? Sure, a set of explosive 
  traps will mean you don’t have to interact directly with such a small force. Only 
  problem is, the force is much larger than you anticipated. What now, hot shot?
  Now that you’ve made the mundane extreme, you follow your stick with a 
  carrot. Put them in a no-win situation, then reward whatever they choose to 
  do. Because when it’s no win, whatever they do will be extreme, right? And so 
  you’re obliged to Reward Going to the Edge! If they won’t walk up to the edge 
  on their own, push them there, and then show them the view from the top.
  
  Everyone has Reasons
  No one acts without a reason. (Yes, even if they are chaotic and anarchistic, 
  there is still a need they are satisfying and a reason they are behaving the way 
  that they are.) 
  Your antagonists may not know they still harbor a secret grudge, hate all Titan 
  pilots, or just have issues with women, for example, but these are still motivators. 
  There are no truly random acts. 
  And so when you are creating extra actors, especially if they are meant to be 
  antagonistic toward our heroes, they must have some kind of reason for what they 
  do. Their reasons can be right, wrong, or deeply conflicted, but they must exist. 
  And for allies, don’t skimp on the reasons here either. If you have in your head 
  an understanding of why an actor helps Our Heroes out, and those reasons are 
  eliminated or violated, well... You have an ally who would make a very good 
  antagonist all of the sudden, don’t you?
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  124
  There are a thousand ways to write a good adventure, this is one of them.
  Because Fate, the system that powers #ADX, is an incredibly open-ended tool 
  for telling stories, you may be worried about how to get your characters from 
  A to B without railroading them. Don’t panic, instead shift your attention from 
  what the characters are doing, and to how the exciting and colorful characters 
  outlined is this adventure react to what the characters do. Below are setups for 
  scenes that suggest actions these NPCs (actors) take, and what they want as 
  result. Then we suggest segues from one scene to the next depending on if the 
  actor got what they wanted or not.
  When in doubt, pick an actor you like, and ask yourself, “What do they want 
  right now, and how is that in conflict with what the characters want?” Then grab 
  a floating scene that can play into the answer, or vamp off of one, and see where 
  it goes.
  Parts
  Here’s the break down, the tools we’re providing you so that you can run a 
  game with prep but without running on rails.
  Directives: Described in detail on p. XX, Directives are the guidelines the 
  Director should follow in order to help keep their game of #ADX focused and 
  compellingly within genre and theme.
  Scenes that Happen: These scenes, set up with NPC motivations and some 
  potential scene Aspects you can use during the course of a story. They make 
  up the core of your story, and it’s important that you draw in character Aspects 
  and history to make those scenes personally compelling for some or all of your 
  players’ characters.
  Scenes that Could Happen: Branched from each major scene is a smaller, 
  tangential scene that the players may or may not engage. These scenes should 
  be suggested in each major scene, use a minor character that can pull the player 
  characters along. These minor scenes tie characters into a longer campaign, 
  and introduce the characters into the looming war. For a convention or pickup 
  game, use as many of these minor scenes as you need to to fill time and have 
  fun. If you’re setting up a longer game, character backgrounds as well as player 
  input will give you ideas for these smaller scenes.
  If your characters need to, let them have other scenes, let them take initiative 
  and suggest what they might do next. Because you have your own actors to 
  play, you can always pick up a slow pace by examining what NPCs could have a 
  hand in other scenes from the adventure, or other . The Scenes that Happen are 
  active, triggered by an Active Actor, so you can always spring them on players 
  that have lingered too long away from the plot.
  Active Actors: For ease of a quicker style of play, we split non player characters 
  into two types. Active Actors have clear motivations and reasons to involve the 
  player characters in their actions or plans. It isn’t important that you ever know 
  ADVENTURE DESIGN
  ADVENTURE DESIGN
  
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  or layout what those plans are at first! (Eventually, you’ll need to know what the 
  character is about, because Everyone Has Reasons in the Directives.) If the players 
  choose to come up with an explanation as to why their characters are caught up 
  in the Active Actor’s manipulations, whatever they come up with is probably right. 
  When in doubt, look at your Active Actors, what they want and maybe what they 
  haven’t gotten yet, and use that as inspiration.  
  Reactionary Actors: This is the other type of characters created for you ahead 
  of time. These are Our Heroes friends, families and roadblocks in person form 
  that come up while fleshing out your characters. As you’re putting together your 
  protagonists, make suggestions, each one of these actors should have a tie to 
  the characters. And not something easy and ignored, but a deep tie worth even 
  defining with an Aspect. Reactionary Actors are the hooks you use to pull the 
  player characters into the story. They may be authoritative and demanding, in peril, 
  or simply the sort to get curious and wander into trouble. If you’re not sure what 
  to do next, or how to pull your characters back into the action, put a Reactionary 
  Actor in a bad place, and watch the sparks fly!
  Putting the Parts Together
  Start wherever you want. Maybe you have a great antagonist in mind thanks to 
  the character’s backgrounds. Maybe there’s an element of one of the Factions you 
  want to examine. Maybe you have a scene in mind, like say, giant robots fighting in 
  front of an active volcano. These are all good starting point, and from there, it’s a 
  matter of adding tools to that start until you have an adventure laid out. If you have 
  a Faction detail you want to bring out, what kind of Reactionary Actor can you use 
  to bring that out? If you have a killer scene you are dying to see played out? Great, 
  which of your Active Actors can trigger it? Maybe you’ve decided you want to build 
  a scene up around the War is Hell directive, this is awesome! Add some hints at a 
  larger story, and attach it to a Scene That Happens and you’ve got a great Scene 
  That Could Happen. 
  Nuts and Bolts, Parts of a Scene
  Here’s a brief format you can use, fill in, and run with. Use whatever format 
  works best for you, but this can help you have just enough notes to give an idea of 
  what can go on without tying you down too much.
  Major Scenes
  Major Scene: Put an impressive, evocative title here. Something you’ll be happy 
  to share with your players.
  Trigger: This is the event that takes place that starts the scene rolling. This 
  should be short, as it’s just meant to jog your memory and previous scenes to this, 
  if applicable. 
  Hooks: Here, you jot down an idea or two on how to drag Our Heroes into the 
  scene. It won’t always be necessary. 
  Active Actor: If necessary, you tag which Active Actor is a part of the scene 
  trigger. Since they have motivations and reasons for getting Our Heroes to do 
  things and go places, this is a great way to keep things going. 
  
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  Directive: You can list a Directive here this scene should exemplorize if you 
  have one in mind. 
  Setting the Scene: If you have the time or flair, write some read aloud text here 
  to help you set the scene. Use sensory details, not just what Our Heroes see, but 
  what they hear, smell, and feel on their skins. 
  Actors on Scene: Here, you’ll want a short bulleted list of any actors you have 
  on hand that you want to put into the scene and a one sentence description of 
  what they’re doing in this scene. 
  Hints for Secondary Scenes: If you have a side scene in mind, this is where 
  you take notes on ways to lead from this scene to that. (Even if Our Heroes don’t 
  immediately follow the lead.) 
  Major Action in the Scene: A very short note to yourself to explain what the 
  main thrust of the scene is. This might be ‘epic fight with clone forces’ or ‘touching 
  person to person contact with long lost dying clone ‘sister.’ Where will the most 
  rolls happen? What is the Active Actor trying to get  our characters to do? Truncate 
  that here. 
  Scene Aspects: If you have neat situation Aspects in mind, put them here. 
  Fallout: Here, give some quick notes on what COULD happen in general thanks 
  to the events here. Not every scene is staged as ‘win or lose’ for Our Heroes, and 
  sometimes the worlds reaction has little to do with what Our Heroes do, and 
  everything to do with what the solar system perceives. 
  Actor gets what she wants: Notes on the Active Actor tagged earlier getting 
  exactly what they planned for. (Not always bad for Our Heroes.) 
  Actor doesn’t get what he wants: Notes on the Active Actor not getting anything 
  of what they planned for. (Not always good for Our Heroes.) 
  Actor gets what she wants with conditions: Note on the Active Actor only getting 
  some things they planned for, or getting way more than they expected. 
  Minor Scenes
  Minor Scene: Evocative title!
  Revelation: Make a note here of the big secret this scene could reveal. (And 
  should reveal.) 
  Setting the Scene: A sensory-loaded read-aloud description to set the scene.
  Actors on the Scene: A bullet point list of the actors on hand. 
  Major Action of the Scene: What happens here, where the dice are mainly 
  rolled, keep it brief.
  Scene Aspects: As before, and scene based Aspects that would really rock 
  the scene.
  Fallout: Briefly, how things can play out from the end of this scene into the 
  next, for better or for worse. 
  
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  Actors on Stage
  There are many ways to keep track of the actors and extras Our Heroes run 
  across, but once you give them a name, you’ll want to record them in a formalized 
  and permanent way. Most of this information can fit on a notebook page or large 
  index card. You can even get the type with a hole punched in them, and stick your 
  actors on a ring of index cards for easy access. 
  Here’s what you want to mark down for an active actor:
  Name: Make it colorful, make it evocative. 
  Motivation: This is both what the actor wants, but most importantly, how what 
  they want can intersect with Our Heroes. This is why they keep engaging and 
  helping or getting in the way of Our Heroes. 
  General Response to Stress: When a scene goes sideways (by your actors’ 
  assessment) this is how they react. This is when they panic or take extreme 
  measures. This is what they do when someone presses the big red button in their 
  head.
  Look: Give a quick and vivid description of the character. Make something 
  stand out about them. Hair color, an important scar, the smell of their perfume, or 
  something about the way they speak that makes the character stand out. Have it 
  stand out and suggest things about the character. This look should also suggest 
  possible and potential aspects in the future. 
  Aspects: Write down any confirmed Aspects that have been established for 
  the character. 
  Reactionary Actors
  When you are following your directives, there will be times when you Name 
  the Survivors, and suddenly you have new characters to deal with. In most 
  cases, these characters will become Reactionary Actors. Reactionary Actors can 
  become active actors once they develop a serious motivation that involves using 
  or maneuvering Our Heroes. And theoretically, an Active Actor who has lost their 
  motivation may become Reactionary Actors.
  Name: Clever, evocative name.
  Ties: It is important that these characters mean something personal to Our 
  Heroes. This should also seed possible Aspects.
  Perilous Situations: Why are they in danger, or what danger could they quickly 
  fall into? Do they seek it out, or has it been thrust on them (possibly due to their 
  relationship to Our Heroes.) This is how they can and will get themselves into 
  trouble. 
  Playing Them: Do they have any quirks? Loves or hates? Sensory details, (like 
  cologne or a sound when they walk.) This is just a way to help you roleplay these 
  characters in recognizable and fun ways. This will also help you produce Aspects 
  for them.
  And now, an example of adventure creation in practice... 
  
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  Take the characters, steal something that matters to them, and have them 
  chase impossible anomalies through space and four territories and you’ve got 
  yourself this adventure.
  History in Brief
  Humanity lives on colonies in the stars, they have built super soldiers, clones, 
  and giant machines of war, called Titans. They war with these machines in 
  the mistaken opinion that there “isn’t enough” for everyone, despite the huge 
  solar relay in the atmosphere that powers all of the Earth cleanly and endlessly. 
  The Great Clone War has ended, with the clones returning to their colonies off 
  planet, earth ‘united’ under the One Earth Accord. Malcontents form the People’s 
  Collective and demand attention and independence from the Accord. The Nation 
  of Oya, genetically altered super humans and scientists, attempt to live as neutral 
  peacekeepers despite political heat. And everyone, everyone wants to be the first 
  to come up with the next big leap in Titan technology. The faction with the next 
  advancement in Drive technology, will become the dominant faction.
  Setup in Brief
  The Great Clone War is over, and the world is settling into a sort of tense peace. 
  That tension manifests in touches of paranoia, and some suggest that the war 
  never actually ended, it’s simply gone cold focusing on intrigue and espionage.
  Of course, if that is going on, it isn’t the concern of your average Titan pilot, 
  and your characters just happen to be just those average Titan pilots. (At least for 
  now!)
  • If all the characters are from one faction, no worries, they’re simply 
  investigating a mysterious radio signal their faction can’t break.
  • If you’ve got a mixed set of characters, no worries. Here are some options:
  • The characters are independent, a team that has pulled together, free 
  agents or mercenaries.
  • A Stratos pilot outside of Stratos may be a turncoat from the last war or an 
  immigrant who somehow stole her General.
  • An Oya pilot may be on loan from the Nation to some other group, since the 
  Nation attempts to remain neutral and peacekeeping.
  • An Accord pilot may be with another faction working in an observation/
  diplomatic role, in which case he’s going to be under a lot of pressure to fit 
  in and not abandon his duties to the Accord.
  • A Collective member may be a diplomat of sorts as well, but perhaps 
  she’s technically a criminal working off her crime by piloting for some other 
  faction, maybe she’s an engineer or another blue collar role on the ship, but 
  secretly a Collectivist.
  
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  Active Actors
  Each of the following character descriptions include some motivations, a look, 
  and how they deal with stress or how they act when they don’t get what they 
  want! Draw character Aspects from these ideas as you need them.
  Captain Cornelia, Pirate Extraordinaire! 
  Motivation: Cornelia has two things going on: what she’s doing, and what she 
  really wants. What she’s doing is returning a group of experts she’s ‘borrowed’ 
  from all over the universe to build her Ghost Titans. What she wants is chaos. The 
  current status quo chafes her quite a bit, and she knows that all of the factions 
  are up to no good, and she’d rather them be upfront and honest. She wants their 
  nonsense exposed.
  General Response to Stress: If things aren’t going the way she wants, Cornelia 
  makes the fires better. She’ll hit emergency buttons, throw explosives, or shout 
  fire in a crowded room. Whatever will cause the most chaos so the can retreat 
  and regroup.
  Look: The Captain considers herself to be a cyber pirate. She’s blended the 
  fashion of ancient pirate over-the-top nautical theatrics with hyper modern solar 
  punk. She also like so show off her cybernetics, which leaves one to ask, how the 
  hell did she get those?
  Brother Jerome Comeau
  Motivation: Brother Jerome is what you call a ‘believer.’ He’s got a life, a 
  successful company in the Upper Cities, citizenship in the Accord, he’s legit so far 
  as they’re concerned. But his heart is with the Collective. He uses his time, energy, 
  brains, and money to fund the biggest, wildest, craziest ideas the collective shares 
  with him, because he believes in people and he believes in innovation for it’s own 
  sake. If it is shiny, crazy, brilliant, or daring, he’ll back up the Collective doing it.
  General Response to Stress: Brother Jerome has some weight behind him, 
  and he’s not afraid to throw it around when he believes he’s in the right. (And from 
  a certain perspective, he often is.) He’ll out talk, out think, and often out curse the 
  best of them when he thinks someone is standing in the way of progress.
  Look: Brother Jerome looks good. Point of  fact, he wears the latest in artist 
  bohemian style. A person without taste would call him a nuhipster, but he wouldn’t 
  so much as flinch. True or not true, he looks good, speaks well, and creates a 
  touch of jealousy everywhere he goes.
  William Jennings, Callsign Tumble
  Motivation: Every Titan pilot is elite, naturally, as there are so many hopefuls 
  vying for their chance to get in a robot. This is especially true in the Accord. But 
  even among the elite, there are those who  rise above and make history. Tumble 
  is one of those pilots. The story goes that at a turning point in the war, he actually 
  tackled a General in upper orbit and dragged the thing into atmo, somehow 
  surviving reentry. Now he’s a hero, and has taken up the mantle, showing up ‘just 
  
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  in the nick of time’ to save the day, and further ensure everyone remembers what 
  a hero he is.
  General Response to Stress: If things look bad, Tumble looks for any and all 
  ways to become extraordinary. He’s not reckless, per say, but he likes to appear 
  that way. Rather, he tactically takes risks to make sure history remembers him 
  well. Sometimes that means a little extra danger for the people around him, or, 
  fudging the truth as to who did what, but winners make history, and he’s naturally 
  a winner.
  Look: Tumble, like many young pilots, keeps his cybernetics to a high chrome 
  polish, and dresses in the backless-fashion of many Accord aces. He’s good-
  looking to a fault and grins as fast as he flies. He’s seems a shameless, reckless 
  flirt. But just like his piloting, he always has a plan, even if it isn’t obvious.
  Sybelle Lena Oro
  Motivation: The Children of the Nation are often ‘gifted’ in ways beyond their 
  superior physical talents. Grama Oro, so they say, had a gift of precognition since 
  early childhood. This is why, they reason, she survived so long as a pilot. She 
  knows things will happen, so the stories go, and is drawn to important events like 
  a bee to honey. This may be the reason she’s taken to following our heroes, and 
  seems intent to manipulate them into being at ‘just the right place’ at ‘just the right 
  time.’ She won’t explain more, if questioned, and possibly can’t. ‘I don’t know 
  what I know until it’s happened. Better we all just enjoy the ride, huh?’
  General Response to Stress: Sybelle understands acutely how hard it is for 
  other people to have faith in things they can’t see or understand. She doesn’t 
  expect people to take her on her word when she tells them they must be doing 
  some specific thing at some specific time. So, when confronted with a possible 
  resistance to her plans, she’ll lie, manipulate, or even threaten people. It’s for their 
  own good.
  Look: Oro is unquestionably an older woman, with long waves of kinky white 
  and silver hair. While there are laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, her skin is 
  flawless, giving her an agelessness. In some light, it seems like her eyes glow a 
  faint silver.
  Reactionary Actors
  Benedict von Hoerl
  Ties: Benedict is someone’s little lost brother, once deeply beloved and left 
  behind. 
  Perilous Situations: Whatever went wrong, Benedict responded the best way 
  he knew how. He ran away to join the pirates. The Titan he stole seems unusually 
  loyal to him, as if it is self aware. The thing is unique, and so deeply tied to Benedict 
  that the Captain had it retrofitted to have the capacity of the other Pirate Titans. 
  Now, he’s in the thick of it, and where the pirates go, he goes. Is there anyway to 
  get him out? To get him to safety? 
  
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  Playing Him: Benedict was once a doting younger brother, a loyal companion. 
  Now he’s a grown man with his own sense of fulfillment. He hasn’t made a mistake, 
  or rather, he’s not making a mistake now; he’s a pirate. Though, he’s at least a 
  sympathetic pirate. 
  Jason Argosy  
  Ties: Jason taught one of the characters everything they know. He’s not just 
  a mentor, but a sort of father figure, perhaps that replaces a missing or distant 
  father. 
  Perilous Situations: They called him Doctor Sunlight when he wasn’t around 
  to hear them. There simply wasn’t a single scientist alive who had a better 
  understanding of light and it’s uses. If invisibility, real invisibility was possible, it 
  would come from the mind of Jason Argosy. While the Accord has him, for now, 
  his allegiances lay elsewhere. 
  Playing Him: Including the character, Argosy has a few protegees all over the 
  universe. Students that are loyal to a fault, and will try to help, even from clear 
  across the universe. 
  Brother Matt McRae  
  Ties: Brother McRae was once married to one of the characters. Their 
  commitment was as intense as it was brief, as after the death of his parents in a 
  corporate ‘incident’, he walked away from the Accord to join up with the Collective. 
  He never explained to his beloved why he left.
  Perilous Situations: Brother McRae may have left the Accord behind, but that 
  doesn’t mean his family’s enemies have just forgot about him. The events that 
  lead to his parents death follow him no matter how far he and his unique Titan 
  travel. And his enemies are exactly the sorts to hire pirates to get what they want.
  Professor Nick Bate
  Ties: Once, an unexpected bar fight, Nick Bate saved one of the protagonists’ 
  lives by fending off a knife wielding sociopath. They’ve been fast friends ever 
  since and go out for drinks (tempting fate) any time they’re on the same planet at 
  the same time. 
  Perilous Situations: Professor Bate is a premier astrophysicist, and he has a 
  theory about gravity and extra stellar space travel that if proven true, will change 
  how we measure distance inside and out of the solar system. It’s a theory he’s 
  experimenting with right now, the question is, where?
  SCENES
  Major Scene: The People’s Desert
  Trigger: At a remote People’s Collective outpost, something is wrong with 
  the communication relays. While that might normally not be a giant concern, this 
  outpost is an underground facility in the middle of a desolate desert for whom 
  
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  communication with outside units can mean life and death. (Something to do 
  with having Titans outside the station who have to be able to move giant mirrors 
  to control energy absorption and deflect heat that shifts day to day and hour to 
  hour.) Without communication, the city-sized outpost could be obliterated. 
  What’s causing the short out of communication? Hard to say, but when Our 
  Heroes arrive on scene, they’ll find that the desert sands betray the outlines of 
  invisible pirate Titans. 
  Hooks: What isn’t apparent on the surface is that the stealth technology the 
  pirates are using may have been ‘stolen’ from this particular outpost. Cornelia 
  wouldn’t call it theft, though, since the information was given to her willingly. 
  She’s now here with her newly fitted invisible Titans to pay for the information she 
  received.
  Brother Jerome: To the other factions, the line between pirates and Collectivists 
  is very thin, if it even exists at all. This is a thing that Brother Jerome has taken 
  to heart. As a result, he has supported the pirate activities of several groups like 
  Cornelia’s, including trading much needed funds and goods for access to their 
  research on light bending, sensor disrupting stealth technology. Of course, it 
  would be bad business, politically, if it got out that the Collective was working 
  with pirates, and so he’s arranged with Cornelia for this cash drop-off to look like 
  a theft instead. To make sure it looks totally legit, Jerome has arranged for Our 
  Heroes to be on scene to ‘catch the pirates in the act.’ 
  Setting the Scene: Since the establishment of Halo One, many oil bearing 
  deserts were abandoned, leaving the native people there with no way to support 
  the infrastructure once established by wealthy oil conglomerates. New Sheba is 
  one such region, and while the Collective are doing what they can, the desert has 
  a post-apocalyptic vibe. Roads that have simply broken off and been absorbed by 
  the sands. Fallen, empty, bombed out towers were once thriving business centers 
  for wealthy CEOs and princes. The sun is harsh, having become so deadly in this 
  area of thinning ozone and ecological devastation that exposure can kill in an hour 
  in direct sun, and hours with strenuous outdoor activity even outside of the sun. 
  As a result, the locals live underground or operate nocturnally. As Our Heroes 
  travel over the shifting sands of New Sheba, they see where people once lived, 
  but in the blinding terminal light of day, the place is a graveyard. 
  Actors on Scene:
  • Cornelia to seed chaos and pay her debts. 
  • Various pirate pilots. Any pilot that fights well or is the last pilot standing 
  (beyond Cornelia) should be named and turned into a new Reactionary 
  Character. Pirates do not fight to the death, they flee instead.  
  • Brother Jerome is here to make sure things look on the up and up and no 
  one gets too badly hurt.  
  • Brother Matt McRae headed committee that brainstormed and then 
  actualized the first stealth EMP with some ‘borrowed’ tech from his days 
  
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  in the cutthroat world of military tech. In a lot of ways, the stealth tech 
  is his baby, and when one of the chief engineers responsible for it went 
  missing several months back, he’s been tracking the pirates’ movements. 
  Unfortunately, he’s not in on Jerome’s plan. As is often said about the 
  People’s Collective, “The hydra has too many heads.”
  Hints for Secondary Scenes: Brother Matt’s also on the committee that 
  spearheads ‘recycling’ the tech and innovation from one committee to the next, 
  so when he heard that some of the Collective in Argentina had a Titan-capable 
  EMP bomb, he knew he had to bring them together with the engineers working 
  on the stealth tech. If he had highers-up, they might worry how the other factions 
  would see the production, but he doesn’t so he just went with it. He’s also dying 
  to do field testing. Today might be the day!
  Major Action in the Scene: Our Heroes come to investigate the strange signal 
  in the desert, only to find invisible pirates and meet Cornelia. A fight to test their 
  talents will ensue.
  Scene Aspects: Hot. Oppressive. Sandy. Shifting. Uneven. Sinking. Flammable.
  Fallout:
  • Jerome gets what he wants: Our Heroes drive the pirates out, leaving the 
  funds with the People’s Collective and publizise the attempted theft painting 
  themselves as heroes and the People’s Collective as vulnerable to pirates. 
  They aren’t but it’s good if the other factions _think_ they are.
  • Jerome doesn’t get what he wants: If the characters end up on to the game, 
  he’ll use whatever means he has available to convince them this is all for 
  the greater good, and that they must keep silent about what they’ve seen. 
  If he doesn’t get the funds somehow, he’ll remember and seek to force the 
  characters to pay off their ‘debt’ to him later. Possibly through violence. 
  Becoming an enemy of the entire Collective is hard since it’s so diverse, but 
  Jeriome will do what he can where he has influence to make that very thing 
  happen over time. 
  • Jerome gets what he wants with conditions: The characters figure out 
  the game, but they want payment for their silence. Jerome can deal with 
  mercenaries, (or he wouldn’t be working with pirates, after all.) He’ll deal, for 
  sure, but he’s shrewd and connected, so the character may find themselves 
  doing more pirate-like work for Jerome as the part of the deal somehow. 
  You pay mercenaries, of course, but you also use mercenaries, that’s what 
  they’re there for. 
   Minor Scene: Brother Bomb
  Revelation: The Collective have begun producing small stealth bombs that can 
  shut down a Titan if they stick and don’t malfunction. This would make stealing 
  new Titans and Titan technology difficult to stop and some factions might see the 
  creation of these bombs an act of war. 
  
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  Setting the Scene: Brother Matt needs to test his ‘special weapons’ on something, 
  and since he has an in with Our Heroes, he’s going to try and talk them into letting 
  him try the bombs out on their Titans. With their proximity to his base of operations 
  here in New Sheba, he reaches out to his ex spouse, promising them some answers 
  if only they’ll help him. 
  Actors on the Scene: Brother Matt McRae, possibly Brother Jerome
  Major Action of the Scene: Brother Matt tests his bombs out on Our Heroes’ 
  Titans, to find out if they are A)undetectable and B) able to shut down a Titan without 
  destroying it or killing the pilot. (That last part’s a secondary concern pitched as the 
  primary concern.)
  Scene Aspects: The tests should take place in a huge underground hanger for 
  Titans in the outpost. Aspects might include, Echoing, Lit by Emergency Lights Only, 
  Cold, and With an Audience. 
  Fallout: Will the characters gain access to this technology? Will they tell the world 
  that it exists? Will they tell only select people out of loyalty or for the advantages 
  they could gain? War could hinge on their decision.
  Major Scene: Halo One
  Trigger: Pirates attacking Halo One? It’s inconceivable! A threat to Halo One is 
  a threat to all people of Earth, Accord or not. So when there are rumors of pirates 
  sniffing around the solar ring, the Accord goes on full alert, and even one of their 
  greatest (televised) heroes calls in help from some friends.   
  Hooks: Tumble thinks a one-on-one fight with pirates is a pretty epic fight, but 
  you can’t be the hero if you don’t make it out alive. Which is why Tumble reaches 
  out to his friend among Our Heroes and invites them to come along with him to 
  track down ‘a known threat to all of humanity.’ Turns out he’s trailed Cornelia and 
  her pirates to a location along Halo One where he’s planning a legendary pirate 
  extermination. He’s not much more worried about the details then that. 
  Setting the Scene: Below, the orbital ring that makes up Halo One floats in 
  space, ringing the earth around the equator. Its shining solar panels catch the sun 
  and illuminate space all around it. From time to time, a maglev train rushes past 
  on rails that follow the length of the ring. ‘Below’ if you want to use those sort of 
  directions in space, is the Earth in all her blue glory. Above and beyond the ring, just 
  stars and blackness. But something interferes with the light. Just as Tumble and his 
  band of elite Janus Titans hover into view, something shimmers along the ring, and 
  suddenly, you are beset by pirates!
  Actors on Scene:
  • Captain Cornelia is here to sow chaos and pick up a package from Dr. Jason 
  ‘Light’ Argosy. 
  • Dr. Argosy works in this sector of Halo One and has a package for an old 
  friend.
  • Tumble wants to take out some pirates and is willing to use Our Heroes to 
  make sure the display is one that hits newsreels all over the solar system. 
  
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  Hints for Secondary Scenes:  During the fight, communication can get 
  interrupted thanks to the way Cornelia’s Titans interfere with those systems. 
  The message is part of a short message talking about the Civ List and how it’s 
  absolutely vital to Accord security that no one even know the files exist. Whoops! 
  (See Minor Scene below.) They may have to get into some mischief to get their 
  hands on the files, but knowing they exist kicks that off. 
  Major Action in the Scene: This will be a major fight largely orchestrated by 
  Tumble. It should be flashy and dramatic. Titans should race along the side of an 
  endangered maglev train speeding along the ring! Heat damage from the solar 
  collectors! Theatrical explosions! Tumble’s buddies in fake pirate ships making 
  the fight look more exciting!
  Scene Aspects: Speeding, Zero Grav, Dangerously Hot, Blinding, Explosions
  Fallout: This incident can influence popular opinion on Our Heroes pretty 
  dramatically. Maybe they wanted fame and attention, or maybe up till now they’ve 
  been trying to stay out of the spotlight. Whichever, now they’re in it up to their 
  noses. Titan pilots are a microscopic percentage of the population, so much that 
  some ‘fans’ can give you the name of every Titan pilot currently flying in their 
  faction (and beyond.) Like it or not, publicity is a concern, and could spiral out of 
  control if Our Heroes aren’t careful. 
  • Tumble gets what he wants: The pirates get defeated/driven off, Tumble 
  looks like a chrome-plated hero, and Our Heroes get little or no attention at 
  all and fade back into obscurity. 
  • Tumble doesn’t get what he wants: The worst thing you can do to a man 
  like Tumble is make him look bad. He is legitimately a hero, and his friends, 
  allies, and fans have invested a lot of their own egos into his triumphs. While 
  Tumble may let it go to get back to planning his next heroics, his fanbase 
  may not be so forgiving, and seek to discredit anyone they can to return the 
  polish to their shining knight.
  • He gets what he wants with conditions: Tumble doesn’t much care for 
  sharing the spotlight, but if the spotlight has to be shared, he’s not going 
  to let it leave without him. If that means ‘showing up’ wherever Our Heroes 
  turn up to make sure he’s in on the action, that’s just what he’s going to 
  have to do.
  Minor Scene: Argosy reaches out
  Argosy reaches out to his student among Our Heroes. He has a few strange 
  favors for the characters to help with while they’re up beyond atmo along Halo 
  One. (Possibly before or even WHILE fighting pirates.) 
  Revelation: A section of the Accord security force has lists of civilian sites in 
  the Stratos colonies. Particularly birthing and cloning facilities. To what end?
  Setting the Scene: “It’s just a couple of odd jobs. It’s just that you need a Titan 
  to do it. Peanut Butter on the high shelf. That sort of thing.” Or that’s what Argosy’s 
  message said. He’s trying to sound cool, but there’s something bothering him. He 
  
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  needs them to pick up a message, drop one off, and fix one of the solar panels so 
  he doesn’t have to put in a requisition for it. He wants them to have lunch with a 
  friend of his so he doesn’t have to. Nothing important, he says with quiet urgency. 
  Nothing dangerous, he says anxiously. But to find out what he REALLY needs, 
  Our Heroes are going to have to play along. 
  Actors on the Scene: Jason Argosy
  Major Action of the Scene: Argosy is giving Our Heroes a series of skill specific 
  busy tasks not because he needs them done, but because he’s trying to put them 
  into positions to find out about the Reveal mentioned earlier. Look at some of 
  your character’s skills that aren’t used as often, invent a task, and if they succeed, 
  give them a chance to catch a whiff of what the Accord is up to with those civilian 
  maps. Show that some Accord think it’s a terrible idea. Some think it’s a necessary 
  evil and a last ditch effort. Maybe show one warmonger who thinks it should be 
  Step One. Be prepared for him or her to be a future enemy. 
  If confronted about it, Argosy will explain he has students in the Commonwealth 
  he cares about and threats to civilians are never okay, but he’s in no position to 
  change anything. Which, coincidentally, is why he’s willing to work with pirates 
  from time to time.
  Scene Aspects: This will depend on what the characters are doing. A cafeteria 
  might be Bustling. The hallways of the station might be Cold and Bright. If the 
  Titans are outside of the ring doing minor repair, use some of the Aspects from 
  the main scene. 
  Fallout: If the Commonwealth has a chance to sway popular opinion in their 
  direction, it’s going to require that they can paint themselves as victimized. Perhaps 
  they can convince the masses outside of the Commonwealth that they are simply 
  people and not just an evil clone army. Having their civilian bases targeted could 
  be one way to go about it.
  Major Scene: Black Sands and Fluid Stone 
  Trigger: Pirates have been circling an island research facility in the Pacific Ocean 
  known to belong to the Nation of Oya. Normally, the Nation handles this sort of 
  thing swiftly and precisely, but the problem is that they’re very busy evacuating 
  because the volcano nearby may blow suddenly any day now and the evacuation 
  in no small feat. 
  Hooks: Sybelle Lena Oro predicted the tectonic shift that would cause a long 
  dormant volcano to become angry and threatening again. In that she’s a geologist, 
  this isn’t a supernatural feat. However, the specifics in dates and signs has been 
  uncanny. She’s also predicted that Our Heroes need to be there on a specific 
  date and at a specific time or hundreds of thousands will die. She will even call 
  out to them personally, something a dignitary of the Nation at her status does not 
  normally do.
  Setting the Scene: The sun is setting in the West as you approach the line of 
  volcanic islands as fast as you can. Already, transports carry the Nation’s people 
  
  138
  from their island homes as fast and in as large numbers as possible. Oya can 
  been seen actually pulling makeshift transports across the ocean to the mainland 
  then flying back. The sunset does not fade to purple as you’d expect, though, 
  but instead the ash-rich black sands of the mountains and beaches reflect a low 
  threatening red-orange glow. Seams already show through the volcano and tell 
  the tale you dreaded. She’s already cracking and spilling lava. It’s only a matter of 
  time till she blows. 
  And in that chaos, you can see the familiar shimmer of pirates uncloaking 
  themselves to add to the threat. 
  Actors on Scene: 
  • Cornelia is here to drop off one her pirates in among the Nation for a future 
  ‘project.’ The hope is dropping him off in the chaos will mean he can slip 
  back into Nation population unnoticed. 
  • Sybelle is in charge of the research center and a leader of the populous, and 
  if any of her people are going to be eaten by the lava, she’ll be standing in 
  front of them. But she believes... no. She knows that if Our Heroes are here, 
  her people will get out safe. All of them. 
  • Benedict is the pirate Cornelia is trying to drop off. 
  Hints for Secondary Scenes: Of course, the entire reason Benedict is here 
  is to volunteer for the secret project mentioned in the minor scene. The research 
  was started here in this facility, so if Our Heroes are lucky, they may come across 
  equipment being moved on to transports that suggest what’s going on here. New 
  equipment. 
  Major Action in the Scene: The scene should start with a BANG with the 
  pirates using the chaos to attack and harry Our Heroes. They’re not out for blood, 
  but just testing Our Heroes as a part of Cornelia’s mysterious plans. However, 
  as soon as they make the drop off, (is that Benedict? Who recognizes him?) the 
  volcano blows! The pirates back off from fighting, and turn their attention to getting 
  survivors off the island. Suddenly it’s not pirates and Heroes fighting against each 
  other, but fighting side by side to protect innocent lives from the full fury of nature. 
  Give the pirate Titans names if you haven’t already. Kill off one or two of them. 
  Create bonds between the surviving pirates and Our Heroes. Make it complicated 
  but forged out of burning rock and heorism. Make it epic. 
  Scene Aspects: Lava! Explosions! Smoke! Steam! Panicked People! Make it 
  big, make it disastrous, make it heroic. 
  Fallout: Either thousands of lives are saved, or not. This could mean the 
  difference between being heroes in the eyes of an entire (mostly neutral) faction, 
  or being remembered as failures and murderers. 
  • She gets what she wants: Our Heroes come and save the day, Sybelle was 
  right, thousands are saved and everyone is happy about it.
  • She doesn’t get what she wants: Thousands die, Sybelle is still right because 
  
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  she said that would happen too, and Our Heroes suddenly aren’t so heroic 
  anymore. 
  • She gets what she wants with conditions: Thousands are saved, Sybelle 
  is proven right, but the characters end up with something to hold over 
  the dignitary’s head in the process. Maybe they discover that the pirates 
  weren’t uninvited, but expected guests? Or they might know parts of what 
  they’ve discovered about the minor scene’s reveal. Sybelle’s a wonderful 
  ally, but dangerous to put behind the eight ball. Still, she’ll endure anything 
  if she thinks the characters are important to some future catastrophic event. 
  She’ll just make sure they take a few more lumps when saving the day next 
  time.
  Minor Scene: Prodigal Brother
  Revelation: By invitation only, and only with volunteers thus far, documents 
  suggest that the Nation of Oya has returned to genetic experimentations and 
  alterations on their pilots. The level of advancement, of change, of evolution 
  exhibited in the current generation of Oya Princesses is incredible, but as 
  technology advances, the pilots of Oya are going to have to excel further. 
  Setting the Scene: In the settling dust, in the now displaced populous of Nation 
  peoples, one of the characters has a long-lost brother. But why is here now? What 
  has he been doing with the pirates? Why is he back with the Nation? 
  Actors on the Scene: Benedict von Hoerl
  Major Action of the Scene: This scene is all about confronting Benedict, 
  getting out of him how he’s here to be a guinea pig for the next generation of Oya 
  pilots, and decide if they should or can convince him not to do it.
  Scene Aspects: Depressed, over crowded, dirty, tense. This scene takes place 
  on the mainland of the west coast in the New Republic of California, among crates 
  and ships of transport in the chaos of the displaced masses. 
  Fallout: Aside from whatever old wounds healed or new ones created, Our 
  Heroes now realize that the Nation, a group who proposes to be neutral, are 
  preparing to escalate their martial presence. That can mean nothing good. 
  What the characters choose to do with that information could start a war, or a 
  devastating attack on the Nation. 
  Major Scene: Ice and Asteroids
  Trigger: Cornelia sends an invitation. Simply put, it says “Good work so far, I’m 
  stealing something from Stratos. Something important to you. Come and stop me.” 
  She’s giving them barely enough time to drop everything they’re doing and travel 
  out to the colonies. Any major interruption and they’ll miss their date with pirates! 
  This is doubly complicated by the reinforced Stratos Titan troops patrolling space 
  near the colonies. They’ll have to be talked through, snuck around, or fought 
  through. 
  
  140
  Hooks: The Signal that Cornelia sends is a pirated (heh) signal on the back of 
  an invitation to see ‘something special’ that Professor Bate has come up with. 
  He’s buying, he says, and he says what he’s working on could change the system. 
  Setting the Scene: From fire and stone Our Heroes are rushed off to ice 
  and space. When they arrive close to the coordinates Cornelia gave them, (And 
  coincidentally very close to the location where Professor Bate works. Small solar 
  system, isn’t it?) they’ll find they’re near a type of processing plant among the 
  colonies, the result is that water is often cast off by huge machinery filling space 
  with tiny ice crystals that sparkle like snow when lit. It shines like snowfall frozen 
  in mid air in the middle of the night. It would be beautiful if there wasn’t the familiar 
  interference of a pirate signal and the shimmer of decloaking pirate Titans. “Now, 
  we finish this,” broadcasts Cornelia from her own Titan. 
  Actors on Scene:
  • Cornelia is here to drop off fuel samples to Professor Bate, though once 
  again, she’s staging it as a heist.
  • Professor Bate works here studying extra planetary travel. He’s got need of 
  experimental fuel types, and sometimes that requires a bit of piracy. 
  Hints for Secondary Scenes: When Our Heroes come into conflict with the 
  pirates, Professor Bate will radio his buddy among the Heroes and offer them 
  refueling and a hanger to get sorted out after the pirates are dispatched. 
  Major Action in the Scene: This will be the final fight with Cornelia in this 
  adventure, during the course of the fight, she will monologue, explaining to Our 
  Heroes what she’s really been up to. She’ll talk about her allies all over the system, 
  at all levels. How the universe hovers on a knife’s edge, and while she doesn’t relish 
  war, she knows that the characters have the information it will take to potentially 
  stack the deck for one faction over another. She boasts that they should just go 
  ahead and pick favorites and get it started. She claims that the chaos of war is 
  inevitable, and like a bandage, the sooner it happens, the faster, the better. “Pull 
  the bandage when it’s stuck, pull it fast, let the wounds see sunlight and fresh air, 
  or they’ll just fester and poison the blood. Chaos bound is chaos worsened.” 
  If Our Heroes have an nemesis among the pirates, now is a good time for that 
  antagonist to be defeated, though not necessarily killed. 
  Scene Aspects: Tension, Final, Cold, Icy, Vast, Empty, Silent. 
  Fallout: This adventure may be at it’s end, but it doesn’t mean the end of the 
  story for Our Heroes. After the pirates are destroyed,  arrested, or driven off for the 
  last time, the Heroes have safe haven in the Stratos hanger run by a dear friend. 
  But how long will it be safe?
  
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  Minor Scene: Beyond the Sun
  Revelation: Stratos is keeping close tabs on and closely investigating the 
  defensive capabilities of the Mars colonies. It is very unlikely that Stratos is aiming 
  to, say, take on the defense of human colonies out of the goodness of their hearts. 
  It’s equally unlikely they’re going to offer advice to strengthen Mars defenses just 
  to be kind. So why gather that kind of intelligence? Whatever the goal, the very 
  existence of these documents could drive pro-human factions to aggressive 
  response. 
  Setting the Scene: This is where the characters get a chance to unwind from 
  the tension of their final pirate battle. Bate prompts his friends to tell him all about 
  it, and maybe picks at their story a little if it seems like there’s unresolved tension 
  between characters. If this starts a fight he’ll feel awful, but he needed to get an 
  idea of where Our Heroes stood on solar system affairs. 
  Why? Well, for two reasons. Because he’s afraid Stratos is going to start a war, 
  and two, he’s about six years from being able to create interstellar space travel. 
  Or he will be, if war doesn’t break out.  This is where he’ll share the last revelation, 
  and beg the characters to find a way to stop the coming tide. He knows what he’s 
  asking is impossible. He’s asking them to fight a hurricane with their bare hands. 
  But this technology he’s creating could change everything. To do it, though, he 
  thinks, humanity, the solar system, needs to work together, not apart. 
  Actors on the Scene: Professor Nick Bate
  Major Action of the Scene: A lively discussion on the nature of the solar 
  system, humanity, and war. 
  Scene Aspects: Pick a soundtrack, suggest the mood should be based on the 
  songs you play for the characters, or at least reference. This is the denouement of 
  one adventure, and the suggestion of a greater, wider, crazier adventure to come. 
  Fallout: Ask each player what they want their character to do next. 
  Then, roll credits.
  
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  Appendix 1:
  HACKING GUIDE
  One of the best things about using the Fate Core game system to power 
  your game is, it’s highly hackable, customizable, and otherwise welcoming of 
  modifications in order to enhance the play experience. #ADX is no exception to 
  this. In fact, that’s exactly what #ADX is in the first place; it’s a modification to Fate 
  Core in order to emphasize certain values that permeate the kinds of stories we 
  want to tell. 
  In this appendix, we’re going to give you some ideas and tools for hacking your 
  own game of #ADX. We’re going to talk about the pallet you have to draw from 
  with the base game, and we’ll give some ideas for how you can fork #ADX into 
  something completely your own. We’ll do this with a specific example we build in 
  the chapter, we call it Apotheosis Drive X: Kill All Kaiju (Or #ADXxK). Whereas #ADX 
  at its base is inspired by the stories of classics such as Mobile Suit Gundam and 
  Evangelion, #ADXxK draws inspiration from the recent blockbuster film, Pacific 
  Rim. Pacific Rim is Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to the mecha genre, and the 
  kaiji genre. We thought it’d be a nice little stylistic loop to make an homage to del 
  Toro’s homage inside of our homage. It’s like MTV’s Pimp My Ride, except with 
  giant robots. 
  This is just a place to get started. We’ve also produced a number of our own 
  hacks in New Titan Report, our first #ADX supplement. If you come up with a cool 
  hack of your own, we want to hear about it! 
  ADXXK PREMISE
  The basic premise of ADXxK is simple: Monsters began showing up from the 
  depths of the oceans. This happened first in Osaka Japan, so the locals used their 
  word, Kaiju, to describe the beasts. These monsters were not your run-of-the-mill 
  Draculas. These were beasts that stood up to peer over skyscrapers. The weapons 
  humankind used in its wars were not enough; nothing short of atomic blasts would 
  stop these colossal monsters. Atomic blasts solved the first few Kaiju threats, but 
  as the Kaiju attacked cities, this became less and less a compromise the citizens 
  of Earth accepted. Even with mass evacuations, you can’t just abandon cities 
  without causing ripple effects of consequences. 
  So, the people made Titans to fight off the Kaiju menace. Titans were enormous 
  machines of war, which rivaled the Kaiju in size and strength. While they weren’t 
  perfect solutions, they held back the Earth’s devastation, and brought humanity 
  together. Because of the complex systems, Titans required two pilots to work in 
  unison as the computer networks accessed both neural networks. This meant 
  the machines required two people who could align their thought patterns and 
  collaborate on an immense and intimate level. Needless to say, the experiments 
  were far from perfect, and had many unforseen consequences. In ADXxK, you are 
  these pilots. You are humanity’s last hope against an apocalyptic menace.
  
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  Directives
  Possibly the fastest way to hack a game of #ADX to change 
  genre or milieu is simply to change the Directives that help 
  the Director decide what to do. If you’ll recall from the 
  Director’s section of this book, Directives do three 
  major things for the game: 
  1. They feed the Fate point economy.
  2. They provide challenge for the player in 
  the Director role.
  3. They reinforce genre and theme. 
  When you change Directives to hack a 
  game, consider how your changes effect 
  these purposes. Directives are probably 
  the biggest, most important change 
  between Fate Core and #ADX proper; 
  they’re how we quickly communicate 
  game concepts and lay ground 
  rules for engagement. Considering 
  Directives will help you stay on 
  target for the types of stories 
  you want to tell. Handing 
  players Directives is a short-
  hand for communicating goals 
  and game concepts.
  Focus and Scarcity
  Changing the number of overall Directives 
  can create a hyper focused game where the 
  Director brings most scenes back to a central 
  theme or idea. The fewer things a Director can 
  do to earn Fate points means doing those few 
  things far more often. Fewer Directives can also 
  create a scarcity of Fate points, which can create a more 
  mundane or bleak game. Think about the scope and scale 
  of what a Director needs to do  in order to earn Fate 
  points. Grander, harder ideas change the pace of the 
  game. Adding more Directives is rarely advisable. You 
  don’t want to muddy the waters or cause the Director 
  to suffer choice paralysis. Although you could create 
  a more “sandbox” experience by adding a couple 
  of Directives. We advise you play a few games without changing the 
  number, first. If you want to add Directive rules, consider replacing 
  something that’s already on your list. This will also help focus the game 
  in a new direction if you minimize legacy Directives that make sense in 
  an #ADX game, but maybe not in your personal fork of the game. 
  
  144
  Who Lives and Dies
  When thinking about the genre you’re emulating or the themes your game is 
  pushing, ask yourself how should you treat extras? 
  #ADX is all about giant robots and we didn’t want the Director to have to fuss 
  too much with giant robots versus squishy humans - clearly in a logical fight 
  between human and giant robot, giant robot wins - so we created a Directive 
  to handle that and emphasize a place where we need to break reality a little bit. 
  Likewise, we wanted war and violence to always have a face, for there always 
  to be at least one person characters and villains may have to be confronted by. 
  You can change your tone quickly by adding Directives such as Bad Guys Take 
  Hostages if you want a game that’s more political or less bloody. Or go the other 
  way and have a Directive that states No One Makes It Out When the Railguns 
  Come Out. This helps to indicate a level of escalation for players to avoid or rush 
  toward. Just remember when you’re using Directives to decide who lives and 
  who dies, life isn’t cheap and you can suck the humanity right out of your story if 
  you let the game get too maniacal about death. Then again, that might be what 
  you want. If it is, awesome, there’s a way to go about it.
  Extra Behavior
  #ADX offers Directives to guide how their characters - actors - should 
  behave, how to treat the countless extras that populate the world, and when is 
  a good time to make an extra into an actor. How antagonists (from the players’ 
  perspective) and allies behave is important and can seriously reinforce tropes 
  and setting conceits. Take for example, Villains Never Really Die with perhaps a 
  little explaining of who is a villain, how to become one, and how one is redeemed. 
  Also, you should define what “dying” means in this context. Suddenly, the sort 
  of sub-economy of who is and isn’t able to die matters. The focus might shift 
  to redemption, de-empowerment or retirement instead of death. How campy 
  or serious that Directive plays out would depend on other Directives, and how 
  it lands on the table, of course. Any one ingredient can’t be expected to carry 
  the whole dish. You need to season liberally and mix it with other things that 
  complement it.
  As a group, extras on the scene tend to behave like Aspects to be invoked 
  and manipulated. This too can be controlled a bit for flavor with Directives. For 
  example, in this hack, I’m adding the Directive “If there is a panicked mob, 
  someone important is in that mob.” This is straight out of your typical giant Kaiju 
  movie, a way to up the stakes when Kaiju are in the scene and make the danger 
  more personal.
  Humor and Tone
  Consider your audience, your fan base, your gaming group. (These are 
  actually the same thing.) What mood do you want around the table? Are you 
  playing with kids? Teens? Adults? Busy adults? People who know the genre 
  you’re playing with or people who don’t? Does your table of teens want a “High 
  School of Mech Pilots” feel even if that isn’t exactly your preferred style? You 
  can hand them a Directive or two to reflect that and to help you tell them stories 
  
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  APPENDIX 1: HACKING GUIDE
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  they can really get into. Is your a book club taking a break from reading romance 
  novels to pilot giant robots, but still have romance on the brain? You can always 
  add romance via Directives easily! A favorite at our tables is the Directive, “When 
  Introducing an Actor, Always answer the Question, ‘How Hot Is He?’” Let it sink in 
  a little just how that might influence stories you use it in. It also lets you play with 
  some common ideas about genre fiction being for the straight male gaze. That’s 
  always fun to play with. 
  No game is too serious to add a Directive that addresses humor. Even the most 
  dire war stories have moments of humor and humanity. Classic mecha anime like 
  Mobile Suit Gundam were able to hit dark, bleak levels while still appealing to their 
  audience, because they knew when to lighten things up in the cracks between the 
  darkness. Likewise, you can always sneak a super serious scene into a comedy 
  game if the vibe is right, and putting a Directive into play that suggests that scene 
  can happen lets the players know your intentions and even play to it.
  Player Behavior
  Directives are guidelines for the Director. But, by putting them on the table so 
  to speak, and letting the players all know “this is how Fate points enter play”, you 
  are telling the players this is stuff we should shoot for. You’ll see pretty quickly 
  how some players will incorporate Directives into their choices in play without 
  being asked to. You’ll also see players testing the limits of these Directives even if 
  they haven’t been invoked yet. Many times, players will find Directives to be a sort 
  of meta-challenge. They’ll fight to give the Director opportunities to bolster the 
  Fate Point economy. These internal rules affect players and character behavior 
  even though they are unique to the Director role, and really only her responsibility. 
  When you are adding or tweaking Directives for your hack, ask yourself, how will 
  players buy into this? How will players test this? How will it affect play? Will it 
  make them care?
  ADXxK Directives
  Below I’ll list the existing #ADX Directives and explain how they change when 
  you add Kaiju for this hack. 
  Being a Robot Pilot is Awesome becomes Being a Pilot is Awesome but 
  Tragic. Directors should push the story toward loss. Through the deaths of extras 
  and actor pilots, remind characters that you are both a rockstar and fated to 
  die pushing back the Kaiju invasion. You are incredible, your enemy may be 
  unstoppable.
  But War is Hell is replaced with But There’s Always Hope. The idea of war in 
  this hack is replaced with a feeling of resistance. This is no longer humanity against 
  itself, but humanity against its very destruction. While people can disagree, they 
  all want to survive. Everyone thinks their answer is right, and if they’re wrong, that 
  means the end of everything. That’s pretty grim, and you don’t want to exhaust 
  the players, so remember that no matter what happens, for humanity as a whole, 
  if not the pilots specifically There’s Always Hope.
  The Plot Follows the Pilots becomes The Plot Follows the Kaiju. Things can 
  get a little meta with this hack, because pilots are tragic and likely to die. So it’s 
  
  146
  okay to take a step back and describe a brief “off-camera” scene showing what 
  the Kaiju are doing elsewhere. Consider the destruction of a city the heroes can’t 
  reach, or laying eggs is a distant unknown location, or the opening of a new 
  portal to the... wherever they come from. A Director can leave it as a glimpse 
  and nothing more, allow players to take up characters in a brief and bloody 
  scene, or connect the heroes to these scenes through dreams, visions, Kaiju 
  encounters, or other unexplained circumstances. #ADX as a setting suggests 
  psychic phenomena is inevitable (see Appendix Two for more ideas on these 
  phenomena!), so dig in. Just don’t explain too much, leave that for the players 
  to define. You give the players dots. They connect them.
  Titans Don’t Bother with Mortals becomes, naturally, Kaiju Kill People. 
  Kaiju seek areas of population. What they do to the delicate humans they 
  encounter depends on the story you’re telling and the Kaiju Facts that have 
  come into being. But, by accident or design, Kaiju kill people. If you want some 
  inspiration for this particular Directive, look no further than the classic Kaiju films 
  that make up the inspiration for the inspiration for the inspiration for #ADXxK. Or 
  modern monster films, even. Godzilla has great dramatic moments, but so does 
  Cloverfield. Mine for Kaiju nastiness. 
  Leave Survivors stays pretty much the same. As does Name Survivors and 
  Death Matters. These are staples of the genre, and you can’t expect everything 
  to change between two examples of mecha stories. 
  Have an Escape Plan becomes Kaiju Fight to the Death. I put  this in here 
  to emulate theme, but also to point out that Directives are not set in stone. In 
  general, the idea is that Kaiju fight until they die. However, because players 
  can make declarations about Kaiju behavior in this setting hack, this Directive 
  takes a back seat to that. If a player declares that Winged Kaiju always run, that 
  replaces (or at least adds an addendum to) this Directive.
  Hit Them With Everything -1 becomes Kaiju Mutate. Both of these Directives 
  suggest that as a Director you should always hold a little bit back to make your 
  villains raise the stakes and make your pilots that much more awesome. The 
  difference is intent. As it was in #ADX, this suggested planning on the part of 
  the actors. In the case of Kaiju, though, there may be no plan (or at least no 
  plan the human mind can comprehend). Instead, the creatures just... change. 
  They evolve right in front of the characters’ eyes. In dramatic moments, a sure 
  fire plan to eliminate the Kaiju can fail because Kaiju Mutate. Don’t use this to 
  punish the players’ awesome plans, but use it liberally to explain why a really 
  cool  attack description doesn’t necessarily kill the Kaiju opponent. 
  It’s a Small Universe stays exactly as it. However, this hack assumes 
  everyone’s on Earth for the most part. If humanity could just leave, that’s a viable 
  solution to the Kaiju threat. 
  Reward Going to the Edge becomes Reward Self Sacrifice. There is a 
  mechanic in place in this hack to deal with sacrificing a character completely, 
  (see I’m Not Going to Make It.) However, not every attempt at self sacrifice is 
  successful or even meant to be deadly. When pilots put themselves in the line 
  
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  APPENDIX 1: HACKING GUIDE
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  of fire for their friends and humanity, reward them. Reward 
  them every single time. These 
  stories should be tragic, but 
  not without moments 
  of grace and beauty.
  Punish 
  the 
  Boring 
  becomes 
  Kaiju Can Strike 
  Anywhere. There 
  is no real rest 
  when 
  you 
  are 
  fighting the end 
  of the world. If it 
  looks like things 
  are slowing down, 
  or the pilots feel to 
  safe, have a Kaiju 
  strike 
  somewhere 
  thought to be safe, sacrosanct or untouchable. 
  Hit them at home. 
  Everyone Has Reasons becomes Kaiju Don’t 
  Need a Reason. While you may invent specific 
  goals or motivations to explain why the Kaiju are 
  doing what they’re doing, that doesn’t mean 
  it explains everything. People need reasons, 
  conscious or otherwise. Kaiju are, in a lot of 
  ways, just the untamable destructive chaos 
  of nature. Typhoons don’t have issues with 
  their creators, a tsunami doesn’t hate and 
  resent humanity, and so it is with Kaiju. If you 
  want a little philosophical inspiration, PBS Idea 
  Channel did a wonderful piece on the anime 
  Attack on Titan (which is also great inspiration for 
  the Kaiju genre). They discuss whether the Titans 
  (not related to our Titans) are actually evil. It’s an ideal 
  bit of consideration for this type of story. You can find 
  it on Youtube. 
  Supporting Cast
  Another unique aspect of #ADX over Fate Core is, the 
  game assumes every player will be making a handful of 
  Supporting Cast members. That’s because in the mecha 
  genre, you tend to have a colorful extended cast beyond the 
  pilots. While they don’t always play a direct hand in the mecha 
  battles, they’re a huge part of what makes the drama great, 
  so the players are expected to deliver that to the table. 
  
  148
  When hacking #ADX, consider the role the Supporting Cast might play in 
  your particular fork of the genre. Is your story centered on loners, to a point 
  where Supporting Cast is not necessary? That’s fine. Is your story focused on 
  the personal lives in a war, so the Supporting Cast is the husbands, wives, and 
  children back home at the base? That’s cool, too. 
  Our Supporting Cast template should be fine for most games. However, 
  some games might require a few Stunts on Supporting Cast members, some 
  might require more Skills. This is all up to how much you want to focus on their 
  particular competencies. With #ADX, the Supporting Cast is considered relatively 
  competent; they’re often engineers, commanders, and the like. But we really only 
  want to see them use a small handful of iconic abilities, so we limit the amount 
  of game traits they possess. 
  In #ADXxK, our Supporting Cast takes the part of co-pilots. 
  The Co-Pilot
  A number of giant robot and Kaiju fictions include the idea that fighting is 
  simply not something one person can do alone. Psychic bonds, sharing the 
  robot’s massive physical responsibility, as well as the psychic burden of power 
  and destruction show up in much of the genre as a trope.
  In #ADXxK, the robots are bigger, the threat is bigger, so it just makes sense 
  (narrative sense, not scientific sense, this is giant robots after all) that each Titan 
  operates with two pilots. As a result, every player at the table will take on the 
  role of a main pilot - their tragic rock star - and the role of someone else’s co-
  pilot. Players will work in pairs, and carry the duty of an extra character for their 
  friends, just as their characters carry the burden of saving the world against 
  impossible odds. At times it will seem chaotic and challenging to manage a pilot 
  and a co-pilot in the same fight scene. That’s good! Fighting s Kaiju should be a 
  a challenge. 
  A co-pilot has a minimal sheet, just like Supporting Cast in the main game. In 
  fact, you can just use the Supporting Cast Worksheet to plot them out. However, 
  unlike normal Supporting Cast, out co-pilots receive three Aspects. They’re 
  awesome pilots, after all. More on that in the next bit.
  Co-pilot Aspects
  Aspects for co-pilots, as with any character both provide mechanical 
  advantages and act as roleplaying guides. These short-hand clues as to the 
  co-pilot’s personality are handy because at times, co-pilots get shuffled around 
  among players. These Aspects help facilitate that rapid shift.
  Like the main pilot, the co-pilot has a High Concept Aspect and a Drive Aspect. 
  These are identical to any other pilot’s Aspects.
  Their third Aspect, unique to them, is their Connection aspect and it relates 
  entirely to what the relationship is between pilot and co-pilot, as well as explaining 
  why the characters share Synergy. Are they literally cloned twins who think the 
  same thoughts. Do they share a spirit bound brought on by by religious practices 
  and psychotropic drugs? Is it all in the training? Is the loyalty a two way street? 
  
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  Do they know each other’s darkest secrets, or are they still getting to know each 
  other’s mind-space as they fight and die together, the connection incomplete at 
  best? The co-pilot carries this Aspect alone; it’s their burden.
  Co-pilot Skills
  For the sake of brevity, the co-pilot takes only three Skills from the list available 
  to the pilot. She’ll get a +4, +3 and +2 when using them.
  Synergy Stress and Relationship Consequences
  One of the ‘jobs’ of the co-pilot is to help the main pilot shoulder the burden of 
  the resistance they fight for. To reflect this, #ADXxK introduces a new stress track 
  called Synergy. This is both a mechanic and an in character concept.
  Synergy is the biological, mental and spiritual connection between characters 
  operating a giant Titan together. As Synergy absorbs damage dealt by Kaiju and 
  other threats, strain forms between pilots. This strain can manifest physically, the 
  co-pilot’s arm is broken and so she can’t provide as much aid. It can be mental, as 
  the co-pilot is spooked or not thinking clearly. The strain might be relationship drive, 
  as the co-pilots feelings for her main pilot grow dark. Or a combination of all three.
  Synergy also has two unique Consequences. One is a Moderate  Consequence 
  and it assumes that the co-pilot is seriously injured. This consequences can be 
  treated as per other Consequences in #ADX, but it will always leave a lasting scar on 
  the character. Something she cannot forget. Likewise, the synergy stress track has 
  one Severe Consequence and suggests a deep emotional rift between the pilots. So 
  long as the characters are piloting together, this consequence remains and can be 
  invoked for free by any one, once per scene.
  If the synergy track is depleted, and all consequences are used, the co-pilot is 
  dead. The Synergy Track starts with a 2 and a 4 box. At Generation 3, add another 
  2 box. At Generation 6, add another 4 box.
  Co-Pilot Stunts
  Co-Pilots don’t naturally have Stunts. However, they do get all the benefits of 
  Generation, relating to the Generation of their signature Titan. This can add Stunts 
  or other advantages. 
  Becoming the Main Pilot
  If a player loses her main pilot, or otherwise gives the character up, she may claim 
  any co-pilot as her new character. If her character is dead or gone, someone will 
  need to make a new co-pilot. If her character is still alive, someone can claim her as  
  co-pilot, reducing her Aspects and Skills and changing them accordingly. 
  As a new main pilot, the co-pilot gets new Skills, changes her Aspects, drops the 
  Synergy Track, and gets Stunts like a normal character.
  This process can shake up a game, requiring people to shuffle characters and 
  break up teams. It can be pretty traumatic and change the story, and so it’s probably 
  wise to do this sort of change up only once a story arc or as needed because of 
  character death. Of course, she can uplift the co-pilot she is already playing to avoid 
  shaking things up too dramatically.
  
  150
  In Combat
  A co-pilot’s main job in combat is to be someone for the main pilot to bounce 
  off of as internal support or, internal conflict. When a main pilot takes an action, 
  states something, hesitates, the co-pilot is a back up, a challenge, and possibly 
  a foil!
  Mechanically, while playing the co-pilot you’re free to roleplay as much as you 
  like. Once per turn in combat, however, you can choose to Create an Advantage 
  for the main pilot to Invoke (or anyone really.) You can also Compel the main 
  pilot’s flaws thru Aspects if the character should be challenging their co-pilot 
  instead of helping them. 
  Outside combat
  Your primary role outside of combat is to help trigger scenes where the main 
  pilots heal or challenge their aspects. This works identically to #ADX, but uses 
  the co-pilots as a catalyst. 
  Skills and Stunts
  Skills and Stunts are another great place to add some granularity to the Fate 
  Core rules system. In #ADX, we introduced Transcend, and we categorized a few 
  Skills as Titan Skills. While you could run #ADX with just the standard set of Skills 
  in Fate Core, we felt those particular Skills helped to bring home some of the 
  setting ideas we had for #ADX. As well, it helped us to balance out characters a 
  little bit. Since a lot of #ADX stories involve mecha fights, we wanted to diversify 
  what characters could do in a Titan, so characters could specialize in different 
  areas, while all being excellent in a Titan. 
  The Transcend Skill breaks the rules a little, and lets players do more diverse 
  things with a single Skill, but only under very specific circumstances. Usually, a 
  Skills hack won’t go that far, but we wanted to emulate that moment in a lot of 
  mecha anime where characters hit a breaking point, and briefly become hyper 
  competent. And more importantly, we wanted to give players a choice to focus 
  on that one thing as a character specialty.
  When designing your #ADX hack, look at Skills and Stunts as a simple way 
  to communicate what you want players to do. Simply, if you offer a mechanical 
  choice to players, they will take it. If you don’t want players focusing on computers, 
  don’t give them a skill to use computers. If you want them to romance their rivals 
  regularly, you should consider offering them more interesting options for that. 
  While Stunts are generally up for the players to decide, you can come up with 
  those at the table with theme in mind, or you can even bring a list of examples 
  if you’ve planned your hack in advance. Stunts can deliver all sorts of fun rules 
  exceptions, like if you want to make a “magic system” or something similarly 
  weird. Stunts push the limits of your setting. 
  For #ADXxK, we didn’t bother with the existing #ADX Skills and Stunts much. 
  They perform closely enough that we didn’t feel they needed much modification. 
  
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  We do,  however, add one Skill. “Kaiju Lore”. This is a Skill only certain characters 
  will have, and I don’t think we need to elaborate much. It can create advantages 
  and overcome obstacles by default. 
  Stress And Consequences
  In #ADXxK, we’ve cheated a little. In the section reserved for 
  co-pilots, we talk a little about a new Synergy 
  Stress track. Those complement the existing 
  systems in #ADX. It’s worth noting, that makes 
  Titans significantly tougher in #ADXxK. That’s 
  intentional; they’re way bigger, and have 
  a more important role in the story. They 
  have to be big enough to handle the 
  Kaiju, not just other Titans. That’s all 
  the 
  Stress 
  and 
  Consequences 
  talk we need 
  to worry about 
  here. 
  Titan Rules
  Of course, #ADX differs from Fate Core 
  in that it has rules for giant robots. 
  (Well, they’re not actually robots. 
  They’re more like mobile suits. 
  But you know.) Really, these 
  rules build on Fate in a few very 
  specific ways:
  • They enable Drive dice 
  and the Transcend Skill. 
  • They 
  have 
  different 
  Stresses 
  and 
  Consequences
  • They have Defense, Armor, 
  and Weapon Aspects. 
  • They establish Generation as a 
  facet of the setting. 
  These mechanical dials are 
  great to play with in order to find 
  your game system sweet spot for 
  your setting. 
  
  152
  Drive and Transcend
  Drive dice and Transcend let us ramp up the “epicness” of our game. Drive 
  dice take the degree of success and toss it to a whole new level. Instead of dice 
  results that range from -4 to +4, introducing a Drive die changes that range from 
  -2 to +9. Transcend encourages players to take a beating, then rise above the 
  pain by letting them replace their normal Skill with their Transcend score (and 
  often their Drive die). This means a character with four negligible Titan piloting 
  Skills can perform amazingly when push comes to shove. 
  Does this even matter to your story? It might not. We like it, because it emulates 
  “that moment” in a lot of mecha stories. The first time Shinji goes berserk in his 
  Eva, when Kira Yamato achieves Seed Mode, et cetera and so forth. But while 
  it’s common, it’s not exactly ubiquitous. If you want grittier stories, just whole-
  cloth remove it. You’ll find your players struggling a lot more, and avoiding harm. 
  This is how real people typically behave. 
  On the other hand, you can always ramp it up. One example hack is, when 
  using Transcend, every level of Transcend removes a Fate Die from the pool 
  you roll, and replaces it with a +2. At the pinnacle of Transcend, you don’t even 
  need to roll; it’s an automatic +8. If you introduce such a hack, consider offering 
  an equal downside. For example, characters can only enter Transcend when a 
  Supporting Cast member dies. 
  You can go middle ground on the Drive die as well. Consider replacing the 
  six-sided Drive die with a four-sided die. Or a personal favorite at our table, a 
  coin flip. Heads is +2, Tails is +1. That one was tied to a game about a series of 
  gamblers who won their Titans in a poker game, and are now defending them 
  from their original owners. 
  Stresses and Consequences
  These considerations are almost identical to non-Titan Stresses and 
  Consequences. But you have to look at the greater implications by changing 
  them. Adding Stress and Consequences to Titans could mean fights that drag 
  on way too long. Removing them might make Titans into paper tigers. Just be 
  mindful of the potential ramifications of these choices. 
  Weapons, Armor, and Defense
  These additional Aspects add to Titan performance. Weapons add shifts to 
  successful attacks. Armor adds Consequences to the Titan’s frame. Defense 
  systems add something like Stress. Just like with Stresses and Consequences, 
  changes to these rules could make fights go shorter or quicker. On the narrative 
  front, they require players make some declarative statements about their Titans. 
  That gives the setting a little more definition, and enables players to tag in setting 
  elements more freely. 
  We don’t advise going far with these, unless you intend on stripping out 
  all the rules hacks for Titans. Fate Core has some great advice though for 
  adding weapons, armor, and other equipment. Those could be used with some 
  customization to make your own Titan systems. 
  
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  Generation
  Generation shows us how an #ADX story can progress with time, and how 
  Titan technology ramps up. It gives some player advantages (which are basically 
  additional Milestones, if you’re thinking of how to hack them), and it enables 
  minion kill enhancements. 
  Frankly, if you don’t expect your campaign to progress through technology 
  levels, you can just do-away with Generation, or set a standard, hard Generation 
  for your game. You can just allow Drive or not, as you see fit. The biggest 
  difference you’ll probably see without Generation is the minion rules need 
  changing. Otherwise, you’ll find that fights go on way longer than they should, 
  or they need a lot of narrative handwaving. This is a good opportunity point for 
  generating rules hacks.
  As far as Titan rules go, we didn’t want to fuss too much for #ADXxK. We felt 
  it’d take away from the emphasis on Kaiju. But, you’ll notice Titans do benefit 
  from Synergy Stress given by co-pilots. 
  Completely New Rules
  So far, all of our hacks have been shifts, tweaks, and turns to the existing knobs 
  and dials of our game engine. However, a good genre hack should consider 
  building on the existing rules in order to make something tight and unique. The 
  sky’s the limit here. If you have another game you like, even if it doesn’t rely 
  on Fate, take it and adapt it for your needs. If you’ve played a bit of #ADX, but 
  you feel that one important story facet just isn’t happening as it stands, make 
  something up. Don’t feel at all constrained, just be sure to communicate new 
  rules around the table, and make sure everyone’s on the same page. 
  Here are a couple of rules hacks we’ve introduced for #ADXxK. “I’m Not Going 
  to Make It” and “Kaiju Facts” both help to bring together all the little elements that 
  make it move. They’re like gift wrapping on the rest of the content. Then, finally, 
  we offer the rules for Kaiju themselves. They’re completely unique to #ADX, so 
  they get their own attention. 
  I’m Not Going to Make It!
  It’s not a tragic disaster unless brave characters lay down their lives and, well, 
  die. Fate, as a game, isn’t big on character death, but sometimes, you as a player 
  want to take one for the team and really ramp up the drama. For your good work 
  as a player, #ADXxK rewards you with a hefty chunk of world-building reward. 
  Here’s how it works. 
  At any time a character is taking damage to their Stress or Consequences, 
  or when characters are actively involved in a scene with a kaiju, the player 
  can declare “I’m not going to make it.” It’s probably better to work it into the 
  conversation so it seems natural. “Oh man. The kaiju just succeeded with like, 
  five shifts. Guys, I don’t think I’m going to make it.” Say it with a little inflection; 
  everyone will know exactly what that moment means.
  Give that player a blank Aspect card to put on the table. Regardless of how 
  the dice fall, at any point, the player can declare that their character was killed. 
  
  154
  Dramatically appropriate or tragically accidentally, it’s totally up to the player. If 
  the character hasn’t died in scene, the player can withdraw or describe how the 
  events of the scene lead to the character dying directly afterward. Again. Sadly, 
  peacefully, whatever. The character is now out of commission. 
  The player can now take the blank card and create a new global Aspect.
  When you create your game of #ADXxK, it’s best if there is no ‘truth’ about 
  Kaiju. What they are, what they want, how they work, should more or less be 
  ambiguous. However, when a character bites the dust using the I’m Not Going 
  to Make It rule, the player gets to make an Aspect that helps to define what the 
  kaiju are. These are called Kaiju Facts. Lastly, any Refresh a player has earned 
  transfers to whatever character replaces their character that “Didn’t Make It”. 
  This includes Refresh spent on Stunts and the like. 
  What is a Kaiju Anyway? Kaiju Facts
  These Kaiju Facts are a special global Aspect that anyone can invoke at any 
  time for one Fate Point. They bend the rules a little in the following ways:
  • Kaiju Facts CAN contradict existing world-building about the monsters, 
  but you have to be clever about it and be able to explain why.
  • Kaiju Facts cannot cancel out other Kaiju Facts, but can modify wording. 
  • Kaiju Facts reveal through the death of the character who triggered the 
  Aspect. They don’t have to, but, it makes the story better when they do. 
  • Kaiju Facts become quickly known to all the player characters through 
  story, and tend to leak to Director actors unless actively suppressed.
  • Kaiju Facts contradict info determined by Kaiju Lore. After all, Kaiju Mutate.
  Kaiju Rules
  Kaiju are simple; they have to be. They have only a handful of Skills (+6, +4, 
  +2, and +2 between Blast, Maneuver, Melee, and Will), and have Stresses and 
  Consequences. By default, they get 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4 Stresses, with 1, 2, 3, and 4 
  boxes added with each level of Will. They get four Minor, two Moderate, and two 
  Severe Consequences. Each Kaiju gets 3 specific Aspects. They don’t map to 
  Generation, but have their own Category trait which adds to their base template.
  Kaiju Aspects
  All Kaiju have the following Aspects. Plot and Mutation Aspects can be filled 
  in when a player (or Director) achieves three or more shifts on a roll. They can 
  “spend” shifts to determine this Aspect, but only once per roll. The Director 
  should use this opportunity to “throw a soft ball” when possible. But make those 
  Aspects extra scary when you do that.
  Devastation Aspect: This describes their primary method for destroying 
  environments and communities. 
  Plot Aspect: Every Kaiju has a purpose in the story. Leave this blank to start. 
  Mutation Aspect: This makes the Kaiju physically unique. Leave this blank 
  when introduced to play. It should be a potential weakness.
  
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  Kaiju Categories
  Category 1: Use the base Kaiju template.
  Category 2: Add +2 and +1 to two different Skills, with no upward limit. 
  Category 3: As Category 2, but add a Stunt to reflect a mutation. +1 to a Skill.
  Category 4: As Category 3, but also can add the Drive Die once per encounter.
  Category 5: As Category 4, plus +1 to all four Skills.
  Category 6: Text. As Category 5, but adds the Drive Die on every roll.
  Additional Note: Kaiju with Category 3 Stunts can use that Stunt to be able to 
  spawn a Kaiju one Category beneath them once per encounter, when receiving a 
  Severe Consequence. Otherwise, use normal Stunt rules.
  There you have it. Apotheosis Drive X: Kill All Kaiju
  
  156
  Appendix 2:
  Psychic Phenomena
  In the first Generations of Titans, before Ascension Drives, records and 
  reports exist where a handful of Titan pilots performed feats beyond our basic 
  understanding of physics and sensory perception. Some of these pilots predicted 
  battlefield events with startling accuracy, when they had no reasonable evidence 
  to support their claims. Some were able to parse complex relationships between 
  other pilots, uncovering complicated webs of allegiances between people they 
  never met. At least one member of each major faction reportedly was able to face 
  off against overwhelming odds, in machines which could not support their level 
  of performance. Unfortunately, these isolated incidents happened so rarely, and 
  within different factions, that comprehensive studies have not yet been possible. 
  An Oya philosopher claims this is all very logical, that it’s simply the growing 
  pains of evolution. The Stratos Commonwealth heralds these events as mounting 
  evidence of humanity’s destiny in space, and a function of the superiority of cloned 
  and engineered genetics. The One Earth Accord denies any supernatural potential 
  in these events, and writes them off (and redacts records) as coincidence alone. 
  The People’s Collective has no prevailing opinion, only hoping they can survive 
  whatever this means. 
  Are these events psychic phenomena? That’s for you, as a Director, and your 
  players to decide. 
  What Do They Mean?
  #ADX is a humanist mecha game; the mecha are cool, but in the end, they’re 
  present to tell specific types of story. It’s social science fiction. It’s “what if this” 
  and “what if that”? If psychic phenomena exist in your #ADX campaign, you need 
  to ask yourself what they mean. 
  If psychic phenomena manifest as supernatural empathy, with characters 
  hearing thoughts and feeling each other’s emotions, you’ve opened a door to 
  deeper intimacy and exploration of intentions and relationships in a time of war 
  and constant conflict. 
  If psychic phenomena manifest as supernatural senses, reflexes, and awareness, 
  you might be touching on themes of evolution, and at what point a species 
  becomes two. More importantly, what does it mean for a population when some 
  of its members are objectively superior in clear and measurable ways. Should 
  they lead? Should other people receive some sort of handicap so as to not be 
  completely dominated? Do the “unevolved masses” vastly outnumber and fear 
  these new, other people? 
  Talk with your players. Find out what you want to explore if you’re using these 
  phenomena, or if you even want to. They’re optional and unlock complexity.
  
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  APPENDIX 2: PSYCHIC PHENOMENON
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  How do they Work?
  Psychic phenomena are basically Stunts. That doesn’t sound too sexy. But 
  functionally, they attach to Skills, and they work similarly. In a default #ADX 
  campaign, characters cannot start off with Psychic Stunts; at least not until 
  someone has bought one with a Milestone. But once one psychic exists in the 
  campaign, the floodgates are open. Any new characters can start with Psychic 
  Stunts. Here’s how Psychic Stunts work: 
  • Psychic Stunts always cost a Fate Point to activate. 
  • Psychic Stunts always have a narrative component. Sometimes this is a 
  visual cue. Sometimes it’s another sense. But, there’s always some signature 
  that suggests something supernatural may be occurring, and particularly 
  aware characters may notice.
  • Psychic Stunts can allow one Skill to replace any contextual Skill, not just 
  a single Skill. For example, a mundane Drone Engineer Skill might allow 
  Engineering to replace Athletics for a Defense action. However, a Shield of 
  Innocence Psychic Stunt might allow Empathy to apply as a defense in any 
  action, as it encourages an attacker to simply withdraw their aggressive action.
  • If a Psychic Stunt would bolster a dice roll, instead of adding +2, it allows for 
  the use of a Drive Die to replace a Fate Die. In a Titan, this could theoretically 
  mean that with two Fate Points, you could be rolling two Drive Dice and two 
  Fate Dice on a single, absurdly potent action. 
  • Psychic Stunts can allow for narrative effects that break standing physical 
  laws. For example, mind reading is not normally possible with Empathy. 
  However, with a Psychic Stunt, it might be. Fate’s rules are typically pretty 
  loose and narrative to begin with. So if a player takes a Psychic Stunt, your 
  baseline for what it can do should be “things other characters cannot do”. 
  • As an extension of the overwhelming narrative effects of Psychic Stunts, you 
  should consider experimenting with unique game mechanics. Try something 
  outside the box to represent the way they work; they break the established 
  laws of reality, why not let them twist the established rules of Fate?
  • Psychic Stunts can always work in a Titan. However, their effects are 
  generally different and highly focused on the battle at hand. Sometimes this 
  means slightly modifying the scope or effect of a Psychic Stunt for when a pilot 
  is in their Titan. That’s okay. 
  Example Psychic Stunts
  On the following pages, we provide example Psychic Stunts. They get a little 
  more attention than normal Stunts, since they need context for your campaign. 
  Don’t let these limit you; they’re just some places to jump off, and some fodder for 
  more character and campaign ideas. 
  
  158
  Psychic Empathy 
  With this Stunt, your character can extend her empathy outward and get a deep 
  understanding of everyone around her, their emotional states, and their motives. 
  Spend a Fate Point. You can ask everyone in the immediate vicinity a few questions: 
  • What is your character’s primary emotion right now? 
  • Are they trying to hide something right now? 
  • Is your character planning to attack? 
  The answers are up to the player to decide, and for you to interpret. You’re 
  considered to have an insight-based Aspect to anyone you’ve asked.
  In a Titan: Psychic Empathy extends out way further in a Titan. If anyone within 
  2 Emotional Zones (see p. 107) has malicious intent and a ship or Titan capable of 
  acting on that intent, you know. As well, you can ask the same questions of anyone 
  in that range piloting a Titan. The Director should point out general trends, and 
  superlative and exceptional examples. 
  What Does It Mean?: This allows you to explore themes of intimacy and 
  understanding beyond what normally exists in the world. 
  Kinetic Diffusion
  With this Stunt, your character psychically diffuses and effectively neutralizes 
  electrical energy in her surroundings. Spend a Fate Point. Every piece of electronic 
  equipment and every machine immediately shuts down in the scene. This extends 
  out about 10 meters usually, but can go further in dramatic situations. This can 
  cause immense danger; characters need to Overcome an Engineering challenge 
  with a Threshold equal to your character’s Refresh to restart any vital systems. 
  In a Titan: The range increases dramatically, overcharged by the Titan’s systems. 
  Every Titan but your character’s will shut down in the immediate skirmish. Pilots or 
  support technicians must Overcome to restart their systems. 
  What Does It Mean?: With this Stunt, you can ask questions about human 
  reliance on technology, and whether or not people might be better off without it.
  Prescience
  With this Stunt, your character sees the immediate future. It’s not perfect clarity, 
  but she gets glimpes of split seconds in the same scene. Sometimes, during 
  particularly dramatic moments, she can see ahead minutes or even hours to 
  important upcoming events. Spend a Fate Point and ask of something important 
  upcoming; you can work to avoid or help it along.
  In a Titan: In a Titan, Prescience means your character can pilot her way out of 
  danger well before it’s close. By spending a Fate Point, you can avoid every bit of 
  Stress in a turn. Note that you can do this AFTER everything has been resolved, 
  essentially seeing a moment ahead of real time. 
  What Does It Mean?: This stunt allows you to talk about fate (as opposed to 
  Fate), predestination, and what it means to know the future but have everyone 
  around you disbelieve (a Cassandra Complex). 
  
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  APPENDIX 2: PSYCHIC PHENOMENON
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  Maschine Geist
  With this Stunt, your character can possess electronic systems. She projects 
  her consciousness out of her body, leaving her body in a comatose state while 
  her mind exists in circuitry. Spend a Fate Point. Your character’s body falls limp, 
  and her consciousness transfers into any electronic system she touches. She 
  can travel at the speed of electrical current, and is only limited by the systems in 
  which she resides. She can control digital devices she possesses, and she can 
  use Program with a +2 Skill rating on anything she’s inside. 
  In a Titan: This Stunt has two major Titan-based advantages. First, with a Fate 
  Point, your character can pilot a Titan without actually being in it. This cuts down 
  on the risk of death, or even allows for non-lethal “suicide runs”. Additionally, if 
  she is piloting, she can temporarily overtake an opponent’s electronics, weapons, 
  control, and navigation systems. After one turn, the other pilot can make a Provoke 
  challenge against her Will to eject her, and can keep trying until it works. However, 
  while she’s doing this, she can’t pilot her own Titan effectively.
  What Does It Mean?: With this Stunt, can explore what it means to be human, 
  and whether identity corresponds with a body.
  Psychic Healing
  With this Stunt, your character can gather psychic energy to heal others. Spend 
  a Fate Point, and make a Transcend overcome action. Whomever she touches 
  loses all Stress. The threshold defaults to 0. The threshold is 1 if the subject 
  has a Mild Consequence, 2 if Moderate, and 3 if Severe. Every Shift removes a 
  Consequence, starting with the lightest Consequence the character possesses. 
  To heal a disease, assign the disease a Consequence value and work it out 
  accordingly. She can heal anyone she touches.
  In a Titan: A Titan’s drive core extends the regenerative power of this Stunt 
  to recover devastated Titan and ship parts. It works identically, but the range is 
  within 2 Emotional Zones (see p. 107). 
  What Does It Mean?: What’s the value of a resource that can save a person 
  from anything short of death? Would those in power want to capture it, lock it 
  away, and commodify it? Should they?
  Cloaking
  With this Stunt, your character can mentally become “somebody else’s 
  problem”. Everyone overlooks her; she’s effectively invisible to the human mind. 
  Spend a Fate Point, unless your character acts against another directly, they 
  cannot notice her under any circumstance.
  In a Titan: Titans can be cloaked just like a person. While the effect is identical, 
  the scope is different when hiding a 20 meter pile of steel in plain sight.
  What Does It Mean?: When is intrusion okay? When does privacy become an 
  issue? Is it wrong to betray a person’s senses, particularly to serve your own end? 
  
  160
  MASTER SKILLS LIST
  Skill Name                                O      C      A      D     Special
  Astronomy 
  O
  C
  Athletics
  O
  C
  A
  D
  Blast
  O
  C
  A
  D
  Titan Skill
  Diplomacy
  O
  C
  D
  Empathy
  O
  C
  D
  Engineer
  O
  C
  Espionage
  O
  C
  D
  Maneuver
  O
  C
  D
  Titan Skill
  Melee
  O
  C
  A
  D
  Titan Skill
  Pilot
  O
  C
  D
  Program
  O
  C
  D
  Provoke
  O
  C
  A
  Resources
  O
  C
  Sense
  O
  C
  D
  Shoot
  O
  C
  A
  Tactics
  O
  C
  D
  Transcend
  O
  C
  A
  Titan Skill
  Will
  O
  C
  D
  Determines Stress + Consequences
  Resolving Actions
  Step One: Choose the Best Skill
  Step TWO: ROLL THE DICE
  Step THREE: COMPUTE RESULTS
  Step FOUR: ADD SKILL RATING
  Step FIVE: ADD ASPECT MODIFIERS
  ESSENTIAL    
  ====
  
  161
  APPENDIX 3: ESSENTIAL REFERENCE
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  THE FOUR RESULTS
  Fail
  If you roll lower than the opposition, you fail. 
  TIE
  If you roll equal to the opposition, you tie. You get what you want at a cost, 
  or not quite how you wanted.
  SUCCEED
  If your roll exceeds the opposition by 1 or 2, you succeed at no cost.
  SUCCEED WITH STYLE
  If your roll exceeds the opposition by 3 or more, you succeed with great 
  effect, and gain an additional advantage as result.
  Contests
  In a Contest, the attacking player can cause Stress on the opponent. For each 
  point by which the attacker exceeds the opposition, it causes one Shift of Stress. 
  Stress can be applied to Stress boxes (which replenish between scenes) or to 
  Consequences (which have lasting effects in the story). If a player cannot mark 
  enough boxes to diffuse the Stress, her character is Taken Out. 
  Titan Aspects
  Titans have three unique Aspects: Weapons, Defense Systems, and Armor. 
  This is in addition to functioning as normal Aspects.
  Weapons
  Weapons add Shifts to any successful attack roll. 
  Defense Systems
  Defense Systems add Stress boxes to the Titan.
  Armor
  Armor adds additional Consequence boxes to a Titan.
      REFERENCE
  ========================================================================
  
  162
  Index
  Index
  A
  Accord  26
  Adventure Design  124
  Ascension Drive  16
  Aspects  70
  Astronomy  82
  Athletics  83
  Attack  103
  B
  Being a Robot Pilot is Awesome  117
  Benedict von Hoerl  131
  Blast  84
  Boosts  71
  Brother Jerome Comeau  130
  Brother Matt McRae  132
  C
  Campaign Creation  56
  Captain Cornelia  130
  Captain Cornelia Black and the Ghost Titans  129
  Challenges  104
  Challenging an Aspect  75
  Character Aspects  70
  Compelling Aspects  74
  Conceding  110
  Conflicts  105
  Consequences  71, 108
  Contests  104
  Create an Advantage  102
  D
  Death Matters  119
  Defend  103
  Diplomacy  85
  Directing  117
  Drive Die  111
  E
  Emotional Zones  107
  Empathy  86
  Engineer  87
  Espionage  88
  Everyone has Reasons  122
  Everything You’ve Got -1  120
  Extreme Consequences  108
  F
  Factions  25
  Fate Point Economy  77
  Fate Points  70
  G
  Game Aspects  70
  Game Creation Summary  62
  General Class Titan  50
  Generation 1  10
  Generation 2  12
  Generation 3  14
  Generation 4  16
  Generation 5  18
  Generation 6  20
  Generation 7  22
  Generation Bonuses  66
  Generations  9
  Getting Started  56
  H
  Hadrian Tso’s Salvagers  54
  Have an Escape Plan  119
  Healing Consequences  109
  Hex Maps  107
  I
  Invoking Aspects  74
  J
  Janus Class Titan  44
  Jason Argosy  132
  Judgment Seat  55
  L
  Leave Survivors  118
  M
  Making a Good Aspect  72
  Maneuver  89
  Mass-Production (MP) Units  52
  Mass-Production Rules  112
  Melee  90
  Milestones  114
  Myra’s Flower  55
  Myth Class Titan  46
  N
  
  163
  CHAPTER XX: FIN
  APOTHEOSIS DRIVE X
  Name Survivors  119
  Nation of Oya  30
  O
  One Earth Accord  26
  Opposition  101
  Overcome  102
  Oya  30
  Oya Class Titan  48
  P
  Peoples Collective  34
  Pilot  91
  Plot Follows the Pilots  118
  Professor Nick Bate  132
  Program  92
  Protagonist Creation  61
  Provoke  93
  Punish Boring  121
  R
  Refresh  77
  Resolving Actions  100
  Resources  94
  Reward Going to the Edge  121
  Rules  69
  S
  Sample Adventure  129
  Sense  95
  Series  113
  Setting Primer  4
  Shoot  96
  Situation Aspects  71
  Skills  80
  Small Solar System  120
  StarCC  38
  Stratos Commonwealth  38
  Stress  108
  Stunts  81
  Sybelle Lena Oro  131
  T
  Tactics  97
  Taken Out  110
  Titan Creation Summary  65
  Titans  43
  Titans Versus Mortals  118
  Transcend  98
  W
  War is Hell  117
  Will  99
  William Jennings, Callsign Tumble  130
  Z
  Zones  106
  
  164
  Thank you for coming along for the ride. This game has taken a 
  long time, a lot of work, and we’re glad to have it in your hands (or, 
  you know, hypothetical digital hands). 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/FATE (fudge) [multi]/Apotheosis Drive X_-HD_Mix.pdf