Reluctant Revolutionary Starter PC and/or Party

06 Sep, 2025

Noisms identifies the Revolutionary PC as a natural enhancement of the beloved, free-wheeling murderhobos. Electric Bastionland is one of many games which has the party begin with a debt they must pay off. Let us combine these and have the party begin held in hock to some shadowy rebel handler so that they may 1) Be given missions 2) Have access to resources and connections 3) Be in constant peril and thus, obliged to take action. Obviously, if the handler is too intrusive the agency of the PCs would be distastefully constrained - The economy of clandestine action fortunately means the PCs must usually be given a great deal of independence.

It is every bit as interesting if the handler is themself rebelled against by the party.

As for implementation, the DM should generate the handler ahead of time and also determine if they are unreliable. PCs can either be generated with specific direct relationships to the handler, or a core PC can have a connection and subsequent PCs, Cataphracts-style can have a relationship to that PC.

HANDLER ROLE

1. Priest
2. Imperial Functionary
3. Landowner / Bougie
4. Artist / Academic
5. Security Forces Functionary
6. Engineer / Architect
7. Merchant
8. Ship / Barge Captain
9. Manual Labourer
10. Clerk / Bookkeeper
11. Labour Organizer
12. Socialite

HANDLER SUBVERSION / WEAKNESS d20

1. Ideologically wavering
2. Agent Provocateur of Empire
3. Clique Within Empire
4. Cultist
5. Schismatic
6. Wantonly Destructive Lunatic
7. Agent of Empire's Peer Competitor
8. to 20. Ideologically Committed

HANDLER CONTROL OF PC / CELL-LEADER PC

• 1-4. Blackmail
• 3-4. Sex / Sentiment
• 5-6. Network of Toughs / Assassins
• 7-8. Control of PCs' Guild / Clan / Family
• 9. Genuine Religious / Ideological Commitment of PC
• 10. Sympathizers in Security Service / Bureaucracy / Local Notables Retinues can Harm PCs

HANDLER'S BIG WIN

1. Major Heist
2. Major assassination
3. Facilitating defection of major imperial figure
4. Facilitating fall of imperial fortress / settlement
5. Causing imperial military effort to end in disaster
6. Subverting major imperial ceremony / festival / publication
7. Releasing highly compromising Imperial secret
8. Subverting scores of important functionaries
9. Securing support of major imperial opponent / religious figure
10. Built successful insurgency

RELATIONSHIPS OF PC TO CELL-LEADER PC

1. Child
2. Sibling
3. Parent
4. Niece / Nephew
5. Aunt / Uncle
6. Cousin
7. Spouse
8. Friend
9. Rival
10. Student / Ward
11. Teacher / Tutor (Secular)
12. Teacher / Tutor (Religious)
13. Councillor / Lawyer
14. Bodyguard / Thug
15. Clerk / Bookkeeper / Quartermaster
16. Favourite / Ingenue
17. Stranger
18. Employee / Bondsman / Slave
19. Patron / Superior / Creditor
20. Neighbour / Acquaintance

(Yeah, Andor fucking slaps)