BMD: Intel
Knowledge truly is power!
The Signals & Intelligence arm of a war effort has the potential to be the deciding factor in the outcome. In BMD, the Intel system is plugged into many game systems to the point that collecting and distributing Intel could be someone’s preferred style of play.
The Nature and Utility of Intel
Since Intel is plugged into many different game systems, it may be difficult to fully grasp right away. Surrounding the subject is not practical; so let’s highlight a few key points that circumscribe Intel’s impact.
Intel is a Currency
The most important thing to understand about Intel is that it is a game object—a pure abstraction. One Troop Leader (TL) might come to the table with 12 Local Intel, and another might come with 5 Local Intel. The TL with more Intel has more capability because Intel can be expended to “purchase” specific kinds of benefits.
Diegesis and Fate
How do we view each individual “coin” of Intel in diegetic terms? It might be a scribble of notes, a letter, an electronic record, an ID card, a recording, an overheard conversation, an observation that something was or wasn’t present—any number of explanations can fit.
But which is it? That won’t actually be known until after the fact—until after the Intel has been “cashed in.”
Some hobbyists view dice-rolling as attempted character actions. After all, a great number of games are unironically designed this way. However, we cannot properly understand Intel with this mindset. Instead, we must consider the (superior) perspective that dice-rolling reveals information previously unknown. If a thief attempts to unlock a door and fails, it’s not a reflection of poor skill but of a lock much more difficult than previously assumed.
If we understand dice as revealing Fate, then we can understand that Intel operates in the same way—its usage reveals what its nature was.
The Types of Intel
Not all information is equal, and not all kinds of information are relevant to every question. The full array of Intel types is still something undergoing development and testing, but let’s compare a few example types.
Local Intel
Local Intel will be the most common—and thus, as a currency, the least “valuable.” This type represents something that gives insight about a particular Strategic Location (like a planet, a moon, or a space station).
Gaining Local Intel
After any encounter against the faction that owns a Location, there is a chance to gain Local Intel. This chance is substantially increased if the Location is the Prophet’s current target (we get to reroll to get Intel if we fail).
Spying, datacore hacking, the seizure of enemy installations, the capturing and/or killing of important officers—a large variety of activities can lead to Local Intel. For example, if we encounter a substantial enemy Force in combat, a cache of Local Intel is likely to show up in the spoils.
Spending Local Intel
The first thing players are likely to do with Local Intel is manipulating Encounter Rolls.
When moving from one Zone to another in a Strategic Location, players roll to see whether an encounter happens. This Encounter Evasion (EE) roll can be rerolled for a cost of 1 Intel. After the fact, it’s clear that piece of Intel was about the presence or absence of forces in the nearby Zone.
When encounters inevitably happen, there is a Response roll that determines the attitude (if a Terran or Wild encounter) of the encountered Force towards the player Force or otherwise determines which side had the positional and initiative advantage (if a faction enemy encounter). The Response roll can be rerolled for a cost of 5 Intel. After the fact, it’s clear that piece of Intel was about the nature and disposition of the encountered Force.
In a previously published example of gameplay, the commander invaded an important enemy facility. When attacking such a facility, one must first pass the perimeter. A D10 is rolled to determine the perimeter strength encountered, and we rolled a 10—the strongest possible perimeter defense! But we had 1 Local Intel and used it to reroll the perimeter defense, getting a 2. After the fact, it’s clear that piece of Intel was about weak spots in the perimeter of that facility.
Weapons Intel
The most dramatically different type of Intel to Local Intel is probably Weapons Intel. It is exceedingly rare and valuable. It is difficult to get, applies universally (not limited to usage in a single Strategic Location), and can potentially enhance the strength of an entire faction permanently rather than being a single-use, on-the-spot advantage.
Gaining Weapons Intel
The only systematic way to gain Weapons Intel is to perform extensive weapons research at a dedicated facility. These facilities require research staff, material inputs (such as prototype weapons or Atlantean technology), and significant time to crank out a handful of Weapons Intel—even a single “coin” of Weapons Intel is thus highly valuable.
The other ways to gain Weapons Intel require more finesse. Stealing it through industrial espionage (spying missions) or defections (contacts development) is a risky and costly endeavor that’s unlikely to be repeatable but can reap huge bounties. Studying prototype weapons, including failed ones, can potentially be a small source. Delving into uncharted territory to find Atlantean weapons for study is an exceedingly dangerous available method!
Spending Weapons Intel
Put simply, Weapons Intel is used to advance weapons research, vaguely similar to AD&D’s spell research. Weapons research is designed to be open-ended enough for creative input, but there are specific guidelines to formalize the process.
Is there an alien weapon whose functionality you’d love to have for your own troops? Gather a few hundred of them and toss them to your weapons engineers (in their fully funded, well-stocked facility). They can use Weapons Intel to develop a prototype design with that functionality. Once you have the prototype, further Weapons Intel expenditure will let you make batches of them—and even further expenditure will let you create a fully universalized template to create them on demand anywhere weapons can be manufactured.
The same logic and processes apply to grenades, heavy weapons, vehicle weapons, and (of course) weapons of mass destruction.
It is also possible to modify existing weapon templates to permanently change their characteristics in your campaign! Do you like that laser rifle but wish it had better targeting? Weapons research can modify its template so that all instances of that laser rifle are replaced with the upgraded one. This will be obscenely expensive, but we all believe in you!
Intel and the Classes
The first thing players are likely to notice about the Intel system is in the way it interfaces directly with their character classes. The canonical1 BMD characters are different varieties of Troop Leaders. At the moment, there are three Troop Leader classes slated for release2—the Warthane, the Hierophant, and the Armacogitar.
The Warthane
In many ways, the Warthane is the most straightforward Troop Leader; his focus is on gathering combat experts, winning battles, and taking war objectives. Let’s look at his Special Directive—essentially his official orders from the Sol Crusaders—by which both his performance and his player’s performance is judged.
Assemble the most dangerous fighting force in the galaxy. Crush the alien; drive him back into the damnation of the Void. Water the surface of every world with his blood.
That’s as simple as it gets!
Out of the three classes, The Warthane is the closest thing to a “default” Troop Leader. His ultimate long-term goal (winning a war of annihilation against the alien enemy) is perfectly aligned with his specific role in the Sol Crusaders—kill aliens and take their objectives to win back territory.
To further his goal, he has the special ability Actionable Intel. His role in the Crusade is as a reliable, dangerous, and loyal commander at the front. He can feed Local Intel back to his Forward Operating Base (FOB), whereupon their analysts will inform him of the presence of one or more High-Value Targets in his area!
As of the current design, this particular game mechanic is an effective way to get a lot done in the fewest possible steps. Not only can capturing or killing a High-Value Target destabilize the Security Level of a Location, the target is usually at a safehouse or other well-stocked site that can be a source of significant spoils. Additionally, the Warthane will gain extra XP because these targets represent war objectives. Lowering the SecLevel of a Location is a massive blow to the owning faction; thus, even a small chance at this makes for a worthy outing.
The Hierophant
Currently, the Hierophant does not have a direct usage of Intel that is particular to his class. However, the Hierophant has the ability to receive divine revelations which will frequently send him to places unknown. Though these deviations from more concrete war objectives might seem superfluous to some, the Hierophant is struck with a sense of urgency about the place.
These sites may hold surprising allies or unknown enemies. The site may be a place the Hierophant is called to purify—a presence of evil or other irresolution needing to be put to rest. He may encounter a life-long contact or have an assassin ambush him! Regardless, consider what is known about the place when the Hierophant is struck by the call to visit. What is the terrain like? Are there defenses? What is the disposition, if any, of the Forces there?
Without Local Intel, the Hierophant would feel compelled to lead everyone here blind. Sometimes, it may be argued, faith calls us to do just that. But the gravity of war and the responsibilities of command demand prudence. By expending Local Intel, known sites can have their specifics clarified (rolled from tables, generally) before anyone ventures out. Knowledge truly is power!
The Armacogitar
Let’s look at the Armacogitar’s Special Directive:
See what others cannot see. Discover and undermine the Enemy’s plans, and ensure his ignorance of our designs. Breach strongholds and weak minds, and take all that lies within. Assassinate their leaders and haunt their soldiers. Bring the alien low until he breaks—then scatter the remnants into the Void.
As a psion, the Armacogitar is superhumanly sensitive to the thoughts and mental energies of other sentients. Before rolling a Response roll in any encounter with sentients, the Armacogitar automatically gains 1 Local Intel from their surface-level thoughts. Then, after the encounter is resolved, he has a chance to gain 1 more from gleaned flashes of insight!
The psion is, in many ways, the ultimate weapon which humanity wields against its alien foes. The Armacogitar is essentially an Intel magnet, capable of gathering up Intel at a rate none can match. His prowess is even more skewed if he has psionic powers that enable espionage efforts or more focused mind-reading.
An Armacogitar and the psions who serve with him can topple a warfront in a night if they have the right abilities, know the right targets to eavesdrop and assassinate, and have the courage to infiltrate the enemy’s most secure strongholds. These dangerous men and their squads of supernaturally powerful mind-warriors can produce industrial quantities of Intel with the right plans and application—a tide of advantages for the Sol Crusaders that the enemy cannot withstand.
Ghosts
Psionic whispers, or “ghosts,” are imprints or impressions that seem to have been left on large objects or are “haunting” locations. Ghosts essentially act as a parallel kind of Intel available only to Armacogitars, and their study leads to a more focused set of concretely defined outcomes—usually to places of mystery with objects of Atlantean origin.
Though ghosts lack the versatility of the different Intel types, they operate on similar principles. Ghosts are directly related to intel because they can show the Armacogitar, in many instances, exactly where to retrieve a cache if he is brave enough!
The Manifold Ways of Knowing
Because Intel is split into different types and its “costs” are formalized across a number of different usages, a gameplay environment is created where players can invent new uses based on comparisons with existing ones. It is a lofty goal to have a game mechanic that is precisely outlined while also allowing open-ended creativity—but that’s the idea!
I have never been more excited about BMD, and I have been putting in extra effort recently to assemble a one-document rulebook. My immediate goal is straight-lining towards playtesting, and I can’t wait to have it all down in one place and share the fullness of these ideas with everyone.
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See more about canonical characters in Classifying Characters in TTRPGs.
See Characters and Forces or BMD’s introduction for more information on the classes.
Very cool. Recon, intelligence, and counter-intelligence seem to be some of the hardest aspects to get right in strategic war-RPG design, this is interesting to see in development. I'll be interested to get a feel in play for the balance of abstraction that Local Intel takes, making it site-specific goes a long way towards keeping that abstraction sensible.