Hello and welcome to the recruitment for Warbirds!

[IMG]http://www.drivethrurpg.com/images/3803/115960.jpg[/IMG]

I've tried to recruit for this some years ago, alas time and such was not in my
favor and the game fizzled out. I jus recently found my PDF copy of the game on an
old harddrive and I got curious as to if there were people who'd be interested in
some High-Octane Dogfighting with fame and fortune into the mix!
I will include a little 'what is this world' spoilers so that those that do not own
the rules, have a chance to learn a bit about what type of world Azure is. Quickly
and shortly though, it's a game about being a warbird pilot hunting for bigger fame
and greater wealth and glory by doing many a job for the Guild with your fellow
pilots. You're treated like how great movie actors are, and to have Guild Pilots do
a job for you is seen as both a great honor, and something to profit from.
But firstly, there's a nice Big 16 coming.

[SPOILER=Big 16]
[B]1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS,
etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
5th, 10th, etc.)?[/B]
Warbirds RPG, made by Outrider Studios. The system is based upon what they call
'Rapid Fire'. It's a results-driven dice system that works like this: 1d6 + Skill +
Stat + Modifiers versus Difficulty.
It's very cinematic and fast-paced, often requiring nothing more than a single roll
to resolve an outcome.

[B]2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents
of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period,
published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
[/B]
Canon to the Rules. It's the World of Azure: floating Caribbean islands in the sky,
drifting around over the Murk, a toxic high pressure swirl with potential fuel-use;
orbiting the Eye, a massive updraft that lets ships and such from lower altitude
islands easily rise up to the upper layers and upper islands.

[B]3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if
so, how many?[/B]
4-5 players.

[B]4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?[/B]

OOTS forum.

[B]5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?[/B]

As per the rules, newly graduated Guild Pilot, amongst the top of the class. if you
do not own the rules, then look below for a rules for character-gen and Warbird-
Gen.

[B]6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?[/B]
As per the rules.

[B]7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that
you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed
classes?[/B]
not really. whichever you feel is your type of archetype.

[B]8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow
homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?[/B]
You're a human being. nothing else is feasible or permitted to play as.
[B]9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and
Hit Points?[/B]
As per the rulebook.

[B]10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?[/B]
You are Elite fighter pilots lauded for your skills and escapades. No real
alignment is used, but as long as you're not a traitorous scumbag that wants to
turn pirate, im fine with just about anything.

[B]11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
[/B]
Not really applicable here.

[B]12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will
die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls,
which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report
them?[/B]
You roll when you feel the need (do ask first, no need to do a roll if it's not
needed) and when i ask you to. I roll my rolls myself.

[B]13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should
know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about
these new rules.[/B]
Nope. Regular Warbird Pilots, working for the Guild.

[B]14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for
anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in
the same city)?[/B]
Yes. I need to know more than just what your character is in stats. Where are they
from, do they have family, any loved ones, what religion do they lean towards, etc.
etc.

[B]15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying,
or a combination of the above?[/B]
A lot of dashing coolness and epic dogfighting. not as much Puzzle Solving though.

[B]16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will
you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for
their characters?[/B]
Warbirds RPG. We are neither using Jet Age Supplement or the WWII sourcebook, since
both of those are meant for more real-world settings.
Only the Core Rulebook will be used.

[/SPOILER]

[SPOILER=What is Warbirds?]
[IMG]https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/images/
8b4def60f7f3ea33541f3e81cf4db2d1d094cc44749aac7e5b54bf6aeccd50f1.jpeg[/IMG]
Warbirds is set among the beautiful sky isles of Azure. It has endless blue skies
above, the roiling Murk below and thousands of islands scattered in between. the
isles all rotate around the invisible, mysterious Eye.
This is pure diesel-punk awesomeness.

The murk is a roiling black sea of dusty clouds, dark hurricane winds and a
deathsentence to anyone trying to explore it's depths.
It is however not clouds in the sense of water-vapour, but rather it's a mix of
innert gasses, harsh dust-swirls that can rip apart a warbird in seconds, and
pockets of hydrocarbons.
Many people have tried to explore the Murk, even with some success, but also many
losses. A few things have been learned though, such as the darkest, most black
streaks of the murk could be relatively easily harvested of it's hydrocarbons and
processed into diesel fuel.
None have ever found the bottom, or at any rate, none have returned to report such
finds.

The sky itself is clean, blue and dotted with 3 relatively uniform leveled layers
of floating islands which makes up the core of the landmasses in Azure, also
referred to as The Central Islands.

The 'Uplands', the highest up islands consists of the Lesser Antilles, which are
the Virgin Islands, Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada, the Dutch ABC islands, etc.; a
few pieces of the Bahamas; Trinidad and Tobago; the Florida Keys from Key Largo to
Key West; the Caymans; and the island of Jamaica. These islands are the most warm
and tropical ones and they are the ones furthest from the Epicenter of what is
known as The Eye (which is a constant updraft of air allowing relatively easy
travel between the island layers.
The Guild that you're all part of exists up here as it's headquarters on what was
once known as the Florida Keys, but are now called the Guild Keys.
Most of the islands up here are more culture and fine-wares oriented, rather than
exports of basic Food items or Industry-wares. The cultural center of Azure if you
will.

The 'Midlands' are sitting about 100 kilometers below the 'Uplands, and it consists
of the islands of Santiago, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Haiti. This is where the majority
of Azure's population exists. The climate down here is far cooler than in the
'Uplands', making it closer to a sub-tropical to warm-temperate climate.
They are the primary area of most internal conflicts, but also the majority of
Azure's people live here.

The 'Lowlands' are found about 100 kilometers below the 'Midlands' and is hovering
only a dozen or so kilometers above the murk itself. They consist of only 2
Islands, one of which is Yucatan, home of the resurgent Mayan Federation of
Kingdoms (whom revolted against the spanish located there, almost right after the
Storm, which caused all the landmasses below to be sucked up into the air and swirl
around The Eye).
Then there's Tagesta, a Wild West Frontier Island that is almost a lawless Western-
place where only a few towns have any sort of provisional government.

Further out from the above-mentioned Central Islands are different.sized Distant
Islands, most are too far away from the Central Islands to be reached via
conventional Fighter Planes means, requiring the use of Frigates, carriers, etc. to
head out to those distant islands.

Lastly, there's Errant Isles. Islands that have an elliptical Route around The Eye,
some of these Islands only pass close enough by the Central Islands once or twice
every Decade, with more only passing by once per Century. These islands are always
great news, for they are lands yet to be mined or exploited of resources.

----------------------------
[SPOILER=An intro to Azure's History]
Azure’s history starts with our own. It begins in the Caribbean Sea in 1804. Cuba
is a successful Spanish colony. Puerto Rico, also under Spain’s control, has become
an important strategic outpost. The nation of Haiti has just won independence from
Napoleon’s France and it is the New World’s first nation to abolish slavery. The
British colony of Jamaica is a profitable sugarcane and coffee producer. The
smaller islands of the Caribbean are split up between the various colonial powers.
All of them are slave states that deal primarily in growing cash crops. On the
mainland, both Florida and the Yucatan are under Spanish control. While Florida is
inhabited almost exclusively by small groups of natives and escaped slaves with a
few intrepid Americans taking hold, Yucatan has a strong Spanish presence ruling
over a large group of oppressed indigenous Maya.

[B]The Storm[/B]
All of this history is our history and these lands would have become the modern
Caribbean that exists on our Earth today were it not for the Storm. On the 17th of
September, 1804, a storm like none ever before smashed into the Caribbean. It was
larger and more powerful than any hurricane ever seen, and it raged for over a
week. It made the seas impassible, destroyed buildings and fields and spread
incalculable death and massive destruction.
On the September 25, the clouds parted and the sun shone. Survivors crawled and
limped out of the Storm’s wreckage to find they were no longer in the tropical
Caribbean sea; they were floating above an endless ocean of clouds. Some people
thought they were in heaven, while others wondered if they had been caught in a
dream. They quickly learned that they were in a new world with new rules. In time,
they came to call their new world Azure, and now they thrive.

[B]The Chaos Years[/B]

Chaos reigned during the first few years after the Storm. Except for the Uplands,
the climate had shifted to be much cooler and wetter, leading to food shortages and
famine. the lack of travel between islands isolated nations and led to all sorts of
shortages. Governments, once supported by distant colonial powers, collapsed when
confronted by crisis after crisis.
It is estimated that one in four people died in the first year after the Storm and
the death rate remained high for the next two decades. While people were dying from
food shortages and violence, one of the silver linings of the era was the
disappearance of the most deadly diseases of the bygone region, such as yellow
fever and malaria.
Two major social changes occurred during the decade after the Storm that are still
being felt today: the end of slavery and the religious crisis.

[B]Slavery’s End[/B]
In 1804, much of the region’s population was made up of black slaves imported to
work on colonial sugar plantations. Life as a slave was particularly brutal in the
Caribbean, with death rates being higher than birth rates. Colonial plantation
owners needed a steady influx of slaves to keep their operations running. Still,
the tide was turning in 1804. The slaves of Haiti had just won their freedom after
a bloody, brutal war, and the British were just a few years away from abolishing
the slave trade. the move towards freedom accelerated after the Storm.
Cut off from their colonial support and su ering from all sorts of shortages, slave
owners now faced the prospect of being outnumbered by people who had little to
lose. The wisest slave owners saw the writing on the wall and renounced their
ownership and begged for mercy. Slavery was a thing of the past in all of Azure in
less than five years.
While the slavery itself is gone, colonial in uences remain. The people of Haiti
still speak French, while inhabitants of Cuba, Santiago and Puerto Rico speak
Spanish. Most of the Uplands speak English, though there are a few tiny pockets of
Dutch speakers.
In terms of ethnicity, with the exception of Yucatan, around half of Azure’s
population is of African or mixed descent. About 30 percent of people have mostly
Spanish ancestry; 15 percent are descended from British, French and other European
ancestry; and around five per cent are descended from natives and other more
distant origins. The Maya of Yucatan violently expelled their Spanish overlords,
and now over 85 percent of Yucatan’s inhabitants are of Mayan descent, with another
12 per cent having a mixed Maya/Spanish heritage. Most of the other three per cent
are of British origin living in Belize City in what was once British Honduras.
[B]Religion in Crisis[/B]
Faith was one of the first casualties of the Storm. Much of the Caribbean was
Catholic in 1804, and the church suffered heavily in those first few years in
Azure. When it became apparent that islands in the sky did not constitute heaven
but just a new kind of Earth, the church had a rough time dealing with the outcome.
Worshippers abandoned parishes en masse, and many churches, especially on the
smaller isles, disappeared completely.
Things went even worse for the Catholic Church in Yucatan. Azure’s structure, with
the perfect sky above, endless Murk below and islands in-between, was a much closer
fit to the ancient religion of the pre-Columbian Maya than modern Catholic
teachings. The Maya’s revolt against their Spanish conquerors began with a
religious revolt as they embraced their ancient gods, albeit with substantially
less human sacrifice.
Catholic churches are banned in Yucatan and there is no sign of any inroads being
made. In the Midlands, the church suffered, but eventually recovered. There was
only one problem: With each island isolated, each parish was left to its own
devices. While the Spanish islands remained strongly tied to Catholic traditions
and were re-united once travel between the islands became possible, the Church in
Haiti, which was seeing a major uptick in Vodou practices, took a more radical
approach. Taking a page out of medieval France’s playbook, the Haitians elected a
new Pope just three years after the Storm. They then held a convention to modernize
the church. Haiti established the Reformed Catholic Church two years later. The
Cubans elected a new Pope and re-established the traditional papacy, eventually
being upheld by Santiago and Puerto Rico, and declared their church to be the
Fundamental Catholic Church. Despite major disagreements and dozens of minor
conflicts, there are still two Catholic Popes in Azure, and religious squabbling
continues to present day.
The Uplands saw the almost complete disappearance of powerful, organized religion
-- though small parishes still remain -- and most nations now embrace secularism.
Religion never made a significant comeback in the Uplands, though a thorough search
will reveal a few Anglicans, Presbyterians and even small groups of Quakers.

[B]The Dawn of Flight[/B]

There is disagreement as to when the years of chaos ended. Some scholars point out
that things were stabilizing after only a decade, while others maintain that things
remained chaotic for almost 30 years. Regardless of which point of view one takes,
things were stable in 1843 when a Puerto Rican miner stumbled onto floatstone for
the first time. It took several more years for working, steam-powered airships to
be developed, but by 1850, the people of Azure knew for certain that the other
central islands were inhabited. It only took a few decades for trade relationships
to be established and a new economy to flourish.

[B]The Golden Century[/B]

1883 saw the signing of an important international trade treaty in Port-au-Prince.
Most historians mark the signing of the treaty as the start of a golden age for
Azure. In fact, the name “Azure” was actually agreed upon at the treaty convention.
In this century, all of the central islands became connected via regular airship
traffic. Populations expanded, science and technology advanced and the standard of
living increased.
It was during this century that scientists discovered the composition of the Murk,
and telescopes first caught sight of even more distant islands. By 1980, the people
of Azure had recovered in population and technology to the point where they matched
our standard history’s early 1900’s in terms of science, technology, medicine and
culture. e other major advance came in the field of aviation. New ethanol-fueled
engines made the first light aircraft possible. Not all was placid during the
Golden Century.
The Fundamental and Reformed Catholic Churches saw a continuous rise in tensions
after multiple attempts at reconciliation failed. There were also several incidents
between Christian and Mayan clergy, one of which ended in bloodshed. The era saw a
slow military buildup, as each major nation developed a navy of armoured airships.
Despite escalating tensions, the only region that saw all-out war was the Maya
Federation, which still features small but intense conflicts between its many
kingdoms.
Near the end of the Golden Century, experiments in powered -- non-airship -- flight
resulted in the first airplanes. The first flight occurred in 1975, with the first
commercial flight coming in 1977. In 1980, Jamaica was the first country to stand
up a functioning air force.

[B]The First Resource War[/B]

Azure’s peace shattered in March 1982 when Cuba launched an all-out assault on
Haiti. While there was some religious pretext -- the church, which was and still is
the true power in Cuba, wanted to bring the Haitians back into the fold -- it was
primarily driven by a shortage of manufacturing resources on the island.
Cuban airships crossed the expanse and landed troops on Haiti. This kicked off a
five-month ground war combined with multiple airship engagements. The Cubans
received logistical support from both Santiago and Puerto Rico, and the war was
looking to be a complete victory for Cuba and the Fundamental Catholic Church.

[B]A Victorious Debut[/B]

As Haitians faced a desperate ground battle, their airships were no match for
Cuba’s larger, more powerful navy. In desperation, the Haitians enlisted the help
of Jamaicans in the Uplands.
While the navies of the Midlands expanded, the Jamaicans looked for cost-effective
ways to counter them. They found their solution in the new airplanes being
developed. They poured money into research and development and, by the time of the
First Resource War, they had a fleet of over 100 primitive biplanes that could out-
fly any airship. Armed with machine guns and light amour-piercing bombs, the
Jamaican air force destroyed three quarters of the Cuban navy in a single battle.
The surviving airships limped home with an unbelievable story.
Meanwhile, Cuba’s ground forces, cut off from their logistical support, did not
last long. They surrendered a few short weeks later. What troops remained were
starving, exhausted and shell-shocked from the constant strafing runs of Jamaican
planes.

[B]Stalemate[/B]
While the Jamaicans and Haitians gained the upper hand in the war, they lacked the
resources to go on the attack. Instead, they sued for peace. The Treaty of Havana,
signed on September 3, 1982, officially ended the war and signaled the start of the
modern era.
There have been fights big and small in the years since, but there is an enduring,
uneasy peace. the Maya continue to engage in small-scale warfare, but most fights
now are over small pieces of territory in Tegesta, or over exploitation rights for
an errant isle.

[B]The Modern Era[/B]

The years after the war saw some major changes. Chief amongst them were the
resource rush, the switch to diesel and the rise of the Fighter Guild.

[B]The Resource Rush[/B]

By the end of the Golden Century, the central isles were already facing a shortage
of important resources. While the ground remained fertile and there was no lack of
food, many building materials, rarer elements and luxury items became scarce. The
central islands are not that big, and it was only a matter of time before shortages
became a reality.
Things accelerated in the years after the First Resource War as demands for new
construction and a growing middle class put a serious strain on the islands’
resources. The solution was to launch expeditions to more distant islands. First,
the nations started carving up Tegesta, and when that proved both di cult and
insufficient, they began sending ships to distant, and even errant, islands looking
for big finds.
Some of these expeditions lasted weeks and months and came up empty; others
returned loaded
down with exotic hardwoods, rare minerals and unique animals. The locating and
exploiting of errant isles is now big business, and whenever a new island is
spotted coming into airship range, there is a flurry of activity as companies get
ready to spend a few months stripping it of anything of value.
One such expedition led to the discovery of Nassau. Nassau was found thriving as a
city-state, where the people remain loyal to the King of England despite over two
centuries of isolation. The discovery of Nassau’s population sent shockwaves
throughout Azure, and many more expeditions were launched in the hopes of finding
other survivors of the pre-Storm world. the Pirates’ Tangle gained its name shortly
thereafter when early pirate raiders fled to the region.

[B]Diesel Power[/B]
One of the largest and most important changes of the modern era was the shift from
steam to diesel power for trains and airships. The switch came out of necessity, as
deforestation of the central islands for farming limited the available fuel supply.
The solution was to set up around-the-clock operations to mine the darkest parts of
the Murk and extract diesel fuel from the abrasive gasses. Most gas extraction
operations had to be set up hundreds of kilometres from the central islands, as so-
called “dark Murk” is rare near the Eye. These massive floating bases move with the
Murk’s weather and support a steady stream of tanker ships coming and going. It
only took a few years for the first tanker to fall prey to pirates.

[B]Piracy and the Rise of the Guild[/B]

Slow and ungainly airships are easy prey for fighters, and a few groups of fighter
pilots took it upon themselves to get rich quick by raiding tankers and exploration
vessels. They established bases in the turbulent parts of the distant isles, and
thanks to a few hijacked aircraft carriers, they became terrors of the skies. While
navies worked to contain the pirate problem, they could not be everywhere at once,
and several private military companies emerged to pick up the slack.
Consisting of veteran pilots of the various air forces, these mercenary groups
became a relatively cheap and easy way to protect commerce and keep piracy to a
minimum. In time, the largest mercenary squadrons merged and formed what is now
known as the Guild.
The Guild provided a one-stop shop for air power for any individual, corporation,
or government who could afford their rates. They guaranteed to provide only the
best pilots equipped with the best planes. The Guild rocketed to both wealth and
fame, and hired an entire public relations team to increase its prestige and cement
its reputation as Azure’s most capable air force.
The Guild made enough money to purchase an entire Uplands island chain and has
essentially created its own micro-nation. The Guild Keys -- formerly the Florida
Keys -- have airstrips, machine shops, swanky houses and a floating rail system
connecting it all together.

[B]The Guild Monopoly[/B]

While each nation continues to maintain its own air force, the Guild poaches the
best up-and-coming pilots, and its research and development branch has a
stranglehold on new aircraft technology.
It has been almost 50 years since the establishment of the Guild, and technological
advancement has stagnated. The aircraft of most nations resemble contemporary pre-
World War II designs, while the Guild hoards technology that, in some cases, did
not exist until the postwar period.
With the Guild providing the top fighters for most engagements, and sometimes even
working for both sides of a conflict, there is little reason to innovate. The
national governments are not necessarily happy with the Guild’s advantageous
position, but they have no incentives to change it. Thus, the status quo endures.
In the present year, 2039, the Guild’s monopoly is stronger than ever. Its pilots
are treated like movie stars or sports heroes. Guild pilots’ exploits are covered
by the press, obsessed over by fans and scrutinized by a voracious paparazzi.
Children grow up dreaming of being Guild pilots, and the Guild has no problem
finding new recruits. The glamour and fame makes it easy to forget that the Guild
is really a bunch of wellarmed mercenaries with a tech advantage and a slick public
relations team.
[/SPOILER]

[/SPOILER]