Operative’s Primer

What is it like being Operative for SLA Industries? What do you do all day? Where do you live? How do you handle BPNs? How do you get around? What do you have for dinner—a Piggy Wiggy roll or sausage and mash? When you get bored in your Downtown studio closet with its leaky basin, wipe-down, guaranteed one prior owner, roll-up futon, collapsible closet, and self-installed AA rated security locks, where do you go for a good time? Hit a Ye-Old Tavern or if you are on the up, get into the Pit, the premier Uptown nightclub? Got a hobby, like darts or hoops, gambling on the Pig Runs, or collecting BPN Coins or Carrien teeth? Do you have a side hustle such as a Sponsor, selling recovered gear on the black market, an actual second job, or even a life of crime? These are all questions a graduate from Meny University might ask, as might his player. Then how do you play SLA Industries? How does a skill roll work and what modifiers do you apply? What do you need to roll for combat—shooting your Fen 603 Auto Pistol or stabbing that carrien with your Bosh SLA Blade? How do you actually create a Player Character? What do you play? These are all questions a player new to SLA Industries might ask.

Fortunately, Operative’s Handbook: A Sourcebook for SLA Industries Second Edition is the supplement which will answers both sets of questions. This is a supplement for S.L.A. Industries, the roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism published by Nightfall Games. Specifically, it is an introductory supplement for the setting and thus the Player Character, but is also an introductory supplement for the setting and the rules, and thus the player. The supplement is designed as complete an introduction to SLA Industries Second Edition as is possible for it to be and it succeeds at this admirably. It is literally designed to be given to the prospective player who can take it away, read up about the basics of the World of Progress and how to be a SLA Operative, and then create a SLA Operative. In doing so, it more or less replaces those sections of the core rulebook and a player could even buy it and use it without the need to purchase his own copy of the core rulebook. Plus, it gives a player an accessible book to reference at the table during play. However, the Operative’s Handbook is not just for the new player and new Player Character. There is background information included that the Game Master can bring into her campaign, especially in terms of flavour, detail, and verisimilitude. There is a whole new species and new equipment too—as well as the old, so that an existing player will find the supplement useful if he does not have the core rulebook.

The Operative’s Handbook does start out with a description of what a roleplaying game is, ordinarily surprising in a supplement, but not so here given its remit. Very quickly it moves on to the World of Progress, the setting for SLA Industries, written with the worries of a recent graduate from Meny University in mind. It eases him through graduation, explaining that every six months, three hundred students graduate—always in the presence of Mr. Slayer, even if he cannot be seen—knowing that if he cannot move up the ladder before the next group graduates, he might as well count himself as a failure. It has all the worries of a graduate in his first job. Where will he live? How does my job actually work? And in answering that, gives a means of randomly determining his initial accommodation and even creating Bespoke Accommodation if his player wants to spend build points on it. Rated for comfort, security, location, and neighbours, all of these factors add to play of the game and are there for Game Master to make the SLA Operative’s downtime that little bit more ‘interesting’. This is accompanied by a good guide to Mort City, from Mort Central down through Uptown into Downtown, noting how large these areas are and that there is an area of Downtown called ‘Sector Dark’, actually two adjacent sectors currently dominated by gangs with deep DarkNight connections, where there is no surveillance as all the infrastructure has been vandalised and both SLA Operatives and Shivers are really not welcome. Numerous options for travel across and up and down Mort City are discussed, the most notable of which are the Shift Blocks, massive elevators capable of transporting vehicles, cargo, and people like a large ferry, up and down Mort City. However, to limit widescale access between districts, Shift Blocks can only lower and raise a limited number, so travellers often have to change to travel further up or down, effectively staggering their journey in order to main security.

Besides the question of where an Operative will live, there is a lengthy lifestyle section in the Operative’s Handbook. This covers food (unsurprisingly British in feel), restaurants and fast food outlets, bars and clubs, care products—for all species, clothing styles—including a fashion for wearing mock-power armour which means that an operative can mingle on a night out in his actual power armour and not look out of place, hobbies and gambling—the latter including various sports like sector racing and the bloodsport events held in the District Two Arena, and collecting. There is a great deal here that will add verisimilitude to a campaign. The supplement takes a left turn with a discussion of politics in Mort City, more interesting background that the Game Master can use to create details for her campaign, but noting that although there are numerous political parties and there are governors who control the various districts in Mort City, politics are an effective distraction for the masses for SLA Industries which has no problem replacing a governor with silent prejudice. Law enforcement is something that Operatives are more likely to be working with, made slightly challenging because laws can differ from district to district, and if one citation does not fit the crime, the Shivers usually have the time to apply another.

Whether the accused goes through civil mediation, televised arbitration, or gives himself over the bureaucratic complications of a public trial, if found guilty, the most common sentence is a fine and since most Mort City citizens cannot afford to pay this, prison time to work this off. Of course, the prison system is designed to extract the most out of its inmates, so getting out is really, really difficult. Several other forms of punishment are discussed, all of them with their own unpleasant futility.

In terms of the job, what a SLA Operative is doing is picking up BPNs—Blueprint News Files, completing them, getting paid, and gaining Security Clearance bonuses, and working up the corporate ladder. The Operative’s Handbook breaks down the Security Clearance structure, how a squad goes about getting a BPN, raises issues and gets paid either straight to each Operative’s Finance Card or oddly in cash (something that criminal gangs like to take advantage of if an Operative owes them a favour), and if there is anything amiss, how a BPN review is handled by the Auditing and Sanctions Office, which often staffed by failed Meny graduates! Since the focus of SLA Industries’ play is completing BPNs for the income and the promotion, any impediment to that is going to be frustrating, but will expose the Operative and his player to SLA Industries’ bureaucracy. In addition to a SLA Operative’s main source of income, the supplement also examines other options.

The Operative’s Handbook devotes just a handful of pages to the rules for SLA Industries. It does not need more than that to explain everything that the player needs to know in terms of rolling dice and making skill tests followed by combat.

More detailed are the rules for character creation. Every species is clearly presented and a nice touch for each is the advice for new players. This includes an ‘It’s My First Day’ box and suggestions on how to build the optimal character. For example, the ‘It’s My First Day’ box states that, “A Carrien is a skull faced dog person whose planet and civilisation was stolen from them. While you might be lovely as an individual, as far as most of Mort is concerned, you’re a scary dangerous animal responsible for unknown terrors.” It is followed by the ‘Building an Adv Carrien’ which suggests which stats to favour. Each species includes suggested values as explanations of species specific abilities, and a table of random species elements (for Carrien these are trinkets that personally value), and tables of ‘Good’ and ‘Unfortunate’ Life Events that add some background and some variation to the Operative.

In addition to doing this for Ebonites, Frothers, Humans, Neophrons, Shaktar, Stormer 313 Malice, Storner 711 Xeno, and Wraithen, it also does it for the Omaja. This is a new species introduced in the Operative’s Handbook. The Omaja, a pre-Formation Era that has recently returned to the World of Progress, are allies of the Neophron, and are trying to earn enough to buy back their original home world from SLA Industries. They are short, monkey-like, with a mane of bright blue hair for males and bright orange for females, are quadrodextrous meaning that all four limbs end in hands, have three eyes, and known for their technical aptitude. They also have a reputation for being very grumpy. In play they give any Neophron Operative a natural ally, whilst their technical aptitude means that they are good at fixing things, handling machinery, and modifying equipment, so focusing on skills that tend to be secondary for other Operatives.

The Operative’s Handbook even explains how Meny University and SLA Industries goes about organising graduates into squads as well as presenting fifteen new Training Packages as well those from the core rulebook and also the supplement, Threat Analysis 1: Collateral. The new includes the Academic Institute of Meny (representing academics who want to conduct field research into Operative activities), Advanced Ebb Training, Alternate Vendor Recruitment (handling Props and Contract Killers for SLA Operative operations), Combat Pilot Training, Combat Property Management, Construct Exploration, Employee Headcount Reduction, Media Management, Modern Policing, Motorised Recon, Radical Conflict De-Escalation Unit, Rapid Conflict Resolution Teams (previously known as ‘Kick Murder Squads’), Rapid Site, Breach & Entry, Sector Ranger Survival School, and Stakeholder Appeasement & Crisis Management. These all have minimum Stat requirements and many have electives to choose from as well. These open up the options not just in terms of the training for the Player Character SLA Operative, but the NPC too. Plus there are lists of the Skills and Traits for SLA Operative creation both old and new. Only the new are fully explained, meaning the that player may still need to refer to the core rulebook for full explanations.

The Operative’s Handbook even explains how Meny University and SLA Industries goes about organising graduates into squads as well as presenting fifteen new Training Packages as well those from the core rulebook and also the supplement, Threat Analysis 1: Collateral. The new includes the Academic Institute of Meny (representing academics who want to conduct field research into Operative activities), Advanced Ebb Training, Alternate Vendor Recruitment (handling Props and Contract Killers for SLA Operative operations), Combat Pilot Training, Combat Property Management, Construct Exploration, Employee Headcount Reduction, Media Management, Modern Policing, Motorised Recon, Radical Conflict De-Escalation Unit, Rapid Conflict Resolution Teams (previously known as ‘Kick Murder Squads’), Rapid Site, Breach & Entry, Sector Ranger Survival School, and Stakeholder Appeasement & Crisis Management. These all have minimum Stat requirements and many have electives to choose from as well. These open up the options not just in terms of the training for the Player Character SLA Operative, but the NPC too.

Similarly, the Operative’s Handbook does not list or detail all of the equipment options available in the core rulebook. This is understandable as it would substantially increase the supplement’s page count. What it does do is suggest starting packages based on a SLA Operative’s Training Package, which is very useful, handily speeding up character creation. There are new items of equipment too, such as lightweight, recyclable Shiver Ties used by Shivers instead of handcuffs (which weigh too much for a Shiver to carry on patrol), the FEN 603A Automatic Pistol (a fully automatic version of the venerable FEN 603 that is much heavier and no body likes because it is unwieldly), and a host of weapon upgrades such as a bayonet mount or Klip Killer reconfiguration to fit standard weapons on armour shoulder mounts. There are several new types of ammunition, like ABC or ‘Airburst Biological Countermeasures’, which have limited applications; new armour options and options for customisation; and vehicles. The new equipment list is not extensive, but all adds to the variety.

Finally, and if players are do not have the time to create their own SLA Operatives, the Operative’s Handbook includes a complete, ready-to-play squad of five Operatives. Complete with biographies, the Squad Arnold Nutter II, heirs apparent to the infamous Squad Arnold Nutter, whose leader, Arnold Nutter, died on camera in Cannibal Sector 1, became hero to the masses, and was subsequently restored to life via the Life After Death process. Still famous, he and his squad have their own television show and his catchphrase is now, “Pigeon!”. Nobody knows why and this is not a good for a squad that looks good on camera, but not all of them want to be members and there are some serious trust and attitude issues between them. The squad would work as media darling NPCs too, but would be fun to play for a short campaign as intended.

The Operative’s Handbook is not quite perfect. As a means to create new SLA Operatives, it is still going to rely upon the content of the core rulebook in places. In particular, equipment and skill definitions. Also, Squad Arnold Nutter II is not a typical starting Squad. It is too high profile for that and playing anyone of its members could be a challenge to the target audience, that is, someone new to the World of Progress and SLA Industries. It probably works better for more experienced players who will appreciate its twisted backstory and set-up. If the supplement is missing anything, it is a map of Mort City.

Physically, the Operative’s Handbook: A Sourcebook for SLA Industries Second Edition is well presented, is full of great artwork as you would expect, and is an easy read. It does need an edit in places.

The Operative’s Handbook: A Sourcebook for SLA Industries Second Edition an impressively useful book. A solid and accessible introduction to the World of Progress and SLA Industries in terms of both setting and rules. As a quicker means to helping create SLA Operatives, it does contain a lot that is old and been reprinted, but that is point, and there is plenty of new content too, especially about the life of a new Operative. All of which the Game Master can read and take inspiration from as much as the player simply reads through it. The Operative’s Handbook: A Sourcebook for SLA Industries Second Edition is good supplement, but not one that the Game Master and her players absolutely have to have in order to play SLA Industries. However, it is undeniably very useful.