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[Thayan]

With the close release of Bounty head Bebop we at heroic Journey Publishing felt we should let everyone know whats going on. So over the next few weeks we will be following Thomas Edwin. A Ex Military turned Bounty Hunter as he walks us through Bounty Head Bebop. This is your chance to find out All there is to know and more about the World and Mechanics of Bounty Head Bebop.

As New chapters are released I will update and post here.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Bounty Head Bebop…Rookie…
Chapter 2: Drawing a Bead on Bounty Head Bebop
Chapter 3:  It's All in the Roll of the Dice
Chapter 4: Sometimes Fate Smiles on You, Rookie
Chapter 5 - To Serve and Protect?
Chapter 6 - What Happens in Vegas...
Chapter 7 The Jovian “People’s” Confederacy
Chapter 8 - Final Lesson

[Thayan]

Welcome to Bounty Head Bebop…Rookie…

Okay, listen up! The name's Thomas. Thomas Edwin. If you're here, it means you think you have what it takes to earn a bounty. You and everyone else.

Sure, being a bounty hunter sounds like fun and games. Maybe you think you're special. That you're gonna make it. Well, let me tell you, I've seen a lot better noobs come through here and they didn't make it through their first job. They never even saw the bounty.

Still here? Well, let's get on with it. That's what they pay me for. Someone figures its cheaper to pay me to talk you out of this madness than it is to clean up after one of yous buys the farm.
Well, over the next couple of weeks, here's what I'm going to tell you.

First, yer gonna get what Bounty Head Bebop is all about. Let you know who you're going to be shooting at and who is going to be supplying the guns.

Then, we'll talk about the I-20 System and how you move, shoot, fly space craft, and use psychic powers.

Next, I'll show you some of the special features of Bounty Head Bebop so you know what makes it special.

After that, you'll get up close and personal with the artists and writers of the game. Something you'll never do with your bounty. Then you'll get some Actual Play so you know what chasing a bounty is all about.

Once Bounty Head Bebop goes on sale, I'll check back in. Make sure you all are doing okay out in the big bad world of professional bounty hunting. Who knows, maybe you'll actually live. For a while.

Okay, so get ready your intro to Bounty Head Bebop.

[Thayan]

Drawing a Bead on Bounty Head Bebop

So you decided to come back. That’s not too surprising. If you make it to Day Two, you’ll make it until the end of the week before you drop out and head back to whatever hole or station you crawled out of. Don’t worry, we won’t tell Mary Jane back home that you washed out.

So you want to know what Bounty Head Bebop is all about. Well, pardon the history lesson, but it’s 2073. In 2023, a comet destroyed Earth’s moon, creating an unstable wormhole. Pieces of that comet were then use to create more wormholes which eventually got turned into gates. Now, anywhere in the system you wanna go, there’s probably a gate nearby. Boom! Instantaneous travel.

Most of the solar system is settled. From Mercury to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Even Pluto has a penal colony on it, but don’t visit there, rookie.

Some of the planets are run by the Mega-Corps, some by the Underworld (like the weapons dealers of Venus.) Sure, there a few real governments left. City-states rule Mars. The Inuit Nation does a pretty good job running some of what’s left on Earth, but even they’re pretty much the number two man behind the ArgentilŽ. I guess people want opium and slaves more than synthetic whale fat.

Then again, you knew all that, didn’t you? Hey, don’t get too cocky. You never know who your next target is going to be or where they’re gonna to come from. You better know the difference between leisure fishing in Europa and volcano climbing on Io ’cause if you forget to bring a hard radiation suit to one of ‘em, it don’t matter how good of a bounty hunter you are. The rads will kill you dead.

‘Cause in the end, that’s what Bounty Head Bebop is all about. It’s your skills as a bounty hunter against some of the worst scum in the universe.

Bet you want to know how to use those skills. Well for that, you’re gonna have to come back tomorrow.

[Thayan]

It’s All in the Roll of the Dice

Okay, take your seat. Let’s continue.

You want to catch bounties? Well, you ain’t gonna get much done in Bounty Head Bebop if you don’t roll the die once. Bounty Head Bebop uses what’s called the Inverted 20 or I-20 system. This means that the only thing you’re ever going to need is one twenty-sided die (they look like little circles), though having a handful won’t hurt. Beyond that, all you need to do is roll.

Now, you’re probably wondering what you’re looking for when you roll. Good question, rook.

Every roll has what we professional bounty hunters call a target number, or TN in I-20 speak. You find your TN by taking whatever ability makes sense: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Presence then add a base number (3, 5, or more) and then add your skill and whatever modifiers make sense. Here, let me write that down for you.

Ability + Base + Skill + Modifiers = TN

Once you know the TN, roll the die. If you roll under it, you probably do whatever you were attempting. There’s a few exceptions. Opposed rolls are one. In that case, you gotta roll higher than the other player.

Another case is when there is a Minimum Target Number (MTN). For challenges which are extraordinarily difficult, you may have to roll above the MTN, but below your TN. Good luck with that.

Oh, a few more things. If you roll a 1, it’s a Faulty Success. Yeah, you succeed, but it’s not as good as you would have liked. If you roll a 20, it’s a Botch. Not only do you fail, young bounty hunter, you fail in such a spectacular way your corpse is gonna make the evening news.

Of course, there is some hope. You might just roll exactly equal to your TN. That’s called a Critical Success. It means somehow, someway, you do something amazing. Good for you.

And that’s pretty much the basics. You’re all ready to tour this big bad galaxy of ours. Well except for Luck and Surge points. But that’s something for another day.

[Thayan]

Sometimes Fate Smiles on You, Rookie

Now, I know what you’re thinking. This whole I-20 thing, it’s all random. Everything you do as a bounty hunter’s all left to the fall of a single die. Like I said, if you wanna pack it up and head home now, I won’t tell your little girlie friend you washed out.

Still here? Whatever…

Here’s what I ain’t told you yet. In Bounty Head Bebop, it’s not always just the luck of the die. Sometimes you control just a little bit of your own destiny. But don’t get too cocky, yet. I said “sometimes.” If the die always landed exactly how you wanted, this wouldn’t be much of a game, now would it?

So that you rookies have a fighting chance out there, Bounty Head Bebop gives you Luck Points and Surge Points.

Luck Points are exactly what they sound like. Need a break? Want fate to deal you a better hand? Spend a Luck Point. Want to reduce your MTN? Spend a Luck Point? Want a Faulty Success rather than roll? Luck Point? Facing certain death? Spend a Luck Point. I think you get the point.

Surge Points are a little different. There’s something special in all of, yes even you newbie, that erupts when the bullets are whizzing by, the bad guys are closing in, but you still gotta win. With a Surge Point you can be stronger, interrupt your opponents or shake off attacks that would knock you out cold you. That’s the beauty of Bounty Head Bebop.

And no, I didn’t just complement you. These points are limited so if you decide to march into some mark’s compound and start shooting, you’re still gonna end up dead like everyone else.

So that’s it for the I-20 system. Next time, we start investigating the world of Bounty Head Bebop. There’s lots of danger out there. You better know what to expect.

[Thayan]

To Serve and Protect?

Sit down. Be quiet. Take your places. Today is when we get serious. It’s a dangerous Universe out there. You better know what the hell is going on.

In Bounty Head Bebop, the entire Solar System is your playground. All the planets, or at least their moons, have been colonized. Billions of people live amongst the stars living, dying, committing crimes. Someone has to make sure everyone stays in line.

What you think that’s you, bounty header? Riiiiggghttt…

No, the real force for law and order in the Universe is the Solar Systems Policing Bureau or what you might call the SSPB. Yes? Question? Am I wearing the uniform of the SSPB? You bet it is. Someone has to pay my check, might as well be them. Besides, after you work someplace for twenty-five years of your life, sometimes they look after you…

So yeah, the SSPB exists to bring law and order to Solar System. We patrol space and we have bureaus on-world just about everywhere. We catch the bad guys. We serve and protect.

No, don’t even ask. If the SSPB is here, why do we need you? You think the SSPB can’t handle it?

All I can say is the Solar System is a big place. A damn big place. And a few extra people can’t hurt. That’s where you come in. We send you after the bad guys. They use their ammo on you, then SSPB comes in and takes ‘em down. Nice and clean like.

Oh, and those rumors about corruption in the SSPB? Just rumors. And there were a few bad seeds, but they’re gone now.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about Vegas. But only because we have to.

[Thayan]

What Happens In Vegas …

Okay, time to gather ’round rookies. Yes, get out of your seats and come here. Look, I’m gonna tell you some stuff and see, I’m turning off the recorder. No monitors. Nothing that gets said for today goes beyond this room, got it?

Any of you ever been to Venus? Stayed at Venus Vegas? Lost a few writ at the tables? Maybe bought you some love. A few of you been? Everyone else has heard of it, right? The Sunset Kingdom, the gambling, the paradise, the ladies.

Have you heard of the crime? Really? You know how many millions of writ in guns, high explosive, and heavy weapons pass through Venus every year? Not smiling any more are you? That’s right. The bounties you all are so ready to hunt are in Vegas right now buying missiles, tranq rounds, sunflare rounds, sniper rifles, and pump action grenade launchers.

And guess what? Those guns are going to be pointed at you. Those rounds are going to be fired at you. You still want to be a bounty hunter?

No, I’m not telling you this to scare you. Not this time. You’ve made it this far and I’m thinking you might make it to the end. So you have to know that if you need a gun and you can’t get it anywhere else, you can find it on Venus. You need a space mine? I know a guy who will sell you one on Venus. Posion? Nerve gas? Vegas baby, Vegas.

But here’s the other thing you need to know. Crime. Runs. Venus. The whole world. Yeah, the French seem like they’re on the up and up, but the French love their guns. Which means the French love their gun buyers. And no matter if you’re just a kid and his girlfriend, an old lady, or a man on his honeymoon, if you cross someone about to make a sale you are as good as dead.

An SSPB officer might spend his entire life trying to hunt down all the criminals there and never get justice for those he lost.

Believe me, I know. Now, get the hell out of here and if anyone asks, we talked about Jupiter.

Just get out.

[Thayan]

The Jovian “People’s” Confederacy
This is another one of those days, rookies, where we get a little real.  No, no sit down.  Today, the recorder stays on.  Absolutely everything I am going to tell you is official.

You know Jupiter?  Big gas giant planet?  Sometimes I gotta ask rookie.  Sometimes I gotta ask.  No one lives on Jupiter, but it has moons.  A bunch of ‘em, in fact, and on these moons people live and die under the control of the Jovian People’s Confederacy.  The JPC.

On the surface of things, the JPC isn’t all bad.  A little paranoid and a little crazy with the whole Marxist paradise thing… well, they’re a lot crazy with that, but whatever.  Still, it’s a touch odd that you gotta request access to go to any of their planets.  You touch JPC soil without their say so and it’s bye bye rook.  Watch yourself.

The biggest thing is that they wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t so corrupt.

They have mining operations, they have access to abundant water they can ship off world, they do oxygen mining which they export, but I’ll be a dead rookie if the JPC isn’t the biggest bunch of thieves you ever seen.

Fact is if they weren’t the legitimate rulers of Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Calypso, I’d label them one big crime syndicate and we’d take them all down.  Instead, the rulers of the JPC live on Calypso while the Ministry of Finance and Commerce tells each person how they’re going to live, how they’re going to work, who they’re going to marry, and probably even how they’re going to die.

And all the while the JPC controllers get fat and live on their own private moon thumbing their nose at the rest of us.

I don’t know what to tell you rookies.  If you get a bounty on someone in the JPC, I want you to take it.  But I don’t want to see you dead and the JPC will hit you back.

I will tell you what I do know.  Every so often, you’ll see a mission come out.  Not a bounty so much as a search and rescue op.  SSPB don’t like people going outside us, but every now and someone will money will reach out to one of you.

See some people get permission to land on Calypso and they’re never heard from again.  We hear rumors of slaves working the mines or hunts involving humans.  Of course, they’re just rumors.  The JPC would never let us in to actually investigate.

So, what I am saying, take one of those contracts with care.  You’re liable to end up missing, too.  But I’ll tell you what.  You find some of those people and bring them home, well, then you will have made something of yourself, wouldn’t you rookie?

Tomorrow we’ll get back to civilization and talk about Mars.

[Thayan]

The Final Lesson

All right, sit down.  You know, that’s the last time I’m gonna get to say that?  Until the next crop comes through, that is.

I’m still going to call you all rookies, though.

 
That’s right, after today, you all graduate.  You will receive a certificate suitable for framing and a license to operate as a bounty hunter anywhere the SSPB has jurisdiction.  Which, for the record, is everywhere.  But before that, we have one more lesson: the city-states of Mars.

There’s a big debate amongst the Venetians and the Martians as to which planet was settled first.  The French, they claim Venus was the first, but near as we can tell, when the Great Migration came, settlers headed to Mars.

And what a shithole they made, too.  No way to terraform Mars, not any more.  Instead, people live, work, work, die, and work inside big environmental domes.  Did I mention they work?

Yeah, Mars has government.  They have lots of them, one per city, actually.  But what they also have are a whole bunch of corporations that have all set up business on the planet.  Why you might ask?  Well two reasons.  One, the Martian work ethic.  Never met a Martian who cared much for trinkets or fashion or the finer things in life, but they go crazy for anything that might make them more productive.

The second is because Martian law lets anyone dump toxic waste into craters on the planet surface and they never pay a fine.

This, however, has lead to a major Martian industry: smog farms.  Carbon from the pollution and the planet’s surface is mined by Martian farmers to make synthetic fuel and plastics.

So why do you mighty bounty hunters-to-be care about Mars?  Well, think of each Martian city-state as its own urban sprawl, complete with its own organized crime.  Hard to tell if it’s the all the people or the crime families, but if you need to make some money fast, I’m sure there’s a job to be found on the red planet.

Two more things I’ll tell you rookies and then you can get out of here.  First, people on Mars, they carry guns and they know how to use them.  If you do not come correct to a Martian, you better be able to dodge bullets.

Oh, and the other thing.  Watch your prey.  Find his weakness.  Shoot straight.  Come home alive.

Now, get out of here.  The Universe is yours.