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Firstly:
-Characters tend to bring a bunch of generic types of powers to the table, players should be able to pre-select what they want to contribute separately from how they describe their character. An aristocrat can be an assault, defense and intelligence unit; or they can be an other combination of powers that they bring to the table
Secondly:
-Character roles should be things that have to do with what they bring to the story in terms of their personalities and character design. These roles will help shape the roleplay that the characters engage in.
Thirdly:
-I don't want the game system to collapse if everyone wants to play a Heavy-Metal adventurer, with one person wanting to be a kobold sidekick; or everyone wanting to be robots or Warhammer 40k Orks.
Fourthly:
-While I want the system to be pretty wide open and generic, it's very obvious that I donotwant the baggage of "every fighter is a mundane warrior, and thus gets the fucking shaft for some reason; so while the "roles" are seemingly generic, and powers seem universal; the entire power rating of the system is not crap-on-crap-on-crap (dirt on dirt farmers on a dirt farm argvtbrtn;qwrnbqwrtnqwrn... no, just no). I want more Heavy Metal than I want badly done Tolkien rip-offs. Honestly, Tolkien is pretty Heavy Metal too.
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In a War Party there are six important things to consider:
Every Unit fulfils one of three Roles:
Assault [Take Objectives, Flank Enemy]
Defence [Hold Objectives, Ambush Enemy]
Missile [Support Allies or Barrage Enemies]
Note: any unit may "engage", "fire", "move" (tactical) or "travel" (strategic); the above are simply what the units are best at accomplishing.
Really, I should be breaking it down to two types of actions "engage" and "attack"; but while Sun Tzu is right, it's boring and seems to simple for most people.
Intelligence [perform recon, obfuscate units]
Command [improve units, demoralize enemies]
Supply [improve travel, provide requisition]
Each character must select the type of Monstrosity that they wish to be depicted as (see below); then select 3 Roles or Structures that they wish their character to operate under.
Normally a military unit has one of the above 6, and two if they are elite or important. However the Player Characters are not pawns in the battlefields of the world, and are rated to be at least officer-grade chessmen. At the very least. Since more detail is focused on them, they can easily have a wider range of skills, as might be seen in films such as The Great Escape (where engineers, spies, mules, forgers, quartermasters and miners operate under the noses of Nazi guards; and all of them also have "soldier" training as well). However with a cast of less than twelve, and as low as three, having characters have 3 types of things to bring to the table doesn't mean anyone is going to step on one person's toes completely.
A character may only have 2 Roles or Structures at creation, not 3; and while characters may change their Roles or Structure; they will always have 3 total divided unevenly between the two types of options.
However, that's not how you pick the characters of the party; the party is made up of 6 flavours of character the major types of monstrosities: Animated, Childlike, Mechanical, Bestial, Alien and Inhuman.
why have I done this? I want mechanics and flavour to be pre-seperated. You can very well have a game where the "bug monsters" are represented by a Defense/Assault Intelligence scout/tank; and a Missile Command/Supply artillery/support unit.
Also, using the most bare description of the core elements that could be used to describe military units
Also, character groups can be made up of three people minimum, and be fine; even going to two or one character is viable. A six-man band is thus no problem to be supported; and I don't have to worry about the first two main parts of the Game Design Flowchart; design the 6 person party; then the 3 person party.
The 6 options are pretty straightforward, other things like area of effect, status effects and the like are things anyone/everyone can get. I don't care if everyone uses grenades, or eye-beams; that's sometimes exactly what you want in a story.
Inanimate Monstrosity: , Anything from a Candycane to a Pencil. IMs are some sort of inanimate object that is given enough extremedies to move about and hold things; then has their 'head' or 'body' entirely covered in rows of eyes. Combining both the uncanny and the familiar, IMs are described as the spirits from an other realm inhabiting the form of a local object, and modifying it so that they may aid in heroic endeavours.
Role: Sarcasm/Eagerness Assistance of others; not always helpful, sometimes a threat.
Inspirations:
-Mr. Butts (Doonesbury)
-Clip-It (MS Word)
-Lumière (Beauty and the Beast)
-Pinocchio (Pinocchio)
-Renardine (Gunnerkrieg Court)
-Colonel Sweeto/Agent Sweets (Perry Bible Fellowship)
Childlike Monstrosity: Small, caroonish, large eyed, and fond of other creatures (fluffy, scaly or clicky). The Childlike Monstrosity is (sometimes) very hard to bring oneself to harm. Creatures ranging from Orphan Annie to The Power Puff Girls fit into the role of Childlike Monstrosities. Additionally, creatures like Needle from Conan the Adventurer, Apu the Monkey, and other small companion creatures fit into the role. Sometimes a Childlike monstrosity can be cruel or vicious (Killer Toys); or even old and pedantic (Zazu, Lion King).
Role: [Idealism/Jadedness], Inspire personal ethos in others (good, evil, law, chaos), often the group's pet/monster-rancher; or the group's pet
Inspirations:
-Power-Puff Girls
-Needle (Conan the Adventurer)
-Apu (Aladdin)
-Zazu (The Lion King/ Kimba the White Lion)
-Bun-Bun (Sluggy Freelance)
-Scooby-Doo
Mechanical Monstrosity: Machine monstrosities straddle the realm between the energy of the mind and solidity of metal. Their mechanical minds are focused on single tasks, usually killing.
Role: [Callousness, Amoral] Focuses on goals, often imbalanced. Mechanical Monstrosities tend to be Intelligent.
Inspirations/Examples:
-Hammerstein et. al. (ABC Warriors)
-T-800 (Terminator)
-Obliterators (Warhammer 40k, Chaos)
-Full Conversion Cyborgs (Rifts)
-Warforged (D&D)
-Golem (Rabbi of Loew, Prauge)
-Johnny 5 (Short Circuit)
-IG-88 (Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back)
-HK-47 (Star Wars: KotOR)
-Cyborg (Teen Titans)
-Jones (Gunnerkrieg Court)
-Batman (any gear-heavy using version)
Bestial Monstrosity: Creatures that look like animals more than they look like peoples. Often more friendly than their appearance lets on.
Role: [Concern, Moral] Voice of reason, Outside Point of view. Bestial Monsters tend to be Wise.
-Werewolves (Medieval Serial Killer myth-explanations)
-Beast (Beauty and the Beast)
-Wolverine (X-Men)
-Beast (X-Men)
-Chewbacca (Star Wars)
-Wickit (Ewoks)
-Hawk-Girl (Justice League (Unlimited))
Alien Monstrosity: Looks weird in a group of monsters.
Alien monstrosities are the only ones who can take penalties to one power to add to an existing power. Trading the ability to move on your own power for owning a crime ring; trading canny appearance for being made of fire and wings; having an acid-based biochemistry for the ability to communicate verbally [unsure on this]
Role: [Outwardly Alien, Inwardly Familiar] The unusual in appearance, but very similar to humans in description. Every bizarre alien fighting for the same rights as the villain-protagonist Humans is an Alien Monstrosity. Of course, run amok, an AM could be excessive.
-Alien (H. Giger; also some movie series with Sigorney Weaver)
-Fiendish/Angelic creatures (7-winged angels, burning wheels, etc.; The Bible)
-Jabba the Hutt (Star Wars)
-Ariel (The Little Mermaid)
-J'honn (Justice League (Unlimited))
Inhuman Monstrosity:
Blocking enemy movement, Interposition between allies and enemies
Role: [Familiar, Uncanny Valley] The familiar in appearance, but unfamiliar in thought, action or methodology to their peers. Inhuman Monstrosities tend to be charismatic, but not necessarily charming
Inspirational Ideas:
-Adventurer-Warriors (Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons, et. al.)
-Vampires (Bram Stoker)
-Wizards (Merlin)
-Theseus, Perseus etc. (Demigods/Greek Heroes)
-Witches (Wizard of Oz)
-Sir Eglamore (Gunnerkrieg Court)
-Etriggan
-Richard Upton Pickman
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Aligning the six options with classic story tropes often tagged onto certain types of creatures helps to keep them more defined as roles for players to take on. While players can be Johnny Five and be a good/funny robot; they can also be a guns-for-eyes Obliterator and UBBLITERATE.
I'm not sure if separating tools that a character brings to the group from the mentality and appearance of the character; but I think it might work out well.
all of this is from a sketch that turned out the following six ideas/sketches
Example drawings/creatures/characters:
-Creature from Beyond (form of Candy Cane 'man'; rows of nicitating eyes along the crook of the cane (aka also the 'head'); all creatures of true horror must absolutely have innocuous, child-like, forms that kids would be reminded of either chocolate or lollipops, or chocolate lollipops)
-Tiny Magical Girl, with pet screeching magical kitty, what with the flying and the mind-control powers; also the horrible screeching and shattering of tupperware. D:
-Cyboarguns - Made entirely out of guns, Made Entirely out of Blades, Made Entirely out of real person, Made entirely out of real metal; _heavy metal_. Cyboarguns is the creature made out of entirely _too_much_ stuff; but that's good, because every group is going to have a kill-junkie; and that should be a parody character, always. The super-optimized for combat guy has to be a joke, even if they are as murder-hungry as the entire ABC team, IG-88 and T-800 combined.
-Axemarageor der Askmachopyurheadoff - A Werewolf, in Space Pilot jacket; with a chainaxe, with a cute kitty face on the axehead. Obviously, they're the pilot-navigator. Probably smokes cigars and says "bub" a lot; or quotes famous philosophers before laying the smackdown.
-Buggy Bountyhunter - A bug, with an energy blaster held with one hand; and science-fiction equipment strapped to their carapace.
-Horned Skull Knight - Armour, sheild, large sword, big scary head (or helmet). Probably the only other creature that looks human; but is either a demon, or a cannibal, or a witch or something.