Ninjas & Superspies: Introduction to Occupational Character Classes

Palladium Megaverse?!  What's that, by golly?

Well, it's an oft-benighted game system published by Palladium Books, and the basic gist is that all their games are interchangeable, compatible and set in the same universe - the aforementioned Palladium Megaverse.  For a long time I've wanted to run some Palladium, but it was a hard sell at the miniatures club.  Rules are wonky and it doesn't have ... well, miniatures.  Today is a different story, and I find myself in a spot where Palladium isn't just suitable, but might be preferable.

It's all very old-school, you might say.  Lots of guidelines, rather than hard and fast rules.  Yadda yadda.  I will still try to be as close to RAW as possible, depending on which volume of rules we'll be using at the time.  With all the different versions and small differences between each ruleset, there will be some changes from session to session if we move to a ruleset that has a different take on certain things.  I'm being very oblique about all this, but I don't want to give too much away.

So, Palladium uses something called Occupational Character Classes, or O.C.C.'s.  They are basically character classes, but specifically their occupation rather than race.  In Palladium, if a class is a race, it's called an R.C.C., or Racial Character Class.  It's kinda loose with this, and sometimes you can actually gain both an R.C.C. and an O.C.C. ...but really you should only think of that as an accidental by-product of play rather than any kind of advancement scheme you can map out.  There are uncountable character classes in the multiverse, so we'll do like we usually do and bite chunks off the giant beast.

Today, we're going to be jamming some Ninjas & Superspies!

Welcome to the Meta-Concern Authority.

Below are listed the O.C.C.'s and their general bents.  It might seem a little abbreviated and non-specific, but most of these classes are mostly equal, otherwise.  Not a lot of that matters before we dig into the weeds, because you can't really min/max a Palladium game.  You can try for high numbers, but that's about it (and you won't get many anyway).

• Martial Artist
• Kung-Fu / Ninja, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat / Bruce Lee types.
• Dedicated Martial Artist: Has the most Kung-Fu's.
• Worldly Martial Artist: Has less Kung-Fu's than Dedicated Martial Artists (but still more than other classes) but has a few other skills to make up for it.
• Espionage Agent
• High-dollar spy types from all tropospheres.  James Bond / Jack Ryan / Lorraine Broughton types.
• Wired Agent - Lots of skills and cybernetics also.
• Gadgeteer Agent - Has Gidgets and gadgets for all your spy network needs.
• Operative Agent - Has the most skills.
• Free Agent
• For those with attachment issues.  Carmen San Diego / Mike Hammer / Hudson Hawk types.
• Wandering Free Agent - Has lots of freedom.
• Professional Free Agent - Has slightly less freedom, but more resources.
• Thief - Is free to be thief-y.
• Mercenary
• Gun-toting Chuck Rambo / Van Damage-types.
• Veteran Grunt - Has the most guns.
• Cyborg Soldier: Has lots of guns, but also robot-parts for pitying fools.
• Academy Officer: Has guns, but mostly skills.
• Gizmoteer
• For those who like to build stuff.  Q / MacGyver / MacGruber / A-Team in a Shed types.
• Tinker Gizmoteer - Is the most build-y of all.
• Dreamer Gizmoteer - Builder with more diverse skills.
• Gizoid Gizmoteer - Can build lots of stuff, but loves cybernetics very much.

It's really kind of hard to go into further specifics without just bringing out all the information in the book.  Honestly, the entire book is filled with the options these characters have.  Without players actually perusing the book in their own time, Palladium character creation sessions take ... well, entire sessions.  Just pick one that looks the coolest to you and we'll muddle through the creation process, exploring your options as we go.