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© & TM 2014 VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. • Project Rising Spirit created to be the perfect weapon. They named Cronus and calling themselves Generation Zero — has taken over the infused him with nanites that provided him with an extraordinary array of Bellagio in Las Vegas. powers, allowing him to accomplish missions with lethal accuracy. He was Project Rising Spirit, however, want the psiots back, and they aren’t the frequently sent to capture super-powered individuals known as psiots, only ones. Toyo Harada — leader of the Foundation, which trains many of them children. However, Bloodshot freed himself from his psiots for a private army, has led a team of his top soldiers to confront programming and turned on his masters, assaulting the P.R.S. facility Bloodshot in the ghost town. where many of the psiots were held. During the conflagration, Bloodshot Meanwhile, Peter Stancheck — a former Harada pupil who had a falling- liberated many psiots, but the children were separated into two groups out with his would-be mentor — has been sent by the enigmatic precog amid the chaos. One is led by Bloodshot, who has led them to an known as the Bleeding Monk to save the children. He leads his Renegades abandoned town in the Nevada desert. A second group — led by a psiot on a mission to recover them…

THE RENEGADES THE HARBINGER FOUNDATION Leader Leader • Peter Stanchek – Troubled youth in possession of vast telepathic and • Toyo Harada – Billionaire founder of the Harbinger Foundation in possession telekinetic powers of vast telepathic and telekinetic powers Members Members • Torque – A disabled young man now blessed with an immensely strong body • Ion – Can produce and control electricity thanks to the psychic projection he surrounds himself with • Stronghold – Is able to gather kinetic energy and then expel it with • Flamingo – Beautiful firestarter that can create and control flame tremendous force • Kris – A non-psiot and brilliant team tactician • Saturn – Possesses the ability to create and control powerful tornadoes • Zephyr – The heart of the team with the ability to fly and cyclones

Peter Stanchek Torque Flamingo Kris Zephyr Toyo Harada Ion Stronghold Saturn

BLOODSHOT & ESCAPED PSIOTS GENERATION ZERO Leader Leader • Bloodshot — The perfect soldier. His bloodstream is infused with nanite • Cronus – Militant leader of Generation Zero. Possesses vast healing abilities technology giving him a range of post-human abilities that can be used to destroy cells as well Members Members • Clem – Can control the minds of living beings Sample• Thefile Telic – Possesses precognitive abilities, allowing her to see into the • Cloud – Obscures peoples’ thoughts, allowing Clem to take them over immediate future • Serenade – Is able to manipulate the emotions of others via pheromone • Traveler – Can teleport by quickly slipping into and out of an unknown space emission • Isiah – Projects an impenetrable shield around himself at all times • Ramsey – Possesses the ability to control and manipulate hard light objects • Hive – Can absorb the thoughts and memories of others, storing them in • Graham – Can psychically project a father, mother, and sister that appear his mind real to onlookers • Astral – Can project her consciousness outside of her own body • Baxter – Is able to unleash a terrifying monster conjured from deep within • Atomus – An extremely fast flyer his imagination • James – Holds a powerful telepathic link with his sister, Katherine • Katherine – Holds a powerful telepathic link with her brother, James • Howl – Ability to raise the dead • Maggie – Powers unknown • Eliphas – Can mimic any power, talent, or ability that he sees

Clem Cloud Serenade Ramsey Cronus The Telic Traveler Isiah Hive

Graham Baxter Katherine Maggie Bloodshot Astral Atomus James Howl Eliphas

PLAYER WARNING: Players should remember these are the quick-start rules. Every effort has been made to ensure an enjoyable and immersive experience at your gaming table. However, this is just a taste of all the action from the full rulebook. Due to the limited nature of these rules, there may be some disconnect between the game stats shown and what a player might expect from reading the comics. Rest assured that the full rules, including the two-page characters sheets (as opposed to the one-page character sheets for these quick-start rules) will more fully reflect a player's expectations surrounding their favorite characters.

Design: Rian Hughes THEH.A.R.D. RENEGADES, CORPS PART 1: ON THE RUN

From the Journal of Major Charlie Palmer

Just when you think you’ve left your old life behind for good, part of it always finds a way to sneak back up on you when you least expect it. I lived by myself in northern Canada all these years because solitude was the only way to keep the past where it belonged. Staying half frozen kept me out of trouble, kept my soldier’s instincts from kicking in and ripping people in half at even the slightest annoyance. Out there, I had no one to kill, nothing to shoot except for deer, elk, and maybe the occasional wolf. I had no one to fight except my own memories of serving in the Harbinger Active Resistance Division. Now all of that’s changed. The current assistant director of Project Rising Spirit came all the way out to the North Pole to tell me that it’s time for me to kill again, that I have no choice because PRS owns the tech in my head—that they own me. PRS got some of the old gang back together. To get ourselves back up to speed, Kozol’s got me and the boys going over some old mission briefs back from the good old days. Back from when we still young, still full of piss and vinegar. Now we’re just a bunch of old fogies with mental problems, health issues, and lord only knows what else. Shakespeare, he’s got brain cancer from the tech that makes our bio-config powers work. Other than him being tired all the time, I’d never have guessed he had any medical condition other than just being old. His gray matter’s still good enough to remember all those quotes from the Bard; he’s got one for every occasion. Maniac—I don’t know how Kozol convinced him to join back up. Poor guy’s become a pacifist hippie in his old age. I don’t know if he’s still got what it takes. Can I trust him to cover me when the bullets and psionics are flying? At least Hammerhead doesn’t seem like he’s changed all that much since I last saw him. He’s still a soldier through and through, ready to get the job done. I’ll probably be relying on him the most. Can we four has-beens actually pull this off? Can we get in there and kill some psiot kids before they endanger anyone else? Or will these memories keep me from pulling the trigger again?

CATALYST GAME LABS VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT Cue System Game Design Matt Heerdt Chairman Peter Cuneo Additional Game Design Randall N. Bills CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani Project Development Randall N. Bills Sample file CFO & Head of Strategic Gavin Cuneo Production Assistance Bryn K. Bills Development Writing Randall N. Bills Publisher Fred Pierce Philip A. Lee Editor-in-Chief Warren Simons Editing Jason Schmetzer VP Operations Walter Black Cover Artwork Barry Kitson Director of Marketing, Hunter Gorinson Graphic Design & Layout Ray Arrastia Communications & Digital Media Additional Graphics David Kerber Sales Manager Atom! Freeman Artwork ?? Production & Design Manager Travis Escarfullery Associate Editor Alejandro Arbona Assistant Editor Josh Johns Logo & Trade Dress Design Rian Hughes Operations Manager Peter Stern Operations Coordinator Robert Meyers President, Consumer Products, Russ Brown Promotions & Ad Sales Vice Chairman Jason Kothari HOW TO USE THIS PDF The following Supplemental is for use with the RPG Quick-Start Rules (which can be downloaded for free on either www.catalystgamelabs.com/valiant or DriveThruRPG.com). Simply replace the Events and Character Dossiers in that QSR with these and you’re off into the action!

©2014 All Rights Reserved. All characters, their distinctive likenesses and related indicia featured in this publication are trademarks of Valiant Entertainment, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Catalyst Game Labs, the Catalyst Game Labs logo and Cues System are trademarks or registered trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC. Printed in the USA.

2 H.A.R.D. Corps H.A.R.D. CORPS, PARTTHE RENEGADES, 1: BLAST FROM PART THE 1: ONPAST: THE G-DAY RUN

HARBINGER ACTIVE RESISTANCE DIVISION STATUS REPORT

From: Morris Kozol, PRS Assistant Director To: US Secretary of Defense Mr. Secretary, you certainly don’t need me to remind you that rogue psiots have been a problem in our society since the second World War. Our efforts to curtail the activities of these dangerous individuals and protect our society from such threats led to the formation of the Harbinger Active Resistance Division and eventually the creation of Project Bloodshot in the 1990s. Once Bloodshot became a proven asset in Rising Spirit’s quest to detain any and all dangerous psiots, Director Kirby decommissioned H.A.R.D. Corps, and its members retired from military service to this great nation. However, the recent circumstances surrounding Project Bloodshot’s AWOL status have led to nearly two dozen unpredictable psiots being loosed upon a vulnerable world unprepared to handle them, and some of them have taken hundreds of people hostage in Las Vegas. Consider this is my formal notice that Rising Spirit is officially reactivating H.A.R.D. Corps. We have begun recalling all surviving members of the division to deal with the hostage situation. Major Charles Palmer (Ret.) will be leading the group. To remind these soldiers of the danger they face and to get them back up to speed ASAP, I am having them review old H.A.R.D. Corps mission logs. I have forwarded you copies of these logs so you can be apprised of the extreme measures H.A.R.D. Corps may need to undertake to finish the job.

From the Archives: Mission Log of Maj. Charles Palmer (1 Apr 1988) I hate April Fool’s Day. Every year, the CO of my old division ready brigade thought he could get away with sounding the sirens at 0-dark- thirty and expect us all to gear up and deploy to some hot spot on the other side of the globe. We’d fall out of our bunks with just a few hours of sleep, grab our kits, and march out to the parade grounds to hop on transports that’d take us to the trouble zone. And every single year, we’d stand in the cold darkness for about an hour while waiting for the trucks to arrive before our CO would call the whole thing off. Tell us we’re not needed. It was a false alarm or some other crap. A CO can only cry wolf so many times before people start lazing about for five minutes, take their time suiting up and gathering their kit, and making a lazy walk to the paradeSample grounds. file For a division ready brigade, those five wasted minutes could mean someone’s life. So forgive my healthy dose of speculation when our orders came down the pipe from Director Kirby today. A psiot on the loose in a major American city? On any other day, I would’ve believed the report without question. Today, though, I’ll admit I dallied for about five minutes before getting in gear. We’re in the air now and en route to the target. I just hope those five minutes didn’t cost someone’s life.

OBJECTIVES

 Bypass military blockade  Search for Subject 10-39 CUES

 no way in  Why are they shooting at us?  Hit the deck!  Anybody in there?  zombie-like civilians  Let’s pick up the pace  hiding in a public place TAGS

 Manhattan  rogue psiot  Subject 10-39  martial law  National Guard  military blockade  Grand Central Terminal

H.A.R.D. Corps 3 H.A.R.D. CORPS, PART 1: BLAST FROM THE PAST: G-DAY

THE SETTING Under martial law, New York City is locked up tighter than a drum. New York National Guardsmen have blockaded all entrances in and out of Manhattan. Bridges and tunnels are swarming with troops and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and two pairs of fighters are flying constant patrols over the island. All of this because of one psiot. ENEMIES/OBSTACLES Scene 1: The squad is attempting to find a missing psiot referred to only as “Subject 10-39.” He—she?—has gone missing, and Rising Spirit managed to track the escapee to Manhattan. His/her powers are unknown. The city is under complete lockdown, and the squad’s objective is deep in the heart of the island. The squad can choose to approach Manhattan from the ground or from the air. Ground approach: Each blockaded entrance to Manhattan consists of a four-man team of National Guardsmen and an M7 MacArthur IFV. The ground troops will engage with lethal force. They cannot be reasoned with and will not respond to any attempt at communication. Aerial approach: If the squad approaches by air, a pair of patrolling F-16s open fire. Each F-16 has the following stats: 15 Armor, Action D10, Vulcan Cannon (Damage 3, Close OK, Near OK, Far OK), Sidewinder Missile (Damage D4, Close —, Near OK, Far OK). The pilots cannot be reasoned withSample and will file not respond to any attempt at communication. Scene 2: Once the squad has found its way into Manhattan, they must find Subject 10-39. The psiot has an embedded tracking chip. Despite the streets being filled with civilians, military patrols of troops and IFVs will open fire on the squad, and they may even try to hunt down the squad. If the squad takes to the air, the military will try to shoot them out of the sky. The squad’s best option is to try maneuvering around Manhattan as quietly as possible, but if they take too long, the National Guard troops will track them and attack. Scene 3: The tracking chip leads to Grand Central Terminal. When the squad arrives outside the station, more troops are lying in wait for them. Once the squad eludes or defeats the troops, they will find Subject 10-39’s tracking chip in the middle of the station floor, bloodied as though it had been cut out of the subject’s own flesh.

4 H.A.R.D. Corps H.A.R.D. CORPS,THE PART RENEGADES, 2: BLAST FROMPART 1: THE ON PAST: THE RUN G+1

HARBINGER ACTIVE RESISTANCE DIVISION STATUS REPORT

From: Morris Kozol, PRS Assistant Director To: US Secretary of Defense In the absence of Director Oreck, allow me to address your concerns about my organization’s culpability in the psiot escape. Rising Spirit learned its lesson the hard way back in ’88, so Director Kirby started putting micro- shrapnel explosives in the brains of psiots in Rising Spirit’s care. If a psiot misbehaved, these charges could be detonated by remote so long as the subject was within range of the kill-switch transmitter. When Director Oreck took over after Kirby’s retirement, he disliked the idea that dangerous psiots were presumed “innocent” (i.e., explosives unarmed) until proven “guilty” (i.e., explosives detonated following disobedience), so he implemented a timed failsafe feature. The explosives can still be detonated at whim, if necessary, but the failsafe acts like a dead man’s trigger: if a psiot’s explosive implant does not receive the proper authorization code once the preset time window expires (1 hour default), the charge will detonate, and the threat will be neutralized. Thus, the psiot is presumed “guilty” (i.e., he is doomed to die within 1 hour if nothing is done) until proven “innocent” (i.e., the authorization code pardons his death sentence). Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, the system used to arm and detonate the implanted explosives was damaged during Project Bloodshot’s attack on Research Facility Theta. The so- called Generation Zero psiots escaped before their failsafes could be armed, and we cannot recalibrate the charges remotely due to damage to the transmitter and the distance between the facility and the children. Rising Spirit performed its due diligence in this matter. The confluence of events that led to Generation Zero’s escape is not the fault of Rising Spirit. In insurance terms, Project Bloodshot’s attack constitutes an act of God, not a failing on our part.

From the Archives: Mission Log of Maj. Charles Palmer (2 Apr 1988) If yesterday was an elaborate April Fool’s prank, someone in charge has a really sick sense of humor. During my military career, I’ve been ordered to do some things I didn’t really enjoy, but this one takes the proverbial cake. Me and my team spent all of yesterday fighting American servicemen. Killing them on American soil, all for the sake of one psiot. MySample own countrymen. file I want to throw up every time something reminds me of that. What I don’t understand is why? Why are they shooting at us? Why are they trying to protect Subject 10-39? Rising Spirit’s not telling us something, and I fear it may get us all killed.

OBJECTIVES

 Locate Subject 10-39  Eliminate Subject 10-39  Prevent civilian casualties CUES

 They’re breaking through!  There’s too many of them!  hordes of mindless people  Head for the rooftops!  leave no man behind  priceless antiquities  I’ve got a clean shot TAGS

 Manhattan  rogue psiot  Subject 10-39  National Guard  civilians  mind control  the Met  kill order

H.A.R.D. Corps 5