Eclipse – Battling Business World

. One of the benefits – and burdens – of the Manifold setting (more information is available over on the d20 tab) we’ve used for the Federation-Umal and Federation-Apocalypse games is that it allows near-complete freedom. Since characters may come from any setting that has ever been imagined – whether or not anyone save the one who originally imagined it has ever heard of it – the players are free to use the Eclipse classless d20 rules (available in print HERE and in a shareware .pdf version HERE) to design their own races, templates, and characters virtually without restraint. Of course, that also makes them responsible for describing the worlds they come from – their histories, their cultures, and the laws of their universe. In fact, since universes try to fit things in consistently, they can also design supplementary backgrounds and abilities – “Identities” – to represent the roles they fall into in different universes.

. The players who don’t feel up to that sort of project can simply use an existing fictional universe – or even a published game background or d20 setting – for their character background and skip the detailed local identities.

. One of the most durable and entertaining settings that a player has come up with so far has been Battling Business World – a world founded on a supposed one-shot animated movie from around 2100 and on the passing fantasies of thousands of frustrated office employees. A world where – since everyone is well aware of the fact that “death” only lasts for a few hours before you come back safe at home, that injuries vanish in minutes or hours at most, and that any collateral damage will also go away in a few hours – everyone feels entirely free to haul out the knives, hammers, and implements of destruction to settle any kind of dispute. Where maltreated equipment fights back. Where one can really get it out of their system.

. That’s the world the Mr Leland has adopted for his own and that Marty the Corporate Raider (rather literally), his assistant Limey the Battle Laptop Computer, and Mr Gelman come from. Their character sheets, updates, the rules and regulations of battling business, and a good deal of other material can be found over on Marty’s player blog. To make it easy to find things there, here are some links:

• Marty Tabard, cheerful Corporate Raider/Viking: Original Character Sheet and Character History, a Picture of a “Typical Day at Work” in Battling Business World, at Third Level, some dimension-specific Identities for Marty, the Determined Emissary’s Amulet (a relic of his), two more Identities – a Nameless Extortionist and The Animator, a comic super-villain, and – finally – his Latest Character Sheet.
• Fred Gelman, Procurement Specialist and Friend to Sentient Office Devices and an extract from his Journal.
• Terry Jenkins, Occult Accountant and the Chosen Champion of the Numbers.
• Jim Corrigan, Road Rager and Psychiatrist.
• Peter Leland, Marty’s Opossum-Obsessed Boss and d20 Opossums.
• The Sentient Office Device template, along with
• Limey, the Sapient Battle Laptop, his Identities, and some Upgrades,
• Life as a Sentient Office Device, Part I and Part II, plus the Sentient Device Profiles for how the various kinds of devices interact with their world.
• The Battling Business Regulations.
• Battling Business World Medicine – and how it does really strange things.
• Abigail Saunders-Tabard, Iron Homemaker. Housewife, Mystical Cook, and Martial Artist.
• Fern, a Sentient BlackBerry.
• Isaac Gelman, a level-one equivalent cartoon child (level zero with +1 ECL race) with a knack with magical medicine and the otter-fey powers he’s recently acquired.
• Ruth Gelman: A young – if very deadly – level one sharpshooter.
• The Number Lord Template: For when mathematics funs amuck.

• The Number Lords: The Number Realm, Lord Zero (The Number Lord of Eternity), One (The Number Lord of Identity).
• Wallbanging: The forbidden addiction.
• The Contract Domain: An exotic domain for Lord Marty.
• Akio Matsuda: A sentient humanoid robot from Battling Business World and the Humanoid Sapient Device Template.
• Battling Business Japan: Anime meets Battling Business World.
• Dr Soloman Brenner: A highly skilled, if monstrously immoral, surgeon from the Linear Realms.
• The Realm Laws and Conventions of Battling Business World.
• Battling Business America: The most commonly-visited section of Battling Business World.
• Bernie “Coach” Thompson, Floorherd: A Battling Business World Stockbroker.
• Battling Business World Britian. One of the major subsettings.
• Todd Jenkins, Battling Business World English Tradationilist-Archer
• Marty’s Updated Identities – The Animator (Crusader Comedic Supervillain), Black Marty (High Seas Pirate Captain), Darrick Rodan (Star Wars Trader), James Tomlinson (Baelarian Mage), Perry Scott (Linear Realms Extortionist), Martin the Noble Macaw Privateer (Anthro Realms), Martin O’Dale (Forgotten Realms Bard and Wereleopard), Sam Monroe (Battling Business World Raid Champion). The original version of  Martin the Macaw can be found HERE.
• Limey’s Level Four Update: He’s becoming quite a powerful laptop.
• Limey’s Updated Identities: Spellbook, Corporate Raider, and Magical Skull.
• Gelman’s Linear Realms Identity: Special Agent Novak (end of article).