Urban Mercenary

## Overview

Bloodmoney is basically a form of sports entertainment. A good analogy in the present is professional wrestling. Bloodmoney has the same level of popularity, and it is viewed much the same way in society. It is seen as spectacle entertainment, or xtreme sport, but not serious professional sport. It's a little too grotesque to be part of the mainstream, but very popular - and profitable - nonetheless.

Bloodmoney itself is fairly straightforward. For example, in Bloodmoney: **Urban Mercenary**, a number of competitors are outfitted in identical armor, given energy weapons and they all try to capture the logos from each other's armor. There are a couple of different ways that the winner can be determined - it may be the last one standing, or it may be the one who has collected the largest number of logos in a set amount of time.

## Armor

The armor is designed to do two things - protect the wearer and standardize the physical powers of the competitors. Because cybernetics, retroviruses and other such augmentations are readily available, it would be virtually impossible to have anything resembling a fair or even interesting competition if the competitors were allowed to compete without some kind of throttling. The game would basically come down to a competition between medical technologies, instead of a game of skill. Consequently, every competitor's armor compensates for both their strengths and weaknesses, making everyone equal in strength, visual acuity, etc. Natural advantages, like quick mental reflexes are not affected.

This is not innately a blood sport. That is to say, the intention is not to have anyone get killed. It happens sometimes, but the objective is actually to have people be able to return and develop a fan base. Sufficient damage inflicted to a player's armor will disable them and allow you to grab their logo. This does not mean that a high powered shot taken on sufficiently damaged armor could not kill the player inside, but that is an exception, not a rule. To this end, the equipment is very specially designed.

The armor is part of a system, consisting of retroviruses and nanotechnology which is used to sustain the life of players who are physically injured during competition. In addition, medical, cloning and organ generation facilities are available onsite, providing the possibility of resuscitating or rebuilding even those players who are killed in the course of the game.

## The Weapon

The weapon, an EKD-7 (Effective Killing Device, 7th issue) is an energy pulse weapon. The gun has variable power and aperture settings which allow a wide variety of uses, from a very narrow high power sniper beam to a wide angle room clearing blast, to a fast repeating low power stream. This allows the player to tailor the gun to best suit the way that they play and the situation they are in.

**How do you power this stuff?**

Tokamak. Fusion reactor. On your back. In a very, very strong alloy case. What? Are you chicken?

## How to Join

There are many levels of competition to Bloodmoney. Bloodmoney started out as a traveling show and that element of the game continues to go on. Local competitions are held on a regular basis and anyone who wants to play can apply. There is a physical and some basic testing done to make sure that each player is fit and talented enough to compete. Once you've passed that, you just pay your entrance fee and you are able to compete. Local competitions are done with far less powerful weapons and armor. They are only broadcast on lower channels, and are usually only of interest to the local audience. The purses are also smaller, usually a cut of the gate and entry fees.

The next level up is regional. While each level is open to anyone who can pass the tests and pay the fee, most people need the experience of having played locally in order to really be competitive at this level. Regional events are held regularly (monthly?) and have a fairly broad audience. You will see some very good competition at this level.

Regional Winners move on to the finals, which are held quarterly (or so). Finals are held in various cities and are a big broadcast event. Usually, a section of a city is specially selected and prepared for the competition. Areas are chosen to provide the best competition and to allow the best coverage of the game. They are prepared by removing any objects that are too easily damaged, or that would interfere with play. Sometimes obstacles are added to make the competition a bit more interesting, or to attempt to modulate play so that the game flows nicely for broadcast.

Finals winners are celebrities, if only for a short time. Annually, there is a "Best of the Best" competition, which is only open to finals winners or by public challenge. Not all challenges are accepted, and challenge matches have a stiff entry fee, as there is a risk that they will not be very entertaining and people will not want to watch. The winner of the challenge match keeps a large percentage of the entry fees.

Some competitors will compete in as many events as they can, hoping to win a lot and gain prestige, or at least build up their celebrity status enough to parlay it into a job up there. And some are just in it for the money.