Judge Dredd RPG: Order Out Of The Chaos Campaign Part I

 Judge Dredd RPG: Order Out Of The Chaos Campaign

Introduction: After embarking upon my recent foray into the world of professional GMing, I started work on writing my Judge Dredd Campaign. Intended to run for 7 sessions as my weekly group wants to run a campaign up to Christmas, I thought the time was right to share a few - spoiler light - details about my campaign which I'd be delighted to run for any interested parties! This post explains the era and setting as well as providing full details of the Sector House and key personnel. Part II will provide a map of the Sector and provide key information on some notable locations.

First of all, here's the video trailer!

Judge Dredd logo (c) Rebellion 2000AD

Campaign Setting: 

Location: Mega-City One, MegCentral, Sector One. Built upon the ruins of Manhattan, it is home to the Grand Hall of Justice, the infamous Statue of Judgement and the lesser-known Statue of Liberty.

Date: April 14th, 2101. 

Mega-City One by Ron Smith (c) Rebellion 2000AD

Specifics: Hours after the insane Judge Cal plunged to his death from the Statue of Judgement, in the dying embers of what had been decreed "Death Day" for all of Mega-City One, a team of Judges are redeployed to Sector One. 

Mission: To restore law and order in Sector One.

Background: Many of Sector One's finest Judges fell, quite literally in many cases, in Dredd's final push against Cal. With the Sector House understaffed and stretched far beyond capacity - and with furious citizens venting their wrath across the city streets - the new recruits quickly find themselves embroiled in the resulting fallout from Cal's Death Day. The mission may be to restore law and order, but the first order of the day will be survival! Tested to their absolute limits, can the Judges live long enough to make it to their Sector House - and if so, can they deliver order out of the chaos?  

Sector House One:

Although the Grand Hall of Justice itself is in Sector One, there is a separate Sector House which oversees Justice Department's operations in the area. All of the Sector's local Judges are based here.

Sector House by Carlos Ezquerra (c) Rebellion 2000AD

Sector House One Technical Data:

Floors: 300

Staff: 637 (just over half capacity of 11,700) 

Service Roads: 4. On levels 3, 59, 134 and 201. Service Roads on floors 59 and 201 carry most traffic as Medical Labs/Sick Bays and Briefing Rooms are in close proximity to these.

Hoverports: 2. On levels 150 and 230

Vehicle Parks: 4, on same levels as Service Roads

Repair Bays: 2. On levels 58 and 200 (one floor below main Vehicle Parks)

Entrance Hall: 1. On level 5

Elevators: 12 with access to all levels

Stairwells: 4 with access to all levels

Ramps: 1 with access to all levels

Anti-Grav Chutes: 2 with access to all levels

Promenade Areas: 3. On level 30, 150 and 230 (the latter two promenade areas are also linked to the hoverports)

Sleep Halls: 1. On level 149

Sleeping Dormitories: Levels 144-148.

Library/Data Banks: 2. On levels 100 and 200

Forensics Labs: 1. On level 166

Medical Labs/Sick Bays: 2. On levels 60 and 202 (one floor above two of the main Service Roads)

Holding Tanks/Interrogation Units: 1. On sub-level 5

The Vaults (Suspended Animation): Sublevel 3

Briefing Rooms: 2. Briefing Room B is on level 57 and Briefing Room A is on level 199 (two floors below two of the main Service Roads)

Quartermaster Stores: 2. On levels 56 and 198 (beneath the Briefing Rooms)

Control Centre: 1. On level 297

Armoury: 1. On level 298

Sector Chief Washington's Offices: Level 300

Divisional Head Offices: Level 299

Key Personnel:

Sector Chief Washington: With over 30 years experience - 24 on the streets and 6 as Sector Chief - she is one of Sector One's most highly decorated and respected Judges. Her request to take the long walk for her failure during Cal's reign was denied by the new Chief Judge, Griffin. Instead, she has been tasked with restoring order to Sector One as the Justice Department seeks to restore their reputation and grip on Mega-City One. It is her fervent desire to see it done.

Her no-nonsense attitude and intolerance to insubordination have largely won her overwhelming respect and admiration from her Judges, but there is a small but vocal minority who believe that she has been off the streets for too long and is increasingly losing touch with rank and file Street Judges.

She can be found on level 300, but Washington does not believe in hiding behind her desk. Her style is to attend Judge briefings as often as she can, and to make herself as visible and as accessible as possible to everyone under her command.

Sector Chief Washington

Deputy Sector Chief Butler: A Street Judge who served under Dredd for a few years, Butler was a highly competent Street Judge, but his aptitude for politics has seen him enjoy a meteoric rise to Deputy Sector Chief at a relatively young age (he is in his late thirties). It is rumoured that he and Dredd had a falling out over his desire to leave the streets to focus on administration - and the two are rarely seen, if ever, in the same room these days.

Having now served as Deputy Sector Chief for five years, his meteoric rise has come to an abrupt halt and the chatter in the dorms is that Butler was crushed when Griffin refused Washington's request to take the long walk. That said, Butler is known to be warm and approachable and has a sense of humour which Dredd no doubt believes is unbecoming for a Judge.

Deputy Sector Chief Butler

Senior Street Judge Dredd: Little needs to be said about Judge Dredd! Easily the city's most feared and famous lawman, he has cracked several cases in Sector One, notably capturing the notorious Judge killer Whitey who had been operating out of the Empire State Building and of course for turning the tide during the Robot Wars of 2099. Although he has spent a lot of time away from Sector One of late - notably acting as Marshall on Luna-1 and then navigating his way across the hell of the Cursed Earth to deliver the vaccine to the 2T(FRU)T virus that almost wiped out Mega-City Two - Dredd has made his return to the Sector in recent months. His rebellion against Cal was formed in the Undercity below Sector One and it culminated with Dredd defeating Cal on the Sector's most recognisable landmark, the Statue of Judgement.

Judge Dredd on patrol in Sector One by Mick McMahon (c) Rebellion 2000AD

Chief Medical Officer Johnson: As her profession would warrant, she is known to be one of the Sector House's most compassionate Judges. Though other Judges regard her as being "soft", she is no less organised for it. Her team of Med-Judges have a reputation as being some of the city's finest, with students from the nearby Academy of Law often being sent in to experience learn from them in a real environment. Indeed, the Academy of Law have felt her knack for nurturing raw talent would be better put to use there, but Johnson believes that it is more important to save lives rather than theorise on the subject.

Chief Forensic Scientist Durand: A highly gifted, but notoriously volatile character, Durand has ruffled feathers with just about everyone who has ever had the misfortune to have to deal with him. Anyone who tampers with equipment in his labs or questions his judgement tend to end up getting "the hairdryer treatment". The complaints file on him may be a mile long, but Sector Chief Washington has shown no appetite for having him replaced...yet.

Chief Technician Beaker: Often regarded as something of a joke figure due to having something of an accident-prone nature, Beaker is softly spoken and knowledgeable, but lacks the authority his position requires. It is said that he will only meet with Durand when circumstances demand it, and although the background to this remains unknown, it seems likely that Durand said something which Beaker took to heart.

Chief Psi-Judge Crothers: A protege of Judge Feyy, Crothers is an exceptional talent. He also also very friendly, but many Judges feel uneasy around him as he has a strange way of staring at them when he speaks. He is no doubt aware of the disparaging label of "Creepy Crothers" that some of the Sector's less respectful Judges call him.

Exorcism Division Chief Judge Rubinstein: Although she technically serves under Crothers in Psi Division, Rubinstein has autonomy over the growing Exorcism Division and their small team of Judge Exorcists. Most Judges regard the Exorcists as even more kooky than the Psi-Division and Rubinstein as the living embodiment of this, mostly because of her diminutive stature. For her part, Rubinstein is well-used to her fellow Judges underestimating her, and takes a quiet pride when she confounds their expectations.

Wally Squad Chief Kodolphin: A typical Wally Squad loon, Kodolphin and his squads have infiltrated criminal organisations across the Sector. His personality has been known to shift as he changes up his character and appearance on an infrequent basis. He claims there is "method" in his madness.

Interrogation Chief Noonan: An intimidating though far less verbal character than Durand, Noonan's domain is the Holding Tanks and Interrogation Cells in the sub-levels of the Sector House. He has a high success rate in extracting confessions from perps and is well-respected in the Sector House as a consequence. His gruff and no-nonsense attitude has left some Judges speculating that he may in some way be related to Dredd.

SJS Chief Scianetti: Crothers may be creepy, Noonan intimidating and Durand devastating, but the most feared person in the Sector House is also the oldest! Speaking with bared teeth and with a voice which has a light musicality to it, "Skullface Scianetti" has been the scourge of corrupt Judges for decades and is loathed for it. Despite having been a confidante of Fargo, and perhaps because of his record, Sector One's Judges are clamouring for Scianetti to be investigated for complicity in Cal's rise to power: given that Cal was the head of the SJS before he seized power, it seems almost inconceivable that Scianetti is an innocent by-stander. Nonetheless, he is a formidable and so far unmovable figure in the Sector House.

Chief Mechanic Theremin: Though she is a superb mechanic, she is overly attached to the Lawmasters, Pat and H-Wagons that enter her Repair Bay on Level 58. She tends to the vehicles with a care and intensity of attention that some Med Judges would aspire to when dealing with their patients.

Quartermaster Gunderson: A former Street Judge herself, Gunderson was an excellent detective, but was pulled from the streets for being deemed as too lenient in her application of the law - a dangerous trait for anyone teamed up with her. Left on her own most of the day, she is always happy and eager to see any Judges and notoriously enjoys gossiping about the Sector House's internal politics. 

B-Team One: The new team of Judges are assigned to B-Team One (named after the Briefing Room they attend on level 58). 

Senior Street Judge Moeki: The senior officer in charge of Briefing Room B, Moeki oversees all teams under his command, but still spends most of his time on the streets. Known to encourage coordinated teamwork between his squads, Moeki has received commendations for keeping his Judges motivated and for keeping them focussed on breaking major cases across the Sector. Before Cal's reign, Moeki had overseen major stings that resulted in the city's major crime syndicates drastically reducing their operations in the sector. 

Moeki has a friendly demeanour, but is just as capable at tearing strips off Judges who he feels are underperforming or insubordinate. His modus operandi is to encourage squads to work the streets and find narks to expose organised crime in the Sector. This has led to charges that Moeki is guilty of inconsistencies in the application of the law, that his teams tend to ignore minor misdemeanours in favour of dealing with far more serious crimes. Among many others, he is the senior officer in charge of Stone, Waters, and Hernandez's squads and, following the death of Turnbull's squad in the overthrowing of Cal, has just been put in charge of a new squad of Judges.

Street Judge Stone: One of Sector One's greatest veteran Street Judges, Stone has failed to climb through the ranks because he has little time for social niceties and no interest in politics. His home is in the saddle of his Lawmaster and when he returns from his shift, he often tells the mechanics in the Repair Bays what parts need repaired or replaced, and how the engine can be finely tuned to further improve it. Some of the rumour merchants believe he and Chief Mechanic Theremin have an overly close bond - probably born out of their love for their vehicles.

Street Judge Waters: Efficient, dependable, level-headed, Waters has an excellent reputation and is strongly tipped to climb up the ranks in Sector One. Few would begrudge her promotion as she is well-liked.

Street Judge Hernandez: Sector One's poster boy, often wheeled out when the Justice Department need some positive PR. Some believe he enjoys the celebrity it brings him.

And then there's the new team of Judges...are YOU one of them?

Watch this space for more details about my Sector One Campaign!