On the island of Metavira, a scientist named Jack Richards has lost control of the Fallow trees that produce a valuable medicinal compound. The man who took them, Santino, is not interested in negotiating. Your job is to hire mercenaries from a roster of sixty individuals, each with their own skills, their own personalities, and their own tolerance for being talked down to. Jagged Alliance invented the template for squad-based tactical RPGs built around character: the combat is sharp, but the personalities are the point.