"Margins and Dividends" Supplement Thread.

[Dadalos]

I actually look forward to seeing some more options for regrets, far to often I think humanity is seen as kind of ablative armor and your fine so long as its not completely full... so something thats got teeth to make it more 'personal' would , I think, alleviate some of this mindset.

[LordSkys]

I actually look forward to seeing some more options for regrets, far to often I think humanity is seen as kind of ablative armor and your fine so long as its not completely full... so something thats got teeth to make it more 'personal' would , I think, alleviate some of this mindset.

Exactly my thoughts. Right now, the Boom rule is looking like I will be creating tough spots which can be gained at the end of any game you take a crack or crumble in. These would be in addition to the new Regrets, rather than part of a regret themself; but the mechanics are still finicky and not polished enough for public play testing.

I do have a small spoiler though: the Destroy regret for Crumble.

Destroy:
On a failed Self-Control check, the Taker goes into a destructive rage. Gear is destroyed, valuables smashed, and back-ups broken.
Each piece of the Taker's gear immediately rolls for missed upkeep, regardless of whether or not the upkeep was paid this or last session; and each item, including essentials, loses 1d10 charges from the abuse. Fragile items do not break from the loss of charges, and survives the upkeep roll on a critical success. In addition, armor can spend charges to offset the number of charges lost as if they were kill damage. The Taker must roll Self-Control (no humanity damage) for each haul and refresh they are carrying; with failures meaning the hauled goods and/or refresh are destroyed or lost. Treat the event as if a loud weapon went off once.
This can cause threat to Trauma in other Takers in your crew, as the savage rage can spark actual fear in your teammates.

[LordSkys]

Okay, got a basic write up of new and revised pieces for V1.1 of the play test document. All the V1._ play tests will be compiled for V2.0.

Tentative V1.1
Tough Spots
Mechanical Spots (2 New, 1 Revised)
Regret Spots (6 New)
Humanity and Regrets
Crack Regrets (2 New)
Crumble Regrets (3 New)
Gear
New Qualities (2 New)
Drugs and Healthcare (4 New)
Boom/Bust Rules
Boom Rules (4 New)

[Freebird]

From a quick read, that's some great stuff! A couple of the Tough Spots might need a little mechanical balancing, but this is a ton of great ideas!

[LordSkys]

From a quick read, that's some great stuff! A couple of the Tough Spots might need a little mechanical balancing, but this is a ton of great ideas!

Cool! They are in progress so any specific suggestions would be great.

[LordSkys]

Alrighty everyone!

"Margins and Dividends Play Test Rules Document V1.1" is up!

This includes a few new drugs, five new regrets, a few boom rules, some new gear qualities that will be coming up in use in a later version,  a new type of tough spot, and a new tough spot interpretation: the Exotic Bait.

The doc itself also has a dedicated document outline and table of contents, making everything easy to find both online and in print.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I9Y0J2TgzWusMBTR2kMSBddJ3yw7g_NExzX8TVGrZ3g/edit?usp=sharing

As always, suggestions are wanted and appreciated for anything and everything in the document.

[VB3]

How's the supplement going Lord Sky's?

[LordSkys]

How's the supplement going Lord Sky's?

Well, but slow.

I have some revisions that are working out very well in terms of game balance, and some of the pieces are coming together very well.

Personal life is really slowing down the progress, but I hope to get a new PTD out in a little under a month, hopefully much sooner.

[LordSkys]

Hey all!

Sorry about the wait, real life kept dragging me out during the summer.

Anyways, after finally perusing my copy of Veblen Goods, I have had a reason to start working a little harder on the specifics of certain elements within the supplement. I have two directions for the next PTD, which should come out by the end of August; or as two separate PTDs that will have a sooner then later release date.

The first direction is revision and rewriting of mechanics within RM and the PTDs as (sometimes optional) rules, rather than filling niches not explained in the main core book.

The second direction is drone/tech development in the post Crash world. While the ground work had been laid out already, there is a wide world of tech development that the recession has been wanting to feast on. While I'm sure dronkeys and traditional drones make up the majority of "modern" tech development, the loss holds many R+D labs, abandoned prototypes, and DHQS secret hardware.

Anyways, I'll be able to update far more frequently now.

Please make sure to write any specific comments and/or questions about the PTDs already out there so I can answer/address them!

[Dadalos]

The second direction is drone/tech development in the post Crash world. While the ground work had been laid out already, there is a wide world of tech development that the recession has been wanting to feast on. While I'm sure dronkeys and traditional drones make up the majority of "modern" tech development, the loss holds many R+D labs, abandoned prototypes, and DHQS secret hardware.

The idea of raiding lost research labs for caches of cutting edge tech makes me giddy. im something of a tech junkie irl and so that translates well into my fictional exploits. looking forward to seeing everything myself but torn as to which side of the DM's screen I want to be on when all the shiney bits hit the floor. XD.

[LordSkys]

Okay so I am looking at revising the drugs, partially due to Veblen. Anything that really should/shouldn't be added?

Also I am looking at writing an "Advanced Technologies" section for Margins and Dividends. This would have Dronkeys/Drones/RC vehicles on a separate listing from this advanced tech. They would follow rules more similar to vehicles and mostly fall under the Optional Rules / Hacks category.

I will be posting some stuff on this over the next few days.

[VB3]

Cool!

[LordSkys]

Alrighty, so no new doc yet (unfortunately most of this feels too unpolished to put out there yet. But I do have a few things for you guys.

Modifications. The modification is a new type of upgrade that effects gear in different ways. The close and short of it is as follows:

Modification: Gear with the modification quality has a noted number of modifications - upgrades marked with "(Mod)" - that they may have.before they become harder to maintain. For each modification above the number allotted, it costs an additional bounty for upkeep on the item. You may pay for the upkeep on the item without paying the modification upkeep, but that means losing the extra modifications. For instance:

A Dronkey has Modification of 2, so they may have two modifications before it costs more bounty to maintain the dronkey.
I choose to buy the armored and weapons platform modifications. I do not add anything to the cost of the dronkey. If I also add the Carrier modification, it now costs 6 bounty to upkeep instead of 5.

(Note: in this example, Weapons Platform and Armored are Modifications. These are the only two upgrades that become modifications under these rules.)

Tomorrow (it's a little past midnight atm) I will post some of these rules.

[LordSkys]

Alrighty, so no new doc yet (unfortunately most of this feels too unpolished to put out there yet. But I do have a few things for you guys.

Modifications. The modification is a new type of upgrade that effects gear in different ways. The close and short of it is as follows:

Modification: Gear with the modification quality has a noted number of modifications - upgrades marked with "(Mod)" - that they may have.before they become harder to maintain. For each modification above the number allotted, it costs an additional bounty for upkeep on the item. You may pay for the upkeep on the item without paying the modification upkeep, but that means losing the extra modifications. For instance:

A Dronkey has Modification of 2, so they may have two modifications before it costs more bounty to maintain the dronkey.
I choose to buy the armored and weapons platform modifications. I do not add anything to the cost of the dronkey. If I also add the Carrier modification, it now costs 6 bounty to upkeep instead of 5.

(Note: in this example, Weapons Platform and Armored are Modifications. These are the only two upgrades that become modifications under these rules.)

Tomorrow (it's a little past midnight atm) I will post some of these rules.

Here are a few of the items with the new modification rules. Some of these are editted re-posts from other threads.

Dronkey:
Upkeep 5, Charges 10
Effect: A Quadruped drone with limited autonomy. Carries 4 Haul. Requires Profession (Drones) on all skill checks.
Qualities:
Autonomous- Drone operates off the owner’s initiative. Drone performs one tactic or twitch as voice commanded by the owner’s free action. (Taker must be wearing mic relay that accompanies drone)
Charged- Charges can be spent to aid a test.
Fragile- Destroyed with kill damage or missed upkeep.
Loud
Specialized- Profession (Drones)
Modifications- 2 modifications allotted.
Upgrades:
Autocomplete Algorithm- Drone no longer tied to owner’s initiative and triggers whenever owner chooses to use that round’s free action.
Surveillance Suite- Dronkey provides +2 Awareness and Foresight when piloted remotely.
Stealth Servos- Buys off Loud quality.
Armored (Mod)- Dronkey is immune to Stun damage, and all Kill damage costs a single charge to negate.
PA System- Drone equipped with speakers capable of broadcasting any sound the user chooses.
Weapons Platform (Mod)- Dronkey mounted with a capped shotgun can be used while piloted check Profession (Drones) to attack. The shotgun is always treated as Loud.
Carrier (Mod)- The Dronkey is modified with 2-4 extra legs. This supports more weight. +2 Haul.
Punch (Mod)- The dron-key is equipped with a reverse engineered telescopic Punch-bot arm. As a command (Free action for the Taker) spend a charge off the dron-key. The dronkey uses a tactic to locate the head of a target, grabs it, and uses the built in cattle gun to deal Kill damage to the enemy equal to the result of the black die.
The dron-key has reach, and the attack does not have the Loud quality. (attacks from 2 shambles away)
Demolition (Mod)- The dron-key is equipped with IED disposal and setting appendages. As a command, the dron-key can set an explosive as a tactic by expending a charge off of the dronkey and the chosen explosive. As a Task, the taker may use the dron-key to disarm an explosive using Profession (Demolitions)

Drone
Upkeep 4, Charges 10
Effect: Drones can fly, scout, deliver goods, and attack autonomously or under remote piloting. Drones use Profession (Drones) for all skill checks.
Qualities:
Autonomous- Drone operates off the owner’s initiative. Drone performs one tactic or twitch as voice commanded by the owner’s free action. (Taker must be wearing mic relay that accompanies drone)
Charged- Charges can be spent to aid a test.
Fragile- Destroyed with kill damage or missed upkeep.
Drain- Takes up one Refresh while equipped or carried. (Drone must be carried when not flying)
Unwieldy- Takes up one Haul while equipped or carried. (Drone must be carried when not flying)
Loud
Specialized- Profession (Drones)
Modifications- 1 modification allotted.
Upgrades:
Autocomplete Algorithm- Drone no longer tied to owner’s initiative and triggers whenever owner chooses to use that round’s free action.
Beemail Chassis (Mod)- Drone can carry 1 Haul.
Kamikaze- Piloting the drone into a target does explosive Kill damage and destroys the drone.
Starlight- High intensity LED-light illuminates ground beneath drone,providing the effect of a flashlight for all takers.
Surveillance Suite- Drone provides +3 Awareness and Foresight when piloted remotely.
Whisper Drive- Buys off Loud quality.
Swarm (Mod)- The drone is now multiple smaller drones networked together. Removes the Fragile quality, and adds the Hungry quality. Damaging one of the swarm removes one charge from the drone. (Two because of Hungry)
Efficient (Mod)- Removes the Drain quality.
Adaptive Navigation Program (Mod)- Gives a static +1 bonus on Profession (Drones) checks. Subject to Market approval.

Ammo Types:
All ammo types written on page 7 of the Veblen Goods catalog now are upgrades that have the (Mod) descriptor and lose the additional upkeep cost written in the description. (Micro-Grenades have the (Mod) descriptor twice) Bows, Crossbows, LMGs, Pistols, SMGs, Shotguns, and Rifles all gain the Modification quality with no allotted modifications.

Night Vision Goggles
Upkeep 3, Charges 10
Effect: Allows for Awareness checks and sight in total darkness out to medium range. Blind in bright light while worn.
Qualities:
Capped- Spend one charge per use.
Hungry- Two charges spent for every one used.
Fragile- Breaks from any damage or missed upkeep.
Modification- 1 modification allotted.
Upgrades
Toggle- No longer blinded in bright light.
Ubiq (Mod)- Allows for use as Ubiq specs and gains the Memory quality.
Optimized- Buys off Hungry.
DeadEyesHack (App)- Spend a charge to gain +2 Shoot.
ApopheniaOverlay (App)- Spend a charge to gain +2 Scavenge.
GhoulNet (App)- Secure tactical network.
Military Grade- Buys off Fragile, damage now eats into remaining charges.
Extended Range- Can now see out to Long-Range in total darkness.
Thermal-Infrared (Mod)- +2 on all checks against living creatures in the dark. In addition can now see if things are warm or cold from a distance.

[LordSkys]

So due to formatting problems, I will be dropping the gear list formatting indefinitely from the PTDs.

I will be attempting to create a secondary file that follows the proper gear list formatting for any and all items that are in the PTDs; on a following date.