Remuneration Forestalled

Doing things by rolling dice

ROLL FOR A GOAL

Rolls go like this:

1. Define Goal with Guide.
2. Build a dice pool (baseline, Difficulty, Advantage)
3. Roll dice.
4. Determine results.

A Roll requires a Goal. This is something you define with your Guide when rolling. For example, you roll to see if you can "disappear in the hallway's nook," not if you can "use Sneak." No matter the Roll, the principle is the same: you are looking to achieve a Goal.

Most times, when interacting with the world, you won't need to Roll. You are a functioning person! However, whenever you wish to do something dangerous, dramatic, or difficult, where urgency matters, or with something to lose, you make a Roll using a pool of six-sided dice (d6).

Narrate the action, be inspired with Soft and Hard moves. Tell a story first, then map rules onto it. Rules flow from the fiction.

BUILD A DICE POOL

BASELINE

You always start with 2d6 when rolling.

DIFFICULTY

If something you are attempting is difficult, you remove 1d6 from your dice pool.

ADVANTAGE

When you manipulate the situation to come out on top, you are Advantaged. This grants you +1d6 when rolling. Think about exploiting weaknesses, positioning, distractions, etc.

READ RESULTS

When rolling, consider only your highest die result after chucking your dice. By adding more dice to your pool, you have higher chances of getting a 6. The narrative then forks in one of three directions.

1-3: Failure to achieve Goal + complication.
4-5: Success to achieve Goal + complication.
6: Success to achieve Goal.

SUCCESS (*ripped from Mythic Bastionland)

When the players succeed at a significant action the Guide does one of the following:

• Advance: Move in a good direction.
• Disrupt: Lessen a threat.
• Resolve: Put a problem to rest.

FAILURE (*ripped from Mythic Bastionland)

When the players fail at a risky action they might still complete the action, but always suffer negative consequences:

• Threaten: Create a new problem.
• Escalate: Make a problem worse.
• Execute: Deliver on a threat.

ESCALATION DICTIONARY (*ripped from Murkmail)

Harder: The obstacle gets more complex. Either further action (implying risk) or a different approach is needed.
You realise an anti-tamper device was installed on the bomb. The timer skips 30 seconds.

More: An extra factor arises, which requires managing an additional issue whilst continuing to work on the first problem.
The enemy sends in a drone to attack you as you attempt to disarm the bomb.

Future Risk: A potential complication is hinted at, something is going to make the situation harder later on.
The explosive device begins leaking and fumes start rising. Are they poisonous?

Lost Opportunity: The opportunity closes off. This isn't working, you don't have enough time.
You can't defuse it, you need to deal with the bomb another way

Up the Stakes: The risk evolves.
You get a message from your handler informing you the evacuation of the surrounding area wasn't completed, civilians will die if you fail.

The Character Sheet

DATA SHEET

Basic information about you, starting with your Name.

Your Species, History, and Job define what you are good at. Each grants you one Trait, removing the Difficulty (-1d6) of certain actions that make sense in the fiction.

With time, you become more experienced, and may eventually pick a new Trait. This happens at the fiction's discretion, and really should only be the case if you survive a few separate contracts. You can earn up to two additional Traits (labelled Auxiliary Competence on your Data Sheet).

Your Job also determines your starting Tool and Suit, as well as one Thing.

MEDICAL RECORD

HINDRANCES

Small hurts stay abstract, while things that actually hold you back are noted, and taken into account when rolling. Anything that is made difficult by a Hindrance should suffer -1d6.

You can recover from Hindrances when back at a safe haven or if you find ways to patch yourself up properly on the spot.

DEATH (*ripped from Mothership)

If your last Hindrance fills up, your death is imminent, so make your last moments count: save someone's life, solve an important mystery, give the others time to escape.

When you die, the Guide makes a Roll by placing 2d6 in a cup, shaking the cup, and placing it face down on the table (covering the dice). As soon as someone makes the effort of checking your vitals, the dice are revealed and the roll is looked up on the Death Table below. Use common sense.

CALM

You begin your story with 10 Calm and cannot go over. You can lose Calm when:

• Your Panic is lower than your Calm on a Panic roll;
• The Guide decides so (frequency depends on the contract, desired length of campaign, deadliness, etc.);
• You fail any roll.

Unless there would be a reason not to, you get enough rest between contracts to regain 2d6 Calm, up to a total of 10.

PANIC ROLL

Called when sensical in fiction. Anytime you get badly hurt, or someone dies, or you see something horrifying, or the situation explosively deteriorates, etc.

Whenever a Panic roll is called for, roll 2d6 as usual.

6: You keep it together and carry on.
1-5: Sum the dice and check how you Panic.

PANICKING

If your summed Panic is equal to or lower than your Calm, you suppress the terror, but lose 1 Calm.

If your summed Panic is higher than your Calm, look up the sum you rolled on the Panic Table below and apply the effects.

E.g. You roll [2] [5] on your Panic Roll. The sum is 7 and your Calm is 5. Panic > Calm, so the effect applies.

CARRYING MANIFEST

Your equipment only serves as a way of keeping your body together or incapacitating others. No need to keep meticulous track of rations and water. They are simply on you whenever you want them to be. If ever the situation is so taut that tracking such resources makes sense, work with the Guide to determine the effects and the mechanics.

TOOLS

Guns, wrenches, welding apparel, etc. can cause Hindrances to others at different ranges. Adjacent, Close, Long, Extreme. On top of their regular uses, most tools can be used in creative other ways, so don't box in your imagination.

E.g. Shrapshot; Fires a hail of microshrapnel designed for shredding at Adjacent to Close range.

SUITS

Special clothing you wear can prevent an instance of a Hindrance, but becomes useless in the act (denoted by its Status). Depending on the fiction, it can act like armour.

E.g. Your plated ironwool jumpsuit can protect from multiple types of harm including burns and chemical spills.

THINGS

Additionally, you can carry 5 more interesting things. Your equipped Tool and Suit don't count towards this maximum of 5 Things, but a backup Hazmat does. Don't let things define you. They're useful, temporary, and fun to expend!

E.g. An Ex-Con badge, the helmet (and skull) of Merrygold, a really sharp piece of the obsidian altar, a spare shotgun, etc.

PERSONNEL NOTES

FEATURES

Distinctive notes on your file about what you look like. They are recognizable aspects that are easily noticeable about a person.

E.g. flash-red braids, bulging eyes, a stunted prosthetic, strong accent, etc.

QUALITIES

What kind of person are you? How would others define your behaviour? These help guide your roleplay decisions. During character creation, you pick two Qualities you very much have and one you definitely don't (you may use the examples below as inspiration).

E.g. ambitious, calculating, cautious, cynical, desperate, efficient, guarded, hardened, impulsive, jaded, opportunistic, paranoid, pragmatic, reckless, ruthless, stubborn, suspicious, territorial, vindictive.

MOTIVATIONS

What makes you get up from your cot, besides an animal need to survive? These help guide your roleplay decisions. During character creation, you pick two Motivations that truly drive you and one that definitely doesn't (you may use the examples below as inspiration).

E.g. advancement, comfort, control, escape, information, leverage, profit, recognition, reputation, revenge, safety, secrets, stability, survival, territory, validation.

DEBT

The Company essentially owns every part of you. Through your Species, History, and Job, you've accrued incredible amounts of debt (on top of any personal decision-making). Your service to The Company serves to attempt to repay it all.

Debtless individuals are the stuff of legend, only a cousin's estranged nephew's ex has ever seen one. Don't expect to ever clear this number.

Transactions between employees and any amenities, as well as intra-colleague transfers all serve only to increase or decrease debt, never actually own credits.

Though your accruing large amounts of debt is in The Company's interest, reaching amounts deemed "Insolvent" comes with dire consequences (repobots, revoked authorizations, collection agencies, etc.).

Character Creation

0. DEBT

Throughout character creation, you will encounter credit amounts in the different tables. Every time you do so, note the amount on your sheet. The total at the end is your Debt, representing the insurmountable amount you owe to The Company, which you will spend your life repaying with interest.

I. DATA SHEET (traits)

First, select a Species from the Species List, and note one of their three Species Traits.

Then, select a History from the History List, and note one of its three Traits that represents what your upbringing has given you.

Also, select a Job from the Job List, and note one of its three Traits that represents your expertise.

II. PERSONNEL NOTES (features, qualities, motivations)

First, thinking about what you look like, note two or three distinctive Features; words or short phrases that others soon notice about you, like strong hands, kind eyes, or a gravelly voice.

Then, choose two Qualities you very much have (●) and one you definitely don't (⍉).

Also, choose two Motivations that truly drive you (●) and one that definitely doesn't (⍉).

Additionally, write down the Debt accumulated on the Data Sheet step.

III. CARRYING MANIFEST (things, tool, suit)

First, note down the Tool and Suit defined by your Job, as well as the Thing it grants you.

Then, note down one Trinket you are carrying in your Things (you may roll on the Trinkets List).

Also, scribble anywhere on your sheet what Patch is sewn onto your suit as you begin this story (you may roll on the Patches List).

IV. EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE (calm)

Finally, set your Calm to 10, the highest value it can ever be. It will (mostly) only go down from there. Best of luck out there.

Lists(*Mostly ripped from Troubleshooter by Clayton Notestine)

SPECIES LIST

Earthling. Billions died to become this. They're not glorious or fine-tuned. Humans are an evolutionary battering ram. When they survive, it hurts. Space and physics are the enemy. They've hurdled through the universe after trillions of false starts, patches, and reboots.

Vat Imp. Sometimes called lab rats, belters, or grays. Vat Imps are custom-made in test tubes for space. Their skin is pale. Their bodies, small and spindly. Their fingers, long. Their head's bulbous. Durability is not a design consideration, but volume is. In space, organic bodies vaporize equally.

Android. Ceramic, steel, and rubber. The android is alien to all. Built in a factory and sold out of a catalog. They do not breathe, eat, or feel—but they live. That's their problem. Androids were meant to see beyond the dark, but all they saw was something darker.

HISTORY LIST

No one grows up to be a thrall to The Company. Before they risked life and limb taking odd jobs, they were someone else. For some, it haunts them. For others, it hurtles them forward. The player decides.

Ex-Corpo. Nearly everyone is owned by a corporation. But not you. Not anymore. Something happened to the smaller company that held you hostage in its payroll. Bankrupted, merged, sold for parts, or worse.

True Believer. Communists, artists, academics, freedom fighters, naturalists—if you thought the world was worth fighting for, your cell, cult, or order was destroyed for it. You're the ember following the fire.

Forgotten Nobody. The world is nothing but random chance, yet you are a statistical anomaly. You have managed to exist without being absorbed into a social order. You're a refugee, a traveler, or survivor.

JOB LIST

Scientist. Search for knowledge. Make it usable. Every scientist from xeno-biologists to quantum chemists are mapping the unknown in their own way, cell by cell, atom by atom.

Teamster. Keep everything running. Life support systems, warp drives, blast doors, escape pods—everything. The teamster is the blue-collar, the fixer, the working stiff with the experience to get the job done.

Soldier. Take on danger. Become dangerous if necessary. Standard issue on most vessels—soldiers are on a collision course with death. They hurdle forward burning their grit on a finite supply.

Every character has a jumpsuit, vacsuit, and radio hanging in their locker. Everything else depends on their Job.

TRINKETS LIST

PATCHES LIST