Ran my first game last night! It went really well.
Only had two players because the other two dropped out. But that was okay, because making characters took us a little longer than I thought it would.
The Mission I outlined was probably a little intense for first session with only two players. They emerged bruised and bloody, but successful.
The PC’s were an Infiltrator and a Fixer.
Most things went smoothly, but I would be interested in a couple rulings / opinions.
Would you let the players gain an XP for staking 3 cred on the mission, if they have the ‘Financial” directive? It seems to fulfill the directive in a very literal way, but doesn’t offer much in the way of story growth. Also could be a way to too-easily milk XP.
This might just come down to style, but how often would you let an Infiltrator roll for Covert Entry? My players were moving back and forth through this apartment complex, and it seems like he rolled every time they went into a new area or encountered security? Is that legit? Again, seems like it could be milked for a bunch of [gear] or easy ways to take down guards with hold.
What are some easy ways to handle it when the Fixer’s jobs are disasters? My fixer failed the roll last night for his gigs. A lot of them seem almost like fodder for complete missions, but seeing as it happens, potentially more than one, every session, I need to figure out ways to incorporate them into the existing session and flow.
Anyway, we had an awesome time! I also almost killed both of them with a shotgun-toting security drone.
We also had the guy with Financial directive staking 4 creds at the beginning of the mission. So I’m also interested in the official answer. My opinion is that it’s not great at a player level: the player acts kinda like a jerk, he gains more creds, plus an xp. Not great. While I’m not completely fond of the over-staking creds into mission having negative impact on the legwork clock, I understand why it’s there…
Oh and we also had the Infiltrator “covert entry” twice in the same building. I guess it’s okay for some situations, like if there are, say, different/separate areas for example. I mean: the Infiltrator should be a badass, right? But yeah, again, interested in an official ruling 🙂
Covert entry is intended to be used once per secure facility, so I would not allow that. They roll at the start of the apartment complex and once their hold is gone they have to do it the hard way. If it was a particularly tough infiltration, I might allow multiple rolls if they encountered distinct secure areas within a broader secure area, but I’d consider that a modification and I wouldn’t allow Cat Burglar/Face to be used multiple times.
Regarding the financial directive, trying to trigger it by staking extra cred is a method I hadn’t considered. I probably would allow that. It does make the mission harder, after all, even though as you say, if evades the fiction a bit. The trick as the MC would be to make sure that that choice had fictional teeth.
When directives trigger is one of the most flexible parts of the game and one that individual tables will have to discuss a lot. Make sure everyone at the table is okay with how each others’ Directives are triggered.
Thanks! I think the wording in the current version of the infiltrator leaves the scope of the move a little in question. We were treating an “area” as perhaps a little smaller than intended. I think I’ll do some reigning in next time.
I agree. Now that you point it out, it does.
Hamish Cameron I love that your response regarding infiltration was verbatim the house-rule we came up with last night.