As I read the book I had a file of questions I intended to post here for clarification. Many of them got cut off when I found the resolution in the book but here are some of the leftovers. Thanks for any thoughts.
Does the HELP move have a 10+ outcome? The Soldier’s ‘Steady Presence] move seems to think so.
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Can a party Techie (with the Splicer speciality) be the group surgeon – if so does it warrant a move?
Can there be better examples of how the Techie [Customiser] move works? It feels too arbitrary.
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Matrix Programmes: Can two programmes with the same name be used and stack?
While the back end of the book says [intel] and [gear] do not carry over, does it make sense to throw unspent [gear] out since one could feasibly get more stuff in a downtime scene off camera?
This applies to going under the knife since you’re unlikely to undergo surgery when there is a mission underway (surely).
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Is there an endgame built in to the rules or is this limited purely by the fiction? Since the game starts out with the players having some heat from the corps, and there are many mechanisms that drive the corps to retaliate in some fashion – is there any mechanic that represents a hopeful outcome? (I’m saving enough for retirement/i’m saving up to pay off the debts of my daughter so i can get her out of labour camp 4/I’m just trying to get this heat off me so I can start over)
Which leads me to ask what does cred represent in terms of living costs (give or take) – so if someone was aiming to “save up for retirement” what’s a suitable target
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Are corporate moves done in the MC moves time, when the corp clock moves or just when the fiction calls for it?
Cheers.
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Re. PC endgame, each of the playbooks have an option in the advancement section: “Retire your character to safety. [req 20cred]”
Most moves are written in the following format.
When you <> roll+ []
On a 10+ this good thing happens
On a 7-9 the good thing happens but….
The help move, and a few others are written slightly differently. Remember that a 7+ is still a hit…you still do the thing you’re trying to do. The help move is written,
When you help roll + Links
On a 7+ (a hit) they take one forward
One a 7-9 you expose yourself to danger in the following roll
(yes this is not verbatim and yes I’ve omitted hindering)
10+ isn’t mentioned here but it can simply be inferred from the text. On a 7+ you help. On a 7-9 there’s that caveat. On a 10+ you help without that caveat. So the solider’s move you mention let’s a soldier give a player +1 forward without having to worry about the caveat.
Does the HELP move have a 10+ outcome? The Soldier’s ‘Steady Presence move seems to think so.
Provided you don’t have any other moves that modify what you can do with a Help roll (and, as near as I can tell, there aren’t any in the core playbooks), you give them a +1 forward. The difference on a 10+ is that you don’t expose yourself to risk like you do on a 7-9.
Can a party Techie (with the Splicer speciality) be the group surgeon – if so does it warrant a move?
You mean like, subbing in for a street doc for installing cyberware? My personal inclination would be to say no; installing cyberware is an expensive operation, and you need a pretty specialized workspace for it. Not to be overly reductive, but if you’re settled down and established enough to be doing that kind of work, you’re probably not a Sprawl character. Besides, the complications that arise from getting cyberware are kind of a big theme, and letting a PC do it for you, essentially for free, would take away from that.
Matrix Programmes: Can two programmes with the same name be used and stack?
My inclination would be to say no. Stacking in general isn’t much of a thing in PbtA, and the program list is like any other list of tick-boxes; each box can only be ticked once.
While the back end of the book says [intel] and [gear] do not carry over, does it make sense to throw unspent [gear] out since one could feasibly get more stuff in a downtime scene off camera?
[Gear] doesn’t carry over between missions because each mission is different, and what you’re carrying with you is consequently going to be different. And ‘downtime’ accumulation like that doesn’t get you anything because if it did you could state that you have an arbitrarily large amount of [gear] whenever you need it, which would be dramatically pretty dull. You need to get the gear via the appropriate moves and toss any irrelevant leftovers aside to keep the limited-resource pressure on. Remember: the system mechanics are primarily there to simulate genre fiction, not necessarily a sensible underlying reality.
This applies to going under the knife since you’re unlikely to undergo surgery when there is a mission underway (surely).
It doesn’t really apply. [Gear] is for reasonably cheap and readily available stuff you could feasibly have on hand. Cybernetics definitely does not fall under that category.
Is there an endgame built in to the rules or is this limited purely by the fiction? Since the game starts out with the players having some heat from the corps, and there are many mechanisms that drive the corps to retaliate in some fashion – is there any mechanic that represents a hopeful outcome? (I’m saving enough for retirement/i’m saving up to pay off the debts of my daughter so i can get her out of labour camp 4/I’m just trying to get this heat off me so I can start over)
If you save up 20 cred, you can take the advance which allows you to retire your character to safety. It’s up to you to decide what that looks like for your character, but that’s your happy ending mechanic.
Which leads me to ask what does cred represent in terms of living costs (give or take) – so if someone was aiming to “save up for retirement” what’s a suitable target
Already answered above. You don’t need to worry about living expenses, because that’s just not something the game cares about; cred is the material and social currency you’ve accumulated above and beyond what you need to survive.
Are corporate moves done in the MC moves time, when the corp clock moves or just when the fiction calls for it?
“Use a Corporation, Mission, or Threat move” is on the MC moves list, so: any and all of the above.
Can’t quote pages at the moment, but I’m pretty sure the book says you can’t run two copies of a program at once.
James speaks truth.
+ Gear is for stuff that is useful right now! It’s for stuff that can be explained in the fiction. If you need a cyberdeck you can have it…explain where you picked it up and maybe get a discount on the price of 1 or 2. If you are in a cyberdeck factory maybe get it free. If you need a getaway car, then get that too. You left it waiting around the corner. If the fiction says you have it then you have it, at least until the fiction says you don’t have it no more.
A splicer techie is awesome…for fixing cyberware, probably not installing it unless you are playing that sort of game.
I believe help has already been covered.
The end game is whatever you want but, if you want the security of knowing your dude/ette has beaten the system and come out ahead then spend the 20 cred. If you wanted a grand finale/wrap up session then do that instead.
On Gear, just look at the example in the book of how it’s used – a player spends it to declare that he just happens to have a grappling hook in his bag (which his supplier threw in as a bonus).
That’s what Gear is supposed to be – ensuring that if it’s plausible for you to have some essential item when you need it, you’ve got it… no need to have established it in advance. It’s not about acquiring long-term resources.
Yeah, but it doesn’t just go away. It’s stuff you have until it breaks or gets used up or taken away from you. Hence the rule that sometimes you might have to pay credit for it. Also, hence the rule that some moves get a bonus if they use that gear right then. If an infiltrator needed a French linguasoft and used + Gear to get it, they still have it come end of session. If a soldier needed a grenade, they had until they used it.
Thanks everyone. Last followup – While you say [gear] is used for in-mission items, it IS used to buy weapons as well right? My group tends to think very tactically – they’ll throw spare [gear] points into a sniper rifle to leave for a future run when it’s needed.
Page 215 has a good section on this. Basically as long as it’s fictionally appropriate for them to have it on them then yes it can be a gun. The text on page 215 says how, if the mission was on a space ship you might not have brought any projectile weapons with because….that’s a bit dangerous. So if later on in the mission a player announces they have a sniper rifle that sounds a bit fishy.
Remember though producing equipment doesn’t necessarily reduce all costs. You need to ask them where and how they got the equipment they’re producing….if that involves buying it then tell them to deduct those Creds from their supply. Once again think about the fiction here and the source of the [gear] somewhat. If the player had some leftover [gear] from hit the street rolls then it’s likely when they turn that into a Sniper Rifle then the fiction probably dictates they spent an extra few Cred with that contact. If the [gear] was obtained when an Infiltrator used their Cat Burglar move then obviously they stole the gear….they didn’t pay for it. Of course in this situation you need to decide whether the players would find a high powered sniper rifle just lying about in the hacker’s flat.
What’s the point in Producing Equipment you ask if it’s not free stuff!? Well it might cost you a Cred or two yes but it’s free in terms of rolling. Hitting the Street can be a bit dangerous especially for players who aren’t very stylish. They could easily mess up their rolls, advancing the Legwork clock and causing all sorts of drama.
In order to get items, you Hit The Streets to find a contact that can sell / give (for Cred) it to you.
[Gear] is a narrative tool used in the middle of a mission to show why you have this gadget you needed right now.
While [Gear] CAN be used to gain persistent, lasting equipment, it’s not it’s main focus. The advantage is that you can hold on to [Gear] and spend it to produce something you need that would solve your current predicament.
TL;DR : Use Hit The Streets to get new equipment, either because it enhances your character or because you’ll need it for the upcoming mission.
Example : In my last session the crew needed a boat, so a player introduced a Contact that requisitioned vehicles to PMCs and Hit The Streets with him to buy the crew a boat.
He failed the roll and got a crummy, overpriced boat.
Did all of these questions get answered, Adam Brimmer?
Yes thanks Hamish!