A couple questions for you all now that I’ve run my first session (which was a wonderful success, I think I may have found a new favorite game for our table):
1. How do you determine the cred cost of items like EMT kits, body armor, weaponry, etc? I have players who are interested in beefing up their toolkit and could not find anything in the book beyond the section discussing the very general prices for hiring services, and purchasing (some) items.
2. Can characters earn XP from a single directive more than once per game? For example, if the Killer has Masochistic, can they earn XP literally EVERY time they take 1 or more harm?
3. What is considered a LOT of cred? I am trying to make sure I didn’t fuck up the payday too badly at the end of a successful first mission. Are there standard rates for missions?
Thanks in advance, reading through this community has been supremely helpful.
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Standard rates for missions are described under Earning Cred, at the start of the Assets chapter (page 127), and in the Missions chapter where it discusses the getting the job and getting paid phases of the mission. Short version, players stake 1, 2, or 3 cred at the start of the mission – cross it off, it’s gone. If the mission is a success, then by default, they’ll get twice their stake back. Depending on the choices made during those phases, they might get more, or they might get less.
Guidelines over the cred cost of items are also in the Assets chapter (pages 128/129).
If the characters want to buy things that are not listed on the “fair prices” list and that seem like they should be cheaper than the stuff listed at 1 cred, you can give it to them for free (like a new com unit/phone), or bundle it up in one hit the street (fixer throws in a burner phone with the bag of guns, character buys a box of burner phones that “fell off the back of a truck”).
The balance of XP can be tricky: the rules assume a certain amount of XP grubbing, but the MC has to pay attention to the balance. Talk to your players at the table and find what suits the group. In a model game, I expect every player to get 2-3 XP from personal directives per session-length mission. With something like Masochistic, the balance will depend on how often they get wounded in an average mission. If they’re cycling through the harm clock faster than that with harm and healing, you might say that they have to deliberately choose to take harm to trigger the directive, or that the harm has to be of a certain level.
Hamish Cameron When you say game, do you mean one session? One mission (which could be less than one or more than one session? I’m asking in relation to XP from directives.
2-3 XP per session-length mission. (I edited the comment)
Of course, taking XP from Masochistic has it’s own limiting factor… players are generally trying not to take harm, because experience doesn’t count if you’re dead.
Simon Geard One more thing. Every time someone stakes 3 cred on a mission a clock advances. The advances alternate between the Action and legwork clocks. (The first person to stake 3 advances the Action clock. Next person to stake 3 advances the Legwork clock. Next 3 staker advances the Action clock again, etc.)