Starting Play At a Higher Tier
Presumably you start with extra crew advances and a couple of claims. How many do you think is a good number per Tier? I’m thinking 4 per Tier if you’re starting weak and and extra 2 if you’re starting strong? Sound about right?
I haven’t played the new version yet. Actually I haven’t even finished reading it, so. Grain of salt and all that. My last table got pretty close to Tier 1 with one claim (that they almost immediately lost), and they never really expressed an interest in getting more. So I could see it being less for Tiers 1 and 2, and more for Tier 3 or 4.
There are only 14 claims on a crew sheet, and starting a Tier 2 crew with over half of them seems too easy to me? I think 3-5 is a better range for that level. Maybe going through the list of factions and seeing how many assets they tend to have at given tiers would give good reference point. I’d have to say go by table, I think–if the table wants to be starting with a foothold, but they want to build themselves up, then pick a small handful of claims, and work from there. If they want to be established already, and really get into conflict and politics with other factions, then give them a ton of claims to work with.
Abilities are tricky. I think 3 or 4 per Tier might be decent? There are a ton more to choose from, not counting cohorts, but maybe suggest 1 special ability per tier (plus the one starting ability) and the rest upgrades and cohorts?
I’m pretty sure you’ve played more than me, though. What’s your experience with the general crew progression?
Steven Dodds So. What I meant was 2 Claims per Tier, and 4 crew upgrades per Tier. I got all my pronouns and antecedents tangled haha 🙂
I tried building a crew using the crew creation rules and stacking those extra crew advances on top of that. Works well so far with those numbers. I got a Tier 1 crew of Bravos with a smattering of crew upgrades, turf, and a brothel. Since I took Patron as one of the special abilities, their coffers were full: 8 coin!, but I also started them off with 1 Wanted level, and rolled 1d to see how much heat they start with, and they got a 4.
Overall, it passes for a Tier 1 crew with weak hold!
Haha, oh. Well that seems completely reasonable, then. I’m not sure one size fits every crew type, but those numbers definitely seem like a decent baseline to build from.