I am working on a little privat science-fiction hack about a crew of former ensalved humans aboard a wrecked capital ship.
I like the idea of having them “retake” parts of the ship with scores. Similar to the turf system in classic Blades.
One thing I have my problems with is Crew Advances. When I go with “You have to get ship upgrades with Scores” than all Advances will go into Special Abilities and Cohorts. If I want them to be able to get some ship upgrades with Advances I have to determine which upgrades are possible to buy and which need a score.
Any ideas?
I have read Scum & Villainy and A Nocturne and both have some good ideas for Upgrades in general but have very different approaches to them that don’t fit for the taste I’m going for.
That is a good question. The distinction is a funny one, isn’t it?
Perhaps a way to think of it could be that the Claim equivalents are existing parts of the ship, while Upgrades are novel uses for it, that are apt to your group’s goals and ethos?
I guess the question is, what are crews in your game? Do they represent different Factions? Former crew, prisoners, slaves, passengers? Or do they represent gangs aboard ship? They could also represent the area of the ship that the crew controls: med bay, armory, engineering etc. or something else? What would be thematically different about choosing to play different crews?
The question I ask when determining what should be abilities and what should be on the claims map is: “what, fictionally, do these benefits represent? And which of those fictional things can the crew just develop on their own through experience, and what should be locked behind a score/contested?” The latter should be claims.
Also: I recommend keeping any known tech off of these lists, putting them in the upgrades instead (things they just have are best as Quality upgrades as well). Because of acquire asset it doesn’t make sense to lock that behind a claim, or a crew ability.
Source: my experience with hacking this game four different ways
In Final Frontier, for example (Star Trek hack of Blades) claims are the research facilities (bizarre tech options), star bases (they can later use during downtime to repair their ship quickly), guarded wormholes (fast travel), unestablished diplomatic relations (+stuff for certain scores aka missions), etc.
The claims map could also just be a tech tree- but for that, you might remove the requirement of scores. Instead, giving suggestions for long term project lengths according to boxes completed on the “map” (adjacent to finished box, 8 clock. Two boxes away, 12 clock. Etc)
Thank you for all your advice, guys. It’s been very helpful. I think I’ll stick to the equipment – upgrade / claim – ship modules split. I also like the idea of managing the ship part mainly with longterm projects (so the game doesn’t have to focus so much on upgrading the ship, but it also doesn’t improve “just by itself”)
I think there will some technologies with a score requirement due to their power though.
Also reading through Final Frontier to get some inspiration, some good works you did there, Mark Cleveland Massengale! Didn’t find any sheets besides the faction sheet though.
Thanks! Aw darn: the link to the sheets must be broken. I’ll have to repair when I get home