Projects
Creative players like to build things that don’t exist. Once the concept of a task is "try anything" the table quickly wants to build anything. Projects itch that scratch by allowing the expedition to have a go at near anything.
Most projects are not changing the course of history in the world. One would expect that creating a hyperdrive for a low tech level milieu would be an entire campaign, not at project. However, modifying a weapon to increase its damage, or improving the speed of a vehicle are reasonable projects.
Difficulty
The more complex something is the greater the Difficulty (DD). Every project has a Difficulty associated with it. The Difficulty of a project is the same as the difficulty of a task. The project difficulty is also the
| Difficulty is shortened to DD for historical reasons and is an homage to Degree of Difficulty. |
While the lowest DD possible is 1 there is no limit to how high a DD can go. However, the DD can be so high that it is impossible to win the Task Roll. For example, cloning is a DD 200 task.
| The more difficult the task the higher the difficulty. | |
|---|---|
Qualitative Difficulty |
Difficulty |
Trivial |
12 |
Easy |
24 |
Normal |
42 |
Hard |
84 |
Tough |
126 |
Impossible |
168 |
Bizarre |
210 |
Plot Protected |
666 |
Qualitative |
Difficulty |
The difficulty is the target number. These are examples not absolutes. |
|
If a project reflects a task that has no assigned difficulty, the players and referee must negotiate one. The players and referee only need to agree on a qualitative term describing the difficulty of the project.
Duration
Project duration is primarily for story telling purposes. Some difficult projects can take an enormous amount of time. It is expected that the campaign will continue in some capacity when a project takes months. Very long projects are expected to be very complex enterprises that may become campaign elements. It would make sense to have the expedition run sessions related a project. They may need materiel, information, or personnel to keep the project moving forward.
| The more difficult the project the greater the duration. | ||
|---|---|---|
Qualitative Difficulty |
Numeric Difficulty |
Duration (1d100) |
Trivial |
10 |
Seconds |
Easy |
21 |
Minutes |
Normal |
42 |
Hours |
Hard |
84 |
Days |
Tough |
104 |
Weeks |
Impossible |
124 |
Fortnights |
Bizarre |
200 |
Months |
Plot Protected |
666 |
None |
Qualitative |
Numeric |
Duration (1d100) |
A fortnight is 2 weeks. |
||
An expedition may choose to not pursue a project that takes too long.
Research Team
The core element of the project is the research team. Research teams allows the entire expedition to pool their talents for a greater chance of success. A research team can be composed of any composition of personas. Mercenaries can contribute to a veterinarian project and a spie could contribute to a mechanic project. Every player gets to roll for success. Referee personas can be included in the research team.
Biologist and vet working together.
Team Leader
Every research team must have a team leader. The Level of the team leader determines the size of the research team. The team can consist of one persona per level of the team leader in addition to themselves. A team leader cannot lead a persona with a higher Level than herself. A 7th level biologist could lead a team of 5 biologists, a mercenary, and a spie.
Research teams can be technical and cute.
Bonuses
The bonuses for a project depend on the competencies of the personas involved. The top two competencies are added together to determine the research team’s bonus. Every player rolls with the same bonus.
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Team members limited by team lead
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Highest two competencies are combined
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Each player gets to make a task roll
A team working to make a faster engine for an all terrain vehicle have a research team. There is are two mechanics with competencies of 14 and 12, a mercenary with a competency 16, and a nothing with competency 4. All four players get to roll with a project competency of 30 (mechanic’s 14 and mercenary’s 16) to try and beat the difficulty. It is possible that the mechanics and the merccenary fail their rolls, but the nothing wins the roll. This would be a successful project, and a storyful outcome.
Toys
Special equipment can assist the research team. A diagnostics computer could add to the bonus of the research team. If a veterinarian had a vet computer with a +20 bonus the player could add +20 to her project roll. Toy bonuses only benefit the player making the roll and NOT the entire research team. So only the player running the veterinarian person would get +20 when they make the project roll.
Labs
Most projects would expect to have a laboratory or at the least an office to keep track of data. There are no bonuses of an office per se, but a bespoke research lab could add a bonus to all the player rolls. For example, working on a vehicle upgrade in a full garage could give a bonus to the entire team.
Make the Roll
Every player gets to roll 1d100 plus the research team’s competency. If any payer beats the difficulty the project is a success
Success
A success should be success for projects that are not altering the plot or milieu of the campaign. A success may bring storyful troubles for the expedition if they are altering the order of the world.
Failure
Failure is a bit more nuanced with a project than a task. The research team may not meet their goal, but they will reap some benefits. Failure will also soften the Difficulty and allow the team to try again.
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Research team does not meet goal.
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Difficulty decreases by 1d4 per member of research team (max 20 difficulty)
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personas earn EXPS
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new duration much be less than the previous duration
If the team likes there is a table listing kinds of project failures. Hopefully the failure reason will offer some storyful outcome.
| Don’t blame us! | |
|---|---|
Die Roll (1d100) |
Failure Point |
01-05 |
Accidental activation |
06-10 |
Chemical deterioration |
11-15 |
Employee accident |
16-20 |
Electromagnetic interference |
21-25 |
Inadequate shielding |
26-30 |
Managerial misallocation |
31-35 |
Measurement errors |
36-40 |
Overheating issue |
41-45 |
Power failure |
46-50 |
Prototype misalignment |
51-55 |
Quality Assurance Error |
56-60 |
Sabotage |
61-65 |
Sensor malfunction |
66-70 |
Sleeve involution |
71-75 |
Structural instability |
76-80 |
Supply chain failure |
81-85 |
Uncalibrated instruments |
86-90 |
Unapproved design change |
91-95 |
Vendor shipping error |
96-99 |
Wrong materials |
00 |
Ref’s Own Table |
Critical Checks
Critical task rolls are not automatic successes but offer a huge bonus to the task roll. Rolling a natural 99 or 100 allows the player to add another 1d100 to their task roll. For more information jump to Critical Checks. Some tables may decide to not allow for critical checks on projects if the research team is too large.
Examples
Injured Alien
The expedition accidentally ran over a famous alien with their hovercar. They need to repair her articulated wing flaps. The Difficulty of the procedure is 100DD. The table has agreed that the procedure will take 5 hours. They have put together a research team as follows:
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Team Lead Veterinarian 4th level competency 16
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Two 3rd level vets with competencies 12 and 15
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3rd level biologist with competency 21
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2nd level nomad with competency 15
They are working in a makeshift surgery that gives them no team bonuses. The nomad has a book about articulated wing flaps that gives her +10 on her roll.
All 5 players would get to roll 1d100 plus 37 and the player with the nomad would have plus 47. They will likely succeed as a team.
Better Drives
The expedition wants to upgrade their spacecraft special drive to double its power level.
The Difficulty of the procedure is 200DD. The table has agreed that the procedure will take 11 months. They have put together a research team as follows:
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Team Lead Nomad 6th level competency 16
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Two 3rd level mechanics with competencies 12 and 21
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3rd level mercenary with competency 6
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5th level nothing with competency 3
The spacecraft has a mechanical room with special drive tools giving a bonus of +10. The nomad has a little golden book about special drives giving her a +10 on her roll.
All 5 players would get to roll 1d100 plus 47 and the player with the nomad would have plus 57. They cannot succeed as they need to roll 200 or more. The nothing has project management, so the team can roll for success in quartiles. This means that they can fail at 3 months, improve the Difficulty and try again. Upgrading the special drives could become a campaign motor with side quests and other tribulations.