Practical Stats
There are three Practical Stats in the game: Coolness Under Fire, Occupational Training, and Authority. These statistics are used situationally to model practical training/understanding the character has gained over their lifetime. Each stat starts with a Rating of D. Whenever a character gains a Promotion in any of their Lifepaths, the Lifepath will note which, if any, Practical Stats that can be raised by the character. Furthermore, all characters roll 2d6 at the end of character generation. If their result is 7-9, they gain a +1 bonus to put in any Practical Stat and if they roll 10+, they gain a +2 bonus that can be placed in any two stats (or the same stat twice).
Coolness Under Fire: Represents ability to withstand stressful physical confrontations. Coolness Under Fire (CUF) is rolled whenever stressful situations arise during physical conflict (i.e. gunfights, battles, melee, etc.) Failure on CUF rolls will often lead to Stress Damage to the character, Mental Traumas, or Suppression. More details in the Combat Section.
- Promotion Option for all Military, Gang Member (Crime), Prisonr (Crime), all Intelligence, and all Police lifepaths.
Occupational Training: Represents practical knowledge on how to maintain infrastructure and help others learn to do so. Occupational Training (O/T) is used to help maintain/rebuild a semblance of society and keep Discontent from ravaging a Settlement. Utilizing one's Occupatoinal Training to direct others greatly reduces free-time for a character. A character making weekly O/T rolls must devote at least one shift a day to this work. O/T rolls can also be made in the field to repair/maintain larger pieces of infrastructure left over from before the Twilight War (e.g. restoring a power plant or water treatment facility). These rolls are made in conjunction with Stamina, Medical Aid, or Tech skills and can benefit from any Specialties that the Referee deems appropriate.
- Promotion Option for Combat Support (Military), Combat Service Suppport (Military), Burglar (Crime), all Blue Collar, all Education, Doctor (White Collar), and Professor (White Collar) Lifepaths.
Authority: Represents ability to effectively organize and maintain social order. Authority is rolled to whenever the character is trying to manage a large group of refugees/settlers. A character making weekly Authority rolls must devote at least shift a day to this work.
- Promotion option for Officer (Military), Police Officer (Police), Detective (Police), Hustler (Crime), Agent (Intelligence), and Manager (White Collar) Lifepaths.
Settlements Skills
Settlements have two Skills that represent the overall health and well-being of the community. They work like other Character Skills and are combined with O/T or Authority rolls for special effects.
Cohesion: Skill that is rated from D to A. Cohesion is a measure of the overall morale of the Settlement and how well the population gets along.
- Authority/Cohesion: Each week, someone devoting time to the esprit de corps of the camp can make an Authority/Cohesion roll. Success on this roll will reduce the Discontent of the Settlement by 1 per Success rolled. This roll can be pushed, but any Mishaps reduce the Supply of the Community.
- Occupational Training/Cohesion: This is used to help rebuild/maintain a level of infrastructure lost during the Twilight War. Every week, after spending 1 Supply, this roll can be made to offset difficulties that have arisen from a Collapse in the Settlement. Success on this roll will stop a single Collapse from happening this week, or end a Collapse previously gained that is still ongoing. It cannot undo permanent losses (like from Flight or Mutiny), however. This roll can be pushed, but any Mishaps further reduce the Supply of the Community.
Population: Skill that is rated from D to A. This represents the overall size and skill-base of the population in a given Settlement. Note that this is not linked to specific numbers of people. A D-rated Settlement could be large, but relatively unskilled while an A-rated Settlement could be a small number of highly skilled specialists that are part of a larger group of refugees.
- Authority/Population: Each week, after spending 1 Supply, a character can make an Authority/Population to divvy up work for the refugees/settlers to accomplish. Each Success rolled on this can be devoted to Shifts of work in any of the following areas: Facility, Upkeep, Gathering, Keeping Watch, Scrounging, Foraging, Hunting/Fishing, or Cooking. This roll can be pushed, but any Mishaps further reduce the Supply of the Community.
- Occupational Training/Population: Passive roll that is used to handle fair and equitable distribution of resources to a Settlement. Each week, this roll helps ease the stresses of living in a Settlement on the edge. Success on this roll reduces any Discontent damage from Shortages by 1. This roll can be pushed, but any Mishaps reduce the Supply of the Community.
Skills for a Settlement can be increased by spending Supplies as if they were XP or through role-playing/mission rewards (e.g. after saving a group of refugees from marauders, if they are convinced to join a group's settlement, the group could raise either the Population or Cohesion by 1 step). Spending Supplies to increase a Settlement Skill can only be done once per Month and can only increase a given Skill one Step.
Settlement Capacities
Discontent: Discontent acts like Hit boxes for a Community, representing the emotional and physical well-being of its members. A Community has a Number of Discontent boxes equal to the average of the O/T die sizes for the characters running the community. If a Community ever suffers more Discontent than they have available boxes, then the Community suffers a Collapse. Discontent can be lowered through the use of the O/T or Authority stats. Also, whenever a Shortage is resolved, reset the Discontent of a Settlement to 0.
Supplies: Supplies act like Stress boxes for a community. Community demands will deal damage to the Supplies available. Supplies must be gathered in the field or provided from Facilities. A single Spare Part (of any type) or three Rations can be instead converted into two Supplies for a Settlement (this is a one-way conversion, Supplies cannot be turned back into Spare Parts or Rations). This conversion can only be done at the moment a Spare Part/Ration is discovered/foraged/hunted/scounged. If a community ever runs out of Supplies, then the community suffers a Shortage.
Collapse
A Community Collapse is a breakdown of the social order of a settlement, similar to how Stress and Mental Traumas work. If a Community ever takes more Discontent than they have available Discontent Capacity then the community will break down in some way. Make a 1d10 roll on the following table to determine the effect of the Collapse on the Settlement. Most Collapses stay in effect until resolved with a O/T and Cohesion roll while some are permanent (or have a time span in their description)
- Goldbricking: -1 to Population rolls
- Dissent in the ranks: -1 to Cohesion rolls
- Petty crimes: 1 Supply damage per week until successful Authority/Command roll is made or a culprit is found
- Tensions are high: Each week a CUF/Cohesion roll must be made, if failed, a brawl breaks out injuring some folk and/or damaging some equipment
- The Blues: The first success on any Authority/Cohesion rolls to reduce Discontent is ignored for four weeks.
- Sabotage/Dereliction of Duty: A Facility or Vehicle is damaged. Damaged facilites cannot produce until half (round down) of their build requirements are re-applied. Damaged vehicles have their Reliability reduced one step.
- Crime: A major crime (murder, assault, etc.) occurs in the Settlement. Everyone is unnerved (reducing the maximum Discontent boxes by 1) until the culprit is found.
- Hoarding: All Supply costs for O/T and Authority actions are doubled.
- Mutiny: Reduce the Cohesion by 1 step. If this takes the Cohesion below a D-rating, then the Settlement completely dissolves.
- Flight: Reduce the Population by 1 step. If this takes the Population below D-rating, then the Settlement completely dissolves.
Shortages are long-term conditions that can only be relieved by specific missions to alleviate the Shortage. This can be used to drive the plot for a game as the PCs work to relieve shortages for a Settlement. When a Shortage happens the GM will determine what the Settlement needs and it will be on the PCs to find a way to meet the need. Shortages continue even after Supplies are added back to a Settlement. Only specific conditions set by the Referee can end a Shortage.
Each week a Shortage is in effect, the Discontent of a Settlement goes up by 1. A Settlement can suffer from multiple Shortages at once, increasing the Discontent appropriately each week. If a Shortage is ever resolved, immediately reset the Discontent of a Settlement to 0.