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Hello again!

As mentioned, we are reviewing your feedback and have developed a modified version of the stress and panic response tables. Please see below. Also, the roll is now D6 + stress level – Resolve (not 2D6).

STRESS RESPONSE:
≤0 Keeping Cool. No effect.
1 Jumpy. When you push a skill roll, you gain +2 stress level instead of +1.
2 Tunnel Vision. All skill rolls based on Wits get –2 dice.
3 Aggravated. All skill rolls based on Empathy get –2 dice.
4 Shakes. All skill rolls based on Agility get –2 dice.
5 Frantic. All skill rolls based on Strength get –2 dice.
6 Deflated. You cannot push any skill rolls. If you are Jumpy (#1 above), remove that response, and ignore any further Jumpy results while Deflated.
7+ Mess Up. Your action fails regardless of YY rolled, and you gain +1 stress level.
If you roll a stress response you already have, you gain +1 stress level instead.

PANIC RESPONSE:
≤0 Keeping Cool. No effect.
1 Spooked. Stress level +1 for you.
2 Noisy. Any enemies nearby (GM’s discretion) are automatically alerted to your presence.
3 Twitchy. Make an immediate supply roll for air, ammo, or power (GM’s discretion).
4 On Your Own. You cannot give or receive help on skill rolls until panic ends.
5 Hesitant. You automatically get the #10 initiative card in combat until your panic stops. If several PCs are Hesitant, draw the highest value cards randomly.
6 Lose Item. You lose a weapon or other important item. The GM decides which one. In combat, you can pick up the item with a quick action. Out of combat, you need an OBSERVATION roll and a stretch of time to find the item.
7 Freeze. You’re frozen by fear, losing your next turn and unable to perform any interrupt actions before then.
8 Seek Cover. You immediately seek full (cover) in the zone, if it is cluttered. This is an interrupt action breaking the turn order. Once in cover, your stress level is reduced 1 step, but you lose your next turn and are unable to perform any interrupt actions before then. If you are in an open zone, you Scream instead (below).
9 Scream. You scream your lungs out, losing your next turn and unable to perform any interrupt actions before then. Your stress level is reduced 1 step, but every friendly PC in the zone must make an immediate panic roll.
10 Flee. You immediately move away from the source of panic, into any adjacent zone, if such a move is possible. This is an interrupt action breaking the turn order. After the move, your stress level is reduced 1 step, but all friendly PCs in the starting zone get stress level +1. On your next turn and subsequent turns, you must spend all your actions to continue to move away, until you find a (reasonably) safe place, where you must remain until your panic stops. You cannot perform interrupt actions before then. If you cannot move out of your zone, you become Catatonic (result #12) instead.
11 Frenzy. You immediately attack the nearest person or creature, friendly or not. Every friendly PC in the zone must make an immediate panic roll. You won’t stop until you or the target is incapacitated, or until your panic stops. You cannot perform interrupt actions before then.
12+ Catatonic. You’re doomed! You collapse to the floor and can’t move, rambling or staring blankly into oblivion, until your panic stops.

The idea with the 2D6 roll was to give greater variety and unpredictability in stress and panic rolls, but you have made a pretty strong argument for that we might have gone a little too far.
This new table also completely separates stress responses from panic responses, and should overall be more intuitive to use.
Feel free to have a look before we add this to the next BETA PDF.

Much appreciated changes.

With the dice results being 'linear' rather than 'bell-curved', I believe you achieve true unpredictability, since 2d6 tend to result in consistent '6-7-8' values.

Also, I'm glad to see you got rid of the "Somehow you Injure yourself" result, which could lead to lots of absurd situations, or even wounded characters potentially incapacitating and seriously injuring themselves, thus, needing a GM 'overrule' when not making any sense. (Gouging your eye while trying convincing someone, or cracking your skull while collating with MU/TH/UR)

First impression is...these changes are excellent!

Much appreciated changes.

With the dice results being 'linear' rather than 'bell-curved', I believe you achieve true unpredictability, since 2d6 tend to result in consistent '6-7-8' values.

Also, I'm glad to see you got rid of the "Somehow you Injure yourself" result, which could lead to lots of absurd situations, or even characters potentially taking out or seriously injuring themselves, thus needing a GM 'overrule' in many cases.

Thank you. Yes, the idea was that the 2D6 bell curve would give a wider range of results while keeping the unpredictability down by focusing results in the middle, and it did that, but it did remove the "safe zone" at low stress levels which was not ideal as it could trigger panic spirals early on. Plus just rolling 2D6 instead one D6 adds a little bit of complexity and could potentially slow things down.

Oh, quick question re: stress response - how long do the effects last? Maybe that's in the book and I missed it.

I was not expecting these changes to come so fast and be this drastic. I adore them! Both tables are so much better IMO. Resolve plays a huge role now. True randomness without the bell curve. The new effects are leagues better. Only from the 9 and up on the Panic Table do you start giving everyone stress? Beautiful. The alternates for the Stress Table are great. Because the minuses are really impactful, but they make sense. And it might force some players to push more roles to get that success, which means that players have almost complete control over how much stress dice they're going to let themselves suffer from, yet we still have the lovely randomness of the rolls when they happen.

I miss the Friendly Fire suggestion for the Mess Up effect, but that's a minor thing since there are already default rules now for the Friendly Fire.

Just one question though. Do the negatives for the specific Stress Table effects stack?

I was not expecting these changes to come so fast and be this drastic. I adore them! Both tables are so much better IMO. Resolve plays a huge role now. True randomness without the bell curve. The new effects are leagues better. Only from the 9 and up on the Panic Table do you start giving everyone stress? Beautiful. The alternates for the Stress Table are great. Because the minuses are really impactful, but they make sense. And it might force some players to push more roles to get that success, which means that players have almost complete control over how much stress dice they're going to let themselves suffer from, yet we still have the lovely randomness of the rolls when they happen.

I miss the Friendly Fire suggestion for the Mess Up effect, but that's a minor thing since there are already default rules now for the Friendly Fire.

Just one question though. Do the negatives for the specific Stress Table effects stack?

Thanks. You can get several stress responses, but not more than one of the same type. If you are already Frantic, you can't get Frantic again (such a result is simply ignored, you won't be Frantic x2).

I am so happy to read this.
Our first test play had the stress sky-rocket, but this looks more balanced at first glance. And I can't wait to run it tomorrow in our recording for the youtube channel!
Thanks Thomas!

This looks excellent! Thank you for looking at this system at this later stage of development.

My initial thoughts are that this looks much more straightforward and the results seem differentiated nicely. I do miss 'lose item' on the stress response I think, but the clear separation of the tables looks clean and flavourful. I can always have losing an item as a consequence of 'mess up' of course (rubs hands together).

Brilliant work, as always!

I was not expecting these changes to come so fast and be this drastic. I adore them! Both tables are so much better IMO. Resolve plays a huge role now. True randomness without the bell curve. The new effects are leagues better. Only from the 9 and up on the Panic Table do you start giving everyone stress? Beautiful. The alternates for the Stress Table are great. Because the minuses are really impactful, but they make sense. And it might force some players to push more roles to get that success, which means that players have almost complete control over how much stress dice they're going to let themselves suffer from, yet we still have the lovely randomness of the rolls when they happen.

I miss the Friendly Fire suggestion for the Mess Up effect, but that's a minor thing since there are already default rules now for the Friendly Fire.

Just one question though. Do the negatives for the specific Stress Table effects stack?

Thanks. You can get several stress responses, but not more than one of the same type. If you are already Frantic, you can't get Frantic again (such a result is simply ignored, you won't be Frantic x2).

Thank you for the clarification! That makes sense. So when we roll the same one again, it is basically a 0 - Keeping It Cool, free pass type of thing? And I suspect the new stress effects last a Stretch by default?

Thank you again for all your hard work and for responding to us so quickly with these new updates.