Chapter 4: Subsystems

Selecting an evocative name for your Victory Points can better reflect the subsystem they track. The term “Victory Points” is unspecific, so you can create a name for your Victory Points that fits the theme of your adventure and helps the players feel more like they're taking part in the type of activity your subsystem represents. Examples of renamed VPs include Awareness Points, Influence Points, and Research Points. The name should be representative, and the PCs should understand what it refers to. You can leave off the word “Points” if you prefer, though this section often retains it while describing how Victory Points can be used.

There are a few common structures for tracking Victory Points that you might use for your new subsystem. You could come up with a structure based off one of the subsystems below, or you could create your own completely different structure if none of them match the way you're running your game. The most important thing is to consider how the PCs or their opposition gain or lose various forms of Victory Points.

When preparing your subsystem, think of the obstacles PCs might face or avenues they can exploit when engaging in your subsystem. Set some DCs for them in advance, using the normal system for setting DCs. Everything else, you can improvise on the spot. If you think your DCs will be higher overall, when you set the number of points needed, choose a value on the lower end (see Setting your Scale).

Think of some possibilities that are much easier and some that are harder. Who are your PCs opposing, and what weak points might that opposition have that the PCs could exploit? Set those DCs lower or make overcoming them grant more VP. PCs who do their research or come up with clever strategies should find it easier to overcome the challenge.

The number of points it takes to reach a goal will greatly affect how your subsystem feels during play. If you want the subsystem to be used for a single scene, such as one negotiation with a powerful NPC, set the number lower than if it's meant to take up most or all of a game session. The Victory Point Scales table below suggests possible values for your Victory Point scale. The “adventure-wide” scale is for subsystems that are part of a larger narrative, granting Victory Points when the PCs overcome entire encounters or dungeons, rather than as an encounter unfolds.

This larger scale is intended for subsystems that take a lot of the party's focus. A subsystem that runs in the background during an adventure should use a smaller scale. This is usually the “adventure-wide, sideline” value. It could be even lower, such as if you have a city-based adventure including several opportunities to interact with a street gang to get some small benefits. Though they appear throughout the adventure, you would use a lower value because attaining the VP is a minor part of the story. In fact, you might choose not to use a VP subsystem at all.

The table also lists numbers for one or more thresholds. These are the point values at which the PCs get a partial benefit (or, for a diminishing subsystem, take a drawback). You should grant partial benefits when the PCs reach a certain threshold or introduce twists to the subsystem to ensure they continue to feel engaged and rewarded over time.


The values also depend on various factors. These might include the DCs, the number of chances the PCs get to gain Victory Points, and the flexibility of how the PCs can deploy themselves (for example, if PCs are all forced to try something they might not be trained in, it could cause critical failures). They might also include the amount of effort the PCs need to spend on tasks that don't directly earn Victory Points—such as checks to Discover information about NPCs using the influence subsystem. Keep all these in mind when deciding what end point you want to use.

When running your new subsystem, be sure to keep the challenges fresh by using a variety of different skills and options to encourage creativity and cooperation, rather than just using the same check over and over again, where PCs can expect diminishing returns. You can also use timers to encourage each PC to participate or even create mechanics that directly encourage each PC to participate, like setting penalties for the same PC attempting checks repeatedly, or for two PCs attempting the same check.

You can even have challenges that require all the PCs to participate. For instance, if a ritzy nightclub's owner is welcoming every guest individually, each PC might have to make an impression in their own way, or during infiltration, each PC might have to test their ability to Impersonate or Sneak. You'll likely find that some approaches should be automatic successes if the character making an attempt is well-suited to the task, or automatic failures for ideas that are likely impossible or that rely on abilities the character doesn't possess.

How you structure rewards for your subsystem depends greatly on its scope. A subsystem resolved in a single sitting usually gives accomplishment XP unless it's particularly demanding, in which case it could be considered a full-scale encounter. Meanwhile, subsystems that span over the course of multiple sessions or the entire campaign might generate accomplishment XP at meaningful milestones along the way. If you have a long-spanning subsystem that is fairly low profile and behind the scenes or isn't success-oriented, such as a subsystem to track what type of fan base the PCs' touring aggrosynth band will end up attracting based on the PCs' decisions, you might not give XP directly from the subsystem since, in that case, “success” is undefined.

NPCs in the influence subsystem have little need for many of the statistics you'll find in an ordinary creature stat block. However, it might help you to prepare for the social encounter by creating an influence stat block for each prominent NPC. These are optional; if you can keep most information straight in your head, you might skip this step or just write down the first three categories to keep the numbers straight. Influence stat blocks are flexible and contain only the stats that are essential to running the NPC during a social encounter, leaving the rest out. The main stats that matter are the NPC's Perception and Will modifiers.

NPC Name

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Traits
A succinct description of the NPC, such as “award-winning pop diva” or “famous ace pilot.”
Perception The NPC's Perception modifier, plus potentially relevant abilities such as scent or truesight.
Will The NPC's Will modifier, plus any special adjustments.
Discovery The Perception DC to Discover information about the NPC, as well as any skill checks to Discover their DCs.
Influence Skills The skills the PCs can use to Influence the NPC are listed here with their DCs, in order from the lowest DC (the skill that works best) to the highest DC. If a skill isn't listed but a player gives a strong narrative explanation for using it, you can add it as an appropriate DC (usually the highest listed DC). Diplomacy should usually be on this list, but should rarely be the best skill to Influence an NPC, in order to encourage and reward using Discover to learn and cater to an NPC's interests.
Influence Thresholds The number of Influence Points required to Influence the PC, and the benefits for meeting them. Some NPCs might have multiple influence thresholds, granting the PCs additional benefits or favors as they cross more thresholds.

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Resistances Some NPCs are resistant to certain tactics, biased against certain types of people, or can get defensive when a certain topic comes up. Any of these makes it harder for a PC to convince them. For instance, an NPC might find flattery inane, dislike technomancers, or bristle at any mention of their ex-spouse. Typically, an NPC's resistance increases the DC of the associated check to Influence by 2 (or 5 for stronger resistances), but it could have farther-ranging consequences, such as losing Influence Points or angering the NPC enough that attempting to Influence them again is impossible.
Weaknesses Most NPCs have at least one weakness that clever and observant PCs can use to their advantage, whether it's a deep-seated insecurity, a desire for power, a favorite hobby, a bias toward a certain group, or a hidden secret the PCs could threaten to expose. When a PC incorporates an NPC's weakness, it typically decreases the associated Influence check's DC by 2 (or 5 for stronger weaknesses), but it could have farther-ranging effects, such as gaining automatic Influence Points or even automatically influencing the NPC regardless of how many Influence Points the PCs have achieved so far.

When running an influence encounter, let the PCs be creative and use a diverse set of skills whenever possible. Be open to improvisation, and change the structure of the encounter if something interesting presents itself. The PCs set the pace and choose with whom they interact. It's up to you to make sure every NPC is distinct, react to the PCs' interactions with the NPCs, and lend overall structure to the encounter by making sure it feels like a living, breathing event rather than just a series of skill checks.

Think about how the number of rounds of a social encounter relates to the overall event. For instance, if you have a four-course brunch that takes 6 rounds, you could have 1 round for introductions before the food arrives, 1 round for each of the courses, and 1 last round of conversations after the final course. NPCs might filter in and out or become unavailable for conversations as they are occupied by various tasks, or become particularly eager to engage a PC. That sort of change helps make the NPC feel a bit more real and helps break up any repetition in your encounter.

An influence encounter is typically worth the same amount of XP as a moderate combat encounter of its level would be.

A research challenge has two components: the library, which is an area containing the various research checks PCs need to attempt to learn about the topic (as well as obstacles that the PCs face while doing so); and a research stat block, which details the topic being researched and contains the information, rewards, and additional complications that happen when the PCs reach certain thresholds of RP.

“Library” is the general term to designate the setting of the PCs' research. Despite the name, it doesn't necessarily consist of a collection of books. It could be a computer database, astral memory palace, a club where the party questions the other guests, or even an infosphere. In many ways, designing a library is similar to designing any other adventure locale, with various rooms or other areas, each with its own complications for the PCs to overcome. If your library has a tactical map, these are likely hazards or encounters with hostile creatures; if your library is cinematic, especially if it's a virtual space, these might instead be skill-based or social encounters with NPCs. The PCs might even need a skill check or the Hacking subsystem to gain access to the library.

Throughout the library, you'll place research checks. These describe the task that the party is doing to Research—asking in a chat room, skimming books, chemically testing samples, or talking to a stubborn administrator—and a number of skills and DCs the party can use with the Research activity, in order from the lowest DC (the skill that works best) to the highest DC.

Once you've decided how your library and its research options are structured, it's time to build the stat block and set research thresholds for each topic. Thresholds are your opportunity to reward your PCs with intriguing new information (like the history of the planet they're on), tactical intel (such as a prototype robot's only weakness), uncommon or rare options (like item formulas of lost technology), or anything else. A mix of rewards is best! Backstory can be interesting but isn't much of a reward on its own, so it should appear only at the lowest thresholds.

Reaching thresholds can also change the state of the library, in the PCs' favor or otherwise. In a poorly managed database, the first threshold might simply be cable management to help subsequent checks, but in a haunted database, necrolinked undead might appear to check their feeds. Reaching a research threshold can do just about anything, but it should have impact.

You don't need to evenly space thresholds—you could require very few Research Points for crucial clues you want to ensure the PCs receive and a much larger number to reach the final threshold that grants a special reward.

Published adventures use stat blocks like the one below.

Research Topic's NameResearch (Level)

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Traits
Research Checks The checks PCs can attempt to conduct research listed alongside their locations, tagged with area codes or page references when appropriate.

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Research Thresholds Each threshold lists the number of RP required to reach it, followed by the effects for meeting that threshold. Thresholds are listed in order from first (requiring the fewest RP) to last (the highest threshold).

During a chase, all the characters must overcome a series of obstacles that represent challenges—from security check points to quicksand—during the different legs of the pursuit. These obstacles aren't separated by specific distances; rather, the distance is narrative and can vary between obstacles as needed for the story you're telling. Travel times between obstacles can vary, too. The time scale you choose determines how PCs can act when dealing with an obstacle.

Each obstacle requires a certain number of Chase Points to overcome. Typically, half the obstacles require 1 point fewer than the number of party members, and half require 2 points fewer (with a minimum of 1 Chase Point per obstacle). Particularly challenging obstacles might require more. Typically, there are multiple ways to overcome an obstacle; for example, characters could evade a security officer or give a bribe to ignore them. Each approach usually requires a skill check or Perception check, but sometimes a saving throw, an attack roll, or something even more unusual, like casting a certain spell.

On a character's turn, they describe what they do to help the group get past the obstacle. They then attempt any required roll, or perform the required action for a choice without a check. If they attempt a roll, the result determines how many Chase Points the character gains.
If the means of bypassing the obstacle helps automatically without requiring a check—such as using a certain spell to assist—the PCs typically get 1 Chase Point. You can increase that to 2 if you feel the action is extremely helpful.

Chase Points represent the ability of the whole group to bypass the obstacle. A character who critically succeeds is able to help the other characters continue onward, while one who critically fails needs extra assistance. Players often have ideas for ways to overcome the obstacle beyond the choices you created for the obstacle. If their idea is applicable, you'll need to determine the DC and skill, or other statistic being used for that approach. This is great as long as it's creative, but be wary of a situation where a character who's legendary at a skill tries to justify how they can bypass every obstacle with that skill, such as using Acrobatics to tumble around them all, or the like. You can determine that some tactics just won't work against certain obstacles, or would help only one character without benefiting the rest and therefore aren't all that useful.

Once the PCs accumulate enough Chase Points to overcome the obstacle, they move on to the next. Extra Chase Points don't carry over to the next obstacle. However, anyone who hasn't already taken their turn that round can still take it against the new obstacle. Consequently, the characters best suited to overcoming the current obstacle might act first since the remaining characters might be better suited against the next one. The number of Chase Points the PCs have can never fall below 0.

It might help to put your obstacles in a stat block for easy reference. Inside published adventures, chase obstacles are likely to be presented in stat block form, as follows.

Crowd Obstacle 1

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Chase Points 3; Overcome DC 15 Acrobatics or Athletics to weave or push through, DC 13 Society to follow the flow

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Throngs of people crowd the space station corridors, making it difficult to continue the chase.

When building a chase, first build your obstacles, and then decide how far ahead the pursued character or characters begin and at what pace the NPCs will move. Having the NPCs clear one obstacle per round is a good rule of thumb, but it could vary depending on the situation and should especially be slower against obstacles that require more than the typical number of Chase Points to overcome.

Select or build obstacles highlighting a variety of different skills and other options so everyone in the party has a moment to shine. When choosing what skills can bypass a given obstacle, ensure a variety of approaches can work. If you've already decided that an obstacle uses Stealth, selecting Thievery as the other option doesn't really offer opportunities for different types of characters since those who are good at Thievery are very likely the same ones who are good at Stealth. On the other hand, offering Athletics as an alternative gives a soldier who's terrible at Stealth a way to help. The group can help cover for a character who's less capable at a particular obstacle, but it's more fun for players when you present substantially different options for each obstacle.

Use the following guidelines to determine how many obstacles you need for your chase. These numbers assume that the pursued party can reach a certain location to end the chase (as described in Ending Chases). If there's no such escape, you might need more obstacles.
Short: 6 obstacles, about 10–20 minutes of game time
Medium: 8 obstacles, about 15–25 minutes of game time
Long: 10 obstacles, about 20–30 minutes of game time

When running a chase, narrate the scene and give vivid descriptions of the obstacles the PCs face, rather than just reading off a list of skills and immediately having the players start rolling dice and attempting checks. A chase is a framework for roleplaying, not just a dice game. Encourage the PCs to describe what they're doing and how they're helping their comrades overcome each obstacle.

Typically, it's best to tell the players the DCs of the default options, so they can make informed decisions. At the very least, you should indicate the relative difficulty of the clear paths.

Try to make it feel like the PCs are really part of a chase scene, like in a movie. As each side makes progress, describe how they pull ahead or close the gap. PCs far from their foes might hear shouts in the distance. As they get closer, they catch glimpses, and then finally see their quarry in full view once they're on the enemies' heels. Think about how the events of the chase affect the environment as well. For instance, if a colossus is chasing after the PCs, after the PCs overcome an obstacle consisting of a cluttered construction site, you could describe how the colossus flattens the structure beneath its feet as it stomps after them.

You can use the following obstacles in your chases, which are organized by environment. The name is followed by the level of group they're best suited for, and many include both a basic version for lower levels and a higher-level version.

When creating an infiltration, you'll want to start with the party's broad goals and an idea of how much time you and your players want to spend. The more complex an infiltration, the longer it will take to play out at the table.

Sometimes the party has a chance to prepare before conducting their infiltration, by scouting a location, bribing officials, and so on. This takes the form of special downtime activities that can give the PCs Edge Points (EP): resources and advantages they can bring to bear during their infiltration, such as stolen uniforms, hacked credentials, and the like. As with infiltration opportunities, careless work runs the risk of increasing Awareness Points—but in this case, before the infiltration even begins!

Typically, you'll limit the preparation phase in some way, such as by setting a number of days the PCs have to prepare and by constraining how many preparation activities are available to make sure the PCs aren't entering the infiltration with so many Edge Points that the infiltration is no longer suspenseful. The more opportunities for Edge Points you give, the lower you should set the Awareness Point thresholds for complications and failure. Also decide how many times the characters can benefit from each preparation activity—most activities should grant their benefits only once.

You can use the activities below for your infiltration by adjusting the details, but you should also create custom activities that link directly to your story.

Every hacker needs a computer to hack! The form a computer takes can vary greatly, from a secure technological database accessed via a holographic interface to an interdimensional tree that grows across realities and stores its data inside colorful, intangible fruits accessible only through lucid dreaming. While incredibly different and bound to sport unique vulnerabilities and countermeasures, both are computers for the purpose of the hacking subsystem.

In the simple computer example, an aeon stone taken from a defeated guard can be used to control security in an Azlanti prison. In the lower-level complex computer example, the PCs need to learn about Zo!'s unannounced show, either by hacking into the Zo! media server directly or by trying to steal his comm unit to get the information using his personal device. In the higher-level complex computer example, the PCs are trying to identify a contact using data from an AbadarCorp server.

A cinematic starship scene runs like most encounters, with players rolling initiative for their characters based on how their characters entered the scene and taking individual turns in that order during each round. Prior to the start of a cinematic starship scene, each player selects one of the starship roles their character occupies, which determines the skill they roll for initiative. Someone acting as a pilot is likely to roll Piloting for initiative, while a science officer might roll Computers or Perception. Remember that each PC might receive a bonus to their rolls based on the Starship Bonuses available!

At the beginning of a round, each starship role becomes available, as determined by the scene. At the start of a PC's turn, they select an available role to occupy, maintaining that role until the beginning of the next round. This means a PC who acted as pilot in the previous round could act as captain in the following round, as long as the role is currently available and unoccupied. Some roles can be occupied by multiple PCs, such as a ship that has two gunners or even two science officers. The available roles and the number of characters who can occupy each role are noted in the scene.

Based on the role a PC selects, they have one or more special actions they can use on their turn. This might represent a special piloting maneuver to try to escape the threat, a counterhacking endeavor the science officer might need to commit to, a magical ritual necessary to close a nearby rift into Hell, or even a simple firing of the ship's laser cannon at a foe! As usual, PCs have 3 actions during their turn, which they'll use to perform special actions granted by their role or other actions of their choice. As most starship actions require 2 actions to use, each PC is likely to have a single action to spare on their turn, which might include a PC preparing to Aid an ally, a spellcaster casting guidance to improve their odds of success on a skill check, or a PC taking a shot at an enemy boarder invading the bridge.

Unlike the PCs onboard their starship, who are the stars of the show and guide the story with their choices, the threats in a cinematic starship scene operate using preset routines— though some scenes might provide variations on a routine to keep the PCs on their toes! Enemy starships involved in the scene perform routines and don't perform crew actions.

Rather than individual stat blocks for different elements within a scene, starship scenes are presented as one large stat block for you to reference. These scene stat blocks are broken down into pertinent information, going on to describe information about the encounter and how to win it, the PCs' starship, specific threats found within the encounter, and finally an explanation on how the encounter is assumed to end. These scenes can be exceptionally large stat blocks depending on the overall theme of the encounter and, depending on complexity, can take the same time as running a complex encounter in encounter mode.

Scene Name Scene (Level)

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Trait
An overall description of the overall encounter.
Victory Conditions Explanation of how the PCs succeed or measure success during the encounter. This might include options like reducing one or more threats to 0 Hit Points, obtaining a certain number of Victory Points, or that the encounter ends after a set number of rounds.

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Additional Objectives Explanation of any optional objectives the PCs can attempt to accomplish, including information on how these objectives are accomplished. Most cinematic starship scenes don't include additional objectives, and additional objectives never contribute to a scene's victory conditions or end the encounter.
Starship Description Details about the PCs' starship, including notable components.
Available Roles A list of the roles that PCs can occupy on the starship. A PC determines their role at the start of their turn, but the crew of any given starship can never take more actions with the associated role trait than the number of roles listed here.
Starship Bonuses Core numerical details about the PCs' starship, including any relevant skill bonuses or notable information that could affect PCs or the encounter.
AC the PCs' starship AC; Saving Throws the PCs' starship saves
Shields the PCs' starship shields with a parenthetical on how many it regains at the start of each round; HP the PCs' starship Hit Points. If this is reduced to 0, then the starship is disabled.

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Starship Actions Specific actions the PCs can take in their starship during the encounter. Some actions, particularly Strikes, will specify a proficiency necessary.

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Threat Name A description of the threat, such as enemy starships or dangerous environmental effects.
Initiative The specific skill the threat uses to roll its initiative along with appropriate bonus.
Skills the threat's skills, if any
AC the threat's AC, if any; Saving Throws the threat's saves, if any
Shields the threat's shields with a parenthetical on how many it regains at the start of each round, if any; HP the threat's Hit Points, if any; Immunities the threat's immunities, if any; Weaknesses the threat's weaknesses, if any; Resistances the threat's resistances, if any
Special Abilities Abilities that occur outside of the threat's regular routine.
Threat Routine (number of actions) This entry describes what the threat does on each of its turns during an encounter; the number in parentheses indicates how many actions the threat can use each turn.
Threat Action Any action the threat can use appears here.

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Additional Threats You can include multiple threats in a cinematic starship encounter; each should include the same information as detailed above.

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Ending the Encounter Specifics on how the encounter can end. This is separate from victory conditions, as an encounter might end before the PCs achieve a victory condition, or the PCs might only be partway to complete victory when an encounter ends.

Every scene starts with a vision: what exactly are the PCs doing inside of a starship? Are they battling an enemy starship in the atmosphere of a planet or attempting to escape the jaws of some predatory interstellar megafauna before becoming trapped inside? Designing these encounters should always begin with a basic concept of what situation the PCs will be part of, how to overcome the scene, and how the scene ultimately concludes.

The following are a series of example components that you can use to construct cinematic starship scenes.

Depending on the circumstances of a cinematic starship scene, there should always be some type of reward the PCs can earn. They might acquire salvage from defeated threats or obtain vital intelligence on their missions. In scenes where success is measured using Victory Points, the number of points the PCs collect might affect the rewards they receive, adding a bit of “risk versus reward” in encounters where the PCs could easily escape after hitting the necessary threshold but could remain longer to get more successes. This works especially well in scenes like intelligence gathering or asteroid mining, where the PCs might feel the need to push themselves to leave with more. Additional objectives also provide a means for PCs to earn additional rewards through their actions.

Failure in a starship scene should rarely end with the party dying. A PC starship brought to 0 Hit Points becomes disabled, meaning it can be boarded or left adrift for the PCs to enact emergency repairs on. Some encounters, such as a sun about to go nova, might necessitate PC death, but you should always ensure that the PCs have ample time to escape. Instead of death, consider consequences such as the losing of vital intelligence, entering the next encounter at a disadvantage, or facing enemy forces that have had more time to prepare.

Vehicles are objects. They have object immunities, and they can't act. In addition to the statistics most objects have, vehicles have several additional statistics and abilities. Vehicles have a size like any object, but their spaces are more specifically defined. All vehicles come with a console that controls features like air conditioning and music and that syncs to a comm unit. Vehicles also have specialized movement rules.

In encounter mode, a vehicle moves on its pilot's turn, and the pilot must use their actions to control it. A vehicle can take part in only 1 move action each round, even if multiple creatures Take Control as pilots on the same round.

Vehicles can be as simple as a trolley or as large and complex as an airplane. Whatever the size or complexity of a vehicle, it uses the following stat block format.

Vehicle Name Vehicle [Level]

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SizeOther Traits
Price This entry lists the vehicle's Price. This doesn't include creatures for pulling a vehicle, materials needed to power the vehicle, or the cost of rowers.

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Space This entry gives the vehicle's dimensions, not including any creatures pulling the vehicle.
Crew The crew members required to operate the vehicle; Passengers The number of passengers the vehicle is typically configured to carry, if any, when the vehicle isn't carrying cargo. The number might be reduced if the vehicle is carrying cargo, at the GM's discretion.
Piloting Check This entry lists the skills that can be used for piloting checks while operating the vehicle. Some skills might increase the DC; these list the DC adjustment in parentheses following the skill name.

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AC The vehicle's AC; Saving Throws The vehicle's saves (typically only Fortitude). If a vehicle needs to attempt a saving throw that isn't listed, the pilot attempts a piloting check at the same DC instead.
Hardness The vehicle's hardness, HP The vehicle's Hit Points, with its Broken Threshold in parentheses; Immunities The vehicle's immunities; Weaknesses The vehicle's weaknesses, if any; Resistances The vehicle's resistances, if any.

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Speed The vehicle's Speeds, each followed by the propulsion type for that Speed in parentheses. A pulled vehicle indicates the number and size of the pulling creatures.
Collision The vehicle's collision damage and the DC for saving throws to mitigate that damage. Unless otherwise stated, collisions deal bludgeoning damage. If the vehicle has any other form of attack, like mounted weaponry, they appear in their own entries below this one.
Special Abilities Any abilities unique to the vehicle are listed at the end of the stat block.