You are a crew of... well, let's call you mercenaries.

You live in what everyone (in your area) calls "The Upper Reaches," which is a huge, vast network of subterranean caverns and tunnels.

Above The Upper Reaches is The Surface World, where other species like Humans and Elves and Halflings and Gnomes and stuff live.

Below The Upper Reaches is The Lower Depths, which is where really scary people and monsters come from.


Crew Creation:

STEP ONE: Pick what your crew is best at doing:

--Toughs: You excel at: being tough and extorting money from others: "Pay us, and we'll leave you alone." "Nice building you've got here. Be a shame if someone burned it down." That sort of thing.
--Killers: You excel at: killing someone or something that you've been paid to kill.
--Thieves: You excel at: stealing things-- including spying and stealing secrets.
--Traders: You excel at: selling and trading stuff... often dangerous stuff, or stuff that certain other groups frown on anyone possessing, let alone selling or trading.
--Allies: You excel at: surviving because you're good at making a particular powerful being happy and getting supernatural favors from it: a powerful elemental (usually Earth or Fire), a powerful dragon, a powerful monster with psychic powers...


STEP TWO: Here is the list of Crew actions. You start with 1 star in each.

--Scary:
Smash *
Command *
Invoke *

--Smooth:
Aim *
Run *
Sneak *

--Clever:
Study *
Tinker *
Sway *

Depending on your Crew Type, you get to add more stars as follows:

--Toughs: 1 star added to Smash and 1 star added to Command
--Killers: 1 star added to Run and 1 star added to Aim
--Thieves: 1 star added to Study and 1 star added to Sneak
--Traders: 1 star added to Tinker and 1 star added to Sway
--Allies: 1 star added to Invoke and 1 star added to Sway

STEP THREE:
Your crew starts with at least four members, who fill specialty roles on the crew. There are seven different kinds of roles: fighting, shooting, sneaking, charming, planning, magic, gear.

--Fighting: specialize in up-close combat.
--Shooting: specialize in ranged combat.
--Sneaking: specialize in sneaking around and not getting caught.
--Charming: specialize in using words to get others to do what you want.
--Planning: specialize in planning ahead and in figuring out the plans of others.
--Magic: specialize in everything to do with weird and/or supernatural abilities.
--Gear: specialize in everything to do with one or more of the following?: traps, alchemy, forging stuff, repairing stuff, engineering, machinery, and magical items and/or magical mechanisms.

So, Step Three involves:

--Pick 1 to 4 crew members per player, pick their roles, their species, and name them.

1 player: start with 4 crew members.
2 players: start with 6 crew members-- 3 for each player.
3 players: start with 6 crew members-- 2 for each player.
4 players: start with 4 crew members-- 1 for each player.
5 players: start with 5 crew members-- 1 for each player.
6 players: start with 6 crew members-- 1 for each player.
7 players: start with 7 crew members-- 1 for each player.

NOTE: you do not HAVE to have all Crew members be different roles! You can have 2 or more fighters, if you want! It's up to you!

SPECIES: The most common species in The Upper Reaches are:

Hobgoblins, Bullywugs, Goblins, Serpentfolk, Duergar, Tieflings, Kobolds

--Hobgoblins: like goblins (see below) but stronger and tougher. Also, have orange skin and stand about six feet tall.

--Bullywugs: frog people. Stand about five-and-a-half-feet tall. Good at shooting darts with breath-powered blowguns (dart shooters).

--Goblins: Like hobgoblins, but green and smaller and a lot sneakier. About five-and-a-half feet tall (when they stand up straight).

--Tieflings: like humans, but with horns and a long tail like a big lizard (but not scaly). They come in different colors of skin and eyes (most common is purple skin and golden eyes, but many are different).

--Duergar: like dwarves, but adapted for living even deeper underground than dwarves normally do. About four-and-a-half-feet-tall.

--Serpentfolk: Scaly folk with snake bodies below the waist. About six feet tall.

--Kobolds: scaly little guys (but with two arms and two legs, unlike Serpentfolk) averaging about 2-and-a-half-feet.

Each of these common Upper Reach species are known for being good with a specialty:

--Hobgoblins: Fighting
--Bullywugs: Shooting
--Goblins: Sneaking
--Tieflings: Charming
--Duergar: Planning
--Serpentfolk: Magic
--Kobolds: Gear (especially traps)

Of course, there are many exceptions-- you might easily find an excellent Hobgoblin archer, or a Duergar or Serpentfolk fighter, or a Tiefling mage-- but these are the stereotypes.

Other, less-common species of the Upper Reaches that might join a crew:

--Exiled Dwarf: sometimes a dwarf will get kicked out of their dwarf clan for whatever reason. Such a dwarf might come down and join a crew. The stereotype is that they're good at fighting.

--Exiled Male Dark Elf: Dark Elves, or Deep Elves, sometimes get exiled from their Lower Depths clan for whatever reason. Such a Drow might join a crew. The stereotype is that the men are good at fighting.

--Exiled Female Dark Elf: Dark Elves, or Deep Elves, sometimes get exiled from their Lower Depths clan for whatever reason. Such a Drow might join a crew. The stereotype is that the women are good at magic.

--Svirfneblin: Svirfneblin are basically Deep Gnomes, the Lower Depths version of surface gnomes much as Duergar are the Lower Depths version of Mountain Dwarves. Svirfneblin sometimes get exiled from their Lower Depths clan for whatever reason. Such a Deep Gnome might join a crew. The stereotype is that they're good at sneaking.

--Minotaur: Folk with bull heads and hooved feet. The stereotype is that they're good at fighting.


Your crew members' specialties are what gives you that star to start with. If you DON'T have certain crew specialties, it can hurt your roll on certain things, even if your crew is good at those things.

--Scary:
Smash: penalty if you don't have a Fighter specialist
Invoke: penalty if you don't have a Magic specialist

--Smooth:
Sneak: penalty if you don't have a Sneaking specialist

--Clever:
Tinker: penalty if you don't have a Gear specialist


Example: If you are a crew of Thieves but you are lacking a Sneaking specialist, you roll 1 fewer dice (minimum of 1).


STEP FOUR: GEAR

You have two special items of gear. They can be magical, or just mundane but really useful. Whatever they are, they are multi-use. If their usefulness can run out (like a magic item, say), it can be recharged somehow, given time.

Say what your two pieces of gear are, and which crew member carries each piece of gear when the crew goes out on a mission.

Each of your two starting pieces of gear give let you roll one extra die in one type of action when you're rolling dice.

EXAMPLE 1: "Our crew possesses Boots Of Silence, which are worn by our Sneaking specialist, the goblin Zedrax. The Boots of Silence let us roll 1 extra die when we attempt to Sneak."

EXAMPLE 2: "Our crew possesses a magical Map of Tactics, which is carried by our Planning specialist, the duergar Solkar. The magical Map of Tactics lets us roll 1 extra die when we attempt to Study a situation we're about to face danger in."

If the crew member carrying/holding/using that Gear dies (but nothing else bad happens), you can recruit a new crew member and give them that piece of Gear.



STEP FIVE: Your Crew starts with one friend and one enemy. Pick one of each:

--Shaga, a Hobgoblin retired tactical genius
--Rahea, a Serpentfolk bounty hunter
--Cervan, a rich merchant Tiefling
--Busile, a Bullywug shaman
--Lashkar, an excellent Goblin scout
--Zada, a Guard Captain of a nearby Hobgoblin settlement
--Amahlia, Tiefling teacher of a very fancy martial art
--Hadir, keeper of the laws of a nearby Duergar settlement
--Ahmurati, Serpentfolk hermit assassin
--Dajhira, Tiefling dealer in magical oddities
--Noon, a Bullywug bone witch
--Edoghan, a Goblin spy who likes to pit factions against each other
--Usk, an ancient earth elemental
--Gazka, a nomadic Troll herdsman of dire goats
--Mirari, Tiefling tavern keeper in a nearby settlement who hears many rumors
--Legara, Hobgoblin weapon merchant
--Chennoth, a Minotaur bouncer in a nearby settlement
--Varg, a vicious Dark Elf fighter in another crew
--Shendrak, a Bullywug healer
--Zhinal, a shifty Goblin fence of stolen goods
--Grenn, a Goblin pickpocket in a nearby settlement
--Haverad, a Tiefling druid
--Ardwo, a Duergar politician with flexible morals
--Necta, a Serpentfolk diplomat
--Aara, a Tiefling bard
--Kellen, a sly Tiefling gambler
--Ondis, a Duergar craftsman
--Eiret, a Tiefling mage
--Vayar, an intense Duergar with psionicist
--Niva, a Goblin revolutionary
--Kalsh, a paranoid Goblin dealer in drugs and potions



STEP SIX: HEADQUARTERS:

You have a headquarters. It is Defensible (+1 to combat rolls inside the premises). Choose two more:
--Hidden: +1 to Chill Out rolls but -1 to getting new jobs.
--Quarters: +1 to Heal Up rolls.
--Library: +1 to Invoke rolls made while in Headquarters.
--Lab/Workshop: +1 to Tinker rolls made while in Headquarters.
--Prison: You can keep people here and they can't break out.
--Trophy Room: +1 dice when you Command based on your reputation.
--Wards: Extra Magical protection of all sorts while at Headquarters. Magical enemies will find it harder to enter, let alone do anything while inside.

Possible Headquarters:
* A half-sunken grotto in Irongate's maze-like underground canals.
* An abandoned watch tower atop an ancient, crumbling city wall.
* The unassuming back rooms of a merchant’s shop.
* A small, abandoned house at the end of an especially-dark lane.
* A rickety, tin-roofed shack perched on a rooftop.
* An abandoned Duergar siege engine, now rusted in place on its ancient iron wheels.
* A short (150 feet) section of tunnel with both ends permanently blocked off-- or so it seems unless one knows to look closely.



STEP SEVEN: OTHER DETAILS

--If your crew is a crew of Allies, work with your GM about what type of powerful creature your Ally is. Powerful Earth or Fire elementals are most common, but if you're a crew of all-Bullywugs, a Water elemental might fit, too. It could be something else, like a huge ancient dragon, or a powerful psionic monster, or something else the GM agrees to.

--Anyway, in addition to names and specialties, you're also encouraged to list certain other details for each of your crew members:

* Starting Reputation: Pick one:
--Ambitious
--Clever
--Daring
--Honorable
--Professional
--Subtle
--Strange
--Vicious


* How do each of them like to spend their free time? Choose one:
--Creating Art/Reading/Studying
--Dating/Romance
--Drinking/Feasting/Partying
--Fulfilling Some Personal Obligation
--Gambling
--Shopping

* Why are each of them in the Crew? Choose one (for each):
--Fame
--Protection from a specific enemy or threat
--Power
--Revenge
--Wealth

* For each crew member, you MUST pick one other crew member that each crew member is particularly close to or trusts.

---

Blades in the Underworld uses six-sided dice. You roll 1 or more, and then look at the single highest result.

 If the highest die is a 6, it’s a full success-- things go well. If you roll more than
one 6, it’s a critical success-- you gain some additional advantage.

 If the highest die is a 4 or 5, that’s a partial success-- you do what you were trying to do, but there are consequences: trouble, harm, reduced effect, etc.

 If the highest die is 1-3, it’s a bad outcome. Things go poorly. You probably don’t achieve your goal and you suffer complications, too.


If you ever need to roll but you have zero (or negative) dice, roll two dice and take the single lowest result. You can’t roll a critically good result when you have to roll this way.


The most common result is 4/5: partial success. This means that your character will tend to succeed, but at a cost-- you’ll rarely get away completely clean. This is a game about underdog characters who are often in over their heads. The dice mechanic reinforces this by making partial success crop up again and again. This is a good thing! Trouble is where the fun of the game happens.


To know how many dice to roll: Roll 1 for each star your crew has for the particular action you're trying to attempt, plus 1 for any extra bonuses you have that apply (such as Gear bonuses, for example.)


You’ll usually end up with one to four dice. Even one die is pretty good in this game—a 50%
chance of not just failing outright.


There are different types of rolls that’ll come up in the game:

 Action rolls. When anyone in your crew attempts an action that’s dangerous or troublesome, you make an action roll to find out how it goes. Action rolls and their effects and consequences drive most of the game.


Here's what most often happens when you have a partial success: You succeed BUT:
--Something gets destroyed that you didn't mean to get destroyed-- a bridge, a door, a weapon, armor, a magic item.
--Someone gets hurt that you didn't intend to hurt-- an innocent bystander, say.
--You lose something-- money, a gemstone, a map.
--You start a countdown-- something bad is going to happen (to you, or a friend of yours) if you don't stop the countdown in time
--You irritate someone important (this is fairly common).
--Someone on the crew gets Trauma (this is pretty common-- more on this later).
--Your crew gets a penalty on its next roll (this is pretty common).
--Someone on the crew gets injured (this one is the most common).

Often the GM will tell you which of these happen. Sometimes, the GM may roll randomly for it. Sometimes, the GM may ask YOU which happens.

When a member of the crew gets wounded, make a note of it. There are 4 levels of being wounded:

WOUNDED:
--Level 1: Distracted. When a roll directly involves this crew member, dice that come up 6 count as 5s (until they're not wounded at this level anymore).
--Level 2: Irritated. Instead of the above, when a roll directly involves this crew member, 3s count as 4s.
--Level 3: You lose it. Instead of the above, When a roll directly involves this crew member, +1 die to all rolls.
--Level 4, This crew member dies. Better luck next time. New character.



 Downtime rolls. When the PCs are at their leisure after a job, they can perform downtime activities in relative safety. You make downtime rolls to see how much they get done.


Between jobs, your crew spends time at their liberty, attending to personal needs and side projects. These are called downtime activities:

--Long-Term Project (includes Improve Headquarters)
--Heal Up
--Chill Out
--Train


During a downtime phase, each PC has time for two downtime activities. When you’re at war, each PC has time for only one.

You may choose the same activity more than once (except Train).

You can only attempt actions that you’re in a position to accomplish. If an activity is contingent on another action, resolve that action first.

A PC can make time for more than two activities-- at a cost. Each additional activity from the list over 2 costs 1 Coin or 1 Rep. This reflects the time and resulting resource drain while you’re “off the clock” and not earning from a score. When you complete a new job, you reset and get two “free” activities again.


Activities on the downtime list are limited; normal actions are not. During downtime,
you can still go places, do things, make action rolls, gather information, talk with
other characters, etc. In other words, only activities that are on the list are limited.
For any downtime activity, take +1d to the roll if an NPC friend or other NPC contact helps you.


After the roll, you may spend coin after the roll to improve the result level. Increase the result level by one for each coin spent. So, a 1-3 result becomes a 4/5, a 4/5 result becomes a 6, and a 6 becomes a critical success.


If you can’t decide which downtime activity to pick, the GM may offer a longterm project idea. “Remember how you had that weird vision in that ancient temple? Yeah, do you want to get to the bottom of that? Okay, start a long-term project countdown clock-- four segments-- called... ‘Weird Temple Vibes.’ What do you do to learn more about that?”


Long-Term Projects:
When you work on a long-term project (either a brand-new one, or an already existing one), describe what your character does to advance the project clock, and roll one of your actions. Mark segments on the clock according to your result:
1-3: one segment, 4/5: two segments, 6: three segments, critical: five segments.

A long-term project can cover a wide variety of activities, like doing research into an arcane ritual, investigating a mystery, establishing someone’s trust, and so on.

"On the last score, the crew's magical specialist, Oskarr, disintegrated Silver’s body with a lightning bolt and theoretically trapped her spirit on the elemental plane of Air. But now her ghost is haunting him! How is this possible? This is beyond the scope of a simple gather information roll, so Oskarr starts a long-term project to investigate this mystery. The GM says it will be an 8-segment clock. Oskarr spends a downtime activity in the occult library at his lair, looking for any clues. The player rolls to Study, and gets a 4: two segments of progress on the clock.

In order to work on a project, you might first have to achieve the means to pursue it-- which can be a project in itself. For example, the crew might want to make friends with a member of the local mage's guild, but have no connection to them. You could first work on a project to Sway in their circles so you have the opportunity to meet one of them. Once that’s accomplished, you could start a new project to form a friendly relationship...


Heal Up:

When someone on your crew takes Wounds, the way to get better is to Heal Up during Downtime. This involves a roll of 1d6, or 2d6 if your Headquarters has actual Quarters (or more if you have some sort of magic item that helps with healing).

1-3: No healing
4-5: Reduce Wound level by 1
6: Reduce Wound level by 2
Critical success: Reduce Wound level by 3


--Chill Out:

Okay, now we have to talk about Trauma. What kind of Trauma is taken depends on what the character's specialty is.

* Fighting
--Soft: They lose their edge; they become sentimental, passive, gentle. -1 to Smash.

* Shooting:
--Cold: They stop acting moved by emotional appeals or social bonds. -1 to Aim.

* Sneaking:
--Vicious: They seek out opportunities to hurt people, even for no good reason. -1 to Sneak.

* Charming:
--Paranoid: They imagine danger everywhere; they can’t trust others. -1 to Sway.

* Planning:
--Obsessed: They become enthralled by one thing: an activity, a person, an ideology. -1 to Study.

* Magic:
--Haunted: They're often lost in reverie, reliving past horrors, seeing things. -1 to Invoke.

* Gear:
--Reckless: They have little regard for their own safety or best interests. -1 to Tinker.

If the same character takes a SECOND Trauma before getting rid of the first one, take:
--Unstable: Their emotional state is volatile. They can instantly rage, or fall into
despair, act impulsively, or freeze up. The GM will tell that type of roll (or rolls) are penalized.

A character cannot take a third trauma.



You get rid of Trauma with the downtime action of Chill Out. The character takes time to do what they like to do on their free time to relax.


--Creating Art/Reading/Studying: Tinker or Study roll.
--Dating/Romance: Sway roll.
--Drinking/Feasting/Partying: Sway roll.
--Fulfilling Some Personal Obligation: Depends on the activity, possibly a Sway roll.
--Gambling: Probably a Sway roll.
--Shopping: Probably a Study roll.


Remember that if your Headquarters is Hidden you get +1 to Chill Out rolls (but -1 to getting new jobs).


Roll result:
1-3: Trauma stays.
4-5: Lose 1 Trauma.
6: Lose 2 Trauma.
Critical Success: Lose 2 Trauma but Overindulge.

Overindulging means either your crew has Attracted Trouble. Select or roll an entanglement:


Entanglements:

--Dark Bargain:
A representative of a faction approaches the crew with an offer meant to tempt you. Accept their bargain, hide until it loses interest (forfeit 3 rep), or deal with it another way.

Rival Trouble:
A rival gang of mercs is causing trouble for your crew-- trash-talking you when you're not around, or worse.

You can blow them off and lost face (forfeit rep), or make an example of one of the gang members...

Hostile Faction:
An enemy faction makes a move against you (or a friend or ally). Pay them (2 rep and 2 coin) to get them to back off, allow them to get away with it, or fight back and show them who’s boss.

Unquiet Dead
A rogue undead is drawn to you-- perhaps it’s a past victim? Deal with it yourself, or hire an outside specialist to attempt to destroy or banish it for you.


--Train:
Training is just a different type of Long Term Project. Training is how you unlock Crew Upgrades. When a Crew Member spends downtime in training, start a countdown clock with 4 sections for a Crew Upgrade. and mark off 1 section of that clock.

You can train a Crew Upgrade clock only once per downtime.

Crew Upgrades depend on your type of crew:

* Toughs:
--War Dogs: When you’re at war with another faction, your crew members still get two downtime activities, instead of just one.
--Dangerous: (6-Tick Clock): The Crew may add 1 extra star twice (max of 3) to Command, Aim, and/or Smash (but not 1 star to all 3).

* Killers:
--Predators: When you attempt to execute a plan to attempt to kill someone or something, roll +1 die.
--Deadly: (6-Tick Clock): The Crew may add 1 extra star twice (max of 3) to Sneak, Aim, or Smash (but not 1 star to all 3).

* Thieves:
--Avarice: (6-Tick Clock): When you roll do do something that you had to spend Coin to do, add +1 die.
--Everyone Steals: (6-Tick Clock): The Crew may add 1 extra star twice (max of 3) to Sneak, Aim, and/or Tinker (but not 1 star to all 3).


* Traders:
--Ghost Market: Through arcane ritual or hard-won experience, you have discovered how to
market one or more products for sale to ghosts and/or magical beings. What will you offer them? They do not pay in coin-- what do they pay with? (The GM will certainly have an idea about how your strange new clients pay, but jump in with your own ideas, too! Talk it out and come up with something that everyone is excited about. If it’s a bit mysterious and uncertain, that’s good-- you'll have more to explore that way.)
--Silver Tongues: (6-Tick Clock): The Crew may add 1 extra star twice (max of 3) to Sneak, Study, and/or Sway (but not 1 star to all 3).
--Leverage: (6-Tick Clock): Your crew supplies goods for other factions. Your success is good for them. Whenever you gain Rep, gain +1 Rep.

* Allies:
--Anointed: You gain +1d to rolls dealing with supernatural threats. You get +1d to healing rolls caused buy the supernatural.
--Chosen: (6-Tick Clock): The Crew may add 1 extra star twice (max of 3) to Invoke, Study, or Sway (but not 1 star to all 3).
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:58, Thu 03 Aug 2023.

JOBS:

In general, Jobs fall into one of two categories:

--A faction hires you to do something: a theft, a delivery, getting information about a place or person or whatever, bodyguard protection, go kill a monster, etc.

--You decide all on your own to take action on an opportunity that's come to your attention: a theft, kill a monster (and loot any treasure might be in its lair), weaken or destroy a faction, whatever.


A Job can be long and involved or short and sweet. There might be lots of rolls and trouble, or just a few actions to resolve it. Play to find out what happens!

The PCs can set up a new Job by choosing a target, or by approaching a potential client and asking for work, or by being contacted by an NPC who needs to hire a Crew for a Job.



Planning & Doing a Job:

Your crew spends time planning each score. They huddle around a flickering lantern in their lair, looking at scrawled maps, whispering plots and schemes, bickering about the best approach, lamenting the dangers ahead, and lusting after stacks of coin.

But you, the players, don’t have to do the nitty-gritty planning. The characters take care of that, off-screen. All you have to do is choose what type of plan the characters have already made. There’s no need to sweat all the little details and try to cover every eventuality ahead of time. No plan is ever perfect. You can’t account for everything. There's always some unknown factors and trouble-- major or minor-- in every operation; you just have to make the best of it when it/they show(s) up.

There are six different plans, each with a missing detail you need to provide (see the list below). To “plan an operation,” simply choose the plan and supply the detail. Then the GM will cut to the action as the first moments of the operation unfold.

THE PLANS:

Assault: Do violence to a target. Detail: The when, where, and how of the attack.

Deception: Lure, trick, or manipulate. Detail: The method of deception.

Stealth: Get somewhere (and presumably back) unseen. Detail: The when, where, and how of infiltration.

Occult: Deal, in some magical way, with a supernatural power. Detail: The arcane method.

Social: Negotiate, bargain, or persuade. Detail: How to make them do what you want.

Transport: Carry cargo or people through danger. Detail: The route & means.

When you choose a plan, you provide a missing detail, like the point of attack, social connection, etc. If you don’t have a good answer for the missing detail(s), you can attempt to gather information first, in some way (Study? Sway? Invoke? Sneak? Something else?)


EXAMPLES & QUESTIONS
 You might Invoke an elemental to ask about echoes of recent activity. Have any new elementals been summoned to this area? How can I find the magic item that’s calling to them? What should I be worried about?

 You might Command a local barkeep to tell you what he knows about the secret meetings held in his back room. What’s really going on here? What’s he really feeling about this? Is he part of this secret group?

 You might Sway with a well-connected gossip to learn secrets about an enemy, rival, or potential ally. What do they intend to do? What might I suspect about their motives? How can I discover leverage to manipulate them?

 You might Sneak and follow a courier across the city, to discover who’s receiving satchels
of coin. Where does the package end up?

 You might Study ancient and obscure books to discover an arcane secret. How can I disable the runes of warding? Will anyone sense if they’re disabled?

 Or you might Study a person to read their intentions and feelings. What are they really feeling? How could I get them to trust me?

 You might Study a stronghold to case it for a heist. What’s a good point of infiltration? What’s the danger here?

 Or you might Study a charged situation when you meet another gang of mercs. What’s really going on here? Are they about to attack us?


THE POINT IS:

--Choose a type of plan
--Roll to answer the plan's question. The GM will give you information based on your roll. If the roll is even halfway good, it'll probably be stuff like "you realize you'll need to bring a couple of crowbars along to open the crates in a hurry."
--Then, your crew-- in the game-- will roll to get a plan:

Roll 1d6 to come up with a plan... BUT:

--If you have more than one star in STUDY, you can roll 1 extra die.

--If you have a Planner specialist, you can roll 1 extra die.

(If you have more than one star in Study AND you have a Planner specialist, then yes, you can roll 3d6.)

As you'll see, if your highest result is a 4 or 5, it'll look about the same whether you have a Planning specialist or not. But for outright failures or successes, it looks rather differently:

Highest roll result without a Planner specialist:
--3 or lower: Roll normally to start the mission-- but the first time you don't roll an outright success (highest result 5 or lower), it'll be extra-bad.
--4 or 5: Roll normally to start the mission.
--6: Roll normally to start the mission-- but if your highest result on your first roll is a 3, count it as a 4.
--more than one 6: Roll to start the mission-- but add 1 extra die to your rolls until the first time you fail a roll or the mission is over.

Highest roll result WITH a Planner specialist:
--3 or lower: Roll normally to start the mission-- but the first time you fail a roll (highest result 3 or lower), it'll be extra-bad.
--4 or 5: Roll normally to start the mission.
--6: Roll to start the mission-- but add 1 extra die to your rolls until the first time you fail a roll or the mission is over.
--more than one 6: Roll to start the mission-- but add 1 extra die to your rolls (until the first time you fail a roll) BUT the first time you get a 3, count it as a 4 (so that doesn't end the extra die bonus).
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:54, Sun 30 July 2023.

COIN USE:
* Spend 1 coin to get an additional activity during downtime.
* Spend 1 or more coin to improve the result of a downtime activity roll.
* Spend 1 or more coin to solve certain crew entanglements.
* Spend 2 coin to hire an extra crew member (up to max of 7). You don't have to do this when a character DIES-- that's free. You just have to do it to get a permanent additional crew "slot."

Avoid hoarding coin-- the bigger your hoard, the more likely you'll be to start attracting thieves.


REP:
When you complete a Job, your crew earns 2 rep. If the Job is particularly hard, you may get more than 2 Rep for completing it. If the Job is particularly easy, you may get less than 2 Rep for completing it (minimum zero).

If you ever get 12 Rep, you'll trade it all in. Something very good will happen for your Crew (probably you'll get some awesome new magic item), AND also you'll start getting paid 1 extra Coin per Job, AND some factions that are unhappy with you might back off of their hostility toward you... Some of them might very well be willing to hire you for Jobs...
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:38, Sun 30 July 2023.