The 9th and final part of my series on creations I made for my now-completed Stars Without Number campaign. If you want to see everything from all the posts at once, there’s a large google doc with it all.

Rep & Tier

For when you’re part of a larger organization, society, or system. Rep represents your reputation, influence, and crew rank within your faction. When you accumulate enough Rep, you will increase in Tier, which allows you to purchase better mech parts for cheaper.

Increasing Rep: Most missions will award 1 Rep for completing them, some especially important missions may award 2 Rep instead. Sometimes, extreme actions noticed by significant members of the faction can increase or decrease your Rep, usually just by 1 even then.

Tier Purchasing Power: When you are 1 Tier Level below what you want to buy, you can still buy it but the price is doubled. When you are 2 Tiers above what is required for something, its price is decreased by 25%. If an item isn’t mentioned in the Tier, it can usually be purchased at normal cost, as long as it is feasible for your suppliers to have it.

This all applies only to items purchased through your faction supplier. If you find something for sale elsewhere it’s a free mark.

Tier and the Crew and Faction Turns: When you reach Tier 1, you can participate in the Crew Turn during mission downtime. This represents the various crews within your faction competing with each other over resources, missions, renown, and influence. This competition is nonviolent, and if you attack another crew in a violent way you might find yourself quickly ganged up on in this intra-faction turn, or even kicked out of the faction entirely. That said, even typically-violent assets can be used to ‘attack’ another faction by defeating them in a duel, competition, intimidation, etc. Be creative.

Crew Stats and XP: Once you reach Tier 1, you can create your Crew for the Crew Turn. Your Crew starts with 2 in one stat, a single Asset related to that stat, 1 in the other Stats, and 8 HP. Any further Rep gained also grants 3 Crew XP, which you can use to increase your stats.

Assets and CrewCreds: Crewcreds are like FacCreds, but for the Crew Turn instead of the Faction Turn. You can Acquire Assets narratively if it fits, though that may also come with a CrewCred Cost. You can pay 10k credits into your crew fund to turn it into a CrewCred for it. The crew overall can do this up to three times per crew turn. Turning CrewCreds back into normal credits is a bit rougher, you are only able to withdraw 1 CrewCred per Crew Turn, which translates into 10k credits.

Faction Turn: Once you reach Tiers 4 and 5, you will start viewing, then influencing, the Faction Turn itself. The amount of influence you have will depend on how things are going in the Crew Turn. If you are the largest player in it, then you functionally control the faction you are within, but if not then you may have to compromise or only affect one part of their turn.

The Crew Turn

The Crew turn as a whole is based on the Faction turn, but with some changes for a mission-focused campaign.

Rule Changes

Deposit Credits: This free action can be done up to three times per crew turn, turning 20k liquid credits into 1 CrewCred.

Withdraw Credits: This free action can be done once per crew turn, turning 1 CrewCredit into 20k liquid credits.

Base of Influence Rep: If one of your bases of influence is reduced to half hit points or less you lose 1 Rep, which can be regained through healing it above half health. If your Base of Influence is destroyed you lose 1 additional Rep which cannot be regained. Crew XP is unaffected.

Move Carrier Ship: At the start of each Crew Turn, a crew can pay 1 CrewCred to ‘ante in’ to influence the location of your faction’s carrier spaceship. Everyone participating rolls 1d10 plus their highest stat, and the winner decides where within the next 3 hexes the ship will jump to at the end of the next crew turn. Turn 1 will decide the jump at the end of Turn 2, Turn 2 will decide for the end of 3, etc. These jumps are planned and publicly announced in advance, so everyone knows when it’s decided.

Missions: Whatever missions you don’t do might be picked up by another crew. At the start of each faction turn roll 1d6 for each mission that was previously available, plus 1 for each previous time you’ve done this (written down as Mission Age). On a 6+ the mission was accomplished by another crew who gains 3 Crew XP per Rep the mission would have rewarded. Then increase all missions age by 1.

Goals: Whenever a Goal is Completed except for Peaceable Kingdom, gain 1 Rep in addition to XP.

Planetary Governments: While Factions can become and control Planetary Governments, Crews instead form relationships and exclusive contracts with those governments. This still allows them to limit or block access to certain types of assets for other crews, and has its own separate action and tag associated with it.

Additional Squads: When your crew is larger (Tier 3) you may want to start fielding secondary squad to do additional missions. Having a separate squad do a mission will net you a fraction of the credits (most will go to them) but will still grant Rep and Crew XP.

Actions

NEW ACTION Manage Assets: Allows you to use Sell, Refit, or Repair each Asset you own. You cannot repair the Faction HP itself with this action. Sell Asset, Refit Asset, and Repair Asset (not Repair Faction) has been merged into this single action. Newly purchased or refit assets cannot Defend.

Purchase Assets: The Carrier’s tech level is considered 5 for the purpose of purchasing Force Assets and 4 for the purpose of purchasing Cunning and Wealth Assets.

Expand Influence: If your new Base of Influence has max hit points equal to or greater than the sum of your crew’s Force, Cunning and Wealth ratings, gain an additional tag of your choice, associated with the Base of Influence. If you later increase your Crew’s stats so that a BoI’s maximum hit points no longer meets them, keep the extra tags. If the Base of Influence is destroyed, the tag is lost. You can have a maximum number of tags equal to your lowest stat rating+1.

Change Homeworld: Not applicable in the Crew Turn.

Acquire Planetary Contract: (Replaces Seize Planet) The crew spends 4 CrewCreds building and working towards an exclusive elite mercenary contract relationship with the planetary government, edging out other crews for the position. This action can only be done while no other crews’ assets are on the planet.
Each planet has a Contract Difficulty of 1 to 5, depending on how open and friendly the ruling government is. You can only learn a planet’s Contract Difficulty once you have an asset located on the planet. Once the crew has performed this action a number of times equal to the Difficulty, they gain the contract and the Planetary Contract (Location) tag.
If another crew’s asset arrives on that planet, it pauses the counter but does not reset it. If you have no assets remaining on the planet at the end of a crew turn, then the counter is reset.

Goals

Acquire Planetary Contract: (Renamed from Planetary Seizure) Your crew wants to form a relationship with the planetary government. The GM will judge the Difficulty between 1 and 5 depending on how open and friendly the ruling government is. See the Acquire Planetary Contract action and Planetary Contract (Location) tag to learn more.

Assets

GLOBAL ASSET – Carrier Transportation – provides this service for free to all crews. Any non-Facility, non-Base of Influence asset can move within 3 hexes of the Carrier itself.

Covert Shipping/Covert Transit Net: Due to the small scale of crews this also works on any Military Unit asset.

Bank: Each bank also increases the limit to Deposit and Withdraw Credits by 1 each.

Cracked Comms: Increase counter damage to the total of the attacker’s attack and counterattack damage.

Lawyers: Also has the use asset ability Renegotiate: Choose one mission and roll 1d6. On a 1, reduce the mission’s credit reward by 20%. On a 2-3, nothing happens. On a 4-5 increase the mission’s credit reward by 20%. On a 6 increase it by 40%. Renegotiation can only be done once per mission. The lawyers must be in the same system as either the Carrier or the client to use this.

Mech (Suit): Force 2. 8 HP. 7 Cost. TL4. Military Unit. FvF 1d8 dmg. Counter 1d4 dmg. Any damage taken by this asset is reduced by 1.

Mech (Light): Force 4. 12 HP. 14 Cost. Military Unit. FvF 1d10 dmg. Counter 1d6 dmg. Any damage taken by this asset is reduced by 2.

Mech (Heavy): Force 7. 24 HP. 40 Cost. Military Unit. FvF 2d6 damage. Counter 1d10 dmg. Any damage taken by this asset is reduced by 3.

Transport Lockdown: This cannot affect moving onto the Carrier, but can affect moving off it.

Popular Movement: Requires TL0 to purchase, not TL 4.

Local Investments: As part of an action, roll 1d6. On a 5+ the cost of the next Acquire Planetary Asset action is reduced by 1 (minimum of 0).

Mercenaries: (Rewritten) Temporary contractors not officially part of the your mercenary company but able to provide additional military and logistical support. As an action, Mercenaries can move to any world within one hex of their current location. To purchase or move a Mercenary asset to a planet requires government permission. Hiring outside mercenaries only costs 4 CrewCreds, but has a 50% chance of causing you to lose 1 Rep. (Removed maintenance cost).

Union Toughs: Once per turn gain a bonus die when attacking or defending on a planet you have a Planetary Contract with.

Planetary Loyalists: (Replaces Planetary Defenses). 20 HP. 18 Cost. TL 0. Tactic. Cannot attack. 2d6+6 counter damage. Can only be purchased on a planet you have a Planetary Contract with, cannot move or be moved, and is automatically lost if you lose its Planetary Contract. Can defend against any type of attack.

Tag

Tags not mentioned here are unchanged from the base Faction Turn.

Colonists: Not applicable anymore.

Fanatical: The crew always rerolls any dice that come up as 1 (they no longer lose ties).

Eugenics Cult: The tag is renamed Altered Membership and the asset to Altered Warriors.

Imperialists: When you destroy an asset, roll a d10. On a 9 or 10, the asset is alive with 1 HP under your ownership.

Perimeter Agency: Once per turn, the faction may roll an additional d10 when making an attack against an asset that requires tech level 4 or 5 to purchase (increased from just 5). The faction may roll an extra die when making a test to detect Stealthed assets.

Pilots (New): The range of all movement, including the free Carrier one, is increased by 1.

Pirates: Any movement of an asset onto a world that has any non-facility asset for this faction (changed from just Base of Influence) costs one extra FacCred, paid to this faction. The Carrier itself does not count as a world for this. Moving onto the Carrier does not cost extra, but moving from it onto a world with a Pirate asset does cost one extra.

Planetary Contract (location): This crew has a strong relationship with or influence on the government of this planet. The crew’s permission is required for other crews to buy or import those assets marked as needing government permission. This tag can be acquired multiple times, once for each planet the crew has a contract with.
The crew gains access to exclusive missions with better rewards that further the government’s agenda, though in return they expect these missions to be given high urgency and priority. If the government has access to unique equipment, resources, or locations then the crew also gains access to them. The cost to purchase all assets on the planet is reduced by 1 (minimum of 0). 

Preceptor Archive: This faction is always treated as Tech Level 5 for the purpose of buying Cunning and Wealth Assets and Tech Level 4 for Force Assets.

Savage: Once per turn, this crew can roll an extra die when defending with an asset that requires tech level 3 or lower to purchase (changed from just TL0).

Socialite: The faction is especially good at charming and networking, and treats any Contract Difficulty for Acquire Planetary Asset as one less than normal (minimum of 1). When completing the Acquire Planetary Contract goal it still gains XP equal to the unmodified Difficulty.

Survivors (New): Once per turn, the crew can roll an extra d10 when defending, but on a success they don’t deal any counterattack damage.

Technical Expertise: (Rewritten) Once per turn, this crew can roll an extra die when defending with an asset that requires tech level 4 or 5 to purchase.

Theocratic: Once per turn, this crew can roll an extra d10 when defending against a Cunning or Wealth attack (change from just Cunning).

Crew Actions

The crew as a whole can only perform a single action each crew turn. This represents your assets, staff, and similar people working around you, perhaps based on your orders or perhaps not.

Many of the actions here are identical to the Faction Turn actions, and have been copied from them, but some have been changed.

For the purposes of Crew Turn actions, all crews’ homeworld counts as The Carrier

Attack

Attacking is the chief way by which a faction assaults a rival’s assets and organizational structure. A successful attack can damage or destroy an enemy asset, or even damage the leadership and cohesion of an enemy faction. It’s up to the GM or players to describe an attack and its methods.

Attacks can only be launched against known assets. If a rival has stealthed assets on a world, they cannot be targeted for an attack until they’ve been discovered by a faction’s intelligence agents. Attacks can only be launched against assets on the same world as the attacker.

To launch an attack, the attacker selects one or more of their own assets and targets a rival faction with assets on the same world. One at a time, each attacking asset is matched against a defending asset chosen by the defender. Each attacking asset can attack only once per turn, though a defending asset can defend as many times as the defender wishes, assuming it can survive multiple conflicts.

Once matched, the attacker rolls 1d10 and adds the relevant attribute for the asset. For example, a military unit’s Attack might add the faction’s Force rating to the attack roll, while a cyberninja unit might add the faction’s Cunning to the attack roll. The defender then rolls 1d10 and adds the attribute that the attack targets. In the instance of the military unit, this might be an attack against Force, causing the defender to add their Force rating to the roll, while defending against the cyberninjas might require adding the defender’s Cunning rating. The Attack line of the attacking asset indicates which attribute to add to the attack roll and which to add to the defense roll.

If the attacker’s roll exceeds the defender’s roll, the attack is a success. The defending asset suffers damage as given on the Attack line of the attacking asset. If the defender has a Base of Influence on the world, the defender may opt to let the damage bypass the asset and hit the Base of Influence instead, causing damage to it and the faction hit points. If the asset or Base of Influence is reduced to zero hit points, it is lost.

If the attacker’s roll is less than the defender’s roll, the attack fails. The defending asset can apply whatever damage their Counterattack line indicates to the attacking asset. If the defending asset has no Counterattack line, the attacker suffers no consequences for the failed attack.

A tie on the roll results in both Attack and Counterattack succeeding. Both attacker and defender take damage as indicated.

Buy Asset

The faction buys one asset on their homeworld or another planet on which they have a Base of Influence. These assets take time to assemble, and can neither attack, defend, nor grant their special benefits until the beginning of the faction’s next turn. The faction must have a sufficient rating to buy an asset, and the planet must have a tech level sufficient to support the asset’s creation. Only one asset can be purchased by a faction per turn.

The Carrier tech level is considered 5 for the purpose of purchasing Force assets, and 4 for the purpose of purchasing Cunning and Wealth assets.

Manage Assets

You can Sell, Refit, or Repair each asset you own. Newly purchased or refit assets cannot Defend during this turn.

Sell: Gain half the FacCred cost of the asset, rounded down.

Refit: Change one asset to any other asset of the same type. If the new asset is of a more expensive type, pay the difference. The asset must be on a planet that allows the purchase of the new asset. Turning a militia squad into elite skirmishers requires a tech level 4 world and governmental permission, for example. A refitted asset is unable to attack or defend until the beginning of the faction’s next turn.

Repair: Heal damage to an asset. For one FacCred, an asset heals points of damage equal to the faction’s score in its ruling attribute. More damage can be healed in this single action, but the cost of repair increases by one FacCred for each further amount repaired- two FacCreds for the second amount healed, three FacCreds for the third amount healed, et cetera. 

Heal Crew

If used to heal a Crew’s total HP. The crew regains hit points equal to the rounded average of its highest and lowest attribute ratings.

Expand Influence

The faction buys a Base of Influence asset on a planet on which they have at least one other asset. The faction then rolls 1d10+Cunning rating against similar rolls by every other faction on the planet. Any of the others that equal or beat the faction’s roll may make a free immediate Attack action against the Base of Influence if they wish. Other assets present on the planet may defend against the attack as normal. The Base of Influence cannot be used until the beginning of the faction’s next turn.

To buy a Base of Influence, the purchaser pays one FacCred for every hit point the base has, up to a maximum equal to the faction’s maximum hit points. Bases with few hit points are relatively peripheral outposts, easy to dislodge but cheap to erect. Bases with many hit points are significant strongholds that would hurt the faction badly to lose but are much harder to eliminate.

If your new Base of Influence has max hit points equal to or greater than the sum of your crew’s Force, Cunning and Wealth ratings, gain an additional tag of your choice, associated with the Base of Influence. If the Base of Influence is destroyed, the tag is lost. You can have a maximum number of tags equal to your lowest stat rating.

Factions may use this action to buy additional hit points for a Base of Influence, paying one additional FacCred up to the maximum HP allowed. It is possible to decrease a base’s hit points with the action as well, albeit without refunds. The base on a faction’s homeworld cannot be shrunk this way.

Acquire Planetary Contract

The crew spends 4 CrewCreds building and working towards an exclusive elite mercenary contract relationship with the planetary government, edging out other crews for the position. This action can only be done while no other crews’ assets are on the planet.

Each planet has a Contract Difficulty of 1 to 5, depending on how open and friendly the ruling government is. You can only learn a planet’s Contract Difficulty once you have an asset located on the planet. Once the crew has performed this action a number of times equal to the Difficulty, they gain the contract and the Planetary Contract (Location) tag.

If another crew’s asset arrives on that planet, it pauses the counter but does not reset it. If you have no assets remaining on the planet at the end of a crew turn, then the counter is reset.

Use Asset Abilities

Use the special abilities of one or more assets, such as the transport ability of logistics assets, or the intelligence-gathering abilities of spy assets.

Free Actions

Deposit Credits: Turn 20k liquid credits into 1 CrewCred. Max 3 times per Crew Turn.

Withdraw Credits: Turn 1 CrewCred into 20k liquid credits. Max 1 time per Crew Turn.Move Carrier: Pay up to your Wealth stat in CrewCreds to ‘ante in’ to influence the Carrier. All participating crews rolls 1d10 plus their ante, and the winner decides where within the next 3 hexes the Carrier will jump to at the end of the next crew turn. Turn 1 will decide the jump at the end of Turn 2, Turn 2 will decide for the end of 3, etc. These jumps are planned and publicly announced in advance, so everyone knows when it’s decided.