My group has been testing a pseudo 'eternal' campaign system for a few campaigns by now and I wanted to share what we came up with. Sadly I did not have the time to put up a proper document due to time constraints, but I wanted to share key features and ask your opinion on them.
The goal of the campaign was to put as little burden on the arbitrator, or being able to play without an arbitrator entirely. Our group lives on different sides of a large city and we do not have a constant gaming club as a gathering place, so the campaign system has been designed to be as robust as possible, as it can be hard to keep game schedule consistent. It is based on Dominion campaign.
Cycle and Downtime.
Cycle is a time period when players battle with one another. The 'pause' between each battle when a gang can hire fighters, buy weapons and do other non-combat activities is called a downtime. A recommended length of a cycle is 2 weeks, but you can adjust it depending on your group.
Main battles and Side battles.
To prevent players with too much free time from having an advantage, there is a distinction between types of battles. You can play as many side battles as you want, however you can only collect income from territories and heal fighters in recovery during the Downtime of a main battle. Each cycle has limited ammount of main battles. The recommended number is 2 main battles per standard cycle, but you can adjust it depending on your group activity. This means that should a very active player able to keep a winning streak, they should be able to benefit from side battles (to let them enjoy playing), yet they won't snowball out of control early in the campaign due to superior number of played games and increased income.
Fighters in recovery and captured fighters.
I'm not a fan of how punishing fighter recovery can be, so essentially only doctor operation can send your fighter into recovery. Fighters cannot be captured in a normal way - essentially it is a one result on table injury called 'A fate worse than death'. It works exactly like 'Memorable death', but the enemy gets small ammount of cash for selling fighter to slavers. We are not fans of possible endless cycle of 'capture-free the captured', since it brings unexpected games and can mess with your planned gaming schedule.
Territories.
We've drastically reworked territories, to make general income more tame. Territories are split into 'income' and 'buff' types. Also each player has a Gang hideout territory which can never be lost; this territory provides D6x10 income, which can be rerolled once per downtime. The rest of territores have a static income, since excessive post-battle rolling can be annoying.
When generating territores, players can have repeating territories between themselves - this is so you do not have to constantly refer to arbitrator territory list, to see which ones are taken or not. Players cannot own dublicates of a territory though.
Each gang has up to 3 territories and a gang hideout (depending on a desired power growth in your campaign, you can change this number). Should a gang somehow go above or below territory limit, they play one main battle and then have to discard or generate territories, so they get back to the territory limit. Rare territories cannot be rolled when creating a gang or generating lost territory; they can only be generated when spending reputation to search for the territory.
Territory takeover.
Once per cycle, after meeting with another player for a game, you can choose their terrory and announce that your gang will try to take over it. Should you win in the following scenario, you gain control over it. An enemy can announce that they will try to take over your terrritory in return. If the enemy gang has less rating than you, you have to stake 1 reputation per 250 difference in rating; should you lose, the enemy will gain this reputation.
You cannot try to take over enemy territory if:
It is hard to attach to fighters, if your game heavily motivates you to let them die instead of sending them to the doctor.
Chirurgeon returns half of your money back, if the operation was unsuccessful.
Alternatively, you can send fighters to the rogue doc for free, however on 1-3 the fighter dies and on 4-6 the fighter gains one random permament injury and goes into recovery. So now even the poor juve has chance to stick around after getting mauled.
Reputation.
Instead of vague victory points, reputation becomes a resource which ideall should be helping weaker gangs to get back in the fight.
There are two types of Underdog bonuses. Giant killer is designed to let weaker gangs compete in the long run. If your defeat was a 'worthy' one, then you gain boons for losing from the table below. A defeat is worthy if any of the below conditions were met:
Equaliser (Underdog bonus).
There are two types of Underdog bonuses. Equaliser is designed to let weaker gang have a shot at winning when crews are mismatched in terms of credit cost. Sometimes a gang with higher rating can benefit from it, should their crew be lower in total cost than the enemy.
Before the start of the game, calculate the difference in crew costs, including reinforcements. 'Spend' these credits to gain any of the following boons until the end of battle. Same boon cannot be repeated more than once, unless the rule says so.
The goal of the campaign was to put as little burden on the arbitrator, or being able to play without an arbitrator entirely. Our group lives on different sides of a large city and we do not have a constant gaming club as a gathering place, so the campaign system has been designed to be as robust as possible, as it can be hard to keep game schedule consistent. It is based on Dominion campaign.
Cycle and Downtime.
Cycle is a time period when players battle with one another. The 'pause' between each battle when a gang can hire fighters, buy weapons and do other non-combat activities is called a downtime. A recommended length of a cycle is 2 weeks, but you can adjust it depending on your group.
Main battles and Side battles.
To prevent players with too much free time from having an advantage, there is a distinction between types of battles. You can play as many side battles as you want, however you can only collect income from territories and heal fighters in recovery during the Downtime of a main battle. Each cycle has limited ammount of main battles. The recommended number is 2 main battles per standard cycle, but you can adjust it depending on your group activity. This means that should a very active player able to keep a winning streak, they should be able to benefit from side battles (to let them enjoy playing), yet they won't snowball out of control early in the campaign due to superior number of played games and increased income.
Fighters in recovery and captured fighters.
I'm not a fan of how punishing fighter recovery can be, so essentially only doctor operation can send your fighter into recovery. Fighters cannot be captured in a normal way - essentially it is a one result on table injury called 'A fate worse than death'. It works exactly like 'Memorable death', but the enemy gets small ammount of cash for selling fighter to slavers. We are not fans of possible endless cycle of 'capture-free the captured', since it brings unexpected games and can mess with your planned gaming schedule.
Territories.
We've drastically reworked territories, to make general income more tame. Territories are split into 'income' and 'buff' types. Also each player has a Gang hideout territory which can never be lost; this territory provides D6x10 income, which can be rerolled once per downtime. The rest of territores have a static income, since excessive post-battle rolling can be annoying.
When generating territores, players can have repeating territories between themselves - this is so you do not have to constantly refer to arbitrator territory list, to see which ones are taken or not. Players cannot own dublicates of a territory though.
Each gang has up to 3 territories and a gang hideout (depending on a desired power growth in your campaign, you can change this number). Should a gang somehow go above or below territory limit, they play one main battle and then have to discard or generate territories, so they get back to the territory limit. Rare territories cannot be rolled when creating a gang or generating lost territory; they can only be generated when spending reputation to search for the territory.
D66 | Territory name | Income and Boons |
---|---|---|
11-12 | Toxic dump | 10 cr. Up to 3 fighters gain choke gas grenades before the fight - these are free and do not affect rating. In addition, you can reroll ammo checks for "Toxin" and "Gas" weapons |
13-14 | Iron slag | 20 cr. Whenever you collect income from this terrritory, you can send one fighter to work it. This fighter cannot put down weapons or equipment into stash before working the terriory. Pass a strength check - if successful, collect income twice. Should you roll a 6, fighter goes into recovery. |
15-16 | Bone shrine | 10 cr. Before the fight, one selected crew fighter gains a 4++ special save, however this save stops working should you roll 1 or 6. |
21-22 | Promethium stash | 10 cr. Up to 3 fighters gain incendiary grenades before the fight - these are free and do not affect rating. In addition, you can reroll ammo checks for "Blaze" weapons |
23-24 | Old ruins | 20 cr. Whenever you collect income from this terrritory, you can send one fighter to work it. This fighter cannot put down weapons or equipment into stash before working the terriory. Pass an initiative check - if successful, collect income twice. Should you roll a 1, fighter goes into recovery. |
25-26 | Water still | 10 cr. Whenever one of your fighters should get a flesh wound, roll a d6: on a 5+, they do not gain the marker. |
31-32 | Stinger Mould batch | 10 cr. Once per downtime, whenever your fighter would gain a permament injury, you may reroll on the injury table, counting 'memorable death' and 'fate worse than death' as full recovery results. |
33-34 | Corpse farm | 20 cr. If during your last battle any of the attending fighters got a permament injury, collect the income twice from this territory. If any fighters has permamently died, collect the income three times instead. |
35-36 | Ventilation | 10cr. Up to three fighters gain Infiltration skill. |
41-42 | Fighting pits | 10cr. During the main battle downtime, you can send up to three fighters into the pits; pass a Weapon Skill with each fighter sent. Should they succeed, they gain 2XP. Should they roll a natural 1, they start the next battle with a flesh wound. Should they roll a natural 6, in addition you won a bet placed on them and gain 5 credits. |
43-44 | Drug den | 20 cr. Whenever you collect income from this terrritory, you can send one fighter to work it. This fighter cannot put down weapons or equipment into stash before working the terriory. Pass an intellect check - if successful, collect income twice. Should you roll a double, fighter goes into recovery. |
45-46 | Road block | 10 cr. Your gang can add or subtract 1 from their priority rolls. Make the decision before the roll. |
51-52 | Synth-station | 10 cr. Before the battle up to two fighters from your crew can gain either Bio-booster or Stimm-slug stash equipment. these are free and do not affect rating. |
53-54 | Hab block | 20 cr. Whenever you collect income from this terrritory, you can send one fighter to work it. This fighter cannot put down weapons or equipment into stash before working the terriory. Pass a leadership check - if successful, collect income twice. Should you roll a double, fighter goes into recovery. |
55-56 | Weapon workshop | 10 cr. Before the battle select one weapon from your starting crew and roll a D6. You can't slect weapon with Gas or Smoke traits. If the weapon costs less than 50 cr, roll twice and apply both results. Reroll same results. The effect lasts until the end of battle. 1. Concussion 2. Seismic 3. Rending (reroll if the weapon has Toxin) 4. Shock (reroll if the weapon has Toxin) 5. Rad-phage (if the weapon already had it, it is improved; reroll Rad-phage whenever you hit an enemy to see if the effect triggers) 6. Blaze (if the weapon already had it, it is improved; reroll Blaze whenever you hit an enemy to see if the effect triggers) |
61 | Gambling den (Rare territory) | 3d6x5 cr. Should you roll a triple, give all gained money to the poorest gang in the campaign (unless that is somehow your gang). |
62 | Slave market (Rare territory) | 30 cr. Whenever you sell enemy into slavery, gain additional 15cr. In addition, all territories which require characteristic check to collect double income, give your double income without the need to check, as you are using slave labour. |
63 | Guild contact (Rare territory) | 30 cr. Whenever you collect income from the territory, gain 1 reputation. |
64 | Mine (Rare territory) | 3d6x5 cr. Should you roll a triple, one of your fighters rolls on an injury table, counting first die as automatic 5. |
65 | Drinking hole (Rare territory) | 20 cr. Select up to two fighters from enemy crew; They have to pass a willpower check with -2. Should they fail, they count as having a -1 penalty to any characteristic checks they make except for cool until the end of battle. |
66 | Techno Bazaar | D6x5 cr. Instead of collecting income from the territory, you can add the roll to your rarity roll when looking for items on the trading post. |
Territory takeover.
Once per cycle, after meeting with another player for a game, you can choose their terrory and announce that your gang will try to take over it. Should you win in the following scenario, you gain control over it. An enemy can announce that they will try to take over your terrritory in return. If the enemy gang has less rating than you, you have to stake 1 reputation per 250 difference in rating; should you lose, the enemy will gain this reputation.
You cannot try to take over enemy territory if:
- They currently have less territories than territory limit allows (in other words, they haven't recovered from losing a territory).
- You've tried to take over the territory of this player in the previous cycle.
- The winning gang can collect income and use boons from it in the next main battle, but immediately has to choose and discard a territory to return to the usual limit.
- The losing gang immediately generates a new territory instead of the lost one; however it'll gain control over it at the start of the downtime following the next main battle.
It is hard to attach to fighters, if your game heavily motivates you to let them die instead of sending them to the doctor.
Chirurgeon returns half of your money back, if the operation was unsuccessful.
Alternatively, you can send fighters to the rogue doc for free, however on 1-3 the fighter dies and on 4-6 the fighter gains one random permament injury and goes into recovery. So now even the poor juve has chance to stick around after getting mauled.
Reputation.
Instead of vague victory points, reputation becomes a resource which ideall should be helping weaker gangs to get back in the fight.
- 1 reputation: roll 3 times on the territory table; you may exchange one of your territories for the new one. Can only be used once per downtime.
- 1 reputation: halve the cost of operation at chirurgeon; the operation roll gets a -1 modifier.
- 1 reputation: if your gang rating is not bigger than starting rating +50%, then you can get half of your fighter's items in credits, should they die on the battlefield.
- X reputation: spend any ammount of reputation, you get 100 credits per reputation spent. You can only do this if your gang rating is lower than starting rating by 100 or more credits. Items bought with this money cannot be sent to stash. You cannot exceed starting gang rating with these credits. After the downtime all remaining credits gained this way are gone.
There are two types of Underdog bonuses. Giant killer is designed to let weaker gangs compete in the long run. If your defeat was a 'worthy' one, then you gain boons for losing from the table below. A defeat is worthy if any of the below conditions were met:
- You didn't bottle out voluntarily the first time you had the opportunity.
- You injured or sent at least one enemy out of action.
- You've managed to get within 3" of the objective, unless it was within your deployment zone.
- You've managed to evacuate at least one item objective off the battlefield.
Rating difference | Additional rewards for winning | Additional rewards for having a 'worthy' defeat |
---|---|---|
100-145 cr. | 10 cr. | - |
150-195 cr. | 20 cr. and 1 reputation | 10 cr. |
200-245 cr. | 30 cr. and 1 reputation | 15 cr. and 1 reputation |
250-295 cr. | 50 cr. and 1 reputation | 25 cr. and 1 reputation |
300-345 cr. | 60 cr. and 2 reputation | 30 cr. and 1 reputation |
350-395 cr. | 70 cr. and 2 reputation | 35 cr. and 1 reputation |
400-445 cr. | 80 cr. and 2 reputation | 40 cr. and 2 reputation |
450-495 cr. | 90 cr. and 3 reputation | 45 cr. and 2 reputation |
500+ cr. | 100 cr. and 3 reputation | 50 cr. and 2 reputation |
Equaliser (Underdog bonus).
There are two types of Underdog bonuses. Equaliser is designed to let weaker gang have a shot at winning when crews are mismatched in terms of credit cost. Sometimes a gang with higher rating can benefit from it, should their crew be lower in total cost than the enemy.
Before the start of the game, calculate the difference in crew costs, including reinforcements. 'Spend' these credits to gain any of the following boons until the end of battle. Same boon cannot be repeated more than once, unless the rule says so.
Cost | Boon |
---|---|
50-200 cr. | You can only select this option, if the difference between crews is equal or smaller than 200 cr. Gain a random tactic card for each 50 cr. difference. |
100 cr. | You can purchase this option any times you want. For each 100 cr. spent your fighters gain an extra 1XP for taking enemies out of action or doing scenario objectives. |
100 cr. | Select up to 2 enemy fighters after deployment; they start with a flesh wound. |
100 cr. | Select 1 enemy fighter after deployment. They do not gain ready marker during the first round. |
100 cr. | Your gang can add or subtract 1 from priority rolls. Make the decision before making the roll. |
100 cr. | As long as there is only one friendly fighter left on the battlefield, they can only be taken out of action with "Out of action" and ignore all other injury dice. They also pass Cool checks automatically. |
100 cr. | Your fighters roll 3D6 whenever they make a leadership or cool checks. |
250 cr. | Select one fighter from your crew. Whenever they activate, they gain 3 actions instead of the usual 2. |
up to 200 cr. | Add fighters from your gang to the starting crew by 'paying' their costs. You can exceed starting crew fighter ammount this way. |
Last edited: