| Ludanto | 23 Feb 2019 10:22 p.m. PST |
More cyborg hunting with "The Department" (of Fabricant Management).
This time, it's a "Murder Sweep". Somebody's been killed, and the murderer is probably still around… link |
 PaulCollins  | 23 Feb 2019 10:44 p.m. PST |
Very entertaining. I look forward to more adventures. Thanks for the post. |
| Hades wolf | 24 Feb 2019 9:56 a.m. PST |
Owing to this most magnificent thread, I have just downloaded "The Department" to use with my somewhat electic 28mm sci-fi miniature collection. Good stuff keep it going, and I hope that I have half as much fun as you appear to be having :) :` Great stuff Glen |
| Ludanto | 24 Feb 2019 1:09 p.m. PST |
Mwaha! I've turned another one! ;) |
| Raptoruk369 | 25 Feb 2019 4:53 a.m. PST |
More than one I am afraid………..cue evil laugh lol |
 Parzival | 26 Feb 2019 6:08 p.m. PST |
Interesting game. I like the concept, though in reading your AARs, I think some bits don't quite work right. (Once you've got a guy cuffed, it should be extremely unlikely if not next to impossible that he will get free.) But the "Budget" and "Internal Affairs" bits are intriguing. Question: Can a player increase the Budget through successful missions? Or is the approach, "Well, you succeeded with that budget, so obviously that budget was all you needed"?
I could see an element where budget might increase if you stumble onto the Big Case that would make all the brass want to be seen as being a part of it (no place is more dangerous than standing between an ambitious DA and a TV camera). Any provision for that? |
| Ludanto | 26 Feb 2019 10:02 p.m. PST |
Well, they typically need to score 5 successes on four dice, which is impossible, except that sixes count as two successes, and then the math gets weird. It would be easy enough to raise the difficulty. I haven't pored over the missions, but I don't think there's any way to "find" more Budget, but you can, as a Station Action, ask for more Budget with a Bureaucracy test. I'm not sure it's worth it, though, unless you're already reaching the bottom of the wallet, or you don't have anything better to do with your action. |
| Thresher01 | 26 Feb 2019 10:10 p.m. PST |
"Once you've got a guy cuffed, it should be extremely unlikely if not next to impossible that he will get free". Perhaps in some countries, but in others, prison doors are no better than revolving ones in major department stores. El Chapo, and many other criminals have frequently escaped, and/or been released. Look at all the terrorists that have been set free around the globe too. I'll bet some shoplifters serve more time that many hardened criminals and terrorists from other regions. |
| Ludanto | 26 Feb 2019 10:20 p.m. PST |
The math escapes me, but simulations put 5 goals on 4 dice at between 10% and 12%. Not so bad. On the other hand, bumping the TN to 6 drops the success rate to about 3.5%, which might feel better. Going to TN7 drops the likelihood down to about half a percent, but at that point, why even bother rolling? |
| Parzival | 27 Feb 2019 5:00 p.m. PST |
Thresher01: Okay, I was dealing with the immediate physicality of an arrest made (dude on the ground in handcuffs), not the eventual actions of the world's various judicial systems. Unless you're suggesting that the setting of The Department has roving bands of bleeding-heart, corrupt judges who routinely unlock the handcuffs of collared criminals seconds after the cop makes the grab. (Sort of Anti-Dredds, as it were). Not saying that's not a possibility in The Department (science fiction and satire have long been kissing cousins), but I suspect that's not what the escape roll is intended to represent! |
| Parzival | 27 Feb 2019 5:05 p.m. PST |
Ludanto: Thanks for the clarification. I must admit the escapes certainly made for a more challenging situation in your accounts! Is the game entirely structured as co-op players vs. the random actions of the scenario, or does it include structures for opposing forces/players (say either a GM controls the crooks and manages the scenario as an RPG, or as one player controls the investigators and the other controls the replicants, with each group having different scenario goals? |
| Ludanto | 27 Feb 2019 7:20 p.m. PST |
Parzival:
The game is built for co-op. There's nothing stopping you from having somebody play the fabricants, but there's not really any structure in that regard. Although if you've got a guy willing to be a Game Master anyway, he can certainly make up scenarios and play the NPC humans and fabricants. Like I said, there's only like a 10% chance per turn of an escape, but I swear it feels like a lot more. :) |
