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A Note on Economies

The costs listed in this manual all assume a similar marketplace. These costs are likely not accurate across disparate cultures, especially those which span wildly different tech levels and economic systems. For archaic items, the costs are based on a "modern" economy. In archaic economies, where those items are state of the art, their costs would be much, much higher, similar to the cost of comparable modern weapons.

Likewise, "futuristic" items might have an extremely inflated cost. In a tech 5 culture, given the right skill one could conceivably net millions for a fusion pistol.

Future Imperfect is a game of intentionally flexible (some may say ambiguous) scope. Depending on the nature of the adventures on which the Crew embarks, the handling of money (in the form of credits) could vary widely from game to game.

Small Group Economics

Unless the profits are exorbitant, if the Crew operates alone, without significant NPC help, they are likely to be able to use a standard RPG economic model. In other words, players can keep track of their cash and spend as they earn, or as they are able to find items which interest them. If this is how you envision your Crew, the rest of this section is unnecessary.

Economies of Scale

One of the most common economies of scale in a Sci-Fi setting is starship ownership. Starship are extremely complex, multi-million credit machines that require extensive maintenance and parts expenditure to keep spaceworthy.

In the real world, an endeavor such as that would require significant time expenditure from administrative members of the crew to ensure parts, fuel and maintenance are all balanced with the need for operating capital to make the purchases necessary to continue to be profitable, if not just make the monthly mortgage payments.

The intent of the economies of scale system is to make a game of larger scope not just possible, but also challenging and rewarding. Moreover, this should remain true without breaking the standard monetary system.

To wit, operating a merchant starship should see a monthly influx of capital in the hundreds of thousands of credits, if not millions of credits. No matter how high the mortgage and expense payments, players would be tempted, if not outright directed, to siphon off operating capital to purchase whatever equipment would make their upcoming adventure easier. What is 20,000 credits to a starship captain on a ship that is raking in 300,000 credits each month?

The answer is, of course, a heck of a lot more than it seems, and anyone who has ever run a business is well aware of this fact. Instead of creating a complex set of timing rules to prevent unrealistic expenditures, we have chosen to almost completely abstract the economic portion of the game, but also have the choices the players make be reflected in the mechanics. It should be possible to make it, but it should not be a given.

Profit Shares

Profit shares are the measure of income for the crew of a vessel. These could be through legitimate commerce, piracy, smuggling or anything your Crew can devise. Profit shares mean two things: how profitable the vessel is, and how much has the crew been paid.

Each profitable transaction the crew completes during a given time period will produce one profit share per success and bump. Each type of transaction has its own set of criteria to determine the difficulty of being profitable with that transaction. For example, carrying passengers is quite safe and easy to do, but they pay comparatively little and there is almost no chance of a windfall. Whereas piracy could be extremely profitable one month (when a ship is captured), but run net losses for months, or years, at a time when the IPA is vigilant.

At the end of each month, consult the income table and subtract each expenditure from the total profit shares. If the total is zero, the ship breaks even and no one gets any cash. If it is negative, place the appropriate number of maintenance counters as directed on the income table.

If, however, the number is positive, each character collects their normal income for each net profit share.

Normal Income

Each character has a normal income amount listed which is dependent on a number of factors. The main determining factor is the wealth edge. In Future Imperfect, edges are permanent parts of the Hero, so even edges that give seemingly ephemeral bonuses, such as wealth, carry over into the game.

Do not confuse normal income for total income. The normal income is the total amount of free cash the Hero has to add to his bank account after all expenditures are paid. As with starship economics above, the actual credit amounts may seem low, but this is indicative of the many expenses adventuring heroes find themselves confronted with each day. But hey, look on the bright side, no erasing numbers on your character sheet when you want to buy a space beer for your date!

Transaction Types

Each transaction type has a listed difficulty number which is the TN for the check that is made each transaction. These difficulty numbers are set based on the likelihood of profitability of the action, not the actual challenge. Some activities are capped, in that they can only create so much profit.

Regular Maintenance

For a starship to run properly it needs to be properly maintained. This requires space parts, expendable resources (such as lubricants, circuits/wire etc.)and good, old fashioned elbow grease. This is the role of the ship’s engineering team.

Engineering and maintenance are two different but related disciplines. One engineer might be excellent at keeping a ship running at peak efficiency, but useless when designing an upgrade or performing on the spot jury-rigging, while another is the exact opposite. In Future Imperfect, we strive to make both of those engineering types viable, and interesting, character archetypes.

Tech Levels

What follows is a rough approximation of the items available at each tech level.

TL 1: Simple machines and tools such as atlatl or knife.
TL 2: Forged sword.
TL 3: Crossbows and abacus.
TL 4: First gunpowder weapons.
TL 5: 19th to early 20th century items.
TL 6: Current technological levels.
TL 7: Genetic engineering, full automation. Lasers, early space travel. Primitive TISA and FTL drives.
TL 8: Fusion weapons. Blasters, gauss weapons. Robotic automatons.
TL 9: Advanced artificial intelligence.
TL 10: Computer self-awareness.
TL 11: Partially fucking crazy shit I probably dreamed but forgot.
TL 12: Totally fucking crazy shit I havent dreamed up yet.

Alternate Tech Levels

Many items change over time, and continue to be staples in economies even after they cease to be modern. Today we have calculators, just like those that cost hundreds of dollars in the 1970s, but now they are more functional, cheaper and smaller.

It should be assumed that you can buy items of lower or higher tech level than listed. In some cases (such as computers, below) options will be provided. In others, Master discretion will determine the differences.

Some guidelines: When purchasing a technology earlier (generally 1 TL) than it is normally available, assume it costs 10x as much (if being purchased in an economy of the lower tech level), its size would be 1.5-10x as large (or heavy) and the reliability would be F or E.

Sid Scorpio is trapped in a remote cantina on Denebola IV, a TL 6 planet, but he knows his only chance of escape is making it to the StarPort, where the Chain Lightning is moored. After doing some schmoozing, he finds word of a scientist who claims to have produced a laser pistol. Great! He loves those. Knowing the level of tech on this planet, he can expect to barter around 10,000 credits worth of goods, and get a 2 kg (approximately) hulk of a handgun. But not only that, it will likely be E reliability, because it is literally experimental.

When buying an item after it is generally available, the changes are much less drastic. The cost will be about 85-90% of normal. The reliability will be at least R, if not V. Finally, the size and cosmetic nature of the item will be greatly improved, Master's discretion.

Equipment Reliability

All equipment will be rated for reliability, with lower integers being more reliable. If the wrench in the breakdown section is broken, a number also appears. This number is checked against the breakdown value of the equipment to see if a breakdown or mishap occurs. If the breakdown number is equal to or greater than the device's reliability, then consult the appropriate breakdown table (or use Master's discretion).

The exception is the 1* card. If that card is drawn, and the equipment being used has a reliability of 1, shuffle that card back into the deck (including all discarded cards, but nothing from the hands of the Master or Crew in play) and draw again. If that card is drawn again, there is a breakdown.

Catastrophic Breakdown

Most breakdowns are of the mundane type, such as a weapon jam or a loose wire. If, however, the 1* is drawn and the equipment being used is not reliability 1, reshuffle and draw again as indicated above. If the card drawn in this extra draw would indicate a breakdown for the equipment being used, then a catastrophic breakdown has occurred. Consult the appropriate table or use Master discretion to determine the effect. Very reliable items never suffer catastrophic breakdown.

Equipment Lists

What follows are a set of sample equipment lists within a given consistent economy. The Master is free to design whatever equipment fits the universe of his game, or use what is provided.

Future Imperfect - Weapons
Future Imperfect - Armor
Future Imperfect - Personal Locomotion
Future Imperfect - Vehicles
Future Imperfect - Computers
Future Imperfect - Cybernetics
Future Imperfect - Robots
Future Imperfect - Starships
Future Imperfect - Medical Supplies
Future Imperfect - Communications
Future Imperfect - Other Gear

Game Designers Note: I really enjoy big equipment lists and lots of options. One thing that must not be forgotten, however, is that equipment does not move the story, players do. Even though we could legitimately expect to be able to create equipment, even in the pretty near future, that could automatically do a lot of what happens in the game, as players we should not expect, nor even want, such things. The reason is that in so doing the characters become superfluous, and instead of driving the story, they will steer it, or in a worst case, just be along for the ride. In a science fiction setting especially the Master and Crew should take great care to ensure that equipment is used to enhance what characters do, not to do in it's own right.