Future Imperfect chapter 6
Contents
Edges
Charlie: But the most we can hope for is to get you buried in secrecy so your grave don't get violated!
Lincoln F. Sternn: Take it easy Charlie. I've got an angle.
--Segment "Captain Sternn" from Heavy Metal
A collection of Traits and a list of skills is a good start to determine what your Hero is capable of—his strengths and capabilities, by the numbers. Another aspect of any good hero (or villain, even!) are some of their facets that aren’t so easily quantifiable. When creating your Hero, you surely have a notion in mind of what sort of character you wish to portray in the story. Assigning traits lays out the frame work. When selecting skills, you are beginning to flesh out what this Hero knows how to do. You might even be thinking about how your Hero learned some of the things he knows how to do. Building the background for your hero is good! It will keep him from being so faceless to you and the other players. One final touch for a Hero in Future Imperfect are his edges—both sharp and rough—that help give a greater sense of what kind of person the Hero is and how he can impact the story, beyond the sheer numbers that define him.
But what is your Hero’s background, other than talking points that you made up? How does your intricate personal story affect the game, if at all? What possible benefit can there be to having a flawed character? This chapter aims to answer those questions and others with the introduction of edges.
Perks: The Sharp Edges
Edges that are generally beneficial to the Hero are called sharp edges, or perks. They will generally allow for some ability that the average human is not capable of doing (such as the gills perk that would allow them to breathe underwater) or grant an innate bonus to a trait or skill, or provide some kind of "special effect." Perks are specifically tailored by the player to uniquely represent the abilities, character and flavor of his Hero.
Flaws: The Rough Edges
Edges that are generally detrimental or impose complications on the Hero are called rough edges, or flaws. They will usually impose a penalty when trying to accomplish a task, or establish a Scene Attribute for the character in question. If the flaw is psychological or a compulsive behavior, the penalty may apply to any check that goes against the nature of the compulsion. If one of your Hero's flaws is "Cowardly," for example, then when he tries to stand and fight, he may face penalties because every fiber of his being is telling him to run.
Leonid Kovnachuk has led something of a blessed life. You might not believe it for the myriad wounds that line his thick skin and are the root cause of the irregularity and patchiness of his thick fur, but if you had been there to see how he got those wounds, you might wonder how he had survived at all. Chuk’s player has chosen the Edge “Lucky” for his Hero. To counterbalance this edge, he also chooses the flaw “Vengeful.” The player imagines that Chuk will be a kind of rough and tumble soldier who often wades hip-deep into a fight and manages to come out every time (so far!). However, Chuk has a mean streak when it comes to people doing him wrong; he suffered for many years under the oppressive yoke of the GPR, and refuses to let others get one over on him without making them answer for it.
You should always attempt to roleplay your Hero’s rough edges, as they are an integral part of his physical or mental being. How you represent that in game is up to you as a player, of course. Only imposing penalties in relation to flaws is purely mechanical and largely devoid of storytelling or creativity, though it may be appropriate at times. Many flaws may be handled in the game with creative roleplaying without the cold imposition of penalties. By altering how the player approaches or deals with an obstacle, the flaw has made its presence known on the metaphorical page of the story. A cowardly hero might be played so that he makes every attempt possible to avoid a fight. That is roleplaying. But what if he can’t avoid it? Or he finds a cause worth fighting for, where he must stare down his reservations? That is where the penalties would be applied. However, not every instance of a flaw being invoked need be that momentous; sometimes it is much smoother for gameplay for the master to impose a brief penalty when a rough edge is invoked. The roleplaying aspect of the flaw will become quite clear if your Hero has to deal with the consequences of failure!
Edges are intended as another means by which the players and the Master can interact with the story, by invoking special abilities or dealing with limitations. They are not necessarily “always on,” but when they are called into play, they should have some kind of impact on the story.
When Tara 7 slips away from the brewing tension in the ship’s lounge, Chuk is seated across the poker table from Sid Scorpio. The Blarad is certain that his friend has just fleeced him of over 400 credits at a game of poker. Clearly, luck was not on Chuk’s side in this scene (as his edge did not fit the criteria, more on that later). However, the player decides that this is a moment where Chuk’s vengeful nature might kick in, and invokes his Hero’s flaw. The player now has to determine Chuk’s path.
A Hero is more than his edges, though. They do not completely define him any more than his highest trait or skill. For this reason, edges need not play a part in every scene. By the same token, rough edges shouldn’t prevent a Hero from acting, but should provide the opportunity for complication beyond the player’s control. When flaws come into play, it is an opportunity for the player to earn story chips, so even flaws can be beneficial in their own way. When edges come into play, it is the chance for something special to happen, even if it is detrimental in nature. It is an opportunity for something you have crafted about your Hero to make a splash on the metaphorical pages of the story.
Story Chips: The Currency of Cool
Throughout the game mechanics of Future Imperfect, story chips can frequently be utilized by the players to influence the game in multiple ways. They can be used to improve dice rolls or shift results on an action card. They can be used to heroically soak damage and withstand punishment like a boss, or to resist giving in to an opponent’s psychological attack. These are but a few of the more common uses. With edges, story chips earn another use.
Ultimately, story chips are a kind of currency. They are something you can earn and use for positive effect in the game, the story. If you want your Hero’s perks to make more of an impact on the story (either in frequency or effectiveness), you can spend story chips to do so. Likewise, since people tend to learn and grow more from their failures rather than their successes, your Hero’s flaws are an important mechanism for earning story chips. When a Hero’s flaw makes an appearance, it is impacting the story in a way not possible without your flawed nature! If roleplayed well, or if the flaw causes a failure, you should earn a story chip that can later be used for something cool. This is to encourage players to spur the action and take chances, rather than play it safe all the time and hide from failure. Failure can be a great opportunity for roleplaying, and should be embraced! This can also be used to discourage flawless “Mary Sue” types; Heroes who elect to have no or very few flaws might find themselves short on chips compared to others who have chosen to play Heroes with a greater number of rough edges that give the Master more to work with. Sometimes flaws and complications help move the story better than any other motivators. The movement may not always be in the proper direction, but sometimes a story is like a road trip: It’s not always the destination that is important, but how you got there!
Designers note: If you play RPGs long enough and with a talented set of players and game master, you will inevitably come across situations like these. Sometimes it is an innocuous situation that becomes a focal point due to one simple skill check failure that quickly becomes a comedy of errors. Eventually, these encounters sometimes snowball into a major plot point, or a scene that the players all reminisce about later on because of how things went wrong (and became memorable!) rather than how they went right. We aren’t suggesting that as a player you should purposefully try to be a fail magnet, or that as a Master you should crush the heroes with misery and defeat (because sadness is fun?), but focusing on making an entertaining aside out of bad luck or mishap can be just as enjoyable a story as success. Besides, is final victory ever as sweet when the road to the climax isn’t a little bumpy?
Chuk hurls the table to the side, filling the air with cards and chips like confetti. Sid Scorpio jumps back, holding his hands up and tries to calm his buddy down. “Chuk! C’mon, pal! It was a fluke! What are the odds I’d get four of a kind while you were sitting on a full house? It’s just a game!”
“’Is just game?’ You never believe in play fair! You say is for suckers! You were just trying to impress pretty girl. And make me look like fool!” Chuk advances angrily, flexing his massive paws. The dim lights of the lounge glint on his knife-like claws. Sid backs up, hoping to find some time to say something to defuse Chuk before the marine gets his hands on him, but he runs out of room. When Sid's back bumps against the bulkhead, Chuck grabs him by the collar and hoists him off the floor. Chuck pulls out a credstick loaded with credits. “Here is your damn money, pirate. A whole week’s pay for me.” He jams the thumb-sized credstick in Sid’s mouth. “I hope you choke on it!” he growls as he tosses his friend to the side and mopes off to sulk.
The Master thinks that the player portrayed Chuk’s vengeful flaw well in this situation and awards him a story chip!
Character Creation
A Hero’s edges are chosen during character creation. The rank chosen for edges determines the number of points in the edge pool. These points can be used for two things: Choosing perks, and purchasing an activation pool.
- Edges are purchased based on the range of their effect. Range categories are specific, general and persistent.
- The activation pool determines how often you can "freely" activate your edges. Normally, using edges costs story chips. The points in the activation pool are like story chips, but can only be used to activate perks. 1 point from the activation pool is the equivalent of a white chip, 2 for a red chip, and 3 for a blue chip.
A Hero's edges are highly customizable. You can have a large number of edges with a small activation pool, or a small number with a large pool allowing you to use them freqently. You could have many flaws in order to try and earn more story chips for other purposes, or you could have mostly perks, relying on your activation pool and story chips from sources other than flaws to activate them.
The point value of an edge is determined by its range of effect (See "Range of Effect" below for more information):
| Range | Value |
| Persistent | 3/4 |
| General | 2 |
| Specific | 1 |
- Any Perk that is combat-oriented (i.e., links to a combat skill, creates a special attack, modifies the stats of any attack or weapon, increases armor or affects how damage is taken) costs 1 additional point.
- Each edge (sharp or rough) takes one slot.
Charles decides that his Hero, Stony Krantz, has a very low ranking in edges so that he can assign more points to skills and traits. He assigns a rank of 1 to edges, which gives him 5 points in his edge pool. His character is human, which has 4 edge slots. He purchases only one General edge (2 points), but it is a combat-oriented perk (Rifleman), so its cost increases to 3. He has enough points left for an activation pool of 2 (2 points). He uses the three remaining edge slots to assign some rough edges to help him earn some story chips during play.
The Activation Pool
Most perks require the expenditure of a story chip to activate. The color (value) of the story chip determines the level of effect. During character creation, you can spend edge points to create an "Activation Pool." In game terms, this is a number of points that can be used in the place of story chips only for the purpose of activating perks. When using points from your activation pool to power a sharp edge, the number of activation points spent determines the level of effect:
- 1 point = white chip
- 2 points = red chip
- 3 points = blue chip
A Hero's activation pool refreshes at the beginning of each game session. With a large activation pool, one may not even need to utilize story chips to use their sharp edges, depending on how frequently they care to use them or how many perks they have in total. If your pool is small and/or you have a greater number of perks, you are likely to burn through story chips faster. A greater number of perks will definitely give your Hero greater versatility, but with a small activation pool, you may be hard-pressed to utilize that versatility at times. Find the balance that is right for your style of play and whatever you deem is appropriate for your Hero.
In story terms, the activation pool might represent an aspect of a Hero's strength of will, or his reliability; a character with a large activation pool can more frequently find the wherewithal to do the things that he is great at, he can pull through in a pinch and be counted on to save the day. A small or non-existent activation pool means that the Hero is less likely to be able to pull of a snazzy maneuver or feat of strength or what have you when it counts. This is the Hero that others ask themselves, "does he have what it takes today?" when he has to step up to the plate. This is not meant to be a literal character trait or representation of a Hero's personality. One could play a reliable Hero with boundless energy and have an activation pool of zero. You will simply have to spend story chips every time you want to use a perk. If you run out of story chips, however, you will simply have to forego the use of your sharp edges. If your Hero is still reliable and energetic in the face of that, so much the better, but if he fails due to lack of story chips, he may have to answer to the other PCs and NPCs, which may lead to interesting opportunities for roleplaying.
Dormancy
Some sharp edges will be utilized more frequently than others. This may happen for three primary reasons. Just like the three vectors of crime, these reasons can be boiled down to means, motive and opportunity. One perk may simply be more inherently useful than another. A perk that can be used in every combat encounter may find multiple opportunities to be used each game session (depending on how freqently the Master throws combat encounters at you), while a perk that helps your pilot figure out FTL jump equations can only be used when you are flying a starship. This may also fluctuate based on the Crew's activities and what sort of game the Master is presenting to his Crew, which leads to the next point: Depending on what kind of game is being played, some perks may see more or less use. For example, if the Crew is the type to use combat only as a last resort or the Master runs a game that focuses more on dialogue and less on punching and shooting, combat encounters may be less frequent; combat-related perks may see less because the story itself does not provide the means (i.e., combat encounters) to use them as frequently. Lastly, some perks get used more often simply because the player has motivation to use the perk every chance he gets, or will actively seek out opportunities where they can utilize their perks.. Another Hero may have the same or a very similar perk and not utilize it as frequently just because he chooses not to, or doesn't have to (maybe he's lucky on the draw or the dice, or his Hero is skilled enough that he doesn't have to rely on his perks as often, or maybe he doesn't mind the occasional failure at a task so he can earn a story chip.
Whatever the case, some perks will see more use than others. Rather than attempt to shape the cost of perks based on their utility or expected frequency of use (because all the above variables controlling their use are out of our hands as game designers), we introduce the concept of "Dormancy." When one of your perks goes unused for an entire game session, it earns a dormancy point. Make some kind of a notation next to it that you can identify and remember (The character sheets we provide will have three check boxes on each entry for edges). Each dormancy point represents an activation point (see "Activation Pool," above) for that perk only. Unlike points in the activation pool, which are refreshed each game session, dormancy points are persistent (until used!) and accumulate. Each session that a perk goes unused earns it another dormancy point, up to a maximum of 3 (the equivalent of a blue story chip).
A perk that has earned one or more dormancy points can use these points in lieu of activation points or story chips. Dormancy points can only be used to activate the perk that has earned them, and dormancy points do not have to all be spent in the same check or task; if one of your combat perks has gotten dusty because it's been a few game sessions since your last scrap, you can activate it multiple times using one dormancy point a pop, or you can use your sharp edge in a blaze of glory and spend 2 or 3 in one shot if you need to or want to! This system does require a tiny bit of record keeping on the part of the players, but it only benefits you if you do keep track, so there is incentive there. Besides, you are also asked to keep track of your wounds, CT, ammunition, money and a bunch of other fluctuating values. Occasionally placing or erasing a hash mark in a check box doesn't seem too arduous of a task by comparison.
Perk Activation
In many stories across all media and genres, you will find a situation where the protagonist pulls a trick out of his sleeve to save the day, and a common question the audience asks is “If the Hero could do that all along, why didn’t he do that earlier?” Why doesn’t Gipsy Danger lead with the giant mecha-sword when squaring off against a Kaiju? First off, this is not a forum to defend a movie. But, one must also consider the genre and its accepted conventions—silly as some of them may seem—before playing the realism card. Depending on your play style, RPGs need not be realistic, and for the purposes of storytelling in Future Imperfect, we have skewed certain conventions and mechanics in an attempt to favor the kind of literary style common to classic science fiction novels and films. Why doesn’t Voltron form the Blazing Sword right away, all the time, and flame-chop his way to victory?
The simple answer is that each episode would be a minute long after the monster of the week showed up, and the fight scenes wouldn’t be any fun to watch.
A more complex (and realistic) answer is that sometimes the benefits offered from some sharp edges have their own drawbacks or considerations to take into account before invoking them. Maybe a sharp edge is a one-off and must be reloaded or some such before it can be used again. Other abilities (such as contacts or allies) may need some kind of cool-down before the Hero can call upon them again (“I just saved your hide yesterday! What do you want now, dammit?”). But what if your perk is an innate ability, or a permanent feature of your body, or an item you have access to?
Our answer to that: Fine. Go ahead and use it. Nothing is stopping you. However in the essence of game balance, the cost for using your perks is the currency of the story. When you use your perks, it will cost story chips in much the same way that your flaws will earn you story chips when they come into play. The key point here, though, is that you, the player, choose when the cool bits of your Hero shine and make their mark on the story. Tit and tat, yin and yang. Balance. Maybe Voltron doesn't form Blazing Sword because the lead pilot never has any story chips when a fight breaks out. Maybe he's got to taste a bit of fail (and earn some story chips) before he's convinced that it's time to whip out the big guns (so to speak).
In this vein, all edges are treated much the same when it comes to their relative power level, because the frequency of their use is the limiting factor, not how innately useful, powerful or debilitating each edge is.
Invoking Perks
When you take an action, you draw your action card or roll the dice. After the card is drawn or the dice are cast, you can choose to invoke a perk if the action in question meets the criteria you have set out for your perk. Often, this will be fairly obvious. If you're not sure, ask the Master for a judgment call. If you choose to activate your perk, you must pay its cost in points from your activation pool or in story chips. If the perk can affect more than one aspect of the action card, such as a combat perk that can improve the attack roll, penetration or damage, inform the Master what your perk is modifying. When all this is done, you can apply the results. Using a perk can turn a failed check into a success, or a successful check into an exceptional success (if you need bumps to achieve your goal). Invoking a perk allows it to affect only one regular or extended action.
Perks can be activated in one of three ways:
- By spending story chips
- By spending points from the Hero's activation pool
- By spending Dormancy Points earned by not using a perk in the previous game session(s)
Each method of activation has its own limitations:
- Story chips--only one chip can be spent to activate a perk. You can't use two or three white chips to activate it as though you had spent a red or blue chip.
- Activation points--These points can only be used to activate perks, and only refresh at the beginning of a game session.
- Dormancy points--These can only be used to activate the perk that has earned them.
Range of Effect
When choosing your perks, you will assign a range to each one. This determines what sort of game effect the perk has. Range has three ratings: Persistent, general and specific.
- Persistent—These are special edges that do not need to be invoked. They are always on, and can have different effects than regular edges. Because of the potent nature that some persistent edges have, some persistent edges will cost 4 points, while others will cost only 3. These costs will be discussed in further detail in the next section. Persistent perks are often racial traits or are the result of some kind of biological or technological enhancement, such as genetic engineering or cybernetics.
- General--These perks can affect a broad range of tasks. General perks are often major aspects of a character, and can be used to improve checks or tasks for an entire trait category or any application fitting with the criteria described by the player for his perk. General perks are more versatile, and can be used to improve the cause, effect or special effect (see "Perk effects," in the next section) in relation to applicable checks or tasks as defined by the perk's criteria.
- Specific--These perks are only used for a narrow range of chesks or tasks. They often represent special training or an aptitude the character possesses, and can only be used for a limited category of checks or tasks. Specific perks are often linked to a single skill. Specific perks will only improve one category of cause, effect or special effect.
Bruce is playing Frost, a feline Avatar Space Marine. He intends that her sharp, powerful claws will be used pretty often, and assigns them a range of “General” (2 points). Jason is playing the Ursoid, Leonid Kovnachuk, another member of the ship’s Marines. As a bear-like non-human species, Chuk has claws as well. Since Jason envisions Chuk as being the type of Marine who wades into a fight and dices his enemies into piles of quivering giblets, he decides that his character’s claws are kind of clunky, and really only good for one thing: causing extra damage. He chooses the perk "Natural Weapons: Claws" with the range of "Specific" (1 point), and decides that they will improve the effect when they are used (in this case, they will cause extra damage when he activates them.)
Persistent Perks
Perks can be purchased as "Persistent" in their range. Persistent perks are simply perks that are always "on," and cannot be turned off. They require no activation points or chips to use. Many perks can be designated as persistent, such as Frost and Chuk's claws in the examples above. If they were purchased as such, neither hero would have to pay chips or use activation points to use them in combat, however persistent perks are slightly less effective unless "powered up." Like regular perks, persistent perks can be general or specific (see the next section, Perk Creation and Use for details about general and specific perks), costing 4 or 3 points, respectively. Like regular general or specific perks, they will need a name, criteria and effect description.
While many types of perks can be made persistent, some perks can only be persistent by their very nature. One broad category of which are resistances. Some races or beings may be highly resistant to radiation, extremes of heat or cold, high or low atmospheric pressure, high gravity, toxins or other effects which may establish a detrimental scene attribute for most characters or require protective gear to survive. An ability like this cannot be turned off; you don't stop being resistant because you have run out of story chips. Likewise, a bonus to a character's size is always present; this is an effect that will aid him whenever he takes damage, so it is a persistent effect. For more on persistent effects, see section XX toward the end of the chapter.
Persistent perks do not earn Dormancy points. A simple way to represent this is to black out the check boxes for that entry on the character sheet.
Perk Creation and Use, part I
Story chips can be used, in general, to improve any cause or effect in the game. Need to make take that henchman down in one shot? Spend a story chip to increase your damage. Need to sweet talk a receptionist? Use a story chip to improve your persuasion check. The standard use of story chips grants a +1/2/3 bonus to causes (that would be trait or skill checks if using dice; the top set of numbers if using action cards) and +3/6/9 to effects ("damage" dice rolls, or the bottom set of numbers if using action cards). When a perk is available to be used, the effect can be much more dramatic than with the generic use of story chips. This is something your Hero specifically excels at; of course you should get a benefit! When a perk boosts a cause or a special effect, the bonus is doubled to +2/4/6. When used to boost an effect, the bonus is +6/9/12. Also, perks may be the only way to use story chips to improve some special effects, yet another reason to have some sharp edges. So, go out there and be awesome, Tiger.
There is no "master list" of perks. Each player will define his own perks individually (for purposes of roleplaying and flavor). As such, most perks have relatively standardized effects. Why, when and how they come into play we leave in the hands of you, the Crew and the Master. When a perk is chosen, the player will need to choose a what it is (a name and basic concept), when it can come into play (criteria) and what it does (its effects).
Bruce chooses the perk "Natural Weapons: Claws for his Avatar marine character, Frost. He sets the range for this perk as "General." This means that the bonuses can apply to a wide range of things when she needs them. In game, he can improve the cause (Frost's attack roll), a special effect (such as penetration) or damage (effect). Also, in certain situation, the Master may allow her claws to aid other tasks, such as climbing or possibly even intimidation tasks.
One activation of a perk will only boost one category (cause, effect or special effect). If, in the above example, Bruce chose to boost Frost's attack roll, penetration and damage, that would be three separate activations of the perk. But it would be a pretty damn sweet claw swipe from the cat-girl!
Jason chooses the perk "Lucky" for his Ursoid, Leonid Kovnachuk (Chuk). He sets the range for this perk as "Specific." He doesn't see Chuk as being lucky at cards or business, but lucky in shrugging off damage and keeping in the fight. To reflect this, he decides that Chuck's "lucky" perk will improve his ability to soak damage. How? He is lucky. Sometimes serious attacks only scratch him, or do less damage than they ought to. He simulates this by saying that the lucky perk increases Chuk's effective size stat when he activates his perk (a special effect). It doesn't actually make Chuck physically larger, but an attack that may have caused a wound might only result in the loss of some CT, or a devastating, lethal attack might only result in one or two wound points being applied.
Edges can be named whatever the player chooses for roleplaying purposes. This is kind of a no-brainer, but you should pick a name that somehow describes what the edge does, if for no other reason than to stave off confusion. However, just naming something doesn't completely define it. You can't have a perk called "God Mode" that allows you to automatically succeed at whatever you do. Part of the name is just flavor; you will have to define a set of criteria and its effects. Note that in the example above, Jason chose the name "lucky" for one of his perks, but its critera was specific--in that he was only lucky when it came to avoiding injury in a fight. Another character could choose a perk and call it "lucky," but might define it as a general perk that affected all chance-related tasks such as gambling and tasks with a TN of 13 or higher (where success is basically a shot in the dark!) A player could not take the perk "lucky" and say that it can improve any outcome he wants just because he's, you know, lucky. That is too broad a criteria, and must be narrowed down.
Jason chooses the perk "Brawny" for Chuk. He makes it a general perk, and defines it by saying that Chuk is unusually strong. The criteria is any feat of strength. If Chuck had to knock down a door, lift a car off a comrade or punch someone really hard, these might all meet the criteria for a general perk. Sid takes the perk "Gift of Gab" for the eponymous Sid Scorpio. He makes it a specific perk, and Sid says that the criteria is that Sid Scorpio is especially good at verbal exchanges, with the intention of linking the Perk to his persuasion skill by increasing the cause (he will make successful checks more often, but they may not be more effective). Stony Krantz has the perk "Rifleman," a general perk which allows him to apply bonuses (cause, effect or special effect) to the use of any rifle or carbine type weapon. Sid takes the specific perk "Signature Weapon," which allows him to increase the penetration (a special effect) with one type of weapon (his trusty laser pistol).
As with generic use of story chips, you can choose to wait until after a roll is made or a card is drawn to invoke a sharp edge. This way, you can ensure that story chips are never wasted, and are always beneficial.
The standard currency for activating perks is your Hero's activation pool. However, if this runs out, you can use story chips to activate perks, however, only one story chip may be played for any single activation; if all you have are white chips, you cannot spend two white chips to equal one red chip. In this sense, your hero's activation pool is more versatile. Alternatively, you can spend story chips instead of draining your activation pool, but there is no benefit to it.
If, for whatever reason, the Master invokes one of your perks, this activation does not cost story chips. To determine the bonus, draw a chip from the pot.
Frost’s demo charge collapses the tunnel just in time, cutting off the main body of the Klackon warriors, but one of the slippery aliens manages to dash past the falling rocks, right at Chuk. The Blarad’s ruined Blast MMG won’t do him any good in this fight, and he doesn’t have time to draw another weapon before the insectoid is upon him. Jason (the player controlling Chuk) determines that now is the right time for Chuk to be a badass. He attacks the Klackon to hold it off and help cover the others’ retreat. His attack hits and penetrates the Klackon's thick armor. Jason tells the Master that he is invoking Chuk's Natural Weapons: Claws perk to increase his unarmed damage. Chuk is out of points in his activation pool, but has a blue chip, which will yield a whopping +12 damage! Bruce, playing Frost, knows that Chuck will need some help with the dangerous Klackon, but doesn’t want to fire a blast rifle into the melee. He also knows that all the extra claw damage in the world won’t do much against the heavy armor of a Klackon if he can’t penetrate. Frost jumps into the melee and swipes with her claws, as well, scoring a hit. Bruce invokes Frost’s claw perk also but spends two points from her pool to boost the penetration value (an effect) for his Hero’s claws by +4, and an additional two points from the pool to increase damage by +9. “Frost may not have the size or strength that Chuk does,” Bruce says. “But if Chuk’s claws are like hatchets, then mine are like razors. My claws naturally find the seams in the bug’s chitin, and slice at the softer tissues while Chuck cracks and tears through its exoskeleton!” The two marines make short work of the final Klackon, and the entire crew escapes the tunnel system and boards the dropship that will take them back to the Chain Lightning…
Flaw Activation
By giving your Hero a flaw, you are making a kind of statement as to what kind of actions the character may take in certain situations and what kind of Hero he is. If your character has the coward flaw, for example, you are not likely to exhibit an abundance of bravery. You may actively try to avoid conflict. That is fine; that’s what a cowardly person might do. However, this being an RPG, you will likely find your cowardly character in a fight (either physical or psychological) sooner or later, which may give you or the Master an opportunity to invoke your flaw. As with perks, you should design your flaws to suit your character's physical or mental limitations, or his habits and personality, and be willing to roleplay them. If flaws are ignored by the player, he won't earn story chips for them; those flaws may as well not exist in that context. If the flaw affects something that the player has intentionally made their Hero a master of--to the point that he almost never fails a task even when hampered by his flaws--he won't get story chips through failure. In these cases, all that has been accomplished is that the player has pointlessly used up one of his edge slots and spammed his character sheet with some ultimately meaningless words. Unless they affect the Hero through action (roleplaying) or consequences (failure), rough edges have no benefit to the player or the story and will not earn the player any story chips.
Choosing the nature of any flaw can be important to your character concept. The cowardly “Hero” above may be a yellow-belly through and through, which will definitely impacts what roleplaying decisions the player may make. While the game play effect may have the same triggers (combat), another character my just have a touch of PTSD and only freaks out occasionally. This character might not have the same reservations about conflict, and might not avoid a fight, but would probably realize that it is possible for him to go into vapor-lock and freeze up at the worst possible time in the middle of a fight, which might bring about other roleplaying opportunities, such as the Hero getting ribbed by his peers or being seen as unreliable in a fight for freezing in the heat of battle. A third character may choose the flaw "Pacifist," and might roleplay his character as avoiding violence for spiritual or moral reasons. Regardless of the trigger (in this case, combat), how the characters are played and what penalties might be applied (if needed) can be very different. The aforementioned yellow-bellied coward may be the scientist in the Crew who rarely sees combat anyway, but his cowardice may cause him to avoid other types of conflict as well; maybe he doesn’t speak up to the other Heroes, or lets an NPC run ragged all over him because he doesn’t want to get in an argument. The Hero with shell-shock may be a member of the ship's marine complement, which may be a bad job for someone with PTSD, but probably an even worse vocation for a pacifist! If the event comes up frequently, you simply have the opportunity to earn more story chips for it.
Designer’s Note: How often a flaw comes up during play, or how many opportunities there are for it to affect a Hero is often a troublesome point in some role-playing games. We want to encourage players to play up their characters’ flaws by instituting the reward of story chips for doing so. That way, flaws are not simply something you take to get extra points for skills or stats. Many times, a player will take a flaw for his character and simply hope the Master forgets about it, or the player makes the triggers for it rare in order to game the system. In Future Imperfect, we hope the players will embrace their Heroes’ flaws to bring their Heroes to life and get an enriched story out of it all in the end.
Aside from informing how you might roleplay certain aspects of your Hero based on his flaws, they are a means for your Hero to earn story chips. Give some thought to your Hero’s rough edges. How and why your Hero has his flaws will help you determine how to express them during play. They can help give him that extra dimension that makes him a memorable character instead of just some numbers on a sheet of paper.
Chuk’s vengeance stems from his long years of service to his cruel masters within the GPR, and he feels most justified when striking back at them or other oppressors. Letting his anger get the better of him while playing a card game with his friend is not something he is proud of. Jason decides that for Chuk, while it was immediately gratifying, he regrets his recent act of vengeance against Sid, and starts thinking of how to express that in the game…
Players should roleplay their Hero’s flaws. If you don’t want to roleplay a particular flaw, just don’t take it! You have chosen them to help establish your Hero’s background and personality; they don’t disappear just because the Master isn’t forcing penalties on you at every turn. As a player, feel free to bring them into play when you feel they are appropriate by reminding the Master of your rough edges. As a Master, you should also have a good idea of what rough edges the various members of the crew have, so you can call upon them as you see fit and create scenes that feel more real because they affect the unique rough edges your players crafted for their characters. Inconveniences can crop up when the hero least expects or wants them to, which is why the Master also has the power to invoke flaws. Plus, if a flaw makes your Hero’s life harder and enriches the story with the complication you put out there for the Master to utilize, you might get a story chip out of it. Winners all around!
Eric’s Ursoid, Nestor, grew up on an arctic planet. There were no trees to climb, and all the buildings were dug into the ground to protect them from the elements. As such, he decides that his Hero has acrophobia (fear of heights), and that it is a fairly strong aversion. Eric decides to play Nick such that he will go to great lengths to avoid triggers to his phobia. Even though the trigger is fairly common, if Eric plays Nick such that he stays rooted to the ground almost all the time, the Master may rarely even be able to invoke the flaw to the point where he has to penalize Nestor's actions. Eric might earn story chips for roleplaying his flaw, since it is serving its purpose by causing Eric to play his Hero faithfully to his flaw.
Invoking Flaws
When a likely trigger for a Hero’s flaw comes up, the Master may choose to invoke it, though the players are encouraged to call attention to their rough edges when appropriate or invoke it themselves. When this occurs, the rough edge can be dealt with in a few ways. Depending on the situation, the Master may ask for an appropriate roleplaying response to the trigger. This approach might be used in situations where no clear task or check is being made, a simple encounter is taking place. If the Master feels the response from the player is appropriate (i.e., in character, entertaining for the group, or enriching to the story), the exchange earns the player a story chip draw from the pot. Another approach to deal with the effect of rough edges is for the Master to draw a chip from the pot. The color of the chip determines how severe an effect the flaw incurs in this instance (if applicable), using the same scale of effect as for perks. Depending on the situation and the nature of the flaw, this penalty might only last for one check or task. If the penalty causes the Hero to fail at his check or task, he earns the penalty chip drawn in compensation. A third method may be to apply some complication or penalty for a given time or until some condition resolving the matter is met. If the penalty is extended (e.g., until certain criteria are met), the Hero suffers a penalty to any set of actions unless they are related to resolving the trigger of the flaw, the penalty is only -2 (to cause or special effect) or -6 (effect), as though a white chip had been drawn for a single check. Once the flaw is resolved, the player earns a chip draw.
Designer's note: We hope that a lack of hard-and-fast rules in this regard will allow for a broader use and interpretation of these story elements. A potential drawback, however, is that each instance may involve some discretionary thought, but since everyone ought to be collaborating toward telling a story, thinking on the fly shouldn't be too much of a chore, right? If rough edges are used to introduce mild obstacles or complications rather than used as a means to hammer the Heroes, this "loosey-goosey" rules approach will likely be much easier to use and for players to accept.
Sid Scorpio may not be known for his honesty, but he is known for being true to his men. Sid’s player chose the rough edge “Loyal” for his hero. Sid is pained to have gotten on Chuk’s bad side—even if the Blarad’s legendary temper got the better of him—and wants to make it up to his marine. The player tells the Master that he has a plan to make nice with Chuk, and until he does, Sid will be troubled and off his game—all his personal interactions will suffer under the weight of his conscience. The Master agrees with these terms. Sid will subtract 2 from any social task checks until the situation is resolved (unless, the Master decides, it is directly in pursuit of resolving Sid’s matter of Loyalty). Sid goes to the ship’s armory and checks out Chuk’s Blast MMG, which was ruined in their recent battle with the Klackons. He stows it in the smuggler’s hatch on his personal shuttle, and plans to take it to someone he knows who can fix it up when they land on Rial IV. Not long after, Sid has the repaired weapon in his possession. This meets the criteria he placed. The Master has him draw a story chip from the pot as a reward for playing his flaw.
When a flaw is invoked for a single check or task, whatever chip is drawn is both the penalty and/or reward to the player for dealing with their rough edge through consequences faced and/or good roleplaying. If a rough edge was invoked but it ultimately had no impact on the game (i.e., it did not cause the Hero to fail in a task) the player does not earn the reward because success in the face of adversity is its own reward. If the Master requested a roleplaying response but feels the player did not adequately his flaw, the Master may opt not to count it to reward him with a story chip draw. Keep in mind, this isn't a penalty, just a lack of reward.
Designer's note: People might argue what constitutes an "adequate roleplaying response." They are free to do so. It is not an issue that can be solved here, no matter how long we make the rulebook. You will simply have to trust in the Master that he is being unbiased, reasonable and fair, and try not to worry too much if you get snubbed on a chip draw. From the other side, Masters: you have an obligation to be unbiased, reasonable and fair to your players. If you consistently snub your players this will, in all likelihood, eventually have social consequences that you'd likely rather not face. Our suggestion in questionable situations would be to not disrupt the game, but later on, the player(s) might ask the question of the Master "what would you have considered an adequate roleplaying response?" or something to that effect. This will allow the players to better gauge what the Master expects of them, roleplaying-wise, or allow them to set more realistic expectations from the Master if it turns out his bar is set too high. And any Masters out there? Keep in mind that this is a roleplaying game, not the silver screen. We wouldn't ask you to dumb things down just 'cuz, but not every performance need be Oscar-worthy. True to character and interesting is generally "acting" enough for the purposes of most gamers.
Lastly, the Master has final say on whether any rough edges are appropriate to be called into play for the given situation.
Edges and Character Race
During character creation, there is some degree of overlap between the sections of Race and Edges. The primary reason for this is that many of the unique traits one can imagine for an alien race are handled by crafting them as edges, such as the claws described in earlier examples. Some racial variations are unique to the race creation system (such as bonuses to traits), and as such, exclusively use points derived from a character's rank in race. Surplus race points can be used to craft "racial edges" for a character using the rules for edges. Racial edges are just that: an aspect of your character's race. This may pose some limitations on what you are able to purchase as a racial edge. If your race template does not allow as many edge slots as you would like, you can use points from the edge pool to purchase additional edge slots. If you need to shave a few points from your race template, you can reduce the number of edges available due to race, and buy what slots you need using points from the edge pool. You can also use points from the edge pool to purchase racial edges.
Though your universe in your own Future Imperfect campaign may be inhabited by nothing but pure strain humans, the "Canon" setting is not so vanilla. All races (even humans!) can be defined to a degree by their variation. Some races are more homogenous as a whole, or less diverse as individuals. These species and races will tend to have fewer edge slots avialable. Racial edges are intended as the variations that differentiate various races within the same species. Some types of edges (such as resistances) can only be purchased using race points. For the most part, they follow all the same rules as normal edges.
The description of an Ursoid character says they have a thick coat of fur. While Jason may choose a resistance to cold environments for his Ursoid, Chuk, he decides not to include this as a racial edge for his character. Instead, because Chuk's myriad injuries have left his hide scarred and patchy (which doesn't seal in the heat), he makes up a racial perk and calls it Mangy Countenance, a specific racial perk that gives a bonus when Chuk tries to indimidate or threaten people.
While creating a character, the player chooses ranks for various aspects of his Hero. One of these aspects is Race. The race template you use or create will determine your default number of edge slots. Some special edges are defined as "Racial Constructs" and their use and effect must be worked out with the master. As an example, the prehensile feet of Pithicenes and the Gliding ability of Avians are racial constructs. These are purchased with points for character race. The number of points available for race selection is determined by the rank given to race. Racial constructs may help define what sort of alien (or even human) you are. Several standard templates are provided (see chapter XX, "Populating the Universe" for more information), but even with these there is room for customization.
You can use a template for your Hero, or create your own unique alien species or flavor of humanoid. While some Edges are clearly "racial" in nature, it could be argued that many other perks and flaws could be a part of your race, as well,.
Justin decides that his Hero is from a race of humanoids who have more Psionic Adepts per capita than most other races, and creates the "Lucky" perk (general; bonus to games of chance or any task with a TN of 13+) to represent this sensitivity. To balance that, he chooses the racial edge "Non-standard diet." What is non-standard about the diet of his Hero's race? Justin thinks about it for a moment and decides that while members of his race are not on their homeworld, each day they must take enough blood from a sentient being to cause 1 wound. Great. He has created a race of Lucky, Psionic Space Vampires.
Custom races should, of course, meet with Master approval before play begins.
Sample Edges
General Perks
- Brawny--Criteria: Can be used to influence any acts of brute strength.
- Hardy--Criteria: Can be used to influence any acts of endurance (fortitude).
- Quick--Criteria: Can be used to influence any tests of reflexes.
- Nimble--Criteria: Can be used to influence any tests of dexterity.
- Sharp--Criteria: Can be used to influence any Acuity checks.
- Smart--Criteria: Can be used to influence any tests of Knowledge.
- Aura--Criteria: Can be used to influence any acts of Presence.
- Spiritual--Criteria: Can be used to influence any tests of Essence.
- Natural Weapons: Claws--Criteria: Combat perk. Can be used to increase attack roll, penetration or damage of an unarmed brawling attack. Turns brawling damage into lethal damage.
Creating Edges, part II
The following are all aspects of a character that can be influenced by various perks:
- Traits
- Skills
- Damage
- Penetration
- Natural Armor
- Size
- Willpower
- Stress
- Nerve
- Rate
- Weapon Enhancements
- Stun Checks
- Defense Scores
- Initiative
- Income
- Favors and Contacts
- Rank or Status
- Cybernetics
- Biological or Genetic Augmentation
