Lancer: In Golden Flame: Downtime

The list of unique downtime actions for Calliope:

PITCH IN

You volunteer for extra work shifts and get down to the difficult business of keeping Hell’s Gate running for another week. It’s tiring, dangerous and often thankless. But this is work someone needs to do, and if nobody volunteers, you’re all just drifting.

This could be straightforward work, like maintenance, cooking or farming, or it might be more social, like education, medical care or even entertainment.

Explain the work you’re putting in and roll:

On 9 or less, you do more to hinder than help. You get in the way, make poor decisions or distract other workers. After a couple of days, you’re asked not to show up for shifts anymore. Take +1 difficulty to interactions with the Gate’s residents until the next downtime.

On 10-19, with a staggering amount of effort, and many nights with too little sleep, you’re able to make some headway in tackling the station’s innumerable problems. Gain +1 accuracy on interactions with Hell’s Gate residents until the next downtime.

On 20+, you solve a major problem that was causing a lot of people grief. Tick one segment on the Station Stability clock, and gain +1 accuracy on interactions with Hell’s Gate residents until the next downtime. If multiple characters take this action, roll once for each character and take the best result instead of applying each result individually. The Station Stability clock only gets incremented once, but social bonuses or penalties apply to all participating characters.

TAKE A BREAK

Jerry has added a few days leave to your file – a rare privilege on Hell’s Gate. You decide to spend some of them right now, de-stress and recharge your batteries after the hectic few weeks you’ve had.

Explain how you’re de-stressing, and then roll:

On 9 or less, you just can’t switch off. It’s hard to sleep, and nothing seems to help. You have a rough few days. But one morning, you wake up, step outside and find a little care package with some of your favorite snacks inside. There’s a little note signed by more than sixty people. It says “thank you for keeping us safe.” One of the kids drew your mech. They really do care.

On 10-19, you feel a bit of the weight lift off your shoulders. You catch a good night’s sleep for the first time in ages. Oh, and you made a friend! The GM can roll on the Additional NPCs table, or invent their own.

On 20+, you feel better than you’ve felt in years! You’re more ready to face the world than you ever were before. Take two counters. They represent a well of renewed confidence. During the next mission, you can spend a counter on an attack, check or save you make to treat the result of the d20 roll as a 10.

GO CUBBYING

You strap on a mobility hardsuit, pack a few rations and set off into the Gate’s abandoned sectors. Some only have emergency lighting. Some are without power. Some aren’t even pressurized. But all of them have something interesting hidden inside, if you can find it.

Describe your exploration, then roll: On 9 or less, you get trapped behind a security door, stuck in a vent or just hopelessly lost. You’re forced to call for rescue. Jerry tearfully chews you out for setting a bad example, and has a maintenance team seal off a few common access points that cubbyers use. No other PC can take this action until next downtime, and you are now persona non grata at the Gate’s cubbying club.

On 10-19, you find something interesting on your adventure: a forgotten cache of supplies, a functional console with useful data, an access card to a door nobody’s been able to open, or something like that. You can treat these as a RESERVE, as useful materials for a future downtime action like Get Creative, or as currency to give you +1 accuracy on a few social rolls.

On 20+, not only do you find a bunch of useful stuff, you discover something in a forgotten corner of the station that’s been causing a bunch of those problems the wrenchies couldn’t figure out how to fix. Jerry eases up on the whole cubbying deal, so the station’s cubbying club now thinks you’re rad as fuck. You get a RESERVE, and until the end of the next downtime, anyone else who takes this downtime action gets +1 accuracy on the roll.

GET THE MILITIA IN SHAPE

You take a look at the duty roster, review recent combat footage and knuckle down to the task of strengthening the militia. This could mean leading combat drills in the simulators, finding new recruits to fill holes in the lineup, negotiating a contract for better equipment or direct one-to-one mentoring.

Being mech pilots, it’s most likely that you’re working with, training and equipping other mech pilots, but the militia also includes conventional infantry and subline spacecraft, so expertise in these fields is also useful.

Outline your approach, then roll:

On 9 or less, you’re running into issues at every turn. The budget isn’t there, or the equipment is for shit, or the new recruits can’t tell one end of a rifle from the other after six tries. It’s going to take way more work before you can fix this mess, but some progress has been made, at least. Next time you take this action, upgrade your result to the next best result (i.e. 9 or less becomes 10-19 and 10-19 becomes 20+).

On 10-19, tick a segment on the Militia Readiness clock, but only if you do one of the following:
• contribute some of your own money or equipment
• give up a lot of your time, energy and attention
• do a serious, difficult favor for someone

If you commit to one of these options, play out a scene or two to explain how you accomplish it.

On 20+, your ideas meet with remarkable success, and you start to see improvements almost immediately. Tick a segment on the Militia Readiness clock. If multiple characters take this action, roll once for each character and take the best result instead of applying each result individually.

JOIN A SALVAGE CREW

Now that the scanning array is back online and the pirates are out of the way, salvage runs are starting up again. You check your hardsuit seals, pack your bag, join a crew and spend a couple of weeks out in a wreckfield. If you’re not the salvaging type, you can still bring your mech, keeping the team safe while they work; guardians get a cut, just like everyone else.

Create a six-segment Salvage clock on your character sheet, then roll:

On 9 or less, fill in one segment on the Materials clock.

On 10-19, fill in two segments on the Materials clock, and gain one item of particular interest. Roll 1d20 to see what you find. This can be used as RESERVES, pilot gear, or to gain +1 accuracy on a relevant skill check.

On 20+, due to your stellar performance on this run, the team votes you for first pick. Fill in three segments on the Materials clock, then roll 2d20, choosing one result.

You can clear segments on the Salvage clock for the following benefits: • 1 segment: Gain +1 accuracy on one skill check to invent, create or repair items, or on one skill check to barter, negotiate or bribe. • 2 segments: During any downtime, gain one piece of Mech Equipment and Gear (Lancer, p. 51) as Reserves. • 6 segments: During any downtime, permanently obtain a piece of EXOTIC GEAR which your character knows about.