Handling Jobs

With the time to make careful preparations, PCs are capable of achieving feats far beyond themselves. Even completing difficult requests can be easy. However, requests have a time limit to them, and it costs money just to live day to day as a Hunter. Time, risk, and credits. Every Hunter has to balance these important factors. Below are some simple, yet important rules.

=The Course of a Day= Within this world as well, one day consists of 24 hours. And 「One preparation」 generally takes 3 hours. As such, PCs have a maximum of 8 「Preparations (p.114)」 they can make in a day. You can think of these longer timespans as including the time spent traveling, eating meals, using the restroom, and more. Even traveling to a remote corner of the Fallen Special Zone, you don't have to consider the time it would take. As well, there are many useful drugs, including short naps. PCs thus won't suffer directly from exhaustion, even undergoing day after day of hectic preparation without spending any time 「Relaxing (p.117)」.

However, for every 24 hours that pass after receiving a request, a PC should roll a Karma (Luck) check. A success means there aren't any problems. A failure, though, results in the request being completed before you by another Hunter, meaning the PC won't receive a reward. If it wouldn't make sense for another Hunter to complete the request, the GM should come up with an Event (p.186) or similar as a suitable penalty for the PC. By the end of the second day, this Karma check (Luck) suffers a 「-2」 penalty. By the end of the third day, a 「-4」 penalty. By the fourth day, 「-6」. There are many Hunters within the Fallen Special Ward, each chasing after reward money. There are few requests that you can take your time on. PCs should aim to take on the Climax of a request before 48 hours have elapsed.

Of note, if the GM wishes for a more relaxed pace, this rate of time progression can be adjusted as needed. For example, if you decide on each 「Preparation」 taking 6 hours, there shouldn't be a problem with the penalties for one day elapsing instead occurring every three days.

=Events and the Climax= Events occurring in a scenario could be comprised of multiple Karma checks and fights. The GM should prepare for these events in advance. So then, they can better judge the time each event needs and make adjustments depending on the time actually available. WIth a sudden raid event, a combat may only take a few minutes if there aren't any significant negotiations to be made. On the other end, invading an enemy's base, searching around while proceeding along, may take a considerable amount of time and Karma checks. In short, it's all up to the GM's judgement. See the GM section's guide on creating 「Events (p.186)」 for help.

=Withdrawing from a Request= If after making preparations, the request appears too difficult for the PCs to complete, they have the option to give up on completing the request. The PC withdraws from the request, and understandably, earns no reward.

However, if you've gathered 「useful information」 from Karma checks (Intel / Negotiation / Perception) or similar, you can sell this information to other Hunters that take on the request in your place. Depending on the amount of information you have (the number of successful Karma checks you've made), you can earn up to 50% of the reward credits. In essence, you can think of each piece of information as worth 10% of the reward. Of course, even if there were 「rewards outside of credits」, after declining the request, you won't be able to receive them.

Gathering and selling information like this can make for a dry, if practical business, splitting equal profit with whoever you deal with, be it people you're meeting for the first time, acquaintances, or even those hostile to you. This could be considered a good option for Seeker and Fixer PCs, gathering all the information they can before handing it off to another hunter. As well, if you end off with ERPing (or something else) with the one you sold your information to, you may earn yourself a new 「Contact」.

=Side Income= If a PC doesn't have the credits necessary to cover their 「Expenses (p.114)」, they must either go into enough debt to make up the difference, or earn some 「side income」. For PCs in need of cash, roll on the table on the right-hand page once for every 20 credits they are short (round up). For each 「money-making method」 a PC resorts to, reduce their outstanding expenses (never profiting) by up to 20 credits. On top of that, the PC is subject to the respective 「penalties」. If you make money this way multiple times, you suffer just as many penalties. Penalties can have a major impact on the circumstances of the next session. However, a PCs Pride cannot be reduced below 1, nor their Karma above 10 by these penalties. As well, if a character's debt increases as a result of one of these penalties, this can exceed the normal ［debt limit］. Debt that has exceeded such a stature can be impossible to bear for a PC socially.

If the GM allows, a PC can 「lower the values of their rolled dice」 in regards to determining which 「money-making method」 they go with. In addition, if a suitable amount of ERP is performed regarding the 「money-making method」, the GM can decide to waive the respective penalty. This ERP should be performed sometime before the beginning of the next session. Through this, you may even gain a new 「Contact」.