The rules for crafting and modding tends to frustrate me a bit, which gives me a bit of bad conscience as one of the players has really invested in his character being good at that. Of course, I want him to feel that his character can build really awesome stuff, but sometimes the rules make it a bit too easy.

One problem is that crafting and modding, unlike almost every other aspect of the rules system, makes it sooo hard for the GM to give setback dice, while PCs can easily accumulate ridiculous amounts of boost dice for those checks - meaning they never roll threats, further ensuring that the GM never has an excuse to add setback dice or upgrade difficulties. Whether you agree with me or not that crafting feels to easy sometimes (that's not the topic of this thread), I'd like some advice on how to motivate more setback dice and/or difficulty upgrades in checks to build or modify equipment and attachments while the PC is still working in the comfortable environment of a workshop (on a ship). So basically, hit me with any idea you can come up with! Here are some that I have, but I need more:

• The lighting is bad somehow.
• The character making the check has unhealed wounds or crits.
• Someone in the ship has been rearranging stuff in the workshop.
• Someone in the ship is making noise or otherwise causing distractions.
• Hyperspace turbulence O_O
• The parts that the character bought are sub-par somehow.
• The workshop has gotten too cramped (this could be used as a time-sink, if nothing else - after a couple of projects, you need to spend a few hours cleaning the workshop or you get setback dice)
• The character has made many crafting/modding checks in succession during the ongoing downtime, and needs to roll Discipline if she wants to maintain her focus (i.e, not get setback dice. Also good because the Discipline skill can sometimes feel a bit lackluster if you're not a Force user).

Someone "borrowed" the hydrospanner from the workshop to fix the refresher, and didn't return it. You eventually find it after checking all the usual spots and asking around, but that took extra time and now you're a bit grumpy about it (1 setback).

Some more simple setback avenues

1) This is the first time a character has created an item of this type. (Unfamiliarity should add some setback dice depending on the complexity of the action. A guy who crafts guns for example mightn't be immediately familiar with armour, cybernetics or gene therapy.)
2) Cramped vessel quality. If a vessel is over it's passenger capacity/has unfamiliar crew, I would probably add at least one setback that escalates for every X amount of extra persons. This can be handled by being mindful of the passanger capacity

3) Any lingering wounds? 1 setback dice.
4) Having certain crits may have a lasting impact on the dice pool. I wouldn't usually go aboard with this one.

5) Excessive damage to work place? Setback.

6) Lots of unfamilar faces and incessant questioning? Probably a couple. I would only save those for NPC's that by default, are very annoying.

I mean I could be at it all day about what would generate setback. Just usually I would make any avenues of setback generated fairly obvious things that can either be addressed or tolerated, rather then sprung on the player.

Lots of recent projects = depleted piles of misc. parts. Set screws, wire, shims and couplers, etc. - normally trivial if you have a couple junk bins to raid, but once they've been emptied you either need to buy some wire, or take apart the 'fresher (probably explains the state of the Falcon, come to think of it).

15 hours ago, Pyremius said:

Lots of recent projects = depleted piles of misc. parts. Set screws, wire, shims and couplers, etc. - normally trivial if you have a couple junk bins to raid, but once they've been emptied you either need to buy some wire, or take apart the 'fresher (probably explains the state of the Falcon, come to think of it).

I usually establish a crafting bank. Once it's empty, gotta refill.

I have to agree with the OP here. I have a hard time coming up with setback dice, and as GM I just feel like kind of a jerk if I use a destiny point to upgrade a players check.

I can predict the response of my players to nearly every one of the listed possibilities above. "Well, I'll wait and do it later once that issue is taken care of." They're rarely crafting in an emergency situation, so their isn't any reason not to wait. If I tell them their parts are low, they'll stop at the parts store at their next stop and buy some. Bad light, buy a lamp. Etc etc. Maybe I can get away with one or two setbacks, but any good mechanic is going to have at least a couple black be gone talents.

I admit, I've never been a fan of the crafting rules. I find it to easy to build overpowered things, but there are others in our group who love them. My negative feelings aren't strong enough for me to want to quash their enjoyment of building stuff.

My approach to this kind if rule in any game has always been to just let the play's have fun. There is no need to impose limits and drawbacks unless the scenario requires it or it's funny. Those are my 2 golden rules.

As far as my group producing over powered stuff, they know from previous experience that anything that they do, the NPCs can also do and will be used against them, 'so you want 1" magnum hand cannons that 1 shot Elephants! Ok cool have at it, but be aware the park rangers will have access to them too at some point!' ... that tends to keep the munchkins in line somewhat.

1 hour ago, SirSaiCo said:

As far as my group producing over powered stuff, they know from previous experience that anything that they do, the NPCs can also do and will be used against them, 'so you want 1" magnum hand cannons that 1 shot Elephants! Ok cool have at it, but be aware the park rangers will have access to them too at some point!' ... that tends to keep the munchkins in line somewhat.

That's... actually genius. Giving the enemy some more powerful than usual equipment within the crafting rules to balance the crafting system out definitely sounds like a great idea. Makes crafting more useful in general too.

20 hours ago, Split Light said:

I have to agree with the OP here. I have a hard time coming up with setback dice, and as GM I just feel like kind of a jerk if I use a destiny point to upgrade a players check.

I can predict the response of my players to nearly every one of the listed possibilities above. "Well, I'll wait and do it later once that issue is taken care of." They're rarely crafting in an emergency situation, so their isn't any reason not to wait. If I tell them their parts are low, they'll stop at the parts store at their next stop and buy some. Bad light, buy a lamp. Etc etc. Maybe I can get away with one or two setbacks, but any good mechanic is going to have at least a couple black be gone talents.

I admit, I've never been a fan of the crafting rules. I find it to easy to build overpowered things, but there are others in our group who love them. My negative feelings aren't strong enough for me to want to quash their enjoyment of building stuff.

The Crafting Check giveth and Combat and Adventure taketh away. Flamethrower attacks, Explosions, being dropped from a height, taking a hit from a blaster bolt instead of the character's body. I find that the game has a lot of opportunity for you to destroy and take player equipment. If they liked building it the first time the second time should be even more fun lol.