Hi..........

Ive got an idea about , well Scum income. All "normal" adepts have a stable income. Inquisition provides them with some extra credit support but we all know that for a true criminal its not enough. So my PC asked if he can do someting between sessions .... maybe rob , someone steal something this sort of thing. So what to do... in our sessions he is the one who do all the talkin most of the time .....and if He will start havein all this side stuff . Its leaveing other players out of rotation... I have an idea of tet-a-tet skype short session.

Those odd side-jobs are exactly what's represented by the Scum's regular income.

Cifer said:

Cifer is correct. This is why it is not stable, like the other careers. It represents what the scum can beg, borrow, or steal 'on the side'.

Sister Cat said:

Indeed. Of course, those odd jobs are detailed as their "per rank" increase. So it can be reasoned or argued depending on your view that, let's say, a Rank 5 Scum would get their base income plus 4 (or 5 if your GM rules Rank 1 gets the first increase to income) rolls on that spiffy little table they have. Typically, this is how I've ruled it for my game.

-=Brother Praetus=-

I'd rule it that the scum can safely, without risk make the money on the table. If the player if after more money and is willing to risk it then you might let them try a bigger blag or criminal activity in down time.

Get them to set the expectation, (trying to con enough money for a set of carapace or stealing a set of matching best quality bolt pistols from a merchants house) and have the player explain how they are going to undertake it.

I'd make the player put a lot of (downtime) planning into it (and maybe some upfront cash). If the player had done a lot of planning then do stack the odds in their favour. Do a little RP session with the Scum character of the criminal activity (maybe before the next session whilst other players are getting ready). See how it pans out.

The Scum should generally succeed if they have planned it well, however if they fail there should be consequences (yes they might still fail an all important skill roll). Maybe the rest of the PCs have to get the Scum out of prison now at the start of the adventure. Maybe the Scum has to bribe their way out of the local enforcers (costing him more cash), maybe they turns up for the next briefing with a partially deactivated penal legion collar still stuck round their neck!? Be cruel but not the extent of losing fate points...

Also try to keep the Scums achievements scaled with the rest of the party, so if the party are generally using bolt pistols then do not allow the scum to steal plasma weapons. My rough rule of thumb is if the players have the training for it, they can now access it.

Have fun.

Baldrick said:

You know...that's a pretty fun idea in general. Can't you just see the start of every mission? The rest of the crew are all together. One asks where Rat is. No one knows. So they all trudge down to the local Arbiters station and find him battered and bruised in a cell looking defiantly or mournfully at them (depending on the character). Or maybe he's in a cage hanging from the side of the cathedral. Or in an open pen at the Chasteners station with his hands and feet chained to a post sticking about 1 foot out of the ground. Fun role play moments there. Oh yeah! Good times. Good times indeed.

I loathed the Income system and ditched it early in favour of using the Influence system from Ascension. Just got fed up with the penny-pinching, scrounging, whinning and book keeping to figure out who has/how much at and in between adventures, if I was to start from scratch I'd probably use Income for about the first two ranks and bring it in at third rank.

Not very high levels of influence mind you!

Though being a scum deducts about -1 and noble contributes about +1 to +5 (depending on background) from the total influence level.

I like the idea of "Side Jobs" but a more interesting idea could be that you give your scum character a personal quest that he can complete during the course of a regular session.

One of the Joe Minion's is actually Joe Super Minion who has a bounty on his head that the scum knows about. Or even something as simple as a hive noble needs a new set of dentures. Find him X amount of human teeth.

I like the idea of "Secret" quests. In fact I am writing up a secret quest for my assassin acolyte. She is one of my more experienced players. I am about to start a new campaign with new players. The quest I am giving her is not to blow her cover as a regular acolyte and make sure the newbies dont get in too deep. And if any show signs of heresy, kill them.