So if installing mods starts at 3 Difficulty dice (Purple) against a Mechanics check, and each additional mod option increases this difficulty (RAW) by one, how is it possible to roll a Despair and render the Attachment useless? There's no Despair symbols on a Purple die.

I guess if you had a vindictive GM, he/she/they/it could burn a Destiny point to upgrade the check, but that doesn't sound like something any GM I've ever played with would do.

Am I interpreting my reading of this wrong? Am I missing something?

Nope, GM shoyuld spend on Destiny on healing, repairing, modding. Let the players sweat a bit :>.

May be you try to mod your weapon with your bare hands, or with a basesball ball as your only tool, and the GM decides this grants an upgrade or two on the check's difficulty...

Yeah, remember the listed difficulties are the basic, unmodified difficulties. The basic core that the GM is expected to add to and adjust.

So if your players have all the time in the world, a proper garage, the right tools, and factory fresh aftermarket mod kits, then there's little reason for a despair, and the accompanying difficulties.

But this is the Edge of the Empire, so they are outside, in the rain, using parts salvaged from a 30 year old wreck, tools stolen from a local farmer that are really intended for light repulsor repair and home improvement, and they gotta be airborne in the next hour or that Star Destroyer's orbit will bring it around the planet's curvature and allow for a clean firing solution on them... and oh yeah, that farmer, he and his buddy's just showed up and he's not happy about that whole thing with the party's scoundrel and his daughter... also he wants his tools back...

My team refers to my meddling as, "The D*ck Side".

And oh how I enjoy making them cry... A few well placed Dark Side points can really bring them down a few notches. Truly it brings a smile to my lips.

Nope, GM shoyuld spend on Destiny on healing, repairing, modding. Let the players sweat a bit :>.

There's also plenty of possible reasons to upgrade Challenge even without a Dark Side Point. Has the player suffered multiple Crits when being healed? Is the piece of equipment to be maintained or modded damaged? Are the components being used stolen, traceable, makeshift, or otherwise unreliable?

Are the players in a hurry, subject to scrutiny or otherwise adversely affected? Is the check being taken in an environment that could be detrimental? Electronics and precise mechanisms generally don't appreciate mud or sand, and an open wound poses a greater chance for infection in a swamp or jungle.

My team refers to my meddling as, "The D*ck Side".

And oh how I enjoy making them cry... A few well placed Dark Side points can really bring them down a few notches. Truly it brings a smile to my lips.

I prefer to think that I am ensuring that the difficulty of the attempt "accurately reflects the conditions".

Many of the factors that you suggest are best represented with Setback (black) dice. They're the reason that the Gearhead talent exists too.

It doesn't seem right that you only generate red dice when trying to mod in silly conditions. Like in Ghostofman's scenario above, no one in their right mind is going to trying to tweak the ships main deflector shield to get one more defense zone before running from an Impstar, especially when they risk shorting the whole **** thing out.

GM uses a destiny point to troll.

After a couple of months of playing, I find that if I pepper the game with red dice, the party gets numb to it. But I do love finding those opportune moments to flip/upgrade when they least expect it.

Other than that, conditions offer boost/setback, but fighting on the edge of a cliff is a great time to drop that red...Upgrading to a red is a great time to offer the idea that whatever mod they are attempting could literally blow up in their faces.

The point of the Red Dice is to modify the story narration.

If Lucus was a gamer then he'd be using his dice on the Falcon's repair rolls. Why? It got Solo caught to further story line.

IMO, the GM should have a good reason to apply Destiny Point here for a red die, otherwise, he's just being spiteful. For example, if the players bought the parts from a shady salesman (maybe for a cheap price), who's to say the parts are reliable?

IMO, the GM should have a good reason to apply Destiny Point here for a red die, otherwise, he's just being spiteful. For example, if the players bought the parts from a shady salesman (maybe for a cheap price), who's to say the parts are reliable?

Shady salesman? Are there any not shady salesmen?

I upgraded one of the dice when one of my players was trying to install a replacement part on a damaged disruptor rifle. Since they got the item off the black market, and it's an illegal weapon and most people haven't worked on them. I felt it was appropriate to upgrade the dice.

As a GM with 5 players, we can have about 6 or 7 destiny points on the table for the adventure. That means while it could be 3 light 4 dark to start with, my players very quickly use them so we have a pool of 7 dark sitting there. And they sit there, and they sit there...

It is true I flip more destiny over more than anyone, but I have 5 players... I have too. And I can't always wait for some momentous occasion to use them, or we will have 7 dark side destiny sitting there pretty much the whole adventure.

Well Crunchy, it is a good thing you are not at my table...

Cause that is exactly the time I like to use them. I don't feel a red die is anything too big. It represents a small chance something can go really wrong. It is life. I am washing dishes and drop a glass on the floor and now I have shards of glass everywhere for no apparent reason other than dumb bad luck.

When working on my Stormtrooper armor kit, I can have the perfect setting. Great light, great tools, the best music playing, but holy crap, when cutting out the eyes on a 80 Euro PVC lid, it can be nerve wracking to know if you take off too much, or your hand slips, guess I am spending another 80 Euro...or getting stitches. Sometimes a bad thing can happen for no real reason.

So I know I am using some "real life" examples, and this is a game with heroes, but I don't think flipping a Destiny is a big deal, nor is having a red die in the pool. Look, a low level Adversary gets to add in one red die for his talent...

So I say flip away, use the red dice, and let the players sweat a little. They are Heroes, they win big, and they fail big!

Sometimes I tell a player that I am flipping a destiny for no other reason than that the failure can be spectacular. I feel that on about anything there can be that slim off chance of the dreaded happening. They have also quickly learned that when I start use a destiny point on everything mundane, I am building up their light side pool for a reason... So doing a weapon mod I feel is the perfect time to flip a destiny point, 'cause in the back of that techies mind, he knows, you never cross the streams!

My players love to use their points too. They can have pool of 1 green and three yellow and still flip one to get all 4 yellow, just to up the chance of that Triumph!!

I'd say that it depends on the tone of the game. Flipping a point to introduce the element of risk in doing the mod isn't really an issue if the game has an easy come easy go tone. But if it's a game where the players have to scrape and pinch every credit to get their attachments, then loosing an entire 10k weapon attachment because your GM flipped a point on you would really suck. In that type of game, depending on the people, it could easily cause resentment or anger at a perceived 'screwing over'.

But, I'd say that for the majority of games, loosing 10k on an attachment would be a probably really only be a "well crap" moment and the player would hunt down a new one. Maybe a game session or two setback at most.