Adding feedback thread.
An example of what this could be would be:
VS: It would make sense for VS projects to involve their main two functional jobs: chemistry and bioengineering. So objectives could be something like:
- Scan X amount of people under the effects of Y nanogenic.
- Scan X amount of people who are under the effect of Y drug.
- Scan X amount of people who are overdosing on X drug.
- Scan X amount of people who have biomods.
- Scan X amount of people experiencing PDS.
- Scan X amount of people experiencing diseases.
- Scan X amount of people experiencing DCD.
NLM: NLM would instead fall around sensationalism and media, so its objectives could be related more towards capturing the brutality of reality / twisting it:
- Scan X amount of people injured.
- Scan X amount of fresh corpses.
- Scan X amount of photos of corpses.
- Scan X amount of people performing good on stage.
- Scan X amount of rooms with fire damage in them.
- Scan X amount of people naked.
- Scan X amount of people drunk.
PRI: PRI's shtick would probably be around cargo and robotics. So probably something like:
- Scan X amount of crates from Y sector mid-delivery.
- Scan X amount of high end cars.
- Scan X amount of wrecked cars.
- Scan X amount of robots.
Projects that ultimately try to enforce the theme of the jobs that the corporations are doing while requiring them to do less savory work to get results. Your average low wageslave would take care of something easy like filling out the paperwork on some sheet, but you might need to do something more messed up for the corporation.
To balance it out, increase the time for each task and the payout proportionally. Some of these are much harder than others, but it gives a goal past just: find person with X skill or Y skillsoft who you mildly trust.
I can imagine how implementing these can be hard, but I just wanted to throw in my two cents.
But I still think there's the inherent issue of how the projects were currently structured, which allows for no use of mixers at all. And honestly no use of anyone outside the corporation at all in many cases.
Dealing to the side of the work projects, mostly I saw it being all done within house. I think this is against the fundamental purpose of the work projects and is pretty bad for the game overall. I do like the concept of work projects, but I'm happy to see they've been paused. Here are my ideas for how I would rework projects.
I think this is codedly possible in theory based on one step required already for each work project in the past.
1. Allow a maximum of two task completions from characters within the same faction. If the project is turned in for reduced pay with only two tasks completed and both by someone in the faction, reduce pay by a percentage even more.
2. Allow a maximum of three task completions from characters holding corporate citizen jobs (while not counting the one faction that has to be involved in all these projects as part of this cap. I'm working off the understanding that these projects can require 5-6 steps, but it's been a bit - if they don't require these amount of steps, I'd want to see them expanded to require this many steps).
3. If someone uses a skillsoft to complete a task, reduce the payout.
4. If a corporate character completes a task that's spawned in Red sector, reduce the payout and significantly so.
5. A small bonus if a Mix/unemployed character completes the spawned tasks on Gold.
6. Reduced pay if you are the one who asks for a project in the first place X amount of times in a row, calculating how many people are in the corporation and are qualified to ask.
7. IC training and documentation for future training to explain how it's important to spread these projects around and how it isn't expected and is frowned upon to go down to Red/sewers as a corporate citizen to complete some of the spawned tasks. Which could help with teaching people how to utilize assets/gain assets when there's no PC mentor at the time.
There was only one opportunity for me to lead a work project and in doing so I made sure to stress the use of characters from Red, consequences if all tasks were done in-house and if trying to keep all the reward. Which has always been my read how the system was suppose to exist and was the heart of its creation. I'd like to see coded functions to enforce that idea and to train people on that idea moving forward if we come back from the pause.
My instinct is projects would need to define simple, logical in-character tasks that any player character can understand IC, that will also produce desired outcomes.
My main feedback is that any new MacGuffins need to be openings for conflict, not just a new way to make money. Rewards for going out on the street and being vulnerable for once, and not just slinking between locked apartments, corporate towers, or vehicles.
One of the hurdles is there is, as far as I could tell, a lot of differing views on what exactly MacGuffins were supposed to be (aside from everyone thinking they were the silver bullet that could solve their pet issues). Being a corporate side hustle for income, and a system to encourage characters to take risks, and a prize to fight over to encourage conflict, and a way to encourage niche skill use, and a system to encourage roleplay was all trying to put a lot of different hats on a small head.
It might be better to strip things back to basics and try to do one thing decently to start.
I've played corpies without projects and hustled money fine. I'm not against projects I just want to express clearly that making money and hustling as a corpie is possible without projects. In some ways, based on some of what I heard, I worry that projects distracted some players from more creative efforts possible with Corpie RP.
Also, this honestly sounds like a quest system. Got to X and get a mission with 1-XX tasks. Complete and get rewarded. And, if this is close to the truth, I don't know if such things are really a great fit for Sindome. Historically, I think that Sindome has avoided this kind of play and even when they did insert quest systems (crates, factory work) they were made boring and unattractive. In the past I have been told this was intentional to encourage PCs to go and RP and make story.
In the past RP and story was where the real money was. It was where the meat of the game was supposed to be. To be honest, I'd rather see staff focus more on GMing efforts designed to encourage RP and conflict that that time being spend making more and bigger and better quest systems. I've seen such efforts in the past and I think that there some great tools available to do this kind of thing n a way that is friendly with limited staff availability.
Just my initial thoughts though!
I'd point to the whole junkyard/vehicle construction ecosystem as the gold standard for a complete and complex gameplay system that requires (almost) zero staff engagement and that mostly self-regulates while providing a lot of potential emergent gameplay and risk for players while also creating decent incentives to drive it. However replicating this success and depth is going to be next to impossible with limited development hours to go around, so I am sympathetic to the idea of simplified Build-a-Bear tasks that can be auto assigned to characters without much staff hand-holding.
GM-led plots are definitely the ideal but they're never going to be the rule, so some gameplay to drive things while they're not looking is a good thought it's just a needle that is tricky to thread the first time around. Some refinement and I'm sure they can work.
I just don't want to see players laser in on these simple quest systems and focus on them to the extend that they aren't trying to make their own, original fun stories. I already see plenty of players who seem to think that they have to focus almost exclusively on these kinds of things.
I personally see fewer and fewer player trying to engage in creative, unique RP and instead make these cheyn machine quests and slice of life RP their entire experience. And it's hard not to do do this as I think these quest systems are for players are often what that in your face distraction is for a magician.
