Space Garbage & Desert Salvage
One man's trash is another man's treasure

Space Pirates & Corporate Pioneers could clash to retrieve it and anything missed would land in nearby city limits with its landing marked by a weather event where trackers could seek to find it first.

As to what this salvage offers - I'm not certain. I think that element would require a GM's touch.

For space.. I'd probably up the income a bit but still cap it even then it'd have to wait until we're able to justify making cheaper and more widely available craft or rigged craft that operate out of a salvation station that's been setup in the debris field around the planet like Cowboy Bebop and the rogue AI satellite episode.

That way it's not constantly dividing the playerbase but rather building groups of solo's who can work together to make flash on a consistent basis building a team dynamic along with fostering rivalries.

Also, depending on where you take said mcguffin should influence faction status.

I've done a scavenger character in the past, and it sucked. It's an archetype that should exist in Sindome, but frankly doesn't have the outside support others do. Even Deckers get more than scavvers, and deckers get nothing.

As before, I still +1 badlands salvage, even if it's for barely any profit.

So, I pose the following to you fellow reader...

1. What would get you in to the badlands? Money, plot, weird shit to see?

2. Automation vs Player Innovation. What kind of hooks can we put out there to inspire you? Can they be automated or do they need to be executed by players?

3. What keeps you away from badlands RP? The first step towards a solution is understanding the problem.

2. Good question. As a rule of thumb, I think player-run plots are always more interesting, but I did always want something mechanical to encourage scavenger type characters, even in Withmore. As for hooks, a supply chain/smuggling operation is always cool, transporting unique goods from Withmore to the Wasteland and vice versa. Ruins to scavenge. Hell, a party/social event with some celebrity, mixer or corpo, out in the wastes. I don't think the type of hook really matters, it's more the accessibility of it.

3. This one is super clear for me. It's the same block that prevents a lot of 'exploration' RP. You need GM support and people to coordinate play times, mainly. And even worse, you need people to persistently stay in the badlands to make it more than just an occasional return trip out there.

In all honesty, I think the badlands just need an incentive for players not only to go there, but /stay/ there. Not permanently, but enough that you could head out there and run into a couple of players and ongoing plots. The only way I see that happening is with something recurring/mechanical, and unique resources/amenities that can only be found there.

And if any of these things already exist, well, maybe just some more exposition on them. Sindome is deviously good at hiding just how much is going on beneath the surface.

I don't think getting there should be easier (the journey, and learning how to make it is half the fun for me and the players I've shown) but the incentives for going could be bigger. I feel like it would have to be automated as a baseline--with puppeted enhancements--like people have suggested. Getting there takes time, and may not gel with having people ready at that moment for puppeting. Also, if a GM is ready and the player isn't there, then the GM has to wait for them to get there. Makes it tricky...

Having wild, non-puppeted NPCs (scorpions, sand-dogs, etc.) that aggro like Park dogs, or even raiders with pistols or something would also make it more dangerous. If the journey was more dangerous, then the reward at the location could be more sweet. Given farming issues, the items claimed from these NPCs could be "status items" that have no real cash value but rather bragging rights.

A courier system that links up the following locations would be cool: that shop near the dome, those buildings out there (hard to talk about without spoiling...) and Mara itself. Maybe you could get some kind of "courier pass" that allows you in and out of the Dome without pay or something? Creating a route to take packages on, and possibly some kind of system to know if someone's running that route, would allow people to set up ambushes outside the dome.

An automated system that requires more players in a group to be effective would be ideal. Here are the obstacles I see right now for Mara plotting:

Per-person cost (in/out of gate)

Expense of San Mara Goods

Expense of moving illegal goods

Availability of same goods, cheaper, in Dome

Player Commitment to travel time (what to do if they have to go afk mid-run?)

Isolation from main playerbase, and difficulty finding other players out in the Badlands

(Not complaining about any of the above! Very themely, but difficult to plot around)

I've been involved in a few "Mara Party" group runs. But with the cost of each player's in/out, and the availability of the goods in the Dome, it often ends up being a charity situation.

An NPC shop in the Dome that buys unique goods from Mara at a solid price, and "reps" badlands style/life in the Dome would be a start. Hell, maybe there's a sic-amp in a bar out in Mara and some guy talks shit about the Dome on it or something. I think the system would have to reward larger groups though, instead of just one guy with a specific vehicle from jamming out there and hoovering up everything.

I've run into a lot of people that want to RP the smuggler angle. It would be SWEET if there was more support here. But it's a damn hard nut to crack.

For those in the Dome, I perceive the demand as :

"I -want- this thing from Mara." while the demand from Mara is "We -need- this thing from the Dome."

It's a matter of relying on Withmore's trade, in part. for survival, whereas the Dome doesn't need them in return - and that demand can strengthen bargaining power.

The reward from reaching San Mara however can be hit or miss at best. There are useful goods -sometimes- available at Mara that can provide an IC incentive to visit but when those goods aren't available due to game mechanics all the time spent prepping to get out there and actually getting out there can quickly become a wasted effort. Getting said goods back into the city also seems impossible without GM intervention which further complicates plotting and arguably wastes gm time on what could be a more streamlined process.

Space suffers from poor rewards to what I would argue is an even greater extreme. It may be easier to access but the financial input required to reach space is massive from the outset with almost nothing but status goods and tourism to encourage visits outside of gm intervention. It really does seem a shame that this well developed area isn't utilised much in game besides the occasional novelty factor.