Setback

Operations never rolls dice. Ever. There is no need for Operations to even bring dice to the table, unless they are supplying them to the Agents. Which is a poor showing for the Agent. We’ll deal with the Agent’s who can’t scrounge up a few six-sided dice in a minute. Operations never relies on luck or fate or random chance to achieve their goals. They have something better up their sleeves. Something stronger. Operations has Setback.

There are a few ways for Operations to earn Setback. Lets talk about those Agents that need to borrow dice, pencils, paper, and whatever from Operations. If an Agent comes unprepared to a mission, Operations earns a point of Setback for every type of item they need to loan our to the Agents. We’ll see how quickly they start remembering dice after that. Mainly, Operations earns a point of Setback whenever an Agent fails a roll. Any failure for any reason. Make too many wagers? Setback. The difficulty too high? Setback. Operating in an Area you only have one point in? Setback. Anytime you fail to beat your Target Number: Operations gains a point of Setback. Operations can also earn Setback by real-time passing. Passing time is a topic onto itself and we’ve set aside a whole section to talk about Time at the end of the Setback section.

Let it be noted now that there is no limit to how many points of Setback Operations can spend at a single time. Sometimes when things start going south, they go south fast and hard. When Operations is sitting on a pile of Setback… start sweating. Setback is also carried forward between sessions, so Operations should be sure to note how many points of Setback they have at the end of every game. This means Operations can stockpile Setback and unload the sh*t storm anytime they want. Be wary of anytime Operations hands you an easy mission, they might just be trying to amass Setback.

Operations can also spend a point of Setback at any time during the game. He can use it to complicate the mission, damage your agent, or generally mess up an Agent’s day. This can be during Intelligence Gathering , while on the mission, or even when your Agent is at home. Anytime.

The broadest thing that Operations can do is called “Plot Damage”. Plot Damage is anything that doesn’t statistically affect the character. Great examples are giving scars, killing the witness the Agents are trying to protect or killing an agent’s wife… on their wedding day. If Operations spends a point of Setback then he can permanently damage your agent’s life. How he does that… well, that’s up to Operations to come up with.

Setback can be used to kill NPCs but Setback can also be used to spare targets from fatal blows. A point of setback moves a gunshot wound from your target’s head to the shoulder. It moves your fist from kidney to ribs. For Everyone Else (see Combat) this prevents them from being killed. For Other Agents (again, see Combat) this means reducing Wagers placed against them one for one. There are some times where Operations isn’t allowed to save your targets, like when making Headshots or when Aries uses his Effect. All of these are covered in more detail later.

Setback can be spent to reduce anything (except Areas) one Rank. Intel (see Intelligence Gathering), Assets (the same as if you’ve used them), Equipment, MICE Attributes, Traits, or even Advantages. Maybe that knife your father gave to you breaks or your CIA contact decides that you’re no longer worth the trouble or you forget that vital training at that last-minute. Any ranked trait can be reduced by spending a single point of Setback.

Operations can spend a point of Setback to force every active player to lose an Agent Point.

A point of Setback can be used to remove Five Dice from a single player’s dice pool before that player attempts a risk. When Operations removes five dice he does not receive Setback if the roll fails.

Setback can also be used to beat you to a bloody pulp. A point of Setback can be spent to make your Agent “Almost Dead”. Until he has a chance to recover and get bandaged up he can’t make wagers. The Agent can still perform everything like he would normally but he’s lost the finite control an unwounded Agent would have. To recover from being Almost Dead all you need to find time, bandages, and Operations approval that you’ve managed to recuperate. Typically, it goes away between missions but sometimes when things are dramatic all it takes is some duct tape and five minutes in a stairwell to catch your breath.

Operations can use Setback to kill your Agent too. He simply looks up at you and says, “Your agent dies.” Maybe you should have zigged when you zagged. It is really that simple. Operations says that you die… and spends all of his Setback. Every single point of Setback he’s amassed MUST be spent. This makes Operations more dangerous when his Setback is running low, but don’t think that just because he has ten points he won’t kill you. It’s pretty easy for Operations to work through a stack of Setback and ensure that it only costs him one point to kill you.

Optionally, Operations can spend a point of Setback to cancel Narrative Control Facts.

Operations Chart

• Cause “Plot Damage”.
• Spare Everyone Else
• Reduce Wagers against Other Agents
• Reduce Traits one Rank.
• Reduce Assets one Rank.
• Reduce Equipment one Rank.
• Reduce MICE Attributes one Rank.
• Reduce an Advantage one Rank.
• Reduce Intel one Rank.
• Force every Agent to lose one Agent Point.
• Remove 5 Dice from an Agent’s Pool prior to rolling. (No Setback gained for failed roll)
• Make an Agent “Almost Dead”.
• Kill an Agent (Costs all Setback)
• Veto Narrative Control facts. (Optional)

Time

When the mission is being executed we come to the issue of time. When the Operations declares that “Mission is Go” start a stop watch. For every “Time Increment” of real-time, Operations get a point of Setback. Even if the Agents roll perfectly and everything goes according to plan there is always a chance that fate aligns against you. It’s only a matter of… time.

There is some vagueness as to how Time works. First, when is the “Mission is Go”? Generally it is when the game starts. This means that the “Mission is Go” even if there isn’t an actual planned mission at the time. Operations might call for a “Mission Break” for food, smoking, or crying children, but in general from the time when Operations declares that the game is going until the time when Operations declares the game is over, “The Mission is Go”. Some groups may wish to do this differently, like only having “Mission Go” during actual planned missions, but the general assumption is that at the start of the session.

The second piece of ambiguity is in the term “Time Increment” and this is also intentional. Depending on when the “Mission is Go” and how long your group plans to play for this number can fluctuate wildly. Operations can even decide that the Time Increment has changed mid-Mission. Generally it is suggested for a Time Increment to be equal to 20 minutes of real-time. That means every hour of play Operations would receive 3 Setback points. For tense situations the Time Increment might change to 10 minutes and for longer, slower paced games it could be every 30 minutes. Groups that game for longer might want to set the time increment higher. For quick sessions, set it lower. We suggest aiming for Operations to get 10 Setback per session purely by the time passing.