The Lineman
Do you hear it? The singing in the wires?
 |
| from Shorpy |
A: Toolbox, Troubleshoot
B: Intranet
Starting Equipment: Well-worn Goggles
[A Network is formed by one or more wireless Relays. Each Relay has a range of 2 hexes, and Relays in range of each other are in the same Network. Travelers can speak directly to any number of other travelers in the same Network. Once set up, Relays can only be disabled by intentional and time-consuming sabotage or by the catastrophic destruction of the local terrain.]
Toolbox
This traveler may begin every expedition with a Relay in their Physical Inventory. It is a Large item, taking a full Shift (8 hours) to set up.
Troubleshoot
This traveler can spend a few minutes observing what remains of a broken Relay to deduce a general idea of who or what broke it, and how it happened. Once they do, gain 1 xp.
Intranet
This traveler can spend several minutes querying the Network’s database to add any skill or specialization to the Mental Inventory of themself or a fellow traveler for the rest of the Session. This doesn't use an actual Mental Inventory slot, and travelers can only have one of these at a time.
Design Notes
I've already gotten some confusion from folks about the Lineman, given that it doesn't really fit in with other 15 base classes in Northern Lights, and seems to undermine the large PC count of a West Marches campaign.
It breaks the pattern of 4 templates with one new ability in each. Toolbox and Troubleshoot are unlikely to come up more than once an expedition, if that. The Lineman's main utility, expanding the Network, makes its own class mostly obsolete as Relays are set up throughout the map. Plus, the Network itself is only actually useful if the party gets splits up.
Frankly, I doubt many players will take the Lineman early on. Parties will just stay within earshot as best they can, exploring the world as a single group. There's a good argument to be made for passing out walkie talkies to the PCs at the start, and replacing the class with something else entirely. But obviously, I think its inclusion was useful.
With Northern Lights' invite list pulling from multiple pre-existing groups, many of whom usually play in more story-driven systems, theres a real chance that that many players will prefer remaining in familiar orbits and avoiding seeking out out the dangerous and uncertain. And as much as I would get it, this sort of factional thinking and aversion to risk will kill a West Marches campaign before it begins. So the systems in place need to lead players into engaging with the entire premise: a large group of travelers on the edge of a dangerous wilderness, collaboratively exploring the area and uncovering its secrets together. This is why they need each other to level up, and why any overworld exploration helps all future parties. It's why the Lineman's idiosyncrasies have stuck around: to reward the meta-strategy players may be unused to thinking about.
Inevitably, a party is going to come back to base wishing they had long-range communication, and when they do, there's a class with an overloaded first template for the taking. The Network’s player-agnostic functionality means that the only way to justify an invested level is to keep on the outer edge of the Network, placing new Relays as you go. If a party is already in-Network, they have a breadth of new tactical options with a main downside of splitting the party removed. As for the players who come to the campaign ready to dive headfirst into the unknown, the Lineman's utility is evident from the beginning, and multiclassing early on loses a major opportunity cost.
(and of course, once the campaign begins, some issue I never expected will emerge from the rules, and all this planning will be rendered obsolete. Such is life ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
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