By name: rule-resources-and-rewards description: Resource economy framework for credits, gadgets, specimens, nutronium, loot pacing, and pressure balancing.
Resources and Rewards Rules (Thematic)
Scope
Use this skill for campaign pacing, scarcity decisions, loot expectations, and risk-reward balancing.
Four core currencies
- Credits: primary purchasing economy (equipment, upgrades, services).
- Gadgets: armory fuel (charges, consumables, augment unlocks).
- Specimens: science-bay fuel (high variance outcomes, mutation access).
- Nutronium: high-value strategic fuel (travel + ship tactical systems).
Resource pressure design
- Nutronium should feel scarce and strategic, not routine.
- Gadgets should appear regularly but not flood to the point of trivializing risk.
- Specimens should create meaningful "push your luck" decisions.
- Credits should support visible equipment progression by mid/high levels.
Encounter reward bands (GM-facing)
- Easy/standard/difficult encounters scale credits and material drops.
- Difficult and hoard outcomes can include rare items, ship upgrades, and nutronium.
- Reward tables should serve narrative momentum, not only math balance.
Campaign balancing tools
- Drain resources before major encounters via hazards/skirmishes.
- Let players recover through smart planning, not automatic resets.
- Tie shortages to fiction (repairs, blockades, emergencies, supply theft).
Search cues / aliases
resource economy, nutronium budgeting, gadget scarcity, specimen risk, loot table, reward pacing, campaign balance.