UNREASONABLE

DEMANDS

You are the Source.

People come to you to buy all kinds of luxury, rare and
(often) illicit goods that they can’t obtain through the
common markets. When your clients need something, you
almost always know the right place, pedlar or pilot to visit.
Those calls, though, are often less than straightforward…
You’ll need a standard deck of playing cards, jokers
removed, two six-sided dice and somewhere to write.

WHO ARE YOU?

1. Give yourself a name & describe your look in a few sentences.
2. Choose four goods or services you specialise at acquiring.
Assign one to each card suit (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades).
3. Define your starting Reputation in your community.
Choose one positive word to describe it and one negative.
4. Set your starting Stress score to zero.
This is your ability to think quick and take desperate action.
Reputations: generous, agreeable, patient, spiritual, self-assured, ambitious, industrious,
childish, petty, uncaring, miserly, predatory, secretive, narcissistic, parasitic, [anything else]
Goods & Services: fresh vegetables, live animals, exotic plants, vintage electronics, luxury cosmetics,
bootleg holovids, secure channels, false identities, military intel, unmarked weapons, [anything else]
 A REQUEST
Clients come to you with all kinds of requests—it’s your
job, right? But some of them are more notable than others,
usually because they’re a pain in the ass.
Resolving these requests is how we tell your story.
THE REQUEST

Complete the following three steps to create a Request:

1. Draw a card.
The suit will tell you what kind of thing they want.
The rank will suggest a problem (most have two variations).
2. Make it specific.
Use the card to come up with a specific thing they’re asking for, so an
‘Extremely Illegal + Exotic Plant’ might become a ‘Violet Scotchrockets, a
wild psychotic outlawed in...’ (etc).
3. Describe the client.
Give them a name and describe their look in a line or two.

Note down the details of the Request.

THE CONTACT

To satisfy the request, you’ll need to make a visit to one of

your many contacts. These as broadly categorised as Locals,
Officials, Spacers or Underworld.
When you’ve decided where to go, choose (or roll) an option
on the corresponding table. This will tell you a little about
who you need to talk to.
Flesh them out a little with a name & brief description.
 THE ACQUISITION

Then, roll two dice and add the numbers together to

determine how the interaction plays out.
On a result of 10+ choose 3.
On a 7–9 choose 1.
On a 6- choose 1, but you don’t acquire what your client needs.
• You negotiate a good deal.
• They’ll do business with you again.
• The wrong people don’t find out.
• Nobody gets hurt.

Write a few lines to describe the outcome.

PUSHING

You can Push to re-roll one or both of your dice.

You can do this only once, and the new result is final.
Think about how you try to improve the situation.
After your Push, roll one die and add half the result
(rounded down—so 1, 2 or 3) to your Stress.
Then, roll two dice and add the numbers together.
If your total is equal to or more than your current Stress,
you keep it together, continue to Delivery.
Otherwise, choose one and your story ends:
• You see the jaws closing shut around you, grab what you can and run.
Where are you now?
• Someone gets their inevitable revenge, ruining you.
What do they leave you with?
• You are broken, and you retreat into yourself.
Does anyone try to pull you out?
 DELIVERY

Finally, you return to your client. Consider how they react

when you reveal the outcome of their Request.
Then, change your Reputation to reflect the events that
transpired & your client’s opinion of you.
If you got them what they wanted,
add a positive word or cross out a negative word.
If you didn’t,
add a negative word or cross out a positive word.
Write a short conclusion to the Request.

ENDING
After resolving a Request,
consider if you’d like to end your story for now.
Otherwise, create a new Request.
 PROBLEMS
A. Sensitive / Censored
1. Volatile / Explosive
2. Outdated / Antique
3. Fragile / Broken
4. Sold Out / Limited
5. Pristine / Unmarked
6. Enhanced / Modified
7. Specific / Sentimental
8. Disruptive / Contagious
9. Stolen / Coveted
J. Living / Sentient
Q. Secret / Clandestine
K. Extremely Illegal
 LOCALS
1. A hoarder of junk, toothless and sharp.
2. A prophetic gardener, sacred and wise.
3. A master artisan, sneering and proud.
4. A rakish gossip, chatty and catty.
5. A wizard mechanic, gifted and kind.
6. A media fanatic, fervent and meticulous.

OFFICIALS
1. A veteran janitor, venerated and observant.
2. A dock manager—and their trove of confiscated goods.
3. The station quartermaster, miserly and distractable.
4. A junior comms officer, lazy and underpaid.
5. A security guard, vigilant and compromised.
6. A long-serving politician, divisive and duplicitous.

SPACERS
1. A cheery trader and their unruly family.
2. A dashing smuggler, hopelessly in debt.
3. A soldier, fresh home from the front lines.
4. A nine-armed robot and their scrapyard caravan.
5. A water hauler with a sideline in contraband.
6. A writhing mass of tentacles, gentle and inscrutable.

UNDERWORLD
1. A retired assassin, quiet and imposing.
2. A two-bit dealer, brash and clueless.
3. An astonishing forger, hopelessly depressed.
4. A kitchen chemist, methodical and paranoid.
5. An adept thief, graceful and superior.
6. A cult leader, alluring and creepy.