The Ecological Restoration Department Planquest

[yeastmobile]

September 13th, 2074
Midwest-Appalachian-Atlantic Ecological Restoration Department Headquarters
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Conference Room 3


Current Weather:
28C, Cloudy
Wildfire Risk: RED
Respirator Masks Advised


An assembly of Lanyard wearing individuals file into a meeting room, escorted by the clerks that buzzed them into the building. Backpacks are unpacked, thermoses are set, and respirators and adorned on wall hooks and individuals both familiar and stranger greet each other and make small talk before the meeting commences.

The conference room was built earlier in the century, its walls showing signs of rot, the mishmash of various chair models creaked and groaned with their stained cushions betraying their years of use, if not decades. The conference room was clearly on the third floor, as one of the walls was floor to ceiling windows letting in the red glow of the day. The entire sky burning in the dust and smoke of the wildfire raging down south.

The AC of the building was functioning, mostly. In one corner of the building a technician had been called in and was monitoring the HVAC system. Warnings flashed on a screen as she sighed to herself and took note of what needed fixing this time. The conference room was going to be able to be kept cool for the meeting, but the employees of the building knew that the infernal machines would break at any moment.

A woman walks into the conference room, carrying a laptop, and greets the room.

"Good afternoon, everyone, I'm Ivy Comey, and I'm glad we could all arrive safely today. I understand some must join us virtually as flights have been grounded due to our topic, among various other reasons, so let's get to it."

She taps at her laptop, and an image appears on the projector screen. An antique machine from the 30s that had a leaking capacitor and took a minute to get to full brightness. A graph of yearly temperature was displayed on the first slide under the title, "The Anti-Doom Department."

Comey looks across the room at the men, women, and individuals sitting around and made eye contact with each of them before speaking with utmost seriousness.

"Everyone, shits fucked."

The room laughed. They all knew it was just like how they knew the sky was red orange.

"We are here to fix it and clean up the mess of those that came before us and got us into this mess."

She clicked to the next slide, one with a prediction chart and a list of bullet points next to it.

"As you can see, we are on the verge of a mass die-off. Food insecurity, environmental toxins, natural disasters, and a whole other laundry list of reasons have been increasing year after year after year. We have been tasked by the collective assembly of our great states of this great nation to do prevent this mass die-off. We all know what is in store if nothing is done. You've all seen those clips online about how to stretch your budget to the limit to feed yourself let alone your kids, DIY ways to survive a wildfire, flood proofing your house and all other crazy scams and desperate last-ditch attempts at the public to inform each other of the Apocalypse."

As she says the last word the room shuffles a little. People shift in their chairs, a few eyes get watery, a man coughs, and it takes a second for people to settle back into a professional state. Comey keeps going and clicks to the next slide. This one has just a word, "POLITICS".

"And yes, I know these days calling it the Apocalypse is politically…. Controversial. But to be frank, our existence is controversial. We are being lambasted from the left, right, and center for various reasons. To say we can do our job without delving into the realm of Politics is, frankly, ridiculous. So, I need to ask everyone in this room to be civil in the coming months when it comes to actions by the Department which could be seen as Politically Charged. Do we all understand? Those online give a thumbs up if so."

She looked around the room and saw nods of heads and thumbs of affirmation. Checking her laptop, she looked at the conference software and saw a flurry of thumbs up from various remote employees. She smiles and clicks to the next slide.

"Excellent excellent. Now if there are no questions on that… "

"What is the political purview of the Department?"

Comey snaps her head back to the room, "I'm sorry?"

A man near the back has his hand raised. "If the Department is going to take Political positions or actions or whatever, what is our purview?"

Comey looks at him blankly in the professional 'shut the fuck up' way, "That is the topic of the next slide so let's go over it now."

The man sheepishly puts his hand back down and adjusts himself in his seat slightly.

"As you can see by the slide, we have been tasked by these states right here…"



"…to repair the environment of the states. We have been given a frankly unprecedented amount of power for an unelected department. Under our purview we are allowed to eminent domain any non-federal land for use by the Department, and we are allowed to write and submit legislation to be voted on and ratified by all state legislatures. Those are the Two Big Ones when it comes to the scope of our power and is going to be a big part of our operations besides the ground level grunt work that will happen day to day. The eminent domain power effectively gives us power to nationalize any business, assuming no case gets tied up in courts. The legislation power does not grant us permission to unilaterally enact legislation, we just get to write it and then submit it for voting as if we were a state legislature. Some states in the cooperation haven't adopted that constitutional amendment yet but more than 2/3rds of them have so it's effective immediately. We are allowed to write legislation on any topic that can suitably be argued to be related to ecological restoration, that limits us somewhat, but Legal," Comey nods to a woman sitting close to her and she nods back, "has informed me that there is a lot of leeway in what can be 'related to ecological restoration' considering how absolutely ravaged the environment is. Did that help answer your question?"

She says the last question making eye contact with the man in the back, he nods, "Yes, thank you. If I have any further questions, I'll ask Legal."

Comey nods again and taps at the laptop for the next slide, "Alright, now then, onto the nitty gritty of our budget and locations currently under our domain…"

---

Alright there players, I know this isn't real life and our actions can't fix reality, but let's but ourselves in the smack dab middle of the climate Apocalypse and try our best to fix shit. This quest is a bit of escapism for me, and I want it to be for you as well. I currently work for the US government (not federal) and have been going insane watching it slowly crumble around my ears as the days go by. So, I got inspired reading Eve of Destruction, and a few other pieces of media and quests, and assembled this idea.

If you have any suggestions or notice procedural errors for how the government works or something, let me know and I'll make sure to hand wave it/justify it/soft rewrite it because while I know how my department works for the most part, I'm not a lawyer.

And just so you know, I'm going to give players a decent number of options on how to save the great 'ol US of A. Or maybe you won't save *it* exactly. Who knows! Experiment a little and see what happens, I promise you won't be able to fail within the first few turns if ever.

Now onto character customization.

---

Ivy Comey
32 years old

Background (Pick One):

[] Administration – You've been working for the Government in various ways since you left school with your Political Science degree at the fresh-faced age of 22. This past decade has been hard on you both mentally and physically. You've worked under some of the worst people, and in some of the best offices that you've personally laid witness to. You experienced the dissolution of the federal Environmental Protection Agency firsthand under the Hunt Administration back in 2066, and have seen the destruction of "Survivalist Liberalism" first hand while trying to combat poverty in the Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services. (Gain Cynical Pragmatism, +10 to Politics Rolls. Gain Political Connections, Easier time in Negotiations with governments and some corporations, harder time negotiating with Radicals)

[] Academia – You went into school at 18 not sure what exactly to do, and here you are almost a decade and a half later with a PhD wondering how you ended up in charge of Americas last ditch attempt at preventing a full-scale collapse. Though you assume it has to do with your thesis being on the Failures of Early 21st Century Environmental Protection Efforts. You were tempted to join some of your fellow students in the College to Autonomous Zone pipeline, but at the last second you were offered to lead the MAA-ERD and decided you couldn't be any worse than the other guys. (Gain Idealist, Easier time negotiating with Radicals, harder time negotiating with governments and corporations. Gain Academic Connections, +10 to rolls related to research and development of new or unproven technologies.)

[] Activism – You fell down the College to Autonomous Zone pipeline. You're still unsure how you personally managed to get yourself into the hot-seat, you are not even sure if you should be there, but you put in your application like the rest of them, and were selected for the reason of "Political Necessity", but from what you have heard unofficially the real reason you were chosen was because you are to take the fall for when the Department 'inevitably' fails to do its job. You're coming in swinging and hopefully you're come out with only a few bruises yourself. (Gain Card Carrying Member, Corporations absolutely hate you and will actively fuck with you, Radicals will love you and put active pressure on you to do what they want. Gain Organizer, +10 to rolls related to organizing people or setting up new programs that need mobilization of the public.)

[] Military – While not the first choice for the position, your time in the Navy gave you good sense of professionalism, and integrity. Aspects vital for the survival of this great nation you swore an oath to uphold and defend from all threats. And this may be the biggest threat of them all. This war is one that will have to be waged on all fronts, from sea to shining sea you will lead the vanguard charge to rebuild this nation and put it back together again in fighting shape to face the future. Of course, this is everything you'd say to the civilians to wow them, because like a great man once said, War is a racket. (Gain Patriotic Paranoia, The Nation won't make it through this unless you take a very *very* hard line against its collapse. You'll have some special options open to you right from the beginning. Gain Military Deindustrialization Complex, you absolutely hate what the Military has become and will have an absolute vendetta for the Corporations, and an instinctual understanding of what the US Military is up to. You'll have an easier time negotiating with the government, and a harder time with the Radicals.)

Hobbies (Pick One, or Two if you wish):

[] Gardening – It's good that the leader of the Department has a green thumb. Being able to have a personal familiarity with what makes your garden grow or die can help you develop a sense of what projects will be good for the department and which ones might lead to more harm than good. Though of course, Gardening and Ecological Restoration are nowhere near on the same scale, and personal gardening practices might contain bugbears and brainworms best left out of the planning meetings. (+/-5 on certain rolls related to restoration of plant habitats due to personal interventions)

[] Maker – Making stuff is perhaps one of your greatest joys in life. From woodworking to programming to knitting to electrical engineering to ham radio operating, you know your way around hand tools and small-scale electronic projects. These projects may not seem immediately obvious to someone running an Ecological Restoration Department, but rest assured having knowledge of the ins and outs of how to do stuff small scale can help you get a better understanding for how your workers operate, and what problems you can expect for certain projects. Though sometimes you might get a little lost in the weeds on project details. (+/- 5 on rolls pertaining to implementation of proven technologies and techniques)

[] Artistry – The brush, both digital and physical, are a great way for you to relieve stress. From seeing a blank side of a building and imagining a beautiful mural, to seeing a well framed slice of your surrounding and bringing your phone up for a picture, you love various forms of artistry, though you wouldn't consider yourself a professional or well skilled in any particular field of artistry. And even when not working art with your hands, you'll be in your head imagining beautiful works of art you wish you had time for. (Gain a bonus to Narrative description of project results, and maybe inspire me to post some stuff who knows. Completely random +/- 5 to all infrastructural actions.)

[] Smoking Weed – Your relationship to drugs is complicated. You've always been plagued by stress, anxiety, and a little bit of past trauma, and weed has been how you let all that melt away. Your doctor tells you you've been using it like a crutch, but you know if you stop using it altogether you might just snap. While by no means unusual for people to smoke these days, for someone so high up in the governmental food chain people might side eye you or have some minor… hesitations, for how up to snuff you are for handling the job. (Gain a Narrative bonus to handle bad events. +5 to certain industrial actions, -5 to certain Political actions)

[] Write-In (to be approved and bonuses/malice applied by me)

And the Department itself needs some Character as well. This is the only section you need to vote by plan for at the moment.

Organizational Feature (Pick Two, more can be picked for each Structural Flaw you pick)

[] Organized – Being organized doesn't just mean that people have their set places, it also has to do with those people knowing what exactly it is they, and those around them do. It also relates to knowing where records are kept, what sheets are important to reference during decisions, and when to have meetings about what. If any aspect of this falters, then inefficiencies can quickly build. Thankfully, your department knows exactly what it is doing. (Gives an invisible bonus to the success of projects that just barely fail)

[] Comradery – Your employees have a good atmosphere, and reports of workplace abuse are rare if they happen at all. Your middle managers aren't foreign to the plight of your workers, and your workers have a good rapport with their bosses. Some drinking groups have formed, and even some offices have sports clubs that semi-compete on a regular basis if they are within reasonable geographic range. This is of course considered strange and non-standard as far as you are aware, but it sure does make your job easier. (You won't have to worry about a sour workplace culture causing blame to be shifted around. Gives an invisible bonus to when projects do fail)

[] Receptive – If there is a problem reported by the workers, the administration of the department will be quick to try and resolve it to the best of our resources. From workplace safety to pay issues things get fixed almost as soon as they are reported, allowed everyone to get back to work, or at least go home worry free at the end of the day. (Gives you an invisible bonus to preventing labor disputes, but does not prevent them from arising in specific circumstances)

[] Coordinated – While it's good for every worker at each workplace to know what everyone else around them does, it's also vital for an organization as broad as yours to know what each office does, at least in the broad sense of a responsibilities list. Knowing where to route miscalls and who to contact when an issue out of your office's purview arises allows for the whole operation to run smoother and allows the public trying to find information or resources to be able to quickly get to those they need to speak to if they call the wrong number. (Gives an invisible boost to projects that happen on a wide scale or involve the public to some degree. Also +1 Eco-point)

[] Corruptionless – Thank God for the hiring managers you have. While the rest of the US Government is an underfunded mess of bloat and regulatory capture where you need to bribe at least three clerks to get your case reviewed or problem solved, your department hasn't had to worry about that issue. There's also no reported cases of back patting or pork projects being pushed through, but maybe that's because nobody expects the department to get things done just yet. (Better public perception, and +100 budget)

[] Top of the Field – When the department was started, they had a bright idea to loot academia for some of their brightest minds. PhD students and masters' holders dominate the halls of some offices, and ideas flow fast and freely between coworkers. While not every bright idea is a winner, and not every winner is the brightest, the department is quickly becoming known for being willing to work with new technologies, and even stepping a little outside its purview and doing some studies and research on the side. Though the volume of papers being put out is not on the same scale as a single university. (Invisible bonus to unproven techniques, and an easier time accessing new technologies)

[] Tight Lipped – Everyone knows what is important, and that is saving the environment to ensure human survivability. But some people outside the department aren't the most receptive to this goal if it runs counter to theirs. If there is a project that might step on some toes, it's best to not have the news leak until its impossible to stop. From the corporations to the people to the government, sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, and in these times you're much to busy to obtain permission. (Grants a bonus to negotiations and lessens the impact of projects that would make other factions mad)

Structural Flaw (Each of these will have options to decrease the impact of their malice):

[] Top Heavy (Mutually Exclusive with Receptive) – Leadership does what Leadership wants. While the workers might think they know what's best for them, they aren't the ones that have to worry about the budget or negotiations. The administration is disconnected from any quibbles the workers have, either because the chain of command is backed up by a neglectful middle manager, or because the workers just don't know where to submit problems to since nobody wants to accept the responsibility of passing them along. This can cause an atmosphere of "Dealing with the shit" and simply accepting how bad things are getting, or if it gets too bad, radical action may have to be taken. (Once a turn roll for a labor issue to impact a project. If so, the project receives both a narrative negative and a -20 to its roll)

[] Disorganized (ME with Organized) – Now where did I put the description of this flaw… ah well I'll ask a clerk to find it for me later let me just improvise. Being disorganized does not help anyone, it causes delays, stacking piles (or inboxes) of paperwork, and leads to slowdowns and duplicated work as people don't realize a job has already been done, or just don't know it exists at all. Things that can fall through the cracks are anything between deliveries to maintenance schedules to not knowing who to contact to restock the toilet paper. (Gives an invisible negative to projects that just barely pass)

[] Infighting (ME with Comradery) – It wasn't me who misplaced the flaw description last time it was that no good lazy clerk. The department is wracked with blame shifting and cold shoulders due to bad blood. Some offices might even have feuds between them hampering communication in the worst cases. This atmosphere of petty squabbles is even starting to affect how you and those that interact with the department view it. Even when a project succeeds, jockeying to determine who was the person who made it succeed will keep people fighting. You just can't seem to win. (Narratively affects failures, and gives an invisible negative to projects that do succeed)

[] Autonomous (ME with Coordinated) (Can be good depending on view?) – What do you mean the Cleveland Office pulled in funding to do their pet project? They weren't authorized for that! If the department is a human body, it's one where each finger and toe has a mind of its own going off in separate directions willy-nilly. An office might feel they know what's best and start working on a project no matter what the overall goals of the department are, and you just have to follow them along to save face to the public and those funding you. (Every turn a random project gets locked in, locking that Eco point or budget amount. This sort of gives me the author a way to play the game if I want to write something specific, but it will probably just be randomly rolled if I am unsure of what to write)

[] Back Patting Central (ME with Corruptionless) – Just another governmental agency in this day and age. If you need to get something done, you better saddle up your wallet for a flurry of hidden "fees". And even if you aren't public facing you can find ways to drain the budget for your personal pet project, pork, or personal expenses. Sometimes people even have entire rings of people back patting each other to cover up any discrepancies and delays in project funding to keep enriching themselves. (-100 budget, worse public perception)

[] Unqualified (ME with Top of the Field) – Your hiring managers sure went on a spree, but the people they put in seem to be the first who applied. Reports you receive have everything from mathematical errors to basic, obvious spelling errors. Your latest budget report was titled "Bidget Repor" You're not even sure how that got to your desk. You're going to need to rehire half your staff by your estimates, and either fire the old half or just reorganize them to do grunt work. Either way making sure key positions are full of people who at least have a 12th grade reading and writing level will help the department operate a lot smoother. (-10 to a large amount of rolls)

[] Leaky Ship (ME with Tight Lipped) – You're surrounded by chatter boxes, gossip queens, and social media addicted individuals who just don't know when to stop talking. While you can personally deal with that since you spend most of your time in your own office, you can't deal with the fact that they keep leaking negotiation details and department movements to anyone with a functioning Cochlea. This has hampered action after action, not outright preventing victory, but giving everyone involved a lot of headaches and missed opportunities that would have made everyone's lives easier and better. (Relations with other factions degrade faster, and negotiations go worse for you more often)

And before we get all sorted have a lore vote so i can flesh out the world a little better for the start. These do overlap a bit, this just lets me know which area to focus on more. Pick one:

[] American Politics of the last 50 years
[] Worldwide trends of the 21st century
[] Current status of the Fifth Industrial Revolution

Voting is open immediately, and if you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch at our toll-free number. Thank you.

A/N: Hey it's me with another one of my ideas. Throwing this up here as I finalize the options of Turn 1.

 

[mcclay]

[x] Activism
[x] Tight Lipped
[x] Autonomous

[x] Worldwide trends of the 21st century

 

[Orphic_Dionysus]

[x] Activism
[X] Tight Lipped
[x] Autonomous

[x] Current status of the Fifth Industrial Revolution

 

[DoctorDre]

Plan: The Hippie Goes To Washington
-[X] Academia
-[X] Smoking Weed
-[X] Gardening
-[X] Tight Lipped
-[X] Disorganized

-[X] Current status of the Fifth Industrial Revolution

 

[Traveller76]

[X] Plan: Making the Plant Based Sausage
-[X] Administration
-[X] Maker
-[X] Tight Lipped
-[X] Autonomous
-[X] Worldwide trends of the 21st century

 

[midnight77]

[X]Plan: Good morning Vietnam
-[X] Military
-[X] Smoking Weed
-[X] Comradery
-[X] Tight Lipped
-[X] Worldwide trends of the 21st century

 

[Jack727]

[X] Military
[X] Maker

[X]Plan: Passion, Not much organization
-[X] Comradery
-[X] Top of the Field
-[X] Corruptionless
-[X] Receptive
-[X] Autonomous (ME with Coordinated)
-[X] Disorganized (ME with Organized)


[X] American Politics of the last 50 years

Logic: A new Agency founded from the best of the best, all highly driven to push back the apocalypse. Unfortunately, everyone has their own ideas on how to do it and instead of waiting for the boss everyone went out to do their own thing.

 

[ComiTurtle]

[X] Academia
[X] Military
[X] Maker

[X] Plan Independent Excellence
-[X] Organized
-[X] Corruptionless
-[X] Top of the Field
-[X] Autonomous

My thoughts here are hopefully simple, an Academic background with the maker hobby certainly has the feeling of someone more on the engineering side of things, this Ivy probably understands how things works, would be eager to test things, but may be more green at actually getting through the process.

The organization outfit sort of narratively supports this and should create opportunities, with Top of the Field we more or less fall into that category and it interacts, in my view, interestingly with Autonomous. We've given groups some freedom to try things and they probably won't work at least not all the time but when they do even if it was a risk we'll learn from it. Corruptionless reinforces us a bit against the Autonomous "malus" by giving us more wiggle room, and is further reinforced by being Organized where things close to not quite succeeding may do so, which I think sounds very useful especially with our Autonomous malus likely ending up with offices trying things that maybe we wouldn't risk.

[X] Worldwide trends of the 21st century

Edited to be as intended by game master.

 

[yeastmobile]

And the Department itself needs some Character as well. This is the only section you need to vote by plan for at the moment.

Click to shrink...

Sort of on me for this but I was expecting people to read this and see that you can riot vote for the background and hobby/hobbies, while only needing to make plans for the organization.

Regardless I'll do a manual tally later if the vote continues to be chaotic lol no problem.

 

[Moonless-seas]

[X] Plan: Making the Plant Based Sausage

 

[Maybe a Commie]

[X] Plan: Army And Nature Stand Side By Side
-[X] Millitary
-[X] Maker
-[X] Comradery
-[X] Autonomous
-[X] Worldwide trends of the 21st century

 

[winters_eve]

[X] Plan Independent Excellence
-[X] Organized
-[X] Corruptionless
-[X] Top of the Field
-[X] Autonomous
I think these synergize well with autonomous and will help out our organization a bunch and also make for a really interesting narrative
just the best climate minded people all doing their own thing but still knowing exactly where everything is and what everyone's working on

[X] Gardening
I want a character who has this already built in love for nature and plants and animals and everything to fuel them
and I'm a big believer in permaculture and re-wilding myself

[X] Academia
[X] Administration
I think military would make interacting with the rebels too hard and sabotage our efforts too much
but In regards to activism i also don't want corporations to actively fuck with us anymore extra than they already will with us by nature of our regularatory job
we could still have radical politics and work with the rebels even without being a card carrying member at game start

 

[midnight77]

lol no one agrees on a course of action

 

[Redhead222]

not sure who i would want leading this but i am interested to see where this is going, watched.

 

[yeastmobile]

lol no one agrees on a course of action

Click to shrink...

Yeah, lol. Well regardless let me mangle this vote into something that i can potentially work with via vote manipulation!

To be clear voting is closed with this post!

All of the votes are winning by landslides, except the background, but I don't want to wait around longer just to see if it ends up with a new tie or have people draw it out trying to make another option win.

So, let me manually do a tally of the background:

Activism: 2
Academia: 3
Admin: 3
Military: 4

Looks like a Military gal. That'll be fun to write.

And your Hobby/Hobbies:

Weed: 2
Gardening: 2
Maker: 5

Looks like you'll be a Maker! If there was a tie in any of the options I would have chosen two, but nope just one Hobby nice and focused.

As for the Lore vote:

Worldwide: 5
FIR: 2
America: 1

Alright looks like I'll do a broad strokes overview of the world. Nice and simple and don't have to get into too many prickly details.

Now, this might be a little controversial, but the organizational structure vote. This one is all over the place, and that is entirely my fault I believe. I DEFINITELY did not explain this one enough, and I see only like, a couple people were on my wavelength about this. Perfectly fine, let's just tally up all the votes:

Pros:

Tight Lipped: 6
Comradery: 3
Top of the field: 3
Corruptionless: 3
Receptive: 1
Organized: 2

Cons:

Autonomous: 8
Disorganized: 2

You know what, this is not how I thought this was going to go. I thought it would be a little more competitive, but there are clear winners. And there's a three way tie for second place of the Pros?? Well then, at least the math checks out.

The closest plan to this is [X]Plan: Passion, Not much organization, but even then Receptive was left out. So yeah idk, I had to make it work somehow. Only one plan got multiple votes, [X] Plan: Making the Plant Based Sausage, but even that wasn't in the format I wanted so I'm taking some liberties. I hope yinz can forgive me deep down somehow.

The following is a partial of the status sheet.

---

-snipped out this bit and transplanted it into the status sheet-

---

Alright, let me write some more stuff, and I'll get back to you Soon:tm: with some more writings. Also I wrote this post in third person, but kept switching to second person without thinking so just going to stick to second person from now on.

 

[ComiTurtle]

While the final product is probably not exactly what any of us wanted, I'm excited to see our mess of an organization. A lot of good traits but also two traits that really clash with a head with a Military background, should be interesting.

 

[yeastmobile]

Alright so to start off with I am going to use a modified version of Class War Never Changes rules for Construction. Except I'm just filing it all under "Organizational". You'll get a set budget, and you can splatter that budget across a variety of infrastructural and organizational improvement projects for the Department. These projects will have an implementation time set into them, and some might have ongoing costs. This is mechanically so I can limit the size of turns, but might have yinz do a bit more math so I apologize ahead of time I am trying to keep everything quite simple though so it won't be much! Simplicities sake both for you, and to keep me from overthinking things like I have done with projects in the past.

Then there will be the "Ecological" Category. I thought of splitting this into categories for each Ecoregion, but I couldn't quite split it in a way that satisfies me, so I will be simply tagging each project with what Ecoregion it affects [5], [8], or [9], and which aspect of the Ecoregion it affects [Air], [Earth], or [Water]. As the Departments purview expands to other states, other Ecoregions will be added to your list, but you only have partial access to those three for now.

For the Ecological Category you will have Ecopoints, which are essentially just dice but i'm calling them Ecopoints because it's cool 😎. This will determine how many projects you can enact, and you are not limited by where you can place them.

Then there will be your Political Category. This is a little different from other planquests in so far as you are able to influence the scope of things outside your Department to a degree. You will be a power broker. At the start sure you'll be weak and ineffective and mostly ignored, but you will, as the initial description in the first post said, be able to push for legislative changes in the areas under your purview, as well as other little facets of power playing like negotiations with other factions. Expect this category to be where the bulk of sub-votes will come from, and please be civil. I will try to keep votes from being too... disruptive.

And last but not least. This is directly inspired by Eve of Destruction, and you will be seeing the potential Fate of your actions... You didn't think a quest tagged with "apocalyptic" was going to be smooth sailing did you?

For the Damage Table, the percentage for Sustainability represents how able the Air, Earth, and Water is at supporting both its current status, and the human inhabitants of the region. To sustain itself, it has to be at 50%, to sustain the human population, it has to be at 90%.

The percentages for Air, Earth, and Water represent how much of the region has been untainted by human pollution and reckless development, and thus is safe for human use without additional life support systems. Aka water purification, respirators, or soil purification before use.

Sustainability itself is a vital percentage. It is calculated by the percentages of the other three categories, and is used for a roll per turn. Every turn, if the roll is less than 100-[the Ecoregions sustainability percentage] then the Ecoregion gets a second roll to see which of the three categories loses 5% of a category.

 

[Traveller76]

Will our actions in our Eco-region influence or affect other regions?

 

[yeastmobile]

Will our actions in our Eco-region influence or affect other regions?

Click to shrink...

To a degree yes, Ecoregions don't follow solid boundaries, the environment is a a holistic system affected by actions from various places on earth. I recently saw an article on how China reducing aerosol pollutants resulted in health waves in Alaska/North Pacific. That's just air based, there is also water based actions, and soil based actions.

 

[yeastmobile]

Damage Table	Ecoregion 5	Ecoregion 8	Ecoregion 9
Sustainability	60%	40%	30%
Air	65%	40%	25%
Earth	55%	45%	35%
Water	45%	35%	30%

---

MAA-ERD Director
Ivy Comey
32 years young

Former Navy Officer in the USN, retired from Service in 2072 to pursue a role in Civilian Administration. Rose quickly through administration through a series of anti-corruption investigations and retirements to lead the Pennsylvania Department Of Agriculture by the start of 2074. Upon the Formation of the Midwest-Appalachian-Atlantic Interstate-Compact, applied for and was hired to lead the MAA's newly formed Ecological Restoration Department.

Her personal hobby has allowed her to make a minor name for herself in certain niche circles as some of her projects have made minor viral success online. Having been known to create things such as a functional backyard bunker with a wide array of automated amenities, to using consumer biotechnology to turn her hair permanently green. Her current 'big project' has been to try and genetically modify spiders to make "Doorway curtains".

---

MAA Ecological Restoration Department
Roughly 23,000 employees across 20 states
Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA

The MAA-ERD, formed Mid-2074, with operations starting by the end of the year, was formed out of a wide array of state level departments that have long-standing independent operations. Life Long Civil Servants, some who have worked within the same buildings for their entire lives in the only job they have ever had, are notoriously stuck in their ways, but on the flip side, extremely dedicated to their work. The former Environmental Protection Agencies, and grab bag pieces of Departments of Agriculture related to environmental protection were broken off and thrown into the purview of the MAA-ERD. With this, Director Comey has found herself with a team of extremely dedicated individuals.

So far from her reviews, the employees are extremely Tight Lipped about their operations. Letting public inquiries either go unanswered, or giving out only information that Comey herself has approved of or said before.

The employees are also extremely fond of each other. Plenty of the offices have long running office cultures that are extremely open to new individuals, and hostile to those that would upset the peaceful balance. Any workplace issue maker gets rooted out before they cause a problem, Union protections be damned, a workplace of hate is less worker friendly than one of peace.

These aspects haven't even been affected by all of the new hires the Department has been pulling in. To be a little fair, some of the Departments offices already had extremely bright and capable individuals in their fields who for one reason or another just never went private or academic, instead just using their brilliance to work smarter with their own two hands. Director Comey has been receiving a steady stream of handwritten letters and emails about ideas to improve the flow and operations of the department. Some have been very appreciated.

And while other parts of the US Government may have devolved into corrupt hell holes, the offices and departments that the MAA-ERD inherited were passed over by those trying to get in to do... less scrupulous business. Director Comeys first day in the office was investigating how bad the damage was, and was frankly extremely skeptical of the report coming back that no cases of corruption had been found by the independent agency. She reached out for a second opinion after suspecting that independent agency had been corrupted by some hidden ring, but no, the ERD's team of dedicated civil servants really were there to do their jobs and not try and pick up a little extra for personal gain. She will be keeping a close eye on these reports into the future, but the initial ones have greatly set her mind at ease.

Though her mind would be better at ease if she could wrangle the Department to follow her orders. Everyday it seems like she gets a new email from one office or another informing her of the status of a project that she never approved of or applied funding for. The Budget Office of the ERD seemed willing to give anyone a spot of the budget as long as they submitted the proper paperwork and said they had permission, without further verification. She's done some covering up, and sent out some strongly worded emails disapproving of not consulting her, but for the most part the offices have been responding to her directives and following the budget as it has been led out. While some line items she feels more pressing have been gone unfunded, she doesn't have the time to properly tackle this... highly motivated free thinking initiative until she has a better handle on things.

She especially doesn't have time until she untangles the Organizational problems of the department. Missing records, mysteriously disappearing and appearing stocks of equipment and tools, reports not ending up on her desk, and worst of all, she hasn't gotten a clear word of the maintenance schedule of any of the offices. A lot of the offices the Department has inherited has been doing things by word of mouth or unofficial procedures for so long she's quite frankly shocked. She knew from some historical records and talking to older colleagues about how during the early 21st century parts local and state governments still worked on systems 50 years old, but now 50 years later, some of those same departments and offices worked on those exact same 100 year old systems. The digitization of records simply never reached parts of the country, and the budget line item for paper was simply astronomical. If some of that paper would actually reach her that would be great, but sometimes she can't even pin down who exactly it is she needs to talk to about this problem. If she wants to save the planet, it might help to stop cutting down so many trees.

---

MAA-ERD Infrastructure

MAA-ERD Regional Offices x3 [5], [8], [9] – Regional Offices, or RO's are Offices that the Department has set up or inherited in Ecoregions under it's purview so as to facilitate actions. These offices are varied as they have been inherited from various state and local level departments, but on average most consist of one or two floors of office space, a motor pool for teams to conduct Field Projects with, and a basic weather monitoring station. [+1 Ecopoint per RO]

MAA-ERD Digital Footprint – The Department has started itself off like any self respecting organization needs to these days by opening a basic website with basic public facing resources. This includes phone numbers to call, an email server, and mailing address for offices. While sparse, it does allow the Department to make public statements using its own voice. [+1 Political Dice]

 

[winters_eve]

Only one plan got multiple votes, [X] Plan: Making the Plant Based Sausage, but even that wasn't in the format I wanted so I'm taking some liberties. I hope yinz can forgive me deep down somehow.

Click to shrink...

I don't want this to be seen as annoying but I do want to add that two plans got two votes

I voted for comiturtles plan Independent Excellence instead of making my own

I do however really like how you've merged together all these disparate votes and plans to create this one whole cohesive character and organization
they're all combined in interesting ways and like fit very well into a narrative that feels smooth

 

[yeastmobile]

December 13th, 2074
MAA-ERD Regional Office
Kansas City, MO, USA
Side Lot B

Current Weather:
13C, Cloudy
Wildfire Risk: Orange
Respirator Masks Advised

The train ride to Kansas City tuckers you out something fierce. The amount of delays and problems through the whole experience isn't unusual, but through the lens of your new job it quite frankly concerns you. You have insisted on not taking an airplane anywhere, the air is thick with this or that particulate matter these days, and the airplane manufacturers kept skirting the law to increase their profits in a frankly terrifying way. You struggle to maintain your attention as the Field Supervisor you are following around continues to speak about technical aspects of the RO's Field Teams.

You feel you would also have an easier time paying attention if the Respirator Mask's weren't muffling what he was saying, and allowed you to more easily read his lips. But you don't dare make a move to remove it lest the dust storm that you unfortunately rode right into fills your lungs with dust and debris.

The giant dark clay colored storm cloud rolled over the city a few hours ago. Whipping through the streets, and limiting visibility to the width of the road next to the lot. AR displays glowing dimly through the dust signaling where buildings stand. You remember images of your childhood. Moments from the 40s and 50s when you didn't need to wear a Respirator Mask most of the time, when the air wasn't full of dust, ash, or smoke of some event happening somewhere nearby. Images of greenery, of times with your siblings running around in forests without a care. Back then things were worsening, but they were nowhere near bad.

Before you realize it, you are getting prodded back to reality by the FS who is laughing heartily.

"I'm sorry Director, did you need more rest after your train ride? I know you had a long one all the way from the northeast. If you want we can reschedule to tomorrow and hopefully the dust will have died down as well."

You shake your head signally both a negative, and clearing your head a little through the physicality of the action, "No can do I'm on a tight schedule, just, please repeat back to me the last few things you said?"

The FS nods, and goes back to explaining the function of the machinery around them and how the RO utilizes them. You make a note of how worn some of it looks as the presentation continues. Images of bases you were stationed in during your time in the Navy flash across your mind. Ships with rust covering their hulls, fleets of maintenance vehicles built before you were born, maintenance reports that got longer and longer with pressing issues you didn't have the funding to properly fix year after year.

As the FS continues, you note down what he's saying through your smart lenses. Their displays letting you make quick notes and take pictures. The lenses were commercially bought, but you've always wanted to try to make them at home. You've seen the papers put out about their technology, and how it's based off of a biological nanotech system. If you could just get your hands on an electron microscope for home use… Or maybe you can talk to some of the new hires talking about a Departmental biotech division… But the thought gets pushed aside. You pause for a second to stretch your body all the way upright, and get back to the tour.

Eventually the FS pauses and you speak your first question, "What do the maintenance logs on these vehicles look like?"

The FS pauses, and shuffles his feet, his eyes darting around the lot, "Well you know, we sort of just remembered to do it every Monday. Never really wrote it down, except, uh, well, if you go inside the Garage there's a dry erase board where we each check off every monday after we do the maintenance."

You feel your eye twitch rapidly but imperceptibly as a tiredness comes over you, "That's alright sir, may I ask in the future yinz at least put confirmations of maintenance in, i don't know, email, until I can get a team to come and install a maintenance tracking software for you all to use?"

The FS nods, "Yes ma'am. I understand. I've heard you don't like the old ways and I get that. And if I may ma'am, please don't change things too quickly. Some of the old timers won't like too much change too quick."

You think about how much there is to do, and how stretched thin you are already, and sigh slightly, "No worries, I have enough to work already without shaking things up."

---

Organizational (500):

Security Teams – Let's be honest. The country is on the absolute brink. Local police are packs of roving warlords extorting citizens and enforcing whatever their version of order is. Corporations hire mercenaries and private armies to protect their properties from the slightest whiff of tax collection let alone regulation enforcement. Let alone all the actual armed groups that have laid claim to parts of the country that refuse to listen to commands from DC. We will need to do the job that the US Military refuses to do and step in to put a lid on the chaos through force. (600, one year)

Disaster Response Crews – FEMA, the old relic of the last grasp of the New Deal Democrats, has slowly warped into nothing more than a loan supplier for "small" businesses. It's initial mission of responding to disasters was left by the wayside as more and more disasters happened and overran the capabilities of both it and state level agencies to deal with. We can step into this role, at least for the states that allow us, and help alleviate disasters and help out the survivors instead of leaving them to fend for themselves. (200, six months)

Loot The EPA Vaults – The EPA was sold in a fire-sale. Citing reasons of "austerity" with a "promise" to bring it back later. That day obviously never came. You can root around in the national archives though for anything left, maybe some useful information will be able to tell you something you don't already know. It has been almost a decade since the Agency was dissolved so it's unclear how much institutional knowledge was lost. (100, six months)

Weather Monitoring Station – Once upon a time, the NOAA had a wide range of responsibilities. From tracking ocean data, to atmospheric effects like Hurricanes and Tornadoes. A series of small privatizations of responsibilities has left the agency anemic over the years, relegated to a rubber stamp on corporate data releases. Taking over some of their old responsibilities via building new and sophisticated weather monitoring stations will allow you to better track disasters before they occur. An ability only the large Corporations that bought up the infrastructure have at the moment, and who charge an arm and a leg for the service. [5,8,9] (400, 40 ongoing, one year)

Web 4.0 Infrastructure – While some of the old timers under your umbrella may call this initiative 'cringe', these days the digital sphere is more important than the physical sphere in keeping people informed. Expanding out from just a simple website, and making our presence known on social media, will allow us to engage with the public more easily. From virtual space full time inhabitants, to AR billboards, we need to get the word out there that we are here to help. This will also pay for an upgrade to our lackluster cybersecurity. (150, six months)

Departmental Greening Initiative – The USA has gone through multiple "Green" Campaigns since the 1970s. Most of them end in failure if they even lift off the ground in the first place. Your Department is no different. The fleet of vehicles you operate run off a mix of biofuels, electric of various sources, and some aging fossil fuel driven vehicles. Ensuring they all run off electric would be a start, and microgriding our infrastructure would further decrease our reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure. [5,8,9] (100, one year) [Air +1%]

Restorative Biotechnical Office – While the Biotechnical Revolution has mostly been under the domain of the Private Sector and foreign governments, we could potentially set up a branch to do research into the field so as to help solve some of our problems. These won't be miracle cures, but we won't fight environmental collapse without integrating nature into our very tools. (200, 50 ongoing, six months)

Public Information Campaigns – While a digital presence might be better for directly controlling our narrative, paying Corporations to spread the message may be a quicker and more effective method of getting our message out in the short term. We will of course have to watch what we say to ensure advertisers stay pleased. (50, six months) [Random Earth, Water, Air Boost in Random Ecoregion]

Hiring Initiative – More hands allow for more work. Our existing manpower pool is barely enough to get anything done. If we want to actually become a Department effective at changing the environment around us, we will need to be able to do much, much more. (200, six months) [+1 Ecopoint]

Ecological (3 2):

Urban Greening – Cities were a large source of CO2 in the past, now Exurbs have overtaken them, but cities still stand as concentrations of people, and concrete heat sinks. Haphazard local initiatives to De-"concrete jungle" cities have been attempted in the past, but some need outside help to get their projects off the ground, and some just don't have local projects at all. Planing trees, both decorative and fruit bearing, digging up wall-to-curb side walks, narrowing streets, and a variety of other initiatives will allow for cities to cool off easier in the summer months, at least on street level. [5,8,9] [Air +5%]

Landfill Mining – Landfills dot the landscape around the country, some over 200 years old at this point. Full of everything from toxic chemicals to rare minerals to slow rotting biological waste turning into greenhouse gases like methane, these sites are both a hazard to the environment, and an opportunity to the Department. We can sell off or use materials scavenged from them, clean up toxic chemicals that seep into the groundwater, recycle organic waste to be used in other ways than producing methane, and free up land for other uses. [5,8,9] [Earth +4%] [Water +3%] [Air +2%] (+20 Budget, +40 with Recycling Infrastructure)

Recycling Infrastructure – To limit the future usage of land to dump waste on, we can set up a series of recycling centers. While Recycling plants already exist, a majority of them are either fronts for sending the waste overseas, or lack the ability to properly recycle a majority of materials. We can put our best minds at work to actually develop the methods to recycling various materials. At the very least, we can sort the waste better and keep track of what materials need to be taken out of the economies supply chains in the future. Not to mention we can see some of the recycled materials. [5,8,9] [Earth +3%] [Water +2%] [Air +2%] (+20 Budget)

Invasive Plant Identification – From tumbleweeds to kudzu vine to Eurasian watermilfoil, the United States is infested with a variety of species snuffing the life out of native plants and turning usable land into wastelands. Being able to make a map of areas affected by these species will help us form a proper plan to deal with them in the future. [5,8,9]

Invasive Animal Management – And on the other hand, something harder to spot is invasive animal species. From Lanternflies to zebra mussels to the Asian Citrus Psyllid, we need to identify which areas are affected by certain species. Reports of forests being eaten away, coastal habitats being overrun, and crops failing from invasive disease have plagued regions for decades now. Rounding up these reports, and identifying habitats these animals infest, will allow us to better manage them. [5,8,9]

Habitat Restoration – We don't need to make a note of every spot affected by one invasive species or another, we can go ahead and work with local communities in identifying areas where the local ecosystem has experienced a collapse, and work to restore them. This is the absolute core of what our job is suppose to be, at least according to our founding charter, but alone this is not enough. [5,8,9] [Earth +3%] [Water +3%]

Controlled burns – While some states have implemented Controlled Burn programs since the 10s, our inter-state jurisdiction would allow us much more control over where, when, and how big the burns will be. This will free up local fire departments from having to beat this responsibility on their own, and give us a better picture of the wildfire risk of certain areas of the country. [8,9] [Earth 3%] [Air +5%]

Soil Remediation – The earth bears many scars on it, Over 200 years of industrial exploitation has caused many parts of the North American continent to have soil concentrations of heavy metals and toxic chemicals much higher than is safe for human habitation. Pinpointing those locations, and digging up the top soil and processing it, or planting plants that can do the purification for us, will go a long way to making these lands habitable again. [5,8,9] [Earth +5%] [Air +2%] [Water +2%]

[X][9] Watershed Purification – The watersheds of the country are tainted, there is not a single stream or river where it is not recommended to purify before drinking. The main driving cause for this is Industrial pollution, but as we can't directly shut down corporation dumping efforts, we can at least supplement municipal purification efforts to remove toxins from the water. [5,8,9] [Earth 1%] [Water +4%]

Air Pollutant Removal – This option is to be frank, a little odd. As we do not have the ability to directly go onto private property and install filters and capture equipment at pollutant sources, we can install buy up land next to major sources of air pollution and use giant turbines to suck in the air and purify it before letting it go back into the atmosphere. Winds providing of course. [5,8,9] [Air +???%]

CO2 Scrubbers – A similar idea to the Air Pollutant Turbines, but instead of trying to clean up smog, these simply get dotted around the landscape with one single goal, to suck up as much CO2 from the atmosphere as possible. These things need electricity, and a lot of it to actually have enough of them to be effective, but politically they will be loud, visible, and a good show of us at least *doing something*. [5,8,9] [Air +???%]

Political (2):

Reorganization – You know it as well as anyone else the organization is a disorganized mess. From the reams of paper records that are either missing or misplaced, to incomplete digital records, to a "well I did it last so I know when to do it again" office culture, there are many different aspects of the Department you would like to see corrected. Retraining, management shuffles, and new internal tracking systems will all need to be completed before you are satisfied that the organization is working at tip top efficiency. (DC 55, Removes Disorganized Flaw)

Checks And Balances – An organization that doesn't follow the head is one that doesn't follow the plan. If you want full control over the Department you will need to see to it that every action is only followed if given the proper authorization. This will take people a bit of getting use to, and will probably cause some tension initially as people chaff under the feeling of being micromanaged by the new boss, but those feelings should fade in time. (DC 60, Removes Autonomous Flaw)

Land Rights Management – The country is crisscrossed with private property. Since the founding of the Republic the constitution granted the right of private citizens to their land and yada yada, look, Corporations have free reign across the country in the name of "private property" and do a lot of things that make your job harder. If you wish to be able to effectively tackle certain problems, you're going to need access to certain lands so you can protect certain habitats. So let's rip that bandaid right off and set our legislators down and give them the good old "national security" shtick. Except you're no longer in the Navy, and it's more of a, "national survival" shtick. (DC ??/??/??/??)

Zoning Redistribution – For the properties you don't plan to eminent domain, you need to reform their zoning laws so as to cultivate more Green usage of lands. From incentivizing density, to incentivizing green space, to bringing back mixed use zoning alongside rewilding lawns or at least opening them up for usage as community farms. (DC 40/90, [Earth +???%] [Air +???%] [Water +???%])

Agricultural Regulations – The Agricultural industry gives you a massive cluster of headaches when you think about it. Their immense power, reach, and political weight makes them almost unapproachable, but you have to try at the very least. The great plains is going through a dust bowl, and you don't want the east to lose all its forests like the Amazonian Savannah. You'll need to bring your A game and push for regulations on usage of -cides, limits on land usage, and probably some stipulations that will piss off "natural" meat eaters, but it has to happen. Whether these regulations will be followed if they do pass will remain to be seen... (DC 70/80/90, [Earth +???%] [Air +???%] [Water +???%])

Construction Industry Regulations – The construction industry is in a way, the basis of a society. It determines what buildings are made, where, and how fast you can make them. It is also a giant producer of CO2 in this country. A majority of the industry has an "If it ain't broke don't fix it approach" that leads to large portions of its fleets being fossil fuels based in this day and age. And it's not just the vehicles. There is also the concrete industry specifically that produces an absurd percentage of the worlds emissions. (DC 40/70, [Earth +???%] [Air +???%] [Water +???%])

Chemical Industry Regulations – To call it "The Chemical Industry" is a bit of a misnomer. You're more using the term here to refer to any company or workplace that produces bulk chemicals in either a liquid, gaseous, or solid form. This would actually include the Fossil Fuels industry, so the fight is going to be a hard one, but they have been weakened in recent years and shouldn't put up as strong of a fight as they did in the old days. (DC 60?, [Earth +???%] [Air +???%] [Water +???%])

Suburban Redevelopment Initiatives – Perfectly manicured lawns, cookie cutter houses, big box stores next to highway interchanges, you never got the appeal of these hideous developments. Their scars across the countryside, and clear cutting of forests and incentives to overuse certain resources has always struck you as absurd. You'd never be able to make a case for getting rid of them of course, but you can put in plans for "villagization" of communities. Densifying them enough to allow for space, but also the possibility of amenities within walking distance, while disincentivizing daily usage of motor vehicles, should help decrease their impacts on the environment. You will have to watch out for the power of HOA's though. They've been a thorn in the plan of city planners for decades and you're not sure you are powerful enough to break them by yourself, yet. (DC 60/90, [Earth +???%] [Air +???%] [Water +???%])

Budgetary Negotiations – The Departments metaphorical eyes are bigger than its metaphorical stomach. If you want to have a cost to cost agency that can protect the environment and save the nation from ecological collapse, you'll do your best to get it the funding it needs to do that job. Any scraps you can muster up will help, and the more funding you get, the bigger the projects you'll be able to consider. (DC 30/50/70)

Request World Food Programme Support – The United Nations has lasted through all the troubles and breakdowns in international relations of the 21st​ century. Mostly being kept afloat these days by its African hosts, the UN's WFP is a highly experienced, highly versatile organization that can bring a lot of resources to bear, assuming of course, you can convince those who pay you that it's worth it to allow the blue helmets into the country. (DC 20/80, ??? benefit)

Electrical Grid Management – The electrical grid of the USA is an ancient thing. Still reliant on increasingly scarce fossil fuels, and cracking at the seams, it could use a strong hand to step in and take control of the failures of the private sector to adapt to the changing climate. Every summer rolling brownouts plague cities during the worse of the heat, every winter a freak ice storm will send this or that region into a blackout, and every storm season a hurricane will decimate another part of the country that may never get repaired again. (DC 60)

Nautical Regulations – There are two aspects of the ocean that you wish to be able to regulate. The first is the fishing industry, what fish there are left to save need someone to step in and be their sword and shield against increasingly desperate coastal communities. And the other is international shipping. While both piracy, as you know first hand from your deployments to the Atlantic, and a collapsed global trade network doesn't make the shipping industry as big of a polluter as it was earlier in the century, the ships that do operate are still inefficient things that need to have a nation to tell them to fix themselves up. (DC 30/80)

Listen To Public Feedback – We are not omnipotent. We are an organization of barely 20 thousand people in a country that is over half a billion. Opening up channels for the Public to give us feedback on the status of their environment, and suggestions on how we should conduct our business will give us a better idea on how to move forward with our limited resources. Most likely we will have to sift through a large amount of bunk, but we can at least get a proper feel for what the public is directly concerned about at the moment. (DC 10, ??? benefit)

---

A/N: I'm trying to stick to metric units, so if I accidentally leave some in let me know and I'll swap them out for my international audience members. Voting open immediately so go wild.

Also a few things that popped up as I was proof reading, DC's for Flaw removals go down with failed attempts. More… effective or unconventional options to tackle the climate will appear upon narratively reaching them. Political dice will be gained in future turns, try your hand out with the two dice you have for now, don't be afraid of failing DC checks as those still progress the narrative. And one last thing is that certain actions will be available to take multiple times so don't fear that everything is a one and done things.

 

[Rockeye]

So many very important projects......

 

[yeastmobile]

So many very important projects......

Click to shrink...

To be clear to everyone, it's meant to be a little overwhelming at start, so forgive me if you expected.... less options. Throw darts and see where they land. It's why I made the mechanics as simple as I could (while satisfying myself).

 

[Rockeye]

Recycling and landfill mining is a staple in these ki ds of things but I have doubts about how well it will actually work.