In RFI:Freelancers 'getting paid' is often the main driving motivation for most characters. While the game isn't centered on the acquisition of material wealth (as unfortunate as it is, most money is made through boring financial crimes, not heart-pounding firefights through a disabled freighter's cargo bay) broadly stuff is at the heart of most of the stories being told. Typically someone as some stuff, another person wants that stuff and you're hired to take the stuff and give it to the other person, in exchange for money.
Money itself is only useful or relevant in the game for it's ability to buy other stuff, which means that, really, most of the game is just about moving stuff around, to get other stuff and move more stuff around faster/better.
If anyone asks you what this game is about, it would be fair to simply say "Stuff".
Typically, games in RFI:Freelancers have the players a member of some other group, or work on behalf of someone else. In these situations, it is assumed that all tools, equipment, or other useful resources will be provided by this group. Additionally, all players will have their own Personal Gear they routinely carry or use, provided during character creation, as well as items collected during their prior adventures, but access to an assortment of items from an agency or a group of allies is always useful to supplement that personal gear.
If the players are forming their own group, this means they will have to be responsible for their own aquisitions. However, as many groups may not want to deal with that, we recommend giving the group a Credit Rating that matches the Credit Rating of the wealthiest player (or the group's leader) to start out with, and as they complete episodes or seasons, raising that Credit Rating as the group has more access to additional funds, opportunities and contacts. This 'group Credit Rating' can be treated the same as any other group's CR in the game, and makes the rules simple.
Should they want to handle the nitty gritty (why?) they may do so as if they're individuals, all aquiring items on their own. Assuming this level of book keeping is fun, they are more than welcome to handle things this way.
How easy it is for groups or individuals to aquire things depends on their Credit Rating (CR). Groups with a high Credit Rating will be able to aquire better equipment or more rare items for the players, while ones with lower credit ratins might struggle, get fewer, or sometimes be unable to aquiring a critical piece of equipment needed for the job (often making the first job stealing that equipment before doing the job they originally had in mind).
Credit Ratings are a number 1 through 10, where 1 is the rating of a homeless person, and 10 is the rating of one of the major super powers, such as the League or Terrans.
| Credit Rating | Trivial Acquisitions | Approximate Wealth Level |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | — | Bankrupt / Frozen Assets / On the run from loan sharks |
| 1 | — | Homeless |
| 2 | — | Drug Addict / Untenored College Professor |
| 3 | — | Poor Individual |
| 4 | — | Modest Individual |
| 5 | 1 | Comfortable Individual / Poor City |
| 6 | 1 | Wealthy Individual / Poor Colony / Modest City |
| 7 | 2 | Noble / Elite / Small Colony / Large City |
| 8 | 2 | Oligarch / Large Colony |
| 9 | 3 | Wealthy Trade Alliance (Highlands Cluster, Empire Cluster, etc) |
| 10 | 3 | Galactic Superpower (League, Terrans, etc.) |
In the RFI Universe, a character's access to items and services are often determined by their wealth. Wealthier characters (higher CR) will be granted access or contacts that poorer characters don't have, even if they could scrape together enough money to afford some of them. Humanity has a long history of classism and the other races are more than happy to play along.
CR 0 - You are bankrupt and actively being persued by the people you owe money. You have the 'Bounty' trait and even basic interactions run the risk of having your whereabouts reported to the people after you. You can't aquire anything and must steal to survive.
CR 1. You live in inhumane conditions. You are homeless, and while this means you don't have many outgoings, you also don't have much income either, probably getting by with itinerant work, begging, and selling off anything valuable you find to a pawnbroker.
CR 2. You live desperate conditions, likely in a shelter or somewhere barely suitable for sapient habitation. You've got shelter from the elements, and a home address sufficient to maintain steady(ish) work. Still, the rent is too damned high, and you're never far from some expensive emergency, so even a meager income is stretched thin.
CR 3. You live in bad conditions, probably in a too-small apartment somewhere undesirable, or a 'renovated' cargo container in an abandoned cargo bay. You'd barely get by on one full-time job, or two part-time jobs, and you've had to make the bad choices between food, heat, or some other essential more times than you care to remember.
CR 4. A modest lifestyle keeps you out of the worst parts of town, you don't have to choose between food and warmth. You've even got a decent bit of spending money left at the end of the month, enough to afford a few much-needed luxuries. Still, a good chunk of your cash goes on rent each month, the prospect of buying even a shuttle is just out of reach, and your health insurance is only just about good enough for minor sickness and injuries.
CR 5. Choosing a comfortable lifestyle means that you can afford nicer stuff and can easily maintain your equipment. You can rent a decent place, or maybe you've managed to buy your own ship, and you've got enough money from a decent job spare to save up for the occasional holiday or luxury purchase without impacting the routine little luxuries that get you through the week.
CR 6. You almost certainly own your own ship and can afford to pay for quality in everything you have and do. You're well-off by most standards and draw at least some of your regular income through investments, perhaps renting out other ships you own, or perhaps playing the stock market, but that still comes on top of a regular job with good benefits and a great salary.
CR7. You live a life of plenty and comfort. You move in circles populated by the most powerful people in the community. You don't really need to work - between inherited wealth and investments, and possibly a trust fund, you've got enough passive income that you only really work to increase your wealth and standing further, or because it gives you something to do. You probably have a few obligations as part of your social circles and finance connections, and you may well be involved in politics simply because politicians seek your support (i.e., your money) for their campaigns, and you can have celebrity status if you want just by being seen in the right places with the right people. Alternatively, wealth can bring you anonymity, allowing you to interact with the world without the world bothering you in return.
During character creation, characters pick a Credit Rating (typically 4 or below). The highest a player character's rating can reach is 7; anything beyond that is the realm of the ultra rich elites and large governments. (And if your character can buy thier own colony and install themselves as king, why would they bother doing anything interesting?) As with all thing, this can be overriden by Gamemaster approval.
Every character has a certain amount of personal equipment, provided during character creation. Barring extreme circumstances, you always have access to these items. If personal gear is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced between adventures, though the Gamemaster may decide that it takes time to replace items with a CR of 4 or higher.
The group supporting the players will always endeavor to give their agents exactly what they need to carry out any mission they’re dispatched on, but this isn’t always possible —such groups often face their own struggles obtaining supplies and keeping their operatives well-equipped.
All items have their own Credit Rating (typically 0 to 6 for small items, 7+ for starships); these numbers are the Credit Rating you must have to be able to afford this item with your cash-on-hand. You can buy things with a higher CR, but you will need to make a Special Request.
Below is a reference table to quickly judge about what something is likely to cost. These costs can be modified through getting deals, contacts, scarcity, etc.
| Item | Avg. Credit Rating |
|---|---|
| Freely available, commonplace items, such as food and drink, clothing, etc. | 0 |
| Simple weapons, tools, scarce or specialized equipment | 1 |
| Military-grade equipment, heavily restricted items | 2 |
| Heavy weaponry, high explosives, small illegal items | 3 |
| Experimental, rare, or advanced equipment, large illegal items | 4+ |
| Small Craft (shuttle, small transport, etc.) | 5+ |
| Capital Ship (large transports, freighters, military surplus, etc.) | 7+ |
A 'job' in RFI:Freelancers is, in normal RPG parlance, a 'quest'. Typically there is only one job per episode, but there is not rule that requires that. As such, this section refers to 'job' and not one of the typical terms like scene or episode. We trust players and Gamemasters to interperate this in whatever way makes sense for your group and playstyle.
At the start of each job, the characters have an opportunity to requisition additional items to help them complete the job. The group will be granted a quantity of credits, which may be spent upon individual items.
Note: In the RFI Universe, 1 credit is roughly equal to $1 circa 2024, since the author isn't a finance guy and has been expressly forbidden from attempting to build economies by people who know much more about finance than him. For the purposes of RFI:Freelancers, the credits listed are a more abstract concept where these 'credits' are more like 'credit points' that abstract away the details of the group's finances. Do not think guns cost $1 in this setting! That's just how many 'credit points' you have to spend. In-universe you're handed a wad of cash and you buy a gun for a reasonable price.
If you must concert the credits listed here to 'in universe currency', a rough rule of thumb would be 10Credit Rating. That should get you in the ballpark, plus or minus an order of magnitutde.
Common levels of credits, determined by how much support the job is receiving, are shown below:
| Job Support | Credits | Maximum Credit Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Minimal | 0, plus 1 per player | 2 |
| Low | 5, plus 1 per player | 3 |
| Moderate | 5, plus 2 per player | 4 |
| High | 10, plus 2 per player | 4 |
| Extensive | 10, plus 3 per player | 5 |
Each item costs points equal to its Credit Rating.
The Gamemaster may choose to pre-spend some of your credits on items necessary for the job to be successful, such as explosives if a ship or station needs to be sabotaged.
Items with a CR above 5 cannot be requisitioned: they must be obtained through a special request. The Gamemaster may veto any individual items requested or may declare that some items are not currently available through normal job requisitions, and must be requested through special requisitions.
At the end of an job, it is likely that any requisitioned items must be returned. (If not, then the equipment should be considered part of the pay for the job). If items are lost or destroyed, then this may result in fewer requisition points being granted on the next job, or it may cause those items to be unavailable in the future.
The only items that aren’t expected back are resources: ammo, fuel, and other expendibles, but you may have to split any extra resources you come back with.
On top of the broad category of job requisitions, characters may seek to request individual items on a case-by-case basis, especially those of a rare or illegal nature. These are treated as special requisitions, and they are handled separately, due to their uncommon and precious character.
You may have to run a special requisition “up the flagpole” to the leaders of your organization, and it often requires a task to persuade those leaders of the need for the item and can provide a scene with that character.
In the case of simply being hired for a job, these special requisitions require the group to reach out to their contacts to see if the item is even available for purchase, and if it is, how much. Sometimes the most economical solution would be to steal it, which could become a job in and of itself.
If you successfully plead your case, find a seller, or pull off a heist, access is granted to the item in question. Additional requests are harder to get, increasing the difficulty of your next request for the same job. Losing or having the item destroyed may result in serious repercussions.
In a galaxy where interstellar travel is treated much like cars and trucks are today, it might be easy to handwave access to a ship. In fact, if having a ship is a requirement of the story being told, we encourage Gamemasters to either make aquiring a ship it's own series of jobs (and possibly the entire first season) or work out the backstory with the group as to which character owns the ship and how they aquired it. Civilian ships, while expensive, aren't difficult to get, and it's reasonable for a character to have a small personal ship depending on their background and Credit Rating.
Should the group have to aquire a new ship for any reason, this should be handled as a special requisition. The group will likely have to take out a loan to afford the ship. The aquisition of the ship should take up at least one scene, if not an entire episode.
Loans should cost credits equal to the amount over the character's Credit Rating. For example, Linore has a Credit Rating of 4. When she goes to buy a converted Triumph class, the Credit Rating for that ship is 5. She takes a loan for 1 credit. For the rest of the season, all job requisition credits are reduced by 1. At the end of the season, the loan is paid off. (Loans always take some number of seasons to pay off, typically 1 per credit borrowed).
Characters can't take out a loan greater than half their credit rating, rounded down.
Once a job has begun, items cannot be requisitioned (outside of specific situations which may occur at the Gamemaster’s discretion, such as emergency supply drops). However, items can still be obtained if they can be located out in the field. This frequently requires dealing with black marketeers, and other clandestine organizations, or simply securing the items personally.
This requires a task to acquire the item. The attribute and skill used varies based on how you’re getting the gear. The difficulty of the task is normally the CR of the item, though this may be higher or lower based on the local conditions (obtaining extra ammunition is easier if you can steal it from a munitions factory, for example).
Foraging, scavenging, and salvage will probably involve Survival, though the quality of any man-made items obtained in this way might be dubious and may require a Systems task to get working properly. Finding the parts needed for an item may require Science to locate and identify the components needed. The item may be created from those parts, or by repairing a damaged or discarded item.