Crafting in The Slope
Intro/Background
Two things are not quite apparent from reading the ITL book: The number of materials required to make ____ weapon/armour The amount of time it takes to make _____ weapon/armour These details either prove elusive to me, or there is some deliberate vagueness to allow the GM to interpret how this is done.
I saw in ITL how various jobs are done, where a dice roll is done periodically to determine how good/bad you do on a given week (did well? got fired? die on the job?)
Drawing inspiration from this, the following is the current system agreed upon by the GMs and players as of this post (November 2022)
The Basic Math
For a given weapon/armour, the total hours required to create a weapon/armour is equal to the total value of the piece divided by 50 (ex: a $100 weapon would take two hours, and full plate armour would take sixty (6000 / 100 = 60) hours)
The number of materials (appropriate material, ingots, for example) required to make said weapon/armour is equal to the total value of the piece divided by 500, rounded up. (ex: a $100 weapon would take 1 iron ingot, full plate armour would take 12 (6000/500). For simplicity's sake, things like flux are "ones-of".
Materials, for simplicity, are separated into various categories based on talent/profession: ingots for armourers, lumber for carpenters, bolts of cloth for tailors, etc. These are the items that the above material formula applies. Items like fluxes are a one-of regardless of craft.
Preconditions
A high enough IQ is the prerequisite to planning/starting a craft. A high enough dexterity is the basis on which various successes or setbacks occur during the crafting itself. (DEX continues to be king in TFT).
- IQ of 10 for items valued <$1000
- IQ of 11 for $1001-1500,
- IQ of 12 for $1501-2000
- IQ of 13 for >2001+
Hourly Progress
DEX rolls must be done on an hourly basis to determine progress. For this, we treat the value of a piece as the total amount of "hit points" (progress) required to "defeat" (craft) the "boss" (weapon/armour). For example, $100 sword requires 100 progress to complete.
We treat hourly progress rolls similar to combat rolls:
- 1 = 150 progress (50x3)
- 2-3 = 100 progress(50x2)
- 4-15 below/above your IQ = 50/25 progress, respectively
- 16-17 = minor setback, no progress
- 18 = major setback; half your progress is lost (Master Armourers can reroll if this happens. if the roll is below their IQ, they can salvage this to be no progress)
Example
Arturo attempts to craft a sword that the ITL table values at 100. Arturo requires 1 iron ingot (100/1000, rounded up) and 1 flux to craft.
- Hour 1: Arturo rolls an 8! 50/100 progress complete
- Hour 2: Arturo rolls a 16! no progress made (still 50/100)
- Hour 3: Arturo rolls a 15! 75/100 progress made
- Hour 4: Arturo rolls an 18! Arturo has the master armourer talent, so he can attempt a * saving reroll. Arturo rolls a 5! Instead of losing half total progress, he manages to get by with losing no progress (still 75/100).
- Hour 5: Arturo rolls a 5! 125/100 progress. Weapon complete!