Welcome back to The Side Event, the series of blog posts that strives to enrich your Nexus experience without selling you more stuff. That’s Scott’s end of the business. I’m the cheapo trying to squeeze the last drop of purpose from a box that’s already chock-full of goodies.
Moving on to our second-ever entry, and keeping with the Cred theme, it’s the…
Cred Bath
There’s a slight lull in the action. A distinctive figure suddenly appears in the front row, the crowd parting to gawk at the newcomer. The creature is wearing a fur-rimmed trenchcoat, dazzling in both style and colour. Sparkling star-gems adorn its myriad fingers, and a set of Glide Striders keep it afloat, several inches from the refuse and TIRDs-old gunk that has accumulated in the stands. It scours the rows of rabble around with multiple pitiful, disgusted pairs of eyes. It reaches into the trenchoat, retrieving a handful of solid gold Bits, and with a practiced gesture fans the coins out, scattering them all around. The very next instant, the ravening crowds pounce on the shinies, dozens of attendees fighting each other tooth, limb, and tentacle to be the one pocketing the cred. The creature’s Glide Striders whizz slightly as they send it hovering far above the carnage below. Its face twists into the semblance of a smile as it once again turns its attention on the arena below. It seems some of the Bits have made it into the fighting pit itself…
Trigger: From turn three onwards, at the end of a turn during which no Attacks were performed by any Helots, trigger this event.
Instructions: Take a handful (10) cred that isn’t currently being used in the game. Roll 1d8 to pick a table edge: 1-2 – North, 3-4 – East, 5-6 – South, 7-8 – West. Hold the coins about a Nexus box height above the game board, over the middle of the board’s chosen edge. Then, release the coins. Remove any coins that fall off the game board. Place any coins that fall onto the game board in the nearest available square (if a coin overlaps multiple free squares, place it in the square it overlaps the most. Otherwise, just roll for it). Squares are considered available if they contain no obstacles or Helots, or if they contain another coin or a 2d marker (Blood, Guts, etc).
Effect: On its turn, immediately when it moves into a square containing one or more coins, a Helot may spend 1 Action Point to pick up a coin. It then goes into its Lanista’s Cred Pile. Follow this up by applying any modifiers or rules for any markers also in the square.
Modifier: If a Helot wants to spend an Action Point to pick a coin up, but there is an opposing Helot in a square adjacent to the square the coin is in, the opposing Helot has the opportunity to fight for the coin. Each Helot makes a roll, adding in any and all applicable modifiers from the following list, and any other applicable Helot modifiers not related to weaponry, armour, or other types of equipment. When determining positions, follow the Nexus Rulebook diagrams, but treat the target square (the red square in the combat diagrams) as the square containing the coin.
- Standard Attack Position: +1SDS
- Occuppying the coin’s Square: +1SDS
- Wild Attack Position (coin in left or right square): SDS
- Rear Attack (coin square is behind): -2SDS
- Side Attack (coin is to the left or right): -1SDS
- Prone Helot: -2SDS
- Helot fighting from Against the Wall: SDS
- Target Helot is Against the Wall: +1SDS
The winner of the roll gains the coin and can push the opposing Helot 1 square directly away from itself, following all applicable rules for such a manoeuvre.
That’s it for this time!
Let us know if you end up using these events in your games and how we can improve/clarify their effects for ease of use/understanding.
Hope it inspires!
Cozzy