Side chapter, Endgame Rewards

While sick I decided to put pen to paper and work out something that had been kicking around in my head. I found it less taxing than actually writing a chapter. I’m feeling better so I think I should be good to post by the end of the day.

When Erich (or any other contractor) completes a test, he will be given a small expense account to spend on permanent benefits he might take forward into future tests. How he spends this budget will probably be the last poll for this story. If you have any thoughts or suggestions on any of the three sections (things Erich has done to earn credits, things to spend credits on, and ways to earn more credits) please share them.

Rewards for testing

Engaged with systems +1

Engaged with world +1

Debugging +1

Nonstandard testing conditions (the whole Nefarian thing) +2

Completed plot missions +1 +1

Current total: 7

Rewards

-1 Tag along: you may take along one individual to serve as a permanent companion in future tests. They will not retain any superhuman abilities and will need to be repurchased (either as themselves or possessing a local/purchased individual) in future tests, but will be the same individual with the same memories and feelings towards you (plus any additional memories appropriate to the new world and potential bleed over from past lives). If you are ever removed from the position of beta tester, your Tagalongs will be kept with you in whatever post you may be placed in later.

-1 Care package- You will start any test with a collection of useful but unremarkable items priced at the local equivalent of 500 US dollars. Depending on your starting environment’s needs this may include rations, a weapon, armor, medicine, a cell phone, fashionable clothes, durable shoes, or a small amount spending money. In addition you will start with one minor quest reward (from this test’s table of rewards)

-1 reality alignment- you may have acquired any number of reality tweaking perks during your testing phase. You may bring these along, and they will still apply if they can be mapped onto the setting. (Undead girls are always hot, Mermen are futas, etc.)

-1 Hard no- you may select a trait which you will not be required to engage with in future beta tests. For example, no horror settings, no slavery (setting wide or limited to you), no PvP, etc.

-1 Letter of Recommendation: you may request that up to 5 individuals be promoted to beta testers. This will allow them to preserve their current personalities (though their original personalities from prior lives and precapture are likely to bleed in). If one of these testers meets a milestone in their testing (such as meeting minimum engagement thresholds or gaining Job Security) they will be allowed to send you a message and a gift of their choice (taken from among their own resources and subject to GM approval).

-2 Silver Spoon- You will be exceptionally lucky at the beginning of any Test. Meeting valuable allies, finding useful or expensive treasure, appearing in a relatively safe place, or having your life/autonomy saved by deus ex machina once are all manifestations of this perk. The benefits of this perk rapidly diminish, with a duration ranging from 10 minutes to one week depending on how long the “primary narrative” of the setting takes.

-2 Meeting Ground- You will gain a special company space known as a Meeting Ground. You may enter this space with up to 3 companions for 1 hour per day by default, during which time will stop in your current world. Any other Testers you are on friendly terms with may purchase a Green Orb, which will allow them to come to this meeting place once per week for one hour, which will always overlap perfectly with anyone else they hoped to meet with. They may purchase the orb a second time to upgrade to once per day. Testers in this space may exchange assets, waifus, and credits, but all trades must be even in value. Similarly they may make wagers or engage in PVP bouts, but only if both sides intend to genuinely compete. The space will be initially barren but will be upgraded each time someone purchases a green orb, adding amenities like food, showers, and allowing Testers to “save” time to allow for longer but more infrequent visits.

-2 Opt In- We test a nearly infinite number of variations of a near infinite number of settings. You may request that certain traits are in all settings you find yourself in. Examples include RPG style leveling, attractive women, PVP opportunities, and safe settlements to rest and relax in.

-2 polymath- instantly gain skills sufficient to push you into the low end of tier 2 in every imaginable field of expertise. Modest skill with every weapon imaginable, general identification of edible and poisonous plants, tricks to navigate in the woods without getting too lost, conversational fluency in every language, etc. You will pale in comparison to a specialist but you will never be at a total loss.

-3 Job security- you may trade 3 company credits for 1 point of Job Security, which can be traded in to maintain your status as a tester after an unsatisfactory test or saved. At 5 points of Job security you qualify for promotion.

-3 Well prepared- you will start any test with the local equivalent of 5,000 US dollars worth of legally obtained useful items. This may include fine adventuring gear, a modest vehicle or pack animal, specialized magical or technological tools, and anything you might find in the Care Package upgrade. In addition you will receive one random moderate mission reward to start yourself off.

-5 Prepper- you will start with the local equivalent of 50,000 US dollars of legally obtained locally sourced items. This may include high quality equipment, cutting edge technology, moderately powerful magic items, or a top tier net deck for a children’s card game. In addition, you will receive one random Major mission reward.

-5 Echoes of Arcana- you may take along forms of magic from this setting, and both you and your Tagalongs will retain the capacity to use them, though typically only as self taught amateurs operating off of half remembered theory. You will also permanently unlock practitioners of this style of magic for purchase substitution, power swap, and template stacking, allowing you to spend credits to master this style of magic.

-x Metaboost- You may purchase anything in the catalog as a permanent upgrade. It will be added to your build free of charge at the beginning of any future beta tests. Cost in perk points is equal to credit cost in the catalog. Companions can not be purchased in this way, though you may purchase capture coupons allowing the purchase of setting approved waifus (if you desire to maintain a consistent companion, this pairs well with Tagalong)

••••••••••

Bonus Earning Opportunities- if you would like more company credits, You may voluntarily take on negative consequences to earn more. Note that you will still be expected to engage fully with the testing process no matter what challenges you take on.

+1 Going in Dry- you will have no access to bindings, including love confessions or experimental lesser binding such as “don’t split the party.” You will have no retinue beyond yourself. Your Tagalongs will by default still feel positively inclined towards you (if you summon them) but there will be nothing ensuring that they stay that way beyond your own ability to not alienate them. Lures and company assets which create permanent bonds (if you acquire any) will similarly have no assurances of their continued efficacy.

+1 Speedrun- you will be given a Diegetic time limit such as severely limited and irreplaceable resources, an incurably fatal curse, or constantly escalating attempts to kill you which scale to your power level. In addition, you will be given a difficult but possible mission which you must complete or die trying in order to gain credit for this test environment.

+1 Harder Daddy- Your life will be arbitrarily difficult. You might be a hated minority (such as a mutant in the Warhammer Fantasy setting), you may start out as a wanted criminal, you might be arbitrarily hated by some powerful organization, or you might be disabled. If you negate, escape, or compensate for your handicap, a new handicap or trouble will manifest which will be scaled to your current power level, always something major enough or invasive enough to cause meaningful inconveniences at least once every 24 hours.

+1 Are We the Baddies? - You are. Based on recent testing, we are checking a new form of PVP. You will be obligated to serve as the antagonist to another beta tester and will be cast in a villainous role. Your mission objectives will tend to be needlessly cruel, overdramatic, or stereotypical (if you have missions). You will have diminished capacity in non-stereotypically evil forms of magic, and you will be punished for any attempt to engage with non-retinue members in a good faith mutually beneficial manner. In addition, retinue members will become more “villainous” as part of the process of capture, leading to them doing evil things and squabble with one another without careful oversight. Finally, your opponent (the “hero”) will gain various subtle advantages which individually could be mistaken for strokes of good luck or narrative convenience. Your primary objective for this test will be to model villainous behavior and provide an interesting obstacle, so immediately crushing the Hero will not be considered a satisfactory test even if you start with a massive upper hand.