Crisis Mitigation

The Contingency was created to handle crises, and given the power necessary to do so. Crises can take many forms, but in every case there is an unmet need. Unrest, famine, natural disaster; all exist because the remedy is not provided. Members of the Contingency have the power to oversee, build, and distribute the resources necessary to safeguard society and mitigate the damage of crisis.

In Uptime, players have many tools at their disposal to realise this. However, the core method of Crisis Mitigation is resource control. Players have the power to allocate resources from across Mythhaler, using them as they best see fit to deal with the problems presented by the crisis.

All player characters will need to interact with Crisis Mitigation in some capacity. While the crises faced by the Contingency may seem overwhelming in-character, the mechanics themselves are intended to be accessible without complex puzzle solving. There is always more than one way to solve an issue, and player characters will not be tested in their ability to come up with a solution, but in what they deem to be the best one under the circumstances.

If parts of this page don't make sense to you: Don't Panic! Examples are listed at the bottom of this page, and there will be an opportunity to practice with the Discord bot before the first uptime.

The world of Mythhaler is vast, but is simplified into Nodes. Each Node describes a general area: a city district, a forest, a wide set of farms. Nodes are connected by Edges to other Nodes, representing accessible transport paths between them. Together, all the Nodes form a network that spans Mythhaler.

Each Node has one function. The types of Node are:

• Producers – deposits of resources that can be used for various purposes. Examples include oceans, mines, hydroponics facilities, and woodland. Represented on the map by green circles.
• Transformers – places capable of refining or converting one resource into another. Examples include foundries, electronics fabs, laboratories, and chemical plants. Represented on the map by yellow crosses.
• Crisis Points – places in active need of mitigation. Examples include city districts suffering from natural disaster and isolated settlements without food. Represented on the map by red diamonds if a crisis is active, or orange squares if a crisis is inactive.
• Defaults – the stretches of land between Producers, Transformers, and Crisis Points. These offer little in the way of problems or resources, but can be used to relay resources across long distances. Represented by brown hexagons.

By default, players only have access to a small view of the map, centred on their PC's physical location. This location does not move: fixed with the structure of their Mind. The map can be displayed at any point in Uptime, using a Discord bot.

An example map, showing the PC's location outlined in blue. The numbers above each Node are used for the bot commands. The Gorge is actively in need of help. A problem may happen in the City District in the future, but it is currently stable. No Allocations are being made anywhere.

Resource control is how members of the Contingency are able to deal with crises. By moving around resources such as food, metal, lumber, or electronics, PCs are able to meet needs and deal with the crisis.

There is not a fixed list of resources. Players are encouraged to use creative thinking and logical reasoning to determine what they can find in any place. For example, an ocean may be a useful deposit of water to help put out a fire, but it may also be a useful deposit of fish to help feed a hungry village. The salt water could also be purified in a desalination plant to make drinkable water for a place in drought.

To move one resource between Nodes, players can make an Allocation. This requires selecting the start and end Nodes as well as the resource to be moved. Allocations can only be made if there is a complete set of edges between the two Nodes. After GM adjudication (to determine whether the chosen resource would exist or not, and whether it makes sense to solve the relevant problem), the Allocation is made. An Allocation represents a continuous flow of that resource between the two Nodes. While a resource is Allocated to a Crisis Point, then the crisis there is under control and will eventually be resolved after enough time. However, if the supply chain gets broken or re-assigned, then Allocations relying on those resources will be impacted. An unlimited number of Allocations can use the same path, but be warned: this might be a problem if something removes that path!

Decisions made in a session will have long term consequences. If a small colony goes without food, then any future settlements in that area may be abandoned. Supplying a city with firewood from a forest to keep them warm for the entire session may cause that ecosystem to collapse. Sometimes difficult choices are necessary, but everything has an impact.

By default, a PC can only sustain one Allocation at a time. Each Node can only have one incoming and one outgoing Allocation, but a Crisis Point only needs one appropriate Allocation to resolve it. A PC can Allocate between any two Nodes that they can see.

To help with the task of Crisis Mitigation, each member of the Contingency is equipped with different Modules. Modules represent the physical resources at someone's disposal and help provide specialisation within the Contingency. Each Module has an effect during Uptime and can be used in Downtime.

Modules are split into four categories:

• Relations: Communications systems, diplomatic training, and consulate buildings; Relations Modules enable improved diplomatic relationships with the civilisation the Contingency was made to protect.
• Oversight: Spy software, surveillance drones, and coordinating computers; Oversight Modules allow better access to information and help coordinating efforts between Contingency members.
• Transport: Faster engines, navigation systems, and aerial shuttles; Transport Modules help allocate more resources to places further away.
• Construction: Sprawling factories, flexible manufacturing protocols, and specialised gathering vehicles; Construction Modules enable improved resource extraction and processing.

The full list of Modules can be found here. At character creation, each PC starts with three Modules.

In Uptimes, Crisis Mitigation is handled through a Discord bot. This gives players the option to view the map of Nodes and Allocate resources. Bot commands are used to interface with this.

To view the map, type:

/map

This will display your view of the map in your private channel.

To Allocate a resource from one node to another, type:

/allocate [resourceName] [node1] [node2] [justification]

This will send a prompt to the GMs to approve your Allocation between the two Nodes. In your justification, you should name any relevant Modules or knowledge you have that would help you find the necessary resource. After GM approval, the Allocation will be made.

To change an Allocation, type:

/remove_allocation

This will bring up a dropdown of all your Allocations, allowing you to select one to cancel.

A player types /map in their private channel to bring up the map from earlier in this page. Speaking to people in Discord channels, they learn that the Gorge has collapsed with people inside. Without help, the people will quickly starve to death.

Looking for solutions, they see the Rich Farmland. The farmland likely produces crops, and these crops could be used to help keep the people at the Gorge well-fed. To make this Allocation, they type in their private channel:

After a brief period of waiting for GM approval, this Allocation gets approved. Typing /map now shows this:

And for now, the crisis in this area is under control.

A while later, however, the map changes:

Now there are two active crisis points. After some more discussion, the player finds out that, because of failures with transport, food has not made its way to the City District. If they don't get help, then the people in the city will starve too.

The player only has one Allocation, and cannot help out both Crisis Points alone. There are a few options here:

1. Cancel the Allocation of crops to the Gorge, and send it to the City District, leaving the miners to die. There are more people in the city who need the food. To do this, the player would type /remove_allocation, select their current Allocation from the dropdown to delete it, and type out a new Allocation using the Node numbers of the Rich Farmland and the City District.
2. Do nothing. The player was helping the miners first, and they only have so many tools at their disposal. The people in the City District have power to leave that the trapped miners do not. This will hurt the city, but it means that the miners get to live.
3. Ask around for help. Perhaps the miners can be helped in another way: copper from the Copper Mine could be used to make robots at the Robotics Factory, which could remove the debris and set the people free at the Gorge. This would mean that crops from the Rich Farmland could be safely sent to the City District. Once everyone has made their allocations, this would look like: This requires a total of three Allocations, needing cooperation from multiple players. This means that those players are unable to Allocate resources in other places, moving the problem further away without removing it entirely.

Sometimes there is no “good” solution. Sometimes there are not enough resources to go around, and you have to make difficult decisions about who lives and who dies.

But what you do from there is in your hands.