Latest revision as of 23:15, 26 August 2023

Mining is both the name of a non-combat skill and an associated activity.

Mining is the act of extracting useful ores from underground veins and deposits. The ores mined are typically of useful (and therefore valuable) metals and gemstones. Player characters can visit mining facilities and explore mineshafts to look for ores to mine out, which can then be exchanged for metal ingots, gemstones, or directly into cash.

Requirements

While already-mined bundles of ore can rarely be found in the Uncivilized Area, individuals looking to harvest large quantities of ore must mine them instead. To mine ores, a player character must head to a mining facility and be in possession of certain items.

Required to enter the mineshafts of a mining facility:

• An Independent Miner Pass, found for sale at mining supplies stores for 500 and valid for one visit. Besides access to the mines, a Pass also grants access to a minecart for hauling ores. If you leave the facility, you will need to purchase a new Pass.

Not strictly required, but highly recommended equipment for actual mining:

• Mining tools; certain weapons count as Mining tools. There are three methods: Pick mining, Drill mining, and Blast mining. All three call for the Mining skill, but with different results and outputs.
  • Pick mining requires a Pick-axe or a Mattock
  • Drill mining can only be performed with a Drill Arm
  • Blast mining can be performed with any explosive weapon, but is typically done with C4 charges
• Sufficient inventory space to carry ores out

Mineshaft exploration process

As explained above, the Independent Miner Pass is only valid for one visit. As such, it is recommended to make the most out a trip in the mineshaft.

Mining facility layout

Every mine has a depth expressed in levels, using negative numbers: the first mine level is Level -1, the second is Level -2, the third is Level -3, and so on and so forth.

At the beginning, the vertiport in the Lounge can only go to Level -1. As the player progresses through the mines and clears levels, the elevator will gain access to all levels cleared, allowing the player to venture deeper and deeper, then bring their minecart back up when ready to leave.

The amount of levels in a mine is fixed and depends on the location of the mining facility:

• Heshbar: 24 levels
• Kazama: 28 levels
• Lenox Corner: 18 levels

Generating mine levels

Upon entering Level -1, the player character's objective is to reach the other end of the mineshaft safely, resulting in that level being cleared.

Each level contains a number of sections equal to 8 + Mine level. The player character can only travel forwards (section number goes up) or backwards (section number goes down).

Every section with a number ending in 0 features a crossroads (with one exception, see below), starting with Section 10. At crossroads, the pathway splits into three: A, B, and C. You must commit to one of these three paths until:

• ...the next crossroads (e.g., Section 20 after Section 10), at which point you can switch paths. In every crossroads after the first, the paths rejoin into one. For example, sections 19A, 19B, and 19C all lead to Section 20, which leads to Sections 21A, 21B, and 21C, and so on.
• ...the end of the level, at which point the level is cleared.

NOTE: If the final section of a given level has a number ending in 0, this is the only case where it does not feature a crossroads, as it is the end of the level.

Example: Mine level 8

At level 8, there are 23 sections to clear to reach the other side.

The map of such a mine level would look approximately like this:

	< Up
	> Down

				       -11a-12a-13a-14a-15a-16a-17a-18a-19a-  -21a-22a
	<-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08-09-10-11b-12b-13b-14b-15b-16b-17b-18b-19b-20-21b-22b-23->
				       -11c-12c-13c-14c-15c-16c-17c-18c-19c-  -21c-22c

Generating sections

Upon entering a new section, the GM must roll a 1d100. What happens to the player character depends on the table below.

Mineshaft section event table

Creature generation

The GM begins by rolling 1d10-mine level. If the result is 0 or higher, no creatures appear in the room. If the result is negative (-1 or less), creatures appear.

• Mine level 1 can never generate creatures.
• Mine levels 11 and beyond will always generate creatures.

If creatures are going to appear in the section, the GM must roll &creature, then check the mine level and the creature type.

• Reroll If the creature type rolled belongs to the Humans, Halflings, Youkai, Angelics, or Demonics category.
• If mine level is -4 or shallower: The maximum threat level is 3 (TL4 and TL5 must be rerolled)
• If mine level is -5 to -14: The maximum threat level is 4 (TL5 must be rerolled)
• If mine level is -15 or deeper: The maximum threat level is 5 (no rerolls based on threat level)

Ore patch generation

The GM begins by rolling 1d(mine level) to determine the number of ore bundles available in the room. All ore bundles will be of the same type.

Then, the GM checks the current mine level.

• If mine level is -4 or shallower: All ores are common: the GM uses &ore-c to determine ore type.
• If mine level is -5 to -14: Ores can be of any rarity: the GM uses &ore to determine ore type.
• If mine level is -15 or deeper: All ores are rare: the GM uses &ore-r to determine ore type.

See the section below to understand how mining and extracting ore works.

Rules on progressing and clearing sections

When exploring a mining facility's mineshafts:

• The GM must keep track of the furthest level reached and sections the player has explored in each level. That can be done by saving the information on the player's character sheet.
• When choosing a path at a crossroads, you must commit to the path selected. Although you are allowed to travel backward, you cannot switch to a different branch - the unselected paths become barred from entry.

Leaving the mineshafts:

• RETREAT: While exploring the mineshafts, you can choose to RETREAT at any time you aren't in combat. RETREATING pulls you all the way back to the elevator and returns you to the mining facility. However, you will abandon the minecart and all of its contents. The only things you'll conserve are in your personal inventory.
• SAFE EXIT: If you have reached the final section of a level, you have the option to make a SAFE EXIT. It allows you to return to the top of the mining facility alongside your minecart. Doing so allows you to bring what you've mined out to the ore bank.

How the minecart works

The minecart is a large steel container on wheels that you can push and pull along the mineshafts' rails. It is considered to automatically move with you as you explore mine levels and sections.

A minecart can carry up to 50 units (25 kilograms) of ore. It cannot be used to carry anything else and it cannot be utilized for other purposes (e.g., it is not a source of cover in combat). Its purpose is to let individuals haul ore in and out of the mines without needing to fill up their backpacks.

Upon mining ore out, the player character is free to add it to either the minecart or to their personal inventory. You are also free to pull ore out of the minecart at any time if you wish to make space for more valuable types. The minecart is an item of convenience and offers you the possibility to decide whether you prefer to carry ores yourself or in the cart, at the risk of abandonment if you choose to RETREAT from the mineshafts. In other words, it's up to you to decide whether ore is best carried in the cart or on your inventory.

Usage rules in a nutshell:

• You can add and remove ore from it at any time when not in combat
• You cannot use the minecart in combat
• RETREATING means abandoning the minecart and all of its contents.
• SAFELY EXITING means bringing the minecart back with you, allowing you to cash out its contents.

Mine bosses

The final section of specific levels in each mine is guarded by a mine boss, a special creature acting as a guardian.

When fighting a mine boss, you cannot escape combat to progress forwards - attempting to do so will only offer you one way: backward. In other words, it is necessary to beat the mine boss to clear the level and access the next one.

Mine bosses are as follows:

• Final section of Level 4: One random TL4 creature
• Final section of Level 14: One random TL5 creature
• Final section of the final level: Two waves of enemies, which vary depending on the mining facility. After killing the first wave, the second wave appears on the next turn.
  • Heshbar: Wave 1 comprises 4 dragons, wave 2 comprises 2 Everdragons
  • Kazama: Wave 1 comprises 3 oujami, wave 2 comprises 2 shinigami
  • Lenox Corner: Wave 1 comprises 3 Black Widowmakers and 1 giant tarantula, wave 2 comprises 2 Phantom Spiders.

Rewards

If a player character successfully clears the final section of a mining facility's final level, there should be a treasure at the very end waiting for them. The treasure's exact nature is up to the GM's discretion. The author suggests including one of the artifact weapons in the treasure pile.

Ending a visit

Once the player has chosen to RETREAT or SAFELY EXIT, the lowest visited Level is saved, and the Mining Pass used to enter expires. To start a new visit, the player character will need to purchase a new Pass. It will bring them to the lowest visited Level.

If a player has fully cleared a mining facility, that mine is considered ALL-CLEARED, leaving no loot, monsters, or anything of note.

A player can purchase a New Sector Map at the mining supplies store to effectively reset that mine, letting them do it over from a given Level. New Sector Maps exist in three versions:

• New Sector Map A: Resets the Mine completely, meaning you must start from Level -1
• New Sector Map B: Resets the Mine with Levels -1 to -4 cleared, letting you start from Level -5
• New Sector Map C: Resets the Mine with Levels -1 to -14 cleared, letting you start from Level -15.

How to mine ores

When the player character finds an ore patch in a given section, it contains a given number of ore bundles of a specific type generated by the GM. Each ore bundle must be individually extracted through mining.

Three mining methods are available: pick mining, drill mining, and blast mining.

Pick mining

The cheapest and most commonly employed method is pick mining. It involves the use of a pick-axe or a mattock to strike stones and break them into pieces that can be picked up and later processed. It is also the most physically demanding, as every strike is done manually and demands considerable effort over long periods of time.

When pick mining, a character will strike at the ore in a patch to damage the surrounding rock and break an ore bundle out of the patch. The damage per strike depend on the Mining skill level, and every strike will burn a certain amount of nutrition and hydration.

For every strike, you will need to make a strike check. The check depends on the character's current Mining skill level; refer to the skill levels table.

One strike burns 15 ntri and 8 wtr. Make sure you have food and drink in your inventory if you need it; this is why mining supplies stores sell food items.

Each strike reduces the hit points of your target by as many points as you rolled. Once the hit points drop to 0, whatever you are hitting is broken free. The obstruction is removed or the ore bundle is successfully extracted from the walls, allowing the player to pick it up and add it to their inventory or their minecart. See this section for generating ore bundles. Repeat until all ore bundles have been mined out of the patch, or until the character wishes to stop.

Drill mining

Drill mining is similar to pick mining, but requires the use of the Drill Arm, a crafting-only weapon. Taking the time and effort to put together this weapon may be worth it; it is more efficient than using picks and is less tiresome.

Drill mining has the same effect as Pick mining - you roll the same strike check. However, using a drill is significantly less expensive in effort spent: one strike burns 5 ntri and 3 wtr; roughly one third of the cost of one strike when pick mining.

Blast mining

Also known as explosive mining, blast mining refers to the use of explosive devices (usually, C4 charges) for the purpose of mining, by harnessing the power of a blast to shatter ore into pieces.

Blast mining can be performed with any explosive weapon (all that needs to happen is for a weapon dealing Explosive-type damage to hit an ore patch), but due to the high cost of explosive devices and the relative lack of effectiveness of using anything else, it is highly recommended to use a command detonation planted explosive of some kind, and it is best performed on a patch of valuable ore.

Blast mining does not burn nutrition or hydration, but it might burn a hole in your wallet.

When checking the effectiveness of a blast, simply roll the total limb damage the weapon would have dealt, then multiply it by a certain number depending on one's mining skill level to determine the damage done to your target.

If you are using blast mining on an ore patch with multiple ore bundles, the explosion affects every ore bundle, allowing you to mine multiple bundles out in one blast.

• Example: If you detonate a small C4 charge with Skilled level in Mining and roll 35 limb damage, the skill level allows you to multiply the result by 2, for 70 damage. 70 damage is enough to mine out 3 ore bundles and damage a fourth one by 10 HP.

Mining target hit points

• Soft obstruction: 40 HP
• Hard obstruction: 120 HP
• Ore: 20 HP per bundle

Ore bundle generation

After mining ore bundles out, their mass (measured in grams) must be determined. The higher the mass, the higher the resulting inventory Weight, but the more valuable it is.

Ore belongs to one of three categories: Metal ore, gemstone ore, and Serpentium crystals.

For metal ore, the GM must roll 1d200*5 for each ore bundle. For every 5 grams, an ore bundle's Weight gains 0.01 Weight unit. The smallest possible size is 5 grams (Weight 0.01), and the largest possible size is 1000 grams or 1 kilograms (Weight 2).

For gemstone ore, the GM must instead roll 1d10*50 per ore bundle. As with metal ore, for every 5 grams, an ore bundle's Weight gains 0.01 Weight unit; however, for every 50 grams, an ore bundle will carry one gemstone. As such, the smallest possible size is 50 grams (1 gemstone), and the largest possible size is 500 grams (10 gemstones)

Serpentium crystals come in fixed sizes ranging from 100 grams to 4000 grams; therefore, there is no need to generate size and Weight.

Ore types

See Ore for more information.

Mining skill levels

• For every ore bundle mined out of an ore patch, regardless of the method employed, 1 Skill Point is gained.
• For every soft obstruction cleared, 2 Skill Points is gained.
• For every hard obstruction cleared, 6 Skill Points are gained.

Legend:

• SP: Skill Points needed to reach this level