Hello outlaws,

I've just uploaded an experimental new PDF to the game files: the Fallout & Downtime reference sheet. This is a test replacement for the core Downtime reference sheet you all know and love. Ordinarily, I wouldn't wanna mess with things too much at this stage, but this is a recent idea and I like it a lot.

I'm going to test it out in my upcoming CC games and see how it feels. I'm uploading it for your enjoyment because I'm bored and I thought someone might find it interesting. If you do find it interesting, keep reading!

What's different? The primary thing is that this sheet eliminates the Lower Heat downtime activity. Instead, at the start of downtime, the crew chooses a Profile (Low or High). Choosing a Low Profile* significantly reduces your Heat, but each crew member only gets one free downtime activity. If you choose High Profile, you don't lose any Heat, but you get two free activities as normal.

(Also, I'm playing around with calling it "Fallout & Downtime" because this reference includes Cash, Trouble, and other "fallout" of the job, in addition to downtime. We'll see if that sticks.)

How did this come about? It was actually inspired by a recent playtest session, not of Copperhead County, but of CC captain Michael Crowley's very excellent Blades in the Dark hack, Citizens (which itself contains a lot of CC DNA). In Citizens, you play as a neighborhood crew doing demonstrations, direct action, and mutual aid in support of your community, and one change we're testing in Michael's game is the elimination of Reduce Heat, which is kind of a weird activity. When we started playing with it and discussing it, I immediately had this idea about combining that elimination with some other ideas I had floating around to create this method.

Why do it? I think it's cool. I like that it creates a strategic choice about downtime and it puts more focus on creating Schemes to reduce Heat. And, rather than the kinda-weird current activity where a PC does something to reduce Heat and it magically erases their crimes, I think a crew could still erase Heat through a project- which would necessarily be a larger effort and could better fit the fictional reality of the game. Also, I like how choosing a downtime Profile mirrors choosing an Approach before a job; I am a big fan of symmetry!

That's all for now. As a reward for reading or scrolling down this far, here's some recent art from Copperhead County interior art master Adam Schwaninger (whose games you should also go check out). This piece is going to go on the introduction page for the setting chapter.

*obv, if I keep this, I'm going to have to rename the Outfit's Low Profile special ability.