Cartel (IB)

Starfox's Blades in the Dark hack

A Cartel is a quiet coalition that fixes prices, routes, and access. Across habitats and along the lanes, they corner supplies, gatekeep licenses, and lean on brokers to turn scarcity into leverage. Their play is profit and policy by chokepoint: control docks, storage, manifests, and the stories people believe about value.

Heat & Wanted Level

☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ | ☐☐☐☐

Credit

☐☐☐☐ | Vault ☐☐☐☐ | Vault 2 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

Special Abilities

1. Entrepreneurs: Each PC may add +1 action rating to Consort, Study, or Sway (up to a max rating of 3).
2. Accord: Treat +3 Faction statuses as if they were Turf Crew Upgrades.
3. Franchising: All your cohorts gain the Independent edge.
4. Good Stuff: Your merchandise is renowned; product Quality +1 on a large scale. This increase applies to your effective Tier involving your merchandise.
5. Patron: Advancing your Tier costs half the usual Credit. Who is your patron, and why do they help you?
6. Surveys: During downtime gain +1d to Gather Information.
7. Additional Playbook: Select another Crew Playbook. From now you may choose its Upgrades and Special Abilities. Immediately gain access only to the Crew XP track.

Crew XP

At the end of each session, for each item below, mark 1 XP (or mark 2 XP if that item occurred multiple times):

1. Secure supply, fix prices, steer routes, or capture a new market/berth.
2. Contend with challenges above your current station.
3. Bolster your crew’s reputation or develop a new one.
4. Express the goals, drives, inner conflict, or essential nature of the crew.

Crew Upgrades

Starting Upgrades Cohort (Rooks), Independent Rooks, 2 of choice.

Cartel Only Upgrades

1. ☐ Advertising — +2 Credit payoff on operations involving public deals.
2. ☐ Bank — Each downtime a crew member may convert Stash equal to half Tier (round up) to Credit at full value.
3. ☐ Clothier — +1d Engagement on Social plans.
4. ☐ Cover Identities — +1d Engagement on Deception plans.
5. ☐ Data Analysis — +1d to Gather Information during downtime.
6. ☐ Graft — +2 Credit payoff on operations that rely on secret deals.
7. ☐ Sanctum — Reduce Heat increase by from each operation by 2.
8. ☐ Supply Network — +2d to Acquire Asset downtime activity.
9. ☐ Tactical Tailoring — +2 load at light encumberance.
10. ☐ Transport Pool — +1d Engagement on Transport plans.

Common Crew Upgrades

Available to all crews. See Crew Playbooks for an explanation of all terms below.

Base: ☐,☐ Life support, ☐,☐ Power, ☐,☐ Maneuver, ☐,☐ Gravity, ☐,☐ Camouflage, ☐,☐ Security.

Assets: ☐,☐,☐,☐ Investment — Reduces the base cost of improving Tier, before multiplication.

Installations: ☐,☐ Quarters, ☐☐☐☐ Training, ☐,☐ Vault, ☐,☐ Venue, ☐,☐ Prison, ☐,☐ Workshop, ☐,☐ Medical, ☐,☐ Hangar.

Vehicles: ☐,☐ Shuttles (needs hangar), ☐,☐ Fighters (needs hangar), ☐,☐ Runabouts.

Quality: ☐ Documents, ☐ Gear, ☐ Implements, ☐ Supplies, ☐ Tools, ☐ Weapons.

Vices: ☐ Faith, ☐ Gambling, ☐ Luxury, ☐ Obligation, ☐ Pleasure, ☐ Stupor, ☐ Weird.

Cohorts ☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐,☐ Cohort: (Max 2 per tier). Each cohort begins with one Flaw. ☐ Add Edge or remove flaw from one cohort. Repeatable

Cohorts

Each cohort is either a Team or an Expert with one Type and one Flaw. A maximum of 2 cohorts for each Tier. Each cohort needs this data.

Name:

☐ Team or ☐ Expert. This is where your initial upgrade investment is checked.

Type: First type is free. You can add one additional Type by spending an upgrade. ☐ Agents, ☐ Engineers, ☐ Marines, ☐ Scientists, ☐ Security, ☐ Winghands.

Edges. Each cohorts can add edges as if they were upgrades. ☐ Armored, ☐ Elite, ☐ Fearsome, ☐ Independent, ☐ Loyal.

Flaws. Each cohorts can remove flaws at the cost of an upgrade: ☐ Ally, ☐ Compromised, ☐ Intelligent, ☐ Principled, ☐ Savage, ☐ Unreliable, ☐ Wild.

Damage: Cross one box per level of harm: (☐ Armor), ☐ Weak, ☐ Impaired, ☐ Broken.