The Body Part Mod Conundrum
Change it, simplify it, or cut it?
Mods are flat bonuses Body Parts can give to a Droid. The affected attribute of the Mod is random, and its bonus as well, and if the Body Part breaks down, the Mod goes with it.
These two parts have proven to be rather complex.
THE ROLLING
The process of rolling a Body Part is already two rolls (D100 part, D12 condition), and the 2D6 with different meanings was too complex for the final stretch during playtest.
This problem breaks down into two different rolls: the actual attribute affected and its bonus.
The bonus seems easy enough; kill the table. During character creation, rolling a 0 bonus was also rather boring, so two in one solution. Indicate Mods go from 1 to 4 for GM discretion on random parts for loot. Done!
The Mod itself also has immense potential to be removed as a roll. Just determine a hard coded buff depending on body part (Torsos always give Armor, Heads always give Mind). Seems elegant enough - until Legs or Arms have to be Firewall.
But it also works with how rolls go. If Arms always make your Body better, and almost always a Body Save may be improved by an Arm, everything fits together!
Let's call this the Arm=Body Solution.
Or alternatively, each different, 100 parts have their own Mod. The Structural brace Arm may have a Body Mod, but the Adhesive polimer palm may have a Spark Mod.
Let's call this the Unique Per Type Solution.
Both solutions push for some sort of gameplay I am not a fan of.
Arm=Body Solution create a desire for one Part of the other. Arms that raise a Body are suddenly very good, compared to a Torso that raises Armor.
Your character has the best Mind? Give the best Head Part to them. Stack odds all around. You are the Head Bot, you are the Others Bot with the best Spark, etc.
Should Arms be Firewall, then, a more obscure defense attribute, to balance out how useful Arms are? Should Torsos be relegated entirely to random utilities and raising Armor?
Alternatively, doing Unique Per Type Solution can also create bad/boring part types with good mod combos; like a leg you just can't find a good use ever, but it raises that Spark up, so why trade it?
The concept of "Usefulness of Type" being a balancing factor with "Desireable Mod" is not a game design direction I feel good about.
But all of this doesn't address the other issue Mods have shown.
THE BOOKKEEPING
Your Structural Brace give you HP+1 (D6). You go write it in your Sheet- well, how would you do that?
HP 4 +1
Easy. But then you also got to note the Arm is that +1, otherwise how would you remember where is that +1 from? And if you took damage, where the damage goes, on the 4 or the 1? Would you have to go for a suggested character sheet, with
HP 54+1
This is now 3 spaces in a sheet to write an attribute. And another to write its current number, with the damages.
Potentially, this may have been just the chaos of character creation, noting things down wherever. But it peeves me that it is all weird, adding this layer of complexity to the clean Odd vibe.
It is of note that Arm=Body Solution could give some solution to this. Add everything together on the sheet, because if you have a Arm, we will always know where that extra Body is coming from. Upgrade it? Add a + next to the Part, your Body is now higher. Done, clean.
(This could also mean a Part doesnt even have a numbered mod, just a + next to it to indicate a higher mod.)
Arm: Structural Brace (D8, Body1)
Or
Arm: Structural Brace+ (D8)
I think we are getting somewhere. Sorry, Torsos.