=Moxie Alternatives= 
The following optional rules detail four separate ways that players may employ Moxie during game play.
==Moxie as Luck== 
Sometimes the success or failure of an entire encounter hinges upon blind chance. Will the shrapnel from the exploding habitat hit or miss the agents as they helplessly free fall away? Did your sentinel pack two clips or three? Does the headhunter bot attack the wounded teammate or the panicked civilian? Does the lightning strike hit the aerostat or the transhumans ﬁghting on top of it? For situations where no skill check is apparent but the outcome is still in question, the gamemaster is, as always, the ﬁnal arbiter. Groups that want to simulate the dangers of happenstance, however, may consider using Moxie as a Luck check. There are two ways to do this, detailed below.
===Luck Tests=== 
Whenever a player’s luck is in question, make a Moxie x 10 Test as a “Luck Test.” For example, if Magda really needs that shredder still clutched in the hands of the dead Jovian to have ammo in the clip, she can roll to see if she’s lucky. She has a Moxie rating of 2, so even though she has spent all her Moxie points this session, her target number is 20. If she rolls under, she’ll pump ﬂechettes into the charging exsurgent; if not, the “click” is the last thing she’ll hear before the resleeve technician says hello.
Gamemasters who really want to present a challenge to their players can use the player’s current number of (unspent) Moxie points for this test, rather than the full Moxie rating. This represents the odds building up against the character as their luck runs out.
Luck Tests of this sort can be a useful tool for the gamemaster even outside of action scenes. Does the body bank have the morph you want in stock? Is your rep network contact on hand to call in that favor? Did you forget to specify if you brought a particular piece of gear along on the op? Make a Luck Test and ﬁnd out.
Luck Tests can also work for the entire team. If the gamemaster needs to arbitrarily decide on whether or not something happens that has an effect on all of the player characters, then make a Luck Test using the lowest Moxie score of all the characters present.
===Catching A Break=== 
Conversely, catching a lucky break can be just one more beneﬁt of a Moxie spend. In the example above, if Magda has Moxie points left, she can spend a point to make sure the gun is loaded. If she’s out of Moxie, she’s “out of luck” and will have to make do without fate on her side.
==Investigative Moxie== 
It’s possible for a game of Eclipse Phase to bog down when sentinels miss important clues during an investigation. Gamemasters looking for a tool to ﬁx this may wish to allow players to spend Moxie to get the information they need.
Normally, when a character fails a test, the only way to use Moxie to turn failure into success is to ﬂip the tens and ones on the die roll. If the character needed a 71 or less, and their player rolls an 89, Moxie is useless.
Using this investigative Moxie rule, gamemasters may designate certain pieces of information as crucial toward completing an investigation. Such clues should be few in number; only those that lay on the critical path toward solving a given scenario qualify. When writing a scenario, the gamemaster should deﬁne in advance which pieces of information truly matter. If the player characters fail the test that would have given them this crucial information, the gamemaster can offer the players an opportunity to spend a Moxie point to acquire the clue they missed. The gamemaster should keep a record of how much Moxie each player character has and how much they’ve spent. Gamemasters who use this system should take care to afford opportunities for characters to regain Moxie, as they’ll go through it faster. They may also wish to employ the Moxie Track (“Green Die”) rule described below.
Whether a clue qualiﬁes for investigative Moxie use is completely at the discretion of the gamemaster. Players may call for a Moxie spend if they intuit that they’re on to something big, but it’s always the gamemaster’s call whether to allow it. The gamemaster should resist attempts by players to short circuit the scenario by calling for a Moxie spend on a test that would lead straight to the ﬁnal objective. A good investigative scenario is a chain of clues; it shouldn’t be possible to skip to the end point using Moxie. It should be possible, however, to overcome a failed attempt to get a piece of information so that the game can move on to the next episode.
In order to spend Moxie toward gaining a crucial clue, the character must possess a skill relevant to the information to be gained. Moxie may not be spent to help other player characters, unless the helping character also possesses the skill and is participating (granting a bonus) as a helper in the test.
Skills where investigative Moxie may be applied:
* [[Academics]], [[Interest|Interests]], and [[Profession|Professions]]
* [[Interfacing]] and [[Infosec]]
* [[Investigation]], [[Perception]], [[Research]], and [[Scrounging]]
* Social skills, but only sometimes (e.g., a seduction attempt where gaining information is a direct result of success)
This rule should never be used to aid activities not directly relevant to getting the clue. In particular, gamemasters should be careful about applying it to Active skill tests. Some examples:
* Using Moxie on an Academics roll to analyze a mysterious liquid is okay.
* Using Moxie on an [[Interrogation]] Test against a tough subject who won’t reveal crucial information is appropriate, but using it on an [[Unarmed Combat]] Test to subdue the subject for interrogation isn’t.
* Using Moxie on a [[Perception]] Test to notice an easily overlooked physical clue is appropriate, but using it on an [[Inﬁltration]] Test to stealthily enter the area where the clue is hidden isn’t.
* Using Moxie on a Perception Test to notice an important hidden clue is okay, but using it to avoid a booby trap planted near that clue isn’t.
* Using Moxie on an Infosec roll to hack into a ﬁle is okay, but using it to avoid being backtraced by the sysadmin after making off with the data isn’t.
* Using Moxie on a [[Kinesics]] Test to tell that a key witness is lying is okay, but using it to identify an assassin coming after the sentinels to stymie their investigation isn’t.
In general, the gamemaster should leave risks the characters take in the physical and meshed worlds in the hands of the old Moxie rules, only applying this rule where it serves to feed the players info that moves the plot along.
Gamemasters may also wish to write their scenarios so that when the player characters succeed on a skill test to learn a needed piece of information, they have the option of spending a point of Moxie anyway. In this case, the gamemaster should provide additional information, beyond what would have been gained by simply succeeding (or failing and then spending a Moxie). Alternatively, the gamemaster may use the spent Moxie to raise the player character’s MoS.
Whether this is allowed should depend on how the scenario is written. Since Moxie is a scarce resource for player characters, gamemasters should be clear about when spending additional Moxie will or won’t help before it’s spent.
==Moxie As Narrative Control==
Some roleplaying groups prefer a gaming style where the players have a larger degree of narrative control. In other words, they like it when the players themselves have the capability to inject dramatic elements into the ongoing story. This creates a more collaborative play style where the gamemaster is not in sole control and every player at the table is working to craft a compelling story. This optional system adds a layer of narrative control to Eclipse Phase players by exploiting Moxie as an expendable resource.
When using this system, players can spend a point of Moxie to achieve one of the effects outlined below. This use of Moxie is compatible with the standard uses of Moxie detailed in the core book. Moxie points spent on narrative control are deducted from the character’s available Moxie points and may not be used again until refreshed.
* You may give a point of Moxie to another player character to spend as they wish.
* You may spend a Moxie point to introduce an NPC to a scene. This NPC may be new or may be an existing NPC (as long as the NPC’s presence is plausible). For new NPCs, the player may deﬁne one aspect of the character: their morph, factional allegiance, a noteworthy skill (skill rating 50), a notable rep score (rep 50), a speciﬁc ego or morph trait, a piece of equipped gear or augmentation, the NPC’s attitude toward the player characters, and so on. The gamemaster determines the other details.
* You may spend a Moxie point to introduce an item to a scene. The presence of this item should be plausible or at least explainable in the context of the setting as described thus far. The item cannot have a Cost higher than Moderate and should not have major offensive capabilities. The item could, of course, be something the character desperately needs, such as the tool to get past a blocked doorway or the widget they needed to put in place some emergency repairs. This item could also be a clue regarding the current situation, plot, or goals, such as an incriminating piece of evidence or an email on a hacked system that points the characters towards a new location in their investigation. The gamemaster determines the placement of this item within the scene and the content of any clues.
* You may spend a Moxie point to introduce an environmental element to a scene. This element should plausibly ﬁt within the current setting as previously described. It should provide a new detail without drastically affecting the scene. For example, it could be a balcony exit to the aerostat living quarters the character is hiding in, a natural sheltering formation to escape the extreme weather on an exoplanet, or a disabled sensor leaving an unguarded opening into the TITAN Quarantine Zone on Mars. The environmental element could also be an event, such as a car crash that distracts the character’s pursuers at just the right moment.
* You may spend a Moxie point to establish a relationship between your character and an NPC. You may have worked together on one of Luna’s early colonies, may have grown up in the same city on Earth, or may both have the same friend in the local triad. The relationship should not be intense and close, instead being more in the realm of loose friendships and acquaintances—or even minor rivals or enemies. The relationship should be plausible within the context already established for the NPC and setting. It may include shared histories and connections to other NPCs.
> The player may deﬁne the rough basics of the relationship, but the gamemaster settles the ﬁner points and the NPC’s current attitude toward the player character.
===Narrative Moxie Points===
Gaming groups that prefer an even higher degree of narrative control or that don’t want to eat into the amount of Moxie a character has available for other purposes can create a pool of Narrative Moxie points for each character. A character’s Narrative Moxie points are equal to their standard Moxie points, but Narrative Moxie may only be used for the dramatic editing options outlined above.
==Moxie Track (Green DIce)==
Some gamemasters may ﬁnd it difﬁcult to keep track of player character motivations, which can lead to player complaints that their motivations are useless for regaining Moxie. To simplify this, have each player keep a Moxie Track for each motivation. The Moxie track starts empty and contains ﬁve boxes. Whenever a player character attempts a test that dovetails with their motivations, they may include a green die to signify this in their test (green is recommended, but of course any color die will do, as long as the players and gamemaster agree beforehand). If the test succeeds, in addition to succeeding at the action, the player ticks off a box on the Moxie track for that motivation.
If a test with a green die succeeds critically, the player ticks off two boxes on the Moxie track. If it fails critically, the player clears a box on the Moxie track, if any are checked.
Green dice may only be thrown on skill or aptitude tests, not on damage rolls or any other type of die roll. The player may only throw a green die once during a combat or an ongoing task action. Players may tick off a box after applying Moxie to a roll that included a green die.
The gamemaster is the ﬁnal arbiter of whether throwing a green die on a test is appropriate. Players shouldn’t be allowed to contrive motivation-related tasks simply to amass ticks. If the gamemaster judges a given action to be only tenuously linked to a motivation or to the events of the current scenario, throwing a green die shouldn’t be allowed. Further, if the action requires no real work or entails no risk, it doesn’t qualify for a green die.
When the Moxie track for a motivation is full and the player has spent Moxie, erase all of the ticks and give the character 1 point of Moxie back. If the character is at full Moxie, they may bank the ticked-off motivation and erase the ticks when they eventually do spend a Moxie. However, they may not bank more than 5 ticks per motivation.
The gamemaster may also use the standard rules for regaining Moxie in combination with the Moxie track system at their discretion. This is best done at the completion of a plot arc. For example, the gamemaster might wish to award a combination of straight-up Moxie point regains plus a box tick or two at the end of a plot arc that played heavily to one or more of a character’s motivations.

[ [[Home]] | [[Game Rules]] ]