Overview
Rising Star 2 – Band Member Drug Addiction GuideThe purpose of this guide is to help those who want to increase immersion/roleplaying beyond the simple band member attributes and interactions that the game currently allows. By using a simple dice roll / RNG system, you can simulate drug addictions for your band members, which affects skill point distribution when they level up.
Introduction
Drug and alcohol addiction in the music industry is very real. How many times have you heard of a member of your favorite band going to rehab or overdosing? How many of your favorite bands have kicked out members based on drug addiction? You may know of other bands, not your favorites, where a member has died or the band has broken up due to drug issues.
The main idea behind this guide is that your band members have a chance on every level-up to become addicted to an illicit substance, kick the habit, or stay sober.
There are two systems: Attitude-based and non-attitude based.
Addiction Checks and Effects
To determine what drug the band member is addicted to, use a random number generator or D20 dice roller with the following chart (or change the values to anything you’d like).
First roll:
1-10 – Addicted
11-20 – Not Addicted
Second roll (if addicted):
1. Pills
2. Ecstasy
3. Marijuana
4. Cocaine
5. Heroin
6. Speed
7. Alcohol
8. Cocaine
9. Heroin
10. Speed
11. Pills
12. Ecstasy
13. Marijuana
14. Cocaine
15. Heroin
16. Speed
17. Alcohol
18. Cocaine
19. Heroin
20. Speed
Impact of Addiction
So what’s the point of determining which drugs your bandmates are addicted to? Because it affects/limits how you distribute their skill points! Let’s say your Drummer’s primary skill bonus is in “Playing.” Certain addictions could nullify that skill bonus by BLOCKING you from adding any points. Similarly, each addiction leads to a PRIMARY SKILL FOCUS where you *HAVE* to put 3/5 of their level-up skill points until they kick the habit.
So we end up with two conditions:
ADDICTION – You CANNOT put skill points into a certain category, and must put 3/5 skill points into one SPECIFIC category.
SOBRIETY – You can put skill points into any categories you want.
Here’s what I use to determine the addiction effects. Again, change these values to whatever you want for your own roleplaying purposes.
Pills
Blocked Skill: Repair – cannot add skill points
Focus Skills: Business – must use 3/5 skill points
Ecstacy:
Blocked Skill: Playing – cannot add skill points
Focus Skill: Production – must use 3/5 skill points
Marijuana
Blocked Skill: Production – cannot add skill points
Focus Skill: Writing Music – must use 3/5 skill points
Cocaine:
Blocked Skill: Writing Lyrics – cannot add skill points
Focus Skill: Stage Presence – must use 3/5 skill points
Heroin:
Blocked Skill: Stage Presence – cannot add skill points
Focus Skill: Repair – must use 3/5 skill points
Alcohol:
Blocked Skill: Business – cannot add skill points
Focus Skill: Writing Lyrics – must use 3/5 skill points
Speed:
Blocked Skill: Writing Music – cannot add skill points
Focus Skill: Playing – must use 3/5 skill points
Everytime the band member levels up, use the RNG or D20 to determine if they stay addicted or kick the habit.
1-10: Still addicted
11-20: Getting sober
Once they’re sober, you can distribute skill points however you’d like. BUT, you also have to replace one of their starting attitudes with a random one, using dice/RNG. Rinse/wash/repeat during every level up cycle.
Attitude-Based System
1. Attitude-based.
Using this system, your band members’ propensity for addiction are based on their starting attitudes when you first hire them.
Any band member that has one of the following starting attitudes has a chance of drug addiction:
Partying
Depression
Anarchy
Sex
Hate
Similarly, if you change attitudes for band members from time to time, any of these attributes gets the addiction chance.
Non-Attitude-Based System
2. Non-Attitude Based Addiction System
If you don’t want to link addiction to attitudes, just do a random check when you hire them.
1-10 Addictive Personality
11-20 Non-Addictive Personality
If they have an addictive personality, perform the addiction check on every level up. Rinse/wash/repeat.
Other Ways to Use This System
Other Ways to Use This System:
– IMAGE: Use addiction/sobriety to determine whether to change the band member’s look. Maybe they transform their image every time they get sober. Or maybe they do it when they get addicted to a substance.
– BUSKING: Use addiction/sobriety to determine whether the band can busk or not. If your guitarist is addicted to heroin, maybe he vanishes between gigs and blocks the band from busking, forcing you to do odd jobs or repair equipment for cash.
– SONGWRITING: Use addiction/sobriety to determine whether the band can write songs or how they write songs. Maybe an addicted member’s rhythm/melody/riff contributions cannot be used in a new song until they are sober, only banked for the future. Or maybe the band only writes songs when every member is sober.
– PRACTICE: Use the addiction/sobriety mechanics to determine whether the band can rehearse. You could even develop a new condition check, where each addicted band member has a 50/50 chance of not being able to rehearse that day.
– ATTITUDES: Use addiction/sobriety to determine when to change attitudes. Maybe any status change results in an overhaul of their attitudes. (I personally keep one starting attitude the same for each band member no matter what, so in my playstyle, that means I could randomize the other two attitudes whenever a band member gets addicted or gets sober.)
So that’s the system. Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions that I can incorporate in this guide. Check my profile on Steam for other guides I’ve written that incorporate dice rolls and RNGs to add “missing features” to other games.