I'm really glad to people expanding roles- I tried to add a few to my project as well, but it's nice to see more-  and complications are a neat design space.

FIST is one of those rare RPGs that manages to cram in everything you could want, and in under 50 pages. The 100 Traits alone make for seemingly endless character possibilities. But the *one *thing I was worried FIST could use more of was Roles, which are sort of a personal drive tied to an advancement system. Each Role is unique, meaning you can’t have more than one per team. There were thousands of Trait combinations, but only nine Roles.

derivative 14 more than doubles the number of Roles by half. The new Roles immediately give me character ideas, from the Luddite to the Impostor. All good stuff.

And remember when I said FIST had plenty of Traits? Well, now it has even more. And with Traits like this, I’m not complaining.

DRAGON: you’re a goddamn dragon.

You’re goddamn right I am. And if playing a Dragon gets you pumped, there’s also rules for animal PCs, which I know my players will enjoy.

If there’s one complaint, it’s that the black text inverts to white over background images, which can be a little hard on the eyes. (The top of “resupply to call is white on light grey). Personally I’d prefer keeping the text black and fading the background images with white smoke or something. Especially since I’m going to print this out and keep it tucked by my copy of FIST.

The highest praise I can give a product is: “Cool! I don’t have to homebrew that anymore!” and “Woah. I never thought of homebrewing that.”

I’m happy to say, both apply to derivative 14.

Derivative 14 is an an expansion for FIST that enhances the espionage procedural feeling of the core game.

The PDF is 16 pages, with a strong, sleek, technical military vibe. It matches the energy of the core book almost perfectly---although there is one photo of a raccoon that feels a little goofy.

Derivative 14's biggest addition to FIST is a small change to the core game loop. When deploying on a mission, the operatives roll for tasks like reconnaissance. The rolls influence the mission by giving the operatives more resources, better information, or creating new complications. It's a neat mechanic and feels very Blades In The Dark, and it doesn't require a lot of mental overhead from the GM, players, or the underlying math of the system.

Derivative 14's other major component is new Roles and Traits. They're all flavorful and weird, with a standout being the Figment, who is a PC that is actively being dreamed to life by someone else. There's also a set of Traits for playing as animals, in case you perhaps want to steer in a We3 direction.

Finally, Derivative 14 introduces Complications, which are like negative Roles that you can lean into to gain more War Dice. It's a nice way of centering the characters and their decisions over "winning" the mission, and I'd strongly recommend adding this to your game even if you leave the rest of Derivative 14 on the table.

Overall, Derivative 14 is an excellent, well-crafted, and surprisingly subtle add-on that enhances FIST's core gameplay without significantly disrupting anything.

 Lots of ideas here and a lot of potential. The animal rules make perfect sense for the high-octane, low-sense world of FIST and I could totally see using those. After all the decades that inspired FIST did have Max, The Bionic Dog.

I think the rest have potential. Planning The Op warms my heart because of all the games of Shadowrun where planning the operation is half the fun. As presented, it's a dice roll, some bonus points and the chance of a problem, but you are definitely onto something. I also like the idea of complications as they remind me of FATE's aspects and points.

I probably wouldn't use this expansion as is, but I definitely want to pull it apart for all the ideas that would come spilling out. Well done.

Well laid out. Optional pre-op rules that look quick to implement and that could compel conversation at the table and push the plot. Traits and uplifted - hyper intelligent animal sections have neat ideas. Seems like a worthy addendum to the core rules.