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Loss leaders.
If you want some nefarious scheme for a villain in your campaign, just take a standard real-world business practice and push it to the max.
- Subscription services with hard-to-cancel terms: Make the conditions that nobody bothers to read bind the subscriber for life. Or beyond. Their children are automatically enrolled at birth. Opting out requires exiling yourself from society.
- Dynamic ("surge") pricing: Stores have biometric identification so that those digital price tags can change instantaneously depending on who is looking at them. Customers who can afford more, pay more. Integrate with social media monitoring, and if the store works out that you're grieving they raise your price for coping items like chocolate or ice cream.
- Loyalty programmes: Instead of rewards for buying more, you get punished for buying less. Didn't buy your quota of groceries this week? Well, next week is just going to cost more, no matter what you do.
- Gig economy: Instead of paying workers at rates based on completed deliveries or actual work or whatever, workers have to bid to supply the work, and you need to undercut every other potential bidder to get the gig. Companies get the work done for ever-cheaper labour costs as the workers compete against each other, and haul in ever-larger profits for themselves.
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
Definitely something screwy going on. We've got the pyramid thing, a bunch of cone things now as well, and some other odd shapes. Also interestingly, there's something screwy going on with the pyramid page as well. I had to check, but it definitely wasn't cut off on the top before. Half page of paper with an odd camera angle? Weird Force vision thing?
Connix has such a great face for complaining. It's really quite incredible just how well that fits. I wonder just what stage direction she was given to have that blend of "Why am I here?" and "Would you please just get on with it?".
Anyway, I guess if Leia is staying with the Resistance to investigate AnaZone or the books, that'd be how she gets written out of the main plot. It'd be a little hard to continue having Carrie make proper appearances as Leia what with being dead and all. Annie has Finn to continue playing for a character, so it's not like she'll have no one to play for the comic. Plus, voice-only communication is still an option if Leia really needs to talk!
Transcript
Chewbacca: The First Order shouldn’t still be sending packages. They must be something else.
BB-8: Loss leaders from AnaZone?
Chewbacca: But how would Palpatine have details of Force-sensitives?
BB-8: Spies?
GM: Rey, the only reference to Tatooine you find is Anakin, his family, and Greedo.
GM: It’s on the page facing that pyramid thing you saw before.
Rey: But Anakin wasn’t Force sensitive until Qui-Gon injected him with midi-chlorians.
Rey: Something screwy’s going on here.
Leia: On second thought, maybe we should investigate those books. Or what AnaZone’s really up to.
Rey: All the plot hooks are pointing to Tatooine.
Leia: Hmm. Well, you kids go. I have a Resistance to run.
Rey: It’ll be fun!
Leia: Talk to me about fun after you’ve been chained to a giant slug crime lord.
Kaydel Ko Connix: {sotto voce} They’re even bonding over that.