Hi there, first time posting here.

I run a small boutique business consulting firm specializing in custom operations software. Most clients gross between 7 to $12,000 for 1-2 months of work. I am semi-technical myself, but I need to lean heavily on AI to keep up with my client's needs and I worry about the quality/stability of the final deliverables I'm giving them.

I have two developers I work with currently in a similar arrangement and it's not working out with one of them, so I need someone more reliable.

I'll be frank upfront that this is more of an informal partnership than a strict employer/employee relationship. I just make certain guarantees that you will be paid for your time, even if I can't guarantee it will be very much.

Think of this more like a startup, except you'll actually get paid and we're not doing equity politics or seeking funding.

My hard requirements are: Solid English you don't need to be Shakespeare but you do need to understand me without ambiguity, just because there's some degree of liability on my end if we screw up.

I need you to be based in the US, Canada, or western Europe with a strong preference for the US.

I have no issues with AI usage, but I ask that you know what you're doing without it. The whole reason I'm hiring someone is to handle the high risk aspects of certain jobs with a greater degree of control over the final deliverable.

Compensation:

I have a revenue share agreement with my other developers. I source the clients, you help me build, and then we split the profits. If everything goes well, I take home more than you will, but I also take the risk if things go poorly. I can offer a minimum rate of $20-$30/hr based on your skill.

Revenue share is the primary model, but this protects your time in the event a deal falls through, which does happen. Currently I'm suing a former client over non-payment, so this is a real risk I want to mention up front. I ask that you be accommodating on speed of payments in such a scenario, as I'll be paying you out of my earnings from other clients.

Deliverables, Licensing, and NDA:

Whatever you build for me will be owned by me (then usually transferred to the clients), but you are free to use/modify/redistribute the generic version (no client specifics) perpetually with minimal restrictions. This is a great opportunity to build your pet projects and get paid for it, (provided I can find a buyer to foot the bill)

There's no non-compete or any weird contract BS. I'll 1099 you so I don't get reamed on taxes, and that's about it. The only exception to that is client data. Some of my clients are big shots, and I would get turbo-sued if their data got leaked, so in those cases I'd have you sign an NDA. For normal operations there will not be much in the way of NDA or other strange contracts.

There's also no equity to be gained or lost. I own the company, and we contract any revenue shares/splits on a per client basis. If you build something for one client we have an arrangement for, and then I use a version of the deliverable for a second client, you're not entitled to the same split on that second client. If its extremely helpful, I might offer you a dividend out of goodwill, but that's solely at my discretion. You can trust that I'll be fair to you, but I handle the money for the business, nobody else.

The Company:

We're a fresh business consulting firm based in California. I'd say we're relatively inexperienced, but we're doing well with a portfolio of 6 active clients; businesses sized between 10-25 employees. I and one of my developers pay all our bills from this business and we're looking to grow. I hesitate to frame this as a co-founder arrangement on account of the equity situation (or lack thereof), but it's closer to that than a normal employer/employee arrangement. As we grow, I expect your share of the profits to grow as well. There's no product, this is just a service business. There's no takeoff point where suddenly things will be exploding in value. There's no golden goose to cut anyone out of, just a simple operation that we're growing steadily and looking for collaborators.

If we work well together, I'd love to have you around for the long term. The more I can hand off the technical side the more I can focus on bringing in bigger and better clients. This role is currently very part time. 10-15 hours per week, but can grow very quickly once I go back to finding leads. Currently we're at capacity.

Message me here on reddit with your name, location, a time this week you're free to chat for ~15 minutes, and any questions you have.

Next steps would be meeting my other developer, and then getting started on a simple web scraping/data enrichment project with a budget of $2500. We'll see how you do and how we work together. If that goes well, you'll be part of the team. You'll be paid either way though.

So I'm working on a stealth and heisting game called Skulker. It's still deep in development and the only thing you need to know about it for this discussion is that Skulker uses dice pools. You have dice pools per skill from one to 12 d6, successes on a 5 or a 6. DC is a number of successes required, usually 1, but as high as 4 for the very most challenging tasks.

Something original I'm doing is best represented by the "Climbing" skill, but essentially, turning high DC challenges into multi turn skill challenges, similar to 4e.

The system is currently called "Tension Rolls" which I hate personally. I think its a terrible name, but after playtesting, it does definitely add tension and works quite well in the narrow slice that is climbing. I use it for lockpicking as well, but after some feedback I received on my stealth mechanics, I've been thinking, maybe this system is actually robust enough to be a core resolution mechanic for my system.

Here's how it works in the context of climbing.

The GM sets a Challenge Score, which is basically the same thing as a DC. the total number of successes needed to finish the whole obstacle. A few rooftop gaps might be a Challenge Score of 2, while a treacherous wall might be 5 or more.

Instead of rolling all your dice at once, you roll one at a time up to a maximum of the dice in that skill. i.e. Climb skill = 5d6, then you can roll 5 dice in this manner per turn.

• On a success, (a 5 or 6,) reduce the Challenge Score by 1, then choose one of two options. You may Secure Progress, you pause safely (sturdy hand and foot holds) and resume on your next turn. Or you may Continue, rolling another die right away.
• On a 2 to 4, You fail to secure forward progress. choose one of two options. You may try again, and roll another die, or pause safely.
• On a 1: You fail. Your hand slips, or you over-commit to a bad foothold, you're unstable. Pausing is now no longer an option. If you end your turn without securing another success, you will fall. Which usually deals damage and creates a loud noise.

I came up with this system for climbing specifically, because climbing has never felt fair to me in games like D&D. What does failing an acrobatics roll mean? Does it mean you fail to secure progress? Or does it mean you fall? If you fall, is that damage? So many questions. This system resolves most of them.

The idea I've been toying around with is actually incorporating this into Stealthy Movement. Without re-posting all my stealth rules again, the basic idea is essentially breaking down complex plans into sequential rolls of multiple skills very similar to Skill Challenges. Challenge scores Climb: 2 Stealth: 3 and Sleight of Hand: 2 to sneak across the rafters and lift a key from the warden's desk. In this case, I'd include some downsides to pausing mid route or bailing halfway through.

But as a model for having players commit to complex actions and leaving them in the lurch with the constant decisions of "do I press on" I think there's immense promise here.

What do you guys think? I haven't seen anything else like this before, and I'm quite excited about it.

Hi all, I'm seeking some feedback for my sneaky stealth crime game called Skulker. The idea was spurred from me finally trying blades in the dark a few years ago and realizing that the fantasy that game works for is not at all what I'm after. I want a game that treats stealth with the same mechanical complexity as combat, and that's what I've set out to do. After a few rounds of revision and playtesting I now have a pretty decent draft that I'm looking for feedback on.

The intention is super gritty tactical stealth. Moment to moment decisions with a lot of mechanical weight while still remaining lightweight at the table.

I've segmented out most of my stealth chapter and struck out some sections that won't make sense without other mechanics. The rules should stand on their own but if you have any questions I can provide additional context. Feedback is appreciated, and if this looks fun to you, I am planning on running a short campaign with the full rules soon on Sundays at 4pm Pacific.

Summary version at the bottom for those not interested in the full rules.

If you opt for the summary though, I ask that you please don't ask questions that are explained in the chapter segment I've posted. I've already typed this out 3x in exhaustive detail.

## Pitch

You play a desperate professional working in lethal places. You might be a thief, a spy, or an infiltrator. You survive by preparing carefully, choosing your routes well, and finishing the job without being noticed. Direct combat is not a fun tactical puzzle in this game. It is a chaotic, quick and deadly way for a plan to fail and for characters to die. The tension is supposed to comes from the environment and your ever-limited understanding and control over it. You are fragile, so plan accordingly.

Skulker is played with pools of six-sided dice (d6). Whenever you roll, a result of 5 or 6 counts as a success.

Chapter III: STEALTH

Stealth is the core of the game and is given the same detailed treatment that other games give to combat. It is resolved with a single skill, Sneak, rolled against an environmental baseline stealth difficulty, and it is tracked separately for each of the two senses.

11. The Two Senses

A character's risk of detection is measured on two independent tracks.

• Noise is how much the character can be heard.
• Exposure is how much the character can be seen. The two values are tracked separately, because a character can be quiet but visible, or hidden but loud. Each sense is defeated by different means.
• Sound carries in all directions and cannot be blocked by position. A character reduces Noise by moving slowly and choosing soft surfaces, and it falls off with distance.
• Sight only reaches where a guard is looking. It is blocked by walls and cover and depends on the guard's facing and attention (section 18). A character reduces Exposure by using cover, shadow, blind spots, and timing. A well-planned route keeps at least one sense largely inactive at any given moment. Situations where both senses are active at once are the most difficult in the game and should be the exception (section 20).

12. The Signal Scale

Noise and Exposure are both measured on a single scale from 1 to 12, called Signal. Low values <5 are the working range of stealth; high values are loud, uncontrolled events. Character values, environment baselines, and guard thresholds all use this scale.

Signal	Noise (heard)	Exposure (seen)
1	a held breath	a shadow shifting in deep dark
2	a soft footfall on carpet	a dim silhouette in cover
3	a careful footstep	an indistinct figure in shadow
4	a clear footfall, gravel shifting	somewhat visible
5	a scrape or scuff	visible if someone's looking
6	a stumble or thud	not even trying to hide
7	a dropped item, a knock at the door	clearly visible.
8	breaking glass, crushed dry leaves	very clearly visible
9	a slammed door	floodlit and fully exposed
10	a heavy crash, shouting	pretty difficult to miss
11	a gunshot	backlit or highlighted in some way
12	a large explosion	you're literally the sun

Loud actions and bright light bypass the roll. Actions such as breaking a door or firing a weapon produce a Signal of 8 to 12 regardless of the roll, and the best possible roll reduces this by at most 1. Likewise, a strong light source can raise Exposure into this range regardless of the Sneak roll. Controlling light sources is therefore a priority for any infiltrator.

Environment baselines.

Noise is set by the surface: For example:: carpet or grass 2, wood 4, stone 6, gravel 7, glass or dry leaves 8.

Exposure is set by the light: darkness or deep cover 2, dim light or partial cover 4, normal light 6, bright light 7, floodlit or fully open 8.

Because baselines are often high, careful movement is required to avoid detection. A matched posture and one or two successes are usually needed to bring a value below a guard's threshold. In the most hostile environments, some residual value always remains; a floodlit glass floor cannot be crossed silently or unseen.

Sequence of play.

Each stealth situation resolves in three steps.

First, the environment determines which senses are active and how difficult each one is.

Second, the player declares a posture (section 13).

Third, the player rolls Sneak.

13. Postures

A posture determines how a character distributes their effort between staying quiet and staying unseen. Each posture provides a total reduction of 2, divided between Noise and Exposure. No posture is stronger than another; each protects one sense at the expense of the other.

Posture	Noise reduction	Exposure reduction	Protects
Creep	-2	0	Sound. The character moves silently but stays in the open.
Skulk	-1	-1	Both senses equally.
Stalk	0	-2	Sight. The character uses cover and shadow but moves carelessly.

A posture's reduction applies only if the Sneak roll produces at least one success. On a roll with no successes, the posture provides no reduction (section 13).

Standing still. Standing still is not a posture. A character who does not move generates no movement Noise, so their Noise falls to zero, but their Exposure remains at its current value and they make no progress.

Hiding. To press into cover while stationary, use the Hide skill rather than Sneak. Roll Hide against the Exposure baseline; each success reduces that value. Strong cover can reduce Exposure to near zero, while poor cover leaves the character visible. Hide may be used as a Reaction, and it is also the roll used to conceal an object or a body (section 25).

These rules create a constant tension between speed and silence. Defeating sight sometimes rewards speed, crossing before a guard's gaze returns, while defeating sound requires slowness. A character cannot do both perfectly at once.

14. Calculating Noise and Exposure

The environment sets a baseline value for each active sense, generally from 2 to 8. The Sneak roll then determines the character's final Noise and Exposure values. The roll is read in one of two ways.

On a roll with at least one success:

>Noise Value = Baseline − Posture reduction − Successes assigned to that sense.

The result cannot go below 0.

On a roll with no successes:

>Noise Value = Baseline + the number of 1s rolled.

The posture provides no reduction, and each 1 rolled adds 1 to the value. A failed roll can therefore leave a character louder or more visible than if they had simply stood still in the open.

A character rolls Sneak once and assigns its successes between the two senses. When only one sense is active, all successes go to that sense, and the roll behaves like a single check. When both senses are active, the successes can be divided between them (section 20).

A roll with no successes requires no such decision: if both senses are active, the 1s rolled are added to both values.

Pushing a roll. Stress dice added to a Sneak roll (section 10) function as normal dice. They can supply the successes needed to reduce a value, but on a roll with no successes, any 1s they show are added to the value like any other die. Pushing a roll therefore increases both the chance of success and the severity of a failure.

15. Masking Noise

A louder sound conceals a quieter one. When a Noise is present, whether from the environment or from another event, any Noise of equal or lower Signal made at the same time and place is masked and triggers no detection on its own.

A character can use this deliberately by timing a noisy action to coincide with a louder sound, such as a passing cart, a tolling bell, running machinery, or an ally's distraction. A character can also create the covering sound, making a loud noise in one place to mask an action in another.

Masking is limited by range. The covering sound only masks Noise within the area it actually fills. A listener standing directly over the quieter action may still detect it.

16. Detection and Alertness

Every guard has an Alertness value, abbreviated AL, from 1 to 8. The scale is inverted: a lower number means a more alert guard. This single value serves as both the guard's detection threshold and their suspicion track. There is no separate meter.

AL	State	Detects Signal of	Notes
8	Oblivious	8	Asleep or *very* drunk.
7	Distracted	7	Occupied; may dismiss a single minor detection.
6	Relaxed	6	Complacent.
5	Attentive	5	The typical working guard.
4	Cautious	4	"What was that?"
3	Wary	3	Risky actions now usually register.
2	Hunting	2	Knows someone is present.
1	Alarm	1	Fully alerted; raises the alarm, begins a search, or attacks.

Resolving detection. For each guard and each active sense, apply the following steps.

1. Apply distance. Reduce the character's signal value by 1 for each additional room.
2. Confirm the sense applies. Noise always applies. Exposure applies only if the guard has line of sight to the character and their attention is on that area (section 18).
3. Compare. If the adjusted value is equal to or greater than the guard's current AL, the guard detects it.
4. Escalate. Any detected value lowers the guard's AL by a number of steps equal to the difference between the noise and the guards AL toward Alarm. For example: A value 3 or more above the guard's threshold is a blunder and lowers AL by 3 steps. A loud event in the 8–12 range that physically reaches the guard generally sends them directly to Alarm.
5. Alarm. At AL 1, the guard is fully alerted and acts. Accumulation. Three detected slips lower a typical Attentive guard from AL 5 to AL 2 (Hunting), at which point the guard's threshold has dropped far enough that careful movement can no longer reliably clear it. A single blunder reaches Hunting in one step. A fourth slip, or any catastrophe, brings the guard to Alarm.

Loud events apply by range. (Possible edge case resolution rule) Because thresholds extend to 8, a distant loud event could otherwise pass beneath an inattentive guard. To prevent this, any event in the 8–12 range alerts every guard its adjusted Signal physically reaches, regardless of threshold. A gunshot wakes a sleeping guard two rooms away. This applies only to inherently loud actions; a high Noise value from movement is still resolved by the steps above.

Alertness does not decrease on its own. A guard who has become suspicious remains so. Only a guard at AL 7 or 8 will dismiss a minor detection without escalating. A guard stands down only through events in the fiction, such as searching an area, finding nothing, and being relaxed by the GM later. There is no automatic per-turn recovery, because the several steps between Attentive and Alarm are themselves the buffer against single slips.

17. Holding a Position and When to Reroll

A character does not roll every turn. A stealth value is a state that persists until something changes.

• The first Move under a posture is the roll. Its result becomes the character's standing value for that area. No separate entry roll is made.
• While the character holds that posture, no further rolls are made. The GM compares any guard's senses against the standing value, applying distance. As the character approaches a guard, distance reduces the value less, so the risk rises on its own.
• A character rerolls only when something changes: switching posture, entering a new area with different terrain or light, taking an action whose base Signal exceeds the standing value (such as a loud action), or coming under active scrutiny (section 18).
• Standing still is not the same as switching posture. It produces no reroll and no progress. The GM tracks the standing value; the player does not recalculate it each turn. A failed roll is especially costly here, because its inflated value becomes the standing value for the area until an event forces a reroll. The only way to improve a poor standing value is to change how the character is moving.

18. Sightlines, Areas, and Attention

Sight depends on where a guard is looking. A guard is always in one of two states.

• Scanning. The guard has no fixed focus. Every area they can see is checked at their base AL.
• Watching. The guard is focused on one area. That area becomes sharper, at about half their current AL, while every other visible area becomes looser, at 1.5x their current AL. For example, a Relaxed guard at AL 6 watching a vault checks the vault at AL 3, while an ignored doorway drifts to AL 9.

Passive and active observation. While a guard is Scanning or simply Watching, no rolls are made; the GM compares the character's standing value to the threshold of that area. When a guard actively scrutinizes an area because they suspect something, detection becomes a contest: the guard rolls Watch against Exposure, or Listen against Noise, opposed by the character's Sneak.

Drawing attention. A detected value pulls a guard into Watching the area it came from. A character can exploit this by deliberately drawing attention to one area in order to loosen another: knocking something over by a door so the guard turns toward it leaves a watched vault unguarded at the cost of an AL decrease. A guard's facing changes in response to stimulus and along their patrol, and both can be learned in advance by scouting with Watch and Listen.

19. Examples of Play

Sound only. A guard stands with their back to the character, so Exposure is inactive. The floor is stone (Noise baseline 6) and the guard is Attentive (AL 5). The character uses Creep (Noise reduction 2) and assigns their successes to Noise.

With one success, Noise becomes 6 − 2 − 1 = 3, well below the guard's threshold; the character moves up and the only difficult roll is the Sleight of Hand for the theft.

With no successes, Creep provides no reduction: Noise stays at 6, which the guard hears at Close range, and each 1 rolled raises it further, to 7 with one and a blunder at 8.

Sight active. A character must cross a well-lit hall (Exposure baseline 7) while a Cautious guard (AL 4) faces them at Nearby range. The character uses Stalk (Exposure reduction 2).

With one success, Exposure becomes 7 − 2 − 1 = 4, reduced by 1 for Nearby range to 3, below the guard's threshold; the character crosses unseen.

With no successes, Stalk provides no reduction: Exposure is 7, reduced to 6 by distance, already 2 above the guard's threshold, and a single 1 makes it a blunder. A lit sightline should not be crossed on an uncertain roll. Wait for the guard to look away, remove the light, or Hide and let them pass.

20. When Both Senses Are Active

When sound and sight are both active, the character still makes a single Sneak roll but must divide its successes between Noise and Exposure. T

he character is detected if either value clears the guard's threshold. With a balanced Skulk in a typical room where both baselines are near 5, at least one success is needed on each sense, which a typical character fails to achieve more often than not.

A roll with no successes is especially dangerous here: no reduction applies to either sense, and the 1s rolled are added to both values at once.

For this reason, a room with both senses active should be reduced to a single threat before crossing. Remove the light to lower Exposure, mask the sound, or draw the guard's attention elsewhere. The crossing itself remains a single roll.

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TLDR The summary version is below

Noise & Exposure

Stealth is tracked on two separate tracks. You can be quiet but visible, or hidden but loud. Noise (Hearing): Carries everywhere. Defeated by moving slowly and choosing soft surfaces. Exposure (Sight): Directional. Defeated by cover, shadows, and timing.

The Signal Scale (1–12)

Both Noise and Exposure are measured on a "Signal" scale against enemies Awareness or Alertness Scale. Noise scale increases with conspicuousness, Alertness Scale *Decreases* as guards become more alert. Loud noise = big value, alert guard = small value. Very important!

Signal example values

1–4: Shadows, soft footsteps.

5–7: Risky. Scuffs, visible if someone is looking.

8–12: Auto-fail territory. Breaking glass, gunshots, floodlights.

How Stealth Resolves

You do not roll every single turn. You roll once to establish a "standing value" for an area, and only roll again if the environment or your tactics change.

1. DM Sets the Baseline: The environment sets the base difficulty for Noise (gravel = 7) and Exposure (bright light = 6). For either the area you're operating in or a specific action you take. Minor DM fiat.
2. Pick a Posture: Choose how you move.
   • Creep: -2 Noise (Good for sound)
   • Stalk: -2 Exposure (Good for sight)
   • Skulk: -1 to Both (Balanced)
3. Roll "Sneak": * If you succeed: Subtract your Posture bonus AND your rolled successes from the Baseline. This is your final Signal.
   1. If you fail (zero successes): You get NO Posture bonus. Worse, every "1" you rolled increases your Signal. A failed roll is often worse than just standing still.

How Guards Work

Guards have a single Awareness (AL) stat from 8 (Asleep/Oblivious) to 1 (Full Alarm).

If your final Signal is equal to or higher than the Guard's AL, you are detected. (Distance reduces your Signal by 1 per room).

Every slip-up drops their AL toward 1 porportionally to the difference between signal and AL.

Guards are either Scanning (checking everywhere at their base AL) or Watching (focusing on one spot, making that spot harder to sneak through, but ignoring other areas).