Rules: Gigs for a hardhold and manipulate on the radio

Question 1:
The way I understand it in 2nd ed:
The hardholder can amass more and more barter for every wealth roll, unlike 1st ed.
When somebody is doing gigs for a hardhold, the hardholder has to pay from "his" stack of surplus barter.
Correct?

Question 2:
Can you Manipulate over long distances with one-way radio? Like "Hey, Mister Barker! Stop dumping your waste upstreams, or I will start killing your relatives!"

On 1:
No, unspent Wealth surplus barter goes away at the end of the session. See here.
The way I see it is that the barter you get from the roll doesn't suddenly land in your knee (and then disappear). Rather, it's the amount that we as a group agree that you can just raise, no questions asked, and give away as you see fit. No questions asked, both in-game and out: the amount you get from your surplus is the limit before we have to play out the interaction where you ask your lieutenant to bring up some jingle, and they ask back "okay, who do you suggest I shake down, boss"? It's not necessarily that the surplus barter is physically in the hardholders sole, discretionary custody (like a safe only they have access to), rather it's an abstraction of how the power dynamics and economics of the hardhold work, with the net result: up to X times per session, just say you rustle up 1-barter, and it happens. After that, it's not like your hardhold is depleted and everyone hates you, but if you want to move barter around, play it out.

On 1:
With Jonatan. That's a good way to think of it.

On 2:
Yes, absolutely!

-Vincent

Good answers!

Question 1b then:

The MC turns to the Angel at the start of the session. "Time to oay for your lifestyle, Angel!"

The Angel says to the hardholder "You got me covered, right? After all, I'm staying in your fort, helping your people out"

Hardholder says "Sure, I got your living expenses covered"

Now, does the Hardholder pay the barter for the Angel's lifestyle, or does the hold provide it by itself?

Based on your answers, I'd say the latter. There are food, security and beds to spare in the barracks, unless the Angel wants a 2-barter lifestyle.

The Angel says to the hardholder "You got me covered, right? After all, I'm staying in your fort, helping your people out"

Hardholder says "Sure, I got your living expenses covered"

Now, does the Hardholder pay the barter for the Angel's lifestyle, or does the hold provide it by itself?

Based on your answers, I'd say the latter.

My read of Jonatan's answer is the opposite. The Hardholder's wealth roll gives him access to X barter for the session; she can spend one of those barter to pay the Angel's lifestyle cost. If the Wealth roll fails, and the hold is in want, she can't support the Angel without playing things out.

Agreed!

-Vincent

I like it, makes it a little bit of a sweat to have both an Angel and a Savvyhead at your beck and call as a hardholder if you have to pay it from your "stash". But if you can scrounge it up every time, that's a strong statement of how powerful and valuable you are to your protegés.

A hardholder that provides 2-barter to your lifestyle every session, that's lavish display of power. And a sweet lifestyle that's tough to turn down.