The Gaming Den

saidoro wrote:The wand rules don't exist yet, so this is speculative, but assuming that the mechanics match the fluff I don't think that Visualization being a Perception skill is a good design decision..

Visualization only covers wand ranges (to and from). The rules are currently vague enough, that one could readily imagine other skills being used for other uses of the wand.

I occasionally wish I had graphic design abilities, because then I could consider modifying extant character sheets for use in Space Madness!.
http://www.onesevendesign.com/agon/dagon_sheet.pdf
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WvCEPyj4-t0/U ... iche-1.jpg

saidoro wrote:

Step 4: Specialize
All Rangers are unique, and take particular pride in their skills and equipment, particularly their wand. Players may select and two of the following to specialize their character:

The wand rules don't exist yet, so this is speculative, but assuming that the mechanics match the fluff I don't think that Visualization being a Perception skill is a good design decision. It's that one skill you use to do your best combat stuff and also that one skill you use to do all of your out of combat wizard shit, it's something that everyone is going to want the best dicepool they can manage for. That's not a huge balance problem since people can use Certs to switch it to their best stat so even low-perception characters can access some wizard shit, but it's pretty inelegant. The game might work better if you just used your best attribute for wizarding by default and there was some other perception skill filling in the slot.

Visualization is going to be a key skill for many wand functions, but not the only skill for wand functions.

Linear advancement at chargen and triangular advancement during play? You know nothing, Jon Snow.

There don't seem to be skills to support capitalism. How can we defend freedom in the spacelanes if we can't solve problems using business acumen?

Randolph "Randy" An, steely eyed hero of the spacelanes.

He's generically Asian, his parents were freedom fighters in some area now ruled by the Union-Republika, and resettled on Mars.
Inspirations: Howard Roark, Akito Tenkawa

Randolph "Randy" An, steely eyed hero of the spacelanes.

Backgrounds: Cadre, Martian
Order: Ordo Ares

Charisma: 9
Courage: 8
Intellect: 3
Perception: 3

Skills: Computing 1, Deception 2, Empathy 2, Intimidation 1, Law 5, Navigation 3, Persuasion 9, Screen 2, Survival 5, Visualization 4

Tags: Archaeology+, Azatha, Business+, History+, Linguistics, Old Esperanto, Psychology+, Martian Lore+, M’azatha, Sociology, Standard, Xenobiology, Xenotechnology

Certs: Mastery (Persuasion), Hardcore

Augmentations: one Free (he wants a neural lace, or the equivalent)

Law and Persuasion. Also, I need to decide what name spacebux are going to go by.

Space credits. Kronor. Double dollars. Box tops?

"Standard dollar" would be "norma dolaro" in Esperanto.

"norma valuto" - or "normvalo(s)"? The currency is "norma valuto" (in the sense that British currency is "Sterling") while a unit of that currency is a "norma dolaro" (in the sense that Sterling comes in Pounds?) The abbreviation would still be N$, for historical reasons?

Going off of Praetor's idea on that, I can imagine it being corrupted from "Dolaro" to "Olar", and the symbol would be Φ.

Running commentary, in no particular order
* I personally love the cat angle you've taken here
* Survival (6) is given the example of indefinitely surviving on an alien world without equipment - does this cover stuff like volcanic vents and unbreathable atmospheres?
* Does it cost 6 or 8 CLP to raise an attribute from 6 to 7?
* Stress: Why is it stressful for a human to spend two days in a human community? What is the difference between solitary confinement & confined space? How long is a therapy session or downtime activity to reset the Stress Test Target? Do you need to exit the stressful condition to be able to receive therapy or unwind?



Character Creation
Let's go through character creation as written in the book.
Step 0 No work here, it's the baseline.

• Charisma 1, Courage 1, Intellect 1, Perception 1
  Tags: Standard

Step 1 Choose two backgrounds. One restriction to keep in mind is that we can't choose any Certs w/prereqs, since it's mathematically impossible to meet them at this step (except Rapid Healing). Reading for combinations, I can't help but notice that when trying to maximize a single skill, you're not going to have a Lunar-Belter or Medical-Engineer or something similar, which is a really clever way to subtly encourage an 'organic' background.

• Lunar Engineer
  Attributes 4/3/4/5
  Skills Computing 2, Deception 2, Engineering 4, Forensics 1, Law 1, Navigation 2, Pilot 2, Screen 2, Therapy 2, Visualization 4
  Tags Standard, Augmentations, Cat Lore, Chemistry, Lunar Lore, Advanced Physics, Psychology, Advanced Xenotechnology
  Certs Multitask
  Equipment Engineering Kit

Step 2 My obvious specialization from earlier essentially chooses my Order for me

• Comet Guard
  Attributes 5/6/7/6
  Skills Computing 2, Deception 2, Engineering 7, Forensics 1, Intimidation 2, Law 1, Navigation 4, Pilot 2, Screen 5, Therapy 2, Visualization 4
  Tags Standard, Astronomy, Augmentations, Cat Lore, Chemistry, Demolitions, Espionage, History, Lunar Lore, Advanced Physics, Psychology, Advanced Xenotechnology
  Certs Multitask, Comet Guard Special (+2 Cavoritic functions)
  Equipment Engineering Kit, Lawkeeper (hopefully not a gun, because Combatives is 0), Zero Suit

Step 3 We don't really have an equipment list as of yet, so this will be skipped.
Step 4 If I wanted to just go crazy with Engineering, Mastery would be the best option (by a large margin), but would also be the least efficient CLP-wise. Raising Intellect or Engineering with my specialization is equal in CLP conversion to buying four tags, which I suspect was intentional. Triangular advancement combined with linear creation is surprisingly not much of a problem because stats are generated in grouped packages - I like it.
Step 5 Space Ranger Jouko "the Dog" Chennault is fiercely loyal and tends to deflect personal questions concerning signs of weakness.

Been busy the last couple of weeks, I need to pick this up again. Debating ditching triangular advancement for linear, have to work the angles a bit.

virgil wrote: * Does it cost 6 or 8 CLP to raise an attribute from 6 to 7?

8. I've fixed the table and some other little things you mentioned, although I'm still meditating on just going to a flat advancement tax.

Added a couple Certs. Really need to get back into finishing this.

virgil wrote: * Stress: Why is it stressful for a human to spend two days in a human community?

"Hell is other people" - Jean-Paul Sartre

Also, so that everyone makes stress tests periodically.

Added a couple certs, and travel. 40.3k Next up: Space Combat

Added/modified some bits on travel, especially Pilot v. Navigation Tests. That made me realize I had to go back and add a rider about certs vis-a-vis Group Tests/Contests. Still need a section on vehicles, space combat. 41.2k

Fiddled with vehicle combat, and ultimately didn't want to write a separate minigame or bring acceleration/deceleration/delta v into it; scrapped the ideas I had for making space combat more complicated, ended up deleting it. 41.6k, time to move on to wands and wand mechanics.

First part of the Wands section; still a good bit more to do, as Wand Functions are the meat of the setting, and I'm still fine-tuning some of the mechanics in my head, based on conversations with Frank. 42.2k.

Finished the last of the pre-wand function wand mechanics - basically, attuning and charges. Also added a couple certs. 43k.

Next up, what everyone's waiting for, the wand functions...

I'm inspired to start working on a little something.



Detail, ink, and probably color, will follow. That's a starting concept sketch whose notion has been a bug in my mind for a couple months.

Testing: Take 1, 2, & 3.

I gotta say I like the abstract/gravity field one a lot more than the pulp covers. Maybe I've just played too much Fallout, but I just can't appreciate the aesthetic.

I like the pulp aesthetic just fine, but I also think the abstract is the best of those.

This isn't dead, I've just been busy with Howard Days, which involves a 15-hour drive to Texas, enough Texas barbecue to kill a Yankee, and another 15-hour drive back. Once my colon has recovered from the intestinal ravages of a 96-hour diet of Dr. Pepper, chicken-fried steak, German sausage, spicy beans, spicy corn, and unidentifiable beef products, I will resume.

That can't be much barbecue. I've been a Yankee trapped in Texas for over 15 years now, and two plates will probably come close.

Still fiddling with the basics of wand mechanics, as I want the different categories to be distinct but not unbalanced. So far have one beam function and one level 1 function written up. In a more perfect world, I'd come up with a Shadowrun-style formula design process, but I don't know if I have the juice for that, so I'm keeping it idiosyncratic. 44k

A few more functions up. Still really struggling with some of the basic concepts, which I should have devoted more forethought to. 44.8k

Finally finished the Azathoth Field functions - which turned out to be a bit messier and more complicated than I wanted; anyone that wants to take a gander at the six wand functions and tell me where I've gone wrong, that would be useful before I get started on the next one.