July Contest: 4th Of The Edition

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > July Contest: 4th Of The Edition

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

I'm going to be doing Stars Without Number for 4th Edition.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2014 08:53

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 21:09

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

I always thought it would be much simpler to have a "lockdown" mechanic just say that the target can't move away. So a weaponmaster could base an archer and the archer could still shoot someone else, but couldn't escape to safety without shifting.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2014 21:29

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

Error 404 posted:

The problem there is it just makes the fight last longer, extra or special damage ennds it sooner.

Then give bonus damage if the mark attacks someone else.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2014 03:34

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

To elaborate on my previous single declarative sentence in which I said I'm making Stars Without Number for 4e:

By default, the PCs in this game are independent contractors for the Hostile Worlds Department of the Ministry of Frontier Space. Your job is to drop onto worlds that would be too dangerous for a standard, lightly-armed scientific team. This does not mean that your job is entirely combat, though; you're well-trained, highly-skilled scientists in your own right. First Contact and archaeological missions will be just as likely (and challenging) as a slog through a death jungle.

Instead of a race, each character will choose a specialty (like biology or xenoanthropology) which bestows a skill package and a power. I'm working on five classes: Scout, Technician, Commander, Gunner, Sniper.

Major design goals:

Give each class a specific, sci-fi flavor and role. To this end, I'm abandoning the Defender role entirely in favor of expanding the importance of the Controller role. Goodbye marks, hello status effects!
Flattening the math. I'm thinking either six or ten levels. Defenses/bonuses should only increase by a small amount, but damage and HP should scale at a higher rate. This means higher level enemies are (in general) not more dangerous because they hit more or dodge faster, but because they hit harder and can soak more laser blasts.
In keeping with the last point, mixed-level parties should be viable. Lower-level characters will catch up quickly, receiving double experience until they match the party's average level.
Completely rework the initiative system. The PCs go first (unless they were ambushed), and by default the GM only gets one Monster Action per turn. Each time a character misses, the GM gets another Monster Action immediately after that character's turn. Bigger or leader-type enemies may give out more actions. A tie on an attack roll means that the attack hits and the GM gets a monster action.
Random star/planet/mission generation, which will work especially well if players want to divert from the standard campaign and go mercenary.
Oh, and a bunch of the regular 4E fixes. I don't want to go full DTAS, but will instead let the players choose their primary and secondary stat. Feats are definitely out.

Gau fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Jul 8, 2014

# ¿ Jul 8, 2014 01:52

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

S.J. posted:

Are you going to keep all 6 stats though?

I'm not entirely certain; I was thinking of futzing with them for a bit and then I wondered what was to gain by doing so. I was thinking that I could do something like "Choose INT or DEX to be your primary stat, set it at 18. Choose any stat to be your secondary stat, set at 16." and then roll the rest in a manner similar to Gamma World.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2014 03:18

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

S.J. posted:

Any particular reason you wouldn't just reduce them to their modifier, rather than keeping the 12/14/16/etc?

I'm asking because a sci-fi 4e is basically my dream game, so I might be doing this more

Absolutely no reason not to do that; I misunderstood your question (I thought you were asking if I was keeping the existing six abilities). Please ask questions so that I don't let something stupid slip through and retard my entire game.

I have wanted sci-fi 4E for years, ever since I thought about bringing Saga Edition Star Wars up to the 4E standard. My initial picture for this game was "what if the Enterprise took a company of Colonial Marines to explore Pandora?"

# ¿ Jul 8, 2014 03:44

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

Replacing Clerics with Bards in a fantasy game is my favorite swap. Bards kick so much rear end.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2014 17:26

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

I'm including a vaguely Mouse Guard-esque conflict system that will utilize the skill system to a greater degree than 4E does, mostly for use for scientific and social challenges. I don't think slavishly recreating a "tactical" challenge is the best way to go about it; instead, the skill minigame should be at least in the same category of interested as the combat minigame.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2014 21:11

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

On RoleChat, I have made up for it by not making each Striker "do a bunch of damage" as their class idea. The Scout is sneaky as poo poo and can slip away at the slightest notice, and when she's close to you she'll knife you in the throat. The Gunner sprays bullets loving everywhere, and as such is really good at doing damage to groups of enemies.

I threw together the Scout class today, you can find it here in my living work-in-progress document. I've enabled commenting so like, have at. I want to know what works and what doesn't.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2014 03:29

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

Covok posted:

I'm just wondering how everyone's entry is going. We are starting to near the end of the month so the pressure is on, so to speak. Two weeks from yesterday, the contest will be over. Hope to see everyone's entry.

It's not NEAR the end of the month you rear end in a top hat, I just had a moment of panic before I looked at the date.

I have my classes and skill-based conflict system mostly finished. I need to work on the Specialty system, figure out how I'm going to do "equipment" (magic items) and that's most of my game. So I guess you could say I'm roughly halfway done? The foundations are there.

Oh, I need to rewrite the RC rules because there are some minor changes, but that will take me like, an evening.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2014 19:17

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 21:09

Gau: Nov 18, 2003; I don't think you understand, Gau.

Covok posted:

I said two weeks. You know, like, latter half. No need to get all flustered. You still got time.

I was being facetious

Not flustered. I'm sure I will be before the end, but for now I feel pretty much on schedule (especially if I get some solid work in this weekend).

# ¿ Jul 18, 2014 19:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > July Contest: 4th Of The Edition