Game Writing.

As of late, I've been behind on game writing. I sometimes feel I need to get a partner to help me writing, to help keep me on track and to divert me from repeating the same mistakes at the same time. Mostly, I've just been busy with life and that's impaired me getting anything done. I endeavor on, however. Short form: Hearts & Souls is heading towards a new revision of the 2E materials. Mostly just tightening up language and moving towards completing the mechanics. E.o.N is pretty solid concept, I just need more art, and to find time to sit and write it. Derelict Delvers is being hammered on, but I'm having some mechanical difficulties that keep me caught between simple and doing what I want it to do. Other projects are on hold while I continue working on those three and my novels. Longer Form: Hearts & Souls needs an alternative to random generation and make up what you want as a tertiary option for chargen, I'm considering "pick an archetype and add X ranks as you wish to the max of the campaign Pitch." Derelict Delvers is caught between the number of character modifiers versus the need for action science dice. Simple solutions would be to make it a dice pool system. Or to cut back on the modifiers. I think the former is more elegant in the long run, while the latter allows me to focus on smaller numbers. E.o.N is mostly about getting the flavor together. Its dark, even for me, and I'm afraid that may turn some people off, because it very much didn't start out as dark as it has become. Yet at the same time I think it has a place, and can be fun, without being too depressing. Horror+Modern Space Opera have an appeal. I need to get the hope inside it to blossom a bit.

After two video blogs, it looks like I'm stopping for the time being. I'm about to move, and adding to that my laptop--the computer with the camera has died a horrid death. I may start it back up once all the chaos is over and I can pick up a new camera, or a new computer with a camera. I'll be here though posting as I can.

Video Blog

Here is my first (and possibly only) video blog. I've had a few hiccups with getting it to work right, and edit it. (As in edit it at all, the software is rather clunky.) So here is Video Blog

[Hearts & Souls] Stress, Stress, and More Stress

I've been covering Stress, in Hearts & Souls. Primarily, its a counter-resource. Something you earn that is primarily negative to the hero, but creates interesting fallout for the player. I've started writing the guidelines for what levels do what in rough relation to another, how thresholds work, and more.

One place where Stress differs from 1E is the ability to use Monologues to burn it in a more positive way. You can ignore it and keep going so long as you push towards a goal tied to one of you Stress Triggers that relates to people or your Drive. I think it will work quite well, but I need to find an elegant way to describe it and make it simple enough without adding more "system." Not, that a little more system to the game is bad, just trying to maintain the rough complexity I had before but teach others to run it the way it runs when I do it. Explaining rules is always the harder part of game writing.

My novel has been flowing a bit as well. Not as quickly as I'd like, but I'm trying to watch for problems I ran into before. Yet this blog is more about game stuff so I won't bring the novel up a lot. I think its developing a tighter and more complex tapestry of events than before, less "rushing towards the end," in this case.

I've almost got all of the heroes and villains for the two core teams done. (The Lone Star Sentinels, vs the Irregulars.) I've got a tiny bit more for them to have done and can then move on to the important super villains.

I've been hunting for a cover artist, but affording one is the big deal. Not sure I can afford the artist of the quality I want and style I like. I will keep working on it.

[Hearts & Souls] Banter, Blather, and Monologues

More things are changing in second edition than I intended. You ever start to write something and realize what you are writing is just missing something? You are almost there with what you want to have in a game but not quite yet? Pretty much that's where I was with Hearts & Souls1E. It is the game I wanted. It is not the game I can write now.


The ideas are there, but now I'm expounding and explaining them. Showing, how they work, and why they work.


Banter in this case becomes what used to be monologues. It is still fundamentally the same. Adding in of course mocking/taunting of ones enemies. Self pep talks and thought bubbles. You can re-roll the dice to get a result using Banter, it still needs to tie back to the character's drive, but it is subtler, less staid way of using it. More open.


Monologues, become the long, detailed pep-talks and self-pushing you see when a hero is really straining. Pushing themselves as hard and as much as possible. This now works a bit differently now. While Banter gives the old re-rolls, new Monologues give the hero the ability to stall stress becoming fallout. Oh the fallout still comes, but NOT until their current action is finished. They may fall after the fact, but they can hold it off just a little longer. Of course this works like original villain monologues. Of course they still get this as usual. Banter for them, will need to be worked out, but I suspect it lets them simply apply another "roll" for their side. Even though they are not rolling per-se.


In addition to these things, I'm adding details on how "attributes" aka capabilities work. Not limiting them, but giving more details on how they CAN be used. Strength can absorb physical (melee) attacks. Thus Wonder Woman can take a hit pretty well, so long as its physical punch, kick, etc. If its a high energy effect (arrows and bullets kinetic energy counts) she relies on blocking this with her bracelets. Spider-Man can take a single punch, but repeated punches overwhelm him, and he is going to try and get out of the way from everything. For he doesn't have armor. These things are important considerations for a superhero game and I left them to just be open and unclear. I'm not making new rules, simply defining ways the old ones can be used, better, more efficiently, and making options clear.

[Derelict Delvers] Hyper-Rockets.

Spaceships in Derelict Delvers are things I've circled for a while. I've done so in the hopes I would fall upon something brilliant that isn't too crunchy, or too simplistic.

I think I've come up with something. Every ship is built up of a number of "pods."
An actual cargo hold, cockpit, or engine room may be bigger than a single "pod," but they count simply as multiple "pods." Since, "pods" are just essentially a measurement they've decided to use to represent a space and the necessary additional support equipment for that space. Although additional support equipment is necessary the more pods there are in a ship.

A basic ship layout consists of a cockpit, a crew deck, an engineering deck/hyperspace engine, and reaction mass, and a support systems pod (this simply that for every 4 pods, you need a fifth one to help keep the systems balanced.) This means your smallest hyper-rocket will always have five pods.

Every team member in an ARCHIVE Exploration team will have one additional pod per person. These can be split between having a personal crew room for every three people, adding a specialty pod: Laboratory, Microfacturing, Weapons Pod, Vehicle Pod, Medical Pod, and Additional Cargo Pods among other things.

The primary pilot can give the craft a tag for every level of the Pilot skill. Other characters can add tags by expending the merits they earn towards them. Basically using their allies, prestige, knowledge, and the like to get upgrades for the ship.


How good are the pods? Well that's what I must figure out..

[Derelict Delvers] Trappings and Kit

I've solved the equipment problem for the most part in Derelict Delvers. It may need some fine tuning, but I've found a solution that makes me happy and fits the genre well.

Trappings

Trappings are iconic gear, things the hero always tends to have. Items they carry that is so important as to be a part of "them." Such items as a specialized space suit, a favorite weapon, and so on. These items make a large difference in play and will come up often. Indiana Jones' Whip, Bond's Walther PPK/P99, and so on.


Kit

Kit items are things that gamers often worry about but the game does not. Things which can usually be found in the environment but if someone wants a list it is possible. These are things few characters will make important, other than their basic nature. Kit includes things like flashlights, sealant, rope, and food. These things are usually not prominent in play. In fact if the hero spends an Action Science Die they can find or fashion a temporary replacement for the scene. Or they may return to their ship and use its resources to replace the items in question. Derelict Delvers doesn't have matter transmutation though--at least not in ARCHIVE's hands. Instead this takes the micro-manufacturing tools, time and SCIENCE! They couldn't feed a whole city, but a small group of people would be possible--but it drains their resources.