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Messages - SoylentWhite

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16
Monsterhearts / Re: New Skin: The Incubus
« on: May 19, 2013, 07:50:51 PM »
Hmm.  Interesting . . .

Comments:

Backstory:
There’s someone you want to corrupt.  One of your victims whispered secrets to you. Take two strings on your target.
The 'one of your victims' part looks like it's part of a different backstory.

Darkest Self:
You escape your darkest self when you expend all your Demonic Powers or someone freely declares love for you.
Might want to add in a (at which point, all active demonic powers are expended) at the end, just to deal with what happens if someone declares while you still have five active demonic powers.

Soul leech:
You must feed on sex daily.  What happens if you don't?

Predatory instinct:
So what if they're a virgin and a thief?  How about 'you know the key ways in which they are naughty or nice' or something along those lines, that can handle the grey areas that many people live in?

Power of warding:
To be honest, don't get this one.  Do you mean that an attacking PC gets a -2 penalty (NPCs act at disadvantage)?  Might want to clarify if it only applies to physical attacks, or if social attacks (shutting someone down) counts as well.

Power of summoning:
Might want to change it to 'someone you've recently fed on', just so you don't need to keep track of exactly who it was who activated the power.  Less paperwork = good, in my opinion.

Harm and experience points sections seem to be missing key info.

The advance option to take a rock & roll band is great.

All the above is just my opinions, take them for what they're worth.

17
Apocalypse Galactica / Re: Version 2 Complete
« on: April 17, 2013, 03:10:39 PM »
Okay, I'm considering/idly prepping for running a game of this via Google Docs, so it's time for a second pass.

Good news is that all of the stat lines add  up correctly.

Activist
First stat line actually says -2 Hard, but means +2.

Opportunist
I'm still very dubious over faith -2, as it's the easiest stat to ignore, so makes a good natural dump stat.

Pilot
To get around the problem that all pilot moves can be taken:
New move: Wing and a prayer
When in a battle, or just about to enter one, you may make a Leap of Faith using +Cool instead of +Faith.

President
Probably too late, but I'm not sure about Campaigns.  My thought is this:
Start with 3-juggling.  When deciding what you've been working on, you must declare exactly what your campaigns are and what number of favours/amount of risk it is beforehand, noting that you may have multiples of one level of campaign, so long as they are different things.
Obligations:
Inter-ship relations (cooperation/tensions/-EXPLOSIVE INCIDENT) (covers Quorum mediation & inter-colonial relations)
Internal security (secure/suspicions/-MISSTEP) (covers surveillance, law enforcement, espionage and ship defence)
(Misstep basically means either something that shouldn't have been done was or something that should have been done wasn't)
Labour relations (productive/inefficient/-HALTED) (covers health care, labour relations, salvage & fleet reconstruction)
Campaigns:
Support a position/person (1-favour, -EMBARRASSED)
Mutual back-scratching (2-favours, -ENTANGLED)
Extreme measures (3-favours, -OFFICE THREATENED)
With this, a single '+1 juggling' advancement is fair, since it means you don't have to shirk your obligations to actually get anything out of your job.

Basic moves:
Suggest you remove 'Is your character telling the truth' from the list of 'Read a Person' options, just to make cylon-spotting a bit more than trivial.

You have the fleet population as being 34,560 to start.  According to http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Survivor_count, the series *ends* with about 38,000 survivors.  I suggest 49,317 as a better starting number.  Likewise, you *may* wish to up the size of the fleet from 47 to 63 (see http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/The_Fleet_%28TRS%29).  When numbers start bigger, it's easier for the MC to destroy a few when things start going wrong.

The way you've handled Cylons is faithful to the source material, but I've decided if/when I run, I'm going to shape them into more my own thing (probably including serious deviations from canon, such as no resurrection!).
From a mechanical perspective, I've decided to just add automatically two moves to a revealed character (and no further cylon moves are available): one being Ambush the Fleet, the other being like the Engineer's workspace but not needing a proper workspace, and only applicable for communications devices to contact the cylon fleet.  The idea being that they use that move, ask the MC what they need to do to make a new comms device, spend time doing that, then when they do, they can use the 'ambush the fleet' move.  Gives them a reason to not be constantly spamming 'ambush the fleet'.
I mention that in case you wish to use the move idea.

Edit: Also, v2 zip file is (or at least was) missing Damascus Falls love letters that were in v1.

18
Apocalypse Galactica / Re: Version 2 Complete
« on: March 23, 2013, 10:52:28 AM »
Hey, glad you hadn't given up on this.

Here we go again . . .

Activist special
Doesn't have an appropriate option for when listener understands cause, but doesn't care (too wrapped up in their own shit, for example).


Supply and favour confuse me a bit.  Are some playbooks supposed to only use one, others the other, and some both?  For example, the activist starts with only supply, but their mechanical gain advance is for favour.  Trying to work out what the intention is here.


Businessman - Someone to do your dirty work
Says 'one of your employees' then suggests 'Tarek *and* Misha'.  Or, surely, since there's be only one?  Or perhaps it's better phrased as 'some of your employees'?


CAG
No gear listed.


Captain - When I say jump
I suggest a rephrase so it isn't needed every time you give an order.  Perhaps add 'in a time of serious crisis'?  ("Bring me a coffee."  "Down with the Tyrant Captain!")


Commander - CIC
Move doesn't allow for changing circumstances.  If all you know is you're under attack, you enter CIC, get a weak hit, you need to spend it on the DRADIS before knowing what you need to do, then you can't do it.
1) Getting sensor readings from the DRADIS shouldn't be an option.  You always need to know what's going on, you should just be able to get readings.  If you want to keep it, I suggest adding the word 'detailed'.
2) It shouldn't be on entering, as that just means you have to keep exiting and entering the CIC during a crisis if you only get weak holds.  It should be 'When trying to organise the ship during a crisis' or something, so you can use it multiple times in a scene, with the risk of a malfunction providing balance.


Doctor, Engineer
No way to mechanically get favour or supply.  Deliberate?


Engineer
Still has 2 ways of getting sharp +3


Marine
7-9 option in boarding party still seems too harsh.  1-harm AP AND are disoriented AND acting under fire or leave something or take something.  I've had misses with better outcomes than that, especially since base AW says 'take something' can be harm.
1-harm AP OR disoriented and acting under fire OR leave something OR take something with seems fairer to me.

Tear gas grenade still mentions 'sharm', which still doesn't exist.

Advances give max sharp +3, not hard.


Partisan
2 ways of getting cool +3

Protect your mark - still doesn't say 'as AP harm'.


Pilot
You can actually get all of the pilot moves through advances.  I suggest otherwise.


President
Inter-colonial relations, surely?

Fleet reconstruction - malfunctions misspelled

Well connected - Favours are valuable enough and +1 has a low enough chance of making a difference, that I can't see this move as being useful.  +2 before rolling or +1 after rolling would be good, though.  (Not saying both options for the move, but that one of them would make a good replacement.)

President can only get one new campaign?  Given that's their main thing, seems a bit harsh.

7-9 result on Politicking is worse than base AW when doing more than 2 things.  (Base: 1 catastrophe if working more than 1.  AG: 1 success, rest catastrophes).  Deliberate?  Significant nerf of President if so.

No mentioned downside to not working obligation campaigns.


Visionary
2 ways of getting faith +3


Session End
No way to give Hx -1?


Cylon Projection
What does the 7-9 result actually *do*?


Also, where *is* the credits page in the files?  I saw the playtester list on your website, but your 'Credits given to contributors.' mentioned above implies that you have one inside the documents, and I just can't find it.


There may well be more later, this is just from my initial pass-through.

19
Monsterhearts / Re: New skin - The Fury
« on: January 11, 2013, 08:25:41 AM »
Looks interesting, some comments, for what they're worth.

Futile hope: the better you roll, the fewer options you have.  I can kinda see why, but it seems kinda unintuitive.  If you have a high Dark, you're not only powerfully dark, you're also able to control it better.  I feel the 7-9 and 10+ options should be swapped.

Poltergeist: it's unclear how much harm this does.  0-1 as per unarmed?  Also, it's unclear what the limitations of your telekinesis is.  Can you *only* use it to 'lash out physically', or can you use it for pranks to merely embarass your tormentors?  If the former, why would you take this over 'firestarter'?  They seem to cover similar ground, but 'firestarter' is more interesting.

Push: Are there limits on the command?  Blatantly suicidal orders like 'Jump off this roof', for example?  Also, does the betrayed bonus take effect for either level of success?  (It seems to, just want to be clear.)

Scanners: while betrayed, you can use this on groups.  On a 7-9, do you suffer 1-harm if you choose that option once per *use* or *target*?

The Shining: questions of limitations.  Do you have to see them?  Do your gazes have to be locked?  Is the 'being inside their head' considered a motive?  Given the way 'Manipulate an NPC' works (negotiation, trade, action), I'm a bit unclear as to how this would actually physically work purely psychically.

To be clear: I like this.  I'm downloading it.  I'm just a bit unclear on some things.

20
Monsterhearts / Re: Are there skins to fit these archetypes?
« on: December 21, 2012, 08:06:53 AM »
If you're looking for a 'foreign kid' archetype, have you seen the R?k?asa??

Link here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YkCZgw7bMdgy-5ynXUR0gGsO3RoNyof_zX72jaV6vjI/edit

21
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 12, 2012, 07:11:10 PM »
Since you mention it, thought I might as well ask now how you expect the cylon playbooks to work.  Do you *start* as an exposed cylon?

See, it's slightly strange to me.  All the cylons we were were first exposed to (however briefly) as 'humans'.  If we're playing with a different battlestar, why do we have to have the same 8 cylons?  If we have a faithless commander who takes the advance to say he's a cylon, why can't he be a number 2 in this game?

The most interesting cylons, to me, were the ones who'd had significant interaction with humans before being 'exposed' - they had history, desires, conflicting emotions and goals.  Starting as a cylon seems to be cutting out the best part, to me.

But that's all rambling if you intend to take it a different way.  If you just intend for them to be different 'advance books' (or prestige classes) for after someone's exposed as a cylon, that's rather different.  So yeah, how do you intend to handle them?

22
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 12, 2012, 06:23:50 PM »
I'd say only have 2 +2s when both stats are pretty key to the core of all CAGs.  To me, that means +2 hard, +2 sharp.  For the other 3 options, use the moderate stat lines.  That's my opinion, anyway.

Regarding the moves:
Yeah, as you may have gathered, I came up with them on the way home from work, and just quickly threw them up here before I forgot them.  Treating them as inspiration only is indeed the correct reaction.  Glad you like dearly departed.

I'd say no to basing CAG on belief.  My reasons are a bit 'airy', though.  Firstly, 'belief' just doesn't have the same emphasis to me that 'faith' does.  I believe that it will be sunny tomorrow vs I have faith tomorrow will be better.

Secondly, it's different to how faith/belief 'works' in other playbooks (well, okay, there's only one faith-based playbook, but there are moves) - there, it's relating to something bigger than yourself.  To me, Apollo just isn't about that.  He always projected from the inside out.  What he did, he did because *he* thought it was right.  It's hard to define.

Thirdly, faith is, as you said, such a big thing in the BSG story that to change it would, for me, be a mistake.  It should be there, front and centre, and your reactions to it are definite character choices that will have consequences.

I actually did a quick tally as to how many playbooks were centred around each stat.

Cool: 4
Hard: 3
Hot: 2
Sharp: 3
Faith: 1

So, I'd say you might want to consider making one of the cool-based playbooks faith-based (or hot based, at a pinch).  I'm kinda considering putting Captain forward.  Okay, the example in the show I can come up with is the commander, but at the beginning when everyone was despairing, Adama gave them hope by restoring their faith.  There was a lot of 'for all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again' going on.  I can see the leadership role on ships being closely tied to faith.  What do you think?

Also, while I'm here, I'll just say that I've been looking askance at the Partisan since day 1.  There are some fantastic moves there, and I understand it's directly inspired by one of the characters.  But within the fleet, what *function* does this playbook serve that isn't (or couldn't be) served by the Marine?  It's kinda like the Gunlugger/battlebabe divide, but as you said earlier, the Pilot is taking up the 'headspace' of the Battlebabe, which leaves the Partisan and the Marine awkwardly crammed into the same locker.  Okay, weird analogy, just wanted to get that off my chest.

23
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 12, 2012, 01:43:02 PM »
Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 12, 2012, 11:40:46 AM
Hothead: Dig it. That's in. What I renamed Hothead is being changed back to Daredevil. Perfect Instincts is coming out.
I think it was hotshot, though I appreciate not wanting two names so similar.
Hotshot alternatives: ace, egotism is my armour, Daredevil
Hothead alternatives: brash, call it like I see it, unwanted honesty

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 12, 2012, 11:40:46 AM
Special move: Yep, I'm totally down with this being brutal. The pilot is a crazy powerful playbook, this represents the emotional fragility that accompanies the otherwise insanely capable character. I will change the wording somewhat though from "love" to "care about".
I'm fine with the result, but I find your reasoning interesting.  The pilot is incredibly powerful *when outside the ship* (in their cockpit), typically when fighting cylons (which makes me look askance at the stat line with hard -2 - at best, they'd be rolling hard 0 on what should be their main task).  The rest of the time (i.e. the majority), they're flat out worse than everyone else.  The one thing they do have going for them is the same 'armour of necessity' the engineer has.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 12, 2012, 11:40:46 AM
On that note, if you don't mind take a peek at my troubles with the CAG over here: http://www.seannittner.com/still-unhappy-with-the-cags-moves/
Regarding the CAG, I personally would go with a different tack - you've got stuff like 'Leave no man behind', which is a really cool move, but I feel kinda suits the Marine more, and the CAG could take it as a non-playbook move.
Stuff central to the CAG, to me, is:
Organising scouting (raptor scouting)
Planning missions (the plan, below)
Briefing the squad on the mission (brief the squad)
Keeping the squad focused and cooperating (strong hand on the reins, below)
Helping the squad to deal with loss (the dearly departed, below)
I feel that perhaps the right approach to this book is like the battlebabe.  No, not making it a 'cool' playbook, I mean look at the BB's moves - in terms of stat use, they're all over the place.
Raptor scouting - use sharp.

Planning missions:
roll +sharp.  On a 10+, pick 3, on a 7-9, pick 1.
You plan a good way in
You plan a good way out
You plan a good way to accomplish the objective
You have good contingency plans should unexpected events happen
When your pilots are following the plan in the area you've chosen, take +1 forward when appropriate.
On a miss, you've missed something important.

Brief the squad - use hot (passionate speeches)

Strong hand on the reins
When leading a mission, roll +hard.  On a 7-9, pick one, on a 10+, both.
Focused fire: squad do +1 harm this exchange
Defensive flying: squad have +1 armour this exchange.
On a miss, you've dropped the ball, your squad are OUT OF FORMATION and vulnerable.

The Dearly Departed
When the squad are struggling to cope with the loss of one of their own, roll +faith to help them.  On a 10+, pick 2, on a 7-9, pick 1.
They are able to move on.
There's no lingering resentment.
They are bonded together stronger for the experience.
On a miss, their death is all your fault.


Lastly, don't introduce a heart stat for a single playbook, and it doesn't fit the others.

And yeah, I say move leadership back to commander.

And I'm out of time again.  Might have time again later this evening.

24
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 12, 2012, 11:49:45 AM »
Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 12, 2012, 11:40:46 AM
Why Faith? Several reasons. 1) When the Commander says "Sometimes you gotta roll a hard six" that is as close as he comes to saying "sometimes you've got to pray". It's really just hoping you'll be lucky, hence faith. 2) Yeah, Kara and her faith. 3) The move used Weird in AW, so I'm keeping that part the same.
You misunderstood me, sorry for being unclear.
No problem with faith being the stat for 'hard 6', that makes sense.
I'm talking about the *special* move.  The one that triggers on intimacy.  The one that every pilot has.  Why 'faith' for an 'assert independence' roll?  Cool works (keeping it together), as does hard (being callous).  Faith is a bit odd, to me.

25
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 12, 2012, 07:04:41 AM »
I'll have more thoughts later, when I have time, but I wanted to share a suggestion for a replacement move for the pilot before I forgot it:

Hothead
When you speak truth to power, take +1.  If this winds you up in the brig, mark xp.

Still a roll boosting move, but one that typically would be used outside your viper/raptor.

Edit: okay, couple of things about the pilot:
Why 'faith' for the special move?  The only stat you roll for your moves is faith as well.  Kara Thrace may have had faith-related stuff going on, but this isn't necessary for every pilot.
Also, with the President's move to make any interaction count as an intimate moment, this special is *brutal*.  Also, you *may* need to re-phrase the 'prove you don't love them' part to account for the fact that sex isn't required to trigger the move in this hack.

New Hx system/phrasing is better.  (But should probably be 'commanding' officer.)

Activist
In advances, presumably should be 'two campaigns'.
Is it deliberate that you can start with no way to actually control your gang?  (Actually, you made 'leadership' a basic move, didn't you?  Never mind.)

And I'm out of time.  Maybe more later, maybe not.

26
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 10, 2012, 06:04:39 PM »
Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 10, 2012, 04:27:43 PM
Commander/President Specials: I want the president getting something specific to that character, so I think I'll go with take +1 Hx with that character and, at your option give them 1-favor, at no cost to you.
That sounds great.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 10, 2012, 04:27:43 PM
American Politics: Many thanks for saving my faith in humanity. Any ideas you have for campaigns/catastrophes would be greatly appreciated.
Let's see . . .
Ones that should stay:
Surveillance
Health care
Labour relations
Infiltration
Colonial Relations
Law Enforcement
Ship Defence (Though I think the fail condition should be something like '-OPPRESSIVE' - you've gone too far, too many liberties have been sacrificed for the sake of security.)
[Maybe add: Liberty (2-favour, -INFILTRATED) as a counter-point?]

Assassination is cool, but I don't think would be something used all the time.  I'd make this a part of 'shady deals', below.  (i.e. the shady deal that you're offering is you kill someone in exchange for the favour of someone important).  If you do keep 'assassination', I'd recommend a name change to 'suiciding'.
Ones to add:
Shady deals (3-favour & -OBLIGATION, -EXPOSED) extra-legal deals with power-brokers.
Wedge issues (2-favour, -MARGINALISED) If you don't know, wedge issues are issues which a notable proportion of the population have a passionate opinion about, but don't matter in the 'big picture', such as abortion (which I *think* comes up in the series).  The 'Marginalised' is when you find that you've taken too extreme a view on the matter, and the 'moderates' lose trust with you.
Mud slinging (1-favour, -LOOK UNLIKEABLE) usually done indirectly, get bad things about opponents (true or not) into the public consciousness ('McNasty', 'not a US citizen', 'Vulture capitalist', etc.).
False accusations (1-favour, -DISTRUSTED) 'false accusations' doesn't really cover it, but there's a particular tactic that the Republicans in particular have mastered and use often, so it could have it's own thing: basically, you accuse your opponents of doing what you're just about to do/are doing.  Say you're about to pass a law disenfranchising thousands of voters?  Accuse your opponents of voter fraud.  If they then point at your actions and cry the same, it looks like just particularly unimaginative mud-slinging ('I know you are, but what am I?' kind of thing).  If you can come up with better names/mechanics for that, by all means, I'm not entirely happy with it, but it's such a common tactic, thought I'd mention it.
Limit media access (2-favour, -UNRECOGNISED) you only give exclusives, interviews, etc. with media organisations who make you look good.  This limits your exposure, but what exposure you get will always be good.
Incite Frenzy (3-favour, -LOSE CONTROL) Angry people?  Make them angrier and give them a target.  Doesn't matter if they have anything to do with it - lie enough and they'll believe it.  (Example: Iraq.)
Construct reality (2-favour, -LAUGHINGSTOCK) Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes true in the minds of the majority (the economy is recovering, Iraq has WMDs, social security is bankrupt, etc.).

Now, I haven't put a lot of thought into how these 'fit' into the setting and mechanics of the game, this was just me brainstorming what American politicans do to get and keep power.  Feel free to use them purely as a jumping-off point for your own ideas.

Actually, thinking about it, there's two things here: issues and tactics.  'Health care' is an issue, 'infiltration' is a tactic.  Hmmm.  Do the obligation campaigns really 'fit' a President?  I know Rosen had 'Fighting illness', but that was not inherent to her presidentness.  Maybe issues should be more like 'obligations' (your supporters will desert you if you don't push their agenda), while 'campaigns' are instead 'tactics' - how you get the message across.  Or something?  I dunno, that just came to me.  Might require more thought.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 10, 2012, 04:27:43 PM
Battlestar: Ammo just exist to run out, a complication for the MC to stick the Battlestar crew with.
Well, my 'thing' is that there's specifically an option to remove the 'Ammo' tag in the Commander playbook.  If all that does is change the disaster that hits from 'low on ammo' to something just as bad, what's the advantage in taking that option?

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 10, 2012, 04:27:43 PM
Cylons - Resurrection: Hmm, yeah, maybe that is the way to retire your character to safety (since it doesn't exist as a normal advancement). I agree, a revealed cylon is problematic to fit into the game, but as we saw in the show it happened several times (Boomer, 6, the rebels).
Sorry, I was unclear: I have no problem with revealed cylons staying around.  It's after they've died and gone to their baseships that I feel the trouble arises.  As long as they're on the same ship, it's fine.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 10, 2012, 04:27:43 PM
Cylons - Inhuman Strength: Yeah, it's a crowd favorite (possibly because it is so strong, the other one I see a lot is Ambush the Fleet, probably for the same reason). I could change it to +1 Hard (max +3), but I also want to convey that there is a narrative trait to go along with it allowing the Cylon to clearly exert inhuman strength. Perhaps I could add the tag "messy" to their hard stat? That's is pretty non-standard though, so I'd have to see how it worked in play.
Maybe +1 hard (max +3) *and* the ability to permanently transfer points from non-negative stats to hard as a one-time thing?  Hmm.

27
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 08, 2012, 04:14:50 PM »
Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 08, 2012, 11:14:10 AM
Commander/President Specials: I'd like the president to have an advantage after intimacy. I think I'll give them "You get +1 going forward the next time you interact with this person, and at your option they get 1-favor, at no cost to you."  Then I'm free to give the president's special to the commander.
I would suggest that you drop the 'the next time you interact with this person' and just give them +1 forward.  Your version makes *sense*, but then the player has to make a note of against who exactly they have +1 forward against if they don't use it immediately, which adds unnecessary bookkeeping.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 08, 2012, 11:14:10 AM
President Campaigns: I'll keep working on these. I should probably look at real world politics more and see how various campaigns/initiatives have blow up in politician's faces.
I actually do follow American politics.  I recommend against following suit unless you don't mind losing all faith you may have in the future.  I'll have a think about options and get back to you.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 08, 2012, 11:14:10 AM
President "Well Connected" Move:The other idea that I had was:

Political Sway: You can call in your favors to assert your will on an individual or group. You can spend 1 favor to do one one of the following:
Name a place. You’re there.
Name a person. You've got a private audience with them.
Name a person and their stance on an issue. Whenever they stand up for that stance or act on that stance, they act under fire from political pressure.
Name a person and an action. They take +1 going forward to do it, and when they finish mark xp.

Any thoughts on other cool things to do with favors?
I like that move.  Don't think it needs anything more, to be honest, many more options and the player probably will keep forgetting what they can actually do with it.  One point I would clarify is: on the last option, do you mean 'forward' or 'ongoing'?  Forward is fine, but 'oftener right' and 'eager to know' (for example) gives +1 ongoing.
If I do come up with something cool, I'll let you know.
Additional: this move made me think of the President as a Hoarder hack.  Can get favour easily, but spends it on a lot of their best moves.  Rather different from how they currently are, but it was an intriguing image.


Okay, that's probably enough damage to the main playbooks by now.  Supplemental playbooks!

Battlestar
When do tags like 'Ammo' come into effect?  Are they just something the MC can use to make a hard move?
You mention having exactly 37 green marines, but only 'several' raptors, but I imagine the raptors are a lot harder to replace than rookie marines.  Is there a reason for the sudden vagueness?
There are 6 battlestar strengths.  You start with 3.  3 playbooks (engineer, CAG, Commander) can take an advance to add one.  You can actually max out the strengths of your battlestar (with a very specific playlist combination, certainly).  Is this deliberate?

Cylons
I can see them working as they are for one-shots at cons, but I can see a problem in campaigns of if a cylon is 'killed', they spend the rest of the campaign on a different ship, not really directly interacting (except maybe violently) with the human PCs any more and almost requiring the MC to be running 2 campaigns.  I kind of feel that resurrection needs something like 'at the end of the session, retire to safety aboard your basestar'.
Experiment: the miss condition, I understand being a direct port from the base brainer move, but have you considered alternatives?  The Brainer move inflicts harm because they're rummaging around in your brain.  Is that what the Cylons are doing?  Thinking of the 6/Baltar relationship, I think that maybe the miss condition should be something along the lines of 'on a miss, they hold 2 on you, on the exact same terms.' (like the skinner 'hypnotic' move).
Inhuman strength: you are aware of just how unbalancing setting hard to +2 can be, right?  If it's that character's dump stat, we're talking +3-4 for a single move.
Ambush the fleet: given that what this does is tells the basestars where you are, doesn't it make more sense for this to set the security crisis clock to 9:00 if less than that, but have no effect otherwise?
Projection: miss condition: you do like your 1-harm ap, don't you?  As a possible alternative, I'm thinking of the 'ghostly' Gaius 6 sees (okay, eventually in the series that was shown to be nothing to do with the projection ability, but to be honest, I just ignore most of what happened after season 3 anyway ;) ) you've got your own visions haunting you, how about taking inspiration from the Faceless's 'Norman' move? 'Your projection has its own agenda and you act under fire if you don't follow it'.
Oh, and the 7-9 condition's a bit odd, too.  This move basically allows you to ignore the need to 'act under fire', but then on a 7-9, whenever someone interacts with you, you're acting under fire.  Seems kinda counter-productive.


And that's enough damage for the moment, I think.  I may or may not (even need to) comment on the scenario books.

Hope that's helpful!

28
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 08, 2012, 08:17:09 AM »
Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 07, 2012, 08:16:44 PM
SoylentWhite,

I love your reviews. Thank you so much for looking so deeply into everything.

Thanks.  It's nice to be appreciated.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 07, 2012, 08:16:44 PM
Quote from: SoylentWhite on June 07, 2012, 07:34:34 PM
CAG
Raiding party: Isn't the 7-9 downside too much?  1-harm ap, when you're definitely in a dangerous situation, is bad enough for a success, but to also have to choose 1 of 3 additional bad things on top just seems excessive.  (Also, is it the player or MC who decides which option?)

Raiding party: Hmm... I'll think on this, I want it to ensure you're in danger. Maybe I'll just drop the harm.
Maybe the harm could be just one of the options the player chould choose?


Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 07, 2012, 08:16:44 PM
Quote from: SoylentWhite on June 07, 2012, 07:34:34 PM
Commander
Special: I don't get this.  I mean, I get what it does, I'm just having difficulty picturing why 'right place, right time' is something the Commander is notable for.

Special: It seemed to me that Adama and Caine were never far from the ones they cared about, but perhaps they were only close in effect but not person. (Like Adama helping Starbuck by giving her fire support from the CIC). I'll ponder of other options here.
The 'help or interfere from any distance' move would make more sense to me, personally.  (Though the President has that currently, which also makes sense.  Maybe change the President's one to 'you gain 1-favour.  At your option, they gain 1-favour as well.' or something?  On the other hand, with Personable, that's outright broken.  Hmmm.  Only they get the favour, and only at the President's option?  That means lots of people will want face-time with the President, which seems appropriate, and makes the President definitely something of a power broker.)

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 07, 2012, 08:16:44 PM
Quote from: SoylentWhite on June 07, 2012, 07:34:34 PM
Marine
Final line of stats only seems to add up to +2.
If you don't have 'master at arms', and take 'choose a new weapon available to you', should you be able to select restricted munitions?

Stats: Yep, because it is Hard +3, Just like stat blocks that have two +2s only add up to net +2.
Weapon advancements: Yes, there are still heavy weapons and side arms available to you, thought they may not be as ideal as if you had Master at arms. I'm okay with that.
Okay, you're treating stats differently to how base AW treats them, then.  Compare with the Battlebabe.  If you check, you'll notice that the +3 cool is treated as if it were actually +2.  In other words, in statlines with no (other) +2, the total adds up to +4, and in the line with Hot +2, it 'only' adds up to +3.
Regarding weapons, you seem to have answered the question, but not really understood what I was asking.  So, an example.  I am a marine, I don't have Master at Arms, and have taken the maximum 4 marine moves, so I cannot take it.  I take the 'choose a new weapon' advance.  My question was whether I could take any of the restricted weapons 'unlocked' by MaA.  Your answer seems to be 'no', which is the right answer to me, but I think you might want to make it clearer.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 07, 2012, 08:16:44 PM
Quote from: SoylentWhite on June 07, 2012, 07:34:34 PM
Pilot
When it came up in a previous game, our MC ruled (fairly enough, we felt) that if you read a situation then acted on the answers, you were acting tactically, which was hedging your bets somewhat.  As such, it's slightly surprising for the same playbook to have both 'Daredevil' and 'Perfect Instincts'.
'Versatile' seems weaksauce.

Move combinations: Yeah, that's worth tinkering on. Pilot used to be a +Sharp character (built off the Driver) that I changed to +Cool (because, c'mon Starbuck is the epitome of the battlebabe), so there is some lingering Driver-esk stuff in there that maybe shouldn't be.
Versatile: You think I should just give them both Viper and Raptor from the start?
How about this for daredevil (possibly needing to be renamed to 'hotshot', or something): When you show off and take needless risks, being a danger to yourself, take +1 armour.  When you are totally reckless, hog the glory and are a danger to those around you, take +2 armour.
Mechanically powerful, yes, but will narratively totally screw them over if they use the more powerful side too often.  (making an enemy of their CAG and their fellow pilots does not a good pilot make.)  But then I am perhaps overly fond of moves that tempt characters into acting foolishly. ;)
Versatile: yeah, I say they can 'choose to be qualified on 1 or both' to start.  Being able to use both doesn't make them directly more powerful, but does give them more stuff to do if they want it.

Quote from: Sean Nittner on June 07, 2012, 08:16:44 PM
Quote from: SoylentWhite on June 07, 2012, 07:34:34 PM
President
Campaigns confuse me.  What exactly does it mean when the president is campaigning 'bodyguarding' (for example)?  Stuff like 'Colonial relations' and 'law enforcement' make sense, 'Deliveries' less so.
Well connected: given that you can just spend a favour to get an automatic 10+ result in seduce/maniplate, what use is this move?  Going aggro?(!)

Politicking: Hmm, any suggestions on replacement campaigns. Some of them are definitely fringe, but I've enjoyed seeing the president do some pretty shady/questionable jobs.
Well Connected: Indeed. You're friend with the big guns for going Agro. Your contact with a private ship to get you off the Battlestar for Acting under fire, etc.
Campaigns: well, there's certainly stuff like 'Shady deals (2-favours, -EXPOSED)', 'Fundraising (2-favours, -COMPROMISED) [edit: or maybe 'Fundraising (1-favour OR 3-favours+OBLIGATION, -COMPROMISED)]', maybe more later.  My understanding is that when doing stuff like 'Law Enforcement', you're not actually doing law enforcement yourself, you're doing something like going around giving speeches encouraging people to join the police, 'rat on a rat', that kind of thing.  Is that right?
Well connected: I still feel I'm mentally missing something.  What's stopping someone who doesn't have this move from using 1-favour to get your friend with the big gun to help you?  Or using it on the captain of the private ship?  Does this move simply 'cut out' the need for groundwork, so you can say, 'okay, this negotiation is going worse than I thought, I'm using well connected and spending a favour to *retroactively* state I got a guy with a big gun waiting conspicuously outside to give me +1 to my go aggro roll'?

29
brainstorming & development / Re: Apocalypse Galatica
« on: June 07, 2012, 07:34:34 PM »
Enjoyed reading this, but I had a fair few comments, etc.  Hope you don't mind.

This is purely based on the core playbooks document.  I'll probably get around to the others later.

All following comments are purely opinion, ignore or utilise at will, no offence is intended.


Activist
Why do they get an option to add a new option to the battlestar?
Does 'choose a new option for your command' mean for their criminals?

CAG
Raptor scouting: isn't 'where do I find this' kind of a prerequisite for everything else?  Wouldn't it make sense that if you roll a hit, you find it automatically?
Brief the Squad: Remove a weakness: I am unclear as to how the MU could get most of those weaknesses (unruly, fatigued, out of formation).  Purely from the narrative?
Wingman: Is the harm moved before or after armour?  In other words, you have 2-harm applied to a viper with 1-armour.  Do you move 1-harm before armour, so both absorb the damage, or does the primary target only apply armour, resulting in 1-harm applied, which can then be moved around as AP harm?
Raiding party: Isn't the 7-9 downside too much?  1-harm ap, when you're definitely in a dangerous situation, is bad enough for a success, but to also have to choose 1 of 3 additional bad things on top just seems excessive.  (Also, is it the player or MC who decides which option?)

Captain
I think brief info on what the surplusses do might be useful – stuff like what's the effective difference between 'salvage' and 'supplies'?
To confirm: strengths are what you get on surplus, right?

Commander
You're the commander.  Do you really have to select an option to have private quarters?  What's the alternative?  Top bunk in the barracks?
I always look at faith -2 with suspicion.  Out of all the stats, weird/faith is the easiest for a player to avoid, if they so choose, so it's not nearly so much a hindrance as, say, sharp -2.
Special: I don't get this.  I mean, I get what it does, I'm just having difficulty picturing why 'right place, right time' is something the Commander is notable for.

Engineer
You are aware you have both +1 sharp (max +3) as an advance and a move that gives +1 sharp (max +3)?  While there are circumstances where one is preferable to the other, it does seem a bit redundant.

Marine
Unless I vastly misremember the base AW rules, there's no such thing as '3-sharm'.  S-harm is just s-harm.
Final line of stats only seems to add up to +2.
If you don't have 'master at arms', and take 'choose a new weapon available to you', should you be able to select restricted munitions?
Boarding party: as Raiding Party.
Watch my back: as Wingman.

Opportunist
Pretty sure the advancement list is just flat-out wrong.

Partisan
Change your bond to another PC means what, exactly?
I'm giving 'get your gun' suspicious looks, since it's a move not usable by other playbooks.
Protect your mark: as Wingman.
Leave no one behind: too similarly named to the CAG move 'leave no man behind'.

Pilot
In 'good pilot', youseize lacks a space. /pedant.
When it came up in a previous game, our MC ruled (fairly enough, we felt) that if you read a situation then acted on the answers, you were acting tactically, which was hedging your bets somewhat.  As such, it's slightly surprising for the same playbook to have both 'Daredevil' and 'Perfect Instincts'.
'Versatile' seems weaksauce.
From the way I read 'New tech', if you also have 'Versatile', you still don't get both, you can only ever have one upgrade or the other.  Correct?

President
Campaigns confuse me.  What exactly does it mean when the president is campaigning 'bodyguarding' (for example)?  Stuff like 'Colonial relations' and 'law enforcement' make sense, 'Deliveries' less so.
There is mention of 'Political sway', which doesn't seem to exist.
Well connected: given that you can just spend a favour to get an automatic 10+ result in seduce/maniplate, what use is this move?  Going aggro?(!)
There don't seem to be any advances to get new campaigns.

Supplemental Playbooks
I'll probably have more later, but I just wanted to ask now: what's meant by 'crossfire'?  I have it in my head that 'crossfire' is where you have multiple weapons able to fire at the same point from different angles.  In other words, a good thing, but it seems to be here as a weakness.


Hope you find at least some of that useful.  Thanks for making it!

30
brainstorming & development / Re: [Dark Galaxy]Death Dancer Playbook Feedback
« on: June 03, 2012, 05:23:15 AM »
Ah, yes.  So: 'Choose a weapon from the list below as your signature weapon.  When you're using it, it has +1 harm and you have 1-armour (if you're wearing armour, use that instead)'?

You are right about the Death lab.  Given the mechanics, it actually works.  For an alibi: 'It'll cost you, take days of work, it'll be weak and unreliable.'  For example.  That doesn't need any changes at all.

That's certainly a fair enough reason to not take AotG.  The one you stated before was a bit odd to me, was all.

The one point you didn't cover, which I think should be in some way, was that you have both an NPC hunting you, and an easy way to kill NPCs off-camera.  That doesn't result in a particularly dangerous threat to you as-is.

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