[3:16] Psionics

[iconoplast]

Originally Posted by Gregor Sutton

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If you have a Psi-guy then he can kill aliens using E wounds (and use NFA instead of FA depending on the power), just ask them what power they want to have and treat it like a weapon. They can upgrade their PSI power or get a new one between missions, just like it was a weapon.

The power will do 1 or d6 or d10 kills at whatever range (just look at some of the weapons and equate them -- Pyrokinesis might be like a Flame-gun, etc.). I'd put in a rule that if a Psi-guy rolls a 10 on their NFA check then have them take an E wound themselves as they get "burnout" or "kickback".

You'll also want to put in psychic bugs, but as you can see aliens are really easy for the GM to run anyway. The Special Ability that is most like "psychic" in the main rulebook is "Ignores Armour".

Wouldn't you want to still have some kind of reason that a psychic couldn't just ignore their FA stat?

[Gregor Hutton]

Good point.

Well, when I get around to doing the Psionics stuff it'll be in more detail and tested. My thoughts are that some Psi stuff is Fighting, and some stuff is Not Fighting. And maybe having kickback on a 10 is too grim? (Or maybe not!)

I guess Fighty psi-powers should use FA and non-fighty ones NFA.

Hey, what thoughts do you have on it?

[iconoplast]

Well, you could say 'Fighty Powers use FA, non-fighty powers use NFA,' to make psionics purely a matter of description.

Kickback on 10 isn't that bad unless the Aliens are also doing E-damage.

Or, you could do something like, "Roll NFA for your powers. If you succeed, you act as if you'd rolled your FA score." So if you go NFA 8 / FA 2, you're almost always successful, but you're also almost always last.

You can also say that there are, for instance, no Close Range psionics. Or no Far Range ones. That psykers cannot use Combat Drugs.

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I'm also brainstorming fleet engagements - the idea being that the PCs begin as 'gunners' in a drop ship; PCs of Officer Rank can also scramble into fighters, and the lowest ranked PC gets to change range for free on his action.

The range increments would be... Dog Fight / Engagement Range / Artillery Range (?). The idea being that, aside from trying to get promoted from Gunner to Fighter Pilot so you can set your own range, the rules stay the same, so that Space Combat Missions can be interspersed between Ground Combat Missions.

The real holdup is trying to figure out where to find a bunch of cool little space fighter minis.

[Gregor Hutton]

Oh, Hot! Now I want to play a fighter pilot!

Yes, I think the Dog Fight/Engagement/Distant ranges would work really well for ship-to-ship combat. Maybe that could get a supplement of its own at some point.

Look, if you get some play with this stuff, post it up and let me know. I'm superkeen to read how it goes for you.

Thanks for the feedback and ideas, I'll think about them over the weekend. If you have anything else just post it up here too.

Have you had a chance to play it yet?

[iconoplast]

Haven't played yet, no... I posted this hours after buying it & searching the internet for more accounts of actual play.

I think I've got some people interested in playing, and if it falls through, I can always interrupt my regular game for a one-shot.

I am positively nerdgiddy about this game, let me tell you.

[iconoplast]

Wow.

Finally got to play last night with my group - I've never played anything that wasn't d20 with them, and I'm pretty sure there would have been resistance to the idea if I'd asked. But, since one of the players didn't show up, I just strongarmed them into it - handed them character sheets, told them to write down one (and ONLY one) name, a reputation, and divide up their points.

We cleared four planets in about as many hours (The orbital bombardment invoked on leaving the drop pod on planet 3 helped with that - and robbed me of my chance to spring 'Exploding Bodies' on them).

The way the players engaged was pretty predictable -
Two of them understood the sort of metagame aspects (Need to use strengths to get promotions, need to max kills to unlock strengths) and invoked flashbacks.
One didn't think that hard about that stuff, but did predictably max out his FA, got the E-Cannon, and upgraded it at every opportunity - so he was appropriately engaged, I guess, and leveling up.
The fourth... well, apparently when he & one of the fully engaged players were talking about the game to the missing player today, he tried to be unenthusiastic, but came off as determined to not enjoy it, since he sort of grudgingly had to concede to the litany of awesome that the engaged player was reciting.

We had 3 promotions, two given to the person who started as Sgt, so we ended with him, wide-eyed, reading about TPK bombs and just dying to get a chance to set one off.

I was a little dissapointed that we didn't get more fluff descriptions of the actions, but ever since I joined, that's never been this group's playstyle. Narrating their own actions sort of came slowly, and the degree of narration corresponded closely to the degree of engagedness.

(I was sort of wishing for some kind of "DM's Little Helper" Action Dice / Bennies / Kiss-up token style mechanic here, actually. Some reward for a good description)

One snap ruling I made was as follows: If you start out at close range, and your E Cannon has a damage of 0, you can still roll FA - if you succeed and beat the Aliens, you don't do any damage, but you can still take your free move.

Anyway, everyone (well, almost) was incredibly enthusiastic & I think we're looking at continuing the adventures of Alpo Company from Caravaggio IX all the way to "The Last Battle is For Terra".