An update on the progress of revised…

I have completed converting all the tables to a format suitable for layout. I have now passed this off to Mike for basic layout. This will give us a single PDF of the new core rulebook. Once Mike is done I will post the PDF to the playtesters. I will collect feedback and do another editing pass myself. I need to do a full end-to-end read.

Some more points on the changes so far…

We again tweaked full auto fire. Full auto will expend ROFx2 Q and 1/2 (ROF) shots will hit (no rolling for number of shots that hit). This simulates the reality of full auto – get a lot of lead in the air for a better chance to hit.

We have made changes to encumbrance. Instead of spending all that time adding up every little trinket you have +1 (occasionally +2 for large/bulky items) for armor, the 1st weapon you carry, +1 for the 2nd weapon, -X for heavy belt, etc. This gives you a relatively small and easy to manage relative gague on your encumbrance.

I thought I would also give you an example of one of the layout changes we have made. All the crunch in the race descriptions have been pulled out into the stat blocks. The race fluff is now all in a race chapter, and the race stat blocks now appear in the character creation chapter. This will make it easier to reference.

That is all for now. Now I can say that pretty soon we will have a new play test document to digest.

I am close to finishing the changes for the latest version of the playtest rules. This version will include the entire core book, not just the changes as the previous versions did. As such it is high time I gave you some information on the changes.

Our Philosophy + Goals

• anything that detracts form game play/enjoyment, then remove
• focus on races and settings
• tone down the military bent, offer more non-military
• write clearly and concisely
• we are not necessarily going for complete balance, some things are just not equal/fair, just like life
• reduce level of complexity (real/perceived)

More Interesting Changes

Races

• presenting race copy first, then stats, so can read race fluff without concern and easier to reference later
• height/weight moved to physiology for fluff, and ht/wt in stat block replaced with SC
• crunch has been removed from race descriptions and moved to the racial stat blocks (and these moved to the character creation section for easier reference)

Other

• rolled poison SMR into chemical SMR
• rolled acid SMR into chemical SMR
• timeline replaced with combined timeline created from timelines across all existing products
• the Battlelords megaplot story is included in the appendix
• armor SMRs use the same universal SMR mechanic

Skills

• removed starting skill level limitation – you are free to purchase any level of skill you like
• removed JA, M, JS, and BC from skill charts
• removed Secondary Skills: Persuasion/Bargaining => Persuasion skill, Terrestrial Knowledge => Terrestrial Knowledge skill, Military Leadership => Military Leadership skill
• each skill now belongs to only a single category
• skill cost replaced by straight xp value for simplification

Equipment

• Generation Armor has been replaced by Generation Friendly armor option which can be bought with any new armor/helmet
• new computer rules/section
• change AHW with fractional ROF to whole numbers
• broken AHW into AHW and ARW (Archaic Ranged Weapons)
• talking someone down from frenzy simplified – if you succeed your Persuasion/Military Leadership check then the frenzied player get another AGG check

Combat

• removed Declaration Phase: just roll initiative then take actions
• removed Burst fire: this in-between fire mode confused and complicated things
• removed Defensive Modifier
• added standard MN table for all weapons and moved the weapon system specific MN tables to the appendix as optional
• we changed critical hits from BP/4 (25%) of your REMAINING BPs to 25% of your total BP to make it a single calculation that is done once, up front
• changed Full Auto to do ROF shots instead of ROFx3 shots
• think of the ROF weapon stat not as the literal number of shots that hit, but the practical number of shots that hit on full auto; which is why you just hit with the ROF and when you full auto across multiple targets you just divide and drop the remainder
• no more rolling for the number of shots that hit – you hit with the full ROF listed (or 1 if you fire single shot) – this will compensate for the ROF change
• added new ordering a charge action
• ELE and EMP SMRs are combined into ELE
• added COR (corrosive) SMR to armor/helmets i.e. acid
• grapple is going to be simplified as this can get into a big, hairy mess real quick

Matrices

• no matrix should require both an attack (accuracy) check AND a SMR to succeed, it is only one or the other
• some matrices used to increase in effectiveness based on EB and others based on Generation skill/level, but they should all be now based on Generation skill
• converted matrix duration to rounds for duration < 30 sec
• replaced boost stat with matrix manipulation skill check
• no more of the matrix v matrix, matrix v discharge, etc. stuff, when it is your turn you generate a matrix (according to the generation time of half/full action) and it goes off immediately
• all damage causing matrices have an IR listed
• matrix accuracy is changed from RBs (i.e. 80/70/50/-) to one accuracy that applies to the entire range (i.e. 80)
• accuracy and damage have been pulled out of the matrix description into their own stats
• removed CON loss when using PPs

This is not the exhaustive list.

Other

One other idea I was toying with, but I highly doubt anyone will go for is… This is a science fiction game. There are lots of alien races, and to encourage you to NOT play a Human I was thinking of removing the Human as a race in the core book. We could put it on the web site as a free PDF. Does anyone besides me like this idea?