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- Generation Armor has been replaced by Generation Friendly armor option which can be bought with any new armor/helmet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?
Removing humans would be a poor choice in my opinion. They give a baseline for comparison which new players especially need to understand how significantly the other races excel or lag behind in various areas.
Keep the Humans, we need pilots.
Like the changes, less rolls and a whole lot less when full clip conflics errupt.
Would like to see more in whats happening in the world of “new computer rules/section”.
This is the 23rd century, so computers are all over (provided you are on a minimal TL planet). Hence, computer usage is treated like a language: 0 = illiterate, 1 = basic (spoken only), 2 = functionally illiterate (you can get by), 3 = fluent
I vote NO on that idea. I don’t understand why this “and to encourage you to NOT play a Human” is even a goal. The designer helps to set the tone with the species he makes available. Removing humans as a core play option would have a dramatic effect on the tone, to no good end, because there’s no reason to care what the countless players of the game actually play. It really seems to be a case of “if you don’t want human characters, rule 0 that at your table”. More importantly, “This is a science fiction game” is a terrible reason to exclude humans, since science fiction is not about the aliens. It’s about the human condition, with aliens standing in for various things. Take out the humans, and you’re not making a SF game anymore. IMO of course.
Good points to be considered. I would still argue that SF is about aliens, at least my SF :)
I like the simpler SMR Idea. Removing the starting levels for skills is a good idea. The PC’s will learn the pro’s and con’s much faster that way.
But please keep the JA, M, JS, and BC for the Battle Masters at least.
Please keep the Humans. Humans and Pythons(both Ram & Lizard) seemed to be the most play in my neck of the galaxies.
Well, as some people know by now, we are keeping Humans. JA, M, JS, an BC will not be in the book, but we will make them freely available on our web site.
These are available here… http://wiki.ssdc.com/wiki/Skills#Additional_Skill_Attributes
Keep the Humans! A lot of people dont have access to printing PDFs. Some poor souls even lack the internet! ( My playgroup meets at a buddies house and we’re limited to only what we have in the books )