Now that Beta 2 of the Shadows Over Sol playtest is about to open, I have some questions for the playtesters. Feel free to also talk about any other comments you have.

In this beta face cards work like “adders” in Against the Dark Yogi, rather than acting as the stat value like they did in Beta 1. Which version of the face card mechanic do you prefer? What is your reasoning?

As with Beta 1, trump suits in this beta are determined by the stat value. This is different from Against the Dark Yogi, wherein trump suits were fixed at the particular stat. Which version of the trump suits do you prefer? What is your reasoning?

I prefer “adders” for a few reasons. One, they actually are more random, as they require a draw from the deck, and can be really great or terrible (jokers). With the old system, they were amazing if you were already good at something, and middling or terrible for most other things. I would only play them for a guarantee on something the character was good at. Now, I will play them in more situations.

It seems like stats as they are now tend to clump a bit. I think my stat trumps are 2 suits only, and the other cards are less useful. I don't know if the trump rules as they are now really add that much.

Other comments:

Edge is pretty awesome. It may result in some balance issues. Not with the ones that have drastically lower stats, but perhaps the Genius one which boosts Int and Charisma. I will take a look at the numbers again when I have more time in the next few weeks.

I prefer the face cards as adders. They just have more interest and fun value that way. They are almost like a random draw, except you get a slight bump and get to choose the suit for damage purposes. The other way, I almost never used them, because most stats fell into the middle ground.

Again, because most stats fall into the middle ground, trump feels weird. I don't know if it is different, but it feels like I have less chance to trump. So from a player perspective, it feels less interesting.

I haven't re-tried the system with adders yet, but I remember liking them in Against the Dark Yogi and thinking they were less cool in the first round of Shadows Over Sol. Micah describes it well in pointing out that, in the old system, they were really great for things you were good at but simultaneously more complicated and probably less good for all other things.

Having all the trump values tend toward a few suits is definitely a thing, but I remember that in, say , Trystell, I valued one or two trump suits above others and held them in reserve because they happened to be the trump cards for the stats Januk used most often (Dexteriy and Perception). In this case, I might hold particular suits in reserve because they can work with *all* my stats, which is different but still interesting. Unfortunately, since the character creation and experience system push everyone towards average values, that means everyone will theoretically be looking for the same suits to trump on most of their flips. That could be kind of a problem.

In the playtest so far I have noticed that most people have selected either the Superhuman Deluxe geneline, the Budget Upgrade or the Wild Type - basically the genelines that either boost Edge the most or boost stats the most.

Why do you think this is? Do you feel like the genelines could use more balancing? If so, what would you look for in rebalancing them?

Now that people have had the chance to experience a couple combats with the new declaration and initiative system, my question is:

What are your opinions about it? What are the major rough spots of the new combat system? How could they be fixed?

Why do you think this is? Do you feel like the genelines could use more balancing? If so, what would you look for in rebalancing them?

I think that the Genius and Celebrity Deluxe genelines would actually be quite good, especially now that stats matter more. I originally chose Budget Upgrade because it worked for the character thematically, and I chose it again because I wanted to preserve as much of him as possible. That's really it!

What are your opinions about it? What are the major rough spots of the new combat system? How could they be fixed?

The issue with reclaiming AP when you cancel an action needs to be smoothed out and clarified. Can you only ever get 1 AP back when you cancel, regardless of how many AP of actions you had queued? I think the new system seems interesting and cool, and I generally have enjoyed it for the one combat I nominally participated in. It did lose the “building dread up to the violence” part, but that's probably okay.

Why do you think this is? Do you feel like the genelines could use more balancing? If so, what would you look for in rebalancing them?

I think it was mostly because my geneline choice fit the character I wanted to play. I considered a few others, but it wasn't really a mechanical choice. They seem pretty balanced. Modern superman is pretty awesome and might be too good. With the Int/Charisma increases, it works out to really only about a ~-1 to hand size for a lot of things, but really, I don't see any obvious broken builds with any of the genelines.

What are your opinions about it? What are the major rough spots of the new combat system? How could they be fixed?

I liked the original system despite going in with a lot of worry after MERP's similar system, but it had some really awkward edge cases. I really like the system as it is now. Choosing between raw speed or multiple actions, choosing between offense and defense, etc. present a lot of tactical decisions.

Micah
Modern superman is pretty awesome and might be too good.

I've been doing some math, and I believe that you're right about this.

There are 10,080 different unique combinations of stats assigned purely from the array.

Modern superman's stat modifiers result in a +1 relative increase in edge 60.7% of the time, and a net +2 increase in edge 39.3% of the time. Taking that geneline's flat -2 penalty to edge into account, the net effect is only ever -1 or no net change.

That's more than a little too good.

Looking at the other genelines that effect edge, wild type results in a +4 net increase in edge 100% of the time.

Budget upgrade's stat modifications result in a +0 relative bonus 35.7% of the time, and a +1 relative bonus 64.3% of the time. Taking its flat bonus into account, this is a +2 or +3 bonus.

A +2 or +3 bonus to edge is also pretty good, considering you're also getting 5 of you 8 stats bumped up by 1 as well.

This week I'm throwing the gates open for comment.

What are the rough patches or areas of the system that still need the most work?

What other equipment would you like to see available (in a supplement or something) that isn't already available?

General Rules:

I think the game is getting close, and there are few obvious problems left. When last we played, the whole refocus action still seemed inelegant or at least confusingly worded. I'm not sure if being able to use that action to aim is a good idea, it creates more of that “I'll say I'm doing first aid, but if no one is injured I'll cancel it to aim last minute” kind of thing. But I understand wanting to have a solution for letting people make progress towards getting rid of consequences they just picked up., especially stun.

The easiest solution might be just to scrap it, and put a line in stun that says “If you are unable to execute a previously planned action because you are stunned, reduce stun by one severity instead”.

Equipment:
Here's a list of things that would be nice to see. I'll consider vehicles part of equipment:

-More detail on what environmental suits can stand up to, and for how long. Partially, because I would need help as a GM determining where people could survive in a sufficiently advanced suit. Partially because being on a tense “timer” as your suit or the stations environment fails is a staple of space horror.

-Aquatic vehicles, both surface and (especially) submersible. Are underwater colonies/research stations a thing on Earth? Is the water under Europa travelable, or only by probes?

-Mining colonies seem to be a huge setting point. You have an asteroid/space mining vehicle, but no land based mining vehicles. I could really see this factoring into Mars stories.

-Ship floor plans are always nice, to help visualize things.

-Weapons: Nonlethal weapons such as tear gas or sound based weapons. Grenade launcher? Flamethrowers may not be practical or common, but are iconic. Can I fire my weapon in space? How do other(or no) atmospheres like Luna or Mars affect ballistic weapons?

-Exosuit type thing to aid lifting? Again, may not be terribly practical but is iconic.

-Some recreational drugs, for the heeds.

-Maybe some gear to help with hacking, that is more exciting than a expert system bonus? I never got to see the hacking system much. Maybe a piece of software that can give you clues as to where you could obtain a vulnerability for a given system? What about EMP weapons?


If you're doing a full supp with gear, I think one themed around inhospitable environments (vacuum/underwater/Jovian moons, etc.) would be my greatest desire.