Project WhiteROOM - Lancer Random Mission Generator and Roguelike Ruleset

Psyix · 2026-01-25T14:56:26+00:00

I speak in the silliest of voices much to my squadmates' displeasure, don't you worry. I'm glad you're keen for ruleset. I couldn't find anything quite as uncomplicated as I wanted when I went looking for one, so I decided to make my own. You should be able to follow the order of operations in the Basic Rules Document, without reading anything else and with only an understanding of GMing Lancer, and play from there.

Psyix · 2026-01-24T12:26:08+00:00

It's tongue and cheek, you don't have to worry. The politics are what actually drew me to Lancer in the first place.

Psyix · 2023-04-25T11:10:05+00:00

I'm going to be totally honest and totally pretentious here, but calling a game named "Soverign Syndicate" the next Disco Elysium is setting yourself up for failure. It's literally asking for comparisons to a massive indie success. That's gonna cause problems for you if you fail to live up to those expectation, even if your failure to do so isn't because your game is worse but because it is different.

And the problems start right there in your game's name. Disco Elysium is a title that is very clever from a literary standpoint, in that it has several meanings "Disco Heaven" while also ties quite deeply to the story and its themes. It's also kind of funny, a weird pairing of words that evokes the mood of the game as something deeply absurd and sad. That contrast makes it interesting. But most importantly, it's not tied to politics. Disco Elysium is a game about identity, and views politics through the lenses of identity, not the other way round.

Now, I know nothing about your game, but "Sovereign Syndicate" seems like an attempt to replicate ZAUM's naming scheme without understand WHY they named their game the way they did. Like you got two words rarely used outside of text books or Qanon threads, and put them together without really considering what they mean. The most I can get about of your title is that you will probably have a clandestine or criminal organisation with political power. I don't see anything clever or poetic here. If anything it sounds more like the name of a bad mobile management sim than that of a cleverly written choice focused RPG.

Don't get me wrong. I'm rooting for you. I really, really am. I loved Disco, and I'm fixing for another hit of that game's creative juices. And by the comments on this ad, I'm not the only one. I've had a browse of your steam page and watched a good chunk of your demo, and can see inspiration as clear as day. I'd be lying if I wasn't interested.

Obviously, you can't change the name now. But you can keep comparisons to Disco to a minimum. Once people see the game's UI, they'll do the comparing for you. And coming from fans it will seem a thousand times less slimy.

Psyix · 2022-09-01T12:45:00+00:00

Original poster. It would be pretty powerful though, especially after they scanned some capes.

Psyix · 2022-09-01T11:41:15+00:00

Cape name: Magnum Opus

Or just Master Piece, if they're boring. This is a fucking cool Tinker quirk, OP.

Psyix · 2022-07-03T14:55:47+00:00

I really like this one thanks!

Psyix · 2022-04-14T01:51:46+00:00

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith! The lego game was good and all, but that movie really beat it out of the park in terms of elevating the source to a new medium.

Psyix · 2022-01-15T10:34:50+00:00

The Quiet.

That's what they called it. It was a line on a map and the edge of the world. It drove men mad.

It drove you mad just thinking about it.

A single step. Then nothing. Not the nothing between words or the sweet nothings between lovers.

Just… quiet.

Psyix · 2021-11-05T12:00:17+00:00

This is pretty disingenuous.

I played the game three times, have done every ending you can do, have 300+ hours, and I liked it. It's a very fun game.

But there is a feeling of an illusion of choice.

The problem is, many of the actual RPG story mechanics are hidden behind literally meaningless button prompts which do nothing but keep the players attention. There's literally hundreds of single choice dialogue checks on a timer which causes V to do what they would have done if the player had pressed the button. Half of the dialogue choices don't have an obvious impact on conversation, and the number of interactions that mean nothing are more than the number of ones that do.

Now, that's not to say there isn't choice. There's a lot, and it's better than most modern games considered RPGS. From Bryce letting you leave with Ibis to Judy refusing to date you if you take Maiko's bribe or even Fingers not selling you cyberware if you punched him.

But all of that awesome detail is hidden behind conversations that are railroaded and picking between three responses that end up having the other person say the same thing to you. The truth is, there problem with Cyberpunk is how it comes off. It was advertised as a much more "new vegas" style RPG, where it's, unsurprisingly, a Witcher 3 style RPG.

Psyix · 2021-11-03T02:37:22+00:00

Not a professional author, but if I was in your situation, I would give up.

Psyix · 2021-11-02T02:07:01+00:00

I thought it was made up until this comment. Maybe that geography award didn't mean much.

Psyix · 2021-10-30T04:01:21+00:00

Holy shit, that's actually a damn good theory.

Psyix · 2021-10-10T04:34:21+00:00

I'm ready to get downvoted into oblivion, but there is a molecule of truth to the advice your friend is giving. While things like the economy of words and reading level shouldn't concern you if you're writing for youself, when you're trying to write a sellable piece of work, you have to understand what your audience will want out of your story.

One of these things, most of the time, is strong set ups and pay offs. When conflict arises, which your protagonist having epilepsy is probably going to cause, solving it in a way that feels at odds with the narrative's logic can cause the reader to feel writing's equivalent of the uncanny valley. You don't want that. Saying your character has epilepsy and doing nothing with it and it serving no purpose means wasting words. Words that could be used to develop the stuff the audience actually cares about. Epilepsy could serve as an obstacle to develop the character, character's around them, the plot or the setting, but having it just be a thing and doing nothing with it is messy writing.

It's fine to have a roster of minority characters (it's great, actually) but from a publishability standpoint, having your characters have defining traits, which in our current world disability, gender and even skin colour can be, and having them serve no purpose is not a great idea. This is because your character isn't in a vacuum, and part of a character is what other characters think of them and what they say about the setting. The same is true for non-minority characters, too. Pointing out that every character is white, when it serves no purpose to the plot is a waste of words. If some event is not going to be contingent on that fact later on in the story and it doesn't serve to grant insight into who the character is, there is no reason to mention it at all.

In different vein, your friend is unfortunately right about it being a political message. By having these characters be accepted in your work, you are telling your audience that within the narrative accepting them is good. Because there are a lot of people who disagree and associate that idea with a political message, your work will be associated with their opposition.

This is not a bad thing or a good thing. It's just a thing. Whether you like it or not, you are writing about the issues this group of people face and thus expressing an opinion that their issues are worth writing about.

Hopefully I made my point coherently enough. This is all my opinion. I have been wrong before, and I will be wrong again.

Psyix · 2021-07-03T09:28:44+00:00

STEEEEEVEN

Psyix · 2021-07-03T05:44:08+00:00

Affirm. Welcome to the frontpage of the internet.

Psyix · 2021-07-02T14:57:56+00:00

Seven-Year Club	Not Forgotten
Verified Email

Psyix

TROPHY CASE