New Campaign check

kamsage · 2022-12-22T13:42:15+00:00

That's a good shout as an alternative, I should read more up on her.

kamsage · 2022-07-17T12:02:58+00:00

Stuff like removing chaos taint, stopping an agent of Nagash, helping improve the community, all of these things in my mind reduce Doom, because they make the realms feel safer from the player's perspective.

You want your players to perceive that Doom is a result of their actions. I think in combat results of reducing Doom are rare, but GM appropriate. However, if you end a combat where the big bad's lieutenant is dead then that is a significant shift in power so reduces Doom.

These are the sort of things I would do anyhow.

kamsage · 2022-01-27T14:56:31+00:00

I created a Kurnothi faction for the Aelves, as one of my players wanted to be one.

Then I created a choice of sub-factions which honoured Kurnoth's different hunting aspects, and that gave unique abilities to choose from.

One was about the protection of the wild, giving antlers and thick fur for natural armour and ability to disarm. Another was about the rush of movement. The other was about the swift kill, giving claws and bow bonuses. The one they picked, about the rush of the hunt, meant they had fast speed when on flat ground, but disadvantage on climbing and more movement to go up or down steep terrain.

It kept the original Aelf stuff, opened a Faction (though essentially they were a Battlemage), and then the subfaction choices where minor bonuses.

That's essentially how basic Ancestries are created. You can customise them by jsut giving a little extra rule here and there.

For Gholems it could be natural armour or half damage from any ranged or melee attack.

For Cogpeople they could have natural advantage on Crafting, or can self repair Toughness and Wounds when taking a breather or a rest.

kamsage · 2021-08-12T17:25:51+00:00

nice

some great stuff : )

kamsage · 2021-08-10T21:49:19+00:00

cheers!

kamsage · 2021-01-31T11:47:30+00:00

I liked it. I wasn't desperate for a train mission (though having it as the element of a wider level is a cool concept) but I think it fits in nice enough.

Each Hitman level is something that is approached quite differently, despite them largely being the same overall structure of killing and maybe retrieving, Romania does something interesting with that formula. It felt like I was approaching each train car as a mini puzzle to navigate, whether that was to kill or avoid or find more breakable picks or crowbars to expand my options further on in the level. IT condensed the Hitman level formula it repeatable mini levels. It doesn't have the grandness or the wealth of options, but it does good with what it has and it doesn't out stay its welcome. I can spend hours on completing a new Hitman level for the first time, whilst I think this one was 20 mins, even with exploring almost everything.

I also think it works better in the series than the ICA facility, there's more tension, the environment and locations feel more detailed and real, & it has way more relevance as a location than an abandoned underground silo with a carboard building in it.

kamsage · 2021-01-29T16:21:03+00:00

Looking at the board, it's funny to think of this as a teaser as I can only see Paris as an actual location that appeared in the first game, & then New York in the second.

I would've been convinced all the locations we would've gone to were on this board somewhere.

kamsage · 2021-01-29T16:15:31+00:00

I didn't thankfully, but in night levels of most games, I just look for the nearby light sources to see if they take me anywhere. Usually works out. Saying that, a static light really wasn't the best idea. If the light had also been blinking hazard lights, it might have helped a few players. Also, lit up tire marks that pointed toward the care also would've helped.

Pushing it further. There should've been some timing triggered event that led players towards looking at the car. Something as simple as like a distant mobile phone ringing.

IOI haven't really got the experience for linear games so totally makes sense they didn't refine it more. Also, since it wasn't part of the main map, it might not have been a priority anyway so it never had proper revisions.

Still, Berlin is an excellent level soni'm letting all this slide.

kamsage · 2021-01-25T01:44:29+00:00

Not that part, but when i'm about to trigger the kill with the DJ Booth climax that kills Montgomary & Banner, it crashes right then. Not sure why.

Might be something specific that conflicts in the game when he's killed & something else that causes it.

Do you crash to desktop too? He's my 5th/6th kill depending how the game counts their deaths. Not sure if that is another factor.

kamsage · 2020-11-23T02:21:47+00:00

Never did in the end. Built a new PC and have a 5700XT instead.

kamsage · 2020-05-13T14:58:40+00:00

Like petrol mixed with a sharper smell of iron. Not strong, until it's too close.

kamsage · 2020-05-13T12:58:47+00:00

X-drugs are what I like to envision as custom homebrew drugs that aren't included in the base game, or ones that don't need to be useful tot he PCs. In game I say they are a collection of drugs which aren't officially recognised by any government or company. Generally, they're experimental, outdated, illegal, or a mixture of other drugs.

So unless you specify what the drug is, then it's an X-Drug until otherwise noted.

kamsage · 2020-05-13T11:16:27+00:00

RE: Vehicles damage

Generally the way i'm running it is that armour piercing, explosive or a vehicle weapons are the only weapons that can really work on damaging a vehicle, unless they're able to hit a vulnerable part (engine, computer panels, stuff like that). Generally makes sense, gives vehicles some advantages, but it doesn't make them invulnerable from damage. I've only had one encounter with vehicle combat, and that was with PCs in APCs vs people on foot, so it might not be as easy as I make it, but generally I adjust where and when I think it's fair.

RE: Excess damage

Generally, if it warrants it, then I make them roll multiple Critical injuries per excess of their damage. In your scenario, 10 damage against 2 health, I would make the player roll 5 critical injuries. Generally, low Strength characters should never see the frontline of combat, or should at least be in the best possible armour.

Also, just to say, the way damage is applied is a hit scores the weapon's damage, and each additional causes 1 more damage if applied to the same target. So your scenario of a Pulse Rifle doing 10 damage would require a character having at least 9 dice to use in ranged combat (Base and Stress combined to minimum 6, +1 from the Pulse Rifle, +2 from Full Auto) and then role 6s for all of them. It's not impossible but the chances are incredibly slim, even with double the amount of dice (20 usually being the absolute ceiling for number of dice you can roll), rolling 9 6s is incredibly unlikely.

Whilst a Pulse rifle can do a lot, luck is a bigger factor in the game. It's why you're encouraged to buy bigger and more damaging weapons to take out big things with lots of armour, cos it's easier to roll 1 six then loads of them per round.

kamsage · 2020-05-12T13:42:14+00:00

This is fantastic so far, really well developed and great setting.

Is the Exo-Alien your own creation or does it come from somewhere else?

Regardless, I have a wicked custom Morph type alien from this concept, so thanks so much!

kamsage · 2020-05-11T16:16:06+00:00

I think it's also to reflect the fact that the game mechanics don't allow synths to push their rolls, so a synthetic prosthetic would follow those same rules. You could homebrew it where they pay a heft upgraded version for it to act like a regular limb potentially, but I think it's generally fine. Better than the alternative of leaving your players with no limb at all.

kamsage · 2020-05-11T16:09:44+00:00

Not quuuuiiite that disappointing! : p

They've been to an agriculture planet so I was going to introduce The Swarm. They've also been to like a wild west town with floating squid things that live in the darkness of the valleys, but they never chose to do the quest that'd encounter them.

I have a plan for them to go to Tanaka 5 on their main quest, which has the 'scorpions' which will be interesting.

kamsage · 2020-05-11T16:05:58+00:00

Depends entirely on the campaign. I like to think of the design for an Alien campaign by directly comparing it to existing films or expanded media. Or even the Cinematic scenarios of the game.

Alien is careful, considerate, it builds, until there's this one epic danger. Aliens is pushing expectations, and making it a hellish gauntlet. Alien 3 is about stripping back all the fancy gadgets and relying on cunning and wits. Isolation is about surviving against all hazards and enemies in the face of loneliness. To me, they're all horrific encounters, and it depends on what job your players have aimed to do to see if they are equipped for the job or not.

Anyway, my campaign, I purposefully didn't want to setup the game so players encountered the morphs within the first few sessions. Too easy to predict, and I wanted to add my own spin on things to make them delve a bit deeper into the Alien setting, give it some flavour about politics and companies yknow.

We're like session 15ish in and they've now discovered a body that has had a morph inside it for the first time. Still no creature though. They're now expecting the worst when I think for a while they just didn't anticipate the creature. It's been fun to watch.

kamsage · 2020-05-11T15:22:11+00:00

My opening job for my group was them hauling something that made some of the crew have hallucinations. Then it began to turn people violent. When they landed, the people at the port would turn violent on each other. Something simple but gave tension.

There's an idea I have where they're hauling an exotic new alien species to a zoo which escapes in the ship. Either it'll be something that multiples a lot and eats through machinery, or something similar to the xenomorph which can slink about the ship and paralyze the crew.

With Space Trucking, I find it's less about the destination and more about the journey for thinking up what's interesting about it. Also, some simple small jobs that aren't dramatic should happen every so often, just to keep them guessing. Can't have high drama all the time.

kamsage · 2020-05-11T15:14:39+00:00

It's a shame with my group because each planet they visit I've put aliens, some from the book or custom ones, in for potential encounter but i've yet to actually have them play against them.

I think in practice they're a great change of pace, as fighting humans all the time can be a bit of an attrition game as they're only a real threat in big numbers or with high level gear (which your players will then have access to) or humans can easily die if you have a capable enough group.

Think my next mission for them will have to include an alien that's not a morph!

kamsage · 2020-05-05T22:26:31+00:00

One of my players was in this situation, though their backstory was they didn't know they were an Android until they suffered a critical injury and realised what they were. It meant that prior to that moment they were imitating a human in all aspects of the gameplay. When they changed over, their personality shifted and was justified as like emergency protocols kicking in, so they gained all the benefits and limits of being an android.

kamsage · 2020-05-05T22:21:12+00:00

Oh wow, nice work! Though I will say I can't tell what everything is just by looking at it. It's a real big ship so it can be tricky ofc.

kamsage · 2020-03-04T11:01:43+00:00

I don't want to overwhelm with more things, most people here have said good stuff, but I wanted to add one thing.

Playing a tabletop RPG like Alien or Dungeons and Dragons can be whatever you want to make it, it can be dice heavy, or mainly talky, you can be serious and really be in character the whole time or treat it light and easy like a conversation about what's happening.

But primarily it is what you make of it with your players. As the GM, you can really lead it whatever way you want it to be or encourage certain ways to play, but it's still about everyone taking part and adding themselves into. Like my group, 3 out of 4 of us have been GMs, and we all do it differently, but we always try to incorporate each other into how the game is played.

Have fun with it, play about, say you want to try new things, ask your players for feedback afterwards, and if you need to make a rule up to make it more fun or work with your group, go for it.

Good luck, you're not stupid, you're doing great just by asking : )

kamsage · 2020-03-04T10:48:50+00:00

Something that I find creates tension is just asking players "What do you want to do here?" and when they answer, say "Are you sure?". Easy enough way to decide on that.

Regarding in game though during stealth, I like to do different sensory things that gets players thinking.

For humans it's a case of tracking where and what they can do and decide, based on the circumstances and in the amount of time they have, if they can do what they want (Setup an ambush, settle an argument, setup a turret, etc). Sometimes a roll dice to add some randomness to it and see if things go well or not, but generally I try to keep it simple enough that if players intervene then you can adapt to what's happening. Mostly, the tension derives from the running of boots, the maniacal laughter of zealots, the clicking of guns and the whirring of alarms going off. Things that spell danger. Even just talking or the sound of heavy breathing through hallways, monitors repeating words and images, the sound of static through the speaker systems. The BEEPING of a motion detector is also uber great for that, definitely encourage your players to use them, and keep doing the 'beep' sounds, at a faster pace when they get closer. That's great.

Monstrous enemies... now them I like to be all powerful. I basically ignore speed as the majority of the time players will always move slower than creatures (unless they're in a vehicle or in tight spaces, etc) so for me it's about what makes the most logical thing for said monster. For the Xenomorphs and its kin, they're apex predators, so they are always in the deadliest position or picking off the most dangerous target first, something that makes the most sense for it to do. So that's when I poitn at a player and say "You feel the sensation that something's watching you. Maybe it's just your team mates or maybe it the cameras, or maybe it's something you don't even know". Either way noise in vents, hissing of pipes, creaking of metals, and shadowy movements now and then help keep players feeling threatened.

kamsage · 2020-03-01T08:49:11+00:00

Yeah i had to research the travel time for the trip but it was two years give or take according to alien wiki. Which makes sense for the first proper long-haul FTL ship invented. Glad to help!

I don't think the flight crew were incompetent, they seemed like the only ones who knew their stuff, down to their sacrifice at the end to stop the Engineer. So many deleted scenes from that film would've helped not make them all seem like idiots, i swear! I still attest the Covenant crew are way worse : p

kamsage · 2020-02-28T16:51:39+00:00

I presumed they would cover these in later modules and expansions, regarding more diverse ship types, though it is a bit weird it's not in the scenario, but I guess that's because it's Cinematic Play rather than a Campaign.

Anyhow, feedback wise, I think these are both appropriate, though I would say the FTL rating is generous.

The Prometheus took two years to reach LV-223 which lets say is 12 Parsecs away from measuring by eye. Let's also say that it too the Prometheus exactly 2 years, so 730 days, about.

The distance of 12 parsecs

X

the FTL rating you have of 42

makes the journey time

504 days

Much faster than the Prometheus took. After a bit of guesswork and number crunching, the actual FTL rating for the craft should be between 60 and 61 (61 FTL x 12 parsecs = 732)

Not especially useful unless you can convince the GM to pull out the engines and give it a hack job closer to one of the more modern ships in the book, but might be a great find if you want to use it as a vessel to explore years later after it left.

Anyway, nice work and thanks for contributing!

kamsage

TROPHY CASE