by bobondi

Related Item: Herald's Call

Life gets in the way. We can wait - take care of what you must.

by Pard

An item Board Game Designer: Reiner Knizia has been added to the geeklist ★ Инфографика / Infographics ★

by Takenokojon

swimgrl004 wrote:

Takenokojon wrote:

Yes 2nd Con year. First VFM. It was a tough sell because each of the organizers owns a retail game store. I will see about getting this more exposure. The more people that share the link, the faster this will grow.

More exposure would be great, didn't know about this until tonight.... I don't know if it's too late to participate because it says 8/11 but gives no time....

I changed the end time to 8/14 2PM. (For those last minute shoppers.) You are welcome to close your items before that.

by amajugar

swimgrl004 wrote:

Takenokojon wrote:

Yes 2nd Con year. First VFM. It was a tough sell because each of the organizers owns a retail game store. I will see about getting this more exposure. The more people that share the link, the faster this will grow.

More exposure would be great, didn't know about this until tonight.... I don't know if it's too late to participate because it says 8/11 but gives no time....

You can probably still bid on items without bids 🙂

by Jocab

Coffee

by Boardgameobsession

swimgrl004 wrote:

Takenokojon wrote:

Yes 2nd Con year. First VFM. It was a tough sell because each of the organizers owns a retail game store. I will see about getting this more exposure. The more people that share the link, the faster this will grow.

More exposure would be great, didn't know about this until tonight.... I don't know if it's too late to participate because it says 8/11 but gives no time....

Gamestore or not, This will be better for the con than not.

by lorddillon

CHAPTER 4: REPORTING FOR DUTY (part 1)

This is the longest chapter that we have covered so far! It is 89 pages (runs from pg 86 through pg 175) and covers everything related to character generation and development. I will post about this chapter in several part, instead of one long post covering everything

In this chapter our reading is accompanied by Doctor Voraal, chief medical officer aboard the U.S.S Challenger. As with the previous chapters we learn this from a thin sidebar on the first page of the chapter and the doctor is one of the people provided as a playable PC in the STA2 Starter set.

:bd6-1: PLAYER CHARACTERS

:PSC: The chapter goes to great lengths to distinguish between PCs and NPCS. Among PCs the game distinguishes between Main Characters and Supporting Characters. Main Characters are the main PC a player will play in the game in most sessions while Supporting Characters are PCs that a player will play if their main character is off in a different location than the main scene or busy with a long-term task.

:geek_star: Theoretically this distinction allows for all players to be involved in every scene... for example, a players Main Character might be on an away team or in engineering when the scene is focused on the bridge. That player can then switch to playing the Supporting Character, Lt. John Smith, who happens to be on the bridge where the action is. That is to say, the rules are built so that as many players that want to be in a scene can be in a scene, as appropriate to the situation in-game, of course. I like this set up and I think building it into the character generation chapter is a really good move because it sets the expectation for every player to expect to play a Supporting Character once in a while.

:geek_star: There is a proper sidebar very near the beginning of this section which tells the reader that a session 0 is very important so that the GM and players can discuss the kind of Star Trek game that will be played. Is this an exploratory mission where everyone is a commissioned officer of the bridge? Is it patrol-based mission where each PC is either on a patrol ship or assigned duty on the nearest Deep Space Station? Is an entire session 0 needed for that? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps that conversation happened during the recruitment for the campaign... On the other hand, there may be other things that need to be discussed during a session 0, and having everyone together to create their Main Characters is a good idea no matter what.

:PSC: The elements that PCs are made of are Attributes, Departments, Focuses, Values, Traits, Talents, and Pastimes. Let's go ahead a describe all of these right here in the front, before we move to the actual lifepath system... for some reason traits and values are described in the chapter before attributes and departments:

:d10-1: Traits - Single word or phrase that describes important parts of the PC, and can be positive or negative. Species is a trait, for example. Traits can be used to increase or reduce the Difficulty of tasks. Traits can be gained during character creation and sometimes during play.

:d10-2: Values - A PC's personality, attitudes, motivations, convictions, and beliefs. During character creation, several values are added to the PC. These are meant to form the "fundamental structure of the character's morals, ethics, and behavior."

:d10-3: Attributes - The 6 attributes that define each character are Control, Daring, Fitness, Insight, Presence, and Reason. In Humans, attributes range from 7 to 12, with an average of 8, but other species may have a different range and average. Each of the attributes gets a couple of sentences of description and a bullet list of example situations when control might be used. In Brief:
Control = self discipline and emotional control, which can bleed into motor control. Used for performing tasks that require precise timing and deliberate intent during a stressful situation.
Daring = a PC's ability to react decisively based on gut instinct and reflexes. Used when responding to an emergency, acting on instinct, and resisting fear.
Fitness = ability to endure hardship, also indicates general health and fortitude, but is not meant to be a direct corollary to strength. Used when employing raw physical force to a situation or when resisting the effects of a disease. Fitness also determines your Stress maximum.
Insight = understanding others' feelings and state of mind, along with self-awareness. Used when trying to determine how a character might act or when attempting to calm or reassure others.
Presence = the ability to command attention or respect, as well as turn on the charm or be diplomatic. Used when attempting to sway the opinions of others, resisting duress or manipulation, and when trying to present a specific demeanor.
Reason = logic and meticulous analysis, recollection of facts, and calculation. Used when studying and analyzing unfamiliar phenomena, researching a topic, or performing complex calculations, as well as when trying to sway the opinions of others using facts and logic.

:geek_star: I like the layout of the attribute explanation section - each attribute is in a small, easy to read piece that a player can reference quickly. It's a nice bit of layout and design. In the STA1 core book they use text and bullet points, but it is not separated out of the regular text of the page as nicely. Here is a sample of the layout:

:d10-4: Departments - The 6 departments that each PC is trained in are Command, Conn, Engineering, Security, Medicine, and Science. Each Main Character has a rating between 1 and 5 in each department, representing training, expertise, and natural aptitude in the tasks related to the department. Supporting Characters and NPCs may have a 0 in a department, so their range is 0 to 5. Note that, in STA1, these were referred to as Disciplines. In Brief:
Command = Interpersonal interactions such as leadership, negotiation, and motivating others, to name a few.
Conn = Piloting and navigation for all types of craft.
Engineering = Designing, repairing, understanding, and maintaining technology.
Security = Use of force during combat, analyzing threats, interrogation, weapon knowledge, etc.
Medicine = Understanding of physical and mental makeup of life-forms, knowledge of disease and injury, and methods of treatment.
Science = Understanding numerous fields of scientific study, including theoretical frameworks, practical applications, and the scientific method.

:geek_star: Here again they stepped up their game from STA1 and created an easy to read set of information that is immediately more accessible and understandable than flat text + bullet points. Like the attribute section, it's a nice bit of layout and design that allows a player/GM to see how the attributes are used with each department. Here is a sample of the layout:

:nostar: There is a weird inclusion of a couple of paragraphs about STRESS here - it is in the wrong place, IMHO. It would have been better closer to the Fitness description, where there was an extensive sidebar about fitness and strength. This stress information is good, but it is misplaced and I can already see it being hard for people to remember where it is in the chapter. And at the end of it you are instructed to go to page 292 (200 pages from where you are in the book right now) and get full details on stress.

:d10-5: Focuses - Each Main Character has 6 focuses, which represent narrower fields of expertise, often within departments but not necessarily directly tied to a specific department. This short section is followed by an almost two page table filled with example focuses classified by department most likely to be related.

:d10-6: Talents - These are additional benefits a PC possesses.

:d10-7: Pastimes - These are hobbies or passions the PC enjoys in their spare time.

:geek_star: This section ends with a page of sample values, 72 total phrases, which is awesome to have because this is one of those areas where players struggle to come up with something broad/general enough to be likely to invoke, but specific enough that it won't just apply to every single situation. Having a bunch of examples is great. STA1 only had 4 examples and they were the values of Captain James T. Kirk, so... awesome if you love Kirk but not awesome if you want to play a different kind of character altogether. Anyway, at first I gave this a half star rather than a full one because it is at the end of the section, but Values is one of the first things discussed 9 pages ago... But The lifepath section is next and a value is chosen in steps 2, 4, 5, and 7, and I suspect they wanted the sample value list to be closer to the place in the chapter where it tells a player to choose a value.

:bd6-2: CHARACTER LIFEPATH
The lifepath system consists of 7 steps, each with a specific set of actions to be completed, which help determine certain aspects of the PC. The book presents the steps in tables for the player to roll results on, but the reader is instructed to choose from the table and don't bother to roll if you have a very specific idea of what sort of PC you want (and you have the GM's permission).

I'll start the next post by going through the steps of the lifepath!

Stay tuned for my next post, covering Chapter 4: Reporting for Duty (part 2)

by MichaelLavoie

Related Item: RPGG News

Thanks to all who took some time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday. I just got back home from a little birthday journey courtesy of my wife, so I hadn't seen this until now. Once again, this community demonstrates how great it is. I appreciate all of you. Take care, everyone, and be well.

by swimgrl004

Takenokojon wrote:

Yes 2nd Con year. First VFM. It was a tough sell because each of the organizers owns a retail game store. I will see about getting this more exposure. The more people that share the link, the faster this will grow.

More exposure would be great, didn't know about this until tonight.... I don't know if it's too late to participate because it says 8/11 but gives no time....

by Taronitesky

Related Item: RPGG News

Daggerheart
⭐ Court & Shadow: Fey Courts Campaign Frame - Kobold Press
⭐ Pistolheart Volume 3 - Carlos Cisco

I am curious about the Fey Courts Campaign frame. Gonna have to look into the review for that.

Happy Hope and Fear is being released. Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings for Daggerheart!

A new episode has been added to the database: Hope & Fear Ch 2: Equipment & Loot - Daggerheart Overview | True Strike Podcast #178

A new episode has been added to the database: Hag Update: CRiT Awards, Conventions, and Beyond!