by jasri

Congratulations, everyone!
And thank you for running this contest, Steve!

by Fl3shIntoG3ar

Trying my luck:
ISO -

Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein
Spooktacular
Clumsy Room Maids
We Need To Talk...

by secretfool

Elida wrote:

Thanks to my Santa, they really pulled through for me! Look at my shiny, new dice tower!!

That's one awesome dice tower!

by ILiveRank

A new GeekList has been posted All Board Games I've Played Ranked

by Rasmon

SlikkRikk wrote:

kamhikamhi wrote:

Thanks for organizing this, Todd & Christina! Real labor of love.

Todd and Christina love us!!!! 😍

Christina thank you for fixing the intro so it looks good in dark mode ❤️. We really appreciate Todd’s and your effort organizing everything. 🎉.

by MichaelLavoie

We will soon have more by The Warning, as their fifth album, Everything's Falling, will be released one week from today. In the meantime, here is "More" by The Warning.

The Warning - More (Live on the 2023 MTV VMAs)
Youtube Video

by Inkwan

nycavri wrote:

Three of the top five placed in my top three. (Who's up for running a PbF of Sleepless Dark?)

Thanks for recognizing At the Video Store. I'm thrilled picturing (David Kirby lead singer) Avi G scratching his head in LA wondering why the Bandcamp page is suddenly getting hits again . . .

It's so difficult comparing what is essentially a one-page lyric improv game to some of these pages-long complete systems with deep lore and integrated mechanics. I'm so far beyond impressed with what people could pull off in 24 hours. Congrats all.

Congratulations, everyone for participating and thanks to all voters! I only managed to read a couple so I did not vote. As for the few I read, I enjoyed At the Video Store. It is ultra simple but also reasonably elegant given most of us can imagine ourselves in that situation. I am also happy to see Shawn McCarthy back in the game again! I will definitely have to read his latest entry as I have borrowed from his game designs in the past!

Instead, I became totally obsessed with my own game design, The King is Dying (which I renamed The King Lies Dying...as there is loads of bidding and bluffing AND the King is bedridden with sickness.) I was waiting for the results before I post my updated ruleset. My game design was eventually forced to meet the following principles:

1) Narrative forward Domain / Kingdom level play and decision-making without the bookkeeping
2) Every role should be able to share the spotlight
3) Every abstraction and introduction of uncertainty should only be added if it creates interesting choices
4) It should be possible to plug and play with a standard fantasy rpg to run a kingdom and domain level events (i.e., your favorite fantasy rpg substitutes in for the Quest phases)

Still, it has ballooned from 24 pages to 48 pages PLUS 45 pages of unformatted tables.

by Meerple

Congratulations, pixel maniacs!

And thanks to all the designers who are in between those "recent" milestones and pushing us to get back and finally finish THAT microbadge!

I hope that you have fun squeezing the unsqueezable and continue doing so.

Now, my favorite draft 1 of this year.. for inpiration:

by lorddillon

CHAPTER 4: REPORTING FOR DUTY (part 5 - the final part!)


:bd6-6: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Character Development in STA2 has two prongs - Milestones and Reputation... this chapter covers those in some detail.

:d10-1: Milestones :d10-1:
These are meaningful events in a PC's life, meant to emulate the character reflecting on recent events and whether they were effective in their role and whether the mission was accomplished. Milestones are also connected to the PC's Values - short statements describing their attitudes, beliefs, and convictions - which were determined during chargen. The directives given at the start of a mission also come into play here.

Log Entries
Each PC should be maintaining a personal log (via Log Entries) that records their adventures. At the end of an adventure/mission each player should create a log of the adventure and their participation in it - it doesn't have to be an extremely detailed record of everything that happened, just a couple of sentences stating the situation and a sentence or two stating the main actions taken by the character. Main actions would be ones that uphold or question a Value held by the PC, a point where a Mission Directive was upheld, a time where particular valor was shown, help was provided, a breakthrough occurred, or perhaps when a life was saved.

If you challenged a Value during the mission you now have the opportunity to rewrite that Value. The new Value should be related to the old one, but reflect the character's new stance on the issue.

If you used any of your Values during an adventure, either positively or negatively, you get to make an optional adjustment to your PC. You can choose to do one of the following:
-Reduce 1 Attribute by 1 and increase a different Attribute by 1 (nothing can go below 7 or higher than 11 in this adjustment).
-Reduce 1 Department by 1 and increase another Department by 1 (nothing can go below 1 or increase above 4 in this adjustment).
-Replace a Focus with a different one.
-Replace a Talent with a different one (you must meet the requirements of the new Talent).
-Help a Supporting Character by adjusting one of their Attributes or Departments, or swapping a Focus or Talent. The same rules that would apply to a Main Character above also apply to helping a Supporting Character. Also, any changes to Supporting Characters must be discussed with the entire group since Supporting Characters belong to everyone.

Reaching a Milestone
You gain Milestones whenever you make a connection between the current adventure and one noted in your personal log. How do you do that? Once during any adventure, when you use a Value, you may call back to any previous adventure where you used or challenged that same Value (or the newly produced Value which changed because of a challenge). Call back means that you state how the previous experience influences your PC's choices in the current situation, and then gain Determination.

Each Log Entry can be used this way only 1 time, so denote that the log has been used on your character sheet. At the end of the adventure when you are adding an entry into your log, you gain a Milestone. Note on the current adventure's Log Entry that you have received the Milestone and which adventure you called back to, which is important later.

Once you have written the new Log Entry and noted the Milestone, you get to do one of the following:
-Increase a single Attribute by 1. No Attribute can go above 11 and each Attribute can only be increased by a Milestone one time.
-Increase a single Department by 1. No Department can go above 4 and each Department can only be increased by a Milestone one time.
-Gain one additional Focus.
-Gain one additional Talent.
-Help a Supporting Character by increasing one of their Attributes or Departments, or give them a new Focus or Talent. A Supporting Character cannot have more than 6 Focuses or 4 Talents.
-Reduce one of the Ship's Systems by 1 and increase another one by 1. No Ship's System may be increased above 11 or reduced below 6.
-Reduce one of the Ship's Departments by 1 and increase another one by 1. No Ship's Department may be increased above 4 or reduced below 1.
-Choose one of the Ship's Talents and replace it with a new one.

Character Arcs
Occasionally, after you hit a Milestone, it might help you create a Character Arc. This does not happen every session or every time you reach a Milestone because it is meant to represent significant shifts in your perspective and beliefs due to momentous events and your part in them. A Character Arc is a string of adventures (minimum of 3) connected by a single Value.

So basically it goes like this:
-Session 1: Use or challenge a Value and note it in that adventure's Log Entry.
-Session 2: Use or challenge that same Value (or the new one created when the original was challenged) by calling back to the use/challenge of the Value in session 1. You have now earned a Milestone and should note it in this adventure's Log Entry.
-Session 3: Use or Challenge the Value, which should be the same one from the session in which you earned the Milestone. Now you have created a Character Arc.

This is the simplest and shortest Character Arc possible - only 3 sessions long. However, usually there will be 2 or 3 session/adventures in between each Value use and call back. This means that it might take 9 or 10 sessions for the entire Character Arc to play itself out, quite like a television series character arc, which is exactly what the designers were going for.

:geek_star: This sounds like such an awesome way to get players to play out the narrative of their Values being upheld or challenged. I also feel like a group new to this system might need some prodding and reminders regarding Value usage and call backs. And getting them to write appropriate log entries will be super easy for some players and like pulling teeth for others. I think it is also important, at least at the beginning of a campaign, for the GM to be very knowledgeable about the Values each Main Character has selected, which will allow the GM to prompt a player who is ignoring their PC's Values. So a GM is going to need a cheat sheet of the Values of each PC (and also their Focuses, IMHO) ready to go pretty much from the beginning.

As much as it might take some work for the GM to remind players that using and challenging Values is an expected part of the game and necessary for advancement, the book has a great sidebar explaining that the player is responsible for making sure they take control of their PC and make all the decision about their own PC's Values and Log Entries.

Once you have written the new Log Entry and noted the Character Arc, you get to do one of the following instead of one of the normal Milestone bonuses:
-Increase a single Attribute by 1. No Attribute can go above 12.
-Increase a single Department by 1. No Department can go above 5.
-Gain one additional Value.
-Choose one of the Ship's Systems and increase it by 1.
-Choose one of the Ship's Departments increase it by 1.
-Give the Ship one additional Talent, increasing the Ship's Talents by 1, and ignoring the normal maximum # of Ship's Talents it is supposed to have.

And finally, there is one more thing about Character Arcs. Every time a PC completes a Character Arc, the number of missions that must be used to complete an arc increases by 1. So the first arc requires a minimum of 3 missions/uses/challenges, the second arc requires 4, and the third arc requires 5, etc.

:d10-2: Reputation :d10-2:
All Main Characters have a Reputation Rating that denotes how they are regarded by others.

Definition - This rating is a basic indicator of how well regarded and trustworthy the PC is within their main organization (Starfleet) or among others of their Species (if not in Starfleet). This is NOT an indicator of how a crew perceives the character, but how people who do not personally know the character perceive them, based on service records, rumors, stories, and mission reports (official and unofficial). As such, this rating is important for determining how a visiting dignitary, representative of another ship, or diplomat might see the character.

Everyone stars with a Reputation Rating of 3. When attempting a task to convince, persuade or otherwise interact with someone who knows you by reputation alone, you can use your Reputation Rating instead of your Department Rating when determining your Target Number.

Effects - Your rating will change as you face new challenges and make decisions that get written into the record. Actions that support or uphold the traditions and values of Starfleet may increase your Reputation Rating. Choices and outcomes that reflect poorly on your ship or culture can decrease your Reputation Rating and also have other consequences.

At the end of a mission, the GM will determine if actions and outcomes from the mission influence the Reputation Rating of any of the Main Characters and whether that influence is positive or negative.

:geek_star: Here they give a list of yes-or-no questions that can be asked by the GM at the end of a mission. There are 7 positive influence questions and 10 negative influence questions. A GM can adjust this list as needed based on the mission. The answers to the questions will help determine the outcome of the Reputation Roll (see below). I am really glad that they gave a list of questions in this section because it is extremely helpful to see how they could lead to notations in the PC's logs and records.

The Reputation Roll - Once the answers to the positive and negative influence questions have been tallied, a Reputation Roll is made, as follows:

1. Target Number = 7 + current Reputation Rating
2. Difficulty = number of negative influence questions which you answered with 'yes'
3. Dice Pool = number of d20 equal to positive influence questions which you answered with 'yes'
4. Count Successes:
rolls < Reputation Rating = 2 successes
rolls < target Number but > Reputation Rating = 1 success
rolls = 20 are complications (if you had previous unspent Reprimand, your complication range may be higher)
5. Comparison: If you rolled a number of successes equal to or greater than the Difficulty then you have acted properly and are not subject to a reprimand. Every success above the Difficulty is converted into a point of Acclaim.
If you did not score enough successes to meet or beat the Difficulty, each point less than the number needed is converted to a Reprimand, plus an extra Reprimand for each die that rolled a 20.
6. Outcome: Acclaim and Reprimand points must be addressed immediately.

Using Acclaim
You can use Acclaim in a variety of ways:
-Awards: Variable Cost; purchase awards that provide limited but powerful benefits.
-Commend Another: 1 Acclaim; Commend another Main Character, which provides them a positive influence point for their own reputation roll.
- Elevation: 3 Acclaim; A non-commissioned officer can receive a battlefield commission and become an officer.
- Gain Favor: 1 to 4 Acclaim; Obtain a favor from a non-enemy NPC.
- Increase Reputation: Variable Cost; Increase your Reputation by 1 point.
- Promotion: 3 Acclaim; Be promoted to a higher rank.
- Status: 3 Acclaim; With your GM, craft a new trait for the PC, or remove a negative trait from the PC; is the PC is a commander or higher rank they can add a trait to the Ship instead.

:d10-3: Awards :d10-3:
Each award has a cost, a condition that must be met to receive it, and a benefit associated with having received it. I am not going to go over each one in detail, but I will give you the gist of the awards as a group, along with the names of the awards listed in the book.

Costs: Awards cost 2, 3, 4, or 5 Acclaim

Conditions: The conditions are related to the type of award it is. For example, to receive the Cochrane Medal of Excellence, the recipient must have significantly contributed to a field of scientific study or engineering. A second example, to receive the Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry, the recipient must have succeeded at a particularly heroic, risky, or daring action during the mission.

Benefits: The benefits are limited in use and vary in potency, usually based on the cost in Acclaim (the higher the cost the more powerful the benefit). A less potent award that cost 2 Acclaim might grant a reduction in severity of an injury once per mission - limited in scope but helpful in a pinch. A more potent benefit might allow you to treat a die as an automatic 1 roll on a particular type of action once per mission - still limited in timing, but potent if the action is happening in a clutch situation.

List of Awards in the STA2 Core: Christopher Pike Medal of Valor, Cochrane Medal of Excellence, Grankite Order of Tactics, Karagite Order of Heroism, Legion of Honor, Palm Leaf of (x) Peace Mission, Star Cross, Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry, Starfleet Decoration of Gallantry, Starfleet Medal of Honor, and Starfleet Surgeon's Decoration.

:nostar: I wish they art depicting some of these awards - even just the Starfleet delta with some words across it or something. They explain that the awards are presented in some sort of honor ceremony and usually have a medal or decoration that is presented to the recipient... but there is nothing in here depicting any of the medals. It's a shame.

:d10-4: Reprimands :d10-4:
Acclaim points must be spent immediately and cannot be saved or banked in any way. When you find yourself with Reprimand points, you must immediately choose one Reprimand from a table, but some of them can be saved and used later. If you choose to bank some Reprimand you have a stain on your reputation and it will affect subsequent Reputation Rolls by widening the complication range (step 4 of the roll).

Reprimands include Court Martial, Demotion, Detention, Gain Antipathy, Reduce Reputation, Shame By Association, Status (dishonor), and being Stripped of an Award. There is a table with details of each of the reprimands and how to adjudicate them.

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON CHAPTER 4: REPORTING FOR DUTY

This was a meaty chapter and took a long time to go through because I was focusing on details rather than taking a broad stroke approach to my read-through. Also, closing in at 89 pages means this chapter alone is roughly 23% of the book...

:geek_star: I like the Main Characters and Supporting Characters setup. I think it will make for an interesting crew and a ship that feels alive.

:geek_star: I appreciate the table of example Focuses and, even more, the table of sample Values.

:geek_star: The layout of information in this chapter, especially the first two sections is very good - well organized, a natural flow making it easy to read, and tables and call-out boxes when needed.

:geek_star: I really like that they included so many species and talents in the STA2 core - this book contains many more character options than the STA1 core did. While it may feel overwhelming to a new player, it is better than asking the fans to buy 3 or 4 more supplemental books just to get back to the place the game already was at at the end of STA1.

:geek_star: The designers have said they wanted to make STA2 as backwards compatible with STA1 as possible and it seems that, at least through chapter 4, they have done so. The Talents, in particular, are not so different as to be totally confusing if a GM wants to run an adventure written for STA1. We will see if this assessment still holds up when we get to the Task resolution and combat chapters, but right now it feels extremely backwards compatible.

:geek_star: I really like the slow character development that is described here. And the idea that players will need to keep Log Entries of their missions and what main values were used or challenged... it's excellent if your players buy into the idea and you are running a game that will allow for Character Arcs to form over multiple sessions.

So far I am really digging this game.

Stay tuned for my next post, covering Chapter 5: Your Home Among the Stars

by Forbidding

A new episode has been added to the database: Viral Ep. 7 - Golgotha

A new episode has been added to the database: C3 Episode 90 Something Wicked Chapter Ten