Wrath of the Kraken / Zhukov-Janoušková Industrial

[elfin echo]

Ever had a vacation gone to hell? Take that energy, dial it to 11, and throw in pirates, PMCs, conspiracies, internet urban legends, corporate military research programs, and vibes drawn straight from media like Ace Combat, Project Wingman, Armored Core, Titanfall, and Far Cry.

That's Wrath of the Kraken. Your shoddy vacation could lead to you saving entire star systems, provided you don't let the Void's Maw get their way looking for the Kraken. Whatever it is, if the Kraken is half as powerful as the Omninet myths say, it cannot fall into the wrong hands.

[haughty vault]

how'd the playtest go bud?

[elfin echo]

So far, no actual play data for mission 1, but Orange was kind enough to give me their initial impressions! Very helpful stuff, including clarifications on the implications of defeating mechs in the campaign, the suggestion of adding a single ambience compendium at the beginning of the module to avoid hunting for the right song to play, stuff like that!

The first mission also has more of an objective focus, with 2 sitreps (1 as a side mission, 1 primary)

I might also schedule a playtest for Mission 2 at some point!

[haughty vault]

nice yeah, if i have some free time here soon i'll digest the material and see if i can run a playtest.

[elfin echo]

That would be awesome!

[haughty vault]

gotcha i'll hit you up when i'm free. probs late jan

[elfin echo]

I also realize I'll need to hit some folks up for art

[elfin echo]

Okay, so now Beat 6 has 2 Approaching the Mountain sections, one for each PC approach (ambush vs rushing in)

Each with its own soundtrack

[elfin echo]

The beginnings of a map for Soldiers of Heaven, a mountain combat

[elfin echo]

Okay, little bit of progress, it's a fairly open map so cover is limited

And here's the one for Rust, Dust, and Robot Guts

Actually, I should do a playtest for this mission

[icy oracle]

Ooh I like the look of that

Open maps are rare

[elfin echo]

Especially with the turrets

That'll be fun

[little sparrow]

Turrets
set a line across half the map. any character on or above the line can be attacked by the turrets. if no characters are in range, they take a full round to turn to long range mode and attack anybody on or below the line. if a player gets within 2 spaces, they can force change their mode, or veto targets.

[elfin echo]

Notes:

• Use more enemies with forced movement
• Rebalance enemy comp (more tankiness, maybe a Goliath reinforcement instead of a Support)
• Avalanche??
• Relocate turrets?
• Make the door more of an objective
• Ambush happens on a much tighter timeline
• Turrets only activate when someone is a certain distance from the door

[little sparrow]

Here's an awfulinspired idea.
The free scan is ok, but boring. What if the players can instead agree to break the scanner in a way that they may activate it each turn to give every applicable character 1d3 heat, as the broken scanner spams their comms. (Jammed characters immune)?

[elfin echo]

Sorry, I'm a bit confused

Break the scanner?

OH, you mean like

Use the OWACS scanner as a vector for Frag Sig? Or something?

Or no that might not be it

Might need more clarification on this friend

Also, new developer update!

https://twitter.com/NetrunnerEnder/status/1608640170668195841?s=20&t=qcNBvjPxrPKyK3NlzFr_uQ

Ender | Wrath of the Kraken Author (@NetrunnerEnder)

Wrath of the Kraken developer update:

This week, let's focus on Forseti Private Security! Forseti positions itself as an alternative mercenary group to the bigger corps, focusing on civilian convoy escorts, major event security, and more. #LancerRPG 1/2

Twitter · Dec 30, 2022, 1:44 AM

[elfin echo]

Also, I'm starting to realize how to use the Lancer Combat tracker

Now to figure out how the Turn Markers work

[elfin echo]

Got the Turn Markers working, whoo!

And I have

Two modules for it in Foundry

Apparently

[crude furnace]

Nice

[elfin echo]

I might also change the layout of the map we just played

To accommodate more of a Race to the Objective scenario

[elfin echo]

Hmmmm

So Gauntlet is a thing that exists, but the pirates aren't the one that's dug in

The best I can think of is a King of the Hill where the objective is on the other side of the map

But even then, that's more of a control thing, not a "get to the thing"

[frozen oasis]

Mm, you could still do Gauntlet but have no NPCs on the board initially

Then deploy them in waves like a collapse, like in Extraction

[elfin echo]

That could work?

Yeah, I guess the PCs would have to basically secure the door before opening it

Absolute worst case, a new type of sitrep never hurt lol

[frozen oasis]

Wallflower has taught me not to be married to the exact rules of the core sitreps

Just from reading it I mean

[elfin echo]

In fairness I have never GM'd Wallflower sooo

Or even read it

[frozen oasis]

There’s some unique takes on some sitreps that may be good brain fuel

Like a multi-objective escort or simply “get the hell out of dodge”

[elfin echo]

Yeah but apparently there are like major spoilers and I'm in a Wallflower campaign so

[frozen oasis]

I guess that depends on your comfort and your table’s comfort then

Because it’s totally possible to divorce player and character knowledge, and read an adventure to appreciate it more while playing, but if your GM and table don’t like that then obvi don’t do it

[elfin echo]

Yeah true

[frozen oasis]

It’s rough because Lancer currently only has a few examples of published adventures

[elfin echo]

That's kind of what I'm hoping this campaign will fix?

But then again, this is third party content and idk if it'll ever make it to first party

[frozen oasis]

Eh, not important whether this becomes first party; just create it

[elfin echo]

True

[frozen oasis]

I don’t expect PtH to become first party; I would expect Massif to contract people separately for all new missions instead of buying existing ones

[elfin echo]

That makes sense

[frozen oasis]

ANYWAY my point is that the best way to write is to follow the examples of those who came before, and then create using your own spin/take/interpretation. It’s just rough for Lancer-specific creations since there’s only a few “those who came before” and if you are trying to avoid spoilers it’s very easy to lock yourself out of valuable examples

So like, while I could follow dnd adventures for writing adventures in Lancer, if I didn’t have Wallflower as an example for beat/combat structure I would’ve had a ROUGH time

[elfin echo]

Yeah that makes a lot of sense

[frozen oasis]

Because Wallflower shows me how I can fuck around with encounters

[elfin echo]

I'm honestly following PtH for a lot of the beat/combat structure

(Though with obviously a lot of my own ideas)

[frozen oasis]

I based it a lot on Wallflower’s structure, so it should help in that regard hopefully! And obviously yah haha

[elfin echo]

So I think what I'll do for the time being

Have a Core Book gauntlet normally, but if the players have the Ambush reserve, no NPCs start on the field, and they come in one half at a time at the end of each round.

[elfin echo]

SMACKS TABLE

you know what's terrifying

being helped at a grocery store

the RPVs in the zombie section are gonna have friendly voice lines that play as they're approaching to try and kill the players

[frozen oasis]

Love that uncanny familiarity

[elfin echo]

Wait I updated it

[elfin echo]

Would it create an accessibility issue (i.e. make it a requirement to purchase an expansion) to add Sunzi gear as a Rented Gear reserve for a reward?

[edgy anchor]

The player mech content from Long Rim is available free as an LCP, maybe ask Tom if it would be possible to include the specific gear in your book (with appropriate labelling as official content of course)?

[elfin echo]

Alright thanks for the suggestion

[icy oracle]

I don’t think that would be a problem

If it’s a huge problem for a group the Napoleon is also pretty experimental so it’d thematically kinda similar

[elfin echo]

That's a good idea!

Specifically they are fighting the Sunzi in the fight in question but

A little reflavouring never hurt anyone

[icy oracle]

Yeah

[little sparrow]

Sorry for the delay.
"Break the scanner" is narrative. It's designed to send and read very precise probably electromagnetic emissions. If you break it just right, it can instead send very un-precise electromagnetic waves that look like information, but are really just weak lasers that spam your email while baking your CPU like a potato.

[elfin echo]

Got it I see

So then you basically turn that on some of the enemies?

[elfin echo]

Oh! Also, if you playtested any part of the module and would like to have your name in the acknowledgements, please let me know what name you would like to go by!

[elfin echo]

...I wonder what would happen if Harrison Armory had a flight mech

[earnest tide]

horror

[elfin echo]

WIP mountaintop Gauntlet

Actually I think for this one I'll go 30x40

[elfin echo]

Updated Gauntlet Opfor! This should be fairly decently balanced across the player counts

So the Driving Swarms should add to the whole Forced movement thing, and then Moving Target should get the PCs to not move lol

Alternatively...

[elfin echo]

I think what might make more sense for Ostrava is being a testing ground for Harrison Armory, and the embargo is because HA accidentally sent a Displacer round at the top floors of an arcology high-rise.

Luckily only a few people got hurt or killed but their homes sure as fuck got vaporized

Kraken Project Lead: Okay we need a codename for this project. Any ideas?
Researcher: What about Project Inkjet?
Kraken Project Lead: I like that, but it's missing something...

[elfin echo]

This has the potential to be one of the funniest OpFors I've ever written

[elfin echo]

I'm also wondering if I should expand my current Wrath of the Kraken server into a full on playtest server

[frozen oasis]

Depends on what you ultimately need and where you want your feedback visible

I know I made a basic-ass server for PtH that I retired afterwards, just to have a private feedback space and chat room

[elfin echo]

Makes sense

[frozen oasis]

The Dpok playtest made sense for a separate server since it has so many components to playtest; do you plan to introduce new mechs and NPCs or just stick to writing a campaign?

[elfin echo]

Honestly I kind of do? Like I've been having ideas for mechs

But that might be more like down the line

[elfin echo]

Here's a possible sitrep idea

NHP Honor Guard: One person has a 0SP NHP they have to carry, following the same rules as a normal NHP for cascading. However, if that NHP cascades, or the mech is destroyed before six rounds are up, the Sitrep is lost.

[elfin echo]

Oooookay

I just realized that Song of Shellcode might be effectively 5 combats in 3

And I have no idea where to shove a full repair in there

Oh wait!

I know, I can use a Control, Escort, and Recon instead of a Control, Escort, and Holdout

The Recon could narratively be a form of obfuscation where the NHP controls a particular node in the enemy's primary rig, but there are 4 nodes and for security reasons, it's best not to tell the PCs where the NHP is actually located

[elfin echo]

Okay researching the Firebird folklore is really giving me some mech and encounter ideas

👀

Starting to see what was meant by there being a lot of controller bias in homebrew

[elfin echo]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xU0H9yzj9sYMB3m089-Qv5Qgj9S1pqDcHRVGpcpqBX4/edit#

Thought I'd slap this in here, since I'm working on it in tandem with WotK

[elfin echo]

This should be a fun match.

There are days when I wonder if I go too far.

Also, a look at the updated Soldiers of Heaven map!

[elfin echo]

I have a playtest for Mission 2 in two days AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[elfin echo]

Updated Rust, Dust, and Robot Guts map!

I can't draw shadows to save my damn life but

[elfin echo]

@haughty vault

Absolutely, they played really well! Granted only one of them was new

[haughty vault]

what are you using to draw these maps, Dcraft?

i like the assests fr fr

[elfin echo]

Dungeondraft yeah!

[haughty vault]

and you gotta love a isles map. perfect time to use breaches as the koolaid man

[elfin echo]

I'm using a mix of Forgotten Adventures, Miska's Maps, Dungeon Mapster, and some other assets idr off the top of my head

[haughty vault]

ahhh yeah, i never remember my assets either, i need to get like Valk and keep a list of them

[elfin echo]

Unfortunately this is a zombie engagement, so no breachers (though maybe I can swap ronins for them...)

I also plan on getting a map artist to redo these maps for the actual release if that makes sense?

[haughty vault]

thing about breachers is that they are swingy- so it can lead to some really either unfair KOs on the player's side or just a bunch of missed attacks on the NPC side

maps are sooooo expensive

i think for SSMR a missions worth of maps came about to $1,200

[elfin echo]

Jeeeezus

[haughty vault]

that was like 6 tho

cus there was a branching path

[elfin echo]

Right okay

[haughty vault]

but similar for DGrave, round the same prices

idk what Kai's artist charged

[elfin echo]

Well at least that gives me a ballpark of what to expect

200 bucks per map

So that's...

3 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 10 X 200 = $2000

On maps alone.

[haughty vault]

yeah, i mean professional maps are niiiiice but with some hardwork and time you can do'em urself. just make sure you have all the asset licensing squared away

[elfin echo]

That's like my major major concern rn

[haughty vault]

the time it takes?

[elfin echo]

Asset licensing

[haughty vault]

ah

yeah, that's a bugger

[elfin echo]

And also like you know

Making sure shit doesn't look like trash on a paid product lmao

[haughty vault]

lol ppl will play on anything imo- may sound ironic coming from me but i think they are just the iciing on the cake. i think good map guidance and encounter design instructions are essential tho.

like if i were going to choose between a half page illo and a map- i'd choose a half page illo. then again there's a threshold i feel like where more art won't do you any mo good in sculpting the world your in.

[elfin echo]

Well the other thing is I really need to playtest before I'll really know whether I have good map design or not

[haughty vault]

truth.

if you send over your maps i can playtest them and sitreps while i'm playtesting my stuff.

[elfin echo]

That makes sense! Better to have less whitespace than beautiful maps that only exist in a zip file

[elfin echo]

For real?

[haughty vault]

no doubt bud, i'm just using the same old map anyway lol

no reason i can't use anohter

[elfin echo]

Well shit man I appreciate it!

Need the opfors too?

[haughty vault]

yeah if you want me too, but that probs wont be analogous cus i won't be using the special air bombardment you got going on and i'll use some of my NPCs, i can try to make it comparable tho

[elfin echo]

That works, I can send them as a package and you can decide what to keep and what not to

[haughty vault]

bet bet

[elfin echo]

Plus the rules for environmental shenanigans

[haughty vault]

solid

can't forget those babies

[elfin echo]

Because if there's one thing this campaign likes, it's environmental shenanigans

[haughty vault]

oh i know, i know- says the man who built the Tempest. weather and mechs vibe extra hard

[elfin echo]

Oh! BTW

If you or any other folks you know are open for doing art for the module, lmk! I'd love to chat closer to release

[haughty vault]

emmm emmm, yeah i can send over a few folks i used for SSMR.

[elfin echo]

Or, closer to having a complete playtest draft anyway

[elfin echo]

https://twitter.com/NetrunnerEnder/status/1611053202371186690?t=4Cz2sHt1cFyJZkOjAjCuwA&s=19

Ender | Wrath of the Kraken Author (@NetrunnerEnder)

//Wrath of the Kraken Devlog #4:

Let's talk combat, shall we? Wrath of the Kraken's first mission is somewhat designed as a tutorial for Lancer players with regards to mech combat.

Like any tutorial, it's good to start with the basics first. /

Twitter · Jan 5, 2023, 5:33 PM

New devlog is out!

[elfin echo]

Updated Soldiers of Heaven to add a bit more cover, and also Size references!

[elfin echo]

Not even 5 Rounds of Rust, Dust, and Robot Guts

[frozen oasis]

Looks like they survived!

[elfin echo]

Indeed they did!

I did mess up on the Ultra's abilities though, as I misread how Holdouts work

If you squint you can just see the tiiiiny Sierra Zulu by that S2 cover near the bottom of the center

Also lessons learned:

• The PCs don't have much motivation to leave the holdout zone. The shelves primarily serve as obstacles for the enemies, which is great for the Zombies feel, but not so much for making use of the full map.
• Using a combat almost entirely composed of Grunts with the RPV template is a FAIR amount of GM overhead, and that's in Foundry alone. I might have to rework that.
• Some folks were suggesting a single budget instead of double budget encounter, but considering the narrative theming of "surviving a zombie attack" that can stay.

[frozen oasis]

If they survived on double budget, with reasonable resource loss, keep it that way imo

[elfin echo]

I think they only took 3? Structure and one stress between them

And it's the last combat of the mission so

[frozen oasis]

Pffft then keep it as is

[elfin echo]

That saud

I do want to add incentives to move around the map more

So I was thinking of doing something with how the enemies themselves spawn

Like you can prevent Grunts from spawning if you destroy a certain deployment mcguffin

[frozen oasis]

FYI the Quick Encounters module can let you store tokens with Impaired already applied, if you need faster setup for the RPVs

There’s also a mass apply status mod iirc

[elfin echo]

Yeah but that requires a Module and is VTT specific

[frozen oasis]

But destroying a McMuffin or like closing a vent is good

[elfin echo]

If someone's doing vanilla roll20 I don't wanna cause them that iverhead

[frozen oasis]

Fair! I just wanted to raise that as an option for you

[elfin echo]

And I appreciate that!

Also one thing I found rather hilarious

With how the players of this game play Lancer (one being our regular GM)... scanning seems to be almost seen as a detriment

I tried to fix that because the RPV Hives and Goliaths were very VERY bewildering as to how much HP the fuckers actually had

What was ALSO hilarious

One of the first things the players did

Use a Superheavy to kill a grunt

Which

Should have reflected back since it was a Ronin but

[frozen oasis]

Yeah t1 hives have a huge pile of HP for their tier

[elfin echo]

However these guys did NOT take advantage of the fairly easy invades for RPVs

[frozen oasis]

And against Ronins? Double oof

[elfin echo]

Granted I did not use the rebounds as much as I should have

[frozen oasis]

Valid; having a bunch of Ronin Grunts sounds like a lot of reactions to track

[elfin echo]

Plus the Mirage Ultra with multiplicity and all that

I might wind up swapping the Ronins for Cataphracts now that I think about it

Reduce overhead, increase enemy mobility

[elfin echo]

@haughty vault

[haughty vault]

fan of this map

daz alot of baddies gone bye bye

[elfin echo]

Yep

Grunts will do that

Another thing: I may simplify the shelves so that it's just a basic "If you damage it or ram it, it goes down and makes a Cone 3 thing of difficult terrain" instead of all this intricate shelf layer nonsense

And I might add a way of denying enemy reinforcements

[haughty vault]

yeah that'd be cool and you can just throw down some difficult terrain markers over the destroyed shelves

[elfin echo]

I just use foundry's cone markers for the time being but that's not a bad idea

[haughty vault]

yeah i think i use ones that E made or Kaf, i can't remember. but Siege has some really good ones if you download his token pack on itch

[elfin echo]

I'll take a look, thanks fam!

Was thinking about using Interpoint's since I have those handy but I'll definitely see what I can get

[haughty vault]

https://siegefault.itch.io/sieges-lancer-freebies

[elfin echo]

Based

[haughty vault]

they're all good but i love Seiges stuff, cus you know, we got a bromance going on

[elfin echo]

Yeah, I see y'all are pretty close lmao

Genuinely tho I love this sense of community that pilot Net fosters

[haughty vault]

100%

unlike anything else i ever been in

game wise

[elfin echo]

So I got

slams a 15 page document on the table

Even MORE data to work with

[elfin echo]

Would it be a good idea to post updates and stuff on Reddit as well as Twitter

[frozen oasis]

Depends on the Reddit rules and if you anticipate an interested audience there

[elfin echo]

I mean I feel like LancerRPG would be a good spot but yeah I'll have to check

[frozen oasis]

I think so too, I just didn’t know their rules and what updates in particular you plan to share there

[elfin echo]

Devlogs primarily

Might take a page out of Shattered Skies' book for Twitter and make an in character Twitter account

[stray crescent]

I need a comic panel of "Peppy Automated Lackeys" cornering someone in an alleyway while snapping their fingers like they're in a 1960s musical number

[elfin echo]

OKAY YOU KNOW WHAT

THAT MIGHT JUST BECOME FUCKING CANON FOR THE CATAPHRACTS

Side note @frozen oasis Doesn't really look like there are many rules surrounding ads in the subreddit? I might see if I can connect with the mods tho

Wrath of the Kraken / Zhukov-Janoušková Industrial

Updated the channel to reflect the fact that ZJI is now likely going to be a fairly prominent part of the later chapters of WotK

[stray crescent]

makes sense

[elfin echo]

For folks that missed it: Stats for the new Baba Yaga mech from ZJI, a unique Size 3 Defender/Supporter!

[elfin echo]

So for Mission 3, I'm thinking the PCs are gonna have to deal with a Void's Maw data miner that's currently trying to Crack . . . something. They don't know what, exactly, but it sounds like the Void's Maw has its hands on some confidential data.

The final miniboss of the mission I plan on being a mute Elite Witch known as The Void's Chains

[elfin echo]

Oh God I have an idea for the Baba Yaga NHP

Call it a fucking BABUSHKA-Class NHP

Or a ZMAJ-Class

[stray crescent]

that's be pretty awesome

[elfin echo]

Pass 1 of the Villain's Monologue, Edition The First

[elfin echo]

Jesus fucking Christ my campaign Playlist is 115 songs long

[elfin echo]

So coming off the talk about Optionals... definitely have to rework some OpFors

Second fight of mission 3, everyone and their fucking grandma has an optional

[frozen oasis]

Imo optionals are fine, just keep it to like 1 optional and explain how the NPC uses it in the Tactics

[elfin echo]

Got it

[frozen oasis]

Mission 3 is LL2 anyway yeah?

[elfin echo]

Ideally

Could be LL1 but there isn't any like invisibility or whatnot

[elfin echo]

So thinking about dangerous terrain and environmental effects

[split anvil]

Sup!

[elfin echo]

Mission 3 involves a data miner, and everyone and their grandma knows what mining cryptocurrency (which is adjacent to what the Void's Maw is doing) does

I'm thinking something to do with like extreme heat

Near the Recon zones

[split anvil]

Hmmm

Question, how long have these lads been messing around?

The ones doing the data mining rn

[elfin echo]

A few days

They're just all across the planet whose primary government is located in a single arcology and that's the extent of their obligations

Well obligations, priorities

[split anvil]

I see

Would your planet have any sources of thermal energy?

[elfin echo]

...That's a good point

There are mountains in places

[split anvil]

IE, Deep Sea Vents, Volcanos, Maybe a Desert for Solar Power

[elfin echo]

I think some spots for geothermal energy could be near settlements

[split anvil]

In that case, perhaps the cryptominers set up a base in the heart of a settlement's geothermal energy vent. Considering how much of a slap-dash job it is(since it's only been a few days) they're not only sapping much needed energy from the community but also taking on too much thermals. Naturally, they vent the stuff because they don't need it, and that's superheating the area around it.

[elfin echo]

I'd say that's a little counterintuitive since you'd want computers to run cold, but I can definitely run with something similar!

What are you thinking for your own stuff

[split anvil]

ai, they use thermal energy to power their comps and AC's. Is it dumb? Yeah, but they've got MAD DOSH on the road, so who cares?

[frozen oasis]

Ironically, refrigerators make things colder by making the outside hotter

[split anvil]

That too

[frozen oasis]

Same thing could apply to computers

Heat pumps and thermodynamics and all that

[split anvil]

Course, if you want to run with cold elements, they could mess with an environmental regulator for a settlement and cause a flash-freeze

[elfin echo]

True

Thing is these guys are trying to Crack documents more than mine crypto but

I'd be lying if some of them didn't try and take the opportunity

[split anvil]

Oh mb. But yeah, naturally they are using a whole lotta power and that's sure to mess with SOMETHING

You could also theme the mission with heat mechanic-driven enemies too

[elfin echo]

Oooo

[split anvil]

Hell, have some of the dudes using their mechs as makeshift CPU's to help the cracking

[elfin echo]

Yeah I was mostly using tech enemies but heat stuff could work too

I mean the boss is an Elite Witch so

[split anvil]

Ai, could flavor a few enemy Hive's to inject some of their runtimes into the PC's mechs, thus causing the increase in Heat.

[elfin echo]

Hornets could also be a fun time

Using Hex Missiles and whatnot

[split anvil]

Ohhh, good idea

[elfin echo]

And they have a super small heat cap so flavour that as offensive thermal venting

[split anvil]

Ye, ejecting coolant tanks as a makeshift missle

You could also make use of the Pirate template, specifically their Coreworm Rockets. If they're doing some computing, some top-of-the-line mech cores are bound to help things along.

[elfin echo]

Ooo yeah

I actually have Coreworms in like the First Mission

Maybe swap the two types of berserkers around

[split anvil]

Ah, in that case Prying Claws

[elfin echo]

Or wait no

No Mission 3 is the first time I introduce Coreworms

[split anvil]

interesting!

[elfin echo]

I'm curious to know what you're drumming up with this discussion as well

I do like the Smuggler Pizza Hut idea

[split anvil]

Right now I'm running a larger one-shot focused around a near future earth, with the players commissioned by a company to investigate a solar array that was cut off by a sandstorm. First encounter I've really banged out is an ambush on the way to the solar array. Sandstorm prevents an air drop so they have to go in by foot, and that's where they get hit. 8 Grunt Hornets (Sandskimmers), 2 Specters ('Hortdan'), and 1 Mirage (Djinn). Objective is using the Extraction Sitrep to get inside the array. Big feature will be that it's in the desert mid sandstorm, so enemies have the excuse of invisibility and hidden effects on abilities.

(If I understood what you meant by what I'm drumming up)

[elfin echo]

8 Grunt Hornets jfc

[split anvil]

1 HP, 1 Stress, meant to take focus away from the Hortdan's as they tear into anyone that gets pinned. All while the Mirage helps position and isolate

[elfin echo]

That's a fair amount of activations tho, if the players don't get the hint to use Smart weapons and Invade

[split anvil]

Ai, I already gave a small hint with a 'field guide' by the previous recon team

[elfin echo]

I do like the concept tho!

Ohhhh okay I getcha

Still that is a lot of Hornets in one sitting lmao

[split anvil]

big thing is I'm testing dynamic environments. Since it's all 'sand' any explosion will remodel elevations. Could use it to make cover, or cause a Sandskimmer to crash into a sudden dune

Course, if you don't get it you might make cover

[elfin echo]

I will warn you, make sure you're ready for the level of overhead terraforming like that produces

[split anvil]

hence the one-shot nature, it's a testbed for a campaign concept exploring the idea

Ai, I've got templates

[elfin echo]

Sweet

[split anvil]

And I'm using a pretty basic map I've overlayed Blender with

[elfin echo]

I've got a few things with destructible environments in Wrath

[split anvil]

Oh?

[elfin echo]

One of them being a warehouse where you can topple shelves over

Another being a Breach and Clear cave encounter

[split anvil]

Ah, noice!

[elfin echo]

Yeee

Hope your stuff goes well!

[split anvil]

Same to yours!

[elfin echo]

Updated OpFor for Mission 3, Combat 2

Definitely more keeping the Heat theme in mind

Lot of enemies with a high heatcap, after I swap the Archers for Barricades

[elfin echo]

...a funny idea, having the option to gain either a License Level at the end of Mission 3, or get a ship with funding from a HORUS cell

[frozen oasis]

That ship is gonna need some powerful abilities to offset slowing down one’s progression

And they’ll likely need to be transparent

[elfin echo]

True

[frozen oasis]

Because players know what they’re getting with their LL, especially if it’s the one that gets them LL2 and their first nonGMS frame

[elfin echo]

Ah yeah that's true

You know what I'm thinking

Some of the missions from Acts 4 and 5

Basically squeeze everything into 3 acts

Maybe extend the missions as well but

Because at a certain point I might either have to start merging missions together, cutting stuff, or just outright say "Hey guys, this mission y'all ain't getting a License Level but you'll gain some other stuff to compensate"

...Okay you know what

I think if I can manage to squeeze a few Missions together, I can get the entire campaign done in 13 Missions, with room for a LL at the end of each before Mission 13

Maybe have some longer Missions as well, with more moving around

[elfin echo]

I'm also thinking of having a mission that could actually give the players SERIOUSLY crucial info to mitigate a major plot event down the line, that isn't going to give them a license level

Actually if anything it might bring them BACK a LL because they would have to miss out on a mission that would have given them a LL

Like that's how game changing this intel is

[elfin echo]

New ability for the Firebird: Mark 3 targets with flares, and if they fail an AGI save, your buddies get to Overwatch for half damage

[elfin echo]

We love placeholders

[icy oracle]

Plotline City is so pretty this time of year

[elfin echo]

It really is

I always love traveling to Planet Plotline too

[elfin echo]

CW: Mortal Kombat style executions, blood

...wondering if I should shorten this

[frozen oasis]

it's a little on the long side, and players may want to try to hop to action or something, like warning Ostrava about the berserker

[elfin echo]

I've actually cut it down

hang on

I might see if I can start transferring stuff to the Docx as well

Because I think the Notion doc is kinda skewing my perception of how long stuf is

[elfin echo]

Also initial OpFor for 3 players (Aries is an ultra)

I should also mention the above cutscene plays during the players' escort mission, so they actually cannot do much

[elfin echo]

New Devlog for Wrath of the Kraken!

https://twitter.com/NetrunnerEnder/status/1613753489749942272?t=uaBbiGyzamjiyp14w0mn6Q&s=19

Ender | Wrath of the Kraken Author (@NetrunnerEnder)

//Wrath of the Kraken Devlog #5

Let's talk soundtracks. I started implementing specific songs for specific moments in the module after reading a tweet from @isfridayTV about using hype tracks to build confidence during certain moments. Let me just say, it works. //1

Twitter · Jan 13, 2023, 4:23 AM

...I'm wondering if I should switch gears because the whole Devlog thing . . . doesn't seem to be gaining much traction

[frozen oasis]

Does it bring you joy?

[elfin echo]

...good question

Yeah I'd say so

[frozen oasis]

Then keep doing it imo

Even if you’re only writing it for yourself

If it makes you feel good, write it. That’s what writing your own content is all about anyway, yeah?

[elfin echo]

True

I'm just a little worried that when the kickstarter rolls around it won't quite get funded is all

[frozen oasis]

That’s a valid concern! It may indeed be worthwhile to look at other routes for marketing

Or at least broadening awareness

[elfin echo]

Yeah

[frozen oasis]

I’d say that having the dev log, especially since it brings you some joy to write it, is worth keeping around

If you gain more traction, now you have an archive people can read over

[elfin echo]

True

[frozen oasis]

Plus you’ve built a habit of making regular updates

Which imo is a good practice

[elfin echo]

Yeah well I only wrote the last devlog at 11:30 PM the prior evening so

[frozen oasis]

🤷

If the dev log felt like a chore that you didn’t like, I would’ve rec’d differently

Altogether it’s all about what’s helping you write the adventure, getting a process that works for you

[elfin echo]

The thing is that it's kinda hard to find content to write about that isn't like a combat spoiler

Although

Now that I think about it a lot of the early game content I can probably write about

[frozen oasis]

That could be good yeah! As for spoilers, you seem to still be in early phases, so there’s likely to be changes

My advice is that if maintaining spoilers prevent you from getting feedback, disregard them

[elfin echo]

Fair enough

I also think like a trailer for the game could help

Even though weekly videos would be impossible

[frozen oasis]

I’d say to worry about a video when you have something ready to kickstart

[elfin echo]

True

[frozen oasis]

Gotta take those baby steps and all, no need to run the Marathon out of the gate

[elfin echo]

Also true

[elfin echo]

Inspired by the funny voice discussion in Gm corner

I'm gonna make the BBEG have a southern accent-

(At least canonically anyway)

[elfin echo]

Transfer Orders opfor, draft the first

Not sure I'm a fan of the cognitive load on this one ngl

[elfin echo]

So I might have to tweak this like 3 notches

[elfin echo]

Figuring out OSTs is HARD

[stray crescent]

OSTs? you mean like music?

[elfin echo]

Yeah

Trying to find themes and stuff for characters, encounters, narrative segments gets pretty challenging sometimes

Like the module actually has a recommended OST and background music for most given moments.

(I just call it an OST because that's what I've been working with)

Of course, down the line if this module actually got its own custom OST, that would be fucking insane

But that's putting the cart before the horse

[stray crescent]

ah, I see, that's pretty cool

[little plover]

Will the OST be original music, or like royalty free tracks that you've found?

[elfin echo]

So for right now I'm mostly running with like video game soundtracks, but for release versions that is a good point

[little plover]

I actually have no idea if the music would need to be royalty free, or if you could just name drop those video game OSTs. Maybe safer than actually linking to them anyway.

[elfin echo]

Yeah for right now I actually just name drop the songs

No link to them

And I also provide alternatives by way of ambience guidelines

[little plover]

It is a very neat thing, you don't see "recommended music to play while running this module" much at all, but that's the kinda shit I really dig in stuff

[elfin echo]

Yeah, I thought that would be like one thing that would set Wrath apart

Not only does it give me the ability to have hype tracks and build confidence, it also builds immersion REALLY well

[little plover]

Indeed, and for newer GMs, it's especially helpful guidance. Directing people to tangible things like certain tracks to play helps to allow the tools to do the work so they can focus on fewer aspects of the game in general.

[elfin echo]

Another thing too: Finding songs to use that work well is a pain in the ass sometimes

So the more work I can save people on that front, the better XD

[elfin echo]

You know what Forseti Private Security needs

a logo

[stray crescent]

You mean like, the same way that the other manufacturers have them?

[elfin echo]

Yeah

Though Forseti isn't a manufacture

A logo for ZJI wouldn't be bad tho

[stray crescent]

sounds cool, and the texturing on the lancer icons tend to be single palette, so it'd be fairly easy to make them too

[elfin echo]

Indeed

[stray crescent]

the real trick for coming up with logos/emblems/icons is that you either have to come up with subtle connections between the company's themes and the logo, or you have to come up with something and then make it work. color theming will probably come in handy for that

[stray crescent]

honestly, I've got a little bit of experience making symbols/emblems in vector programs (a trick I picked up from doing the art for homebrew d&d classes), so I could probably try making some basic drafts if you want something for inspiration

[elfin echo]

I would say yes if I didn't feel like I was making you work for free lol

The Baba Yaga was more than enough

Besides, I can likely draft up some temporary stuff and then commission either you or somebody else when I have cash to burn

[stray crescent]

That's fair, I keep forgetting about that perspective.

[elfin echo]

Don't work for free man

Like sure you can give samples but the vast majority of your stuff should be paid for

Actually what you really should not do is make the mistake I made when I was doing logos and undervalue yourself

[stray crescent]

I'm still getting used to that concept honestly

[elfin echo]

Dev notes: Research the Vodyanoy and compare with the Rusalka for inclusion

[frozen oasis]

(@pastel shoal friendly heads up that Pepe emotes are disallowed on this server, mentioned in #the-rules )

[pastel shoal]

//shit, that's true. forgot about that, my bad

//replaced with a cat (objectively superior)

[elfin echo]

I may or may not be cooking up a server

Aaaand it may or may not be available right now

Wait

https://discord.gg/tBvqWbvz

[zinc void]

I like the Firebird. Artillery focused on burn.

And tech attack zero and 15 sensors. Can be a hacker too

[elfin echo]

That is true

[elfin echo]

holy fuck 41 members in the first day

that is mind boggling

[elfin echo]

So I thought I'd share this here, I think switching to a Goliath should still allow for some Painmaker fun without the annoyingness of Stuns

[frozen oasis]

Minor note: Demolisher is still mentioned in the 5 player section

Is this the 2nd fight of the first mission

[elfin echo]

Yes

I also fixed that demolisher bit

I also need to fix the map for the first fight

[frozen oasis]

Cool, was just confirming. Seems reasonable. All this LL0 Demolisher talk has absolutely got me thinking of ways to describe Demolishers in a terrifying way for new players so they don’t get cocky

[dreamy gorge]

Come to think of it I have now ran Demolishers for both you Valk and Ender.

And they do tend to have a very scary bonk if they are allowed to connect yeah

[elfin echo]

Yeaaah

Side note

Are you in the Forseti server Orange?

[dreamy gorge]

Nope, my goal is to finish up this particular playthrough first. Scheduling man.

At this point it's a matter of principle to see it through, even if normally I'd have called it quits a long time ago.

With some luck it should all come to a close this Thursday, and with that also forms for the whole experience.

But regarding the new version of the combat, I like the Goliath and Archer a lot more than Demolisher and Hornet. It makes for a more predictable, less swingy combat.

[elfin echo]

That is completely fair, also holy shit thank you for sticking through with this you are a saint

[elfin echo]

I forgooooot to do a devlog this week WHOOPS

[elfin echo]

https://twitter.com/NetrunnerEnder/status/1619392275691495424?s=20&t=khfyaejFXVIijpLx4f9Sqw

In case y'all want to see it

Ender | Wrath of the Kraken Author (@NetrunnerEnder)

//Wrath of the Kraken Devlog #7:

In addition to actually writing and running the game, I've also contracted some folks in Pilot NET (read: asked them very nicely) to playtest, either with me GMing or with someone else.

Folks, if you have something ready to go, playtest it. /1

Twitter · Jan 28, 2023, 5:49 PM

[elfin echo]

https://twitter.com/NetrunnerEnder/status/1622286302673571842?s=20&t=Rsu8RtPAOd-7TbissoDC3Q

Newest devlog!!

Ender | Wrath of the Kraken Author (@NetrunnerEnder)

//Wrath of the Kraken Devlog #8:

Weapon balancing. It's a thing that is talked about a lot, but is actually quite difficult to master.

I had a run-in with the extremes of weapon balancing dealing with the Nadezhniy Battle Rifle in the ZJI manufacturer. /1

Twitter · Feb 5, 2023, 5:29 PM

[elfin echo]

WIP space shanty

So load up the railguns
And fire at will
The Wrath of the Kraken
Can break and can kill
But we'll never falter
So long as we stand
Hold fast, we've but got her
Spacer, lend a hand

[elfin echo]

@haughty vault

Basically the idea is the players have access to some explosives in a cave, and they're trying to rescue some researchers.

Thing is the enemies have the place locked down tight, and they're all really good at staying in one spot and being annoying. So the solution? Blow up the walls and floors of the cave to make a new path.

[haughty vault]

ahhhh nice nice, blow up the wrong walls and get eff'd?

[elfin echo]

I though the puzzle would be figuring out that you had to blow up the walls instead of your enemies BUT

I like that

Because some things have like Aegis enemies with Ring of Fire in them

So that can get fucky real fast

(BTW did I invite you to the Forseti server?)

[elfin echo]

oh yeah forgot to post the latest devlog here

https://twitter.com/NetrunnerEnder/status/1628764362574888960?t=fDwfDLPhyUhiTtU9uFFR2g&s=19

Ender | Wrath of the Kraken Author (@NetrunnerEnder)

//Wrath of the Kraken Devlog #10:

OpFors. In other words, the NPCs, the bullet sponges, the bastards your PCs will fight time and time again in their journey as Lancers.

Here's how I deal with building them: /1

Twitter · Feb 23, 2023, 2:30 PM

[frozen oasis]

Good to have a dev log like this on Twitter/off of discord. I feel like the community wisdom is often locked into this server and doesn’t spread

[elfin echo]

Yeah I realized there aren't like

A whole lot of Lancer style tutorials

[frozen oasis]

Need some legit blogs for that imo lol

Get the SEO up

[elfin echo]

Tru

Or Youtube vids

DragonKid can only do so much

[frozen oasis]

Not you in particular, just in general

[elfin echo]

Actually I was thinking of fucking

Doing a video series on the silliest mech builds

for instance I now have one called Oops All Reactions

[elfin echo]

...you know what I just realized

We don't exactly have a Vacation Gone Horribly Wrong adventure for Lancer

And since Ostrava is a tourist spot...

I may wind up tweaking the opening some

[elfin echo]

I also think I've figured out how to make production maps without breaking the bank on the initial kickstarter goal

Instead of fully fleshed out maps, I might opt for having "TacMaps," or hex grids with the relevant tactical information (Elevation, cover, objectives, etc.) but without the visual flair. Then I can have the full maps as a stretch goal.

[little plover]

I think this is a very good idea. This also allows people to add as much or as little visual flair as they wish. When Solstice Rain first dropped, there were a few people complaining that the included maps were too visually busy for their tastes. Luckily the designer of those maps was kind enough to release more barebones versions of them for free. The difference there is that the complaints were kind of the inverse of what you're talking about - the visual business was from sitrep and grid overlays. But still, I think the point stands.

[elfin echo]

Yeah that is definitely something to consider as well

[little plover]

Plus, and this is just a matter of personal opinion, but I will happily take an actually playable/tactically engaging map over a pretty or realistic looking map any day of the week.

[edgy anchor]

Agreed, a fancy looking map is nice but functional is much more important

[elfin echo]

I mean some people are obviously gonna want the art maps, but that's what stretch goals are for lol

[little plover]

Definitely, having maps that are "fully" ready certainly can go a long way in influencing people on purchasing the module, I imagine

[elfin echo]

The Harrison Armory PALs! Working in a warehouse and factory can be hard, so Harrison Armory has developed the PAL (Peppy Automated Lackey) to aid in industry with a smile!

(I might look into painting actual smiley faces on them)

How could you possibly shoot this guy? Look, he's got a little smile!

[edgy anchor]

Do it

[elfin echo]

It seems the PALs have encountered some negative press-

[pastel shoal]

splendid idea, i would make the components a good bit thicker so its visible even when the token isnt zoomed in

[elfin echo]

What do y'all think of this as a layout for the NPC tables? Immediately tells you how many are in base and reserve, modifications, etc.

[frozen oasis]

I think that could be useful for at-a-glance information. Modifications may need more space though, depending on NPC

[elfin echo]

Yeah, that's true

[pastel shoal]

^^

[elfin echo]

We have a promo banner!

[elfin echo]

https://dice.camp/@owacsender I've also made a Mastodon account if y'all wanna follow this on there, but chances are you'll get updates here first

[elfin echo]

I did a thing

[elfin echo]

excited Ender noises

So the players got

Sufficiently freaked out by the note

[pastel shoal]

buenissimo

[elfin echo]

So making trailers

are a thing

and they are 'spensive

[frozen oasis]

Oh shit, you’re making a trailer? Are you going whole hog into making a Kickstarter?

[elfin echo]

Slowly

The hardest bit for a trailer is the uh

footage

[frozen oasis]

Yeah usually you’d need some art for that, I don’t know where you’re at for art at the moment

[elfin echo]

Currently

1 piece is in decelopment

Like I said

This is a slow process XD

[elfin echo]

WIP of the Void's Heart by javiroque

It's so fucking cool to see this guy come to life

[elfin echo]

I should also mention

Those pipes coming out of his chest?

Those are for an artificial heart

[elfin echo]

Is it weird to have a story beat, combat, and then immediately drop into a downtime without a level up?

[frozen oasis]

Not necessarily in the context of an adventure, though it will affect pacing

Might have to write up those “quickies” too if they’re not, like, easy drop-in fights

Like simulation room stuff. That said Danger Room fights are good for learning builds

[elfin echo]

Right

I was thinking of having like an ambush to get out of dodge scenario leading into the downtime

[dreamy gorge]

So the group is ambushed, scatter, and then regroup to decide how they move forwards?

[elfin echo]

Basically, it's a few weeks of getting their ship repaired

[dreamy gorge]

Are they getting a full repair? If not, that'll be something that has to be signalled well, but it sounds like they'd have one.

Otherwise I'd say just be clear about why they're recieving Licenses in other circumstances and then in this have that clearly absent.

[elfin echo]

Yeah they'd be getting a full repair, chance to change out their mech loadouts & builds, etc.

[elfin echo]

...now I'm just trying to figure out what sort of reward I should give for the tourist downtime activities

[elfin echo]

Okay thus far I'm liking this Mission 1 rewrite

Instead of some random ass pirates on a river, now they have to not only fight for a shipyard and a beach, but they also have to get civilians to safety before hunting down the pirate FOB

[dreamy gorge]

Pressure points do make for a more engaging mission.

[elfin echo]

I am really hoping I did not just fuck up the pacing of the module because I wanted to do that hot start lol

Going from that to downtime to breaking mechs out of a shipyard

Though I don't plan on that to be too intense once the PCs have their mechs, it should be a fairly trivial fight with the Ostrava Militia on their side, so I'll likely just do narrative combat there

[frozen oasis]

Hot start is good for a Session 1 imo. Think Solstice Rain but hotter (i.e., to make it hotter, you start in the dropship, crash, and then immediately enter a holdout)

[elfin echo]

I mean yeah, getting ambushed is pretty hot lol

Especially when you have no briefing, it's just "OH SHIT CONTACT GO GO GO"

[frozen oasis]

That’s true! It can still be done if like, Session 0 has the briefing but Session 1 has the hot start

[elfin echo]

...ehhhhh no briefing just narrative play and mech combat go BRRRR XD

Like the first combat isn't even really part of a mission it's literally a tutorial

[pastel shoal]

With that mentioned, what LLs are you building Wrath for again?

[elfin echo]

0-12

[pastel shoal]

Ah bet

[elfin echo]

Act 1 is 0-4 I think

[dreamy gorge]

Hot starts are more than fine for pacing. They give you some early tension which helps people buy into the story, and direction towards why you're here and where you're going.

Letting people take a short breather after can help them reorientate themselves, but the beginning itself not pulling any punches is a good thing in my experience and opinion.

[elfin echo]

Makes sense

[dreamy gorge]

Pick an action game or movie of your choosing and chances are they do some variation of it. MGS Revengeance is one of the more overt ones, with the metal gear and all, but it ain't alone as MGSV also starts with a bang.

[elfin echo]

True

[elfin echo]

I'd say I have some decent naming schemes

[elfin echo]

and back to opfor comps

something I haven't done in a hot minute

[elfin echo]

Could use some feedback on this OpFor

[dreamy gorge]

For what sitrep?

Looks pretty standard to me. Bastion will be left behind by the others, but you can modify it with optionals/templates such as spacer to still be effective.

[elfin echo]

Control

[dreamy gorge]

Ought to be fine then. Consider adding a few more reinforcements if you want it to be a bit more of a challenge, as well as optionals to any key NPCs, but in terms of the initial deployment I feel it'll work.

[elfin echo]

Okay, this is where I'm at right now

[elfin echo]

New sitrep idea

Boat battle

Jumping around boats and ships to capture points for your team

[stray crescent]

Odd question, but is the baba yaga mech still in the works? I haven't been following along with this thread as closely as I should and haven't seen anything about any frames for a while.

[elfin echo]

Yes but not actively

[stray crescent]

Ah, alright. Just wanted to check

[elfin echo]

Appreciate the check ins!

[stray crescent]

Of course.
Semi-related, but my perfectionism started to tick in my brain about the last drawing I did for the Baba Yaga. I've done a replacement drawing that I feel is more up to current standard

[elfin echo]

idk what punctuation best represents an eyebrow raise soooo

!

[stray crescent]

feels like it better conveys the size of the frame

overall I didn't change much in terms of the design's actual visuals, but I gave it a more dynamic pose and tried to clean up some extra details in places

[elfin echo]

Wow

This is really cool

I like it a lot!

(That said I won't likely use this in production just because I haven't like paid for it lol)

[stray crescent]

Very fair, but at least it looks neat

[elfin echo]

It does!

[zinc void]

Could you pin the important stuff? Been a while since I've been here and forgot a lot about this supplement

Backtracking on discord is a real pain

[elfin echo]

No worries

[elfin echo]

...Unfortunately I do not have perms for that

[frozen oasis]

Message #1057768392683171840

[elfin echo]

Looks like the end of Act 1 is shaping up

Underwater shenanigans and a wrecked space shuttle

[pastel shoal]

massive

[elfin echo]

Oh shit hey the thing is done

Well v0.0.1 anyway

[elfin echo]

Wrath of the Kraken

Now listen here spacer
I'll tell you a tale
A tale of a monster
That made veterans pale

It lurked deep in blinkspace
It came for but one
A ship came in shattered
Its story was done

[Chorus]

So load up the railguns
And fire at will
The Wrath of the Kraken
Can break and can kill
But we'll never falter
So long as we stand
Hold fast, we've but got her
Spacer, lend a hand

A captain on station
In the aftermath
The pride of his nation
Faced the Kraken’s wrath

His husband was waiting
To finish this fight
The captain was baiting
All through the dark night

[Chorus]

And when the Kraken came
It roared and it slew
Set three cruisers aflame
A formation askew

The captain won’t falter
Even if he bled
But their dark assaulter
Would see to him dead

[Chorus]

At a mighty high cost
The Kraken had fled
But a Captain now lost
A sailor’s worst dread

If that Kraken comes back
We know what to do
We fight, press the attack
Til he's in the blue!

[Chorus]

[elfin echo]

Okay.

I'm running with the Think Tank startup idea

very hard

[elfin echo]

We do a little description updating

[gritty glade]

Oh hey what’s this little sample doing here

[elfin echo]

Istg you're gonna post this like EVERYWHERE and I love it

I'm so happy with how the song turned out

[elfin echo]

Thatcher is now Charlie, who goes by she/her pronouns

Not trans . . . yet

[frozen oasis]

Should definitely do that, sounds appropriate for the character now haha

[stone sphinx]

Is there a current Doc for the Manufacturer or no?

[elfin echo]

Yesn't?

Lemme see if I can find the existing pdfs

[stone sphinx]

Ah gotcha

[elfin echo]

You know what, Charlie is trans

Trans pirate shotgun woman

[elfin echo]

The most fun part of writing Wrath of the Kraken is injecting real world cybersecurity into the story

[frozen oasis]

Yooooo that’s tight. I enjoy seeing when an author’s technical knowledge comes through in their work

Vex did this well with IGF in my opinion; i think most people would’ve handwaved things (myself included) but Vex took the time to make her setting make sense and I think that passion just shines through

So yeah, do that with your stuff haha

[little plover]

All you need to do is add omni- as the prefix for every term and no one will be any the wiser. (Ender secretly inserts instructions on how to hack in his Lancer module.)

[frozen oasis]

Omni-pentesting, OmniDDOS, yeah no that might track

[little plover]

It makes everything sound more ominous. Omni-nous..?

[elfin echo]

OKAY NO UNIRONICALLY

I DO HAVE A WHOLE ASS PLOT POINT THAT INVOLVES A LEGITIMATE STRING OF INFOSEC TERMS THAT I WAS GEEKING THE FUCK OUT OVER XD

It's basically that one NPC tells the characters about a piece of spidering malware that can analyze a network super fast but is also super fucking loud

The NPC mentions it can scan a thousand endpoints in seconds.

if the PCs pay attention to that detail it'll be very relevant in a few hours

[little plover]

...all PC mechs get Jammed, one by one, in <# of PCs> rounds??

[elfin echo]

Nope

...aaaaactuallyyyy

That could make for an interesting piece of exotic gear

[elfin echo]

If Harrison Armory had control of Ostrava for a shorter time period I might be able to take a jab at Confederate apologists, unironically

The occupation was shorter lived than the runtime of the Simpsons tho

So maybe I can

[elfin echo]

@frozen oasis Taking a page out of PtH's book with how you handled the pilot beat, gonna do something similar with the clocks.

[frozen oasis]

Good shit, clocks are dope

[elfin echo]

I'm actually getting a little worried I'm becoming over reliant on them for Mission 1 lol

I have 2 clock sections and a hex crawl

[frozen oasis]

Racing clocks is fine, even standard imo

What are your clocks, actually?

[elfin echo]

I have 4

2 for a pilot only section

And 2 for finding a base

Pilot only section: one clock is 2 segments per player they need to fill to reach the mechs without issue. The other is a clock with 4 segments at one minute of action each. The action clock fills one segment when each player has taken an action or as a consequence for failure

Then there are 2 clocks for finding the base: 1 the players fill by succeeding on actions, and one that fills when they fail.

[frozen oasis]

Okay so the Action Clock is just a “turn clock” but for narrative

[elfin echo]

Yes

Ish

Actually I guess I could simplify it by saying "Okay, you have 4 turns each to fill this clock"

[frozen oasis]

Dope, I’m down for that. Having a “turn” quantified to time is good for understanding things in-universe

[elfin echo]

Actually if it's 2 segments per player maybe I could drop that down to 2 or 3 turns

[frozen oasis]

Because then you can be like “ah yeah this would probably take a minute/hour/day”

[elfin echo]

This'll need playtesting lol

[frozen oasis]

Naturally, though probably less than you think

I did one playtest of PTH and got feedback from one other wrt its clocks. And then I changed up the clocks without testing once I realized I wanted to shift focus to mobilizing workers

Granted it probably made the clocks too easy to fill, but on the other hand it could let the GM have more latitude to introduce consequences

[elfin echo]

Yeah

[elfin echo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS6ZL8R5gZ0

hello I bring a Thing (TM)

[gritty glade]

https://tenor.com/view/pikachu-head-bang-rock-on-pokemon-gif-16513596

[pastel shoal]

god damn that goes hard

[stone sphinx]

So....

I asked about this like, a few weeks ago, and I've searched for a few minutes now, and I still can't find anything about either the campaign or the manufacturer

Except for the devlogs

Where homebrew

[pastel shoal]

campaign is in the early stages of development and playtest, im decently homebrew has taken a back seat until the campaign releases or is developed further

you can learn more about both of those things in the wotk discord

[stone sphinx]

Ah, that would explain why I haven't found anything here then

[elfin echo]

Yeah sorry, the manufacturer I planned on releasing with a later act, so haven't really had a chance to work on it

[stone sphinx]

Ah, fair enough

Was just confused seeing the devlogs and stuff and seeing zero context for any of them

[elfin echo]

Yeaaaah the devlogs I kinda discontinued

Writing something every week when some weeks I had made almost zero progress was becoming a nuisance

[elfin echo]

Been a while since I actually did a development update post so I thought I'd give an idea of where we're at with Act 1:

Prologue has a quick skill challenge demo and then two combats. One with grunts exclusively, and then one with a full set of NPCs. I'm debating if they should be beefed up a little, have two full combats since that's the extent of the prologue mission. The PCs do gain a LL after this.

Mission 1 is largely the same, though I have swapped around how the hangar fight and hex crawl work. I've also added a rare, difficult fight into the hex crawl. There are two racing clock segments in this mission, one to get to the ship and mechs, and one to get to the pirate base. I am also seriously considering altering the Train Heist fight at the end to something closer to a true Ultra fight with Charlie (who used to be called Thatcher, and is funnily enough now trans but with a different deadname). Maybe a new advancing enemy sitrep. Something similar to Battlefield's Rush could be interesting. I'm also wondering if I should include some narrative stuff with Nova Squadron as well.

Mission 2 I realized I was not living up to the Mercenary Fighter Jet vibes I'm advertising so I threw in a free reserve that allows all mechs to fly for a single combat. Aaaand that'll be used for a canyon run leading into the regular Research & Destruction mission. Naturally, Mount Narodnaya will be a much more remote place. I'm also thinking of having someone in the Void's Maw already having been to the base, and the fight at the mountain is more to prevent the PCs from getting to the warehouse. The rest is the same, if in need of fleshing out.

Mission 3 is more or less the same, though I'll explain it as a refresher. The Omninet and power in the arcology have been fluctuating randomly. That said, alarms got raised when a team of engineers went down there and got "held up but could not come back" for two days. The PCs have to figure out what happened to the node.

From there they can investigate the power fluctuations, and turns out the Void's Maw are using the geothermal plant and the Omninet node's compute power for . . . something intensive. Maybe it's cryptocurrency, maybe it's something else. A few fights later, they fight Oktai, The Void's Chains. Oktai actually surrenders and shuts down the second he gets structured, but his allies continue fighting until the PCs are about halfway through the OpFor. Oktai fairly easily gives up information in exchange for . . . Something I haven't figured out yet. Immunity? Information? Anyways, that information includes a file with a bunch of names. Those names are one to one with ex-Harrison scientists on Ostrava.

Mission 4 is about extracting the scientists from Ostrava, either getting them to a safe house at the request of the militia, or extracting them for Harrison Armory. Depending on the path the PCs take, they could have a fight in space or in a safe house. Either way, the final fight is with Aries, The Void's Heart, who shouldn't even be on the planet to begin with...

[elfin echo]

Had a thought.

**The shuttle's engines wound down with a whine, and a grey-haired man in a suit stepped out, flanked by two guards in heavy hardsuits, the purple hexagon-and-kite triangle prominent on their shoulders. On the man's suit was the same logo. Harrison Armory. An executive? Hard to tell with how the company operated.

But what executive would stop by a tourist planet with an embargo on the very company he worked for?

The man stepped forward, and approached the contingent of Ostrava Militia sent to greet him, met first by Commander Ilian Lenkov. The two men stood meters apart for an uncomfortably long time. The silence between the two was thick. Armoured.

"Corde," came the word from Lenkov. The Ostravan Commander's eyes blazed with restraint. "Ostrava does not welcome you. I am sure you know this."

"Commander Lenkov, zdrastvuy," Corde said with a cold smile and a drawl indicative of some Metropolitan planet within the corprostate. He approached the commander, only to be met with the barrel of Lenkov's sidearm. Corde stopped, planting both feet in the ground as his men and Lenkov's stood off, weapons quickly drawn to the sound of metal sliding and feet shuffling. "It seems the embargo extends beyond just Union's recommendations."

Lenkov's eyes betrayed no fear as he adjusted his grip on the sidearm. A gust of wind ruffled the mens' hair. "You know this isn't just personal. Pachemu? Why do you come?"

"As much as I regret having to break our agreement, no matter in how small of a way, I have to admit that the situation has escalated."

"Aries is dead," Lenkov said with a finality that bore no argument. "Forseti saw to that. There is no more escalation."

But argue Corde would. "Then kindly explain to me how I received a video call from The Void's Heart himself, verified raw and with no suggestion of being a recording? Live responses, Lenkov. Dead men answer no questions."**

[pastel shoal]

i like the idea of oktai giving up information in exchange for the players pretending they had a taxing and very challenging fight against him

[elfin echo]

That's neat

I like that

[elfin echo]

Rotating metavaults in my brain

I originally wanted to do something with the myth of Calypso but I wonder if there are any Slavic myths with a similar theme

Ooooo

The mythos surrounding Perun and Veles is actually really fucking interesting

[elfin echo]

Hey guys you know how the ocean is basically death

[little plover]

The module is about a kraken riiight?

[elfin echo]

Yes!*

[elfin echo]

But this is actually only

tangentially related?

I wanna have a metavault based on the myth of Veles in proto-Slavic mythology

[random bay]

Yes

[random bay]

Ohhh

[elfin echo]

Wondering if I should make a spoiler thread

Oh wait that's not possible here lol

[spark sage]

[elfin echo]

Hello

[elfin echo]

Hmmm

How best do I approach "find XYZ" without putting two hex crawls in the same mission...

[frozen oasis]

have 1 hex crawl used twice

the goal of the crawl is to hold lots of content

[elfin echo]

That's a little impossible

[frozen oasis]

oh no

if you're thinking of adding 2 hex crawls in the same mission that would be a sign to me that you don't actually want any hex crawls

[elfin echo]

Right okay

Or I've been thinking about hex crawls entirely wrong

Here's the current situation

I basically have it set up so that finding Civilians and Commander Lenkov's son is a narrative hex crawl

When players arrive at a new hex, there could be fuck all, there could be enemies, resources, civvies, etc.

[frozen oasis]

sure sure, sounds fine

so you have an area represented by a hex crawl, where the primary goal is "find the VIPs"

[elfin echo]

And then the next main narrative segment is trying to find where the Void's Maw are hiding out

Or I guess since they have a LITERAL FUCKING OWACS AT THEIR DISPOSAL THIS MIGHT BE A TAD BIT MOOT LMAO

[frozen oasis]

mmmm not always

so here's my take

if you're gonna go to the trouble of setting up a hex crawl, especially with keyed locations, I would say to let it handle not only the civilians, but the Void's Maw, and to make both of those facts clear from the outset

and then you turn the players loose on the area so they can prioritize their goals

[elfin echo]

Ooooooo

Okay

[frozen oasis]

do they alphastrike the Void's Maw or do they focus on extracting the VIPs first

now, if that doesn't sound like something you want, it may be worthwhile to instead have a kind of extended skill challenge to accomplish the two steps

[elfin echo]

Honestly thaaat

Might be the way to go for the beach assault

Because they happen in two different locations

Finding civvies is on the beach, finding the hideout is in the city outskirts

[frozen oasis]

that's valid! I would think about the scale of the hex crawl too

because it could cover a wide area

I would look at Death on the Glacier for an example if you haven't already (you probably have) since it kinda exemplifies "setting up a 'crawl to get a full mission's worth of dynamic content", at least for Lancer

[elfin echo]

Yeah, thing is this crawl isn't supposed to be a full missions worth of content

So I Wonder if I'm using the wrong tool for the job

[frozen oasis]

yeah, this is why I encourage using a different tool tbh

[elfin echo]

OH

Wait wait wait

[frozen oasis]

maybe using some basic sub-locations around the Beach/Outskirts instead of a full-on hex crawl

like 3 each

[elfin echo]

I might just have an idea

[frozen oasis]

shoot, hit me with it

[elfin echo]

So the missions first beat is just getting to the mechs via a skill challenge

Then we open up the map to a full on hex crawl so the PCs can choose to prioritize hitting the Void's Maw at their core or helping Ostrava on the beach

And like there would be a few segments for the beach, a few for some interim encounters, and a few for the Void's Maw hideouts

[frozen oasis]

okay okay, that could work

[elfin echo]

And then I can have that segment where Raven Watch goes "Yeah they fucked up our ship, let's give them some payback" after that first beat

[frozen oasis]

I do feel like if you're gonna hex crawl, just use the hex crawl, so you don't have to write new stuff for the skill challenge (even if it means just dropping right next to the civvies)

and tbf you can still have that segment even in a pure crawl

it's how you can hint at the players "hey you did the thing! now don't forget about this other thing!"

[elfin echo]

Not saying I couldn't

Oh wait

[frozen oasis]

in any case, I've made my take clear, do what you will with it

[elfin echo]

I see what you mean now

So like you mean "get the mechs" is just another segment of the hex crawl

[frozen oasis]

yes yes

[elfin echo]

Except one that's just clearly marked or something

[frozen oasis]

yeah absolutely

[elfin echo]

Oooookaaaay

I see what you're putting down here

[frozen oasis]

like you said, you have OWACs

PCs can be aware of some landmarks on the map

[elfin echo]

Honestly thinking of having the OWACS be through CCTV for a bit until the PCs rest and they can deploy the OWACS and transatmo fighters proper

...actually bah

*Nah

They'd have atmo strike aircraft but not atmo fighters

Great so now I have to make a hex crawl in three days

[frozen oasis]

do you need resources, because I can provide

like "how-to"s

(and out of curiousity what is the time crunch? Just a game you've already scheduled?)

[elfin echo]

Yep

[elfin echo]

I won't say no

[frozen oasis]

cracks knuckles alright here we go: https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/17308/roleplaying-games/hexcrawl

you do not need to go supremely in-depth with this, tbf

but some of the posts from this series should help with ideas on what you think is interesting in the crawl

[elfin echo]

Thanks!

[frozen oasis]

for example, you might not care about players getting lost and just ignore rules about that

the first few posts will probably be the most helpful for your goals, especially #1 that has the 4 basic steps of making a hexcrawl

[little plover]

Alexandrian is awesome

[elfin echo]

Ah yes, the possibility of the players getting lost when they have an OWACS and functioning navigation lol

...that does give me some ideas though...

[frozen oasis]

Right yeah, I figured that "getting lost" would make the least sense for your OWACs-toting folks

deffo ways to contrive it but maybe not for this

[elfin echo]

Maybe down the line when Ostrava gets blown up the OWACS isn't as useful on the ground due to the dust

[frozen oasis]

i'm certainly imagining a "blinkstorm" that the Void's Maw can leverage to hide their stuff from OWACs too

[elfin echo]

So we could have another hex crawl through the destroyed region with the possibility of getting lost

[random bay]

so you take two monsters with the same level and overlay them per the XYZ condition of the monster card...

(also sorry there not helpful)

[elfin echo]

Okay, let's see if this renders?

nope

THERE WE GO

[elfin echo]

Slowly but surely populating the map

[pastel shoal]

ender when funny radar dish plane

[frozen oasis]

You’re gonna hate me for this, but what’s the scale for this/how fast is it to go from one hex to another, and are you in the process of adding more keyed features? I ask because this map looks big for a single mission, and the POIs look sparse

[elfin echo]

10 klicks from center to center, I wanna say like 1.5-2 hours on foot center to center, 10 minutes if you have a dedicated vehicle, 20 minutes by mech?

And yeah, I think I'll have some additional like random encounters interspersed throughout just need to figure out what they actually are

[frozen oasis]

Yeah my primary point of reference for a 1-mission hex crawl is Death on the Glacier again; my concern with sparsity is that players will spend too much time wandering around and miss the major points of interest, unless you have signs or clues that point them in the right direction

[elfin echo]

So here's the thing about this particular map I've cooked up

Once the players get within about 1 hex of a POI the OWACS will call it out

"Vanguard, you're coming up on some farmland, I'm not seeing any hostiles but see if you can double check the area"

Or

"Vanguard, I'm seeing an abandoned settlement about 10 klicks due north, suggest a sweep for hostiles."

[frozen oasis]

Deal

[elfin echo]

Thing is they start in Ostrava, marked with an O, so they have to essentially take a vehicle down to the shipyard, A2, to get their mechs. Now they COULD sweep through A1, A3, and A4, but I'm thinking that would require some Risky or even Heroic rolls to not get interrupted by an RPG

Of course they could also try and take a shuttle from Ostrava directly and find the hideout themselves, but that risks the mechs getting destroyed in the shipyard

The beach will hold regardless, but the casualty counts are what's gonna matter here

[elfin echo]

I'm debating scaling down the map tbh

Have the encounters be more tight knit

I could also have some hexes have multiple sub-encounters

[frozen oasis]

you could, but it may not be needed

idk what you have in mind for sub-encounters though

[elfin echo]

Mostly for the Beach (B hexes) encounters

[frozen oasis]

one of the nice things about Hex Crawls is they let nest other content/structures within them, so you can go from Hex Crawl to Dungeon Crawl, for example. So I agree, you could probably do the same for your major locales (beach with civvies and Void's Maw HQ)

[elfin echo]

I think for the strongholds I can just have them be clumped together with a bunch of settlements

[elfin echo]

Making some good progress with the beach encounters

[elfin echo]

Molotov Cockatiel has been my favourite discovery for Lancer maps ever

[elfin echo]

Okay not the best looking map but it's something

[elfin echo]

OOOOOOO okay

I am getting ideas for switching up the opening for the like 6th time goddamn but I think I'm narrowing in on it

Smash and grab, with Veloren (originally simply an Elite Veteran Rainmaker attacking a military hospital to keep the militia at bay) now looking to steal hospital data with his crew, and even that's a distraction for the Real Shit down the line

Also that is a lot of enemy wrecks

[elfin echo]

@frozen oasis looks like I might be looking at shrinking that hex crawl

Because not only have you brought up the issue of scale, so have my players

[little plover]

Knowing when to scale something down and make it more concise is very valuable in TTRPG writing/design!

[elfin echo]

Yep

I have also realized I did several major fuck ups with worldbuilding

It's like the planet is supposed to be 15 different things it's not at once.

[frozen oasis]

it's okay, sometimes it's easy to get lost in the sauce. That, and planets can contain multitudes (Earth is a LOT after all) but maybe I don't know what you know

interesting to hear similar feedback from your players re: scale of the hex map

Wrath isn't all happening on the same planet, right? it's just this one mission with the hex map

[elfin echo]

Yeah

Well

Yes and no?

Like the first act is more or less all on the same planet

[frozen oasis]

oooo

okay that makes things interesting, depending on where everything is located geographically

[elfin echo]

Mission 1 is in the city of Ostrava

Mission 2 is in a more remote mountain range closer to "unclaimed" megafauna territory

Mission 3 is surrounding omninet nodes and underwater geothermal power plants

And Mission 4... now that I think about it, Mission 4 would probably actually need to be in Ostrava, as well as the planetary spaceport.

[frozen oasis]

so basically they're all in vastly different locales (except 1 and 4)

[elfin echo]

Basically

Well

Asterisk on Mission 1

It's basically Ostrava and the surrounding region for like hideouts and shit

[frozen oasis]

got it, basically it's not like Wallflower where everything can fit on one map

[elfin echo]

Yeah

It is

Really a massive pain in the ass to fit everything on one map

[frozen oasis]

Cool, asking to check that making a "bigger hex map" to include everything wouldn't be worthwhile; an Act-scale "point map" sounds like it would be better, if anything (and then you zoom in on the points to get your mission structure)

[elfin echo]

Maybe yeah

[frozen oasis]

basically, I was angling towards "hey can you hexmap the entire act" and it sounds like "bad idea chief"

[elfin echo]

YEAH

Especially considering like

Even the beach engagements I am questioning now

Because if this is a smash and grab type of thing it seems like I'd be looking at less of a full Assault and more just some smaller narrative vignettes of civvies being traumatized by a Monarch blasting through on the way to the beach.

[frozen oasis]

hm. I feel like this is something I'd need to voice chat to discuss at this point

and it's a lil late for me atm, unfortunately

[elfin echo]

You're all good man

[frozen oasis]

I'd just want to get a better view of the campaign and discuss what you're trying to construct, see if there's anything I know of that could help or if I'm square-peg-round-hole-ing

[elfin echo]

I feel like I should be paying you for this lmao

The amount of help you're giving

[frozen oasis]

lol, there's definitely times where I feel like I should start charging (in general, when people ask for my feedback lol) but at the end of the day I'm just 1 person who wrote an adventure once lol

[elfin echo]

Eh

[frozen oasis]

I just know enough to be dangerous

[elfin echo]

You're better at this shit than me

I'm locking down my finances ATM for uni but if you ever start charging I'm not opposed to paying lmao

[frozen oasis]

lol, noted

[elfin echo]

Then again

You jumped on this thread of your own volition lmao

[frozen oasis]

this is true, maybe I should jump out until I give you my rates lolololol

[elfin echo]

XD

[elfin echo]

>//[OWACS | RAVEN WATCH] VANGUARD SQUADRON, DO YOU COPY+++I REPEAT, VANGUARD SQUADRON, DO YOU COPY+++I'M SEEING A BOGEY APPROACHING THE OSTRAVA BEACH, BEARING 130, CLOSING FAST+++GET TO YOUR MECHS NOW+++SCRAMBLE ASAP+++MOVE MOVE MOVE

Imagine hearing/seeing that on a beach with a Monarch and company barreling towards you, and then the beach just lights up with explosions

[elfin echo]

OKAY, working on condensing the hex crawl

... I'm starting to think maybe even this is a bit large

Though Molotov Cockatiel didn't let me make anything smaller than 9x9

[frozen oasis]

I’m liking the condensed crawl, but I’m kinda with you on it still being a bit big

My big question is what do the letters mean I guess

[elfin echo]

B stands for "base," either a known Ostrava held outpost with B', or a potential Void's Maw hideout

L is for a landmark

F is for a farm

A is for an abandoned town/settlement

T is for a town/settlement that's still somewhat active

Wait I just remembered

I can hide hexes in MC

[pure oriole]

My question is "what happens when you go to a farm?". Like how many hexes are players expected to interact with and how long does each interaction take?

[elfin echo]

Yeaaaah that is a good point

This is frustrating lol

[pure oriole]

Like maybe plan out what you want a single run through the hex map to feel like

And once you have the "straight line" hex map, figure out how to branch it

Like maybe the solution is the ol' "they are in the second base that you search" trick

[elfin echo]

Honestly

I think if I just condense it to like

[pure oriole]

Then you can just space out the bases so you get 1-2 events between them and give like three directions to go in

[elfin echo]

The most populated middle section of the map

[little plover]

I was thinking something similar just today. I guess, taking a step back and thinking about this at a high level, what makes this need to be a hex crawl as opposed to just a point crawl?

[elfin echo]

Honestly because hex crawls are cool lol

But uh

The more I think about it

Point crawl might just make more sense

[pure oriole]

Maybe you do some written clues and there's 3 end bases that do 3 different things and the clues let them pick what to go for

[elfin echo]

Yeah

My idea with the towns and farms was kinda lik

"Oh hey you can ask folks what they've been seeing around here, investigate for signs of mech or vehicle movement, etc."

[pure oriole]

They got a bunch of supplies in one, prisoners in another, and some intel or a prototype in the third

And then you get a special reward based on the one you went to

[elfin echo]

Okay I think some uh

Context here is important

This is not some established military

These are planetside pirates that are biding time until they need to haul ass and leave

[pure oriole]

Yeah, this is just general dungeon crawl design

[elfin echo]

Just wanted to clarify

[pure oriole]

Then the stuff is supply caches not military bases if it's pirates

[elfin echo]

Well

Yes and no

It's old Harrison Armory installations that never got torn down

So neither side really built these.

They're just using them

But that said

Intel and supplies might be handy

[pure oriole]

But I think if you want to get anything out of a hex crawl, your framework is: center hub, stuff on the way to the first stop, first stop, stuff on the way to the crawl end, crawl end. And then just do that pattern in three directions and put hazards between the primary paths to herd the players

An actual free form hex crawl isn't a mission, it's an entire campaign and then some

[elfin echo]

Right

So I guess point crawl it is

[pure oriole]

That works too

A hex crawl is cool though and if you just set up some bumper rails, it should work pretty well too

[elfin echo]

I mean

Okay

I think if I just condense down the stuff I have and abstract the distances to "It takes you long enough to get there for story reasons don't worry about actual kilometers and minutes" I can probably just have the various bases in the right locations and then have the PCs move to the locations they want to move to

Might just straight up have B' be the hub

[pure oriole]

Little late on this but you're absolutely right, "terrain" is a all-purpose reason why you don't need to think about distance or travel time or anything. A farm hex is probably larger than a mountain hex physically, but that doesn't matter, the hex is just a standard unit of travel

[elfin echo]

Okay! Finally got something I think I've been able to condense down enough that I'll have a functional hex crawl

The blue lines are rivers, white is rail, and grey is roadways

Darker brown is mountain regions, lighter brown is hills, lightest green is farmland, darkest green is forest, middle green is lighter brush, and beige is the beach

[frozen oasis]

Okay! That's looking manageable for a 1-mission crawl, I dig it

[elfin echo]

CW for dead animals, also act 2 spoilers but I presume if you're in this thread you don't give a shit lmak

The sky in the metavault was an inky black, mirroring the ocean surface. The entry point lied behind one Harrison Armory pilot, a slowly fading rectangle cut from reality. 

Squadron Leader Enberg gave the order to descend. The only light was the pinpricks from the onboard mech lights, with water and tiny particles swirling around in the dark. There was no floor for miles. Pressure sensors slowly trickled into the hundreds of feet, then the thousands. 

What were they looking for here? How do you find anything when the landmarks are non-existent?

At 10,000 feet, the mechs hit sand. Dust kicks up at the impact, and swirls before settling. Indigo Squadron hadn't seen any signs of life since they'd entered the vault.

This was why.

Fish, in various states of death, lay scattered along the sea bed. Anything from small minnow-sized creatures to cephalopods the size of Enberg's arm. 

"Contact with metavault ocean floor," he relayed. "Anyone see anything besides dead fish?"

Silence, shaken heads answered him. A grunt. Enberg pressed on.

The squadron patrolled the floor for hours. Not that the onboard timekeepers helped. What read as 3 in the morning one second would be 5 in the afternoon the next, then an error in a few moments, doubling back around to noon on January 24th, 3015u. He hated not knowing how long they had been here.

He felt a wet sensation in his socks. Weird. Was he already getting sweaty? His armpits certainly- wait.

No. 

This wasn't sweat.

This was water. Seawater. He looked down with a sharp inhale, expecting to see a leak in his mech, but there was none. The water pooled around his feet. How was it pooling, it couldn't get in?! It had only been a few hours, he'd endured torture longer than this without going insane!

Johan Enberg could not allow himself to panic. The water filled his hardsuit, up to his calves now.

Enberg radioed his squad. "Shit, it feels like my hardsuit's compromised with water. No leaks in the mech. Anyone else getting this?"

No response. He whirled his mech around, shining a light on where his squad should have been.

Instead he shone a light on a massive alien skull that definitely was not there a few seconds ago, and there was no sign of his squad.

"FUCK," Johan whispered, his heart rate spiking. "No, that's not good. That's not good. None of this is good."

The water was up to his stomach now. Soon it rose to his chest and Johan became acutely aware of just how *cold* it was. The hardsuit was trying to compensate but what happens when the cold feels like it's inside the user's very soul?

Then the water consumed his head. Johan struggled to get the hardsuit off, but it would not give, no matter how easily Harrison Armory had designed their hardsuits to come off.

A bubble emerged from his mouth. He tried to keep his breathing steady, his activity minimal but he knew he wouldn't have much oxygen left.

"Fascinating."

The voice rang through the water in his hardsuit, as Johan whirled around instinctively.

"You find yourself in the land of the dead, yet I still see the spark of life in you. Did you come to take someone from me?"

Johan didn't answer. Couldn't. He frantically grabbed at the suit releases.

"You are not welcome here," the voice continued, far too calm, almost sadistic in what it was doing. "I hope you knew that already."

*What the hell are you?* Johan could only think.

The voice chuckled. "I? I am a god. A god whose progenitor lies within my own limbo. Ironic.

"You may call me Veles."

[pure oriole]

Love it, do hope there's any interesting complications for player groups that just book it to any objective in 2 hexes without actually poking around and trying to figure out what's going on. It's fun for me personally to plan an ambush that triggers or they run into a group that's usually gone by the time the PC get to that objective. Not necessarily punishing them for sprinting to mission end but making the rest of the story change slightly depending on whether they wrapped this in an in-game hour or an in-game week

[elfin echo]

Oh there is

The players are on a timer

[pure oriole]

love to see it

[elfin echo]

They have to find the Void's Maw before they kick the tires and leave the planet (or so the players think)

[pure oriole]

Oh sure, I just also like throwing weird curve balls at my players if they happen to immediately figure out the mission objective and book it there without detouring even a little bit

It's fun to have them accidentally ambush half of the OpFor that was trying to deploy for the fight after that one, for example

Trains them that messing around and going slow is bad but so is rushing in with no intel

[elfin echo]

Yep yep

[elfin echo]

Kalashnikov Grandma is officially going in the module folks

[elfin echo]

It seems cinematic boss intros are my forte

I think

[cerulean wasp]

Hi I am fairly new to this lancer space so I apologize for any stupid questions. My players are going to finish duskgrave soon, and I am looking for an adventure/campaign to keep going and this one looks very cool! Do you happen to have a version of this that is avaliable for purchase or playtest? Or is it still pretty much in development?

[little plover]

Ender hasn't publicly released anything other than what you see in this forum and what's been released in his Discord server. Which is to say, bits and pieces of some ideas that may or may not be in the final product. WotK is very much still in development! (Answering for him because I believe he's currently taking a break from Pilot NET while focusing on other things.)

[cerulean wasp]

Thanks for the info! Guess I’ll look into running In Golden Flame while this one is in development

[elfin echo]

Hi, amendment to this

Wrath of the Kraken is basically on hiatus until I release Close Encounter Protocol and actually get a project out into the wild first

[elfin echo]

Update: The Void's Maw are no longer a pirate faction. They are officially considered to be a private military corporation. They maintain a tactic of spoofing pirate IFFs in order to throw off attackers and cause underestimations.

Assume the worst when engaging. Be on your guard. Use your scanners.

[elfin echo]

Also the prologue is getting cut because hm

Not really much point if you're going to be planetside basically the entire act

[dreamy gorge]

Oh, is this the part I ran way back when ||on the ship||? If so, yeah I could see cutting it to get into the action quicker.

[elfin echo]

Yeah

[elfin echo]

Think I just solved like half my issues with the pacing of the first act

[elfin echo]

We are, once again, fucking cooking

[dreamy gorge]

Cheers!

[elfin echo]

Brainworms

"To all fighting members of the Ostrava militia and our allies. This has gone beyond merely defending our homeland. The Void's Maw have made attempts on not only our lives, but on the lives of the citizens of the galaxy. They seek to find a Kraken and destroy whatever lies in their path. I cannot ask you to throw your lives away without reason, but this is an exception. The burden of the Orion Arm is now on our shoulders. Do not give them a millimeter, do not allow them to push you back, not even a single step! Fight because the lives of your families, your loved ones, your friends, and all of Union depend on you! Show them what Mir Leviafana is made of!"

[elfin echo]

Me: How do I make the lose condition of this combat make thematic sense?

Me: OH LET'S JUST THROW IN SOME MORAL DILEMMAS

[elfin echo]

Further brainworms:

"Vanguard, Nova, we have Void's Maw on top of the scientists! Ostrava has advised shooting down the shuttle, what's the play?"

"Are they crazy?!"

"That shuttle is carrying intel that's pretty fucking classified! Far from the craziest thing I’ve heard."

"Vanguard, you are in the best position to make their descent planetside as gentle as possible, but someone has to take that shot."

"You sure there isn't another way?"

"Unless you have a better idea in the next five seconds!"

[pastel shoal]

baller

[elfin echo]

Thinking about later acts now

"Vanguard Squadron, Nova Squadron, approaching last known Void's Maw positions," OWACS Raven Watch announced. "Scanners are on full blast. Let's find these guys."

As Nova Squadron flew overhead, Vanguard crested a hill to see what Canuck had been talking about: a graveyard. Ships and fighters and bombers stretched out beyond what the eye could see. So little of the planet wasn't obscured by metal. 

"A new corvette every 4 days," he had said. "They didn't even use them all."

"Raven Watch, this is Nova 1, seeing a shit tonne of perfectly good atmofighters but no PMC mechs." Tally's annoyance was clear in his voice. If it were up to him, he'd be spending time fixing crafts with Tingles, not hunting down rogue mercs.

"Copy that, Tally, focus on finding the purple fuckers." The sigh over comms was clear. 

"Entropy and erosion would have fucked the systems long ago, I don't think any of these are functional," Tingles piped up. "You wanna try and klep one, be my guest, but I'll laugh if it doesn't fly."

"Ha, doesn't fly. I've made a fucking IPS-N Kidd take off, I can handle a rusty SecComm atmofighter."

[pastel shoal]

oh that is beautiful

if you have not seen this work of art yet you absolutely should

nigh identical vibes

[elfin echo]

That was actually the inspiration for it.

[elfin echo]

"Vanguard, getting a transmission from Corde. Hooking you in."

With that one sentence, the very air surrounding the Korolev Solstice seemed to shift. "I'm getting a transmission from Corde." Corde may have been the type to congratulate contractors on festivities. Raven Watch's tone made sure this was not the case. The cheer, the smiling faces, the music... all of it seemed distant, flimsy.

The voice of Aries came over the comms, distorted by his own breathing mask as well as the several layers of comms equipment.

"Corde."

"...The Void's Heart himself. I was wondering if you would ever think to call," Lord Commandant Corde said, a malignant, ironic drawl in his voice.

"We both know what I have been after," Aries growled - though it seemed like all he ever did was growl. A heavy, shaking inhale.

"You sought to harness powers beyond your control, boy."

Boy?

"I sought to harness the Kraken itself. I thought, maybe, just maybe, if I wrest power from the very thing you have been hunting, that you would realize your mistake. Maybe you would finally have some pride for me in your heart.

"But then I realized that you are a horrendous liar." A slow, quiet, diabolical laugh. "I should have known. There is no MONIST entity, no blinkspace monster."

"What are you talking about?" Corde snapped. The foot had shifted.

"The Kraken is the very weapon you claim to hunt it with," Aries explained, like Sherlock explaining how it was so elementary. "A weapon of mass destruction. Antimatter nuclear cruise missiles, designed to split apart like tentacles, surrounding prey. And that's not even counting the best part of the system. The thing that makes people scream 'Kraken.'

"Are you proud of me, father? I found your truth even beyond your lies, your misinformation, your contempt for me. And yet, all I have ever wanted was that one little admission.

"But... you don't listen to requests."

"VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE! VANGUARD, GET TO YOUR MECHS, NOW!"

ASMs.

[elfin echo]

Oh shit I just realized that Kraken missiles are based on the Darkstar MWTs from Battlegroup

[elfin echo]

Very Normal Boss Dialogue

[elfin echo]

hm

this may cause some fun times

[elfin echo]

...You know.

There's a Russian song they play on New Year's that could be

A very

Fun

Thing to use.

[elfin echo]

:3

[spring bone]

So is there an updated link to see the manufacturer?

[elfin echo]

Unfortunately not! I haven't actually touched ZJI in a little bit, I have a tendency to overload myself with stuff 😬

[pseudo trench]

this might have been answered in the not-demo version of the rules, but Promise of Safety.... it says "[the target] can exceed their heat cap and go below 0 hp (at which point they stop taking damage) without suffering stress or structure damage, as long as they end their turn with at least 1 hp and below their heat cap maximum."

am I correctly interpretting this that, if the target ends their turn in the negative HP/over their heat cap, they suffer the normal consequences? because it's not explicitly spelled out