Suji's LANCER Jam 2

[crude moss]

Oops uploaded ggrid and gridless no hud when I was meant to do no zones

Plans, Sitrep is meant to be blow up the capacitors or something

Explosives explode on damage... Size 1 in a burst 1 and like 7 explosive. Size 2's in a burst 2 and 12 explosive damage. Half on a successful check

Oil spill is difficult terrain, but if it takes energy, explosive or burn it becomes dangerous terrain with burn damage

[light falcon]

I did a bunch of work and while I haven't thrown anything out because that'd be silly, I have suddenly lost all confidence in my designs

[cyan bolt]

I thought they sounded really neat!

[proper grotto]

Many such cases

[blissful sentinel]

This is rad - on a quick look, I'd say it's the shadow layer

[crude moss]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. But its snowy/cold climate so there shouldn't be too large shadows

But i can try my hand at trying to change it up

[blissful sentinel]

It's no biggie - might also help to push brightness of the higher terrain slightly up or down on the lower levels to emphasize height difference in cases where it might be too subtle. Gotta say, I love your maps and the efficiency with which you build em - don't think I would've been able to put out a map like that during the last jam without analyzing your work.

[crude moss]

Awww, was I motivation for a map you made last time? 👀

[blissful sentinel]

I had the motivation, but I had very strong doubts about being able to learn and make it in time. And looking at your maps was like a fast-forward tutorial of "Oh, THAT'S what I can do with those assets!" in Inkarnate.

[crude moss]

Hehe

Idk why people tend to have so many random crates around and generators everywhere. Alongside shipping containers, but it makes good cover

[light falcon]

You know things are going well with creating PoIs in a zone and you write [A 4th thing TBD] before moving on

I suppose I should be impressed that I could think of 3 things to put into a zone that is fundamentally about how much nothing there is in it

As expected, I complain about being stuck on an idea and then get an idea

[cyan bolt]

That's the magic of the rubber duck!

[light falcon]

It's a bit generic. Literally "you find a piece of a key," but I'm making it a little more mechanically complex

[vast dawn]

hey ya folks, i'll like some feedback on my adventure summary so far

Summary
The player characters take the role of agents working for “Nightingale”, a resistance movement against the occupation of Volhynia by the Cerberus Battalion, the players can range from a variety of backgrounds, from natives of Volhynia fighting for the liberation of their world, to mercenaries hired by nightingale, or to Union members acting in support of the resistance.

The adventure takes place on Korentia, Volhynia’s capital city, a city under occupation and oppression by the Cerberus Battalion, with its population forced under strick rules of curfew, censorship, and oppression, here players will not only have to content with the shadow of tyranny but also to protect their fellow rebels as violence escalates more and more.

The events of this adventure resonate deeply with themes of military occupation, oppression, resistance, and the impact of war on civilian populations. As war consumes the lives of all those around it, it's up to the player characters to put a stop to it.

[obtuse jolt]

how many missions is this gonna be?

i also want feedback on an idea lmao: i’m thinking of having HA try to “resummon” RA, for lack of a better word

they’re trying to get it to show its face again so they can study it, is that stupid?

[obtuse jolt]

i reckon this looks good, i assume it’ll have a slightly more narrative focus?

[vast dawn]

3 missions

Ill place a summary for each

[obtuse jolt]

hell yeah

[light falcon]

Given the short time span for playtesting and that this is an entire mission, I'm suddenly in a side project if making high-speed TotM Lancer combat to simulate attrition

[boreal flume]

I think it’s a fine premise

I’ve done something similar…ish in Lancing Dawn

It’s a good hook

[obtuse jolt]

🫡

i’ve been reading too much delta green recently so i want to go full MJ-12 with this shit

[boreal flume]

Ra should show up like .5 seconds after the players stop HA and go ‘lol thanks, the spam calls were annoying’

[obtuse jolt]

truuuue

the premise does hinge on Deimos showing up above a colony tho soooo

[light falcon]

Since I gotta get to jobwork, here's where I am for mechanics in case anyone wants to give thoughts:

• map with 4 biomes to explore for clues/reserves
• each biome has an "activity" clock that progresses when searching or stopping in the biome to do repairs
• when full, combat starts
• clocks do not decay or reset if PCs leave biome without triggering combat
• if PCs win combat, biome permanently loses the clock, allowing them to freely explore
• if PCs lose combat and/or retreat to another biome, clock the biome the combat was triggered in decays when PCs progress the clock in another biome. (IE, +1 in Biome B causes -1 in Biome A)
• Cross-biome mission clock keeps pressure up on players and prevents dawdling in a biome without a clock forever

[boreal flume]

Have RA show up and be chill but completely unresponsive to any talking in his direction

Maybe pull a Dustgrave and imply some random NPC who’s hanging around watching stuff unfold is their avatar

[obtuse jolt]

mmm yeah

[boreal flume]

here, have my background bit I just finished writing for my mission

The Second Committee take over was swift and brutal back in the day, Hoole as a planet was only just starting another industrial revolution when the people from the stars descended upon them. At first they seemed friendly and brought many a miracle with them from medical advancements to more sustainable methods of providing for a growing population. But when governments tried to push back, due to fear, pride or stubbornness, the Second Committee would not allow themselves to be dictated to by a bunch of ‘savages.’ It took only a month before all the world leaders (friendly or otherwise) were dead and the Second Committee was slotting their own government into place over an entire planet. Used as a source of food, cheap labor and occasionally a place to ‘get away from the rat race’ for high ranking personnel, Hoole’s populations slowly put aside their differences and became united under their own hatred for their oppressors. ```

Now a days Hoole is united under a single government in no small part due to SecComms flattening of their culture to serve them, but there are stirs of discontent with the status quo… and not in a good way. 

The Purificationists, or ‘Pure Ones’, are a group which feels outsiders no longer have a place on Hoole despite the care and kindness which the Third Committee has shown towards actually treating Hoolians like people and not servants. They vie for control of The Eternal Ember, a local ‘artifact which both Purificationists and the government claim gives them the right to rule over the entire planet.```

(it was too long for one post)

@severe garnet how many references can you spot?

[severe garnet]

Hoo boy it has been a hot 20 years since I read those books lol. The three obvious ones jump out at me and the rest is sparking some vague memories of the plot

[boreal flume]

Yeah we got some obvious ones but I’m having some fun alluding to other elements

The series holds up quite well though! It’s definitely worth a reread

[boreal flume]

Also as a treat, a sketch of the cover (by @fiery patio )

[fiery patio]

always a pleasure to work with you, and hope I can make something really awesome for this project!

[crude moss]

Spent a min adding this, does look pretty decent with it

[proper grotto]

might make the aunic deserter the players are looking for a recently awaken chosen who can interact with nhp's for some weird reason

[light falcon]

This reminds me that I gotta start thinking about the cover for mine

[boreal flume]

I love it when Aunic Minds come into their own in the Union

Its so weird and obviously rule breaking (in character to them at least)

I have a Mind in one of my campaigns who is bonded to a Voice

[proper grotto]

yeah i have zero idea how this would even work and i know it breaks canon, but it is interesting af and would definitely have a massive impact on aunic-union relations

[proper grotto]

like one of the 5v?

[boreal flume]

Yep!

[proper grotto]

hell yeah

what's that like

[boreal flume]

Ive played it as the Mind being pretty well aware of how things are going and how it might change (they're bonded to Impetus) with the fragment of the Voice accompanying them giving them pointers and trying to keep them safe

They're put of practice with their powers and they are also far from Metat so using the powers is a strain

[proper grotto]

kind of like a precognition?

[boreal flume]

Yea

[proper grotto]

that's a dope way to explore the relationship

there's a lot of Deep Lore™ on how the blink interacts with the firmament and vice-versa in a metaphysical sense, but not much on how that relationship manifests in reality

i think nhp's seeing souls as a "blindness" is the only example we have

[boreal flume]

Yeah its not a lot but it could be a fun thing to explore

Maybe your guy couldn't see or interact 'properly' with Souls and thus being able to interact with NHPs gives em some relief? 🤔

[proper grotto]

i don't really have much since it's a massive blindspot. in my head they desert the ascendant forces, wander cornucopia until they stumble upon a dormant nhp casket, and for some reason they can "see" the nhp's subjectivity through the casket

and even stranger, they can "manipulate" it

they basically just bring it back from cascade

[boreal flume]

Just throwin some ideas at the wall!

[proper grotto]

oh for sure, i appreciate the discussion

[light falcon]

Currently mulling over the idea of the party having a handler to counter the stories I usually work with where the party has nobody in a chain of command above them, but I'm not sure how to make that work

The dynamic I have in mind is that their handler is a duo of an experienced pilot and her NHP buddy playing comedic foil roles

[cyan bolt]

Where is your module taking place? They could be Aunic

(On the galactic map i mean)

[light falcon]

Dawnline Shore adjacent. A world that is more or less run by The New Humanity Front

It's less "who are they" and more "how do I write this dynamic and their interactions with the party"

[cyan bolt]

It looks like you're already using my never fail strategy of "These characters are living Jokes."

If you don't know what they'd say just lean on the bit

"One is a biologist and a Germaphobe, the NHP doesn't have a physical body and is always roasting them for being scared of germs"

[light falcon]

Their general dynamic is that the captain is a retired chassis pilot who's very serious and cares about the welfare of the team. Her advice will be practical, direct, and often tinged with a bit of concern from having been the one responsible for ferrying less capable pilots to their doom.

Meanwhile the NHP is a sassy and perpetually unhelpful piece of shit

[cyan bolt]

I love it

[light falcon]

(PC makes a mistake) "You should keep doing that if want to be stuck in this planet's gravity well forever!"

[cyan bolt]

You need a consequenceless situation where the NHP telling the party to be reckless is actually the correct decision but its only that one time and its an accident

See? No one listens to me

[unreal sluice]

The classic "I can't believe I'm telling you to do this, but..."

[light falcon]

(NHP) "I think you should (do patently stupid thing)!"

(Handler) "Kit, that is an awf-..."

(NHP) "Yeeeeeeeeeah? C'mon Frankie. Say it!"

(Handler) "They're on to something. Try it."

[cyan bolt]

Let them cook

Every other time they should be wrong about everything. Classic set up for stepping on rakes

[light falcon]

"Yeah, (callsign)! You should totally stick your hand into that unmoving cloud of smoke! I'm sure it's fine! There's probably something cool inside of it!"

the only thing inside of it is mostly-devoured plex from an orbital platform

"Aw. I was expecting a core battery. Oh well! Better luck next time!"

I'm gonna have to put a disclaimer in her character blurb that using him is entirely to party taste because they could get really annoying so fast

(also the NHP has a cool gender and I'm gonna use SO many pronouns)

[boreal flume]

Gender = yes is a very fun thing to do

[vast dawn]

@unreal sluice question ! can we use dustgrave npc templates ? since they are free ?

spec ops, industrial, horror

[unreal sluice]

3. Must be playable without purchasing anything, with the exception of LANCER Core Rule Book.
  - You may include contents from paid publications, but you should include alternatives to allow people to play without those publications.

So two things:

1. You can use dustgrave npc templates
2. You can use paid npc templates too, but please provide an alternative as well if you do

[vast dawn]

thumbs up

https://tenor.com/view/zeta-gundam-kamille-bidan-anime-gif-20645061

[cerulean mural]

i am at the stage where i really should be just knocking out the rest of the key sprites i know need but am torn between that and more variable planning / scene breakdown / structure writing

so naturally i have done none of this and have just been writing shitpost codex entries for characters

[light falcon]

I tell ya hawhaut, a faction roster makes

checks notes
10 combats a lot faster to sketch out

[tidal holly]

I have decided that I might as well, and all possible endings for this module are now named after Signalis quotes

[cyan bolt]

10??? Holy canole

How long is your roster?

[austere gull]

Hell yeah

[cyan bolt]

I'm naming all of my bits and bobs after Judas Priest songs. That' where my module's name comes from as well

[light falcon]

It is: Assassin, Berserker, Sniper, Scourer, Pyro, Demolisher, Hive, Barricade, Support, and Mirage

Players will realistically only see between 3 to 4 actual combats, plus a fakeout combat that only lasts 2 rounds

There's also only 5 maps, but every map has a second combat that can occur on each or then. Second is a theme, after all

The first one will always be a holdout on 1 of 4 maps, each with an opfor that suits the map's hazards and mechanics.

Not starting in one biome triggers a fakeout combat when you enter it for the first time that's just a little 2-round TDM.

From there, you could end up triggering holdout from other zones, or progress the story to one of the following

1. A Recon (that could be a gauntlet based on story progression) sitrep
2. A Gauntlet sitrep
3. A "Kill Confirmed" sitrep
4. An Extraction sitrep

And then the finale is tentatively just a TDM

[cyan bolt]

Do the Biomes have different environmental effects? Or is it purely aesthetic?

[light falcon]

They have mechanics

[cyan bolt]

neat!

[light falcon]

One is an amphitheater where everything slopes into the OZ. One is filled with terrain that can be easily degraded/destroyed and the destruction will persist. One uses crane mechanics like OSR C3. The last one is urban sprawl with tall buildings that do weird stuff to sightlines.

And one is just combat_map.png (it has ultras but maybe explosive barrels)

[cyan bolt]

That's so cool! The Sitrep I made for the last Game Jam had destruction persist between sitreps and it made for some neat interactions

[tidal holly]

There may be a way for the PCs to oops their way into a combat in this module that's earnestly only going to last 2-3 turns

and I'm not sure the PCs are going to win

[vernal roost]

Okay, I think I've got most of the details of my entry sorted. Hopefully we can get through most of the rest in this Sunday's Playtest Game, and then I can see about refining the actual writing.

[light falcon]

It looks like my list of things to develop before I can get this thing into playtesting are, in priority order:

• Interactables in 2 biomes
• create maps
• design custom NPC
• create LCP
• finalize opfors

I could probably get a fluff-less thing that's purely mechanics up and running in a couple weeks

[cyan bolt]

Is the Lcps nessecary for your homebrew frames?

[light falcon]

The alt frame is so far on the backburner at this point that it's not even cooking, but yes. I'll need an LCP for the faction's NPC template and the custom NPC.

[cyan bolt]

Have you ever made one before?

[light falcon]

I've made one before. It's not hard. It's just time consuming and kinda boring.

[tidal holly]

one day I'm gonna figure out how to make -lcps

that day I'll become unstoppable

today is not that day

[light falcon]

There's an editor somewhere but I couldn't get it to work, so instead I cracked open an existing one (it's just a. zip at the end of the day) and reverse engineered it.

[tidal holly]

imagine being that level of tech literate

couldn't be me

[light falcon]

Well once I finish putting mine together I will offer to help with as many LCPs as I can

I'm not Eleonor but I can make something functional at least

[unreal sluice]

I've heard good things about Eleonor's vscode extension

[void cape]

vscode in general is really helpful for newbies, I avoided coding until I had to learn the bare minimum so I could make an .lcp for NPCs/Templates, and it was thanks to vscode (and the power of copy/paste) that I could get so far

[unreal sluice]

as a programmer, I can tell you confidently we all copy/paste generously

[tidal holly]

The PCs climb through a membrane of translucent, milky white flesh and emerge onto a perfectly calm ocean of mirror sheen.

everything going normal over here

[subtle heart]

I have figured it out

I think I have a good tournament module for 2nd jam

aaaa

If I wrap the faction rules into folks actually using them across say, the course of a day, you have a bunch of polities on one planet run with the faction rules, and you have pick-up games running missions for said powers across a win condition

[regal fox]

Damn, everyone seems to work way faster than me

[bleak knoll]

I have not begun work yet, do not worry about your speed

[elfin maple]

there's still basically two months, which is plenty of time. i'm thinking of joining since i'm currently off work so i definitely have the time, just trying to finalise the concept

I have an idea, but it's kind of a spin on the campaign that I want to run for my players anyway and I wonder if I should be more original!

[subtle heart]

lots of benefit to picking one day and just grinding yourself out!

alternatively, keep a task manager/notepad on you at all times and scribble that shit out

[obtuse jolt]

anyone have ideas on how to write a beat (or several) focused on like.. investigating a conspiracy

like is that advised to be a single long beat or several

[tidal holly]

depends on how detailed the conspiracy

and how distinct the locations are

like, two different towns? Probably make that two beats

dining room and study? One beat is probably fine

[obtuse jolt]

big city, and a very deep-rooted multi-cell conspiracy

however it doesn’t need to get cracked open, just answer enough questions to force their hand (mech combat)

[elfin maple]

one thing you could do is create some kind of resource (message fragments or whatever) that players can piece together into a narrative revelation

[torn sable]

this kind of story benefits from working backwards. ask yourself, "what would drive this conspiracy to mech combat?" and make it so that the PCs are incentivized to doing that

[elfin maple]

and have opportunities to gain that resource over the course of regular play, and also have opportunities to gain the clues through specific narrative investigations as well

[obtuse jolt]

mm yeah i’ve got it now

[subtle heart]

WHY HELLO THERE
I usually start with a ton of clocks:

• Evidence (ticks up when collecting evidence or in downtime, filling clears a suspect), during a beat.
• suspects (ticks down/up depending on active suspects ; reaching 0 reveals a complication in case players miss the real suspect)
• getaway (ticks up each time one of the players would take related stress/fail a skill check/succeed a risky roll).
  for campaign-scale mysteries I have conspiracy clocks (the smaller ones fill these up):
• conspiracy responds (ticks up as players tick segments on any clock, hits the players with a complication or faction interference roll when full)- conspiracy exposed (players get a shot at hitting the conspiracy back)
• conspiracy uncovered (ticks up as players knock off/flip members of the conspiracy? their assets? not sure!)
• Conspiracy Action: Adds difficulty to a narrative check. If the player succeeds the check anyways, this or the next successful check exposes the participant.

Common narrative situations for conspiracies, mysteries, investigations, etc are things like:

• interviewing a suspect, witness, or expert
• searching a location or report for information
• conducting an experiment to repeat the event
• staking out a location of interest or following a person of interest

[subtle heart]

now those are all narrative beat and downtime focused things, but the final gear that turns this kind of systemic machine is tying combat sitrep objectives to suspects/evidence/plots

Like say your players are escorting an anomaly or w/e and the conspirators set up an ambush to steal it!

[obtuse jolt]

holy shit this is a lot thank you

[subtle heart]

PC Victory: the party gets to hunt down the conspirator themselves, the narrative beat exposes co-conspirators and maybe gives them places to raid in downtime.
PC Failure: the party witnesses the getaway, but losing the objective means the conspiracy clock is going to tick up until it's actually recovered.

You can make it so secondary downtime objectives are going to make that easier to find, but they could find it faster by pursuing another combat encounter (the local police station secretly working with the conspirators). The only downside is it's risky if your party just loss a combat encounter, they're probably not doing so hot at that point

there we go that was the last bit hahaha

[elfin maple]

ok, think i finally have an actual idea here:

*While its fleets and soldiers fought fruitlessly against the rising tide of rebellions, desertions, and mutinies throughout Union space, a cabal of scientists, generals, and politicians planned in secret to ensure the continuity of the Anthrochauvinist mission after the revolution's inevitable success.*

*One of their plans involved obscuring the location of certain special-project worlds and installations, with the intent of reactivating them once the galactic political situation proved opportune for a counter-revolutionary resurgence. Most of these sites have quietly rotted in isolation, having long since fallen to mechanical failure, infighting, or abandonment.*

*Bardo Station, however, has not. A last-ditch 'tripwire' put in place in case the anticipated wave of reaction against the Third Committee failed to manifest, this station was built in secret and designed to last -- equipped with onboard printers, a fleet of drones to process the rings of its gas giant into printfeed, and the genomes and neural engrams of the cabal's leaders, ready to be flash-cloned and brought back into a galaxy more receptive to their ideals.*

*The station was recently rediscovered during a routine administrative audit, and a Far-Field Team was dispatched to evaluate and destroy any remaining Second Committee weapons that could fall into the wrong hands. The station's Comp/Con, despite becoming erratic and paranoid in its long isolation, recognised the threat of the approaching ship and decanted the clones held in its cold storage.*

*One issue it couldn't have foreseen -- the subjectivity override procedure didn't take. The people emerging naked, shivering and sick from the station's cryo-tanks aren't the finest scholars, statesmen and warriors of a dead fascist empire. They're you.```

the Second aspect is obvious, and the Impact is gonna be crashing the station into the gas giant

[obtuse jolt]

this is so sick

how many missions is it gonna be?

[light falcon]

In trying to flesh out the story of my submission and while I think I've got an idea, it's kinda grim

The premise is that there was an experiment to achieve decorp through specialized blackwash. [Unspecified RA affiliate] found out and started messing with the planet's gravity to ensure that nothing could leave it, thus keeping the FCA violation stuck in place. The result was impact #1, the orbital entry/exit platform crashing into the island where the research was happening. This had the side effect of releasing the blackwash, which allowed everyone on the island to survive.

CW- on the subjects of mortality? ||The obvious solution is to stop the blackwash, but that would effectively bring about second death to everyone on the island. I'm sure this would cause some mixed feelings among the population|| and could be an interesting conflict, but I feel like there'd be a lot of challenging dynamics involved that I can't even begin to tackle

Who'd have thought this would have me contemplating the ethics of ghost stories

[obtuse jolt]

oh that’s really cool

[obtuse jolt]

hmm i’m debating whether i want the last mission to be a classic underground black site attack or taking out the conspiracy one by one in a more subtle manner

[elfin maple]

1 slightly llonger mission that has a point crawl, i'm thinking 4-8 combats?

it's gonna vary based on how long you can deceive the station comp/con into believing you are the people it expects you to be basically

going for a bit of a Paranoia vibe

[obtuse jolt]

oh that’s gonna RIP

love paranoia

[elfin maple]

yeah i want to do something funky with bonds and stress here -- the idea is you're tapping into your past life but that kind of fucks with your sense of identity when you do. need to hammer that out exactly

@unreal sluice hey if i wanted to submit with someone else, do we need to do anything with signing up together on itch? or do we just put both of our names on the pdf?

[obtuse jolt]

oooh interesting

would you want it to be like narratively debilitating

and/or mechanically as well

[elfin maple]

potentially? it's a single mission so i'm fine running it as higher lethality than lancer traditionally is. i'm toying with the idea of it forcing a PC 'death' if you max out a burden (since it'll represent the past life taking over the player)

[obtuse jolt]

mmm yeah that makes sense

[elfin maple]

but then that leads to weird stuff like 'the GM needs to make npc analogues for every player' which might end up being a lot

[unreal sluice]

yeah please put everyone's name on the final product

On itch.io there's a way to say it's created by multiple people

[obtuse jolt]

maybe just have a list of pre generated templates?

[cyan bolt]

That's so cool!

[slate narwhal]

how big should a guantlet map be?

[blissful sentinel]

Really depends on how far a single mech can go without running into any obstacles or such. I usually try to go from a worst-case LL0 Everest scenario, where it could go up to 20 hexes in the first round. Doesn't matter if it's a good idea or not, the objectives should take that into account. It doesn't have to be much larger than that; Guantlets profit from interesting terrain, chokepoints, etc.. It also helps to spread out EDZs along the length of the map to give reinforcements more flexibility.

[tidal holly]

also really depends on the opposition

[wet karma]

Wait unrelated but the npc templates are free?

[obtuse jolt]

yeah

[wet karma]

So you get them with LCP file i assume?

[obtuse jolt]

on the itch page there should be a lcp ya

[wet karma]

Aight, thx!

[vast dawn]

The dustgrave one yes

[subtle heart]

interface for running the tournament module

Plan is to have a lot of pickup games helping to turn the tides of a KTB faction game :D

[untold isle]

I think I'm going to wait until I officially know I have something for this to join the jam, but I do think I'm going to keep an eye on it and do some consideration

[subtle heart]

join another group, get your name on it!!

[untold isle]

oh? is it a group thing?

[light falcon]

it can be

[cyan bolt]

Yeah you can team up with someone

[clever scaffold]

doing lcp work for my team mate rn

you can defo team up

[light falcon]

Due to circumstances, I may have a playtest tonight

Literally just one combat to get more of a vibe of how things move at LL6

There's other things I could be doing, like painting sprites for next Saturday, or writing the LCP for the Saturday after that, but why do that when I could design a map in likely less than 2 hours and pray for the best

[proper grotto]

 — Transcript recorded by UIB operative (MIA) on Dawn Throne prior to capture.

After-action reports from joint Union-CRG-Ecumenical forces indicate the presence of small, ofanim strike teams operating on Cornucopia. What limited intel could be gleaned shows that these teams are composed of highly skilled and deeply zealous pilots, themselves organized under dangerously powerful Minds. The missions they undertake appear to be those of high strategic importance including but not limited to: assassination and/or capture of high-value targets, sabotage and/or destruction of critical infrastructure, and recovery of intelligence, to name a few. Should friendly forces encounter these teams, it is recommended they focus on gathering intel to build a more complete profile. But should one of the head Minds be encountered, Union analysts only recommend one thing: survive.

sketching out the main enemy faction of the 2nd mission

[light falcon]

best cover in the jam and you can't argue with me on that

[slate nacelle]

But are their souls weighed down by gravity?

[clever scaffold]

this should be the official cover tbh

[light falcon]

That is literally the phrase that I am basing this thing on, yes

Amuro's interpretation specifically

[light falcon]

The official cover will probably look a lot like it

[light falcon]

Good news! My instincts about an ability I made were correct! Bad news! It's that the ability was overtuned! Questionable news! I've never rolled hotter using Veteran Berserkers with Deadly before than I did in that playtest and it caused problems!

Vet Berserker 18 otherwise known as "Burger King" who crit on every attack it made

[cyan bolt]

Berserkers are the gold standard for melee dps, I would say if the PCs survived then that by itself is impressive if you are rolling like the Devil

[light falcon]

They didn't

And all counterplay against it failed.

They don't fragsig but it is what it is

[cyan bolt]

Rip...

Hey that's why we playtest right

What was the loadout for the V. Zerks if you don't mind me asking?

[light falcon]

Nail Gun and Juggernaut for class optionals. Deadly and Headshot for vet optionals

LL6 so 2 vet optionals

Headshot didn't do anything useful

[river badge]

well, now they'll invade, i bet

[golden parcel]

surely

[tidal holly]

counterpoint: Laughs in Ultra Ronin [Supreme Melee, Extra Deadly]

[blissful sentinel]

That's a blender, not a mech.

[crude moss]

Speed 0 ultra ronin with multiple mirages in the map

[tidal holly]

The "outcome" section of that sitrep starts with section on the enemy or the pcs being wiped within two turns.

[light falcon]

I know from playing with them for a while that 3 of the testers have a violent allergy to using fragsig against berserkers. They only disabled stampede defense incidentally by knocking one berserker prone.

I think I've got an idea that'll make them (and other PCs) lock on or use off-spec tech a little more

[cyan bolt]

How relevant was the immobilzed from Nail gun?

[boreal flume]

Alright time to get back on the grind with faction write outs

[light falcon]

Allowed be to stick a zheng to the floor and keep them from doing prospector antics, so reasonably well

Also allowed for ranged overwatches and a means to keep the berserker from becoming the world's most dogshit fragsig machine if it rolled badly on system trauma

[cyan bolt]

Reasonable

[green pine]

Posting my elevator-pitch here, for the motivation/accountability/group pressure.

Now, they must hurry around the ship to fix engines, raise shields, man guns and evacuate passengers. All before a pirate boarding party lands. 
And there is only 72 seconds 'till impact.```

[proper grotto]

"repel the boarders" is always a solid pitch

[inland temple]

So I'm thinking I'm gonna finally actually write out a mission/campaign start that I've had swirling around in my head for years called The Parable of the Fall, since the themes in it are pretty spot-on for the prompt. Wish me luck, all. I'll post a pitch for scrutiny in a few days.

[cyan bolt]

Finally got a chance to work on art today, here's draft one of the cover

[proper grotto]

hell yeah

[regal dove]

get hammered

[light falcon]

I don't know how much humor I want to have with the Handler+NHP duo for the fear of invoking tonal whiplash, but I am enjoying the little conversation snippets I come up with for the two of them

"(Planet) is almost entirely hycean. There are only three small islands that break the surface of the ocean. One of those was where the station struck. That is so statistically improbable that it requires investigation"

Sounds like a plot contrivance to me.

"Kit."

Sorry, boss.

"The alternative is scouring the ocean floor for clues."

You think there's, like, a giant fish down there or something?

"..."

OH! What if that giant fish is the cause of all the problems?! They should go after it!

"There is no evidence of undersea megafauna on (planet)."

Pfft. Yeah, right. We've heard that one before.

[proper grotto]

finally got the pointcrawls drafted up. just need to fill in the details of each node and then i can move on to making the actual combats

[green pine]

Is that made in Obsidian? If so; how do you do right angle connections?

[proper grotto]

yup and i use the advanced canvas plugin

[vast dawn]

currently working on a city map, and the first mission

[bleak knoll]

American city?

[vast dawn]

soviet

[bleak knoll]

Neat

[vast dawn]

been having a blast writting ,but maaaaan i hate writting dialog

[unreal sluice]

i think you can just not write dialog

just give directions and let the gm handle it

[vast dawn]

while i agree, somestuff like "mission briefing" and "villan monologs" need to be written

[unreal sluice]

if you don't wanna write mission briefing, you can write an operation order document instead of mission briefing dialog

[vast dawn]

thats tottaly fair

[unreal sluice]

villain monologue is pretty irreplaceable though yeah

stage direction is okay but i feel like that should be the same in every game

[vast dawn]

oh i agree, what i did was create a npc page, with their pronouns, clock, goals

then a small blurb of them talking, and description, about, etc

i do wish i could get art of them XD

Feel free to introduce the highlighted NPCs in the NPC list, with the exception of Vicktor, feel free to think of the NPC’s voices, and mannerism, remember the NPC’s ideas are molds, and you can modify them as you see fit !

this is what i did

[unreal sluice]

I'm pretty sure there were a couple artists in the chat who wanted to get involved

[vast dawn]

oh its not a lack of artist, its a lack of finnaces 😛

[elfin maple]

i'm gonna stop beating my head against the graphic design part of this until i need to, fuck it

some of the ring segments are probably gonna be combined in narrative terms since i doubt there's going to be something important happening on every node

[clever scaffold]

i thought this was the ship layout for your module im ngl

but this rocks (:

[elfin maple]

nah it's a space station. two counter-rotatiing rings, players start on the north node of ring 1, need to get to the south node of ring 2 to override the thruster controls and crash the station. now to have some fun with broken elevators and hazards along the way

[old kettle]

Damn, i'm still unable to decide which way to go as i really want them lancer to be 120 m tall=around size 8 like eva anima. What do you guys think would be best?

1. gqux shenanigan,Size don't matter. Mech get enlarge for lore reason. Size 1 now equal 60 m tall. PC can change back their size after combat.
   2)stay smol, size 3=around 48 m tall at best.

[silent cloud]

finally finding some more focus on the project for this and have decided to assemble the most important part of a creative process: a moodboard.

[proper grotto]

gary is devious

[silent cloud]

He's going to be our main antagonist and I'm going to hate writing him so fuckign much lmao

[cyan bolt]

Oh hey! Umarangi Generation

I guess that that is pacific rim from a different perspective huh

[silent cloud]

I sadly still do need to do my homework™ and play it tbh, but the massive containment walls are such an evocative image

[cyan bolt]

Interested in seeing how Eileen will fit in

Best Og star trek line of all time was "Dang it Jim im a doctor not a brick layer."

[elfin maple]

is that.....gavin newsom

chaos rune

[silent cloud]

Yeah

[clever scaffold]

so we really wanted a tank NPC but cant use OWS and as such, we will drop this here lovingly:

ignore the x2

this is what we ended up with for our specific HORUS tank but i think the format being there might be helpful for anyone wanting to use a tank ^.^

[unreal sluice]

you can use MBT, as long as an alternative is provided for those who don't have that book

[crude moss]

(Theres a vehicle template remember)

Assault vehicle with high impact rounds could also work

High impact rounds and underbarrel nade launcher

[obtuse jolt]

fuckyeah

[elfin maple]

the easiest analogue to the mbt's armour facing would probably be cross-classing the cataphract shield imo?

Besides that, the MBT largely just has the Vehicle traits and whatever weapon you care to put on it

(optionals notwithstanding)

[cyan bolt]

I would agree

[elfin maple]

In certain narrative or mechanical challenges, the player may invoke the Echopraxia clock to gain a bonus or automatically succeed on certain challenges. Doing so generally risks filling the clock further (or may require filling it out). Negative consequences for certain narrative actions may also fill the clock out further.

This clock cannot be cleared, but certain narrative bonuses can mitigate additional gains temporarily.

When the clock is completely filled, the player undergoes Ego Fragmentation, which permanently compromises their control over their characters in both narrative and mechanical play.

In combat, whenever the player takes Structure or Stress damage, and on a 5+, the GM controls their actions until the end of the next round. The PC does not count as an ally to the rest of the party while under this effect.

In narrative play, whenever the player attempts to take an action that could potentially increase the Echopraxia clock further, they must first make a Difficult check with a Pilot trigger of their choice. On failure, the GM instead determines what that action will be.```

How does that feel as a worst-case consequence? Wanted something less than player death. I know taking control away from the player is generally verboten but I figure there's more room to manuever in an isolated mission like this

[light falcon]

Given the circumstances and how much time I'll have once I finish wallflower in one party (I'm in simultaneous wallflowers as a player and a GM it's fine I have so much free time folks ), I'm not sure I'll be able to get a full playtest out before the jam ends

I think my submission will be a not-stylish-but-playable release that has limited playtesting, then clean-up and deeper playtesting happens after the jam finishes and I make a pretty 1.0 version

[void cape]

Well folks, we've put out our first call for pilots on a run through of our mission, if any of you want to see how this plays out feel free to apply here*!*

[elfin maple]

@unreal sluice hello, if I want to use a sitrep that's from paid content (Demolition from EC in this case), can I, as an alternative, create a custom sitrep that broadly approximates the same idea, or would that be considered plagiarism?

[void cape]

Technically Demolition sitrep came from Dustgrave first

[unreal sluice]

ooh yeah that's a bit tricky huh

is that in Dustgrave gm content? I thought it's just the npc

I would advise not recreating demolition. i don't know the law enough to give a better answer

[elfin maple]

i don't see it in the lcp file but i don't think sitreps are really the type of thing that get packaged like that

hm, it's a bit painful cause Demolition hits a lot of the main elements you would want with a 'destroy objective' sitrep, which is fairly generic imo

[royal echo]

If it's from third-party content like EC, you'd have to ask the author to use it, since the Lancer license doesn't cover that.

(But, of course, the simpler a thing is, the more reasonable a thing is to go "yeah, these are the basics of any attempt at the thing.")

[tidal holly]

the biggest writing challenge in this entire module is my commitment to the stupid bit for the PreGens

[cyan bolt]

What is the bit?

[tidal holly]

the four pregens are all members of the House of Moment's Endless Company

so they are all clones of the same person

so their names all mean the same in different languages, their callsign/mech name follow the same scheme, and the descriptions of their characters are all saying the same thing with different words, basically

that's the joke

[cyan bolt]

That is peak. No you have to keep that that is so gppd

[tidal holly]

(also, Orchis / Dusk Wing / Emperor / Viceroy strike team, cause the House of Moments is in bed with SSC)

[ember trellis]

May I ask - the connections don't seem to create right angles for me, they just curve between the objects. Do you know what plugin makes yours looke the way they do?

[proper grotto]

there should be a popup when you click on the connection, and the right most button will let you choose which type you want

[ember trellis]

Hmmm... Something definitely not right, then.

[proper grotto]

Uh I'm not sure then, because the Advanced Canvas plugin is the only one I have installed

[vernal roost]

beginning to transcribe my notes into affinity publisher. not 100% sure i got the font sizes for headers and such correct but it's probably close enough anyway.

[light falcon]

we're testing

THT is so good for making developer art maps

[green pine]

Whats THT?

[light falcon]

terrain height tool

[light falcon]

Players liked the reworked abilities a lot and also really liked the sitrep despite it being not especially ideal for them

Very good worst-case scenario for it

[light falcon]

Also they really like the idea of a faction roster with fixed optionals, which is nice for me because then I don't have to worry about having as many NPCs 😌

And my idea of a "combat index," which has all 10 combats in an appendix and the narrative sections just say "go to combat (name) on page ##"

[vernal roost]

Finished the first playtest of my mission! The players enjoyed it, which was good, and I have at least a few notes on both the narrative and the sitreps to pore over later, so that'll be good for the next playtest which I'll be starting soon.

[boreal flume]

excitedly taps the art I got dis :3

[golden parcel]

waow

[lavish lark]

Oh that's gorgeous!

[light falcon]

As I'm getting deeper into the map design weeds for my stuff, I'm thanking myself for running Wallflower because making my own maps helped me learn a few things like that I need to make them smaller for one

Another thought I'm having is the idea of player/NPC movement paths and to switch up the directions where players will have to move or NPCs will be applying pressure from to make things feel less same-y

[elfin maple]

i gotta get on to my maps, i've bitten off a decent bit committing to 8 combats

[light falcon]

I'm doing 10, but blessedly it's only 5 maps

only

[elfin maple]

i've done a half-decent amount of work on everything except my central gimmick, which i'm still scratching my head over

[tidal holly]

what's the gimmick?

[elfin maple]

players are failed flash clones of SecComm generals and politicians, and they have to manage a special clock that represents their past lives and memories taking over their identity

[tidal holly]

oooh

(so my first thought if you want it is - sprinkle the sitreps and the story beats with secondary objectives that offer tangible tactical benefits (reserves, resupply etc), but each one you take has you roll a die and take a d2/d4/d6 worth of wedges, so you have to decide between 'do I take advantage of their knowledge/tricks' or do I try to keep away from it)

[elfin maple]

this is exactly what i'm going for! d8 for now, but yeah, that broadly

my main issues are:
1- how bad do i want it to get when it fills up?
2- I need to actually get around to writing those beats and opportunities with a bit of mustard on 'em

but i've just been Doing Diagrams and chipping away at the NPC classes i want to include

[cyan bolt]

This was something I also learned the hard way. Less really is more when It comes to map space

[light falcon]

It did lead to something that I'm keeping in even if the map is going to get slightly smaller

The pyros were struggling to get towards the zone the players had turtled up at with a Saladin putting down literally all the effects that could mess up attacks

So I used one of the supports to grapple the Saladin and drag her into the pyros

I'm now writing "use the supports to grapple targets and drag them towards pyros" in the tactics notes

[cyan bolt]

Big brain play

[elfin maple]

2-3 of my maps are just going to be variations on a single corridor layout

the one i'm looking forward to the least is the 0g escort, that's gonna be a pain to set up in a way that's fun

[cyan bolt]

One time I had a sitrep with a sniper in it and I figured out my first turn could be activating a barricade, grappling it, moving it and ending the grapple to get around ordnance

[light falcon]

Also my first time playing into a Saladin, which has taught me to ask 'any funny business on this attack?' before rolling

My maps so far are

Crater: Holdout+Gauntlet. Terrain slopes towards a low point that players fight from in the holdout and fight into during the gauntlet. Either way it is absolutely lousy with soft cover.

Forest: Holdout+Recon/King of the Hill. Circular map filled with dense but fragile foliage and small structures. Recon/KotH for second combat depends on out-of-combat plot interactions.

Ruins: Holdout+||Prank||. Small. Claustrophobic. Tall buildings that funnel sightlines towards the PDZ/OZ. Force players to balance scattering for cover and pinning down the artillery with more fragile units trying to old the PDZ/OZ. ||Prank fight is just them fighting a couple squads for two rounds before the squad gets orders to cease fire||.

Harbor: Holdout+Custom. Players start taking cover inside a tower crane, balancing open sightlines of the crane sides with protection offered by the tower's supports. If repaired during narrative or mid-combat, the crane can be used to remove obstructions during the mobility-related custom sitrep.

||Blackwash Facility||: Extraction+TDM. As rigid, symmetric, and industrial as I can get it to look. TDM will have players trying to defeat the mother of all hybrid NPCs through the same terrain.

[cyan bolt]

Having them pull double duty is a good idea.

[light falcon]

I guess you could say there's a second combat for every map

[bleak knoll]

Is it impactful

[light falcon]

I mean there's a crater

Also, the mother of all hybrid NPCs is an ultra that exploits how juiced ultras can get with features at LL6 and takes a weapon, trait, or system from each of the 10 members of the faction roster

[cyan bolt]

Beautiful

I once designed a custom boss fight where the gimmick was the boss could mimic the PC's weapons

[light falcon]

Also the ultra has Argus Armor because sometimes players deserve to eat shit

[light falcon]

I'm currently struggling with a meta-clock mechanic and how many slices I should give it to keep up pressure but not have it be backbreaking. Currently waffling between 6 and 8 slices.

• Entering specific combats fills 1 slice.
• Retreating from those combats fills 1 slice.
• Calling for a Full Repair (minus core power) fills 2 slices.
• A TPK fills 3 slices because retreat+full repair

I'm leaning towards 6

Theoretically six would allow for taking the 3 combat critical path and get a refresh before the final boss fight, which I'm not... Entirely sure I want to allow?

But I can't find a way to allow for wiggle room for mistakes without not allowing someone who runs it straight down the critical path to roll into the finale almost perfectly un-attrition'd

But also maybe that's a reward for intuiting the mechanics and finding the critical path

[cyan bolt]

I've learned to lean towards leniency because not every play group will tackle things optimally. Pilotnet can biase towards people who are hyper competent when it comes towards rules comprehension, so optimizing for that crowd will make something that might demolish a less put together party

This isn't a huge problem, the rules allow for a lot of wiggle room of course

But i recall my first playtest where i thought the same thing about clocks, the pick up group i tested it on demolished it. And then i was part of a group where my friend was running it for a closed group and when it came to them we where sweating bullets. We nearly failed. One roll was rhe difference. That was kind of the ideal experience i feel

Tension can be a fickle mistress

[vernal roost]

Feels obvious in hindsight but I've started writing up setting questions for my mission. A lot of it revolves around a planet the players don't actually get to visit, so I'm thinking having the GM ask them questions about what the planet is like pre-game will help to give them a more personal connection to it, while also allowing for some of the later twists to land a little harder.

[crude moss]

GUH why does simple writing sometimes take 120% of my brain power...

Anyway here's two preset characters for my thing:>

1/2 Session one/short shot... Planning on LL1 preset builds and characters with unique triggers, investigation leads and a bond esque ability which is basically a tool to fail forwards

Triggers all being a physical strength trigger, investigation and social...

I have 3 more characters planned but 2 can be put into 1 by cheating and making them twins lmao

[regal dove]

oh, you mean you can make 1 into 2 playable chars. i was like, conjoined twins?!

[crude moss]

No, they're two seperate characters controlled by two seperate players

Just that a lot of their thing is workshopping with the other plaeyr who's like what

WIP

Even the names and pronouns are mix up-able

[unreal sluice]

omg I thought patient/impatient was the pronouns and got really confused

[crude moss]

It can be if you wish 😎

Neopronouns:
Patient/impatient

[unreal sluice]

inpatient/outpatient

[regal dove]

impatient/imdoctor

[unreal sluice]

impact/imtreaty

[void cape]

hidoctor/imdad

[vernal roost]

I had an idea to set my game at LL2 for slightly more experienced players but I'm wondering if I want to push it back down to LL0 and make it more explicitly newbie-oriented. I've already decided to remove the exotic tag from the NPCs in my second sitrep, so I don't think it'd take too much effort to adjust.

My next playtest is already set for LL2, so I probably won't change it for that, but I could try doing a quick LL0 playtest if possible afterwards to see how it flows.

[elfin maple]

i'm not doing premades, but i am limiting players to 3 backgrounds (which I need more evocative names for tbh)

[obtuse jolt]

ooooh that’s fun

i think the names work tbh, maybe change soldier because it’s one in core already afaik

[unreal sluice]

Second Committee Veteran or something similar perhaps? Or whatever faction is appropriate for the story

[vast dawn]

map making hell

cant use dungeondraft becuse liscense stuff so onto gimp we go

[night wedge]

I know this is probably not the point but the colors on this are so nice

[vast dawn]

hmmmm @night wedge snatching you, but can you tell what each thing is ?

for redability

[obtuse jolt]

inkarnate perhaps?

that’s what i’d recommend if u want pretty maps

[vast dawn]

dont have le paid version

[obtuse jolt]

sad!

[vast dawn]

oh the dungeondraft maps are great

just cant use them

[obtuse jolt]

no license?

[night wedge]

I got some pretty confident guesses, but I'd still feel much better with a key (or a labels option, if you're not gonna have native labeling) just because I like being Sure

[vast dawn]

not for the assets i have

[obtuse jolt]

shame

that gimp map does look solid, very readable (tho you should make a key it’s based)

[vast dawn]

@night wedge @obtuse jolt here

[obtuse jolt]

yeah that looks solid

[night wedge]

yeah looks good

[vast dawn]

and the other map for the first mission

[obtuse jolt]

oooh that’s fun

[obtuse jolt]

might want more cover in the streets

[vast dawn]

idealy yhea, i do like the idea of the players running for cover on the upper elevation areas

[crude moss]

IG I'm spoilt by the Inkarnate licence 🙃

[vast dawn]

this works to let the gm's come up with their own version of the maps

[crude moss]

Those do the job, and it also means if there's glaring issues you can easily tweak it

Fancy maps are extra and not necessary <- quote from me, fancy map maker who is very extra

[vast dawn]

oh i know

i'm a iso map enjoyer

but i dont see this map working on Iso

[boreal flume]

Finally got down the last of my factions

And that tiny bit of progress is 💯

I can move onto the 'characters you need to know going in' bit

[boreal flume]

First checking if this reads alright because while I love the bond system I know it technically isn't necessary to run narrative beats

Feels a little clunky

And I need to go back and actually spell out KTB at least once

[obtuse jolt]

maybe uhh

“The Shadow In Which We Stand is designed for use alongside the Bonds system from The Karrakin Trade Baronies: a Lancer Setting. These systems can be found for free at https://massif-press.itch.io/field-guide-the-karrakin-trade-baronies by downloading the COMP/CON demo. The use of these systems is not required, but the author encourages their inclusion.”

[crude moss]

I would also disagree in stating that the system is free, The LCP contains the player facing info but the rules behind how everything works and what mechanics do what is locked behind the PDF

[obtuse jolt]

yeah that is true huh

[boreal flume]

I suppose thats true

Ive honestly never really read the KTB rules on the bonds despite using em constantly so i minda forget the rules aren't like

free

I suppose i still keep the blurb in there because it doesn't changed much beyond 'it enhances the narrative play'

Just reword the free part to point out that it doesn't come with the rules

Stealin HHC's message for a rework here:

“SiwWS can be used with the Bonds system from The Karrakin Trade Baronies: a Lancer Setting. The player facing systems can be found at (insert link here) by downloading the COMP/CON demo. The use of this system is not required, and the rules for their use require purchase of the KTB module, but the author encourages their inclusion for deeper narrative play.”

[obtuse jolt]

yeah that sounds good

[boreal flume]

The mission is also another high level adventure from me so while I understand if even this wishywashy 'not required. Just encouraged' might feel a bit like a bar to entry the high level it starts at means its less likely to be attracting newbies in the first place

And it means that its much more likely the people playing already own KTB

Not me encouraging people to use the bond system more (i am hopelessly in love with Lancer bonds)

[elfin maple]

imo just say 'using them is recommended' or 'i recommend using them'. referring to yourself in the third person is what's clunky here

[boreal flume]

Not to me honestly

I did this in my last book too

I didn't trip over it the 3rd person as much as getting the wording of the recommendation to sound like something that went through some thought beyond me going 'use bonds pls '

Looking back on it I really only use that 3rd person author recommend to push the authorial intent I suppose

Like you can definitely ignore and change other things but this is really important to the person who made this

(Aka the bonds here, or the allowance of all Cores in my LL12 one shot)

[unreal sluice]

I'm pretty sure you don't need ktb lcp to unlock bond play, you just need one lcp that has one bond

[boreal flume]

Ive never tried to unlock the bond system any other way other than using the ktb one

Which is the most basic of the Lancer bonds

And has em all in there

[unreal sluice]

yeah i just vaguely remember talking about how bond page is unlocked

i haven't really worked with any other lcp that unlocks bonds

[boreal flume]

Unless all the KTB ones are there naturally idk if I'd want to try and 'force' it

I do have a couple homemade bonds! Just uh, its only two and nowhere near as extensive as having KTBs in the mix

Wait lemme go check something

[unreal sluice]

yeah see if it works! if a bare bones bond can unlock the section, you wouldn't have to bring up ktb lcp

[boreal flume]

Yeah while it does still let me use the bond tab it just doesn't have the selection

[unreal sluice]

I'm not sure what the policy is around explaining how bond works in 3p publication

[boreal flume]

Lemme go check something else

Checked IGF and its just like 'ktb made the bond system, heres a couple more to add to the list'

It does not copy over all the rules or anything

[unreal sluice]

that seems like a pretty solid explanation

[crude moss]

What's actually trying to be achieved?

[boreal flume]

I want to highly encourage the use of bonds in my mission because I love them and they are fun

[elfin maple]

it's weird cause the actual rules explaining how bonds work is covered in the book, so iin theory a group where no player had KTB wouldn't actually know how to use Bonds/Stress

[boreal flume]

the rules for bonds/stress are locked behind the paywall for the ktb

But the framework is like all out there in the open

So given the limitations of the jam I can only encourage people to use bonds, not require it

[crude moss]

Can't you just recommend playing the story with bonds and state theyre locked behind a pay wall?

[elfin maple]

but the actual bonds themselves are free 🤷

i'm also recommending KTB but if the players don't want to use them I'm just laying out rules to create a single custom clock for every player, since that's the important part

[unreal sluice]

does Shadow of the Wolf explain bond rules again?

[crude moss]

Probably not

[unreal sluice]

bc bond is supposed to be playable if you only have sotw and no ktb right

[boreal flume]

#1378465748812566640 message

[elfin maple]

nah it just refers to the 'optional bonds system'

but doesn't actually explain their use

[unreal sluice]

huh

[elfin maple]

which is funny because the bonds are a somewhat significant part of the narrative lol

[unreal sluice]

ok i guess that's the official policy then, just mention that ktb has rules?

[crude moss]

I dont know what the confusion is about

[boreal flume]

No confusion on my end really

Just sad theres a paywall i forgot about

Because I forgot there's actually like rules to the bond system that need reading

And you aren't born knowing how to use em

Oh well I suppose that technically means I don't have to worry about Tear Throat then (i will always worry about Tear Throat)

[elfin maple]

can you easily draw a hex grid in gimp? I might use that for maps actually

[unreal sluice]

I like hexfriend https://hexfriend.net

at least you can use it to generate the grid then paint

there is a way to generate it in gimp using mosaic distortion, but i think this is just easier

[vast dawn]

Yesis

[cyan bolt]

I use photoshop

[tidal holly]

I know my artist found a way to do it in SAI via overlay, but I have no idea how that works

[manic crane]

I've been using Marmoset Hexcels for grid terrain overlays cuz I got it on a steam sale

[light falcon]

I used krita for highlights and labels

That's how I made this version at least

[blissful sentinel]

Got a working title, an almost complete feature list (reality check not yet fully included) and two more days until my vacation.

[elfin maple]

i still don't have a title, i am awwwful at names

[blissful sentinel]

I'm currently running with "Where the Dogs buried their Bones" cause it references to my original idea and I can build further references from there, which will hopefully help me flesh out the setting more while I dig in. Dunno if I'll keep it, but as long as it keeps firing off inspiration, it works for me (and hey, that's what jams are all about)

[light falcon]

I'm too many layers of entendre in to drop the name Souls Weighed Down at this point

[regal dove]

nice one that, btw. have run it twice so far :)

[proper grotto]

INITIAL
For 3 PCs:
- Ultra Exotic Pyro
   - Pyro: Unshielded Reactor, Superhot 
   - Exotic: Regenerator, Paracausal Weapon
   - Ultra: Argus Armor, Unstoppable, Suppression Pulse
- Commander Veteran Priest
   - Priest: Sanctuary, Fractal Assault
   - Veteran: +SYS, Power Rerouting
   - Commander: Quick March, Press On!
- Veteran Hornet
   - Hornet: Umbral Interdiction, System Spike
   - Veteran: +SYS, Acrobat

For 4 PCs:
- Veteran Cataphract
   - Cataphract: Charge, Lance Shot
   - Veteran: +AGI, Crashing Charge
- Add Elite to the Priest

For 5 PCs:
- Add Elite to the Cataphract

REINFORCEMENTS
For 3 PCs:
- Rainmaker:
   - Rainmaker: Seeker Volley, Suppression Salvo
- Assault:
   - Assault: Micro-Missile Barrage, Rank Discipline

For 4 PCs:
- Archer
   - Covering Fire, Flush Out
- Add Veteran to the Rainmaker (+SYS, Concussion Warheads)

For 5 PCs:
- Add Elite to the Archer
- Add Elite to the Rainmaker```

first critical objective combat has been drafted out

maps will come after all the other combats are drafted out

[cyan bolt]

Heyy ultra pyro same hat

[proper grotto]

the fun part is it's not apart of the faction roster

it's just doing its own thing

[crude moss]

Is that rebake stuff?

[proper grotto]

yeah i'm gonna make a vanilla roster too

[boreal flume]

Writing some prompting questions in my character creation section

Trying my best to prompt character creation in a way that makes its more likely people will make pilots that will suffer here XD

I feel like the high level of the mission really helps the premise too

[unreal sluice]

have you looked at Dread character creation?

[boreal flume]

no

my eyes are only for Lancer /j

[unreal sluice]

here's an example character creation sheet (questionnaire)

[boreal flume]

oh thats cool

[unreal sluice]

the character is in a horror setting where a bunch of college kids are trying to survive/escape from a werewolf

[boreal flume]

but yeah the questions are there as a prompt when theres not much else to go off of

the PCs are kinda stuck to one Thing ™

[unreal sluice]

It gives a lot of control for the GM/designer over the player character, which you can leverage to make sure they have a place in the world

not sure if that's something you want to do here, but it's a useful tool and I thought you might be interested

[boreal flume]

so you gotta think a little deeper on how the pilot feels about their posting

(because the feelings are the entire point)

[unreal sluice]

hell yeah

[cyan bolt]

Are you familiar with a game called Dread?

I got time to work on art today, this is the Ultra Pyro that the boss of my module will be piloting

[unreal sluice]

it's a screenshot from Dread LOL

[cyan bolt]

lol sorry I just saw the page and was like "Oh wow that sounds a lot like Dread."

Dread is awesome, it's on my short list of ttrpgs to try out

[unreal sluice]

hell yeah Dread is such a cool game

tragically, online play without jenga tower is difficult

[light falcon]

I am sitting here during my lunch and I feel like I've just

https://tenor.com/view/brain-blast-jimmy-neutron-jimbo-gif-26286685

[proper grotto]

This is me at work

[light falcon]

Each of the biomes has a generic "search" verb where players can use a trigger to idly poke around and find stuff. I'm styling it similar to Against The Current where the roll result controls what you get.

But on a 9 or less, instead of finding nothing, they find something that seems useless

But what it actually is, is an item that reduces the difficulty of skill checks in another zone

Because one of the zones doesn't have conventional POIs. It has a narrative challenge. By default, every roll is heroic.

Similar @void sinew's KTN (sorry for the ping but I'm shamelessly stealing this idea), players can reduce the difficulty of their rolls in the challenge by using these seemingly useless things they find when whiffing rolls in other zones.

And if they keep failing against the challenge, they will be naturally inclined to go to a different zone and search for clues

It helps players fail forward. It adds a little flavor to the setting. It encourages exploration and a little bit of gamba.

https://tenor.com/view/avengers-endgame-hulk-bruce-banner-i-see-this-as-an-absolute-win-gif-17006739

Inb4 it playtests poorly

[regal dove]

eh that’ll probably be the testers’ fault!

[austere gull]

As a concept it sounds cool as hell, if the players can catch on after finding some items it sounds like a really cool way to encourage them to explore everywhere and never feel like they are wasting time

[lavish lark]

I imagine they'd find out as soon as they tried a check in another zone? Or do they have to deliberately invoke the item?

[vernal roost]

I think I need to just rebuild my Holdout sitrep from the ground up because I keep trying to modify what I already have and I think it's getting away from me a bit.

[light falcon]

They'll have text in the reserve that says "might be useful elsewhere"

[vast dawn]

so mission 1 done

[lavish lark]

https://tenor.com/view/surprise-tool-mickey-mouse-mickey-clubhouse-gif-18764497

[lavish lark]

Currently struggling with how to incorporate certain keywords and backstory elements that are needed to contextualize the plot without using a huge text blurb that'll leave the GM monologuing at the players for an hour. Anyone have pointers for this?

[toxic atlas]

I found this article to be helpful in thinking of different ways to communicate important stuff to players without turning it into a lore dump. https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4124/roleplaying-games/random-gm-tips-getting-the-players-to-care-collected

[cyan bolt]

Also re: player investment. I recently ran the Solstice Rain point crawl and followed it's advice which was to make the characters already have a relationship with each other and also one of the npcs. (Maybe they are related to one of them, they owe one of them a favor, etc.) Also I had them collaboratively design their drop ship pilot. He's an Australian guy who is fond of Mystery Novels and Banjo song covers

[lavish lark]

Good thoughts! Thanks for the advice!

[vernal roost]

Yeah, I recently added some collaborative worldbuilding questions to my project to help invest the players more in the mission.

And my current playtest had a very good response, so it’s definitely an approach you can take.

[austere gull]

https://third-eye-party.itch.io/endless-mirrors-lancer-expanded-cloning

Our team has published our entry for the Jam! Because we won't have much time to work on it for the rest of the deadline we did something a bit smaller, which is pretty much usable already but could be further expanded if we can find the time.

We chose to create a small module of lore inspiration / additional narrative and mechanical options regarding cloning (to give a pilot's Second chance at life more Impact compared to the basic rules, wink wink).

It's our first time doing something this worldbuilding-oriented (trying to be as consistent as possible with canon Lancer lore while creating something new was a pain lol), so any feedback is appreciated! It's still in a pretty rough state, so expect some small updates in the following month.

[unreal sluice]

wait yall we have another month

feel free to early submit but if you're worried about deadline

[austere gull]

Yeah, it's definitely really early, but most of us are going on holiday in the following month and we're not really going to have any more good opportunities to work together, so we decided to publish now when we still have the chance to do it properly

Also, after the fun but draining experience of the last jam we wanted to do something simpler, and we probably overcorrected and WAY undershot what we could have done in this time frame

[unreal sluice]

ohh okay, that's totally fine then! Thank you for your submission!

[cerulean mural]

Work has completely wrecked me more than expected this month so I have just not made a ton of progress on the game, and I think I am pivoting to work on an alt-frame because a really stupid idea occurred to me and I need to seize upon it

[cyan bolt]

I empathize, my job has been harsh lately which is why my project is less ambitious than most

I've had an idea for an alt frame for forever but I haven't acted on it because a) It's the only one I have that I feel like has Juice, and I don't want to make an Lcp for just one frame, and b) it might be unplayable or over powered, and playtesting just one frame seems like a bad ROI

[blissful sentinel]

Just a thought, but might a collaboration work for playtesting? Maybe someone here's willing to include it in a playtest so you can get some actual combat data. 😅

[light falcon]

Because of The Scheduling Boss, I may not be able to get a full playtest in before the jam ends

But I'm thinking maybe I could peacemeal all the chunks together to independly test the mechanics and combats

Which is difficult to really measure attrition for, but that's what a beta release is for

[cyan bolt]

You know, i wouldn't be opposed to the idea!

[light falcon]

I'm trying to make a list of "useless items" for players to find in the ruins of a city/orbital launch platform and I've got a decent handful but still need more.

Anyone want to suggest assorted personal items and other gubbins players could find?

So far I've got a few pieces of jewelry, an unrepairable dataslate, various articles or clothing, a book, a kapat deck, etc.

[toxic atlas]

If you want to have a lot of fun with it, you can use it as an opportunity for environmental storytelling.

An engagement ring in the bottom drawer of a dresser. A sketchbook full of drawings of unusual plants. A worn out leather flight jacket with war medals in the inside pocket. A bucket of plastic action figures featuring space marines and aliens.

[cyan bolt]

Will these actually serve no purpose? I remeber you saying earlier that you wanted some items to appear useless but actually grant a mechanical bonus in another area

[light falcon]

That is precisely what I'm doing

[austere gull]

When adding these kinds of details to ruined environments I try to, for each item, answer at least one of these three questions, ideally multiple at the same time:

1. Does it tell the players something unique about the daily lives of those who lived/worked here that doesn't match their expectations?
2. Does it give insight on what was happening shortly before this place was abandoned?
3. Does it help the players understand what has happened since this place was abandoned?

Since I don't know the details of the environment you're working with no specific items come to mind, but a few concepts that I often use are:

-Something related to the workers. Are they working a dangerous job? They might commonly have personal trinkets or good luck charms with them. Are they working a stressful but safe one? They might have something to help them relax or concentrate, like a "rubber duck" for a programmer, something to fidget with or in certain scenarios even light stimulants or drugs (from a pipe in a drawer or an inordinate amount of coffee cups left on a desk to small traces of actual narcotics hidden somewhere in their workplace)

-Something it would be weird to leave behind. Did this place's inhabitants leave in a hurry? Maybe there are plates of now fully decayed food on set tables around some of the houses. Did they leave because of a threat they couldn't physically fight? Maybe they left their weapons behind. You can't fight a storm or an illness after all. Did they not have time to leave? Then it would make sense for even items they would really care a lot about to have been left there in random places, probably near where they died.

-Things that are not where they should be. Why are there military rifles stashed inside an unassuming home? Why are a child's toys inside what should be an advanced laboratory? What secrets, once closely guarded, have been exposed by the inexorable passage of time?

[light falcon]

They are items players get when getting a 9 or less on a generic search action and each has flavor text like "(description), but may be important to someone."

These items are used when negotiating with people to make the checks to convince them to work with you easier. By spending one of these items, you change the roll them from heroic to risky to normal to "Don't even roll. You convinced them."

You're basically finding the personal items of the people you're trying to convince, because they can't look for them alone

[cyan bolt]

Ok, love it. So the idea is we suggest a memento and you invent a character that would hold that item dear?

[light falcon]

Making them specific to the zone was definitely the plan.

The zones are

• orbital platform crash site
• harbor/storage yard
• wooded research facility
• ruined city

City has the most personal items. The harbor has things like PPE, a deck of cards, a lighter, etc. The research facility has things like an ID card, and a personal journal. The crash site has things like (plot specific thing), hardsuit adornments.

[austere gull]

Ooh that's cool. For personal stuff it could make sense to have some physical media storage, containing something like a character's favorite music or childhood movies

[cyan bolt]

Ball park, how many of each would you like per area?

[light falcon]

The target is 6

24 total

[cyan bolt]

You want us to dm them to you? Maybe we should start a google doc lol

[light falcon]

I've had a surprise task land in my lap with a tight deadline so this is being backburnered somewhat, but I may revisit this when my brain allows it

[vast dawn]

currently in missin 2/3, as well as making the tokens 😛

[light falcon]

Other task abandoned. DM them to me

[boreal flume]

More Art Acquired

[proper grotto]

Looks awesome

[boreal flume]

Me: makes the main Union Ambassador blind

https://tenor.com/view/lotr-why-shouldnt-i-lotr-bilbo-bilbo-why-shouldnt-i-why-shouldnt-i-lord-of-the-rings-gif-17096479

Honestly amazed at how I keep jam packing references into my mission

[boreal flume]

Just had a brain blast of an idea for a way to make a recon sitrep a bit more dynamic

I know going round and trying to scan the zones is tedious, especially if you have a slow mech SO:

I'm twisting in some narrative to this combat by having each zone that isn't the target contain an item/trinket/data bite which can help them massively in the narrative scene after

Its not needed (so if you stumble over the correct zone first and never check the others you aren't fucked) but it'll be a bit easier

It was a brain blast

And I can't wait to detail it out

[bleak knoll]

Brick is shaped like friend!

[boreal flume]

Tortugas are in fact friend-shaped!

[light falcon]

Map V2 for a playtest tomorrow

I initially called it "the harbor" and then realized I could say it was a spaceport, but the tidal flooding from the proximity of the moon has made it look like a harbor

My favorite part is that it pulls double-duty in a different combat

The middle is a gantry crane. If the PCs fix it up, a PC can use it as a full action (or QA when dismounted/if they have manipulators) to score points for the second combat's sitrep

[light falcon]

Players sent me their characters for today's playtest

Undermounting for a terashima

I'm scared

[cyan bolt]

Doom: Sengoku Era

[light falcon]

Result of the playtest: how do I give NPCs a version of nanocomp that doesn't feel oppressive or break the game

[proper grotto]

hmm, my initial reaction is limited uses and then it's something they have to prime the turn before hand

or maybe it applies ordnance to the weapon they use it on

[clever scaffold]

hey so theres not anything stating specifically whether or not the submission to the lancer jam having to be a module
we know its super late to ask, but if theres a field guide (for example) that stayed within the rules of the game jam and kept up with the themes (somehow) would that be accepted into the game jam?

[grand oar]

Rainmaker – Huntsman

Cap the smart, seeking tags behind a condition

[golden parcel]

we hope so. that's what we're doing

[cyan bolt]

Yeah! I think some people are writing short fiction, doing all kinds of stuff. This time around the jam is open to whatever you feel fits the theme! Someone baked a cake lol.

[clever scaffold]

Heeellll yeah

[light falcon]

Solution? Weapon gains smart by default. If the target is engaged, the attack doesn't receive difficulty from Soft Cover and doesn't require LoS.

The ability is called ||Swarm-link Targeting||

Critically, doesn't ignore cover because like

Snipers exist

And I don't wanna give Snipers seeking

[boreal flume]

starting on the map for my first combat! its real early as you can see but I don't want the road layout to completely symmetrical

there will be buildings and such for cover and lots of junk from a former battle. Its gonna be a recon

[boreal flume]

First playtest this Sunday!

[elfin maple]

trying something funky with a radially symmetrical map

[clever scaffold]

this is so pretty....

[elfin maple]

i'm realising that most of my narrative beats are just 'talking to someone on the radio' or 'picking through ancient space station systems'.

this is probably fine considering how heavily my game's inspired by System Shock, I guess?

i only have 3 npcs and the only time the players are in the same room as any of them is when they're trying to kill each other

[clever scaffold]

I don’t think it’s fine bc of the inspiration, I think its fine because it’s sick as fuck

Such a very very specific vibe going with that one and it rules

[cyan bolt]

Oh hey i was actually kind of curious how this ran. Was Terrashima worth it?

[blissful sentinel]

Now you just gotta make it spin!

[light falcon]

It wasn't maximum damage exactly, but it did have him flying over the entire map and doing unspeakable things to the opfor

Which may have been a tactical error but was impressive to watch

[light falcon]

In the club making weird sitreps.

The faction template in my jam project has an optional where, when an NPC dies, they turn into a drone that, if ignored, can turn back into the NPC (albeit with less HP).

One sitrep will have players going against an opfor of vanilla NPCs and bringing them to a single OZ to score points (this kills the drone) and win. Another sitrep has players taking them to OZs on the map equal to PC count that get "used" once you put a drone onto them.

[livid dagger]

I finally finished writing mine up, and need to finish maps / do cover arttt

I used alot of the squad and vehicle templates which makes for interesting encountera

[cyan bolt]

...I'm considering learning overleaf. What programs is everyone else using to put PDFs together? I've just been using the Lancer Template and Google Docs, but Google Docs leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to placing an image amid text.

[proper grotto]

affinity publisher

[light falcon]

libreoffice writer

it's a struggle but I get through 😤

unique distribution model: i take my 30something pages of handwritten notes, post that for my submission, and go "idk you figure it out"

I already know that my submission will be in a playable beta state when the jam ends and will need some work in order to be 100% up to snuff

Because I've got a lot of writing and layout to do

For some reason, I've become tormented by the idea of putting read-aloud text like

'You've seen this before, <pilot name>.'```

[hearty dust]

i haven’t used it(cause i don’t do a lot of writing) but both my dad and sibling swear by LaTeX fir everything they do

[regal dove]

latex

[regal dove]

wysiwig was a mistake

[green pine]

Been playing a bit with Typst for this one. But writing in a chaotic Obsidian-canvas, and the rendering the markdown in Typst with some plugin.

[light falcon]

Playtest once more helped me get a lot of info about the narrative mechanics and ways I need to fill out the story

But also the idea of a "fail forward" mechanic doesn't work quite as intended in a system where you can elect to fail checks by default

[elfin maple]

workin' on some tokens, then i need to finish up the maps and write some flavour for some side encounters and put the whole damn thing together

[elfin maple]

is there a style guide for formatting Mission Briefings and the like? I have the one for NPCs

[cyan bolt]

I've just been copying the basic format from published adventures

[elfin maple]

how are you copying the formatting of the boxes and page layouts and stuff?

[blissful sentinel]

Depending on your program, you need a good hammer and a lot of blunt force trauma.

[light falcon]

https://valkyrion.itch.io/Lancer-RPG-template I just use this

[lavish quiver]

[Insert obligatory ""Second Committee"" pun here]

[light falcon]

I'm definitely leaning towards cutting this mechanic

[light falcon]

I think my faction has a formal name now

And, of course, it's a GW2 reference

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gorseval_the_Multifarious

[cyan bolt]

It's a fun word

[obtuse jolt]

peak spotted

[light falcon]

Oh god genpop is definitely gonna think I'm making magic references aren't they

that one is explicit though

[unreal sluice]

is that just Flying keyword

[light falcon]

No. The CRB citation is what they're immune to. They can still fall prey to difficult/dangerous terrain.

[elfin maple]

i am starting to realise that i might have overdone it for a single mission format

[cyan bolt]

Five Combats? Wowie Zowie

Is there a full repair in there somewhere?

[elfin maple]

5 mandatory, up to 8, 6 recoverable repairs per player with one free core battery per non-efficient cp

there's one chance to reduce your overcharge meter too but i gotta throw in another one somewhere

[cyan bolt]

Kind of like piece-mealing out recovery? Fascinating. I'm interested to see how it plays out

[light falcon]

I don't want to try and one-up you, but mine has ||ten combats||

That being said, if you're a hard core gigachad turbo gamer, you can actually complete the entire adventure in ||two combats||

Also I seem to have grown a 20 slice clock overnight

[blissful sentinel]

Loving the vibes your titles give.

[light falcon]

I've finally broken the story and what it's trying to say! It's ||decorporialization as an allegory for queerness||

[lavish lark]

I finally have a synopsis for my project. Still not 100% on the title but here we go

In His Shadow

For the past several months the omninet has been abuzz with rumors and speculations about the new settlement of Autonomia. Established by the former Smith-Shimano Corpro administrator Blythe Wright II, the city’s existence was originally meant to be a closely-guarded secret. It was promoted covertly through invitations to individuals Wright considered “high caliber” enough to be worthy of participating in a society where “innovation” is the central priority. Like any good secret, however, the existence of the project was eventually leaked to the public, prompting Union’s Department of Justice and Human Rights to take interest.

Autonomia’s actual location has never been officially determined as the coordinates were only ever given to those who agreed to migrate there, however just this past week a heavily distorted distress signal may have given its location away. The signal was picked up by a far-field team and appears to have been put out by Blythe Wright II himself, though only a few words could be made out through the static.

“Help me… Altamira Project… Gone too far… Running out of… Materials… Not much time… They’re coming…”

The signal comes from an obscure exoplanet known as Sabriel’s Folly, a world previously thought uninhabitable due to its scorching hot atmosphere and neverending glass storms. Too dangerous a locale for normal humans to traverse outside of mechanized chassis. In response, the DOJ/HR has assembled a team of some of the best Lancers available. Their mission will be to deploy to Sabriel’s Folly, find the source of the distress signal, and extract anyone alive including Blythe Wright II if he is there. Along the way, they are to investigate the city of Autonomia if it exists, and learn what exactly the “Altamira Project” is. 

In His Shadow is a Tier 2 Lancer mission for 3-5 players. This mission is expected to run for 2-4 sessions and includes 3 mandatory combats, 2 optional combats, a hostile planet to explore and a mystery to solve. 

Content Warnings (May contain spoilers): ||Body horror, slavery, eugenics, capitalism, obnoxious techbros||

[silent cloud]

Moving much slower than Id like but Ive finally written a profile for an rancid man for people to hate.
[NPC]’s background isn’t exceptional; he was a gifted young student born to a comfortably successful family who lauded his intelligence and encouraged him to pursue a career in something useful, like STEM. He graduated with a good degree, high marks, and a job with House Korité’s science division… and spent his free time rotting his brain in omninet forums, learning from like-minded peers about smart men who had the whole world figured out in clear and simple ways.

[lavish quiver]

Oh no

The fuckin chud mra dudebro villain

😱

The internet omninet was a mistake frfr

[silent cloud]

We’re thinking more, like, smarmy 4chan type of jackass, but yeah basically. The most insufferable guy

[elfin maple]

the role of my main antagonist didn't click for me until i realised he would genuinely have been friends with the people he thinks the players are supposed to be

and when he realises they're not who they're supposed to be his response is 'ahhhh the brainstem parasites ate my friends'

[light falcon]

The antagionist didn't click for me until I was thinking about things they'd say and once the lines ||"The only way to life eternal is to join us in the multifarious choir." and "Your souls are weighed down by your transgressions. Freedom can only be found through communion with us."|| hit, I knew what was happening

✨ religious trauma ✨

[lavish lark]

We're channeling similar frustrations with our antagonists here lmao

[silent cloud]

Hahahaha, man I can’t imagine why. Must be something in the air xD

[urban trail]

I was about to say that that seems increibly hard to build with less than a month left

Im just about to start playtesting for my 1-shot

[elfin maple]

oh i have all the beats and combats drafted out, just playtesting and rewriting now

and putting everything into place

[urban trail]

how
are you able to make that much

[elfin maple]

-# i've been unemployed all last month 😅

[urban trail]

I'ave been on school holiday and i've accomplished a fraction of that

[elfin maple]

to be clear, i started working on this around the start of last month, i think about 7 days after it started?

[urban trail]

I made a concpt before it started

although
how experinced are u in making lancer stuff?

(mainly just annoyed at my procratination barely leading to anything tbh)

[elfin maple]

this is the first time i've tried making anything, i do also have a co-author, one of my players

one thing that helped is setting some pretty hard limits -- the scope of the mission is actually quite small. it's just one location and three npcs, and the only time you're ever in a room with any of them is when you're trying to kill each other

i'm also only really playtesting the 'key' combats and hashing out what i want from my combat NPCs rather than doing the whole module or the other combats

and i still need to actually get the third npc to a point where i'm happy with it

[urban trail]

mine is also fairly barebones
although I am kinda jealous at how you appear to have done more than me in the same timeframe

do u mind giving me some feedback on the NPC/story?

[urban trail]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C-ipYn-H-dlDC_EU9Ci4-01Krnef3BFQ57QlQrLX9a0/edit?tab=t.0

[light falcon]

I'm doing something similarly ornate, and while I have previous experience in making an adventure from the last jam, it's very doable.

The concession I'm making is that the end result for me is going to be a beta though. Probably not even gonna be in the stylized PDF format yet.

Once I get it out in the world, I'm gonna try and solicit people into running external playtests, plus get a consistent internal playtest

Since I've done some internal playtests, but scheduling for a consistent run-through of something still in design is tricky

So far, my testing has been a lot of vertical slices, which is concerning but it is what it is.

[blissful sentinel]

I'm absolutely ok with my entry only going beta, since there's also RL happening. My goal is learning some stuff and experimenting with other and if the result is something that's fun and playable, I've overachieved. 😄

[livid dagger]

"For as long it has been settled the Dawnline Shore has been a region fraught with tension and filled to the brim with powder and rocket fuel and far too many fools willing to strike a match. Now, Harrison Armory has begun to make a play for Blink-1, Union's only Blink Gate on the Shore that has since been deactivated for all non-Union Navy vessels. As the tensions between the KTB and Harrison continue to escalate, fears of a Second Interest War and the impact that would have on the lives of all humanity are on the rise.

A message goes out on the Omni-net, a scion of House Promise seeks to have aid delivered to the people trapped within the Exclusion Zone, however savvy Lancer’s will find there is a second part of the job hidden in the file, heavily encrypted unless you’ve accepted the contract. As well as going to deliver aid, he also wishes to undermine Harrison’s hold on the planet. Strap in Pilot’s, it’s gunna be a bumpy ride."

Working Summary for my submission, Si Vis Pacem

[light falcon]

(sorry for the notif. cat stepped on keyboard)

[elfin maple]

i have an extremely specific legal question:

I need to label certain traversal hazards on my point crawl section of the map, and considering how much my game owes to Alien, do you think there'd be any issues with using the Semiotic Standard: https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/Semiotic_Standard

[toxic atlas]

I'd go with something explicitly licensed for use. There are recreations out there

e.g. https://www.behance.net/gallery/78297841/Semiotic-Standard#

[light falcon]

My artist has confirmed she's good for the cover and should have a version of it done before the jam is over

Character busts are still TBD because I still don't know how many NPCs I should have

I kinda want 3, being

1. the handler+NHP duo (they're a package deal)
2. a local faction member who's willing to deal with the PCs
3. a local faction member who needs to be convinced to work with the PCs

But I'm so used to players not having a handler/informant that I don't quite know what to do with them mechanically speaking other than "they can offer you repairs and maybe provide hints if players are stuck"

[urban trail]

If there is a supplemnt with PWYW but also has the option todownoad for free, can I use that?

[light falcon]

I'd say no, as it may not be PWYW forever

[proper grotto]

Unless it says somewhere on the itch page or with the download that you can use their stuff for commercial use, you should ask the author directly for their permission

[urban trail]

Are NPCs a must?
I am planningan investigative mission into an abandoned faiclity, and idk if I should try add some NPCs

[light falcon]

At least one of them is needed

And I'd prefer the handler be a character if only to provide some diagetic reason for why you can order a full repair

[urban trail]

Does that include antagonists?

[elfin maple]

i'm using Anomaly from Prototype Pattern Group and suggesting Exotic if that goes paid. I'm also using Suldan, which has been out for several years and which I reasonably assume will be pwyw forever.

[urban trail]

Suldan is PWYW?

didnt know that

[light falcon]

The antagonist doesn't get a bio

They blabber enough that it's unnecessary

You fight against what you believe is subjugation of the undeserving. You do not comprehend the weight of their sins. Etc.

[proper grotto]

*```At the edge of Union space, the Second Distal War continues to burn across Boundary Garden. It’s been six years since the Fansipan Station blink gate was destroyed. Six years since the remnants of Battlegroup Comet began their cat-and-mouse game with the Ascendant fleet. Six years since the Outremer occupied Cornucopia through manqueller and Firmament. And twelve years remaining until the Union relief fleet arrives.

Despite the Aun’s efforts, Boundary Industrial City still holds through the work of thousands, both living and dead. It is a concrete mausoleum under siege and, for the past six years, your home. But for the first time in a long time you’ll be heading outside of the city. A long dormant NHP has awakened and sent an unencrypted distress signal. The top brass believe it might be a trap; bait for the starved and desperate. But this late into the war, new NHP’s are few and far between and they're willing to take the risk. You and your squad have been entrusted with the task of investigating its veracity.

What no one knows yet is that out past the siege lines and hidden among golden fields ripe with fresh harvest and stalking ofanim, is something that could change the course of the war. But the Cultivator’s gifts are never free and always beg the question to those blessed few: what price must they pay in exchange? There’s only one way to find out.

module pitch so far (subject to change)

[vast dawn]

WIP for the cover art !

[boreal flume]

First three character portraits!

[elfin maple]

hey actually -- if we want to include secondary assets like maps or tokens, how would we go about including those? the actual submission is just a pdf, right?

[proper grotto]

i included a separate zip file last time

[royal echo]

Yeah, just because something isn't paid doesn't mean it's free for everyone to use in their own products. Lancer 3rd party license only covers 1st party content - anything else needs explicit permission from creators to use or mention.

[unreal sluice]

pdf is the minimum requirement. Other assets may be included, as your team sees fit

[light falcon]

My goal is an unstyled PDF and dev art maps (plus the LCP for The Multifarious and maybe one NPC for simplicity's sake but I need Massif legal's approval)

Which is feeling aggressively more optimistic as I've been too exhausted to progress things lately

[elfin maple]

yeah i'm gonna have the pdf, i have most of the styling done already and the maps. nice-to-have would be tokens for the 3 new npcs and an lcp

[manic crane]

lineart done!

[manic crane]

(well, the base lineart anyway)

[sand heron]

IS THAT A RALEIGH JUST CHILLING IN THERE

[light falcon]

Mobile armor

[blissful sentinel]

I thought the same thing.

[lavish quiver]

Is this the ""space combat mech mount""?

[cyan bolt]

We got to sell these toys somehow

[light falcon]

It includes a 1/144 scale HG Raleigh too!

[vast dawn]

bouncing up and down

[slate nacelle]

I know the one on the left is a Raleigh. Is the one on the right a stylized Nelson?

[vast dawn]

indeed

it is also based on a gundam mobile suit

but think of it more as a Karrakin mech

[light falcon]

It's the Michaelis, I think?

[vast dawn]

that is correct

[light falcon]

I knew it was a grassley one

[vast dawn]

i hate that you need to buy a seperate kit for its weapons

[slate nacelle]

So a Karrakin noble watched too much Witch from Mercury and ordered a Nelson.

[manic crane]

Would it be too wild to make each little slot on the right a sheath for a different progressive knife? 🤔

[manic crane]

wait they're called "Segment Knives" in Lancer huh

[blissful sentinel]

Current WIP

[urban trail]

Not really sure what to do for my art piece

[light falcon]

I've forced myself into another playtest to try and get me to finish designing something

I wanna get two more playtests out but there's not much time left and my usual stable of players is getting schedule boss'd

[slate narwhal]

WIP Draft of Sitrep 2 map of our Mission to board "La Lanza".

[elfin maple]

evolving enemy is a sick idea. is it meant to be a Nemesis-System type thing where it gains different optionals based on what the players bring?

[elfin maple]

listen, if this guy needs a knife, i think your guy needs a knife

[blissful sentinel]

Basically, yes! I have a bit of a fun setup where the players meet two enemy pilots who act as a tag team (they also have like special team skills they can do together. I take it there's a very good chance one of those two won't survive the confrontation, so the other takes up their mantle and gains sth. I call a remembrance skill (depending on who survived) and starts haunting the PCs with an HA prototype frame on a revenge quest. And that thing gains additional traits after each confrontation, since the HA engineers start finetuning it according to their field testing data.

There's also the actual mission target which the PCs are supposed to hunt in the second part (an overengineered artillery frame) and which leads up to a final confrontation over the course of the missions. Depending on the targets the PCs choose and their success, they will be able to take out different systems for the final battle. So, the one gets potentially more dangerous, while the other gets a little less dangerous. 😄

(Of course, Big Bois signature ability is called "Second Impact")

[elfin maple]

running total so far:

• 7 references to Death Grips songs
• 2 references to Colin Stetson songs
• 3 references to the works of Peter Watts
• 2 references to Invisible Cities
• 3 references to Deus Ex
• 1 reference to Transistor

[cyan bolt]

Almost every name in my thing is a Judas Priest reference

[silent cloud]

fuck yeah, this is cooking

[manic crane]

Ok, more lineart done!

[urban trail]

how are u doing the point crawl part?
I want to do simila

[elfin maple]

i threw a diagram together in Obsidian and i'm in the process of transferring it into Figma

obsidian

figma WIP

[urban trail]

howmanypoints is that?

[elfin maple]

6 segments, 3 elevators to the center. 2 rings, 1 spine with 5 segments connecting them. 1 segment on one ring is going to be broken off and certain elevators are going to be inaccessible as well

most of the actual sections of the rings are fairly simple -- here's a screenshot of the interactions across ring 1 for example

(a few of the interactions and some of the fluff is still obviously wip)

[elfin maple]

fly me closer, i want to hit them with my sword

[urban trail]

The idea I have is a Seccom facility on the ground, but idk how to arrange things for that

[ember trellis]

FYI, I'm pretty much solely following this thread to see those diagrams of yours, haha. Keep 'em coming!

[urban trail]

how do you fit so many combats in?

[blissful sentinel]

Don't think it's combat every time, right?

[elfin maple]

yeah, only 8 combats

[urban trail]

did you plan that many combats form the start?

[elfin maple]

i knew i wanted 7-9 as a baseline and some optional, i just put them in where it made sense and went from there

there's 2 mandatory ones right at the start and end, and then 1 mandatory and 1 optional in each location. technically there's a sequence break where players can skip one mandatory combat and trigger an optional one instead but the number works out the same

token 2 wip, noooo idea what i'm gonna do for the third one tbh

[blissful sentinel]

Ooh, someone got visitors

[elfin maple]

i'm still not sure what the deal with using assets from community artists on the retrograde discord is, i need to check about that

[wheat kestrel]

It's cool, anything posted is expected to be used 🙂

[elfin maple]

thanks very much 🙂

[urban trail]

what led to that number?
i'm not 100% sure how many combats I want in my setup tbh, and I really need to figure out

[elfin maple]

i made it up

[light falcon]

Who would have thought that designing compelling narrative mechanics of this project would be the hardest part of this project.

Not the ten combats. Not the five maps. Not the lore. Just... Narrative play.

[proper grotto]

https://bsky.app/profile/sheepisch.bsky.social/post/3lwfvxx2qi22s

coco (@sheepisch.bsky.social)

Still chipping away at my submission but I figured knocking out the cover wouldn't be too hard.

Jules Breton - The Tired Gleaner (1880)
Century Gothic Bold

#LancerRPG

Bluesky · Aug 15, 2025, 3:28 AM

Figured I'd post it here too

Probably need to up the contrast on the text, and might change the typeface to a serif one, we'll see

[vast dawn]

gods yes

also folks thoughts on a funny exotic

“Tupã” Lighting cannon , Heavy Cannon

Line 15 damage 2d6 Energy, on hit target is impaired

On critical hit: drawn a line 5 from the target, targeting a new enemy that hasnt been attacked by this weapon, make a attack agaist them, if this attack crits, repeat the process

[proper grotto]

Definitely funny

If only BOUNDER worked with AoEs

[proper grotto]

And yeah I feel it. Combats are so easy to make as long as they don't have too many unique parts

[elfin maple]

The tricky thing with combat for me is that I have a lot of conditionals between them, idk how that's going to work out honestly

[proper grotto]

Narrative conditionals?

[elfin maple]

Like, 'if you succeed at a skill check earlier in exploration, this fight will have one fewer enemy' type stuff

[vast dawn]

i do that for combat encounter victories

[proper grotto]

Yeah that stuff can be tricky. I either keep them self-contained or do what matheus mentioned

[elfin maple]

Hmm, I might have overdone it on this but oh well!

[proper grotto]

You and me both. My hubris and ambitions have led me astray

[vast dawn]

i'm currently at 49 pages

dunno how many words

[proper grotto]

Yeah to be fair, a lot of my page space so far is just combat breakdowns

[vast dawn]

hmmm how can i see how mnay words i have ?

in like google docs

Words 22788

[proper grotto]

We are all ambitious

[vast dawn]

i'm a idiot that decided "oh lets do 3 missions"

[proper grotto]

As long as you're enjoying the work

[urban trail]

im still not 100% sure what I want to make lol

[tidal holly]

well now I had to check wordcount

18408 <.<

[proper grotto]

Suji gave us 2 months and look what happened

[unreal sluice]

is it bulking season or cutting season for you

[tidal holly]

It's been 'waiting on the artist while I implement minor changes from the playtests' season for three weeks

[boreal flume]

Made the very difficult decision to unmarry my project from the Jam.

Mostly because i know i can't jam it into the time limit due to a variety of outside factors

If it somehow gets done in (the assumed to exist) late submission period, great! If not then well it'll be out when its out

[unreal sluice]

could you submit chapter 1 and do the rest later? Or is that not really a feasible option for your work

[boreal flume]

Its a single mission

And outside factors including overtime at work crimping my creativity is just half the problem

If i had the same workflow as I did the first time round it'd be near done but i just haven't had the time to chip away at this at work on my phone like the first time

Such is life

The two months definitely would of been a fine time limit if not for the way work crimped my style

[light falcon]

Not enough time for me tbh

Maybe if I didn't get stuck for over a week I'd have a little more done

[elfin maple]

16939 on my end but that includes the template and NPC language lol

I probably do need to write another page or two of background however

I need to show this to someone who's not my co author so I can get a sanity check on it

[crude moss]

Ive done way to little, but ive been struggling to do things for mine and I just wanted a single combat, a couple pregen characters and a narrative structure for a 1 or 2 shot and ive been struggling

[urban trail]

I pretty much finished mine, but I decided to expand it loads

[light falcon]

I've done none of the writing

But I do have 30 pages of handwritten notes

So I've kinda written things

A sampling

Snipers actually don't have moving target anymore

[light falcon]

GOD I LOVE PLAYTESTS AND MY PLAYERS I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS ON NARRATIVE PLAY NOW

[urban trail]

is the spaceport a hex crawler?

[light falcon]

The spaceport is one zone of four

[elfin maple]

i'm not gonna have any time to actually playtest this thing besides the new npcs before submission, so beta submission it is

lots of variables with optional traits and combat balancing too. i'm especially going apeshit with the veteran/ultra traits

[light falcon]

I'm not doing full send playtests. Just a lot of vertical and horizontal slice stuff

[elfin maple]

how are you testing the horizontal side of things if you don't mind my asking? it sounds like you have some fairly involved progression mechanics

[light falcon]

The only thing that could be horizontally tested is the narrative

But in this case, it was set up so that you had the clocks progressing as normal

And then when a combat would happen, I'd offer the usual choice of "fight or retreat"

and if they chose to fight, I'd simulate some attrition, then say "okay. combat complete. carry on"

And then let that carry on until they hit one of the critical junctions and say "would you pursue this or continue on the current path"

[light falcon]

It was mostly a test of "if I put my players in this situation, would they be able to figure out how to get to AN ending eventually"

and the answer for this playtest was "yes, but there could be some signposting I could do better on certain interactables"

[elfin maple]

that's a good idea tbh, i'll have to try something like that once i have my point maps set up (most likely not before submission but oh well)

[urban trail]

How is your zones strcutured?
still working on mine lol

[light falcon]

They take place on the same maps as the combats do and are a series of PoIs that players can interact with. There's stuff players can see/check without rolling, a lot of actions that only require normal checks to inspect or engage with, and things that are risky/heroic or have clocks to resolve them

There's the big clock which makes the misison harder if it fills up (6 to 8 slices. Still thinking about it) and then there's the "activity" clock which is, uh

https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-underclock-fixing-random-encounter.html?m=1

Looking around is free. Succeeding on a check is just +1 on the activity clock. Failing a check is +1d6 (but 6 means reroll) on the clock. Filling the clock triggers a combat in the zone the first time, and sets up a mini combat in the zone the the second time after they leave.

Each zone has little puzzles for the players to solve, including puzzles that can help out in other zones

IE: Digging through nanite clouds in the crater points to how a valuable item is in a shuttle in the harbor. The repair drones you find in the harbor can be used to help fix up the reactor in the forest. Fixing the reactor makes convincing the partisans in the settlement to help you easier.

3 of the 4 zones also have special items/secrets in then which allow you to progress the story, which are

1. a hidden blast door that leads to the endgame area.
2. one of three keys to open the door (you need all of them), but once you find a key, they help you find the doors
3. a personal item that can be delivered to the partisans in the settlement to make convincing them easier

Of those, you can either get to the endgame area by finding the keys and fixing the reactor, or by befriending the partisans. If you do all three though, you can bypass a combat

[urban trail]

welp
im going to be rewriting myentire thing again

[urban trail]

question
how many people are just using Seccom as the theme of Second?

[blissful sentinel]

Nope 🙂

[light falcon]

Also no

[tidal holly]

So quick survey:
32 page module, two main paths, bunch of alternate endings, 7(ish) encounters, 4 pregen characters, two investigation sections, custom art and drawn maps, crash course guide on "how to run~~ eldritch ~~paracausal horror"
What's a fair price on Itch?
🇦 5.99
🇧 7.99
🇨 9.99

[proper grotto]

*```Suddenly, a voice simultaneously enters all of your minds. A voice bristling with the tender authority of a scolding mother. You don’t know where it comes from; your sensors aren’t picking up anything and your onboard computer reads [COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS NOMINAL]. You are most definitely alone in your chassis’s cockpit. But the voice speaks with such perfect clarity that you can’t help but turn your head to look, as if someone were always behind you speaking into your ear.

“The recusant Atiya Semanto is charged with the sin of desertion and treason. Were it not for his status as Chosen, appropriate punishment would have been meted out. The Ascendancy has instead elected to show him mercy, so that he may find himself in Metat’s Grace once more. The one called ‘August Tide’ is of great importance to the Ascendancy as the first of her kind to be blessed with Atiya’s abilities. She will be invaluable to our victory against the misguided one, Union.”

As if out of nowhere, your sensors detect a new contact teleporting in out of thin air. The ofanim that approaches is alone and unlike any you’ve seen before. It is a lithe and almost elegant thing stepping with the lightest grace despite its size. The silvered armor plating is a marbled damascus polished to a mirror sheen that reflects the fluid colors of the rising dawn sky above and the shifting gold grass below. The impression is that of an effigy-in-motion sculpted from amber. Or an infernal devil risen from hell. Its head bears a visage carved in the likeness of a human face frozen in time. An expression of mournful anguish held in perpetuity. In lines on the cheeks below the eyes, the metal rounds and raises into the shape of tears. This machine takes no pleasure in its solemn duty.

Held behind it with the hilt angled skyward is a rod fashioned from the same metal as the armor. Wound tightly around it with the end trailing off and wavering slightly in the wind is a bolt of scarlet cloth. A Glory. Awarded for ‘valorous’ deeds in combat. The other end of the rod curves outward into a single-edged razor crescent positioned in front of the ofanim, the broadside sweeping down the grass as it glides over them. A scythe come to harvest the season’s bounty. The ofanim raises and levels the weapon at all of you.

“I, Lunanta Angustias-Adel, in my capacity as Intoner of the Evensong, will grant you mercy and give you a chance to lay down your arms and surrender. If you do, you will be treated with the dignity and respect deserving of the skilled veterans that you are. But if you refuse, I will have no choice but to bring my all to bear against you, as ordained by the Cultivator’s Will. The Song I sing is that which guides those wayward souls to all that is holy and good. If you wish to resist the clarion of Metat’s Grace then so be it, but I will not allow you to lead the rest of your ilk in that concrete mausoleum you call a city to their deaths. Please, do not make me kill you.”```*

finally getting around to the final boss and decided to indulge in some pre-flight fluff

[silent cloud]

Ohhhh this fucks so hard

[unreal sluice]

oh you can do italics like that??

[proper grotto]

yeah i found out recently lmao

#oc-cantina hidden tech

[light falcon]

Feelin some kinda way about these maps I'm making

What is the way? Unsure

But I am feeling it

[proper grotto]

maps with irregular shapes are so good

[light falcon]

The southern building is a reactor so the dangerous terrain is kinda funny

[void cape]

I think you could get away with $14.99

[slate nacelle]

Incredible boss intro and just how ornate and ceremonial I would expect the Aun to be

[proper grotto]

thanks! writing the pseudo-religious stuff was very fun

[light falcon]

we love incomprehensible playtest memes

[light falcon]

Combat playtest came back all green

I'm feeling much better about the faction and the optionals to the point that it may be LCP o'clock

[urban trail]

What are u using for the theme then?

also instrested for what @isa used

[light falcon]

Second: Combat, Life/Death, Thing hitting the planet, Clock/Chance.

Impact: Orbital platform hit the planet and made a big crater. The moon is next. Solve it, Lancers.

[light falcon]

Also has the funniest moment in all of my time playing Lancer.

Atlas grapples a Pyro, drags it so far away that it can't reach the holdout zone for the rest of the combat, accumulating 12 burn in the process. Next turn, he JK1s like 20 spaces, bolts it to the OZ, one-taps an NPC with the terashima, then ends his turn, fails the burn check, and has his mech explode.

Makes the most insane play of the game and just dies instantly. Well done.

[blissful sentinel]

Oh, quite a few, so here are some of the main ones:
Second:

• 2nd team, as players follow in the wake of the failed first
• 2nd in terms of structure is kinda all over it: It's a two-step mission structure, there's a pair of enemy aces with comeback tendencies; there's a first battle against the final boss and the finale of course etc.
• 2nd chances might be sth. of a theme as well, recurring for several characters
  (- it's also my second jam project)

Impact:

• well, the main target is a piece of bigass artillery, so take a guess 😉
• yes, one of it's main abilities is named "Second Impact Rounds"
• of course, "impact" also plays a role in terms of "consequences" but that's more headspace stuff

[blissful sentinel]

That's quite horrifying to imagine especially in a 1/2 frame where there's not much seperating you from the inferno 12 burn implies. Did the pilot survive?

[light falcon]

Yeah. I just said he got the atlas burned off of him and was left standing in his hardsuit.

In his defense, the flamethrower had Smart

[urban trail]

I have the same idea of a 2nd team

The major antagonist is the 2nd comittee, and I think I will have the main antagonist appear twice and die twice (time travel)
The PCs have to visist the enemy structure twice.

Impact, I still need some ideas for it, all I have is

Union decides to drop a rock on the area and the PCs need to stop it.

RA amends the FCA after the final mission, so impact in terms of ramifications

I want to include the impact-overrise problem somewhere, but idk where

[light falcon]

Ra and the FCA reminds me that I gotta do some research on The Maw

[cyan bolt]

Wouldn't that break the FCA?

[urban trail]

amending it?

[blissful sentinel]

You read the short story with Yond-Balor and his brother on Ispahsalar? Might be interesting in terms of background/vibe

[light falcon]

That's on the to-read list

[proper grotto]

Manifestation of the Eschaton
System, 1/Round, Ascendant 2
-----------------------------
At the start of the round, Lunanta enters a stance and begins chanting a prayer to Metat’Aun. The chanting begins charging a mass of Firmament around her scythe. While in this state Lunanta becomes Immobilized, gains Resistance to all damage, cannot be reduced below 1 HP, and cannot perform any actions on her turns. At the end of the round, she releases the accumulated energy in one massive slash. All hostile characters take 1 Structure damage (no Structure roll required) regardless of range or line of sight. This effect can be prevented if one PC adjacent to her chooses to, as a Full Action, overpower Lunanta. At the end of the round, the two make a contested Hull check. Lunanta may consume any remaining Echos to give herself Accuracy equal to the amount consumed. The contesting PC receives a bonus to the check equal to the amount of Resonance stacks they have. 

If the contesting PC wins, Lunanta is Stunned until the start of the next round, upon which this ability repeats. Regardless of if they won or not, the contesting PC suffers the effects of the Resonance stacks even if they were received after the end of their turn.

At Ascendant 1, this ability gains the following effect: At the end of each of her turns while in this state, Lunanta’s fervent prayers begin radiating Firmament distortions across the map. Regardless of range or line of sight, each time this effect happens hostiles receive one stack of Resonance then take AP Energy damage equal to the amount of stacks they have.```

we're getting freaky

[light falcon]

I'm not 100% happy but I think this is as good as my opfors are gonna get

[proper grotto]

i really respect that you're handwriting a lot of this

[light falcon]

Too much mirage+sniper or mirage+demolisher, but evenly distributing and preventing too many repeats kinda lead to that

[light falcon]

It's easier to lay out because I can just write stuff wherever!

[proper grotto]

for sure

[light falcon]

Adding sentinel and ✨the special goliath✨ helped give the fights more diversity

But there's still a lot of shared NPCs

[proper grotto]

yeah i feel like the faction roster has the unconscious effect of making me want to include more encounters since i don't have to spend as much time thinking about creating unique ones. but now i have a million combats and i'm worried it's going to feel samey

[slate nacelle]

Lunata has the power of computer god and anime on her side.

[proper grotto]

https://tenor.com/view/i-have-the-power-of-god-and-anime-on-my-side-attack-gif-1916296513622050090

i am stealing things from ffxiv

[slate nacelle]

I've never played FF XIV, but I'm all about the mystical-mechanical fusion gimmick of the Aunic ofanim. I would kill for that Field Guide to the Aun.

[light falcon]

I knew I was gonna have 10 combats over 5 maps from the word go, so it felt natural for me

[proper grotto]

makes sense that having a limit set already removes that urge

if i ever do something like this again, i'll put more due diligence into plotting out how many combats i'd need

[light falcon]

Given that I haven't done a lick of layout or writing this stuff, the key difference is that I may not have something wholly playable by the deadline but you will

But I think I'm at the stage where most of the design work is done. It's just writing up to a playable state and and making Developer Art maps.

[light falcon]

blurb from my npc faction template

The many have become one through Us. The sinners have atoned for their transgressions against the divine through communion with Us. The end they desire has been found through Our collective will. Who are you to deny them their wish? Who are you to deny Us the opportunity to grant life everlasting to those who are freed from the weight of their sins? What end do you seek? Will you join Us, or must We convince you when you face the most natural of endings? Will you accept Our gift of life everlasting, or will you defy Us and embrace your death?

[slate nacelle]

Is someone trying to achieve Human Instrumentality?

[light falcon]

I'm not learned enough to know what that means

[elfin maple]

https://youtu.be/pp5xGLj1RME was my vibe

[proper grotto]

Yesssss

[slate nacelle]

Neon Genesis Evangelion

[light falcon]

I have genesis'd exactly zero neon evangelions

it's on my to-watch list once I finish this jam

everyone keeps telling me that I need to watch it to get a bunch of references that I'm apparently making without knowing what I'm even referencing because I've never seen it

Which is quite confusing!

[slate nacelle]

Pop cultural osmosis. Even if you didn't see Evangelion, you probably saw things that borrowed some ideas from Evangelion.

[unreal sluice]

non spoiler way to explain it is ||that a lot of people in nge feels lonely and isolated|| (spoilered in case someone disagrees)

[regal dove]

but … where did evangelion borrow them from?!

[light falcon]

I'm borrowing from ||religious trauma|| so it's probably a universal vibe

[slate nacelle]

Religion

So, yeah, that tracks

[clever scaffold]

oh we read it as ||the show being an atmosphere if the like, inner mind of the creator with each character representing something massive in their life|| but this read is also pretty neat

unless this isnt an NGE read in which case 😔

[blissful sentinel]

I thought it was a show about getting in the damn robot

[elfin maple]

i have invented Pilot Cascade

getting there

[elfin maple]

[cyan bolt]

Have you played cyberpunk 2077?