Galactic!

[Matt Wilson]

Michael:

Every point of Fortune spent by a player nets the GM a point of Hazard. I don't have a text open in front of me to point to where that is, but it's as official as I can declare it.

The rules mention several times the player affecting planets they "influence". It's not spelled out anywhere I saw, but I suppose that means they can only spend Fortune on planets they've had adventures on.

Yes. There's some stuff in there that's changed names a couple times through various drafts, but you suppose correctly.

Your other ideas are interesting and worth follow-up later on, but right now I'm primarily focused on testing what's there.

[Matt Wilson]

Do we toss APs in playtest, in this forum, or PM you?

I just tried it last night.  Short version of it is Factions yay, Galaxy map yay, Captain generation yay, GM hazard huh?, crewmates huh?.  I can elaborate, just don't know where.

Go ahead and put it in the playtest forum. I fully expect stuff to be unclear, as the transition from 'makes sense in my head' to 'makes sense on the page' is always rough. Please elaborate to your heart's content. And thanks for trying it out! Yay!

[hix]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for that. I'm gunna refer to the map on page 16 for my question about ship travel - and, for the record, I'm trying to figure out whether you can min-max the rules to create fast travel routes across the galaxy.

So, say there's a world to the left of E, just above the top of the map.  This new world, F is 7 hexes away.  Can I travel along the route from Caliban to E for 4 hexes and then BRANCH OFF that route just before reaching E, and travel 3 more hexes to F?

I didn't notice any explicit mention of whether branching is allowed - but it's pretty much the first thing I thought of - and ultimately, being able to bypass worlds and travel along branches could make travel to the Core and back pretty damn fast.  Is that clearer?

[Matt Wilson]

If you've already had an adventure at world E, then you measure whether or not world F is within 5 hexes of E. Otherwise you have to first have an adventure on world E or some other world that will get you within 5 hexes of F.

It's like buiding a railroad in the Civ games and then having unlimited movement along it per turn.

[Michael McAleese]

On the subject of GM Hazard, these are the listed ways I can find to spend it:

Improve GMCs
Grant 1d4 worth of gear to a GMC - 1 Hazard
Add 1d6 to GMC's Archetype - 2 Hazard
Note: Generic GMCs start with 3d6 + the sector Adversity dice in archetype but the example on p.20 seems to imply 2d6 not 3d6. It also talks about adding 1d12 for 3 Hazard?

Conflict Resolution
Affecting Stakes (chart p.38)
Add 1d6 to any conflict - 3 Hazard (p.43 Gathering Dice)

Political
Create Disorder - 5 Hazard
Scourge Events - 25/35 Hazard

It looks like the primary use a GM will be making of Hazard is mucking about with stakes and making conflicts more difficult. I can see a common "bastard GM" tactic being waiting until the conflict is for the goal resolution and then spending five to make losing the conflict a player captain death. Easily avoidable by conceeding... and thus losing the goal and the connection dice reward.

I think the rulebook would benefit from a small section for the GM summarizing Hazard spending. I had to hunt around a good bit for the costs.

[Matt Wilson]

Michael:

That sounds about right. Also "bastard GM" = good player agony. How many redshirts will you cross off to keep your captain alive? How many connections will you strain? Will the crew jump in and fight on the captain's side?

[Doyce]

Note: Generic GMCs start with 3d6 + the sector Adversity dice in archetype but the example on p.20 seems to imply 2d6 not 3d6. It also talks about adding 1d12 for 3 Hazard?

I noticed that too and highlighted the discrepancies.

Matt, if it's alright, I made this: http://random.average-bear.com/GalacticPlaytest/HomePage -- I'd like to use it to compile the questions and answers that come up in this thread or the playtest threads. I WELCOME anyone who wants to use it for the same, and I think it might be a good place for you to go and gather up all the issues that came from the playtest.

Now, if you don't want me to have that up there. Just lemme know and I'll kill it.

Also: My pitch to garner local players for a Galactic playtest is here: http://random.average-bear.com/archive/008922.html

[Matt Wilson]

Whoops. That's supposed to be 3d6. Prepare for many mistakes like that. MANY. I aim to frustrate.

The 1d12 thing is totally an artifact.

As for the playtest page, yeah, sure. Clinton was considering a PBwiki, if I'm not mistaken, for the playtest game he's in. Maybe I'll just point them to you.

[Michael McAleese]

Also: My pitch to garner local players for a Galactic playtest is here: http://random.average-bear.com/archive/008922.html

Doyce, if you don't mind, I am totally going to steal that pitch for my players.

[Doyce]

Also: My pitch to garner local players for a Galactic playtest is here: http://random.average-bear.com/archive/008922.html

Doyce, if you don't mind, I am totally going to steal that pitch for my players.

* makes some vague benedictory gesture * Go for it. :)

[Doyce]

I've started collecting notes here:  http://random.average-bear.com/GalacticPlaytest/HomePage

Y'all feel free to jump in.  (Clinton, if you're reading this, g'head and use the are to track stuff from your game if you want.)

[Doyce]

First playtest session on Friday! Woo!

... and yea verily, I have questions:

1. My players are going to ask what kind of ships they can have.  I'm inclined to say "anything from a junky old Trans-U short-range hauler with an FTL drive stapled onto the ass, up to a Battlestar, but pick something commensurate to the about of Gear dice you can pull, related to an appropriate Archetype", except that the total Gear dice range is something like 1... all the way up to ... 2.  Hmm. Thoughts?

2. Let's say I've got for players and, first round, there's only three planets within 5 hexes of Caliban.  Someone's going to be having an adventure on the same planet as someone else.  Can we play a quick game of what-ifs there, regarding how resulting relationships and planetary influence will work out?

... feel free to just point me at page numbers if it turns out I'm blind.

[Matt Wilson]

Hey Doyce. Good luck with the playtest.

1. I'd think of Gear Dice in relation to the character, not the ship. A person with high Astronaut can make better use of ship engines or whatever than someone with a low astronaut. So the answer is what kind of ship has nothing to do with archetype.

2. Make it your job as GM to make sure there's enough worlds in range. If there aren't, re-throw one of your tokens.

[Doyce]

So the answer is what kind of ship has nothing to do with archetype.

Well... okay, except the question (which I'll admit I muddied up) is actually: what kind of ship they can have.  I'm wondering if 'do what thou wilt' is the actual rule, or if the ship/space conflict/etc isn't wholly written yet (looked a bit like that was the case, toward the back of the playtest doc).

[Michael McAleese]

I would think the type of ship is linked strongly with the type of adventures the player wants the Captain to have. A small outdated transport with a crew of misfits won't have the same adventures as a shiny capital ship with a full compliment of 430 crewmembers. With greater power typically comes more restrictions on how you can use it.