Been a while: FOREIGN ELEMENT

[Nathan]

Howdy, howdy,

I haven't posted to the Forge in a while, and I decided I must. I just finished a short, furious scifi rpg called Foreign Element. It uses the basic mechanics of Eldritch Ass Kicking, it's seven pages, and it's fun. My favorite scifi movies are the ones where there is suspense and isolation and exploration of an abandoned colony or whatever. Foreign Element is about that -- teams of operatives sent out to find out what happened on distance colonies after a huge virus and stuff. From there, you can do whatever -- mad dictators, a.i. controlled space stations, mutant colonists, disease-swapping animals, vengeful robots, gateways to hell, or whatever.

Anyway, let me know what you think, if you got time:
http://www.actionroll.com/fe/fe_release.pdf

The stuff is basic and easy -- but the key things are Special Effects and my version of hit points n' stuff - Life Points and Luck. This is not groundbreaking, but it is fun. :)

Thanks,
Nathan Hill
nathanh@cameron.edu

[ethan_greer]

Grabbed it, skimmed it, read it.

I like it!  Here's why:
- Premise: play out your own versions of Aliens or the Resident Evil movie?  What's not to like?
- Presentation: effective artwork and setting flavor, clear concise prose, well-edited.
- Completeness: In 6 pages, you manage to convey all necessary info to play and run sessions, and also manage to throw in some setting flavor and GM advice.  Impressive.

Since you asked, I'll mention that I approve of the Special Effects and Luck.  These types of mechanics are well-suited to the setting and premise, IMO.

Suggestions:
- More guidelines for target numbers would be nice.
- Cover should be eliminated.  It's too gaudy for what the game is, (a 6-page PDF) and it eats up ink/toner.  Instead, I would do a smaller logo on the first page as a counterpoint to the flavor fiction.  (U.S.S. Forge.  Heh heh heh.)
- Don't know about the skills.  Shouldn't Running be in there somewhere? Just a nitpick...

Ethan

[Nathan]

Thanks for the clear and concise response.

Again and again, the FORGE amazes me.

But yeah, the U.S.S. Forge.. hah.. Right. That stuff was sort of a space filler -- maybe I can flesh it out a bit more and put it on the front next to the logo.. I could see that working very nicely. :)

The skills are not complete. I was trying to put four per attribute or whatever, but I had to leave some out. Of course, I don't want this game to get overly complex with too many skills. I'd like it so that if you want to be the Medic, you put your most points in the Medic skill. If you want to be the smart ecologist, you put them in planetary ecology. If you want to be the gun shooter, you put them in guns.. and so on.

I'll include some charts in the next version -- maybe some random encounters, who is the villain, and then target number suggestions. That's easy. I may even do a little intro adventure.

Fun. I was going to run this last night, but only one gamer showed up at my house. We played Heroclix instead. We may do it again tonight. Heroclix is kindah fun.

Thanks,
Nathan Hill