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Thread: StarGazer: Alpha test
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2014-04-07, 04:38 PM (ISO 8601)
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StarGazer: Alpha test
Hello all.
As with so many of us, I'm currently writing my own RPG from scratch.
Anyway, it's in pretty decent state, and it's coming to the point that I need some people to Alpha test this. What I'm looking for is a group of players of any size to go through the book, a chapter at a time, and test it into the ground. Find the weaknesses, the bad explanations and the ideas that should never have been implemented. Eventually, once we're deep enough into it, we can move into a game and see how the game works 'in service' as it were.
The game: StarGazer is a science fiction role playing game, built around a d10 system. The setting is several centuries hence, with starships both private and commercial plying the space lanes. Humanity has spread to the stars thanks to a system of gates which extend the capabilities of FTL drives immensely. It takes it's cues from hard science, but in some places it drops realism in favour of accessibility and ease of use.
I'm looking to recruit any number of Alpha testers to work with me, and to push this project towards a finished standard.
Please comment if you're interested or have any questions.
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2014-04-07, 04:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
*posts interest* Do you have a .pdf or anything that you can link to us? ^_^
...*resists urge to make comments about the Singularity* >.>Avatar of Furude Setsuna, by Telasi.Originally Posted by Akagi
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2014-04-07, 04:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Well, you probably already know that but i am interested
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2014-04-07, 04:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-07, 04:53 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Avatar of Furude Setsuna, by Telasi.Originally Posted by Akagi
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2014-04-07, 05:20 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Suprise, I'm interested.
LGBTA+itP
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2014-04-07, 06:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
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2014-04-07, 06:06 PM (ISO 8601)
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- NJ :o
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2014-04-08, 02:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
What I'm thinking is if you do any commentary, suggested edits, creations and problems found in this thread, but I'll distribute via email.
Speaking of which, here's the company address. Drop us a line and I'll start distributing soon. [email protected]
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2014-04-08, 06:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-09, 07:50 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-10, 04:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
First batch of files distributed. Can't wait to hear from you.
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2014-04-10, 04:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
This is going to sound like a furious rant, because I only pointed out the bad bits. Means the rest's okay, though!
- Random everything is silly. Character creation systems should not be random - it's possible that your 33-year-old ends up with -1/-1/-1/-1/-0/-0 while your ally's ends up with 20/20/20/20/20/19 at character generation.
- Random everything makes building a character to do things you want to do impossible.
- The events grant honestly weird bonuses. You give decent fluff explanations for them, but I see a lot of them getting ignored if they're not the character's shtick.
- Applying first aid is a really bad example of something that takes one minute. As a first aider, I can tell you that it can take anything from about two minutes (Minor bleeding) to until an ambulance turns up or you literally cannot continue (CPR). Similarly, if it takes you three seconds to actually shoot a gun, you're doing something wrong, but if you can make safe, load, ready and fire a gun in that time you're a god in human form.
- The idea that you can make a near-impossible shot as an easy check by staring your target down for ten minutes, or a trivial check which I, being as I am a not-very-good shooter, practically cannot fail by staring them down for an hour is absurd.
- Having "Guns" as a thing you either have a rank in or you don't is odd, because I know how to fire a rifle and wouldn't have a clue how to use a pistol, and certainly not a friggin grenade launcher. It would make a lot more sense if you just made all ranks work the same way, rather than making the first better. The same goes for Animals - I can ride a horse, albeit not very well, but that doesn't mean I have any clue how to train one or to farm. Artistry: I've trained in writing, does that mean I'm automatically a passable sculptor? If I can cook, I can make swords now?
- If you're of at least average intelligence you can't accidentally burn a meal. Ever.
- It's easier to hit someone in a furious melee than to shoot them.
- Difficulty 12 doesn't even exist in the normal course of events. Should that read 14?
- I can't fail to perform a play under your system. I can't act in reality.
- Grenades and bows? Okay, this deserves to be listed separately from the whole cook/make swords thing, because grenades and bows?
- I can't fail to research a complex problem.
- I can't fail to hack into an unprotected mainframe.
- It's no harder to fire a weapon in 0G than out of it.
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2014-04-10, 05:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
True. Odds are very low though.
- Random everything makes building a character to do things you want to do impossible.
- The events grant honestly weird bonuses. You give decent fluff explanations for them, but I see a lot of them getting ignored if they're not the character's shtick.
- Applying first aid is a really bad example of something that takes one minute. As a first aider, I can tell you that it can take anything from about two minutes (Minor bleeding) to until an ambulance turns up or you literally cannot continue (CPR). Similarly, if it takes you three seconds to actually shoot a gun, you're doing something wrong, but if you can make safe, load, ready and fire a gun in that time you're a god in human form.
- The idea that you can make a near-impossible shot as an easy check by staring your target down for ten minutes, or a trivial check which I, being as I am a not-very-good shooter, practically cannot fail by staring them down for an hour is absurd.
- Having "Guns" as a thing you either have a rank in or you don't is odd, because I know how to fire a rifle and wouldn't have a clue how to use a pistol, and certainly not a friggin grenade launcher. It would make a lot more sense if you just made all ranks work the same way, rather than making the first better. The same goes for Animals - I can ride a horse, albeit not very well, but that doesn't mean I have any clue how to train one or to farm. Artistry: I've trained in writing, does that mean I'm automatically a passable sculptor? If I can cook, I can make swords now?
- If you're of at least average intelligence you can't accidentally burn a meal. Ever.
- It's easier to hit someone in a furious melee than to shoot them.
- Difficulty 12 doesn't even exist in the normal course of events. Should that read 14?
- I can't fail to perform a play under your system. I can't act in reality.
- Grenades and bows? Okay, this deserves to be listed separately from the whole cook/make swords thing, because grenades and bows?
- I can't fail to research a complex problem.
- I can't fail to hack into an unprotected mainframe.
- It's no harder to fire a weapon in 0G than out of it.
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2014-04-10, 05:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Still potential to be utterly screwed over at char-gen. Contrast the probability of rolling nothing but 3s for 4d6b3 in D&D, which is
2*10-19 rather than 1*10-12. So basically make it less swingy I guess?
It's still not random everything. Exactly two things are random. (By the way, for everyone. Age was supposed to be choice or roll. Realised I hadn't mentioned. Whoops.)
Yup. They're not meant to be hugely useful. But hey, who knows when a rank in survival is gonna save that Diplomats life.
Your first point is a fair one. I'll change that. Your second point is nitpicky. To fire a weapon? Sure, a split second. To bring to bear and fire a weapon in your hands? Three seconds seems no bad thing.
Your example is fallacious. I will add an upper limit to what is possible though.
I know what you mean. Grouped skills are a bit weird, and do lead to the odd situation you point out below of Grenades and Bows!. But honestly, can you think of a better way without heading into the territory of 80 or so different skills? The most you can have as a general rank is 1, that's 1d10+ your attribute in anything you've not put extra ranks to me. That's not even passable, it's amateurish. And I bet I could have a crack at using a grenade launcher amateurishly
If your GM is of at least average intelligence, why are they making you roll a skill test to cook meals?
Grouped these. Are you saying it's easier to stab someone than shoot them? Or that it shouldn't be? If the second, the 12 in the melee example is a leftover from an earlier system build.
Just because you can perform doesn't make you good.
If your intelligence is 18, and have a rank in science, sure you can't. High intelligence though. Near the limits of human capability. I'm impressed.
See above, replace science with technical.
Nor does it mean that someone who spends a little longer trying to do so, with only a modicum of training and below-average intelligence can hack a computer mainframe successfully over half the time.
Fire, no, fire safely and without blowing yourself away (the point of the Zero-G combat specialisation), yes.Last edited by Jormengand; 2014-04-10 at 05:53 PM.
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2014-04-10, 06:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
I don't think it needs significant changes for a 1 in 1000,000,000,000 chance. Or two with the upper limit as well. Sure, it can happen. If that person is that unfortunate as to roll all 2's, I can only hope their GM is nice. But then equally, in D&D I could roll a character with all 3's. Traveller, a character with all 2's (and that's off 2d6).
It's still random too much.
I guess I don't like the idea of something randomly determined at character creation which could either be incredibly useful or absolutely useless.
As for incredibly useful v useless, there's a reason not one archetype can randomly gain a Primary skill, only secondary or non-archetypal.
How's it fallacious? You can quite literally do just that as the system's written.
Equally, there's now a hard limit.
The average person with "Amateurish" ability with a gun will hit another person three quarters of the time (Well, either 7/10 or 4/5 of the time). That seems odd.
You're the one who gave it as an example of a skill check you might make!
The second.
"Success" implies that you actually did it well, though...
I'm near or in the top percentage point of intelligence for my age, giving me an intelligence of 19-20 (note that 16-year-olds don't lose stat points for their age) but that doesn't mean that with my "Amateurish" ability in computing and the sciences (I should hope it's a little better than amateurish at that; I hope to pass an exam in it) I can research a complex problem or hack into a computer mainframe, and certainly not that I can never fail to.
Nor does it mean that someone who spends a little longer trying to do so, with only a modicum of training and below-average intelligence can hack a computer mainframe successfully over half the time.
And thirdly... sure, I'm not going to be able to model person/skill interactions perfectly. So shoot me. It'll only take you three seconds.
So... what, you need to make two skill checks? It doesn't make that quite clear.
Oh, I believe it does.
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2014-04-10, 06:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
The point is that it's still really swingy and you're still pretty likely to roll a significantly worse character than someone else's.
I disagree.
In other games, do you only ever put points into skills that are definitely absolutely going to be useful? Or do you build characters that are rounded and may have some odd skills.
As for incredibly useful v useless, there's a reason not one archetype can randomly gain a Primary skill, only secondary or non-archetypal.
I'd like to see someone wait an hour while you line up that shot...
Equally, there's now a hard limit.
It's a fair point But equally, I don't remember the last time I burnt a meal, because I follow instructions. Not to the point that would count as a failed skill check, anyway.
Success simply implies you succeeded. It is no measure of the quality of your performance. I have no mechanic for such (and have no intention of using one), but I imagine that in such an opinion driven circle as theatrical performance, the GM may well take the amount by which the character succeeded as an indicator of quality. Or they might not.
Again, we're running into the problem of general skills, but as said: If you can come up with a better system for condensing the 80-odd options given by the system, I'm all ears. Not to be overly derivative, but plenty of systems have succeeded with a similar concept.
I can probably say this about most systems though. Equally, I bet that I, with a book of basic concepts and some time, could have a damn good crack at this sort of thing.
And thirdly... sure, I'm not going to be able to model person/skill interactions perfectly. So shoot me. It'll only take you three seconds.
"This skill should be used for most physical tests when they are taken in Zero-G, even if another (such as athletics) would normally be used."
Oh, I believe it does.
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2014-04-10, 07:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
The point is that it's still really swingy and you're still pretty likely to roll a significantly worse character than someone else's.
My point is that I'd feel cheated if someone passed a check I didn't because they'd randomly been assigned skill ranks in it, rather than at least a conscious decision to make their character do that.
There are things which take hours to do. *Shrug.* Doesn't really matter now.
That makes the system require far too much rule 0 for my liking.
Allow people to take all skill ranks the way they would normally take ranks after the first in a skill. I mean, your character shouldn't need any ranks in most skills (You should only need ranks in one or two of the guns skills, one of the crafts, and so forth) so it doesn't matter that there are a lot of them.
Difficulties will be bumped as well.
That implies that I only have to take the 0G check, not that I have to make a 0G and a guns check.
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2014-04-11, 05:45 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
In saying that that system is, as you so eloquently put it, "Ouch," you're kinda admitting that it's a bad thing.
This bears saying: just because another system does something doesn't mean it's good.
Would you feel cheated if you had the same skills, but they rolled very well, and you rolled very poorly. It's essentially the same level of random, save that one is a permanent (but relatively minor) effect, while the other applies only to a temporary roll.
Eh... I am hesitant of this. I (personally, me, real life) have a working knowledge of guns, mainly thanks to a multitude of hourse of range shooting. Lets say I have rank 1 in rifles. Now, I could probably have a crack at most other weapons in the guns category. Certainly the larger, rifleish, ones. And I could easily figure out what to do with a handgun.
Difficulties will be bumped as well.
Got it in one. The Zero-G check replaces the skill check. You could be stunning with guns, but only have a rank or so in zero-g combat? Well, then you're not that good at compensating for recoil, target movement and such in zero-g. It's a vastly different environment to ones with gravity. Not least because you drift.
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2014-04-11, 03:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Sophia, debating criticism is a bad idea. That said, skills that have broad application are a good thing, despite Jormengand's statements to the contrary. Let people be better at some aspects than others if they choose to specialize.
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2014-04-11, 04:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
But grenades and bows???
It might be an idea to make it cheaper to buy ranks in a sub-skill if you have ranks in other sub-skills of the same skill, but the idea that someone who can shoot a bow logically must be able to throw grenades is silly.
And a bit suspect, I think...
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2014-04-11, 10:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Grenades and bows go well together. I often do that in my systems. Someone who trains with more primitive or short-ranged combat styles will have throwing weapons, bows, and other similar weapons. Logically grenades would go in with that. More advanced armies would be using grenade launchers and so might not be good with thrown grenades..
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2014-04-13, 03:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Something I'd like people's opinions for, that I already know Jor's thoughts on. The events list was orignally twice the length for each archetype. It included possibilities for all 6 secondary skills, both positive and negative modifiers to starting money (good and bad luck) and a final negative character event, usually involving some sort of wound acquired or some such. So 2/10 events were bad, 8/10 were good, and there was much more range of events.
How would people feel about that being re-integrated?
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2014-04-13, 10:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Mm... I feel that having that level of randomness at character creation is probably a bad thing. If negative events are going to be a thing, maybe selecting one gives you more points to spend toward something else to balance out the character from a mechanics standpoint.
My main dislike of randomness at character creation means that you can't create the type of character you want. If you have background things like events rolled, if you wanted something else, you couldn't have taken it.
I'll have a more in-depth critique of the .pdf itself after a while. I still need to read it closely.Avatar of Furude Setsuna, by Telasi.Originally Posted by Akagi
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2014-04-14, 11:42 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Regarding the randomness in character creation, I'd say there are three ways to go for you:
1. Commit to old school design: For this option keep rolling for abilities, expand the table for events and maybe make people roll several times on several tables to create a timeline. In the rules text, explicitly state that character creation is supposed to be random and that the player's job is to fill the character they're handed with life. Keep lethality high and possibly include a legacy system so a character who dies can give some of their successes to their successor, making players feel better about rotating characters with some regularity.
2. Go for a choice-based character creation: As the polar opposite, use point buy for abilities, skills and qualities and have the events be nothing but fluff suggestions for how the characters attain their training. Encourage thoughtful character building and give ample worldbuilding fluff to ground it in.
3. Synthesize the two by mechanically evening out the effects of randomness: If you want to use some randomness without fully going oldschool and possibly losing players over it, create a resource to balance out random inequalities. To give an example, systems that use some kind of fate points/courage points/whatever points mechanic tend to give humans more of them than other races who have distinctive advantages by nature, giving weaker characters more possibilities to influence the story at chosen moments. Such a mechanic can be used to even out bad events or low ability scores. Another possibility would be giving out more qualities to characters under a certain ability score threshold. These are just examples, but you see where I'm going: keep the randomness in both positive and negative directions, but balance it with a metaresource to keep players equal even while characters aren't.
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2014-04-17, 01:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
Dammit, I wrote this once and my computer killed it...
Write, based on Partysan's above post, I've had an idea for a re-write of the char gen system.
Right... Charcters would have a choice of 4 (some less with young characters, maybe up to 5 with older characters?) categories, basically significant life modifiers. Right now I'm thinking Birth world, background (family), Education and Career. These would give a Primary skill and 1-2 secondary skills. Skill points would be spent as currently, with the number determined by age. Random events would be removed. Qualities would remain as is.
Attributes can be rolled or point bought.
Thoughts? Gives an idea of the characters life, plenty of freedom to develop them, and has scope for enlargement. And randomisation too...
Additional: Who has skype? We could make a group thread.Last edited by HMS Sophia; 2014-04-17 at 02:42 PM.
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2014-04-18, 07:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: StarGazer: Alpha test
As requested, posting character write up:
Anna, the Scientist
Age: 16
Ale 10 Con 7 Dex 10 Int 20 Str 8 Wil 10
HP 17 Enc 23 Ini 2d10+10
Educated (Linguistics and Philosophy), Natural Athlete (Dexterity and Endurance)
Event: 6 (Artistry)
Skill ranks (Cost):
Sciences (2), Physical sciences 3 (3)
Knowledge (2), Linguistics 1 (1), Philosophy 1 (1)
Medical (2), First aid 2 (2)
Technical (2), Computer programming (1)
Skill dice:
Artistry 1
Athletics (Dexterity) 1
Athletics (Endurance) 1
Knowledge (Linguistics) 3
Knowledge (Phliosophy) 3
Knowledge 1
Medical (First aid) 3
Medical 1
Sciences (Physical Sciences) 4
Sciences 1
Technical (Computer programming) 2
Technical 1Last edited by Jormengand; 2014-04-18 at 07:44 AM.