So we’ve covered designing tools and weapons for Aliens & Asteroids, let’s talk about armor for a minute. In some ways, it’s a bit like the conversation we had about weapons. It’s important to know what it is and what it’s meant for, but the fiddly bits of the game mechanic has sometimes become a challenge.…
So last time we built a new tool for A&A. This time, I want to talk about designing weapons for the game, which gets a little more difficult to balance. (Originally I was going to cover armor also, but the weapons section got longer than I expected! We’ll do armor in the next article.) Weapons…
This weekend I started designing some intriguing new technologies for two upcoming Aliens & Asteroids supplements. (Yes, they are on their way folks — just taking a little longer than I hoped!) But it really got me thinking about a few design questions around these technologies as we push forward with new game bits. What…
Though standard combat armor is meant to protect its wearer from harm, by either slowing or deflecting attacks, there is always a trade-off between protection, mobility, and stealth. In game terms, it’s similar to the difference between plate mail, chain mail, and leather. Plate is great for stopping attacks, but you are usually slow and…
Last time we chatted about some fun hacks for ammunition. This time, let’s talk about the guns themselves. Characters with the Gunsmith trait can build, modify, or repair standard guns during Downtime. That’s pretty broad when we come right down to it. And if you specialize in a particular type of gun (Gunsmith: Pistol), you can…
So to recap our third session: We gained a new player! Yay! And our brave heroes were called by the Drs. Roberts on Luna, who had found what they thought was some sort of hidden Grey Man base on Mimas, a moon of Saturn. (Part 1) They arrived on Mimas, were taken prisoner by the…
Once the heroes were freed from their cells in the weird prison of the Grey Men, they plotted ways to escape. But first, they released the lizard alien down the hall. They learned his name was Bob, he was a Skaali, he could read galactic, but couldn’t speak it. And within moments they were off…
In the last post, we talked about adding a new player to the mix, Shannon, who created a new Medic character for the unit. And they were headed to Mimas, one of Saturn’s moons where some data recovered from the abandoned Grey Man asteroid belt hinted at a Grey presence there. The dropship dropped them…
So when the second session ended (the summary post is here), John’s Technician and Vernon’s Commander just had basic wrap-up to finish up. And when we started the third session, Vernon couldn’t join us, but John brought his girlfriend Shannon to play. And I’ll start off by saying it was definitely not my finest session,…
As we’ve been working on the Quickstart for Aliens & Asteroids, I had a great conversation with Alan Bahr about trying to figure out a simple economy system for the game. For months I’ve been pondering how to use credits, granted at the end of missions, to characters — so they can “purchase” equipment or whatever…
