StarSiege Relaunch

Discuss the SIEGE engine, and SIEGE Engine games other than C&C, such as StarSIEGE, in this forum.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by area_51_games »

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Being an old Grognard, I'd love to see either Universe by SPI, Space Opera by Fantasy Games Unlimited.

I realize that SPI was bought by TSR and FGU is just a total prick when it comes to their licensed games, so it would be difficult to wrangle either games creative properties, and the fact that the rules may be legal to use, the want to use The Seige Engine makes it all the more challenging. But, if one could get the feel of these old-school games and maybe take liberty with the titles like, Universe: The Crusade or Space Opera: The Crusade I can't tell you just how cool that would be.

<see even Sir Iron side stated the same thing! old school Science Fiction role playing game but with the siege engine>>>>>>
if you ever study science fiction it is no different then fantasy or romances read the hero with a thousand faces"
its about archetypical heroic Journey- science fiction is no Different- it has archetypes and there real obvious in sci-fi movies!

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Post by kiriandra »

[quote="serleran"]I agree with point 3. Few people want to buy a game and then have to build everything in the game. It is fun to do so, but without something to compare the creations to, or at least several examples for it, people either don't try or they wait for someone to do it for them. Neither is really "wrong," but if you can sell stuff and get people interested... I'd opt for that.


This is the main reason I would not purchase this game - that and the lack of inter-change with other components of the SiegeEngine system. Typically, I don't purchase Sci-Fi games, but now and then one jumps out at me. I've gamed a long time and have come to find that in a sci-fi setting, I prefer to have less theoretical algebra (as I like to call most "toy" creation rules) and more ready created stuff.

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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by Sir Ironside »

area_51_games wrote:I realize that SPI was bought by TSR and FGU is just a total prick when it comes to their licensed games, so it would be difficult to wrangle either games creative properties, and the fact that the rules may be legal to use, the want to use The Seige Engine makes it all the more challenging. But, if one could get the feel of these old-school games and maybe take liberty with the titles like, Universe: The Crusade or Space Opera: The Crusade I can't tell you just how cool that would be.
But, that is the beauty of; Starseige. You do not need to add-on a game-setting, you can use existing game-settings (Regardless of who own the rights.) with a little bit of creating. I'd love to use the old; Amazing Engine Bughunters for a setting and I can using these rules.

As noted above, a spreadsheet will make it even easier to create things and insert them into your setting. Games like; Bughunters would be easy to port over, where as something like; Star Wars would require a little more effort. But, once done you needn't go back and redo it again.

I know your looking for a setting pre-made, but that is a whole other can of worms, that would require a lot of effort and probably not sell as well as it would only appeal to a smaller group of people.

Dropping; Starseige into an existing setting will please more people. IMO

But, who knows, if; Starseige does well maybe, in the future, there might be a setting book or an equipment book etc.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by cheeplives »

Sir Ironside wrote:
But, who knows, if; Starseige does well maybe, in the future there might be a setting book or any equipment book etc.
Steve had mentioned wanting to do an equipment book as well as the Victory 2442 setting book after the Core. We'll see.

As far as the "need to create everything to play" complaint, that doesn't hold water to me, really. The original SSEH had more than enough equipment to supply a generic Sci-Fi game... at least as much as you would have found in LBB Traveller... plus it had a system where you could modify the existing stuff to "tweak" it with little to no effort. For example, just take the book's Blaster, add an additional Wound, increase the Value by 3 and you have a Heavy Blaster... no effort at all. I, once more, defy people to put forth a necessary piece of equipment for a generic sci-fi setting that doesn't appear in the 1st edition equipment list.

Almost every sci-fi game has some kind of construction rules... generally relegated to cover a single type of creation (usually starship) I just created a single umbrella so you could make any of the things as you wanted with the same mechanics. Plus, I tried to keep the math simple... just addition of low numbers. No complex algebra... add a bunch of numbers and divvy them up amongst 3 or 4 stats and you're done... much simpler than most games creation systems. No calculating volumes, no cube roots...

2nd Edition will have a lot larger page count, so I'll definitely be filling it with an example adventure as well as more equipment, vehicles, and psionic powers as well as examples of building them. I'll probably talk to some friends about trying to put together a online tool for item creation as well (or maybe an Android app... hrrm)... we'll have to see about that, though.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by area_51_games »

ok then there are a whole lot of people who like X- PLORER RPG A science fiction game set in classes DnD-isk style, because the just did not see starsiege first edition in time. and and that why it was over looked and under sold!
the market has already spoken once and lay out and poor graphic is not the excuse.

"I’ve been a fan of Castles & Crusades since it was first released, so I have naturally been looking forward to StarSIEGE: Event Horizon for some time (perhaps anticipating the SIEGE Engine iiiiiin spaaaaaace!). "

The biggest gripe is (or rather, might be) this:

It's a toolkit.

"That means that, while there are a good number of Trappings already made up (equipment, races, etc.), a lot of stuff is left up to you. You may dig that; you may not. It's easy to build stuff if you have a clear idea and make sure to think thoroughly, but you're still building. (I haven't read Victory: 2442, therefore cannot comment on it as a setting -- but it's chock full of spaceships, cousin.)"


"[url]My reflex here is to compare it to GURPS[/url], but that’s not really fair to either game. Starsiege is simple, light, broad, and vague. If you’re all about modeling the differences between the Barrett .50, the Sharps Big 50, and the Spencer Carbine (yes, Savage Worlds, I’m looking at you), Starsiege is not your game.

Maybe.

And the caveat is there because of the awesome little trappings system the game includes. It basically gives you quick-and-dirty points-buy system to create just about any little tool, mutant power, gun, starship, ringworld, multi-dimensional planet-eating monster or what-have-you. (Can you say, “Apocalypse Box?”) While the default is to paint with broad strokes, there’s no reason you couldn’t drill down to more detail, though I’m not quite sure yet how much granularity the game will support. But what you can do with it is basically recreate whatever you need to emulate the genre you’re after, whether it’s Death Stars and lightsabers or Klingons and tricorders or datajacks and wired reflexes. The system doesn’t care if your ship is powered by dilithium crystals and has a warp drive or relies on a steam boiler power plant and is propelled by aether screws. It’s a completely effects-based system: how far can it go, how fast can it get there, how many people can it transport, and can it blow things up once it gets there.

And if that’s not enough, it’s got a rather sweet little planetary conflict system, where you can stat out your planets (or interstellar empires or megacorps or spy agencies or war fleets or…) and then have them duke it out for domination of the galaxy.

As a toolkit, it’s shockingly complete for such a little game. It’s not the easiest thing to use (in part thanks to the painfully obvious lack of an editor) and I suspect if you poke it hard enough, it’ll break in lots of places. Likewise, its obsequious genuflections to BALANCE are a bit over-the-top; do I really need to break down every piece of gear to its component abilities and chart out its stats? Certainly not, but it does give me a good place to start, helps me answer questions like “how much should this cost” and will be a great boon to setting-builders who suffer fits of stark terror when confronted with a blank page. There are so many little options, tweaks, and suggestions for other ways to handle things that it’s incredibly flexible. While I was reading it, I couldn’t help but imagine the sorts of campaigns I could create with this, which is a huge improvement over my reaction to Savage Worlds, where I couldn’t stop thinking about how I’d build my own rules.

But it is a toolkit. It’s not everything you need to play in one box. The example setting provided is only 24 pages long and includes no maps. It does have a nice collection of weapons, starships, and alien races to play with, but not much more than that. Before you can start rolling dice in earnest, you (or you and your players) will need to sit down and build your campaign."

Now I did not post this proving that your structure of starsiege is bad, I posted it because it say what I keep telling you it says and why it well not sell as well as if it was more compatible with Castles and Crusades!

its a tool Kit- now would it be great to put the tool get in the appendix and just build to expectation?
I could compromise with that but what Pulp siege sell, do you think if it was built as a tool kit it would sell as well?

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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by cheeplives »

Seriously, area_51: Please stop posting here... this is for me to discuss the relaunch as I'm writing it.

You're not going to change my mind. Please take it to another thread so I can continue on my work here. Once more, if you have a problem with the direction of the game, email the Troll Lords directly. THEY DO NOT READ THESE BOARDS (very often).
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by area_51_games »

ok
I well not change your mind.
I did take to the troll lords and they are now watching this post! or so they say.
I would still like to help if you well not listen to reason or logic or in my case my opinion -LOL
SO how about a lay out that presents a whole chapter to the castes and Crusades in space element and not side bars.
that way I can come along and write a space opera setting for it?
that way troll lord can move your book just because customers buy to play in the space opera setting!

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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by Sir Ironside »

I'll respect your wishes cheeplives... but I do hope that area_51_games takes you up on starting a new thread.

Just one little clarification. Starseige was out way before X-Plorers. I have both and they cater to very different crowds.

Please area_51_games respect cheeplives wishes and take this somewhere else.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

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area_51_games wrote: I would still like to help if you well not listen to reason or logic or in my case my opinion -LOL
That's just it, this is merely your opinion. You act like you have some basis in facts other than a few anecdotes... you are stating your preferences as fact and it's, frankly, annoying. I prefer the game that I am writing and refuse to write a game that I, myself, wouldn't find interesting. Once more, if the Troll Lords want the game you're proposing, they're more than welcome to find another author and I'll bow out. I'm doing it because, let me make this clear to you: they hired me to write it. I'm not writing this out of the goodness of my heart or because this is the game I've always wanted to write. I'm taking time out of writing games of my own design to write this because, once more, they hired me.
area_51_games wrote:SO how about a lay out that presents a whole chapter to the castes and Crusades in space element and not side bars.
The new layout will have all optional rules tweaks laid out in their own chapter, organized by what changes. The sidebars in the main text just serve as breadcrumbs to the proper section in the Tweaks Appendix. Right now, the Tweaks section has two main section: Rules Tweaks and New Systems. The Rules Tweaks include: C&C Attributes, Hit Points, Classes, Opposed Rolls, Extraordinary Successes, Natural 20s, Speed, Hit Locations, and Piecemeal Armor. The New Systems include: Cybernetics, Mutations, Psionics, and Trade.

I'm more than willing to listen to suggestions on how to make the existing SSEH stronger, but repeatedly asking me to completely abandon the game I wrote and re-write it as something that's just a re-tread of C&C is beyond the pale in my opinion... I want suggestions for improvements, but I don't want someone basically spamming the thread telling me that I'm doing it wrong over and over.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by area_51_games »

then let me make a suggestion how are you CAN set classic space opera races/species
like I state before here is my version of the classic species
you have the seven Species categories
1.type A-Animal-oid humanoid "the uplifted" - Dog men, Cat men tiger men, Winged men < very flash Gordon>
2.type B-Machines men / androids cyborgs and robots
3.type C-shape shifters/blobs, metamorphs, Polymorphs
4.type D- Grays, E.T. Future Hominid ?
5.type E-Human/hominids - Cyborgs , mutants , Trans Gene Men, Pure humans
6;type F-Lizard men/ dinosaur, slestak,Laxivon
7.type G-Bugmen/ insectoids, prying mantis people

this is a classic golden age of space opera with such types as John Carter of mars, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by cheeplives »

area_51_games wrote:then let me make a suggestion how are you CAN set classic space opera races/species

this is a classic golden age of space opera with such types as John Carter of mars, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.
Have you even read SSEH? There are cat people (typeA), greys (typeD), humans (typeE), robots (typeB), and two races created by members of the C&C Society in the core book alone and a race of lion/bear people and "space elves" in the V2442 setting. Plus, you know, the rules for making your own races. So we're lacking, from your list, Lizard men, Insect Men, and the Blobs... I'll be sure to add them to the list, if there's space. You'll note that I did bat around .570 on your list (without even trying) and added a few new things to the mix (as the C&C Society asked for some non-traditional aliens).

Also, I'm pretty there were some fan supplements that did Lizard men and Blobs (who used the system provided to create what they wanted, which is part of the reason I created the system). I explicitly remember helping some people make shapeshifters during the playtest, even. Probably could have added them, but I had page count issues as it was.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by alcyone »

I look forward to the relaunch. I think a little reorganization will go a long way.

When I first approached StarSIEGE I think I assumed I could just look at the character sheet and tables, and be 40% sorted on the game. Now that I have spent some time with the system, I see now that a little more careful reading has answered most of my questions. I had some strange assumptions going in, for instance, I figured building points came from some fixed number depending on the power of the item, and I'd find those numbers somewhere. Now I know they are ever increasing and the balancing mechanism is to distribute them over the 3 or 4 stats. I confess I don't know why the math works, but it does seem to make sense for all of the trappings in the field manual.

Recently I've wanted to try to use StarSIEGE for Metamorphosis Alpha, and I see that a good deal of my work is already done.

I still haven't played the game, though, and I think I'd benefit greatly from participating or lurking in a Skype/Maptool game to settle my last doubts, such as how scaling and size work at the table.

Anyway, I wanted to say, the more time I spend reading the system, the more I understand the design decisions, and when I compare it to something like d6 Space, I see how it covers a lot of the same ground, with a SIEGE mechanic, and a very flexible one at that (with many actions not requiring a fixed stat).

At this point, now that I see that everything I wanted is in there somewhere, and seeing what your plans for the relaunch are, if the new book has a more conventional layout (columns are fine with me as long as sentences wrap vertically instead of across columns), I am pretty sure I'll buy it, and I think it will remove a lot of blocks I and others had getting to the good stuff in the original box.

That, and geez, I wanted to say something nice. You don't need my help, but I hate seeing you get beat up.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by pansophy »

Aergraith wrote:Pansophy made a program for building things, it's on the wiki (but when I tried to download the Mac version last night the link was broken).

Files are up again :) :mrgreen:


And BTW: I like SS:EH as it is and again, I appreciate it is different from C&C. Nice to see it will stay that way. ;)
--> StarSIEGE fan? Come to the SS:EH Wiki for trappings, ideas, and more!

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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by area_51_games »

Hello
You know just because I do not agree , and just because I challenge you mechanics, don't mean I am beating you up?
I hope by challenge it's made your position stronger!
if you think intelligent discourse is beating you up , I do apology that I HURT " YOUR FEELERS "
But HEY JUST COLLECT all that great stuff together in a book and make it the best you can!

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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by cheeplives »

Aergraith wrote: I still haven't played the game, though, and I think I'd benefit greatly from participating or lurking in a Skype/Maptool game to settle my last doubts, such as how scaling and size work at the table.
Actually, Scaling and Size are getting revamped in 2nd Ed. It worked, but I think I can streamline it some.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by gideon_thorne »

Hey Josh. Let me know when you've got something to work with and we can go over what to fix on the layout side. I'm not that hard to find. :)
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

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gideon_thorne wrote:Hey Josh. Let me know when you've got something to work with and we can go over what to fix on the layout side. I'm not that hard to find. :)
Speaking of "something to work with" do you happen to have any art work you're planning on using that could use statting up or representing in the rules? I'd like to make sure more of the art matches the stuff being described this time. :D
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by cheeplives »

In other news:
Regarding how the game will be designed, Monte said that they are creating an underlying foundation or core game, which is D&D distilled to its essence. The core game can be played by itself, or you can build your own game using the different modules.

If you like a tactical game with lots of maps, miniatures, attacks of opportunity and the like, you can use modules to have that game.

If you want extensive skills and ways to customize your character, you can have that game.

If you want BOTH, you can have that game.
From First Glimpses of the New Edition of D&D.

Sounds oddly familiar... :D
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

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cheeplives wrote:
gideon_thorne wrote:Hey Josh. Let me know when you've got something to work with and we can go over what to fix on the layout side. I'm not that hard to find. :)
Speaking of "something to work with" do you happen to have any art work you're planning on using that could use statting up or representing in the rules? I'd like to make sure more of the art matches the stuff being described this time. :D
Well, I don't know if you've seen it in among all my mad rambling on FB, but I DO have a new cover. I'll go tag you in it. 8-)
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by Sir Ironside »

cheeplives wrote:Sounds oddly familiar... :D
Damn WotC. Though C&C will remain my game of choice, they suckered me in to buy at least the first book.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by gideon_thorne »

Come to think of it though, Josh, I've more than a few characters/vehicles/powered armour ect that I could doodle out that could be easily set up for this game. Legacy of a lot of sci fi gaming and online interactive fiction. :)
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by Sir Ironside »

cheeplives wrote:
area_51_games wrote:then let me make a suggestion how are you CAN set classic space opera races/species

this is a classic golden age of space opera with such types as John Carter of mars, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.
Have you even read SSEH? There are cat people (typeA), greys (typeD), humans (typeE), robots (typeB), and two races created by members of the C&C Society in the core book alone and a race of lion/bear people and "space elves" in the V2442 setting. Plus, you know, the rules for making your own races. So we're lacking, from your list, Lizard men, Insect Men, and the Blobs... I'll be sure to add them to the list, if there's space. You'll note that I did bat around .570 on your list (without even trying) and added a few new things to the mix (as the C&C Society asked for some non-traditional aliens).

Also, I'm pretty there were some fan supplements that did Lizard men and Blobs (who used the system provided to create what they wanted, which is part of the reason I created the system). I explicitly remember helping some people make shapeshifters during the playtest, even. Probably could have added them, but I had page count issues as it was.
I guess there are two threads that are kind of mirroring each other. I proposed something in the other thread. Instead of copy/pasta I'll just provide the link.

viewtopic.php?p=183240#p183240
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by cheeplives »

gideon_thorne wrote:Come to think of it though, Josh, I've more than a few characters/vehicles/powered armour ect that I could doodle out that could be easily set up for this game. Legacy of a lot of sci fi gaming and online interactive fiction. :)
Sure, send 'em my way (or post 'em somewhere) and I'll make sure they get a proper write-up.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by cheeplives »

Okay, in my search for streamlining, I am reassessing how Specialties work and wanted to bounce some ideas:

I am thinking of changing Specialties into Binary aspects... either you have them or you don't. I have considered making them Trinary as well (you either don't have the Specialty, or you have it to one of two levels).

So..

OPTION 1 - Binary Specialties
All characters have an Expertise Score (think "level", which is tied to the number of XPs you have SPENT not GAINED). It starts at 1 and goes up as a character spends XPs to purchase things. You can purchase a Specialty (say Shooting or Pilot: Hover./Hybrid) and once you do, you get to add your Expertise Score to any rolls covered by that Specialty.
This is similar to the Level Bonus you get in C&C, but more specific in its use (and thus less confusion as to "when do I add my level to a roll"). So a character with Expertise 2 and Specialties in Shooting and Pilot: Hover/Hybrid would always add +2 when shooting or piloting a hover vehicle, but wouldn't get any bonus for Melee attacks or Piloting a fixed wing aircraft.
This bonus is in addition to a character's Prime's and Attributes. So if the the character above had a Reflexes of +1 and the Handling Prime would roll +9 when Piloting a Hover Car (+1 from REF, +6 for Handling Prime, and +2 for Expertise) meanwhile they would only add +3 to Shooting attempts because they lack the Combat Prime.

OPTION 2 - Trinary Specialties
Characters can purchase every Specialty up to two times. The first time you are "Specializing" and get a +4 bonus to all rolls that are covered by the Specialty. The second time you are "Mastering" the ability and get a +8 to the rolls. So a character with a Reflexes of +1, the Handling Skill Bundle, and a Specialization in Pilot: Hover and a Mastery in Shooting would add +11 to Pilot a Hover Car (+1 Reflexes, +6 Prime, +4 Specialty) and a +9 to Shoot a Laser Pistol (+1 for Reflexes and +8 for Mastery).
A character also has a Competency Score (again, similar to level and even Expertise above, but I'm using different terms because the concept is different and I don't want to invite confusion). Competency is, again, raised as you spend XP... the more XP you spend on advancing your character, the higher your Competency.
A character's Competency Score unlocks certain abilities... for example, a character can't purchase a Mastery in a Skill until they have reached Competency 2. A character can't modify their Defense Statistics until they have reached Competency 3... etc. Thus Competency actually serves a similar function to "level" in C&C, by "unlocking" access to new abilities (note you don't get the abilities automatically, you just gain the ability to purchase them). Competency is not added to any rolls, instead serving as an over-all gauge of character power.

OPTION 3 - Revised 1st Edition
Specialties have 4 Levels (+2, +4, +6, and +8). Just buy to the level you want, nothing stopping you... add the Specialty bonus to the appropriate rolls.

Anyone have any feelings on these? Options 1 and 2 "borrow" more from C&C and both seem more streamlined. Option 1 seems the most streamlined... Do I have the Specialty being rolled? If so, add my "level", otherwise don't.
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by pansophy »

Personally I would like to have Option 1 as an "optional rule" while Option 3 is the main rule. I do like the classless aspect of SS:EH and how fast character creation is. Option 2 seems too fiddly to me and I know some of my players would mess up their characters pretty fast.

How does Option 1 hold up in higher "levels"? Won't the character be too powerful (the level goes up all the time, while option 3 is limited to a +8)?

I already have the problem in SS:EH with beginning characters being too powerful, so I do not think I would like Option 1 & 2 for a campaign game.
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Lord Crimson
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by Lord Crimson »

The problems I see with options 1 and 2 is the "level" systems being based on spent XP (rather than gained XP).

Basically, all progression in SSEH is currently based on spending points to get a power-up of some kind.

But with the Expertise/Competency levels you're asking players to now also track how much they've spent overall. And that seems a recipe for confusion and frustration (having had other games where I've tried to get my players to track just their total accumulated XP was an exercise in frustrating futility).

So, I see that as the single biggest issue with those options is their reliance on that arrangement.

I like option 3 the most of the three (though I much prefer the even finer grain that currently exists in SSEH).
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by cheeplives »

I agree with many of the concerns about Options1/2... I was just trying to figure out if there was a way to still keep customization high while streamlining things a bit.

You're right about tracking XP spent/XP Gained... I'd likely just make Competency/Expertise a function of XP Gained instead... easier...

Still pondering it... might need some playtesting to see.
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koralas
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by koralas »

I prefer option 3, or perhaps a hybrid of 2 and three, not being able to unlock higher bonuses until reaching certain competency levels.

However, option 1 I am not a big fan of for one reason. As your expertise rises, so do all your specialties, thus if you have an expertise level of 4 and pick up a new specialty - Pilot (Starfighter), you immediately have a +4 on all your checks, or am I reading that incorrectly?

pansophy
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by pansophy »

Hey cheeplives!

Any update on this?

Cheers!
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treant_on_fire
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Re: StarSiege Relaunch

Post by treant_on_fire »

I'm really happy to hear there's an actual relaunch planned! StarSiege is by far the best sci-fi RPG ruleset I've come across!

And this comes right after I ordered and received the 'One Fine Mess' adventure and the Crusader issue where you get rules to convert C&C stuff into StarSiege. (Sadly the Assassin wasn't in there [C&C didn't have them at that time maybe?], I would have loved to see those abilities in StarSIEGE terms!)

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