Bay 12 Games Forum

Right, (I'm) yet to hear from:

(Newmartianemperor)
(woose1)
(Solifuge)
(Virex)

Anyone who doesn't get their tech choices in by tonight will forfeit their bonuses on the first turn!

I've got to head out to work soon, so you've got a few hours to get your choices done. I'll send the cards out tonight.

So You Want to Take a Turn...

Each turn you can take 2 Major Actions. A Major Action uses one of the 6 Turn Card Attributes. I'll go over each kind and do a few examples.

Public Relations

Using a PR action, you can wither affect your own Public Appeal rating positively, or a competitor's appeal negatively or positively (if you're in an alliance or something). You could also affect your own PA negatively, but I'm not quite sure why you'd want to.
If possible, put in a little description of how you're going to try and spin PR.

I.E. "I'd like to try and put a more human face on my Faction by hosting a photo shoot with my President accompanied by a fictional, computer generated perfect family."

"I'd like to try and sully [X Corporation]'s good name by paying off journalists to claim that their products cause a rare type of skin cancer. I'll boost this with 2 Money/Resources Units."

Politics

Works in virtually the same way, but affects Government Appeal instead of Public.

I.E. "Holding an international eace summit"

"Donating brand new equipment to a government's Armed Forces.

Industry

The backbone of any corporation's activities. Industry reflects any product or project that holds both short and long-term benefits for the corporation. A successful Industry roll provides the Corporation with Resources/Money to be used in later turn. A failed action does not result in any noticeable loss.
If possible, add a description of what the project or product. If relevant, an interesting Industrial project can provide bonuses at a later date.

I.E. "We'd like to recoup some of our lost assets by rolling out a Vanilla-Cherry variant of our popular soft drinks line."

"Ramping up production in our Steel Foundry, any excess Steel produced is put toward the next Colony Ship."

Economics

Economics involves investments, playing the stock market and various other activities that have screwed up our financial system over the years. The success of an Economics test is affected by the Economic Climate, a figure generated from the Economic success of all Factions. It might be wise to check with your Allies before making an investment you can't afford to lose...

Money/Resources invested in an Economics check do not provide any bonuses, but affect the profit or loss received. Again, descriptions if possible.

I.E. "I'd like to invest 4 Money units in one of my up-and-coming satellite corporation."

Research

Research is used to develop new techniques, technologies and products, primarily used to the advantage of your own faction. When taking a research action, specify which Turn Card sector (i.e, PR, or Espionage) you'd like to research. A success will provide you with new technologies, providing bonuses to future Cards. +5 is the maximum bonus each Attribute can gain from Technology.
The larger the success, the larger the bonuses. Note: Bonuses are NOT cumulative and do not stack. I.E. if you already have a +3 bonus in Economics, you'd need to research at least a +4 to gain a benefit.

I.E. "I'd like to research new Industrial methods, upgrading my assembly-line robots with state  the art components"

"I'm going to begin work on an Espionage research project, a database of all known agents, their alter egos and known disguises."

Espionage

Espionage is the fun one!

With Espionage, you can do quite a wide number of things.

1. Steal Technology Bonuses.
You gain the benefit of one of your target's technologies. They also keep the benefit.

2. Destroy Tech Bonuses.
Although information is hard to destroy, by leaking the new technology to the Global Community, you can ensure that no one gets an advantage/bonus from sole possession of the technology, and also improve your Govt or Public Appeal a little.

3. Peak at Turn Cards.
Depending on the degree of your success, you receive a (mostly correct) copy of one of your competitor's turn cards for the next 1-3 turns.

4. Peak at Technology.
You gain information about what technologies your competitor actually has.

I.E. "I'd like to steal the PR software from [X Corporation] then release it to the public, open source..."

"I'd like to activate a sleeper agent in [Suchandsuch's] Faction to get a look at his Turn Cards for the next few rounds..."

With all actions, Money units can be invested, up to a maximum of 5, to improve your chance of success/profits, in terms of economics.

Any queries/confusions, just let me know!

A little word on the game...

1. The numbers on the turn card do not reflect Skill or Power. Although they do take bonuses into account, what a Turn Card figure shows is whether it's a good time to do something or not. They are randomly generated every turn.

If Industry turns up 9 on your Turn Card, it might be a good time to start churning out branded consumer goods for the next wave of Space Colonists.

If Espionage comes out 3, it probably isn't the best time to try and steal your competitors new Hydroponics technique.

Seeing as Turn Cards are personalised for the player, they already take ito account bonuses for technology, etc.


2. Interestingly, as you might have noticed from "The New Average" on the last screenshot I posted, the system is now self balancing (*crosses fingers*) with the target numbers for dice rolls being determined by the overall positions of all players. The amount you beat the New Average by determines how well you succeed... or how badly you fail if you're unable to compare with your competitors...

This should hopefully keep the game balanced in late play. Hopefully.

3. There's a reason the Attributes on the Turn Card are colour coded.

Public Relations and Politics allow you to improve your Public and Government Appeal, respectively (or lower a competitor's...).  These are the closest we've got to hit points. The higher your appeals, the more narrative control you'll have over the game.

Industry and Economics are the Attributes used to gather Resources. Industry guarantees at least a trickle of income, whereas Economics offers the chance of great wealth, with the risk of even greater losses. Economics uses the Economic Climate figure (the average of all players Economics Stat on any given turn) as a target number. Resources can be used to boost any roll. Spend 5 resources, gain +5 to the roll.

Research is used to develop new Technologies and Techniques, giving you bonuses to rolls later in the game. Espionage is used to steal (or neutralise) competitors bonuses, without their knowledge.

4. A standard roll is...

[1D10 + Turn Card Bonus + Resources + Any Good RP Bonus] vs The New Average

It is real. BUT IT'S NOT EVEN IN BETA YET!

I wish some of the really good replies hadn't been used up already, so I could use them.

[EDIT] Don't you think Nite owl looks a little too much like Batman? i know he's suppoesed to sort of mimic him but in the comics he kinda looked a little more ridiculose.

It's not that he looks too much like Batman, it's that he looks too much like the slick, sleek darker Batman that is seen as cool, nowadays. In the books, Nite Owl channels the vibe of a more ridiculous blue and gray Batman more akin to Adam West. I believe "channeling the vibe" is the term I used when I discussed this with you last week. 

Name: Aquil
Spheres: Fate, Learning, Reality
Form: Aquil usually takes the form of a young human with a torn page of parchment scroll, although he has been known to manifest as the the parchment alone.
Rituals: Aquil accepts all prayers in writing. Once a year, he demands his followers refill the Ink-Wells of his temples with a measure of their blood.
Background: The future is predetermined. What is, was, and what is yet to come, will be. There is no alternative.

In the oldest days there was a book, and in this book the course of the worlds was laid out and charted in infinite detail. Their paths through the heavens, their fates and fates of those that called them home.

Once there was a man who was unsatisfied with his lot in life. His family were farmers and had been so for generations. The man grew weary of his arduous labour in the fields of his village and left home, vowing to find something else. His prospects were slim, for there was no learning in his world.

He journeyed for months before coming to the mountain at the centre of his world. He climbed for untold days and eventually reached the top. Resting from his labour, the man looked out at the world laid before his eyes. As majestic as the sight was, his gaze was stolen by something else. Something he had never seen before. A large, square shape of tanned leather, floating in the air, just out of arm's reach.
We today would recognize this as a book, but in the man's time and world, the science of writing was yet to be discovered.

Understanding, somehow, that this thing was the object of his search and travels, the man reached out, standing on tip-toes. As his fingers made contact with leather, he overbalanced, and in fear of tumbling to his death reached out, seeking a purchase.
With a tearing noise, a single page came free from that book and the man plummeted from the mountain.

Broken on the rocks bellow, as the breath left his body, his blood spread across the page, stolen from the heavens at such cost. In spidery trails, by sheer chance or divine intent, the trails of red spelt these words:

"I have touched the Heavens. I am now of gods"

In the Heavens the Gods wrung their hands in frustration, for Another had joined their ranks.

No thread has been devised that's large enough to hold all the words I like.

But if I could narrow it down to just one favourite?

"Damn", "Dagnabit", "Damnations" and variation upon.