N.E.W Playtest- first read feedback

[Peter Holland]

Character Generation- Typos and Ideas
1. Starter Careers- Should they give access to ‘general skills’ that provide half the benefit (and count as half the ranks of specific careers for qualifying)- to create slightly more rounded/capable characters?
2. Variable Careers? 2-5 perhaps to allow creation of younger and slightly older?
3. College Career- repeatable but do you start at Rank I again (and gain no benefit?) or start straight at Rank II?
4. Field Scientist- what does ‘Advanced College’ prerequisite mean?
5. Prison Background- Missing Burglar and Cat Burglar as prerequisites
6. Do all the Criminal careers need Street Thug as a prereq? What about ‘just charming’ people who become con artists and have never been thugs on the street?
7. Should there be multiple ‘Prison’ careers with more or less time- e.g. Street Thug might be more likely (say 1-3) to go to Prison but only for 1d3 or 1d6 years (gaining different benefits) to say a Gangster who might go for 3d6 years (but only on a 1 because they have access to good lawyers?
8. Socialite- should it have a Cr prerequisite as an either or with Wealthy upbringing- either you have money and have learned OR you were brought up with money (even if you no longer have it) and you can still move in those circles.
9. With careers that give specific but one-time bonuses like credits or equipment should there perhaps be an extra skill pick as well?
10. How many ranks of Psi Cop are there?
11. Is there any point in Psi Corps? Couldn’t it just be combined with Psi Cop? They are the same aside from Psi Cop allows many more skill picks
12. Could Ninja be called Infiltrator?
13. Should the Priest Rank 3 ability only work against Intelligent creatures who you haven’t attacked?
14. Naval Careers- should the Cadet cruise have a roll as well?
15. Should the Command School give a bonus to alter the naval career roll? Should all careers give a set Naval Rank increase- e.g. You gain +1 rank. Command school could set you at rank 3
16. Should Medic also allow you in from Command School if you have Medicine 3+?
17. Should some of the Officer careers give rank advancement? Seems weird to be a Rank 5 Science ‘Officer’ who wouldn’t even technically be an ‘ensign’ even though that is the lowest officer rank- or could they be options?
18. Starter Careers- can they be picked up at any time? What about if you leave Spartan Battle school? Can you return?
19. Should the bonus age skill be set- lots of people change hobbies as they age (e.g. Flirtation may only apply for years 20 and 30, then it might become botany as you have a family
20. Isn’t the average Health of a 4 END Human 13? 3d6= 3.5*3= 13.5
21. First line of Natural Damage for Str appears to be the first of April 2014

 

[Nagol]

re: # 20,

3d6 averages 10.5 = 3*3.5.

 

[Morrus]

re: # 20,

3d6 averages 10.5 = 3*3.5.

You can't have half a HEALTH point! 13 is a good enough approximation.

 

[Morrus]

So, thank you Peter! That was quick and appreciated! I'll divide the list into ideas (lower priority but food for thought) and actual issues/questions.

Ideas

1. Starter Careers- Should they give access to ‘general skills’ that provide half the benefit (and count as half the ranks of specific careers for qualifying)- to create slightly more rounded/capable characters?
2. Variable Careers? 2-5 perhaps to allow creation of younger and slightly older?
6. Do all the Criminal careers need Street Thug as a prereq? What about ‘just charming’ people who become con artists and have never been thugs on the street?
7. Should there be multiple ‘Prison’ careers with more or less time- e.g. Street Thug might be more likely (say 1-3) to go to Prison but only for 1d3 or 1d6 years (gaining different benefits) to say a Gangster who might go for 3d6 years (but only on a 1 because they have access to good lawyers?
8. Socialite- should it have a Cr prerequisite as an either or with Wealthy upbringing- either you have money and have learned OR you were brought up with money (even if you no longer have it) and you can still move in those circles.
9. With careers that give specific but one-time bonuses like credits or equipment should there perhaps be an extra skill pick as well?
12. Could Ninja be called Infiltrator?
14. Naval Careers- should the Cadet cruise have a roll as well?
15. Should the Command School give a bonus to alter the naval career roll? Should all careers give a set Naval Rank increase- e.g. You gain +1 rank. Command school could set you at rank 3
16. Should Medic also allow you in from Command School if you have Medicine 3+?
17. Should some of the Officer careers give rank advancement? Seems weird to be a Rank 5 Science ‘Officer’ who wouldn’t even technically be an ‘ensign’ even though that is the lowest officer rank- or could they be options?
19. Should the bonus age skill be set- lots of people change hobbies as they age (e.g. Flirtation may only apply for years 20 and 30, then it might become botany as you have a family

All these are great, and I'll likely incorporate some of them. The name Infiltrator is better than Ninja, I agree! I've quickly incorporated: 6, 8, 12.

I didn't understand what you meant by (14)? Do you mean the duration? That's supposed to be set at a specific one-year program.

Issues
I've quickly updated the playtest document with a "hotfixed" version which quickly deals with some of these.

3. College Career- repeatable but do you start at Rank I again (and gain no benefit?) or start straight at Rank II?

Yep, start at Rank I again with a new subject. That makes that first rank a sort of "tax" on multiple academic careers.

4. Field Scientist- what does ‘Advanced College’ prerequisite mean?

That should read College III - fixed.

5. Prison Background- Missing Burglar and Cat Burglar as prerequisites

Changed to "Any criminal career".

10. How many ranks of Psi Cop are there?

At present an infinite number. Psi Cop and Psi-Corp will be getting a workover at some point.

11. Is there any point in Psi Corps? Couldn’t it just be combined with Psi Cop? They are the same aside from Psi Cop allows many more skill picks

I plan to differentiate them more at a later point.

13. Should the Priest Rank 3 ability only work against Intelligent creatures who you haven’t attacked?

Good catch!

18. Starter Careers- can they be picked up at any time? What about if you leave Spartan Battle school? Can you return?

Nope, only as starters. They have to be your first career.

20. Isn’t the average Health of a 4 END Human 13? 3d6= 3.5*3= 13.5
21. First line of Natural Damage for Str appears to be the first of April 2014

Typo catches - thanks!

I've updated the document with fixes for the above! Thank you for the quick feedback! I'd love to see a character or two, and hear your thoughts on the process!

 

[Nagol]

You can't have half a HEALTH point! 13 is a good enough approximation.

I confess I haven't kept up with NEW since Dec 2, but END 3 should expect 10.5 Health.

If the dice are exploding, it rises to about 12.5 average. Is that where the 13 comes from?

 

[Morrus]

I confess I haven't kept up with NEW since Dec 2, but END 3 should expect 10.5 Health.

If the dice are exploding, it rises to about 12.5 average. Is that where the 13 comes from?

Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah, on average it'd be 10 or 11 for END 4 (which rolls 3d6).

Exploding dice aren't part of the game any more. Playtest feedback was that they made things too swingy.

 

[Peter Holland]

With 14. what I mean is- shouldn't there be a roll to determine what naval career you end up in? Or is this the one time you actually get a choice?

You didn't fully answer 18- what if you start as a Spartan Battle school but then choose to move into a different career. Can you come back to it or are you forbidden from going near it again because you left it?

We're going to do this as Deadzone RP- so we'll start looking at characters soon- there will be 4 other sets of eyes looking at these soon.

 

[Morrus]

With 14. what I mean is- shouldn't there be a roll to determine what naval career you end up in? Or is this the one time you actually get a choice?

I still don't quite get what you mean? You always choose your careers. Oh, wait, you mean that little system where you ind out whether you're stationed on a starbase, starship, etc. for the Tours and stuff? You definitely choose your specialization for starship careers. Sorry, I think I blanked on the question there! Yes, you choose the naval career.

Though now I'm imagining an optional fun little random system where you *don't* choose them!

You didn't fully answer 18- what if you start as a Spartan Battle school but then choose to move into a different career. Can you come back to it or are you forbidden from going near it again because you left it?

No, you can't go back to a starter. It can only ever be your first career. Once it's over, it's over.

 

[Peter Holland]

Right ok- that could do with a little clarifying then.


The Naval thing- it seemed like you might have to go to a particular career or have to pick from a specific list (e.g. little chance you'll get into a firefight on a space station but you will probably do a lot of admin and some fist-fighting)

 

[Peter Holland]

Part 2

1. Skill section page 72- if you have agility 6 don’t you roll 4 dice as standard- 6/2=3+1=4
2. Exploding dice on page 73?
3. 76- breathe not breath
4. Death pool, end score or dice? /2+1
5. Pick-up as stabdard-a pc android is special maybe they took risks
6. 85- should medical scanners give a big bonus at ranges such as 5ft
7. Page 90 fuel costs confusing-1 fuel= 1 parser per class?
8. Trip and knockdown- should the stats be changed, surely ranged knockdown is less about strength more about accuracy of shooting
9. 104- destructible- 5 damage or 10?
10. 108-amnesia- people often retain skills whilst losing memories
11. 109-does being unconscious always mean dying? Should it have another term?
12. 114- weaponss coverage
13. Ship actions- medical care takes up one action?
14. 117- casualties- should this scale based on damage? E.g. for each 5 points
15. 123- ion postol instead of pistol
16. 143 formatting of table for bug and Geiger counter
17. Cybernetics- what about replacement limbs which don't enhance?
18. 162- should the shuttle have the asterisk?
19. 167- exploding dice mention
20. 173 Panwatch Metallurgy- solar misspelled
21. 178- Reactive and Ablative armours- table and description conflicts
179- Shield example- 40 shields on a Class VIII ship = 5 soak