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Post by josedominguez on May 5, 2009 11:13:13 GMT -9
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Post by old squirmydad on May 5, 2009 12:17:41 GMT -9
Nearly finished, so I thought I'd post it up so far. Two poisons to finish then the bestiary to type up. Should be completed Wednesday evening Have a look, see what you think. Bear in mind, the formatting will change when I've got it complete, so it will be far tidier. www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=1180317&da=yLook very thorough and fun, two of my favorite attributes. I'll give it a close read-through and then see if I can ask any critical questions.
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Post by josedominguez on May 5, 2009 13:38:24 GMT -9
Just what I'm after...... hard to get critical evaluation in my own gaming group. I know where they all live
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Post by tugunmojo on May 5, 2009 13:53:51 GMT -9
Downloaded. Will read through when I get the chance--might try to put together a warband and give it a go if I have the time . . . I've got too many projects and not enough focus to get any one of them done!
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Post by josedominguez on May 6, 2009 7:28:40 GMT -9
Just finishing the bestiary now
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Post by onemonkeybeau on May 6, 2009 8:25:29 GMT -9
Jose!
Read this last night.
Excellent job, dude! You have a real grasp of the rules and flair for the setting!
Looking forward to seeing the bestiary!
onemonkeybeau
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Post by josedominguez on May 6, 2009 12:00:01 GMT -9
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Post by old squirmydad on May 6, 2009 13:36:06 GMT -9
I was all set to give feedback, now there's more stuff to read...be right back. My first impression was favorable, my one word of caution is beware of special exemptions for weapons. Why do some weapons knock down and never back? To keep them in line with the rest of the rules I'd say just remove those exemptions. Details to follow....
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Post by josedominguez on May 6, 2009 14:04:48 GMT -9
It was to give the boomerang a bit of character..... its designed to knock down a target (usualy aimed at the legs). So I gave it a slightly better chance of a knockdown with a low score than most weapons while lacking any real damage on a double score. Therefore a boomerang has a decent chance of a knockdown, but is rarely going to kill anyone, pretty much how the weapon really works...in a similar vein to the alternate effects of the web gun/sonic stunner etc...
It was the only way I could think of to represent the boomerang in its own right (rather than just a throwing axe with a different name)... easy enough to miss out though, or maybe replace the middle result with 'stun' and leave the normal knockdown/knockback percentages.
Same for the bolas..... they'll either knock you down or transfix you, no way a couple of little weights on a cord will knock you back or kill you. Does that explain my thinking? Or does it still mess with the rules too much?
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Post by old squirmydad on May 6, 2009 17:17:01 GMT -9
It was to give the boomerang a bit of character..... its designed to knock down a target (usualy aimed at the legs). So I gave it a slightly better chance of a knockdown with a low score than most weapons while lacking any real damage on a double score. Therefore a boomerang has a decent chance of a knockdown, but is rarely going to kill anyone, pretty much how the weapon really works...in a similar vein to the alternate effects of the web gun/sonic stunner etc... It was the only way I could think of to represent the boomerang in its own right (rather than just a throwing axe with a different name)... easy enough to miss out though, or maybe replace the middle result with 'stun' and leave the normal knockdown/knockback percentages. Same for the bolas..... they'll either knock you down or transfix you, no way a couple of little weights on a cord will knock you back or kill you. Does that explain my thinking? Or does it still mess with the rules too much? I could see what you were aiming for, however, one of MDRG's strengths is a lack of finicky detail on weapons (imho) and I think giving these two knockdown and not knockback makes for strange exceptions for primitive weapons. I can see knockback coming into play from glancing blows, flushing a target from cover, forcing the target to trip backwards into the High Archivist's nano-swarm pit-that guy wishes he'd only fallen down. Now a specialized weapon like a web-cannon, graviton blaster, or shockwave grenade I can see always knocking things down...part of it is just the tech curve involved that bothers me. Critique; Overall I put 'GOOD' next to each text block and table. As I've said before, I really think you've got your finger on the pulse of this game and these are not enhancements that disturb the play balance but instead expand options. Beast Companion Table; Flying Rat is in both results #4 & #10, how about a giant rat in of those slots? Jim produced giant rats back in the Free Fantasy Monsters pack. Uncontrolled; Solid, also useful for representing random beasties that could effect both sides of an engagement. Can a Beastmaster voluntarily choose to make a Beast uncontrolled? say if they were mentally possessed or something. Guard; How big an area do they guard? Short/Medium/Long? Archer: Love it. Dead Eye; Not sure about having both a +1 bonus AND ignoring double-range penalties. I'd have to see it in game to be sure but my gut tells me it should be either one or the other with my preference being ignoring the double range penalties. Optical Empathy; Good, but why doesn't it work for primitive weapons? Exo-Digestion; "Aaagh! Aaagh! Get it off me! Aaagh! Help me! Aaaaaaaagggghhhh!" ;D Gore; Again with the cows...can be used for a Land-Shark charge too. Nutritious Milk;..... Weapons; Spot on, exceptions noted, Hunting Rifle needs to be reworded 'only +1 inserted for the long range and greater'. Cheezy gamers may try to add the two bonuses together and say that the gun is +3 at long range... Toxins & Venoms; Love the amount of detail here in both how they work and where they come from, nice lead-ins to future creature creations. It makes me think that a 'Wastelands Doc' needs to be made- works like the Healing mutation but not as strong...which also makes me think a 'Psychometry' mutation needs to be introduced - healing for androids and robots. Dune Crabs and Sewer Crawlers added to drawing pile... Were you thinking something Morlock-ish here? And that's all I have to say about that...once you're all done, don't put any thought into this particular technical aspect in the midst of the creative process, are you planning on figuring out points values for everything here so people can use the Warband Builder stats from the Yahoo group? The randomness involved in MDRG warband creation is both it's greatest strength and it's greatest weakness, having the PV posted will help timid people to dive in easier. (four smiling skulls all attached to the same guy)
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Post by josedominguez on May 6, 2009 21:56:33 GMT -9
I'll update the text..... all good suggestions Optical empathy: the aim was that it allowed a model greater accuracy as it could use the eyes and LOS of a partner creature, this would greatly enhance the accuracy of a rifle, pistol etc.. but would be of limited use for a thrown weapon or bow as their limiting factor is the strength of the user. I think I'll take the limitation out..... considering the condensed nature of MADRG (to hit, to wound, save being a single roll) its fine to assume that it enhances any ranged attack (simplifies things a bit too). I've got rough notes on points values already, I use the whole Songs of range while I'm writing stuff, so it won't be too difficult (and they'll balance in playtest). I'll add the giant rat (although I'm saving some rules for a 'piper' character later...... leads an ever expanding vermin swarm). Dead eye was intended to encourage the use of spears etc... even with this they are not as good as any tech weapon, but it makes it worth having the skill. Maybe split the bonus into 'if this skill is duplicated he model recieves a +1 bonus?' Charge: may need a rewording, the area would be a nominated terrain piece, may make more sense if guard is a single model or point on the board and a new stance 'patrol' is added... this would allow the beast to move around the perimeter of a single nominated terrain piece. Wastelands doc..... halfway through the apothecary. A snake oil selling travelling 'doctor' who's skills are all along the lines of 'snake handler', 'herbalist' etc.... part con man, part traditional healer. Thanks for the input
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Post by old squirmydad on May 7, 2009 10:39:43 GMT -9
Sewer crawler in progress;
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Post by Aestelon on May 7, 2009 10:59:56 GMT -9
Nice. I take it from the lack of feet that it doesn't spend much time standing like that..?
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Post by josedominguez on May 7, 2009 12:26:31 GMT -9
Also, he's a sewer CRAWLER.
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Post by Aestelon on May 7, 2009 12:36:35 GMT -9
Ah, but that's not necessarily a clue, what with all the dungeon-crawling humanoids...
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Post by josedominguez on May 7, 2009 12:43:25 GMT -9
I like him though, looks like an arachnid from Starship troopers got Jiggy with one of the aliens from MIB. Now there's a rules supplement that could get me banned from the internet I'm working on the Zombie messiah and technomancer warband rules this weekend. Should be alot quicker than the beastmasters (which turned into its own supplement).
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Post by Aestelon on May 7, 2009 13:03:44 GMT -9
Now there's a rules supplement that could get me banned from the internet You're a poor, innocent fool indeed if you think that'd be the worst thing out there...
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Post by josedominguez on May 7, 2009 13:08:03 GMT -9
I used to write a tongue in cheek section in the PBUK (uk paintball) magazine. I had the back four pages to fill and basically tried to get away with as musch as a could, for starters I called it 'Jose's back passage'. On one occasion they had to call in a media lawyer as they were concerned that I may have overstepped the mark with my blasphemy. Ah, good times I've thread jacked my own topic.
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Post by squirmydad on May 7, 2009 17:06:45 GMT -9
Sewer crawler in progress; Try brightening up the coloring a little bit. If you shade with black, the figure will look muddy. Also if you shade with a dark color, it will look less metallic. It does look nice an creepy though. JIM
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Post by old squirmydad on May 7, 2009 18:42:03 GMT -9
Thanks, will do.
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Post by magpiestear on May 8, 2009 0:15:19 GMT -9
It looks like it's dancing to Swan Lake!!!
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Post by darkmook on May 8, 2009 5:22:44 GMT -9
Awesome fig squirmydad!
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Post by josedominguez on May 8, 2009 12:20:17 GMT -9
I'll stat him up for the next part of the expansion.... I was designing a 'Piper' type model who would lead a plague of rats, but I think I'll expand this to create a character who can control a wider range of sewer dwellers. 'Sewer lord' or something similar. Maybe the piper would be part of this, to qualify as a 'sewer warband' all models would need to be selected from this list.
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