Plasma Rangers and Veteran Pilots

Jed Omega, legendary Veteran Pilot

Veteran Pilots

Veteran Pilots are a playable "class" or "role" who specialize in, well, flying spaceships. Yeah, that was pretty obvious. They have the unique "Pilot" skill which allows them to operate space ships as well as jets and other modes of air transport planetside. Having a Pilot in the party allows the party to travel freely within each sector of known space, no longer confined to trade or travel routes. Personal spaceships also allow the party to engage in space combat missions.

While the overall setting of the game is sandbox, there are specific encounters that advance the overall narrative, and bring the game closer to its conclusion. That is to say that the game can be won (or lost).

      

Plasma Rangers travel throughout
known space keepin' the peace.

Plasma Rangers

The Plasma Rangers dispense justice throughout known space in the great tradition of frontier peacekeepers. Established in the wake of the Great War, the rangers have helped to provide stability and return order to the discord sewn by the invading Glaax.

Skirmisher Class Star fighters for, your dungeon?

Early "statting" ideas for the Skirmisher Class ships

Here are some of the "star fighter" type ship ideas I have come up with, specific to species. They are small and feel more like flying coffins to me, but will be considerably more maneuverable and able to target larger ships easily. The player "class" Veteran Pilot starts with a ship as an extra, but they are much larger and more versatile. these Skrms might not come into play that much from a player perspective as they are pretty dangerous to fly in, and I probably should have spent my time fleshing out the enemy ships first, but I couldn't resist starting with the "good guys". And I wanted to get them done for playtesting. And I want one.

I had originally created a partially functional drop ship in the lowest level of the Cult of the Fallen Star dungeon, but am likely going to replace it with one of these (a ship captured by the Ta'ak).

- Aaron

How my attempts to reduce the size of an adventure lead to a stand alone game set in a completely different genre...

This is how it happened...I started by taking an old mega dungeon idea I had and trying to shorten it to an adventure I could conceivably finish in my lifetime. I started fleshing out the "big boned" skeleton I was left with and created a pretty dismal mining town with some secret sci fi stuff buried in a nearby mountain.  I came up with a ton of ideas about the aliens themselves, and even started making other alien species that could be crammed into the dungeon.  

Then I had an idea that involved some "which way/ Fighting Fantasy" elements, and I started trying to figure out how to do it without having a conspiracy theorist web of yarn and passages written on index cards pinned to my basement wall.  I messed around with inklewriter and some other programs, and ended up making the "trope-o-matic" just to test out the program.

The Star Yeti Playable Species

I really liked some of the ridiculous "classes" and races I came up with, and, well, I have been working on a sci fi game ever since.  I have been working with a pared-down version of Fate, really more like the Fudge rules with luck points at this point in time, and adding some classic fantasy elements like "classes". I will be adding more info on the game, and throwing up more sketches in the coming days..

-Aaron

"Fungus Man" Playable Species

Advanced just got Super!

With more options than ever before, what's not to love about the Advanced Trope-O-Matic?

Introducing Super Hero creation!
I wrote this baby up in a text document and then broke out into a "copy and paste" frenzy to prevent any unpleasant "auto-save" happenings in Inklewriter.

You can now select between Fantasy, Sci-Fi, or Super Hero settings through a "Genre-Scopic" hub installed in the beginning of the *game.

*Technically, the hosting site has classified the Trope-O-Matic as busted and relegated it to something they call the "Sandpit", thereby invalidating its status as a "game".

Super Hero functionality is still in a "beta" phase, but more possible outcomes are coming soon. This is true for each of the genres, as I am constantly adding options when I think of them.

Let's Build an Advanced Character!

-Aaron

"Autosave: A Cautionary Tale" or "Sci-Fi Trope-O-Matic!"

I spent about four hours working on a "Sci-Fi" expansion to the Trope-O-Matic the other night, and I was feeling pretty good about it. What I didn't realize was that I had more than one window open for the same "story", and by accidentally clicking in the wrong window while somehow simultaneously closing the other window I triggered the autosave function on the older version, overwriting everything I had done.

I took some time to re-write everything, and now I can continue with the post I had originally written before I discovered my mistake:


I made some minor tweaks to the "New and Improved Version" and fixed some of the busted results, then I kept messing with it and added a new category for Sci-Fi inspired characters. I swear these choices do not loop back to the fantasy character results with a tag that adds "space" to everything, although that would have been a lot less work and I kind of wish I had thought of it earlier.

The part about this whole diversion that I enjoy the most is coming up with ridiculous character classes. I find myself wanting to actually write them up. If I do that right now, I will likely never finish The Cult of the Fallen Star, so I am forcing myself to slide that idea on the back burner.  When I do get to it, I will make a free PDF "sourcebook" for the classes and throw it in google drive.
So if you haven't taken the Trope-O-Matic for a test spin, or really want an Apprentice Star Yeti Drone Whisperer or perhaps a New-Human Cluster bomber then hit the link below!

Let's make (a better than before) character!