While SSDC will not be at Gen Con this year in any official capacity, there are some Battlelords events on the schedule. For more information contact Tony Oliveira

Thursday, August 15 at 12pm
Game ID: RPG1342425
Bug Hunt Gone Wrong!

Friday, August 16 at 5pm
Game ID: RPG1341839
Bug Hunt Gone Wrong!

We could use your help with our first indiegogo.

Work on Revised Edition continues. Here are a summary of the major changes since last month.

• changed armor absorption to be the same in each location (chest, abdomen, each arm, each leg) just like I did last version for integrity (simplification)
• simplified grenades to throw all grenades STR/2 in meters including oversized grenades (Plasma, Super Plasma, Plasma Seduction, Omegaton); prices has been adjusted up
• added “armor placemat” for easier tracking of armor absorption and integrity
• replaced full/half, etc. actions with actions points (AP); each race has a se number of action points, which represent how many generic actions (not just combat actions) they can take in a turn, some races (Phentari, Mazian) have more action points than others
• changed armor integrity to be the same value for all armor locations, the tables now list “AI/location” so the AI value is the same for chest, abdomen, each leg and each armor, this was done for simplicity
• You cannot fire full auto at RB7+ (except for weapons with no recoil/lasers).
• Expanded full auto table to RB6
• talking down from tweaking is an opposed check, you can use Military Leadership or Persuasion
• adjusted berserk penalties
• new table/rules for full auto/high ROF
• removed feint
• Light Sword and Energy Mace affect Heavy armor

We are up to version 19 of the Revised main rulebook. Here is a summary of what changes have gone on in the last month.

Major Changes

• created repairing armor costs table (chapter 10)
• increased Talon armor option price from 5k to 18k, talons are used for melee attacks/comparing damage to Light Sword and Energy Mace (chapter 10)
• as per suggestion, changed PS check from PS to PS/2 (chapter 6), along with this added Unskilled Rule (chapter 8a)
• marked which weapons are backpack/belt fed (chapter 11)
• renamed MBA armor to MBA-1 to avoid confusion with MBA armor type (chapter 10)
• removed General Science and Linguistics skills (chapter 9)
• moved Theology to Sciences category (chapter 9)
• moved Terrestrial Knowledge to Social (chapter 9)
• reformatted matrix manipulation (chapter 9)
• added new section on helmet options (chapter 10)
• reversed the results in the head hit location table to 01 is instant kill shot, making rolling 01 better result than 09 (chapter 8b)
• added table for time to get in/out of armor (chapter 10)
• added new brawling rules, including tail swipe (chapter 8b)
• replaced system shock (SS) with CON check
• combined Agility, Body Points, Strength, and Sprint skills into Fitness skill (chapter 9)

Playtest Questions

• Should we remove the older APWs (e.g. M-16)? Which ones?
• Do we need a bester name for UPC? Suggestions?
• Need feedback on play with the Matrix Manipulation skill rules (chapter 9)

Brawling

It was clear from the feedback that the TBP approach was too much/unpopular. I have a new mechanic for this that is almost complete. This should be ready for next week.

This was done after pouring through the tons of feedback we have gotten around brawling, melee and combat in general. Even if this does not end up the final version of this rule a huge thanks to everyone who has contributed to this topic. There are a headache causing amount of issues to consider.

It is clear from the feedback that people do not like the TBP idea for sub-dual damage. I see it is wrong particularly when a tester said tracking TBP and BP was like tracking AI and ABS. I have tried a different approach (derived from feedback) to this. This is not something that happens a lot so I do not want it to be a complex mechanic. Straight HTH combat is a smaller aspect of Battlelords combat, most combat being firearms. As such we did not want a complicated mechanic for a relatively smaller portion of the game. We also wanted something that is more exciting.

Using # attacks for HTH feels very old school and a level of detail unnecessary for most when it is usually a relatively small portion of combat (firearms making up the majority of combat for most).

Playtesting of revised edition is moving alone. We have kept up the pace of a new version once/week. Here is a collection of the major changes for the last month.

Major Changes

• tweaks to MHW (Modern Hand Weapon) damage types, descriptions, and prices.
• reverse attack roll numbers to determine hit location
• added SC combat modifiers back in
• added to description of new Reattach Limb matrix
• renamed Survival (Urban) to Streetwise
• combined Repair (Robotic) and Robotic Modification into Repair (Robotic)
• thanks to a great observation, adjusted the training times of skills so not biased towards military/espionage skills
• Mazian MD PS bonus changed from +0 to +20
• revised “rewards – skill points” section fo GM chapter
• added Machinist as prerequisite to Weaponsmith
• added some starting HTH levels to Eridani
• added rank back (into Game Master chapter)
• combined rank tables into only Mercenary and Mercenary Officer tables
• converted rank tables from promotion points to total skill points
• adjusted price of energy mace and IR of light sword
• all the matrices (across all books) are now in a database (744 matrices)
• all helmets (across all books) are now in a database (46 helmets)
• add armor (across all books) are now in a database (88 armors)
• started the basics of a new character sheet (included)
• vetting SMR feedback

Cybernetics have been changed:

In Book Copy
Cybernetics is an oddity. There was a period where cybernetics enhancements were readily available, but Alliance security concerns and a number of very public incidents has ended that. Presently cybernetics are used as a stop-gap until getting ahold of some Regeneration Serum. Normal body replacements have become uncommon, with enhancements now the domain of the black market or remote dealers.

An alternative is a limb transplant. This is a relatively cheap and easy surgery. You will occasionally see people walking around with different colored limbs. Many the Battlelord has lost a limb in the middle of a mission, caught without Regen Serum and a long way from appropriate facilities, who has grabbed any random arm left on the battlefield and asked the group’s Zen to it fuze onto his stump “for now, at least until we get home”.

Explanation to Playtesters
Rewrite of cybernetics. Removed most of the enhancements (finger laser, etc.). Cybernetics has always felt like an awkward add-on to the Battlelords universe, not part of the setting. It does not fit with the feel. Cybernetics have never felt like Battlelords to me. Also, in practice it is often a min/maxing mechanic. We will re-publish the cybernetics material on the web or in another product. The new core book needs to strongly convert the feel of the setting. Cybernetics takes away from this, and is a relatively small part of the game. It was something I could cut. Cybernetics is not entirely gone, mind you. Cybernetic arms, legs are still available, but the enhancements are largely gone. Enhancements such as web generators, in your wrist, etc. are now the domain of the black market. Hence, finding your basic arm or leg cybernetic is uncommon and more expensive. Another common use of cybernetics is eye replacement for the Python races. This negates one of their major penalties. This is not the kind of think that most people in the Alliance would want. Cybernetic eyes are included in what I have referred to as “basic body parts”, it should be harder to find and more expensive. Another point of this is so the Tanndai are more unique.

We have made limb replacement a relatively easy surgery (DF -40), and added Zen matrices for limb transplant (PP 3), and there is already the Zen matrix Regenerate Limb (PP 6).

Playtest Questions

• I’d like GMs to try using only the chest values (ABS, AI) and no hit location when tracking NPCs. Any hit to an NPC (no matter the location the play rolls) is considered to hit the chest. Using the chest as a proxy for the entire NPC armor will greatly reduce the tracking of NPC armor for NPCs.- I have heard of groups that buy skills up to UPC 100 and that is it as they had the impression that there is no DF applied when using a skill. Do you get this impression from reading the rules? Is it clear that the GM gives you a DF to subtract from your UPC when you use a skill? If not, then what is unclear, and where in the text is the unclear portion(s)?
• To account for different background/schooling how about we have random levels of starting skills for races? For example, Eridani have 1d4 levels of HTH to start. Perhaps this is an option for realism (each starting skill is 1d4 levels instead of the stated number of levels). You would have some difference between starting members of the same race.
• The items in the database will stil have to be updated after revised is final, but a bulk of the work is complete. Having this info in the database is a big step towards a mobile app or a web app. What kind of tool would you like to see?

We are moving along with the (almost) weekly release of new versions of the play test document. Here is a summary of the last few versions.

Changes of Note

• expanded glossary (which is at the end of the core rules chapter)
• reordered chapters so that glossary/core rules are before character creation chapter
• added PS raising drugs from various places, all to emergency medical gear, along with IQ raising drug
• added point buy option for generating PS
• removed M (max level) column for normal skills (not specials) as it is +125 for all
• added note that SB can be extended beyond +125 with SB from equipment and matrices
• changed Armor COR SMR to CHE
• snap shot penalty applies when firing into melee
• research into SMRs
• removed Gen-Human (warrior class); too many issues, Gen-Human is already a bonus on top of the Human, we have enough warrior elements
• many changes to matrices (primarily from feedback)
• work on cleaning up how skills are mentioned – e.g. racial starting skills are broken into starting skill bonuses and starting special skills, and listed as +X
• added note the the max SB for any skill is +125 (this includes any SB purchased, from race, IWJGU, or anything else)
• There should be no more mention of “motivators”. If you find any please tell me specifically where.
• I corrected terminology from “clip” to “magazine”. Let me know if you find any remaining references.

Playtest Question

• I am thinking of removing some skill descriptions all together. This would only be for obvious skills, like poetry. Thoughts?
• I need examples of things a Mazian can do with Shape Change.
• Reading ONLY the race fluff chapter, do you get a good sense of the race? It would be great if you could ask someone who is new or never played to read it and see what their impression is. As this chapter has no mechanics they do not have to have to be a gamer. What is their impression of the various races? Do they get a good sense of what they are like? Are they left with any big questions?
• I have heard nothing about this so I assume everyone likes the change that you do not split XP/SPs in half when you are a matrix controller, instead Generation is a special skill that you can advance as you like.
• What is a better term for “Melee ROF”?
• Tell me specifically what items/text make the game feel DND/Anime.

We can still use more playtesters.

A few weeks ago we moved to a weekly release of the latest version of the playtest rules. This has gone well in keeping interest up. We release on Thursdays, as most groups play on the weekends. There is still a lot of changes I have to make, but we are steadily moving forward with lots of great feedback. We always welcome more playtesters. I am going to focus in the next few weeks on the combat chapter as that has, by far, the most comments. There are some very interesting suggestions I will think about and apply. After this I will be doing a complete re-read/review of the combat chapter to smooth it out.

That’s it for this month.

The first thing is that I finished editing of the long out of print module Injection. This leaves the status as such: the layout is complete and most of the art is complete. Once the artwork is complete we will have one more quick pass to make sure we did not miss anything major, and then we will make it available as a PDF.

Next, playtesting is in full swing. The playtesters mailing list is active, and there is lots of good feedback. We can always use more – just contact me if you want to participate. Borrowing from my dy job as a software engineer I am going to try to apply some of the agile paradigm to the playtesting now. Instead of going months between revisions of the playtest documents I am going to try to put one out every week or so. Then the new ideas can be tried out faster. I think this will also make it more manageable for me.

That’s all for now.

Sorry I have not posted in several months. A major life event ate up my life for several months. I am getting back into it now. Version 5 of the playtest rules is still in the layout phase. This will be the first version that is the entire new core rulebook, so we have to put this through layout else it would be very difficult to use. There is a lot to do, so we are considering releasing a chapter at a time, as we do it, that way we can get something into the hands of the playtesters. That is all for now.

Progress on layout for the next version of the playtest document is progressing. We are still making some fluff changes as we go. Currently the fluff races chapter is in progress. As you recall we split the races chapter into a fluff and a crunch chapter.

Some other changes to the races is that we have moved the Gen-Human to a “Variation on a Theme” section of the Human, and we have moved the Tza Zen Rigeln to the “Variation on a Theme” section for Zen Rigeln.

After the races chapters are layout complete we will move on to layout for the combat chapter.

A change to the combat section is that we have created a single malfunction table. This speeds up and simplified weapon malfunctions. For those that want to keep the weapon system specific malfunction tables, we will include those free on our web site.

Another item of note is that we are close to having the long out of print Injection adventure ready. It has had extensive editing and flow changes so the story makes sense. I just need to so a final read through.

That is all for this month. Please subscribe and any comments are welcome.