- Location
- Texas
Hey guys, I'm considering running my first solo quest. I've designed a few mechanics that I think would be decently engaging for players while minimizing complexity and maximizing chaos! I'm starting this thread to ask anyone who cares to comment what they think of the system and take suggestions on how fun/infuriating they might find it. (Maybe some worldbuilding and other stuff like that too.)
I've been sitting on this concept for months so I just decided to post it and find out what SV thought about it lest I end up doing nothing with it.
Merry Christmas!
The premise of the quest is that the PC is an automated star-base and most decisions will be made with the traditional vote X for Y action system. The mechanics come into play once the players decide they want to invest in either a construction system (Shipyard/Drone Factory/Etc) or the Research system. Both of which can be chosen as starting equips or unlocked later on.
There are only three basic values to keep track of for resources.
RU: Resource Units, the hunks of rock, shattered ships, and stolen garbage you turn into ships/drones/more or better station parts ect. You get this from mining, salvaging or stealing stuff from NPCs.
RP: Research Points, once you have a research system you get one of these every "turn", or by salvaging, or stealing tech from NPCs, dead aliens, etc.
CV: Combat Value, if you have combat capable ships, drones, or station parts then you have a CV value. When you lump ships into a fleet then you just add their CV together. In combat the fleet with the higher CV wins via subtracting the lower number from the higher. In special circumstances you can get a modifier added to your CV; Say your fleet with 2 CV sets up a clever ambush against a 5 CV fleet and as a result you get a +5 modifier making your total CV 7. Then you subtract the 5 CV of the enemy fleet from the 7 CV of your fleet leaving you with 2 CV remaining. That translates as your ships pulled off their clever ambush flawlessly and took no losses while eliminating the enemy.
Next is the Research system which will let players get new technologies to brain their enemies with along with bonus votes. Think something like fate tokens. Anyway players will become aware of technology as they encounter it in the quest but will only be able to obtain it by buying it with RP. This process can be sped up by obtaining examples of a specific technology. Once a tech is obtained it can be added to the tech library and used for designing new items.
Designing something is as easy as declaring the type of item it is, listing the Techs it utilizes, and explaining how it's meant to function. For example, say you want to build a drone so you say This is a drone using RCS, and Basic Robotics. This would make a remote control drone capable of flying around the station and doing things like moving cargo. However if you add in a computer tech to it like, RCS, Basic Robotics, Basic Computer. Then you get a drone that can fly around the entire star system and perform pre programmed actions like "place this satellite into orbit around X planet, etc. The entire idea behind this is to let SB/SV do what they do best, coming up with ways to ridiculously munchkin technology.
When a player makes a design for the game they get bonus points assigned by the GM based on how useful a design is likely to be. Points can be banked and used at will. This meant a skilled designer can possibly hold a lot of sway over what happens. However be forewarned that I will not stop players using this system to troll everyone by blowing all their points to crash the quest. That also means that I won't stop everyone else from adding a restriction on player points via the Research system. So if you abuse your points, everyone else will compensate for it by limiting their use.
This brings me to what happens when you die screaming in the cold expanse of space. Losing the quest can and probably will happen, when it does you will get an ending, laying out the consequences of what happened and then the quest will be rewound to the previous vote or earlier. Meaning the quest can go on after killing yourself in as an amusing manner as possible.
Let me know what you thought and don't be afraid to ask for clarifications or throw fruit at my head.
I've been sitting on this concept for months so I just decided to post it and find out what SV thought about it lest I end up doing nothing with it.
Merry Christmas!
The premise of the quest is that the PC is an automated star-base and most decisions will be made with the traditional vote X for Y action system. The mechanics come into play once the players decide they want to invest in either a construction system (Shipyard/Drone Factory/Etc) or the Research system. Both of which can be chosen as starting equips or unlocked later on.
There are only three basic values to keep track of for resources.
RU: Resource Units, the hunks of rock, shattered ships, and stolen garbage you turn into ships/drones/more or better station parts ect. You get this from mining, salvaging or stealing stuff from NPCs.
RP: Research Points, once you have a research system you get one of these every "turn", or by salvaging, or stealing tech from NPCs, dead aliens, etc.
CV: Combat Value, if you have combat capable ships, drones, or station parts then you have a CV value. When you lump ships into a fleet then you just add their CV together. In combat the fleet with the higher CV wins via subtracting the lower number from the higher. In special circumstances you can get a modifier added to your CV; Say your fleet with 2 CV sets up a clever ambush against a 5 CV fleet and as a result you get a +5 modifier making your total CV 7. Then you subtract the 5 CV of the enemy fleet from the 7 CV of your fleet leaving you with 2 CV remaining. That translates as your ships pulled off their clever ambush flawlessly and took no losses while eliminating the enemy.
Next is the Research system which will let players get new technologies to brain their enemies with along with bonus votes. Think something like fate tokens. Anyway players will become aware of technology as they encounter it in the quest but will only be able to obtain it by buying it with RP. This process can be sped up by obtaining examples of a specific technology. Once a tech is obtained it can be added to the tech library and used for designing new items.
Designing something is as easy as declaring the type of item it is, listing the Techs it utilizes, and explaining how it's meant to function. For example, say you want to build a drone so you say This is a drone using RCS, and Basic Robotics. This would make a remote control drone capable of flying around the station and doing things like moving cargo. However if you add in a computer tech to it like, RCS, Basic Robotics, Basic Computer. Then you get a drone that can fly around the entire star system and perform pre programmed actions like "place this satellite into orbit around X planet, etc. The entire idea behind this is to let SB/SV do what they do best, coming up with ways to ridiculously munchkin technology.
When a player makes a design for the game they get bonus points assigned by the GM based on how useful a design is likely to be. Points can be banked and used at will. This meant a skilled designer can possibly hold a lot of sway over what happens. However be forewarned that I will not stop players using this system to troll everyone by blowing all their points to crash the quest. That also means that I won't stop everyone else from adding a restriction on player points via the Research system. So if you abuse your points, everyone else will compensate for it by limiting their use.
This brings me to what happens when you die screaming in the cold expanse of space. Losing the quest can and probably will happen, when it does you will get an ending, laying out the consequences of what happened and then the quest will be rewound to the previous vote or earlier. Meaning the quest can go on after killing yourself in as an amusing manner as possible.
Let me know what you thought and don't be afraid to ask for clarifications or throw fruit at my head.
