Posts tagged "scifi"

June 2019 update and devblog

Greetings, Sabre enthusiast! For this month's update, the main focus has been on revising and updating the Bestiary's monster entries, mostly to replace the old tables with the new forms, but as the work went on, I noticed a lot of anachronistic or flat out wrong information, so it's all been brought up to the latest iteration of the system (and it looks a whole lot nicer!)

I also took the opportunity to add and update some monster art, as shown below:

 

I feel like I'm cheating a bit, as I decided to speed up the process by using some royalty-free stock images to fill out the backgrounds, but I think the result is much nicer and it's far cheaper than having a dedicated professional artist come in and do them, so it's a nice middle ground. Plus, I'm spread thin working on the system itself, so it's a big time saver. 

For now, it's just the monster entries that have been updated, which I just finished up today. I'll continue working on the NPC templates going forward, as most of those will crossover with the scifi Encounters manual too. I'll also do a few more pictures, as I think I can speed things up a bit in that regard. 

Oh, one more thing: I've disable the Sabre Character Sheets product on DriveThruRPG, as I didn't see the point in trrying to maintain that in addition to the fillable forms. 

It feels like the system as a whole is settling down, with fewer tweaks needed as we go. As such, there's not a lot done to the rest of the system, though the scifi books get a bit more love, as you'd expect (it's newer and more complex). So that's about all for this month, so until next time, peace out.

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Sabre Scifi Core Rulebook v1.13 

* Taser glove is now more expensive, only adds +1 damage, and has 3 charges per battery.

* Arborean ranged weapons count as Heavy Weapons (spore cannon) or Longarms (thorn gun) for modding.

* Medic talent now grants +1 HP gain to First Aid and Surgery skill results.

* LAW rockets and Mini-Missiles are now counted as Heavy Weapons.

* Solid shotgun slugs now provide 20/80 base range.

* Lift Fans robot upgrade now limits the robot to 2 armour plating upgrades.

* Mentioned that the human's Ambitious Effort manoevure can be used after the skill roll.

* Added 'Hydraulic Assist' option for the Hazard Suit invention.

* Dimensional Shunt now imposes a -20% skill penalty check if you can't see the target location.

* Noted that the sawn-off barrel mod can only apply to longarms of L size or less.

* Latent Mutation genetics mod has been revised with fewer negative results, the ones that are there are less onerous, and there are more positive ones.

* Added Antacid medicine.

* Fixed a few vehicle upgrade entries such as Armour Plating and Docking Bay.

* Added computer programming requirements for Bio-Analyser, Compact Nuke, Critical Shield, Fusion Generator, Gravity Gun, Hazard Suit, Invisibility Cloak, Microbe Filter, Mind Probe, Mini-Drone, Omnivisor, Phase Shifter, Powered Armour, Security Matrix, Sentry Turret, Signal Disruptor, Tactical Analyser, Temporal Compressor, Wormhole generator.

* Infopads in the high-tech era now also have a holographic display.

* Updated the base building section with correct information.

* Field Medic background loses Healing skill, gains Medicine. Loses extra damage bonus and gains a time bonus to perform First Aid in 1 round. Also gains 1 extra background event.

* Healing skill is now called Surgery.

* Surgery Talent is now called Advanced Surgery.

* Feline venator minimum height is now 110cm, Ursine venator minimum height is now 250cm.

* Off-road suspension and Tracked upgrades for ground vehicles now grant -2 movement, but don't halve their total movement off-road.

* The bonus from Academic contacts is now +10% extra accolades at the end of each session (instead of a flat +1).

* Machine Language can now only be written and read by non-machine characters, not spoken.

* Added 'Mind Link' psychic discipline.

* An Extended Period of Study now clearly outlines 8 hours is required for the check.

* 'Efficient Study' talent now allows a 2nd check if 12 hours are spent performing an Extended Period of Study.

* 'Signal Disruptor' invention is now modern era, altered components.

* Added 'Plasma Caster' modern nuclear invention.

* Vehicle Turrets specify they can only mount 1 weapon each. 

* Linked weapons have to by fixed mount (forward, rear etc).

* Added 'Omnivisor' modern electronics invention.

* Restored the missing 'mini-drone' invention (now new and improved!)

* Added 'Radiation Cleanser' modern invention.

* 'Annihiliator Warhead' is now called 'Compact Nuke', available in modern era.

* Weapon Turrets are now just Standard (max of 3 slot weapons) and Heavy Duty (up to 6 slot weapons). HD turrets add +10 HP to the weapon.

* Added Command & Control upgrade to allow leadership abilities to be used for vehicles. 

 

Starship Manual v1.03

* Updated the navigation and commander's sheets with space for more data.

* Added 'Repair Specialist' talent.

* Removed 'Emergency Procedures' talent.

* 'Cloaking Expert' talent is now listed under Engineering talents, also benefits Silent Running.

* Updated the engineer's character sheet with space for hull type and species design.

* 'Stealth Mode' is now called 'Silent Running'.

* Thruster upgrade now increases atmo speed by 25%, increases Max Lift by 1 ton per hull class, and reduces fuel by -1. Uses 20 parts per hull class.

* Expanded Drone Bay now uses 10 slots instead of cargo space.

* Ships Advanced Brig now uses only 20kw of power.

* Armour Plating now increases ship weight by 1 ton per Hull Part.

* Characters can use any ship's console without penalty so long as they have the Computers skill (they no longer need the Console Operation talent to avoid a penalty).

* The Console Operation talent now gives the character using it the bonus from that console (without this talent, there's no bonus).

 

Sabre Fantasy Premium Core Rulebook v2.94

* Healing skill is now called Surgery.

* Surgery Talent is now called Advanced Surgery.

* The bonus from Academic contacts is now +10% extra accolades at the end of each session (instead of a flat +1).

* An Extended Period of Study now clearly outlines 8 hours is required for the check.

* 'Efficient Study' talent now allows a 2nd check if 12 hours are spent performing an Extended Period of Study.

* Updated monster templates in the Sample Bestiary.

 

Sabre Fantasy Basic Core Rulebook v1.78

* Healing skill is now called Surgery.

* Surgery Talent is now called Advanced Surgery.

* The bonus from Academic contacts is now +10% extra accolades at the end of each session (instead of a flat +1).

* An Extended Period of Study now clearly outlines 8 hours is required for the check.

* 'Efficient Study' talent now allows a 2nd check if 12 hours are spent performing an Extended Period of Study.

* Updated monster templates in the Sample Bestiary.

 

Sabre Fantasy Bestiary v2.56

* Updated and revised all monster templates (NPC templates will be done next month). Added or updated art for Storm Crow, Celestial (minor), Demon (minor), Aethereal (minor), Astaroth, Virtue.

March 2019 update and devblog

Hi, welcome to another monthly update for Sabre! This might end up being the longest blog I've written, as there's big things afoot for the system. Firstly, my publisher was shuttered by its parent company, so I'm back to being an indie author again. I'm disappointed how it turned out, but in the long run, it did wonders for the quality of my books so I can't complain. But I've decided to put aside writing for the rest of the year and focus on Sabre instead. So let's take a look at what's happening with this update, and coming over the next 9 months.

 

Bestiary Epic recalibration

Some of the high-end monsters such as ancient dragons didn't end up being as powerful as I'd hoped. I'll confess I never ran the numbers on just how much damage and AP a character can get, but when I farmed that task out to my beta team, the results were a little startling. I'm fine with those numbers, but I needed to crank up the power of the epic monsters a lot, and so, I have :) The biggest can have over 40 AP, and can deal around 60 damage in one hit, so you can expect a truly epic fight requiring the finest of equipment in order to tackle them. This is Sabre in hardcore mode ;) This of course means the Threat Level for these creatures has gone up quite a bit, which leads to:

 

Threat Level Table Tweak

I had originally set up the table to max out at TL 20, since in teh fantasy system it's almost impossible to get a player character that high. But there's no reason things can't go higher, so an ancient dragon hits TL 28 (epic) now, requiring a party of very well equipped end-game characters to win. The calculations have been modified for damage output, to make it easier - that first 10 damage was only worth 2 points, but now it's simply a matter of half your max damage = the addition to the calculation. Smoother! We've also added a section for the evade result bonus, as a slippery character can be extremely difficult to hit, and it's certainly worth counting it if they avoid damage altogether like that. Extra attacks and Luck Points are worth a bit more as well.

 

Streamlined Spirit Talents

Another idea from my beta testers was to streamline the way extra Spirit Points are gained through talents. So all those talents that gave +2, +3, +4 spirit etc, are now compressed into self-updating talents that you don't need to repeatedly take. This is an ongoing theme with sabre updates, as talents can get pretty expensive after a while and I really like the ones that automatically give a new bonus as the skill they're tied to increases. I've also allowed the spirit talents tied to the resistance skills to yield more at higher levels, and the primary greater magic/psychic talent is now "Transcendent", which results in more Spirit than before. A common comment from players using spellcasters/psychics is that they burn through spirit very rapidly, and while I'm reluctant to give out too much, it doesn't hurt to let those numbers go a little higher. This carries over to the bestiary and encounters manuals too, where caster templates will have more spirit as a result.

 

99% weapon talents improvement

Yet another tweak from my crack team of beta testers is to make the 99%, top tier talents more appealing and powerful. Some were already fine, but some others needed improvement, so you'll find them much more interesting to get once you hit that coveted 99% skill level. You can see more about the details of this in teh changelog notes below, and it affects both scifi and fantasy systems.

 

Drone System revamp (take two!)

On to more scifi-specific stuff. The drone system has evolved over the past few months, as the initial build was too complex and slowed down gameplay, and the recent change, while better, was still too complex. Basically the ability to make your own drones from scratch gave a little too much freedom, and we found that specific types of drones were very common, and thus, the system has been updated with new, pre-made templates, just like the vehicle and starship system. A drone being used on a combat grid must be directly controlled with an action, but they can be pre-programmed to operate outside of sensor range to perform tasks, too. Basically, one drone is used in combat, and drone swarms can be up to 4 cmbat drones slaved together at once (effectively acting as one drone). Burst weapons have been removed from their available weapon list, and instead, drone swarms use a burst dice to determine how many weapon hits they get during an attack. This streamlines gameplay and makes it easier for the Telemetry operator to keep track.

 

Veiran Tweak (take two!)

Ah, the Veiran, the most challenging species to balance and play! I've recently made a character that I'll be playing in one of our local games, and it became obvious that even after the recent overhaul, it was still a bit lacking. It only had one species talent, and its capabilities were a bit limited. So, you'll find their abilities greatly expanded now, and as I play-test it further, we'll see if I overcooked its combat abilities ;) *readies the nerf bat*.

 

Starship cost increase and unlimited hull size

Ships were too cheap in general, so their costs have gone up, especially for stardrives. But the upside of this is that there is no upper limit on hull class now, with a section on how to calculate a ship's capabilities of any size, even a moon! Wait, that's no moon...

Speaking of starships, let's talk more about what's coming up in the near future.

 

Starship section separation

When the scifi edition came out, it was around 370 pages, so I had no compunctions about putting the starship stuff in there too. But with the addition of inventions, base building and such, it's ballooned out to 436 pages, and that's a LOT of stuff. My mid-range tablet is having a little trouble navigating around now, and I think it's just become too big. So, I'll be taking out the starship section and putting it into its own manual, which comes in at around 60 pages. The Zacharial species will be moved over too, as this species relies on rules for ship boarding for some of its powers, and it's a starfaring species too :)

This will make both manuals easier to navigate, and give it more room for expansion for things such as pictures, and detailing specifics about equipment etc. The ship manual will be $2.50 US once released. Speaking of extra manuals...

 

Siege Warfare

This is something I shelved a few years ago to concentrate on getting scifi happening, but I was able to hand this off to my beta team (thanks Aidan!) to figure out how it'll work. The basics are done, but it needs layout and cover art complete of course. We'll also test it! I'll probably run a special siege session where the players will try to take my castle, and we'll see how it goes! 

 

Bestiary Art

I want to get back into finishing the artwork for the bestiary. My style has improved since the last batch I did, so I'm hoping to continue filling out this section, especially for the custom creatures unique to Sabre. 

 

Metric to Imperial Conversion

I had hoped that a metric system would be okay with most players in the US, but it seems it's still a stumbling block for many players. So I plan on adding imperial units to the system, alongside metric where possible. Object encumbrance (ENC) is basically pounds anyway, so that's easy, and there's plenty of places where both units can be placed alongside each other, such as temperature and speed. Yards and metres are pretty close, so the basic ground combat grid will be 1 yard squares, and vehicles will be in 10 yard squares. I know feet are more conmmonly used, but this is easier and I'm super lazy :P The starship grid is a little trickier, as kilometres and miles are out by more than half, but I'll figure something out. I hope this will help our American friends get a handle on the system and give it a try :)

 

Intro Modules

I've had a half-completed intro module sitting here for about a year, and now I'm actually going to finish it and get it out there, to help players understand the unique mechanics the scifi system has to offer. It'll be a two-part affair, with part 1 offering ground and vehicle combat, plus all the basics such as skill checks etc. Part 2 is when the party gets on board a starship, and covers all aspects of that part of the game. It should be fairly self-contained, so you won't even need the separate starship manual to see how it all works :)

 

Further Story Modules

Finally, after the two free modules are done, I'd love to do a bunch of premium modules for the scifi system. I'm thinking 3 high-tech stories with starships etc, 1 industrial era to show off the steampunk aspects of the system, and 1 modern era mod that will probably be vehicle-heavy. This will take the bulk of the rest of the year to complete. 

So, that's a lot of stuff! Some of these items are ongoing, others will be released when they're ready. I'm all typed out for now, so take care and I'll bring you another update next month :)

 

v1.10 scifi manual update

Threat Levels

* Damage on the Threat Level table is now calculated as +1 for every 2 points (easier calculation).

* Extra attacks on the Threat Level table now has a value of +5.

* Luck Points on the Threat Level now have a value of +1 each.

* Threat Level tables now include the calculation for every +2% evade or agility result bonus.

* Ramming Prow shares an entry with the Redundant systems value. 

* Added a new Threat Level table for calculating ship TL.

 

Industrial Era

* Expanded the capabilities of the Optical Pump steampunk (Industrial Era) invention.

* 'Improvised Ammunition' invention is now just 'Ammunition', also has some Industrial Era applications.

* Added 'Follow & Defend Ally' command for clockwork and steam golems.

* 'Steam Power Fist' invention has had its damage slightly reduced.

* Steam engines have their start-up time noted.

 

Veiran Species

* Added 'Animate Dead' veiran talent.

* Added 'Bioweapon' Veiran talent. Energy Field talent no longer grants Invulnerability to electrical damage.

* 'Coalesce' and 'Possess' Veiran manoeuvres now correctly use the Psychic skill.

* 'Energy Field' talent now also grants immunity to electrical damage.

* 'Conduit' talent can now also be taken by Veiran, also allows power to be transferred to a ship's capacitor. Improved basic function to make it more useful.

* 'Lightning Bolt' manoevure grants additonal damage with extra spirit spent.

 

General

* Added 'Nudge' drive manoeuvre.

* Added MIRV warhead ammunition option for missiles.

* Gaining a Luck Point from getting drunk only grants 1 per session.

* Splinter Arrows no longer have a +5 damage bonus.

* Weapons mounted on vehicles and starships in a fixed position are gimble weapons, able to hit anything in a cone 5 squares wide.

* 'Transcendent' talent now grants +4 spirit per tier. Total extra spirit available from talents is now 32 (16 psychic, 12 from resistances, 4 from martial arts), up from 22 (14 psychic, 6 from resistances, 2 from martial arts).

* Graceful, Resolute, Stalwart and Zen Master talents now begin with +1 spirit at 50% of their respective skills and auto update to +4 at 99%.

* Removed the 'Spirited' talent.

* Noted that the 'Partial Block' talent doesn’t work when blocking for others.

* 'Hold the Line' polearm talent now lets you automatically push targets back to maximum longreach range.

* Corrected the text for group rolls.

* Wheel Covers vehicle upgrade now has -3% Agility penalty.

* Removed the Move bonus from plasma jet vehicle upgrades, reduced the Fusion engine Move bonus to +1.

* Ground vehicle Turbine engine upgrade only provides +1 Move now.

* Transit plates now have only +1 Move, Angled plates have no Move bonus at all. Induction and Transit plates have had their Cruise and Max speed figures increased.

* Noted that Nitrous Injectors, Overcharge and Fusion Pulse upgrades use 1 fuel per round.

* Long Range fuel tanks and batteries also apply -1 Move.

* Added 'Extra Luck' leadership talent.

* Added 'Ironclad' armour talent.

* 'Savage Axes' talent now lets you roll on the lasting injury table.

* 'Bruiser' club talent is now 99%, stuns damaged targets.

* 'Armour Breaker' club talent is now at 70%.

* Added 'No Time to Bleed' general talent.

* 'Sword Specialist' talent's dice increase automatically goes up again at 90%.

* 'Deadly Swords' talent now grants Expanded critical to swords.

* 'Slayer of Legends' talent has been replaced with 'Counterstrike' at 99%.

* Increased the damage output from high-tech dual weapons.

* Added descriptions of high-tech ranged weapons.

* Added Plasma and Impact (bludgeoning) warheads for missiles, under 'Special Ammunition'. Upgraded that table with an 'Era' column.

* Added additional starbases for the base building system.

* 'Improvised Rocket' invention deals an extra +5 damage.

* 'Improvised Ammo' invention for Heavy Missile/At Missile requires 50 less parts.

* Fusion Generators are now worth 2mil each (4x previous cost).

* Android and Automatons have had their language clarified regarding their resistance to 'telepathy', now correctly states 'immune to mental attacks'.

* All dark matter theory inventions now also require graphene parts.

* Explained that a sentry turret can be vocally controlled, or via a Remote Control device or transmitter.

* The effective range of a Remote Control device is 1 kilometre.

* Clarified more details about the use of 'Dimensional Shunt' on a starship.

* 'Locate' psi power has had its object size increased.

* Added details for how 'Bend Light' psi power works on a starship. 

* Added 'One in a Million' pilot talent.

* Filled in the empty description of 'On the Move' acrobatics manoeuvre.

* Noted in the relevant armour sections that all modern armour is non-conductive, and graphene armour IS conductive (but silksteel isn't).

* Sentry Turrets now have a listed number of charges (20).

* Improvised Gun weapons with the Oneshot trait can switch firing modes if they also have a trait allowing multiple attacks, losing the +4 damage bonus.

* Improvised Laser weapons with plasma damage (and therefore the Oneshot trait) can switch firing modes if they also have a trait allowing multiple attacks, losing the +4 damage bonus. Plasma damage type now requires 90% skill. Added 'Disrupt' trait option. Added Capacitor use adjustments for when mounted on a ship.

* Improvised Laser energy cannon type now deals 1d10+12 damage as baseline.

* Added details of concentration abilities to the Manoeuvres section.

* Added a 'Bonus' column to the weapons list on character sheets. Some have extra space for weapon mod notes too (thanks Aidan!)

* Added a separate Research section in Game Mechanics to cover the use of libraries, encyclopaedia and databases. 

* Clarified the text under 'Learning new skills' concerning the use of Skill Manuals.

* Added 'Data Server' base upgrade.

* Any unit with a Positronic Brain upgrade is not limited in how many Talents they can remove, provided those talents were bought with accolades.

* Added 'Organic Editor' cybernetics mod that eliminates the 3 talent limit for removing talents you don't want.

* Folding Stock weapon mod now makes it clear the weapon can still only accept pistol mods.

* 12mm Sniper Rifle and modern era flamethrower are now Enormous in SIZ.

* 'Neural Programming' talent is now available with Electronics for turrets and mini-drones.

* 'Catalyser' heavy version now deals +4 damage.

* 'Dark Matter Gun' and 'Sonic Blaster' longarm upgrades now also provide +2 damage.

* Fixed the link to encyclopaedia from the base building & starship Library upgrade.

* Added 'Quick Grab' Melee and Martial Arts manoeuvre.

* Corrected the ENC of the 'Mechanised Armour' invention.

 

Starship Stuff

* Added 'Tunnel Rat' starship mechanic talent.

* Transfer Weapons engineering action now halves damage output from ship's main weapons.

* Corrected skill references on Telemetry actions to use the Robotics skill.

* 'Disrupt Shields' manoeuvre now lowers the AP of the target ship's shield AP.

* Added the capability to create starship hulls above class 7 in size(!)

* Adjusted the hit point advancement of starships to be +25 per class, which has lowered class 5 hulls and above. Class 7 hulls also have 3 less AP.

* Added a mechanic to increase the time it takes to get to ship systems when they are damaged, based on hull class. Class 1 and 2, zero travel time. Class 3 and 4, 1 travel time etc. Added space on Telemetry sheet to note repair travel time.

* Emergency Repairs no longer require a Part or Circuit, as these are temporary fixes.

* Ships above class 7 in hull size can't enter an atmosphere unless they have the streamlined hull configuration.

* The Heavy Weapons skill is now used for all tactical console operations.

* Mentari hull designs now have -3 to ship’s primary weapon damage per hull class.

* Stardrives are now 5 million credits per hull class.

* References to Psi Bridge have been corrected to Psi Console.

* Starship template costs now factor in the increased expense of fusion generators and wormhole generators.

* Removed 'Drone Control System', has been merged into sensor system on all hulls.

* All hulls start with a bay for 1 tiny drone.

* 'Drone Bay' upgrade is now 'Expanded Drone Bay', uses 500 ENC.

* Added drone and robot purchase prices.

* Drones no longer use Hull Parts, adjusted part requirement numbers. 

* Revised the starship drone section.

* Added extra drone character sheets for specific drone types.

* Cloaking devices now use 2 Capacitor per hull size.

* Escape Pods can now support life for 72 hours.

* Explained that a ship's sensor upgrade grants its result bonus to all sensor related opposed checks.

* Added a sensor bonus entry on the Defence station sheet.

 

 

v2.91 Premium Fantasy Manual

* Corrected the text for group rolls.

* Added 'Extra Luck' leadership talent.

* Added 'Ironclad' armour talent.

* 'Savage Axes' talent now lets you roll on the lasting injury table.

* 'Bruiser' club talent is now 99%, stuns damaged targets.

* 'Armour Breaker' club talent is now at 70%.

* Added 'No Time to Bleed' general talent.

* Streamlined 'Empowered Caster', 'Energetic Mind' and 'Transcendent Caster' psychic talents into one self updating talent called 'Transcendent', +4 at 50% skill and tops out at 99%.

* Graceful, Resolute, Stalwart and Zen Master talents now begin with +1 spirit at 50% of their respective skills and auto update to +4 at 99%.

* Removed 'Spirited' talent. 

* 'Sword Specialist' talent dice increase automatically goes up again at 90%.

* 'Deadly Swords' talent now grants Expanded critical to swords.

* 'Slayer of Legends' talent has been replaced with 'Counterstrike' at 99%.

* Threat Level tables now include the calculation for every +2% evade or agility result bonus.

* Damage on the Threat Level table is now calculated as +1 for every 2 points (easier calculation).

* Extra attacks on the Threat Level table now has a value of +5.

* Luck Points on the Threat Level now have a value of +1 each.

* Added 'Quick Grab' Melee and Martial Arts manoeuvres.

* Noted that the 'Partial Block' talent doesn’t work when blocking for others.

* 'Hold the Line' polearm talent now lets you automatically push targets back to maximum longreach range.

 

v1.75 Basic Fantasy Manual

* Corrected the text for group rolls.

* 'Armour Breaker' club talent is now at 70%, replacing 'Bruiser' talent in the basic edition.

* Streamlined 'Empowered Caster', 'Energetic Mind' and 'Transcendent Caster' psychic talents into one self updating talent called 'Transcendent', +4 at 50% skill and tops out at 99%.

* Graceful, Resolute, and Stalwart talents now begin with +1 spirit at 50% of their respective skills and auto update to +4 at 99%.

* Removed 'Spirited' talent. 

* 'Sword Specialist' talent dice increase automatically goes up again at 90%.

* 'Deadly Swords' talent now grants Expanded critical to swords.

* Threat Level tables now include the calculation for every +2% evade or agility result bonus.

* Damage on the Threat Level table is now calculated as +1 for every 2 points (easier calculation).

* Extra attacks on the Threat Level table now has a value of +5.

* Luck Points on the Threat Level now have a value of +1 each.

 

v2.54 Fantasy Bestiary

* Increased damage of Annihilator, Arboreal Behemoth, Astaroth, Basilisk, Grizzly Bear, Fel Chimera, Malefic Chimera, Dire Bear, Dire Wolf, Adult Dragon, Ancient Dragon, Old Dragon, Entropaal, Giant Shaman, Giant Warlord, Auldsteel Golem, Bone Golem, Dreadnaught Golem (also lost 4 AP and EC), Fey Cat, Flesh Golem, Iron Golem, Stone Golem, Horse, Kraken, Landshark, Leviathan, Linnorm, Malphas, Megalodon, Mummy, Paragon, Primordion, Revenant, Sa'quaarin, Sea Serpent, Seraph, Shoggoth (also lost 2 attacks), Skeletal Dragon, Titan, Umbral, Unicorn, Werewolf, Titanic Worm (also lost 4 AP), Fast Zombie, Giant Zombie, 

* Increase AP and TL rating of big monsters, with their own section in the 'Creatures by TL' section. Annihilator 16, Arboreal Behemoth 18, Auldsteel Golem 18, Dragon Ancient 28, Dragon Old 22, Dreadnought Golem 22, Entropaal  21, Kraken 20, Leviathan 27, Linnorm 14, Malphas 27, Paragon 27, Sa’quaarin 21, Shoggoth 26, Titan 24.

* Some creatures with an evade skill result bonus have increased in TL due to this addition to the calculation.

* Added manoeuvres to the Arboreal Behemoth.

* Added seduction manoeuvres to the Vampire and Nymph.

* Silver weapons now deal regular damage against undead instead of Vulnerability (+10).

July 2018 update and changelog notes

Hi everyone, we've got a bunch of fixes and improvements for the scifi system, and of course some of them carry over to the fantasy system too! Let's get started:

Background Events have undergone an overhaul. I didn't find gaining additional contacts compelling (and tended to re-roll those ones) so I've replaced them with more skill buffs and other interesting effects. There are more negative background events too, though I've reduced the chance of them showing up from 11% to 7%.

I've brought the Healing skill into line with the scifi system, where it's a background-only skill. It takes years to learn how to do surgery! I've also adjusted it so it requires the pain-relief tonic (or anaesthetic in modern and high-tech settings) or it incurs a -20% skill penalty. It's hard to mend wounds when someone is screaming so much!

The tables listing cost and time for learning skills, spells, manoevures and inventions have all been revised to include higher levels of intelligence, and I felt that spells should be learned a bit faster so the cost for those has come down quite a bit. 

For the scifi system, I'm expanding information for pre-modern settings, under the new Industrial Era, which covers 19th century weapons, and other related things. I'll be running a steampunk campaign in the near future and this will give me a chance to see what I can do to improve this area of the system. I gave the clockwork and steam inventions an overhaul too, so I think it'll work pretty well :) I'll expand upon this further as the game gets underway.

Fear not, the starship system has had a lot of fixes too, with better information clarifying a number of mechanics. We've been having a blast with our current Bridge Crew campaign and it's been a great opportunity to tweak a number of issues. That's all for this month, check out the changelog notes below for more detail!

 

v1.02 scifi core rulebook

New Stuff!

* Added an Industrial Era, with its own backgrounds, weapons and inventions. 

* Added 'Mechanical Man/Woman', 'Revived Human', 'Living Engine', 'Steam Contraption', 'Game Hunter' and 'Explorer'  Industrial era backgrounds.

* Added 'Telemetry Lock' starship manoeuvre.

* Added 'Activate Cloak' starship defensive systems action.

* Added 'Focused Laser' upgrade for the Tactical Analyser.

* Added 'Stealthy' background event.

* Added 'Slow' negative background event.

* Added 'Unlucky' negative background event.

* Added 'Mini-Drone' and 'Signal Disruptor' electronics inventions.

* Added 'Steam Parts' and 'Clockwork Parts', specifically for use with low-tech (steampunk) inventions and adjusted these inventions appropriately.

* Added 'Ramming Speed' pilot starship manoeuvre.

* Added details about what masers are and how they work.

* Added 'Shell' weapon trait, similar to missile trait but doesn't count as a missile for modification purposes.

* Added '20mm Elephant Gun' and 'Punt Gun' Industrial era firearms.

* Added 'Cone' trait details to ranged weapon traits list.

* Added new 'Blast Shield' high-tech mechanical invention.

* Added 'Miner' prospecting talent.

 

Fixes and Improvements

* Ship hull sizes are now expressed in 'Class', so as not to confuse their size with vehicles. i.e. Compact hull is now Class 1, Colossal hull is now Class 7.

* Corrected a reference in the starship Drones section: drones do not need to be made of Auldsteel parts.

* Titanium is only usable to make ranged weapons (it can't hold an edge and is too light to deliver melee damage).

* The 'Disrupt' ranged weapon trait now has a number attached to it, designating how many spirit points or capacitor are drained on a successful hit.

* Added rifle-sized disruptors as an option for vehicles. 

* Disruptor clip size has been set to 5 for each type.

* Clarified how long it takes to arrive at a damaged system depending on your character's speed (under Emergency Repairs). 

* Anaesthetic now adds +4 Hit Points to the result when used with the Healing skill. 

* Some medicines and narcotics are now available in the Industrial era.

* Failure to use pain relief or anaesthetic with the Healing skill applies a -20% penalty.

* EMP grenades have increased in price.

* 'Z-axis Shift' starship  manoeuvre is now called 'Emergency Evade' for clarity.

* 'Flank Speed' starship manoeuvre and 'Ramming Speed' action have been replaced with the 'Afterburner' pilot action.

* 'Barrel Roll', 'Boost Defence' and 'Overcharge Shield' manoeuvres now provide a bonus limited by pilot skill. All only provide this bonus to one defensive action.

* 'Precognition' psi power now stipulates that its bonuses are for use in combat.

* If there is no system installed at a particular location during a critical hit, hull damage is done instead.

* Expanded starship Critical Hit table to explain what happens if a system goes down.

* Explained a little more about how dealing with emergency repairs, breaches and fires works.

* Explained that if the IRF is inactive, moving more than 1sq per round causes collision damage to the crew.

* Debris fields cause a Cloaking Device to reveal your position.

* Added a note that paying someone else to upgrade inventions costs double the listed cost of circuits/parts.

* The 'Hazard Suit' invention now correctly uses Computers as its control skill.

* Most invention upgrades now have skill level requirements.

* All ships can attempt to detect cloaked ships, but with a -40% result penalty to the scan. This is obviously mitigated with sensor system upgrades (There used to be a seperate system to add to detect cloaked ships, this was removed at some point though it is visible on some pre-made ship templates.)

* The 'Soldier' background event has been replaced by 'Brawler', giving you more Unarmed skill points.

* The 'Merchant' background event has been adjusted to give the Commerce skill instead of a contact, now called 'Trader'.

* The 'Priest' background event has been replaced with 'Energetic', reducing the duration of fatigue levels.

* The 'Politician' background event has been replaced with 'Driver', giving you the Drive skill.

* The 'Scholar' background event has been replaced with 'Learned', granting you an extra skill.

* The 'Cop' background event has been replaced with 'Runner', granting extra movement.

* The 'Criminal' background event has been replaced with 'Hauler', granting the Strong Back talent.

* The 'Gem' background event is now fixed at a stone worth 100cr.

* The 'Resistant' background event now offers Bludgeoning and Collision instead of Laser or Plasma damage resistance.

* The 'Talented' background event can now be any talent you qualify for, not just general talents.

* The 'Device' background event has been expanded to 6 possible items.

* Negative background events now have a 7% chance of occuring instead of 11%.

* The 'Stolen' background event has been tweaked so you lose half your starting money, and is now called 'Theft'.

* The 'Framed' negative background event stipulates that you lose the bonus gained from the contact you lost.

* The 'Guidance' weapon mod now only grants its bonus on targets 250cm or larger.

* Starship Thruster upgrades now use slots based on their hull class.

* The slot penalty for Streamline hull types is now -2 per hull class instead of -5.

* A ship's Fuel Reserve upgrade now grants +5 fuel instead of +3.

* Added baseline sensor stats to the sensor system section.

* The 'Networking' talent now also applies to mini-drones.

* 'Repair Bots' nanomed now use 2 Spirit or 2 Fuel to do their thing.

* The Maxim Gun now lists 7mm is its ammo type.

* The cost of plasma grenades and Demolex has been increased.

* The Disable weapon trait now does not require damage to be dealt.

* Gems of 200cr value can also be used to heal AP on a carapan.

* Revised 'Steam Exoskeleton' and 'Clockwork Golem' abilities.

* 'Machine Press' invention primarily produces Steam Parts, but can be used to produce regular Parts too if that's available in the campaign.

* The 'Steam Car' invention can now receive modern-era vehicle body upgrades.

* Adjusted Skill, Manoeuvre, Invention & Psychic tables to cover higher levels of INT. Normalised the Attribute score levels for each table to match.

* The Clockwork talent has been moved from Mechanisms back to Science.

* Added more detail to the Clockwork Robot invention.

* Increased the value of the property for the Landowner background.

* Vehicle 'Subsystem Armour' upgrade now just adds a flat 10 AP to a subsystem, reduced weight.

* Removed 'God of War' manoeuvre from the Threat Level calculation (just include extra damage from this as part of your damage calculation).

* Cleared up the language on 'God of War' manoeuvre.

* Altered the text on 'Enhanced Speed' nanomed so that xarani don't get 2 extra actions.

* Increased the encumbrance and damage of the high-yield explosive invention.

* Splinter arrows no longer deal fire damage.

* Maser stats have been tweaked - Maser cannon uses more cap, range for both reduced, fire damage instead of laser, damage output reduced.

* Adjusted how fires work on board ships.

* Updated the 'Powered Armour' invention construction details.

* Attacking drones with standard starship weapons incurs a -40% result penalty.

* Tweaked the language on the 'Wrist Radar'.

* The Compact Assault Weapon is now more expensive.

* A ship's Capacitor recharge rate is now based on the current maximum Capacitor, not the number of reactor upgrades.

* 'Twin Shooters' trait is now called 'Gunslinger', expanded with additional single-pistol Burst effects.

* Fabricators now use 1 Part per ENC instead of 2.

* Clarified that devices and high-tech weapons use circuits in addition to Parts when making them in the fabricator.

* Blast Shield is now called Battle Shield, to not clash with the blast shield invention.

* Corrected the text on Energy Armour description to note that this AP isn't reduced by weapons fire.

* Expanded the description of the 750cr gemstone effect for Crystal Alchemy.

* Linked the two nuclear inventions listed on the Devices page.

* Added a stealth result modifer to the robot size table.

* Silicone Sealant can now be used as much as needed if carapan is below half maximum HP, 1 use per tube.

* 'Rock Solid' carapan manoeuvre becomes Quick to use at 99% skill.

* 'Expert Forager' and 'Master Forager' talents now can also apply to Prospecting.

* 'Forager' herbalism talent now yields double the normal result for a success or critical.

* 'Diamondback' talent now grants its laser bonus against plasma weapons as well, and notes that a diamond worth 10000cr now counts as eating two 5000cr diamonds.

* 'Diamondback' talent now also grants its +1 AP bonus per diamond to Hit Points as well.

 

v2.84 fantasy premium edition core rulebook

* Corrected the currency type for herbal tonics (from cr to sp).

* Added 'Stealthy' background event.

* Added 'Slow' negative background event.

* Added 'Unlucky' negative background event.

* Added 'Miner' prospecting talent.

* Failure to use pain relief tonic with the Healing skill applies a -20% penalty. Pain relief tonic also grants +1 to Healing skill result.

* The Healing skill is now a background-only skill (surgery takes years to learn!)

* 'Precognition' psionic spell now stipulates that its bonuses are for use in combat.

* The 'Soldier' background event has been replaced by 'Brawler', giving you more Unarmed skill points.

* The 'Merchant' background event has been adjusted to give the Commerce skill instead of a contact, now called 'Trader'.

* The 'Priest' background event has been replaced with 'Energetic', reducing the duration of fatigue levels.

* The 'Politician' background event has been replaced with 'Driver', giving you the Drive skill.

* The 'Scholar' background event has been replaced with 'Learned', granting you an extra skill.

* The 'Cop' background event has been replaced with 'Runner', granting extra movement.

* The 'Criminal' background event has been replaced with 'Hauler', granting the Strong Back talent.

* The 'Gem' background event is now fixed at a stone worth 100sp.

* The 'Resistant' background event now offers Bludgeoning, Necrotic & Collision damage in place of the old selection.

* The 'Talented' background event can now be any talent you qualify for, not just general talents.

* Negative background events now have a 7% chance of occuring instead of 11%.

* The 'Stolen' background event has been tweaked so you lose half your starting money, and is now called 'Theft'.

* The 'Framed' negative background event stipulates that you lose the bonus gained from the contact you lost.

* Adjusted Skill, Manoeuvre,& Magic tables to cover higher levels of INT. Normalised the Attribute score levels for each table to match, and overall lowered the time for learning spells.

* 'Twin Shooters' trait is now called 'Gunslinger', expanded with additional single-pistol Burst effects.

* 'Expert Forager' and 'Master Forager' talents now can also apply to Prospecting.

 

* 'Forager' herbalism talent now yields double the normal result for a success or critical.

 

v1.69 fantasy basic edition core rulebook

* Corrected the currency type for many entries (from cr to sp).

* Added 'Strong Back' talent.

* Added 'Stealthy' background event.

* Added 'Slow' negative background event.

* Added 'Unlucky' negative background event.

* Failure to use pain relief tonic with the Healing skill applies a -20% penalty. Pain relief tonic also grants +1 to Healing skill result.

* The Healing skill is now a background-only skill (surgery takes years to learn!)

* The 'Soldier' background event has been replaced by 'Brawler', giving you more Unarmed skill points.

* The 'Merchant' background event has been adjusted to give the Commerce skill instead of a contact, now called 'Trader'.

* The 'Priest' background event has been replaced with 'Energetic', reducing the duration of fatigue levels.

* The 'Politician' background event has been replaced with 'Driver', giving you the Drive skill.

* The 'Scholar' background event has been replaced with 'Learned', granting you an extra skill.

* The 'Cop' background event has been replaced with 'Runner', granting extra movement.

* The 'Criminal' background event has been replaced with 'Hauler', granting the Strong Back talent.

* The 'Gem' background event is now fixed at a stone worth 100sp.

* The 'Resistant' background event now offers Bludgeoning, Necrotic & Collision damage in place of the old selection.

* The 'Talented' background event can now be any talent you qualify for, not just general talents.

* Negative background events now have a 7% chance of occuring instead of 11%.

* The 'Stolen' background event has been tweaked so you lose half your starting money, and is now called 'Theft'.

* The 'Framed' negative background event stipulates that you lose the bonus gained from the contact you lost.

* Adjusted Skill, Manoeuvre,& Magic tables to cover higher levels of INT. Normalised the Attribute score levels for each table to match, and overall lowered the time for learning spells.

* 'Twin Shooters' trait is now called 'Gunslinger', expanded with additional single-pistol Burst effects.

May 2018 Devblog and Update

Hi everyone! Today (technically yesterday) I finally released the scifi edition of sabre, after a heavy development burn for the past 10 months. It turns out I needed all of that time to give it a thorough testing, and I want to send out my thanks for the development test groups who gave it a proper going-over during this time. 

Development could have gone on for another month, as we came up with another species to add (an energy creature), plus I still want to add genetics to the science area too, but they would both require extensive testing and it was time to get it out there. These items will come along in the future, once we've sorted things out and given them a good test! 

So today, we've just got an update for the fantasy system to bring it into line with the usual core rules development. I've expanded the abilities for athletics and acrobatics manoeuvres, and added a new backpack system to let you carry more than before. Spirit Surge received a tweak, and I improved the artwork for the saerids too. 

My artwork evolved steadily over the development of the scifi system, so I'm now looking at the older style in the fantasy manuals with mild disgust! Okay they're not that bad, but I'll eventually have to come back and do something better. The first priority now is to continue work on the bestiary art, which is still roughly half-way completed. I think I'm going to change styles at this point, eschewing the backgrounds and focusing on the creatures themselves, in accordance with my current skill level. The results will be cleaner and more realistic, and yes this means some of the earlier works will be redone too. At least I don't have any other major projects on the horizon, so I can just focus on the art for now! 

I might start my next novel in the near future too, but I would like to get a free introductory adventure done for scifi as well. I have something lined up, one of the adventures I ran for the test group in the not too distant past. In the long term, once the manuals are complete, I'd like to just make adventures for both systems, translating some of the modules I still have written up from the last ten years of running stuff (using a computer, prior to that was all on paper or improvised on the spot, and therefore I don't have records of). 

So if scifi rpg's are your thing, check out sabre scifi - I actually prefer running this over the fantasy setting these days, which is surprising since prior to two years ago I didn't have much interest in sci rpgs! Peace out.

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v2.82 Premium Fantasy

* Updated the Example Character with current rules.

* Added a spot on the inventory sheet for backpack type and bonus.

* Removed the pet background event (if you want a pet, take animal training!)

* Removed 'Quick Dodge' acrobatics manoeuvre as it's already under Evade.

* Added 'Free Running' and 'Wall Run' acrobatics manoeuvres.

* 'Spirit Surge' action can only be used in combat.

* Added a new backpack system under Tools which combines with the 'Strong Back' talent to allow you to carry even more. 

* Reduced the bonus from the 'Strong Back' talent from +3 to +2 ENC.

* 'Spirit Abilities' section is now simply 'Manoeuvres', since Magic has its own heading.

* Added 'Fast Jump', 'Standing Start' and 'Agile Avoidance' Athletics manoevures.

* Updated the saerid artwork.

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v1.67 Basic Fantasy 

* Updated the Example Character with current rules.

* 'Spirit Abilities' section is now simply 'Manoeuvres', since Magic has its own heading.

* 'Spirit Surge' action can only be used in combat.

Sabre 2.7 update and February Devblog

Hello all, this month we have a few tweaks and additions to the core system, and an update on that pesky scifi system that refuses to be ready for release. 

Leadership is something I've wanted to expand upon for some time now, so I've added a bunch of new talents pegged to using Luck Points, which are themselves linked to high Charisma. They let you play a party support role and make high CHA characters very useful (it's not always a dump stat!)

In addition to this, I've modified the penalties for playing a character of the Young age category. Now they're just lower on Strength, which makes more sense, but to compensate for this and their lower starting skill points, they can learn new skills at half the usual time and cost. This should make younger characters more interesting to play, instead of having to deal with a lot of negatives to stats and skills with no upside.

Finally, I tweaked the bonus you get from your Damage Modifier to your Brawn skill. It was a bit bonkers having a +10% result bonus per point, so I've pegged that back to 2%. Soon, I'll be going through the Bestiary to update the monsters with this and a few other tweaks, but for now this will do.

Scifi

So, I nearly gave up on releasing the scifi game, as the art issue was really bothering me. My style isn't yet professional quality, and pushing myself to lift my style is wearing me out. With all the projects I've been juggling I decided to delay further development indefinitely, until I could scrounge together enough money to pay a proper artist to get the art done. Creating a Kickstarter campaign to generate the money needed to pay an artist to do the job was very appealing too, but after I had some time to think about it, I realise I'm not too far off in terms of art quality and I just need to keep practicing and get these done. There are ten species, so that's ten pieces, and I have three completed as of today. 

 

This third piece I just finished is an alien race and it's been very challenging, as I have been designing the look as well as creating the image itself. So much for getting all this done by the end of the month! Some species will be easier than others, such as androids (basically human in appearance) while others will be very challenging indeed. At least my style is evolving, no longer needing the heavy outlines I've been using in earlier works. So when I get all of these done, and a cover for the Encounters manual, then it's ready for release. I'm hoping that'll be before April but I'm not going to give hard dates anymore! I now understand why developers of games often miss release dates or just give a generic Soon(TM) for when it's going to get done. Rest assured it's being worked on and it's going to happen in the near future!

 

v2.7 Premium Codex Changes

* Brawn skill bonus when grappling or other contests of strength is now +2% per DM point.

* Herbs and Poisons moved to their own section in the manual.

* Replaced mentions of 'Tincture' with 'Tonic' (basically the same thing, more commonly used word).

* 'Strong Back' talent now requires 50% Endurance skill, and can be taken additional times.

* The 'Engineering' skill is now part of the 'Lore' skill.

* 'Assault Formation' and 'Defensive Formation' Leadership manoevures now have a 5 metre range.

* Removed 'Leaders Luck' leadership manoevure.

* Added 'Leaders Luck', 'Battle Hardened', 'Comrade in Arms', 'Legendary Leader' and 'Not on my watch' leadership talents. 

* 'Blind Sense' talent now also reduces unopposed perception check difficulty penalities by 10%.

* 'Blunt Trauma' club talent causes Hit Point loss, not damage.

* Clarified in the Career stage of character creation that you can't put points into background OR species skills, only new skills that you buy (the idea being to spread skill points around).

* Characters of the Young age category now only have -2 to their STR attribute, and can learn new skills at half their normal cost.

 

v1.64 Basic Codex Changes

* Brawn skill bonus when grappling or other contests of strength is now +2% per DM point instead of 10%.

* Herbs and Poisons moved to their own section in the manual.

* Replaced mentions of 'Tincture' with 'Tonic' (basically the same thing, more commonly used word).

* The 'Engineering' skill is now part of the 'Lore' skill.

* 'Blunt Trauma' club talent causes Hit Point loss, not damage.

* Clarified in the Career stage of character creation that you can't put points into background OR species skills, only new skills that you buy (the idea being to spread skill points around).

* Characters of the Young age category now only have -2 to their STR attribute, and can learn new skills at half their normal cost.

January Devblog & v2.6 Fantasy System Update

Hi, I hope your 2018 is going well so far! As you may recall, I skipped the December update due to only having 3 items to change in the Codex, and I hadn't finished any new artwork. Well, I've been running myself ragged trying to get this scifi system done, and hey, who knew a system with heavy science and math would be so difficult? :D

So yeah, still no new art at this point but the good news is that the scifi system is just about ready. Thanks to the games I've been running (and the feedback from those games), I've tweaked the advanced weapons rules and damage output and finished the vehicle system. This is pretty cool, as you can design your own ground vehicles, air vehicles, boats, grav cars, flying cars etc. In the campaign I ran, the party had a cabin cruiser they'd armoured up and installed a minigun turret on the bow. We had a few combats which played out beautifully (though the last one did result in their boat blowing up!) so that part of the system is done. 

Alongside developing those rules, I've been adding NPC templates to a separate manual I'm calling 'Scifi Encounters', which is over 250 pages long and features templates for modern and high-tech NPCs, as well as vehicles and yes, even a few starships. So yeah I've been busy!

After finishing the vehicle system, I was pretty burned out. The calculations involved were very demanding and I'm an artist, not a mathematician! Still, I got it done but it cost me a lot of creative energy. I'm just finishing up the starship system now, but I'm plodding along as I'm pretty much spent. Before I release it, I need to see more of how it all works in play, so the party just got their hands on an old starship and over the next couple of sessions, we'll see how it goes. I'm sure there will be tweaks required, and during the next month, I can get going on the Scifi species artwork. I'd really like to have them all done before I release it this time, so I'll make that a priority as of this week. 

In the meantime, some core mechanics needed adjusting and of course, they translate across to the fantasy codex too, so here's the update for this month. See you at the end of February when I hope to have scifi ready to go (finally)!

 

v2.6 Premium Fantasy Codex Changelog

* Avoiding death with an Endurance roll is now correctly an opposed check where appropriate, and can only be made if the total damage is less than your maximum Hit Points.

* Added 'Renowned Surgeon' healing talent.

* Tweaked the language on 'Mental Projection' spell, so that a projection has to fit well into the scene in order to prevent the subject being able to try and disbelieve the illusion.

* Slightly revised the text on the Blind condition.

* Tweaked the language on 'Blind Sense' talent.

* Tweaked the language on 'Mind Control' psionic spell.

* Clarified that 'Sensory Cascade' psionic spell requires a resolve skill check at the start of the victim's turn to break the effect or the effect ends.

* Fire & Steel no longer requires the use of a Reaction.

* The Teach skill now requires 100cr per day regardless of the skill level.

* Purchasing talents with money is now 10x more expensive.

* Updated the advanced character packages for more even and balanced distribution of skills and abilities.

 

v1.63 Basic Fantasy Codex Changelog

* Avoiding death with an Endurance roll is now correctly an opposed check where appropriate, and can only be made if the total damage is less than your maximum Hit Points.

* Slightly revised the text on the Blind condition.

* The Teach skill now requires 100cr per day regardless of the skill level.

* Purchasing talents with money is now 10x more expensive.

* Updated the advanced character packages for more even and balanced distribution of skills and abilities.

October Update & v2.4 Fantasy System Change Notes

Hello everyone, hope all is well with you! We've got a small update to a few things for the premium and basic fantasy manuals, and some news about the scifi system's development too. But let's start with the Bestiary update coming later this week, because ART!

This is the Sa'quaarin artwork, appearing pretty much as it has in my head for the past ten years. There's a few other pieces coming along too, though they aren't quite done yet. I also need to update manoeuvres on the npc templates with the new additions and changes, and properly recalculate spirit points which will probably go down a little. So keep an eye out for that.

Unarmed Fighting 

At the end of last year I revised unarmed and martial arts abilities, effectively shunting much of the potential high-level damage and size over to magic spells such as Psi Warrior or Spectral Gauntlets. I think that went a little too far, and I'd like to see non-magical martial artists using unarmed techniques a little more, so the Iron Fist talent has been buffed, and those spells can no longer increase effective SIZ of the unarmed attack. There's also a few new manoeuvres for Unarmed (and Martial Arts) that can buff damage some more.

Manoeuvres

There are manoevres for the Resistance skills, but only 3 each or thereabouts, and they weren't particularly useful. They've now been revised and expanded, with lots of interesting options to enhance gamplay. I've added some of these to the basic edition too, which was a bit spartan in this area.

Price

Since the system is very much out of beta now, and settled in nicely, I feel the time is right to increase the price of the premium edition to $9.99 US, as it's a big manual with plenty of gameplay options, and art! Plus all updates for the future are free, so I think it's a pretty good deal. Same goes for the Bestiary, which is getting artier by the month, though still not as fast as I'd like because...

Scifi!

The system is developing at breakneck speed, due to other people in my groups running their own games and identifying areas that needed addressing, such as automatic weapon use and other new rules. They've been ironed out now, and I just need to get the vehicle design system finished, and then use that as a basis for starship design. Up until recently, these areas had only basic pre-made templates, but now you really can make your own car, tank, jet, grav vehicle or boat. It's fun! Also, a little on the complex side, but I'm streamlining as I go. I'm also making an encounters manual, sort of like a bestiary but it's made up completely of NPC templates from all the species, from ancient, modern and future eras, plus vehicles and soon, starships. It makes setting up encounters a lot easier and I will be releasing both of these side-by-side when the time comes.

As demands on the development subside, I have more time for artwork and I'd like to get 8 species artworks done for release. Lots happening! Okay, I better get back to it. Game on!

 

v2.4 Premium edition changelog

* 'Second Wind' manoeuvre is now a Quick action to use, can only be used in combat. 

* 'Covered Retreat' Endurance manoeuvre is now 'Vanguard', can be used on any attack.

* Added 'Adrenaline Surge', 'Brace for Impact', 'Heavy Lifter' and 'Unbreakable' Endurance manoeuvres.

* 'Tower of Will' Resolve manoeuvre ony affects Terrified, Stunned and Paralysed conditions.

* Added 'Courage', 'Mental Fortress' and 'Mind over Matter' Resolve manoevures.

* Evade manoeuvres require light or no armour.

* Removed 'Sidestep' evade manoevure.

* Added 'Quick Dodge', 'Dervish', 'Narrow Escape' and 'Fast Mover' Evade manoeuvres.

* Mail gloves and Gauntlets have had their damage bonus increased by +1 each.

* 'Glancing Shot' pistol manoeuvre now only requires a hit (not damaged) to work.

* Added 'Thunder Fists' Unarmed (and martial arts) manoeuvre.

* Revised the icon for Lightning damage.

* Added Expanded Fumble and Resistance Skill Expanded Criticals to the Threat Level Calculator.

* Reduced the option to increase unarmed SIZ from 'Bestial Ferocity', 'Spectral Gauntlets' and 'Psi Warrior' spells.

* 'Iron Fist' talent now provides better damage and effective SIZ at higher skill levels.

 

 

v1.61 Basic edition changelog

* 'Second Wind' manoeuvre is now a Quick action to use, can only be used in combat. 

* 'Covered Retreat' Endurance manoeuvre is now 'Vanguard', can be used on any attack.

* Added 'Dervish', 'Substitute', 'Evasive Attack' and 'Fast Mover' Evade manoeuvres.

* Added Thrown Weapon manoevures.

* Added 'Shield Push' shield manoeuvre.

* Added 'Courage' and 'Mind over Matter' Resolve manoevures.

* Added Unarmed manoeuvres (these can be used with Martial Arts too).

* 'Iron Fist' talent now provides better damage and effective SIZ at higher skill levels.

* Mail gloves and Gauntlets have had their damage bonus increased by +1 each.

* Updated the Lightning damage icon.

September Update & v2.3 Fantasy Codex Change Notes

Hi everyone, hope you're keeping well :)

We've got a few tweaks to the system this month, implemented during the evolution of Sabre Scifi. Since the core systems are the same, some of these changes are useful for the fantasy system too! That's one of the great benefits of what we're working on here - the scifi and fantasy systems will be completely compatible and integratable. 

Want to have wizards on starships? Done.

Want a mad scientist archetype with steampunk science inventions in your fantasy setting? We got that.

Want to do a time travel adventure with a modern cop in medieval times? We can do that!

How about a mad-max type setting with vehicles, upgrades and fast-paced combat? Yeah baby!

Want to use a minigun to slay a dragon? Absolutely (I've been looking forward to this one for years).

I'm running two separate scifi games at the moment, both following the same campaign a few episodes apart. It's helped me move along development at a brisk pace, especially when I learned a couple of guys eagerly wanted to start their own scifi campaigns with this system, to which I whimpered "...it's not ready yet!" (my campaign is a post-EMP apocalypse with mostly swords and bows, with high-tech weapons and devices taking the place of magic, whereas the other guys want to run futuristic era stuff, which needed parts I hadn't finished yet).

So I've redoubled my efforts to get it up to speed, fleshing out the vehicle, science and starship areas which hadn't been completed yet, as well as creating NPC templates to help GM's easily flesh out their cabal of bad guys. I personally can't remember how I got by without them, so I've spent a couple of weeks cranking out modern and high-tech era templates for my campaign. The upside of this is you'll have access to the scifi system sooner than I thought. The downside is I've neglected the bestiary artwork, since I'm just swamped with system development. I think game mechanics and gameplay take priority over shiny pictures, though they're important too! 

So, my checklist is:

  • Finish the vehicle section.
  • Finish off the starship section.
  • Finish off the steampunk invention section. (The invention system lets you make designs from modern and high-tech settings too, it's pretty cool!)
  • Have a nap.
  • Get back into the art side of things, the list of which now includes 10 new race pictures for the scifi system.
  • Finish off the Feydwiir atlas.
  • Figure out what I'll do with the rest of my day (ha!)

I'd prefer to release the scifi manual with the artwork already done. The cover art is complete, but I think the race art makes an important statement about the visuals for the system. Once the above things are done to the scifi manual, I'll be focusing completely on the artwork in general. I've missed it, so look forward to getting back into that side of development.

That's about all for this month, I hope to have a few pictures and some more news about scifi development next month. With luck, I might get it released by the end of the year :D

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v2.3 Premium Edition Change Notes

* Updated the falling and collision damage table, and fixed this entry on the GM reference sheets.

* Tweaked the rules on suffocation.

* Added 'Jewellers Tools'.

* Revised the Weapon Modification section.

* The 'Death Blow' action no longer applies to the Stunned condition.

* 'Sleep' & 'Somnolence' spells now render subjects Stunned instead of Unconscious.

* Fire damage of any sort now causes 2 Hit Points to be lost at the start of the subject's next turn.

* Improved the construct's 'Mighty Fists' and 'Massive Fists' enhancements.

* 'Tiny Warrior' talent now grants its damage bonus to any damage dealt.

* Revised the Leadership manoeuvres and added new abilities.

* 'Sidestep' evade manoeuvre now takes away 2 Reactions from attacker.

* Removed 'Quick Draw' pistol manoeuvre, replaced with 'Double Tap'.

* Tweaked the language for the Quick Draw talent.

* 'Braced Shot' longarm/crossbow talent now also grants +2 damage while prone or in full cover.

* Removed 'Hard Shell' Saerid talent.

* 'Thick Carapace' Saerid talent now grants extra AP as Endurance skill increases.

* 'Resolute', 'Graceful' and 'Stalwart' talents have had their skill requirement reduced to 70%.

* 'Sweep Kick' and 'Sweep' manoeuvres no longer work on targets of 250cm height or above.

* Removed 'Stronger Parry' melee manoeuvre and added its bonus to 'Swift Parry'.

* Added 'Staggering Blow' and 'Gut Punch' melee and unarmed manoevures.

* The 'Blindside' talent now works if allies are within melee weapon reach.

* The 'low-carat diamond' entry in the 5000cr gem section is now a 'mid-carat diamond'.

* Fixed the 'diamond' entry for the Prospecting skill.

* Added 'Zen Master' martial arts talent.

* Added 'Black Powder Ingredients' to the Prospecting skill.

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v1.6 Basic Edition Change Notes.

* Updated the falling and collision damage table, and fixed this entry on the GM reference sheets.

* Tweaked the rules on suffocation.

* Added 'Jewellers Tools'.

* The 'Death Blow' action no longer applies to the Stunned condition.

* 'Sleep' & 'Somnolence' spells now render subjects Stunned instead of Unconscious.

* Fire damage of any sort now causes 2 Hit Points to be lost at the start of the subject's next turn.

* Removed 'Quick Draw' pistol manoeuvre, replaced with 'Hold & Shoot' and 'Double Tap' manoevures.

* 'Braced Shot' longarm/crossbow talent now grants +2 damage while prone or in full cover.

July Update

We've had some great games with the Scifi system lately and I'm eager to get this thing online so others can have fun with it. I spent yesterday working on the 'basic' edition (it'll follow the same basic/premium pattern as the fantasy version) and it's nearly done. I just need to add a few more NPC templates and it's good to go. I've also started on the introductory adventure, which I feel should be released at the same time and it's basically what's holding up the release date at the moment. Once I get the five sample characters made, I'll get cracking on the story. I'm not running a game session this coming weekend so I'll make use of the extra time to hammer it out and get it done!

I've made good use of the development time anyway, tweaking and modifying things here and there. For example, using the Computers skill to hack (because it's the EIGHTIES!) into a robot to take control of it was a little too easy to accomplish, even though it was fun. So that was adjusted and the experience is richer for the extra attention. 

Finally, I just need a solid day to finish off the starship rules. I'm pretty excited about this section and our test campaign is getting very close to the point where they will want to take off, so I will simply have to get this finished sooner rather than later or they'll be very disappointed! 

 

May Update

I may not blog as often as I should, but rest assured I'm always working on things behind the scenes. Just when I think I've nailed down the system rules, a new, easier way of doing things pops into my head. Such is the case now, where I've streamlined a couple of clunky mechanics  involving special tactical abilities, and applied a new method which opens up a lot of new possibilities. This development happened while working with the scifi version of the system, which I have to say is awesome. That's getting closer to release as well, possibly in the next week or two.

In addition to this, I've refined the character sheet at the back of the manual to be more spacious, more asthetically pleasing and easier to use, with only the most important information present on the front page. It's a big improvement, which leads me to the next work-in-progress: the character generator.

The excel version we've been using isn't going to be able to cut it long-term, so I'm working with a programmer to put together an online HTML version with full automation, to make creating and maintaining characters easier. It's coming along nicely, with the database construction basically complete and the program itself slowly but surely coming together. It'll probably be a moth or two before its ready for public use (I want to do lots of in-house testing first) but it promises to really open up the system.

In the meantime, the new basic and premium editions of the fantasy system have been uploaded, and the excel generator removed as it's no longer up-to-date with the current system. The bestiary will be up in the next few days, as I need to go over it to bring it in line with the new version. More to come in the next few weeks!