8/3/2007
I hadn't worked on the game for a few days but last night i was able to add the weapons and missile tables. I've decided to slightly change how missiles work by adding a Tracking value. Basically, once the enemy is found using radar, the missile operator has to maintain a lock by rolling the Track number. I can also add abilities that will give bonuses to the roll.
8/6/2007
I was out of town most of the weekend, but I managed to create two new tables (shields and armor) last night. Now that I've added the "tracking" value for missiles and radar, I thought about changing the radar table to include more types; however, i may leave it be for now and add those later if deemed necessary. I'm very much aware of all the time this is taking and all that's left to do.
I wrote some prose to go at the beginning of the starships chapter. It relates to the Prologue of the Alexander the Prince story. I'd like to add prose to the beginning of each chapter: this is pretty standard on many roleplaying games.
8/7/2007
After adding the Tracking stat, i need to clarify it since you need to use separate track both radar guided and heat seeking missiles. It's not hard, but I need to make sure I don't miss something.
8/8/2007
I'm trying to rework the radar/heat signature and how all that works with missiles. I want to reduce complexity but maintain variety.
8/10/2007
I completed all the charts for starship construction except software. I still need to go through and recheck everything but I should be able to work on the Examples section this weekend if i have time.
8/13/2007
I worked some on starship software: it's a little different than robot software since starships don't have skills. Basically, starship software will simply be various "abilities" to improve component functions: for example, increase targeting or radar range, etc.
8/14/2007
Started work on the starship examples section; trying to organize how the stats will be shown. Also, the examples themselves will be organized in groups: civilian, military, pirate, and drones
8/15/2007
For examples, starships need to have their stats displayed, but I'm not happy with anything I've come up with. It needs to look organized and logical, but easy to find the info you need. Also, I need to create more starships to fill out the different sections (see previous post).
I didn't include anything on crew and accomodations (other than the minimum crew), so now I'm totally lost about what to do if the designer wants additional people on the ship (ie: staterooms). If i use slots, you really don't get very many staterooms unless i make them small slots and that doesn't make sense.
Okay, I came up with something but it's not idea: basically, you can use medium slots which act as a multiplier of the min. crew number, based on whether the accomodations are cramped, standard, or luxurious. Hopefully this will work.
8/20/2007
Over the weekend I finalized how I'm going to show the stats for each starship and I also created another freighter. I noticed, however, that I need to look at the STL again: basically the premise of having only a STL engine instead of a FTL engine is size and fuel requirements. Right now I don't think there's enough reason to pick a STL over FTL.
8/21/2007
I've three ships to the rules including stats. It's actually kind of time consuming to add the info from my spread sheet into the game, but I'm plugging away at it. I've also written descriptions for some of the ships. Speaking of which, for some of the ship names, I think I'll need to change them. I had used some standard animals names, but I think it would be more immersive if I create made-up names and then describe what they mean. In other words, name them after an animal and describe that animal.
8/22/2007
I renamed several ships: I used the original names and then looked for foreign (non-English) words that related to the original. Then I wrote prose describing the "animal". For example, one ship was called the Albatross so I did a search on the word float. I found the Japanese word Kassou and wrote the following description: "The Kassou is a flying reptile with a wingspan of nearly 3 meters. It glides along pockets of hot air raising above the Devil's Oven region of Aldorus and, except for mating and laying eggs, spends its entire life airborne." I tacked that prose to the end of the ship's description to give it more depth.
Also yesterday, I added three more ship stats to the rules.
8/23/2007
I created descriptions for all the of the ships I currently have complete.
8/27/2007
I created a new cruiser (Duchess Class), but I have two concerns: the cruiser only had essentially one additional weapon compared to a destroyer which is quite a bit smaller (although the cruiser also had a drone bay). This leads me to my other concern: I think the larger ships have too many hit points, which combined with not having that many more weapons, will cause combat to take forever. I'm thinking about combining some of the smaller sizes (having two hulls instead of four) so that I can have a smaller increase in hit points. I need to do some combat testing first before I'll really know for sure.
Btw, the Duchess Class raised a design issue: is it better to have a ship with more fixed weapons (which are smaller) or fewer turreted weapons (which take up more space)?
8/28/2007
Yesterday I created three more warships including the Overlord Class Juggernaut (the ship Tagus III had in my graphic novel).
I'm redoing some of the weapons to include larger ones for big ships. This means, however, that I'll need to go back and see which of my pre-existing ships are impacted or not. I still need to revisit the hit points issue as well.
Okay, for V. Small, Small, and Medium, I've cut the number of hulls from four to two. I've also reduced the Hit Points for Hulls Large, V. Large, and Huge. With the new weapons, I think the hit points are more sane now. We'll see during testing.
8/30/2007
Yesterday I redid the weapons on the ships to reflect the new heavy weapon sizes. I'm also working on the missiles table to reflect anti-missile attacks.
8/31/2007
Last night I updated the rules and tables for the missile and weapon changes.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Game Diary Summary - July
7/3/2007
I haven't done a lot with the game the last few days: I started writing the actual rules, but that's about it. Kind of feeling burned out at the moment, although I know I will get a second wind soon.
7/5/2007
My creative juices have returned and I've been able to write some starship rules. In many ways, it's a carbon copy of the robots chapter so that helps guide me a lot.
7/10/2007
Good progress over the weekend, although I was too busy with work yesterday to do anything.
7/16/2007
More progress: I'm more than 2/3rds done with the starship construction part of the rules, although I still have the starship combat section to do. I also decided to add a short section at the beginning of the chapter talking about getting a starship and a quick primer on FTL jumps, etc.
7/17/2007
I created drone examples: both combat and scout (light, medium, heavy = 5, 10, & 15 tons respectively). I also wrote some brief rules.
I need to rewrite the Drone skill somewhat to reflect how I implemented drone. Case in point, there's no astroid mining (at least not yet), so there's no mining drones.
7/18/2007
While was working on the rules last night, I came across some documentation I had written for an earlier version of the game. I had totally forgotten about it, but this will be somewhat helpful (ie: save time) since that text has already been written.
As for the rules, I'm nearly done with the construction section. Still need to add the construction examples, the combat section, and the introductory section. Yes, a lot to do!
I'm having a little internal debate about using the term "Mach" for spacecraft speed. Since Mach is the speed of sound and there's no sound in space, this may raise eyebrows. I could simply call it "squares of movement" (ie: the ship has a speed of 6, meaning it can go 6 squares per round). Not sure.
7/19/2007
I think I'm moving the Agility (AGI) value under thrusters instead of hull sizes. If I use the defense formula d20+AGI Mod+Size Mod (which imitates the regular def formula of d20+DEX Mod+Size Mod), then the defender would get a double bonus (both related to its hull size).
I wrote quite a bit for the beginning section of the chapter, detailing interstellar travel options and getting your own ship.
For one of my To Do items, I have "create more Psi abilities." However, I think I'll do the opposite: currently there are 36 combat abilities and nearly 80 psi abilities. This would be fine if psi was a major part of Imperium lore. However, it isn't which makes the number of abilities very lopsided. So, I'm going to combine several Psi abilities (like lesser and greater clairvoyance), which would reduce the total number down to around 50 or so. I still need to add additional non-combat and non-psi abilities, which should even things out better.
7/23/2007
I was out of town over the weekend so I wasn't able to do any work on the game. However, last night I did add in the stuff for the first part of the starships chapter that I had written last week. That takes care of most if not all of the first part of the chapter. The middle part (starship construction) is roughly 75% done. I need to finish up construction, add the examples (most of which are done), and then add the combat section (which should be pretty straight forward).
I've started to outline the combat section: this is more about how I want to organize the info more than actually creating the info.
7/24/2007
I updated the wiki to include information from the Introduction and chapter 1: Characters. I'm including general info without any specifics. As rule of thumb, if the info has actual numbers (stats) then I don't include it on the wiki. I don't want to include too much info otherwise there won't be any reason to buy the rules themselves.
7/25/2007
I began writing the rules for combat based on an outline I made last week.
I've also started to redo some of the Psi abilities now that I've decided to remove some of them. Lastly, I've started looking at the races section of the character chapter in an effort to make them more informative: specifically, the strengths and weaknesses of each race.
7/30/2007
I started creating the tables for the starship construction section. This is very time consuming, but i'm working my way through it.
7/31/2007
While working on the weapons tables for starships, i decided that there needs to be more weapons that cause kinetic damage. Currently there are only two, so I need to add more (maybe another 2). I thought about adding artillery (guns) but they would only have explosive damage so that wouldn't really help (although I might still add it for variety).
I haven't done a lot with the game the last few days: I started writing the actual rules, but that's about it. Kind of feeling burned out at the moment, although I know I will get a second wind soon.
7/5/2007
My creative juices have returned and I've been able to write some starship rules. In many ways, it's a carbon copy of the robots chapter so that helps guide me a lot.
7/10/2007
Good progress over the weekend, although I was too busy with work yesterday to do anything.
7/16/2007
More progress: I'm more than 2/3rds done with the starship construction part of the rules, although I still have the starship combat section to do. I also decided to add a short section at the beginning of the chapter talking about getting a starship and a quick primer on FTL jumps, etc.
7/17/2007
I created drone examples: both combat and scout (light, medium, heavy = 5, 10, & 15 tons respectively). I also wrote some brief rules.
I need to rewrite the Drone skill somewhat to reflect how I implemented drone. Case in point, there's no astroid mining (at least not yet), so there's no mining drones.
7/18/2007
While was working on the rules last night, I came across some documentation I had written for an earlier version of the game. I had totally forgotten about it, but this will be somewhat helpful (ie: save time) since that text has already been written.
As for the rules, I'm nearly done with the construction section. Still need to add the construction examples, the combat section, and the introductory section. Yes, a lot to do!
I'm having a little internal debate about using the term "Mach" for spacecraft speed. Since Mach is the speed of sound and there's no sound in space, this may raise eyebrows. I could simply call it "squares of movement" (ie: the ship has a speed of 6, meaning it can go 6 squares per round). Not sure.
7/19/2007
I think I'm moving the Agility (AGI) value under thrusters instead of hull sizes. If I use the defense formula d20+AGI Mod+Size Mod (which imitates the regular def formula of d20+DEX Mod+Size Mod), then the defender would get a double bonus (both related to its hull size).
I wrote quite a bit for the beginning section of the chapter, detailing interstellar travel options and getting your own ship.
For one of my To Do items, I have "create more Psi abilities." However, I think I'll do the opposite: currently there are 36 combat abilities and nearly 80 psi abilities. This would be fine if psi was a major part of Imperium lore. However, it isn't which makes the number of abilities very lopsided. So, I'm going to combine several Psi abilities (like lesser and greater clairvoyance), which would reduce the total number down to around 50 or so. I still need to add additional non-combat and non-psi abilities, which should even things out better.
7/23/2007
I was out of town over the weekend so I wasn't able to do any work on the game. However, last night I did add in the stuff for the first part of the starships chapter that I had written last week. That takes care of most if not all of the first part of the chapter. The middle part (starship construction) is roughly 75% done. I need to finish up construction, add the examples (most of which are done), and then add the combat section (which should be pretty straight forward).
I've started to outline the combat section: this is more about how I want to organize the info more than actually creating the info.
7/24/2007
I updated the wiki to include information from the Introduction and chapter 1: Characters. I'm including general info without any specifics. As rule of thumb, if the info has actual numbers (stats) then I don't include it on the wiki. I don't want to include too much info otherwise there won't be any reason to buy the rules themselves.
7/25/2007
I began writing the rules for combat based on an outline I made last week.
I've also started to redo some of the Psi abilities now that I've decided to remove some of them. Lastly, I've started looking at the races section of the character chapter in an effort to make them more informative: specifically, the strengths and weaknesses of each race.
7/30/2007
I started creating the tables for the starship construction section. This is very time consuming, but i'm working my way through it.
7/31/2007
While working on the weapons tables for starships, i decided that there needs to be more weapons that cause kinetic damage. Currently there are only two, so I need to add more (maybe another 2). I thought about adding artillery (guns) but they would only have explosive damage so that wouldn't really help (although I might still add it for variety).
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
New Banner!
I’ve updated the website with a new title and nav banner. The old one was pretty lame so I’m hoping the new one looks better. My overall goal is to redo the whole site or at least the home page so it looks more professional. Unfortunately, I’m not a professional web designer so whatever I come up with tends to look amateurish. I’m also too cheap to have a professional do it since I don’t get any money from the site anyway. Sigh.
Of course my main goal is to finish the role playing game and try to sell that from my site (among other places). Not sure how much, if anything, will come of that, but I’d like to at least try to make money from what I enjoy doing. ;-)
Of course my main goal is to finish the role playing game and try to sell that from my site (among other places). Not sure how much, if anything, will come of that, but I’d like to at least try to make money from what I enjoy doing. ;-)
Monday, July 02, 2007
Bundle of Arrows
I was watching Pan’s Labyrinth over the weekend and spotted a symbol on one of the cars: a bundle of five arrows. This perked my interest because I’ve used a bundle of five arrows to symbolize the five royal families (on the Imperium flag). So today I did some research and found some interesting information about it: the symbol on the car in the movie was the so called “yoke and arrows” which was used by the fascists during and after the Spanish Civil war. At this point I grew a little concerned since I didn’t really want the five families to be associated with Fascism. However, I did some additional digging and found that the fascists had taken the symbol from the so-called Catholic Monarchs of Spain. This made me happier since of course the five families are royalty.
So what’s interesting here is that when I first created the symbol for the five families, I don’t think I had any previous knowledge of how this symbol was used in Spain. Yet, I discovered that indeed it had been used, in a very similar fashion as I had done. Not sure what any of this means, but I think it’s interesting.
So what’s interesting here is that when I first created the symbol for the five families, I don’t think I had any previous knowledge of how this symbol was used in Spain. Yet, I discovered that indeed it had been used, in a very similar fashion as I had done. Not sure what any of this means, but I think it’s interesting.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Game Diary Summary - June
6/4/2007
Made progress over the weekend: although I had some writers block Saturday morning. Still, I was able to get some stuff done at least.
I wrote up description of two megacorporations (for factions section): MoFoCo and Warlock Industries. Also, started some notes on vehicle maneuvers.
6/5/2007
I added the two new factions (see previous) to the rules. I also wrote text for shells and armor (which I didn't get done last night due to waining self confidence).
I stumbled across Google Books today which might be a way to improve visibilty for the game once it's published. Just a thought since it's free!
Since the next chapter is about starships, I've been revisiting my thoughts on that. Today I was playing around with speeds: and I may go with using mach numbers. Don't want to go into detail, but basically mach 1 would equal 1 space square (1,500 m) per round. Starships speeds would around mach 5-15. This is not exact (1 mach is greater in m/sec per round) but it's close enough to be clean and convenient.
6/7/2007
I've written up rules for Shells, Armor, Weapons, and Force Fields which I just need to add to the actual rules document itself (not just the Google scratch document I've been using). Basically, for each chapter I've been using a Google spreadsheet for raw data and tables, and a Google Doc for text. This allows me to access these files wherever I am, and then add them into the rules document when I'm at home.
6/8/2007
I put my notes into the main rules last night, but I'm still not satisfied with the armor section. I'm thinking I'll go back my original plan of having diff. thicknesses to keep it simple. I hate being indecisive, but I want to make it right.
So, I went back to the "thickness model" and I'm going to stick with that (until I change my mind again). ;-)
I started assembling the actual robot stats (similar to creatures) that can drop into the rules (hopefully soon).
6/11/2007
Friday night and Sunday, I made good progress on the rules. I even rendered three images for the different robots. I also added this game diary to my regular blog (one post per month w/ all the stuff from that month). Since I doubt people really see this diary, I wanted to give it greater visibility (for the few more people that read the blog).
6/12/2007
I wrote and added a robot design example to the rules last night. However, I still need to add costs as well.
6/13/2007
Yesterday I created stats for some of the nonstandard weapons (ie: blow torch, arc welder, nail gun). I'm putting their stats as part of the device desc, instead of in the weapons section since they aren't technically weapons.
6/18/2007
The robot chapter is nearly done: only the section listing rogue robots and their stats, and maybe a few loose ends to complete. The next chapter will have spaceships and space combat. I intend to take some of lessons I've learned (components, etc) for robots and use it for starships.
I updated the wiki to include some of the robot examples. I'll add pictures once I've reduced the resolution of the ones in the rulebook.
6/19/2007
I reviewed my previous starship notes, and added some to my online doc. I had a bunch of notes on scrap paper, so i needed to transfer some of that to my google docs.
Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to do that FTL fuel: whether to have takes based on slot sizes or not. I woke up at 5:30 this morning thinking about it and couldn't fall back to sleep. :-(
I've made significant progress today w/ some of the starship data.
6/20/2007
Continued with creating data for starships: mostly worked on weapons today. Trying to figure out how I want to do hit dice since I don't want to give starships actual XP levels.
6/21/2007
I'm really struggling with the hit dice (hit points) issue: trying to balance the small ships with the large ships is difficult. Either the small ones are too weak or the large ones are too stong (too many hit points).
6/22/2007
For now I've settled on the hit points. I'll see how it goes when I start doing some testing later. Meanwhile, I've also filled in lots of data so I'm happy with how things are going. I'll be gone this weekend, so I won't be able to work on the game.
6/25/2007
Although I didn't work directly on the game over the weekend, I did think of some things during our long periods of driving. For one thing, I decided to go with actual fuel consumption rates instead of having a set number of days of FTL travel. In other words, instead of having a built-in 5 days of travel per engine, I'm having a rate (mtons of fuel per light-year). This will allow for having actual fuel tanks that are separate from the engines. This will require using additional slots however.
I've been all about missiles today: figuring out how they will work in combat. I've been going back and forth a bit, but basically there will be guided or self-guided using radar and/or IR.
6/26/2007
Created 3 practice ships: after the second one, I changed the # of slots (increased them). While I was doing that, I discovered a huge mistake in the robot's chapter (forgot to actually list how much EPs each power plant produces!!). That was embarrassing.
6/27/2007
I turned one of the sample ships from yesterday into a gunboat. However, I'm still concerned that I'm not allowing for enough slots per hull because they're at a premium when I do a design: there isn't any space for additional stuff like extra staterooms, etc.
6/28/2007
I created another fighter, this one 50 tons. I'm a little more confident about the slot situation. I also added a few more components: drone bays and hangers. I also filled in data for countermeasures like flares and chaff.
6/29/2007
As I make practice ships, I find new things I need to adjust in the stats. This is good but of course then I have to go back and change the practice ships. ;-) Today I made a fuel tanker that provides fuel to military ships that don't have fuel scoops themselves (or streamlining to get their own fuel). Later, after yet more adjustments, I created a pirate raider.
Made progress over the weekend: although I had some writers block Saturday morning. Still, I was able to get some stuff done at least.
I wrote up description of two megacorporations (for factions section): MoFoCo and Warlock Industries. Also, started some notes on vehicle maneuvers.
6/5/2007
I added the two new factions (see previous) to the rules. I also wrote text for shells and armor (which I didn't get done last night due to waining self confidence).
I stumbled across Google Books today which might be a way to improve visibilty for the game once it's published. Just a thought since it's free!
Since the next chapter is about starships, I've been revisiting my thoughts on that. Today I was playing around with speeds: and I may go with using mach numbers. Don't want to go into detail, but basically mach 1 would equal 1 space square (1,500 m) per round. Starships speeds would around mach 5-15. This is not exact (1 mach is greater in m/sec per round) but it's close enough to be clean and convenient.
6/7/2007
I've written up rules for Shells, Armor, Weapons, and Force Fields which I just need to add to the actual rules document itself (not just the Google scratch document I've been using). Basically, for each chapter I've been using a Google spreadsheet for raw data and tables, and a Google Doc for text. This allows me to access these files wherever I am, and then add them into the rules document when I'm at home.
6/8/2007
I put my notes into the main rules last night, but I'm still not satisfied with the armor section. I'm thinking I'll go back my original plan of having diff. thicknesses to keep it simple. I hate being indecisive, but I want to make it right.
So, I went back to the "thickness model" and I'm going to stick with that (until I change my mind again). ;-)
I started assembling the actual robot stats (similar to creatures) that can drop into the rules (hopefully soon).
6/11/2007
Friday night and Sunday, I made good progress on the rules. I even rendered three images for the different robots. I also added this game diary to my regular blog (one post per month w/ all the stuff from that month). Since I doubt people really see this diary, I wanted to give it greater visibility (for the few more people that read the blog).
6/12/2007
I wrote and added a robot design example to the rules last night. However, I still need to add costs as well.
6/13/2007
Yesterday I created stats for some of the nonstandard weapons (ie: blow torch, arc welder, nail gun). I'm putting their stats as part of the device desc, instead of in the weapons section since they aren't technically weapons.
6/18/2007
The robot chapter is nearly done: only the section listing rogue robots and their stats, and maybe a few loose ends to complete. The next chapter will have spaceships and space combat. I intend to take some of lessons I've learned (components, etc) for robots and use it for starships.
I updated the wiki to include some of the robot examples. I'll add pictures once I've reduced the resolution of the ones in the rulebook.
6/19/2007
I reviewed my previous starship notes, and added some to my online doc. I had a bunch of notes on scrap paper, so i needed to transfer some of that to my google docs.
Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to do that FTL fuel: whether to have takes based on slot sizes or not. I woke up at 5:30 this morning thinking about it and couldn't fall back to sleep. :-(
I've made significant progress today w/ some of the starship data.
6/20/2007
Continued with creating data for starships: mostly worked on weapons today. Trying to figure out how I want to do hit dice since I don't want to give starships actual XP levels.
6/21/2007
I'm really struggling with the hit dice (hit points) issue: trying to balance the small ships with the large ships is difficult. Either the small ones are too weak or the large ones are too stong (too many hit points).
6/22/2007
For now I've settled on the hit points. I'll see how it goes when I start doing some testing later. Meanwhile, I've also filled in lots of data so I'm happy with how things are going. I'll be gone this weekend, so I won't be able to work on the game.
6/25/2007
Although I didn't work directly on the game over the weekend, I did think of some things during our long periods of driving. For one thing, I decided to go with actual fuel consumption rates instead of having a set number of days of FTL travel. In other words, instead of having a built-in 5 days of travel per engine, I'm having a rate (mtons of fuel per light-year). This will allow for having actual fuel tanks that are separate from the engines. This will require using additional slots however.
I've been all about missiles today: figuring out how they will work in combat. I've been going back and forth a bit, but basically there will be guided or self-guided using radar and/or IR.
6/26/2007
Created 3 practice ships: after the second one, I changed the # of slots (increased them). While I was doing that, I discovered a huge mistake in the robot's chapter (forgot to actually list how much EPs each power plant produces!!). That was embarrassing.
6/27/2007
I turned one of the sample ships from yesterday into a gunboat. However, I'm still concerned that I'm not allowing for enough slots per hull because they're at a premium when I do a design: there isn't any space for additional stuff like extra staterooms, etc.
6/28/2007
I created another fighter, this one 50 tons. I'm a little more confident about the slot situation. I also added a few more components: drone bays and hangers. I also filled in data for countermeasures like flares and chaff.
6/29/2007
As I make practice ships, I find new things I need to adjust in the stats. This is good but of course then I have to go back and change the practice ships. ;-) Today I made a fuel tanker that provides fuel to military ships that don't have fuel scoops themselves (or streamlining to get their own fuel). Later, after yet more adjustments, I created a pirate raider.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)