Order of Battle, Post Skyfall, Thinking Toward Factions 2nd Edition
Order of Battle
The playtest went pretty well, all in all. Rules changes which we implemented from last time look like keepers. The game keeps getting smoother and easier to play, yet is still retaining the strategic/tactical elements that make it what it is. Still, it's not a done deal. There are changes yet to be made to get it into true fighting shape. Looking at removing about half of the obstacle types for simplicity's sake, and there's a tweak to one of the Captain Specials to be made. Also, adding 2 mission types, and locking down pre-made maps for ease-of-play. Then there's some design changes to the playing pieces and the board, to tighten up wasted space and to make the pieces slightly easier to grab and move around.
I'd like to make the changes and hit this up in playtest in another two weeks or so and see how it runs.
Post Skyfall
The next regular playtest game is approaching. I've mentioned this before, but it's on my mind a lot, so it gets some more attention here. If anything, I am happy that it has forced me to put under a microscope the rules governing Special Abilities as a whole, and psychic ones in particular. It has generated a lot of good conversation with my playtest team. And I think it is going to really help when it comes to the next item.
Thinking Toward Factions 2nd Edition
I have put on hold any further development of the Factions universe until a true "2nd Ed" can be completed. I have several reasons for this. Some are simply "artistic;" there are a lot of areas in the game that I can do better now, and I don't want to chunk out 2 or 3 small supplements for a version of a game that I know is going to be changed. Some of these reasons are business related - simply, Factions isn't taking off enough as a game line (yet) to truly justify the amount of work that would go into said supplements.
So the game needs to be reworked. I have a very solid grasp on what I want to change, and a lot of the grunt work has already been done. Now it's time to playtest these ideas. The Special Ability and Strain/Shade rules will be worked over in the upcoming Post Skyfall game. The Ritual Magic changes will have to be worked out after that.
Essentially, I want to beef up psychic combat, impliment range changes to Special Abilities that we've been mucking about with, improve, beef up, and expand Ritual Magic, and add on the Character Motivation Meta-mechanic. Lastly, in World Building, I want to redirect character growth directly toward involvement with the Elements. There are also many sections of the book which can be written more cleanly, too, and some areas of the Setting which could use improvement.
This going into a "hold mode" is likely to affect my convention appearances for 2010. Order of Battle doesn't appear to be workable to make Con of the North in 3 months, and Gamer's Reunion is moving up into April. I don't know at this time if Order of Battle will be ready to roll by then. With luck, however, both it and some kind of next edition of Factions will be doable for Gen Con... if things work out according to plan. I don't want to say for certain, at this point, that I will be skipping both Con of the North and Gamer's Reunion in 2010, but the possibility is there.
That said, I am excited about the changes, for the game's sake. It might yet grow into the original vision I had for it, so many years ago.
-a-
The playtest went pretty well, all in all. Rules changes which we implemented from last time look like keepers. The game keeps getting smoother and easier to play, yet is still retaining the strategic/tactical elements that make it what it is. Still, it's not a done deal. There are changes yet to be made to get it into true fighting shape. Looking at removing about half of the obstacle types for simplicity's sake, and there's a tweak to one of the Captain Specials to be made. Also, adding 2 mission types, and locking down pre-made maps for ease-of-play. Then there's some design changes to the playing pieces and the board, to tighten up wasted space and to make the pieces slightly easier to grab and move around.
I'd like to make the changes and hit this up in playtest in another two weeks or so and see how it runs.
Post Skyfall
The next regular playtest game is approaching. I've mentioned this before, but it's on my mind a lot, so it gets some more attention here. If anything, I am happy that it has forced me to put under a microscope the rules governing Special Abilities as a whole, and psychic ones in particular. It has generated a lot of good conversation with my playtest team. And I think it is going to really help when it comes to the next item.
Thinking Toward Factions 2nd Edition
I have put on hold any further development of the Factions universe until a true "2nd Ed" can be completed. I have several reasons for this. Some are simply "artistic;" there are a lot of areas in the game that I can do better now, and I don't want to chunk out 2 or 3 small supplements for a version of a game that I know is going to be changed. Some of these reasons are business related - simply, Factions isn't taking off enough as a game line (yet) to truly justify the amount of work that would go into said supplements.
So the game needs to be reworked. I have a very solid grasp on what I want to change, and a lot of the grunt work has already been done. Now it's time to playtest these ideas. The Special Ability and Strain/Shade rules will be worked over in the upcoming Post Skyfall game. The Ritual Magic changes will have to be worked out after that.
Essentially, I want to beef up psychic combat, impliment range changes to Special Abilities that we've been mucking about with, improve, beef up, and expand Ritual Magic, and add on the Character Motivation Meta-mechanic. Lastly, in World Building, I want to redirect character growth directly toward involvement with the Elements. There are also many sections of the book which can be written more cleanly, too, and some areas of the Setting which could use improvement.
This going into a "hold mode" is likely to affect my convention appearances for 2010. Order of Battle doesn't appear to be workable to make Con of the North in 3 months, and Gamer's Reunion is moving up into April. I don't know at this time if Order of Battle will be ready to roll by then. With luck, however, both it and some kind of next edition of Factions will be doable for Gen Con... if things work out according to plan. I don't want to say for certain, at this point, that I will be skipping both Con of the North and Gamer's Reunion in 2010, but the possibility is there.
That said, I am excited about the changes, for the game's sake. It might yet grow into the original vision I had for it, so many years ago.
-a-