Void Age Playtest

Jun 12, 2018 6:21 pm
We've already got one playtest planned for Void Age, a sci-fi game based off the same engine that runs 13th Age, but I'd like to get a 2nd one going if there's enough interest.

Void Age is set in the far future of the solar system. Earth is mostly abandoned after countless wars, and humanity is spread throughout the system, often modifying or even replacing their bodies with versions that suit them better. Mega-corps run most things now aside from a few old-style governments, and while disagreements generally don't progress to all-out war, there's always conflict simmering just under teh surface. Those that work for the mega-corps live in a near utopia, but those that don't often find themselves clinging onto the darker underbelly of society.

In the middle of this, the Orison have begun to appear through long-hidden jump gates scattered throughout the system, on Titan, on Europa, on Venus, on Earth. The anchors for those wormholes would have had to be built here long ago, before man even attained rudimentary spaceflight. Some hail the Orison as the gods that guided mankind, but the majority see them as a threat, and react with violence. They've been here for a generation now, and still no one knows why.

The exact nature of the adventure could range anywhere from running a secure courier service to ruin-diving in a mostly abandoned Europe to fighting the Orison as a member of SecNet, whatever there's interest in.

Here's more more details about the types of characters you can play...

SHEATHS (these take the place of races)

Flitter: Your conciousness is uploaded into a small drone, giving you active camoflaguethe ability to fly.
Median: You've had your genome cleaned, but that's about it. There's nothing wrong with being human.
Myriad: You're not just one sheath, you're many that lock together into a vaguely humanoid shape, but you can split apart into a swarm of tiny pieces when needed.
Fury: You're been bred for battle. Your genetic code has been tailored for endurance, strength, and aggression.
Ghost: This sheath is focused on stealth and infiltration. You can jump from one shadow to another with an integrated short-range jump gate generator.
Mentat: You've been engineered for brains over brawn, making you an irreplaceable problem-solver.
Octon: This sheath was originally meant for uplifted octopodes, but with a few firmware tweaks it's usable by human minds too.
Skav: Rats get everywhere, even in space, and that's exactly what the makers of the Skav were going for. A few upgrades like a prehensile tail and a size increase to make you useful were part of the package.


CLASSES

The Adept eschews technology, relying on his ancient martial arts and weapon training to survive.
The Deadeye is an excellent sniper, or an in-your-face gun-fu artist.
The Gatekeeper uses his wormhole generator to make his allies more mobile and turn the battlefield into a death trap for enemies.
The Glitch fights alongside hardlight holo-clones, letting her be everywhere at once.
The Nebula uses his nanites to provide support for allies and hinder foes.
The Phage is immune to the vast array of biological and techo-organic viruses she carries, but her enemies aren't.
The Psiblade uses the brute force power of his mind to fight, summoning a weapon made of psionic energy.
The Vector takes a more nuanced approach to his psionic abilities, warping reality with his mind.
The Zerker overloads his numerous cybernetic attachments to be an unstoppable killing machine.
Last edited June 12, 2018 6:21 pm
Jun 12, 2018 11:10 pm
I'm interested. I quite enjoyed 13th Age, AND need more SF in my gaming.
Jun 12, 2018 11:52 pm
I would also be interested, been curious about trying the system.
Jun 13, 2018 4:16 am
Yeah...this sounds intersesting
Jun 13, 2018 1:08 pm
I just realized I posted this in the wrong section, but I also don't know how to move it so I'm going to ignore that for now. >__>

Since this is a playtest, I can't send out the full book to anyone yet. What I can do is provide each of you a custom playtest packet with all the Networks (Icons) and the sheath and class you want to play.

If there's selections that definitely strike your interest, I'll shoot them over to you, and if you want more info on the stuff listed above, just ask and I'll answer.
Jun 13, 2018 4:29 pm
You still could post a thread in the Game Tavern if you want to make sure people see this.
Jun 13, 2018 4:55 pm
True, I doubt it would be hard to find another player that way.

On the topic of characters, I was interested primarily in the Phage, but the glitch sounds neat too. As for Sheath, the skav sounded fun (I like rats) but I could use some clarification. When it says "...prehensile tail and a size increase..." does that refer to the character being larger then the average human, or simply the fact they are larger then an actual rat.
Jun 13, 2018 5:14 pm
Flitter, Ghost, and Octon are the Sheathes that jump out to me, in that order.
I could play any of the classes based on those descriptions, but Glitch, Gatekeeper and Vector are my top 3...in order again.
Jun 13, 2018 5:22 pm
I'll do that. As far as the skav goes, they're larger than an actual rat, more about the size of a raccoon. (And a swarm of mostly holographic rats is not something I'd thought of until just now but sounds fun.)

One thing you'll notice about the classes is that they are not equally complex, however, because of the way damage and skills scale, every class can contribute equally.
somebox, your playtest packet is here: http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SJWj8XACe7

Each packet will have:
1) The class(es) and sheath(s) you're interested in.
2) The Networks which provide some background on the setting.
3) The character creation rules.
Jun 13, 2018 7:41 pm
I'll pick a combo and let you know which this evening.
Jun 14, 2018 12:52 am
This does sound interesting... Could you send me the info on Ghost and Psiblade? I don't yet know if I can commit to the game, but I hope I'll be able to help out with the playtest.
Jun 14, 2018 2:02 am
I'd love to try the Mentat Nebula.
Jun 14, 2018 3:04 am
I'll let you decide if you want to have Glitch mushroom.

I have some really basic questions/issues about the Phage regarding their abilities I could use clarification for.

The Carrier ability lets me do free damage as a bonus action, the damage is only based on my level without any modifiers right? Never mind I was miscalculating weapon damage.

The only way to infect is when I (and only I) get a natural 18-20 on a damage roll (barring a few of the talents) yea? I'm asking because quite a few of the abilities require someone to be infected, but I'm not sure how reliably I can use infection, at least with my plan of shooting baddies, but I may have missed something obvious or am not seeing how to utilize their abilities properly.

One more thing I thought was peculiar is AC goes down the more armor you have. (I'm guessing that is just a typo lol)
Last edited June 14, 2018 5:16 am
Jun 14, 2018 4:23 am
Ok...Flitter Glitch it is, please.
Jun 14, 2018 3:18 pm
RE: Phage

The AC is correct, but I can see how it looks weird. Essentially, the phage fights BEST out of armor. There's two ways to represent that in the Archmage system: 1) give attack penalties for using AC, and 2) reverse the AC. We went with 2 because we really didn't wan't to throw in attack penalties for the class, but if you want to switch it, I'm okay with that since it is a test after all. You could start with 12 AC across the board, and take a -1 attack penalty for light armor and -2 for heavy.

The Necromancer in 13th Age does something similar, getting an attack bonus for having very low base HP.

As far as the infection goes... I hadn't actually read that section so I visited about that, and I see the problem. The person who wrote that didn't want Infect to go off every time, but battles are so quick in 13th Age that he set the percentage too low. We're reworked it and rolled Carrier and Infect together.

Your playtest packet is updated with the rework.
Jun 14, 2018 4:33 pm
Silim: http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HyWrI6Zeb7

Qralloq: http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HJFbDzxbm

MushroomMage: http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HJQYFzlZ7
Jun 14, 2018 8:48 pm
Do we want to continue this conversation here or move to the actual game forum? Because I have questions also...
Last edited June 14, 2018 8:48 pm
Jun 14, 2018 11:07 pm
Go ahead and do it here until everything is mostly finalized.
Jun 15, 2018 3:32 am
Ah that makes sense, thanks for all your help. I think I will stick with the less armor=more AC method. I should double check to make sure I'm doing character creation right, my class gets the three pathogenic traits (talents) to start, and 2 "mutations", those are just Feats correct? With all the usual restrictions one would expect.

Other then that everything looks great and I can start ironing out details regarding backstory. (also trying to find portraits of space squirrels but I might have to settle for a head-shot)
Jun 15, 2018 9:00 pm
Somebox: Sorry, that's old wording and wasn't caught in the past pass. Mutations aren't a thing anymore. I've updated your sheet with the correct info. You do start with one feat, though.
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