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SteelEagle

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Posts posted by SteelEagle

  1. Posted

    I wasn't going to ruin the whole book for people. I left the Scars and Trophies out for a reason. :D

     

    It's a solid book, worth the buy and read.

     

    Maybe it's the parent in me, but I seem to be pushing the notion that you buy the book and read it yourself, and not look for answers on the internet. (My kids probably hate me...) 

    You did great, so shush.:P

    Later I'll do a personal review of the trees and armor.

  2. Posted · Edited by SteelEagle

    It is a very interesting discussion I think. I am very much for rolling openly, but situations such as the above are interesting little problems. I roll the negative dice in this situation and do the math. I then tell them if they had advantage or threat, and narrate ambiguity unless the result is rather decisive. I call it the group certainty. If they end up with like five successes, then they have good cause to believe they have succeeded in losing the bounty hunter for now. If they get many failures, then they don't have any real confidence. After all- while failure COULD be obvious and they know it, they could also not know that they failed. Same with success. I use the advantage or threat to help the narration along with any mechanical benefit. 

    The beauty of the system is that there are several good solutions to this problem, rather than an objective right and wrong as exist in many others.

    Benjan Meruna reacted to this

  3. Posted · Edited by SteelEagle

    Here are some deeper thoughts on weapons and equipment. I will spoiler them, but only so I don't take up a lot of visual space.

    Weapons:
     

    I love the war shield/hat. It is awesome! At my table tonight we did agree to only one addition to it to really mimic Cap's shield, and that was adding Linked to it. But that is a minor thing. The flavor of it is awesome. A lot of the other equipment all comes together really well. In particular, what was something you worked on?

    The weapons all fit the theme of the book exceptionally well. The SE-14C is a solid piece of murder, while the DH-17 can cause a lot of pain.The A280C is likely to become a favorite for frontline soldiers at the table, though we all thought the rarity was one or two higher than it should be. The Pulse Cannon's terror potential caused some deadly laughter.

    The T-7 is guaranteed to find a Nemesis-level owner as a big bad in a game soon. It screams "Kill the PCs now". 
    The Energy Bow is sneakily deadlier than the Pulse Cannon in a straight contest. Also has good flavor. Some f us think that it should incur setbacks to non-Kyuzo users or bonuses to Kyuzo users.

    The Z-6 is really good at what it does and the potential Heavy player is impressed. The J-10 and Quad Blaster were pretty cool. The 1.8FD is impressive, and we had an idea to move it around with beasts to avoid detection during ambushes.
     

    The SH-9 was well received. The Berserker Rifle got very high marks. The Heavy Repeater seems very effective as well.

    The Shaped Thermal Grenade got us awfully excited. The CSPL-12 doesn't look like it'll see much play in our group because of how nasty a despair can be. The LJ-50 works really well against fortified enemy, and thus synergies well.

    The War Shield is amazing even without the little house-rule we came up with. The dagger is cool and the utility blade is effective.

     

    Equipment:


    3-MAL. I really like it. I like how small it is, which gave a lot of us the idea that it would be awesome for rebels in Imperial territory. So many options to make it not really an obvious sign that it is a comlink. The mechanical bonuses are also very effective for that role. We've taken to calling it the Trailblazer Com.


    DH77 is really, really nice. The mechanical benefits are useful, and we all liked the fluff for it.

    The Artillery Remote got a big reaction. It will be used for sure. Inaccurate 2 is painful, but the advantage can be tremendous. It adds a lot to the shoot and scoot formation we were thinking.

    The Low Feedback Scanner is good, but the fluff got a big reaction. Good stuff there.

    The Vigilant is really effective and something I see becoming a staple. There is no mechanical element to it beyond what the GM decides which is something I like since it always it to be a piece of equipment that molds to the needs of the story and group rather than a piece of gear you lug around purely for mechanical purposes.

    Nullicaine is going to become a staple. There is nothing more to say than I think it will see consistent, strong use no matter the game.

     

    The Stimstick is super situational but I think it is an awesome little addition. Will it be used often or in many games? Not really. But in certain games and with certain characters I can see it being something very special story and character wise.

    the Traumapack is solid, but my group is 50/50 on it. In general most people seem to be willing to give up the extra credits and encumbrance for the medpak, but if credits and encumbrance are in short supply, the TP is solid.

    The Condenser Unit is another of those things you won't see often, but in games where such things are important, will become vital. 

    The Entrenching Tool will become a required piece of gear for soldiers. It can be used as an effective weapon and is required for one of the coolest elements of the book. It is cheap. It will be used en masse. The fact it won't break is also amazing.

    The Portable Power Generator is required in certain 'builds' of a group from this time hence.

    The Plastent is very useful.

    The Modular Backpack is AMAZING. Not only are all the units in the book amazing, but it got the entire group discussing about other modules that could be used. Artillery Remote modules, medical, etc. a lot of great stuff. It is an amazing piece of equipment not only because of what it does in the book, but what it can inspire outside of it. That, to me, is a sign of amazing work.


    It is hard to pick my absolute favorite. If I had to rank my top five:

    1- Modular Backpack
    2- Nullicaine
    3- Entrenching Tool
    4- The Vigilant

    5- Artillery Remote

  5. Posted

    I'm curious are there any melee or brawl weapons in the book?

    The answer is yes. Three of them, all melee. The most interesting one is the warshield, since it can be used ala Captain America, I kind wish that when you threw it, it had the linked/autofire quality. Then you could imagine it hitting multiple people really quickly. 

    Here is my review. 

    I love this book. Soldier is my favorite career and this book does a lot of great things. The Kyuzo are really cool and while I'm not big on them, others at my LGS like the Elom and Elomin. I wish we had three brand new specs but I know why they reprinted heavy.

    Trailblazer is interesting. I enjoy it, but I think some parts of it could have been better done. Prey on the Weak at 20 and 25 points aren't great- not that either of them is really needed, so no real foul. I don't like that ability. If I get both ranks, I do +2 damage to targets if they're disoriented. I'm not saying that they're useless- if you run a character who leans towards using disorient weapons, it can help. But eh. You do get the ability to cause disorient, but PotW just doesn't seem worth it.

    I would have loved to see additional ranks of Prime Positions, which is really good and seems to indicate that there should be multiple ranks yet there aren't. Most of the tree is very good. I don't think it'll be treated as a top of the line spec, but I can see several awesome builts off of it. Great work overall there. Love me some dodge.

    Vanguard is a really solid spec overall. I didn't find anything that blew my socks off, but I don't think there is anything that screams at me as not being worthwhile. Seize the Initiative itself is an awesome ability, while Bodguard is great.

    The new guns are awesome. The armors are also very nice, I love seeing some Rebel heavy stuff. The equipment is wide-ranging without being filler- everything seems to have purpose and cause. 

    I am sort of bummed that we didn't get Starfighters, but it was great to see military vehicles en masse. I still think there are some parts of ground arsenals missing, but so many gaps have been filled and so much cool stuff exists none of it is an issue. 

    It is the final chapter of the book that I think is really strong. Between rues for fortifications and various types of combat environments really adding loads of flavor and possibilities in game, the short campaign and adventure ideas are really on point for the book. And the end with scars and trophies? I loved it.

    Overall this book was great and one of the better splat books. Nothing was perfect, but everything was content great and sparked a lot of cool ideas at the table. It makes me doubly excited to see what will come from the next adventure book!

  6. Posted

     

     Here I figured it was the Mandalorians that were going to be at the root of most anxiety.

     

    To be fair Keith, we wouldn't even know about them from the article, seeing as how it doesn't mention them!

     

    I wonder if they'll get their own write-up a la Corellian Humans, or if it's just a lame 'to make a Mando, take a standard Human, take this or that career or spec, and this or that skill for your free human ones'... 

     

    This is what I want to know too. Is it setup like Correlian Human or is career/spec/skill specific?

    Maelora reacted to this

  14. Posted

    I like the idea. I find it fun, and a pretty decent idea on the fly by the player. I understand why someone may not allow it, but I like it. As for how to do it- the way you did it was fine. I would have made it two weapon/hand fighting(exact wordage escapes me at the moment).

  15. Posted

    Soldier is my favorite career and this is the book I have been waiting for.

    I can't wait to discover more about the two new specs, and those signature abilities- so excited! The gear! The vehicles! The new rules! The species- what species could they be? I know Ubese don't really work here- they work more in the Bounty Hunter book- but I want them. So much can be done!
     

    I am very, very excited.

  19. Posted

    Just finished running it. Because of party alignment, past story, and current events, the last act was 100% different from the book. Beyond that, some thoughts:

    Both planets are interesting and ripe for future use. 
    There are plenty of interesting NPCs. 
    The story is engaging.
    It is thin, but not dangerously so.

    I think it is a great little adventure. If you involved the organizations to some degree before the adventure then I think it really opens up story possibilities.

    unicornpuncher, whafrog and verdantsf reacted to this

  21. Posted · Edited by SteelEagle

    I may just be tired, but I have a likely silly question. Does the H-7 Equalizer line for damage include the benefit it receives? (Sorry for vagueness, not sure how little or how much is allowed to be said about exact stats)

    The way I am reading it is that the damage number does not include that benefit.

  22. Posted

    I am running Mask of the Pirate Queen in my game, and I am just finished running through Jewel of Yavin as a player.

    It seems as though they could be too short. As others said, you would do well to modify them, and they can all work together to create fun campaigns. The moment I heard the name of the organization at the heart of the search, I started using them as part of the groundwork for my own campaign, meaning Mask fit into our ongoing narrative.

     

    The book is amazing from a production standpoint and some of the NPCs, as well as the organizations, can be very interesting. On the other hand, as a stand alone module, I do feel like Mask is a little thin. But I also believe this is because they expect you to expand. It comes down more or less to: Do you find the adventure at the heart of the module? If not, the book still has loads of cool info. If so? It'll be fun, and I think there are a great deal of chances to expand on it.

    RusakRakesh and unicornpuncher reacted to this

  23. Posted

    In my experience, strain when using True Aim worked out well in the game mentioned earlier by Were. It made True Aim very useful when I needed to make the shot and do something right now, and it allowed me to do something other than get my dice pools to insane levels.

  24. Posted

    Mmmm . . . .disruptors . . .

     

    Are they powerful? Sure. So are a lot of things. Are they too powerful? Not when Jury-Rigged heavy blaster rifles exist, in my opinion. There are plenty of ways to let players get them and still keep things interesting. Durable on your big bad, squad rules, tight security when reasonable, using triumphs to damage things, using pairs of triumphs to break things, lots and lots and lots of rivals that would be better dealt with by an autofire weapon, etc.

     

    As for disruptors in play:

     

    I've killed a player with a disruptor rifle. Note, the party was given an out to leave before some terrible crap happened, they chose to stay and try to be big **** heroes. Not all of them made it through. To be fair, that player had 5 or 6 crits on him (vibroswords and disruptors) before a disruptor rolled 151+ and he turned to dust.

     

    In the game I am a player, I saw another player lose an arm to a disruptor. They got a cyber arm, and got over it. I almost got blasted by a disruptor in the face. But it missed. So I shot him, he dropped his weapon, my buddy killed him using his equalizer, and my equalizer that I dropped into his hand so he could perform an awesome action movie scene. I claimed the disruptor. I tricked it out. Forearm grip, laser sight, superior, and the holo reticule. It was sweet. I was not the most ridiculous combat character in my group. I was still effective. I killed a lot of minions with it. I aced a couple rivals with it. Then I fought droidekas with it while most of the party got chopped up by an evil guy with a lightsaber and his vibrosword wielding guards. Blowing legs off of droideka is funny. So I was happy. Then one of the other players, when jabbed a bit about being not too useful in the some fights, got a little taken aback, and tried to claim he "isn't a combat character" even though he introduced himself as a mercenary, looking for combat. He looked unhappy. So I threw the disruptor rifle at him, and said, "Now you are a combat character!" He now has no excuse to be unhappy. Now I have to resort to using a Novaviper. Sigh . . . first world problems. If only I could finish my augmentative armor, too.

    5.gif

    I had you dead to rights, too.

    My views on disruptors:

    They are obviously very deadly, but I see them as almost more of a narrative tool. People who carry disruptors don't have the legitimacy of authority because of how illegal they are. Rather they rely on the power of oncoming mortality since they can't stun you. You aren't going to be taken alive- you're getting killed. Only certain types of enemies or people would use it over a Heavy Blaster Rifle or even just a normal Blaster Rifle, and those are almost invariably very, very bad people.

    Werewyvernx, verdantsf, R5D8 and 1 other reacted to this

  25. Posted

    There are more than two types of roleplayers out there. It is not simply the super immersed roleplayers and the absolutely inactive, there to roll dice rollplayers. Most players I've seen are more than willing to be immersed, but that almost never comes across as being entirely in character at all points and shutting down all non-game talk. This is a social hobby. The players must respect the GM and his time and effort and give an honest effort to engage with their characters in his story, but we also cannot ask players- or even the GM- to remove the social element from this hobby. There are plenty of play by post ways to roleplay where you don't need to even try to act, you just post in character. Super easy! But if I am making the effort to meet up with friends to roleplay or run a game for my friends, I'm doing so because the social aspect of it is vital to the experience. Part of that is the expectation that, yes, there will be out of game talk at times. As long as it doesn't devolve into tangents an they don't drift off, I consider it an additive.

    It becomes a problem when people start looking at phones, playing games on their phones, or talking to someone and not responding when you call their name and/or their character's name, That is when you need to clamp down, and that is what I believe you are really looking for: An end to the garbage that slows everything down. 

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