Hello today! While this game is technically fully playable, I want to keep polishing the experience of it until I consider it perfect. Since this is a tabletop, testing changes in sessions and applying them takes a lot of time, but I want to keep you guys updated and I like the idea of having almost this kind of "blog", so please leave comments with suggestions or questions if you have any! Heads up - if you're reading this, I'm assuming that you know how the system works, so there will be minimal context given. With that out the way, let's get to the fun stuff...

What's new in 1.9?

Playbook Art #6 - The Clumsy (by Peachy Owl)

So I was away this summer - I had a very emotional and busy summer, filled with family events, and I will admit that most of these changes came in before June, but they were tested by my amazing QA Discord server and polished when I came back.

We also got one more beautiful art by Peachy Owl, this time of Clumsy. A cute, playful and a little meta panda. I wanted to highlight the nature of the playbook by making the dice have only 6 and 1 sides, and her child-like nature with the outfit. I think the result speaks for itself!

With that out of the way, let's go over all the changes we've been cooking up for you!

Lead Nerf

I've been thinking about this for a bit and it was mentioned on some of my comments on the page. While technically Sonic (aka proto-Lead) is the "Leader" of the "Sonic Team", heroes in Sonic's world are generally more about individual heroics rather then being a commander/leader. On top of that, in the game, the Lead is being sold as "The Starting/Simplest Playbook", The Fighter, The Hero and I feel like it should have a feature that reflects that - more passive and less complex.

To balance it out a little, I buffed Heroic Leadership to encompass the essence of The Type that was there before and moved the Inner Strength (the attribute boost) to be a Feature, making Lead a more desirable target for multi-playbook.

Robot Update

The original plan was to make Robot what Lead was. You pick a "type" which allows for special options. But at some point I got an inspiration to increase the scale of that "type" to every move, letting Robots be specialists on a specific character moment. Personally, I love the new Feature and I think this one is solidified for release.

Tinker Update

So this one kinda came out of nowhere... I played Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus (great game) and at the time there was discussion on how the Mechanism interacts with Armor and I spent a lot of time re-reading it and trying to make it more clear. Not sure the result is final yet, but I like the idea of Tinkers having, basically, DnD Spell Slots with their Mechanism being their "spell focus". Plus it gives the player a lot of flexibility on changing the slotted gear and their Frame. The goal was to keep the system generally the same (i.e. a number of Gear items carried by the frame), but I overexpanded a little and added some extra features to it.

Changed Changes! AGAIN!

There is a problem with the current Changed - players tend to stick to one path and never change it, which is not what I want from such an extensive Feature. I want it to affect how people play. Plus every move having 3 results is counterproductive and is just a waste of text space. So I have made another option - this time it's completely based arounde changing between states, but doesn't force you to change your roleplaying, just reflecting a specific in-the-moment mood with mechanical benefits and is very generic. I might tweak this is a little more, as I noticed players don't seem to use the Feature... But I'm happy with it.

Revival Update

We tried a new thing and it worked out really well! Revival moves are now "buffed" by forcing you to take one when you're picking a Star Attribute (since it's something everyone takes anyway and no one takes revival moves)! And that's on top of general clean up, streamline and buffing of the moves! I also moved them all from the playbooks into their own section in Additional Mechanics, which gave us space for like 5 new moves to some of the playbooks!

Plan for the Future

I've been talking about finishing the game for the past year or so now... And I think that's good! That means that we have a clear goal and we're approaching it, without compromising what I want this game to be. When writing this, I noticed that the update patch wasn't as large as previous ones (or at least didn't feel like it was), even if it's impact can be argued. In addition, I'm putting more and more time on the Rule Expansion, which will be coming soon! So yeah, we're chugging along and I also think the below list is a good indicator of where the game is at:

- Ability Types - streamline of the feature. They are still confusing the new players and I want to make them good. Or maybe give them a better name/description. This is the last major change I'm planning on making to the game, if I can nail this - I will consider the game extremely close to completion.
- Tinker - maybe tweak the moves to interact with the Slots.
- Destined - Final Improvement rework.
- Changed - Outburst/Kit optimization.
- How to GM:
-- add Damage reference notes and what "ignore armor" means.
- Formatting Pass and Documentation:
-- Separate "falvour text" from the "mechanical rules" a little.
-- It's unclear what a "challenge" or "event" is in that context. Also eventually you start using Obstacles with a capital O implying they're their own unique term, and that's a bit confusing because what exactly is a challenge or obstacle, and how many dice rolls do they usually make up, or is a "challenge" a series of related obstacles, and such.
-- Addendum at the end, which will house all the tables, and maybe even terms.
-- Write or link some sort of "character sheet examples" of canon characters.
-- Glossary of terms to use for Capitalization purposes.
-- Most PbtA games put attributes in the summary... I should look into finding space.
-- Final clean release version with a background, watermark and general professional looking style.
- Rule Expansion Rulebook - keep adding more things to that and publish it!

List of 1.9 Patch Notes:

Playbook Tweaks and Updates:

- Lead - The Type - removed.
- Lead - The Symbol - renamed Feature to this, becaues it includes multiple elements.
- Lead - Heroic Leadership - simplified and updated + Empathy buff added.
- Lead - Inner Strength - added instead of Attribute array being different, the sum is the same.
- Lead - Greatest Storm - now is an auto-perfect Stand in the Way.
- Lead - Limit Right Here - changed from "negate damage" to "break shields and defenses".
- Lead - Dear My Friend - removed Buddy Stamina.
- Lead - Advanced Improvement - changed to give the old Feature's ability to pull negatives.

- Tinker - The Mechanism - is heavily redone to use Slots and Gadgets.
- Tinker - The Mechanism - you can now Summon your Mechanism; reworded it to flow better.
- Tinker - The Mechanism - you can now change your Mechanism mid-stage.
- Tinker - The Mechanism - now include the "reskin" text for non-mechanical Tinkers.
- Tinker - I Call It - simplified and heavily buffed.
- Tinker - Can Never Be Too Careful - minor wording tweak and clarification.
- Tinker - Can Never Be Too Careful - gives advantage on finding fakes.
- Tinker - Hard Work - replaced "ignoring all defenses" with "set stamina to Maximum".
- Tinker - Unique Circumstances - new move, "Master!" but for Tinkers.

- Guardian - Shift! Rock! Yeah! - clarification wording on the last option.
- Guardian - Unknown from M.E. - removed Find Out Move, now allows using any Power.
- Guardian - History of My People - now gives Momentum; taken from Unknown for ME.
- Guardian - Keep Them Off You - removed (burned).
- Guardian - We’ll keep him off you! - redone pretty much completely.
- Guardian - Big Wave - now give Advantage to KB with harder punishment.
- Guardian - Must Protect - replaced with "Fight as I always have", and buffed heavily.
- Guardian - Martyr Complex - new move, Stand in The Way for crazy people.

- Destined - The Ordeal - renamed Feature to this, becaues it includes multiple elements.
- Destined - Inner Strength - added instead of Attribute array being different, the sum is the same.
- Destined - Time For Me To Complete My Duty - reduced the penalty.
- Destined - Appeal to His Better Senses - removed "non-mechanical" creatures.
- Destined - Catch - renamed to It's No Use!
- Destined - Jumping to Conclusions - new move, high risk, high reward.

- Robot - The Defect - replaced with The Function, a completely new feature.
- Robot - The Function - tweaked the "reskin" text for non-mechanical Robots.
- Robot - Urge to Maim - changed "ignoring Defenses" to a "nat 12", added "destroy a Defense".
- Robot - Care Unit - rewrote it, it's still real strong, but more balanced.
- Robot - Mode Change - new move, another take on Adoptive Technology.
- Robot - Advanced and Final improvement changes.

- Changed - The Transformation - is heavily redone. The idea is the same, but it's more generic.
- Changed - The Transformation - renamed Feature to this, becaues it includes multiple elements.
- Changed - The Transformation - tweaked the "reskin" text for non-mechanical Changed.
- Changed - How Many Upgrades Do You Have?! - Stamina payment wording.
- Changed - Back Off! - Stamina payment wording.
- Changed - Back off! - now forces an Outburst.
- Changed - Integration - Stamina payment wording.
- Changed - Saving This For a Special Occasion! - rebuilt to be more interactive.
- Changed - Special Medicine - Stamina payment wording.
- Changed - A Little Self-Improvement - redone once again.
- Changed - You'll Have The Honor! - is not enforced to be at the start anymore.
- Changed - Better Every Day - now gives an improvement + minor wording.
- Changed - Mine's Bettah! - Stamina payment wording, plus now has options.
- Changed - Mine's Bettah - now only works on non-boss enemies, but has no (burned).
- Changed - I'd Say It Went Well - new move, interesting move for tortured/edgy Changed.
- Changed - Improvements - changed to work with the new Feature, gives you Balance Path.

- Rogue - I Handled It - wording clarifications.
- Rogue - Figurehead - auto-success wording and tweaking on how it works.
- Rogue - Part of the Game - doesn't give Momentum, as you get it from creating an Aspect.
- Rogue - Time For School - needs separation, changed damage ignore to breaking Defenses/Advance.
- Rogue - Mold This Power - restricted from Gear.
- Rogue - Cannon Fodder - removed the number of buddies and specified power level a little.
- Rogue - Cannon Fodder - added some text into edge cases talking about how to handle it.

- Clumsy - Feature - wording to ignore Ring limit for End of Stage.
- Clumsy - Balloons - clarified wording on how long it lasts.
- Clumsy - Donk - added 11 and 66.
- Clumsy - Word Balloons - now costs 5 points.

Kick Butt Expansion:

- Kick Butt - updated with the new mixed success rule.
- Kick Butt - removed Battle Counter.
- Kick Butt - expanded Battle Information and Terminology.
- Boss Weakness - renamed to "Enemy Weakness" and updated to follow Kick Butt.

Basic Moves and Other Updates:

- Power Type - updated to allow overextending yourself when solo.
- Empathy Type - simplified the effect, now pulls more people in and gives a better bonus.
- Energy Type - renamed to "Support" in book and ref sheet.
- Momentum & Rings - Rings can now trigger a Star Attribute.
- From The Heart - new name for Convince Them.
- From The Heart - updated wording on the mixed result.
- Ready for Action - buffed a little, now ongoing.
- Adventure Moments - added Move Tags - explains what move tags are and what they mean.
- Live and Learn - wording about first Attribute use tweaked a little.
- Gear and Pets - now has NOTE 3 about regular simple items and inventory.
- Hero Clash - allows using Gear for a +2 now.

Documentation and How to Play:

- Sheets are now linked in the google doc!
- Internal text formatting reference sheet.
- Main Hero Ability - Overview - minor wording changes and tweaks for better readability.
- Main Hero Ability - Ability Description - reworded and shortened to be more to the point.
- Ability Types - just made more readable with better headings.
- Heroes - wrote a simple intro.
- Heroes - minor lore wording updates in hero introductions.
- Rogue - Changed "Nack" to "Fang" for all the 2D lore nerds out there.
- Additional Mechanics - now has an intro paragraph.
- Gear, Equipment and Inventory - moved under How to Make a Character and expanded.
- Boss Aspects - Providing Context - hopefully made it more clear in both book and sheet.
- How to GM - Boss Defenses - added Damage description examples.
- Unifed wording about automatic success on moves.
- Edge Cases - added "Physical Stats vs Character Attributes".
- Edge Cases - added write-up on Cannon Fodder and Buddy mechanics.

Revival Update:

- Move Tags - (revival) - wording with the new Improvement change.
- Tinker - Certain Things I Can Do - stays the same.
- Guardian - Return to Us! - now a long-distance revival.
- Robot - This Will Hurt - stays the same.
- Changed - Don't Sweat It! - buffed to Advantage.
- Destined - You Will Be Fine - now gives Armor instead of Vision.

Sheets and Supporting Documents:

- Updated PDFs.
- Updated Sheets.
- Added Revival moves to the playbook summary.
- Lots of minor fixes thanks to our loverly QA server! <3

If you got this far:

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