Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #2
Far Beyond Humanity Weekly Update #2
Here we are again. This was a bit of a tweak/polish week for me. No new chapters to show, but some solid revisions. As always, the link below will take you to the FBH preview folder on Drop Box.
New Markets (Chapter 5 – Assets)
After last week’s update, there was a very spirited discussion surrounding the Unique Markets. I found myself agreeing that it was essentially 2 pages with no GM tools, just fluff. It’s the kind of thing that belonged in a campaign setting (like the eventual Carta Galaxia) rather than a rules expansion.
So I went back to the drawing board. At first I toyed with the idea of making Markets “big Assets”, in that they would have Class and have upgrades, just like a gun or suit or speeder. The big issue is that it created even more tags to remember, and ones that would often have to be applied on the fly as new markets were introduced.
I figured that there was a simpler way of approaching the new “Market Descriptors” that didn’t add new tags/words to the game system, but rather attached new context to existing terms.
And thus the new Unique Market system: each Market has an associated Origin, which creates a stylistic/narrative structure. When you say that this is a Privileged Market, you know you’re dealing with high-Class goods and absolute snobs. When you say that this is a Crowded Market, you can already smell the sweat of massed humanity/aliens, feel the shoulder-to-shoulder press of bodies.
It’s not a hard-and-fast mechanic, but I feel it does a much better job at inspiring variety in the markets the characters will encounter. You can check it out right at the beginning of Chapter 5 – Assets.
Re-formatting
One thing I’ve been correcting is the formatting of the documents. I really enjoy writing and doing layout at once, I like to see how my paragraphs will be spaced out, whether the text is too dense, whether a section could use a bit more verbiage to fill some blank space, etc. Not the most efficient way to write, but it’s my method and it keeps the writer chained up in my brain happy, so… eh.
Aaaaanywho. I started writing FBH on 8.5 by 11 with 1 inch margins… but that totally isn’t the formatting of Uncharted Worlds. While the initial release and kickstarter backers are getting a pdf, I do intend to offer Print on Demand. And it would rend my very soul asunder to think that my expansion book had different dimensions than the core book….
/shudder
Anyway, part of this week was spent reformatting and re-font-sizing Chapter 5 – Assets, to match the proper page scale and margins. I’ll probably be doing a pass on Chapter 6 – Characters later next week.
FBH playtest
Ran a one-shot playtest for some colleagues (didn’t get a group picture, argh, kicking myself). Got some excellent testing in for various skills from the Kinetic, Telepathic, Arcane, Augmented and Fanatic careers. Was an amazing game, despite repeated failures (I have never seen so many failed rolls, they were well below the probability curve.)
Updated a bunch of skills in Chapter 6 – Characters.
What’s Next
I’ve almost got a solid Species chapter finished, so that’ll be coming next week. I’m also strongly considering re-writing the Arcane career, fiction-wise. Feels like it currently can’t support enough popular archetypes, so it may need some re-branding.
Comments, questions, etc are always welcome!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/atd0ygpwhur5yp6/AAB140jz3usjE3imwUkkCTLia?dl=0
