Protoans
February 11, 2019
Update/Sneak Peak
March 14, 2019
Eight playtests in, and almost all systems are working as intended. I can't even explain my joy when people play and have fun - even when things aren't worded correctly or even working properly, they're having a blast.
The first alpha session was with a group of friends with pre-rolled characters working as investigators. This was a pre-PAX game to make sure Breakaway's premise was even sound enough to show people. It ended up with a bomb being thrown into the ocean to save the entire city. (I'm still being asked to run sessions regularly for this group!)
The first alpha session was with a group of friends with pre-rolled characters working as investigators. This was a pre-PAX game to make sure Breakaway's premise was even sound enough to show people. It ended up with a bomb being thrown into the ocean to save the entire city. (I'm still being asked to run sessions regularly for this group!)
I ran sessions at PAX AUS in 2018, where people played substitute teachers trying to save their school from a quantum science project gone wrong. It ended with a classic boss fight, complete with monster stepping out from the school's movie screen.
Recorded sessions started with friends playing wrestlers working part-time in a food truck and snagging a job doing security for a strange museum. The food truck's name was Five Guys Fungi and Fries. Other recorded sessions include criminals using their diner as a front, which was named "A Normal Diner".
Recordings help me remember what tweaks I should make, and remind me what did and did not work. Also, it's fascinating to see how player will take their characters and run in a completely different direction than I anticipated. This tells me Breakaway is doing something right.
Recorded sessions started with friends playing wrestlers working part-time in a food truck and snagging a job doing security for a strange museum. The food truck's name was Five Guys Fungi and Fries. Other recorded sessions include criminals using their diner as a front, which was named "A Normal Diner".
Recordings help me remember what tweaks I should make, and remind me what did and did not work. Also, it's fascinating to see how player will take their characters and run in a completely different direction than I anticipated. This tells me Breakaway is doing something right.
Thanks to these recordings, I am toying with the idea of a podcast. I'm still musing on things like formatting and introduction, but the theme music (by the wonderful Matt Lee aka Nice Wizard) can be heard here. The full list of updates and tweaks are below, and you better believe there's a lot more in "rephrased some language for clarity", because wow. Lots of editing. Editing is always ongoing. If you would like to get in on playtesting the game, you can pick up the character creation rules for free here and join the Breakaway Discord here!
Devlog:
- changed Charter Authority mentions as an in-game organisation to Port Authority to reduce confusion
- Port Breakaway is now just the Port City, to better differentiate the gaming system versus the city
- changed Spores to have a time restriction
- changed Hairblooms to have a choice at time of use, with a time limit
- updated Law Enforcement background ability You're Not from Around Here as most Cultures do not have languages that use lips
- moved Character Advancement to Rules section
- reiterated players take two backgrounds during character creation in Background section
- stipulated sign language is used as a trade language, just called "Trade"
- typos and grammatical errors fixed
- rephrased some language for clarity
- ensured same formatting across entire document
- fixed trifold character sheet overlapping numbers and added fold directions
- updated dice rules to include system tweaks
- added more names to thank you list
- added more content
- created plot hooks for Charter Authority section
- musical theme created
- localisation-proofing for English regions
2019 Loose Roadmap:
- Beta release and testing
- More character artwork examples commissioned
- In-world serial stories to be commissioned
- Monster examples to be added
- Art showcasing environments around both continents
- Statistics to be used differently after more playtesting
- Adding a list of difficulties and qualities for Charter Authorities to use for skill rolls
- Even more edits
- Podcast