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* Real-Time Event Updates in a Forum Post. As the GM for the event, this became a bit of work but I didn't know any other way to do it. As the battle progressed, I updated the event post after each turn to reflect the impact of each players roll (damage to ships, boosts to skill thresholds, etc.). I was heavily dependent on this method for accurately monitoring event progress. Admittedly, editing BBC code on a forum thread was not optimal, I'm not sure how much benefit the event participants got out of it but I relied on it heavily as GM. Niarra mentioned she recorded event progress differently and I'd be interested to hear how she does that. One of the things I liked about event progress monitoring for this event was that all participants had a real time display of event stats easily available to them.
* "Color-Only" Rolls. It may be meritable to allow all players to take the first round of the event to simply describe what their character/ship is doing. This will allow for some free, mostly unrestrained and creative RP to set the stage before the battle. The Iokath event was very "PvPish" but that doesn't mean we have to force attendees straight into combat on their first turn. Maybe dedicate the first round just for one individual color post by players in order of their Influence placement.
* Establish Skill Threshold Restrictions. As was commented during the event, skill group allocations like Savant and Specialist seemingly gave players an overly good chance of success with certain abilities. It may be worth looking into restricting allocation selection to certain groups or establishing new ones for space RP.
* Participation of Experienced Players. In this event, both Imperial faction players were entirely new to the roll system, but all Republic players seemed to have some experience with the system or a similar roll system. Having participants familiar with the system was tremendously beneficial to the newer members, their guidance and patience made for a more enjoyable experience.While I'm on this subject, I want to point out how essential it is that prospective GMs strongly encourage event participants to study the system mechanics prior to an event. There is A LOT of information to process, but even an elementary understanding of the rules will make the event run more smoothly and be more enjoyable for all members.
* Allow Players to Color the Impact of Their Rolls. As Niarra suggested above, it is up to the GM whether they will provide the color after a players roll or allow the player to do that. Personally, I found it took a load off me as a first-time event GM to allow players the opportunity to describe the impact of their rolls. I'm also fond of allowing RPers the opportunity to address that issue themselves as it might be important to the development of their own characters. And omg, some people, like @Mei , can be just so unimaginably creative with their color. :)
Something else I think I may do for future events is establish and enforce an event sign-up cut-off date. I don't want to find myself updating character sheets and starship statistics in the final hour before an event start-time.
* Addressing Starship Distance. There was confusion at the start of the event over whether or not players were immediately in range of one another and if combat rolls would have any effect. As I type this, I realize that is simply something I should have address as GM as part of environment shaping (Niarra was with me for hours before the event began and probably said like forty times: "The GM shapes the environment..." It took me about 1/4th into the match before I was like: "Oh... I shape the environment... :P ).
* Clearly Define Win/Lose Conditions. I'm also inclined to say that, for space RP, establishing "Deathmatch" objectives is very bland and not really much fun for RP (e.g., defeat all enemy team ships). I like the idea of establishing more specific, creative objectives for teams to work towards.
* Reserve Forces, RPing NPCs, and Event Latecomers. It was mentioned mid-game that one player could abandon one team for another in order to balance it out. I think it should be established in event details prior to the start date what specific reserve forces can be pulled into the event mid-game. Also, I don't think it's necessary for teams to be evenly stacked prior to an event if the creation of NPC units is arranged beforehand to fill any gaps.
I can agree with this too. For me, my space battle guy IS one of my in-game RPers, so I didn't actually create a specific skill sheet for space combat. Perhaps, there would be some sort of altered form of the character sheet specific to space combat? I don't know, I'm just throwing that out there.
While I was initially worried about the balance of things, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself nodding along with it by the end. Despite having two savants on the Republic side of things, creative thinking on the Imperial side and few good rolls kept things bopping until the end. The race to take out that transport was just that—a race. So, while I don't have much to add, my final two cents are that it is, in my opinion, more balanced than first meets the eye. Also, it's nice and light and quick—something events sometimes desperately need.
I have some issues with this system that force me to shy away from any event that uses it.My first issue is no defensive rolls. Getting automatically hit makes no sense to me during PvP. As I understood last night, you said one could devote their turn to an evade, to negate damage of the next attack. But how does that work when someone before you attacks you? The advantage goes to whoever is first in the turn order. Player 1 attacks Player 2, Player 2 expects to be able to defend himself.
But how does that work when someone before you attacks you? The advantage goes to whoever is first in the turn order.
Ship stats - I highly disagree with the chosen stats you've given ships and how shields work. Last night, Turari was in a Scout and opened fire from range at a Starfighter. She used her normal guns, no missiles. How is it that a salvo from a Scout takes out a Starfighter's shields in one hit?I disagree with scouts having a higher weapon rating than stsrfighters too. Starfighters are designed for dogfighting and balance between maneuverability, defense, and offense. Scouts are designed to be fast. The only advantage they should have over a Starfighter is speed and maneuverability. The ship is smaller and less armed, so I struggle to see why it would have a higher weapons rating than a ship designed for fighting. For example, the Flashfire scout is equipped with two laser cannons. The Quell FT-2 Strikefighter is equipped with two TWIN laser cannons. Twice as many cannons. The S-12 Blackbolt (scout) has 2 laser cannons. FT-6 Pike (strikefighter) has 4 laser cannons. S-13 Sting (scout) has 2 laser cannons. FT-6 Rycer has quad laser cannons. It's a commom theme.
I would argue against taking GSF too literally. I love GSF, but in adapting its mechanics to another system's mechanics, you get kind of a "copy of a copy" problem.I would suggest thinking of scouts as A-wings as strike fighters as X-wings and statting them accordingly. A-wings are fast and manoeuvrable, but lightly armed and not particularly rugged. X-wings are more of a multi-role starfighter good at most everything but not particularly specialised, though very well armed.I recommend refactoring manoeuvrability ratings to account for both bonuses and penalties; manoeuvrable ships get a positive MR, while sluggish ships get a negative MR. This way, you could, for example give scouts a +5, strike fighters a flat 0, and larger ships -5, -10, etc. Meanwhile, strike fighters benefit from higher shields/hp/whatever, and higher WR (because they have proton torpedoes and such).If having a bonus doesn't work, then just refactor MR with scouts serving as the baseline at 0, and strike fighters going down to -5, and so on.
While I'm at it, another (slightly more radical) suggestion to consider:Refactor HP and SR entirely. Roll the existing concept of SR into HP so that HP represents a ship's general durability and do away with the damage mitigation mechanic. A heavily-shielded, toughly-built ship just has a larger HP pool than a flimsier ship; simple.Then, replace SR with a slightly-differently-named Defense Rating. DR then serves as an abstract amalgamation of all manner of defenses, including shields, evasive capabilities, jammers, and so on. It functions similarly to MR in that it would apply a penalty to skill rolls, except it affects incoming attacks' skill rolls. This could provide a further point of differentiation between scouts and strike fighters, for example, by giving scouts less HP but more DR -- thus, a strike fighter is tougher and can take more hits, but a scout is harder to hit.Just an idea to ponder!