Zodiac Echoes 2.0 incoming!

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post to show you a bit of progress I've been making when it comes to Zodiac Echoes: XII Before Silence.

While the game runs fairly well during playtests, I have realized some of its aspects are lacking. It's actually not that much of a "rules" problem - it's about the way characters are built, what their options are, and how much time it takes to create the group and their Echoes before actually getting to play.

Because of this, I have taken the (some might say brazen) decision to completely rework the way characters are built and presented. This has minimal impact on the rules of play, in fact, but it's not just a cosmetic overhaul.

Here's what a 2.0 character sheet looks like:

As you can see, it's no longer a card - it's a proper sheet (players get more breathing space now). Important elements:

• Characters now have four categories of approach: Brave, Kind, Popular and Smart. They must assign a score (2, 3, 3, 4) to each approach, and this score is the maximum number of cards they can flip when testing that approach.
  Each approach must also be tied to a different card suit, and the blank space is for you to write down an adjective or short concept. You might have Popular 4: Prom Queen, for instance.
  
• There's a slot for your Echo card. As you will see below, Echoes each have their individual card - that's right, Echoes of the same Zodiac will still have different cards and play in a different way. This allows me to be more creative with Echoes, and allows the game to feel fresh even if you pick a Zodiac you previously played. It also speeds up the setup portion of the game (we can't expect players to have a firm grasp about mythology - most of the time, people simply pick one of the suggested Echoes for their Zodiac anyway).
  
• Age is now an element of the character's ID. That felt relevant and I wanted to include it somewhere, since when you're a teenager even a couple years can make a difference.
  
• You may notice that the King is no longer present. That's something I am not 100% sure about: while it had really little mechanical impact, your King helped define what makes your real life miserable - and might lead to PCs siding with the End in order to overthrow the status quo.

And here is an Echo card, specifically our lovely lady Athena (a Libra card).

While it may look less fancier than the old Echo cards, it has several advantages:

• You don't need to reprint Echo cards. All information is written on the sheet, which means you can safely put your Echo cards in a protective sleeve and reuse it whenever you play.
  
• More space means five powers instead of four, enhanced tactical options, and the possibility to write clearer rules text for their effects.
  
• One cool idea I'm toying with is releasing "expansions" containing new Echo cards. You know, something like "here's the Japanese Gods set" or "Here's the Irish folklore set".
  If I manage to fit enemies on cards, the result could be really nice.

So, that's the direction we're headed for. Right now I've done 12 starting Echoes (one per Zodiac) in Italian (I plan to playtest them HARD) and I am in the process of translating them in English, so that you guys can print them ASAP!
The rules doc on Google Drive is also being updated, of course.

Oh, and on a separate note: all components for my new PC have arrived, except for the CPU... which is one week late >:-(
I'm still stuck working on my mother's laptop whenever she's not at school... sigh.

I'll be back with more stuff as soon as I manage! Thank you for your patience!!!!