March Poll
Added 2017-11-16 20:43:28 +0000 UTCRepeat after me: More Dark Matter.
This month, we're working on finishing up the High Seas update with monsters, spells, and diseases, and you'll also get to see our new class The Marshal, which is the first class in 5th edition to be all about having a cohort. All that comes out on the 1st of December. We'll be ringing in the new year with the Fey Folio, which promises to be very fun, indeed. The month after that, we'll be putting together a book a feats, Feats for the Fearsome.
After all of that, we're delving back into Dark Matter, because 120 pages is just a starting point. All the poll options this month are voting to expand one chapter in the book, adding new content, and making it way more comprehensive.
Comments
My rule of thumb is that a Personal ship is about the size of the Firefly: basically two decks, an engine room, the bridge, the crew quarters, and some other rooms, like the infirmary, storage rooms, the hangar, etc. It's basically two floors, and I make it up on the fly. For each size category after that, I scale it up by one additional floor. I generally don't map any of these spaces out (I could -- I'm just nowhere near that industrious.) I just keep in mind the types of places the players could visit, and I force them to give me an objective. Just as it's unreasonable for me to map a huge ship, it's also unreasonable for them to fight 150 enemies, so these quickly become stealth sections or fighting chase sequences, where they try to get to an objective (Engine Room, Bridge, Communications Room, etc) to achieve some sort of goal. If I map anything, I'm representing entire rooms as boxes on our grid map. In a session, it's not important to accurately represent the size or volume of a ship, and you don't need to compare it to real-world references like submarines. You also don't need your players trying to explore every nook and cranny, especially while doing boarding action. Think about an enemy ship as a dungeon: 5 rooms will normally do you for a quick adventure, but you can also map out the whole thing for a thorough sweep if you want to spend multiple sessions going through it in detail. Most of the time, I do the former, because it's very easy to claim that the PCs will be overwhelmed or the ship will self-destruct or something if the players take too long in boarding.
Mage Hand Press
2017-12-02 02:07:58 +0000 UTCAbout the whole Dark Matter thing, How do you guys handle boarding on a large ship (i'm talking anything 1,000 ft and up)? How much of a ship's volume is the interior? I'm asking this because my players want to start boarding ships more, and it's not feasible for me to map out something like the Hyperion.
Tyler Adkins
2017-12-02 01:52:14 +0000 UTCThough it looks like 'character options' has an unassailable lead, so future votes aren't likely to alter the result...
The Nails of Vecna
2017-11-19 09:52:48 +0000 UTCIf it helps your decision-making process, ask me at the AMA tomorrow, and I'll tell everyone what's on the to do list for each of these entries.
Mage Hand Press
2017-11-19 07:41:28 +0000 UTCArgh! I just can't decide!
William Koogler
2017-11-19 06:17:21 +0000 UTCI'm pretty sure that was a joke. Though perhaps we could write a zero-G version of siegeball or something...
The Nails of Vecna
2017-11-17 18:01:03 +0000 UTCThis month, all Dark Matter. That being said, I'm working on siegeball stuff for Wednesday posts so we can flesh out the options, little by little. I'm starting to wonder if I want to adapt and strip down the SRD into a standalone siegeball system, so siegeball can be played with or without the rest of 5e.
Mage Hand Press
2017-11-17 09:23:46 +0000 UTCWhere is the Siegeball option?
J.M.L.
2017-11-17 09:04:19 +0000 UTCI agree, NPC are going to be awesome in this setting. Also, we /really/ need more monsters in Dark Matter, so I'm hoping it wins.
Mage Hand Press
2017-11-17 05:30:49 +0000 UTCTo be honest, I haven't decided on that. I'll make note somewhere when The Digits and I hash that out.
Mage Hand Press
2017-11-17 05:30:07 +0000 UTCId really love to see npc blocks for the classes you have put out....so monsters gets all of my votes
Joshua Cates
2017-11-16 20:58:13 +0000 UTCWill the $2 patrons get access to the Dark Matter stuff next year (in March)? Or is that just exclusive to $3 patrons?
Claire Christenson
2017-11-16 20:53:32 +0000 UTCWe haven't picked out a proper name yet, but an entirely tech based, gadget using class for those of you who want a little more science in your Magic Science Fiction.
Jaron Mortimer
2017-11-16 20:47:05 +0000 UTCWhat would the Dark Matter base class be?
Dathan
2017-11-16 20:44:57 +0000 UTC
