Precinct Omega

Operation Nemesis - Special Characters

OK, $5 Patrons.  You deserve a little something extra for your investment, and I'm working on Operation Nemesis, right now.

One thing I want to include are Special Characters.  These will fall into two categories: Allies and Bosses.

Allies will become available for players to add to their teams for a limited number of missions (usually one) if they fulfill certain criteria.

Bosses will replace the Boss in their next mission, again, if they fulfill certain criteria....

Infinite Dark Beginnings

Following the patron vote, I'm starting work on a new game called Horizon Wars: Infinite Dark.  This is going to be a spaceship combat game along the same mechanical lines as Horizon Wars.

This is a unique opportunity for me, because I have no idea what the game is going to look like (except that it will involve d12s and, if humanly possible, four stats called M, F, A and D).

So I'll be brainstorming out the game's development from scratch, right before your...

First HTP Video is up!

I popped up a video on the dice mechanics.  Next one will be shooting, to show the dice mechanics in action.  Then I plan to wind back to stats and characters before going onto Movement.

What do you think?  Good plan for a start?  What should I do after that?

Ultramodern Bogeys

Although the setting is sci-fi, the game really has an eye firmly on the ultramodern and near future game, too.  No synthetic heroes, of course, but you can still have an EWOp, remotes, sentry guns and most every other option.

These new releases from Spectre Miniatures would be a fantastic set of Grunts in a near future "aftermath" setting.

Experimental Rules #1 - Motorcycles

One thing I agonised over for the rules, early in the development process, was the inclusion of motorcycles.  In the end, I decided that, whilst X Team probably used them to get around, they were unlikely to ride them into an actual combat area.

However, I have a few experimental rules that I'd like to share with patrons, exclusively, to try out and, seeing as Anvil Industry just released these rather nice motorcycles (available with and without rider), I thought I'd share the simp...

Operation Nemesis - Quick Preview

I couldn't resist telling a few new patrons about this in their welcome messages (I get over-excited), so I thought I'd better tell everyone else.

OK, so a feature of Operation Nemesis is going to be the eponymous "Nemesis" bogey.

This is a bogey who sits in the background of the operation, gradually becoming more powerful as the mission continues, depending on how well your heroes do in each mission.  Essentially, for every so many XP you earn (still tweaking how many that i...

Hammerhead 2020 - After Action Report

Throughout the day, at Hammerhead 2020, I ran two full games of Zero Dark.  Each was  simple variation on the Rescue mission from the rulebook, but the outcomes were... rather different.  And it was interesting to see why.

The first mission was played in several chunks as players came and went.  Most of my players were of the younger sort, so they were happy to take advice and, when I had no players, I continued the game on my own.

As a result, the her...

Early Release...

After much thought, I have decided that the PDF version of Zero Dark is going to be released today!  You guys are getting first notice, but it's not like there will be limited stock.

The PDF will be discounted from its normal price of £15 to £10 for as long as takes for me to get the POD version approved.

Now, obviously, I'd love to offer Patrons a discount or even, in some cases, a free copy.  But I do need to ensure that the product is watermarked, which I c...

What next?

From the start of May, I'll be Precinct Omega on a full-time basis (I have some other commitments to deal with before then, quite apart from trying to get Zero Dark done and out there).  I already have two things in hand that are definite:

I aim to have Operation Nemesis out for public consumption by August.  Then, by the end of the summer, I'll have the Patreon-exclusive supplement, Hero Dark, up for all patrons to enjoy.

I have a bunch of oth...

Breakthrough!

Assuming no one drops out before this scheduled post drops, the Zero Dark Patreon has broken two major milestones:

More than 30 patrons!  And $100 per month*!

I originally committed to doing something about livestreaming a game when I broke 30 patrons.  But those of you who've been here a while will know that I broke and did that aaaages ago.  So I'm obviously going to have to try to livestream another game ASAP.  Third times the charm, so perhaps this time I'l...

CP Models Deathbot

This was the miniature selected by the January Premium Monthly Mini Draw winner and he was even nice enough to send it to me rather than all me to buy it (which is cool but 100% not required).

Anyway, he asked for a corporate defence-bot look to it. I nearly went for white, but decided to go yellow as people have accused me of favouring dark and muted colours on my minis (guilty as charged).

This is a cool mini, btw. You can get one here:

2020-03-07 16:19:44 +0000 UTC View Post

Zero Dark Design Blog 9 - Mechanics

The breakthrough in the design of Zero Dark came from the simple realization that I already had the best possible design tool available in Horizon Wars.

There are a number of design principles at work in Horizon Wars that are distinctive to my approach to game design - the generic nature of the rules, the ability to build your own units, the stripped down approach to stats - but whilst they were distinctive and would, necessarily, repeat in Zero Dark,...

Page background image

Someone asked for a copy of the background image for making roster sheets and similar.  The image above is "Abstract Mock Up", a royalty-free image from Pixabay, credited to liberini96.

The page borders and suchlike are by me so, no, you can't have them.  But if you make some nice supporting material for Zero Dark, I promise I'll rip it off, sorry, borrow your ide...

Coming Next...

OK, so Zero Dark is heading rapidly to being print-ready.  We are a little behind on our schedule (maybe a week), but 29th March is still achievable.  Naturally, I'm putting everything into getting this done, right now.

But I also have to look beyond March.

There are a few things on the agenda that this Patreon will be supporting:

1. Zero Dark: Operation Nemesis will be the first major campaign book.  Although it will be written with the Venu...

Monthly Mini Draw - March 2020

Congratulations to the Monthly Mini Draw Winners!

Winner of the $5+ draw who wins a $10 mini of their choice, professionally painted by me and dispatched to them anywhere in the world, postage free, is Jules Tipper!  Jules has been a long-time backer of the campaign, so I'm thrilled to be sending him a mini of his choice and can't wait to hear what he wants me to get for him.

By contrast, the $3+ draw winner is brand new patron, Troy Davidson...

Namecheck

I'm adding a last-minute extra benefit for $5+ patrons (and will stop asking you about possible other benefits, as no one seemed very interested).

If you would like a namecheck in the fiction sections of the Zero Dark rulebook, you have until Friday 6th March to let me know what name you would like to see appear.  It can be your real name, a nickname or the name of someone else (with their permission - or at least confidence that they won't mind).  You can ask for other things...

Cover Art Revealed!

I am so stoked with how this has turned out.  I gave David a pretty demanding brief, with a bunch of requirements, but he totally came through.
Our four-hero team is fighting its way back to the exfil point with the Sapper laying down fire against the on-coming mech, while the EWOp gives cover to the wounded Spook who is on her way to the waiting Doc.
If you've played the game, yet, you'll know that, as the cards run down towards the end, you can find yourself in exactly this situa...

Custom Tokens

I got some custom tokens made up by ProPainted Studios. He did a really nice job. So I'm thinking of commissioning a bunch, with different colours for different states.

Based on my own play, it feels like the main ones you'd need are wounded, prone, stressed, stunned and support.

My approach to states like Wounded(3) is just to put two generic counters under the wounded counter. Same for stressed.

So, do you like these? Would you be up for getting sets like this? Do ...

More photos!!

I got the cover art back from David today, but it had some snagging, so I've given him another week to work on getting it finished.

Meanwhile, I've been painting like a madman, on miniatures and scenery for the photography for the book, as I basically need to have all the photos taken and embedded by the end of next weekend.

I've done the cover design with a placeholder for David's art so, although I'm going to get mighty stressed as the deadlines creep up on me, it's all basica...

Cover Art Update #2

David was struck down with a cold last week which has slowed his progress (artists, eh?) but he's driving forward and has 98% finished the background.  I asked him to take another look at the buildings at the back and to make them more futuristic.

It was important to me that the setting of Zero Dark is against a sense of the loss of something optimistic and great, that the future promises something good, but that the present is a bit crap.  I think this really nails it.  ...

Incoming! - The Definitive Beta 0.9

The final beta version of the Zero Dark rules is here.  There have been a number of amendments thanks to feedback and suggestions from patrons, and a few tweaks to make sure that rules were as clear as I felt they could be.  I can't entirely rule out further last-minute changes but we're nearly at the finish line.

I should have David's finished cover art by the end of the week and I am furiously painting up some new minis and some new terrain to make sure the photogra...

Cover Art Progress 1

I thought you guys would like to see David Sondered's progress of the cover art.

This is the background, showing a menacing Defence Mech against the skyline of a broken city. In the foreground you can see a sketch/placeholder for a sentry gun - the first element of the team of heroes who will be our focal point.

Hope you like what you see so far!

Zero Dark Design Blog 8 - Electronic Warfare

The first thing I'd say about EW is, if you're new to Zero Dark, skip this bit.

It affects only one type of specialist (the EWOp), so you may prefer to just build X Teams without an EWOp while you get used to the core rules.  However, I would encourage you to include them as soon as you feel comfortable - especially in the PvP game - as they open up a realm of combat that is entirely new.

In the setting, Electronic Warfare Operations (EWOps) have embraced the languag...

February Update

First, I'm off to Bournmouth this evening, to attend Beachhead 2020 tomorrow.  If anyone is in the vicinity or, better still, coming to Beachhead, do let me know!  But once I'm ensconced in my hotel room, I'll be finalizing the latest update to the beta rules.

I had some fantastic and detailed feedback from a couple of patrons, all of which I've taken on board and most of which has led to some fine-tuning of the rules and fixing some upgrades, in particular, that were obviousl...

Super-Secret $5 Meeting - Lifetime Contribution Awards

So, I'd like to start introducing a lifetime contribution award for patrons that back the project for multiple months in a row.

Obviously, a free print and PDF copy of the finished book will be the first thing on the list, and I'm thinking that will go to anyone with a lifetime contribution of $50+.

I've commissioned cover art from David Sondered and I was thinking I might produce a high-quality poster of the artwork, signed by David and me, for patrons who hit the $100 lifetime l...

Monthly Mini Draw - February Results!

This month's winner of the $5+ Monthly Mini Draw is...

Jules Tipper

And the winner of our first $3+ Monthly Mini Draw is

Christian Fernandez

Jules wins a $10 mini of his choice - as long as it's relevant for Zero Dark - shipping included, and painted by me.  Hopefully, recent posts have demonstrated that I'm not bad at handling a brush.

Christian wins an unpainted mini of my choice and this month's mini is an 2020-02-02 11:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Jessica delRay, Texas Ranger

The first $5 Monthly Mini Draw mini is payed, ready for her new owner. OK, technically, this was the second mini, but the first winner took a long time to let me know his choice, so I actually bought this one first.

Jon selected the CSU from Corvus Belli's Infinity range: a fine choice that I picked up from Firestorm Games for pretty much $10 on the nose.

I love this part of the Patreon campaign, because I really look forward to finding out what mini had caught your eye. Jon l...

Zero Dark - The Novel - Ch 4

The first time Jaq had taken a trip into Charterhouse's simulation archive, it had been a straightforward datadump from Charterhouse - or, more properly, from his data account in the orbital's synaptic framework - to Jaq's personal smartie.  This time, things were a little more convoluted, he realized, as he sank into a haptic trance.

He used this function in his smartie only rarely and it was always disconcerting to experience the illusion of sensory input from another place. &nbs...

Hero Cards!

Following a chat with a patron, I decided to do a new design of business card, specifically for those who prefer to do a "one hero, one card" approach.

You can download this free and print off your own or send them to a printing company for a stack of cards of your own, with my permission.  $5 patrons, though, will get ten of these, free postage, when I hit 30 patrons!

Corrected Aide Memoire

After using the aide memoire for the livestream, I realized it was missing some important data - like, all of the bogey stats!

This one should be correct.  Let me know if I've got anything wrong!