Designer's diary (Alien 2.0)

Hi folks,

Time has come for our facehugger to make a step up the evolutionary chain. While it is not clear yet what will burst out of the chest, I would like to share the plans for Alien 2.0 release of the ruleset. Listed below are the main features we discussed and plan to implement along with some fixes and code updates that are mainly cosmetic or won't be noticed if you haven't tried to do the thing we address with them :)

Without further ado:

• Ship combat - We plan to enhance the Character, PC Ship and Spaceship sheets to support better space combat. This is ground work for Coriolis, but Alien is the first ruleset to get advantage of this. There will be crew manifest that will allow GM to assign roles per ship and this will expose the right actions on new tab on PC's sheets so they have single stop-shop for ground or space combat. It will be semi-automated, leaving the GM to adjust the hull integrity for example.
• Combat Tracker Update - The combat tracker will be updated to support groups, non-duplicate initiative, user-accessible menu to reroll and regroup + ability to add space ships (just for organizational purposes). We haven't yet figured out the best way to mix ship and "ground" combat, but it will come up.
• Xenomorph library - I believe the approach we had in Vaesen with dedicated library was right and as part of this release we will introduce new library and move all xenomorphs there with updated sheet that hopefully the address the woes of the existing one. We will keep the code related to the NPC library there so it will be backward compatible with any customization you might have already.
• Critical injuries frame - we will allow effects to be dragged & dropped to the frame and link them with the automation of skill/ability/combat rolls. This will allow to have persistent conditions per character without the need to have it represented every time on the Combat Tracker. This will be convenient for campaigns where multiple groups re-use the database or the GM (like myself) clears the CT every time.
• Stress handling - we plan to be more precise when it comes to stress levels and the current stress suffered by PC by tracking current and comparing the new status when table roll is made.
• More Drag & Drop fields on sheets - adding ability to drag & drop career to PC sheet or AI to PC Ship sheet for later reference and etc.

There are few enhancement that we would like to try but there is no guarantee if it will make into that release due to time constrains

• Character Assistant. Free League games are quite open and lacking strict guidelines during character creation, just few things are mandatory to be selected, but still it is useful to have such assistant for new players. As this can take a lot of time to implement, might be something in the future, but know it is on our radar, especially for Forbidden Lands and Coriolis.
• Sheet Layout - I also want to rework the PC & Ship sheets styling, but for now this is on the backburner as the default ones are VTT unfriendly when itShee comes to fitting all the info into tight spaces :)
• High-Res maps and LOS - there are certain restrictions imposed on the image size for products compatible with FGC and Unity, but I will explore what and how we can bring bigger maps for the existing modules where applicable and put the LOS for Unity. No zones can be defined as this is lacking feature in Fantasy Grounds, but LOS can be defined and later you can bring your grid.

Also - Colonial Marines. Work will start once Free League are ready with the book.

Let me know what you think. Feel free to drop also enhancement suggestion here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...nt-suggestions

Thanks for the heads up and all the work - I've only run one game using the alien ruleset so far, and that was before you added the visible d10 and stress dice, so I was working pretty barebones - I'm glad to see a lot of new functionality already having been added, and more on the way - just wanted to say that I'm grateful for the work. So far, the only thing I can think of that would be a lot of fun (and moderately useful) to the system would be some kind of motion tracker visual feature that could be added to the background or map. It's a surprisingly fundamental aspect of the game, using the motion tracker to track incoming and moving objects several "zones" away, AND it's a fun visual to add to the tabletop space. Since it's apparently possible to add animations to FG, it'd be really nice if said motion tracker could include an animated "pulse" as part of the visual feature

I expect anything like what I mentioned above would be a long way away, if possible at all - but I really do think that for the Aliens game, it'd be a surprisingly important feature both rules-mechanics-wise and ambiance-wise

anyway, just an idea - and I'm pretty sure I'm not the first (nor the last) to bring it up

Let me think on that motion tracker. I know on principle how this could be implemented, but there will be some challenges. For starters there is no way to play sound via the program and animated GIFs are not yet supported, therefore it will be something manual adjusted by GM and visible by players.

to be fair, as much as I love the sound, I don't think it's vital - really, just a sort of perma-mapped like motion tracker "mat" in one corner where you can place some motion "signal" tokens would work just fine, at least at first - no need to get super fancy

Thanks again for the continued support.

As a query is there a way to drop the characters agenda for that act onto their character sheet to automatically add it, either writing over the old one or following on?

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Originally Posted by godsick

Thanks again for the continued support.

As a query is there a way to drop the characters agenda for that act onto their character sheet to automatically add it, either writing over the old one or following on?

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Interesting idea. Yes, it is possible to create list instead of text box that will accept drops from the Agenda libraries. It can be either one or the other. I can even split the frame into two - for free-text purposes and another for dropping prepared by GM/Scenario agendas.

It is doable for 2.0 for sure as it is quick fix. Feel free to suggest or explain me how you use that portion and we will find a way to address the need.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Valyar

Interesting idea. Yes, it is possible to create list instead of text box that will accept drops from the Agenda libraries. It can be either one or the other. I can even split the frame into two - for free-text purposes and another for dropping prepared by GM/Scenario agendas.

It is doable for 2.0 for sure as it is quick fix. Feel free to suggest or explain me how you use that portion and we will find a way to address the need.

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Thanks, it's a small quality of life feature but much appreciated.

Thanks for taking interest in updating the maps with Hi-res and adding LOS! It's my top request :)

Would it be possible to do separate FGU and FGC versions of the maps, one Hi Res and one lower (like has been the standard for Player and DM maps in 5e)? This would then allow the quality and resolution of Unity's maps to not be constrained by Classic's limitations?

Cheers,

Simon

That's the plan, deliver them as separate HD module that can be used optionally.