A NOCTURNE — progress update
Here’s a brand spanking new bunch of playbooks, including a new, reworked version of The Outlaw (based on some brilliant suggestions from our very own Alex Lopez and spikemaw), along with The Pilot, a note on shells and how re-shelling works, The Armature (an artificial body along the lines of the Hull), and a new craft, the Dark Orb (an experimental stealth craft).
These will be added to a new 0.7.2 version of A Nocturne real soon, but just throwing this up here for some early impressions. Let me know what you think!
EDIT: I forgot to also include The Witch, which is sort of like A Nocturne’s version of the Whisper. Sort of. Kind of. It involves copious nanomachines. I posted it down in the comments…
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AR_IVI3NS_LysJbyP41RvLbOTiR7nBC5/view?usp=sharing
Looking good. Awaiting the kickstarter ;D
MetroPCS
Dark Orb is absolutely my favorite Craft now. Armature feels a little boring, compared to how gonzo The Broken or The Forgotten can be; it’s not bad, just not nearly as evocative as some of the other playbooks.
Lex Permann The Dark Orb is definitely my favourite as well, right now. Yeah, maybe the Armature needs another pass or so, although I was beginning to run a little dry on evocative abilities following a playbook I completely forgot to include in this pdf, which is The Witch, a creepy spreader of post-singularity weirdness:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tQ7EYCYk6WWGrf2QgCdZbP9Rg0MelIWSppSV2ew21NR63Gv2p7dq98Uc2GPXk7za6CkPoUQaw-tUJpENil2inAwRLHiO9XRpscQ=s0
Calum Grace Oh, the Witch is an utter treat! Living Weapon and Patient Zero are great. What exactly do you have in mind in the “sacrifice” portion of Vessel; is that temporarily losing control of your body to the AI, or something else?
Lex Permann That’s definitely what I had in mind, but I’d be eager to see what other peoples’ interpretations of it might be. Kinda want to leave it open.
Calum Grace this looks so good!
Makes me want to table our game of BitD and play A Nocturne instead.
The Witch reminds me of Kameron Hurley’s Bel Dam Apocrypha series, it draws some interesting parallels between nanotech and disease.
I adore Patient Zero as a concept but I have mixed feelings about Living Weapon and Vessel… Off-the-cuff (because I’m reading this at work) I feel like Living Weapon is a bit of a blunt instrument, and I would be tempted to attribute Vessel’s effects to it, and make Vessel something that you unlock additional abilities for.
That way, the artificial familiar can assist and protect you, but you have to give it free reign to do so, and your unwelcome AI guest provides you with Faustian opportunities.
Slightly off-topic, but have you read Daniel Suarez’ “Change Agent”?
Renaud van Strydonck Those are some really interesting ideas, will have to see how things play out in playtest.
I’ve not read Change Agent, though it looks to be extremely up my street.
Calum Grace I’m pickled tink that you’ve used that Monomania idea of mine! And I love From Hell’s Heart, what a great excuse to make that player’s Devil’s Bargains even more crazy! I think the Outlaw is definitely a more interesting option now.
The Witch is really outstanding. I love what you’ve done with it, it’s so easy to see what you’re going for. Renaud van Strydonck has a good point that Vessel would be fun if it was applied to your artificial familiar, but maybe just mentioning it as an option would be good.
The Dark Orb has amazingly synchronous options! Each one whets the knife another lick, it’s awesome! What about the Decoys though? I feel like it could need a little more detail. How many decoys each? They count as a cohort? Their replacement cost? I suppose that is pretty easily discussed by a given group and decided on.
I’m really excited to see more from you, mate! You’re doing great!
I do have to wonder… beyond cleaning up a couple more rough edges and doing more playtesting, what’s left between here and release? I’m already in love with this game, and it isn’t technically out yet.
Lex Permann Honestly, not much. I want to include another sample cluster or two, and a little commentary on how to make your own, but yeah, at the moment, beyond playtesting/editing/etc. it’s feeling pretty close.
If I may request; could we see some example Gear tags before things are wrapped, and maybe an example Score or two to help us find our footing?
Also, did you ever consider having contacts like base Blades does, or did you figure that the distances and timescales of A Nocturne prohibit that?
Lex Permann Yeah, I’ve specifically avoided putting contacts in due to the distances and timescales involved, and the fact that I want clusters outside the default one to be modular and player-created.
I’m for sure going to try to include a couple of starting situations + scores in the classic Blades mould before I even think about calling this thing finished, along with some further commentary on how scores function in A Nocturne.