I got some design validation from an unexpected source the other day. The amount of ammunition Battlegrounds hands out maps really well to my ammo rules in Glow in the Dark. You typically have enough ammo for murder but not battle.
“As you expend ammunition, you’ll mark off ammo dots under Items. This represents the foresight to bring enough ammo. Follow these guidelines for marking ammo:
Mark the first dot when you engage in a gunfight that uses a raid action (as opposed to hunt).
Mark the second dot if you squander ammo; suppressing fire, full-auto, two guns at once, and so on.
You’re out of ammo if you don’t have the load to spare or if it makes sense in the fiction. It might also come up as a devil’s bargain.”
#glowinthedarkrpg
#pubg
“Murder but not battle” is a really good distinction.
Oh cool. I hadn’t played the new Battlegrounds so I didn’t catch that validation. The games doing really well though, so that’s kinda cool I guess.
I wrote ammo rules for a hack a couple weeks ago too. I did something similar to what you did, except I said you have enough ammo for a short exchange when you pull your gun (because what’s a gun without ammo?), but a firefight might require 1 ammo, and extended firefights require more (and you might need to mark more to keep using your gun as the result of complications). Which I might replace firefight with battle now since it’s language I use elsewhere in the text too and will only make it clearer.
I call out in my text that a devil’s bargain for marking 1 ammo to get +1d or +effect is reserved for loadouts capable of rapid fire (automatics, two pistols, etc). Hey: guess I got some validation too that some simple ammo rules are in order for hacks with more advanced guns
Adam Schwaninger Do you think there’s space for crew upgrades or claims to interact with ammo? Or different types of weapons, like energy weapons, although that may be too complicated. But since Glow is about scarcity, I feel like higher-tier tribes might have an ammo stockpile or Fine Fusion Batteries or something. Much like how, in late-game PUBG, you’ve ideally killed a few dudes and taken all their ammo!
Re: ammo rules in general, I think they have a place in gun-games if scarcity is an important factor. Otherwise I’d let the players handle it through Devils Bargains and action consequences. In an average action game I don’t think ammo is very interesting.
Adam Schwaninger Sorry to say that I wasn’t succesful in convincing my Group/GM to play Glow in the Dark (yet?). The GM wants to try AW als “the real” thing. Looking forward to play Glow in the future anyway.
Brilliant idea!I am looking forward to see the system merged into v6!
Speaking of validation – John Harper, everyone! No seriously, thank you for continuing to keep an eye on what’s brewing in here.
Mark Cleveland Massengale Glad to help, if indirectly! I think in most cases I agree with Jason Eley that devil’s bargains alone can make ammo interesting, but there are cases where load dedicated to ammo makes sense. There are only so many places you can store 6-10 rifle magazines, and if you look at something like Heat, those guys are definitely not rolling with light load. You can also abstract it away, saying that the load for the weapon includes the bulk of ammo used on the score.
At any rate, it’s easier IMO than fiddling with rules for short vs long bursts, suppressing fire vs hosing a single target, and all that stuff that takes up space in other games sometimes.
Jason: There’s a huge overlap with how I see claims interacting with supplies. You could take over a weapons stockpile and maybe that’d work like a claim to give your tribe +1 quality weapons, like the regular tribe upgrade, but maybe only for a few runs. Having lots of ammo means you have lots of supplies, because ammo is money in Glow in the Dark. Water is money. Food is money. It’s all just supplies. Higher tier tribes still need to worry about supplies too, since their upkeep is higher. I was very inspired by how the game San Juan (Puerto Rico lite) uses its cards.
Stefan Struck: I’m honored that you pitched it at all! My secret shame is that I’ve never played AW myself, and only picked it up partway into my third playtest group. Having read it, and having gotten some feedback from playtesters, I think Glow in the Dark comes at post-apocalypse differently. AW doesn’t necessarily focus on the tribe as a coherent entity – the examples and APs I’ve seen are often zoomed in on a little more personal level? I’m not sure how to put it into words, but AW felt more individual when I read it, and Glow, as a hack of Blades, is necessarily about the tribe and its place in the setting. Glow’s also maybe a little more hopeful about building something up (thanks Fallout 4). There’s overlap for sure, but the heart hacks what the heart hacks. 🙂 I had to make the game I wanted to run and play, and if other people dig it, that’s just bonus.
김태균: Thanks! I’m waiting on v6 until we finish up the Relics playtest and I get a few more pieces of art. Should be in the next couple of weeks.