Author: George Pitre

Before G+ eats itself, I suddenly had some ideas on how to add tactical mini play to Folded Steel (and possibly other Forged in the Dark games). Not sure if this is good or bad.

After taking a break to refocus I am going to be putting some serious work into Folded Steel, my Forged In the Dark game about mecha and hope in a war torn world. Probably won’t have much to post until the forums are up, but you can expect a greater focus on the third Fold initially as well as the mecha system to be in an early workable form. Also pilot playbooks. I have a lot to say about those.

SO here is some thoughts on Folded Steel that I was originally going to collect on Friday, but then the plague…. (as it is these are still going to be much rougher thoughts and not as long as originally intended. Still playing catchup on life)

Mechs are an interesting thing to work with thematically. They can fall anywhere from “realistic” stories about war and hardship, or “super robot” stories where the colorful named mechs are stand ins for superheroes. There is also a certain expectation of “crunch” when it comes to mech games. In the conversations I’ve had with my various gamer associates that was one thing which surprised me as it has come up over and over again. Below is the beginnings of my current ideas for a balance between the mindset that wants mech games to have lots of fine tuning of your mech and the fiction first mindset of Forged in the Dark games.

Currently there are five different classes of mechs with more advanced mechs (higher tier) having the possibility of being a hybrid of those two. The five classes are Assault, Harrier, Support, Defense, and Artillery. A mech will have a number of hardpoints (currently four) that will each have a list of things that can be installed on that hardpoint. Each mech class will have a default loadout. In order to gain access to new hardpoint options (or build new mechs for your hangard) you need to spend resources on R&D and Construction.

Blades is already a game with a few mini games built into it. Managing your stress, your rep, the factions, and your crew’s heat are all connected mini games. The Tech game as I keep calling it in my notes is basically something along those lines. Every time you go out on a mission your objective will grant a specific type of resource as a reward (current examples are Metal, Exotic Materials, Bio-mass… still working on the exacts). This is the guaranteed payoff and why you are going on the mission. The payout tables for the mission will also have the possibility of bonus resources that you managed to score incidentally. With the goods back at your Enclave you can then use downtime actions to conduct R&D (which will unlock the parts) or construction (which lets you build it to install in one of your mechs). These same resources will also be used to repair the mechs during downtime, and build a replacement mech if one is destroyed on a mission. Fold 1 Enclaves will have abilities that will not be available as Echoes that will make this easier to manager, to show how the infrastructure was still around, but Fold 2 and 3 will definitely make it more difficult to keep your Enclave’s hangar running smoothly.

Just wanted to give a status update after being laid up sick for the past few days. Expect some musing on mechs and their loadouts later today/tonight

So back to the Folded Steel thought before I rush off to proctor a test.Today we are looking at the Third Fold, what it looks like, what it’s themes are, and the sources of inspiration.

The Third Fold begins not long after the Empire has been defeated. Somehow, despite all being stacked against them humanity has managed to defeat the invaders before they were able to fracture reality in their wake. Sheltered in bastion cities, the reconstruction is beginning but in a world that is much different than the one that came before. The field runs rampant with zones of instability causing strange one of a kind phenomenon to flash in and out of existence. Outside of the bastions, settlers are constantly fighting to reclaim vital land from remnant forces, bandits, and other oddities that have seeped in from the cracks.

During this reconstruction era the focus is on what mankind does to make things right. Enclaves are defined by their role in this. Guardians seek to preserve the society that has managed to weather the near apocalypse, Wayfinders have banded together to strike out into the unknown and tackle the issues in a more aggressive manner, and the Lore Seekers hope that otherworldly knowledge will be the key to righting reality. No matter which Enclave is used, the concern is always with managing hope. A successful operation using a higher tier mech may cause hope to rise, but there is always the chance that a Titan’s mighty presence may just as well drain away the Hope as it reminds other of the terrors of the empire.

Inspiration for the third Fold can be found in a few animes, but in particular you can see it in Southern Cross, Gurren Lagan, and Gargantia on the Verdant Planet. Mankind is close to the brink, and can be tipped either way based on the actions of the Folds enclaves.

Wanted to post this yesterday, but life got in the way. Back to Folded Steel.

The Second Fold is the definitely the most established of the setting options. Mankind has fallen after the Jeohbin Empire punched through from another dimension. The roving band of dimensional conquerors arrived with their massive bio-titans and swept aside what little resistance the First Fold nations could. Aside from the military might that they were able to bring, just the arrival of the invaders has brought destruction. Their dimensional tech has fundamentally damaged our reality, which is now slowly crumbling around us. The Empire knew this would happen. It always does. They simply gather resources in preparation for the next dimension they will attack. When the time is right they will move on like a plague of locusts and leave us behind with our shattered husk of a world.

Humanity is on a timer. To prevent this eventuality mankind has pushed their tech to new heights (mechs are pushed up to Tier 4) through both natural innovation and theft of Imperial secrets. Enclaves in this fold are about HOW you rebel. Are you guerrilla fighters, saboteurs, seditionists? Each has their place in stopping the Empire before it finishes off our world and giving mankind a chance to survive. In addition this is the first fold where Enclaves have Echoes, which are ways to tap into the Enclave playbooks from the previous Fold. Inspiration for this comes from various Gundams, Robotech (Mospeda), and Venus Wars.

This Fold was originally the only setting for Folded Steel. It maps the closest to Blades in the Dark, but with a much more definite story arc (rebellion in defiance of the apocalypse). This means that it is the most realized Fold, but also the one that has had the most reworked. Originally Enclaves had a progression built into them and with certain Enclaves being limited to certain Tiers of play (as well as legacy mechanics to show how your progressed through the Tiers). It ended up being too unwieldy, and I am much happier with the idea of Echoes and how they are currently shaping up.

This mornings thoughts on Folded Steel are more on tone and inspiration for each Fold (as well as looking for any recommendations for more inspiration).

So I have already mentioned that the First Fold is pre-invasion, but I haven’t really explained what that should feel like. The world is filled with the rise of new technology, but it is still in its early stages (mechs will cap out at Tier 2). This is currently the least refined Fold, but it is meant to let you explore what it means to have this sort of power in a modern urban setting. The government is aware that something is about to happen, but no one is sure the nature of it. The world is getting weirder and the Empire already has secret operatives paving the way for their invasion, so if you know you want to progress through multiple folds you have premade hooks.

Genre-wise this Fold is meant to touch on cyberpunk, detective stories, and corporate espionage. An Enclave might be a corporate PR firm, a police squad who specialize in Mech related crime, a special ops military team, a corporate R&D division, criminals with stolen tech, vanguard operatives of the empire, a racing team, or even a gladiatorial team.

The inspiration for this fold so far is primarily Guyver and Patlobar, but it is also informed by the early episodes of Robotech/Macross.

So, coming back to Folded Steel my thoughts have turned to tier and how it works. In Blades it makes sense that your crew had a tier, it is a game about moving up the criminal ladder and expanding your operations accordingly. For Folded Steel Scum and Villainy will be more of a touchstone where Tier still exists, but it is used to gauge outside factions and the quality of their assets. It is not thematically appropriate to have Enclaves being that concerned with going up in tier (well mostly not appropriate, so I reserve my right to come back to this later)

Where tier, or some version of it rather, does have a place in Folded Steel is in regards to the mechs. Specifically, tier would be a good mechanic to look to to model the different size scales of mechs and how they interact with each other.

Tier 0 Booster Suits – Human scale exo suits

Tier 1 Frames – 15 feet tall

Tier 2 Walkers – 30 feet tall

Tier 3 Goliaths – 60 feet tall

Tier 4 Titans – 120+ feet tall

The higher the tier the more effect the mech provides, but also the more it interacts with the Enclaves resources. During the First Fold it costs more funding to run a tier 1 than a tier 0, and also provides more exposure. During the Second Fold the empire definitely notices and reacts accordingly when an Enclave manages to field a Tier 3 mech.

What this does in addition to providing a loop of gathering resources is create meaningful choices for the players when deploying on a mission. The Enclave’s current position will have to factor into the choices instead of just always bringing the biggest and heaviest mechs in their hangar.

Folded Steel thoughts of the morning is the idea of “Folds”, how they relate to Enclaves, and what the currently planned playbooks are.

Before I talk about Enclaves I need to establish the idea of “Folds.” Folded Steel is in some series ways shaped by my young love of Robotech just as much as it is by more modern Mecha media. In particular this can be seen with Folds, which are explicit different ages to play in that are meant to emulate certain subgenres while also allowing the Enclave to progess through time in a more clear way that my original idea of tiered Crew Playbooks did when this first came up. Each Fold features a specific thematic things the Enclaves are trying to manage.

The First Fold is Pre-Invasion – This looks like near future sci-fi with a hint of things to come. Mechs and energy weapons are new technologies in their infancy enabled by the discovery of a strange new energy field. Enclaves are less unified, but tend to be worried about securing Funding and managing Exposure.

The Second Fold is Occupation – An outside force drawn by the use of the mysterious energy have come to our dimension to occupied the earth. Mechs now represent mankind’s best hope of throwing off the yoke of these oppressors. Enclaves are about rebellion, and having to manage the Heat from the Empire as well as the Resources needed to keep their particular brand of revolution going.

The Third Fold is Reconstruction – The Empire has been defeated but reality itself is in ruins, but there is still a future. Enclaves are defined by their particular vision for recovery, and must nurture Hope while also finding the Scraps that they need to keep moving forward.

If you so desire you can play through from Pre-Invasion all the way to the reconstruction, chronicling how your Enclave has changed with the Folds, or you can instead just tell the story of one Fold and the tragedy or triumph it brings. Each Fold will have three Enclaves specific to it, and mechanics on how you can call back to the previous Fold and be shaped by the time before.

No matter which Fold you are in the brave people willing to wrap themselves in a mech remain the same. Current planned pilot playbooks (names are subject to change):

Ace – a natural pilot who excels in his mech in ways that others cannot.

Tech -scientists, communications experts, and mechanics

Commander – tactical commander able to get others to do what is needed.

Specialist – Combat specialist who is as deadly in their mech as out.

Psychic – People changed by the energy field capable of strange feats.

Folded Steel thought of the morning is based around character sheets. Current vision is a character sheet with a section that covered your out of mech options that is intended to be covered by the equivalent of your current mech’s sheet when you are suited up. The Enclave (crew equivalent) could even have a Hangar section intended to hold the Mech sheets not in use. Leaning toward an index card size mech sheet, but am not sure if that is big enough.