MEGALOS v1.3 Update (part 1 of 2)
about 4 years ago – Sun, Feb 20, 2022 at 06:55:12 PM

Update v1.3

The currently available ashcan draft of MEGALOS has been updated to version 1.3. Taking some innovations from a couple of other Slipstream games I've been working on here and there in my off-time, I've redesigned, tightened, or re-explained several elements of the game. The other documents, including the full character sheets, the Quickstart adventure, and the bonus Callings, will all be updated to match v1.3 shortly (that'll be part 2 of this update push).

A full patch notes log of every single change is untenable given their scope, but I've done my best to provide an explanation of the main changes in the outline I used to organize and inform those changes (reproduced below):

Redesigned Core Mechanic/Roll

Characters have a Core Bonus (CB) which increases as they gain levels. Traits allow you to add your CB to any applicable roll. CB starts at +3 and increases by +1 every even-numbered level to a maximum of +6 at Level 6. Your CB also adds to your attack rolls and damage inflicted with non-Quick actions.

Redesigned Combat

Introduction of the Cooldown (or CD) and Long Cooldown (or LCD) tags for actions. Actions with the Cooldown tag may only be used every other round. Actions with the Long Cooldown tag may only be used once per encounter.

Combatants have the following turn phases:

• Movement - move 2 zones or use a movement power. Most movement powers can only be used every other round (Cooldown).
• 1 Full action or 2 Half actions.
• 1 Quick action (Auto-Attack or a calling-unique ability).

Range & Engagement:

• Melee attacks can only be used against engaged enemies (range 0).
• Ranged attacks suffer disadvantage on attack rolls against targets with whom they are engaged, and also trigger a Punishment opportunity from the target. This also applies to ranged Auto-Attacks.

Punishment:

• When engaged with a creature that performs an action while SLOWED, or who leaves an engagement with any movement other than teleportation, you may punish them. Inflict AAD on the triggering creature.
• Punishment costs a Reaction Opportunity. Characters gain additional Reaction Opportunities per round as they rank up.

New Terrain Type:

• Power Terrain - Areas of Power Terrain are affected by a creature’s powers, and have a particular effect determined by the power that created them.

SFX:

• Changed from a stated range to a number to exceed on the d6. This keeps more consistent with the general roll philosophy of “higher = better”. For example, instead of “SFX (1-3)” it would be “SFX (4+)”.

General design philosophy changes:

• More direct healing or powers which provide both healing and recovery points. Recovery points are maxed at 10 permanently now, no longer increasing with Level.
• Consumable items provide direct HP healing.
• Pure healers will tend to grant more direct HP healing while the healing powers of non-healers will tend to grant more recovery points.
• More healer-role NPCs/monsters.

Redesigned Equipment

Weapons:

• Determine your attack dice (2d20 for Heavy, 3d20 for light).
• Determine Auto-Attack range (0 for melee, 3 for ranged).
• Increase damage with all attacks (including Auto-Attacks). Heavy is +6, light is +2. Melee weapons gain +1 damage over ranged.
• Have mods (as before, more or less). Some mods are locked to your weapon's type or range.
• Have a type
  Dual: +1 to Defenses.
  Martial: +2 to-hit.
  Elemental: +2 damage, but requires magazines.
  Shield: +2 to Soak.
  Trigger: Have 2 sets of mods you can switch between.

Armor:

• Choose priorities for your armor, which determine its stats. Choose one of each priority (A, B, C).
  Armor HP. A: 15, B: 12, C: 9
  Defenses. A: +3, B: +2, C: +1.
  Soak. A: +2, B: +1, C: +0.

Redesigned Class/Calling Setup

Class and Calling core mechanics have been either redesigned or re-explained to play more smoothly at-table. Additionally, almost all Class and Calling abilities (powers & talents) have either been completely re-designed or re-explained using slimmer notation.

Each class has the following:

• Power stunts - add +1 die in a specific situation, use one skill in place of other skills, craft something for free, or unique.
• 2 core abilities (can be powers or traits).

Each calling has the following:

• Base HP of either 18 (Striker/Heals) or 25 (Tank).
• Base Defenses (8/12 or 10/10 for Tank/Striker) or (11/11 or 12/10 for Heals). Physical Defense is renamed “Dodge”. Magickal Defense is renamed “Ward”.
• Auto-Attack damage (5 for Tank/Heals, 8 for Striker).
• Soak rating (d6 for Striker/Heals, d10 for Tank).
• A unique Quick action relating to their calling mechanic or role.
• 12 core powers and 6 core traits. Characters will start with 4 powers and 1 trait. Over the course of ranking up, they'll gain 3 more powers and 3 more traits.

As always, you can get your ashcan/pre-release materials on itch.io: https://mataramg.itch.io/megalos. If for whatever reason you didn't receive the link way back when to claim the game from itch, or have just lost it, reach out to me here, on twitter (@gahostan), or at my business email ([email protected]) and I can get you squared away. You will of course need an itch account to access these early access digital materials. But when I finish the complete full-graphic version I'll be looking into digital fulfillment through OBS/drivethruRPG as well in order to hit a wider swathe of folks.

Part 2 of the update soon. Cheers, folks.

MEGALOS Update - Slipstream Development & Art News
about 4 years ago – Mon, Jan 17, 2022 at 12:18:35 AM

Happy 2022, y'all

Got some good developments for you tonight! First and foremost I wanna let you know that I've added another artist to the project who will help pack the book with delicious arty goodness. She'll be starting work on MEGALOS stuff next week, and I'm psyched to see what she'll be able to add to the project! I'll provide a proper introduction to her & her work after we've finished her first piece and had a chance to chat about how she'd like to be introduced.

Work on Webs & Wires was briefly halted- don't worry! It was a good thing!- after some breakthroughs I made in perfecting the core Slipstream engine (the underlying engine I'm building for MEGALOS and other games) while playtesting other Slipstream games. I've decided to re-open the sealed datacrypt and let these tweaks, redesigns, and screw-tightenings filter backwards into MEGALOS Core. This has resulted in the design document/patch notes that I'll link below. 

I haven't added these refactors to the MGLSCore book available on the itch page just yet, but that will come soon. W&W will be finished shortly after the Core refactor happens, and I'll be providing refactors for the bonus Callings (Sword Mage, Encarmine, and Paintwright) that I added to the itch page after that.

Also, speaking of bonus Callings, per a suggestion from a friend that got me thinking, I'll be adding some slightly more "generic fantasy" Callings to the list of bonus callings sometime soonish. These are planned to be Battle Priest (Invoker), Ranger (Throne), and Black Magus (Witch).

MEGALOS Slipstream Development Document:  click here! 

Happy Holidays from the Oradam Rift
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 03:46:51 PM

​Happy Holidays, Folks

There are many holidays observed throughout the Oradam Rift and all the Worlds of MEGALOS, but today I bring you: New-Callings-Weenmastide! For a while now I've been pecking away in my spare time on coming up with stats for a few new Callings for the three main classes in MEGALOS Core, the Witch, Throne, and Invoker. They're finally ready for release, so I've added them in a little ashcan document to the game page (https://mataramg.itch.io/megalos)!

​The new Callings you'll find within are the Sword Mage (a swashbuckling Witch that dives head-first into battle with blade in hand), the Encarmine (a bloodsoaked Throne that draws power from an Upyric heritage and can form weapons from their very blood), and the Paintwright (an Invoker artist whose paintings and drawings come to life to defend them and accompany them on their journeys).

I hope y'all have or had some good holidays, and enjoy the new Callings I've cooked up. The full playtest version of the Webs & Wires document is still being worked on and should be available sometime after the new year. Between the 9 Callings in the Core book, the 3 bonus ones I've just handed over, and the 9 more Callings (across 3 new classes) in Webs & Wires, MEGALOS is shaping up to be the game I always wanted it to be: filled to the brim with interesting and diverse player options.

Cheers.

-m

MEGALOS Update (A bit overdue, alas 😅)
over 4 years ago – Wed, Dec 08, 2021 at 12:23:00 AM

Long Time No Talk!

Sorry about the long silence about the project! I can assure you that we're safely in the "no news is good news" phase of development, but that's no excuse for letting a couple months go by without an update, and for that I apologize. I won't bore you with the details of my personal life, but can confirm that while I may have been quiet here, I've been very busy working on MEGALOS in about a half dozen different ways.

In no particular order, some updates:

- Art assets are being acquired and an additional artist may be joining the team soon to help make sure the books have as much good stuff in 'em as I've been hoping for without straining my poor artist's wrist and hand too much. 🤣

- Basic layout is nearing completion, but I'm waiting to see how some of the art assets turn out before I can finalize a couple of the pages and decide how I feel about a couple of existing ones.

- Webs & Wires, the player option expansion book we funded, is very close to being ready for playtest release! 

As a matter of fact, let's drill down on that last one a little bit while we're here. I've prepared a sneak preview of the Class/Calling playtest materials for Webs & Wires, which I'll link a .pdf of below! In the document, you'll find the playtest rules for the Mekanika Class and its three Callings, the Enginaut, Mek-Jockey, and Nanovector. These three Callings represent three distinct high-tek character options for playing three very different kinds of magitek-fueled heroes in your MEGALOS adventures! You'll also find brief overviews of the as-yet not quite ready other two Classes included in Webs & Wires, the Psyniscients and Spinners.

Webs & Wires playtest sneak preview 

The full playtest for Webs & Wires content will be coming out soon, once I've sanded off some rough edges on the other 2 Classes. Please look forward to it. 🙇‍♀️

MEGALOS Post-Campaign Update #3
over 4 years ago – Sun, Oct 03, 2021 at 01:01:04 PM

Been a busy couple of months!

I've been finding that I end up getting around to these "month end" updates actually on the first of the next month, so I think that may just end up being what happens with these. 🤣

In addition to work on MEGALOS proceeding according to schedule, I've been working on a number of other game projects, including a rebuild of my old game Sword Saints, empowered by Superfantasy. Check out my itch page for more info on all that!

Art Updates!

My artist and I are working hard on the key art and layout, respectively. Several irons in the fire at the moment that we're juggling, but we have two awesome pics to show off our progress.

Bear witness to the Draloi, a Witch calling specializing in the biomancy of bodily humors!

As a companion to this piece, here's a look at the Draloi's page spread in the Character Creation chapter of the MEGALOS Core book. 👀

That's all for this update right now. But I wanted to leave you guys with a little taste of what's to come in the rest of October. On the roadmap I have it listed as the "Halloween Spookabration" and another quickstart adventure called the The Seven Times Seven Hells. The Spookabration shall begin soon with a special bonus Quickstart release of ghastly proportions. I won't spoil it yet, but it'll be coming well before the end of the month, and will give entree to the events of the adventure taking place in The Seven Times Seven Hells.

Please look forward to it!!