X-COM: Aliens

[Lazybones]

Greetings all. I've set up this new thread for discussion and in-character posts for the upcoming X-COM: Aliens campaign. I will place the party roster here once the campaign begins.

Here are the preferences that players have indicated to date (based on posts here and in game):

Gulfwulf: Strong or Dedicated
Karvon: No preference yet
Mirgalen: Strong/Tough or Fast/Tough
RogueZair: Fast
Shadani: Fast or Dedicated
Smart Alec: No preference yet
Topato: Strong or Tough
Vanya Mia: No preference yet

For reference, I have posted the Player Guide online at Vanya Mia's Box account at https://app.box.com/s/kmtyixqi10m00uz74e7r. You should be able to grab the file without any password or other hurdles by just clicking on that link.

Per player request and to make my life easier I will be instituting a new rule for this campaign. In-character posts, in order to be eligible for bonus XP, must be posted no later than 24 hours prior to the start of the game. Thus if you're in the Pacific Time Zone like me, you'd need to post by 7:30 a.m. on Friday to be eligible for the bonus XP for that week's session. This change is designed to a) give people a chance to respond to roleplaying posts by the other players, and b) help me so I can go in and prepare the game without having to check back right at game time. Please note that pregame posting is optional so if you don't have RL time to come up with something that week, don't worry about it! It's intended to be a small bonus to facilitate roleplaying, not an extra source of stress.

Note that this module uses a very different ruleset from vanilla NWN. You'll want to download the d20 base module, the d20 haks, and the d20 Modern Neverwinter Nights Manual from the vault to familiarize yourself with the game changes if you don't already have them. I haven't instituted all of the d20 subsystems in the module (I haven't scripted in cover, or some of the d20M skills that require triggers to use in-game), but the guns system will definitely be implemented!

I will also post more guidelines here for character creation as we get closer to the start of the new campaign. Until then, feel free to ask questions.

Until then, if you'd like some inspiration you can read my writeup of our 2008 campaign at EN World.

[Gulfwulf]

Hmm. I'm thinking of a strong character unless nobody else wants to take a dedicated one.

[Shadani]

Fast or Dedicated seems like the most interesting, to me. Not quite decided yet.

With only four base classes, we're bound to have some overlap. But D20 Modern tends to have enough ways to diversify characters by skillset and Advanced Classes, so that shouldn't be a big deal.

[Topato]

Are there any in game screenshots of the various alien races?

[Lazybones]

Some more quick notes:

The bleeding system implemented is similar to the HABD system we've been using. When you fall to negative HP the module rolls a DC15 Fort save each round. If you fail you lose -1 HP, if you save you gain +1 hp.

Healing won't be common at the start; the alien masters basically consider you expendable. However, if you "die" on a mission you'll just be recanted into a new clone at the base. This might lead to some interesting new tactics.

Money won't be an issue in this campaign; there won't be any stores. Generally your gear will be stripped at the end of each session and you'll be issued new gear for each new mission. The humans' gear is so inferior to yours that scrounging shouldn't really be an issue. The available gear will change as you progress through the campaign. This system may also change as the campaign progresses.

Also, there will be a research system; I will post more once I've figured out the details.

At the moment it looks like we'll start on either November 8 or November 15.

[Lazybones]

Are there any in game screenshots of the various alien races?

There are some pics in my campaign writeup from the last X-COM campaign.

http://lazybones18.tripod.com/X-COM.pdf

Basically they are based on the original 1990s X-COM game, so a bit more campy/cutsey than the grittier current remake.

[Topato]

I'm leaning towards strong/tough at the moment.

[Lazybones]

This thread may start to look like a stream-of-consciousness essay as it develops, but I'm working a lot on the campaign at the moment and will post things that affect character creation as they occur to me.

Today's post: SKILLS

Since this is a fish-out-of-water scenario, many of the professional skills in the d20 Modern System won't have much applicability. Starting Occupations and the Profession skill are meaningless. However, your characters will gain knowledge by basically "downloading" info directly into your brains using the alien Learning Arrays, so Craft and Knowledge skills are perfectly acceptable. At the start, however, you basically will be thrust upon human civilization knowing next to nothing and with the cognitive ability of a six year old. So for example while you may choose skill points in Knowledge: Technology when you build your character, you won't have much context to put that knowledge into at the start. I would recommend avoiding some of the esoteric Knowledge skills like Art, Business, History, Popular Culture, and Streetwise at the start, but hard sciences and the like are okay and will have an in-game effect as part of the research system. Of course, if you have a character concept that depends on your Sectoid having an encyclopedic knowledge of useless factoids about 1970s television dramas, then disregard the above and go for it.

Speaking of research, I'll post more details once that option opens up in the campaign, but here are the skills that will be primarily relevant, along with the domains they will modify:

• Medical Domain: Craft (pharmaceutical), Knowledge (earth and life sciences)
• Weapons/Gear: Craft (chemical, electronic, or mechanical), Knowledge (physical sciences)
• Clone Enhancements: Craft (electronic), Knowledge (earth and life sciences)
• Advanced Support: Craft (electronic, mechanical, or structural), Knowledge (physical sciences)
• All Domains: Research (note: this is not a class skill for any of the basic classes allowed at the start, but you might consider taking it as a cross-class skill if you’re weak in all of the above, or you have extra skill points lying around)

As we did with X-COM, I'll have a system that allows non-"techie" characters to add a boost to the research roll by trying something crazy with a non-applicable skill. And of course I have contingencies for those hilarious and inevitable times when Vanya Mia rolls a "1".

[Gulfwulf]

when Vanya Mia rolls a "1".

Not if, but when. Oh yeah of little faith and great knowledge.

[Vanya Mia]

.... it totally made sense for Cat to be trying to help by running cables along an overhead tray! And you rolled that anyway and so it wasn't my fault! So you can all shut up before you start!

Kind of inclined towards Fast or Dedicated, as I just finished being a tanky type, but can go with the flow as I'm not wedded to any particular role.