April '23 Progress Report (Patreon)

Work on the anthology continues. One of the highlights of doing this kind of project, at least for my personal sensibilities, is that I get to make custom mechanics. Take these three Features, for example:

Dogged Determination

Internal Upgrade (0)

Effect: You cannot use Default or Alternative Genre Powers other than Try Again, Not so Fast, Live Another Day or their corresponding Alternative Powers. The first time that you would be destroyed during an Operation, you remain functional with a Threshold of 1 instead. This works against any source of Damage except Techniques. This Feature is incompatible with Oldtype.

It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but your stubbornness lets you continue to fight after most would’ve been long gone out.

Oldtype is the kind of Feature that works better with high PL Rivals, who have a decent Threshold Attribute and a decent selection of Genre Powers to use during the fight. Dogged Determination scratches the same conceptual space as Oldtype (down to the fluff, even) but it's more effective on low PL Rivals who have low enough stats that they benefit more from Try Again and Not so Fast (or their Alternatives) than some damage reduction.

Mobile Platform

Internal Upgrade (0)

Effect: You occupy 9 Zones in a shape of your choice, chosen when you take this Upgrade. All Zones occupied by your body count as Plain Terrain. You can Engage or be Engaged into a Duel by up to 9 Units, each using a different Zone of your body. Whenever you Move (or are forcefully moved), all Units on top of you are carried as well.

A carrier unit, in the most literal sense of the word. Though not quite as important as a capital unit, you provide an important strategic benefit to your side of the battle. Just be careful, the enemy can take advantage of it as well.

Sometimes you need a giant Unit that doesn't come with all the baggage of Colossus. Also, sometimes you need a carrier-type Unit that can serve as transport but doesn't provide Docking and also doesn't end the mission when it gets destroyed. This Feature does both.

Icebreaker

Internal Upgrade (0)

Effect: You ignore the effects of water-based Difficult Terrain, halve Damage from water-based Extreme Terrain and can break through water-based Impassable Terrain. You can only Move on water.

Land? Air? SPACE!? Who cares about any of those, when you’ve got THE SEA!? The vastness of oceans blue is all you need. 

This one's much more limited than both of the previous ones. I basically wanted a way to make a bunch of battleships be unstoppable as they cross the battlefield. I figured, Terrain Specialist as-is just makes other Terrain types Difficult, but not straight up incompatible, so I could fill that niche while also providing a starting for would-be homebrewers to make similar Features for other environments.

That's all for now. If the Anthology doesn't come out in May, it'll be in June. I'm already working on the next project, which, believe me, I've been itching to talk about for a while now.