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View Full Version : Holy Sweet Mother of the Cosmos! It's Alternity!



Alair Koraius
2009-02-23, 12:59 AM
StarCraft Alternity, to be precise. >.>

I'm learning the system, and trying to run a campaign for my friends, and I immediatelyn oticed how easy it was for me to stat in this system. I'm not afraid to do it, and when I make an error, it doesn't feel like the end of the world (like in other systems).

However, one of the grave problems I have with the system, and there's no pun intended here, is the mortality of everything. I understand that a gun is a deadly tool, but there's no reason that a player should die from even the smallest of weapons (especially in the StarCraft book), and the greatest (and not even vehicle weapons) has the potential to kill them 2-3 times over.

I guess this thread is asking if anyone's played Alternity, and if so, what have you done (if anything) about the health levels. So far: I've made Mortal Durability equal to your CON score, and I'm in the process of deciding wether or not to make Stun and Wound 1.5 or 2 times your CON score. I'm really hoping that will fix this problem.

Another thing I've done (because it was annoying me), is fixing Zerg stats. I'm making all the units over again form scratch, and inventing a few of my own. Sure, after every combat I'm tweaking them a bit, but while a Zergling can't take a single psi-blade hit, a Hydra should be able to survive.

Oh, an ending note: I do use armor to it's fullest. After modifying their own armor with amazing successes, a psi-blade can still mess their stuff up, if used by anything with a Strength over 7.

hamlet
2009-02-25, 10:49 AM
Your problems with mortality are a direct result of using the Star Craft variant, which assumes that you are only going to be carrying the most lethal weapons in the world into a combat zone with two of the most dangerous species ever to stalk the galaxy.

Pick up the real Alternity GMG and PHB. There are plenty of somewhat less lethal weapons to go around, most notably the Stutter Pistol which would require a dozen or so point blank shots to become life threatening.

Also note, though, that yes, in general, things are somewhat more deadly in the Alternity game. This is, IMO, a feature, not a drawback.

Ovaltine Patrol
2009-02-25, 11:54 AM
I haven't played Alternity since 2000, but I don't seem to recall dying a lot. Then again, we didn't have the Starcraft book for it.

Zincorium
2009-02-25, 02:50 PM
I'll admit, I never went out and got the Starcraft addition, but playing the Star*Drive and Dark Matter campaigns, it seemed that getting injured was a big deal (lack of quick healing) but well before death was a strong possibility they'd shifted methods to being a bit more... discreet.

Then again, my players in those games universally loved having vehicles around to run people over with, and only got up and personal when they were sure they had overwhelming firepower.