Today I sat down after a ~2 week hiatus and “loaded a saved game” so to speak. I had (a) taken the photo shown just below (plus another of the map tiles I had placed, not shown), (b) kept all the cards in my Hero Tableau in one stack in the box, and (c) kept all the Quest/Threat cards in another stack in the box.[1] I was able to get things back in order quickly, and actually proceeded to finish the Tutorial Quest for the first time! I hadn’t realized I was just one fight away. I hope to proceed to a “real” quest soon!
As vaguely implied by the photo above and shown more explicitly in the photo below, I have begun to organize Items, Memories, Equipment, and Companions around my Hero card in a specific way during gameplay. (Note that this is not the same game-state as the one I “saved” above, this is later on):
I find that I prefer this, and I find myself wishing that all the “stat” information scattered around the Hero card were re-organized to support something like it. The current Hero card layout is built around elements of the game’s design that I think could be left behind-the scenes.
For example, I do not think a player ever needs to know that:
- the # companions they can retain is dependent upon their Presence stat
- the # of (revealed) Items they can retain is dependent upon Shadow stat
- the # of (unrevealed) Equipment items they can retain is dependent upon their Muscle stat.
Players do need to know the # limits, and their thematic dependency on the stats is sensible enough, but their alleged mechanical dependency upon the stats is functionally irrelevant for gameplay, as best I can see. The player is never told how to calculate from any stat to any # limit, and as best I can tell the stat never changes. I would much rather see some more iconic representation of Vixen’s 4-Item limit along the left side of the Hero card edge than have to hunt for it under “Shadow.” Likewise for the others.
Likewise, I understand that a Hero’s “Specialization” is something modular that varies from Hero to hero, whereas the Mastery Cache is a common element. But there’s no need to let that fact about the design dictate where this information is presented in the player’s “UI” so to speak. In the image below, the 2 pieces of information I’ve highlighted are functionally linked to understanding how Memory and Mastery work with Vixen, but they are scattered around the card. I would prefer them both displayed along an edge of the card that’s dedicated to Memory/Mastery (and I personally prefer the bottom edge).
It would be ideal if all the stats critical to Combat were consolidated somewhere. This could be achieved by pulling the Hero’s attack-relevant Stat down to the bottom-left corner along with ARM and DEF. But here we must pause to discuss “ATK.”
The notion of “ATK” seems to me to be ambiguous across the reference materials, and especially in connection with Hero Attacks – when trying to get my head around it I was struck by how infrequently this abbreviation is used outside of the context of discussing Companion or Enemy attacks, and I suspect this it related. Italics in quotes below are mine.
- Glossary/Index v0.13: the entry for “ATK” defines it as “base attack stat, set by hero weapon”
- Rulebook v0.13 (RB):
- RB 8 similarly says: “The hero weapon determines the base combat attack stat (ATK).” However, just above this in the inset image, the text on the top of the Stormforged Pillar card reads “ATTACK: MUSCLE” and the inset callout text reads “Attack Modifier.”
- RB 17 uses “ATK” as an abbreviation for the Hero Attack phase of combat, and this should probably be deleted.
- RB 27 says “Passive abilities include:… Stat buffs (like ARM and ATK)”
- RB 34 refers to “the hero’s ATK modifier”
- Learn To Play v0.13 (LTP) LTP 10’s discussion of attacking with Skeggox is a microcosm of how these ambiguities create problems:
- The Skeggox card and Vixen’s Hero card are shown in the 2nd image I embedded above:
- The top of the Skeggox card reads: “ATTACK: MUSCLE”
- Vixen’s MUSCLE stat is “+1”
- The Power on the bottom of the Sekggox card reads “Cleave. +2ATK Overkill.”
- LTP 10 reads: “Vixen attacks with her axe, Skeggox. It requires MUSCLE to wield and so she gains a +1 MOD; A7+F5/4. A Strong Hit. She taps the weapon card and activates her weapon’s Cleave power. This adds an additional +2 damage and Overkill. A total result of 5HP (result [from roll]) +2HP (weapon), less 1 for the Spiderwing’s armour value..”
- Here Vixens “Muscle +1” stat is said to be a “+1 MOD.” This contradicts the Glossary and the first half of RB 8, coheres with the 2nd half of RB and RB 34, and probably means the same as RB 27, which should then say “MOD” and not “buff.”
- NOTE: here the “ATK” value is added to the d6 to set the “target” for deciding whether a d8 fate die produces a hit.
- Notably however, the “+2ATK” abbreviation in Skeggox’s “cleave” power is said here on LTP 10 to be synonymous with “+2 damage” to the attack. LTP 19 likewise says that the text means “Vixen exhausts Skeggox for Cleave: an additional +2 HP” in damage dealt.
- NOTE: here the “ATK” value is added to the result of the skillcheck. Very different.
- Here Vixens “Muscle +1” stat is said to be a “+1 MOD.” This contradicts the Glossary and the first half of RB 8, coheres with the 2nd half of RB and RB 34, and probably means the same as RB 27, which should then say “MOD” and not “buff.”
- The Skeggox card and Vixen’s Hero card are shown in the 2nd image I embedded above:
In short, I think the notion of “ATK” needs systematic review. The d6-modifier must be sharply distinguished from the Result-modifier – one of these can be called “ATK.” In no case does the Glossary’s definition seem to work quite right.
Once that’s settled, I think it is likely that some information on the Hero cards could be re-organized to help the player sort out Attack values. Unless there are plans for (a) an expansion that would allow Heroes to get new weapons, or (b) a variant where Heroes don’t use their “default” starting weapons, then I’m not sure the Heroe’s default Attack Modifier (the thing they add to the d6 in a combat roll) couldn’t just be explicitly stated. Again, it’s thematically cool that this depends on a specific Stat for the character, but seems like it may be functionally irrelevant. Why ask the player to do math on this if it never changes?
I know we established back in the unboxing that at least one of the Hero/Accoutrement divider cards is obsolete, but I used them to help keep my stacks distinct, and appreciated having them; I don’t find myself wishing for fewer divider cards. ↩︎
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