attacks of opportunity

Mathematica has reached the playtest stage. The first post mentioning Mathematica was made here Dec 17, 2002. At the time I didn't think it was anything I'd develop any further. But the idea came back a couple of times after that and I eventually submitted it to Matt Snyder for his "Gamer for Hire" contest (a contest that John Harper's idea 44 eventually won). Matt's comment on Mathematica exactly matched my feelings: "if I had an idea how to do this, it would be awesome."

Sure enough, several months later, I had an idea that I decided to incorporate into Mathematica. That's not to say that the game is anywhere near done, or works, or anything like that. But I do now have a playtest version.

To participate in the playtest, visit the forums here and download the latest version.

Past posts on Mathematica are here.

Update: Apparently there's a problem getting the playtest doc in some browsers. I think I've fixed it.

Labels: Mathematica, playtest

Posted by Unknown at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

Initiative Bonus – Represents an awareness of the battlefield, aiming, finding a mech’s weak spot, or even finding the best route from here to there.

1. A mech with multiple initiative dice may “hold” an initiative die rather than use it.
2. After rolling, held initiative can then be applied to as a +1 bonus to any rolled die on a one for one basis.
3. If a mech is attacked before his first initiative, then all of his initiative dice are removed as normal.

Option: A mech may not apply more than +1 bonus to any single die.
Option: If a mech's defense is 5, then the bonus may not be applied.

Labels: Mechaton, RPG, Rules

Posted by JudaicDiablo at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments

We have now played Mechaton on two occasions and I now feel the need to start adding to it. I am going to post one new rule a day. Some of the rules are mechanical and some are meta. Please let me know what you think or just tell me to stop it.

Meta Rule Proposal 1: Bounties!

Declaring Bounties – Represents a willingness to trade your own success for the destruction of another.

1. At the beginning of a turn you may Declare a bounty on another mech (the Target).
2. Declare your target and how many points you will pay for the mech’s destruction.
3. Upon destruction of the mech, the declaring player immediately transfers that many points from his score to the Collecting player.
4. If the Target survives, that faction receives the bounty.
5. Provisions:
• You may not place a Bounty on your own mech.
• A faction may collect their own bounty.
• It is considered bad form to declare a bounty on a mech in order to give the game to another faction. Boo and Hiss at that player till they recant.
• Bounties may not be rescinded.

Labels: Mechaton, Rules, wargame

Posted by JudaicDiablo at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

Here is a question for the group: What are the game rules that you find yourself continually saying, "Its too bad this game doesn't have ." It doesn't have to be something that happens all the time, but it should be pretty common.

Format
Game Rule
Game Name
Comments (when its used, the context, or just why you like it.)

Example:
Fan Mail
Prime Time Adventures (PTA)
There are always times I want to reward someone for entertaining me. Maybe I need to start carrying around wooden nickels for just such occasions.

Labels: PTA, RPG, Rules

Posted by JudaicDiablo at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments