Thursday, February 22, 2007

The Alternate History One-Shot Contest

Previously posted on Story Games...

I currently need to design an awesome alternate history one-shot to run at Go Play Northwest. Despite the fact that I've got a file full of alternate history ideas, I kind of want to mix it up a bit and also find out what other people think is interested. So I propose this: let me know what alternate/awesome-ized/lasersharked peice of history you'd like to see as the kernel of a one-shot. I'll pick one that sparks my enthusiasm, write the adventure, run it at Go Play NW, and send you a copy.

Here are some more guidelines:
What I need for an entry:

An obscure historical figure you think is awesome and/or

A real historical person or event and idea of how to lasershark it and/or

A real historical person or event and an idea of how to aweseom-o-fy it and/or

A wild macguffing dropped into a historical setting


The setting for Mathematica is rennaisance Europe, but I'm willing to consider ideas in other settings and times (I can just use TSOY for them if they're not appropriate for Mathematica).

You don't need to be intimate with Mathematica, but here's the quick pitch if you're interested:

Mathematica is a game about the war of ideas set in renaissance Europe. But in this renaissance Europe, ideas are made starkly incarnate. This is a world where we might see Michelangelo building giant clockwork war machines, Machiavelli training eldritch doppelganger assassins, or Sir Francis Drake on a daring journey to Avalon to consult with Merlin. It's also a world about epic conflict: the Old Church against the upstart reformers, city states struggling for independence against central powers, threats of foreign invasion, the light of science against the dark of superstition (or vice versa).

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Monday, February 19, 2007

Mechaton Rules Blitz 3 & 5

Move Attack Move - Represents a “fly by” attack, extreme maneuverability, or firing on the move.
  • Requires a mech to have 2 movement attachments
  • The mech may use one die (white or green) to move, then attack as normal, then another die (white or green) to move again.
Line of Sight, Artillery, and Spotting - Represents the fact that Artillery has an unlimited range but knowing precisely where a target is, is another story.
  • If Artillery has line of sight to a target then normal shooting rules apply.
  • If Artillery does not have line of sight then it may only target a mech if it currently has a spotting die on it.
    • Normal shooting rules then apply.

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Monday, February 12, 2007

Mechaton Rules Bitz 4 - Alternate Chassis

As everyone knows, the Mech is the most efficient chassis for war machines, construction drones, and a host of other applications. Nevertheless, a few other chassis types are commonly encountered, including:

Power Armor - Power armor uses mech technology concentrated in a suit worn by a single individual, enhancing their motions with incredible strength. Power Armor gets only 1 white die and can 1 attachment.

Spookbots - Actually, the spookbot chassis is only 1 of several designs that emerged before mech technology became widespread. Spookbots may be piloted or robotic. A spookbot has 1 white die and up to 2 attachments.

War Machines - War Machines refer to the vast variety of non mech enabled machines of destruction. War machines get NO white dice at all and may have up to 3 attachments. A war machine without a movement attachement cannot move.

I'm not sure this adds much to the game as written, but it could be a source of fun.

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