War-Torn Ice Moon: Update + Outline

 Yup, still happening! Here's a quick rundown.

• The grand outline is solidified. I believe we know everything the book will have.
• We've written 10,000 words out of an estimated 20,000. (Unrefined rough draft wording, of course)
• All of the new rules are devised and fleshed out, just in need of proper wording and playtesting.

We're in Phase 2

I'd like to be done writing in August. I mean, I'd like to be done writing tomorrow. But right after the last time I estimated completion, my car broke down and my tooth broke down. So then I played Animal Well to cope. But we're back on track, and going strong!

It's time to finally share some details. Let's jog through the entire damn book real quick.

Outline

The first section is the new rules for FIST. They're made with Europa in mind, but perfectly suitable for use in the paranormal Cold War setting.

• Squads, a way to consolidate enemies into coordinated groups. They can execute unique Tactics they wouldn't have as individuals, and attack multiple players simultaneously per Failure roll. Dangerous... but players can make them too! Bring some grunts along on missions. Optionally, you can sacrifice squad members for roll bonuses.
  
  
• Extra Base Upgrade Options. There's 6 in base FIST; Backup, Defense, Expert, Offense, Storage, and Support. We're using those as categories of upgrade, and ideally, we'll have 6 unique options for each. For example, Backup by default is a squad of NPC goons you can send on missions or bring with you on yours. We're adding 6 different takes on Backup's idea of "calling in some dudes", from mercenaries (weak, plentiful, disloyal) to an embedded agent (disguised as an enemy), to a distress call that you hope the right faction will answer.
  
  
• Assets. A new advancement method, usable alongside or in place of XP or the standard way. Players acquire Assets for completing missions, fulfilling their roles, or as bonuses for going the extra mile during missions (or as the main reward of the mission). They represent your characters acquiring materials, tools, manpower, favors, and other resources during and between missions, which can be exchanged for Traits, extra max HP, or even field equipment and Base Upgrades.
  
  
• Dogtags. When a player character dies, they drop their dogtag or similar sentimental item. Other players can scoop them up to keep your memory alive. Plus, holding it and thinking hard about your dead bro will max out the value of one War Die, or other one-time character-relevant bonus.
  
  
• SEVERAL MORE, such as Morale, Standing, and Heat. Gotta save some for later...
  
  

The rest is all Europa, starting with these intro materials.

• Campaign Setup, where we break down what makes this different from standard FIST, how best to run it, the "gameplay loop" of War Forever, some suggested optional rules from the base game, and some examples of play.
  
  
• A Player Primer, which contains some "origin stories" for players to brainstorm how they got to this evil ass moon. Examples: Ice Miners, PMCs, Tourists, and even the rogue paranormal mercenary outfit themselves, FIST. The primer also has suggested goals for your players to work towards, such as conquering or escaping Europa. This will probably be where some character Traits unique to Europa will go (likely 18), plus some premade characters (4 to 8).
  
  
• Welcome to Europa, a smorgasbord of information about what this place is like moment to moment, divided into 3 sections: War-Torn, Ice, and Moon. (More comprehensive than it might seem.) This section also includes a simple timeline of what was going on before the war started, and the key questions you'll want to answer to make this your Europa.
  
  

Lastly, the War Chest, a massive collection of people, places, and things to populate your ice moon. Many are presented with suggestions for fitting them into your table's overarching story, unique situations involving them, and their interactions with other gameplay elements. There's also generators, tables, in-universe chat logs, read-alouds, table brainstorming prompts, examples of buildings and regions, and an introductory mission.

• Locations. Kind of broad, right? This part covers key landmarks and features across Europa's 4 layers: the surface, in the ice, the undersea, and low orbit. There's different environments in each, such as debris fields and cryogeysers, which impact what's there and thus the kinds of missions to go on. The surface section also details how to roll up or hand-make one of Europa's many Facilities, from the smallest guard outposts to the largest drill cities. There's "common" locations, like the plentiful howler nests and barracks, and "unique" locations, like the one and only Tomb of the Alien Ghost Hero.
  
  
• Factions. Armies, corporations, rogue cells, hordes, herds, and cults. We load up on these. We want you to have a wealth of options for major and minor forces at play. Wherever on Europa your game is set, you'll have a living conflict area with a huge array of mission possibilities, tons of people to fight or recruit, shit to steal, and groups to ally with or attack. Factions have named members, qualities to tack onto NPCs to make them part of that group, and multi-phase agendas. Here's the loglines for some select factions: Geneticist fishermen, felons with robot armies, cargo mafia, a thousand clones of the same guy, Clown Ops, guys who found a nuke, and Yeti No Human Kill Human Yeti Team.
  
  
• NPCs. Roughly divided into 6 categories, each of which contains 6 or more beings, most of which have at least 6 variations or adjustments to suit your situation. Grunts are your fodder and newbies, with different ways to mess up under pressure. Elites are specially trained, specially equipped, or just abnormal freaks. Specialists are experts in particular fields and often have helpful capabilities if recruited (or captured). Robots include all manner of building-controlling AI, worker androids, janky soldier-bots, and unstoppable metal murder machines. Fauna are true creatures and beasties. Aliens are sapient beings, such as yetis, cryoliths, and there are rumors of xenoplasmic beings wandering the tunnels... Outside of those categories are Legends; individual beings with moon-wide reputations and amazing skills. You may know some, like xSnoWolfx and Ursa Polaris. 
  
  
• Items. You've got your essential survival gear, like breathable air grenades in 6 different scents. There's also your less essentials, like space suits, armors, moon tents, laser drills and laser saws, and life-saving heatsinks. You've got jabs, nanite-chemical cocktail injections originally meant to "augment productivity" before the war. There's prosthetic limbs and proxy organs, both custom-made and cheap-ass. Grab some grub, like ice-meal, cryoffee, and xenoplasm. There's conventional weapons, there's plasma variants that use heatsinks, and of course there's repurposed industrial tools, Isaac Clarke style. For getting around, hop on an ice crawler, a slush trawler, a yeti, or any number of jury-rigged turbo sleds. And if you run into any xenoterica, like a cryolith prism or virulescent urn, be smart and don't mess with that shit. It's weird and dangerous.
  
  

Okay now help me out

Yes, you! After reading all that, did anything feel missing? I'm concerned, perhaps irrationally, that something fundamental is missing, and that when people finally read it, they'll say "Okay, now what?" or "How can I use this without [thing]?" So if anything essential seems missing- not a wishlist item, like a cool enemy or item, but something crucial that makes it usable for assembling a tabletop campaign- please sound off, here or on X the everything app. If I add it, I'll get you back somehow, probably with a free paperback copy. 

So what else is up

I played Animal Well. Animal Well is the only game in the world, play it. I also saw Hundreds of Beavers. Hundreds of Beavers is the only movie in the world, watch it. Otherwise, just gettin' by, man. See you in the next one!