We've seen it all before. Harvest, the Outer Colonies... Reach.

Hello again everyone! I really like the way the game is coming along. I have concluded the first round of playtesting and am thrilled with how well it works. I expect to give this playtest packet a run as well, though not as quickly as the last, and if it performs well I will be looking at moving this from alpha to beta testing.

Now onto the details of the changes. Thanks to feedback from my trusty playtester trio, I've made a set of bolder and more significant changes that I hope will bring more drama and perhaps make the team feel a bit more human-scale. A key piece of feedback I received was that there was a somewhat general lack of "yes, but it costs you" results on a 7-9 which are typical of PbtA-type games. Many of the changes that follow are centred around addressing this very accurate and useful observation.

Another useful change is that I have formalised previously loosely-defined narrative text that moves used to describe negative effects on 7-9 or 6-. These are now "draw unwanted attention", "plunge into danger" and "become pinned" in roughly increasing order of severity.

Changes:

• Major changes to harm, stress and unit supply tracks. Most classes have lost at least 1 Harm or Stress.
  • Unit supply track now 4 (was 5)
  • The Officer now has Harm 3 (was 5) and Stress 5 (was 6)
  • The Sergeant now has Harm 6 (was 7)
  • The Trooper now has Harm 5 (was 6) and Stress 4 (was 5)
  • The Specialist now has Harm 4 (was 5) and Stress Stress 5 (was 6)
  • The Scout now has Harm 3 (was 4)
• Changed the Rocket Launcher and Sniper Rifle. Removed the "mark unit supply when picked up" effect.
  • Designer's note: With Ammo 2, these are specialist enough without also demanding the newly-reduced Unit Supply. Also in general fewer rules are better.
• Changed the Rocket Launcher. Changed wording to "always mark 1 ammo" was "always mark ammo".
  • Designer's note: This should clarify that this weapon always marks exactly 1 ammo (never 0 or 2).
• Standardised all wording of suddenly encountering something bad in the fiction to three levels: "draw unwanted attention", "plunge into danger" and "become pinned". Added terminology entries to explain.
• Merged the tactical move "Keep it Together" into "Hit the Deck". Changed it to use Steady (was Brute).
  • Designer's note: I felt the tension of playtesters always trying to figure out which one of these to use, as they are very similar but subtly different. It's simpler to just have one.
• Merged the tactical move "Lead the Way" into "Seize the Moment" and also reworked it. On a 10+, it is free, on a 7-9 it costs harm or stress and on a 6- you also draw unwanted attention (was free on a 7+ and costs harm or stress plus unwanted attention on 6-). Removed all XP gain.
  • Designer's note: Moves that generate XP are being generally rolled back as too problematic. Once XP gain was removed, the two moves looked similar enough to merge.
• Heavily reworked the tactical move "Move through the Combat Zone". Now explicitly rolled as a group, although consequences are individual. Multiple negative options are available on a 6-.
  • Designer's note: I expect the team to roll this a lot, so it needs to support a corresponding amount of narrative weight and capability to generate drama. I have tried to make sure the players have agency even on a 6-.
• Changed the tactical move "Assess the Situation". Moved "spot a complication" to 7-9 (was 6-) and added draw unwanted attention to 6-.
  • Designer's note: I don't want players to be put off making this move, so drawing unwanted attention is relatively mild. However, there should be at least some potential for it to cost.
• Changed the tactical move "Take the Fight to the Enemy". Now is free on a 10+ (was 7+). Now choose to either pick 1 and draw unwanted attention, or hit the deck on 7-9 (was pick 1 and mark harm, or hit the deck 6-). Added a 6- effect to choose to either pick 1 and plunge into danger, or hit the deck at -1.
  • Designer's note: On 6- there should generally be an option to press ahead and do it, even at severe cost. 
• Changed the tactical move "Take the Fight to the Enemy". Now when you clear the way for those behind you, assisting gives +3 forward (was +2).
  • This option previously wasn't amazing given it was the result of a roll, and now with heightened stakes I want there to be a really good reason to pick this over just doing damage.
• Changed the tactical move "Target a Weak Spot". Moved the "it gets messy" penalty to 7-9 with an option to skip by marking stress. Added a 6- effect to draw unwanted attention.
• Changed the strategic move "Call for Extraction". Moved the Pelican extraction to 10+ (was a option on 7+).
• Added a new move "Get Up Close and Personal" to cover CQB situations. This is a logical expansion of the Trooper's core move "Combat Knife".
  • Designer's note: ODSTs are close-range assault troopers rather than ranged combat specialists, after all.
• Changed the Sergeant, Trooper and Specialist core move Frag Grenade. Removed the "enclosed space" option and instead added a "use at close range" option.
  • Designer's note: I want to encourage aggressive use of this move.
• Added a new core move "Not Going Easy" to the Trooper.
  • Designer's note: As a moderately powerful but very situational move, I think this works better as a core move. At the time of writing the Trooper has 8 optional moves, so plenty of opportunity for customisation remains even if there are two Troopers.
• Changed the Trooper's core move Combat Knife to apply before or after "Get Up Close and Personal" (was after "take the fight to the enemy").
  • Designer's note: I think this iteration is even more Trooper than the last.
• Updated the Trooper's optional move "ODST/UA PPE" to reflect new "Combat Knife" mechanics.
• Removed the Specialist's optional move "Beg/Borrow/Steal".
  • Designer's note: It was useful but not very impactful or interesting.
• Removed the Scout's core move "Frag Grenade".
  • Designer's note: It just didn't seem to fit with the Scout's quiet and unseen nature.
• Removed the Scout's core move "Spotting Scope" and replaced it with "Let Them Pass".
  • Designer's note: "Spotting Scope" was quite situational and lacked... impact.
• Rewrote the Trooper's optional move "Short Controlled Bursts". Now allows the Trooper to modify their roll after rolling, or deal damage immediately (was do not mark ammo when "taking the fight to the enemy" and "hitting them hard").
  • Designer's note: Previously this just didn't have the impact I wanted from a playbook move, now it has two fairly interesting uses.
• Changed the Scout's optional move "Subsonic Ammo" to be a way of... dealing with drawing unwanted attention. Renamed it to "Take the Shot".
  • Designer's note: With this, I have finally removed the last "ignore X when you roll a 6-" type move. I declare victory over my lazy move writing from the very first playtest packet.
• Changed the Trooper's optional move "Once More Unto the Breach" to apply on any "become pinned" (was on 6- to hit the deck) but requires mark harm (was free).
  • Designer's note: More flexibility but at a cost is a decent tradeoff.
• Changed the Officer's core move "Forward Observer". When the fire lands too close, now distribute 3 harm/stress (was 4).
  • Designer's note: With less harm available on all playbooks, 4 harm is too much.
• Changed the Officer's move "Priority Fire" to apply only when a soldier is taken out of action (was "when a soldier is pinned") and to make the roll at -1 (was no penalty). Renamed the move to "Final Protective Fire".
  • Designer's note: There was a potential misuse of this move via the Target Designator. As I rather like the design of that piece of equipment and I like the effect of this move, I have tightened the conditions of its use. The penalty refers to having no control over the rounds that are fired under this particular call.
• Changed the Sergeant's core move ""Get Down!"". It now applies to any situation in which a comrade rolls a 6- (was "take the fight to the enemy" or "keep it together") and would mark any harm (was "mark 1 harm"). It also applies +2 to any roll when you enact vengeance (was only "lead the way"). Removed XP gain.
  • Designer's note: Moves that gain XP have proven problematic in the past. As ever, generic XP triggers should be used where appropriate. Making the move substantially more flexible should make up for this, hopefully, and it is still really fitting of the Sergeant and in certain cases extremely powerful.
• Changed the Sergeant's optional move "Good Instincts". Now requires a comrade to assist (was free) and applies to "Stand Your Ground" (was "Keep it Together"). Renamed to "Team Cohesion".
• Updated and slightly rewrote the Sergeant's optional move "The Only Easy Day" to be "on a 9-, mark stress or harm but not both". Renamed it to "No Easy Day" for brevity.
• Changed the Sergeant's optional move "Pain is Weakness". Moved the "your scar starts playing up" penalty to the 7-9 result and on 6- you are now pinned.
  • Designer's note: As the only on-demand way to clear harm, it should have some serious narrative weight.
• Changed the Sergeant's optional move "Enough Dead Heroes". Now requires marking 2 ammo or 1 harm (was: 1 ammo or 1 harm), but it now applies to a comrade being pinned, down or out of action (was just pinned).
  • Designer's note: This is a really Sergeant-feeling move and I wanted to double down on it.
• Added a new optional move "Casevac" to the Sergeant, covering extraction of out-of-action personnel.
  • Designer's note: I'm not sure how this pans out, but the Sergeant's role is the general low-level wellbeing of the squad so if it goes anywhere it goes in this playbook.
• Added a new optional move "Doors and Corners" to the Trooper, covering urban clearance and CQB scenarios.
  
• Added a new optional move "Pour it On" to the Trooper, allowing them to manipulate scenarios where they "take the fight to the enemy" at a small cost.
• Added a new optional move "I've Got You" to the Trooper, empowering them when they protect people.
• Added a new optional move "Combat Load" to the Specialist, allowing trade of unit supply for ammo (was add 1 to the unit supply).
  
• Added a new optional move "Mission Focus" to the Scout, allowing them to manipulate scenarios where they "assess the situation" or "seize the moment" at a more significant cost.
• Added a new optional move "I Keep What I Steal" to the Scout, allowing them to attempt moves from other playbooks that would normally cost unit supply without marking it - at penalty.
• Added a new optional move "Experimental Silencer" to the Scout, giving them access to +silenced weapons at ammo cost.
• Changed the Scout's core move "Lay in Wait" to allow them to mark stress to trigger the enhanced effect. Also added a trigger to plunge into danger if any enemies remain alive. Removed the XP gain if all enemies died.
  
• Changed the Scout's optional move "Centre Axis Relock" to mark ammo, rather than offering it for free and thus being nearly strictly superior to the equivalent Trooper's optional move "Quick Transition".
• Changed the Scout's optional move "Let Them Pass" to apply to any situation in which they plunge into danger (was: "when you lead the way and plunge into danger...")
• Changed the Scout's optional move "Skirmisher" to raise the stakes. If comrades assisting deal harm and the result of the roll is "draw unwanted attention", it now becomes a "plunge into danger".
• Changed the Specialist's core move "Close Precision". Now allows them to spend stress instead of ammo (was do not mark ammo), but it now applies in any mark ammo situation during target a weak spot or hit the deck (was only when 9- to target a weak spot).
  
• Changed the Specialist's optional move "Field Medic" to apply to any out of action comrade (was out of action through harm) and on a 10+ they now clear harm and stress (was clear harm).
  • Designer's note: Field Medic is now an extremely powerful move of admittedly last resort, which befits its requirement to mark unit supply.
• Changed the Trooper's optional move "Spotting Rifle" to not apply to any move at all, instead mark ammo and deal harm (was pick 1 at 7-9 on "target a weak spot").
  • Designer's note: The intention of those move was always to add some reliability to using the ammo-precious Rocket Launcher. As the 7-9 of "target a weak spot" now involves spending extra ammo, that felt wrong. This is now somewhat equivalent to taking the 10+ effect of "target", but since the Rocket Launcher only has Ammo 2 anyway, the scope for abuse is limited.
• Updated the Shotgun. Now uses no ammo when you "get up close and personal" (was "take the fight to the enemy").
• Renamed the Sergeant's optional move "Come and Get Some" to "Getting Tactical".
• Reworded the Scout's optional move "Advance Party" to be more directed and encourage narration.