Beyond the Rim (custom campaign)

By Sixfreed, in Star Wars: Imperial Assault

53 minutes ago, Sixfreed said:

An easier way is just to simply give one less damage instead of an option. Or maybe a damage and a surge? That way I'd be more satisfied with the 1 threat cost of putting a strain on it.

Consider that 1 damage and 1 surge is equivalent to a good roll on a green die. It's more than a negative focus.

One thing that struck me (don't remember who, it was a post by someone else) was that it's usually more fun for everyone to make it seems that "the enemy is more powerful" than a "ha-ha you suck". This is one of the reason why Subversive tactic is known as the no-fun deck. This was observed in Descent as one of the major selling points: it's much better to have the moment where your enemy dodged (gah he's lucky), than your own figure miss (**** I suck), even though the end result is the same

For example, unless there's a thematic or some other reason, as a start I would always prefer texts such as "the Imperial gains +1 block" rather than "the Rebel -1 damage"

3 hours ago, ricope said:

One thing that struck me (don't remember who, it was a post by someone else) was that it's usually more fun for everyone to make it seems that "the enemy is more powerful" than a "ha-ha you suck". This is one of the reason why Subversive tactic is known as the no-fun deck. This was observed in Descent as one of the major selling points: it's much better to have the moment where your enemy dodged (gah he's lucky), than your own figure miss (**** I suck), even though the end result is the same

For example, unless there's a thematic or some other reason, as a start I would always prefer texts such as "the Imperial gains +1 block" rather than "the Rebel -1 damage"

This is a really good point. I'm going to change that card later, the corresponding mission isn't even ready yet. :)

UPDATE: I finished the other alternative of the 2nd story mission as well. (The one played if the rebels lost the introduction.) Please take a look at it and share your thoughts and comments.

I'd be really happy if anyone would test the first two missions and share experience. Thank you! :)

UPDATE:

I'm currently working on the first Intermission of the campaign. I made a custom Dianoga Deployment Card for the mission. What are your thoughts of it? I'm planning to use this creature later on in the campaign. I'm not sure about the stats and the threat cost though. What are your thoughts about it? Habitat: Water would mean the blue squares for example on 19B (core game) tile. The idea is that you have to kill all tentacles in order to force the dianoga to retreat. I'm thinking of raising the threat cost, maybe 5/7 or 6/8. What are your thoughts? Tentacles shall be marked with neutral tokens. (Perhaps I should write it on the card?)

Dianoga.jpg Dianoge.jpg

Edited by Sixfreed
12 hours ago, Sixfreed said:

UPDATE:

I'm currently working on the first Intermission  of the  campaign.  I made a custom Dianoga Deployment Card for the mission. What are your thoughts of it? I'm planning to use this creature later on in the campaign. I'm not sure about the stats and the threat cost though. What are your thoughts about it? Habitat: Water would mean the blue s  quares for example  on 19B (core game) tile. The idea is that you have to kill all tentacles in order to force the dianoga to retreat. I'm thinking of raising the threat  cost, maybe 5/7 or 6/8. What are your thoughts? Tentacles shall be marked with neutral tokens. (Perhaps I should write it on the card?)  

     Dianoga.jpg Dianoge.jpg

The dianoga is a great idea but for 4 threat 3 figures with reliable stun are very strong.

I think it would be better to have a dianoga figure that has stun and bleed but can't move a lot and a tentacle companion it deploys that all tentacles correspond to. The tentacles could maybe weaken and if there are two or three of them next to someone stun that figure then push it on the dianoga which bites them.

Tentacles pulling rebels towards a dianoga's mouth would be frightening, but 5 of them stunning everyone and reinforcing for free are just frustrating.

Edited by NagyLaci

That sounds great, but I fear there would be too many tokens placed down. But if I would use this idea, I'm thinking of creating a separate deployment card for the Dianoga (the mouth) which cannot move and the Tentacles which can grab the Rebels. Maybe with an addition that 'if a tentacle is defeated, damage the dianoga 1', or something like that. And tentacles would be placed for threat. What do you think about that?

If it remained the same, how about dropping the maximum number of tentacles? For example 3 for the regular and 4 for the elite? They are pretty vulnerable, having very little health, and rebel heroes can easily cleave/blast them if the placement is correct. There should be also a 'limit 1 dianoga' rule.

EDIT: another idea is to reduce the attack to only one yellow die?

23 minutes ago, NagyLaci said:

The dianoga is a great idea but for 4 threat 3 figures with reliable stun are very strong.

I think it would be better to have a dianoga figure that has stun and bleed but can't move a lot and a tentacle companion it deploys that all tentacles correspond to. The tentacles could maybe weaken and if there are two or three of them next to someone stun that figure then push it on the dianoga which bites them.

Tentacles pulling rebels towards a dianoga's mouth would be frightening, but 5 of them stunning everyone and reinforcing for free are just frustrating.

Edited by Sixfreed

UPDATE:

The 3rd Mission of the campaign (and the first Intermission) is uploaded into the drive map. Please take a look and share your thoughts. :)

Also made custom tokens for the Dianoga Tentacles and the Dianoga itself in case of NagyLaci's suggestions would be used.

Alternate version for the Dianoga on NagyLaci's suggestion:

6lmFNd5.png wJmHdqt.png febWpEJ.png VxVMBWM.png

This way, the tentacles can only push the rebels toward the Dianoga's mouth, which can grab (stun) and damage them hard. So it's a 'stay far, don't get close' game against the Dianoga. The Dianoga can be defeated by killing it's tentacles, or by killing the main body. Also made custom tokens for the Dianoga, but existing game tokens can be used. (Tentacles are 1×1 and the Dianoga is 2×2) They don't block movement or line of sight (the idea behind this is to give enough space to move on the trash compactor tile, and that the Dianoga itself stays mostly under the water.

vDJWOZG.png 9aWaW6I.png 0IgexLc.png LG70oLQ.png

Planning to put these pictures on blank wooden circles. I got a handful from eBay.

I'm not sure about the threat costs though.

UPDATE: The first version of the 'Bring a Friend' side mission is up. The 4th and 5th missions are side missions in the campaign which can be chosen from a 4 mission pool. Please take a look and share your thoughts.

Hi! Currently working on the 'Ghosts of Korriban' side mission. The mission reward for the Rebel Players would be 1 XP for each heroes, but a hero can exchange the XP received to receive this reward card. What do you think about it? Maybe make it a bit more costly? If the heroes win, they would receive a total of 2 XP, so maybe exchange all the 2 XP?

Also thinking of giving the Imperial Player the same option if winning the mission, but with another artifact. I am thinking of a cloak, which is: 'deplete when defending: receive 1 dodge and become hidden'.

XWruZNb.png

6 hours ago, Sixfreed said:

Hi! Currently working on the 'Ghosts of Korriban' side mission. The mission reward for the Rebel Players would be 1 XP for each heroes, but a hero can exchange the XP received to receive this reward card. What do you think about it? Maybe make it a bit more costly? If the heroes win, they would receive a total of 2 XP, so maybe exchange all the 2 XP?

Also thinking of giving the Imperial Player the same option if winning the mission, but with another artifact. I am thinking of a cloak, which is: 'deplete when defending: receive 1 dodge and become hidden'.

XWruZNb.png

A side mission should never give additional xps as reward, that's the purpose of Story missions

I would use the mini-campaign rule as a guideline, if Rebel wins they have the option of getting the reward card or 1.5x the normal credit, so they may forfeit 600 credits to gain this reward but only if they win

So Rebel victory = 1xp + Gloves OR 1xp + $600

I feel that the Imperial reward is on the much weaker side (Deplete vs. Rebel's Exhaust), just throwing out some suggestions:

  • At the start of your activation, deplete this card and choose up to 5 Imperial figures on the map, each of those figures becomes Hidden (slightly more powerful version of Rebel's Flash emitter)
  • Exhaust this card during your activation. You may convert any number of <surge> to <damage> (ability from Rkky Blades, tier 3 weapon, JR box)
  • Exhaust this card during your activation to apply +1 <surge> to the attack results (similar to Tech Sup class starter card, but without the drawback of needing to punch myself for 1 damage)

I try to compare Exhaust vs. Exhaust abilities, comparing Exhaust vs. Deplete can sometimes be a bit funky

8 hours ago, ricope said:

A side mission should never give additional xps as reward, that's the purpose of Story missions

I would use the mini-campaign rule as a guideline, if Rebel wins they have the option of getting the reward card or 1.5x the normal credit, so they may forfeit 600 credits to gain this reward but only if they win

So Rebel victory = 1xp + Gloves OR 1xp + $600

I feel that the Imperial reward is on the much weaker side (Deplete vs. Rebel's Exhaust), just throwing out some suggestions:

  • At the start of your activation, deplete this card and choose up to 5 Imperial figures on the map, each of those figures becomes Hidden (slightly more powerful version of Rebel's Flash emitter)
  • Exhaust this card during your activation. You may convert any number of <surge> to <damage> (ability from Rkky Blades, tier 3 weapon, JR box)
  • Exhaust this card during your activation to apply +1 <surge> to the attack results (similar to Tech Sup class starter card, but without the drawback of needing to punch myself for 1 damage)

I try to compare Exhaust vs. Exhaust abilities, comparing Exhaust vs. Deplete can sometimes be a bit funky

Thanks for the feedback! :)

Thing is, in the campaign, the side missions are not chosen from the side mission cards, but given to the players as options, and on the other side, XP gaining is nerfed. (See the campaign description for the details.) So this would be the only mission where the winning team receives a total of 2 XP. Of course, the reward card would be available only for the winning team.

How about the imperial reward card staying the same but as an attachment?

Hi!

The Side Mission 'Ghosts of Korriban' is finished and up in the drive folder, please take a look and comment. :)

EDIT: Currently missing the trap and the carving descriptions. Will put them in later.

Edited by Sixfreed

While working on the project, I thought of giving an aid for the Rebel Players regarding the many mission rules of the campaign. So I was using skirmish mission cards for the mission briefings. These can be printed and handed to the players to make things easier and faster. I was also thinking of doing something like that for the original campaigns. Sometimes it's hard for the Rebel Players to remember every small detail.

xPPFlre.png khusHQJ.png

Nice idea. I like that.

UPDATE: Added the 3rd optional side mission (Expanding the weapons division). I'm still thinking of a bane/boon system based on which side missions do the heroes choose (thus implementing something we discussed before with the jamming weapons), but I had a different idea with this mission, and I guess it came out fun, I'm looking forward to try it out. Also there's a special deployment card for the Anzati Officer which uses the figure of the imperial officer shown below, please share your thoughts.

We were also having a discussion with my friends about the hidden objectives system. I'm beginning to feel it can add a nice extra something to the game, but their critics were true that it is just too random, and it's not fun when you get to know the objective after randomly doing something to trigger it. So I'm thinking of a hybrid system: at the beginning of each mission the heroes randomly draw 2 hidden objective cards from the hidden objective pool. That objective is now a bonus objective they can accomplish. Then they can choose to spend 1 intel to draw an additional objective card. If they complete this additional one, they receive 1 extra intel (thus getting back the one they spent) added to it's normal rewards. (Place a strain token on the mission to sign that this is the extra objective.

Any other hidden objectives stay hidden but can be still completed.

The Imperial Player is aware of all the hidden objectives.

What do you think of this system?

G92wbzO.png

10 hours ago, Sixfreed said:

Any other hidden objectives stay hidden but can be still completed.

The Imperial Player is aware of all the hidden objectives.

What do you think of this system?

I would only say that you should Beware giving the Rebels too many things to do. They could easily feel that its impossible to "win" with so many things to do...

8 hours ago, Majushi said:

I would only say that you should Beware giving the Rebels too many things to do. They could easily feel that its impossible to "win" with so many things to do...

That's a fair point. Think of the system as 'achievements', that reward the rebel players for their good solutions. This system gives a natural +2 objectives which the rebels can increase by 1. The achievements staying hidden don't affect the gameplay.

On ‎11‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 4:32 AM, Sixfreed said:

UPDATE: Added the 3rd optional side mission (Expanding the weapons division). I'm still thinking of a bane/boon system based on which side missions do the heroes choose (thus implementing something we discussed before with the jamming weapons), but I had a different idea with this mission, and I guess it came out fun, I'm looking forward to try it out. Also there's a special deployment card for the Anzati Officer which uses the figure of the imperial officer shown below, please share your thoughts.

We were also having a discussion with my friends about the hidden objectives system. I'm beginning to feel it can add a nice extra something to the game, but their critics were true that it is just too random, and it's not fun when you get to know the objective after randomly doing something to trigger it. So I'm thinking of a hybrid system: at the beginning of each mission the heroes randomly draw 2 hidden objective cards from the hidden objective pool. That objective is now a bonus objective they can accomplish. Then they can choose to spend 1 intel to draw an additional objective card. If they complete this additional one, they receive 1 extra intel (thus getting back the one they spent) added to it's normal rewards. (Place a strain token on the mission to sign that this is the extra objective.

Any other hidden objectives stay hidden but can be still completed.

The Imperial Player is aware of all the hidden objectives.

What do you think of this system?

G92wbzO.png

Really like the idea of special deployment cards for existing figures. A lot of figures get re-purposed this way in existing campaigns, but the only reference to their differing stats or abilities is in the mission briefing. This makes it easier to track and remember.

UPDATE: The fourth side mission 'The Secret of the Wheel' is uploaded. This mission is heavily inspired by our Edge of the Empire roleplaying sessions with a lot of investigation and twists. Also, there is a cool mirror match at the finale. :)

UPDATE: Last week I didn't have enough time to work on the missions, but I started to correct some of the mistakes made in the first ones. Also, I reworked the bonus objective system. Now the Rebel Players draw two hidden objective cards from a pool of the mission, so they can try to complete those bonus achievements. If they spend 1 intel, they can draw an additional hidden objective card. If they complete this latter one, they receive the 1 intel back in addition to it's normal rewards.

Also, I added mission briefing cards for the introduction mission.

Feel free to try out the introduction and share your thoughts and advices. :)

UPDATE: The Angel of Nar Shaddaa mission is up, along with a bonus character (Angel Stoat). Will fine-tune her later on for possible play in other campaigns. We have our first tester, so the previous missions are a bit rewamped. I'm looking forward to more volunteers trying out the missions. :)

UPDATE: The next Intermission (The Fall of IsoTech) is up, enjoy. :) The Midterm mission will be next for I have a tester who is at this mission now.

I've introduced your idea to my group of IA-friends, and i think we will start testing your campaign next month.