First ing, the game is a great casual game. Easy to teach others and good theme.

As for the characters, the choice doesn't matter so much. It would of been nice if each character had one special feat they could perform, rather than on option to determine a set of items they start off with. So while it's nice to have a choice of a character which each having flavor text on their cards, the choice doesn't really amount to much.

Thoughts!?

I agree. It was a missed opportunity, though the game would have necessitated a bit more depth to accommodate variable player powers.

On the Geek it was proposed that the Inside Man could have knowledge of the complex layout (gets to peak at a card or two), the Tech Expert could start with an extra item, and maybe the Muscle could take 1 wound without having to flip his card over (tracked with a coin or related token), however nothing could be dreamed up for the Driver, Brain or Assassin (why is the driver even in the complex?).

Thoughts?

If FFG makes expansion content, I seriously hope they address this… though I doubt we'll be seeing much (a hunch based on nothing at all).

Great idea! It would be interesting to see something like this developed, even if only unofficially done by community members.

Also, given the small size of the action/item cards their "once per game" ability/feat could easily be done as one of those small cards that would sit on or beside your character card and simply returned to the box once used. Also, having the ability on the action-sized cards would also make it easy to just have then thrown into an expansion if one comes along.

I have to agree that FFG missed a great opportunity to enhance replayability by not giving each operative a special power. Surely this will be added later. At the moment, the only difference could be its starting 2 Items. In fact, this could lead to certain operatives always being able to do the same thing once for each Item. With an extra 'ongoing' power there will be more choice. The main problem is going to be 'balence'. There are plenty of options to choose from, but stopping these becoming too overpowering or underpowered, wont be easy.

This game is already crying out for expansions and differing operative is an obvious one. More quick links to 2nd level is another. We live in great anticipation. Cheers!

This is gonna sound way crazy, but Gabriel Santiago is a runner, ala Netrunner, yeah? An idea I had was that he could jack in, whereby Gabriel didn't move, but an avatar moved in his stead as he moved from system to system, accessing data stores from within the Net. This would leave Gabriel's meatbody vulnerable to attack, so easier data access compared to higher physical risk?

Now I've not seen the rules for this game so I have no idea if such an idea could work, but could it be feasible? I imagine that it could open a lot more opportunites to explore in the game.

Treguard said:

Nope, wouldn't work. There is no player death, just two states: unwounded and wounded. Once a player is wounded it just means they can't resolve two movement oriented action cards in consecutive rounds. Also, part of the difficulty of this game is getting back to the entrance, so a player that could jack from the opening room would get a disproportionately huge benefit with absolutely zero risk (since the delay from being wounded kicks in only *after* player an Advance or Retreat card, not before -- they could be wounded and still have zero issues resolving that retreat to escape the facility).

There is player conflict, and but it's primarily indirect. The few item cards that can affect other players tend to move them against their will or slow them down. Most room hazards are either movement oriented (slowing or speeding up effects) or elective (e.g. incinerator allows a player to accept a wound to draw item cards, etc). NPC's can wound, but the one most likely encountered doesn't ever move from the room he spawns in.

Cool idea, however. I like the idea of a "console cowboy" being on the team (and yes, Santiago is the bloke mentioned in Netrunner).

Good analysis! Yeah I imagined such an implementation wouldn't have worked, but it's good to know exactly why. Pleased to see you could appreciate where I was coming from with this idea too.

Treguard said:

The rules are availlable for download in the support section of the Infiltration minisite.

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp

Actually, there is already an option for this (under optional rules in the rulebook). In that variant, each player starts with two items based on their character and two are random. The items they start with are listed.

I've kinda brainstormed some ideas for character feats. I figure they'd be best used in the Specialist Variant to give each character a once per game ability they can use at the cost of one of their specific items. I'm not sure how balanced they are, but here they are:

Gabriel Correa Santiago: Hidden Cache : Once per game, when playing his Remote Drone item card, he can instead chose to resolve the Interface action on a room that has already discarded its interface token from prior use. The Remote Drone is then discarded.

Hugo Cash: False Alarm : Once per game, when resolving his Call for Backup card, he may choose to instead skip his Security Phase and simply increase the Alarm dial by 1.

John “Animal” McEvoy: Hard Body : Once per game, when resolving his Diesel card, if wounded, he may instead choose to flip his Operative card back to its healthy side.

“Marilyn” 7Y3T9D: Reckless Motorist : Once per game, when playing her Qianju PT item card, she can instead move forward up to 3 rooms and increase the alarm dial by however many rooms she advanced.

Monica Singh: By Any Means Necessary : Once per game, when an NPC is placed in a room as the result of a room being revealed, she may immediately discard her Flechette Pistol to return that NPC to the box.

Mr. White: Red Tape and Front Door Security : Once per game, during a player's Security Phase, even his own, he may choose to discard his Secretaries item card and instead decrease the proximity dial by the result shown.

I've not had a chance to test these though. Feedback would be wonderful!

Interesting ideas here. More generically, I think each character should have one ability to change the same thing, but in different circumstances. For example changing the alarm level: The hacker could simply hack through a room with a security lock (whether opened or not; it would have the access he needs), the assassin makes it look like an NPC triggered it (active NPC must be in play adjacent or in the same room). The core rules lack some thematic oomph for each character; they're all the same without extra rules.