On the Risks of Bio-Mechanical Fusion

And something cool from D&D's most hated book

This Week’s post looks at the risk of accidentally skipping the fun part of the game.

In MAC Attack each faction is based on a group that splintered from HumanityFleet upon completing their voyage across the stars. Early on I knew that I wanted one of the factions to have semi-organic MACs, bordering on monsters as much as mechs, with a hefty dose of Tyranid bio-titans. 

This faction ended up as New Genesis and I love the way they’re looking in Amanda’s fantastic artwork. They have their origins in the terraforming division of HumanityFleet, and it’s implied they’ve adapted a little too hard to their new home. 

Alongside their flavour, each faction gets a unique module to use on their units and a special rule that applies across their whole force. The special rules are written as a double-edged sword, both an advantage and disadvantage, so that vanilla units aren’t at a disadvantage against faction-specific forces.

New Genesis had something beyond a special rule. They could recruit an entirely different type of MAC, representing their bio-mechanical creations. They didn’t need to worry about facing, they didn’t track heat, and their weapons needed inert gland modules to support them. They were very efficient and manoeuvrable, but a bit less versatile than a fully equipped standard MAC. They certainly felt unique.

But I wasn’t really happy with them in play. 

It wasn’t that they were too strong or too weak, but instead it felt like they bypassed two of the fun challenges of the game: heat management and manoeuvring big clunky units. 

They kind of felt like beginner MACs that you’d include in a stripped down version of the game, and that didn’t feel right for a faction that was supposed to be experimental and scary. 

So now they have a special rule just like the other factions, and their MACs don’t get a new classification of their own. They get a little bonus move and rotation at the start of their move to maintain some of that ultra-mobile feel, but each module destroyed causes extra damage, as all their parts are so intricately entwined with each other. Organisms are just less modular than machines, I guess. 

They’re less unique in a purely mechanical sense, but they still play differently to every other faction. 

I go back and forth on how I feel about weird niche subsystems in games. I understand the appeal, but I think I’d rather strive for achieving a unique feeling without bypassing the fun parts of the core game. 

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Elsewhere

• Gorgon Bones touches on a favourite topic of mine, the connection between roleplaying games and wargames.

• I Cast Light finds something cool in *checks notes*… Oriental Adventures?? Wait, wait, stay with me! Check out this revival of the book’s regional event tables.

• Sail Swab Scurvy is a fantastic set of rules for ship-based action, for use with Cairn, but obviously you should use some older, less cool game instead…

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Coming Soon

Over on Patreon I sneak a peek at something.

Expect the full post here and on the blog next week.

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