Answering all of last month's questions!
over 5 years ago
– Tue, May 07, 2019 at 09:10:02 PM
Good morning, everyone! Christopher here, and I’ve got my question answering pants on!
As I said in last month’s update, any questions asked in the comments would be addressed in this update. And you folks definitely took me up on that. So! Let’s look at the last month’s worth of questions! I’ve sorted them by date, and put the questions in italics.
Questions from April 2nd
Tyler asked:
I love your games and I've been psyching up my game group with talks of superhero RPG sessions. Is there any ETA on when the PDFs for the core rulebook will be sent out?
Thanks, Tyler! It’s too early for me to know a definite release date, but we’re still very much on track to meet (or better yet, beat!) the release date of August 2019 for the core rulebook PDF that we publicisized during the campaign!
DQ asked:
It would have popped up a warning upon attempting to confirm if I had entered my details wrong, right?
This update is making me paranoid now that I did something wrong.
Hey, DQ - fret not! I believe that’s the way BackerKit works. If you’ve got any concerns about what’s happening on the BackerKit end, you can reach out to their support. If you’re worried about how your order reached us, the best way to get support from us on any topic is to e-mail [email protected].
Caleb asked:
I know it's been mentioned that character creation rules might be sent out early (when it's done of course), but if this happens, would it be just for hero creation or would it include hero and villain creation rules?
I’m excited about how excited all you excited people are! These are exciting times. Chapter 3 is all about hero creation, and Chapter 5 is for the creation of minions, lieutenants, villains, challenges, and more! If we can send stuff out early for backers to preview (which we’re still hoping to do!) those chapters would be shown off separately. But it’s possible that we’d do both of them, so you might get your wish!
Sonvar asked:
Can we get a proper update on the Urban Settings Book? It didn’t get its own update like the other addon books.
Hmm, that’s a good idea! Not this update, mind you - I’ve got plenty to get through here. But I’ll make sure to do an Urban Settings Book focused update at some point in the near future. Maybe in June!
The Nova Kid, Stacy asked:
How will you be contacting the $350+ backers on their name drop in the history book? I've been worried about how that'll go down, haha.
We’ll be using a survey unconnected to the BackerKit to collect the name you want us to use for the book (just to make sure that we get the names 100% correct), and then we’ll be making judgement calls here internally about where those names go, making sure we’re matching up each name with the role it sounds correct for. Then, as you’re reading your copy of the book, keep an eye out for your place in history!
Andrew Betts asked:
Man I was hoping my Tax refund would be here before you locked down. Since it's a complicated one it takes forever ... they still estimate 3 more weeks (we filed around Valentine's). I wanted to add a lot more to my pledge. Is this like the total lock down or will there be a way to add more like later this month?
Oh wow, Andrew! That is quite the delay! Well, hopefully you have it by now. At this point, you can still add more to your pledge, and you’ll be charged for that add-on immediately. The date that we stated before was just when we’d start charging and locking in anything charged up to that point. From here on out, everything gets charged and locked in as ordered. Everyone's orders are locked in at this point, but you can definitely order more - we just have to unlock your order manually. Which is no problem! Just e-mail [email protected] and Katie will unlock it so you can add more stuff! There will be a cutoff date for add-ons, but we’ll announce that when we know when it is for certain.
Anestis Kozakis asked:
*sigh* Need a bit more time to add all the addons for my pledge level.
Pay is Tuesday next week.
I feel you, man. Good news: the SCRPG content isn’t going to ONLY be available through Kickstarter, so there will be ways to get this stuff in the future if you’re not able to get it during this campaign!
Denny Lam asked:
When is the final lock down? I want to save some money to get more add-ons.
We’ll let you know as soon as we can!
Shawn Fry asked:
Wow, that's nice and all but three days notice isn't a whole lot. I'm going to have to cut a lot of addons I wanted due to that being between paychecks.
Fortunately, you can still add-on more now! Just e-mail us at [email protected] and we'll get you squared away. As we said in the last update, we’re starting to charge credit cards earlier last month, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add more on!
Graeme Lewis asked:
With the History of Sentinel Comics book, what time period does it end in? Do we get coverage of the formation of the Vertex imprint, or does it stop in or before the year the book is released?
The History of Sentinel Comics is mostly focused on the start of the company, through the Golden and Silver ages and up to the Modern age. It does have a nod to future endeavors, but it’s mostly a history book up to “now”.
Gerry Saracco asked:
I would like to get a screen, but I'm not interested in the rest of the GM's kit. Would that be possible?
Nope! Individual pieces of the GM Kit are only available as part of the GM Kit. But! You could always buy a kit, keep the GM screen, and give the rest of the content to a friend who likes GMing without a screen. I certainly do, and I know I’m not alone out there!
Mark A. Nattress asked:
You sound busy, but I've been excited for this game for quite a while so I must ask.
Do you have an estimation on the timeline of the character creation chapter?
Are you still able & willing to share it as soon as it's ready?
I’m glad that you’re excited! We’re also excited! We definitely want to share the hero creation chapter, but we’re still finalizing the art and layout. We hope to share it with you soon, though!
Questions from April 7th
Sonvar asked:
Can we get a full preview of a hero or villain from the Archives that we haven’t seen in the released material so far? Like our newest Legacy or Biomancer.
Yes, I can do that. In fact, that sounds like a good concept for a future update! Good idea!
Steve Kaylor asked:
In terms of "when to turn in hero points", should the end of a session take priority over end of an issue?
In the starter kit, it uses the terms interchangeably, however it also assumes each session will be a full issue. We had to cut one of our sessions short, so our first two sessions were scene 1, then scene 2, of the first issue in the starter kit (#801). Should I have had them cash in their hero points between the scenes, or should it wait until the end of the current issue? I can see balance reasons for both sides.
I’d do it at the end of each session, personally. If the players are enjoying the content to the degree that the game is stretching out and taking longer than the issue intended, that’s the opposite of a problem, in my opinion. That just means that there’s even more enjoyment to be had - huzzah! So, at the end of each session, still count up hero points and start the next session with a quick recap of the last game, giving the players a chance to spend their hero points on bonuses appropriate to what’s happened so far.
Brian Bergdall asked:
I haven't noticed any nemesis mechanics mentioned in any preview material. Assuming I haven't just missed such rules and they aren't in the RPG, was there any consideration to implement such rules? Any suggestions on how to houserule similar mechanics?
We haven’t included any nemesis mechanics (yet!) because we wanted the core game experience to be as streamlined as possible. Just the parts that are necessary to make the game work and properly evoke the comic book storytelling it was built for. There a lots of fun elements that we want to explore in future books, like sidekicks, headquarters, and yes, even nemeses.
Questions from April 8th
ErekLich asked:
I have a rules question, and was told it should be posted here for Christopher to see it, so here goes:
I've gotten my greedy little paws on all the released content so far, and I noticed something somewhat strange.
The T-Rex is listed as having a +1 to Overcome checks where it can leverage its size. That's all well and good, but when prepping to run the module I realized that there wasn't anything for the T-Rex to Overcome!
In fact, aside from very specialized situations, like Baron Blade reactivating his subsystems, there doesn't seem to be any reason for an NPC to ever make an Overcome check.
So my question is this: is Overcome meant as a heroes-only thing, or will there be something the bad guys can do with it by default?
Thanks for taking the time to answer!
That is a great question! I agree that it’s certainly odd for a minion or lieutenant to have a bonus to Overcome actions, as there’s rarely anything for them to overcome, but partly it depends on GM style. Certain GMs might allow for situations where a minion or lieutenant could get trapped or frozen and would need a means to get free. Sometimes, villains can use an Overcome action to advance the scene tracker, but that’s for villains only, and that’s also only once a scene - you don’t want the villains running down the clock that fast! That said, sometimes, heroes can create a situation in which their opposition must overcome to solve a problem. Also, don’t forget that you can get rid of a Penalty by either using the Boost action to make an opposing Bonus, or make an Overcome against the Penalty to remove it. The same is true of NPCs! Finally, the core rulebook does have a lot more info on GM characters making Overcome checks, so look forward to that. I hope this helps!
Questions from April 9th
Brian Bergdall asked:
I gotta say, seeing the photos of the sticky notes covered walls have me quite interested in seeing the full timeline. Any chance we'll be seeing that ahead of the rulebook release?
Whew, those weeks of sticky notes and deep dives into every little thing we’ve ever said/written/implied. I still don’t think I’m quite recovered! Anyway, as soon as the timeline is all formulated and ready for consumption, we’ll share the PDF with all of you fine backers!
Questions from April 10th
Rick Jones asked:
Realizing that RPG production can often feel like Setback is your co-pilot, do you have any sort of rough guestimate about what backers might see between Backetkit locking and the PDF release? Like, are there going to be any more Daybreak one-shots, live streams (either the return of the Visitors / Escalators or a new group), other previews? Thanks!
We hope to do some more RPG video things - maybe this summer? As for published content, we’re working as hard as we can on not only the SCRPG core rulebook, but everything else that has to be released at the same time (things like the comic book, the zine, and more), as well as doing a lot of story writing work for the Sentinels of Freedom video game, so we aren’t likely to publish any SCRPG content between now and the release of the rulebook. However! We are putting out Sentinel Comics content every week on The Letters Page podcast!
Marcelino asked:
I didn't see this till late. Hope I can still put in this or lock this in?
You should be able to! Send us an e-mail at [email protected] and we'll unlock your order so you can add more stuff.
Questions from April 15th
Greg McClendon asked:
Thanks to @Rick Jones for asking my first question, which is still "When does the PDF come out?"
I do have a serious question about advancement. Is this game more supporting a limited run sort of game, where you go for a hand full of sets and never really grow in ability, or will there be a segment in the core book about doing something far more long term, so that maybe we can hit double or triple digit issues (My groups tend to run year+ long games) and it won't feel like our characters are static power/ability wise?
The last section of Chapter 3 is all about hero advancement, so yes, there are solutions for you. Heroes should be changing and progressing as both crime fighters and heroes over the course of their stories, but that’s different from the RPG concept of “leveling up”. But your heroes definitely won’t feel static in their powers and abilities - you have lots of options available to you in how they progress. Plus, every time you complete six “issues”, you add a collection to your hero sheet, giving you another thing you can call on for bonuses or to add to the story of the game. A hero that’s been played for a year or more of issues will have quite the impressive collection indeed!
Questions from April 16th
Rick Jones asked:
Just to be clear, I was not asking when the PDF comes out. Because they've previously answered "when it's ready", and having been on the production side of things that's really the only sensible answer to give. I was asking if there was anything coming out before the PDFs (like the Daybreak stuff).
No worries! I totally got what you meant by your question, and I hope my answer made sense. I wish we could put out even more stuff even faster, but we’ve gotta keep our nose to the grindstone and our eye on the prize here to get this book done!
Questions from April 24th
Shane Holmstock asked:
Will there be a form or something for us on the highest tier with regards to our names?
Yes, we’ll be collecting your names with a survey within the next year. See my answer above to The Nova Kid, Stacy in the April 2nd Questions section for more details!
Sonvar asked:
Can you provide details on how the game might be altered or if there are rules on what to do if it’s just a GM and a player?
You should be able to just follow the guidelines in Chapters 4 and 5 (which are all about how to GM and how to make the various non-hero elements of the game) without having to notably alter the game. It boils down to: regardless of the size of your group of heroes, don’t significantly overwhelm them with more than they can do, but make sure there’s plenty going on that they have to make some choices as to what they should focus on. So, with just one hero, I’d keep them pulled in a few directions, but give them the means to handle it if they make some tough choices.
Brian Jewett asked:
Can you tell us something cool about the SCRPG we don't know?
Yes, I definitely could!
Next question!
OK, OK, I kid. Hmm, but WHICH thing you don’t know? How about something about hero creation? Did you know that there are categories of Principles? You use those categories in hero creation to narrow down which principles you’re picking from. So, say, when you pick your background, you choose “Interstellar”. That gives you a couple qualities, then tells you to “Choose an Esoteric principle.” That sends you to the Principles section, where you look at the Esoteric principles, which include the juicy options of Principle of Destiny, Principle of Exorcism, Principle of Immortality, Principle of the Undead, and more!
I’ll also tell you all the categories of principles: Esoteric, Expertise, Ideals, Identity, and Responsibility!
There you go! You couldn’t have possibly known all that!
Questions from April 28th
Mark A. Nattress asked:
Two of the pledges that have August 2020 for estimated ship dates while the rest have August 2019. Is this intended? If so why? If not, what's the correct date?
The dates are correct, but, in fact, the rest do NOT have August of 2019! Only one pledge level says August of 2019, and that’s for just the PDF of the core rulebook. Then, the printed SCRPG material pledge levels have a date of December of 2019. Finally, any pledge level that includes the History of Sentinel Comics book has a date of August of 2020. Are we working hard to try to beat those dates? You bet! But those dates are the likely release dates of that material.
Questions from April 29th
Brian Bergdall asked:
Is there any chance we may see supplements in the future detailing events and characters from alternate timelines? Canonically, travel between these timelines can no longer happen, but Disparation campaigns could be very interesting and a Mist Storm sourcebook would be pretty cool.
There is definitely a chance for that. We have some big ideas we hope to get to someday, and we agree that delving into the disparate timelines would be pretty cool. But we’ve gotta earn it first!
Questions from May 1st
Jim Zvonec asked:
Questions:
1. In the character creation rules, is there a way for a hero to have a lieutenant? Or is that strictly a villain thing? I realize heroes can be minion makers, but what if we just wanted one tougher one? Like I'm imagining a hero who has one spirit animal (or dinosaur) who fights alongside him/her.
2. Are the pre-made adventures designed for a certain number of heroes (4 or 5, say)?
3. On that note, will there be rules on how to scale a pre-made encounter back for fewer heroes? Will the scene-creation rules discuss how to balance the scene for an expected number of heroes?
4. Why can't I just have this game now?
That’s a bunch of questions! Here we go!
1. There are a few interesting ways for heroes to have “minion-esque” allies. I don’t want to get into specifics too much here, as that’s getting too nitty-gritty, but besides the pile of ally options in the core rulebook, we also have plans for more notably non-character player allies in the future. So, one way or another, there will be something for you both in the short run and the long run.
2. The Starter Kit content all runs well for 2-6 heroes. The Stolen Legacy and Urban Infestation one-shots both work well for 2-5 heroes, but I’m sure they’d work for 6 as well. There’s just only 5 member of Daybreak, and that’s the hero team they’re designed around.
3. Yup, chapter 5 has a bunch of different scaling tools!
4. Because we’re not done with it! We want you to have it as soon as possible, but also as complete and awesome as possible!
Questions from May 2nd
Brian Bergdall asked:
Is there any supplements that you would love to make that would be unfeasible for whatever reasons?
There are SO many supplements that we’d love to make. The level of feasibility will actually get more lenient over time as we make more and more of them, as there will be more space in the world for the sorts of stories we want to tell. Right now, it would be odd for us to put out some of the content that we’re planning for years from now. But, given time, we have high hopes.
I don’t think there are any stories that we really want to tell that we can’t tell, given the time and space to do so. But we’ll find out together!
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Whew! That was a lot! I hope that everyone got everything they wanted out of that!
Next month, I’ll be in the UK for the UK Games Expo at the beginning of the month, so the update will be not the first Tuesday of June, but the second Tuesday, June 11th.
I look forward to sharing good news with you all then!
-Christopher
