Hello all, been a while (again). I'm very sorry for the lack of update posts; there's been some developments (mostly positive) in my life that have been consuming a lot of my time.

Thief and I have been working on the finishing touches for v.03; Thief's mostly been handling the .lcp stuff, and I've been working on the fluff and writing. I know it's probably frustrating to hear that "we're almost done" again after about 2 months of me saying that, but again, volunteer team with IRL priorities.

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Talents Preview

Okay, so let's preview a pair of talents here: Namely, Martyr and Blacksmith. Both are being reworked, but remain similar to their original concepts.

MARTYR

I. SO OTHERS MAY LIVE

Gain the “So Others May Live” Reaction.

So Others May Live

Reaction, 1/round

Trigger: An Allied Character within Range 5 and Line of Sight is targeted by an attack.

Effect: Take 1d6 AP Kinetic damage, which cannot be reduced in any way. Then, impose +1 Difficulty on the attack, or +2 Difficulty if that character has suffered Structure damage or Reactor Stress in this scene. 

II. PUSH THROUGH

1/Scene, when you roll on the Structure or Stress damage table, you can delay the effects of the roll through pure devotion. You write down the damage as normal, but don't roll until the end of your next turn, at which point the result of the roll takes effect as normal.

III. SACRIFICE

Gain the “Sacrifice” Reaction.

Sacrifice

Reaction, 1/round

Trigger: An Allied Character within Line of Sight takes Structure or Stress damage but hasn't rolled on the Structure or Stress damage table yet.

Effect: They roll as normal, but you take any effects, conditions or statuses caused by the result instead. If the result is Mech Destruction, you become Stunned until the end of your next turn instead. If the result would be a Reactor Meltdown, you become Exposed instead. You may only target each allied character with this reaction 1/Scene.

Martyr has gotten a rework to its Rank 1 and Rank 3 effects: namely, Rank 1 is now a more reactionary ability, and better fits the fantasy of pushing yourself and your mech to your limits. While Soft Cover in LoS was good, it's just "something that happens when you Structure". Not very engaging to use, IMO.

Rank 2 got a bit of a change so it no longer delays the check until the end of the scene, but until the end of the turn. This was something I had playtested with a GM for another campaign, and overall found it to be more balanced (and consequential).

Rank 3 - Sacrifice- is essentially the core of Martyr. Now, how does it work narratively? I have no clue. Now, there might be some wording needed to clarify that you don't take structure/stress or overheat/get reduced to 0 HP; you just take the results of the Structure Check (such as being Stunned from a Direct Hit, Exposed from a Destabilized Power Plant, or losing a weapon/system from System Trauma). It does have a built-in failsafe to ensure that you can't just lose a perfectly-operational mech by an unfortunate roll.

BLACKSMITH

I. METALWORKER

You gain the “Metalworks” Full Action.

METALWORKS (Full Action)

When you use this Full Action, an adjacent ally of your choice can us their Reaction to Stabilize. They also gain Overshield equal to 1d3+your Grit and if the target chooses to regain their HP, they may (at your discretion) expend one of your Repairs instead of their own.

II. FIRST RESPONSE REPAIRS

At your discretion during rests, other characters can spend your Repairs to restore destroyed weapons and systems instead of their own. 

Additionally, you may use Metalworks as a Quick Action. Each Character can only benefit from this effect once per scene.

III. GOOD AS NEW

Increase your Repair Cap by +2. Additionally, when you use Metalworks on an allied character, they may choose two secondary options instead of one, and they instead gain Overshield equal to 1d6 + your GRIT.

Blacksmith was always intended to be a support talent, and this iteration finally- finally- arrives at a version that keeps the fantasy intact. You're patching up allies in the field, but it's not a "pocket Lancaster" the same way it used to be. While you can already Stabilize to clear a condition from an allied character, this is more of a dedicated support talent. First Response Repairs allows for limited improvements to this sort of action economy.

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Lore Primer Update

The launch of v.03 will also see a decently-large update to the Lore Primer. Namely, a bit more cultural details on the Rubbleborn, including notes on their culture, how they view humanity, and other elements that could be useful. There's also hints to an ancient legend, something even older than the Maker.

Also getting some updates are some more expansions and refinement on the lore text for a good majority of the existing frames, and it turns out that the Union Science Bureau was wrong and the Rubbleborn "COMP/CONs" aren't actually COMP/CONs, but instead seem to have architecture that predates Union or even the Massif Vaults themselves; as such, all mentions of "COMP/CONs" in fluff text is being replaced with "Subminds" as Union learns more about the Rubbleborn.

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And Now For The (Even More) Good Stuff

What would a Field Guide project be without Mechs? GMS, IPS-N, SSC, HA, and even HORUS all have a presence on Jovo in some way or another.

Something I recently commissioned from Raigmann (the artist of all of the amazing mechs in KIE) was a bunch of concept sketches for these new mechs. These are not part of KIE, but rather will be part of the Field Guide; KIE was intended to be semi-standalone, and overall this approach prevents it from becoming bloated. None of them are quite ready for public playtesting as of now, and will likely get their own Itch.io page when they are.

IPS-N Ahab (Defender/Striker)

The IPS-N Ahab is designed for one very specific purpose: Complete and total destruction of hostile forces at any cost. When the Caliban won't cut it in "aggressive Asset Reclamation", Trunk Security sends in dedicated Ahab strike teams- consisting almost entirely of captured pirates who have agreed to pilot these machines for a reduced sentence- who will either complete the mission, die trying, or (more likely) do both. The Ahab is an ugly, monstrous thing, the complete antithesis of IPS-N's public image of "Your friend in an unfriendly sea". After all, creating a monster to fight monsters only results in more monsters, or as the old saying goes: "When you stare into the Abyss, the Abyss stares back".

Mechanically, the Ahab is all about placing Nemesis Marks due to its integrated "NEMESIS Co-Pilot" and converting incoming Heat and Damage into each other with its Hell's Heat reactor. It's surprisingly durable, but nothing is immortal.

SSC Skipper (Striker)

The SSC Skipper is a fast-moving, fast-firing Striker that's all about using Gun Fu like it's a John Woo or Matrix film. It didn't originate in-house, but was rather "gifted" to SSC by an anonymous omninet influencer who existed on the Constellar Worlds known as the "Constellar Desperado". It's more than a suit: it's a statement.

Mechanically, the Skipper is entirely designed around using Limited or Loading weapons in a fascinatingly-fast blur of violence, along with its integrated Core Power allowing the use of "Bullet Time", allowing it to react to incoming attacks or respond to enemy movement with insane accuracy. It is, however, extremely frail, and isn't going to last long in a stand-up fight. But hey, who said fighting fair was fashionable, anyways?

HORUS Werewolf (Striker/Controller)

The Werewolf is uh, well, just look at this thing. It is- quite literally- a beast. With a mind of its own and channeling the power of an unshackled Blinkspace entity, the Werewolf is all about tearing through enemies with a mixture of tech and melee attacks. But who created it? When was it made? Could it be the result of a dreaming soon-to-be-God from a parallel timeline? Who knows, it's HORUS, half of the time they're worshipping RA and the other half they're shitposting.

However, that power comes at a cost. Its inbuilt LYCANTHROPE-class NHP is dangerously unstable, and has to be reigned in with as much of the pilot's willpower as possible. It makes  the Enkidu look downright chill. Not helping that is that its curse- ahem, "blessing"- of its patron is random: if you like to roll a lot of d6s for a bunch of different results, well, this is probably the license for you. Just, uh, watch out for the LYCANTHROPE's  attempts to Cascade, because it will try and the results will not be pretty.

HA Charlemagne (Defender/Controller)

The Charlemagne is not from this timeline. The schematics of the chassis were discovered encoded into a time-displaced, mech-scale hammer that seemed to date from  before the Fall, but contained lots of Harrison Armory code. The Armory only got it working because of technology developed by the Think Tank and existing research from the Napoleon frame. It's a tough, if slow, defender that bends time, space, and reality to substitute its own, and that hammer isn't just for show: getting hit with it will very much likely send you to parallel space.

Mechanically, the Charlemagne is a Size 3 defender that's all about Intangibility. Not only can it make enemies Intangible, it can also apply the status to allies with its hammer (which doesn't hurt, promise) or by Bracing to a hostile action being taken against them. Its license is filled with time-bending, space-defying stuff that shouldn't exist but does.

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Anyways, thanks for reading this far. We're hoping to get v.03 out by the first few weeks of July, but it is going to be a bit busy on at least my end. There'll be an announcement once it's ready to release, but after that, we're just going to be taking it one step at a time for now. I don't want to post a roadmap or promise anything else, just because Scope Creep and Project Creep are a thing we're constantly fighting. Development of anything is a difficult process, especially when it's not a full-time thing.

Until next time,

- Max