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Cold Fusion's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Setting (or Location) | #20 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
| Mechanics | #29 | 3.286 | 3.286 |
| Overall | #31 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
| Story (or Starting Scenario) | #37 | 3.286 | 3.286 |
| Use of Theme | #56 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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A little bit hard to wrap our heads around at first, but like other people have said we much liked the dice pool systems and how these translate to character attributes. The connection to the theme is a bit more tenuous than other submissions but still very creative and we both liked it (fans of mecha here). We did think that the 'Hot' penalty seems a lot less severe, seeing as there isn't any mechanical penalty for Heatseekers catching up with you (that we can see, unless the GM employs one or they take atomic from you).
We'll definitely be playtesting this one! <3
I like the overall setting and atmosphere of your game, but I have a really hard time wrapping my head around your mechanics.
In particular, what does the following lines mean?
"1-4 // COLD // Patience, Analysis, Tact, Stealth
5+ // HOT // Passion, Creativity, Persuasion, Firepower"
Do the numbers refer to the results of the roll or the number of dice? And how are they related to the things listed after them?
Do you only use the d6s for rational checks and d8s for heroic checks? Or do you mix and match? Since a player chooses 4 dice, what if they have one and not the other?
HOT and COLD are the two APPROACHES. When you "defy the endless night" in Cold Fusion ie. perform a challenging action against risk, you must be acting in one of those two ways. The basic dice pool is usually 4 or 5 dice (assuming an uninjured Pilot; fifth die from the potential for a Frame Quirk bonus), you always roll all the dice you have. The different dice sizes are just a way to push probabilities toward one of the approaches: d6 is weighted toward Cold (66%), d10 toward Hot (60%), d8 is an even 50% split for both.
Bonus dice get added to the pool by Burning and/or Venting AFTER that initial roll which lets you deal with bad luck on your starting dice, have a chance against harder difficulties set by the GM, and/or to attempt actions your Pilot is less suited for. Because "Failure Is Not An Option" you must keep adding dice to succeed for as long as you are alive, but the two consequences (HEATSEEKERS escalate the pressure, and SHIVERing) enter the picture if you can't manage to keep your majority of final dice results within the APPROACH you are rolling for.
Hot results are intentionally harder to get in order to 1.) meet a specific theme, 2.) put pressure on the player to spend their Atomic resource, and ultimately 3.) push the asymmetric Action/Consequence curve toward the SHIVER result which drives the dramatic short-form death spiral story that this rpg is designed to tell. It's like the final episode of an Evangelion-esque mecha show where spoilers: everyone dies.
Thanks for explaining. It makes sense to me now and it's an innovative dice approach. It is hard to compress information into the 200 word limit.
First note, your image reminds me of a Komato from Iji
Second. This is a hardcore system. I like the "approach" description and can appreciate the difficulty checks. The chanciness feels good in this set up. I like the Frame mechanics and the Pilot set up. Can't wait to see the pdf.
Oh, one more thing before I go (pulls cigar from corner of mouth) Everyone agrees it's d6s and d10s, yes? then why does line 4 read, and I quote, "d8s for heroic and willful," et cetera? And before you answer, know that I checked the little endian file as well. It reads the same. (cigar back into corner of mouth). No, no. I'll see myself out.
(Columbo for the curious)
Thank you nikomaru! In fact, two big influences for me were Into the Breach (mech vs. kaiju PC strategy/puzzle game) and Knights of Sidonia, a rather bleak mecha manga drawn by Tsutomu Nihei. My sketch of a solar frame has a little influence from Sidonia's "Garde's".
The d8 for character creation is as-intended. This dice system is deliberately asymmetric, due mostly to the various ways that Burn/Vent and Shivering/Attracting differ.
The only way to unlock the rolling of d10s is by either having a Frame "well-disposed" to your challenge, or via the Reactor Burn mechanic, putting a clock on your reactor's survival if you undertake a lot of Hot actions and threatening Shivers against even the most hot-blooded protagonist.
Ah. My fault for not really understanding the "well-disposed" line. Again with the compression of rules, it looks like I'm supposed to determine if I use a d6 or d10, if my ship is suited to the action, instead of the intended "use a d6, unless your ship is well disposed, then use a d10". Or. No.
Hmmmm. I think I'm getting mixed up because of the way the die rolls can vary between high and low depending on the action.
I think I get it now.
When you benefit from the Frame bonus, you get to choose your bonus die. A d6 would be best if you're rolling a Cold action. A d10 is best if you're rolling a Hot action.
Due to word count I didn't have a chance to elaborate too much on that part of the rules, it's sort of a bare-bones sentence. The starting die roll for an action is your Pilot dice: 4d(6s/8s) + Frame bonus if applicable: 1d(6 or 10, your choice). Then after rolling those you may add more dice to the pool for Venting/Burning as needed.
I think there's some fertile ground to be mined in the idea that the composition of your dice pool says something about your character, and that you lose dice from this pool. This could be explored more in-depth without the constraints of a 200 word RPG but seems like it could create some really neat interactions. Cool idea.
Thanks gnomio, early on I realized that my core mechanic was really going to take up a lot of space so squeezing in opportunities for role-play cues and character customization in the margins was important. Using the pilot dice as personality litmus test, "skill" measuring tool, and Hit Points rolled into one felt like a reasonably elegant contraction of rules overhead.
I have a longer draft version of the rules that a little more than doubles the word count and adds some framework for downtime, including a certain form of 'healing' of lost dice (as well as out-of-Frame risky actions). Once the voting is over I'll likely post that, also have been thinking about drafting the whole thing up in a visual-enticing PDF...
The fact the you seem doomed to die is an interesting touch. It adds depth to your story, which is hard to do in 200 words! I also love the line "Failure is not an option". It also implies more backstory, therefore depth. Well done :)
Thanks Between2! Originally this was going to be a "Yes/Yes, But/No" dice pool action system but I discovered I didn't have enough words to elaborate on a satisfying No mechanic! So now it's just Yesses and Yes, Buts until you die, which I hope contributes to a very powerful Last Stand sort of feeling.
Seems like your upload is a little broken, just getting squares
Thank you for letting me know funrun! I've uploaded an ANSI-encoded text file alternate, let me know if that one is better.
Way better! Great work btw
So I did the research and I'm going to accuse you of using Vim to create your original file. You must be an addict. We can help. There are all sorts of editors that take care of BOM and most of them even ignore it because, unless you're using multiple languages, you don't need the distinction. Let us help you. type :q! into the terminal. It's easy. Just uninstall it. Come on, friend. You can do it.
Alternatively, why don't my programs automatically detect BOM. What did I do? Kate used to I think, but I'm running XFCE now and haven't looked back. I use Arch, by the way. Soooooooo...
/s wherever it fits for you.