Last time on the Entropy Preview, we showed you the enigmatic and mysterious Zord. This time it’s the artificial Vector
Vector, the only synthetic race part of the Cosmic Exchange, in fact, the founder of it. The Vector created the organization to make appointments and connections easier on neutral ground and judged by an entirely disinterested party, the Vector themselves. From an unknown origin, they dragged their race into a utopian society formed by helping each other and working towards a common goal.
However, not all Vector are born in the Power system and sometimes lack the link their brethren has with each other, developing a personal opinion and tastes for everything.
Every species in the galaxy are not sure what to make of the Vector, but the Vector race is aware of the distrust and doubt they are judged with every day. This stigma doesn’t trouble them much; however, as they keep their patient attitude practically all the time.
Being nearly immortal and timeless, they lack the same focus than the usual Human, but they try to work on projects all the time to keep themselves occupied, so an adventurous Vector is a pretty standard sight, even with their unstable relationship with the exterior.
Vectors usually keep to themselves when not involved in politics, but their culture is somewhat known around the galaxy. Since they represent the most neutral point of view in the Exchange, they try to appear as polite and hospitable as possible, but they mainly wish to be left alone to build and work on themselves to achieve their mysterious purposes.
They collaborate to build themselves the future they aspire for, landing on worlds usually impossible to settle and start to gather resources for their large machine on their homeworld and creating more advanced vectors, resembling more and more to their ideal unit. Many species see this as an attempt to surpass all other races and start a massive war on organics, creating killing machines or Vectors able to outsmart any resistance amongst them.
Vectors seem to elude any retort to such accusations and ignore criticism, leading to threats and violent actions. The Vectors only wish to perfect themselves. Not all Vectors are pure, however, and some are even made by wicked deeds and methods, creating wild, unpredictable specimens. Humans and Zelars worked in secret on such experiment and had weird results, from Vector who think they are knights up to the egomaniacs and even nasty and naughty mechs. These studies make the natural Vector very outspoken and hateful towards organics, but it usually fades away in little calm angst against such personalities.
Vector seems to work together correctly, as they believe in one thing, their advancement as a species, but their involvement in galactic politics is omnipresent. They host the Cosmic Exchange meeting and preside any argument or debate the best they can, splitting power and advice amongst the residents of the galaxy. Seen as impartial judges and prone for justice, they are not opposed to their position yet.
Their most ancient Vector is always present to all meetings and seems to glare at all the politicians present at the hearings, never saying anything on its own, only replying as it makes final judgments and decisions, towering everybody in the room with its massive hulking body with many arms and hands, holding different devices and broadcasting instruments. Scary at first but kind, this Vector as no name or official title, people names it themselves with wild, colorful names as “Judge”, “Justice”, “Balance”.
The Vector has an entirely neutral look to all the races in the galaxy, even if the species hate them dearly. Could this be as simple as understanding or on the opposite, indifference?
If you want to know more about Entropy then join our Discord server, and chat with Charly the dev himself.
Not every moment of your character’s life will be spent sneaking around places they’re not supposed to be, taking things that don’t belong to them, killing people who get in the way of the first two, and in general being up to no good. They’ll need time to rest, recuperate, relax, or get back to their regular lives. That’s what Downtime is all about, seeing what your characters do on their days “off camera”. Down time is also a good way to “park” a character for a bit if you want to change out characters. One can be spending his time “off camera” while you take a new one out for a spin.
Downtime is split into three main parts: Work, Live, Play. Each part pretty much does what it says (and we’ll dive into them below), but there is a key thing that happens at the end of Downtime: paying the bill. Nothing in life comes for free, and you’ll need to pay for whatever you do on your Downtime.
At the end of it, paying the bill comes down to a Wealth Check with a modifier based on your lifestyle, but will be the only modifier. There is so much that can be done during Downtime, that we could drown you in modifiers to your roll. We’re not gonna do that. Instead, everything that happens during Downtime will give you either a Bonus Reroll or a Penalty Reroll. A Bonus Reroll means you reroll the Wealth Check and you choose the best result; and a Penalty Reroll means you reroll the Wealth Check but you must choose the worst result. Bonuses and Penalties cancel each other out, so when it comes time to pay the bill, you’re either gonna be left with just Bonus Rerolls, none at all, or just Penalty Rerolls.
It’s a quick and easy way to track your “spending” during Downtime, and so now let’s see all the things you can get up to.
Work
Nothing in life is free, and for most of us, the way to make money is to work. During Downtime, your character can find a job, or go back to theirs and work like the rest of us plebs.
To look for a job, you’ll need to pass a Skill Check. If you pass, you can do that job for the Downtime. If you fail, however, you need to go look for another career. You can only attempt each job once per Downtime, and if you fail, you’ll get a -10 modifier to the next job-hunting Skill Check you do. If you already have a job from your background or a previous Downtime, you can just go straight back to it without having to do a Skill Check. And if you can’t find a job, or don’t want one, you can be a vagrant for the Downtime and get a Penalty Reroll to your Wealth Check at the end.
Here’s the list of Skills and what jobs you can get if you pass their Checks.
Apothecary, Civil Official, Jeweller, Law Clerk, Office Clerk, Printer, Trader
Will
Clergy, Fishmonger, Grocer, Butcher, Tanner
When you’re in a job, you can also make another Skill Check for the Downtime to see how well you are performing at your work. Pass this second Check and you’ll get a Bonus reroll to your Wealth Check at the end.
Live
It’s the quickest and easiest part of Downtime, and it says what sort of level of lifestyle you have. How rich or poor are you living? The answer to that will determine the modifier you’ll get to your Wealth Check at the end.
Lifestyle Modifier
Homeless
–
Subsistence
60
Poor
45
Average
30
Comfortable
15
Wealthy
0
Lavish
-15
Opulent
-30
Decadent
-45
Kingly
-60
There are also things that can get you rerolls. If you have dependants living with you, you’ll get a Penalty Reroll, but if you have another breadwinner in the house then that’s a Bonus Reroll.
Each Downtime you can also choose to increase or decrease your standard of living. Increasing means a Penalty Reroll for that Downtime, while decreasing is a Bonus Reroll (on top of the change in modifier).
Play
This is where you get to unwind and enjoy yourself. Well, maybe. You can always choose not to do any activities for the Downtime and just focus on more work instead, which will net you a Bonus Reroll.
There are 10 broad categories of activities that you can partake in during Downtime, and each will have it’s own quirks and special rules (that will be fully explored in the book), and some will give you Bonus Rerolls or Penalty Rerolls; some will give you other types of rewards or misfortunes that could carry over into the next adventure as well.
Your level of lifestyle will also affect many of the activities you participate in. Going socialising with the upper-crust of society is clearly different type of party than slumming it in the… well… slums. Your lifestyle will add flavour to your activities, but it could also unlock some extra tidbits as well.
Craft: Start, or continue on, a project.
The GM will give you a target number to reach, and the first digit of each successful Broad/Fine-Craft Skill Check will contribute to reaching this target. The more complex the project, the larger the target number.
Gamble: Try and make some easy money.
Roll a d100 to set a target and then roll another d100 to see if you can get lower than the target number. If you succeed, the first digit of your result is the number of Bonus Rerolls you get, but if you fail, the first digit of the total by which you failed is the number of Penalty Rerolls you get. You’ll also get positive/negative modifiers to your next adventure’s Wealth Checks.
Relationship: Work on a personal, social, or business relationship
You can try and ingratiate yourself with a faction, go looking for love, take care of your family, or try and get a business partnership settled. Like the Craft Project, your GM will give you a target number to reach, and your Social Skill checks will help or hinder you to this goal. Each step along the way will make your relationship stronger.
Research: Find out more about a topic.
Knowledge is power, and a Logic, Investigate or Intuition Check and some time will get you more about both. You can be looking for new runic array designs, maps and blueprints to locations, or history of a person you’re investigating.
Rest: Good old R&R
Sometimes you just need to kick back and relax for a while. The world is a chaotic place and you need to get away from it for a bit. Resting will help heal wounds (both physical and mental) quicker, so if you really need to recuperate, just rest for a while.
Scout: Go far afield to a new place.
Scouting is the physical counterpart to Research. It’s about actually going somewhere you haven’t before to find something out. This can be as mundane as a nice holiday, or more nefarious like checking out the next place to rob.
Shopping: Buying and selling.
Who doesn’t like a shopping trip? Work with your GM as to what exactly you want to buy and he’ll give you modifiers to a Wealth Skill Check that you’ll need to beat. You can always choose to take Penalty Rerolls to make that Check easier. In the reverse, if you want to sell, you’ll need to beat a Social Skill Check and if you do you’ll get some Bonus Rerolls.
Socialise: Get out and about with your friends.
Or get out and about with new friends. Here you can recover some energy from your latest adventure, make new friends that you can then use a Relationship activity to strengthen that friendship.
Train: get better at a Skill
Probably the most straightforward of all the activities. You choose a Skill to get better at, roll a Skill Check and (hopefully) get better at it. You can also take a Penalty Reroll to find a mentor to help you, and this will make your Skill Check easier or get you more EXP in that Skill.
Tutor: Teach another character to be as cool as you
The exact opposite to Train. Here you can help another character get better at something that you are good at. This can be another player’s character, a friendly NPC, or perhaps your character’s family and heir (that you can play as if something happens to your character).
Paying the bill
Now that you’ve done everything you could or wanted, it’s time to pay the bill. So tally up your rerolls, get your Modifier from your Lifestyle, and roll that Wealth Check. If you pass, then all is well. If you fail, well then you have a choice.
You can go broke, which means the number by which you failed becomes a negative modifier to all your Wealth Checks for the next session of gaming, and your Lifestyle gets forced down by one for the next Downtime. Or you can go into debt, which means nothing bad happens now, but eventually you’ll have to pay up alongside the interest. Who knows, maybe a determined debt collector might show up in an adventure or mission a few sessions from now.
In our last Entropy Preview, we showed you the mammal-reptilian hybrids: the Cyrex. This time, we show you the cryptic and foreboding Zord
The Zord is an empire that influences all the Cosmic Exchange with their presence. They are originated from their now dead red planet: Koz, in the currently almost empty system of Jede. Zords are quite cryptic, creepy, and towering individuals that work in almost perfect unison against the forces of the Anomaly. Led by the legendary “ZORD” from which they took the names they use, they patrol space in massive ships of very angular shapes equipped with heavy weaponry.
Zords are seen as very violent and hard to talk to, and most people would prefer them to be as far away from them as possible. Loyalty, faith, and brawn are the most shown qualities amongst the Zord, who train all their life in squads or on the field to hone their talents to kill anything that could stand in their way. Nobody knows the real weight that burden every Zord, for when all hell breaks loose, they will stand tall and give their lives to protect the rest of the galaxy, even if they would kill anyone of them to achieve it.
Zord culture is somewhat remote from the eyes of the other species since they only look like crusaders with a crazy cause as a reason to fight or being mean. This freezing demeanor could be the cause of why they are frown upon or avoided. Even the fear of being accused falsely of Lunacy usage or ritualism is present in stations around the galaxy when Zords are spotted, people hide and wish for them to go away with only the officials addressing them in person with their best spokesman to slow or stop the Zords from overreacting.
Only Zords knows what their people do in their stations for leisure time and diversion. From a few witnesses and meetings, Shlaugs discovered that what they mostly do of their time is: training, outside of their armor musculation, and disciplinary exercises but a few times some of them were seen playing a strange game that they could not observe for too long. Therefore, maybe they do have pass times activities, or this could be merely strategic simulations.
Lively Zords are sometimes encountered, but they are very hard to sympathize with. However, when trust is gain with a Zord, they share war stories and tactics advice with other people, since they travel a lot, they are full of wild and impressive tales of the unknown. Storytelling is the strong suit of Zords who wish to express themselves with other species that dare to approach them. Zords most precious thing in life is their limitless faith in their leader. They carry banners and kill in his name with high energy on the battlefields. They work for him and bring his words because the enigmatic “ZORD” never leaves his mothership in the Jebe system, in orbit around Koz. The interior of the station is decorated like a church and is full of depictions of Zords in action, chasing down monsters and “heretics” in the glory of their master.
If you want to know more about Entropy then join our Discord server, and chat with Charly the dev himself.
Tabletop RPGs aren’t always played in the afternoons and evenings. Some of the best games I’ve had were when we all showed up first thing in the morning, bright and bushy tailed, ready for a whole day’s worth of gaming. For those early starts, you need a little something to kick off your day, and there’s nothing easier to make in the mornings than these.
Corn Fritters
Ingredients
1 cup of self raising flour
Or 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 large eggs
1 can (around 400g/14 ounces) of creamed corn
½ cup of grated cheese
Equipment
Stove top/hob
Method
Mix all the ingredients together
Heat up oil in a frypan and drop in two spoonfuls of the mixture in to form each fritter
Cook for a couple of minutes until they are nicely golden brown on both sides
This makes around a dozen fritters, depending on how big those spoonfuls are.
Cold Brew Coffee
Ingredients
125g/4 ounces coarsely ground coffee
1L/2 pints cold water
Equipment
Fridge
Muslin/cheese-cloth
Method
Stir the water and coffee grounds together and chill it in the fridge for at least 12 hours, but preferably a whole 24.
Strain the coffee through the muslin/cheese-cloth (helps to put the cloth in a sieve).
This makes around 4 glasses worth. Keep chilled until you’re ready to serve with ice cubes and (if you like) some cold milk or cream.
If you like these recipes, have a go at making them, and let us know how it turns out!
If you’ve missed any of the previous recipes, find them HERE.
And get your hands on our newest game, Enforcer, by clicking on the banner below.
Gates has had its first major update for its beta version, so here’s James with what’s changed:
Gates has been a fun ride so far. Its gone through many updates behind the scenes, even being rewritten several times. All of those updates and rewrites served to polish the game into the best form it could be in. Though, I have a long way to go. This first update for the public beta progresses some of the game, but actually removes some as well. The following is a short update on the changes:
Lots of little rewrites and grammar changes. I have a lot of work to do to turn my writing into something presentable, but over time it will become a professional work.
Descriptions of talents are simplified. This is a preventative measure for me. Essentially, I am making them simple now so I can experiment with different description types and styles. When I find one I like, I will be slowly fine tuning all of the descriptions.
Reordered the book. Some of the rules are introduced at awkward times, so I simply moved them to where they are relevant.
Monsters! I added several enemy examples. These enemies are for mundane to heroic tier. I will add some more powerful examples latter as well.
Colossi rules have been expanded. Giving proper rules for climbing and battling them.
My personal favorite monster is the ninja. Particularly because of its ninja swarm ability. Essentially, if the ninja is in a large group of other ninja, then it is severely weakened. This gives that reverse ninjitsu feel that cinematic movies have. And what else is cooler than fighting hordes of ninja?
Try out Gates now by clicking on the logo above or just CLICK HERE.
If you want to chat with James and the other devs of Stormforge West about the games they’re making, come join our Discord server.
Who doesn’t love burgers and chocolate? Well then, why not have the best of both worlds with a chocolate burger? Surely, it’s the next logical step, right? And to go with your chocolate burger, why not some chocolate mousse? No one ever says you can have too much chocolate.
Chocolate Burger
Ingredients
1kg/2.2lb beef/pork mince
200ml/7oz milk
80g/3oz breadcrumbs
20g/½oz cocoa powder
2 eggs
2 onions, finely diced
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Equipment
Microwave
Stove top, hob
Method
Mix together the milk and cocoa powder, and heat up in the microwave
Add in the breadcrumbs to the hot chocolate milk and mix well
Mix the chocolate breadcrumbs and the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl
Shape into burger patties and fry them over a medium to high heat for 5-6 minutes
This makes around 6-8 patties depending on how big you make them. Put them on some burger buns and some chocolate sauce, and enjoy.
Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
4 egg yolks
¼ cup of sugar
3 cups cups of cream
250g/9oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Equipment
Stove top/hob
Fridge
Method
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until they become thick and fluffy
Heat half the milk in a saucepan, again not to the boiling point, and very gradually whisk this into the egg mixture
Cook the egg mixture on the stove top for around 5 minutes over a low heat, until it thickens enough to evenly coat the back of a spoon
Stir in the chocolate pieces and stir until they melt and combine with the egg mix
Take off the heat, cover it and put it in the fridge until chilled
Whip up the rest of the cream, until they form soft peaks
Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture, and keep chilled until serving
If you like these recipes, have a go at making them, and let us know how it turns out!
If you’ve missed any of the previous recipes, find them HERE.
And get your hands on our newest game, Enforcer, by clicking on the banner below.
Well, when we say “change”, it’s more of an addition. None of the old runic magic rules will change, and no runic array will become obsolete. What we’ve added here is an extra rule that will make your life easier when designing a runic array, and give you more flexibility in how you draw them.
What better way to start than with an example:
On the left here you can see the original Furnace Fist runic array, and the thing that set it apart was how it showed that if you wanted to say Do X if Y or Z, you’d have to draw each IF part separately, since there was never a way to do IF-OR on a single branch of the runic array.
Well, as you can see, now there is. On the right you have the new Furnace Fist and the new bit being added to the rules of the runic arrays: the placeholder locus. This empty locus simply says any of these things CAN fit in here IF they are present. So in this way, you can now say Do X if Y or Z and keep everything on the same branch.
The old Furnace Fist’s notation looks like this: Create Fire if Animal is present, create Fire if Iron is present, create Fire if Stone is present, create Fire if Wood is present.
The new Furnace Fist’s notation with the placeholder locus looks like this: Create Fire if Animal, Iron, Stone or Wood is present.
Now isn’t that just so much more tidy? This new way cuts out a lot of duplication that needs to be done in the old way. Furnace Fist might just have one affecting rune (Create), but imagine if you wanted to link 5 affecting runes through that one branch, and modify them all? You’d have to draw the same thing for each branch, meaning 20 runes plus all the modifications to them all.
So not only will it save you time and patience, but it will also save you space and not clog up the whole runic array with duplicated drawings.
Since the last update came out, we’ve been busy little beavers, so there’s quite a bit in this update for you.
Art
Look at those lovely new pieces made by the awesome Pat Callahan. The first three of the exemplar characters have received their art, and this is only the first step. All the money that comes in from Enforcer’s Early Access will go straight towards putting in as much art into the book as humanly possible, so expect to see much more art in future updates!
Augments
Sometimes the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. For those times, that’s when you need some cybernetic augmentation, and that’s exactly what we brought in this update. Augments work just like Perks in the game, but instead of having to wait to get them through experience, you can just buy them. Upgrade your Enforcers to make them more than they were, but becoming a machine comes with its own risks.
Extra Psionic Powers
You know what’s great? Psionic powers. You know what’s better? More psionic powers.
Psionic Feedback
We’ve expanded the psionic feedback table to give you 25 frightening things that can happen if you are unlucky when rolling a Psionic Check. These feedback options are also more flavourful than just giving character a status effect.
Minion Squads
Minions are wonderful and adorable little things, and we’ve now put them together into their own little groups. If you are in need of some quick opposition in your games, you can now grab a premade Minion Squad from the list and go to town.
Costs
It’s the eternal balancing act, making sure everything is costed properly, and to that end we’ve changed how all the things in Enforcer is costed.
If you haven’t gotten Enforcer yet, you can grab it now by CLICKING HERE!
Enforcer is still in Early Access. This means that everything you need to play Enforcer is here, but it is not 100% finished. The main reason for the Early Access is to get funding for the art. Every dollar you spend on Enforcer is a dollar we give to an artist to make Enforcer look better. While the art is being worked on, we’ll keep polishing up the rules and increasing the lore. Everyone who gets Enforcer in the Early Access stage will get the full digital release for free, and we will also give you the final printed version at cost price.
If you want to know more about Enforcer, then come chat with other players and the developers on our Discord server!
It’s as cold and wet down here in New Zealand as the day is long, but you northerners are having quite a lovely summer I hear. So in honour of your heat waves, here are two quick summer recipes for today.
BBQ Skewers
Ingredients
500g/1lb of meat
2 cups of chopped vegetables
12 wooden skewers
2 cups of tomato ketchup
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of cayenne powder
1 teaspoon of paprika
Equipment
Fridge
Grill/BBQ
Method
Cut the meat into bite sized pieces and put into a bowl with the vegetables
Add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and mix thoroughly
Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour
Thread the meat and vegetables onto the wooden skewers
Cook on the grill or BBQ for about 15 minutes or until the meat is cooked to your taste
Fruit Smoothie
Ingredients
2 cups of your favourite fruit juice
2 cups of your favourite fruit, chopped and frozen
2 cups of plain yoghurt
Equipment
Food Processor/Blender
Method
Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
This makes around 4 glasses worth of smoothie. Keep chilled until you’re ready to serve.
If you like these recipes, have a go at making them, and let us know how it turns out!
If you’ve missed any of the previous recipes, find them HERE.
And get your hands on our newest game, Enforcer, by clicking on the banner below.
