Heavy Gear the Role-Playing Game Fourth Edition is Incoming!
As you may have heard some time back, the Fourth Edition Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game has been in development for a while now. We are excited to finally announce its arrival!
We are soon to go live on kickstarter to fund some of the high quality art and storytelling that goes into the core book. And it’s going to be a very full core book. You will find information on all the Terra Novan factions, overviews of all other planets previously written about, and over 200 Heavy Gears and Vehicles for your character to use.
Starting today, and running weekly through the start of our kickstarter, we’re going to share some articles talking about different aspects of Fourth Edition and share some bits from the book. Today, we will cover some of the larger strokes and the changes between previous editions and the new one.
The Blitz RPG
Dice rolling in Fourth Edition is going to follow the mechanics familiar to Heavy Gear Blitz players and previous rpg veterans alike. Most dice rolling will be for skill tests. You will roll a pool of dice based on your skill level, with additional dice added or subtracted for things like equipment or circumstances. Just like previous editions you will keep your highest dice, and additional scores of a 6 can add +1 to that highest dice. Unlike previous editions, the threshold to modify (to add that +1) isn’t just on a 6, but is variable, and can be improved or degraded by other rules such as equipment, vehicle systems, damage, or external circumstances.
This total result is then compared to a free floating difficulty. This means that dice rolls will be much more variable than in the older silhouette system leaving more room for granularity. Some rules will allow additional dice to be added then dropping the lowest (or highest), effecting how ties are resolved, or allowing rerolls and further options.
About that Skill List…
Older versions of Heavy Gear relied on a “catch-all” skill concept with a compact list of skills. For example the Stealth skill would handle everything from sneaking down a dark alleyway to using a complex stealth bomber to evade radar. While straightforward, it also lacked some warmth or created mono-builds.
In Fourth edition skills are made up of two components: a domain and a specialization which go together to form a skill. The domain is one of twenty very large categories meant to cover almost any task. The specialization is created by the player specifically for character. For example, in the domain “Gunnery” two separate characters might have two completely different skills. Let’s say we have a Milicia Pilot with the skill “Gunnery: Heavy Gear” and a Badlands Rover with the skill “Gunnery: Autocannons.” Both could fire a heavy gear’s auto cannon with their skill. But the Milicia Pilot could also fire all the other weapons on board a heavy gear, while the Rover might take a penalty to do so. Conversely, if these two end up having to use an improvised Antelope Technical that has had an autocannon bolted on top, the Rover’s skill will function fine, while the Pilot would face a penalty. Both skills do the same thing, but with different pros and cons.
The game’s director will usually provide a list of basic skills that fit their story, but mostly it is up to the players to get creative. Another reason for skill domains is the domain expertise mechanic, which grants bonuses to all skills in a domain for having multiple skill levels in that domain. This keeps characters from massing one skill in exclusion to all others, and also allows for broadly spread characters to get a benefit.
Traits and Attributes
One thing players will immediately notice is that there is no big bar of numerical attributes on their character sheet. Attributes still exist – as we’ll discuss – but rather than try and balance people entirely on a numeric system, Fourth Edition allows for a more narrative representation. Players will create Traits consisting of Advantages, Adversities, and Quirks. Any of these can be activated during a roll to grant a bonus to it. Just like with skills, a specifically worded trait like “Athletic” can be applied reliably to some situations, but clever and characterful wording such as “Heart of a Competitor” could get used in anything from a Heavy Gear melee battle to an inter-unit volley ball game. They can also act as a “certification” allowing characters to ignore some penalties or avoid a roll. For example, strength related Advantages will let ignore penalties for carrying heavy weapons.
Traits can also be used to give yourself a penalty on a roll. Why would you want that? Well in Fourth Edition, there is no generic XP. Instead, each skill has its own XP, which it generates any time it is used under a penalty. You get XP even if the skill roll fails. This means that players will be rewarded for playing their characters, flaws and all. Additionally, using a trait to penalize yourself allows you to refresh and use an advantage or quirk for a bonus another time in the session.
Fourth Edition assumes each character is suited for their role in a team – strong enough, smart enough, and healthy enough – it also allows for characters better or worse than this baseline. A series of perks and flaws – collectively called attributes – can be applied to characters. They add numeric bonuses such as movement speed or skill threshold bonuses, or make skills more/less reliable. They also allowed for things like cybernetics, social status, wealth, or allies and enemies to be part of your character build.
Shock and Damage Results
A final thing we want to talk about is the way Fourth Edition deals with damage. Previous editions had thresholds to suffer wounds or vehicle damage. Fourth edition uses the familiar Blitz model:
Weapon damage + Successes - Armor Rating = Damage Suffered
But the damage that gets through isn’t just hull points but Damage Results. The game’s director will assign one or more Damage Results for each point suffered. Three points taken on a vehicle could represent a destroyed weapon, or penalties to movement based actions and a burning engine you will have to deal with, or a gear’s arm blown off and the vehicle knocked over. There is a large selection of example damage results included, to save time and focus for the director, but essentially the only real limit is your imagination.
For humans suffering a damage result, directors can further choose between System Shock (wounds and injuries) and Shell Shock (stress and psychological damage). A hit to a vehicle might rattle the crew even if it only dented the armor, allowing for morale to be part of the game. Heavy Gear still remains a gritty game (as much as you can be with giant robots). But the choice of damage results allows for stories with different reality levels. It also allows for damage to come from unlikely sources, such as suffering a shell shock hit from a botched skill roll.
Endless Customization, Or Not
This is just the basics of how characters can be customized. To add to this, equipment, weapons, and Heavy Gears all have modification systems to allow for vast player freedom. At the same time, you can also select from prewritten options to get playing right away.
While older editions allowed you to jump in a cockpit with only a few minutes design, the small increase in start time to Fourth edition character building gives more possibilities for growth and creativity. Just like in older editions, we also provide some example character builds to grab and go if you are new to games like this.
More to Come
That’s it for now, but expect to hear more about the Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game every week until launch. We are glad to start the next chapter in the saga of humankind’s new home.
