Here's a few photos of what I've been working on. Sort of rush jobs but I just wanted to get this stuff playable.
I'll go back and add some details to the buildings (like posters and boarded up windows) later.
Enjoy.
A blog about tabletop gaming, boardgame design ... and with pictures, and 3D printing.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Post-Apoc Terrain
My work schedule has slowed things down, so I haven't posted anything in a while now.
Here's a few photos of what I've been working on. Sort of rush jobs but I just wanted to get this stuff playable.
I'll go back and add some details to the buildings (like posters and boarded up windows) later.
Enjoy.
Here's a few photos of what I've been working on. Sort of rush jobs but I just wanted to get this stuff playable.
I'll go back and add some details to the buildings (like posters and boarded up windows) later.
Enjoy.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Two New Genres
Now that the MEST Basic Rules are out in the wild for public beta, I've been focusing on getting some genre documents generated to help solidify the Advanced Rules. I've already got the Lovecraftian Mythos doc in the works but it needs a few more tweaks especially for the campaign rules. It's essentially still in the Alpha stage.
In the meanwhile I've been working out two new genres that I think will properly stress-test the rules of MEST. The first is something I think will allow players to focus on campaign play using most non-lethal combat. The second genre is something a bit more harsh but also allow focus on campaign play. With these two I'll be able to work out the details of resource-based campaigns in a tighter fashion than with the Lovecraftian Mythos genre because recruiting and supplies will need to be much more tightly managed.
Anabasis
So the first genre will be based upon Sol Yurick's "The Warriors". I've placed the book on order to do some research, and I setting aside some time to watch the film adaption. I liked the film when I was much younger and I think it is evocative of faction-based clashes so popular with tabletop gaming. The emphasis of this genre will be on team building through recruitment, and surviving the battles between gangs which - for whatever reasons - don't seem to have much access to machine-guns or pistols. I think combat will be very interesting; characters will be vying for position using Scrums and Bonus Actions in order to make a difference. I've taken another stab at streamlining the Grapple rules and I hope they keep the game playable.
Aggro84 put a post on Lead Adventure Forum here:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=38508.30
Retropocalypse
This next genre is bit more free-form in that I'm borrowing from many post-apocalypse tropes such as Mad Max, Boy and his Dog, Fallout, Gamma World, and Aftermath; those last two being role-playing games from the days of yore and the first two being iconic dark-future films. Fallout is of course probably the most familiar of the video games set in the genre and has lots of ideas worth tipping the hat to. With this genre I get to prepare the MEST rules to deal with near-future weapons and equipment. The genre will introduce a dystopian society where small bands of scavengers fight for th remaining scraps of civilization. We'll get to play with super-soldiers, disfigured mutants, fealty to non-player factions, and old tech weapons.
I'll post both thematic draft write-ups on the MEST Tactics site under http://sites.google.com/site/mesttactics/attachments. Any feedback, criticism, or ideas, are welcome.
In the meanwhile I've been working out two new genres that I think will properly stress-test the rules of MEST. The first is something I think will allow players to focus on campaign play using most non-lethal combat. The second genre is something a bit more harsh but also allow focus on campaign play. With these two I'll be able to work out the details of resource-based campaigns in a tighter fashion than with the Lovecraftian Mythos genre because recruiting and supplies will need to be much more tightly managed.
Anabasis
So the first genre will be based upon Sol Yurick's "The Warriors". I've placed the book on order to do some research, and I setting aside some time to watch the film adaption. I liked the film when I was much younger and I think it is evocative of faction-based clashes so popular with tabletop gaming. The emphasis of this genre will be on team building through recruitment, and surviving the battles between gangs which - for whatever reasons - don't seem to have much access to machine-guns or pistols. I think combat will be very interesting; characters will be vying for position using Scrums and Bonus Actions in order to make a difference. I've taken another stab at streamlining the Grapple rules and I hope they keep the game playable.
Aggro84 put a post on Lead Adventure Forum here:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=38508.30
Retropocalypse
This next genre is bit more free-form in that I'm borrowing from many post-apocalypse tropes such as Mad Max, Boy and his Dog, Fallout, Gamma World, and Aftermath; those last two being role-playing games from the days of yore and the first two being iconic dark-future films. Fallout is of course probably the most familiar of the video games set in the genre and has lots of ideas worth tipping the hat to. With this genre I get to prepare the MEST rules to deal with near-future weapons and equipment. The genre will introduce a dystopian society where small bands of scavengers fight for th remaining scraps of civilization. We'll get to play with super-soldiers, disfigured mutants, fealty to non-player factions, and old tech weapons.
I'll post both thematic draft write-ups on the MEST Tactics site under http://sites.google.com/site/mesttactics/attachments. Any feedback, criticism, or ideas, are welcome.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Post-Apoc 1st Playtest!
Kitrok and I got in our first two playtests with my Post-Apoc miniatures from EM-4 last night. We used the MEST basic rules. Both games were smaller games with 500pts per side and 5 models each. Kitrok was having a rough night and I won both games.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
MEST Basic Game Beta 1.1 is Out!
Updated
I've taken the effort after receiving some feedback from vindigo and greatly expanded the MEST Basic Rules document with more examples, greater clarity, and many additional pictures, charts, and diagrams. As a result, the new document version is 1.1.
Here's what I remember that is different from the initial release:
I've taken the effort after receiving some feedback from vindigo and greatly expanded the MEST Basic Rules document with more examples, greater clarity, and many additional pictures, charts, and diagrams. As a result, the new document version is 1.1.
Here's what I remember that is different from the initial release:
- CRITICAL FIX: Detect is affected by OR multiples.
- CRITICAL FIX: Detect is an Opposed INT vs. REF Test.
- Expanded sections on building assemblies of characters.
- Added more examples.
- Added a back-cover.
- Added Fear trait to the Traits list.
- Added Fear 2 trait to the Monster archetype.
- Removed the "Fear Test" definition under Morale and Wounds section.
- Re-balanced Weapons list by +/- 1 BP. Improvised is now 0 BP instead of 1 BP.
- Re-phrased Victory Conditions to be clearer and more concise.
- Added play-aides; record sheet, scatter diagram, markers, reference cards.
- Re-factored the Tests section and revised the associated examples.
- Specify that measuring from a model begins within it's base-diameter.
- Added Turn Sequence flow-chart.
- Removed Throw action; folded into Range Attack action verbiage.
- Introduced term "Melee Range" and re-phrased the concept of Engaged.
- Re-phrased Move and Close Combat actions, and identified Charge Bonus.
- Clarified Higher Ground, Cornered, and Outnumbering bonus.
- Added numerous sample assemblies by genre to facilitate quick-play.
- Added some additional mission types to allow for session variety.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
"Warriors... Come Out and Playayayay!"
I started a thread over at LAF. Kitrok and I are looking for feedback for a Warriors / Post Apoc Project.
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=38508.0
We would love to get any and all input.
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=38508.0
We would love to get any and all input.
MEST goes Post-Apoc!
I've been working on some Fallout-ish / Post Apocalyptic miniatures and terrain.
I can't wait to get an playtest in.
So far I've painted 27 EM-4 miniatures and 8 Marx Cars.
I've got some cacti and Plasticville buildings to paint still.
I can't wait to get an playtest in.
So far I've painted 27 EM-4 miniatures and 8 Marx Cars.
I've got some cacti and Plasticville buildings to paint still.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
An Early Play-test
This is an earlier play-test by Aggro84 from about a 1.5 years ago; the game rules were still being solidified. The genre presented here is the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos that we've been working on. The genre document when completed will dove-tail into the Advanced Rules and will be named "Of Cultists and Unspeakable Horrors".
The size of the game is roughly about 750 BP with seven characters per player. There are a few game elements that are available in the genre rules that increase the price-point a bit, in context of the available beta rules. The first is that the Dimensional Shambler (represented by a RAFM "ghast") has the Tesseract trait which allows it to teleport directly into combat but no closer than 3" to an opposing model. In terms of the Basic Game rules, treat it otherwise as a Monster archetype. The Tcho-tchos themselves can be considered the equivalent of the Basic Game's Scout archetype, and the Tcho-tcho leader is essentially a Scout with the Leader and the Tactics traits. For the Agents ('Feds') the Leader is also an Elite archetype but with the Leader traits.
Game-size:
Agency:
6 Elite, 1 Leader
[ 2 x shotgun, 2 x tommy gun, 3 x medium pistol ]
Cultists:
1 Shambler (Monster), 3 Cultists (Average), 3 Tcho-tchos (Scouts + Leader)
[ sword, daggers, spear, shotgun, tommy gun, medium pistol ]
The size of the game is roughly about 750 BP with seven characters per player. There are a few game elements that are available in the genre rules that increase the price-point a bit, in context of the available beta rules. The first is that the Dimensional Shambler (represented by a RAFM "ghast") has the Tesseract trait which allows it to teleport directly into combat but no closer than 3" to an opposing model. In terms of the Basic Game rules, treat it otherwise as a Monster archetype. The Tcho-tchos themselves can be considered the equivalent of the Basic Game's Scout archetype, and the Tcho-tcho leader is essentially a Scout with the Leader and the Tactics traits. For the Agents ('Feds') the Leader is also an Elite archetype but with the Leader traits.
Quoting Aggro84:
I
played a game with the miniature rule set that I have been working on
(heavily influenced by Robert). I’m going for a simple and fast set of
skirmish rules. Each side had seven models and consisted of Tcho-Tcho’s
Vs. Federal Agents. I tested the game without the use of Hiding Rules
to see how the game played.Game-size:
750 BP. 6-turn limit. 36"x36" battle-field.
Agency:
6 Elite, 1 Leader
[ 2 x shotgun, 2 x tommy gun, 3 x medium pistol ]
Cultists:
1 Shambler (Monster), 3 Cultists (Average), 3 Tcho-tchos (Scouts + Leader)
[ sword, daggers, spear, shotgun, tommy gun, medium pistol ]
Turn 1.
The forces took up their positions.
A cultist with a shotgun took an unlikely shot at an Agent from the second group shown (a shot he would not have been able to make if the Hidden Rules were in place.) The Cultist got lucky and shot and killed the Agent.
With the Agent dead, another Agent is left alone in the dark. Exploiting the situation, the Shambler appeared next to the unfortunate Agent.
Turn 2
The Shambler easily killed the lone agent. A cultist with a Tommy gun made a lucky shot against an Agent held up in a structure which killed the Agent. This death forced the Agent Leader to flee from the building. The forces continued to take up their positions.
The Tcho-tcho High Priest took up a position inside a building
Turn 3
A Tcho-tcho engaged another lone Agent. The cultist with the shotgun ran up to assist. Agents, from the upper floor of a building, rained fire down upon a lone Tcho-tcho, but failed to even wound him.
Turn 4
Another agent fell to the Tcho-Tcho. The Leader recovered and engaged the seemingly bullet proof Tcho-Tcho that had just entered a building held by the Agents. The remainder of the battle took place inside this building.
Turn 5
Now that they far outnumbered the Agents, the Tcho-tcho’s started surrounding the remaining Agent held up in the building. The Shambler moved in, and was wounded by an Agent’s Tommy gun fire.
The unlucky Agent leader was shot accidentally by one of his own Agents. The Agent Leader took two wounds from the blast that would have killed a lesser man. A Tcho-tcho was then killed from a counter strike from the Agent Leader.
Turn 6
The Agent who accidentally shot his boss was killed by the Tcho-tcho forces. Finally, the Agent Leader was also killed. This left a lone wounded Agent in the top floor of the building making this an almost total victory for the Tcho-tcho.
Summary
The forces should have been pretty evenly matched up: however, the Agents were very unlucky and the Tcho-tcho’s rolls were unstoppable. The game played fast, dirty and brutal, just like I wanted.
The forces took up their positions.
A cultist with a shotgun took an unlikely shot at an Agent from the second group shown (a shot he would not have been able to make if the Hidden Rules were in place.) The Cultist got lucky and shot and killed the Agent.
With the Agent dead, another Agent is left alone in the dark. Exploiting the situation, the Shambler appeared next to the unfortunate Agent.
Turn 2
The Shambler easily killed the lone agent. A cultist with a Tommy gun made a lucky shot against an Agent held up in a structure which killed the Agent. This death forced the Agent Leader to flee from the building. The forces continued to take up their positions.
The Tcho-tcho High Priest took up a position inside a building
Turn 3
A Tcho-tcho engaged another lone Agent. The cultist with the shotgun ran up to assist. Agents, from the upper floor of a building, rained fire down upon a lone Tcho-tcho, but failed to even wound him.
Turn 4
Another agent fell to the Tcho-Tcho. The Leader recovered and engaged the seemingly bullet proof Tcho-Tcho that had just entered a building held by the Agents. The remainder of the battle took place inside this building.
Turn 5
Now that they far outnumbered the Agents, the Tcho-tcho’s started surrounding the remaining Agent held up in the building. The Shambler moved in, and was wounded by an Agent’s Tommy gun fire.
The unlucky Agent leader was shot accidentally by one of his own Agents. The Agent Leader took two wounds from the blast that would have killed a lesser man. A Tcho-tcho was then killed from a counter strike from the Agent Leader.
Turn 6
The Agent who accidentally shot his boss was killed by the Tcho-tcho forces. Finally, the Agent Leader was also killed. This left a lone wounded Agent in the top floor of the building making this an almost total victory for the Tcho-tcho.
Summary
The forces should have been pretty evenly matched up: however, the Agents were very unlucky and the Tcho-tcho’s rolls were unstoppable. The game played fast, dirty and brutal, just like I wanted.
 |
| The board from the Tcho-Tcho side… |
 |
| As well as the fed side. |
 |
| Here is a close up of starting positions for the Tcho-Tcho. This was a High Priest, an Elder and two non- Tcho-Tcho robed cultists. |
 |
A smaller flanking group consisted
of an Elder and one more cultist. The Tcho-Tcho’s also had a Shambler on their side that did not set up initially. |
 |
| Here are the starting postitions for the Agents. This was the Agent Leader along with three other Agents… |
 |
| As well as a secondary group of three Agents. |
 |
| The Cultist got lucky and shot and killed an Agent. |
 |
| The luck shot from another angle. |
 |
| Exploiting the situation, the Shambler appeared next to an unfortunate Agent. |
 |
| The Shambler easily killed the lone agent. |
 |
| A cultist with a Tommy gun made a lucky shot against an Agent held up in a structure which killed the Agent. This death forced the Agent Leader to flee from the building. |
 |
| The Tcho-Tcho High Priest took up a position inside a building |
 |
| A Tcho-Tcho engaged another lone Agent. The cultist with the shotgun ran up to assist. |
 |
| Agents, from the upper floor of a building, rained fire down upon a lone Tcho-Tcho, but failed to even wound him. |
 |
| Another agent fell to the Tcho-Tcho |
 |
| The Leader recovered and engaged the seemingly bullet proof Tcho-Tcho that had just entered a building held by the Agents |
 |
| The remainder of the battle took place inside this building. |
 |
| The Shambler moved in, and was wounded by an Agent’s Tommy gun fire. |
 |
| A Tcho Tcho was then killed from a counter-strike from the Agent Leader. |
 |
| An Agent who accidently shot his boss was killed by the Tcho-Tcho forces. Finally, the Agent Leader was also killed. |
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Agents Raid Suspected Cultists Shanty Town!
Cross-posted (somewhat) at:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=37127.15
Game-size:
Agency:
Turn 1
This was mostly maneuvering into position. A Deep one maneuvered to the right of the battlefield and took a wound from SMG fire while sprinting between the rock and the hard place.
Turn 2
On the Initiative Test, the Agency acquire 9 Initiative Points [ IP ]. That's a 1:1000 event.
Essentially Agency got to move all of their forces into position, pushing the AP maximum, and Refreshing at the end of their actions. Only afterwards did Cultists get a chance to respond. 2 KO'd Deep Ones. 1 Eliminated Dog.
Turn 3
The Cultists got into close position filing down the quad and the area next to the bottom left. The Construct KO'd sprinted down the death alley and got a swing at one of the Elites; missed! One of the asylum members follows up near by. The brawlers, axe maniac, and crazy lady with the teddy bear totem all made base-contact. Cultist player scored three consecutive snake-eyes for Hit Tests. Lost two models to counter-strikes. Lost the third to SMG fire.
Turn 4
The Agent with a shotgun next to the Construct mowed down Tor Johnson but the Construct managed to Eliminate it.
Game ends on the die roll at the conclusion of Turn 4. Agency wins on VP as follows:
+1 VP outnumbered 3:2
+1 VP fewer BP KO'd or Eliminated
Agency still had its leader and one Agent with Shotgun. Cultists had just the Construct and the straight-jacketed asylum member remaining. Post-battle analysis reveals that Cultists would have lost eventually even if the game continued into Turn 5; Construct and asylum member were already wounded.
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=37127.15
Game-size:
500 BP. 4-turn limit. 36"x36" battle-field.
Agency:
3 Elite, 1 Leader, 1 Dog
[ shotgun, shotgun, tommy gun, medium pistol ]
Cultists:
1 Monster (Construct) + 2 Hero (Deep Ones) + 2 Brawlers (Asylum) + 3 average (Asylum)
[ Axe, Improvised x 7 ]
Turn 1
This was mostly maneuvering into position. A Deep one maneuvered to the right of the battlefield and took a wound from SMG fire while sprinting between the rock and the hard place.
Turn 2
On the Initiative Test, the Agency acquire 9 Initiative Points [ IP ]. That's a 1:1000 event.
Essentially Agency got to move all of their forces into position, pushing the AP maximum, and Refreshing at the end of their actions. Only afterwards did Cultists get a chance to respond. 2 KO'd Deep Ones. 1 Eliminated Dog.
Turn 3
The Cultists got into close position filing down the quad and the area next to the bottom left. The Construct KO'd sprinted down the death alley and got a swing at one of the Elites; missed! One of the asylum members follows up near by. The brawlers, axe maniac, and crazy lady with the teddy bear totem all made base-contact. Cultist player scored three consecutive snake-eyes for Hit Tests. Lost two models to counter-strikes. Lost the third to SMG fire.
Turn 4
The Agent with a shotgun next to the Construct mowed down Tor Johnson but the Construct managed to Eliminate it.
Game ends on the die roll at the conclusion of Turn 4. Agency wins on VP as follows:
+1 VP outnumbered 3:2
+1 VP fewer BP KO'd or Eliminated
Agency still had its leader and one Agent with Shotgun. Cultists had just the Construct and the straight-jacketed asylum member remaining. Post-battle analysis reveals that Cultists would have lost eventually even if the game continued into Turn 5; Construct and asylum member were already wounded.
 |
| The Shanty Town |
 |
| Looks like a Deep One got our dog! |
 |
| Let the bodies hit the floor. Really nothing can be done once the fight begins and you fail to hit; snake-eyes on Hit Test. |
 |
| Agent leader was able to react fast enough and blast a couple cultist as they closed in. |
 |
| Mentally deranged individual with magical totem. The totem offered Armored Gear as a bonus |
 |
| Ending of Turn 4. Very close battle in terms of proportional material loss. |
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wrong file!
I just noticed that I uploaded the wrong file for MEST Basic rules. I'll correct that once I get home from my day job.
EDIT: I was able to upload a modified version of the file. Somehow during my document renaming process I over-wrote the contents of my version 20120128 file with the work-in-progress file. Problem resolved. =)
Sunday, January 29, 2012
BETA updated - critical fixes
I noticed an error in the rules for the Detect Tests. After confirming the change I've updated the QSR and the Basic Game rules. Version control is currently done via copy-and-paste into the Change List page on MEST Tactics.
Here's what the rules had been:
Here's what they should be and are now:
The problem crept in when I altered the rules from an earlier version prior to the beta to use different attribute names ... it just floated along and wasn't caught until just now.
Additionally, it has been the case the Optimal Range [ OR ] multiples above 1 should also affect Detect tests. The OR for Detect tests uses Visibility; thus OR 16" for Day, Clear and OR 8" for Night, Clear, Full-moon.
These changes have been entered and the document updated.
p.s.; As time progresses, I'll continue blogging bug fixes to the rules. The entries will be tagged as 'bug-fixes'.
Here's what the rules had been:
Actions > Detect;
if Free perform a Detect check against a target within LOS to remove its Hidden status and make it Revealed. Detect OR is equal to Cohesion. The first Detect check is free and can be combined with any other action.
Perform this action as an Unopposed REF Test -3 Modifier dice.
Here's what they should be and are now:
if Free perform a Detect check against a target within LOS to remove its Hidden status and make it Revealed. Detect OR is equal to Cohesion. The first Detect check is free and can be combined with any other action.
Perform this action as an Opposed INT vs. REF Test.
The problem crept in when I altered the rules from an earlier version prior to the beta to use different attribute names ... it just floated along and wasn't caught until just now.
Additionally, it has been the case the Optimal Range [ OR ] multiples above 1 should also affect Detect tests. The OR for Detect tests uses Visibility; thus OR 16" for Day, Clear and OR 8" for Night, Clear, Full-moon.
These changes have been entered and the document updated.
p.s.; As time progresses, I'll continue blogging bug fixes to the rules. The entries will be tagged as 'bug-fixes'.
Basic Rules are now Beta!
MEST Narrative Basic rules beta links have been posted on these two sites:
In the meanwhile; I've been looking into Kickstarter as a venue to get the set of rules [ combined books for the Basic, Advanced, Genre rules ] into a nice presentation set. I'm not sure what the set could be other than hard-bound materials. I'm pondering packing it with an actual "starter set" of materials such as markers, tokens, 2D cardboard figures, 2D buildings, rulers, dice, and perhaps a CD with GENERATOR and PDF copies of the files I used to create the 2D and book assets.
It would be really cool if I could shop the rules set to a miniatures production house to cover a niche that either has not been addressed or that exists but uses an older rules set. The ones I have in mind got minis that fit well into the sorts of genres I'm interested in supporting with the MEST game system.
- freewargamesrules.co.uk at http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/2/post/2012/01/mest-adventures-in-matter-energy-space-and-time.html
- Lead Adventure Forums at http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=37123.0
In the meanwhile; I've been looking into Kickstarter as a venue to get the set of rules [ combined books for the Basic, Advanced, Genre rules ] into a nice presentation set. I'm not sure what the set could be other than hard-bound materials. I'm pondering packing it with an actual "starter set" of materials such as markers, tokens, 2D cardboard figures, 2D buildings, rulers, dice, and perhaps a CD with GENERATOR and PDF copies of the files I used to create the 2D and book assets.
It would be really cool if I could shop the rules set to a miniatures production house to cover a niche that either has not been addressed or that exists but uses an older rules set. The ones I have in mind got minis that fit well into the sorts of genres I'm interested in supporting with the MEST game system.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
MEST Basic Rules
I think the MEST Basic Rules are ready for Beta testers.
I've been working to get the QSR or "quick-start rules" finished. It's been over two years and about 50 play-test sessions but I think its ready for public scrutiny. As well, I've been trying to figure out a format for the basic rules so that when it goes to print it will look nice.
The difference between the two is as follows; the QSR basically is a two-pager with the core system rules for the MEST tabletop minis game ... and uses really, really, small type. Everything that I could keep in it is there; much of the other stuff has either been pared away to the trash-bin or kept safely hidden within my design notes for use in the future. The MEST Basic Rules is the content of the QSR put into a nicely-formatted document. There are numerous illustrated examples and a stylized layout; I opted for 1930's pulp for the design. There's even a table-of-contents. Nothing too fancy otherwise.
I'm still working on the Advanced Rules which I think are still nascent. Some of the interesting stuff there deals mostly with modern fire-arms such as fields-of-fire, group fire, and suppression fire. However, there's also universal-system elements that are pending completion such as the introduction of Champion and Trooper characters, mission varieties, and a campaign rules set. Much of this is already documented but hasn't been entirely play-tested. Using my methodology assessment (shown here) I'd say it's in the Alpha Draft set phase where as the QSR and Basic Rules are in the Alpha Test phase ... nearing Beta.
The QSR and the Basic Rules are available in the down-loads section of the MEST Tactics Web site at http://sites.google.com/site/mesttactics/downloads/ . Keep an eye out for the date-time stamp; the current build is 2012.01.26. There will be small tweaks during this late alpha phase but if I get some beta-testers I'll start keeping a better grip on the version control.
Join the Google Groups for this project to help me out as a Beta tester here; http://groups.google.com/group/mesttactics/?pli=1
I've been working to get the QSR or "quick-start rules" finished. It's been over two years and about 50 play-test sessions but I think its ready for public scrutiny. As well, I've been trying to figure out a format for the basic rules so that when it goes to print it will look nice.
The difference between the two is as follows; the QSR basically is a two-pager with the core system rules for the MEST tabletop minis game ... and uses really, really, small type. Everything that I could keep in it is there; much of the other stuff has either been pared away to the trash-bin or kept safely hidden within my design notes for use in the future. The MEST Basic Rules is the content of the QSR put into a nicely-formatted document. There are numerous illustrated examples and a stylized layout; I opted for 1930's pulp for the design. There's even a table-of-contents. Nothing too fancy otherwise.
I'm still working on the Advanced Rules which I think are still nascent. Some of the interesting stuff there deals mostly with modern fire-arms such as fields-of-fire, group fire, and suppression fire. However, there's also universal-system elements that are pending completion such as the introduction of Champion and Trooper characters, mission varieties, and a campaign rules set. Much of this is already documented but hasn't been entirely play-tested. Using my methodology assessment (shown here) I'd say it's in the Alpha Draft set phase where as the QSR and Basic Rules are in the Alpha Test phase ... nearing Beta.
The QSR and the Basic Rules are available in the down-loads section of the MEST Tactics Web site at http://sites.google.com/site/mesttactics/downloads/ . Keep an eye out for the date-time stamp; the current build is 2012.01.26. There will be small tweaks during this late alpha phase but if I get some beta-testers I'll start keeping a better grip on the version control.
Join the Google Groups for this project to help me out as a Beta tester here; http://groups.google.com/group/mesttactics/?pli=1
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