I had the pleasure of being a playtester for a new Sci-Fi ruleset called "Enderain". All complete now, and on their way in October apparently. Wanted to share some words on them as I was so impressed with the gaming experience they gave.
Loved Stargrave, but these are a whole different level up for me. Tons of weapons, gear, options, special powers, roles, leveling up, all of it. Complex but easy. A ten game campaign absolutely FLEW by.
A figure is a team member, and your team is built around roles, powers, gear, and weapons. Pretty standard stuff but with a few nice twists.
Things I loved:
- Detailed but easy. Allows development of strategies for move and fire, and using weapons/powers.
- Powers are NOTABLE. You won't use them often, but they make a real difference.
- Game is run by a (provided) card deck. It manages initiative, allows building of strategy, and allows for interupts that can turn the game. Also helps run the NPC's.
- NPC's are a different level to any other game I've played. They are run by 2 custom dice (included) and are unpredictable and pretty autonomous. Allows full coop and solo game play easily.
- Just felt "SCIFI". Must be 100 different weapons, with good upgrades on each type (rocket launcher rules are great).
- Uses D12's. Something I havent seen before. Not swinging results and gives tons of scope.
- Includes a plastic tracker. Uses dice to track wounds and XP. Used right, it means a COMPLETELY counter/dice free tabletop and no pen and paper needed. Really speeds up gameplay and loos so much better.
Things I wasn't so keen on:
- There is definitely a learning curve with this. SO many options for drones, team roles, powers, weapons, NPC's, getting loot, leveling up. But there are 3 cheat sheets included (core rules, NPC rules, Roles and Powers) so you don't have to keep diving into the book, and its simple, once you've got it, you've got it.
- Firing is a several step process. Unique and good, but you'll need a game to get your head around it.
Overall I was pretty hyped by Enderain. It offers everything I want in a SciFi game, and the card deck and NPC system are totally different, almost like a board game feel in a way, to anything I've seen in a miniatures game.
Will work for any future setting as well. We even used them for a Judge Dredd game and they worked great. I could see these working great with Star Wars or anything tbh.
27 June 2011, 08:51:00 AM
