Game Rules Preview
Introduction
Ardent Spacers is a game about exploration, discovery, and first contact with new civilisations.
Throughout the rules development process, we’re focusing on how game mechanics can encourage cool role-play and reward specialisation, keeping players immersed and engaged and avoiding unnecessary complications.
Core Design Principles
► Everyone has basic training. You’ll be able to engage in any aspect of the game at an introductory level.
► You can’t do it all. Characters have limits to the skills they can gain, and can’t become experts in every field
► Failure leads to more fun. There aren’t instant “win” buttons, and bad luck can hit anyone.
► This isn’t a video game. Any mechanics have to be easy to remember, since there’s no computer to do it for you.
► Role-play is the focus. Everything should be interesting to interact with, and not feel like a box-ticking exercise.
Limited Call System
We’re keeping combat calls to a minimum, and ensuring any calls we do have are consistent with timings and easy to understand in fast-paced situation.
Gameplay Areas
There are currently four major areas of gameplay. Each is intended to have an equal impact on the game.
► Combat
► Diplomacy
► Bio-Med
► Engineering
Character Creation
Player characters are professionals in their field, each with their own main focus, be it mission security, discovery, science, or diplomacy.
Players will choose their main profession at character creation, which includes a number of themed skills they know how to use. There will be opportunity for customisation outside of this profession.
Physical enhancements such as cybernetics will be available from character creation.
Alien species and home planets are purely for role-play and we don’t intend for them to have a mechanical benefit.
Character Progression
Character progression will be slow and capped. Our goal is to create a system where starting characters are fully rounded and able to get immediately stuck in with their chosen area of game-play.
While we do want to give players something to plan towards for their character, we don’t want this to be at the expense of accidentally blocking new characters out of the game, or making them feel useless.
Character Death
To encourage players to get stuck in with the more dangerous parts of the game, character death will be easily avoidable for the most part. Instead of dying on missions, you’ll be teleported back to base in critical condition, but may have lasting consequences from it. The biggest downside is you won’t get to see that particular encounter to the end!
Players invest a lot of time and money into their characters, and we want to avoid bad luck or not knowing many people at the event from forcing you to stop playing a character you enjoy.
Having Multiple Characters
We believe everyone should be able to play a range of characters, and not have to permanently lose access to their previous character if they need a break or want to try something new.
Many games don’t allow this, citing meta-gaming or avoiding consequences as a reason. We think the benefits of allowing multiple characters far outweigh the problems, and will take action against anyone using multiple characters to cheat.
Combat
Ardent Spacers will have a variety of combat missions each event, ranging from 5-person strike teams to the two large battles in which half the player-base will crew for the other.
This game exclusively uses a GLOBAL HP system, that is increased through cybernetics, armour, and energy shields.
LARP Weapons
Standard LARP foam weapons and shields will be permitted at this game. Some larger objects and shields will require skills to be usable.
LARP archery is not currently permitted.
Grenades
Skills will allow players to use grenades with a variety of effects. These will be physreped by throwable foam objects.
Airsoft or SFX smoke grenades may be permitted under specific circumstances with competency training. All SFX will be provided by the game.
Nerf Blasters
All players will be able to use basic Nerf blasters, but extra combat skills will allow the use of more advanced weapons. All Nerf blasters must be painted.
We will be permitting Elite, Mega, and Rival blasters. All blasters and darts must pass safety checks before use. Players must provide their own darts.
Modding limits:
► 130 FPS for Elite blasters
► 95 FPS for Mega blasters
► 110 FPS for Rival Blasters
Engineering
Engineering and item crafting has a heavy focus on role-play at Ardent Spacers, but not the usual “role-play for 10 minutes then swap your materials at the admin desk”.
You’ll be faced with a variety of physical activities and puzzles as an engineer, and are vital for keeping the AES Ardent working to its fullest capacity.
Repairs
Repairing satellites, radio stations, and other faulty objective markers will be common on missions. These will require physical puzzles to be completed by engineers with the relevant skills, ranging from simple battery replacement to full reconstructions.
Anyone can repair their own basic equipment and armour unless it has been completely destroyed by an effect.
Research
Throughout the game, you’ll encounter a range of equipment you either don’t know how to use or you wish to upgrade. By completing role-play puzzles, you’ll discover more about the items and how they can be improved.
Crafting
Crafting specialist items relies on what techniques you know, and not what instructions your character has memorised. You will have to physically create these items from their components, using tools and equipment either found in-game or brought as props by yourself.
Fabrication Lab
Instead of spending time role-playing making basic items, players will be able to hand over materials to the fabrication lab and come back later to receive their new equipment.
The spaceship has a limited material storage that characters can purchase, and use of the lab has a small fee.
Bio-Med
Bio-Med encompasses any skills relating to the body or other living beings, ranging from environmental study to surgery and cybernetic instillation.
Field Medicine
Field medics are here to fix basic injuries on missions, using a mixture of medical role-play, healing items, and diagnostic tools for more serious conditions. There’s a limit to what can be recovered from out in the field, and the worse someone’s condition is, the better it will be to send them back to camp to recover in the med bay.
Traumatic Wounds
Especially bad injuries and conditions will be represented by Traumatic Wound cards, containing a description of the injury and role-play guidance for the surgeon trying to resolve it.
Environmental Research
Experimenting with and discovering new biological elements is a core part of the Bio-Med game. By completing role-play puzzles, you’ll unlock new information about these items and learn how to synthesise them yourself.
Bio-Med workers are vital for reducing the medical dangers encounters on new planets through proper environmental scanning and study, and equally as vital when combatants go in without the correct protective equipment and bring back new and interesting conditions.
Medicine Synthesis
Much like Engineering, Bio-Med workers will be able to synthesise basic medicine using their own specialist fabrication lab, or create more complicated medicines by physically combining ingredients using the correct techniques.
A number of medicines are kept in stock in the spaceship, and Bio-Med workers are responsible for keeping the correct stock levels and working with the diplomats to source new medicine based on demand.
Diplomacy
The AES Ardent relies heavily on its diplomats, both in dealing with new alien civilisations and keeping the peace aboard the ship. Diplomats are the negotiators, the traders, the translators, and the people who are trying to keep everyone else out of trouble.
Morale
Knowing how to deal with crew members with low morale is essential for keeping the mission going. Diplomats are trained in a number of quick ways to encourage their teammates, letting them mentally overcome injuries, long-term conditions, and a range of damaging effects for a short time.
Motivation
Diplomats are the guiding hand of the AES Ardent’s mission, and a talk with one can help other characters know what to do. There are a number of roleplaying effects that can be given to characters based on these discussions, adapting how they’ll react to different situations in the near future.
Reputation
While everyone gains their own reputation with in-game factions, the diplomats are generally more positively regarded, and are able to better leverage this reputation when making deals and trading. First impressions count, and those with high reputation will be known a lot further.
Trading
Diplomats are the main traders of the spaceship, working with each of the departments to get everyone what they need. They are authorised to trade much larger amounts of resources than the average crew members, and are expected to broker long-term trade agreements with local planets.
Record Keepers
Keeping a good record of each mission is everyone’s responsibility, but not everyone is permitted access to those records. Certain diplomats have much higher clearance than the average crew member, and are able to request access to a range of documents to help with completing their missions.