Previously, I claimed a new version of Dead and Back would be ready for Halloween. With luck, I still might get the game done before midnight. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to doubt it.
A whole page tracks the changes I made. Half of it is about the minor rewrites and clarifications. Disease rules have been tacked on to the bit about poison and fire. Ammunition rules have been better explained, the number of attacks a hoard gets corrected. Pagination and order of sections has changed somewhat.
The second part deals with the initiative system, and Animus. At first, I just wanted to reconcile the two different methods given in the original text. (a Wits roll added to the Wits attribute, and a more complex (Wits + Quick) roll + Animus).
However, this in turn brought about an examination of how Animus is linked to various elements of the system. For example, at one point animus is the only factor for speed and jumping, in another it has a notable addition (to offset the fact that losing speed track is -2 per level) and the track itself has two free circles to ensure that even the weakest character has at least one full column. And it turn, does this mean that the run/jog notation has any meaning, or is the speed of a character solely based on attributes?
As such, I've simply managed to find more internal inconsistencies than I thought.
I'm trying to go over everything now unify the elements. Animus will probably be changed to [(Wits + Strength)+2]. After that, we have a unified scale - the speed you lose is equal to the animus lost, but the speed chart tracks your initiative. Namely, +4 if full, -1 for each level gone, to which is added a roll of either Wits or Quick depending on if you're the aggressor or defender. [One of my goals remains to make sure all the stats are equally useful.]
The two free circles on the track will be removed. Or another two added, so everyone has one full column plus their animus (but then speed is thrown off, unless its the damage track and vs running speed...)
I'm going in these little logic loops rather than decorating the house at the moment. I'm not sure if its going to be more annoying to me, or my sister who left directions on how to dress up the front yard.
Anyone have suggestions pertaining to the mechanics of the game?
One other question to pose is: How much setting information should be in the core book? I've typed up a quick one page overview of the Anarchy Zones and another document dealing with the top 10 survival tips for thriving in the area. Should these be included before the character sheet.