Beam Saber is a Forged In The Dark game about the pilots of powerful machines in a war that dominates every facet of life. They are trying to do their part, then get out physically and mentally intact. The organizations that perpetuate The War throughout all of known space are too incomprehensibly huge to take down. There is no “winning” The War, there is only surviving it. Hopefully you can help others get out too. If you want to purchase the PDF alone, go to https://austin-ramsay.itch.io/beamsaber
I've heard back from Cory McDaniel and received the updated versions of the playbook icons. These will appear on the pilot sheets and possibly elsewhere in the rulebook.
Here's a big update for you, V0.52! You can get the new pdf through your Itch download key. With this done almost all of the writing is now in the book. What's left is one and a half example vehicles, 1 short story, about a dozen micro fics, and one extended example of a mission in play. After that it's off to the disability consultant, editor, and finally layout. Art will continue to come in as the artists complete it.
Highlights for this update: New healing rules, organized gear and upgrades, expanded Actions In Depth sections, and lots of examples of rules in play! Note that because the Character sheets, Reference sheets, Squad sheets, and other auxiliary documents will soon be entering layout they have not been updated for this version.
Full changelog:
• Organized the General Squad Upgrades according to the type of benefit they provide.
• Quality Documents has been removed as a General Squad Upgrade, as Documents have been added to the Supplies category of item.
• Quality Outfits has been added as a General Squad Upgrade.
• Organized the General Pilot Gear according to the type of item it is.
• Removed the Intrusion Countermeasure Program from the General Pilot Gear.
• Organized the General Vehicle Gear according to the type of item it is.
• Clarified that it is the Employer Faction Relationship that determines the Supply Roll, not the Patron Faction Relationship.
• Clarified that a character can only Push Themself once per roll.
• Clarified in Squad Creation that your Patron Faction only determines your Supply Roll bonus when you do Missions for them.
• Clarified how Cohorts work in Group Actions and in the Cohorts section.
• Added examples of how rules work to various sections.
• Clarified how the Rarer Materiel Alternate Rules affect Employer Faction Bonus supplies and Tier increases.
• Updated the Izyan Conflict maps.
• Changed Sapperson Incorporated into a transhumanist research group specializing in selling genetic body mods.
• Clarified that to get back the item lost from the Requisition Entanglement, you need to work for it.
• Clarified that when you Overindulge and choose an additional Entanglement, you roll with the table and dice from the end of the previous Mission.
• Added information about how to permently recruit a doctor to the Fix downtime activity.
• The Scrapyard Squad Upgrade now provides +1d to Upkeep rolls.
• Added a GM section about Player Count.
• Added 11 of the 12 Vehicle Backer example Vehicles. Still waiting on the descriptions for two of them.
• Added the option of declaring new NPCs as Allies, and summoning previously established Allies using the same style of Action Roll.
• Replaced the usage of "Contacts" with "Allies" to consolidate these mechanics into one thing.
• Restructured the Table of Contents so that it only lists to the 2nd level of headings.
• Clarified that Lines and Veils can be added to the game at any time, not only during Session Zero.
• Old Changelogs have been moved to a separate document.
• Replaced all "see page ??" with actual page numbers using referrants. If you see any more "see page ??" or equivalents, or if the page number listed is incorrect, please let me know.
• Clarified that Destroy is primarily meant to be used against structures and targets that can't evade.
• Clarified that spending Drives isn't required to enact change outside of when it is directly connected to a Pilot's Drive or Rival.
• Level 1 Damage in Lowest Bidder changed from "Low On Ammo" to "Uncalibrated"
• Pilots remove Level 1 Harm and Vehicles remove Level 1 Damage during the Reward process.
• Performing the Fix Downtime Activity removes all Level 1 Damage.
• Performing the Recover Downtime Activity removes all Level 1 Harm.
• The alternate Faster Healing Rules have been changed to the alternate Punishing Healing Rules, as the original healing rules have swapped with the alternate healing rules. This should bring Beam Saber's healing closer in line with my intentions.
• GM Questions and examples of usage have been added to the In Depth Pilot Actions and In Depth Vehicle Actions sections.
• Added advice about how to choose a name and callsign to the Names, Callsigns, And Pronouns section.
• Corrected the following Technician gear: "Assisted repair system [Load 1]: spend a Materiel point to take the Fix downtime activity while on a mission."
• Clarified that the Consequences chosen through the Technician ability Simulation must be Position appropriate.
• Added a "You Should Choose [this playbook] If:" section to every Pilot and Squad playbook.
• Clarified that the Frontlines' Blood Brothers lets Fire Teams provide +1d to teamwork rolls when the Pilot acts alongside them.
• Clarified that the Frontlines' Fiends ability is about non-Patron Faction relationship, not Squad Status.
• Replaced the term "declare" with "debut" for Vehicle gear.
• Replaced the term "undeclared" with "uninstalled" for Vehicle gear.
• Added examples of how to use each Downtime Activity.
• Added examples for how to Design and Manufacture items.
• Added an example for Determining Effect.
See you all next update!
I got the first pass on the layout from Sasha Reneau, and it's looking great so far! There's still work to be done, but here's a taste of what's to come.
Other than that, work continues! I've gotten some more art updates on the Vehicle Backer sketches from the last update, but Vincent iterates so fast that I don't want y'all to feel like these updates are becoming spam. I've also added in a lot of examples to the rules, and some rules changes as well. V0.52 will be very exciting!
I just got the first sketches for 3 of the designs provided by the Vehicle Backers. Here's the first taste of Vincent Patrick's art! Note that some of the Vehicle Backer designs have been modified slightly to better fit in with their assigned faction (as stated in that tier's reward description).
A quick progress update on what's happened with Beam Saber's development in April.
Hopefully I can get you V0.52 by the start of June which will mostly be quality of life improvements, such as organization, clarifications, and examples.