Hey everyone, big news.
Pneuma playtests went well enough, but did open up a LOT of possibilities. I don't have a stack of fan letters (or hate mail, thank goodness), but what I did get was a lot of PMs talking about some ways in which Pneuma does lack in polish that could (and should) be expanded to make it the best it can be. Here's overall what I organized for critiques.
- Difficulty. The system does have too low of a difficulty curve, players do get super-powered extremely fast if the GM is inexperienced and drops too many easy situations. On the flip side, if the players do not invest in certain ways or precisely, it is hard for the GMs to adjust difficulty upwards.
- Lacking Races (Or Species). It's slow for GMs to make new races (or species, I'll use the term races because it's what I'm used to). As such, world building can take much longer if they are new to the system. While the Construct and Essence creature types do seem to have the least complaints, the other four are difficult to shape in an official capacity.
- Characters Lack True Specialty. While specialty scores help, there is yet no way to make a truly specialized character outside of specific perk choices. While perks can bolster a character significantly, some are weighted better than others too much and the ones that can boost skills are are locked behind a level one perk that hurts being able to make pure crafters or pure warriors or hinders being able to otherwise advance skills right away.
- Comprehension. This isn't even just a playtester thing, this is also a me-as-the-writer-looking-in complaint. Trying to make a pure warrior in particular is convoluted because of how sacrificing comprehension works. It's an afterthought brought on at the end of character creation (or even brought in mid-gameplay). It may be better to simplify the comprehension equation itself.
... Among many other smaller nitpicks which are to be addressed. I agree with the above sentiments. It did get me thinking of some other games and how they handle some of these matters, and as such, I think I've landed on a few ideas for making Pneuma a better game for us all.
Regarding Playtest Versions
All alpha versions of Pneuma, the playtest versions, or whatever you wish to call them, are now free for distribution! That's right, go ahead and share them as you want! I do have a final version of the playtest to be released wit hthe former systems, but I don't want to focus on this version with these new ideas that I've come to understand.
The Revamp
Revamped Pneuma is going to be the actual version one release and will be made for sale. This comes with many changes including changes in production in general. Here's what to expect!
- A New Production Format! Originally, Pneuma was fully written in Microsoft Word. While this is a decent program, I wanted something with more flexibility to bring the vision to life. As such, this new version of Pneuma is being written in Scribus.
- A Selection of Default Races! I had to. It's simply necessary. Though the Creature Type system is preserved for GMs to make their own. Even I had to make this though because redefining how an Elf differs from a Human for the umpteenth time gets grating.
- A Better FIPS! Originally, the Pneuma score system was termed FIPS internally for Finesse, Intellect, Physique, and Speech, the four scores possessed by characters. However, this came with a cost to specialty, as you were as perceptive as you were intellectual, or as decent at gathering as you were strong or nimble. The new system, the PNEUMA system, uses Personality, Nimbleness, Enchantment, Understanding, Musculature, and Awareness. Specialty scores do still exist, and you can now have negative scores! This is key to two things; For one, the next point below. For two, the new Comprehension calculation relies on you having at least one point of Enchantment and Understanding to be able to learn magic. This also decouples your perception from your intellectual ability. Training is likewise tied in more to the full score range, and the higher your scores, the more techniques you have available to slot in and room you have to slot in techniques.
- A Full Skill System! Pneuma represented advantages to skills vaguely through perks and edges to those perks. Now, Pneuma has a proper skill system, categorized as Bodily, Mental, and Technical skills. Each category has eight skills, and each skill has five official levels, but GMs may also allow, though legendary feats, adventures, and quests to unlock a sixth level skill. This changes the core mechanic to 2d4 + Skill + Score. In addition, no skill is tied to a specific score, as the score defines how you use your skill (though some rolls do have a standard). You can now push the rock with your overwhelming personality or your musculature, though the results may be drastically different and the GM can always decide certain scores cannot apply.
- A New Means of Magic! Magic spells are now categorized into being either spells or cantrips. By making Skill + Enchantment rolls, you now cast cantrips. However, you will need at least one point in both, and the effects are significantly lesser than that of dedicated spells. Still, the costs in WP are low, and opens up more conventional spell opportunities. It also arms spellcasters with means of providing utility, but do still require unlocking -- you don't just know them!
- Proper Weapons! People were very torn on the Monster Hunter approach to weapons. But generally people preferred having more realistic weapons instead of having categories of weapons that certain types fit into. As such, the sample weapons will be made the standard, but many of the maneuvers available to weapon types will be made available as techniques.
- Better Perks! Perks may still provide certain bonuses, but generally they are more for utility abilities not normally made available to a character.
So, what do you think? I intend to keep much of the system intact, though there are some drastic shifts. As those who have been following Pneuma since its inception can tell, I have even been honing my typographical skills and working on how things are worded.
I still don't have a release window for you guys, and that sucks, but expect that I am working hard on Pneuma between my day job and also getting married/moving out to the US. I hope everyone reading is excited to see what is to come. Take care!
