3:16 - alien races

I think 3:16 is a wonderful game. Of course you can add more to it if you want and looking at the creatures I came up with a few more for Troopers to encounter. With Obsidian Portal now offering support and a number of you owning it as you donated to DriveThruRPG's Haiti appeal, there's really no excuse not to run a game, is there?

Colonists
A group of colonists defying the authority of Terra. These could be criminals trying to outrun the law or settlers rejecting Terran life with it's enforced sterilisation and indolence.  They may remind Troopers of family, hated rivals or even themselves.

Clones
All the inhabitants are identical; they may have a group mind or have radically different mindsets.  They can tell each other apart without any problem but the Troopers won't at first. How do the Troopers deal with killing the same person over and over and over? Perhaps they remind the Troopers of someone?

Energy Forms
These creatures have unlocked themselves from matter.  They may appear as angelic figures of light, raging pillars of fire or invisible monsters revealed in the pulses of an energy rife.  Give them a personality to match their current state of being and a completely alien outlook.

Equines
Horses, donkeys or zebra are the base creature.  Herd animals working together for self-defence with a strong leader.  They may have evolved to humanoid form or feral animals willing to kick Troopers to death over territory.

Fungus
From mushroom men to roiling masses of slime mold.  Sentience may be indicated by changing colours, rough speech or even telepathy.  Their spores may cause hallucinations, be poisonous or infect the flesh of Troopers to turn them into zombie-like carriers.

Parasites
The race may need another body to keep it alive or just to improve it's quality of life. Parasites may be from one or more races. Troopers who use a Weakness may be captured and risk infection and being Killed may actually mean being turned into a host…

keeping it simple

I've recently gained the raw awesome that is 3:16.  I was impressed by the ease that the mechanics simulated a war movie narrative and used character-driven events to steer action with the best flashback mechanics I've seen in any game. 

There's a grey box on page 15 applicable to any tabletop RPG - the best guide on how to play I've seen since I've started playing.  Sublime.  If you have any doubts about it - go get it.


This got me thinking about the bar to entry games have in terms of complexity.  Wizards announced the release of Red Box in September at DDXP which looks to introduce D&D for new players - glad to see there is a provision for solo gaming for those times when you might be on the road or away from the Internet (it does happen!).  Intrigued there will be additional powers, options and monsters for established players too.

At the same time, Martial Power 2 was announced - I'm now less optimistic about the logistics of running games away from home.  So that's core rules, core rules volume 2s, power books (arcane, divine, martial, primal) as of February 2010.  Ten A4 hardback books.  Difficult for a messenger bag or knapsack to carry - I haven't tried a rucksack yet - I suspect it may be the only way to roll without luggage or packing crate.


I haven't counted equipment (Adventurer's Vaults), general setting  (Manual of the Planes, Underdark), or monster books (Open Grave, Draconomicons).  Packing crate to transport, let alone use in actual play.  Even using just one specific setting and avoiding the general setting/monster books, it's a lot of shelf space to carry.  I'm sure the players won't mind.  Maybe if I got a mule...?


And there's the upcoming releases: Power books volume 2s, core rules volume 3s, another power book (and if it's popular, it's volume 2), softbacks for each race.  This of course says nothing of your need for a laptop for any DDI-related activities. You might want your notes or a module as well and I've seen plenty of games where a box or lever arch file was used for those. 

How long before some enterprising soul sells a pre-packaged D&D Bookshelf? Or someone has the bright idea of putting out the Core Rules (alone) on DVD in searchable format?  At this rate it may be the only way you can take your options with you.  Fortunately, Wizards also announced the D&D Rules Compendium.  A 300 page 9x6 reference manual to help steer us through the core rules.

With thanks to G. Dustin Snyder (@Wolfstar76) for saving me research time on Red Box.