Galactic Anomalies Development

Expansion Planning

2009-07-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

OK, 4 weeks is definately too long to have between posts. Not to worry, I have not abandoned this project, and work is progressing on the game. In fact, I tentatively believe the game is now in a Beta testing stage.

I know, I know. The main game rules are not even out yet. Even so, I'm planning the first few expansions, and doing the preliminary layouts for them.

The first expansion deals with various helpful "extras" to make GMing a game easier. This will include NPC Personality, Creature, Planetary, and random discovery genorators. It will also go into detail how to run games where the characters are al crew of a vessel.

More information will be availible regarding the Associations availible in the game (corporate or government groups the players have the choice to join with), as well as adding several new ones in.

Character Creation

2009-07-01T00:06:00.000-07:00

I am yet again going over my character creation system and editing it.

recent changes I have made have certain character attributes, which I knew earlier on would be crucial to the game, completely useless.

At the same time, I find myself weighing the advantages and disadvantages of adding in a new stat which will allow characters to re-roll a die roll, or prevent death. Many games have a stat like this - Edge from Shadowrun for instance - and my original game concept had one as well (Luck I called mine). It was removed in early game design tho for various reason.

I am strongly considering adding it back in however as it's original reason for removal was linked to a character attribute which no longer exists.

I welcome feedback from readers as to what people consider is better in a game: a save your ass stat, or no re-rolls.

Combat Scaling

2009-06-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

Combat in Dominus Imperium scales from character combat, to squads and/or vehicles, to star ships all using the same combat rules. therefore, if you know you would need to make a roll for something in character combat, you know you will have to make a roll for the same thing, or something similar in space combat.

I have had a lot of trouble getting all the aspects of the scaling combat to work together properly. effects in character based combat did not necessarily make sense in space, and vice versa.

I believe I have found a solution to this, however it involves adding in an extra roll when determining damage. It has also involved adding in a new table for the combat system.

This may end up being changed as it adds a layer of complexity to the combat that I was hoping to avoid. For the most part however, the combat system is easier to grasp than many combat systems I've seen, yet still has enough complexity to keep combat interesting.

Hopefully I can keep it that way.

Combat System, and weapons

2009-06-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

The combat system is undergoing major changes at the moment due to several problems detected during playtesting.

The new system will treat armor as a damage reduction value, as opposed to a defense increase.

In this way, characters must hit their oponent, and then deal enough damage to get through the armor.

While many other games today do use variations of the damage reduction system (Warhammer RPG for insance) this combat system will still have features unique to the game.

To go along with changes to the combat system, armor and weapons are being re-designed to affect these changes, and prevent the creation of the all powerfull "golden BB" type weapons.

weapon design is also becoming more ballanced, to prevent players from creating unbeatable characters, and keep the game fun.

It was afterall emberrasing in the latest playtesting sessions where 2 of the players found a loophole in the rules that allowed them to create weapons that could take out tanks, for their first level characters (the loophole has now been removed).

For those that are playtesting the game, the latest revisions will be finnished soon, and you will be recieving a new ruleset that is (hopefully) less broken.

6 Stat system

2009-06-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

Dominus Imperium uses 6 stats for play.

Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma (names may change) are fairly self explanatory. Many current RPG's use these stats, and I found little reason not to for this system as well.
The 2 new stats unique to this game are Tactical and Negotiation.

Tactical affects many game areas involving weapons use, strategy development and implementation, and utilizing weaknesses of your opponent's.

Negotiation helps your character interact with large groups.

I have found in my own RPG playing experiences in the past, that many games are very good at having stats that help your character deal with NPC's on an individual basis, but very few games have anything designed to help players deal with large groups of individuals. Since Dominus Imperium gives players the option to command star ships or control armies if they so wish, I needed to design a way for players to effect large groups of individuals over a long period of time. Negotiation fills this needed area by effecting how groups of NPC's view your character, and how they react to him.

People will argue that Negotiation may not be needed, as Charisma already effects how NPC's view and react to your character. This is true, but more so on an individual basis. I tried to make a game that takes into account Crowd Dynamics. What may affect an individual will often not work on affecting a crowd of individuals. A different approach is needed, which some people are just not good at.
As an example of this, look at the leader of almost any country today. Most of these people are very good at swaying crowds. This is not necessarily due to everyone agreeing with them, but because they are able to sway the emotions of enough within the crowd, while not angering others that the rest of the crowd is swayed by the thinking of those that agree. If you had a one-on-one discussion with one of these world leaders though, you might find what they say humorous, or it may not affect you at all.
Speaking to a crowd, as opposed to speaking to an individual then is a completely different way of thinking, which is why in this game it uses a different stat.

Jonathan Thwaites

About Dominus Imperium

2009-05-31T18:21:00.001-07:00

Dominus Imperium is a new tabletop Role Playing Game (RPG) set in the distant future.

After several years in development, the result is a game in which players are able to customize everything from their general equipment all the way up to gigantic star ships, but still contains enough simplicity in the rules that little confusion should arise.

Players have the option of using the pre designed equipment throughout the entire game, or creating their own with the easy to follow instructions, and reduced complexity from other games in this genre.

Game play can range from standard character level adventures, to squad level play, to controlling massive fleets. Play can occur with or without the space travel elements, and includes ways to add a cyberpunk aspect for those that prefer cyberpunk style games.

Dominus Imperium uses a roll under system, meaning players need to roll under a specified value to succeed at an action. Much effort has gone into making the system as intuitive as possible for players to pick up quickly, yet still complex enough to be fun to play.

Dominus Imperium is scheduled to be released by December.

About Us

2009-05-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Galactic Anomalies. We are a small Game Creation company that in the next few months will be releasing our First game Dominus Imperium.

Galactic Anomalies is owned by Jonathan Thwaites. We are currently on the lookout for more artists willing to do contract work for the artwork to be released in our games.

At this time, all of our games will be released electronically in one form or another. While Galactic Anomalies plans to focus on mainly tabletop systems, we may be working with other companies to develop console based games as well.

We welcome suggestions, comments and concerns. At this time all correspondence may be sent to ga.gamessupport@gmail.com.

We thank you for your support, and hope you enjoy the upcoming games.

Jonathan Thwaites