Artist Wanted II - Character Concept Design Brief #1

Breaker Concept Sketch by Oliver Zavala.

A lot of people viewed the Artist Wanted Ad a few days ago and I got some responses. For those who might be interested but don't want to commit to anything, I created an initial "design brief" so that you can scribble something out at home or on your break at work and if you think its pretty cool you can send it my way via e-mail or a link to wherever you want to put it for viewing. Here's the specs:

Character Concept Design Brief #1

Ideally character concepts will show the character from head to toe. Any details or equipment that might need additional focus might need to be separated out or shown at a different angle. This will allow a sculptor to get a sense of the composition. Examples of this might be unusual/unique weapons, cool details like charms, logos, or something loosely concealed. The characters are described as having a gender identity, but that is a loose guide. In a co-ed indentured servant operated mining colony where everyone is on the same playing field, gender norms and roles would be blurred or thrown out the window. Depictions can be as ambiguous as you want them to be. Additionally, I mention on of the sketches to be a person of color. This is to encourage a diverse future where class is more important than race. There are some links to visual references at the end of the post.

Overview of Breakers vs Security Officers

Breakers
The Breakers are indentured servant miners. They are given the bare minimum to complete the job. Shovels, pick axes, the occasional head lamp and/or breather (mask). Their clothes would be pretty utilitarian, like the "Cool Hand Luke" workers, but occasionally with heavy duty overalls, like in this image - http://www.pinterest.com/pin/466826317596936722/ For the most part they're just disgruntled men and women who turn on their taskmasters. The important thing is for them to be dynamic, varied, and action packed. These are rioters.

Security Officers
They are poorly paid brutal security guards. The "western" looking prison chain gang guards from Cool Hand Luke are a good starting point. Give them a kevlar vest and a taser instead of rifles and it’s the right look. On the Concept References Pinterest there is an image of the riot cop with the riot shield and helmet but no armor to speak of. He's so bare and at risk - that's how I imagine the security officers. Throw a brimmed hat on him or something else to give him a little more western feel and he'd blend right in to the visual. Once again, they're trying to stop the miners from rioting and escaping the mines so they'd be action packed as well.

Where To Begin?

Ideally do a rough sketch of at least one Breaker and one Security Officer and send them to me and we can discuss the look and feel. If you’re really enthused you can do more, but this would be to show off that you have a good idea of the look and feel being discussed. This does not need to be finished work. Just a rough sketch to get a feel for the look.

Starting Character List

Breaker Characters

Gaylen: Gaylen is the daredevil of the group. A young agile female who is used by the IronSky Corp to get into tight areas to plant dynamite and other dangerous duties. She would be lightly equipped to not interfere with her mobility, but she’d have would have a breather with exposed eyes/upper face and some sort of head lamp. She carries concealed dynamite that she stole but could be depicted throwing it. She also carries a shovel.

Bickler: Bickler is the grizzled veteran in the mines. Formerly a soldier, he didn’t have the status, connections, or value to be kept in uniform as he aged. He was discharged and signed a contract as a miner and was dropped here. He should look older and a bit haggard, but solid. He carries a pick axe and a chip on his shoulder. He might have a headlamp, but he should have an exposed face to show his grizzled features.

Trest: Trest is the Genetically Modified Brute. He was engineered strictly for labor purposes and stands taller than a normal man and is more hulking. Trest is pure muscle and brawn. He carries a pneumatic drill (like a horizontally held jackhammer) and wears a gas mask and overalls. He’s unknowingly addicted to corporate supplied narcotics and is prone to violent outbursts.

Security Office Characters
Officer Moerta:  Moerta is a security guard equipped with a Shock Baton and Riot Shield. His head is exposed, but the lower part of his face should be covered with a breather. He is a person of color “just doing his job” and he is exceptional at close combat.

Officer Anlika: Anlika is the diplomatic Officer, more adept at talking through confrontations than violence. Anlika has short cropped hair, an arc pistol (high powered taser) and a standard baton. Visible empathy gives credence to her attempts at diplomacy but will have no qualms about taking down a Breaker if she has to.

Officer Hickley: Equipped with a Kevlar vest, Crowd Control Repeater (a larger sub machine gun with rubber bullets), a baton, and possibly a helmet or maybe just sunglasses. Officer Hickley is a sadistic authoritarian. He will fire indiscriminately into mobs, while shouting uncontrollably and then follow it up with some hearty kicks and cracks with his baton.

Have a go at these concepts or use it to spark your own and we’ll take it from there. There will be plenty more Characters to develop from here and an expanding universe of ideas.

You can find some helpful references here:

Broken Contract - Breaker Concept References 

Broken Contract - General Concept References

Thanks for reading! Send me your concepts. :)

-Nick

Thirdxparty@hotmail.com

VI. Broken Contract - Play Testing and Revisions

Breaker with pneumatic drill concept sketch by Oliver Zavala.

Up until sometime last week, Broken Contract had only been played by me, alone in my living room. I've sent the rules to ten of my trusted gamer friends for scrutiny and got a good amount of feedback and commentary - much of which has be used to refine my ideas. Still, nothing gives you a true sense of how the rules play than seeing them in action. Its actually fascinating to watch, to see how easily people pick up on the rules and what choices they make during the game that you did not expect. Last week I finally got to experience that when my friends Chuck and Monkey came over to try the game.

I read through the scenario narrative text to give them a sense of where they were and what they were doing, handed them a list of Actions they could take in the game, and had them roll for Initiative.

Less than 5 minutes in I found my first flaw. Each Character on the board has their own randomly determined Initiative. In solo play testing I had tried alternating initiative, rolling by side and choosing initiative order, and also trying rolling 2D6, 3D6, and 4D6 for each individual model. No matter how many dice you roll, certain numbers came up all the time, forcing a need to re-roll. Each new Turn in a group setting saw the Initiative taking 2-3 minutes as we rolled and re-rolled for each Character. This needed a better system. The next morning it came to me: A shuffled deck of uniquely numbered cards, If there are 8 Characters on the board you use a deck of 8 cards numbered 1-8, shuffle them, and everyone playing draws a single card for each of their Characters. This presented a seamless and quick solution to Initiative.

As the game progressed Chuck and Monkey were clearly having fun but I felt like certain Actions were ignored, gear was forgotten, and in one case, a weapon I expected to be really effective, a Repeater Rifle with Rubber Bullets, just didn't perform how I planned. Some of these occurrences can be chocked up being new to the game, but seeing a part of the game used and not perform how I intended was clearly an issue so I re-wrote it.

This prompted me to do a read through of all the current rules documents I have assembled for the game in order to purge, consolidate, simplify, and preserve the continuity of. That one night of play testing was invigorating for me. Seeing people have a good time playing a game that I designed was hugely rewarding. I can't wait for the next play testing session, which happens to be Monday (tomorrow) evening. 

In addition to all of the rules tweaks that were inspired by that first night of play testing, I've had my brain cranking along on the contents of the game, where I want the story line to go, and what sorts of expansions could evolve from that story line. Finally, I've mapped out the scenarios, created a rough draft of how I envision the mining complex, and sketched in where the various scenarios I had brainstormed would take place so I know what board sections to make. All in all, its been a very productive week. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and what inspiration it will bring forth.

More later in the week!
-Nick

V. Broken Contract - Board Design and Scenario Development

Four new prototype board sections that I'm using to play test Scenario #2.

I finished the rough draft of the rules to Broken Contract back in November. I've made tweaks here and there since then as I've gotten feedback from friends, but most of the tweaks I've discovered in the heat of battle when I hit a situation, read what I wrote, and say, "Hmmm. That doesn't make much sense." That's what alpha testing is for: tightening up the rule set before it gets exposed to a larger group of play testers so that the obvious errors don't ever muddle their play testing. In order to expose myself to a variety of circumstances, I needed some boards and missions to play on, so I set myself to crafting some.

An early play test game for 'Its Time!' the introductory scenario and initial Break attempt. The white counters represent ore carts meant to be barricades/obstacles to hide behind or get in your way.

Originally I designed two 12"x12" board sections, drew them out on some heavy card stock, and started playing. I wanted to the Introductory scenario to be the initial Break attempt, dubbed 'Its Time!' Five laborers rise up to over take their masters. It was based on a tiny piece of fluff I had written to open up the "Actions and Interruptions" chapter of the rules. 

“Open revolt. One of the miners in your crew, Trest, has overtaken one of the guards. You had discussed this. You planned for this. The moment is upon you and all those plans are blurred by fear and adrenaline. It’s time to act. A Security Officer moves past you with his shock baton charging towards Trest, demanding that Trest stand down. You step forward and swing your shovel, connecting with the Security Officer’s head. You instinctively anticipate gunfire from the Overseer’s position and drop to the ground to take protection behind a bin and plan your next move.” 

Overall, I was happy with how the rules were playing out but the scenario ran a little long for an introduction (Note: It took an hour and I was hoping for 30 minutes.) Also, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the large board sections made it more difficult for the Breakers to flee off the board and escape into the mines. Additionally, 12"x12" board sections would be difficult for me to turn into PDFs for my play testers. Over time, the board evolved into a more compact 8"x10" and the mission objectives and victory conditions evolved too.

I played out the opening scenario a dozen times using the various skills, special rules, and equipment to see how they interacted with scenario special rules and board. I think it came out fun, and as I hoped there were lots of options to choose from. It isn't a finished product, but its something I was happy enough to share with my friends who were interested in play testing.

Once I had 'Its Time!' up for them to download with the board sections I had to ask myself, "Wow. What happens next?" "What do I want the Breakers and Security Officers to do?" "What do mines really look like?" "How do I want the expanding board to be as a result?" Then came a mix of brainstorming and research. I needed to come up with a series of challenges, from people the Breakers might want to go back for due to friendships or to expand their available skill set. I needed to think about the role I wanted the Security Officers to take and how tooled up I would expect them to be. And I needed the board to be interesting, and a straight line mine shaft didn't seem to meet that criteria even if I added debris, chasms, and check points. Then I discovered room and pillar mining and I knew this would make for a cool section of the board. Room and pillar mining is where they weave a grid leaving of massive columns behind to support the roof of the mine. For a game board, it felt more interesting than a horizontal drift mine, though I'll likely combine elements of various sorts of mining. The internet is fantastic at times because it even gives approximate sizing of the rooms and pillars and I was actually able to design the board sections to the smaller end of the actual scale.

Out came the card stock and pencil. I drew out 4 board sections to try out the rooms and pillars. I played out a game on it based on the assumption that the alarm had been raised and the Breakers would need to weave through the rooms and pillars to get to their next destination as Security Officers come running. I was happy with the results so the craft paints came out and I detailed my prototype sections.

Heavy card stock, you've been a valuable friend. These board sections also line up with the board sections from the introductory scenario so that you can combine them.

Here are the room and pillar board sections with the photo taken halfway through Turn 1. The Breakers are on the bottom 2 sections and they need to exit through the Security Officers in the upper right quarter as they head to a variety of stops along their way out of the mine. What happens next? Well, I have a lot of ideas jotted down. I want to have at least 5 or 6 scenarios take place in the mines and an equal number take place after the initial escape out in the desert wilderness, so I have a long way to go. Thankfully, I have a lot of ideas.

-Nick

IV. Broken Contract - Security Officers and What Is Broken Contract?

This is another tiny blurb from the rough draft of the game I'm working on called Broken Contract. Previously I posted the Introduction to the background, as well as blurbs about Breakers (laborers who break their work contracts and flee indentured servitude) and Enforcers (bounty hunter posses that hunt Breakers to bring them back to work). As it stands these will be the three groups the initial game will be based around. After the blurb I'll write a bit more about what the game intends to be.

Security Officers

Security Officers or Prods oversee the daily toil of the Tracted on behalf of the Corp they work for. Ensuring quotas are met and the work is done gives them their purpose. They exist to ensure that Contracted do not slack off, inflict calamity upon themselves, sabotage their work, or attempt to organize. They serve as the de facto police, supervisors, and in a bloody minded and militant way as the middle management of the dark and twisted life that causes so many to risk their necks before enduring another day under the boot of the Prods.

Many corporations prefer to keep their Security Force in-house, but private Security Firms are big business as well. Often there are layers to a the corporate security structure, with in-house security being better armed, better paid, and invested in the continued profitability of the corporation they work for. The private Security Firms are employed because they are a much cheaper option. Private Security Officers are poorly paid and are given inferior equipment and training. They provide warm bodies, semi alert and semi capable, who are there to provide greater numbers when needed. Still, their lot is superior to that of the common worker, and they know it and have little desire to upset that paradigm.

In the event of any sort of work stoppage or Break attempt, Security Officers are paid to intervene and stop not only the Breakers, but to shut down any widespread frenzy that it might create. Riots need to be crushed before they can start and that is where their training excels. Overseers and Officers employ shock batons, arc pistols, and repeater rifles with rubber bullets to great effect bringing the hammer down on any budding insurrection without significantly damaging corporate property.

-Nick Baran (with Rob Ferrick)

What Is Broken Contract? (or What Does It Intend to Be?)

Broken Contract is a Sci-Fi Wild West 28mm miniature board game. It is set in a dystopian future where humanity has begun colonizing the stars, but most folks live in indentured servitude to draconian mega-corporations. Though most accept their lot in life, there are those who yearn to be free of their masters. They break free from their mining colonies, agri-domes, and factory cities in the hope of starting a new life on the frontiers of whatever backwater planets they are enslaved on. These once contracted laborers are called Breakers for short. But the mega-corporations can’t let a strong back go, particularly when there are still debts to be paid. Assuming that Breakers manage to escape through the grasp of corporate Security Forces and make it out onto the desert plains, bounty hunters are then hired to bring them back alive to complete their contract. These bounty hunters are called Enforcers.

Game play in Broken Contract mixes the simplicity of a dungeon crawler board game with the depth of a skirmish war game. As a “high adventure” game, the mechanics are meant for fast and furious game play, and offer some of the same experiences that a true table top RPG or a first person shooter video game would offer, with the ability to leap over obstacles and dive roll under a closing door. Of course that also means the risk of falling or being crushed to death! To facilitate these ends the Characters have 16 Stats to help determine how well they can do things from fighting in hand-to-hand to patching up an injured comrade. Additionally, each Character can perform 3 Actions per turn so that they can jog to a better firing position and shoot a gun, or they could jump over a mining cart and hit that Security Officer they’ve been mean-mugging all day with a shovel. In the next turn they might want to throw them down a vertical mine shaft? It’s a difficult Action to perform but you can try! To add to the excitement, a Character who still has Actions left can Interrupt an attack by dodging, defending themselves or fleeing; among other things. Everything is resolved with a simple roll of a 6 sided dice to keep the game simple and flowing.  

If anyone has any questions or is curious where this is going, ask away. I'd love to hear from you.

-Nick 

III. Broken Contract - Enforcers (Updated 1/6/14)

 I'm still working away on Broken Contract, the alpha test rule set is essentially ready. Here's a tiny blurb about Enforcers - the corporate sponsored bounty hunters of the Incorporated Worlds.

Enforcers

Contract Enforcers are paid to bring fugitives back to complete their contracts. The problem with having a workforce of people capable of inflicting misery on their fellow man daily is that they are not by nature and training the post perceptive or sensitive people. This makes them ill-suited to tracking down the Breakers smart enough and determined enough to get past the Prods in the first place. Most corporations have some combination of hired and in-house Security Forces to deal with break attempts but they are not specifically trained to hunt, detain, and return prey. Some companies with have their own Enforcers under contract, but more often than not an outside firm will need to be outsourced by the security firm or the corporation. These private mercenary firms take on short term agreements, usually for the duration of tracking down a specific group of Breakers and bringing them back, preferably alive similar to the Bounty Hunters and Skip Tracers of earth when there was such concept as governments and law still being enacted.

The goal is to bring back Contract Breakers relatively unscathed so that they can still be made use of. For this reason Enforcers rely heavily on non-lethal weaponry to incapacitate their prey. Catching fugitives by facing them head on is not enough however, so hunting tactics are diverse. Their Lead is supported by Trackers, Muscle, and Gun Slingers employing everything from revolvers, arc pistols, snare-guns, and high tech drones. The tools of the trade vary depending on the depth of the Enforcer’s resources and what they are willing to risk to fulfill a contract.

-Nick 

(with Rob Ferrick)