Hey, this is great! I had a bit of a rocky start with the intro scenario, but had a great time after the initial refit. Two questions which came up:
Q1: From the Codex: "Clear N Heat: Erase N marked heat on your rig. You can only do this if you harmed a target using this equipment this round." The restriction seems like an error; the Heat Vent would never clear heat under this condition, and also Q2.
Q2: I think the intro scenario (A 3 A) is unwinnable with the suggested starting equipment: The tanks scurry to range 2 or 3, but you only have move 1, so can never get in a square with a tank, and thus can't drop heat. Meanwhile, you need 8 hits to clear the 4 tanks, but only have 4 ammo, so would need to drop heat on the enemies somehow in order to win.
Q1: yeah this is indeed an error in the text. The heat vent does not require you to deal damage to clear heat.
Q2: The intro scenario with the starting equipment can be difficult. I did do some tuning with the starting core that does make that encounter challenging. Remember you start with 10 ammo.
Hey, thanks for making this game! it's quickly replacing RUNE as my favorite thing to play during down time at work.
I do have some clarifying questions about the SOLITAIRE system. When drawing a face card, sometimes they have notes about replacing the encounter and sometimes they don't. "When you draw a jack as a location, do not draw for a churn or threat." In this case, what happens when I draw the jack as the threat?
Then use the threat described on the Jack entry for that area. So for example if you were in The Firmament and drew the Jack for the threat, the threat would be "Deleted Layer".
aaaaah I see! I must have gotten confused because the location, churn, and threats for the other cards have separate lists. this makes so much sense now lol. thanks again!
Been hooked to your game since I picked it up !!! Absolutely NAILED the soulslike feel.
Just one question, the way I read the ranges as listed, it's impossible to have a range of 5 since the grids are 5x5 and weapon ranges start at "Same", which is the square you're on, and the go from there so the maximum possible range appears to be 4. But there's weapons with a listed range of 5. Is there something I'm missing ?
Still having loads of fun with the way it plays even if I'm messing up some of the rules xD
Yeah. So if say a target is 1 square away from you diagonally it is actually range 2 away. If the target was 1 square away orthogonally then that is range 1. Referencing the combat grid now: if you were on square A1 and a target was on square E5, that would be range 8.
I went looking for solo TTRPGs to play while laid up during a medical recovery in a few weeks. I might see all this game has before that time ever comes! This game is SO DAMN GOOD.
Like a prior commenter stated: The playsheet is a must for gameplay.
COMPLIMENTS:
This is a game that is very easily played on the go, as I play it on Procreate (I created each possible battle ground as a layer to switch between to lower setup time) while using my phone to roll dice or draw cards.
The maps felt diverse and impactful.
Build options are varied with a multitude of viable builds. I'd say any build is viable
Each enemy type had me cursing under my breath until I figured out the flow of combat with them - this was very satisfying.
I will say this: the game is hard. Pulling the Graviton Rig on round 1 was a nightmare that taught me a lot about how to use the environment to my advantage and made the rest of the game click.
CRITICISMS:
I found it a bit odd that the terms glossary was split over the front and back of the book, but once I adjusted to this I found gameplay to be very very fun, with some very harrowing, soulslike moments.
What I'd like to see: I'd love to see the suit of the cards pulled influencing the game more. I'm unsure if RUNE did so or not, as your game is my introduction to RUNElikes, but it would allow even more variety in each run. This could even allow greater loot variety.
What I'd like to see less of: nothing. You have all the right ingredients.
Major criticism: Having the gear right up front on the playsheet is very useful BUT it means that there is nearly no surprise or "wow" factor when getting equipment. This absolutely captures the feeling of mastering a soulslike but it doesn't capture any of the magic of earning the new gear. Each conflict is functionally a contest with the new piece of gear sitting on the table as a match ante. While this isn't a bad thing by ANY means it does greatly shape how the game feels, and is more of a note for potential players.
BUY THIS GAME IF: You enjoy soulslike games, Into The Breach, Armored Core, Front Mission, roguelikes, working towards a build, or addictive tactical combat.
DONT BUY THIS GAME IF: You hate losing, dislike build chasing, dislike combat where 1 dice roll can cost you dearly, or are seeking a game with a lot of secrets/unlockables.
I was very confused before I realized that the play sheet was essential to the game. I got a physical copy of the rulebook via kickstarter so I didn't pay much mind to the digital listings, but I don't think the necessity of the play sheets is explicitly mentioned in the rulebook as best as I can tell. I actually got all the way through my first couple of encounters just notating my mech's equipment on notebook paper and drawing out the maps, which was altogether simple enough that it certainly didn't raise any alarms that I was missing something. Then I looked more closely at the equipment pickups and realized that their properties weren't listed anywhere in the rulebook. So altogether, it's strange that the rulebook only contains most of the rules, and a large portion of the rules otherwise are only present on a supplemental document that you have to print off. This being said, I guess it makes more sense that those rules are partitioned off if you consider the physical books to be more of a bonus and not the primary format by which most players would access the game, so it's not as odd that backers got a more or less incomplete game in the mail. But since the back cover already states plainly that D6s and playing cards are needed in addition to the rulebook, I think it would be smart to mention somewhere early on in the rules that players will NEED to reference the play sheets to know what pickups do. (Honestly even when I saw the play sheets listed on itch, I assumed they would be more like character sheets, just to make tracking game info easier.)
So I finished my first full RIG campaign and have come away with a handful of questions:
1) Does a battle end immediately when the final threat is destroyed, or does a player still get to resolve other keywords after Harm (i.e., can a player still clear Heat in that final round)? Do “end of round” effects still trigger if relevant?
2) Are obstacles and/or pits considered terrain for purposes of Hover? Only difficult terrain explicitly uses the word.
3) For scenarios and abilities that add difficult terrain/obstacles/pits to the grid, how do those additions interact with existing features? Should I re-roll if I randomly roll a space that already contains a feature of the relevant type? If a threat triggers Void but is already next to a pit, can I choose the space of the existing pit to prevent the creation of a new one? (During my play, I generally ruled these situations in whatever way would be most disadvantageous to me, but the intention is unclear.)
4) Threats always move so as to be in optimal range for their attacks, but how do you resolve movement for activations that don’t include an attack?
All in all, I enjoyed the puzzle of the experience, but my playthrough was much easier than I anticipated. I took one early refit not long after the SOLITAIRE tutorial to fully equip (using only one non-basic gear) and recover damage, but the loadout I chose (maximizing mobility and heat mitigation) seemed to trivialize most of the challenge from there on out. I never took another refit (apart from the mandatory one between levels) and ended the game with no damage, no heat, and nearly 40 ammo (which I didn't farm but my loadout didn't use). I ran into a similar issue with Rune where early equipment choices seemed to really minimize the difficulty. What was your experience of the difficulty in playtesting?
1) A battle ends immediately when the last threat is destroyed.
2) Yes, all location features (pits, obstacles, difficult terrain) can be bypassed with hover.
3) Most churn etc. make allowances for how location features change or are added, otherwise it is up to you to judge.
4) The way I interpret threat movements is to always move them into spaces that are most advantageous. A certain amount of player interpretation is needed.
My experience was very different than yours, which is as expected. For example I like experimenting with different equipment when I get it and having a mix of different ranged and melee weapons. Other players find one build and they stick with it throughout the whole game.
Thanks for the quick feedback! The answer to question 1 definitely goes a significant way toward nerfing the method I was using. I was essentially marking tons of heat each turn then clearing it with the basic core and Heat Vent. I also allowed myself the clear after the final attack. If I was forced to carry all heat used in the last round(s) over to the next battle, I would've had to play last rounds much more conservatively.
First off, I loved this game. I remember really enjoying RUNE when it came out, but this game I like way more. Maybe its the Armored Souls theme. Congrats, you did a really good job designing the game around the RUNE system. Loved what you did with Heat and Refitting.
That being said, I do have a question. The sword core you start with states "[7] Harm Heat Range Same, clear 5 Heat". Do you deal Harm equal to your current Heat and them clear 5 heat or do you deal 5 to clear 5? Does it even deal Harm?
Thanks in advance, I'm really enjoying the game. It's been my most recent obsession haha
This game is very fantastic, but I'm a bit confused, can you only use your equipment once, or multiple times, tried consulting RUNE to answer my question.
Thank you! In RIG you can use each of your equipment once per round. So for example if you use a die to activate your legs, you can't activate them again with another die until the next combat round.
I've never dabbled in solo tabletop before, but I've wanted a mecha-souls game for so long I was willing to give it a try. It's been surprisingly gripping. The theme works very well with the mechanics. Souls games are about pushing your luck, it's logical the core system facilitates exactly that. Looking forward to the physical release and any further exploration of this setting.
I'm closing in on year 10 of trying to make my own 'souls inspired mecha ttrpg'. I'm really grateful you decided to stop waiting or who knows when this niche would finally be filled.
Very enjoyable! It's a lot more combat-focused than most of the solo games I play, but it works very well. Mechanics are fairly smooth and the game is fun to play.
Played a few encounters, and the mechanics and lore work really well together, like you're a ticking nuclear bomb with a reset switch. Even early on, you feel like you're entering battle with lots of firepower and options, but you'll have to make painful tradeoffs depending on the situation.
At first, I made a couple of moves that I later realized shouldn't be allowed: I wanted to set up a combination of movements and attacks, but realized that the encounter flow is pretty clear that all attacks and harm happen at the same time, at the end of each turn. Other than that, pretty easy to follow -- the built-in tutorial / first scenario is a good setup!
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Hey, this is great! I had a bit of a rocky start with the intro scenario, but had a great time after the initial refit. Two questions which came up:
Q1: From the Codex: "Clear N Heat: Erase N marked heat on your rig. You can only do this if you harmed a target using this equipment this round."
The restriction seems like an error; the Heat Vent would never clear heat under this condition, and also Q2.
Q2: I think the intro scenario (A 3 A) is unwinnable with the suggested starting equipment: The tanks scurry to range 2 or 3, but you only have move 1, so can never get in a square with a tank, and thus can't drop heat. Meanwhile, you need 8 hits to clear the 4 tanks, but only have 4 ammo, so would need to drop heat on the enemies somehow in order to win.
Hey there!
Q1: yeah this is indeed an error in the text. The heat vent does not require you to deal damage to clear heat.
Q2: The intro scenario with the starting equipment can be difficult. I did do some tuning with the starting core that does make that encounter challenging. Remember you start with 10 ammo.
ah, 10 ammo makes a lot more sense. Thanks!
My kid is really digging this game.
Got my physical copy. Looks great.
Hey, thanks for making this game! it's quickly replacing RUNE as my favorite thing to play during down time at work.
I do have some clarifying questions about the SOLITAIRE system. When drawing a face card, sometimes they have notes about replacing the encounter and sometimes they don't. "When you draw a jack as a location, do not draw for a churn or threat." In this case, what happens when I draw the jack as the threat?
Thanks for your time, and keep up the great work!
Then use the threat described on the Jack entry for that area. So for example if you were in The Firmament and drew the Jack for the threat, the threat would be "Deleted Layer".
aaaaah I see! I must have gotten confused because the location, churn, and threats for the other cards have separate lists. this makes so much sense now lol. thanks again!
Been hooked to your game since I picked it up !!! Absolutely NAILED the soulslike feel.
Just one question, the way I read the ranges as listed, it's impossible to have a range of 5 since the grids are 5x5 and weapon ranges start at "Same", which is the square you're on, and the go from there so the maximum possible range appears to be 4. But there's weapons with a listed range of 5. Is there something I'm missing ?
Still having loads of fun with the way it plays even if I'm messing up some of the rules xD
Remember that all ranges and movement is counted orthogonally, aka you can't move diagonally when determining range.
so if you try to shoot diagonally, you do a zigzag when counting range and that's how you get 5s ?
Yeah. So if say a target is 1 square away from you diagonally it is actually range 2 away. If the target was 1 square away orthogonally then that is range 1. Referencing the combat grid now: if you were on square A1 and a target was on square E5, that would be range 8.
Aahhhhh I see !! Thanks for the explanation !!
5/5
9.1/10
I'm so freaking addicted to this game.
I went looking for solo TTRPGs to play while laid up during a medical recovery in a few weeks. I might see all this game has before that time ever comes! This game is SO DAMN GOOD.
Like a prior commenter stated: The playsheet is a must for gameplay.
COMPLIMENTS:
This is a game that is very easily played on the go, as I play it on Procreate (I created each possible battle ground as a layer to switch between to lower setup time) while using my phone to roll dice or draw cards.
The maps felt diverse and impactful.
Build options are varied with a multitude of viable builds. I'd say any build is viable
Each enemy type had me cursing under my breath until I figured out the flow of combat with them - this was very satisfying.
I will say this: the game is hard. Pulling the Graviton Rig on round 1 was a nightmare that taught me a lot about how to use the environment to my advantage and made the rest of the game click.
CRITICISMS:
I found it a bit odd that the terms glossary was split over the front and back of the book, but once I adjusted to this I found gameplay to be very very fun, with some very harrowing, soulslike moments.
What I'd like to see: I'd love to see the suit of the cards pulled influencing the game more. I'm unsure if RUNE did so or not, as your game is my introduction to RUNElikes, but it would allow even more variety in each run. This could even allow greater loot variety.
What I'd like to see less of: nothing. You have all the right ingredients.
Major criticism: Having the gear right up front on the playsheet is very useful BUT it means that there is nearly no surprise or "wow" factor when getting equipment. This absolutely captures the feeling of mastering a soulslike but it doesn't capture any of the magic of earning the new gear. Each conflict is functionally a contest with the new piece of gear sitting on the table as a match ante. While this isn't a bad thing by ANY means it does greatly shape how the game feels, and is more of a note for potential players.
BUY THIS GAME IF: You enjoy soulslike games, Into The Breach, Armored Core, Front Mission, roguelikes, working towards a build, or addictive tactical combat.
DONT BUY THIS GAME IF: You hate losing, dislike build chasing, dislike combat where 1 dice roll can cost you dearly, or are seeking a game with a lot of secrets/unlockables.
I was very confused before I realized that the play sheet was essential to the game. I got a physical copy of the rulebook via kickstarter so I didn't pay much mind to the digital listings, but I don't think the necessity of the play sheets is explicitly mentioned in the rulebook as best as I can tell. I actually got all the way through my first couple of encounters just notating my mech's equipment on notebook paper and drawing out the maps, which was altogether simple enough that it certainly didn't raise any alarms that I was missing something. Then I looked more closely at the equipment pickups and realized that their properties weren't listed anywhere in the rulebook. So altogether, it's strange that the rulebook only contains most of the rules, and a large portion of the rules otherwise are only present on a supplemental document that you have to print off. This being said, I guess it makes more sense that those rules are partitioned off if you consider the physical books to be more of a bonus and not the primary format by which most players would access the game, so it's not as odd that backers got a more or less incomplete game in the mail. But since the back cover already states plainly that D6s and playing cards are needed in addition to the rulebook, I think it would be smart to mention somewhere early on in the rules that players will NEED to reference the play sheets to know what pickups do. (Honestly even when I saw the play sheets listed on itch, I assumed they would be more like character sheets, just to make tracking game info easier.)
Hi Michael,
So I finished my first full RIG campaign and have come away with a handful of questions:
1) Does a battle end immediately when the final threat is destroyed, or does a player still get to resolve other keywords after Harm (i.e., can a player still clear Heat in that final round)? Do “end of round” effects still trigger if relevant?
2) Are obstacles and/or pits considered terrain for purposes of Hover? Only difficult terrain explicitly uses the word.
3) For scenarios and abilities that add difficult terrain/obstacles/pits to the grid, how do those additions interact with existing features? Should I re-roll if I randomly roll a space that already contains a feature of the relevant type? If a threat triggers Void but is already next to a pit, can I choose the space of the existing pit to prevent the creation of a new one? (During my play, I generally ruled these situations in whatever way would be most disadvantageous to me, but the intention is unclear.)
4) Threats always move so as to be in optimal range for their attacks, but how do you resolve movement for activations that don’t include an attack?
All in all, I enjoyed the puzzle of the experience, but my playthrough was much easier than I anticipated. I took one early refit not long after the SOLITAIRE tutorial to fully equip (using only one non-basic gear) and recover damage, but the loadout I chose (maximizing mobility and heat mitigation) seemed to trivialize most of the challenge from there on out. I never took another refit (apart from the mandatory one between levels) and ended the game with no damage, no heat, and nearly 40 ammo (which I didn't farm but my loadout didn't use). I ran into a similar issue with Rune where early equipment choices seemed to really minimize the difficulty. What was your experience of the difficulty in playtesting?
Hey there,
1) A battle ends immediately when the last threat is destroyed.
2) Yes, all location features (pits, obstacles, difficult terrain) can be bypassed with hover.
3) Most churn etc. make allowances for how location features change or are added, otherwise it is up to you to judge.
4) The way I interpret threat movements is to always move them into spaces that are most advantageous. A certain amount of player interpretation is needed.
My experience was very different than yours, which is as expected. For example I like experimenting with different equipment when I get it and having a mix of different ranged and melee weapons. Other players find one build and they stick with it throughout the whole game.
Thanks for the quick feedback! The answer to question 1 definitely goes a significant way toward nerfing the method I was using. I was essentially marking tons of heat each turn then clearing it with the basic core and Heat Vent. I also allowed myself the clear after the final attack. If I was forced to carry all heat used in the last round(s) over to the next battle, I would've had to play last rounds much more conservatively.
Ah yes, I can see how that would change things!
First off, I loved this game. I remember really enjoying RUNE when it came out, but this game I like way more. Maybe its the Armored Souls theme. Congrats, you did a really good job designing the game around the RUNE system. Loved what you did with Heat and Refitting.
That being said, I do have a question. The sword core you start with states "[7] Harm Heat Range Same, clear 5 Heat". Do you deal Harm equal to your current Heat and them clear 5 heat or do you deal 5 to clear 5? Does it even deal Harm?
Thanks in advance, I'm really enjoying the game. It's been my most recent obsession haha
Hey! Thanks for the kind words!
Harm Heat means you deal harm equal to your current marked heat, and then you clear the heat.
This game is very fantastic, but I'm a bit confused, can you only use your equipment once, or multiple times, tried consulting RUNE to answer my question.
Thank you! In RIG you can use each of your equipment once per round. So for example if you use a die to activate your legs, you can't activate them again with another die until the next combat round.
Thank you, I've been wondering how that works, now I can play the game fairly without accidentally cheating.
I've never dabbled in solo tabletop before, but I've wanted a mecha-souls game for so long I was willing to give it a try. It's been surprisingly gripping. The theme works very well with the mechanics. Souls games are about pushing your luck, it's logical the core system facilitates exactly that. Looking forward to the physical release and any further exploration of this setting.
Same! I decided that instead of waiting I would just make my own.
I'm closing in on year 10 of trying to make my own 'souls inspired mecha ttrpg'. I'm really grateful you decided to stop waiting or who knows when this niche would finally be filled.
Hahah, well when you do make it please let me know! I'd love to see more examples of this genre.
Very enjoyable! It's a lot more combat-focused than most of the solo games I play, but it works very well. Mechanics are fairly smooth and the game is fun to play.
Thanks! It's one of the more combat focused games I've made, but the Rune system made it real easy.
I did a flip through of RIG on stream and absolutely love it! Here's a video for folks who want to learn more about the game
Thanks again!
I loved Rune, and I ADORE this! You are a LEGEND for making this, seriously!
It's like I always say: Be the mecha-souls game you want to see in the world! Thank you!
Played a few encounters, and the mechanics and lore work really well together, like you're a ticking nuclear bomb with a reset switch. Even early on, you feel like you're entering battle with lots of firepower and options, but you'll have to make painful tradeoffs depending on the situation.
At first, I made a couple of moves that I later realized shouldn't be allowed: I wanted to set up a combination of movements and attacks, but realized that the encounter flow is pretty clear that all attacks and harm happen at the same time, at the end of each turn. Other than that, pretty easy to follow -- the built-in tutorial / first scenario is a good setup!
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
no link?
The game will be released very soon! Just doing the groundwork to get the itch page set up!