3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars

So this is a game i have being hearing great things about on the Internet, However i have never really picked up many indie games. Then i got into a conversation on the final night of Itzacon with a guy who had a copy of the game. A lot of the details i heard really tempted me. 

So i got home, thought about it for awhile, and then ordered it from a website in the US.  After it arrived and I read it, I decided I really wanted to play it.

So when large parts of the normal Thursday group couldn’t make it, Those of us who remained decided to give it a go.

The “fluff” for this game is very simple, but great fun and really sets the. You are a group of Troops sent out from the paradise Earth has become, to remove anything that might exist to threaten Earth.  So it is a game, which at its heart is, about combat. This is most simply shown by it’s stats. There is one for fighting, and one for everything that isn’t fighting. 

The combat system is incredibly simplified. Each combat does not have a set number of bad guys,  instead it has a certain number of Tokens that are removed on a successful Fighting stat check. After that the player rolls a stat from the weapon used to see how many kills that represents.

This is meant to encourage the players to become descriptive about there actions. I.e They attack, stating that they are shooting there weapon into the forest.  They roll a success on the attack, and so roll the kills, killing say 5 of them. They then can describe a quick scene of how they shot at a large group approaching him, driving them off, killing five of them. 

Of course if the player wants they can be more descriptive.

There is also one other mechanic, called Flashback which is really interesting. 

There are two types of Flashbacks.

• those that strengthen the character, so that they win on their terms
• those that Weaken the character, so that they Lose on their terms

While the use of the strengh is obvious, the weakness is a bit harder to work out how to use. but sometimes losing on your own terms is better than dying.

One of the things i really like, was that the book was well “linked” by and large when something was mentioned, it usually listed the page number you need to go to for more information. The examples of play made a lot of sense, and clarified the rules very nicely.  

I wish more RPG’s were this well written, With the page number reference in place. It’s one of those things taht make the GM’s live easier, when he has to go check a rule. Not that it happened much.

Anyway, i am really happy with the game. Well worth the money i spent, and really worth playing. I think i will be playing this for awhile.

I think i will bring this to some cons and just set up in the corner and play a few games, see who else wants to join in and the likes.

Ωr

Relevent Links

Box Ninja - Game Publisher

Gregor Hutton – Game Author

Indie Press – Ordering the book online