desert

Devlog

• Update! desert v3.03
  November 19, 2024 by Julian

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  Changes to the asset table. Small text changes. Switched to a more readable font... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v3.02
  November 12, 2024 by Julian

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  Small changes to the text. Mechanically, assets are introduced as a way to have player character missions directly impact projects / city politics... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v3.01
  October 27, 2024 by Julian

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  For this update I cleaned up and simplified non-faction procedures like character creation, research, hacks/operations/manipulation, the security segments and missions systems... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v3.00
  August 27, 2024 by Julian

  1

  Another major update! The biggest change is an entirely new system to randomly generate mission targets (locations, networks, characters) which I have tied in with character creation and hacks/ops/man... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v2.03
  June 23, 2024 by Julian

  A big update: - Reworked setup / faction play: Faction currency proved to complicated. It is now far easier to tell which of the three stats (profit, control, change) dominates where and how to influe... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v2.02
  April 25, 2024 by Julian

  A small update: I have cut the number of actions required to set up a city block's project record. Character creation now comes with an explanation of skills, relationships and status. NPC behaviour i... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v2.01
  April 04, 2024 by Julian

  I have made the game available for free. Otherwise setup is now even more like a minigame where factions fight for control of blocks and superblocks. What kind of competition projects appear on the ma... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v2
  January 29, 2024 by Julian

  The most significant change I have made for this update is reorganising the rules. The various generators, campaign setup, the faction turn and play are now disentangled and presented more clearly in... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.99
  November 24, 2023 by Julian

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  For this update I cleaned up some chapters I hadn't worked on in a while, namely timeline generation and hacks and ops... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.98
  October 29, 2023 by Julian

  Insights gained from a recent playtest let me improve research and stress mechanics. I also updated both the character and cheat sheets which should be a lot easier to use now... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.97
  October 14, 2023 by Julian

  It seemed like a waste to use timeline generation for just a single country. In this version I tie timelines into a character lifepath system, so the player characters end up in and operate from diffe... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.96
  September 03, 2023 by Julian

  The revamped faction mechanics introduced in 194 turned out to take up too much headspace in playtesting and to bog down game setup. In this version setup is just a single city block with an all-new,... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.95
  August 10, 2023 by Julian

  Minor improvements and clarifications to the game, more tables, no major rules changes... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.94
  June 24, 2023 by Julian

  I rebuilt the system for faction projects and investigations. The whole thing now has a strong visual, haptic aspect with dice that represent individual projects and investigations being added to, rem... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.93
  March 14, 2023 by Julian

  No major changes at v193. I added hyperlinks, more explanation, an overview of campaign setup and filled in some blanks... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.92
  February 23, 2023 by Julian

  Expanding on the last update I completely rewrote the faction mechanics. They are now competitive, well integrated with other mechanics and can seamlessly be used both during setup as a sort of factio... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.9
  November 03, 2022 by Julian

  Version 1.9 adds new sheets for most the stuff in the game, demo content, a whole new subsystem for planning/legwork, an overhaul and clarification of the rules for faction projects, time spent away f... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.81
  August 07, 2022 by Julian

  After finally getting more playtesting in, I managed to write up changes and everything learned. There is randomized setting generation now. 10+ pages added. Almost everything in the game comes with a... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.76
  April 13, 2022 by Julian

  Mostly streamlining the game this time, no big mechanical changes except for the new, social-class based contact grid. I rewrote the entire intro section shifting setting and who to play because I was... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.75
  January 02, 2022 by Julian

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  Another big update as far as game mechanics go. There is now a token economy using security points to gauge faction attempts at countering security breaches and stress points that essentially serve as... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.73
  November 14, 2021 by Julian

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  No changes to the premise this time. The characters remain hackers. Major mechanical refinement though over the past months. There is now a clear process for building hacks and for how they push at th... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.7
  July 18, 2021 by Julian

  Another substantial rewrite. I've cut the idea of killdolls because they ended up feeling like reintroducing themes of hyperviolence and human robots that I wanted to avoid with this game. In early pl... Continue reading

  
• Update! desert v1.61
  May 22, 2021 by Julian

  I've moved desert to a new version. There are improvements to layout, new art, a rewritten introduction and new mechanics that aim to broaden the sandbox-style play from the last version. I realized t... Continue reading