Our first Update you voted for is here, and we’re going to take a look at the gameplay today! The best part of this Update being first is that you can actually experience the gameplay for yourself RIGHT NOW! If you want to skip this update and get straight to the playable experience, we've got you!
Followers Can Get the QuickStart Now From the Main Page or At The Bottom of This Update!
The QuickStart is the ideal way to jump straight in and play in the Astral Union.
It comes with premade Character Sheets, the basic rules of the game, some lore that sets up the world, and an adventure that pulls together everything you’ll learn into a playable experience for three to four people.
Gameplay in the ION Heart Multiplayer RPG vs the ION Heart Solo RPG
ION Heart Multiplayer is building on the world of the ION Heart Solo RPG (already out and ready to play), to bring an entirely new way to experience the interstellar world of the ION Heart universe. There’s a few things their gameplay has in common:
An Easy to Learn Ruleset - Both games use six-sided dice (D6s) to play. They’re recognisable, and all maths is kept to a minimum. The better your character is at a skill, the more dice they get to roll, and each 4+ rolled counts as a success. We want your first experience with ION Heart to be as easy to get into as possible.
Guides to Making Your Own Stories - ION Heart Solo uses Story Circuits to show you how to tell your own stories, and ION Heart Multiplayer has a new Encounter system following in the same basic story-focused structure. Both games use the same easy-to-understand ranking method for the type of adventure you’ll get from Circuits or Encounters: Peaceful, Protective, and Dangerous.
Rich and Free Character Design - The world of ION Heart has so many species and cultures, that the designs of Mechs are only limited to your imaginations. Each game provides examples, but the final choice is down to you!
What’s New in ION Heart Multiplayer?
The Heart - Our gamemaster, the one keeping the story moving and placing challenges before the players. The Heart is very much a player, too, and we’ve worked hard to create a simple and clear rule system that adds to game night, and doesn’t take away from it.
Sync Bonds - We’ve expanded on the Sync system. A representation of how close your Pilot and Mech are becoming, this mechanic lets you show that friendship off in all kinds of epic ways. Heroic Actions, synchronised actions, or even just allowing the re-rolling failed challenges! We’ve also added Team Bonds, which represent different players' ability to work together, and the strength of the bond that their collective journey has forged between them.
Maps - We’ve worked on a simple map system to enhance not only combat, but also interactions with the world around your characters. Whether it's a local culture festival to explore, a rescue operation to undertake, or an epic-scale Mech battle, you get to see that unfold before you and your team.
An Example of ION Heart Multiplayer Gameplay (transcribed)
Charlie (The Heart): The building begins to crumble down, making rescue look very difficult.
Matt (Daro Blackwing): My Mech is going to try and stabilize the building, and my Pilot is going to help by shouting out structural weak points. Does that count as a synced roll?
Charlie: It does! Roll your Pilot Mind to see how helpful you are first.
Matt spends the 1 Sync Bond point he has, and checks his character sheet and sees that Daro has 3 Mind. He rolls three D6, and gets a 1, a 5, and a 4. He has one spare Sync Bond point, so he chooses to reroll the 1, getting another 4.
Charlie: That’s three successes! So make Mech your Mech Brawn roll, and add an extra three dice!
Matt checks his sheet again and sees that his Mech, Skreech0r, only has 1 Brawn. He rolls four dice, and luckily gets a 4, 5, 5 and a 6!
Charlie: The building is held together, giving more than enough time for the people inside to evacuate safely. They all look up to Skreech0r with a look of awe on their faces.
We like to use the different colour dice to represent Pilot and Mech in rolls!
A Pilot and a Mech
Aside from the Heart, who is running the game, each other Player will take on the roles of both a Pilot and their companion Mech. When interacting with other players at the table in character, players will usually take on the character of their Pilot. Pilots come from all over the Astral Union, can have different cultures and personal backstories, but they all share a way of communicating, whether that be through common language or advanced translation devices.
Mechs are more complicated, as they are not fully autonomous living beings, but are instead considered "mostly sentient". This means that while they can develop "personalities" and build relationships with others, even developing their own jokes and stories over their lifespan, they cannot act with full autonomy for long periods of time, and are limited in their ability to coordinate with parties other than their Pilot.
The character of the player's Mech only comes out passively through interactions with their own Pilot, or directly to other players on occasions when the Mech is separated from its Pilot. When a Pilot is interacting with their Mech, no one wants to sit through a one-person roleplay show, so the player would quickly summarise what the interaction is like based on their Pilot and Mech's personalities and bond.
ION Heart Multiplayer's Solo Mode
ION Heart Multiplayer will include a solo mode, so all the ION Heart Solo RPG players can come and experience this age of the Astral Union as well, exploring the universe in a setting different to the one they're used to.
Unlike the ION Heart Solo RPG, which uses its own "Story Circuit" mechanical system for running adventures, the ION Heart Multiplayer game will have its own "Oracle" style system that reflects the changes between the two games, which we will cover in more detail in a future update!
