WHAT'S COMING IN RELEASE VERSION 0.2

Greetings, pilots! I've wrapped another project and returned to After\\Burner while enjoying some brief breathing-room in the schedule. I wanted to share notes on what to expect from the next update to the game, and a preview of an ENITRELY OPTIONAL rules replacement that might gel better with certain settings.

1) VISUAL & LAYOUT OVERHAUL:  Thanks to the generosity of the game's supporters, I'm now in a position to acquire paid stock art to replace the AI generated imagery in the book. That decision has a lot of facets to it, but well worth noting: when I did the layout, AI art services had just come into popularity, and the way they functioned was understood to be fairly innocuous. In the intervening time, it's become clear that these services didn't put nearly enough effort into ensuring their algorithms functioned ethically. While it was always my intention to use the AI imagery as a stop-gap (I've never been too satisfied with the look, to be honest), the potential harm these services can do to artists spurred me on to making the switch a bit faster than I might otherwise. While plenty of artists have pointed out more curated and ethical types and uses for these tools (AI upscaling and "Outpainting" being particularly useful in some circumstances), the imagery I have in the book at present doesn't necessarily fall in that category, so I'll be losing it for the next release.

In addition, I've reconsidered the dimensions of the text given that my player group (and I imagine a great many other gamers) tend to view PDFs on screen rather than printing them. The next version will be formatted to 1920x1080 to coordinate better with most devices, and to reduce page count dramatically. I've also reorganized some chapters in a more sensible fashion. Three column layout should be a bit more comfortable for smartphone viewers as well. If there's strong enough, demand I'll look into EPUB possibilities.

2) MODULES:  In doing further playtesting and building some characters myself, it became apparent that there weren't enough strongly desirable "flexible" modules - and maybe way too many secondary weapons. The next release will see changes, additions, and deletions from those lists. Specifics will be spelled out in the changelog.

3) WORLD BUILDING CHAPTER:  Given that there are a lot of great tools for this, and that I expected the majority of players to use an established setting of their choice, I included no world building info or baked-in setting for the game. After\\Burner is intended to be more of a "game system platform" than specific world of its own. That said, there were some requests for guidance in this manner, so the next release will include a section of guidelines for collaborating with your table to build an imperiled galaxy to save!

4) OPTIONAL SYSTEM FOR SETTINGS WITHOUT SHIELDS:  I'll go into detail on this one! Below is my first pass at a solution to the problem of energy shields being a pretty significant element of the game but sometimes absent from starfighter settings. This is an in-progress optional rule, so I don't cover all of the exceptions and this may not ultimately work. It changes the shape and significance of some game elements, but not every group needs every module/secondary weapon anyway, so it shouldn't shake things up too much. If you end up using this optional rule, please let me know how it goes!

After\\Burner endeavors to provide the platform you need to tell stories in your favorite settings. A worthwhile point of interpretation is the fact that energy shielding simply isn’t present in a lot of fictional universes - even some of those we quote as strong inspirations! Below are guidelines to adapt the game rules in a way that replaces the benefit of SHIELDS with a similar but more suitable ARMOR system. It’s one of few places where this game leans more ‘simulation-heavy’ over narrative. All the same, these guidelines will go a long way to make your gameplay feel authentic to the setting:

• For Fighters, Bandits, and Capital Targets, replace SHIELDS with ARMOR. Numeric values remain the same.
• When taking Harm, roll 1d6. On a 4-6, reduce the Harm by the ARMOR value.
• Remove the following from the list for DIVERTING Power:

• SHIELDS

• Remove the following from the list for SHUNTING Power:

• SHIELDS
• SHIELD GENERATOR

• Add the following to the lists DIVERTING and SHUNTING Power for the “Detailed Reprisal Estimation and Defense (DREAD)” system. This sensor array provides early warning of missile and targeting computer locks, projecting trajectories swiftly on to the HUD which grant the pilot a crucial second or two to avoid the worst of incoming fire. The DREAD system is for use only in settings where SHIELDS are not available (to the players, at least):

• DREAD: DIVERTING power from the DREAD changes the ARMOR roll - Reduce Harm on a roll of 5-6
• DREAD: SHUNTING power to the DREAD changes the ARMOR roll - Reduce Harm on a roll of 3-6

• Change the rules text for the ASSAULT’s “Flying Fortress” variant to the following:  

• FLYING FORTRESS: Regardless of the ARMOR roll, always reduce 1 Harm

• Change the rules text for the SUPPORT’s “Ionic Shield Charge” variant to the following:  

• Threat Triangulation: Reduce your ARMOR by 1 until the start of your next turn and select an ally at Range 0-1. For the duration, this ally reduces 1 more Harm than they normally would.

• Replace the “Hardened Shields” Module with the following:

• Layered Cerametal: Regardless of the ARMOR roll, always reduce 1 Harm (does not stack with “Flying Fortress”).
  
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