I'm currently experiencing a bit of a dry spell when it comes to building. I understand that my creative moments come and go. I also understand that a lot of my personal energy might be taken up by my new job. I still think it's a shame. Because I see the passion and fire that is currently engulfing my fellow MoFØs and I want to participate beyond a few "Atta Boys" here and there. And really, it's not the lack of building that concerns me. All I have to do is dump a set or two out on the floor and I can kickstart those creative juices instantly. What concerns me is all the universe-building going on and my lack of inventiveness on that front. I'm a little jealous of the people that are carving out their own little sections of the MFZ universe. I've written down a few notes but nothing like the work going on over at Orion 6.
I also think I'm seeing the first wave of enthusiam die down after the completion of the Kickstarter. I'm sure things will ramp back up again after the completed game is placed in people's hands. It just feels like things are on the ebb at the moment.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Community
Right now the community is still fairly small. There was an explosion when the Kickstarter gained serious traction due to the Penny Arcade mention. That has settled down though. Right now it looks like this:
Mechaton @ Anyway -- The birthplace of the game.
Xenoglyph --Joshua's site.
No BS, Just ABS -- The Grand-daddy of MFZ blogs.
Dices Are Not For Eating -- You want to do rule mods? Read here first.
Mechatonic -- Defunct, but still a great read.
Orion 6 -- The other new kid on the block.
MFZ Kickstarter -- There's some great conversation here.
Barf Forth Apocalyptica -- Vincent's message board.
Mechaton @ Divnull -- Wordman is the gentleman who is doing all the instructions for building mechs in MFZ.
Bots of Westeros -- Combining MFZ with A Game of Thrones.
Mechaton @ Attacks of Opportunity -- A few alternate rules.
Mechaton @ Mental Propinquity -- A couple of fun Mobile Frame Zero posts.
Mobile Frame Hangar -- A source for LDraw files.
Tyrona -- An alternate setting for MFZ.
MFZ Wiki -- The wiki.
Mechaton @ RPG.net -- Yeah, I've had a lot to do with the discussion there.
MFZ @ Something Awful forums -- Looks like there's some conversation going on here.
Mechaton @ Boardgamegeek
MFZ @ Boardgamegeek
If there are any more locations where MFZ is being discussed, beyond little one-shot mentions of the kickstarter, please let me know so I can include them.
The main trio where conversation is taking place are the following:
MFZ Flickr Group
Mobile Frame Hangar
MFZ Facebook Group
If you are interested in Mobile Frame Zero and you are not on one of these three sites, why not? I hate Facebook and I even made an account just to talk about MFZ there. Right now, this is where the action is. This is where you can talk to other MoFØs, see what they are building, show off what you're building, and share your thoughts about the game. There were over 2,000 supporters of MFZ. Let's get everyone in a centralized location so we can all share ideas and enthusiasm.
Mechaton @ Anyway -- The birthplace of the game.
Xenoglyph --Joshua's site.
No BS, Just ABS -- The Grand-daddy of MFZ blogs.
Dices Are Not For Eating -- You want to do rule mods? Read here first.
Mechatonic -- Defunct, but still a great read.
Orion 6 -- The other new kid on the block.
MFZ Kickstarter -- There's some great conversation here.
Barf Forth Apocalyptica -- Vincent's message board.
Mechaton @ Divnull -- Wordman is the gentleman who is doing all the instructions for building mechs in MFZ.
Bots of Westeros -- Combining MFZ with A Game of Thrones.
Mechaton @ Attacks of Opportunity -- A few alternate rules.
Mechaton @ Mental Propinquity -- A couple of fun Mobile Frame Zero posts.
Mobile Frame Hangar -- A source for LDraw files.
Tyrona -- An alternate setting for MFZ.
MFZ Wiki -- The wiki.
Mechaton @ RPG.net -- Yeah, I've had a lot to do with the discussion there.
MFZ @ Something Awful forums -- Looks like there's some conversation going on here.
Mechaton @ Boardgamegeek
MFZ @ Boardgamegeek
If there are any more locations where MFZ is being discussed, beyond little one-shot mentions of the kickstarter, please let me know so I can include them.
The main trio where conversation is taking place are the following:
MFZ Flickr Group
Mobile Frame Hangar
MFZ Facebook Group
If you are interested in Mobile Frame Zero and you are not on one of these three sites, why not? I hate Facebook and I even made an account just to talk about MFZ there. Right now, this is where the action is. This is where you can talk to other MoFØs, see what they are building, show off what you're building, and share your thoughts about the game. There were over 2,000 supporters of MFZ. Let's get everyone in a centralized location so we can all share ideas and enthusiasm.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 3
There's been some discussion of this over on the Hangar.
The Soldier: This is the design with the most basic loadout. One Direct Fire attachment, one Defensive attachment, one Spotting attachment, and one Movement attachment (2Rd/1B/1Y/1G/2W). It does everything, but nothing well. It was either created by Ced23Ric or Mechatonic. These should be filler units in your army.
Armored Spotter: One Defensive Attachment, two Spotting attachments, one free Movement attachment (1B/2Y/1Gd8/2W) This guy has one role; putting those big juicy yellows on the most opportune targets the opponent has. The Blue die enhances survivability. Even still, keep this guy in cover, he has no weapons. This is the base version of the "Missile Monkey" described back in MD & TD 1.
Hammer: One Direct Fire attachment, two Defensive attachments, and one Spotting attachment (2Rd/2B/1Y/2W). This design and the next one are both created by Joshua A.C. Newman. They work together as a team.
Anvil: Two Direct Fire attachments, one Defensive attachment, and one Spotting attachment (2Rd+d8/1B/1Y/2W). The Hammer and Anvil work as a team. The Hammer drives the opponent before it placing spots for the more heavily armed Anvil.
Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 1
Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 2
The Soldier: This is the design with the most basic loadout. One Direct Fire attachment, one Defensive attachment, one Spotting attachment, and one Movement attachment (2Rd/1B/1Y/1G/2W). It does everything, but nothing well. It was either created by Ced23Ric or Mechatonic. These should be filler units in your army.
Armored Spotter: One Defensive Attachment, two Spotting attachments, one free Movement attachment (1B/2Y/1Gd8/2W) This guy has one role; putting those big juicy yellows on the most opportune targets the opponent has. The Blue die enhances survivability. Even still, keep this guy in cover, he has no weapons. This is the base version of the "Missile Monkey" described back in MD & TD 1.
Hammer: One Direct Fire attachment, two Defensive attachments, and one Spotting attachment (2Rd/2B/1Y/2W). This design and the next one are both created by Joshua A.C. Newman. They work together as a team.
Anvil: Two Direct Fire attachments, one Defensive attachment, and one Spotting attachment (2Rd+d8/1B/1Y/2W). The Hammer and Anvil work as a team. The Hammer drives the opponent before it placing spots for the more heavily armed Anvil.
Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 1
Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 2
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Scenery, Terrain, and Stations
Lately I find myself turning away from the focal point of the game -- mecha -- and concentrating on the things that make your gaming table look awesome. I can understand the newcomers being fixated on mecha, they are the playing pieces of MFZ after all. I just want my playing table to be visually dynamic along with giving visual clues to the story the players are trying to tell.
To accomplish this goal I'm building two to three pieces of scenery for each team along with a team-specific station. I guess you could say my goal is making the equivalent of "that" table. The one all gamers go "Oooohh" over and drool when they first see it.
This is where I started. These are built for my team of Spider Mecha.
This is my first build for the Butterfly Knight team. Those are Hover Targets, designed to be target practice for ranged weapons carried by mecha. It's part of the stations and scenery for these guys.
Here are some Soren designed houses, that I used recently while demoing MFZ at PAX East, and some cars that I made.
And this is what it all looks like when put together with some plant life.
I hope you all like what I've done and it gives you some inspiration for your own gaming tables.
To accomplish this goal I'm building two to three pieces of scenery for each team along with a team-specific station. I guess you could say my goal is making the equivalent of "that" table. The one all gamers go "Oooohh" over and drool when they first see it.
This is where I started. These are built for my team of Spider Mecha.
 |
| These guys. |
This is my first build for the Butterfly Knight team. Those are Hover Targets, designed to be target practice for ranged weapons carried by mecha. It's part of the stations and scenery for these guys.
Here are some Soren designed houses, that I used recently while demoing MFZ at PAX East, and some cars that I made.
And this is what it all looks like when put together with some plant life.
I hope you all like what I've done and it gives you some inspiration for your own gaming tables.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Dr. Attachment, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Descriptor
One of the hardest parts of design work is assigning descriptors to specific parts of your build. You've built it, now what do all those tiny bits signify? Knowing which pieces come off when you lose an attachment can help speed up the game a tiny bit.
Weapons are easy; swords, rifles, and missile pods tend to be visually distinctive.
Movement attachments are fairly easy; you can't really miss wheels, rocket packs, and extra legs. Jump jets and jet engines might be a little harder to spot.
Defensive attachments are where it starts to get a little difficult. How do we know what pieces are armor and not the actual frame? What does a force-field projector look like? Shields, on the other hand, are the easiest part of this attachment.
Spotting is where things go sideways. How do you tell a laser targeter from a gun? Is that a spotlight or the mecha's head?
So, please, don't over-Greeble your designs. The other players thank you.
Weapons are easy; swords, rifles, and missile pods tend to be visually distinctive.
Movement attachments are fairly easy; you can't really miss wheels, rocket packs, and extra legs. Jump jets and jet engines might be a little harder to spot.
Defensive attachments are where it starts to get a little difficult. How do we know what pieces are armor and not the actual frame? What does a force-field projector look like? Shields, on the other hand, are the easiest part of this attachment.
Spotting is where things go sideways. How do you tell a laser targeter from a gun? Is that a spotlight or the mecha's head?
So, please, don't over-Greeble your designs. The other players thank you.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Traffic Report
Now that I've upgraded my browser to IE9, which I resisted for a long time because I hate the way the interface looks, I have access to fun things like stats from Blogger. Let's take a look at them. :-)
Most Popular Posts
Building: The Hi-Leg (380 views)
Building: The Chub (320 views)
PAX East Report (299 views)
Nothing really surprising there.
Referring URLs
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/JoshuaACNewman/
Most Popular Posts
Building: The Hi-Leg (380 views)
Building: The Chub (320 views)
PAX East Report (299 views)
Nothing really surprising there.
Referring URLs
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/JoshuaACNewman/
The first two make sense, but the third is a complete mystery to me as I'm not a member of that forum.
Referring Sites
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