First, let me apologize for the lack of updates for a while. Without getting too deep, I’ve struggled a bit with devoting time and energy to this project while there are people in my country fearing for their lives or putting themselves in danger to protect their neighbors and their community.
Make no mistake, I’m still onboard, but it’s definitely slowed down my output. At the moment, I’m estimating a mid-February release of playtest materials for people to try out this system on their own.
Also, just a quick little reminder that all stats and wording are subject to change while I do my own initial playtesting and tweaking.
For now, let’s talk about Prowl (and also Soldiers).
When coming up with the first four playable characters, I had three guidelines. First, have them be some of the iconic Autobots from the first season of the G1 cartoon. Second, make them easily purchasable by buying a single wave of the Blokees Defender line. Third, take some inspiration from the prototypical Dungeons & Dragons party.
Ironhide is the Fighter, with incentives to get up close and tank hits for the rest of the party. Optimus is the Cleric, a capable combatant on his own, but also able to buff his teammates. Bumblebee will be the Thief/Rogue, mobile and vulnerable, but capable of damage spikes if used wisely.
Prowl is the Wizard, a toolbox of available options to support what is needed in the moment. At the same time, he’ll need to have some preparation to use his skills to the best of his ability (fitting for an Autobot whose function is Strategist).
Let’s tackle alt mode first. Prowl is a police car, and we absolutely have to give him something siren-related. In this case, he gains the ability to draw the enemy’s attention to him. This has shades of Ironhide’s Bodyguard ability, but Prowl will have to be careful about using it. For one, it’s only available if he’s in his alt mode. Second, his Armor and Health values are both lower than Ironhide’s.
The shared ability for Cars is Charge. One of my main inspirations for the game was this single moment in the original G1 Season 1 opening, where Jazz is thrown by Skywarp, but transforms into car mode, drives forward, and transforms to bot mode to get back into the fray. In this case, it allows Cars to be a bit more mobile (also note the higher move value compared to Trucks like Optimus and Ironhide) and action efficient.
In bot mode, Prowl brings more useful tools to the battlefield. Tactician allows him to spy on and manipulate the AI behavior deck. If the next card would be devastating to you, you can choose to put it at the bottom of the deck and hope the next one won’t be quite as bad. Conversely, if it’s not too dangerous, you can stick with the devil that you know. Supporting Fire allows him to buff the Ranged Attacks of allies that are nearby, but you’ll have to think through your sequencing of activations to get the best of this ability.
Prowl’s weaponry also allows him to stand out from his teammates. For the initial lineup of Autobots, he’s the only one that begins with a Laser Rifle as his starting weapon, allowing him to be a bit more potent at long range. In addition, he has his Shoulder Missile Launchers, which can both damage and debuff the enemy by knocking them down.
Overall, Soldiers will typically be a bit more focused on ranged combat. Mentally, I’m also thinking of them as the “Mario/Ryu/Ken” type of character, the average of what you can expect a character to be. In Prowl’s case, he can do a little bit of everything, but isn’t necessarily too specialized in any one individual area.
The next preview will take a look at Bumblebee (and Scouts). Until then, till all are one.
Remember, you can keep posted about additional preview articles and information on the Discord server, Facebook group and the website.
Wreck 'N Rule 