Splicers: Genetic Expressions

The Galactus Kid · Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:39 am

All, Just giving all the Splice-heads here a heads up that we have turned in our manuscript for Splicers: Genetic Expressions. It should be a quick edit and will hopefully be coming out pretty soon *fingers crossed*

The Oh So Amazing Nate · Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:08 am

The Galactus Kid wrote:All, Just giving all the Splice-heads here a heads up that we have turned in our manuscript for Splicers: Genetic Expressions. It should be a quick edit and will hopefully be coming out pretty soon *fingers crossed*

whats it about?

Snake Eyes · Unread post by **Snake Eyes** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:28 am

Very cool

The Galactus Kid · Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:26 am

The Oh So Amazing Nate wrote:
The Galactus Kid wrote:All, Just giving all the Splice-heads here a heads up that we have turned in our manuscript for Splicers: Genetic Expressions. It should be a quick edit and will hopefully be coming out pretty soon *fingers crossed*

whats it about?

I can't discuss details due to my non-disclosure agreements, but I can say we discuss the details of care and maintenence of Bio-Technology, new classes, some consequences for getting too greed, and a metric ton of new player options and Bio-Enhancements.

kaid · Unread post by **kaid** » Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:53 am

Woots a splicer toy box um er toy pond? toy pool? toy inexplicable gooey bio organic depository of awesome if icky toys?

89er · Unread post by **89er** » Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:33 pm

(Biotic runs out, drops to his knees and screams out something lewd and hurtful against Senetor Teigs. He then rips open his abdomen, only for gore puppies to spill out instead of entrails.)

Yes, I am excited about this new development.

The Galactus Kid · Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:36 am

89er wrote:(Biotic runs out, drops to his knees and screams out something lewd and hurtful against Senetor Teigs. He then rips open his abdomen, only for gore puppies to spill out instead of entrails.)

Yes, I am excited about this new development.

If it makes it in, Gorepuppies will be an official game term.

The Galactus Kid · Thu Oct 23, 2014 11:18 am

Also, there will be another Splicers book in by the end of the year at the LATEST.

Snake Eyes · Unread post by **Snake Eyes** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 4:46 pm

The Galactus Kid wrote:Also, there will be another Splicers book in by the end of the year at the LATEST.

SWEET!!!!!!

The Splice must flow

BookWyrm · Unread post by **BookWyrm** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 9:26 pm

Yea, for the Faithful shall be rewarded. Gotta have that Splice. An essential part of a nutritious breakfast-paste.

The Galactus Kid · Thu Oct 23, 2014 10:38 pm

BookWyrm wrote: An essential part of a nutritious breakfast-paste.

It's people.

BookWyrm · Unread post by **BookWyrm** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 7:10 pm

The Galactus Kid wrote:
BookWyrm wrote: An essential part of a nutritious breakfast-paste.

It's people.

Waste-not, want-not. Stays crunchy, even in milk. Now available in Biotic Blueberry, Scarecrow Strawberry and Gorehound Grape.

89er · Unread post by **89er** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:08 am

So any scraps of generalized info you can give us on the second book without going into detail or breaking any contracts?

The Galactus Kid · Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:26 pm

Sure. It will provide a wealth of information and options for the fan favorite technojackers

The Galactus Kid · Mon Nov 10, 2014 12:59 pm

Started editing this second book today and we hope to have it completed and turned in by the end of the year, if not sooner. Krispy and Guy LeDouche have been an absolute joy to work with and bouncing ideas off of each other for this and future books has just been fantastic.

darkguyver · Unread post by **darkguyver** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:08 pm

Sweet will book reprint of swam lord

The Galactus Kid · Mon Nov 10, 2014 3:50 pm

Neither of these books will reprint the Swarm Lord, but I will have to discuss with Slappy the potential inclusion of it in another title if he is amenable to the idea. That manuscript would be started until middle of next year at the absolute earliest though.

kaid · Unread post by **kaid** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 3:52 pm

It would be good to have official OCC from the rifters make it into an actual source book for those who may not have the rifter they were introduced in.

The Galactus Kid · Mon Nov 10, 2014 3:57 pm

kaid wrote:It would be good to have official OCC from the rifters make it into an actual source book for those who may not have the rifter they were introduced in.

That is the goal. The Geneticist from Rifter #50 was included in the submission for Genetic Expressions. Other O.C.C.s like the Tormentor and the Gardener are also slated for future projects.

krispy · Unread post by **krispy** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 5:14 pm

The Galactus Kid wrote:Started editing this second book today and we hope to have it completed and turned in by the end of the year, if not sooner. Krispy and Guy LeDouche have been an absolute joy to work with and bouncing ideas off of each other for this and future books has just been fantastic.

It has been a great experience writing this book with yourself and Guy LeDouche

The Splice Must Flow

darkguyver · Unread post by **darkguyver** » Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:35 am

Cool deal well let known when can be insider for this

Tor · Unread post by **Tor** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 11:50 pm

TGK if it has not headed for printers and is still in the editing process, I am wondering if you could squeeze in a feature for armor to allow portions to retract if a Biotic is wearing it and wants to use their own feature weapons.

This would be primarily for adding to Living Armor since AFAIK the Biotic doesn`t get Host Armor.

Someone mentioned on another thread that Living Armor can retract from the mouth when you want to speak but covers the mouth to prevent you from drowning...

So something similar to that, but please assign a cost for a slot. Maybe 1-5 Bio-E per location...

Or if it is free, please clarify that, mention the specifics of what happens if a Biotic actually has a weapon-chest or weapon-arm or shoulder-cannon and is wearing an environmental Living Armor and wants to shoot while wearing it.

The Galactus Kid · Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:34 am

Tor wrote:TGK if it has not headed for printers and is still in the editing process, I am wondering if you could squeeze in a feature for armor to allow portions to retract if a Biotic is wearing it and wants to use their own feature weapons.

This would be primarily for adding to Living Armor since AFAIK the Biotic doesn`t get Host Armor.

Someone mentioned on another thread that Living Armor can retract from the mouth when you want to speak but covers the mouth to prevent you from drowning...

So something similar to that, but please assign a cost for a slot. Maybe 1-5 Bio-E per location...

Or if it is free, please clarify that, mention the specifics of what happens if a Biotic actually has a weapon-chest or weapon-arm or shoulder-cannon and is wearing an environmental Living Armor and wants to shoot while wearing it.

The book is already out of our hands, but I think that this is a good enhancement. I would also say that if the suit of living armor is specific to the biotic and not a general suit, then the suit might be crafted with those biotic weapons and features in mind, shaped in a way that the xit ports and other items are already exposed.

Tor · Unread post by **Tor** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:16 am

The Galactus Kid wrote: I would also say that if the suit of living armor is specific to the biotic and not a general suit, then the suit might be crafted with those biotic weapons and features in mind, shaped in a way that the xit ports and other items are already exposed.

GMs could give the upgrade to free to the Living Armor a Biotic starts off with, but a cost would still be good, like say their Living Armor gets destroyed and they salvage the Living Armor from a non-Biotic comrade and later take it back to base and want an Engineer to upgrade it to have the same access ports.

Shark_Force · Unread post by **Shark_Force** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:43 am

sounds like a cosmetic modification to me. GM discretion on how much it should cost, but frankly they've already paid for the enhancements, making them pay to be able to use them after making them pay for the enhancements seems like bad form imo.

The Galactus Kid · Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:00 pm

Shark_Force wrote:sounds like a cosmetic modification to me. GM discretion on how much it should cost, but frankly they've already paid for the enhancements, making them pay to be able to use them after making them pay for the enhancements seems like bad form imo.

Yeah. A 1 point cosmetic modification (as listed int he Splicers RPG) wouldn't be out of the question.

kaid · Unread post by **kaid** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 2:54 pm

Tor wrote:
The Galactus Kid wrote: I would also say that if the suit of living armor is specific to the biotic and not a general suit, then the suit might be crafted with those biotic weapons and features in mind, shaped in a way that the xit ports and other items are already exposed.

GMs could give the upgrade to free to the Living Armor a Biotic starts off with, but a cost would still be good, like say their Living Armor gets destroyed and they salvage the Living Armor from a non-Biotic comrade and later take it back to base and want an Engineer to upgrade it to have the same access ports.

That is pretty much how I have handled it. I would assume the engineers/geneticists would modify at very least a biotics starting armor to have ports for any built in weaponry the biotic has. Now if you had to get a new set of armor down the road it may not come with that by default but I would assume since a biotic is designed to have some integrated weaponry and is given living armor they would have some adjustments to allow it to function correctly.

Tor · Unread post by **Tor** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:26 pm

Shark_Force wrote:sounds like a cosmetic modification to me.

Having holes open up in your armor when you need them and close when you do not need them is functional, not cosmetic.

Shark_Force wrote:they've already paid for the enhancements, making them pay to be able to use them after making them pay for the enhancements seems like bad form imo.

They do not, only to use them while protected by Living Armor, which a Biotic does not need to survive and may not necessarily always be wearing.

This is also an upgrade that could be given for free to the Living Armor a Biotic starts off with, if the GM is friendly to it.

Allowing such a feature at all is actually Biotic-pandering, I am trying to help them, not penalize them.

Reading the rules literally, there would not (unless someone can find otherwise) by holes open to shoot your body weapons through, so doing so would wreck your Living Armor. This is allowing a friendlier path out, and something should be paid for that feature, even if made cheap.

The Galactus Kid wrote:A 1 point cosmetic modification (as listed int he Splicers RPG) wouldn't be out of the question.

Page 86 says that Cosmetic alterations have -no combat use-. Allowing you to fire THROUGH your living armor (without destroying it) IS a combat use. So in the very least it should cost 2 Bio-E per mentally-operable hole.

The Galactus Kid · Tue Nov 18, 2014 11:46 am

Tor wrote:
The Galactus Kid wrote:A 1 point cosmetic modification (as listed int he Splicers RPG) wouldn't be out of the question.
Page 86 says that Cosmetic alterations have -no combat use-. Allowing you to fire THROUGH your living armor (without destroying it) IS a combat use. So in the very least it should cost 2 Bio-E per mentally-operable hole.

I missed the part where it was mentally operable. i was saying a 1 point modification to have a hole built into your living armor that is customized to where the enhancement is on the biotic.

Shark_Force · Unread post by **Shark_Force** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 1:20 pm

it's not a mentally operable hole. it's a flap that attaches onto something else, and that something else may or may not be mentally operable, but that's beside the point.

Tor · Unread post by **Tor** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:27 pm

Oh okay I see what you mean about the flap now, though I can't think of anything besides the Omni-Cannon which could have passive-retraction though.

I suppose you could also have passive flaps for other weapons and simply open them by hand to save on Bio-E, but in that case it should take longer to do than a higher-cost mental-hole.

Shark_Force · Unread post by **Shark_Force** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:52 pm

if the weapon doesn't retract, it doesn't need a flap. if it does retract, there's something for the flap to connect to.

i'm not seeing a problem here. i suppose if for some reason you wanted to hide the presence of a specific weapon most of the time underneath your armour, maybe (though there aren't a ton of weapons that would work with, i suppose that would be an option).

Tor · Unread post by **Tor** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:09 am

Flaps would be useful for non-retracting weapons to prevent them from being destroyed by called shots. Some weapons have very low MDC and could benefit from the higher-MDC fast-regeneration of Living Armor.

Plus yeah, hiding them, as you point out.

Another reason for it would be if you wanted to lend your Living Armor to someone else. Like say some SDC spouse you want to dress in it to carry them to safety, since you could survive a shot or two without it being MDC yourself.

The Galactus Kid · Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:54 am

So, I've talked with Palladium recently and this is on their radar. Do you all have any ideas about how we can get them moving on this? i know that we'll be talking it up at the open house and we'll have a number of Splicer fans talking it up, but if you all have other ideas, just let me know.

RiftJunkie · Unread post by **RiftJunkie** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 6:54 pm

I've found that you get more from a kind word and a loaded .45, than just a kind word. :twisted:

Sadly, most people find this approach offensive. :eek:

I believe the problem is that ALL ROADS MUST GO THROUGH KS AND KS ALONE! He only has so many hours in a day. He needs to learn to delegate a bit more. If it's finances, we've seen that can be solved with kickstarter. If Splicers was handled as a separate "line", I believe it could take off. If KS could have the trust to give someone the nod to "run with it" and not toss it on the desk for his review (a rather large stack, I believe) that takes many more months/years. I should shut up now before the mods kick me out. It's not a personal attack, just my personal observation.

Unless something changes at PB, I see continuing piecemeal in Rifters and endless delays. (Rifts: Scotland, DB: 9, LOD3, etc.) Rifters should not be the "bread and butter" of Splicers!

LET THE SPLICE FLOW!!!!

Shark_Force · Unread post by **Shark_Force** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 3:31 pm

kickstarter doesn't necessarily solve financial problems.

keep in mind that while it blew it's funding goal out of the water completely, the robotech kickstarter *also* added a ridiculous amount of stuff that they need to get done. it's the classic "successful kickstarter" problem; your stretch goals start to get out of hand, and before you know it you're trying to do 5 times as much stuff in the same amount of time, except that your budget was figured based on the same number of people doing the work, and everything takes way longer than you thought.

in short, if your problem is "not enough people to get the job done", kickstarters have an unfortunate tendency to make that problem worse, in my experience

kaid · Unread post by **kaid** » Fri Apr 10, 2015 3:38 pm

Well for the kick starter most of the work that got added with stretch goals was extra minis and art type stuff so most of the normal bottle necks of editing don't really come into play. It requires more man power but its man power that does not really tie up the palladium staff much other than during big shipping frenzies. There are I am sure meetings and approval stuff that does tie them up a bit but for the most part the bottle necks are not ones that should impede RPG book production a ton now that the major chaos of the initial stuff is past.

Shark_Force · Unread post by **Shark_Force** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 3:45 am

all that stuff still costs money. people talk all the time about how huge the kickstarter got, but i haven't seen many people discuss the fact that because the kickstarter got so big, they ended up selling their product at a much lower rate than the price they determined they could make a reasonable ROI from.

boxee · Unread post by **boxee** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 7:14 pm

So another book we will not live long enough to see? Or it will be cut up and dumped into rifters?

krispy · Unread post by **krispy** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:43 pm

boxee wrote:So another book we will not live long enough to see? Or it will be cut up and dumped into rifters?

The TJ book, will be submitted soon (a great sneak peak in the R#70) and should stay as a solid book and not be divided up

boxee · Unread post by **boxee** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 9:33 pm

I would really love that, but so many times we have been told a splicers book is coming and we are still waiting. It is very disheartening.

The Galactus Kid · Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:45 am

boxee wrote:I would really love that, but so many times we have been told a splicers book is coming and we are still waiting. It is very disheartening.

I agree, and I can guarantee that the other Splicers authors are feeling your pain. I would like to clarify something though. At least from my side, the articles are not cut up parts of submitted manuscripts. Many times they are parts of either manuscripts in the works, or are jumping off points for manuscripts that are set to be written. The material in Rifter 50 and 59 was used for a jumping off point for Genetic expressions and a Packmaster/Outrider book that is in the works. The material in Rifter 70 is a preview of the manuscript in preliminary edits right now.