The Truth vs. the Correct Answer

When you are playing Squawk, the GM's answers to players who's characters are trying to determine the origins of their universe should be something like "no one is sure.  There are no fossils to verify evolutionary theory, and there is a missing link of machinery when it comes to microorganisms and nanobots."  That is the correct answer; "Squawk is something of an alternative universe where large mammals just don't exist," or "Squawk takes place so far away that it is completely unrelated to Earth" are other explanations used previously.  (For more information on how to treat this topic while playing the Squawk RPG, see the last blog post "Squawk's Creation Debate.")

However, when we were working on this book, there was a graphic we used to keep in mind from our own personal designer's perspective what the "real context" of Squawk is.  Basically Squawk takes place about 5 million years ago in another part of the Milky Way Galaxy:

The Terraformers (a type of biomechanical robots called "Golems") were critical to life being spread throughout the worlds of Abaddon.  So both sides of the debate mentioned in our last post are right: the origins of life in Abaddon depended on biomechanical robots, and most of the life there evolved one way or another.  The "good guys" (Symbiotic Order) are more-right, but the Clockmakers are not completely wrong.

Squawk's Creation Debate

One of the big political issues in Squawk is an argument about the origins of life in the Abaddon system. One side of the argument is the Symbiotic Order's view, and the other is basically the Monopolis Corporation's view. Abaddon lacks rich fossil records because life really hasn't been there that long. Therefore the question of "intelligent design" for Squawk characters is  twisted - on one side the religious order believes in Evolution, and on the other side the areligious corporate scholars have come to the conclusion that life has been intelligently designed. Here's a "poster" Seth made a while ago but didn't end up in the book, which is relavent to the "Debate at Ariel University" encounter in the Squawk RPG (p.130): Debate Poster

Logo updated

We have updated our official logo.  The previous one had a very "Vegas" looking design because it had 2d6 and no d20.

Squawk Hex Mat and Tokens

Here's a new hex mat and tokens for playing Squawk with the Grid rules. The 8.5" by 11" hex mat is divided into 1" wide hexes. You may need a few pages this size for big battles. Click on the image to download both the hex mat and the tokens as a single PDF.

Indexed & back in stock

The Squawk RPG book was "out of stock" on Amazon for a little while because we were polishing the book with an index, some slight cover changes, and many grammar corrections.  Amazon says it is now "in stock" again.

Props for Scratch Grid Squawk

We decided not to focus on using the Scratch RPS's Grid rules in the book; we included the grid rules for those who would want them, but the book isn't focused on supporting those rules. Here are some props for a Skand, Titan, and Lyndwrym:

(These were in turn made from 3D models in Blender before this book project started, models for a Squawk RPG computer game we worked on some years ago.)  And if you don't have any hex paper, we made some of that as well:

Buy the Squawk RPG Book

You can now order the Squawk Role-Playing Game book at Amazon.com. ($19.95 USD and eligible for free shipping if you buy it with another book that costs at least $5.05.) The factory proof looks great. The 5.5" x 8.5" trade paperback format is bigger than I had imagined, feeling more like manga than a paperback novel.

We included a map of the Abaddon system on the back cover, so you won't get lost.

I let BFG include any of my sketches he wanted - including some that are not my favorites. As a result most pages of the book have artwork that helps you visualize the inhabitants and locations of Squawk's unusual science fiction setting.

I wish we had this book the last time I played Squawk!

Finished Editing Squawk RPG Book

I am the new spokesmodel for D&D Starter

We finished the final editing on the Squawk RPG book this weekend and I still had time to endure two long, grueling days of pure geek pleasure at PAX.

Public Squawk RPG Beta Concluded

Many thanks to all of you who participated in the Squawk Role-Playing Game book beta testing. If you have any feedback that you have not yet sent us, please send it to squawk@gameartsguild.com

We are well into our final editing process. For example, all of the planned changes to the Scratch Role-Playing System from beta feedback have already been made: http://knol.google.com/k/scratch-rps

defense changes

There have been 3 new changes to the Scratch RPS (and thus also the Squawk RPG,) related to defense:

• First and most importantly, the core rolling mechanism is that instead of trying to roll over a difficulty level to succeed, we now have a roll (plus ability bonus) instead equal to a difficulty in order to succeed. This means that defense is now what your attack roll + ability bonus has to be in order to successfully attack that target (equal to or greater than the target's defense.)
  
• Second, we are now again listing character's defense explicitly (after tgh/2.)
  
• Third, all healing rolls now have a difficulty level of 10 (they used to vary more than this.)
  

Use Scratch-Knol for testing

We have rewritten the combat examples in the Scratch RPS so that they better explain some of the more complicated things that can happen in basic Squawk RPG confrontations. From now on Beta Testers should reference the Scratch RPS knol for the rules instead of the Scratch RPS rules in the Squawk RPG Beta PDF.

Balancing Begins

There are two changes we have made as result of beta testing feedback, which beta testers should now start using until further notice:

1. When searching for a specific encounter, if the party rolls the same encounter twice, they automatically find the encounter they are looking for rather than repeat the random encounter.
   
2. The damage levels have changed for shooting and knock-out abilites (these details can be seen at the Scratch RPS Knol.) In a nutshell, shooting only damages 2 hit points unless the attack rolls a 20 when it then instead damages 5. Knock Out now damages 5 instead of 6, but still damages 7 if a 20 is rolled. (In combat between vehicles, rolling a 20 no longer damages any extra hit points.)