Taking Risks - The S is for Satan

Working on Lightbringer, discussing mechanics!

So, I made a set of new moves for every Hymnal type. These S-moves are more cost-effective than moves usually are, and they’re capable of huge swings. I knew out of the gate that this was what I wanted!

But now the question is, what mechanic do I tie these to? I can’t just throw them in as new moves - they’re obvious choices, and obvious choices are never fun.

Here’s what I created: S-Live Recovery. The text looks like this:

S-Live Recovery

Now, Hymnals have the power to defy Judgment with a technology called S-Live Recovery.

S-Live Recovery can be triggered when a Hymnal reaches 0 HP and 0 Gain. It can only be activated when a Hymnal is on the brink of being shattered.

An emergency system kicks in, restoring all the Hymnal’s structural integrity by re-routing it from the Gain processing circuits.

In other words, the Hymnal can get back up and restore all their Health. Once they do, however, they can no longer restore Health using Gain. They can only do this once per battle.

This reconfiguration also allows the Hymnal to use a new move, the special S-Type moves listed in the next section. As an added bonus, after an S-Live Recovery, a Hymnal unit is completely immune to Condemnation damage.

Talking Risks

Blazing Hymn is a very “rocket tag” kind of game. The idea is that players have a lot of ways to prevent an attack from connecting, but when it does connect, it connects hard. So, I knew from playing the game (both in the podcast Roar to Heaven and in my casual games) that players eat dirt pretty frequently.

So why not encourage them to eat a little more by giving them a promise of a diabolical return from the dead?

I was talking about this with Roar to Heaven star Jordan (who contributed two amazingly cool Hymnals to Lightbringer, by the way), and they expressed a concern that this could lead players to trigger an S-Live Recovery on purpose.

And in the end, I decided I was okay with that. After all, a player can only do it once, and afterward, they become considerably more fragile, losing the biggest way to recover damage. If the player is willing to risk that, then it makes an extremely cool moment, right?

Blazing Hymn is deliberately a game about making big swings. Not just for the players, but for me. So, a high-risk high-reward mechanic suits its style!

It’s a LUMEN game, after all. Balance is made up!

S-Moves (A Sample)

S - Decisive Slash (Tsurugi Base Type)

Decisive Slash (3) – Deal 1 Harm to a Close enemy. If you entered Close range with this enemy this turn, deal an additional 4 Harm.

S – Profane Grenade (Huo Jian Base Type)

Profane Grenade (4) – Deal 2 Harm to an enemy unit at any range. Then deal 4 Harm to any enemy unit in Close range of the initial target.

S – Impenetrable Courage (Katar Base Type)

Impenetrable Courage (4) – Move anywhere on the field. Prevent an attack against a Close target. If that attack would have reduced them to 0 Health, get 3 Gain back.

Next Up - Terrain

The next plan for Lightbringer is to work on Line Devils, the Earth’s reaction to the Heavenly invasion. They spring from leylines and impact the battlefield (and allow the Hymnals to probably turn into turrets), because in the end this is a tactical game and I haven’t played with terrain yet.

I’m excited to see what shapes up here!

Where to Find Blazing Hymn

Now Live - Underfoot!

My latest game, Underfoot, is a Halloween special! Taking cues from Heroic Chord and Remarine’s combat systems, Underfoot is a silly little comedy game about ruining a wizard’s day!

You can find it in my shop, but you can also buy it as part of the 2023 Halloween TTRPG Spooktacular!

Next week, we’ll be talking more about upcoming projects, the Identity Jam, and probably Line Devils!