So... The first test round of Last Man Standing has started... Feel free to discuss it here.

The game is very much in testing, so please tell me if there are any major flaws... Or even minor niggles... And I'll see what I can do.

I will attempt to do an update once every 24 hours, probably around 12 GMT.

So... Good luck, and may the Emperor's finest win.

UPDATE:

So... As the poll says, would people be interested in seeing rounds that go beyond 'shoot all your fellow players'? By this I mean things like team vs team, players vs NPC army, objective-based missions, etc.

I realise that the game is called 'Last Man Standing', but petty things such as naming conventions do not bother me. Personally I think it would be interesting to see missions that have different dynamics, especially considering the setting's existing backstories that I can tap into / expand on.

So what do you think?

Yes, very much so. I'd love if we could get maps happening too. We can just take them straight out of White Dwarf if anyone buys em.

Personally, I prefer it more when it's just the players with maybe a few bot-type things showing up. Granted, I've only had one round of each under Razor so far, but I definitely didn't enjoy the NPC army. Of course, if everyone else wants a round like that, don't let my opinion stop you. I am perfectly capable of not signing up if I don't like the setting. : )

I prefer it if it was just players who participated, with maybe an NPC VIP or something if the setting calls for it. Having a diverse range of weapons and a points system for gears would make each player more interesting in the way they outfit themselves. That's just my opinion though. Complexity might make it more a chore then fun to play.

More weapons will be introduced over the course of this round, and a system for buying / acquiring new gear is in the works for the next round, hopefully.

As for using maps... On the one hand it would iron out a lot of issues I'm running into, on the other hand, it'd be hard keep track of where people were quickly, as I'd need to update them on the fly. Also, the last thing we need is for the game to get bogged down into debates about how far someone moved, and how much cover that actually gives them, who can see them, etc. So in theory, the setting will be purely description, and environmental interaction, not a hard and fast map.

The NPC army thing... Since this system is still in a beta stage, can I ask what people disliked about it? That way, if I do anything similar, I can learn from past games. I'd be more likely to assign people teams and let the players duke it out, but on the offchance I'd want to introduce a couple of me-controlled combatants, I'd like to know what people liked and disliked about the way Razor used them.

The only thing I disliked about Razor's NPCs was that they both got their own turn and would counterattack any attack against them. Also the 'boss' NPC got multiple turns somehow...
But other than that I don't mind NPCs as long as they're not showing up in ridiculous quantity (ie. much more than the number of active players) and there's some decent spoils for killing them.

Well, the only way the NPC turns might differ from the player turns is by them having a higher / lower speed. They might get a different number of actions, but they'd get the same number of turns.

Right... Time for the first rules update. This will be by no means the last, so please bear with me.

Lucky / Unlucky Events

Sometimes fate is on your side. Sometimes it just isn't. Even the most skilled sniper will sometimes miss a shot. To represent this, a roll of 1 - 5 on any kind of check is always a success. Conversely, a roll of 96 - 100 is always a failure.

Placed Shots / Targeted Shooting

Since everyone seems to have missed the note I added in the shooting rules, I'll draw attention to it here. When firing at a person, please specify a 'preferred' location. This will affect the targeting of 'placed shots'. Placed shots means getting a shot just where you want it. In the event of a placed shot, your hit location will be adjust up or down by 20 points to try and get as close to your preferred location as possible.

A placed shot, on an unaimed shot, occurs when your to-hit roll is 1/10th or less than the required result. (Eg. when your to-hit chance is 100%, your placed shot chance is 10%). On a shot with at least one level of aiming, your placed shot chance is half your to-hit chance. (Eg. 50%, using the above example).

Please note that a character who can only hit using the 1 - 5 auto-success can never pull off a placed shot.

Recover

Now that the first blood has been drawn, the Recover action may start being used. For this reason, I will clarify the brief description that is given in the action section.

When the recover action is used, the character specifies a location or their injury total. The character must roll equal or lower than their maximum injury total. Should this check succeed, that location is healed by d3 points, and an additional +1 per full 10 points that the character's maximum injury total is over 50. In addition to this healing, if a location is specified to be healed, the injury level on that location also drops down one step in severity.

Recover actions can also be used on other players, should you wish to help someone out.

Primary Hand

Each character should have a primary hand designated. This will affect a range of issues, especially when it comes to arms being injured. Further information on off-hand attacks will follow. Please note it is not possible to be ambidextrous. This trait may be gained later in the game.

Aiming through walls

The final change for this update...

Due to the opaque nature of walls, and the fact that they are damn good at hiding what is behind them, the 'aim' action cannot be used on a character who is behind them. It is still possible to target them, but due to the inability to specifically target an unseen enemy, it is impossible to aim at them. These shots will thus always be made at the character's basic to-hit modifier.

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Future issues:

Cover - In need of major refining. Let your voice be heard.
More weapons - To be reavealed this round, assuming people can find them.
Other gadgets - See weapons
Tribbles - Harmless furrballs, or insidious xenos scum? Find out the truth. Before it's too late.

Edit: Draccy: why didn't you list those other things at the start? It would have been good to know, especially things like primary hands. And that recovery bit. My crotch could use some tending...

Recovery was there. I just extended the description. As for the primary hand... >_>

There's a lot of bits I forgot. My apologies for anything that is added that very obviously should have been in the rules 1.0. That is why we have this 'beta' round.

Also, remember your preferred locations, people. Don' t let those placed shots go to waste. >_>

My bad then for missing it. I didn't participate in the original LMS, so this is all new.

Is what I did how the preferred location should work? If I need to spend an action to do it instead, I'll just remove it.

I think that's right.

That's it, Germ. It's just a note with each shot what general area you're aiming for on the person.

And so, turn 2 comes to a close, and new toys come out of the woodworks. No more puny flashlights. Solid slug weapons are the way to go! So, what did our plucky soldiers come across on the field of battle?

Pump action combat shotgun
... Do I really need to spell this one out? It does death.

Revolver
Again. A well known staple of Westerns. The first pistol weapon to appear in LMS.

Stubber
Another pistol weapon, though of a slightly higher caliber than the revolver. Semi-automatic goodness.

Triplex Pattern Lasgun
A flashlight on steroids. Three settings, ranging from harmless to marginally annoying.

Please note that all newly found weapons are empty, and must be reloaded before use.

Cover

Cover, and the way it works, is in for a overhaul.

First: If you are in cover, before you can do any action that would require you to be outside it (eg searching or attacking someone in melee), you must declare you are leaving cover. You can not search directly from cover.

Secondly: Full cover. You can enter it during your turn, you can leave it during your turn. You can not, however, do both in the same turn. This is to prevent the 'jack-in-the-box' gaming that is developing. If you leave full cover, you have to wait until the next turn to go back into it.

I think that's about it for rules changes on this update.

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Just a note on stunning. To clarify, if you are stunned, you can not act during the following turn. (Or, in the case of getting stunned by an earlier player, you cannot act in that turn.) Either way, you lose the turn following the stunning.

That means that, unfortunately, Mac can't do anything this turn. Better luck next turn, Lady.

To the rest of you... Let the carnage recommence.

Turn 3 has ended. Only one new toy this time. But what a toy it is...

Autogun
Choose a direction... Aim... Let rip. This fun little weapon comes in the flavours of single, semi-automatic and full-auto. When in doubt, the barrel is pointed away from you.

No actual rules updates this time. Looks like all is fine and dandy for now.

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More stunning for Mac. Poor girl just can't catch a break. And Gilga is down as well. Stray's daring rescue may turn the tide of battle though. Let's see where turn 4 takes us.

It occurred to me a moment ago. There should be some tweaking of the aiming system. I'm thinking something such that everyone isn't trying for headshots all the time. I would think the ideal would be that instead of one flat accuracy rating for each person, having each body part of the target with its own hit percentage, but that might be a bit too complicated for a silly forum game.

Ooh, I really like that idea. I think the head and limbs should be harder to hit while the chest is easier.