Aw, ponyfeathers...

Holy bucking Tartarus, it's been over a year since any of us updated this blog! It isn't that we've ceased working on this project or that (speaking for myself, at least) interest in continuing has been lost. It's more that the vast majority of our discussions and build modifications occur on our Facebook group page and never find their way here. Believe me when I say I'm really sorry about that! Hopefully I'll remember to post all the crazy shenanigans over on this outlet, too!

Anyway, just like the last time an update was posted here, we did run FRAG at FAN:dom 2013, though the layout of this year's con made finding space to play far more difficult than last year. Regardless, games were played, characters were tested, and modifications were made. I won't be covering the "finished" builds that were played, as they've already gotten a lot of playtesting and I was only really paying attention to the builds that showed necessary modification. More to follow after the break.

Playtest Report 06/08

A productive playtest to report!? What is this?

Yeah, we got two solid games of new character playtesting in. Most of the new additions are just about ready to go, while two or three still need further testing before I consider them ready. Still, it feels good to finally make some real progress! More details after the break.

Lots of new characters being tested...

So, I haven't checked in here in a LONG time. Sorry about that. I'm apparently busier than I believe sometimes. Anyway, while I haven't had the chance to make a post here, I have been busy working on a bunch of new stuff for Fraging is Magic. One of those things is new characters. I finished Fallout: Equestria a little while back, and I decided to add some of those awesome characters in here, since they seem to fit pretty well. Check them out after the break.

Princess Luna enters the fray!

I figured it was time somebody posted a boss character, and since I've got one handy that survived a playtest, here we have it: Princess Luna.

New character! Derpy now available!

After a little contemplation (and a good playtest at Freecon) I think I've finally got a working Derpy! Let me know if any of her abilities need modification (especially if there's any confusion on the language of any of them). Have fun!

Big character update!

We recently had another playtest, and a lot of good data was collected. Just made a bunch of little tweaks and changes, as well as a couple big changes! Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Apple Jack, and Pinkie Pie have all had an update! Check out a couple highlights from the game and the updates after the break.

Ushicon (2/3 - 2/5) and other updates!

Oh, hey, Ushicon has pretty much come and gone, hasn't it? It was a lot of fun, but not much to report. Played several rounds of FRAGing is Magic, but I spent a lot of time just teaching people how to play. While feedback was good, it wasn't exactly the best place to get real constructive criticism.

The best thing to happen there was one of the event coordinators used to work for Steve Jackson Games and personally knows Philip Reed, the game designer for Frag! He didn't get a chance to play himself, but he took some pictures and e-mailed them to Philip. Unfortunately, I never heard back from him if Philip has ever responded...

Anyways, it was a fun weekend! Joseph and I have kicked some ideas around this month and here are some changes we've made:

Playtest Damage Report: 1/26

Met up with a couple other bronies for a round last night. A lot of good data was collected, and we've responded accordingly by making some changes. Here's how it all went down!

New Ability: Twilight Sparkle gets telekinesis!

I had been wanting to give Twilight Sparkle a telekinesis attack for a long time now, and thanks to the knock-back rules in the FTW expansion, I know how to do it!

- Works like an attack in that it needs an accuracy roll. Target must be in line-of-sight.
- Roll a number of dice equal to Twilight Sparkle's current health, disregarding armor.
- Number of spaces opponent is thrown is that number divided by 2.
- Apply damage according to knock-back rules.
- Counts as an attack.

With that, the ponies are complete! Now we just need to do a bunch of playtesting to make sure everything is properly balanced! ...And I need to come up with unique abilities for Earth ponies still.... O.o

Finally acquired the Frag expansion, FTW. New ability for Apple Jack!

Here it is, Frag FTW. It has two new maps, exploding barrels, lava, water, door switches, and a few cool new rules. In fact, I feel like an idiot for not realizing that the rules for FTW were also online in .pdf format until just now...
Official Frag FTW Rules

One thing I am really happy about is that it includes tokens for keeping track of health. Hooray!

FTW comes with rules for "knock back" damage, which is something that applies to weapons dealing 6d damage. I am going to apply this idea to Apple Jack and give her an ability called "Bull Rush."
- Apple Jack may charge into an opponent, but her movement will end there.
- Spaces opponent is pushed back is equal to number of spaces Apple Jack moved in a straight line prior to striking target, divided by 2 (rounded down)
- Opponent gets pushed back that many spaces.
- Apply damage according to Knock Back rules.

Example: Apple Jack rolls a movement of 11. She moves 4 spaces, turns, then charges into Twilight Sparkle, hitting her on the 5th space. Twilight Sparkle gets pushed back a total of 2 spaces. Apple Jack's movement ends despite having 2 movement points left.

Of course, had I been smart enough to look up rules for FTW already, I would have known this before. However, I assumed that FTW would only contain rules for new features like lava, door switches, and exploding barrels. Oh well....