The original SLA Industries creative team are back, and they’ve brought the second edition of the classic cult RPG to Kickstarter. The SLA Industries 2e quickstart is already out, and it’s free. It’s a look at a gritty and low-tech sci-fi world where it always rains, and the corporations use monsters and killers. You’re one of them.
The Kickstarter launched today and is racing towards the £10,000 funding goal. You can see how well it’s doing on the campaign page.
The SLA Industries 2e Kickstarter campaign, at this point, has been live for a less than an hour. The majority of backers are going for the limited £50 tier, taking the 1000 places down to 950 already.
At that pledge level, known as Halloween Jack, you get a SLA Industries 2e hardback, a GM screen, a Kickstarter exclusive set of 6d10s, a PDF conversion kit for the 1e supplement ‘Cannibal Sector 1’ and ‘Hunter Sheets 2’.
If you just want the PDF then the pledge is £12. If you want the hardback, without extra fuss, then the pledge is £35, and you get the conversion documents anyway.
What’s changed between SLA 1e and SLA 2e?
Shep from Nightfall games takes us through the Why and the How of the new system. The ‘why’ is easy; fans asked for a new system. The old was advanced for its time, I’ve played it and agree with that assessment, but it does feel dated now.
Nightfall have designed the new system to be more cinematic. The core mechanic uses a variable dice poll (d10s) with a success die and skill die. The former determines if you success, the latter determines how much you succeed by.
There are ratings points too. Spending rating points allow PCs to do things they couldn’t normally do, activating feats but they’re hard to earn. You characters have to do genuinely cinematic things, on camera, like save others from earning them in the first place.
Luck is new too, except for the Ebonites who have Flux, and allows characters to re-roll dice. It’s a limited pool, though, and can run out quickly.
Nightfall likes luck as an in-system way to offset actual bad luck that might get in the way when players are trying something fun, impressive or clever.
As we’ve seen in the quickstart there are changes to Flux powers and new enemies.
You're welcome to share observations about this article in the comments.
