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I've been very lucky to be able to have been designing and testing with a handful of friends and acquaintances a skirmish game for the past 2 years. I want to say 80% of it was solo, but we never really do anything like this alone.

I find that being more public about what I'm working on helps motivate me to push through the more tedious parts of design (numbers mostly.)

So what is Lines of Eternity?

[LINES OF ETERNITY] is a semi-competitive (70% casual?), Sci-Fantasy, Skirmish Game that takes place on a world that is reforming from many Fragments. Choose models from any Fragment to unlock powerful abilities or to discover synergies to use on the battlefield. Utilize a replenishing resource known as Momentum to make decisions efficiently and tactfully as you complete missions against other players.

The key features of the game are the list building freedom that allows you to find unique combinations you enjoy, the replenishing resource system that rewards strategic choices in every round, and the modular scenario cards that change the game every time you play.

Lines of Eternity - Alpha Rules & Playtest Material

This link goes to the complete ruleset. Inside you will find all of the rules and mechanics, links to 35 model cards, various scenario cards, some lore, and red text updates (changelog) chronicling the 2 years of changes. (I apologize for no visuals. And there are 100% errors somewhere.)

I'm not expecting anyone to print out some unknown person's game to test. Like I said, this is more for self motivation than anything.

But if you do have a chance to look, it's greatly appreciated. I don't know if this will ever become a real thing (in my mind it isn't close to being more than an alpha), but it's my thing and it's fun to work on when I can. Everyone is welcome to ask any questions and I'll do the best I can to answer them.

I don't want this post to be too long, but thank you for your time and have some good games.

*I am working on finalizing a very, very rough tabletop simulator playtest mod and figuring out a playtest survey if I ever get to that point.*

I've got some stuff going on right now.
But I'll check this out when I get the chance.

Thank you for possibly taking the time to check it out.

If you end up with any questions or are just curious about anything, I'm happy to answer.

Hit Potential sounds weird.

Ending the game when tabled seems reasonable, but only if that's a victory condition.
It could, if VP are what matters more than killing, lead to a situation where if you're behind on points, you want to leave at least one enemy model alive, so you can keep scoring.

Do Untethered models persist indefinitely?
If yes, Cut The Thread seems pretty useful.
If no... Less so.

Minor formatting thing: Reactions should be a little more prominent, so as to delineate it as its own section.

Dice Value being capped at +/-1 is okay, I guess. Makes sense for a d6 system.
But I might consider switching to d12s and letting mods go bigger. (I'm partial to d12s-they roll so nice!)

For hitting, your example should include an equal number. If you roll a 6 for defense, I'm assuming offensive 6s still hit, since it says lower and not equal to or lower.
But clarity via example would be good. Also, if it truly is just lower and not equal to or lower, offensive 1s can hit.

Do Criticals work for modified dice values?
Assuming yes.

I see, Untethered last till end of round. Okay.

Unyielding-does it apply at the end of the attack sequence? Or immediately, letting them be killed in the same attack sequence?

Fortified-nothing earlier said you can't defend against other types, just that it's harder to do so.

Overflow feels like it should have rules requiring you to choose closer models first.
You could snipe a model 15" to your left, and then Overflow damage to a model 8" to your right even if there's a trio in between them.

The various marker abilities should probably explain what they do there.
I see they're immediately after, at least.

Entropy Markers... Cool!

Climb Action was not listed in earlier action categories. Does it mean Move?

Irides third Passive Ability-does it deal half the TARGET's Life Total in damage, or half the FRIENDLY model's Life Total?
And their first Once Per Game-round up or down? (In general, do you round up or down by default?)

Vyrodendr first once per game ability-I'd make it "Any number of models you control. Max of 1d6 chosen if an enemy successfully reacts."

Looking at the rules for minis, it seems like they're all unique individuals. Is that right?
That's a downer for me, since I like customizing units and models.

Overall Thoughts
Pretty cool! You definitely put work into this, and it shows!

Thank you, definitely a good list of things I need to clarify more clearly how they work and fix some wording.

And it's just personal preference, but I'm not a fan of customizing units, especially for a game that has such free list building.

Thanks for giving all of your input regardless, very appreciated.

Some other notes just because I know the answer. The D6 system is definitely staying, it's one of the parts everyone has enjoyed and for ease of access.

You actually used to be able to +1/-1 a die value more and it was way too good.

Combat is the reaction dice cancel any lower attack dice. So a 6 will always hit unless there are buffs or debuffs, and a 1 is the easiest to cancel.

Climb used to be its own action, but it was redundant in how everyone wanted to move, so I definitely need to clean that up through the rest of the rules.

For unyielding, damage is applied all at once at the end of an attack. But you could attack the same model twice if it survives the first attack due to unyielding.


Again, thanks for giving input.

No problem!
Having looked through it fully, I've determined it's not to my tastes. But I wish you the absolute best in developing and succeeding with it!

Thank you, I hope you continue to have great games in everything you play.

Since a few may be curious what an alpha prototype can end up looking like on Tabletop Simulator, here is a short clip of what setting up terrain looks like currently.

A note that many of the assets were created by others and will be credited once the prototype goes live, people do some really amazing stuff.

*Everything is subject to change*

https://youtu.be/m6Z79vbM6Io