Version 0.2.8 Walks Among Us!

Ryan M.M. June 7, 2015

     Straight to VHS has received another coat of polish as it inches its way to glory! Let's take a look at the update notes, shall we?

• Healing items have been killed!
  
• At the end of each scene, characters heal by 5 + their number of montages.
  
• "Push it to the Limit" now goes like this: (Once per scene, 1 AP) Turn in an epic dice token to heal by 1/2 your total HP.
  
• Significant changes to the Speed chart have been made.
  
• Assisting another character gives a +4 bonus if you have a relevant epic.
  
• Changed the caveat on the "Character" script change type.
  
• Added the "Doctor" trope.
  
• Added the "Aspiring Script Writer" perk.
  
• Added the "Laser Focused" perk.
  
• The "Live, Man! Live!" perk has been removed.
  
• The "Batteries Included" trope had a boring "scanning" Cinematic Action replaced by an interesting healing ability.
  
• The "Beastmaster" trope now gives beast and master 7 AP to split.
  
• Lowered the "Blind Master" trope's secondary stat bonus by 1.
  
• Clarified how the "Bumbling Sidekick" trope's cinematic action works.
  
• Changed quite a bit about the "Cyborg" trope.
  
• The "Die Hardly" trope is significantly changed.
  
• Add "Dual Wielding" to the list of tweaked tropes.
  
• The "Haunted" trope got a couple tweaks.
  
• The "Jack Burtonesque" trope has been thrown a bone.
  
• The "Know it All" trope saw some clarification.
  
• "Man/Woman of Action" gained "Epic: Initiative".
  
• "Man/Woman of the Cloth" and "Paid Sponsor" tropes now determine their healing differently.
  
• The "Martial Artist" trope's cinematic action becomes once-per-scene.
  
• Added the line-of-sight caveat to the "Net Hacker" trope, as well as some clearer wording.
  
• The "Paid Sponsor" trope's product can give an epic dice token (rather than an epic die to your next roll).
  
• The "Protagonist" trope has gained "Epic: Passionate Speeches"
  
• Lowered the AP cost on the "Psychic Mindfreaker" trope's mindfreaking action.
  
• The "Sentamentalist" trope's cinematic action now grants an epic dice token (rather than an epic die to your next roll).
  
• Added the need to reload to the sniper rifle granted by the "Sniper" trope.
  
• Completely revamped the "Stoner" trope.
  
• "Thou Art From the Past" and "Thou Art From the Future" now touch on starting with a custom weapon.
  
• Some clarification added to the "Troubled Athlete" trope.
  
• A bit about a cloak got added to the "Vampire" trope. Wooden stakes got blooperified.
  
• The "Dramatic Reveal" perk works differently.
  
• The "Glancing Blows" perk works differently.
  
• Tweaked the language in the "My Body is Literally a Weapon" perk.
  
• The "Wildcard" perk is not compatible with the "Stoner" trope.
  
• A few new graphics.
  
• Updated character sheet.
  
  

     Yeah, killing off healing items was way overdue in retrospect. Having the heroes carrying a bunch of first-aid kits just didn't fit with the theme. Furthermore, having them miraculously push forward fits wonderfully, and is convenient and simple to boot!

     Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room: baddies. I keep saying that I'm gonna get around to them, but here we are with the same ol' crummy "Example Bad Guys" section. I have had scarce time to devote to Straight to VHS these last few weeks. Unfortunately this will stay true through June. And so, as much as I wanted improved baddies in this newest update, it would have taken too long to get that update done. It's lame. However, I figured it would be even worse to sit on the good stuff that is finished, simply because I had an idea in my head about what the next update would be like.

     On that note, I have no guarantees as to what 0.2.9 will be like, nor can I say for certain that it won't be followed up by a 0.2.91. But I will say with certainty, that 0.3 isn't very far off, and it will involve a bit more than another bulleted list of tweaks.

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