XENO HUNT - CHARACTER RULES

One year ago I posted the sketch of what would be the rules for a xenomorph-hunting boardgame (if you wish, click here to re-read them).
I was never too fond of the way to handle the different possible player characters. The special qualities of the officer and medic were balanced with a worse weapon, but it seemed a bit forced, honestly. And I always feared that people would think that having up to three identical characters, the grunts, was just lazy.
So I'm changing that part. First, I'm adding more different archetypes, so to speak; and the grunts too will get some special rules.That means the officer and medic won't need to be restricted in their weapon selection. This is how it all works...

Before the game starts, the players must select a role for their characters. All of those are limited to one per game; except for the "grunt", which may be chosen multiple times (in fact, players may play exclusively with grunts, if that's what they want).
Then, two skills will be selected at random for every character, from the list associated to their role.

• Officer, the guy in charge, with a tactical mind and the balls to lead his men in lethal missions.
 · You don't spend an action to select an order. You can give that order to one of your men.
 · When shooting, you and comrades adjacent to you gain 1 extra space for range and add 1 extra point of damage.
 · The xeno player can't use any of his cards during your turn.
 · Up to three times per game, you may cancel any card the xeno player is trying to use.

• Medic, the one that stitches his comrades back together and is never thanked enough.
 · You can use two actions (one full turn) to cure 1 Hit Point, to yourself or any comrade.
 · You start with 2 extra HPs.
 · A medikit cures 2 HPs instead of 1 when used by you (on yourself or a comrade).
 · You start the mission carrying two medikits.

• Sniper, the one that prefer to take his time and kill from a safe distance.
 · You don't suffer penalty when firing at long range.
 · You can shoot through other minis (both comrades or xenos) and obstacles.
 · When shooting, you can choose to trace line of sight from any adjacent square.
 · If you roll a 6 when shooting at long range, you kill automatically (headshot!).

• Heavy, the big guy that carries the big weapons and packs a punch in close combat.
 · In close combat, you can knockback enemies, and cannot be knocked back.
 · You begin game with 1 extra Armour Point.
 · When going for full attack (two attacks in one turn), you can make 3 attacks.
 · In close combat, you always make 1 extra point of damage (and will always make 1 damage point at least).

• Scout, the lithe guy that scuttles unseen and hackes security systems.
 · You have extra movement (MOV stat of 6 instead of the usual 5).
 · You have the ability to move through airducts.
 · You can hack security doors and open them with any security key.
 · When moving, you can move through xenos and obstacles (but must end movement in empty space).

• Lucky, the bastard with more lives than a cat and his own irish-leprechaun-grade lucky charm.
 · When a xeno is hurted next to you, you miracously dodge all of its acid blood spills.
 · When opening a weapons crate, if you already have the weapon there, you may choose another you still don't have.
 · When you find ammo, if it's useless for you, you may choose any other kind of ammo instead.
 · When shooting, if you roll a 6 on the die, you add 1 extra point of damage (and will always make 1 damage point at least).

• Grunt, the standard trooper able to accomodate for any situation, a jack of all trades.
 · Once per game, you may cancel any card the xeno player is trying to use.
 · A medikit cures 2 HPs instead of 1 when you use it on yourself.
 · You can shoot through obstacles without penalties.
 · In close combat, you cannot be knocked back.
 · When moving, you can move through obstacles without penalties (but must end movement in empty space).
 · When a xeno is hurted next to you, you may dodge all its acid blood spills if you roll 4+ on a die.
 · You are immune to the watchful ability. In addition, xenos cannot be spawn within 4 spaces of you.
 · You can never run out of ammo for the pulse rifle.
 · When you have readied a dodge order, you gain the watchful ability.
 · Once per turn, when you kill a xeno you may immediately move up to 4 spaces and make 1 extra attack.
 · When going for full attack (two attacks in one turn), you can still move up to 2 spaces before each attack.
 · When you enter a new sector, the xeno player must turn the blips, revealing how many xenos there are.

XENO HUNT - SKETCH RULES

First of all, let me wish you all a happy new year. Last one wasn't exactly good, in any aspect; so we'd better keep our fingers crossed for this 2012.

Second, welcome to my last follower. I hope you find something to ignite your own imagination here.

Third, I have absolutely no idea why the display is broken. I haven't touched anything; simply, one day it was OK and the following everything was screwed up. It must have been either Blogger or Picassa, I don't know; and I don't know how to fix it... but I'll try to, anyway.

And so, without further ado, because honestly this update was due months ago, I'm presenting to you the sketch rules of "Xeno Hunt", the boardgame inspired by the Aliens movies franchise that takes place in my Galaxtar setting. Bear in mind that this game will be closely based on the "Doom boardgame" created by Fantasy Flight Games, so you may want to read its rules to have a better understandment of what I'm trying to achieve here. Let's start:
· It's a game of one player controlling the xenomorphs and "directing" the game against 3-5 players controlling the light infantry marines.
· It's played on a modular board composed of rooms and corridors, laid according to the map of the scenario created by the xeno player.
· The board is gridded. So movement and range is done counting squares.
· Said scenario determines not only the map, but also the goals for the marines, and everything that may be encountered, be it xenos, weapons, or ammo.
· The goal of the xeno player is to kill all of the marines. Anyway, "killed" marines won't be removed from play, but respawn (it is assumed they have "just" been impregnated).
· When playing with three marines, one is the sergeant, other the medic, and the last a grunt. If more marines are used, they are grunts, too.
· Xeno forces are drones, warriors, and the queen.
· Marine weapons are: contact taser for melee fighting, pulse SMG (for sergeant and medic) and pulse rifle (for grunts, it has a small grenade launcher), shotgun, smartgun, and flamer.
· Weapons have a maximum range at which they can be used. And that is divided (by two) in short range and long range. When shooting a target in the long range the attacker has a -1 penalty.
· Shotgun has the shortest range, 6 squares. But at short range it inflicts 1 extra damage whenever it hits.
· Smartgun has the longest range, 12 squares. And because of its auto-aiming system, all range is considered to be short range.
· Pulse SMG and rifle have a range of 10 squares. The rifle grunts use also has a small grenade launcher, with same range.
· Whenever a new section of the map is revealed, the xeno player will place "blip counters" to represent xenomorphs. The marines know there are enemies, but not how many of them. Once they come into line of sight, the blip is turned to see whether it was one, two or three xenos.
· Marines will find weapon crates and ammo crates, but the exact content will only be revealed when they get to it.
· Every turn two actions may be performed. Actions are: moving (up to the movement rating), attacking, or "interacting" (i.e. opening crates, activating machinery, registering corpses...).
· The sergeant can "give orders": he loses one or two of his actions but another marine gains that or those action(s).
· Marines will find first aid kits that allow to restore one point of health, or two if used by a medic.
· The xeno player gains "reinforcements" too, in the form of a deck that allows him to spawn more xenos, or have different effects. He begins game drawing as many cards as players (him included) plus two, and then must discard until he has only as many cards as players. Every turn he draws two cards, and again maximum size of hand is number of players.
· Xenos are sneaky buggers, so they can be deployed in line of sight of marines, and even in hand to hand combat.
· Xenos have acid blood. So when they are hit with a fireweapon they spill acid in all adjacent squares, causing one direct wound to any non-xeno miniature there.
· I want to include a homage to Doom, so there will be red, yellow and blue doors that can't be opened without the corresponding coloured key.
· There will be other keys, too, needed to open some lockers and crates. Unlike with the previous keys, these will never be needed to complete an scenario (but can be extremely useful).
· Combat is resolved by the attacker choosing the appropriate rating, MAR (Melee Attack Rating) or RAR (Ranged Attack Rating), rolling a standard d6, and adding both numbers. If the result is equal or greater than the defender's DR (Defense Rating), defender is hit. Attacker rolls di(c)e for damage according to weapon, and substracts defender's AR (Armour Rating) from result. That is the number of wounds inflicted.

Those are the bare bones of the system. Adapted they'll be the bones of the other two boardgames. If you have any auggestion just comment.
See you!