Resisting the Effects of a Hostile Sun

From this game’s earliest inception I liked the idea that losing Health would make it harder to survive, as opposed to there being no effect until you hit zero.

This lead to the idea of the three Resists (Elemental, Disease and Pest) being rolled against Stamina so that that a lower Stamina would mean a lower chance of success.

This created a problem though - if all three resists are rolled against Stamina what sperates them? Originally the resists were bonuses that helped your Stamina roll, then they became pools of points.

Both in gameplay proved to be complicated.

Resists are now solid stats

The standard Resists are now static stats, set by your Archetype. They do not go up or down based on Stamina.

Stamina Resists

Stamina is still rolled against in one key circumstance - when resisting the effect of a failing space suit. When Opportunity runs out, each round players will test their Stamina or else lose 1d6 Stamina. This repeats each round after Opportunity loss.

I feel that this allows for the best of both worlds:

• When your suit fails, each failed Stamina Resist makes your next Stamina resist harder.

• Environmental impacts are resisted through static stats that do not generally move up or down. These are the Elemental / Disease/ Pest Resists. These Resists do not change based on your Stamina, making them easier to use.

Death Resists

I have also felt that the Dominance Stat is “Left out” given that it does not mine a Resource (as does Compassion). In In the Kaiju’s Shadow this is solved by making a seventh stat, Medicine that mines Helpful Herbs. Compassion and Dominance are then both focused on taming.

While that works in Kaiju’s Shadow, I felt that adding another Stat would add unessary complication. So in Hostile Sun, Compassion remains the stat for healing and Helpful Herb collection.

Dominance gains some added utility in that it is used for Death Resists. When you run out of Stamina, each round you must test Dominance successfuly or parish. You must keep succeeding (or die) until a party member heals you.

An Easy Character Sheet

I feel a player should be able to get all the key rules from the index character sheet. You have Six normal Stats, Stamina which serves as HP and three Resists. Rolling the number or less serves as a success. Five of your Stats mine Resources, the 6th, Dominance, is useful for Death Resists. Stamina is rolled against to resist a failing space suit.

Expect More Kaiju Soon

I intend to keep In the Kaiju’s Shadow to under 20 Pages. The idea is for Kaiju’s Shadow to be the most stripped down, focused version of the Fueled by a Hostile Sun system. I will be releasing Maps and adventures for it though, on its own Itch.io page, so be sure to check it out. https://muckraker.itch.io/in-the-kaijus-shadow