Small Change, Big Improvement

While play testing Galactic Ops, a sci-fi game based on Pay The Price, we discovered a simple change that resulted in a better combat experience.

Now when taking 3 Strain, one of the attribute die (player choice) is reduced by 1 level, but no lower than a d4. When an attribute die would be reduced below a d4, the character is knocked out or dead, whatever makes sense for the situation.

This simple change had a big impact on combat and player agency. In combat, the players will likely reduce the attribute they are not using for combat first, which is fine. Eventually, they will have to reduce their combat attribute, resulting in more partial successes and more damage. Strain acts as a buffer before the attribute die are reduced and when combined with Karma, it gives the players a lot of options for how they handle Strain and taking damage. This makes combat more engaging and requires strategic use of Karma and determining which attribute die to reduce. 

An updated version of Galactic Ops which uses this new mechanic will be released very soon.