Blood Neon: Tactical RPG Design that SLAYS
I love tactical RPGs. D&D4e and Lancer are two of my very favorite games. I love crunch, and I live for that moment when a plan comes together and the villain falls under the weight of superior firepower and superior tactics.
But tactical RPGs are often deeply flawed as games. I first noticed this running D&D4e for my grad school group, where there were more advanced degrees than people at the table, and these very bright individuals had trouble understanding how to use their characters, let alone synergize their abilities as a party. The cognitive load of D&D4e was simply too high, too many numbers and powers and things to pay attention to, even leaving roleplaying aside.
Similarly, I’ve played and run a fair bit of Lancer, and while there’s a lot to love in that game, I can’t say I’ve actually had a great combat encounter with it. The line between cakewalk and utter destruction feels razor thin, and some builds deal so much damage that the rest of the party feels like supporting characters. But the basic problem with Lancer is that the COMPCON enabled mech design is so deep that the optimal tactical play is to build a big stick and then use it as frequently as you can.
I’ll leave detailed discussion of NOVA and Gubat Banwa for different venues, but needless to say, I’ve been waiting for the right tactical RPG.
Blood Neon is the game that I’ve been looking for.
Blood Neon is a class and power based tactical RPG played on a hexgrid. The setting oozes style, a tongue in cheek fantasy where you are rock and roll stars battling unthinking monsters and the evils of extractive capitalism.
But we’re here for the crunch, and the crunch is solid. I’m actually a big fan of class and power based games, because it means characters are thematic archetypes: in this case Barbarian Bikers, Hip Hop Bards, Neon Sorcerers, and punk Painstealers. Restricting what powers can be taken (Tier I at first, then Tier II, finally Tier III), prevents a combinatorial explosion of options which overloads character creation and can potentially break the game. There’s still room to figure out which powers work well for your group and playstyle, but you don’t need to digest entire tomes of options to make a competent character.
Blood Neon makes several innovations in tactical RPG design. Turns are divided into two phases, Ne||On, and some powers only work in one phase. Monsters come with a cardboard AI describing how they act in each phase, which reduces the load on the GM and allows human-operated player characters to literally think circles around their foes.
Another thing I really like is the interaction between Momentum (the hitpoint measure) and the core gameplay loop. Attacks always hit, dealing random damage. Killed enemies drop a recovery, which restores momentum. If you acquire 10 momentum, you can choose to ascend, bumping your damage dice up a value. You do zero-to-hero over the course of a session instead of a campaign.
Blood Neon simplifies without getting too simple. Characters are faster than most enemies, but not so fast that they can completely ignore the battlefield. There are four advanced types of terrain, with some neat twists. Monsters will walk into pits, dying in the process. You can slide across slick terrain without using movement. Five damage types and seven conditions increase tactical complexity without creating status hell.
Finally, a system of boons and bonds describes how your character is connected to the world; who they know and what they do. Boons and Bonds work on the same d4-d20 scale as the rest of the system, and anything above a 4 is a success, with each addition +2 granting increased tiers of success. Adventuring is dangerous, and while you can respawn, every three deaths removes one of your boons or bonds as you become an increasingly inhuman killing machine.
Blood Neon is fantastic! At $10 for a complete game, it’s a bargain. There are a few things that could use some work. The Rush mechanic gives extra actions with an escalating chance to end your turn, but has no penalty for failing the roll. The equipment system is fine, but I’d love to see something that manages the jackpot thrill of loot drops in an action-RPG like Diablo or Borderlands without being tedious or unfair. But these are minor issues, and easily patched without impacting the core game.
I’m deeply thankful this game exists, and a little bit mad that I didn’t write it myself. You should check it out.
