Topic: Layout Suggestions and Questions
A few thoughts on layout, with particular reference to finding rules quickly during a game.
1. The actual rule for Impact Rating is surprisingly hard to find, and seems inconsistent with say, the morale rules layout. The fact that Impact Rating is one die at 7+ is mentioned only once, and is not in any summary table, and is not referenced directly anywhere else, let alone with a page reference. We eventually found it because we had a PDF to hand and used the Search function. Impact rating is the one (only?) weapon attribute not included in the index. At the least, it would be nice if the sentence defining the essential function of IR (ie, that it adds damage on a separate roll of 7+) were in a bold font.
2. The rules for crew-served weapons would benefit from bold font or other highlighting where they specify that crew-served weapons may be up to the cost allowed for VEHICLE weapons. The benefit of crew served weapons is buried in a largish unbroken paragraph and I actually missed it twice even though I knew where it was.
3. Trivia I suppose: I'm not sure why, but everyone playing thought in target numbers, not in terms of bonuses or penalties to the die roll. Perhaps this is habit, but it slowed the game fractionally every time someone had to adjust their thinking. I'm guessing that the weapons profiles, which in essence list a target number, just made everyone reflexively think like they were playing Shadowrun. I think it might be a tendency to work out all modifiers and then roll, rather than roll then modify, and to roll for as many troops as possible simultaneously. With target number you can then glance at the dice and see how many made it, rather than calculating for each.