This part of the city has been sealed. Whatever happened here was enough for the government to call it quits on anyone and everyone that survived whatever created the CyMS. But we still live. We still have to live. That is why you are going out after supplies. Besides the CyMS, others are going to be after those supplies, so keep your eyes wide and keep it quiet.
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Omicron Protocol is a scenario based strategy combat game. There are 2 sides competing to accomplish the objective of the scenario. Although they are not facing off against each other, they are competing for the same objective which means the opposing force has to be dealt with.
I played a prototype of Omicron Protocol as Brendan Kendrick and Bernie Lin of Dead Alive Games were preparing their Kickstarter campaign in 2019.
When I read the backstory for Omicron Protocol, the name created more questions of what happened in our future world to require quarantining a city and leaving the residents to fend for themselves. Omicron is the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. A protocol is an official response of procedure with how to deal with a situation. Usually a diplomatic response from a government, but also used in business dealings. Not only is Omicron the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, in mathematics it is used as the symbol for growth rates, and in other instances it is tied with Omega, the end. This leads the imagination to believe we are far beyond "Plan A" for containment.
We played Omicron Protocolwith three players. Two of us controlled one faction against the other player's faction. The offset didn't put the game out of balance from the point of the pieces on the mat. It is also hard to say if the two-headed team was better than the one. There was an advantage for the two players being able to talk over their strategy. At the same time, the individual player was able to coordinate their actions easier.
There are starter scenarios for learning movement and abilities. The system is straight forward and we found it easy to understand. The number of options available and deciding which was the best path forward to complete the objective was where the difficulty was. That was where the individual had some advantage by handling the entire team instead of just part of it. The multi-player team was able to focus on the character abilities more, which required more conversation and bartering between the players.
Omicron Protocol contains multiple levels of strategy. It started in the pre-game setup when each faction chose the characters to go on the mission. The introductory scenarios have preselected characters; however, in the full game scenarios the player(s) have control. Individual character abilities and how they can interact are important considerations along with how those abilities pair up with the faction's special abilities.
While racing the other faction to achieve the goal you also need to deal with the Cyber-Memetic Sociopaths (CyMS). CyMS (pronounced "sims") are zombies attracted by sound. Any time characters take actions causing noise, there is a chance the CyMS in the area will come to feed. Noise, therefor, is also part of the strategy employed when dealing with the opposing faction.
Playing the Game
The main goal is to complete the objective. Omicron Protocol is not an arena combat (but you could create such a scenario). The backstory is one where people are working to survive the situation they have found themselves in and working to get out of the quarantined city.
In the prototype there were only two factions: the Survivalists and the Peacemakers. It was noted additional factions are planned for. So when you play you will need to decide the faction you are going to play based on their special faction abilities.
Decide on the scenario. Each scenario has specific rules for that game session. They define the objective and the starting layout of the scene.
Players now decide which characters from their faction are going on the mission. The characters are revealed and added to the game board in the scenario designated starting areas.
As the scenario progresses more CyMS enter the playing field. This increases in pressure on completing the objective and the risks players have to take.
Turns alternate between the factions as they take turns with a character. The CyMS take action after each character turn when the conditions are right.
A faction starts their turn with a set number of action points. Those points are divided by the player(s) for all of the characters they have in play—the player needs to balance the use of their action points to utilize all of their characters. This led to some interesting conversations with the team of two players controlling one faction.
Combat uses a dice pool. A number of dice are rolled and those equal to or above the target score hits. The hits are used for several different actions by the character. They can deal damage, trigger abilities, or if the dice are not spent (including those that don't score) they can be used for improving future rolls.
Overall
We enjoyed Omicron Protocolwith its unique presentation and options.
Omicron Protocol has a strong backstory. The backstory along with the additional information in the rulebook allowed us to immerse ourselves into the game scenario. Links to additional stories set in Omicron Protocol were also given.
Players are allowed to develop their own scenarios as they learn the game. It was mentioned in the information that Dead Alive Games will be making more scenarios and working with players to share scenarios developed by the broader community of players. This could also include solitaire and larger group scenarios. I believe the larger group scenarios would be harder and longer to play due to player interaction.
Omicron Protocol was developed by Brendan Kendrick, Bernie Lin and published be Dead Alive Games. It is designed for 2–4 players of ages 13+, and the scenarios are designed to last 60–120 minutes.
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Well done on securing the medical supplies. They will go a long ways for those who are still with us. Rest up. We have skimmed some information the government may not have given up completely on us, they're going to be making a food drop tomorrow. We just need to figure out where and at what time.
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