PlasticPolyhedra

Khurasan down! Suggest a 15mm force for me??

2011-06-21T19:45:00.000+01:00

Just heard that Khurasan minis has closed down until the autumn ... so much for the Vespulids for our homebrew wargaming rules then!

So, my options now are:

Back to my pre-waspid idea of GZG NAC troopers and wheeled tanks - low tech, possibly Chinese / Asian Confederation (People's, obviously) army... purely 'cos I love the trikes, but we have no rules for them yet.

From groundzerogames.net

Original plan of GZG (again) grav-sleds, possibly accompanied by UNSC - high tech, likely to be tied into my Martian rebels for [Starmada] - the ACEF. Not very near future though?

Also groundzerogames.net

- but we already have two forces consisting of "troops and tanks" ... so: does anyone have any suggestions for a cool army for a near-future skirmish game?? Vespulid rapid attack force is out of the picture for now, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Father's Day present to all fellow geek dads!

2011-06-19T20:10:00.000+01:00

Just got socks? I thought I'd share a code I got emailed for 20% off at RPGNow, valid for any and all of:

4e Players: Hero's Handbook: Dragonborn for those who feel drawn to the new dragon-blooded race, and Amethyst: Foundations for SF/Fantasy crossover goodness.

Mech Warriors: Heavy Gear Blitz, which I'd recommend a read of - and play if I could - and Mekton Zeta Plus.

Savage-worlders: Noir Knights for pulpy paranormality ... is that even a word?

Travellers: Judge Dredd for Traveller. Um... It's Judge Dredd. For Traveller.

Plus: The Inquisitor's Handbook for Dark Heresy, SF/Horror game Splicers, King Arthur Pendragon, and PDQ-based Ninja Burger RPG.

I'll trust your integrity only to use it if you're a fellow dad, or buying for one... Just enter HotJuneDrive2011 as a discount code, before the 10th of July. Apparently.

What's been a'happening in the Polyhedral Tower...

2011-06-18T22:02:00.002+01:00

It's been a while - insanely busy at work, I'm afraid - but although I've been too busy to post, I've not been too busy to game! See photographic evidence below:

Our group's been working on our own near-future / SF skirmish rules, although some of the factions are expanding way beyond "skirmish" size! Pretty cool-ly, the rules still hold for larger forces too... hopefully we'll post a beta soonish ... if anyone's interested in playing.

Currently, the others have been collecting and painting up some 15mm armies; Dave has got hold of some Peter Pig AK47 IDF troops to use as Brazilians, along with some 1:100 modern choppers for air support - rules pending - while Nath's American force consists of some Khurasan marines and a frankly enormous tank. I've been busy building some terrain for us to fight over, as cover is very important in our rules:

15mm scale modular urban terrain - very much WIP!

...and terrain building for Hordes Of The Things too:

12" square cork tile boards - more, and forests, to follow.

...although my armies aren't quite up to scratch yet!

Only played a couple of games of HOTT, nearly got hang of the rules, and it seems like a fun little system. Look out for fantastic takes on Ancients coming, if I know our lot...

AND we're getting back into RPGs too, building characters for Dave's Mythos inspired 3.5 and/or FantasyCraft based system. Love the crunch, having land, and the family ties - and the fact that all the files he wrote for the 3.5 version won't fit on my USB stick!

Thanks to all for the steady trickle of interest over the hiatus - blogbacks since last time:

StufferShack goes from strength to strength, bringing together all sorts of RPG blogging expertise into one well stuffed ... um ... shack?
Adventures and shopping has multitudinous news and reviews with a tasty Old School flavour - and an eye out for RPG bargains too.
The Armchair General - home of When the Navy Walked - brings fresh inspiration for my VSF Hordes o t Things armies...
The Dark Dungeon Vaults continues to expand - now with over 1000 RPG-related blogs (!) including yours truly... good work!
Pen and lead promises a review of the Skrapyard minis we featured a couple of months ago ... and from the quality of painting I've seen, I'm looking forward to seeing them finished!
Mr Lee has some amazing modular city terrain pics up - amongst other things - very inspiring!
SupergalacticDreadnaught (award winning! :p) makes me want to play space combat games and Hordes of the Things - even more than usual!
Savage Afterworld brings the post-apocalypse to the table - yay for Gamma World!
Kingsleypark owns up, amidst some very nostalgic photos, to (accidentally) cheating at Blood Bowl. Now there's one to bring back - nobody mention that I sold my polystyrene-board copy a few years ago... ;-(
Dark Horse (home of Errant RPG) continues to expand, and offers insight into game design.
Colonel Shofer is definitely up to something ... but what?
Tomsche69 continues to broaden my miniature world - in a similar but different way to Dropship Horizon - from superheroes to manga...
...and if you've never been to Dicecreator's Blog - you really should!
Rough War of the Ring has some very nice spaceships and well illustrated massed tabletop battlereps
WrathOfZombie continues to take bits from all kinds of games and use them to tinker with an RPG system - currently working on AGE (the DARPG engine) - and makes for interesting reading around Vornheim.

Getting into 15mm gaming...

2011-05-06T10:21:00.001+01:00

Image by Kaptain Kobold via FlickrIt's been a while... sorry!

I have been busy - after trying out a few free SF wargames rules, our group is working on our own 15mm near-future skirmish rules, so we can use modern and sci-fi minis. Which means I finally get to make some terrain!

Current projects:

15mm modular city table
15mm Hordes of the Things fantasy scenery & armies

Updates will be posted as they come, Peter Pig pirate minis and samurai have already been purchased, along with Dixon Minis ninjas for my Ninjago-obsessed son...

Hopefully we'll all be getting some 15mm SF minis from Ground Zero Games when the shop's back online too. Keep 'em peeled!

Rollin' with it: Piratical feats 'n' treats

2011-04-03T12:07:00.001+01:00

Image by Joriel "Joz" Jimenez via Flickr

Yarr! My Freeport game for Pathfinder is gathering speed - in my head at least. I've been reading through the Pirate's Guide and getting a handle on the wheels rolling behind the setting.

E6 games need feats, so I got some Combat, Subterfuge and Immediate Action feats from Genuis Guide to keep my players (and NPCs) up to speed. The "Immediate Action" feats are pretty cool, essentially providing more options for Attacks of Opportunity - throwing weapons and all sorts.

While I was scouting for feats I also came across the GG "Loot 4 Less" range of low-level magic items. The idea is that rather than dishing out potion after potion at low levels, the guides give plenty of well rounded and statted permanent magic items. Works for me - and where would a pirate game be without loot?

So: Feats - check! Loot - check! World - getting there... but hurrah for cheap 3rd party support!

Next time: Colouring In, or making the sketch into a picture.

Got any tips for "fast and loose" GMing? Why not comment or submit a guest post - and help me out..?

Pathfinder session report - good to be playing again!

2011-04-01T11:36:00.001+01:00

Image by Steve B Chamberlain via FlickrButt kicking - for goodness!

Picking up our PFRPG campaign, Caedric and Falstoff dove bravely into a goblin infested crypt to rescue a kidnapped child... My summoner's ranged attacks were limited due to poor lines of sight and lack of darkvision (the human had my Light cantrip cast on his glaive to help him see what he was slaying) but much fun was had summoning creatures when my eidolon "died" fighting a bunch of orcs and bugbears.

Also, I discovered the joy of Grease (the spell, not the film) and what was an incredibly tense encounter - we were both wounded and falling back - into a highly amusing display of the orcs inability to ice skate... They spent more time on their backsides than on their feet, while we used our reach weapons with impunity to slay them. Flastoff's glaive is pretty cool in action, and generally did enough damage to one-shot the majority of the enemies we faced.

I did, however, throw my spear at the goblin boss and crit quite nicely - piercing him through and pinning him to the wall. Filthy greenskins.

I've fallen into a support/control role - which is fine with me, and highly enjoyable. Roll on next week!

Friday Freebie: Errant RPG for classic Fantasy gaming

2011-04-01T11:17:00.003+01:00

Image by SoulCookie via FlickrAt first glance, Errant rpg seems to be a reskinning of d20 - STR, CON, DEX, INT, WIS and CHA; saving throws; ACs; DnD flavoured races and classes...

However, it isn't. I flicked through it the first time through looking for stuff to borrow for houserules - particularly the Saves which represent a wide range of instinctive/innate resistances: vs. pain, magic, poison etc as well as the usual "reflex" - here called Snap - et al, plus one to see if you can hold your breath. I like it.

Reading more deeply into it, the classic classes are present but streamlined: each gets a major and minor save, hit dice, and so on. As I was expecting. However, the customisation is much broader and less linear than in d20 systems - Warriors can choose different fighting styles that apply bonuses and penalties when used, Bards learn different styles that affect different saves, and each class fits on a single page. Bonus points for that!

HP function like vitality points of old - and when they're gone, damage dealt affects attributes based on where the attack hit. If you don't get healed, damage is permanent. Once you're worn down, hits are going to start crippling you in a much more realisitic manner.

I'd strongly recommend getting a copy of the free beta version of Errant, currently available at the link at the top of the page.

Got any news/reviews about free games? Guest blog about it here.

Monday Mini: Gyrostabilised Monowheels!

2011-03-27T22:07:00.002+01:00

From Maxmini.eu

After a few conversations* on Twitter, I realised how much I missed the old Orks from Rogue Trader / 2nd Ed. 40k... where everyone woz an individyool, and we cud let our creeative jooces flow...

(OK, I'll stop that now.)

If you have, or have ever had, an inner Greenskin - now is the time to set it free! Orky bionic legs and monowheels return courtesy of Maxmini.eu, and we don't really care if we don't have the rules for them anymore 'cos we're Orkses!! Plus Maxmini have spacey-versions of the Orc heads from last week's Rollin' With It for that Freebooter look, which make me wish I could play Gorkamorka.

* I say "conversations" - it generally involved me WAAAAGH!ing into the void and/or complaining about how much more character they used to have... like when firing the guns on a warbike used to make it turn randomly...

[Guest] GM Screen: Why You Should(n’t)

2011-03-24T12:06:00.006Z

Image via Wikipedia

I've been playing RPGs for 26 years, and in that time I've seen all kinds of GM screens. Some really cool (a castle wall, complete with towers and crenellations), and some not so cool (a cardboard box). In all that time I've seen how they've been both helpful and hurtful to a game. Regardless of your preference, take a look at some pros and cons of using (and not using) a GM screen. You might alter the way you game, and be thankful you did.

Why you should use a GM Screen:

Fudge a die roll to save a player character, end a combat, or to help get your adventure back on track after it's derailed.
Post notes out of the players' view.
Hide secret parts of a map.
Hide the page a book is open to.
Have easy access to game charts.

Why you shouldn't use a GM Screen:

Players know that you aren't cheating them by you rolling your dice out in the open. And really, what gives the GM the right to cheat when the players can't?
You are not burdened with keeping PCs alive, especially when they make poor choices – let the dice simply fall where they may.
Knowing you won't or can't fudge dice rolls, the players are forced to make more tactically sound decisions.
You get to move about the room more, or are not limited to one section of the table.
With no barrier between you and the players, you're considered more a part of the group, as opposed to an adversary.

I have my preferred method of running games, what's yours (and why)?

Thanks for reading.

-Tourq Stevens runs the resource website, Stuffer Shack, because he loves the hobby of gaming, has learned so much from it, and hopes to help make it fun for others.

Rollin' with it: A place to call home...

2011-03-23T10:24:00.002Z

Maxmini Orc heads - for flavour!

First decision made: I'll be running Pathfinder in Epic 6 mode because at least I know what I'm doing and I know my players like the system.

I'll also be going miniatureless - which is unusual for me, but worked well in Alternity and saves a lot of mini-and-map-related hassle! Go go Gadget imagination.

Second decison made: We'll be playing in Freeport, for multiple reasons:

I wanted a city, and considered The Great City from 0one Games as a possible easy-to-populate backdrop... but also fancied a change of setting from our other Pathfinder game.
There's a heck of a lot of background in the Pirate's Guide to Freeport - system independent is a bonus to me, and I'd actually think I didn't really need to buy the Pathfinder Companion for the game too, if it wasn't for the brilliant new classes.
I've always wanted to run a pirate game. Arrr!

Plus: the setting has details of a newspaper - what better way to feed plot hooks to the players? - and a great amount of the legwork has been doen for me, not that I intend to use it all.

Step 1a: Get a'hold of some suitable feats for an Epic 6 game...

Step 2: Set up factions, agendas and a few plot outlines - have been reading up on Dave the Game's 5 x 5 method in preparation...

Wish me luck, or give me advice, below!

[Guest] On games design and complexity

2011-03-22T10:24:00.005Z

Malifaux: Image by waferthinninja

I'm not going to lie to you, because, at root, this is a blog about Skrapyard, the skirmish miniatures game that Precinct Omega Publishing has in development. But just to prove that I'm not randomly spamming adverts, I'm not going to provide a link for the lazy. If you actually find this blog interesting, then why not do a Google search from Precinct Omega Skrapyard? You're sure to find a link eventually. (or see my posts on the game - Tom)

But before we get to Skrapyard, I'm going to have a bit of a moan.

I recently bought the Malifaux Rules Manual along with a first starter box and Fate Deck. I have heard a huge amount about the game, seen it played and thought it looked interesting, so pitched in to see how it runs. I was particularly pleased to get the Rules Manual, because it's a handy A5 paperback that contains all of the rules, updated to incorporate all of the errata and FAQs that Wyrd Games have produced to support it: everything I needed to know to play the game was there in one simple reference guide... Except that it isn't.

Now, I don't mean to say that there were other things I needed to buy for the game. Oh, no. Malifaux, to it's credit and much like an increasing number of indie games companies, is careful to make sure that the entry threshold is remarkably low. No, I simply mean that the Rules Manual wasn't simple. Indeed, the rules weren't simple. And although I'm having a crack at Malifaux, this is hardly a unique phenomenon. Warhammer Fantasy Battle's new edition is an improvement, but still bedevilled by complex interactions of rules spread across multiple sources. Paper-and-pen roleplay games - even something incredibly basic, like D&D Elements - leave you flipping the rulebook's pages back and forth in a frustrating search for an answer to questions and, when you find them, scratching your head over the complexity of expression. Other skirmish games, like "Infinity" from Corvus Belli and Manorhouse's "Mindstalkers" suffer from the same obsessive and self-defeating pursuit of intricacy.

A lot of gamers tell me that they like this; that it gives "depth" to a game, or that they love studying the "crunch" to hone their strategies and tactics. To which I say "b*llocks". I'm highly sympathetic to the game designer's plight, of course. It is extraordinary sometimes how a rule that plays out with pure, simple elegance on the tabletop needs to be corseted into the most legalistic terms to be clear on the page, but designers do themselves no favours at all when they resort to giving explicit in-game meanings to everyday words like "can", "may", "must" and "cannot". Here's a tip, if you're planning on designing your own game: if you feel moved to give glossary definitions to words that a four-year-old understands, you've probably written bad rules. Go back and try again.

Which brings me to Skrapyard.

I'm certain that you're expecting me, now, to say that Skrapyard doesn't do this; that it's a paragon of linguistic clarity, entirely loophole-free and prepped for novice gamers. But I'd be lying if I said that it was. There are sentences in the Skrapyard rules that still make me wince. There are still occasions when I find myself flipping through the book trying to remember whether wounded characters in combat are automatically hit or just automatically fail the Armour test (it's the former, in case you're wondering, but for a long time I kept thinking it was the latter, and I wrote the rules!).

The point is that Skrapyard aims to be that paragon. Even if we know in our hearts that it won't make it, we're going to try. And does that mean that it's light on special rules? Yes, it does. And does that mean that some things are abstracted that you'd wish could be played out in more detail. Yep. But does it also mean that the game lacks depth? I don't believe so. In fact, I'm quite certain that I've barely plumbed the potential depth of the game, despite dozens (hundreds?) of playtest games. Because the depth of a game shouldn't depend on which of the players knows the intricacies of the rules best. It should be down to who out-thinks, out-manoeuvres and out-guns his or her opponent and - of course - when two opponents are evenly matched, it should be down to the dice gods.

Robey - http://precinctomega.podbean.com

The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the Editor - although I have to say I pretty much agree!

Giving Back Sunday #1

2011-03-20T20:52:00.001Z

I have invented the blogback. It's like a pingback or trackback, but more personal. Here's the idea: on a Sunday, every month (or once in a while), I'll go through my Analytics data and check out all the blogs that have sent us traffic. I'll briefly link to something I found interesting or noteworthy, thus returning some traffic. Networks don't count, they already get a feed and a badge!

Without further ado - Blogbacks for the last rolling month:

Colonel Shofer has been sharing amazing amounts of great miniatures lately, including a - sadly photoshopped - Ork DreadKnight. Waaaaagh indeed.
Super Galactic Dreadnought continues to pump out more on space combat games than I could ever hope to get around to - and as such, should be saluted.
The Savage Afterworld gets bonus points for a Haz-Mat suited Legoman and a post-apocalyptic take on the "hot elf chicks" meme, on top of the usual Thundarr-related goodness.
In keeping with my own thoughts on RPG "adventure path" design - hinted at here - Errant RPG has very interesting discussions of the weaknesses inherent in modules, and seeds of a solution for no-prep GMing.
http://tomsche69.blogspot.com has some very nice con pics, featuring painted models on some very nice terrain - loving the hexagonal modular stuff - which is refreshing :P If only all battle reports had pics like this...
diceRolla has me (pleasingly?) filed under "Itchy" - as opposed to Scratchy or Poochie - and would like some input on NEW GAMES as well as having some beautiful LandRaider pics. Don't we all love finding new games..?
Mad Brew Labs has been madly brewing an online Pathfinder character generator - see, it's good for me to get out there and see what's going on too! - which will be seeing quite a lot of use in the near future. [And bonus points for making Tourq weep (again) because his group resists PFRPG... time to convert them, my friend!]
On the subject of which: Stuffer Shack continues to go from strength to strength, accumulating staff like no-one's business and featuring helpfully topical (to me) articles on improvising and designing fantasy cities. This is what happens when you open up guest blogging early!
...and finally, StalingradBob is still yet to tell us what's going on in the RuneQuest / SpyCraft game that will be run when Nathan's finished his spell as Pathfinder DM. Hi Dave!

Make sure you ~~jump on the blogback bandwagon~~ join the craze sweeping the blogsphere and blogback - and post a comment telling us about it.

Thanks all, over and out.

Rollin' with it: The Zero-Prep GM Challenge!

2011-03-20T15:25:00.001Z

Image by mediafury via FlickrThe plan, following my jaunt into free-flowing GammaWorld goodness, is to structure my game-mastering so that:

There is no "Adventure Path Railroad" my players have to follow, but there is still structure and plot.
The heroes can choose their sides and actions without having to worry about derailing the abovementioned plot-train.
I have minimal prep for each adventure / story arc, and can easily take the game wherever the players choose.
We can roll dice, have fun, and tell stories without anyone having to write (or, for that matter, READ) pages of story and fluff that may not end up being relevant to the story anyway. See points 1 and 2.

To allow for all this flexibility, and as I'm opting for a fantasy setting, I'm tempted to go with either Pathfinder (which we all know and love) with an Epic 6 flavour, or DARPG (which seems pretty cool, and easy to run on the fly). Steps to world domination are:

Draw, build, or find a place for the PCs to call home enough to care about (or care about enough to call home) with plenty going on and its own factions and agendas... this may end up being an area - as it was for the GammaWorld campaign - or more likely a city. I enjoyed working with the central city of my 4e campaign.
Set up the relevant factions, with their key agendas and NPCs (in a similar way to the worldbuilding set out in the excellent Dresden Files RPG "Your Story" book, these are the hooks to hang everything else on as we play) for a little local colour.
Create... three? four? simple story arcs, with set piece encounters sketched out for when it matters. Preferably playable from both sides, and with ready-to-roll NPCs to drop in at multiple/relevant CRs.
PLAY! Add more of the above as and when one of the players (classing myself as a player, which all DMs should) sows a seed as we play.

Wish me luck! Any tips would be greatly appreciated...

Sub-optimal character: Mounted Halfling Summoner

2011-03-16T22:33:00.000Z

Let's face it, halflings have an enormous capacity for rpg cool. See the DnD mini in the pic if you don't believe me...

I've been playing with my character's build for our upcoming Pathfinder game... and I decided to resist the urge to tweak myself an optimal character in favour of someone I wanted to play:

I've chosen a Halfling Sumoner. For the sheer joy of riding around on my Eidolon shooting things with a longbow. A small longbow. Meanwhile my trusty steed, Snapper, will be using his combination of natural reach and "trip" on his bite attack - and AoOs - to keep the Enemy at arm's length.
I've taken Enlarge Person as a spell, more for the fun of casting it on the other party member - a monk - than any other particular reason. Large monks have silly damage. Here are my statblocks, courtesy of the very handy PCGen:

CEADRIC

CR 2

Male Halfling
Summoner 3

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +4 Chain Shirt (Small), )
hp 20 (3d8)+3
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +4, +2 vs. fear

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.
Ranged longbow (small) +6 (1d6/x3)
Melee spear (small) (two handed) +4 ((two handed) 1d6+1/x3)
Ranged spear (small/thrown) +6 (1d6+1/x3)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

STATISTICS

Str 13,
Dex 17,
Con 12,
Int 12,
Wis 10,
Cha 15
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats Armor Proficiency, Light, Martial Weapon Proficiency (Longbow), Mounted Combat, Simple Weapon Proficiency

We'll see how he fares on Thursday night!

Monday Minis: SuperDeformed Kobolds!

2011-03-14T20:12:00.003Z

Flicking idly through some con pics, I happened upon these kobold minis: Not weak and weedy first level sword fodder here - these Kobold Ironscales from SodaPop Minis are refreshing, as are the rest of the range, in a world where everything seems to be getting a little bit samey...

Rise up, my kobold minions! You shall no longer suffer being small and weak, laughed at even by those heroes who lack a BAB... You shall become both tough-looking and slightly cute, to gently terrorise players in a bungling-but-potentially dangerous manner. As Zelda afficionados will only be too aware, your cuddly appearance shall lure them into a false sense of security..!

Ahem. These are from an upcoming game, featuring similarly large-headed heroes, but would be great on a D&D table too ... view the whole range here!

Rollin' with it: Lessons learnt from GammaWorld...

2011-03-12T12:54:00.003Z

...or: The ongoing Misadventures of Murtt and Bugeye.

My GW campaign is on hiatus - we've rotated DM, which means I get to play. Yay! We'll be playing Pathfinder, but that's irrelevant... I've been thinking about this for a while, as GW has been zero-prep for me over the last month, but still satisfying and great fun to run.

SO: What have I learnt from running Gamma World?

Sometimes - sometimes! - having anarchic fun is superior to telling "proper" stories.
Having a world set up, with places, people, groups with agendas and template NPCs (courtesy of the Alternity Gamemaster's Guide, that is) is FAR superior to having an adventure path in terms of seat-of-the-pants DMing.
I didn't write down any of the HPs of my minions after the first session or two. The game did not suffer. That's not to say I didn't keep track; I just wasn't too precise.
Fudge Dice are an excellent way of generating random encounters without relying on player rolls: + + + + is amazingly lucky (found a flamethrower and grenade launcher in Zombietown), - - - - is very unlucky (building you are searching will catch fire in d4 rounds) with zero being "nothing much happens".
If the players want to do something cool, that doesn't break the game, then why not let them?

Over the last few weeks, our heroes have gone from starting a perfectly normal "deliver the package" newbie quest... been framed as terrorists, committed murder through not backing down against the town guards, been locked up and busted out, ended a potentially lethal encounter with a single amazing hit, found a mysterious "hatch", returned to town as heroes - having lied to their elders, crept away to start a new life but been dragged back for vengeance, murdered people in their beds, been captured and sold as slaved, escaped to freedom at the last minute, slain over a hundred zombies in increasingly creative ways, fought a squad of the most feared troops in the world - and won through intelligent and strategic use of terrain and a grenade launcher... and alternated between having more stuff than they could feasibly carry and having only their underwear and each other for comfort.

Here's the plan for rollin' with it in future:

Set up a few interconnected locations, each with a couple of Important People and/or plot hooks (yeah, it does sound a bit like starting a Dresden Files game...)
Build a few basic monsters and have them ready - which would be significantly easier if I was running an Epic 6 game, for example...
Say "yes" to inventive ideas - even more than I already do!
Let the story roll on without the players - there's always another adventuring group around to move the plot along if needed - and let the players enjoy telling their story... turning adventure "paths" into adventure... "clouds"?

Any thoughts? Leave a comment below or write a guest post.

Two things:

2011-03-08T20:58:00.000Z

Firstly - I'm opening up guest blogging as an experiment... got something to say?

Secondly - Skrapyard contest closes midnight (GMT) Saturday, you gotta be in it to win it!

"Friday" Freebie: Resolute, Adventurer and Genius

2011-03-05T12:44:00.001Z

A free RPG this week - and a day late due to internets being replaced.

RAG expands on the warmly received Warrior, Rogue and Mage by taking the WyRM system and using it in a pulp game. Hurrah! It's nice to see some love for the pulp genre in gaming - other than Thrilling Tales for SW, what else do we have?

(My group did try to run a pulpy game in GURPS, but ended up with "Indy" being gunned down by Nazis in the first scene. But I digress.)

The core mechanic remains, with the original's fantasy archetypes replaced - choose your character's balance of Resolute (gritty Noir-trope), Adventurer (Han Solo-trope) and Genius (Boffin trope) along with three skills and a talent. Then have fun and roll dice.

Presentation is tight, content includes background on the pulp "genre" from the 1910s to the forties, and beyond, suitable equipment and villains ... and Resolute, Adventurer & Genius is available for free download right HERE. What's not to like?

System Hacking: Dragon Age

2011-03-01T22:17:00.000Z

There's been much discussion of DARPG around - enough to warrant me reading the Players' Guide and GM Guide through quickly to see what all the fuss is about - with a lot of gripes leveled at the fact that the initial Set 1 release only caters for levels 1-5.

Personally, I think this is a good thing: let players grow into the game before you throw everything at them. There's been a lot of discussion of broadening the classes over at darkAgeOracle, to cater for the likes of Clerics and Archers, and given my love of polyhedral dice (d6s are sooo dull) I soon developed an idea - probably spawned by WyRM's "define your character as a mix of Warrior, Rogue and Mage" spin on the traditional class idea...

Here's my fix: Three classes (as it stands) and three dice suggest to me that one could use one die per class, d8 representing the character's "favoured" or primary class, d6 for their secondary class, and d4 for their tertiary class (or remaining classes, assuming more are to be released?).

At creation, a player defines the character as Warrior/Rogue (for example) which will designate the d8 to Warrior and d6 to Rogue, with Wizard and any other new classes using the d4. The PC starts as a Level 1 Warrior, as this is his/her primary class.

Roll d4 + d6 + d8 as you normally would to make checks in Dragon Age RPG - the distribution is pretty much bang on what you get from 3d6, so it shouldn't affect the difficulty - but use the Class Die as the Dragon Die for the action. Thusly, utilising the abilities of the Primary Class will gain the player more stunt points, at the expense of the Tertiary Class(es)... I thought the chance of doubles would be a lot less, but you can see here that it's actually not much less - still around 40%. Thanks to catlikecoding for the program there!

Common sense should be used as to which Class the action falls under, using the primary attributes and powers/focuses granted from each. Players may be allowed to shift powers and focuses between adjacent die types to create hybrid characters; I'll leave that to your (and your GM's) discretion.

Players can choose to take a level in any class, providing that their Secondary level does not exceed their Primary level, and their Tertiary does not exceed their Secondary.

It's rough and ready... but it just might work! Feedback would be appreciated.

Image by Dunechaser

Monday Mini: Captain of Swords (giveaway)

2011-02-28T09:00:00.014Z

As promised in Friday's update - this 40mm VSF mini is up for grabs (or the Faerie Emissary) to anyone who's read the Skrapyard rules...

Just go ~~HERE and give your details and the name of one of the other Skrapyard characters~~ - I'll roll a thematic d12 to choose one of the first 12 correct answers and pass the winner on to Precinct Omega. Then delete all the submissions 'cos I really don't want your email addresses...

Good luck, and if no-one enters I look forward to keeping this very nice mini to myself!

And don't forget today's the last day to download the beta rules before they get replaced with the stripped-down free version...

Gaming with the kids: starting small

2011-02-26T08:57:00.001Z

Trying to get my children into gaming... this is going to be an ongoing project!

Last night we played Battleships, which is supposedly for 5+ but a bit beyond my 5 year old... not enough action to engage him.

This morning we've all had a fun game of MiltonBradley's Pac-man game: A trip down memory lane for me, a fun tactical experience for my eldest and a counting / gobbling giggle for the two year old. And aimed at 7+ too!

Aces.

Friday Freebie: Skrapyard

2011-02-25T08:40:00.000Z

Hungering for a VSF skirmish game? Skrapyard may be for you.

I discovered this game while merrily wandering the Twitterverse - I got a message from Precinct Omega saying I'd won one of their minis, and decided to check the game out... and as I'm no good at painting I thought I'd put the mini up for grabs too. Check back on Monday for details.

How does the game play? It's nice to see a slimmed down system these days - especially after so many years of 40k - and Skrapyard's core idea of only needing a single d12 really struck a chord with me. It's a nice, streamlined roll-under-stat system - but the beta rules are coming down at the end of the month, to be replaced with a fluffless "light" version... so if you want to check it out I'd head over to the Skrapyard download page sooner rather than later!

It sounds like there are plans to introduce some more Steampunky war machines too... I'm definitely keeping an eye on this one!

Holy bundles of RPG stuff Batman!

2011-02-25T08:22:00.002Z

Essentially: free product when you donate $20 (£12 ish) to the Red Cross via RPGNow... I had to grab this one after missing out on the Haiti bundle - in the fact that when I clicked the link, it was available no more, so I donated otherwise instead - click here to see just what you get for your generosity! (Not an affiliate link!)

What to read first... PFRPG bits or CthuluTech?

...and the Supernatural RPG is a chance to get a look at Cortex for free on top...

15mm Infinity: The concept

2011-02-23T14:23:00.004Z

From infinitythegame.com

It's an idea I've had in my head for ages now, having played Infinity and liked it - but not having the cash to buy the (frankly beautiful) minis or the time to convert and paint them in a manner that would do them justice:

15mm scale Infinity!

OK... why? Because I've been looking for a decent skirmish game for ages, and I like the way Infinity plays - and I could get much more mileage from, for example, Ground Zero's 15mm StarGrunt SF range as far as troop minis go. Plus there's little need to convert for the right standard/support/heavy weapon types as they've a pretty comprehensive range, whereas the Infinity minis - at least when I first got the beta rules - were pretty limited.

As 40k players, my group have a lot of Gothic ruins terrain to play around in at 28mm scale, but I really don't feel that it fits with the Infinity feel... Being utterly awestruck and inspired by Matakishi's Infinity city table I really wanted to do the game justice - and experiment with modular terrain after seeing some great Necromunda ideas - and making new 15mm terrain would, I thought, be easier than making new 28mm. That was, after all, one of the things that put me off playing Warmachine...

I don't really get that much time for the hobby side of things, but it's still a dream. But first I need to get my ACEF fleet painted up for Starmada!

Monday (ahem) Mini: Twilight Knight

2011-02-22T11:58:00.001Z

From kingdomdeath.com

I'm not usually a fan of scantily clad fantasy minis... but I was looking into 3D printed miniatures after browsing through all the spaceships on shapeways.com when I stumbled upon Kingdom Death.

From what I can gather: the minis are being made for an as-yet-unpublished game, and have 25mm base circles (so they'd fit into a standard Warmachine / Hordes style base) but seem to be more like 40mm to eye level. Will people buy them just to paint up - and it seems from CMON that they already are - if they can't use them with standard 25/28mm figures in their wargames?

I do hope so - they've an interesting selection up to view so far, generally more horror than fantasy - and this one seemed to have them most "mass appeal". I do like the not-too-big sword and her facial expression, wonder if we'll see a version in more appropriate battledress?

Friday Freebie: Full Thrust!

2011-02-18T14:58:00.002Z

Image by robartesm via FlickrIt seems my internet is back on, temporarily at least, which allows me the pleasure of introducing the free game that's probably inspired me the most: GroundZeroGames' Full Thrust.

Full Thrust got me completely and utterly into space fleet wargaming, and it can't just be coincidence that GZG also make and sell some very nice starship minis to play the game with. The newer designs are particularly nice - check out the ScanFed, for example - and far as I can tell from my research, GZG ships set the benchmark in 1:3000 scale space minis.

So... what's the game like?
Full Thrust uses big handfuls of d6, has well balanced weapons and defences for the different fleets, and also possibly the single most aggravating movement system ever. The (also free) updated rules More Thrust introduce new, streamlined and frankly more logical inertial movement rules - so no need to worry there.

Where Starmada tracks damage as hull, weapon, shield or engine hits, Full Thrust has damage tracks and requires rolls to be made for each of the ship's systems when certain damage thresholds are reached, which makes for a tenser game.

Full Thrust's weapons are simple - which influenced our decision to switch to the completely customisable Starmada - but work... and on reflection, if we'd spent less time tinkering with our weapon systems in Starmada we might have spent more time learning good ways to deploy and manoeuvre a fleet.

On reflection, although Full Thrust seems book-keeping heavy and less "exciting" than its competitors, it seems it's still the most popular space combat tabletop wargame - and is well worth your time.

This service is temporarily available...

2011-02-13T13:07:00.000Z

Hi all gamers, bloggers and readers... My ISP and phone provider has been letting me down BADLY of late: My carrier drops about every 5-10 minutes and signal-to-noise ratio on my line is about 3:1 at the moment.

So - I'm still alive, and awaiting a new line and broadband provider at the beginning of next month.

I'm considering whether or not to move this blog over to 6sided.net and their dedicated gaming blogs philosophy... any opinions welcome. Their network feed has been added to the sidebar, some interesting stuff up there already.

See y'all next month, for those missing my random wittering you can always follow @plaspoly on Twitter as I can tweet from my phone.

Friday Freebie: LEGO wargaming!

2011-02-04T09:16:00.004Z

Pirates vs Ninjas! Blacktron vs Atlanteans! Romans vs Police!?

This week's free game is the amazing BrikWars tabletop minifig wargame - quirky and beautifully illustrated, and available in online rulebook form HERE and handy downloadable pdf HERE for all your genre defying death-dealing needs.

The appeal of this game is nicely summed up by the the rulebook:

In their most dignified form, BrikWars battles pay witness to lovingly crafted scenarios and intricate models, presided over by serious wargamers and careful strategic thought. Such battles, while common, are completely inappropriate. Dignity and BrikWars go together like one Mega Blok with another: while they appear to fit together at first glance, their attachment is brief and doomed to violent mutual repulsion.

BrikWars battles take place in a world of minifigs, and the minifig species draws its heritage from generations of hard-fought survival in the toy chests of six-year-old boys. Whether knights, spacemen, construction workers, or chefs, their souls thrill with the racial memory of a time when a toy's highest calling was to do joyous and bloody battle with all challengers. In that primordial toybox, it didn't matter if one toy was a fire truck and the other was a teddy bear, or if two toys were built to incompatible scales or originated from unrelated eras. It didn't matter whether they had anything to fight about. Combat and danger were ends in themselves.

Have at you!

Monday Mini: Belter Battlewagon

2011-01-31T09:03:00.001Z

My group's current wargaming fix comes from playing Starmada - although we're starting to get tired of the "superweapon arms race", any suggestions? - and much as I love my little GZG Neu Swabians I've always been blown away by the Belter ships designed by Coines23 on shapeways.com. Here's someone who's embraced a new way of producing minis - these are 3D printed on demand, not cast in moulds - by designing ships that would be almost impossible to produce by "conventional" means.

Expensive? Yes. Awesome? Undoubtedly.

Friday Freebie: Warcanto

2011-01-30T15:43:00.005Z

Not Friday, but still free - it's skirmish wargame Warcanto!

I got a copy of the rules from a friend when we were looking for filler games... And have just got round to reading them.

The rulebook is beautifully presented - not just for a free .pdf - and illustrated, giving the basic details of how to play and the various races. Each faction also has its own army book with more detailed info and ability ladders for their leaders - presumably these are being added to as the writers add more units and rules.

The basic concept:
Roll a d10 against a stat to be successful, or a stat+d5 opposed roll, which covers the whole gamut of combat options. Basic units can only perform a few basic actions - shoot nearest target, move, attack in melee etc. - unless they are within the sphere of influence of a commanding figure. These leaders can issue orders to enable troops to go beyond their basic functions - such as charging, assigning targets, and generally acting in a coordinated manner.

Well worth looking into for any fantasy gaming fan, and the minis are beautiful too - but there's no reason why players can't grab the free rules and play with whatever they've got. Dwarves, Orcs, Beastmen, Humans will all make suitable substitutes for the currently available races... and keep an eye out for the Oriental-themed Elves who have yet to be statted up.

Interested? Grab the free rulebooks and army lists from the DwarfTales website HERE.

More cool free stuff to follow, keep 'em peeled.

RPG / Boardgame System Scan

2011-01-25T20:18:00.007Z

Taking a breather from Pathfinder has got my mind wandering again - I guess my love of the crunch and my desire to tell compelling stories leave me lost in the no-man's land between rules-light and GURPS... I'm still looking for The Perfect System folks!

Interest in Freemarket has been piqued by The Chatty DM's posts on character generation and a session report over at CriticalHits. It seems Luke Crane's merged Mouse Guard's character creation with FATE's aspects to create a very intriguing transhuman RPG. Will my group play it? Will they heck - but I might be able to "borrow" some ideas...

Talking of FATE, StufferShack has dished up some interesting news on Strands of Fate... which has prompted me to read my Dresden Files game books again, just to see if I could convince my group to play that either! I like the idea of Aspects driving roleplay and story - and clearly other people do too, in that they're trying to houserule them into their other games.

Less "for me", but still intriguing is Untold's attempt to merge the RPG with the CCG - don't click that X, I'll make it quick! - which I could see playing out like PDQ - shudder, in that damage reduces your abilities - for quick filler games. One to keep an eye on?

Boardgames wise, I've been grabbed by both Warcanto and Earth Reborn as squad-based skirmish games (fantasy and sci-fi, respectively) that have some kind of nod to actual LEADERSHIP - and no, not just in a roll-under-or-run-away kinda way. I'm looking at you, 40k.

About time I started writing up reviews of some of my favourite core mechanics, perhaps?

Site overhaul v2.0

2011-01-25T07:19:00.003Z

Things are starting to get messy again, so it's time to overhaul the site design again!

I know what I want to see - but what about you? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated:

* Can you find what you're looking for on PP?

* Are there any design/layout niggles you'd want changing?

* Would you be interested in more articles rather than ramblings? :-)

* If guest blogging was an option, would anyone take the plunge?

I'm looking to: Make this site more readable / navigable, start to condense things under proper tags and headings, make better connections with other gaming bloggers and make more like-minded friends... I have my ideas, but I'd welcome any from the readers too.

Monday Mini: Widowmaker Kapitan

2011-01-24T19:01:00.001Z

This week's mini - the very characterful Khadoran Widowmaker Kapitan, in this case painted by an ex-Rackham pro painter, from Privateer Press' Warmachine.

We tried Warmachine out... I really liked the Khador miniatures - Nath seemed to like Cygnar, which would be handy - but we dismissed it as too expensive, both in money and painting time. Handily the core mechanics were streamlined down for Monsterpocalypse at about the time I was being all indecisive about it...

If I did play Warmachine, I'd plump for Khador any day - mainly just to field a squad of these guys. I have a thing for steampunk, and PP's minis really appeal.

Gamma World: session 2... and sandbox world creation

2011-01-23T12:24:00.005Z

In which many things go BOOOOOM, and our heroes don't get quite the welcome they were expecting...

Our intrepid young heroes were last seen amidst a giant explosion in Redman town hall - and now was their chance to react. Picking up the unconscious town Elder, they staggered for the door just in time to bump into a shadowy figure fleeing into the gathering crowd. And the arrival of the town guard. Being strangers in town, they were naturally suspects, and were *supposed* to go quietly... but Murtt and Bugeye had different plans!

Last week's Gamma World session was another rock-n-roll derailment of the Adventure Railroad, but all the more fun for it! Our heroes blasted and decapitated a good few guards before they were subdued - Alternity's combat rules make for tense and bloody battles - and awoke in jail, stripped to their underwear and now awaiting trial for murder... not likely to get out of that one lads!

True to the plot in the back of the setting book, the real perps turned up to release them (with another stick of dynamite and a rather flimsy reason) before they jumped into a boat and headed across the lake.

My plans to let them go free and back to their home town continued to be foiled by Bugeye's crazed desire to go back to the town for his stuff, and Murtt's insistence that he wasn't going out into no wasteland in his pants. I managed to talk them out of murdering their liberator and stealing his stuff by offering them a couple of 9mm pistols (and d12 rounds) at SMG-point before turning tail and getting out of range before they could get the guns loaded.

Highlights:

* The ongoing stand-off as our heroes refused to go quietly - even when I had the town hall collapse in flames on their hard won belongings and threatened to have them shot. These two are really getting stuck into the every-man-for-himself post apocalyptic world, and are really going to have fun with their new found outlaw status...

* Bugeye getting a critical hit on a giant flying piranha in the first round of combat - breaking its skull with the oar he was wielding and essentially ending a potentially fatal encounter as the rest of the brood fed on its bleeding remains.

* Their village Elders believing their lies about the people of Redman, and sending off an envoy to investigate... He he he.

Where to go now? It seems we're all up for crazy anything-goes plotting here, so I've got a few ideas. I was using this game as a filler while I built my sandbox Pathfinder world... but as we're having so much fun I think i might just keep running with Gamma and try to do it in this world.

Wish me luck - I'll try to keep you all updated on the process.

Playing With Myself: Monsterpocalypse #1

2011-01-18T19:43:00.006Z

I've never tried solo gaming before, but I noticed there were rules for a solitaire game in the MonPoc book I'd dug out with all my old figures...

Monsterpocalypse is a deceptively strategic game - but as I'd only ever played the incredibly aggressive Planet Eaters, I'd never really given the nuances much thought. Time to switch sides: taking on the mighty Gorghadra (!) with the collection of Cthul units I'd swapped with a friend for the wimpy ShadowSun and Martian minis I'd had... The joy of collectible games - but I digress.

My plans of attack were:
* Go for combined BLAST (ranged) attacks with my little Spitters to wear the big guy down.
* Fall back on the Task Masters' fling ability to essentially throw my own units at him to cause damage.

That's pretty much it... and I have to say I was impressed by the little Lovecraftian guys' ability to multiply the damage up - it's just a shame that by the time I'd destroyed Big G's Alpha form I was in disarray and couldn't coordinate my forces enough to penetrate Ultra Gorghadra's increased defences. He still had 3 health left when the last building of my city fell... and I'd managed to get in two attacks in the final round that both fell one point short of wounding him.

Overall, good fun - and lessons learnt for next time! - but I'd much rather face an opponent for some 60ft-monsters-throwing-each-other-through-buildings shenanigans. I might just have to get back into this game...

Monday Mini: Dwarven Veteran

2011-01-17T14:55:00.001Z

I'm hoping to showcase a miniature that I think deserves it every Monday - and as I've been reading through the free Warcanto rules from the DwarfTales website, where better to start than with one of their amazing Dwarf veterans?

I've never been a massive fan of Dwarf miniatures, perhaps because of the GW Warhammer minis that always looked a bit too cheesy for my liking. What is it with the Dwarf being comic relief? In the Lord of the Rings movies, Gimli seems to exist solely for our amusement - Men are brave, Elves are "cool", Dwarves are simply... short. And invariably Scottish.

So here's to the Warcanto Dwarf! These miniatures hold true to the resilience and craftsmanship of the classic Dwarven race - to the extent that the game's other races look a bit poor in comparison - and, above all, these Dwarves look hard.

Science Fiction, Sextuple Feature! Surge buffer overload...

2011-01-15T11:38:00.005Z

I was just sitting thinking about how to redesign my "bombers" for Starmada - I was hoping to use some of the nifty NSL strikeboats from Ground Zero Games to differentiate them from my corvettes - when I thought I'd slide by FireBroadside to see how the StarBlazers fleet was coming along...

Yet another awesome game moving under my radar, in the form of the very intriguing-looking Earth Reborn.
I've been looking for small scale SF (or Fantasy, to be honest) skirmish games for a long time: Necromunda's too much like 40k, the beautiful Infinity is being avoided because I know it would just wind up being a huge time-and-money sink (!), and Heavy Gear for the same reasons... And a couple of us have had an eye on AT-43 for a loooong time, but that's got a £60 entry fee.

Hopefully I'll get some of my group into Monsterpocalypse! :D

Maybe ER snuck past while Untold was distracting me? (Told you I was looking for filler games!) Aaaanyway - I'm hoping to have a flick through the Earth Reborn site for more info... after I've read through the Warcanto rules!

I also happened to stumble across the amazing (and image heavy!) ConceptShips blog - so you will be seeing more artwork popping up in the Blogs of Note, gentle reader.

Gamma World - First Impressions

2011-01-14T10:49:00.004Z

Image by chiaralily via FlickrAfter a (long) break we're finally back to the table - and diving straight into the awesome post-apocalyptic Gamma World.

Gamma World is also available as a setting for d20 Modern, but I was looking forward to bit of a change from the d20 system, so I plumped for the 5th Edition that runs under Alternity.

The setting itself feels similar to the Fallout games, Mad Max, etc. and is pretty standard post apocalyptic fare...
but the world is well fleshed out and comes with a few adventures in the back of the book to get your teeth into. Locations are described well and there's plenty of conflict for players to get drawn into, and I have to say that it's pretty fun describing the Ancient "artifacts" discovered by the party on their travels - a bike pump, a gas barbecue, a flat-screen TV - and letting them work out what is is they've found!

If you're a fan of Fallout 3 (or any of the older Fallout games for the PC) then you should be able to slip right into the setting without any problems... it does feature giant mutated animals, which may not be up your street, but I restricted the playable races to Human, Android or Mutant which seems to work just fine for me.

Alternity's a fun roll-under system, with solid combat rules and some rather nasty weaponry along with a very mechanic for levels of success. Fast but crunchy does it for me!

Our first session went well: the PCs killed a few Badders (mutant humanoid badgers) and got some pretty cool loot, used their wits to avoid a potentially dangerous - if not fatal, considering the beat-up state they were in - trek through enemy territory, some awesome shooting against a giant spider and some very comical moments. Mutants slicing their enemies to bits with sharpened road signs can only bring joy to the SF-starved gamer...

New Year, new games?

2011-01-02T12:12:00.003Z

Happy New Year to all!

My gaming resolution is to actually get playing stuff... so while I build my Arthurian Pathfinder world, I need something to jump straight into:

My current favourite is Alternity (sci-fi) RPG - and the Gamma World setting to go with it that comes with a nice adventure ready to run and full of hooks! Why don't more setting books come with these things? I've always liked roll-under systems, and I love Alternity's levels of success and situational dice modifiers... and the loose "classes" it offers have a wide range of options while still allowing players to specialise.

Hopefully running this next week, but we'll see if everyone turns up!

Also, I've got pretty interested in the CORTEX system for more complex rules-light gaming... I like the way it makes players roll an attribute and a skill together, based on the the context of their actions; for example, taking an aimed shot may require DEXTERITY and GUNS, whereas returning fire on a sniper may need AWARENESS and GUNS, or working out how many rounds a holed-up enemy has left before reloading might ask for INTELLIGENCE and GUNS... It's a pretty neat way of adding complexity and depth to a system that looks pretty easy to roll characters and dive into. It's the basis for the Serentity/Firefly and Battlestar Galactica RPGs too, so there's plenty of source material floating about for the fanboys/girls.

Under the radar - MONSTERPOCALYPSE!

2010-12-28T13:31:00.007Z

It's been a while since I played the frankly amazing Monsterpocalypse, and attempts to get my gaming group to buy into it fizzled out because of the "collectible" random packing thing... which didn't stop me collecting two whole armies!

Having not thought about it for a year or so, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Privateer Press have not only released a compatible Voltron game - and PP are very good at maintaining balance in their games - but a whole new 2 player box set that gives you two (still random) armies without the crazy collectible buying...
now, if only I could guarantee to get two that weren't Cthul or Planet Eaters! (Actually, ideally Terrasaurs and GUARD...)

The Battle Box contains:
-A double-sided map, not sure if this is new as I have all the Rise ones
-Two Health Trackers
-Two Sets of Monsterpocalypse dice
-Some buildings... PP say six, but reports on BGG suggest you get one of each Rise structure, which makes NINE.
-Two random monsters, each with a faction appropriate army of 13 units

Hopefully this incredibly fun skirmish game will start to get even more recognition!

Alignment: Blurring the lines

2010-11-19T09:43:00.007Z

We didn't get to play in last night's gaming session, but I did get to thrash out some ideas for house rules with Dave - and he made a very valid point about the dullness of "Neutral" characters(1). With that in mind, I've been considering replacing the nine alignments with nine overlapping blocks of four:

...in that this gives a better handle on personality and motivation, while still representing the moral (good/evil) and organisational (law/chaos) axes from TWBSRPG... The central four blocks loosely represent "Neutral" - as in no particular leanings in any direction - while still giving suggestions about personality. Similarly, the top-right four represent "Chaotic Good", the bottom middle represent "Neutral Evil", and so on.

I'm hoping to expand on this, but I'd appreciate any feedback on the idea...

(1) Dave's argument was that Neutral characters have no motivation; no real urge to do good or ill, or choose to follow or disregard the rules. The other classic Neutral archetype is the "True Neutral Druid", a character who consciously strives to maintain the balance of the world, which is often difficult to fit into party motivations.

On Action Points and plot twists...

2010-10-28T11:02:00.011+01:00

Well, my plans to use a Pathfindered version of Monte Cook's Hero Points have had mixed success... so it's time for a spot of tinkering!

Here's the original idea, straight from our campaign wiki:

“Joss” – An adaptation of what I read here on Monte Cook’s Hero Points, Pathfindered, and given a name players are familiar with already: Joss Points are gained through excellent roleplaying, creating memorable moments in game, contributing to this wiki – for example by posting to the Adventure Log in-character – and so on… They can be used for:

- Heroic Skill: Get a +20 on a single d20 roll before the die is rolled. If it was an attack roll that would have hit anyway, it’s an auto crit threat. If the roll would have been a crit threat, it’s automatically confirmed.
- Heroic Action: Take a full round of actions out of initiative order, at any time, in addition to your normal turn and without losing or changing your place in the queue.
- Heroic Defence: Add d20 to your AC against a single attack, again before the attack is rolled. If it would have missed anyway, you may take an immediate 5-foot-step as a reaction.
- Heroic Recovery: Regain 1d4 per character level in HP, as a full round action. No other action can be taken this round, (especially) including using a JP for Heroic Action!

...problem is, players tend to simply take the "Heroic Action" route, missing out on a lot of cinematic goodness - and essentially making these 4E "Action Points". There was also an option to take narrative control, which was deleted as I didn't know how to set up the mechanics - until I saw Paizo's awesome-looking Plot Twist cards. A set has been purchased this very day!

Here's the plan:

Players will be dealt one Plot Twist card for each point of "Joss" at the start of the session, plus one each time they receive a Joss Point. This means they will not carry twists forward between sessions, which I think is important. They can play the cards in one of two ways, both "one shot" deals:

As an effect on a target (see black box on the example image) for purely mechanical benefits.
Take narrative control following - or, even better, in the spirit of - the bulleted suggestions.

...or players can pay a JP (and hence a Plot Twist card, of their choosing) to gain one of the following Heroic boons, subtly modified to be used before or after the roll:

Heroic Skill: Get a +20 on any single d20 roll - skill, attack, save, whatever. A JP can also be used in this way to upgrade a success to a crit threat, or confirm a crit without having to roll (but can be used to add +20 to the confirmation roll if it fails, natch). There are always points in any Heroic tale when the heroes get a lucky shot in, or succeed at a seemingly impossible task just in the nick of time - and that's what this option is for.
Heroic Defence: Add 1d20 to your AC against a single attack, even if the attack has been successfully rolled and hit, but before damage is rolled. A JP can also be spent in this way to gain a free Move Action as a reaction to an attack that missed; for example to withdraw, draw a weapon, 5-foot step to a flanking position, or anything else that counts as "moving" at the GM's discretion. The heroes always get to escape by the skin of their teeth, or turn a disadvantage into an advantage - and that's what this option is for.
Heroic Recovery: Roll 1d4 per character level, and recover that amount of HP - now as a Standard Action, so it can be used when running away or staggered. Heroes always seem to be able to draw on their final reserves of strength when they need it most - and that's what this option is for. To avoid potential abuse, let's say Heroic Recovery can only be used again after a night's rest (8 hours).

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this - anyone tried a similar system??

SpyCraft: Mission 1 - Annual training exercise

2010-10-08T12:14:00.006+01:00

Our first mission in Codename: The Increment was standard training fare for our newly-created seasoned (5th level) characters.

We were tasked with infiltrating a Ministry of Agriculture laboratory near a sleepy rural town, and liberating some sensitive documentation stored in a safe. This was not a live fire exercise, but we were fully expecting the building to be a front, manned by other Secret Service employees. We had two days to get in, get the information, and get out...

Day One:

We rose early and scouted out the building, getting a good view of the perimeter from all sides, as well as the tight security in operation. On closer inspection, the fence turned out to be electrified, and the poles around the complex carried night-vision as well as visible-light cameras. Discounting the back door and fire escape - as they lacked door handles - we spent another four hours watching the comings and goings through the main gates, and soon got a good idea of the tight security procedures in place.

Several plans were discussed and dismissed - commandeering an employee's vehicle and ramming through the gates, parachuting onto the roof in the dead of night, and even arranging "distractions" for the guards while we snuck in... "Too much" DnD had us thinking a far too combat-centric way! Use of my character's air strike gear selection to create a distraction was vetoed due to the fact this was an internal training mission on UK soil.

We knew the safe was voice-locked (in true Mission Impossible style) and so needed to get the voice print of the high-ranking director of the facility - which was where our first real plan came into operation. Having considered several options, we bought a banger of a car for a hundred quid at the local garage, and "accidentally" ran into the back of him at the lights. Unfortunately, I rolled a 1 on my driving roll and caused several thousand pounds worth of damage to his Bentley... After a concerted effort to calm him down, we gave our (fake) details and got his - name, address, and eventually all the digits from 0 to 9 for the voice lock...

Retiring for the night, we ran a few errands - Millennium (Nath) went and rented a white van, and took it to the local 24h Tesco to pick up a printer and laminator for the laptop. Raffles (Me) called one of her contacts by leaving a cryptic message on a BBS somewhere, and was eventually able to request having our aliases, van registration (of the rental) and a bogus air-con repair job inserting into the facility's records for the following day. Can Opener (Mark) called back to HQ for a background check on the director, from which we started to piece together some ideas for code numbers for the safe.

Day Two:

After waiting 3d6 hours to see if our hacker contact had been successful, he sent confirmation of the job along with fake ID badges for us to print and laminate.

Having decided to try a non-violent tack on the mission, Millennium looked up some prescription sleeping tablets on his iPhone while Raffles knocked up a face prescription on the laptop. CO headed off to get some suitable work gear, and had it logo-embroidered, before meeting us at the supermarket cafe for an all-day-breakfast. After a tense moment at the chemist's counter - I rolled a 2 on my forgery roll (clearly a crappy printout), and waited with action die in hand while Dave rolled... a 2 as well. Seems the dispenser guy really wasn't looking that closely anyway - we headed out to spend the day filling the van with air-con gear, tools and bits of pipe.

Evening rolled by, and we rolled up to the security booth at the facility. Easily bluffing our way in - we were on the list, no roll needed - we were sent upstairs with one of the security guards watching over us. As the boys went to work "fixing" the AC - and trying to find the safe - Raffles headed down to the canteen to make the all-important workman's tea, bumping into half a dozen meatier security guys watching golf.

Brews all round.

After a few false starts and a couple of hours spent fannying around, we finally had the guards asleep, the safe located - behind a picture of The Queen, of course - and set about cracking the code. Dave's clues were good, but we just weren't thinking along the right lines, so we ended up cutting the thing open with a plasma cutter - very slowly, as time ticked away!

Grabbing the all-important USB stick just as the guards came back round, Raffles bolted for the front door and slammed the release button, CO and Millennium taking out the still sleepy guards with gunfire and grenades (laser tags, this time round...) before hot-footing it to the van. A couple more shots were exchanged before we screeched out of the compound, CO waving his MP5 at the civilian security guards to intimidate them into opening the gates for us.

In all, awesome.

World Creation - Gods

2010-10-05T14:08:00.002+01:00

Image via WikipediaJust a note to say that the Goddesses of Ond have been created and installed in their place over the lowly denizens - some of which have also been profiled.

Each Goddess is an aspect of the original Creator - she was consumed by conflicting desires and close to insanity (as beings of incredible power must surely often be) and divided her power between four aspects. These represent the classic LG, CG, LE and CE alignments, while the races are intentionally aligned along one axis or the other but not both, leaving the now Neutral Creator to oversee them...

Spycraft 2.0 - first impressions

2010-10-05T11:21:00.003+01:00

Image via WikipediaWell - I have to say I'm impressed.

Spycraft is, along with Pathfinder, refuelling my love of the 3.5 rules system... the core mechanics are the same, but the variety that different publishers can squeeze out of a d20 is amazing.

CraftyGames have done an excellent job of bringing something fresh to the table, particularly in making INT and WIS still useful in a non-magical universe.

My favourite class?
Schemer. The ability to use your INT bonus on any skill check is genius, and makes for a very fun "leader" character - which is what 4E's sorry Warlord class should have been...

Combat is apparently pretty complex - but we do love the crunch! We'll have to take it as it comes, but I for one am very excited by the change of pace that SpyCraft presents...

Starting Spycraft

2010-09-25T15:18:00.003+01:00

Because I haven’t posted anything for a while I thought an update might be in order. Last games night the players took the time to generate some characters for the Spycraft 2.0 game that I am going to run as a filler game between our Pathfinder adventures. Well that was the idea anyway; however after reading the games substantial rules set and then spending considerable time to develop my own setting it’s clear that this is more than a causal game but a fully developed campaign in its own right.

The Crafty Games people have made a really cool rule set in this book that whilst I have heard many objections to the game as being rule heavy I think that they will suit my groups need for crunch very nicely. The combat rules alone are superb from what I have read and it remains to be seen how the work on the table. We do have an advantage in that we have played Fantasycraft in the past so hopefully that will help us out on the night so to speak.

Yarr! Free stuff, me hearties!

2010-09-15T21:09:00.002+01:00

Yo ho ho!

Not only be Talk Like a Pirate Day a loomin' but I just got myself a message in an e-bottle sayin' they're givin' away free booty on the good ship DriveThruRPG...

(Posted a link above, YARR!)

Pathfinder campaign planning

2010-09-14T11:00:00.004+01:00

Image via WikipediaFirstly, Pathfinder is amazing. However, that's not what I'm blogging about today - campaign planning is.

Firstly, I don't have a lot of time. I've been looking for tools to help and frankly the NPC, settlement and campaign planning sheets from the Pathfinder GameMastery book are a great start - I'd recommend reading it to fantasy DMs using any system.

I've tried TiddlyWiki in the past with mixed success - for this campaign I'm moving on to Obsidian Portal as it offers worldbuilding, character profiling, session reporting and so much more straight off the bat. I'm toying with the idea of posting photos of character minis for those that have them, and making HeroMachine characters for those who don't.

With Obsidian Portal letting me wikify everything that'sgoing on in the world - please don't ask me to think in straight lines! - I was looking for some inspiration for building the world. Enter an amazing idea courtesy of welshpiper.com: quick and dirty map generation tools, with the ability to roll "encounters" for each major hex, let me approach the world from both top-down and bottom-up perspectives at once. Let's hope I can resist the urge to try to generate the whole world!

Using the welshpiper templates for Hexographer, I'm generating a simple map that can be whacked into Obsidian Portal's Google-Maps-powered map tool to put the locations in the right place when I get round to wikifying them. Now I just need to build, or find, an adventure/encounter to go with each location and I'm about set up. Enter the GameMastery Guide's acres of tables...

Once I get a system down, I'll give a more structured breakdown. Anyone interested, or got any tips??

Back to the Table

2010-08-16T23:35:00.001+01:00

Last week Tom started his Pathfinder campaign and it really is a superb game, it brings back that Dungeons and Dragons feel that I thought was lacking in 4e. Everything in the Pathfinder rules is to my liking starting with the obviously high production values of the book, its streamlined 3e rules and new rule additions, core races and classes make it feel like a continuation of the legacy of D&D not a new game.

As I have read the rules and we have played our fist game I am struck by my own enthusiasm to play and really hate that I am away on "Stupid Holiday" next week and can not play in the game session. Amazing how after all the years and all those games its D&D that I still love to play above all others.

I have made a Human Fighter for my first character and whilst I like him a lot I have the urge to play a Half Elf Druid in these rules as the Druid really rocks! We have a Dwarf Ranger played by Nathan and a Gnome Rogue made by Mark with an Npc Cleric to be added to the group. Our group is down on numbers and we really need to find some fresh blood to bring into the game or attract some past gamers back out of retirement and back to the table, I would like two more players but more the merrier really.

That's all I have got to say for a little while as I am on Holiday for the next week or two. And Nathan and Mark if you read this hope everything goes well in next weeks game and please, please look after my character.

On crunch, fluff, and system necromancy

2010-08-04T11:04:00.007+01:00

We're starting playing RPGs again this week - and I for one can't wait! It seems I've been handed the reins, although Dave has FantasyCraft ready to roll "whenever," but I've been struck by a thought:

My group likes crunch. We love rules, and stats, and rolling on tables. This may well be why the rules-light games (PDQ# etc) we've played have tailed off. I think this could also be why people don't seem too keen on Savage Worlds...

I also love crunch - I can't help it. I thoroughly enjoyed the crunchiness of 4e DnD, the character twinking and the tactical combat. And I'm planning on running Mouse/Realm Guard tomorrow, which is not crunchy - it's not meant to be offensive, but Guard is definitely a fluffy game. I know people aren't going to like it. But sod it.

I want to run something to get back into the swing - to get the ball rolling again. Guard's low prep, and I want to see how the mechanics work out. We can play for a few sessions and then dive into FantasyCraft, or whatever, and then play something else. Something nice and crunchy. I like the idea of everyone running their own game for a few sessions, a four week (or whatever) mini adventure path - one of the things that broke the DnD experience for me was that we changed DMs but kept the characters and narrative running, in hindsight that was a pretty bad idea...

So: We'll play Guard for a couple of weeks - Dave's not here next week, so no point in starting FantasyCraft now - and then when I get rotated back in to DM, we can switch to one of:

+ Savage Worlds, in the Deadlands setting - the one I've been running previously. I like the setting, I just need to enforce more structure. Pump the PCs up a tier and throw some more stuff at them... it could be good.

+ Burning Wheel, possibly using the Harn world for geography to let me build the society more easily. Not sure about this one, I'll look into the system more.

+ 4e DnD, in the upcoming Dark Sun setting. The more I think about it, the more I think we should give it another go. Dark Sun is a great post-apocalyptic setting - but post-apocalyptic fantasy - and I love the grittiness, worship of the elements over gods, and the fact that magic use has consequences. I unknowingly played in the world, over telnet (!), on Armageddon before I even got into MMORPGS and tabletop games - and I really liked it. I miss the tactical combat options from 4e, positioning and power coordination don't seem to apply in other games we've played, and I think I've learned enough to try to skim over its (many) faults. We just need players to play their roles, which I think my current group will.

Controversial? Maybe. I'll run the idea past people while I'm blasting their fleets to dust tonight...

Thoughts??

Changing the way we play? - Mouse Guard and Burning Wheel

2010-07-29T11:21:00.007+01:00

I can't help but be intrigued by what I've read about Mouse Guard. I dismissed it intitially - who wants to play mice? - and moved on, but then I read about the interesting mechanics involved over at WrathOfZombie's blog, and how they'd been applied to Pathfinder. And then I went in search of more info, and read through all of the Chatty DM's Mouse Guard experience over at CriticalHits...

...and then I read some reviews of the Burning Wheel system, and downloaded the Mouse Guard book as .pdf, and now I'm reading it...

It's fair to say there's a lot to take in, it weighs in at 320 pages which is a lot more than I was expecting for a game about mice. I can see that it will fit nicely with my style of DMing, and given my players' positive reaction to the shared storytelling we had in our PDQ# game, I'm hoping that they'll take to playing a more story focused game.

The Burning Wheel system - and hence Mouse Guard - seems to turn things on their heads in a way that I think will be interesting to experience, and even if we don't enjoy it I think it will enrich my skills as a DM, and a player, to focus more on character and story. It's interesting to read about Mouse Guard from a player's perspective too... I'm naturally interested in a game that could make us rethink how we play, just like Descent did for the dungeon-crawl boardgame. Burning Wheel itself looks to be a hefty, Tolkienesque fantasy affair - much heavier and more complex, and more in Dave's realm than mine - and much as I'd love to play/run it, I think we could do with a gentle introduction.

I'm itching to run MG, which is why I'm trying to get the book read and assimilated into my brain - which may take longer than I'd thought! Will keep you posted...

Update: Didn't take that long; the book's easy to read and beautifully presented, although there are some ambiguous bits of rules-text here and there. Consider it assimilated!

In space, no one can hear you go BOOOOOOM!

2010-07-23T09:26:00.004+01:00

First proper Starmada game last night - four-way free-for-all, 2000 points a piece - and it was immensely good fun!

The ACEF faced off against Dave's Russians, Mark's unnamed aliens, and Nath's from-the-back-of-the-quickstart-rules fleet 'cos his models haven't arrived yet. We had plenty of space as we were playing on 1" hexes, so Mark and I had the range advantage at the start. My plan was to hang back, pounding the enemy with rocks from a distance, while sending my minelayers and bombers forward to keep them at range...

...which FAILED. The bombers (tiny corvettes with massive virus bombs designed to cripple an enemy ship's systems) swooped off towards Mark's super-dreadnaught, only to be shot down in flames with barely an eyelid batted. Ooops. The frigates fared slightly better, getting into laser cannon range and doing some damage - although only two survived to lay their minefields, which quite frankly proved to be a bit pants. Everyone converged on the middle, Mark dominating with his insanely long-range weaponry while staying infuriatingly out of my mass drivers' reach.

Nath closed on Mark with massed fleet action, doing plenty of damage to each other - which I missed most of while shooting at Dave - while the mass drivers finally managed to do some serious damage. The ACEF's iconic weapon has had a bit of tweaking over the games, and is now where I want it to be... I managed to cripple a few ships with a single hit, including a 42-damage-dice monstrosity from my battleship. If only we'd had more than 5 d6 to hand... My boys put up a good fight, before being slaughtered by Nathan's fighter squadrons and an excellent round of short-range shooting from the Soviets. Such is the fun of playing an unbalanced force!

We had to call a halt to proceedings as it was getting pretty late, in the end it looked as though Dave was the victor despite his "concerns" about his ships' performance against the rest of us - and I was clearly last past the post with only a single crippled battleship remaining, although it did have enough firepower to level a city from orbit...

Overall - awesome! Definitely been bitten by the bug on this one.

Is Your Games Life A Secret?

2010-07-21T17:09:00.003+01:00

I have played for many years but if you were to ask some of the people that I have known for years they would have no idea of my gaming interest. For instance I currently work nights but I’ve arranged to have Thursdays off work each week for my regular RPG group, my co-workers know nothing about why I have this day off due to my strict if they don't ask then don't tell them, but why the secrecy?

I am just a somewhat private person who needs to get to know someone well before I open up to them about myself properly and my gaming side. But even though I don't tell people about my games life I don’t deny it either if someone finds out. I mean we did play in a local backstreet pub snug for about a year in full view anyone who cared to pass by.

Thinking about it as I write this post it occurs to me that maybe its natural for a person to have many sides to his character and to show differing facets to other people. Maybe I just know that some people are more receptive to the games side and to others I can talk about my other interests like history, movies, football etc.

So after reading this post are you an open loud and proud type or more like me a private gamer?

Growing the Hobby: Retention over recruitment?

2010-07-20T10:35:00.006+01:00

Dipping my toe in the water here - this month's Blog Carnival seems pretty appropriate, so here goes:

I've seen some great ideas for getting people in by getting out there and running great intro games, and being the inspiring DM/GM who grabs - and keeps - players' attention. It's the second point that really got me thinking...

I was the newbie, freshly added to a friend's 4E D&D campaign and fifth PC in the party. Then I got bitten by the DM bug, wanted to try new systems... and we've lost two players to disinterest, which is quite possibly at least partially my fault.

However, it seems we've lost the "powergamers" and kept the "roleplayers" - the ones whose 4E characters did the non-killy stuff (whether through non-minmaxed stats, intentional cowardice, or appalling dice luck) and got involved in the story instead.
The others still wargame together, and with us, and would probably set up their own dungeoncrawling group too - so maybe the loss isn't a loss after all.

I've tried getting people involved, and it seems that non-gamers are hesitant - because we're nerdy, maybe, or because we're a difficult crowd, allegedly. I'd love to see more people get involved in gaming, but it seems like you can't please all the players all the time. I'm not interested in the technology, or the gamer bling, because I don't think it's the issue - I think I need to work out what my players (old and new) want to get out of their game, and make sure as GM, or playing someone else's, that I put it in.

Maybe I've been worrying too much about finding good systems, and not enough about making involving worlds? Or is there more to it than that? If I can get the players hooked, will they bring in new blood by themselves?

Summer Projects

2010-07-19T09:58:00.009+01:00

The main project for development over the summer is VIRUS (Variable Index Roll Under System) as an RPG system. I've found I like d% roll-under systems, but have always had a dislike for the arbitrary +/- modifiers - attributed to the fact that I'm terrible at mental arithmetic so it tends to make my head hurt, even under d20.

VIRUS is an expansion of THOGS that I developed... last year? It was fun to play, and worked the way I wanted it to, which was surprising! Sadly, it was overly complex and ruined by cheating, and VIRUS is being designed to counter those flaws. I'll be attempting to combine the (random) primary and secondary stats I loved from HarnMaster, DnD style "powers" or techniques, wound tracks as opposed to hit points, tiered skill trees and defaults for untrained skills, and intuitive difficulty scaling. Wish me luck!

Having seen Greywulf's latest renders, I'm pretty keen to get DAZ back out and have a go at some of my own too - and at least they could be used to illustrate the VIRUS books, and some cards for a couple of games I have in the pipeline!

(Virus Games also needs a finished website some point...)

I also need to get the print 'n' play pdf of Loop sorted and released, and begin work on the Critical Injury cards - they're needed for VIRUS anyway, but it would be nice if they felt a bit more "professional" so we'll see how they go, and if people want them for other systems.

There's also a fleet to paint, worlds to invent, and work to start on 15mm Infinity (at some point!)

Fantasyfish's First Post

2010-07-19T00:46:00.003+01:00

Tom has asked us other members of our Games Group to chip in here on Plastic Polyhedra and so here goes. I thought that my first post should tell you something about myself and the games background that I have.

I consider myself as a veteran role player with something like twenty five years of gaming under my belt, having been both player and DM in various games through the years. I started out with AD&D way back and fell in love with the game instantly from the first die rolls playing mostly Fighters as I recall, then moving on to Clerics and Paladins. Around 1992 I was part of a new games group of six players that met weekly and it is this group that still exists in one form or another until today (sadly with only two original players). Our weekly games group now stands at four regular players and maybe two or three lapsed gamers, I would prefer another two players as five is much more stable group but really more the merrier in my book.

I have been the DM more than played in recent years and even went so far as to write a variation of 3rd Edition D&D, but now I have less time and we have Tom who seems to be a keen game runner so I've kind of been coasting as a player (man is that a lot less work or what?) Tom has run a few systems and although they haven't stuck with the players as yet I think all he just needs to do is find a system he loves and can infuse us with his infectious game style of his.

Making characters personality driven rather than by Stats is my aim in games and I have had some good ones and like most people and a couple of great ones that pop up in the odd round table story. In the past couple of months I've played a smelly camel driver, a goth girl, an evil scheming wizard, a fat Greek smuggler, and lately a foul mouthed female gunfighter.

My new campaign is going to be based on the shared world that we just stated originally for our ill fated 4e D&D game using the Fantasy Craft rules system that I really like. So I will mostly likely post about this system in the future or one of the many war games that I am into. As for war games I have forces for far too many games to mention, but Starmada is the current project that is sucking up my spare cash.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

2010-07-18T11:39:00.002+01:00

Well, I've been playing around with the layout last night until I finally got one I liked (ish) and am hoping to do some tag-weeding later on as there are s few with only one post...

Have also signed up a couple of my gaming group as authors, hope to hear more from them too!

Return to RPG-dom?

2010-07-18T00:53:00.005+01:00

Multipurpose purchase possibility: Battlestations!

Originally spotted when I was looking around for a board to play Starmada on, which it has, Battlestations is a pulp sci-fi RPG/boardgame hybrid that actually looks like it might fit our short-term filler-game needs as well...

Although we have the minis and whatever for fantasy RPGs, pulpy sci-fi has always appealed to me: whether Slipstream for Savage Worlds or Mindjammer for FATE, or whatever else. 15mm SF minis are readily available in the UK, and I'm planning a sci-fi(ish) setting for my own system when I ever actually get time to write stuff down, so why not go for it..?

Deadlands is still on the cards, and on hold, but the cardboard miniatures I downloaded seem to have gone down like a lead balloon with my group. Ah well.

Dave may well step in and continue his FantasyCraft campaign, which would be great as I'm itching to play something, but otherwise it looks like I may need to get something sorted for when we tire of blowing each other into space-junk...

The Vraaaken are coming.........

2010-07-16T16:30:00.002+01:00

Sir, i've got something on the long range scanner. It's Firing! Brace for Impa....................

Starship design - doctrines and colour schemes...

2010-07-12T10:57:00.006+01:00

Not my fleet - sadly - but some very nicely painted NSL ships from GZG's gallery pages. I'm still considering a red colour scheme, but possibly sticking to a more traditional wet-navy feel, and these are the best I've seen yet.

The ACEF (Aresian Colonial Expansion Force) has grown out of the old Colonial Defence Force after Mars won its independence from Earth. The combined Earth fleet was repelled by enormous surface-mounted mass drivers flinging red boulders into space - and now the ACEF ships utilise the same technology to decimate enemy fleets from afar. Each of the mid-size ships is essentially a spine-mounted accelerator with engines and a few defensive broadside guns, with the larger ones sporting multiple mass drivers, support facilities, and combat squads for boarding. Corvettes are currently being fitted up as minelayers to keep the enemy at range.

ACEF ships have low shield factors, but the gravitational fields generated by the mass drivers interfere with enemy sensors and the ACEF are keen to exploit this, boosting their disruptive effect. (In game terms, all ACEF ships with mass drivers have countermeasures and stealth, meaning they can't be hit at long range and only with two cumulative -1 modifiers closer than that. Ouch.)

In short, they're intended for long-range destruction - and will struggle to stay afloat if they're hit, as well as being susceptible to fighter attacks. My next fleet will likely be fighter heavy in contrast, as I've seen an amazing fighter carrier on Brigade Models' starship pages...

Starmada: First Impressions

2010-07-04T19:49:00.011+01:00

Not that this is a proper review or anything, but we had our first bash at Starmada this week, and I have to say I'm impressed. Dave's thoughts are here, if you're interested.

My fleet of GZG Neu Swabian League ships are offworlders in our universe, the Aresian Colonial Expansion Force (ACEF) from the rebel Martian colonies. My design doctrine for the ships was inspired by the models - they all sported powerful long-range spine mounted mass drivers firing in a narrow forward arc, and short-ranged tracer firing broadside batteries. I have to say that setting up these weapons - with all the special rules required - in Starmada was a breeze, and much more satisfying than designing ships in Full Thrust. See the image below for the auto-generated printable sheets for the Battleship:

Dave's fleet weren't fully statted - but he has painted his, at least! - so he used my designs too, although he has interesting plans: His American force are going to be more high tech, as befits the beautiful Brigade American Republic models, with configurable screens instead of shields, with his Russians (ESU ships from GZG again) being armour plated, and fast enough to get in close and swarm my ships with Spetsnatz boarding parties... All of which should be a doddle to set up under the rules - I'm impressed.

Movement rules take a while to get the hang of - but are much faster to play than Full Thrust's - and the combat involves throwing handfuls of d6s, which is awlways fun. Damage tracking is pretty easy, and the various options offered by the custom weapons actually made a difference too. Mass drivers need to be much more devastatingly powerful! Muhahaha!

Roll on next week!

RPGs - What's in a system?

2010-06-09T15:06:00.003+01:00

All the talk over on Thoughts on 4e has really got me thinking: How important is system when it comes to roleplaying games?

We're currently mid-way through games in FantasyCraft, Savage Worlds/Deadlands, GURPS, PDQ, HarnMaster, Castle Falkenstein, Warhammer Fantasy, and THOGS/VIRUS, I guess... and it's bloody frustrating! The only campaign that ever came to any kind of conclusion was in DnD 4e, and that only happened because players refused to help each other out and/or got bored - it was a TPK, by the way.

I'm fed up with starting again. We need something that everyone will love, but I really don't know what. I thought Deadlands would be great, but reception has been a bit damp. Warhammer was fun, but the DM gave up after one session. I loved Harn, but it didn't play like other people wanted it to - or rather they weren't happy rolling with what was dealt them in character generation, and went for fighters anyway. Falkenstein was a mistake, GURPS is the wrong system for the game, and you know our thoughts on 4e...

In the midst of all this, I'm trying to write a system that does what I want it to do - but if it isn't what the players want, then it seems the setting is going to be irrelevant.

Maybe I just need a setting that I can run with - the Adventure Path I got for 4e was a blast to run and let me splice a lot of my own ideas in, the sample adventure for GURPS (Caravan to Ein Arras) was really good fun to run - until everyone gave up at a cliffhanger moment.

I seems like things are unravelling at the moment, and we may end up getting Descent out every week unless we can get together and get behind somehing we can all have fun playing - but what??

Dresden files RPG

2010-06-09T12:18:00.007+01:00

...very excited!

FATE was already drawing me in, and this sounds like the perfect world to play it in!

Getting it (back) together

2010-06-07T11:50:00.002+01:00

It's been a while - sorry, but not much to report back on.

Plenty to be reading though - Tourq's got me thinking about modifying DnD to make it more like the epic fantasy we know and love, great ideas for zombies in Savage Worlds in Wrath Of Zombie by... um... WrathOfZombie, and this has got me all fired up for more Deadlands - when anyone turns up, that is...

Fleet's almost assembled, ready to play Starmada - just need to get some ships statted up.

Full Thrust vs Starmada vs Firestorm...

2010-05-16T15:27:00.005+01:00

We had the opportunity to sit down and work out what we wanted to play, spacewise, this week, and it looks like we have a winner...

Firestorm: Armada is out because a) we're not keen on the ships, b) there're no quick start rules, and c) there seems to be no customisation.

Still put off by Full Thrust's relative unfriendliness, it looks like we're now going to be playing Starmada: Admiralty Edition. Hex-based movement should make things easier, custom fleets - and custom weapons - seem to be a doddle too. Still planning on using Full Thrust ships though...

15mm Infinity, and space warfare!

2010-05-10T19:50:00.006+01:00

Just a quick projects update:

First, I'm still planning on going ahead with 15mm scale Infinity for sci-fi skirmish goodness. I'll probably be getting some minis from Ground Zero Games, as I'm UK based, so it's just a case of working out what to use for what!

The only 15mm terrain we've got is for WW2, so I'll have to get building; I'm currently thinking of something between Matakishi's amazing SF city, and this awesome modular Necromunda table - check out the concept for a better idea of what's going on!

I'd also like to play some space combat games. Full Thrust is good fun (and free) but clunky, so we may end up buying the Firestorm: Armada rules and using FT ships 'cos I think the NSL ones are about as cool as it gets...

Filler games

2010-05-09T11:13:00.006+01:00

We've had two weeks without a full complement of players, so we've been digging out the filler games!

A couple of weeks ago it was Dominion (actually, Dominion: Intrigue) which we're still getting the hang of. We played a few games, trying to get a strategy together - I'm still on the fence about this one; one of our group likes it, one seems disinterested, I get into it at the time but don't really get that much out of it...

This week, however, was regular filler game Descent! Taking into account what was said last time, we decided to take one hero each - and the balance seems to be restored. We lost.

I drew Varikas the Dead (yay!) and some interesting skills - I regained (another) fatigue point when Advancing, got +1 armour and a free Guard action when Battling, and exploded killing everything in 3 squares if I died. Dave got Steelhorns the minotaur, the ability to Cleave into another opponent if he killed someone in melee, and invigorating battle cry and something else...

We were kicking ass and taking names right up until the final battle, when our lack of decent magic items meant we really couldn't touch Nat's dragon, and we went down. We play that if all the heroes are dead at the end of a turn then it's Game Over Man, so the evil Overlord finally won!

To his credit, Nat had an interesting strategy going; burning - rather than playing - spawns and traps to get get Doom, Hordes of The Things, Brilliant Commander and something else all in play - meaning the most effective way for us to clear a room in the endgame was for me to die, and take as many with me as possible!

Your help needed!

2010-04-21T10:30:00.002+01:00

I'm getting a few hits now, so I'd appreciate your input - regular reader or not - into the blog...

It's starting to feel a bit messy to me, with RPGs, boardgames and wargaming starting to creep in too - should I split the site? Are the filtered feeds actually any use?

Do people actually care about session reports? Not many other blogs have 'em, you see.

I'm considering starting up a blog list/aggregator as I generally come here to read my favourite blogs (see sidebar) so I thought hey, what the hell: why not set up some kind of community for all these niches I seem to be trying to squeeze into one blog? Is that all one sentence? Wow.

Please tell me what you think!!

And the main reason...

2010-04-18T21:05:00.004+01:00

...that there's been little activity: I've started making my own games properly - not just the ever-in-development VIRUS RPG, the first off the press is Loop. I'm building the site for my stuff now, so it's not going to pollute this page after this.

Next project: critical hit / failure cards for d20 / GURPS / Savage Worlds / and of course, VIRUS...

Finally: Deadlands!

2010-04-18T20:19:00.003+01:00

"Rockin'horse" McTire's in big trouble because of that big mouth of hers...

Having struggled to get all the survivors off the train - due to in-party dithering - the posse ran into a swarm of prairie ticks while trying to get to a nearby town. These little things are pretty nasty; they crawl down your throat, suck out your blood, and eventually burst you from the inside - and they got into five of the ten survivors!

Leaving Big John and Obadiah to move the wounded on to civilisation, Mary-Lou (that's Rockin'horse to you) rode on ahead to get help.

However, being the ballsy gal she is, she ended up getting drunk and shooting her mouth off at the town's stand-in Sherrif - who's the Texas Ranger I was trying to slip in for a later plot hook. Damn. Managed to steer her away from a duel, at least...

Having left the town "to go send a telegram," the Sherrif left things wide open for a gang of outlaws to loot and pillage. Luckily, the posse gave them a good kicking - although John nearly took a dirt nap in the process - leaving the town safe. What will happen when the Ranger gets back, however, is anyone's guess...

Tyranids - The end of an era?

2010-04-01T11:01:00.006+01:00

I've been thinking about my 'nids lately, after seeing a game a couple of weeks ago using the new rules.

I've been well into tyranids since 2nd Ed Warhammer 40,000, and to me the last codex was pretty much what made them stand out from the crowd. Biomorphs and +/- Strength weaponry were cool, and gave the 'nids a completely different feel. The new codex destroys that for me, replacing our modified critters with a whole load of unnecessary new ones - maybe to stop people magnetising their 'fexes and get them buying more models?

So: maybe it's time to forget about 40k and start playing something else? My current thoughts on the matter are:

* Switch to Necrons, as we don't have a 'cron player and I Less-Than-Three converting plastics?

* Play Infinity instead - but probably 15mm as I can't afford the (admittedly gorgeous) miniatures?

* Play the awesome looking Heavy Gear instead, although I'm not sure I can afford it??

Anyone got any better ideas?

Deadlands update - dream a little dream

2010-03-27T20:43:00.004Z

The Deadlands campaign is starting to gather steam now - at least in my head! We've played a couple of trial games: one was a one-sheet from Pinnacle to help us learn the rules, the other was a modified Cray Canyon (for GURPS) to help settle the players in.

Currently, we're loving it!

The system adheres to its Fast Furious Fun promise, although some aspects can take a bit of getting used to. My players think they need more Guts - I did point out that they were essentially first level weaklings (nicely) and they had been facing undead, who get a toughness bonus and take half damage from guns...

Savage Worlds is a system that doesn't pull punches, and my lot are too used to encounters being balanced to their level. It's too easy to get into the Open Door Slay Minions Get Chest Open Door Slay Minions grind without thinking about the scenario - if you were really encountering a group of undead zombies you'd run like hell, not try to gun 'em down. And I have pointed out that XP gained goes on successfulness of the session, not kills!

It's going to be a fun learning curve!

Thoughts on 4e

2010-03-24T11:19:00.003Z

I've been reading through NewbieDM's thoughts on helping your players in 4e, and it ties in quite nicely with my thoughts for fleshing it out a bit.

My group went way off 4e, mainly because of perceived power creep, lack of "depth", the generic nature of powers and the counterintuitiveness of skill challenges. If that's a word.

Maybe we were playing it wrong - I think a lot of bad feeling bubbled up from the progressively weirder race/class combinations being thrown in by a couple of players, simply as ways to max damage. Powers had cool names, but were never described. Skill challenges went wrong because players either a) has no skills as they'd maxed out for combat, or b) declared "I'm using my History skill to..." which just feels weird.

It does sound like things have changed, and maybe we were too harsh on 4e. In addition to reminding players of the things NewbieDM mentions, I'm considering:

* Limiting PCs to a maximum of 16 in any stat before racial modifiers?

* Getting players to describe their powers. "My sword bursts into green flames as I strike down the closest bugbear," rather than, "I use my Green Flame Blade on bugbear 3 - it is number 3 that's bloodied, right?"

* Giving generic XP rewards for any successful skill check in a skill challenge - making it a less formal process?

4e was the first tabletop RPG I ran - or indeed played - so I guess with hindsight we could have done things a little differently... Any thoughts?

Descent and balance

2010-03-21T09:58:00.003Z

Descent's a great game, but our group's reaching the point where the Heroes are rapidly outclassing the Overlord player. We're only 4 or so missions in, so hopefully the balance will be shifted in the later missions.

Two of us took four heroes against the forces of darkness this week, and won by a margin of over a dozen conquest tokens!

We only used pretty basic strategies too:

* Open doors at the start of a turn, run in and collect chests/glyphs before slaughtering minions before they can react.

* Quaff fatigue potions with gay abandon to achieve the above - spend all money in ton on more fatigue potions!

* Position heroes to limit the areas the overlord can spawn in, as (s)he has to spawn out of LOS.

Now, either there're some equally basic Overlord tactics we're missing, or the game's balance is crazy... My thoughts on addressing this imbalance are:

* Start the heroes on zero conquest (or one, maybe) as the chances of getting slotted before activating a glyph are slim to none?

* Allow the Overlord to play multiple spawns when the boss room door has been opened - after all, the remaining minions would rush to the defence of their master, right?

* Give players fewer skills - maybe draw three as standard, but discard one?

* Maybe we should have just had one hero each, instead of two?

Any thoughts, or (better) advice? I'm aware that the expansions swing the balance back the other way, but we're only playing vanilla descent for now!

Descent Ownage

2010-03-13T11:38:00.005Z

Thursday's Deadlands session was put off as we were missing a member, so we cracked Descent out instead for some good ol' fashioned dungeon crawling.

Mark elected to be Overlord, which meant I got to play the Heroes, for once, with Dave. Random selection netted me Silhouette and Sir Whatsit, Dave got Landrec and Ronan. I was pretty happy with my two, decking Valadir? out as "tank" with decent armour and a sword & shield, and Silhouette as "runner" with a shield & crossbow. Landrec drew the cards that gave him Command and Sorcery 1, making him an unofficial "leader" type, while Ronan ended up with Marksman and some miscellaneous oddments that didn't really affect gameplay.

It soon transpired that Silhouette was grossly overpowered; I'd drawn Rapid Fire and Crack Shot for her, which was handy, but I also got the card that gives +2 fatigue - cranking her up to a game-breaker. With her 5 move and 7 fatigue, the original plan was to run her around and take glyphs / chests, using her shield to keep her alive and the crossbow in an emergency. Ronan and Landrec were going to be crowd control, while Valadir duked it out with whatever was trying to munch on the party.

This soon changed when we figured out that Rapid Fire can be used multiple times in a turn - Silhouette was clearing out rooms as we discovered them with 10+ attacks in a turn before nipping off to town for more potions. Even when Mark revealed a room full of master skellys and sorcerors, the only reason it took two turns for her to beat them all down was because he was incredibly lucky with his Undying rolls.

He conceded - we had over 15 conquest points and a couple of gold items each, and he really couldn't see it getting any tougher for us. Disappointing, but we're having a rematch next week!

We may have to houserule it, in hindsight - anyone else had a similar experience?

Why I'm running my next campaign in the Deadlands

2010-02-08T21:14:00.007Z

Well, Thursday was a mixed bag.

Firstly, no gaming! As two of our group failed to turn up, there was a lack of Fantasycraft goodness.

However, I did get to talk to Dave about Deadlands, my next choice of setting under the Savage Worlds umbrella. In case you've not heard of it, Savage Worlds is a nice rules-light system that looks a blast to play; we made him a character, Lizzie-Lou McTire, but ran out of time to try the system out.

Deadlands itself grabbed me straight away - it's a mix of Wild West and Horror that somehow manages not to be hokey. I can see where and how I can get multiple story arcs in - I've got ideas for one or two already. After running a couple of PDQ# games, and trying to run Castle Falkenstein, I fancied something grittier which Deadlands serves up in spades.

The plan is to play the "Wild West" part in a more cinematic style, while toning down the "horror" to more Creeping Dread than Buckets Of Gore. Hopefully we'll end up somewhere Cthulhu-esque but with comic relief. Dreams will feature prominently.

Wish me luck, check back to see how we get on!

Character: Gobsock

2010-01-30T15:10:00.003Z

As this was our first foray back into fantasy since 4e D&D, I wanted my Goblin priest to be a little different - and Fantasycraft delivered!

Gobsock's concept was gutter-runner gone good - at some point, his life was spared or saved, and he changed his ways. He works at a mission in the poorest part of the city, and is slowly discovering his miraculous powers.

Firstly, I didn't really know the system, so I went for a reasonable mix stats-wise; taking high Wisdom & Strength (to wield the "good" alignment's broadsword) at the expense of Constitution and Charisma. I took "criminal" as a background, denying him the ubiquitous Turn Undead in favour of Cheap Shot, increased intimidation and thieving skills, and a crucial speed increase to match the humans in the party.

With a decent speed and Dexterity, coupled with is small size, Gobsock's defence is pretty good at 15. I figured I'd leave his Con low as he was happy to trust in his faith to keep him alive - this has since worked out pretty well, in that every time he's on the verge of death the GM seems to roll low..!

I took the "life" and "light" paths as a priest, the former to highlight his work as a healer, and the latter to overcome his aversion to bright light (immunity to flash damage). His main skills are healing, haggling, and intimidation.

He's ended up being a pretty nice support character with healing and debuffing powers, sneaky and hard to hit while still being able to dish it out with his broadsword. Taking 90% damage from a single hit then miraculously dodging another four or five - before taking down the attackers next round - never gets old!

Fantasycraft campaign, session two...

2010-01-30T12:00:00.004Z

Following a trail of clues back to a now-desolated village, the party finds a horde of zombies lying in wait in the fog-shrouded churchyard.

Gobsock moves forward, searching for survivors and keeping a wary eye out for the minions of evil, the others spreading out and engaging the enemy in the tattered streets. With a roar, one of the trees bursts free of the woods outside the village and charges the party, intent on tearing them limb from limb, driving the fighters into the cover of one of the ravaged houses.

As they whittle down its flailing branches, Gobsock despatches a zombie ravener and sneaks round behind the rootwalker, before dazzling it with a flare of holy light. Our heroes finally begin to wear it down, becoming bolder as all four hack away at it in a spray of sap. With a scream, the creature falls through one of the villagers' hovels and is finally still.

As the priest patches up his companions they hear movement on the other side of the church - more raveners, a dozen of the foul beasts! As a man, they rush out to meet the enemy in a clash of steel against claw. Gobsock takes a vicious wound, almost dropping him, as Captain Kelwin falls under the weight of the onslaught. As the others rush to Kelwin's aid, Gobsock deftly dodges the attacks of a brace of raveners (his God be praised!) before decapitating the pair with a swing of his broadsword.

The others are slowly pushed back, leaving our heroes bloody but victorious!

Thursday's gaming session

2010-01-24T07:06:00.005Z

This week was the first session this year with a full complement of the regulars - so we finally started playing Dave's FantasyCraft campaign.

The system seems pretty good, there's quite a bit of complexity in character generation but there are a few nice touches once the dice get rolling. We'll see how it goes...

Having not "played" for a while, but mainly GMed, I wanted a fun character. My original sketch from a few months ago was for a rootwalker mystic, but I fancied someone a bit more fighty. Eventually I settled on a broadsword-wielding goblin priest with a criminal past - to contrast Nath's musketeer captain and Mark's fighty dwarf.

Gobsock was sitting quietly in a mountain inn, minding his own business and nursing his ale, when a ragged figure collapsed through the door, bleeding badly and telling of an attack. Gobsock ran to his aid as a stout dwarf and a moustached human (we haven't been introduced) checked outside for his pursuers - the latter followed by a doe-eyed barmaid, despite his warnings to stay inside.

An eerie mist rolled in, full of shadowy figures. The dwarf returned to our table and began loading his blunderbuss as the musketeer strode outside to confront the horrors, saber drawn. He was badly bitten but took down three of the creatures with the help of his man-at-arms. Gobsock couldn't save the stricken messenger, so made him comfortable and turned his attentions to the creatures swarming the bar area.

One leapt at him as the dwarf unloaded his blunderbuss at another - missing and showering the room and patrons in plaster and bits of wood. Gobsock ducked the flailing zombie and cleaved it in half with a swing of his broadsword as the dwarf finished off the final attacker.

But where had they come from..?

Wars of the Roses

2010-01-16T22:04:00.004Z

Just found out via BGG that Z-Man games are releasing Wars of the Roses: Lancaster vs York soon - and it looks like my old favourite Kingmaker with the Play In Teams But Actually Be Out For Yourself element of Krakow thrown in to boot. Excellent!

Due "winter," which hopefully means the winter at the start of 2010, rather than the one at the end... [EDIT: Apparently due February...]

Rules & info here.

10 Print "Hello World"

2010-01-14T20:32:00.002Z

Hi. This is my new gaming blog - welcome! Here you'll find session reports, reviews, whatever gaming stuff goes through my mind or between my gaming group. Current favourites: Descent, Wings of War, GURPS time travel, Harn, Heroscape... We're currently waiting on Fantasycraft/Spycraft and a system to run my Steampunk campaign.