tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9491071496889495852024-03-18T02:15:46.468-07:00The Border PrincesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-84665504873736187192015-12-27T22:51:00.005-08:002015-12-29T14:15:57.096-08:00Review: Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitNKCSpMdyv5ctAibGGKZmO5_nAC8aJSfSyHVswA6Ly2NRz-DSXt60UM70Arw6T7B7XnGUsrTZwyh7VKbv1rcAh_v0l72FaJprW2t7mHBMXNO82hlm_IZQ1iN_Y_sKU-NsUkru99uXJrk/s1600/OFS1cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitNKCSpMdyv5ctAibGGKZmO5_nAC8aJSfSyHVswA6Ly2NRz-DSXt60UM70Arw6T7B7XnGUsrTZwyh7VKbv1rcAh_v0l72FaJprW2t7mHBMXNO82hlm_IZQ1iN_Y_sKU-NsUkru99uXJrk/s320/OFS1cover.jpg" /></a></div>Since the untimely demise this year of the Warhammer Fantasy setting, and thus the three decades of games that it spawned, one might have expected the edifice of fantasy wargaming to crumble away without its keystone to hold it together. After all, many (myself included) were introduced to fantasy gaming through Warhammer and would have never known roleplaying games or wargames without it. Even though Warhammer was itself first inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, it somehow became both unique and iconic of the gaming hobby, sporting a well defined aesthetic and ethos, a rich background setting that always came to the fore and largely consistent design principles (even between diverse spin-off games). In short, Warhammer was an institution and a tradition, which, although it had certainly evolved over time, evinced remarkable affinities to its earliest versions and indeed its earliest inspirations.<br />
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So recently I took it upon myself to survey the field after the solemn dirges for lost Warhammer had faded to a hush. I admit that I was a little surprised by the results. Instead of a dearth of fantasy games, I found the burnt remains of Warhammer had engendered the soft shoots of life to spring up, with many new games eager to grow out of the shadows of the votive offering of Warhammer Fantasy. In many cases, these games seemed to both honour the old and in many ways also break from tradition, particularly by trending towards quick and simple gameplay. While making appeals to Warhammer’s principle aesthetics and form, such games cut dramatically away from the crunch and complication for which Games Workshop has always been known (for those that missed it, the last edition of Warhammer Fantasy was as thick as a telephone book). In this way, Mantic Games’ Kings of War kept the rank and file troops but dropped the combat and casualties of individual models, just as Osprey’s Frostgrave kept the team-skirmish scale of Mordheim but entirely dropped the tables and charts for a simple 1d20 resolution system. While I appreciated the strong sense of aesthetic continuity with the past in each of these games, I also felt that the rules were too simplified, too streamlined to really harken the feeling of traditional games.<br />
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It therefore caught my eye when I came across Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish, the new game by the eponymous <a href="http://otherworldminiatures.co.uk/">Otherworld Miniatures</a>. If you are unfamiliar with the company, Otherworld has pride of place among miniature companies for manufacturing figures with an unabashedly “old school” style, so much so that their sculpts are perfect representations of the original AD&D Monster Manual drawings. Would Otherworld Miniatures’ obvious care and concern for old school aesthetics result in an even stronger sense of gaming tradition in this new ruleset?<br />
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Well, at first it was difficult to find out. Extremely difficult. In fact, so much so that I would level the charge at Otherworld Miniatures for poorly handling their own game. For example, the <a href="http://otherworldminiatures.co.uk/shop/otherworld-skirmish-rules-and-accessories/otherworld-fantasy-skirmish-rulebook-pre-release-offer">blurb on the Otherworld Miniatures website</a> still advises that the rules will be due out on the 19th of August. (It is today December 27th.) More importantly, the company has released extremely few details about the actual inner workings of the game… no quick start rules, no rules explanations… not even a PDF preview. Likewise, the independent “reviews” so far available are of the noxious “right, got this game, had a go, was a bit of fun, yeah?” type that offer frustratingly little insight into the game itself. All of this was made especially difficult since the only places that sell the game are seemingly in the UK (although this may change in the future, one might think that four months is time enough to send the game over the pond to some American distributors). Worse still, there are hushed rumours in dark corners of the internet that one can purchase (if brave enough!) the game as a PDF, although this is not mentioned on the Otherworld website or their Facebook page. Indeed, <a href="https://gumroad.com/l/asobK#">one must rap the correct number of knocks</a> on the door to “Gumroad.com,” a bizarre website that introduces itself as some strange combination of Etsy and Patreon. Again, there is no official endorsement of this website, so I suppose the PDF that I purchased from there was not actually sanctioned by Otherworld Miniatures, but by some petty thief with a stolen file and a dream.<br />
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Right, so enough complaining, what in the world is this game like?<br />
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<b>Building your “Faction”</b><br />
Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish (henceforth, “Otherworld”) is a skirmish wargame based on the action:engine system at the heart of Crooked Dice’s game 7th Voyage. You build a small “faction,” paying gold pieces for each warrior, who is described in game terms by abilities, attacks, special powers and seven stats (speed, defence, hits, strength, agility, intelligence and morale). There are three different levels of warriors, including legends, companions and minions. The former are the most powerful characters that lead your party, while companions are second-rate heroes and minions are simple followers (a distinction not dissimilar from Frostgrave’s wizards, apprentices and soldiers). Interestingly, you can build your army as you please, and while your warband is called a “faction” in the rules, there are no real “factions” here at all. Instead, the book gives you a long list of legends, companions and minions from which you may pick and choose freely, with only one small caveat: legends and companions both have alignments (good or evil) and you cannot mix alignments in the same party (minions have no alignments). Otherwise, there are no hard rules about faction composition or size. You could play a game with one model versus one or more enemies (one of the minion options includes a Dragon… I’ll let your imagination fill in the rest), or you could play with very large hordes. There is no maximum or minimum count for the three types of warriors (legends, companions and minions), so you could potentially create the backstory that your group of legends is lead by the Beholder (*ahem* Eye Tyrant) minion that is mind-controlling them. Or maybe by a lowly townsfolk mayor, who cannot fight well but is their rich employer? Or maybe you have a group of fresh-faced companions, out on their first adventure? Or maybe you just have a clan of troglodytes and leave it at that?<br />
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Each of the legends gets a full page with a line art illustration from the terrific Paul Gallagher; basic statistics, abilities and attacks; and a special power unique to their type. The “good” legends in the book are: Blessed Crusader (a paladin with the ability to heal and turn undead and demons), Daring Rogue (a thief who may pickpocket), Enigmatic Enchanter (a magic-user with an innate magic missile attack) and Valiant Warrior (a fighting-man who can attack all enemies within reach). The “evil” legends provided include: Callous Corsair (a rogue who may set traps), Immortal Fiend (a demon-possessed warlock who gets stronger when wounded and can flood the enemy’s mind with dark thoughts), Merciless Warlord (a berserker chief) and Sinister Sorcerer (a sorcerer that can injure himself to boost spells and may conjure a defensive barrier). Each of these legends has a base cost of 50 gold pieces (“gp”), which you may increase by either buying higher statistics (you also get an initial pool of 3 points to increase your statistics without cost), by boosting or buying new attacks (essentially weapon proficiencies) or by purchasing magic items. Oddly, the ability to purchase magic items is not granted; rather, you must take the magic item ability a number of times equal to the magic items you wish to purchase. Not every legend has this ability, but each legend may choose three extra abilities without cost when they are hired (and more abilities can be earned by taking “disadvantages”—a kind of negative ability which penalizes the character in some way). In total, a fully upgraded legend would probably be in the range of 70 to 80 gp.<br />
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Apprentices are, as you might expect, weaker heroes and cost a mere 25 gp each. They have the same options as legends, but they are generally fewer or weaker bonuses (for example, only two points for stat increases and two extra abilities). The good companions include Aspiring Acolyte, Brave Burglar, Wandering Minstrel and Wild Ranger, while the evil companions include Cruel Conjuror, Monstrous Myrmidon, Savage Slayer and Wretched Priest. Each has a special quality much like the legends, but generally weaker and more tuned towards a supporting role.<br />
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Minions are the lowest rank of warriors in your party and have the same sort of abilities, attacks and stats as legends and companions (most, but not all minions, lack special abilities). One minion in your faction can be upgraded to be a henchmen, which gives them a boost in stats and abilities to make them nearly as powerful as a companion. The list of minions is dizzying and includes (perhaps unsurprisingly) entries for seemingly every model produced by Otherworld Miniatures. Here you will find your classic hirelings, humanoids, beasts and dungeon vermin, monsters, undead, devils and demons. Regardless of whether your heroes are good or evil, you may cherry pick from this massive list to customize your warband. Otherworld also took a different approach to upgrading minions that gives them a unique feel—while legends and companions pay to upgrade their stats and abilities, minions pay to upgrade their equipment and type. The latter might include upgrading one of your Bugbears to be a chieftain or it might be upgrading your hill giant to a stone giant or your giant snake to a constrictor or a viper. Each upgrade allows you to tweak the feel of your warband without utterly transforming the unit types. With a total sixteen hero classes and seventy-four basic minion entries (almost all of which have further upgrade options), you do feel there is enough room to make an interesting warband (in comparison, Mordheim had 49 entries of henchmen and heroes, while Frostgrave has 15 soldiers and 10 wizard/apprentice types).<br />
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One last note is worth making about minions. Minions include both summoned/animated models as well as wandering monsters, both of which begin the game off-table until actions or events bring them into the game. The latter group are especially interesting, and include models that the defender (and only the defender) can bring into the game during a scenario and place near an “adventure token” (very similar to the treasure tokens that are the victory objectives in Frostgrave, but much more of a randomized event that could represent treasure, a trap or a wandering monster). This is a very clever mechanic that both simulates a dungeon delve in the middle of a competitive wargame, while also furnishing a potentially useful mechanic for a future campaign system (perhaps weaker warbands could compete against stronger ones by gaining free purchases of wandering monsters for the duration of the battle, much like inductions in Blood Bowl). Wandering monsters are a clever feature of the game that ooze theme, create a nasty surprise for a greedy opponent and open the door for future campaign play.<br />
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<b>Playing the Game</b><br />
The game plays out over a number of turns in which each player has the opportunity to act with some (but not all) of the models in their party. The turn sequence is simple, comprised of only four steps: determine initiative, first player acts, second player acts, resolve end-of-turn upkeep. Despite the derivative nature of the turn sequence, Otherworld does make a few interesting diversions from the customary wargame experience. For instance, the initiative roll (each player rolls a six-sided die and the player with the highest roll gets to act first) also doubles as a mechanism to determine fate points: little bonus tokens that are very useful to either boost die rolls (even after they are rolled) or purchase additional activations. Considering that all rolls in the game use six-sided dice, a +2 added after the roll for a couple of fate tokens is a pretty significant thing. The number of fate points available each round is the difference in the initiative rolls, split evenly between the two players (a slight advantage going to the winner here, as odds are rounded in his favor). Fate tokens provide an interesting way to make the game more dynamic and make things happen that might not have otherwise happened. That said, you usually will only have one or two of them and you can not bank them between turns.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGhnNkDuEwpA59ibryIIv0bi-Ly-lsezp0p3gQYsEIrk73XUM9idQPXaREeI3RjdjGlZgoj4CuA98z2zkeJNmV0dBGWmN8XnTgIefKQn90IUENl_MjHrh9v6pJk_pUe6eqpxyriCLLRo4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-28+at+1.22.04+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGhnNkDuEwpA59ibryIIv0bi-Ly-lsezp0p3gQYsEIrk73XUM9idQPXaREeI3RjdjGlZgoj4CuA98z2zkeJNmV0dBGWmN8XnTgIefKQn90IUENl_MjHrh9v6pJk_pUe6eqpxyriCLLRo4/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-12-28+at+1.22.04+AM.png" /></a></div>In your action phase, you gain a number of activation tokens equal to half the number of your warriors on the table. Each activation token is first assigned to one model and then you may resolve two actions for each activated model in turn. It may seem odd that you can only activate half of your warband in any turn, but this does tend to create some tension and hard choices about what you want to accomplish in a round. There are also a few ways to get more activations, including the aforementioned option of spending two fate points for one extra activation (somewhat expensive, and you may want to keep your fate points to boost die rolls later on instead) as well as activating legends, companions and minions with the leader ability. When your models do act, they may take up to two actions, including moving, aiming, shooting, attacking in melee or performing some other, special action (such as casting a spell). They may even choose to take the same action twice, with the exception of shooting or aiming. In addition to this, there are a number of “free” actions that pop up at different places in the rules, including opening doors, dropping items and making a “free” attack of opportunity.<br />
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Models are free to move in any direction (with the usual penalties for terrain), although the final facing of a miniature is important for flank attacks and so on. Most models move a default of six inches, although some (such as the Ooze) are as slow as two inches while others (like the Purple Worm) move at a rapid eight inches per move action. If you move into contact with an enemy that was at least three inches away at the start of the activation, you are counted as charging and gain a “free” attack at -1 to hit (in addition to any normal attack you make with your second action). Other movement options include jumping, going prone, climbing, falling (!), swimming and dragging another model.<br />
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Most of the die rolls you will make during the action phase are either attacks or statistic tests, and this is where the game seems to take the most cues from Warhammer Fantasy or Mordheim. Each warrior has a number of attack options in their profile which correspond to different weapons (for example, the Hobgoblin has brawl 4+ and spear 4+, but may be upgraded to also have a bow 5+ or exchange the spear for an axe 4+). When you shoot or make a melee attack, you choose one of your weapon attacks and roll a die. If your roll is higher than the number in the profile, modified by a short list of ten situational modifiers and any status conditions on the model, then you hit (a result of “one” always fails, regardless of modifiers). If the hit is successful, you will roll for damage (unless a melee attack is used to force back or knock down the enemy instead). Damage is determined by a die roll on a chart that is functionally identical to the Warhammer Fantasy “to Wound” table. The default target is 4+ on a single die to inflict a point of damage (i.e., a wound), but this target is modified up or down for each point of difference between the attacker’s strength and the target’s defence (like Warhammer, bows and crossbows have their own strength value). If the damage roll is successful, the target loses one hit point and, if this was the last hit point, the model falls and will become a casualty if their hits are not restored by magic or other means before the end of the turn. Hits can be negated by certain abilities, including “equipment” abilities like light armour (6+ save), heavy armour (5+ save) or shield (6+ save alone, or +1 to other save rolls). Note that the vast majority of minions do not have access to the armour abilities.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vBBOVJPYvL1RW76Hk1J9xNtSFlArjGKqnUXBzqww3Mh-AFEYjOCko0v5T-vV_8YUgcscuzieDQuGlGYlnMiPjhT3R95n7E8_p3WUmIiqXGMmTXkynF38qshL8M7FDwBkm00f7v_Fxmo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-28+at+1.19.22+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vBBOVJPYvL1RW76Hk1J9xNtSFlArjGKqnUXBzqww3Mh-AFEYjOCko0v5T-vV_8YUgcscuzieDQuGlGYlnMiPjhT3R95n7E8_p3WUmIiqXGMmTXkynF38qshL8M7FDwBkm00f7v_Fxmo/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-12-28+at+1.19.22+AM.png" /></a></div>Climbing, swimming, reading scrolls, testing morale and perhaps countless other odd situations call for a statistic tests. To make this test, you compare the relevant statistic (usually strength, agility, intelligence or morale… I could not find any tests for speed, defense or hits) to a table that is largely similar to the ranged “to Hit” table from Warhammer Fantasy. For example, if you have the rather average stat of 3, you need to roll a 4+ to succeed on the test. Opposed tests (such as breaking from melee with an enemy) can be made by each player rolling a die and adding the relative statistic (in this case, agility) with the highest roll winning. Much like Mordheim, morale tests are called for when a model is all alone, near a feared enemy or whenever your faction has lost half or more of its models. The latter test is only taken by the companion or legend with the highest morale in your party during the end phase, thus giving an edge to factions that include those warriors, and failure results in a dice roll of your models disappearing from the battle as they lose their bottle.<br />
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Finally, the magic system is also vaguely reminiscent of other games as well. To cast a spell, a model must take a special action and roll one or more of their casting dice (they have a number of these equal to their Magic ability rank, usually two or three at most). If the total, plus their Intelligence statistic, is greater than the casting difficulty number of the spell (these range from 8 to 16, with 10 being the most common value) then the spell is successful. If any die result shows a “one,” the magic user may not take any further actions that turn, as he is drained from the attempt. The odds of a successful casting might seem harsh, since even a legend-level spellcaster will only have Magic 1 and Intelligence 4 by default, but the odds can be improved by spending a special action to chant (+2 to the casting roll) and by using fate points. Even then, I think most wizards will allocate some of their free ability slots and even take a disadvantage or two in order to boost their Magic ability rank a few times. This is also significant, since you can only choose a number of spells equal to your Magic ability rank. Disappointingly, there are only a mere 18 spells to choose from, at least four of which have to do with summoning or banishing creatures (and are thus mechanically similar) and only one spell that actually does damage (although recall that the Enigmatic Enchanter has an innate magic-missile ability which does not require the magic rules to use).<br />
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<b>Creating a Scenario</b><br />
While you could simply plop the models on the table and have a brawl, Otherworld comes with six generic scenarios (or “encounters”) that you can play with little preparation, as well as an amusing “barroom brawl” introductory battle to learn the rules and three more narrative scenarios to showcase more story-driven gameplay. Each encounter describes an ideal setting, the deployment of the forces, victory conditions and any special rules that will be used. These rather typical scenarios include battle (essentially capture the flag), escape, race (a treasure hunt), skirmish, slay (an assassination mission) and steal. The potential of the scenarios, and the possibility to create homebrewed encounters, is greatly elevated by the use of adventure tokens and the adventure deck. Eight or more of the former are scattered about the battlefield by the defender and represent unknown prizes or perils. Only certain models in the attacker’s faction (those with the Treasure Hunter ability) can reveal and secure these tokens, and they must spend a special action to do so. Thirteen of the thirty-two adventure cards, or approximately four in ten, are devoted to wandering monsters, another four cards are traps (pit, spikes, swing log and poison), nine are treasure cards (essentially victory points) and the final six cards are split between attacker and defender special cards (which provide a one-time bonus when they are played). The latter are designed to be lighthearted “in-jokes” about roleplaying, but a few of them made me roll my eyes (“Chainmail Bikini,” for example). While the function of these cards is still fairly modest, the possibility for expansion they offer is appealing. For example, you could include one or more cards tied to certain events in a homebrewed scenario, or you could replace each treasure card with a random magic item card. A number of cards could be included to represent undead rising from their shallow graves to attack the nearest model regardless of whether they are the attacker or the defender. Perhaps some cards might represent the satchel charges that the attacker needs to gather to demolish the castle wall and end the siege. The room for development and expansion of this clever little rule will be very interesting for scenario and campaign designers.<br />
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<b>Overall</b><br />
Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish shows a lot of promise. The rules are simple but feature great room for customization and the developer has announced a manual of monsters supplement to expand the game further. (One can only hope that a full set of campaign rules are not far down the path as well.) The downsides to the game, at least for some, will be how much it derives from other games (such as Warhammer Fantasy). There is nothing particularly new in the attack and wound procedure, or even in the way morale or magic works. That said, there are some new ideas here, including the rules for activation and the adventure deck and tokens, and certainly the immediate familiarity will be a positive factor for many gamers. Even for new players, the core game is extremely simple and intuitive and can be picked up quickly. Because the core game mechanics are so simple, however, Otherworld adds detail by focusing on special rules… a lot of special rules. In fact, there are eighty four abilities to keep track of, six conditional statuses (dominated, immobilised, on fire, scared, stunned and weakened), twenty eight magic items and forty seven weapon and bestial attacks (with seventeen weapon effects). In this sense, the game is very much in the line of later Warhammer Fantasy games, where troops were largely distinguished from each other by their special rules. Unfortunately, by centering the most interesting mechanics of the game around special cases, a game of Otherworld will likely be an experience in page-flipping for a long time before the players acclimate to the rules.<br />
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The warband construction system, on the other hand, is both a blessing and a curse. By lacking a clear feeling for distinct factions, and by lacking a setting for the game, players may have a hard time getting interested in the game enough to invest in it. At the same time, the flexibility of the party building rules means that you have total access to everything in the game and are not restricted to playing one race or kingdom. You could have a motley group of good heroes who raise dead and keep company with ogre mages and a group of orcs. If you wanted something more believable, you could always just play a tribe of kobolds with a pet rust monster. This inherent flexibility leaves the burden on the player to create his own backstory, instead of selecting from a list of iconic forces within a clearly articulated fantasy world. Lastly, the latent creativity of the open faction design tools are hampered somewhat, as a player that chooses only minions is missing some key elements of any successful party, including the ability to take morale tests when casualties start to mount and, quite often, the Treasure Hunter ability which is required to access the significant adventure deck side of the game.<br />
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At the end of the day, Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish feels very much like a sandbox skirmish game. It is great if you have gobs of miscellaneous figures and can run it in a semi-competitive, semi-cooperative fashion with homemade scenarios and campaign play (although the latter is currently missing from the game, a good gamemaster could quickly cover the essentials). Ultimately, this is one of the funny things about the game. Otherworld is a wargame that is really begging for a gamemaster… it does not need it absolutely, but it feels like it works better with players trying to tell a story more than deploy a winning strategy. It is a game that lacks overt roleplay elements and yet feels more at home when they are restored. After all, if you are allowed to use the entire palette of creatures and heroes, and the game expects you to fill in the blanks and tweak the play experience to your liking, why not go all in and gambol in the narrative elements?<br />
<br />
Despite the game's flaws (some of which are ironically also its strong points), Overworld Fantasy is worth a close look. It is a gorgeously illustrated and professionally laid out work, with beautiful line art flourishes from the unbeatable <a href="http://realmofzhu.blogspot.com/">Zhu Bajie</a> and characterful heroes from Paul Gallagher. While the rules are clear that you do not need them to play, Otherworld Miniatures are attractively displayed in action-packed diorama photos throughout the book and certainly provide plenty of inspiration for collecting and painting. The game looks to be well supported, with token, card and dice packs available now and new supplements on the horizons (including a reference to future "published encounters"). There is certainly plenty of room to expand, and the scant mention of using square grids instead of rulers to play (in order to take advantage of the <a href="http://www.dwarvenforge.com/">Dwarven Forge</a> terrain seen in several dioramas) suggests that Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish could become the new go-to game for Warhammer Quest fans. Will it overtake the other options out there, including the popular Frostgrave? For those who want more crunch and more options, it is perhaps already more suitable than Osprey's game. For the rest, it is worth waiting to see how the game is expanded in the near future.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com78tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-51786001703850723902013-06-04T03:46:00.000-07:002013-06-04T03:46:00.974-07:00Return to Castle Frobozz, Part II<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpu207C-t7VO_x8BjnkIlxSDm7mHTo0Q_U4U8yvKvvQCOFs44goOhLVSwKkXXfY17fUjpOrBgq82PrYrMkQk1epWQ6Mok2IYvTmzvFaNZRw0aRuplJSm8GyCXCNy1HkIBLCgoEwauuxCY/s1600/assh_combat.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpu207C-t7VO_x8BjnkIlxSDm7mHTo0Q_U4U8yvKvvQCOFs44goOhLVSwKkXXfY17fUjpOrBgq82PrYrMkQk1epWQ6Mok2IYvTmzvFaNZRw0aRuplJSm8GyCXCNy1HkIBLCgoEwauuxCY/s640/assh_combat.jpg" width="425" /></a>The second part of the story actually misses an interlude (unfortunately lost to time), wherein the first band (including Pavel and Winfred) find a dastardly machine room, battle some hooting blue-painted cavemen (one of whom is beguiled by a charming spell), lose a hireling and promptly disappear down a chute. These two continue to have adventures in the Netherdeep, meeting a disgustingly hirsute Ogre bandit-sultan who makes his living by raiding the caravans that ply the underground highways, learning more about Princess Velouria's descent into the deeps, and delving deeper into the earth to discover a mining outpost run by the Evil Men of Kau'kawthar (along with their demon-worshipping, werespider Drow allies). Meanwhile, the remaining party (and the hirelings of the aforementioned duo) are left in the dungeon proper, where they murder another player character (after a week of his inactivity) and discover the entrance to a muck-filled Troglodyte burrow...<br />
<br />
See also <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/05/return-to-castle-frobozz-part-i.html">Part I</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>RETURN TO CASTLE FROBOZZ, CHAPTER II</b><br />
<b>INTO THE DEPTHS</b><br />
<i>After bravely tiptoeing past a sleeping dragon and losing track of original party leaders, the troupe of dungeon delvers blunders forth into further and greater peril veiled within the Glittering Cavern...</i><br />
<br />
<b>EASTERN GLITTERING CAVERN</b><br />
<i>Your eyes adjust to the grandeur of this cavern, set with a canopy of shadowy stalactites, glittering minerals and faintly luminescent lichens and moss. This gallery extends far to the west, and features several distinct zones. To the Southwest, natural stairs climb up the cave wall to a cliff overlooking the chamber. To the West, the terrain descends into a dell of bulbous, mammoth mushrooms. To the Northwest stands a plateau of splendent, shimmering pools amidst a thick forest of stalagmites.</i><br />
<br />
The exits are SOUTHWEST, WEST, NORTHWEST<br />
<br />
There is a BARREL here.<br />
<br />
TOECUTTER immediately trots over and inspects the barrel, oblivious to the natural wonders around him.<br />
<br />
<i>Prying open the lid reveals around 20 gallons of dried apples, halved.</i><br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE reaches in the barrel and grabs a couple halves of apple. After tossing one to ZUGG, he bites into his half. "Those mushrooms don't look very inviting, but if we have any chance of meeting up with the others, we must venture down. But a view of what's to come would be helpfull" At that, SCUNTHORPE begins towards the stairs SW, tossing the half eaten apple aside.<br />
<br />
TOECUTTER looks mildly dissapointed for a second; he then fills a small sack full of dried apples and begins to follow SCUNTHORPE down the stairs.<br />
<br />
<i>Buried halfway down the barrel of apples is a gnarly twig, singed at one point with a leather wrapped handle on the other.</i><br />
<br />
TOECUTTER pockets the backscratcher before leaving.<br />
<br />
• TOECUTTER gains 100 xp! [<i>Haha, this amuses me</i>]<br />
<br />
<b>NARROW PRECIPICE</b><br />
<i>From this vantage point, much of the southern Glittering Cavern opens up before you to the shadowy illumination of your torch. Below you, a veritable forest of towering mushrooms wobble intermittently to the north. To the west of this vale, a shimmering, cerulean light can be seen. To the northeast, stairs descend down into the Eastern Glittering Cavern. The narrow ledge where you stand is slick from the condensation of this damp chamber, making footing treacherous. The wall is marked with deep gouges and cuts. At the very end of the tapering ridge lies a small opening in the cave wall.</i><br />
<br />
The exits are IN or NORTHEAST.<br />
<br />
There is a SHANE here.<br />
<br />
Jealously eyeing the stick TOECUTTER just picked up, SCUNTHORPE comments "Good find, me thinks that's a wand." And at studying the wall says "These gouges speak of grand fight that took place here. I would guess horrible creatures from below were literally clawing their way through this passage. If true, there's likely something of value through there, and something nasty waiting below. But I still feel the best way to find the others is to continue down. What say you, party?"<br />
<br />
Snapping out of his hypnotic stupor, SWALKHI replies, "I says I don't like the notion of mucking about under a mushroom forest -- I say we follow that shimmer to the west."<br />
<br />
Before moving on from the Narrow Precipice, SCUNTHORPE pauses for a moment to study the other members of his party. "DONIVAN. SHANE. What say YOU? You have been following blindly and dumbly since you joined this quest." At that, with a quickness no one would have expected from the spell-caster, he spins around to the back of SHANE and draws his dagger to the mercenary's throat. "I suspect you to be a construct of evil. Give me any indication that I am wrong and you will have my apologies, otherwise you will have the taste of my blade in the back of your throat." <br />
<br />
<i>[What follows next is a pause both awkward and long (a full week out of game).]</i><br />
<br />
"Just as I thought, I release your cursed spirit." The words were still rolling off SCUNTHORPE's tongue as his dagger slid through SHANE's throat. As the body falls limp to the ground, SCUNTHORPE shouts "DONIVAN!" as he turns and forces his body against the cave wall. SCUNTHORPE holds the point of his blade firm against his chest. "Will anyone speak up and prevent me from releasing this one as well?"<br />
<br />
TOECUTTER enthusiastically munches on a couple of apple halves as this all goes on. "Not to interrupt a good murder spree or anyfing, guv," he says mid bite, "but is 'at really nessesary?"<br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE pulls back from DONIVAN at TOECUTTER's words, and sheaths his dagger. "Oh my, I believe these caverns are starting to play with my head." He looks down at SHANE, "Don't think he'll be forgiving me, but perhaps we should leave this incident behind us. ZOTT, AUGUST, EVANDER, you're not too outraged by my actions to continue on this quest, are you?"<br />
<br />
"Oi boss," says ZOTT, "AUGUST is dead, right?" EVANDER and ZOTT eye SCUNTHORPE nervously...<br />
<br />
Looking rather embarrassed, SCUNTHORPE allows "Of course. These caverns are most certainly affecting me detrimentally."<br />
<br />
"Right... s'pose SHANE won't miss this now..." TOECUTTER removes SHANE's Plate Armor and dons it, careful to wipe up the blood. He also takes SHANE's rations and coins. He drops his own Leather.<br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE peers into the opening in the wall. "For my own sanity, it is time I moved on." At that, he goes IN.<br />
<br />
TOECUTTER follows SCUNTHORPE (for lack of anything better to do. Also, I think SCUNTHORPE has the light).<br />
<br />
<b>IDOL OF YOB</b><br />
<i>Spears hoisting thick proto-human skulls stake the entrance to this natural cavern. Deep scratches in the wall trickle with water from above, gleaming in the torchlight. Against the western wall looms a large, hideous idol: a squat, toad-like creature with its left eye shut and a gaping grin lined with serrated teeth. The open right eye is a gaping socket, damaged and cut around the lid. The false god holds out its left hand, upon which someone has placed a golden rock. The cave continues deeper to the SOUTHWEST.</i><br />
<br />
The exits are OUT or SOUTHWEST.<br />
<br />
There is a SCUNTHORPE, a DONIVAN, a SWALKHI and a TOECUTTER here. There is an IDOL here.<br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE cautiously approaches the idol for a better look, making sure to watch his step. He tries to look into the statue's mouth, and also at the golden rock.<br />
<br />
<i>There is a shallow space within the toothy maw, perhaps large enough to fit a single hand... The hole apparently continues deeper, down the IDOL's throat. The golden rock has apparently been placed here recently, judging by the lack of slime and cave lichen on the stone. It looks to be the texture and shape of a piece of shale, perhaps a pound in weight, only it has been somehow transfigured into gold.</i><br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE steps to the side of the statue, well out of way of it's mouth. He pulls a gold coin of his own out, and quickly as possible attempts to snatch the rock away, replacing it with the coin.<br />
<br />
<i>SCUNTHORPE gains GOLDEN ROCK. Somewhere in the distance, a giant boulder is released and nearly crushes a man in a hat.</i><br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE, after seeing nothing happened, pockets the GOLDEN ROCK along with his gold coin. He searches the ground for rock, and once found places it in the idol's hand.<br />
<br />
<i>The IDOL continues to give its listless, meaningless stare at the interlopers. The rock remains... rocky.</i><br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE picks up the rock, and places it into the idol's mouth. He also tried to place the Golden Rock in the empty eye socket.<br />
<br />
<i>Other than the continued humiliation of this blasphemous icon, nothing outré appears to happen.</i><br />
<br />
Mildly disturbed by the looming shadows and statue of what might be an eldritch god from beyond space and time, TOECUTTER lights up his own torch. He then investigates the scratches in the walls, trying to determine if they are natural or... something else.<br />
<br />
<i>From his years in the Greyhawk sewers, TOECUTTER instantly recognizes these to be claw marks. Maybe a territorial sign, or a count of some gruesome deed?</i><br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE shrugs his shoulders, giving up on the frustrating IDOL. He continues on down the cave to the SOUTHWEST.<br />
<br />
TOECUTTER readies his club for a fight; he then follows the (probably mad) mage into the darkness.<br />
<br />
<b>EGG ROOM</b><br />
<i>A stinking green haze curls about the floor of this room, barely concealing the muck-filled depressions and clusters of variously shaped and sized eggs. Every surface of this choking cavern is covered in an acidic filmy substance which burns the skin but doesn't seem to impede the vibrantly coloured colonies of algea that cling tenaciously to every crevice. Tip-toeing around the narrow spans between craters leads to the centerpiece of the room, a single massive egg that bobs lazily in a hole filled with slimy water. To the East, a low opening leads into darkness. To the South is a winding tunnel. The passage to the Northeast leads back to the Idol.</i><br />
<br />
The exits are NORTHEAST, EAST and SOUTH.<br />
<br />
There is a SCUNTHORPE, a DONIVAN, a SWALKHI and a TOECUTTER here. There is a GIANT EGG here.<br />
<br />
<i>Suddenly, two shapes on the ceiling start to form. Dropping down before you reveals two gruesome Troglodytes! The foul creatures charge at you, surprising you with their assault!</i><br />
<br />
<i>Surprise is 1d6: 1, Initiative is 1d6: 1</i><br />
<br />
<i><b>Round 1!</b><br />
The party is surprised, and will go last (for the rest of the battle)!<br />
• An odious Troglodyte slashes at SWALKHI (2d6-2: 4) with its claws, slashing him for (1d6-1: 0) damage! [No damage, but the scrape may become infected if a barber-surgeon doesn't tend to it soon.]<br />
• A toothy Troglodyte snaps at DONIVAN (2d6-2: 8) with its maw, but gnaws futily at his leather jerkin!<br />
<br />
The PC's may now act...</i><br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE lets out an audible shriek at the appearance, and appears stunned for a moment. Fortunately for him, his retainers are quick to act.<br />
ZUGG throws a dart at the odious Troglodyte (2d6-1: 9), which slides off the creature's slimy scales!<br />
ZOTT slashes at the toothy Troglodyte (2d6-1: 7), but is repelled by the creatures foul stench!<br />
EVANDER backs up his friend and attacks the toothy one (2d6-1: 7), but jabs ineffectively at the creature's spongy carapace!<br />
---i don't know what weapons they carry, could you please put in the rolls for me? [They are spearmen, if I recall.]<br />
<br />
TOECUTTER shoves past the mage and bashes the odious Trog [2d6: 8], but the attack bounces of the creatures lumpy hide!<br />
<br />
<i><b>Round 2!</b><br />
• An odious Troglodyte turns on ZOTT, slashing at him (2d6-2: 8) with its claws, but is parried by the able spearmen.<br />
• A toothy Troglodyte charges at ZUGG, snapping at him (2d6-2: 3) and sinking its fangs into the Neanderthal for (1d6-1: 5) damage! ZUGG goes down!<br />
<br />
The PC's may now act...</i><br />
<br />
Annoyed, TOECUTTER strikes the odious trog again [2d6: 9], grazing the Troglodytes bulbous shoulder ineffectually.<br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE tells his men to "Hold Fast!" ZOTT obeys and strikes at the toothy Troglodyte (2d6-1: 9), as does EVANDER (2d6-1: 9), but are repulsed by the monster's stench!<br />
<br />
<i><b>Round 3!</b><br />
• An odious Troglodyte claws at ZOTT (2d6-2: 5), connecting with his neck for (1d6-1: 1) damage! Blood sprays out of the poor hireling's neck as he hits the ground unconscious!<br />
• A toothy Troglodyte advances on EVANDER, flailing with its razor sharp talons (2d6-2: 2) and howling madly. The young spearmen is caught across the chest for (1d6-1: 4) damage, and falls to the ground unconscious!<br />
<br />
The PC's may now act...</i><br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE firmly grips his staff with both hands, and swings it at the toothy Troglodyte (2d6: 10), who easily avoids it. He calls out to TOECUTTER, "The wand! Use the wand!"<br />
<br />
"The wot?" (Yep, the mage is bonkers!) TOECUTTER swings yet again at the odious trog [2d6: 7], but is driven back by the creature's fetor! [Time for a plan B, I think!]<br />
<br />
<i><b>Round 4!</b><br />
• An odious Troglodyte turns on DONIVAN (2d6-2: 0), sinking his fangs into the little halfling's backpack for (1d6-1: 0) damage! [The Troglodyte looks surprised to not have delicious halfling flesh in his gullet, as the contents of DONIVAN's pack start to spill out over the floor.]<br />
• A toothy Troglodyte claws at SWALKHI (2d6-2: 8), but is parried by the able dwarf!<br />
• An iron spike falls out of DONIVAN's backpack onto the floor!<br />
<br />
The PC's may now act...</i><br />
<br />
"The gnarled stick you found in the barrel of apples. Me thinks it's a magic item," SCUNTHORPE replies as he swings wildly with his staff (2d6: 10), easily missing the toothy Troglodyte.<br />
<br />
"Yer daft - 'at's a backscratcher if I ever saw one!" TOECUTTER clubs the odious trog [2d6: 4] for [1d6: 3] damage, and maneuvers to fall back next round! The creature is momentarily dazed by the blow, but comes to and continues its attack.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Round 5!</b><br />
• An odious Troglodyte turns instead against TOECUTTER (2d6-2: 6), raking its claws across his armour.<br />
• A toothy Troglodyte continues his assault on SWALKHI (2d6-2: 4), grabbing his shoulders and chomping into his head for (1d6-1: 1) damage!<br />
<br />
The PC's may now act...</i><br />
<br />
"Ugh. Dwarves!" SCUNTHORPE explains in exasperation as he looks over his fallen retinue and strikes out at the toothy Troglodye with his staff (2d6: 7), but swings wide!<br />
<br />
"RIGHT! Get off tha li'l one, ya git!" TOECUTTER tries to distract toothy troglodyte with a blow to the melon [2d6: 3] for [1d6: 5] damage, buying time for SWALKHI to get out of the way! TOECUTTER's cudgel bashes the slimy lizard's noggin in, causing its rubbery hide to collapse to the cave floor with a wobble! (BAM!!! -J) [Bam indeed!]<br />
<br />
<i><b>Round 5!</b><br />
An odious Troglodyte looks in shock at its fallen submissive (2d6: 5) and howls in primal rage at TOECUTTER!<br />
<br />
• An odious Troglodyte claws at TOECUTTER (2d6-2: 3), but is desperately held at bay by TOECUTTER's shield!<br />
<br />
The PC's may now act...</i><br />
<br />
TOECUTTER grins ferally and counterattacks [2d6: 7], but his swing is batted aside by the furious Trog. [Should I wait a little more for Scunthorpe?]<br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE jabs at the remaining Troglodyte ineffectively with his staff (2d6: 9).<br />
<br />
<i><b>Round 6!</b><br />
• An odious Troglodyte continues to claw futily at TOECUTTER (2d6-2: 5) from behind his shield.<br />
<br />
The PC's may now act...</i><br />
<br />
"Offa my kit!!!" TOECUTTER bashes the trog with his shield edge [2d6: 5] for [1d6: 4] damage! The odious Troglodyte takes the shield-bash in its maw, stumbling back with fewer teeth before collapsing to the ground unconscious.<br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE flails at the Troglodyte with his staff (2d6: 11), but swings wide as the creature staggers back and falls.<br />
<br />
<i>The enemy has been defeated! The PC's may now bind other characters' wounds (restoring d6-1 hits, once per injured person), explore the room further or otherwise act.<br />
• TOECUTTER gains 400 xp!</i><br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE , although unharmed from the battle, looks quite dejected at the cost of it. He kneels by each of his fallen retinue one by one, to bind their wounds. First ZUGG for 1d6: 4, then ZOTT for 1d6: 3, and finally EVANDER, healing him for 1d6: 2. (oops, forgot about the -1. it is corrected on their character sheets)<br />
<br />
SCUNTHORPE then turns his attention to the fallen foes, searching them over thoroughly.<br />
<br />
<i>The Troglodytes have nothing but slime and offal on them. The brained Troglodyte is quite dead, but the odious Troglodyte is still breathing.</i><br />
<br />
TOECUTTER pokes his head (and torch) into the opening to the east, hoping for a better view.<br />
<br />
<i>The light from the torch reflects off a thick fog in the eastern chamber. The party will have to effect ingress to establish a more accurate survey.</i><br />
<br />
"Hey, fellow," SCUNTHORPE says to TOECUTTER, "if your aim is not to use that back-scratcher, as you call it, perhaps you would care to sell it. Name your price."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-87701190650001419852013-05-30T09:22:00.002-07:002013-05-30T09:23:24.794-07:00Labyrinth Lord Character Sheet<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwbC2xV9kaD-ZVJMNPAuyIqMngxMTzk1oG4SP60WQTmser7R14KznIvzkXDDcssoLDRVqEIIohtGrnaxQaJuFVPyFnrjzPAxZdBjOiudou3e1MyynOdgOG1UxO1BvQKHcLFW63xyk_Vg/s1600/addcolouringbook.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwbC2xV9kaD-ZVJMNPAuyIqMngxMTzk1oG4SP60WQTmser7R14KznIvzkXDDcssoLDRVqEIIohtGrnaxQaJuFVPyFnrjzPAxZdBjOiudou3e1MyynOdgOG1UxO1BvQKHcLFW63xyk_Vg/s640/addcolouringbook.jpg" width="425" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ1WZDvltDIGpJUIJGO50DZqZgLfFrugxfYG-P-6-vSKrGNmVrccrqMDWD7PrBx2a1yK2Bl5MAOWVacFVfCn0gR0BvruzFaFiDxGqKLzVOIXlTJVTSFvXsoPbqrBVGL6Er8kZngpaUq1Y/s1600/Labyrinth+Lord+Character+Sheet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ1WZDvltDIGpJUIJGO50DZqZgLfFrugxfYG-P-6-vSKrGNmVrccrqMDWD7PrBx2a1yK2Bl5MAOWVacFVfCn0gR0BvruzFaFiDxGqKLzVOIXlTJVTSFvXsoPbqrBVGL6Er8kZngpaUq1Y/s200/Labyrinth+Lord+Character+Sheet.jpg" width="154" /></a>A quick update, I have created a <a href="http://xfearnodarknessx.blogspot.com/2013/05/bx-character-sheet.html">completely derivative</a> Labyrinth Lord character record sheet, which can be found <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_VJUJi-NV4TUlZKSmtDRzZ4VnM/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>. Many thanks to Mike from <a href="http://xfearnodarknessx.blogspot.com/">Fear No Darkness</a> for the original design (which merges the <i><a href="http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2011/10/greg-irons-advanced-dungeons-and.html">Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Colouring Album</a></i> with the original Basic D&D character sheet). My sole contribution to this excellent sheet is to replace the low-resolution images with vectors (years in the printing industry has made me a pixel snob), as well as to remove some extra information on the reverse of the sheet and to add another doodle from the colouring book. I've slapped the <i>Labyrinth Lord</i> moniker on top of the first page in preparation for an upcoming campaign, but this could be easily modified if you are playing the original game.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-38503465734294053332013-05-28T08:42:00.002-07:002013-05-28T08:51:30.474-07:00Weighing Wealth, Weighing Words<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TcN_Fi153LZ7LFhpsm5w5mEkKz6YNsnwGGxzBXWfxxw1MR0N6fFaXedGN_YiSRA4rpHRWWb55LUBATyBjnkpr63GCaPyOmjFnJ4N4Vi_1Pz384OAOR7i36xI8lfQph0Km8g_Drs2tlg/s1600/Rest.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TcN_Fi153LZ7LFhpsm5w5mEkKz6YNsnwGGxzBXWfxxw1MR0N6fFaXedGN_YiSRA4rpHRWWb55LUBATyBjnkpr63GCaPyOmjFnJ4N4Vi_1Pz384OAOR7i36xI8lfQph0Km8g_Drs2tlg/s640/Rest.jpg" width="425" /></a>At my table, I have preferred a <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2010/10/height-weight-and-plate-armour.html">simple encumbrance system</a> based on the ancient stone weight measurement, where one stone is equivalent to 14lbs. Recently I noticed that the <i>Adventurer Conqueror King System</i> also prefers measuring by stone (albeit at a slightly different conversion—the historical stone changed in value over time), which inspired me to flesh out my encumbrance system in more detail.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/05/money-results.html">Like others before me</a>, I prefer to keep a ratio of 1,000 coins to one stone, so that there are 72 coins per pound (incidentally, I do not use pounds for any measurements in the game). This is closer to ancient treasure caches like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frome_Hoard">the Frome Hoard</a> and steers clear of <a href="http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=monterstreasure&action=display&thread=2824">the implied chunky coins</a> of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>. From this basis, I permit each character to lift up to their Strength characteristic in stones, which comports closely in effect to <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/carryingCapacity.htm">later editions of the game</a> (so that an average Strength 11 allows one to carry 154 lbs). However, moving at any more than a shuffle requires that the carried weight also not exceed the character's Constitution (representing their stamina). Furthermore, acting carefully (such as climbing, walking along an edge or fighting) requires that the load also does not exceed the character's Dexterity. To maintain balance, the hero has the option to drop everything in hand or risk falling otherwise. Thus, a character with Strength 12, Constitution 9 and Dexterity 14 could carry 12 stones, but could only move normally if this burden was reduced to 9 stones (the lowest of Strength and Constitution). Likewise, the hero could only fight if the burden was 9 stones (as acting carefully takes the lowest of all three scores).<br />
<br />
Within this system, I tend to handwave equipment weights. I generally rule that light adventuring gear (clothes, a bedroll, backpack, candle and so on) only weighs two stones, while more extensive gear (torches, iron spikes, rope and so on) would increase this to three stones. Each weapon and all of its ammunition (beyond a dagger) is one stone each, as is a shield. Armour is typically one (AC 8 to 7), two (AC 6 to 5) or three stones in weight (AC 4 to 3). As mentioned earlier, each bag of 1,000 coins is another stone of weight. Everything else is made up on the spot, perhaps using <a href="http://www.lotfp.com/RPG/products/vornheim">Vornheim's</a> syllable-counting system for heavy items (i.e., a "<i>chest of trea-sure</i>" could be four stones).<br />
<br />
<b>Addendum</b>: While developing the system I had informally used at my table, I noticed that these same rules might be used to cover something entirely different as well: the tense diplomacy and maneuvering of social interactions. Here, a player will make a reaction roll of 2d6, modified by any Charisma adjustment. The referee then listens to the player's attempt to roleplay the encounter and secretly rolls a polyhedral die based on the roleplaying and the hidden disposition of the other party (normally a d6, but this could be a d4 for an accommodating stranger or a d8 or worse for a hostile group). Adding this disposition die to the adjusted reaction roll, the referee compares the sum to the speaker's Charisma score: if the result does not exceed the score, the party is not immediately hostile. Then, if the player attempts to maneuver or trick the non-player characters, this same value is similarly compared to the Intelligence of the spokesperson to see if he or she gives away the ruse. Finally, if this sum also does not exceed the Wisdom of the speaker, the player can pick up some subtle hint in the opponent's speech that gives clues to something they did not intend to reveal (but only if the Charisma eased the first contact and the player did not fail an attempt to trick or deceive the opponents). In this way, such a tense encounter would be based on both the roleplaying attempt and the scores of the character, so that each party would have a spokesperson. At the same time, such encounters would always be a gamble because the players only had half of the information and the disposition die result that completed the negotiation score would be hidden.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-50311720913570667122013-05-21T21:36:00.001-07:002013-05-23T09:38:27.583-07:00The Thieves' Guilds of Minaria<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4inIcJ3J-s_OMht34Gp6woldcTprVAgvwpClNxdmJ9aFFlwVEY8jdAXNEyD7_HpfjBq7AXVULhLzmeXIZBi8upDYuAm9-aN4vdffHN6gC_3qRT7bPzBQXwpzDj8NhMLd_6zNKH8teRtA/s1600/4935030.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4inIcJ3J-s_OMht34Gp6woldcTprVAgvwpClNxdmJ9aFFlwVEY8jdAXNEyD7_HpfjBq7AXVULhLzmeXIZBi8upDYuAm9-aN4vdffHN6gC_3qRT7bPzBQXwpzDj8NhMLd_6zNKH8teRtA/s640/4935030.jpg" width="425" /></a><a href="http://machpants.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/poor-little-thief.html">The poor thief</a> has been the subject of <a href="http://nilisnotnull.blogspot.com/2013/05/thief-skills-vs-combat-skills.html">many debates and contentions</a> since his incipient introduction in <i>Supplement I: Greyhawk</i>. The most common complaint falls upon the low starting ability of the thief class. It is true, with most special abilities starting at 10% to 15% chance of success, the thief can hardly feel "special," but is instead <i>discouraged</i> from risking his neck on his dubious skill set. In fact, these scores only improve to an even 50% somewhere around 7th level in most editions of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>, when the thief's fighter and magic-user compatriots are well on their way to obtaining the defining features of those classes. The other common grievance is that the thief class is either unnecessary or even inimical to a proper <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> play experience. When the thief was introduced to <i>Original Dungeons & Dragons</i>, he largely co-opted and made exclusive certain adventuring abilities that all dungeon-delvers had previously shared. Common skills such as climbing, trap-finding and lock-picking were suddenly the sole prerogative of the doughty thief, who seemingly had no other function in the game than to encompass all of the competencies once enjoyed by the original adventurers. Instead of stealing treasure, thieves had stolen adventuring proficiency from the other characters.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeMzacSFj2fuqWfr30HlPZQTajptT_JuMQ321bOZ48ih-RWwEbbVt4JJFP7bxzrzgYOycB3s43UJ_u9cr-t9MXJv2hqUOmVlKr7F0yanUslArhl-ilVExFILWRV9-RtZr67g9aiHuWkg/s1600/Tresors191a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeMzacSFj2fuqWfr30HlPZQTajptT_JuMQ321bOZ48ih-RWwEbbVt4JJFP7bxzrzgYOycB3s43UJ_u9cr-t9MXJv2hqUOmVlKr7F0yanUslArhl-ilVExFILWRV9-RtZr67g9aiHuWkg/s200/Tresors191a.jpg" width="198" /></a>Feeling the acute loss of fundamental dungeoneering capabilities, some referees qualified these "new" thief skills with the superlative: as <a href="http://web.fisher.cx/robert/infogami/On_thief_skills_in_classic_D&D">Robert Fisher</a> suggests, perhaps all classes can move quietly, but only thieves can move <i>utterly silently</i>. Yet, this approach does not address basic skills like lock-picking or trap-finding—talents that adventurers previously benefited from but were now bereft of. It also did not confront the relatively low chances of success of novice thieves, which rendered their skills prohibitively futile. Other house rules diminished the great difficulty of these dice rolls by granting significant bonuses for easier challenges—a rusted lock or a crude trap door, perhaps. This latter method only solved the clumsy low-level thief by effectively ignoring the rulebook, creating a balanced skill progression where a thief always faced challenges relative to his skill and therefore had comparable chances of success regardless of level (perhaps the very antithesis of early <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD0Gafphj1FBaSRPtA8Z648Lj4bLJCFsy7FKJ-1_7pb4e3zSOz5Dsnli1C7ITTvTutY2bxuiJ6dZ30uGty866UKBroTM4wGzajjAKpClw4_vQ5Ocggx3euFslJxDe0QD3XM-C9yfGUhog/s1600/hare-haggadah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD0Gafphj1FBaSRPtA8Z648Lj4bLJCFsy7FKJ-1_7pb4e3zSOz5Dsnli1C7ITTvTutY2bxuiJ6dZ30uGty866UKBroTM4wGzajjAKpClw4_vQ5Ocggx3euFslJxDe0QD3XM-C9yfGUhog/s200/hare-haggadah.jpg" width="154" /></a>So what is to be done about these dual problems—the loss of common adventuring abilities from other characters and the relatively ineffective ability of the low-level thief? In Minaria, thieves are a vital part of the party, and any party that enters the dungeon without at least one or two in tow is in severe danger. Of course, any character has the same ability to explore the tricks and traps of the mythic underworld—I listen to their descriptions, look at their character sheet and then let them try their luck on a single polyhedral die (perhaps 3 in 8, or 5 in 12, or 2 in 6 and so on). I will even let the player pick her favorite lucky die and then adjudicate the odds for that die type. This approach demands that the referee give a clear description of the terrain and the player gives a clear description of her action, but this action is open to any and all characters (thieves included). However, if the players cannot figure out the trap by asking questions, or if they get a close guess but botch the roll, only the thief has a second layer of defense. Here, the thief's training and skill competency kicks in, and after failing the earlier attempt the thief can make a free, back-up saving roll on the Thieves' Abilities table. These bonus odds are on top of the regular effort, and are a second chance that can rescue the party regardless of whether they have figured out the trap. Played a different way, the party can skip the initial roleplaying and just have the thief roll the ability check. If this is successful, the trap is automatically described and bypassed and the adventure continues without pause. If this fails, the party must take a closer look at the trap and roleplay their attempt to manually disarm it.<br />
<br />
At later levels, when thief skills become very high, it is likely the party will increasingly rely on the latter method—making initial recourse to the thief skill to see if the roleplay element can be dispensed with and more exciting parts of the dungeon can be accessed more quickly. At earlier levels, however, the party will enjoy the grittiness of dealing with traps and tricks more directly. Still, all characters should have a chance to open locks, remove traps, pick pockets, move silently, climb sheer surfaces and hide in shadows, at least when they describe a reasonable strategy and have character scores to support it. When the dice turn against such dungeon-delvers, however, thieves have a second chance to catch their fall. Sometimes, the narrated attempt will be unreasonable, and <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2012/07/say-no-or-force-them-to-make-saving.html">the referee will simply have to say No</a>. Even when such practical constraints limit normal classes, though, thieves should still get their chance to snatch victory from defeat. By allowing thief skills to operate like an extra safety net for dashing heroics, thief characters are encouraged, not discouraged, from using their abilities.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-25453245487518724952013-05-16T21:51:00.000-07:002013-05-17T13:44:21.661-07:00The Money-Changers of Minaria<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHo1g1M1griFMkFA-c9nVT302EehHZixqYBBvwBr3PtztwoY2QTknjZwZymLkQqQu3A6wQk5Cunl-GdD9E2WwKotVbtSb5j1PEzpTpfm5QtTRxxiw7Pi-DpGJAdafl-vA65_IJ8625Fos/s1600/Medieval-Jewish-moneylenders.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHo1g1M1griFMkFA-c9nVT302EehHZixqYBBvwBr3PtztwoY2QTknjZwZymLkQqQu3A6wQk5Cunl-GdD9E2WwKotVbtSb5j1PEzpTpfm5QtTRxxiw7Pi-DpGJAdafl-vA65_IJ8625Fos/s640/Medieval-Jewish-moneylenders.jpg" width="425" /></a>Dealing with coin has always been one of the most utilitarian exercises in any <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> campaign. It is a necessary evil that all referees and players engage in to translate conquest into capital. It is also one of the facets of the game that most stretches the imagination and suspension of disbelief, raising thorny questions like "why should all coins have a constant universal value across the entire expanse of the Known World?", "why are coins always evenly divisible into lesser or greater coinages?" or "why should these ancient coins from the dungeon still have currency back in the town?" The implication is that the fantasy setting has achieved what took Europe to the last years of the 20th century to figure out—a stable, universal currency system.<br />
<br />
Of course, there are many different ways that game designers have tried to complicate the picture. Medieval fantasy markets might be tempered by inflation tables, availability charts or conversion rates. A referee might declare that each kingdom has its own coin mint and may not accept coinage from opposing lands. Applying any of these methods in an actual campaign quickly proves both highly complex and ultimately ineffective. It misses the point, after all. We are still dealing with the unholy triumvirate: Copper, Silver and Gold pieces. (Or is it the gruesome five: Copper, Silver, Electrum, Gold and Platinum?) No matter what additional layer of complexity you add to your campaign economy, you are still dealing with the universal basic building blocks of wealth, which convert dungeon triumphs to points of abstracted "cash" or "wealth."<br />
<br />
In Minaria, everything works a little differently. You don't delve into the earth to plumb it for copper pieces and gold coins. Instead, you emerge (battered and shaken) with 1,350 coins from the lost Cisterian empire. Or perhaps you return from the Bugbear lair with the Duke's own personal treasure—some 560 shiny pieces of lucre. Here we find no generic points of wealth, but coinage with a story attached to it. As the greater part of Minarian society operates on barter, the heroes will need to find a buyer for their precious take, which is to say that the coins themselves do not necessarily hold inherent value as currency. Inn-keepers and armourers can do little with such moneys as they rarely take payments in specie, and flashing strange coinage around would likely raise the immediate and unwanted attention of the local Duke or Baron. Rather, the protagonists are well-advised to seek a local money-changer; someone who will buy the storied cache in exchange for credit in the local town, city or region. Once the heroes have successfully laundered their fortune, they will have full financing for their extravagant lifestyle and material acquisitions. For example, the players return with 800 tarnished silver coins of southern Kushite origin. After some negotiating, the major money-lender in the city agrees to purchase half of them for 220gp in credit, good throughout the province. This credit advance is probably in the form of some local currency (or perhaps a standing tab, or even an endorsed cheque)—a detail that is given a considerable amount of handwavium to gloss over the trivialities. Importantly, however, this credit does not carry over into different regions, meaning the protagonists would be wise to only sell what they need to of their hard-won treasure.<br />
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What does this actually do differently than the traditional copper piece, silver piece and gold piece system? Firstly, it introduces a level of mystery when the treasure chest is opened and the gleaming treasure trove is seen for the first time. Secondly, it further requires a little haggling when it comes time to pawn the riches off (which allows more referee control and even future adventures, if the party decides to sell the coins at a neighboring kingdom instead of locally). Thirdly, it gives each treasure a story of how it got there (and certainly the Baron will demand his coins back after the party recovers them from the sunken wreck). Finally, it ties wealth to the locale, without requiring the referee to adumbrate an entire global economy to explain why.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-28494809886986523802013-05-15T08:49:00.001-07:002013-05-15T09:10:15.225-07:00Return to Castle Frobozz, Part I<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFBlyRtrkXIpPVpSOxDtXY72cUEmnROX0vwcy15o5i0327wdSY4VqAsHrWRzji2UtHPzLDs0ovhu8vp_1Q3xNRR1r92zOubueR6h9lotyNbPxH0WTd4JaNaxiMOdBRw2Pj4u1lYJYxGi4/s1600/Siegfried_-_Fafnir.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="212.5" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFBlyRtrkXIpPVpSOxDtXY72cUEmnROX0vwcy15o5i0327wdSY4VqAsHrWRzji2UtHPzLDs0ovhu8vp_1Q3xNRR1r92zOubueR6h9lotyNbPxH0WTd4JaNaxiMOdBRw2Pj4u1lYJYxGi4/s640/Siegfried_-_Fafnir.jpg" width="425" /></a>Perusing the archives of Erelhei Cinlu today, I have discovered that the reports on the death of one of my online campaigns have been greatly exaggerated! So as to share these broken fragments with the wider readership, I have elected to publish them here. They will not always make perfect sense, mind you—there are certainly pieces missing from the puzzle. But with a bit of imagination, one should be able to trace the tale of these doomed underground intruders. So begins...<br />
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<b>RETURN TO CASTLE FROBOZZ, CHAPTER I</b><br />
<b>PROLOGUE</b><br />
<i>And so our story begins with the two dusty pilgrims, Pavel and Winfred, huddled in the dark corner of the Outs Inn of Greyhawk, early one autumn morning. Faces beset with dark looks, the wayfarers glower down into their cold, greasy gruel. They are alone in the tavern this morning - a silent ceasefire exists between them which has even scared off the normally jovial Hrothgar from his perennial post at the bar.<br />
<br />
Oh what cruel fate! Only a couple days ago, the travelers were finishing the last leg of what had been a lovely pilgrimage. Certainly the ancient ruins had their distinctive allure, and all had looked forward keenly to seeing the fabled walls of Greyhawk - rumored to be the oldest settlement in the Known World, and once the high seat of the famed Emperor Ygg Son-of-Arne. But it was the company these two grim wanderers now mourned; had it only been two days since seeing that bright gem, Princess Velouria?<br />
<br />
Certainly the motley group of pilgrims found it unconventional to be accompanied by such royalty at first, but soon the young and beautiful princess had won each and every traveller's heart with her peerless melodious singing and other winsome affections. By the end of the journey, the troupe had already begun to set upon each other with challenges and dares to prove themselves before her lashful eyes.<br />
<br />
But tragedy struck that final night, just shy of the gates of Greyhawk, when a mysterious figure attacked the caravan. Clad all in black, the transgressor knight, who went only by the moniker "The Dark Lord", defeated the tourists one by one, until only he remained standing. Sweeping up the princess from the bed of daffodils she had daintily feinted into, the Dark Lord gave the woe smitten party one more severe reproach before vanishing in a puff of smoke.<br />
<br />
Two days later, all that remained of the band now sat mutely in this bar; the hours of quarreling and lamenting long since passed. Of the other companions, some had gone mad with distress and dispersed in random directions, while still others had vowed to rescue the fair maiden and headed up the thick forested mountain towards the mysterious fog-decked Castle Frobozz, which the Dark Lord had indicated was his home. Of this last group, none had returned and, by all legends of the Castle, no return should be expected either.<br />
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Perhaps all is lost, and there is nothing left but to return home in shame. Surely, the chance for adventure, reward and glory is behind you now, and even worse - a chance at the fair damsel's hand! But what is this note here, stamped in a strange seal, that flutters lightly on the table? Was that here when you came down this morning? Has it always been here?</i><br />
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<b>THE OUTS INN</b><br />
<i>Of all the establishments in Greyhawk, the Outs Inn is notable for achieving the most impressive amount of grim and dreck. Normally deserted, this dilapidated watering hole would be considered abandoned if not for the stalwart presence of its owner, Hrothgar the Dwarf. Despite the bleak setting, the curious creature is surprisingly friendly and outgoing, and happily welcomes you to "the finest" (and, indeed, only) "tavern outside the city walls!"</i><br />
<br />
Exits are UP or OUT.<br />
<br />
There is a NOTE here, there is a HROTHGAR here.<br />
<br />
PAVEL stops a moment from eating his slop. He notices the note. He notices WINFRED noticing the note. He tries to grab it first.<br />
<br />
WINFRED groggily rubs his eyes, trying to shake the effects of the previous night's ales. He notices a note on the table and wonders if perhaps it was misplaced and there would be a reward for its delivery. He looks to his coin purse, noting he has only four gold remaining. In the moment of distraction PAVEL grabs the note.<br />
<br />
<i>Admiring the strange seal once more, PAVEL notices the stylistic "A", embossed in the shape of a warped star with a flaming pillar in the middle. Breaking open the parchment causes the seal to crumble into several pieces. Within is a short poem followed by a crudely drawn map:<br />
<br />
"The fog recedes,<br />
the true treasure of the dungeon,<br />
it is yet to be won,<br />
to it a winding path leads…"<br />
<br />
The map roughly shows an ascent up the eastern side of the mountain, upon which sits the gloomy Castle Frobozz from which none return. The path stops halfway up the mountain at a circular symbol.</i><br />
<br />
WINFRED looks up at the sound of the seal on the note being broken. “Friend Pavel,” he begins, craning his neck to get a look at the note, “ the unfortunate events that have transpired on this pilgrimage have clearly worn on us both. Let us start our friendship anew with the search for... whatever it is that note you have here is about. Two honorable men such as ourselves traveling together shall surely overcome challenges that one alone could not.”<br />
<br />
PAVEL gazes across the horizon of the letter at his friend. It's a cold stare. He glances down at the letter, "You better take a look at this then," he says tossing the letter across the table. Scowling, he heaves some slop into his mouth and continues with his breakfast.<br />
<br />
WINFRED looks the note over. "Strange," he mutters. "Hrothgar, did you by chance see who left this note here?"<br />
<br />
<i>Having failed at being inconspicuous, the wrinkly dwarf looks up from his work of wiping down a single swath of the otherwise grimy bar.<br />
<br />
"Nae, boppins!" he replies, before hopping down from his stool. You trace the peak of his bent felt cap bobbing behind the bar until the puppet finally appears around the side. He pads up to the table, bells clinking on his soft shoes, draws close and palms the note in his stubby fingers. You can't help but notice that the foul homunculi stinks worse than the docks on Yob's Day, a festival dedicated to the rotten fish-god worshipped by the inbred peasants of this area.<br />
<br />
Pulling out a pair of (likely pilfered) spectacles, HROTHGAR pretends to read meaningfully for a moment, before his beady eyes settle on the crudely drawn map and grow wide with fear.<br />
<br />
"Well ta first part is a recipe, methinks. Yep, butter'd chicken." it says, licking its slimy lips. "But ta second part, that'd be a map of the Castle Frobz. No'uns ever come back from that fog I tell you! It eats men alive! If only for a chance at the castle gates, the treasures indwelled are said to be beyond imagination!"<br />
<br />
The scurrilous tramp goes on to do what dwarves perhaps do best, and tells a mesmerizing tale of spectacular riches and wealth that would make a sultan swoon; seas of golden coin, ruby encrusted pillars, the finest jewelry and ornaments and priceless works of art abound. Half the morning must have passed before you snap out of the charm (coins still dancing in your mind); the drizzly weather outside gives no indication, but you can judge the lapse by your gruel, which has separated into thin tinny water with fatty solids that float near the top. Your stomach grumbles in protest, as the loathsome wretch concludes "But this I've never seen, a passage up the eastern slope? B'ware young boppins, those hills are rumored to be full of nasty warrens."<br />
<br />
Recalling your childhood lessons that dwarves indeed live under mounds of dirt, you decide to take such a warning with some thoughtfulness.</i><br />
<br />
With the conclusion of the dwarf's tale WINFRED collects his things. "Perhaps it is time we moved on Pavel," he whispers in a hushed voice, "I doubt this dwarf will be of any help."<br />
<br />
WINFRED goes OUT and takes a look around.<br />
<br />
PAVEL nods, "I will be needing some supplies I suppose. We may also want to recruit a peasant to carry our goods and absorb any arrows destined for our chests." He gets up from his table, leaving a few coppers on the table and follows WINFRED OUT.<br />
<br />
<i>As the PAVEL exits, HROTHGAR pads up to him and stuffs a small, leather bag into his hands. "If ye are thinkin' of going to Frobz, take this, I beg ye! Me mutter told me to use it if I ever came across a deep creature; but dun'nae use it on anything else! Only the deep ones!" Opening the pouch reveals a handful of granola.</i><br />
<br />
PAVEL appreciates the gesture and nods to HROTHGAR on his way out.<br />
<br />
Waiting until PAVEL and WINFRED have left, SCUNTHORPE approaches HROTHGAR, and says "A couple more pints for me and my friend," pointing to SWALKHI in the corner. "You've got a fine establishment here."<br />
<br />
SWALKHI walks up to HROTHGAR and SCUNTHORPE. "Aye, sir -- good to see a brother dwarf with his own establishment in such a far flung land. Are there more of our folk hereab<br />
<br />
<b>MUDDY LANE</b><br />
<i>The road here is well worked by wagon wheel and foot traffic alike, so that deep ruts have formed in the slop and filled with the morning's rain. This is western road that leads from Greyhawk out to the lands of Westmark. Before you stands the shabby Outs Inn, run down from years of neglect. To your EAST lies the Western Gate of Greyhawk. To the NORTHWEST, the road climbs up into the thick pine forests and disappears around bends in the brambles.</i><br />
<br />
Exits are IN, EAST or NORTHWEST.<br />
<br />
There is a SIGN here, there is a GROUP of MERCENARIES here, there is a CONDOTTIERE here.<br />
<br />
PAVEL nods to the MERCENARIES, tipping his hat to them as he approaches.<br />
<br />
<i>"Allo guv'nah!" the broad mustachioed CONDOTTIERE says, stepping forward and pumping PAVEL's hand mercilessly. "My Landsers are the best in the business! We've just come arrived with the caravans from Westmark. The pikes of the Black Band are the sharpest in the Known World, and for a modest fee they can shore up your battle lines!"</i><br />
<br />
WINFRED reads the sign.<br />
<br />
<i>The sign reads: "EAST - CITY of GREYHAWK, NORTHWEST - WESTMARK ROAD and OLD CASTLE TRACK"</i><br />
<br />
WINFRED turns from the sign and approaches the MERCENARIES as well. "So my good man, how much is it to hire one of your pikes?"<br />
<br />
<i>"Merely 5 coin a delve or per week, whichever comes first! Payable in full ahead of time to my persons, of course," replies the CONDOTTIERE.</i><br />
<br />
"Are they hardy men for that price?" asks PAVEL. "We're going to the castle Frobozz. We don't want no turn-coats adventuring with us."<br />
<br />
<i>"These lads are Westmarks finest!" cries the CONDOTTIERE, "I haven't heard of this Castle Frobozz, but I can attest no member of the Black Band has ever turned heel while their charismatic captain still stands. Treat them well, pay me promptly, and you can be assured of their service."</i><br />
<br />
WINFRED turns to talk to PAVEL out of earshot of the mercenaries. "I am willing to hire one of them, or rather I would be if I weren't so short on gold at the moment," he says looking slightly embarrassed. "I you could lend me a gold coin I will gladly repay it at the first opportunity. If there's even a fraction of the treasure HROTHGAR claims we'll need help to carry it all."<br />
<br />
PAVEL waves off WINFRED's concerns. "It is of no consequence, friend. I was planning on hiring two or three. Three would leave me tight to purchase rations for the journey."<br />
<br />
"Hire however many you feel would work best, PAVEL. You will be reimbursed for your trouble from the treasure." WINFRED purchases 4 days rations.<br />
<br />
PAVEL returns to the CONDOTTIERE and requests the services of three mercenaries, and is granted the service of young AUGUST, ZOTT and EVANDER. PAVEL purchases 10 days worth of dried trail rations for the road. "I believe we have what we need. Unless there is anything else that you require, WINFRED, I suggest we make haste."<br />
<br />
WINFRED finishes his purchases. "I'm ready when you are."<br />
<br />
PAVEL nods and leaves NORTHWEST with WINFRED.<br />
<br />
<b>FOREST ROAD</b><br />
<i>The thick pine trees converge on the Westmark Road here, veiling the way in an eery silence and gloom. Down the hill to the EAST, the rotting patched roof of the Outs Inn is visible; a thin silvery line of smoke drifting lazily from its badly leaning brick chimney. Beyond that, the grand City of Greyhawk unfolds on the narrow escarpment overlooking the wind licked Great Sea.<br />
<br />
To the WEST, the road continues deeper through the forested hills to the sundry counties of Westmark. To the NORTH, the crumbling remnants of a decrepit bridgehead over a small stream mark the beginnings of the Old Castle Track which leads to the haunted Castle Frobozz. A menacing fog looms that way. To the NORTHEAST, a barely noticeable deer path leeds across the stream and around the eastern face of the mountainside.</i><br />
<br />
Exits are NORTH, NORTHEAST, EAST and WEST.<br />
<br />
PAVEL remembers the map and points out the deer path. "I believe that is the direction we want to go."<br />
<br />
WINFRED also remembers the map. "Yes, I do believe you are correct, PAVEL."<br />
<br />
PAVEL heads towards the deer path, leaving NORTHEAST.<br />
<br />
<b>WINDSWEPT BLUFF</b><br />
<i>The forested mountainside tumbles down into a sheer precipice here, dropping hundreds of feet into a distant estuary below. An old deer trail clings tenuously to the fringe of the rocky crag, leading SOUTHWEST down the face of the mountain or ascending WEST directly up the heavily forested slope. From this vantage point, the eastern ends of the Known World open up before you, revealing distant squalls out at sea and the wooded wilderness of the mountainous Eastmark seaboard.</i><br />
<br />
Exits are SOUTHWEST or WEST.<br />
<br />
PAVEL goes WEST.<br />
<br />
<b>UNKNOWN GROTTO</b><br />
<i>A small grotto cuts into the mountainside here; a low entrance leading down into the darkness of the earth. Before the portal, a small dragon is curled up on a pile of dirt, leaves and bones. The glint of tarnished golden treasures gleam dimly from the refuse. There is an air of melancholy here. An old deer path leads EAST down the mountainside. To all sides, the menacing fog looms, yet strangely does not reach the trail or cavern opening.</i><br />
<br />
Exits are IN or EAST.<br />
<br />
There is a DRAGON here, there is a TREASURE HOARD here, there is a DONIVAN here.<br />
<br />
PAVEL halts and raises his fist above his head, signaling everyone to be silent. He waves over WINFRED and points to the DRAGON. Carefully, PAVEL whispers into WINFRED's ear, "Know ye much about dragons, friend? This looks to be the route by which the map wishes us to enter the castle."<br />
<br />
WINFRED nods. "Lets try to get by as silently as possible."<br />
<br />
<i>Approaching the dragon reveals that the wyrm is apparently midst forty winks, and slumbers peacefully on its precious take. It is a lissome creature, with slender features covered in brilliant emerald scales, perhaps the weight of a horse and some half dozen paces long from nose to tail's tip.</i><br />
<br />
DONIVAN peers out from the underbrush at the two adventurers he has been following since he overheard them talking of treasure while hiring mercenaries near the city gates.<br />
<br />
[Assuming Pavel and Winfred continue past the dragon down into the earth, follow below. Otherwise, continue here as normal.]<br />
<br />
<b>LOW CAVERN</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.</span><br />
<br />
There is a PAVEL and a WINFRED here.<br />
<br />
PAVEL takes out a torch and his flint and steel from his back-back. He lights the torch, being mindful to keep an eye over his shoulder towards the direction of the dragon.<br />
<br />
To Be Continued...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-54647300650109056382013-05-07T05:27:00.000-07:002013-05-07T05:34:13.992-07:00The Border Fortress<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPM65DAhUSLANO2y4-c7Lg8vzqZl7CXu3MxuqtiCtrChptqCzGRvLD72H7Psf_AId334XX6E8xVQ-9vV5V7BFpyiffrMNSVoVHWvdge_2G1_kKqTl6MlH8w8OhzDhTKEuJr5rY-xeQY6g/s1600/hrothyoggstower.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="598" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPM65DAhUSLANO2y4-c7Lg8vzqZl7CXu3MxuqtiCtrChptqCzGRvLD72H7Psf_AId334XX6E8xVQ-9vV5V7BFpyiffrMNSVoVHWvdge_2G1_kKqTl6MlH8w8OhzDhTKEuJr5rY-xeQY6g/s640/hrothyoggstower.jpg" width="425" /></a>After a grueling finals and end to a long semester, I am slowly reemerging in a Boston reformed by summer leaves and flowers. The transformation seemed to happen over night, with flowering trees blooming to fill the parks and pathways. As a reward to treat myself for a difficult year of study, I decided to conspicuously indulge in this:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYIqF3rkWuQG-I9_8I2ZTjD1fTr3maUk-KmoVxcqlYRBJ8vFmufM6gTL9IhHwcT01lCW5qj7oMptKf77prKdVdKHrWAu5UUeJHnRyLPPwoeudyHJL36ZCkNJNUWdxzlmWFOUkgM8yhyphenhyphenzk/s1600/2up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYIqF3rkWuQG-I9_8I2ZTjD1fTr3maUk-KmoVxcqlYRBJ8vFmufM6gTL9IhHwcT01lCW5qj7oMptKf77prKdVdKHrWAu5UUeJHnRyLPPwoeudyHJL36ZCkNJNUWdxzlmWFOUkgM8yhyphenhyphenzk/s640/2up.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outer packaging of the 1988 Mighty Fortress set.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Now, I have heard everything from <a href="http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=157797">accolades praising</a> the 1988 edition of <i>Warhammer Siege</i> to bitter complains about complexity. Certainly, no one claims it is a simple game—it is designed as a full expansion of the original <i>Warhammer Fantasy Battle</i> rules and features both the complete freedom of game mechanics for every imaginable situation as well as the extensive book keeping that this would require. With all of the detail, even though most of it is optional and modular, one can be forgiven for missing things, and I suspect that <i>Warhammer Siege</i> is a game you learn as you play: an experience that gets better with time.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigpLoIPGTVUqWjXtnqoR3f92f8QYuzOHNgOTd3oXsgVmjn3VBdJUyi9ybeAxQA1xDvjnK6OMzgu6o4JS62Og9JhAY8B0nIQ-69RviAB2YyKUiMYKOuFJ6gd9PZuq5yup4YiE26MyeBxY/s1600/IMG_0449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigpLoIPGTVUqWjXtnqoR3f92f8QYuzOHNgOTd3oXsgVmjn3VBdJUyi9ybeAxQA1xDvjnK6OMzgu6o4JS62Og9JhAY8B0nIQ-69RviAB2YyKUiMYKOuFJ6gd9PZuq5yup4YiE26MyeBxY/s320/IMG_0449.jpg" width="236" /></a>To be fair to <i>Warhammer Siege</i>, it is worth addressing seemingly the most common complaint: that artillery appears to quickly demolish the stronghold walls with little hope for the stalwart defenders. Many first time players have lamented their one and only experience with the game resulting in these <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2012/07/3rd-edition-warhammer-siege.html">catastrophic</a> <a href="http://abandonallminis.blogspot.com/2010/07/warhammer-siege.html">results</a>. The underlying problem here seems to be the imprudent deployment of massive doomsday devices in the arsenal of the besiegers, particularly the 10-man siege weapons. These apocalypse weapons would have been equivalent to the historical <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/TheTsarCannonJuly2004.jpg">Tsar Cannon</a> or other medieval and Renaissance "super guns."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqanaadVM3jm8BQeGJsuW6DW0vCqQPAatQLam5JrqD8b-xtw1thZudSH-X5mSLQtWl2UPAFiyG2drsWuUACspYP6JY5wE-8asI3MkN8JKC-FQt65eeNTF6I0ZuAxxHvNklm-McjGv4P4/s1600/IMG_0451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqanaadVM3jm8BQeGJsuW6DW0vCqQPAatQLam5JrqD8b-xtw1thZudSH-X5mSLQtWl2UPAFiyG2drsWuUACspYP6JY5wE-8asI3MkN8JKC-FQt65eeNTF6I0ZuAxxHvNklm-McjGv4P4/s640/IMG_0451.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Complete contents.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKmSX3U9c0ytZcWVS2Opa-lHWfkkeno8l5pObcn814rt34h0kdSfFSkUdsYUyW3dmrdKlCtTu-NKe10U7ChXq35mI3MTFIOBrMeHxr9YUOl919sJHYj5d5cQqZui-zDJfHAKql3b1tqME/s1600/IMG_0456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKmSX3U9c0ytZcWVS2Opa-lHWfkkeno8l5pObcn814rt34h0kdSfFSkUdsYUyW3dmrdKlCtTu-NKe10U7ChXq35mI3MTFIOBrMeHxr9YUOl919sJHYj5d5cQqZui-zDJfHAKql3b1tqME/s320/IMG_0456.jpg" width="239" /></a>The main problem here is that the default wall described in <i>Warhammer Siege</i> is for the lowly "border fortress"—a common, lesser castle often found in the Border Princes. These meager strongholds are cobbled together between the first few harsh winters on the frontier, when a would-be robber baron struggles to establish a foothold in the wilderness. With sparse resources and only unskilled labourers, those bandit kings who do not freeze to death in a half-completed castle before the frost subsides are only able to manage provisional, precarious fortifications to stake their claim. To the desperate outposts and colonies in the barrens, even these ramshackle fortresses are formidable symbols of frontier authority and power—at least until a new warlord arrives. Yet, in relation to these backwoods bulwarks, the most massive cannons in the history of the Old World are incomparable adversaries. The calibre of such ordnance would likely be as thick as the very walls of the border fortress. While such improbable batteries are designed to break down the mightiest citadels and bastions in the world, the lowly border fort hardly stands a chance against such awesome power.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ08bxClZcBnmeZduv4EVNYWzmSEix61_9SG9ycnZB9wS1xPwbIaj8WWYy55MPwDG72_hgurat0BgG30ST6d2g6OGgeKRdCD2qY3Y6UgtTOL-f6S6Vkp9ABBJw3H_AYn8qvd7b1NRTcBo/s1600/IMG_0454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ08bxClZcBnmeZduv4EVNYWzmSEix61_9SG9ycnZB9wS1xPwbIaj8WWYy55MPwDG72_hgurat0BgG30ST6d2g6OGgeKRdCD2qY3Y6UgtTOL-f6S6Vkp9ABBJw3H_AYn8qvd7b1NRTcBo/s1600/IMG_0454.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The different plastic pieces—gate and two types of doors, trapdoors and ladders.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
It is notable that the <a href="http://thedarksideofwillmark.blogspot.com/2012/07/3rd-edition-warhammer-siege.html">two</a> <a href="http://abandonallminis.blogspot.com/2010/07/warhammer-siege.html">previous</a> siege games that reported disastrous results both explicitly lacked a critical component to any <i>Warhammer Fantasy Battle</i> game—the gamemaster. A decent referee would have readily spotted this incongruous matchup and adjusted the scenario to account for it. For example, a good competitor to a standard "border fortress" (which has a default 10 wounds or "defence points") would be the 5-man cannon (cannons are rated from the smallest 3-man culverin to the largest 10-man bombard). Such an artillery piece would chip away at a battlement and would cause a breach after 12 direct hits (several cannons working in conjunction would make even shorter work). A scenario featuring heavier ordnance would demand thicker walls, however. After all, as the <i>Warhammer Siege</i> rules suggest, the normal Toughness and defence point values "are standard for a typical Border Fortress," but "you may wish to vary this slightly" for mightier castles (<i>Warhammer Siege</i>, 35). Against a 10-man cannon, a gamemaster may increase the defence value of the walls to as high as 45 points, requiring an average of 4 successful hits to cause a breach.<br />
<br />
All in all, <i>Warhammer Siege</i> has a lot to offer players who are looking for new kinds of scenarios to add depth to a campaign. It is worth exploring the true gems in this rules expansion, but I will leave that task to a later date. For now, I leave you with these photos to give you a sense of the scale and contents of the Mighty Fortress set. I found this item to be a great purchase—made from dense styrofoam sections that do not chip and can be rearranged into many different castle plans. Along with my recent find of a mint condition <i>Warhammer Townscapes</i>, I will have my hands full this summer building a complete Warhammer world for our local games.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQsY1WK-74WYBt2Pu8Ln0I07gG2lZcqxCGKMPPYBNCuNTjL8DMX9g75diMeLodK2CCFLxNIvOGOfIQBAlYPDdvOeu6pNBjCBZjKtuToAxrrnIrQFXMtNaIKJaX8W6fhvDY6K1DG14Vtw/s1600/IMG_0457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQsY1WK-74WYBt2Pu8Ln0I07gG2lZcqxCGKMPPYBNCuNTjL8DMX9g75diMeLodK2CCFLxNIvOGOfIQBAlYPDdvOeu6pNBjCBZjKtuToAxrrnIrQFXMtNaIKJaX8W6fhvDY6K1DG14Vtw/s1600/IMG_0457.jpg" width="425" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8T68p0SdlyeFx2xPcBYJnjdReRHWhXTTzCyqqhyVktffd1DhTD7GtXRgk-nq35J6vKk2M3XBuxrmznSpCxP5elGlLY92JM6qV7KkXrMMLqSdx38lj1ukUqld8xfjg8lB7NfmZ9fUP1M/s1600/IMG_0458.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8T68p0SdlyeFx2xPcBYJnjdReRHWhXTTzCyqqhyVktffd1DhTD7GtXRgk-nq35J6vKk2M3XBuxrmznSpCxP5elGlLY92JM6qV7KkXrMMLqSdx38lj1ukUqld8xfjg8lB7NfmZ9fUP1M/s1600/IMG_0458.jpg" width="425" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQIiAcRCIAKuXZru2r7lY1I8BLmXAIBgprrjLbPVWZzyj6nzZScqtrBI066a78GBhLlugSF-zvXr8Ufn3nAMoVuEacO6VzcdW-nVgplfK3qgP8c8_LHGJKRyZbxbze_TZWEdRcbCyjC6A/s1600/IMG_0459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQIiAcRCIAKuXZru2r7lY1I8BLmXAIBgprrjLbPVWZzyj6nzZScqtrBI066a78GBhLlugSF-zvXr8Ufn3nAMoVuEacO6VzcdW-nVgplfK3qgP8c8_LHGJKRyZbxbze_TZWEdRcbCyjC6A/s1600/IMG_0459.jpg" width="425" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSOUODbBE270hC-UrtT03WJBL_u7_tErxSMX-wiYW28Seas6T10KR3BoT6kjpD_aTTelvgF0NdG7ri0jQWuQBAReQHqUgBUje8mXNFKQN2lDFr6lbG7KqgAa7uKK8kicqJEbJ4s9tLiuQ/s1600/IMG_0460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSOUODbBE270hC-UrtT03WJBL_u7_tErxSMX-wiYW28Seas6T10KR3BoT6kjpD_aTTelvgF0NdG7ri0jQWuQBAReQHqUgBUje8mXNFKQN2lDFr6lbG7KqgAa7uKK8kicqJEbJ4s9tLiuQ/s1600/IMG_0460.jpg" width="425" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-50546526492834567882013-03-20T09:58:00.002-07:002013-03-20T10:41:08.400-07:00Dynamic Combat in Warhammer<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijuSba-mw1pp1vVcQLj2FXPMCFiVD451c81wG1v6RQ0C8KFL7FgqlckuP4jVoAysdtzzPzF4SxaWQBpazo-z98PePuC_BgOLnPBlKI7W2TDflMqIfTIgsFL20zNk0idXBMZlMKD0MN3oY/s1600/fantasywarlord.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijuSba-mw1pp1vVcQLj2FXPMCFiVD451c81wG1v6RQ0C8KFL7FgqlckuP4jVoAysdtzzPzF4SxaWQBpazo-z98PePuC_BgOLnPBlKI7W2TDflMqIfTIgsFL20zNk0idXBMZlMKD0MN3oY/s640/fantasywarlord.jpg" width="425" /></a>As my recent article on <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/02/unsaved-wounds-by-edition-lethality.html">lethality creep</a> suggests, and as <a href="http://warhammerforadults.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Bridge%20Over%20the%20River%20Chai">Gaj's ongoing dramatic battle miniseries evidences</a>, Oldhammer battles often consist of a gritty back-and-forth slugfest of smashing skulls and splintering armour. When the enemy is driven to rout by the press of steel, a friendly regiment can always swoop in, flying the banner to steady their nerves and rally them to return to the fight. Indeed, rallying and returning to seek vengeance on their adversaries is a frequent occurrence on the Oldhammer battlefields.<br />
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While this grit and gore is no doubt part of what makes the Oldhammer experience so unique, with every sword strike keeping you at the edge of your seat and each slain foe a small victory, the difficult odds of overcoming an enemy warrior may seem to produce a <i>mêlée</i> that is very static. Certainly, compared to the boosted lethality of later editions, fewer warriors fall to the swath of swords each round and each lost combatant means one less retaliation. So, when every blow counts, what keeps these gritty back-and-forth slugfests so dynamic? The difficulty in overcoming an enemy means that it is certainly feasible that a round of <i>mêlée</i> produces no casualties. Are there still interesting and tactical choices to make, even when the dice turn their back on you? Let's take a look at a few rules in <i>Warhammer Fantasy Battle</i> 3rd Edition to explore the options:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGn_tHPmYnTHg0vuQVHBT_o5MdHP9XCA_Us75NWQtFxVd8NR8C2_6Nl83Da3E1xoR1fCd06fOVJjOd_LWQoYKK8PhzdbTsbViBcnjxpgDI1mHq0_QTkV6AyO3CFYXvVGpgDYi6dhJ9I70/s1600/orcsdrift.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: -1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGn_tHPmYnTHg0vuQVHBT_o5MdHP9XCA_Us75NWQtFxVd8NR8C2_6Nl83Da3E1xoR1fCd06fOVJjOd_LWQoYKK8PhzdbTsbViBcnjxpgDI1mHq0_QTkV6AyO3CFYXvVGpgDYi6dhJ9I70/s200/orcsdrift.jpg" width="200" /></a><b>I Challenge You!</b><br />
No doubt a mainstay of many <i>Warhammer</i> games, the challenge between opposing champions is a dramatic and stirring event. There is inherent risk and uncertainty associated with challenges, as the player is often stepping into the unknown and likely does not know exactly what he is getting into. Is that merely a regiment leader, or a major hero? Are their dangerous magical weapons involved? As models in Oldhammer can only wound adjacent base to base enemies, a powerful combat character is very much wasted on fighting mere fodder, and is best employed for more heroic tasks, including monster slaying and challenges. Matched with a fitting opponent, the warrior hero comes into his own. Refusing a challenge, on the other hand, will cause a cowardly champion to shrink back into the rear ranks and lose all respect he had earned from his regiment. The enemy is then given the chance to cut through the regiment in search of the abject and craven champion hiding amongst the fallen comrades. Challenges allow a hero to contribute more towards the combat results than from regular fighting, particularly against opponents with multiple wounds, and represent an interesting and fun sub-game of pitting your magical weapons and skills against the opponent.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiApROKyml4WxEftnkP6OjlEkjlj8RR75-pnS3ZLenKwhTv72QbonzNPpUhglggU0WGnLdKS29uxV23R_PvVgDDTyVeTycuxy1NiUAtOUDoXWuo-_FwJpN-CG4mATY50GEw-ZKFyVpeX3o/s1600/fantasywarlord.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiApROKyml4WxEftnkP6OjlEkjlj8RR75-pnS3ZLenKwhTv72QbonzNPpUhglggU0WGnLdKS29uxV23R_PvVgDDTyVeTycuxy1NiUAtOUDoXWuo-_FwJpN-CG4mATY50GEw-ZKFyVpeX3o/s200/fantasywarlord.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>Seize Their Banner!</b><br />
The regiment standard is a symbol of the regiment's pride and origins. Unlike the aesthetic promoted in later versions of <i>Warhammer</i>, the diverse banners found in old dioramas seem to indicate that each unit is not only a separate component of the army, but comes from a different region, has a different background and perhaps even a different culture. While Newhammer armies tend to have a unified colour scheme of one or two tones that gives the army a general sense of uniformity, Oldhammer regiments are heterogenous, as found in the diversity of their banners which have a lot of individual character and personality. Seizing the enemy's standard is capturing the symbol of their mettle and everything they are fighting for, whether hearth and home or gold and glory. In combat, the regiment standard bobs up and down with the fray, acting as a beacon to summon the regiment's courage and compelling them to make a stand. The rules for capturing the enemy standard in <i>Warhammer</i> 3rd Edition are thus quite exciting and action-packed, as a regiment will fight tooth and bone to retain their icon in the mad scramble for the banner. In game terms, the death of the standard bearer (which is unfortunately fairly common, as the poor fellow has to stand in the front rank) means that the enemy may make a dive to the trodden mud to recover the fallen banner. The result is an immediate second round of combat (literally doubling the action for the round), which could end in the regiment retrieving its colours and chasing off the dismayed enemy, the pennant being crushed into the turf and lost in the confusion or the enemy capturing the standard and sending the regiment to flight (earning a slaughter of free strikes as they rout). A regiment that has lost its standard will remain sullen and demoralized for the rest of the battle, significantly increasing their penchant to retire from the battlefield.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNZNRS49iXHjCCosDMFd50vjmOJFtPL1w-tbu5hb03B8FCd_bpZ7L6ouFX_wlm9F5kX9CuOvw7nWMd72AV7jHUjT1fABTKlfQ8_yuPgw23zviCYWCMbqgOQNnQpRroYcuOeYYNGw0mufE/s1600/vengeanceoflichemaster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: -1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNZNRS49iXHjCCosDMFd50vjmOJFtPL1w-tbu5hb03B8FCd_bpZ7L6ouFX_wlm9F5kX9CuOvw7nWMd72AV7jHUjT1fABTKlfQ8_yuPgw23zviCYWCMbqgOQNnQpRroYcuOeYYNGw0mufE/s320/vengeanceoflichemaster.jpg" width="200" /></a><b>Push Them Back!</b><br />
Of course, battles can always be won even without causing excess casualties. All things equal, a regiment that has momentum, either carrying forward the impact of a charge or seizing impetus from the changing tides of previous rounds of combat, will overcome their foes. When this happens, the enemy is forced to step back under the press of steel and is forced backwards two inches. While this may not seem like a significant parcel of the battlefield, gaining ground incrementally allows the attacker much more maneuvering room for supporting regiments in the rear while further constraining and compacting the enemy position. Furthermore, while outflanking a phalanx can be extremely difficult, as the battle line is both very wide and is often flanked by powerful cavalry to intercept the enemy maneuver, pushing back the enemy center offers a critical strategy to breaking up stalwart battle lines. After a turn or two of pressing the enemy regiment to give ground, the attacker will have inflicted the quarter unit strength of casualties needed to force a rout test. When the enemy is put to flight, the attacker is now usually four inches deep into enemy lines and, restraining pursuit, is perfectly situated to immediately reform and charge directly into the flank of a central column of the enemy battle line. Needless to say, the resulting panic test can unfold the entire formation. When fighting regiments in isolation of a larger military formation, pushing back also provides other tactical choices. Should the victors leave their trenches to chase off the enemy for good? Should the winning regiment lose some of its cohesion to surround and mob the losers? Are there advantages to expanding the frontage, or would it be better to retain a rank bonus? All of these questions depend on battlefield conditions and can make for interesting decisions for the player.<br />
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As we have seen, even with the gritty and uncompromising combat of Oldhammer, there can still be compelling tactical decisions for the player when the dice fail. Exploring all of the options in Oldhammer combat truly helps provide for a dynamic and immersive experience, hearkening back to the roleplaying roots of the game. Importantly, these details allow combat to remain bloody even if it is tough fought, without artificially boosting <i>mêlée</i> lethality to spiral out of control and ultimately devalue the individual dice rolls into a sort of game of statistics and averages. The current tournament atmosphere of more recent editions of <i>Warhammer</i> is a testament to these latter-day changes to the structure of the game, where buckets of dice replace strategic thinking and certain "army builds" are presumed to reign over other, inferior ones. By taking serious the full body of game mechanics in older editions, sometimes dismissed as unnecessary and overly complicated "crunch," there are certain avenues to inject narrative and choice back into a game that some may feel has become entirely too determinate and therefore too prescriptive in its playstyle.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-13906851040558718012013-03-17T17:28:00.000-07:002013-03-17T17:45:23.443-07:00Designing a Battlefield<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh07idCXGh0ZY8O0MPJI6Yp5Ne__vS0GiKj41x1DyWHSlFZZgc0FbCL8c3fTiqxNDy8eaIziDrf0mzprW-wulrYdFZrpQnKEjr-oqRIImfY9IqE00rxa8C_JK8V6HiSl1mAovQrYkRRHIw/s1600/saluteecwtable.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh07idCXGh0ZY8O0MPJI6Yp5Ne__vS0GiKj41x1DyWHSlFZZgc0FbCL8c3fTiqxNDy8eaIziDrf0mzprW-wulrYdFZrpQnKEjr-oqRIImfY9IqE00rxa8C_JK8V6HiSl1mAovQrYkRRHIw/s640/saluteecwtable.jpg" width="425" /></a>There has been a lot of good buzz lately on <a href="http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2013/03/oldhammer-scenarios-could-we-create-our.html">designing</a> <a href="http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2013/03/oldhammer-scenarios-part-2-could-we.html">scenarios</a> and dioramas to push the Oldhammer ethos into new environs and player communities. Orlygg has offered <a href="http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2013/03/oldhammer-style-games-tables-lesson.html">a very good analysis</a> of "old-style" and "new-style" wargaming tables, following up on Nico's unearthing of <a href="http://nico-realmsofchaos.blogspot.com/2013/03/battlefield-from-past.html">early Warhammer tables</a> from the mid-1980's. The contrast between the old and the new, to my eye, is very reminiscent of nearly canonical theory of "<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?317715-Very-Long-Combat-as-Sport-vs-Combat-as-War-a-Key-Difference-in-D-amp-D-Play-Styles#post5803896">combat as sport vs. combat as war</a>" between past and present versions of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>. Wargaming tables from the past are covered with interesting and detailed terrain, and there is little difference between a historical wargaming table and a fantasy one. The goal of these battlefields is simulation. Modern tables simply feature a relatively flat plane with obstacles sprinkled evenly across it. In the latter, terrain "pieces" are discrete and atomized elements that have clearly delineated boundaries, set in a "neutral zone" of open ground. The goal of modern tables is to present a "balanced" playing field to compete with opposing army "builds." The former, traditional, table design is much more organic, with terrain blending together in uneven and visually impressive ways.<br />
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This got me thinking, how should an intrepid would-be Oldhammerer like myself go about building a proper "old-school" Warhammer table? Even more pressing, what does immersive battlefield design entail? For the former, I have decided that I am officially opposed to modular table design, despite some <a href="http://realmsofminiatures.blogspot.com/2012/10/modular-gaming-table-part-15.html">extremely impressive entries</a> into that genre. I had come to the decision that an old-school board really needs more loving attention than a random layout could possibly provide. Rather, a good table rested on the latter—on proper battlefield design, so that I began to think about what a battlefield geography should do for a game.<br />
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This is not to say, of course, that a big open battlefield is to be avoided. Indeed, this sort of battlefield design allows for <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZrSJ-J_TyFtMcIFDj9aVHzac_a3L2vL-lKeziLJTkbFgDwnZvC9oap8J5UJHK4SdOo0wOIE6voRImgLuwYe7uAsNFm0hyphenhyphenQ8gkeFxF6tSGny-VufLG9e_jeWztAO9PlZoGtXSUxN_rVZN/s1600/cru01a.jpg">nice long battle lines</a> to form up, which are visually impressive and can make for a fun game as the hordes crash into each other and force their way through the ranks. While this is one style of game, interspersing terrain settings throughout the battlefield will break up such tactics and allow for other play styles. What should be avoided, I feel, is treating the battlefield as a mere obstacle course, where terrain features are lone particles flecked onto an empty plane with little care for telling individual stories.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqM7NeeA-ESCqws_8KFI-YnaEnRAEFY5yVTLnEIHfhUjTjQUE6eeST6ByXluwFujcpzcNX2XrQkJGJTUHWF1_VFZ-xYYSfFW1Ic2gFdE6nUzjIScLYEU5KdGeE-GXH3fNaGHbmJzKI6_s/s1600/warhammerworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqM7NeeA-ESCqws_8KFI-YnaEnRAEFY5yVTLnEIHfhUjTjQUE6eeST6ByXluwFujcpzcNX2XrQkJGJTUHWF1_VFZ-xYYSfFW1Ic2gFdE6nUzjIScLYEU5KdGeE-GXH3fNaGHbmJzKI6_s/s640/warhammerworld.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb6QRHoGkMw6ribjO-Tug_FOb-H5-Q4zVqh9KQdzEMMk1m__AtrL6gNGOM50g_O7xdCzbzYaV4efbviXHaFP_W0Gz9P5Wmr8mRXXBYaOA-UaY2ztkHdIqSPKmbwt_r5DQY7Skzaa05j98/s1600/realm+of+battle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb6QRHoGkMw6ribjO-Tug_FOb-H5-Q4zVqh9KQdzEMMk1m__AtrL6gNGOM50g_O7xdCzbzYaV4efbviXHaFP_W0Gz9P5Wmr8mRXXBYaOA-UaY2ztkHdIqSPKmbwt_r5DQY7Skzaa05j98/s640/realm+of+battle.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also, No.</td></tr>
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Terrain should not be an obstruction, best sidestepped and avoided during the game. It should be something that draws you <i>into</i> the game, giving you interesting stories to tell. Each little pocket of the battlefield should have its own character and plot. How would the battle have been different if the armies had intercepted each other at the old abandoned mill rather than in the forest clearing? If the armies had climbed the brambled hill to the old stone tower, would they have found the recluse warlock that is rumoured to live there? There should be enough places to explore on the battlefield that a single game could have developed very differently if the generals had chose to fight it out over different locales. In this way, the battlefield is actually a handful of smaller adventures, and each area is richly and naturally embellished with loving care and attention to detail. Instead of mere empty spaces between blobs of forests or hills, each locale should feel sheltered and unique.<br />
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Let's take a look at the story being told over a classic Oldhammer table:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MS6OFbcAfy-1yKCw2tVUsUpTUy2s1JXUapYFlVSG8tBtfNLjTl_Z_VqTvcd57MqPBX7wCKVUAIJonP3bvRPFf2oEArcJzhxzPg4MBtne3KMXcFI4ia02a-BXjMA4dsLStB35hl41TJ0/s1600/everygamersdream.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MS6OFbcAfy-1yKCw2tVUsUpTUy2s1JXUapYFlVSG8tBtfNLjTl_Z_VqTvcd57MqPBX7wCKVUAIJonP3bvRPFf2oEArcJzhxzPg4MBtne3KMXcFI4ia02a-BXjMA4dsLStB35hl41TJ0/s640/everygamersdream.JPG" width="425" /></a><br />
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Notice the many areas that might be exploited: the village on the right, the hedgerows, the forest behind them, the mill in the center, the riverbanks and bridge, the open fields, the ruined monastery on the left and the burying ground. Even for a fairly open table, there are a lot of possible scenarios that might play out. Such as...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTivJ3MP7P8C5Qoe_PyRIU4SIIZUe-wB0RVREvY_G9JzpAaEMkXC2FR5jDzIE1oBaYxbt9oZVUk_PGNnvC3JXL6bWCiaksLrVsRzGT8Q9NNrtEIcf9oqRpGHFpqGm5LaaqEO39N1tWR0/s1600/theundeadandtheirallies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTivJ3MP7P8C5Qoe_PyRIU4SIIZUe-wB0RVREvY_G9JzpAaEMkXC2FR5jDzIE1oBaYxbt9oZVUk_PGNnvC3JXL6bWCiaksLrVsRzGT8Q9NNrtEIcf9oqRpGHFpqGm5LaaqEO39N1tWR0/s640/theundeadandtheirallies.JPG" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the main field, the battle is joined.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJJL3Mz33c16uoua1Ptk_HlzJlqLUj2ig71hAel5_GxySCZ6WDm8kABa4WdieZ-KzjdKOksoOb2iNDUKZPMENaD0-eEVG-hrAsWFu96neycCPKPFt_C_sR4Y1ghBszmnTa01UKJIaWZg/s1600/theskeltonsandtrolls.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJJL3Mz33c16uoua1Ptk_HlzJlqLUj2ig71hAel5_GxySCZ6WDm8kABa4WdieZ-KzjdKOksoOb2iNDUKZPMENaD0-eEVG-hrAsWFu96neycCPKPFt_C_sR4Y1ghBszmnTa01UKJIaWZg/s640/theskeltonsandtrolls.JPG" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><div style="text-align: center;">Over by the bridge, Skeletons and Orcs advance on the mill.</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGd-uoDHVUs6kMCey72gnM8h2mbv_bE7b6q5Ko-MxGIO_NYO9lHzrq1NJIRtUTs3XPSt5QoO93rGCTdgh4Q7cnhbXIongmFZNQaUKse3p_qiHK3iTYzWrABDds1WGBsEOQiSjkWdhUfOI/s1600/theassaultontheruinedmonastery.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGd-uoDHVUs6kMCey72gnM8h2mbv_bE7b6q5Ko-MxGIO_NYO9lHzrq1NJIRtUTs3XPSt5QoO93rGCTdgh4Q7cnhbXIongmFZNQaUKse3p_qiHK3iTYzWrABDds1WGBsEOQiSjkWdhUfOI/s640/theassaultontheruinedmonastery.JPG" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orcs and Goblins attempt to seize the ruined monastery...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0uN2dwvQX3-wB2UcnNvWWVBQuvubgODWnKslaxPI2ch61jPXU8S_LqN3hqmvSIDPrea3rK5aB5fzZEKtzB305TF9ZrBhJYZpFx3asCner5FmN20cGaTQKpb8kP16x6SYcy5hO7HM40U/s1600/thegoblinsflee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0uN2dwvQX3-wB2UcnNvWWVBQuvubgODWnKslaxPI2ch61jPXU8S_LqN3hqmvSIDPrea3rK5aB5fzZEKtzB305TF9ZrBhJYZpFx3asCner5FmN20cGaTQKpb8kP16x6SYcy5hO7HM40U/s640/thegoblinsflee.JPG" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and are quickly put to route.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
The interesting thing is that a small army could have equally benefitted from this table as a large one. To achieve this effect, I would recommend developing each location on the table with care, giving it a natural and immersive feel before moving on or even thinking about another part of the battlefield. Instead of just throwing down a few buildings for a town, try putting a lone cottage on a hill, surrounding it with shadowy boughs, flanking it with a small fenced-in field and a path leading away to a clearing in the forest. Add a small stream and a footbridge to allow a second route into the farmstead and think about putting a peasant or two tending to their daily work. This way, when the Orc regiment marches by, it is not merely advancing past an unimportant and nondescript quadrant of a flat board. The peasants will rush to defend their homes, the Orcs will become stymied in the brook and the area will take on an interesting part of the story that will be told about this battle.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-60439959303126242352013-03-03T11:34:00.001-08:002013-03-04T09:02:11.782-08:00Alcoholism in Warhammer Fantasy Battle<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbpzQOlbd77wEA4y9i5EEdm03nPG_Z7IQRg5DUoraYP5P0ITD2OPzZXXFIALqrrADqclJZ4VuCJtoT3CcU-0epFzD1fhC1uQyYWJE0TrWTeJdeu5vEnx11vF40MZG17f26qr9PbrVvTMI/s1600/bugman.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbpzQOlbd77wEA4y9i5EEdm03nPG_Z7IQRg5DUoraYP5P0ITD2OPzZXXFIALqrrADqclJZ4VuCJtoT3CcU-0epFzD1fhC1uQyYWJE0TrWTeJdeu5vEnx11vF40MZG17f26qr9PbrVvTMI/s200/bugman.png" width="168" /></a>First introduced in <i>Warhammer Fantasy Battle</i> 2nd Edition, the special rules for alcoholism only managed to sneak into one campaign module (<i>Tragedy of McDeath</i>, 1986) before disappearing from the game thereafter. Admittedly, the rules were someone clumsy—they simply punished the player by penalizing the drunken unit with lower characteristics. Nevertheless, in the spirit of Oldhammer, I've drawn up a quick treatment of these forgotten special rules for use with the 3rd Edition that is a little more random and fun. Enjoy!<br />
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<b>Alcoholism</b>: If the scenario calls for it, one or more units in your army has been 'at the bottle' and is well and truly drunk. Throughout the fight, they will continue to drink from whatever alcohol they carry with them. At the beginning of each turn, take a Will Power test. If the unit fails, they have become well and truly drunk and will react randomly according to the table below. If the Will Power test is passed, then they have managed to hold their liquor for now, and there is no effect for the turn.<br />
<br />
Roll 1d6 each time the Will Power test is failed:<br />
1-2 Until the beginning of the next turn, unit is subject to a failed Stupidity test.<br />
3-4 Until the beginning of the next turn, unit is subject to a failed Saga Animosity test against the nearest visible unit (friend or foe) to its front.<br />
5-6 Unit will spend the turn moving towards the closest known building in search of more alcohol (or otherwise, the table edge). If they reach the building, they will spend the entire next turn trashing the place and turning it upside down to find any hidden stores.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj08qovFdixjWcT6odo4FisNrsK47ZWt6OZJOnC0ZiCwyh82SCNYDL4x3z3O0rYisb1ge9FpcrwCKNPlgUkrgZuyaJjEHb-q54-rUWoYAaLYYahRVQUHs0etbwg_ka9ayNspKMtWp1NV6Q/s1600/bugmanmug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj08qovFdixjWcT6odo4FisNrsK47ZWt6OZJOnC0ZiCwyh82SCNYDL4x3z3O0rYisb1ge9FpcrwCKNPlgUkrgZuyaJjEHb-q54-rUWoYAaLYYahRVQUHs0etbwg_ka9ayNspKMtWp1NV6Q/s200/bugmanmug.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-21338570984930314562013-02-28T09:24:00.000-08:002013-03-03T11:36:22.459-08:00Unsaved Wounds by Edition: Lethality Creep in WarhammerAlthough I have the rules, I have admittedly not played a game of <i>Warhammer Fantasy Battle 8th Edition</i> yet. However, while following online discussions of the game and perusing the new system, I noticed an interesting trend. Units had, across the board, become much more lethal in this edition, with myriad special rules to allow more and more attack rolls.<br />
<br />
To be sure, Warhammer has always been known as a "bucket of dice" game, although I have never seen this as a particular fault. The average attack in 3rd Edition, for instance, must roll to hit (an average of 2 in 6) and then to wound (3 in 6) before the opponent can make a saving throw for armour. It might be seen as much quicker to simply allow the attacker a 1 in 6 odds of mortally striking his opponent (which has the same odds as the two previous rolls), yet the rather simple and elegant mechanic of requiring multiple layers of dice rolling allows the game designer to subtly tweak the odds. For instance, a 3 in 6 chance to hit and to wound (or 25% chance to mortally strike) cannot possibly be represented on a single six-sided die roll.<br />
<br />
But the recent disturbing trend seemed to force these elegant mechanics to their extremes. By significantly boosting the number of attack dice being rolled, the difference between subtle modifiers to one layer of rolls or another became blurred. The 8th Edition in particular has a number of rules to this effect, whether allowing two ranks of models to strike in melee, or a third with 30+ models in the unit (a "horde"), or an additional further rank with spears or double attacks from additional hand weapons. It soon became quite possible to levy 40 attack dice in one round of melee. Similarly with missiles, archers could now fire in two ranks or half of every subsequent rank for volley fire. An archer regiment arranged in four ranks and ten files could roll 30 attack dice in this manner.<br />
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With a sneaking suspicion, I then looked back at previous editions of Warhammer and found that this is not at all a new development. In fact, units have been creeping in lethality since the very first version of the game. I decided to graph the number of unsaved wounds a unit might inflict if arrayed in three ranks and six files (a number that simply made the math much easier). I gave the units a 5+ save and either two-handed weapons, additional hand weapons or spears and crunched the numbers against an identical foe (ignoring initiative, charging bonus and so on). This is what I got:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijb4VpKAA_C1GA6C_mo6mzAlbB8q4KGEJCB6eaaEymYecec0rRB0HqK0O4GrnFdqd8q1bW5oVnMUM9w0wf7KFhS8RzIxJELEYWPU08uBNkGYbGoQN3sVF54Iyo63qH42dYhmcONHUIk0o/s1600/Graph.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijb4VpKAA_C1GA6C_mo6mzAlbB8q4KGEJCB6eaaEymYecec0rRB0HqK0O4GrnFdqd8q1bW5oVnMUM9w0wf7KFhS8RzIxJELEYWPU08uBNkGYbGoQN3sVF54Iyo63qH42dYhmcONHUIk0o/s400/Graph.png" width="425" /></a><br />
<br />
As you can probably see, lethality has been increasing regularly across the different editions. Some pairs of editions worked very similarly, and more or less represented minor incremental updates on the previous rules (as with 2nd and 3rd, 4th and 5th and 6th and 7th). What's the take away of all this? A cynic might assume Games Workshop has been tinkering with the system over time to make larger and larger armies more necessary. Another option is that perhaps the game designers have been trying to reduce the time it takes to play an average game of Warhammer, making it more accessible for those with a busy schedule. I suspect both of these answers tell part of the story.<br />
<br />
Importantly, this trend very much changes the style of game from older editions to newer. In my mind, Oldhammer is very much a detailed, gritty warband skirmish game. Newhammer, perhaps a mass-battle game in 28mm scale. Something that might support this are the changes starting in 4th Edition to radically increase the lethality of combat resolution, a rule change that greatly compounded the general trend in boosted attacks. Here, the leadership of the losing side in a round of combat is almost reduced to nothing, making an average leadership role nearly impossible. Losing combat by only three points, for instance, means a human regiment will flee 83% of the time, whereas there was no such modifier in 3rd Edition and the same human squad would have a better chance of sticking to the combat than fleeing (nearly four times better odds to remain). Furthermore, units that did flee were entirely wiped out, whereas in 3rd Edition they would merely suffer three or four further casualties from the rout. The result was that 3rd Edition warbands, when they did flee, could easily expect to return to the battle later. Later editions made these units much more expendable, resulting in much faster games but perhaps less character and narrative to the warriors fighting the battle.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-74338945804501676422013-02-27T16:44:00.000-08:002013-02-27T17:05:56.506-08:00The Grande Review, Part IV<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWjHDasKx2Q9u9iaSDNTgVlMU6ZWa5iRHuU_PQa8OsKqHESPaaFr09EenLKhypPRYJFUePw-VcHTgJZ89JU1VvR00u7_uRH9o8OOvLhVEISEP6QnBrK7r2AKlBbHEyvZEXJz00nwCPss/s1600/forcesoffantasy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="365.5" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWjHDasKx2Q9u9iaSDNTgVlMU6ZWa5iRHuU_PQa8OsKqHESPaaFr09EenLKhypPRYJFUePw-VcHTgJZ89JU1VvR00u7_uRH9o8OOvLhVEISEP6QnBrK7r2AKlBbHEyvZEXJz00nwCPss/s400/forcesoffantasy.jpg" width="425" /></a><br />
(See also <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-grande-review.html">Part I</a>, <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-grande-review-part-ii.html">II</a> and <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-grande-review-part-iii.html">III</a>)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwccbNOu72ktaGVzfUiTP0i1cmfCjp61JaEaeZJPTib92tD2HM9YWe9Qu-2GseFQy3i5nUgpox43AbX9A-gjBllDoxrfPgBKlXE8Tp8KNx4Dadc_XRHx4bsk28C5KgltFPVAILpwcgBk/s1600/dwarfclansmen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwccbNOu72ktaGVzfUiTP0i1cmfCjp61JaEaeZJPTib92tD2HM9YWe9Qu-2GseFQy3i5nUgpox43AbX9A-gjBllDoxrfPgBKlXE8Tp8KNx4Dadc_XRHx4bsk28C5KgltFPVAILpwcgBk/s320/dwarfclansmen.png" width="144" /></a><b>Dwarfs</b>: Tales are still told in the echoing Dwarven halls of the lost grandeur of the old empire. Before the rise of man in the wild lands below, the Dwarfs ruled a mighty imperium that connected the great halls and underground cities across the formidable Worlds Edge mountains. These bulwarks were once thought to be the invincible holds of the Dwarven kings, yet one by one they fell to foes, disease, greed and arrogance. The final blow fell on the stubborn Dwarfs as their realm was overwhelmed from below by an intractable enemy—untold legions of Night Goblins swarming their networks and tunnels, cracking the very foundation of their kingdom with reckless and incessant burrowing. Today, the descendants and scions of this glorious realm still style themselves as Imperial Dwarfs, the fading successors to a crumbling empire. These stalwart heirs still march the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkA6tP9sr6rOhgc8_BU-5ATYYHxogioA51WC6D9x3ZLkIRjMfe5JD7yhvQINrSnoG8QVNPI_KLOBB3Mwt5W_9YBybRVz0rieZbt4qlrzm8YQE1N6ALvKQJUn5aB3SrJp0sswF9BHSNdrA/s1600/dwarfcrossbowmen.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkA6tP9sr6rOhgc8_BU-5ATYYHxogioA51WC6D9x3ZLkIRjMfe5JD7yhvQINrSnoG8QVNPI_KLOBB3Mwt5W_9YBybRVz0rieZbt4qlrzm8YQE1N6ALvKQJUn5aB3SrJp0sswF9BHSNdrA/s320/dwarfcrossbowmen.png" width="144" /></a>overgrown cobbled highways and make pilgrimage to the hallowed halls of their ancestors, looking down upon those Dwarfs that long ago conceded defeat and settled their communities amongst the kingdoms of humankind. For the Imperial Dwarfs, defending the last redoubts of their forefathers is a matter of stubborn pride set against impossible odds. Dwarf armies are typically lead by powerful clan lords, but Dwarven host might also be supported by a Gnome hero or self-taught Dwarf wizard, who can further bind monstrous and ethereal hosts to serve the contingent. The core of the Dwarven warband is made up of various formations of heavy infantry shock troops, ranging from the elite Hammerers to the the veteraned Longbeards and battle-hardened Clansmen. Regular Dwarf Warriors fill out the battle lines, and are supported by ranks of Crossbowmen and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKgz6aA_8THYwejzGRd74TInk_VKzlfEphcSWy-0bw2RwAl093RG-3ftBmoOJznBzpOzVF-8MIbCzIlHokLXRcHpO1XpHhtpILrPIYm50vqXCwEmqB78hyphenhyphenXZ3v3hgzFkX3M2ZqQOFJ0QA/s1600/dwarfsapper.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKgz6aA_8THYwejzGRd74TInk_VKzlfEphcSWy-0bw2RwAl093RG-3ftBmoOJznBzpOzVF-8MIbCzIlHokLXRcHpO1XpHhtpILrPIYm50vqXCwEmqB78hyphenhyphenXZ3v3hgzFkX3M2ZqQOFJ0QA/s320/dwarfsapper.png" width="144" /></a>Thunderers, wielding the deadly Dwarven arquebuses. Specialist troops include berserk Slayers, who wade into battle with frenzied abandon, as well as Sappers and auxiliary units of Gnome Warriors. While Dwarfs are not natural wizards, retaining only half the magical energies that other sorcerers wield with ease, Dwarven hosts can bring to bear the overwhelming firepower of Dwarven artillery batteries, comprised of numerous bolt-throwers, catapults, cannons and other engines of war. Typical to their rigid views on military strategy, Dwarfs lack skirmishers and cavalry, yet they can depend on Halfling and Old Worlder allies, as well as Old Worlder, Norse and Ogre mercenaries to bring tactical flexibility to the battlefield.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjPW28AsvlFo17CObWOZENEkB7M8bVRaUJe7gLL9MiZlZEoZ32rgjs84qUbq0jbNs3At8lnZkvRYpy4hYtAqjlYCookgd3R1wzplzhen3rzYKjWqDhIEgynJg0ULZ2j6J8dsBd8OjmEPc/s1600/bullslannriders.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjPW28AsvlFo17CObWOZENEkB7M8bVRaUJe7gLL9MiZlZEoZ32rgjs84qUbq0jbNs3At8lnZkvRYpy4hYtAqjlYCookgd3R1wzplzhen3rzYKjWqDhIEgynJg0ULZ2j6J8dsBd8OjmEPc/s200/bullslannriders.png" width="144" /></a><b>The Slann</b>: Aeons ago, long before the reckoning of man, the world was presided over by a highly advanced race known as the Slann. These amphibian custodians came from the stars to refashion the planet for reasons now consigned to the oblivion, although the rare remaining tablets buried in the steamy jungles of Lustria tell fragments of that story. When the batrachian spacefarers originally discovered the roughly geoid earth, they encountered a developed civilization of lizard people, which they subsequently drove underground with overwhelming firepower and technological superiority. The Slann then used magnetic tethers to pull the world closer to the sun, anchoring it with dual warp-gates, black holes torn into the firmament, over each polar region. With the terrain now inhospitable to previous life, the new stewards set about a program of atmospheric reform and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyXxy4cfZ4MeyZeRPPMqDS6Lr8TDHSERHFJb7ncMOSGTmUGpxP-3_5EwXL77oR3-JjqRXILymPmdpaspolVX_yiVod1Otni4S8IyrimpiWjHzvpKHh10_VvcTbJYmQEhdmB-QxWabl6I/s1600/venomtribes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyXxy4cfZ4MeyZeRPPMqDS6Lr8TDHSERHFJb7ncMOSGTmUGpxP-3_5EwXL77oR3-JjqRXILymPmdpaspolVX_yiVod1Otni4S8IyrimpiWjHzvpKHh10_VvcTbJYmQEhdmB-QxWabl6I/s200/venomtribes.png" width="154" /></a>geographic rebalancing, following a model they had employed throughout the thousandfold star systems glittering in the night sky. Here, the Slann developed myriad races and species for research or maintenance work. When their star empire finally fell with the complete collapse of the warp-gate network, the Slann on this world were developing several extremely powerful and dangerous projects. A millennia after their arrival, the catastrophic downfall of the Slann was to stem from a problem long appreciated by their sages, but one which they were eventually unable to overcome—while their interstellar network depended on the chaotic dimension of the warp, the alternate realm inexplicably harbored some formless intelligence, which proved more malignant as its power was probed. After the event, remaining Slann settlers quickly descended into <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Us1hI46jOKhuR73p48lguG_62bkaMaGuOrgVMqMRmBQCCnOG66erCzaeHg4LgZKDjhsXZG5CDYwoFPhyphenhyphenbHD3jAynFYlfFzm9CnjWcH5oo0BU-Iy8oxirfyBXpJmKOA2wnc7pojfwaFU/s1600/spawnband.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Us1hI46jOKhuR73p48lguG_62bkaMaGuOrgVMqMRmBQCCnOG66erCzaeHg4LgZKDjhsXZG5CDYwoFPhyphenhyphenbHD3jAynFYlfFzm9CnjWcH5oo0BU-Iy8oxirfyBXpJmKOA2wnc7pojfwaFU/s200/spawnband.png" width="142" /></a>barbarism, striking unspeakable bargains with the malevolent psyches that spilled forth from the polar gates. Retreating to their laboratories in the southern jungle continent, the once vaunted race of spacefarers soon lost mastery and even memory of their fabled technologies, which were left to rust and rot in the humid climes. Today, servitor races of slave eunuchs and genetically-engineered all-female Amazons continue to work menial tasks and tend to the forgotten instruments, while client tribes of Pygmies and tribute legions of Lizardmen now fill the ranks of the opulent and fattened descendants of the Slann. Although their primitivism and barbarism has reduced the Slann to pre-metallurgy armaments, the core of their war parties are made up of a dizzying array of fearsome shock warriors drawn from the Slann braves of satellite villages in thrall to the nearby city-state. These vassal warriors <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguz0lUbGyW-6i8SuoIWRt8LjtbWHbJ6dBLtd-hblp5ksozVtJhb4tW9lGKv5CJ09RAyYGSuGfFzSE6ox_-0Av9291gl3cAuZAwiKQvuQ3AJWKTW57aY5JgCJ7ZWJZ9-j4i3m3UFHTx6rY/s1600/troglodytes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguz0lUbGyW-6i8SuoIWRt8LjtbWHbJ6dBLtd-hblp5ksozVtJhb4tW9lGKv5CJ09RAyYGSuGfFzSE6ox_-0Av9291gl3cAuZAwiKQvuQ3AJWKTW57aY5JgCJ7ZWJZ9-j4i3m3UFHTx6rY/s200/troglodytes.png" width="142" /></a>include the formidable Bull Slann Riders, mounted on bloodthirsty Cold One reptiles, as well as the frenzied Warrior Priests, devoted to the mystical deities worshipped by the superstitious Slann. Auxiliary regiments are pressed into service from the lesser savage tribes from the deepest parts of the jungle, serving as skirmishing missile troops, scouts and levy fodder alongside lobotomized human eunuch slaves, tamed troglodytes and Lizardmen tribute warriors. While the Slann lack artillery, they can call on Slann animal handlers driving dangerous jungle creatures forward into combat and consecrated War Altars replete with the fetishes and burning incense of the city-state deities. Slann armies have excellent access to skirmishers from the more barbaric tribes of the inner jungle and can call on Pygmy allies as well. Due to countless blood-stained centuries of sacrifices and dark bargains with Chaos daemons, as well as the remnants of their technocratic history, the Slann have unlimited access to magic, which they can further employ to bind hosts of jungle monsters to their will.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7PjmrxKWQD-0OXTmcKBz4mautKhWo1inn0R8vOpoJUqUSST0sO-kVEley2ZS4ro6iwQq7Tj4a3tFpxXDy0ahWKG6eIBZYeKJOXLoI2cN0hJuAT4tpUFdPrwtTvK9Nwm_aGOJ00-OgKs/s1600/deathriders.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7PjmrxKWQD-0OXTmcKBz4mautKhWo1inn0R8vOpoJUqUSST0sO-kVEley2ZS4ro6iwQq7Tj4a3tFpxXDy0ahWKG6eIBZYeKJOXLoI2cN0hJuAT4tpUFdPrwtTvK9Nwm_aGOJ00-OgKs/s320/deathriders.png" width="144" /></a><b>Undead</b>: From forgotten crypts and forlorn mausoleums, the history of the civilizations of the world is ancient indeed. Now lost to time, countless societies rose and fell in the wilderness throughout the long and listless ages of man and more unspeakable creatures, taking with them all of their secrets and revelations. For those ambitious and reckless few, these moldering ossuaries are treasure troves of powerful lore, concealing the answer to the oldest predicament known to humankind—death. Many necromancers thus start down their path of destruction innocently enough, drawn to a misunderstood formula scrawled in the corners of an incomplete magical text or nagging suspicions about a master sorcerer's unfinished work. The result is often much the same, however—a kind of withered undeath in the disemboweled husk of a liche with little memory or love for the life it once <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5Nx70AIZaeyKDs8FiYI0fXqqBI3VxglYX5YyGA9BZx9UZKRg1cA4CboFnMfr0mFdT7Hg893GogJ4CzN1djmhzvj3mxQUu5Bxa_4iZf1rvrXx3y493B0gw6JFkqnX40X_wezF2k6waqU/s1600/skeletonwarriors.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5Nx70AIZaeyKDs8FiYI0fXqqBI3VxglYX5YyGA9BZx9UZKRg1cA4CboFnMfr0mFdT7Hg893GogJ4CzN1djmhzvj3mxQUu5Bxa_4iZf1rvrXx3y493B0gw6JFkqnX40X_wezF2k6waqU/s320/skeletonwarriors.png" width="154" /></a>knew. When they march forth from their sunken sepulchers to punish the living, Undead armies are headed by powerful wizards who have mastered the necromantic arts, whether Necromancers, Liches or Vampires. While the mindless, rotting legions must remain close to these sorcerers, more independent units can be lead by the spectres of fallen heroes, raised to once more haunt the battlefield. While all of these soulless corpses are immune to human fear and other frailties, the ever-tenuous hold of magic over their animated bones can be disrupted by defeat in combat, causing unpredictable results ranging from the return of more living dead to a complete collapse of the magical fabric that binds them. As Undead armies are raised slowly and painstakingly from the necropolises of forgotten civilizations beyond the frontier, the bulk of <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUMhIvn7T2YORdZi9JXMBWPF44PXcC2VWE6lN2202SSVvSEtR828FqOTYhkEbPF77g0WELXw01_wNYk2nmsCUjuw1Nu0NODkPWQRp-NBUulj8TMdNJO8CwCbYPSNDSkO7VWjLmZPz-TkQ/s1600/zombies.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUMhIvn7T2YORdZi9JXMBWPF44PXcC2VWE6lN2202SSVvSEtR828FqOTYhkEbPF77g0WELXw01_wNYk2nmsCUjuw1Nu0NODkPWQRp-NBUulj8TMdNJO8CwCbYPSNDSkO7VWjLmZPz-TkQ/s320/zombies.png" width="142" /></a>these foul legions are typically ancient skeletons, who ride into battle on skeletal steeds or creaking chariots, or might march as a phalanx bristling with spears, great weapons or armed with bows, crossbows and arquebuses. Common rabble is made up of cowardly Ghouls as well as Zombies who, with a faint glimmer of memories still whirling in their rotting brains, can be forced into a rout if threatened by the press of steel. Flammable mummies make up the core of the Undead heavy infantry, while giant Carrion birds cloak the sun and undead catapults pelt the enemy position. At the center of these undead hordes is invariably the Plague Cart, slowly plodding across the battlefield and sowing fear in the enemy while bolstering the threads of magic that hold the rotting army together. On occasion, allied contingents of Chaos or Dark Elves might be seen marching alongside the armies of the Undead, while hosts of monsters or spectres may be enthralled by the more powerful necromancers.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-31741799213269443202013-02-01T20:32:00.001-08:002013-03-19T09:30:36.050-07:00The Grande Review, Part III<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnjIGvNmasiiSZtR2rcg1AlHoYVEaprMbMjkr7RYtTLE5kdtz2bQ6SCi_D0R0D6K_Ozm_8oqIfSnLtWY1NyqcuG_AOD_wLAJgmBG_4sKV9wTAlhlBpUDz1qXMmxHo_7cpAit5aek2ZpE/s1600/lostanddamned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="419" width="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnjIGvNmasiiSZtR2rcg1AlHoYVEaprMbMjkr7RYtTLE5kdtz2bQ6SCi_D0R0D6K_Ozm_8oqIfSnLtWY1NyqcuG_AOD_wLAJgmBG_4sKV9wTAlhlBpUDz1qXMmxHo_7cpAit5aek2ZpE/s400/lostanddamned.jpg" /></a></div>(See also <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-grande-review.html">Part I</a>, <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-grande-review-part-ii.html">II</a> and <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-grande-review-part-iv.html">IV</a>)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHLeCSUu6CqqRRMiU8-Sdxoz4rj5Bud9_AIyt0P0bS8LdlDWdnC_5jkUWM_MA1jupmmbAUxvfGfIQxy57xQswiBFlL2wsTzcw-TGXEnlZzy5Q7e9ddP2OQldqlKelT6QenRsMCr_4bGSA/s1600/chaoswarrior.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHLeCSUu6CqqRRMiU8-Sdxoz4rj5Bud9_AIyt0P0bS8LdlDWdnC_5jkUWM_MA1jupmmbAUxvfGfIQxy57xQswiBFlL2wsTzcw-TGXEnlZzy5Q7e9ddP2OQldqlKelT6QenRsMCr_4bGSA/s200/chaoswarrior.png" /></a></div><b>Chaos</b>: For as long as there have been human settlements in the Old World, the North has been known as a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4VFugc1rJQ">dark and blighted wasteland</a>, doomed under the pall of an insidious madness that originates somewhere deep in the northern interior. While the barren steppe is peopleless and empty—punctuated only by wild heaths, insurmountable morasses and the occasional inexplicable and alien cairns—this strange and foreboding wilderness produces a powerful allure for a few. Imperceptible to the vast majority of civilized people, this siren call nevertheless draws a steady stream of dream-tortured mortals from every walk of life, who abandon hearth and home for manic doom as they slip into greater psychosis. Nothing awaits these lost pilgrims. As they travel further north, the barriers of reality break down and they are confronted by impossible terrain and eventually the ebb and flow of pure chaos itself (the <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fQ20ZdRsfn11CFNwylyeSfNN-GWS8okHaev5yMQ-CfFEJiDR0hh07kYenkQKQidfOXj28Ympym6xmBnJ5nywc_cEXxzuFtKo4NklYTfwtt3bP_7R3lnMatGhyEhEr5ruj5iWGXlg4Jg/s1600/chaosmarauder.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fQ20ZdRsfn11CFNwylyeSfNN-GWS8okHaev5yMQ-CfFEJiDR0hh07kYenkQKQidfOXj28Ympym6xmBnJ5nywc_cEXxzuFtKo4NklYTfwtt3bP_7R3lnMatGhyEhEr5ruj5iWGXlg4Jg/s200/chaosmarauder.png" /></a></div>radiation from which would reduce a deranged cultist to component atoms). At times when these reaches swell with the outpour of chaos, a deluge of unformed matter and intelligence permeates the North and drives the solitary mad denizens back south into settled lands. These insane reavers, blessed and crippled with mutations from the Stygian radiance of Chaos, reap a manic harvest of death before stalking back into shadowy Chaos lands. The forces of Chaos could not be thought of as an army in the traditional sense. They have no hordes of fighters, but rather are made up of small bands of champions and anti-heroes, each as powerful or more so than the leaders and heroes of the mortal races. The lower levels of Chaos characters make up the rank and file of heavy shock infantry and cavalry, and are gargantuan knights encased in thick plate armour and bristling with chaotic mutations. Lower <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRqdzxd1qs1QQAPXh-AyAHwtt86NAmcq9mE-3B48D77UAkWIGhu2hkhrDPbY_vxhvvBOGnc5pYeSPh2Sn9VhGiBBboNkjuoqCe4ysUkallumJJFXmZ-5Y2nznBe2RTpmFa9hGyMwM2jgA/s1600/chaosthug.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRqdzxd1qs1QQAPXh-AyAHwtt86NAmcq9mE-3B48D77UAkWIGhu2hkhrDPbY_vxhvvBOGnc5pYeSPh2Sn9VhGiBBboNkjuoqCe4ysUkallumJJFXmZ-5Y2nznBe2RTpmFa9hGyMwM2jgA/s200/chaosthug.png" /></a></div>level initiates are made up of thugs, manic brawlers who have not yet guessed their fate. These thewy gangers sport brightly dyed mohawks, pistols and chains, and are the only fighters in Chaos warbands to have no more than a single Wound. Chaos warriors can be joined by the mutated Trolls that wander the outskirts of human lands, as well as by the beastmen and bloodthirsty minotaurs that stalk the woods of the Empire, performing profane rites eerily close to human settlements. Beastmasters can drive the chaos-mutated creatures of the wastes into war and warbands also often build grisly war altars out of the trophies of fallen foes. Being imbued with the raw stuff of Chaos itself, Chaos Wizards have limitless access to every form of sorcery, which also assists them in binding ethereal hosts and chaotic monstrosities. Among their dependable allies, Chaos generals can call on other chaotic warbands, Skaven, Dark Elves, Undead and Orcs and Goblins. With their plunder, they can also recruit mercenaries from the Giants, Hobgoblins, Ogres, Half Orcs and Orcs. While Chaos warbands lack strong missile and artillery support, their powerful infantry and cavalry can strike hard and wade through lesser combatants with grisly ease.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-dwiclt4ViKp8Z_FDKIdeDyVdcmnR_6D9aHBOOxMz5Ar-QqNXgJ3osVZjGHNvZEw-VaX51JYR247onMXb5bTXLzWlO6hE6X7oKcCj65nJ2elUlWNivO9EITwloh6R9wh3_6eRFtByUw/s1600/clanrat.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-dwiclt4ViKp8Z_FDKIdeDyVdcmnR_6D9aHBOOxMz5Ar-QqNXgJ3osVZjGHNvZEw-VaX51JYR247onMXb5bTXLzWlO6hE6X7oKcCj65nJ2elUlWNivO9EITwloh6R9wh3_6eRFtByUw/s200/clanrat.png" /></a></div><b>Skaven</b>: In the early Renaissance age of the Old World, the meek and loathsome rat plays an important role. The flea-ridden rodents infest the growing cities, stealing food, carrying deadly plagues and chewing through building foundations to the point of collapse. They are also useful, either as implements of torture in the dungeon oubliettes of the powerful, or as emergency victuals for mariners lost at sea. As humanity begins to spread her arms: there too are lowly rats to be found under her shadow. Few would suspect, however, how important a role these ignoble creatures have yet to play in human history, for deep under the cities and roadworks of civilization, in the forlorn and half-collapsed passageways of the forgotten Dwarf empire of old, dangerous warpstone has spawned hideous rat beastmen. There, in the twilit gloom, these creatures–half-man and half-rat—have been tirelessly working, digging and expanding the tunnels of the underworld, and preparing for an inevitable day when they will rise like an <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRt3Ole-dypQQ-ABWiHQnySD-3Uo3CFKwQUFhI_4G4n3CWxepSl2_qJVQ-9RpItrfKSo3q1zul5eMLIwaDvJbaabtzM9Vnf2YEn_mJ2DmTJA9lE2NFuqLDS5Kahh7rT0wlCbSYe2-kAjU/s1600/poisonedwindglobadier.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRt3Ole-dypQQ-ABWiHQnySD-3Uo3CFKwQUFhI_4G4n3CWxepSl2_qJVQ-9RpItrfKSo3q1zul5eMLIwaDvJbaabtzM9Vnf2YEn_mJ2DmTJA9lE2NFuqLDS5Kahh7rT0wlCbSYe2-kAjU/s200/poisonedwindglobadier.png" /></a></div>eschatological wave crashing over the doomed bulwarks of humanity. For now, however, the ratmen marshal their forces and gather the poisonous warpstone that powers their magic and machinery of war. The core of any Skaven army are the Clanrats of the numberless Warlord Clans, from the battle-scarred Stormvermin to the veteran Black Skaven and the common warriors. These light infantry swarm their foes in hordes, and are fast moving and quick to strike, but cowardly when the fight turns against them. Their ranks are further swelled by slave levies: ratmen and even above worlder prisoners captured in war, only to live out a bleak existence underground where the best hope is for a quick death in battle. Some of the more powerful clans have developed their own specialties as well, including Clan Eshin with its deadly scouts and assassins, Clan Pestilens with its blighted Plague Monks, Clan Moulder with its horrible monstrous creations, and Clan Skyre with its mastery over warpstone sorcery and technology. Although they lack artillery and missile troops, Clan Skyre Jezzailachis (large calibre warplock muskets) and warp-fire throwers (which hurl irradiated Chaos flames) provide powerful support to the ratmen hordes. The Skaven's service to Chaos grants them some access to Chaos magics as well as the ability to bind monstrous and chaotic hosts, but Chaos' touch has also mutated the Skaven throngs. When they break the surface to scourge the cities and towns of humanity, Skaven may call upon Orcs and Goblins, Dark Elves and Chaos allies.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEFZ00L3wWYtDIRMG8YzzVxqRmIZQ9Tdsm7y6UkYJaIq0ENVGLfzEpTDQoK0nHNfkvMcpguXAa7U_svd-ZGuAPXXQ_5rgByVc7pN4RSfa5nM2qO5wn7Ap4xEoPw_yBUJlLkz26h5TODvw/s1600/gruntas.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEFZ00L3wWYtDIRMG8YzzVxqRmIZQ9Tdsm7y6UkYJaIq0ENVGLfzEpTDQoK0nHNfkvMcpguXAa7U_svd-ZGuAPXXQ_5rgByVc7pN4RSfa5nM2qO5wn7Ap4xEoPw_yBUJlLkz26h5TODvw/s200/gruntas.png" /></a></div><b>Orcs & Goblins</b>: Issuing forth from from the most forbidding mountain tops and impenetrable forests is the single most devastating natural force known to the Old World. While humanity is certainly pressed by calculating foes from without and corruption and incompetence from within, it is rather the disordered hordes of Orcs and Goblins—scattered in dens throughout the Old World—which regularly threatens humankind with near extinction. Collectively known as "Greenskins," these loathsome creatures descend in uncontrollable mobs from their lairs each year to fight not for conquest or religion, but simply to fight, as it is in their bloody humour to endlessly scrap and brawl. Greenskins are not particularly bright or longsighted, and when the enemy is not readily at hand, a gang from one tribe will quickly set about another until the entire warband is caught up in the fray. When <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzcZS-YTLpfT99KIUStMvXAz42E0gZc-VaoOar7bZfVZWDRpEbsOwLLzzrMcQVKajMHkfTEHxCWyDjfbFkIxadKtGhenLQs7065MWFQyW4gEU2cQ5u0Cn8zYHFzF1CUeGXdxJFr05n1zk/s1600/wulfboyz.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzcZS-YTLpfT99KIUStMvXAz42E0gZc-VaoOar7bZfVZWDRpEbsOwLLzzrMcQVKajMHkfTEHxCWyDjfbFkIxadKtGhenLQs7065MWFQyW4gEU2cQ5u0Cn8zYHFzF1CUeGXdxJFr05n1zk/s200/wulfboyz.png" /></a></div>Orcs and Goblins do organize, usually under an exceptionally large and violent specimen of the species, fear and intimidation ranks a deeply hierarchical tribal structure—roughly organized by size, according to who could eat whom. When this happens, Greenskins are at their most dangerous, as they are able to accomplish short and violent campaigns into civilized lands before disorder and significant human sacrifice is able to break the tidal wave and send the scattered brutes wandering back to the deep and dark wilderness. Such an event, known as a "Waaargh!", is a devastating affair, as Orcs torch all structures and eat all prisoners and bystanders after battles in a massive feast, while the more deviously cunning Goblins delight in torturing captured souls or sacrificing them to unspeakable deities. While Greenskins swarm vast pits deep below Old World mountains or high at <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABcUtr2EjVT51JNAGidRV6FC7oQX7NFERKHVpBOZ9awYHaIyyCnpHUIp4JINB59TKcGrB8w00YbYoTDbOHe-G35MC1OHhJqfdidlfuYdx-myPCbB1rZH906i0Q7VcU6ZZmPgvDaOnHhQ/s1600/gobbos.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABcUtr2EjVT51JNAGidRV6FC7oQX7NFERKHVpBOZ9awYHaIyyCnpHUIp4JINB59TKcGrB8w00YbYoTDbOHe-G35MC1OHhJqfdidlfuYdx-myPCbB1rZH906i0Q7VcU6ZZmPgvDaOnHhQ/s200/gobbos.png" /></a></div>their snowy summits, their main strongholds are in the Dark Lands, over the World's Edge Mountains, where they gather in such number that some philosophers speculate that the race's origins must be somewhere there to be found. Because of the sheer diversity of the race, Orc & Goblin armies can call upon a great range of warriors. The core of most warbands is made up of hardy Orc fighters, who ride boars as medium shock cavalry, drive chariots or march into battle as medium infantry and archers. The strongest Orcs are the elite "Big Uns," whose size indicates their experience (it is not known if Orcs ever stop growing, although most live a life short and brutal enough to make the question largely academic). Goblin raiders sweep across the battlefield on nearly-tamed war wolves and wolf-drawn chariots, while larger hordes of Goblin foot bring spears and bows to <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEqZiIozLy1ijvlXbx5-tjwZigLoiJ-SlbKQ6P9h-OJT5i2vbyt1d-1sTo-7gsPbiQbU4a8LvGD-aXVCVBM3xHPI8WuN8Ht4ooKTcFvkYpXWLrBkfPVIoNz-Wj7jTKCYtf7DF3iFDOiM/s1600/blackorcs.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEqZiIozLy1ijvlXbx5-tjwZigLoiJ-SlbKQ6P9h-OJT5i2vbyt1d-1sTo-7gsPbiQbU4a8LvGD-aXVCVBM3xHPI8WuN8Ht4ooKTcFvkYpXWLrBkfPVIoNz-Wj7jTKCYtf7DF3iFDOiM/s200/blackorcs.png" /></a></div>overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. Dangerous Goblin Fanatics, lunatic ball-and-chain swinging cultists hopped up on psychoactive brews, are hidden in some ranks of Goblins, only to be released with calamitous effect when the enemy draws near. Primitive Savage Orcs lack all but the crudest of weaponry, but make up for this by working themselves into a wild frenzy, while elite squads of highly-disciplined Black Orcs march out from the Dark Lands to whip their lesser cousins into fighting form. Orc & Goblin armies are further bolstered by scorned Half-Orcs, who are treated as inferior half-breeds by the other Greenskins, miniature Snotling runts and bands of Trolls, lured by the promise of dining on human-flesh. When the battle is brought to the human stronghold, Orc & Goblin generals make use of all manner of war machine to bring down the fortress walls, including Snotling Pump Wagons (a sort of chariot and ram), pilfered organ guns, "spear chukkas" (a type of ballista) and three calibers of stone throwers. While Orc & Goblin commanders try to maintain rank and file amongst their unruly army, archers and Goblins are sometimes allowed to adopt loose skirmish formation, particularly when they are seen as expendable or less important than the melee regiments. Due to their closer dealings with the dark arts, Goblin Shamans have better access to the different spheres of magic, and particularly to Daemonic sorcery, while Orc Shamans dabble enough to know only a few of the secrets. Orc & Goblin wizards can bind monstrous hosts from nearby their wild hideaways and Greenskin generals can summon the support of Fimir, Skaven and Chaos allies, as well as Giants, Ogres, Half Orcs, Orcs and Hobgoblin mercenaries.<br />
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Our final article will discuss the remaining armies of the Dwarfs, the Slann and the Undead.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-89340864042596725452013-01-23T20:30:00.001-08:002013-02-27T17:05:16.174-08:00The Grande Review, Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBvHVxxpKaiDWOu63PNnzEZEujQTfNSkxJ0M37ldrCEP1H1RlryBB5OfFhhiqxrElNsXEOUQgoYn2jCqG53sGJ9ekmZlKyBh3qfA8jwvppVUZAx_T1l0MKiuk3y4L5CTcMqPKKVmppjrE/s1600/tragedyofmcdeath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="412" width="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBvHVxxpKaiDWOu63PNnzEZEujQTfNSkxJ0M37ldrCEP1H1RlryBB5OfFhhiqxrElNsXEOUQgoYn2jCqG53sGJ9ekmZlKyBh3qfA8jwvppVUZAx_T1l0MKiuk3y4L5CTcMqPKKVmppjrE/s400/tragedyofmcdeath.jpg" /></a></div>(See also <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-grande-review.html">Part I</a>, <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-grande-review-part-iii.html">III</a> and <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-grande-review-part-iv.html">IV</a>)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXTlaJosO1KZqJK7CrRMsuSGehaQQpxzjqGl1SdtlGnaWAeKPP5Yjt8RucWN55ikA2zlwI9MC7Tc9vKYsBeyb-h8h-DqyxdSZaoe-95t8CCcoCnZbg7mC8MUMs3ulgpsugZPn8cYzn7pU/s1600/shoreriders.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXTlaJosO1KZqJK7CrRMsuSGehaQQpxzjqGl1SdtlGnaWAeKPP5Yjt8RucWN55ikA2zlwI9MC7Tc9vKYsBeyb-h8h-DqyxdSZaoe-95t8CCcoCnZbg7mC8MUMs3ulgpsugZPn8cYzn7pU/s200/shoreriders.png" /></a></div><b>The High Elves</b>: Sheltered away on a hidden island across the Great Western Ocean, High Elf society is divided into the arrogant nobles of the inner isle and their more practical Sea Elf kin, who ply the seas off the outer coast. The mercantile Sea Elves are the only natives of the Elven Kingdom, or Ulthuan in the Elven tongue, to regularly contact the Old World. With their marine battalions and nimble fleet, the Sea Elves jealously guard a monopoly of trade routes from Marienburg in the north to Tilea and Arabia in the South, while their aristocratic cousins content themselves with the occasional courtly duel or fueding skirmish in the island interior. The High Elf army is made up of warriors from both societies, and benefits from their different specialties. As the wealthy heirs of the High Elves disdain fighting on foot, the Elven <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi615oEGgZh34gLBU4FDNSy_GeiuCntSyK2v9LJbqCmrrO32PViR-gYnNymMBAGi9WX57rqMFFmShdgc__WJWk6jqffzPWHnsbArk7Yw04S4tQhXv9jbCuxyyQQ4BvGQ0FHfilBBSZnY_w/s1600/shipscompanies.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi615oEGgZh34gLBU4FDNSy_GeiuCntSyK2v9LJbqCmrrO32PViR-gYnNymMBAGi9WX57rqMFFmShdgc__WJWk6jqffzPWHnsbArk7Yw04S4tQhXv9jbCuxyyQQ4BvGQ0FHfilBBSZnY_w/s200/shipscompanies.png" /></a></div>army boasts several elite cavalry regiments, as well as chariots and even squadrons of dragon riders. Elf commoners form archers, scouts and light infantry, while elite house guard provide heavy infantry. The Sea Elves provide mixed-rank regiments, which can fight with bow and melee weapons alike, as well as aerobatic wardancers and marine bolt-batteries (light ballistas). The High Elves have less access to skirmishers, largely preferring to fight in disciplined ranks, but make up for this with the sheer diversity in regiments. While the armies of Ulthuan will not stoop to hire mercenaries, they can call upon the Wood Elves to remake old alliances, and have access to hosts of monstrous creatures and ghostly apparitions from beyond time. The High Elf proficiency in magic also makes them flexible, as aeons of study has granted them limited insight into all the myriad types of sorcery.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6aj98dx0HWkKfNQNzYNllDEf5iwvka_XiYgt5M1nk-vvBewgxt3dJsGO7_1yXeAGPzqTsi1ElaJI1jYbzB_VDPfh6dNahyphenhyphenBgDSBe3GCOzc2mwwuk6cUsqRleJfqXkYz2yK2sLfrn90w/s1600/reiksgard.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6aj98dx0HWkKfNQNzYNllDEf5iwvka_XiYgt5M1nk-vvBewgxt3dJsGO7_1yXeAGPzqTsi1ElaJI1jYbzB_VDPfh6dNahyphenhyphenBgDSBe3GCOzc2mwwuk6cUsqRleJfqXkYz2yK2sLfrn90w/s200/reiksgard.png" /></a></div><b>The Empire</b>: The oldest and most powerful human realm in the Old World, the Empire is even so crippled with useless and corrupt leaders, rivalrous petty counts and an ignorant and benighted peasantry. The soot-choked urban centers are the home to a rising wealthy merchant class and all manner of new inventions, but are also penetrated by secret societies, hidden cults and dangerous conspiracies. Due to both the darker dealings of the swelling cities and their air of innovation, Empire mages have considerable access to magic, and some even dally in the unspeakable arts. As a traditional late medieval society, the Empire is divided into those who work, those who fight and those who pray, except in a realm so beset by enemies on all fronts, in reality every segment of society—rich or poor—must be ready to fight. The innumerable odd faith denominations provide <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieuEC5chn-nNkpPsSFTu1vqgCA7SeyYqJF_NthKAIyfK9MrdJeEwcev5oEF4Z71BCwemXAx8DhleBPSGp0IYSq1daK6lPbBvqIJ317XUqy7FuB9QZtbFBLG1WeuphH2b2bS-h7Kb2MDNM/s1600/stadtsknechtes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieuEC5chn-nNkpPsSFTu1vqgCA7SeyYqJF_NthKAIyfK9MrdJeEwcev5oEF4Z71BCwemXAx8DhleBPSGp0IYSq1daK6lPbBvqIJ317XUqy7FuB9QZtbFBLG1WeuphH2b2bS-h7Kb2MDNM/s200/stadtsknechtes.png" /></a></div>powerful shock cavalry in the form of religious orders of templar knights as well as the uncontrollable mobs of frenzied and wild-eyed penitents, who scourge themselves into fevered rage in battle. The feudal lords call upon independent secular orders of elite knights and their own landed gentry for heavy cavalry and armoured footmen. Regular troops are also maintained in the standing armies of local barons and counts, including scouts, halberdiers, crossbowmen and arquebusiers, while peasant levies can be quickly raised to provide musters of pikemen, peasant mobs and hunters. For siege work, imperial ingenuity provides powerful cannon batteries to the noble that can afford them. Empire armies can call upon Halfings, Wood Elves and lesser Old Worlder principalities for allies. The latter can also be hired on as mercenaries, as can Dwarfs, Norse and Ogres. Imperial wizards can bind hosts of monstrous creatures, although demonic and undead summonings are forbidden by common law.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnTSqSeYMKThoQ9dOrN8NPSzxJmGCNfDlZAU7AbkcTAxW-Um9q0XA19CkEb_s8xcrgF7EoOnfAVZiGyVNjnKEZUIawhZUJqxP6dyVJo8yzbzpdRhZ2ugwwOnLu9MAxpXzHIvpKegJt3VE/s1600/chevaliers.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnTSqSeYMKThoQ9dOrN8NPSzxJmGCNfDlZAU7AbkcTAxW-Um9q0XA19CkEb_s8xcrgF7EoOnfAVZiGyVNjnKEZUIawhZUJqxP6dyVJo8yzbzpdRhZ2ugwwOnLu9MAxpXzHIvpKegJt3VE/s200/chevaliers.png" /></a></div><b>Bretonnia</b>: West of the misty Grey Mountains is a land robed in fog and rain. The rural backwater realm there had risen at one point to the height of power, challenging even the iron and blood armies of the Empire. Corruption and decay have since seized the decadent courts of the Bretonnian king, leaving the rural nobles to look to the defense of their own estates as they are increasingly surrounded by growing darkness. Few liege lords care for the squalor of their people, who live in huddled villages nestled close under the walls of a feudal ruler. Unlike the neighboring Empire, Bretonnia has few cities, and those that do exist serve as the walled fortresses of great noble families. There is a noticeable lack of any burgeoning middle class, and fewer signs of organized religion—Bretonnian peasantry tending instead to superstition and countless folk practices that differ significantly in each further vale. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6ywjcrx_ayM7JdHFmeIb87QB1DeDN7Ay2kuuguBc0YuEBdmyMAiEsu6bMVeWsFFxFEZNlj7wKHt36ThVIPAi26o7AZMj0oxLjnNj8xoeIRIXizSqBI_PztYHKGtNF8iirbM2z24xoJ0/s1600/rascals.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6ywjcrx_ayM7JdHFmeIb87QB1DeDN7Ay2kuuguBc0YuEBdmyMAiEsu6bMVeWsFFxFEZNlj7wKHt36ThVIPAi26o7AZMj0oxLjnNj8xoeIRIXizSqBI_PztYHKGtNF8iirbM2z24xoJ0/s200/rascals.png" /></a>For centuries of rivalry and conflict, the nobility have mastered mounted combat and excel as knights of honour on the battlefield. Bretonnian armies thus have access to four types of heavy shock cavalry, as well as mounted men-at-arms for light cavalry. In the retinues of noble knights can be found footmen men-at-arms as well as city guards wielding polearms and crossbows, peasantry wielding bows and simple weapons and well-equipped brigands. When marching out on campaign, these infantry formations can be supported by a war altar, carrying the bones of heroes revered by Bretonnian superstition, and cannon batteries to make short work of enemy fortifications. Bretonnian generals can call on the support of Halfing and Wood Elf allies, as well as other Old Worlder nations. The latter might also be bought at a price as mercenaries, as may Dwarfs, Half Orcs, Norse and Ogres. The dark and unexplored wilds that envelop the scattered castle villages make a powerful resources for Bretonnian wizards, who have become adept at illusions and elemental magic, as well as binding monstrous hordes of giant frogs, leeches, snails and even the occasional dragon.<br />
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Stay tuned, the next article we will explore Chaos, the Skaven and Orcs & Goblins.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-69543472001449898272013-01-17T21:28:00.001-08:002013-02-27T17:01:26.184-08:00The Grande Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2xebLvsS2vvAUsD0nmyelCL2vnSX-JAgkq9lsfg0rj2h2eTQ5Wq9I9FMgiwCCFyyTUFmUJF4Wh2zkM80WJrpS1QDTdHI9JBp5N9J_PPkibGkpLW8obejUCIeS24JHpDsqivN7LdWFlM/s1600/skirmishintherocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2xebLvsS2vvAUsD0nmyelCL2vnSX-JAgkq9lsfg0rj2h2eTQ5Wq9I9FMgiwCCFyyTUFmUJF4Wh2zkM80WJrpS1QDTdHI9JBp5N9J_PPkibGkpLW8obejUCIeS24JHpDsqivN7LdWFlM/s400/skirmishintherocks.jpg" width="425" /></a></div>(See also <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-grande-review-part-ii.html">Part II</a>, <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-grande-review-part-iii.html">III</a> and <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-grande-review-part-iv.html">IV</a>)<br />
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It is not quite spring, but I thought I might do a little spring cleaning around here. I have resettled to Boston and my interests have similarly been struck by wanderlust, migrating like nomads to fertile new territory once the mountain passes have thawed. In my ranging I have rediscovered <i>Warhammer Fantasy Battle</i>, and specifically the 3rd Edition (1987). <a href="http://bluesmarauders.blogspot.com/">In</a> <a href="http://warhammerforadults.blogspot.com/">the</a> <a href="http://teasgettingcold.blogspot.com/">growing</a> <a href="http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/">old</a> <a href="http://ramshacklefort.blogspot.com/">school</a> <a href="http://oldhammergenerals.blogspot.com/">wargaming</a> <a href="http://olde-skool-warhammer.blogspot.com/">renaissance</a> <a href="http://realmsofminiatures.blogspot.com/">scene</a>, this version of the venerable grandfather of fantasy wargames is known as "<a href="http://realmofzhu.blogspot.com/2011/10/oldhammer-contract.html">Oldhammer</a>." I quite approve.<br />
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Thus this blog has been repurposed, at least for the time being. I will still keep the old address from Swords of Minaria, but I thought it might be fun to give the page a new name and styling. The Border Princes, for those in the know, is an outlaw region beyond the pale of civilization: a no man's land well beyond the furthest frontier, where ignorant armies clash in the brutal wilderness in a vain effort to carve out a meek kingdom for a short while. If this sounds something like a roleplaying module you have played, then you would not be far from the truth. In reality, <i>Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition</i> borrowed as much from roleplaying games as wargames, and was the only version of the game to date that was developed to be fully coterminous and complementary to a roleplaying game (the much lauded first edition of <i>Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay</i>). The things WFB3 has in common with an old school roleplaying game (not the least of which is the requirement of a gamemaster) are enough to term it a hybrid roleplaying-wargame, but the full extent of this is better tackled in a future post.<br />
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For the first article that explores the rules and roles in Oldhammer, I wanted to begin a "grande review" of the armies and factions of the Old World. Those who came to the game after the late 80's might be surprised at the sheer diversity of troops available to an aspiring general. The familiar armies are all there, including Dark Elves, Wood Elves, High Elves, the Empire, Bretonnia, Chaos, Skaven, Orcs and Goblins, Dwarfs, Slann and the Undead. Joining these are many other warbands of lesser races, including Chaos Dwarfs, Fimir, Old Worlders, Pygmies, Halflings, Zoats, Giants, Ogres, Half Orcs, Hobgoblins, mercenaries from Nippon and the Norse. This diversity in choice really comes into its own when one takes into consideration the rules for hosts, allies and mercenaries. Each main army can choose up two, three or even five factions as allies and/or mercenaries, making each force truly unique. These warbands are often further bolstered by hosts of monsters, ethereal spectres (including wraiths, wights and ghosts) and Chaotic creatures. Each army certainly has a unique feel, with strengths and weaknesses, but is also able to greatly tailor its strategy with these supporting forces. To get a better sense of this, we will take a closer look at the Dark Elf and Wood Elf forces.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZNBT-LvXnh_0HasD-Nmg4Y6qLLiKu-xCkADG5A6DrtNu6zEPjx-3roHVay-lGE9nd7VhH72r1GCqWd8pQG8QN2Alk8Rs1GFAnUAD4KrVI6E3qo1LaI2KbtZc4j2ZL0Bgd7jfpqTIh5bg/s1600/Helldrake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZNBT-LvXnh_0HasD-Nmg4Y6qLLiKu-xCkADG5A6DrtNu6zEPjx-3roHVay-lGE9nd7VhH72r1GCqWd8pQG8QN2Alk8Rs1GFAnUAD4KrVI6E3qo1LaI2KbtZc4j2ZL0Bgd7jfpqTIh5bg/s200/Helldrake.jpg" /></a></div><b>The Dark Elves</b>: The Dark Elves are a Chaotic and Evil race that hails from the bitter cold lands across the Great Western Ocean. Exiled to this harsh frontier millennia ago, the Dark Elves hate their Elf cousins (must always attack them, with +1 to hit and Leadership) and have spent time developing their sorcerous affinity for very powerful demonic and necromantic magic. With such close proximity to the Northern Chaos Wastes, Dark Elf characters and units suffer random chaotic mutations. Within their armies, Dark Elf generals can field assassins hidden in units and frenzied Witch Elves (+1 to hit, wound and save while going berserk). They may deploy an array of dangerous heavy and medium cavalry, including Helldrakes <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOb6ZyTZ0d4pK9J9T77FEgYcb3iHJIMlcA4B8h7UaM9oHrHsrmy-C0kKsDoQbr7nZQ2ibCoA8oW7PXNZ__onLe9dOPng_4-K_xG0ZI8xW7hJmO0w0jVC0kisFjlecX2pLLE1JnN90X5Vw/s1600/Crossbowmen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOb6ZyTZ0d4pK9J9T77FEgYcb3iHJIMlcA4B8h7UaM9oHrHsrmy-C0kKsDoQbr7nZQ2ibCoA8oW7PXNZ__onLe9dOPng_4-K_xG0ZI8xW7hJmO0w0jVC0kisFjlecX2pLLE1JnN90X5Vw/s200/Crossbowmen.jpg" /></a></div>and Doomdrakes (knights mounted on powerful reptiles), although their infantry is fairly standard rank and file, including crossbowmen (who have access to short range repeater crossbows), armoured warriors and scouts. They can gain further support from animal handlers (driving more dangerous reptiles into battle), repeating bolt throwers (essentially a weak ballista) and a war altar (which acts as a very powerful army banner). They can call on allies and mercenaries to gain access to cheap hordes of expendable troops (Hobgoblins, Nippon, Skaven and Undead) or powerful heavy infantry (Chaos, Fimir and Ogres). They have access to monstrous hosts (including more reptiles and a dragon), ethereals and Chaotic monsters (including Chimeras, Hydras, Jabberwocks and Manticores).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia4_ADKLxcla2FVTIu0cj5dJ1-WI9vdNiAR2GFQ_yppu0ZnvhLPbahYT30GcfvhSWyLe_4ouNWkzIeS_DHi6y18ySSL92NH2pqDlsv63CBIXwAsBl3on7UtR7t1ZbxLHfP4Z43l0X5VZw/s1600/Glade+Runners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia4_ADKLxcla2FVTIu0cj5dJ1-WI9vdNiAR2GFQ_yppu0ZnvhLPbahYT30GcfvhSWyLe_4ouNWkzIeS_DHi6y18ySSL92NH2pqDlsv63CBIXwAsBl3on7UtR7t1ZbxLHfP4Z43l0X5VZw/s200/Glade+Runners.jpg" /></a></div><b>The Wood Elves</b>: The Wood Elves are the scattered remnants of ancient Elven colonies in the Old World, dispersed among the many deep and unexplored forests of that land. They are natural pathfinders, moving through tangled woods with no difficulty, and have spent their time away from their progenitors mastering the longbow (firing to a distance of 36") and becoming adept at illusions and elemental magic. They have access to a limited amount of medium and light cavalry and chariots, which typically patrol the wild heaths at the edge of a woodland kingdom, as well as a dizzying array of missile troops (including armoured Guards, who protect the settlements; Lord's Bowmen, who are the best marksmen in an Elvenking's realm; <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSFb-AT6npHSFSN80l7zXJV0X_h80zINvmW_VA4y0FFpWgHn5iKAWTz3PZnC2h9I6IDzHhqTGNr2M8B5g4Xqo8vJe16iH5uE7nk4yFB2yh5dNTuEMLQnuSTW7k18eo2YTDdX7dkAY1VE/s1600/Warrior+Kinbands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="200" width="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSFb-AT6npHSFSN80l7zXJV0X_h80zINvmW_VA4y0FFpWgHn5iKAWTz3PZnC2h9I6IDzHhqTGNr2M8B5g4Xqo8vJe16iH5uE7nk4yFB2yh5dNTuEMLQnuSTW7k18eo2YTDdX7dkAY1VE/s200/Warrior+Kinbands.jpg" /></a></div>regular archer levies and Glade Runner scouts). The Wood Elves also march with lightly equipped warrior kinbands and are further supported by beastmasters, falconers, hidden shapechangers and acrobatic wardancers. While the Wood Elves do not have any artillery, they can rally mighty Treemen to their aid, who are more than a match for most giants. Their access to magical illusions and the great number of troops that may adopt a skirmisher formation (nearly all of their archers, the wardancers and even a unit of cavalry) means that Wood Elf armies can be very elusive on the battlefield. They can summon support from High Elves, Halflings and Zoats (adding to their missiles, magic and cavalry) and monstrous and ethereal hosts.<br />
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The next article will cover the armies of the High Elves, the Empire and Bretonnia.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-59511574315399584372012-08-09T19:51:00.002-07:002012-08-15T17:07:36.424-07:00Questers into the Unknown<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21_eXdHi_KMksMjcn7o-vb6seCjM2LwgyUtXIAw5ndSRrjkRtvHuEtY4L6bH9CIuWqAytIjNLKPe2t5FUL1aMzAAI-TC4GB-ae7WkEFryO9Fq2w0wBr8vfkmsHg6lXqk_L2S899yxpIE/s1600/dream-kadath.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="320" width="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21_eXdHi_KMksMjcn7o-vb6seCjM2LwgyUtXIAw5ndSRrjkRtvHuEtY4L6bH9CIuWqAytIjNLKPe2t5FUL1aMzAAI-TC4GB-ae7WkEFryO9Fq2w0wBr8vfkmsHg6lXqk_L2S899yxpIE/s320/dream-kadath.gif" /></a></div>I have been working again on <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.ca/2012/04/my-variant-of-searchers-of-unknown.html">Questers</a>, this time translating it to <a href="http://www.dungeon-world.com/">Dungeon World</a>. So far, <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_VJUJi-NV4TZVU4bUhxbkJVNk0">this is my progress</a>. Let me know what you think, and I will add it to the blog Treasury for future access. Credit where credit is due, it owes a lot to Vincent Baker (<a href="http://apocalypse-world.com/">Apocalypse World</a>), Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel (Dungeon World) and Ryan Stoughton (<a href="http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/E6_(3.5e_Sourcebook)">E6 D&D</a>). And while we are at it, here is an excellent map of <a href="http://www.mockman.com/dreammap-bw.jpg">Unknown Kadath</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-3494381803202451032012-08-01T13:46:00.000-07:002012-08-01T21:04:10.165-07:00Bonded to the World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8keYX3Me39KwfnccCe3oMSCnt0sp8-g6vF9c0F_kAuH8opVxuZZ4lSitdltv3Yp-dGxkc7Q-WpIAi-nYXZJ41dF29-CrZgPkpJmq9ALmAsIVeB9xgrhlLPYww8LNU-D87GbnoUpQOM8/s1600/white-plume-mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="203" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8keYX3Me39KwfnccCe3oMSCnt0sp8-g6vF9c0F_kAuH8opVxuZZ4lSitdltv3Yp-dGxkc7Q-WpIAi-nYXZJ41dF29-CrZgPkpJmq9ALmAsIVeB9xgrhlLPYww8LNU-D87GbnoUpQOM8/s400/white-plume-mountain.jpg" /></a></div>In many ways, how players are rewarded at the table will define your game, and thus your game world. After all, the world only comes to life in response to the players' action (or <i>inaction</i>), which is then driven by their <i>goals</i>. Rewards give the players an indication of what they should be doing, generally speaking. At the same time, rewards are much more than mere incentives, which would lead players along a predesigned course. Rather, how the players go about achieving these rewards is unique to each group and to each story, and thus rewards must be open-ended. As mentioned <i><a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.ca/2012/07/worldsmiths.html">in the previous article</a></i>, players should always be given <i>problems</i>, not answers. How they answer problems is an expression of their freedom within the game world, and is the very narrative of the story itself.<br />
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Perhaps a good example of this can be seen in "Old Geezer" Mike Monard's fascinating on-going "tell-all" about the early days of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>. As he describes, experience awarded for defeating monsters in the Greyhawk dungeon was <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?633165-So&p=15707843#post15707843">almost nothing</a>, perhaps only enough to <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?633165-So&p=15647171#post15647171">round off the experience gained from treasure</a>, and that in his own games he does not reward any experience for monsters. The picture that immediately forms is one in stark contrast to modern "dungeon delving" games, with the players cast as "amoral mercenaries out to loot the dungeon," as <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?633165-So&p=15695057#post15695057">one commenter</a> put it. Where there is no reward, there is no risk-reward structure, and thus monsters are carefully avoided, like elite soldiers sneaking deep behind enemy lines in some subterranean fantasy Vietnam.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjDQzoj05vU5f0i-E4vCP2geXsDIDchShVtD24RAKZQ8qINs3F3NOfM5IKAWlEk8D_HRK4rFs53IuaLT7jZsYjTvyRFhE91eYdsQz_GrYFJBck484ysiv929FxkruD8TTkDhtDdb6zbg/s1600/wpm_exteriormap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="320" width="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjDQzoj05vU5f0i-E4vCP2geXsDIDchShVtD24RAKZQ8qINs3F3NOfM5IKAWlEk8D_HRK4rFs53IuaLT7jZsYjTvyRFhE91eYdsQz_GrYFJBck484ysiv929FxkruD8TTkDhtDdb6zbg/s320/wpm_exteriormap.jpg" /></a></div>In the same way, a game that does not have a clearly identified reward structure is a game (and a game world) with an identity crisis. Without a framework of rewards (whether fame and fortune, or something else entirely), the players will not have a clear idea of what they should be <i>doing</i>. Without player action to fuel it, the world cannot come to life. This is probably one of the most discussed aspects of <i><a href="http://www.dungeon-world.com/">Dungeon World</a></i>, still a work-in-progress, and several iterations of an "experience" system have been proposed (experience being one way to quantify reward).<br />
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One of the options that has gained the most traction, although not the current "official" solution, is <a href="http://ryanmacklin.com/2011/10/dw-xp-experiment/">Ryan Macklin's experiment</a>. A hold-over from the primogenitor game <i>Apocalypse World</i>, this system has each player pick a basic strategy for another player to pursue that session (such as pulling stunts, defending others, acting diplomatically, solving possibles and so on). Each time the player acts accordingly, they earn experience, rewarding immediate and short term narrative styling. Thus, a Cleric (bidden to be more aggressive that session) will show a new angle to his character, as he beats the goblin he interrogates, or lashes out at his superiors in the monastery.<br />
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This is a fine system in itself, but perhaps more suited to the game it originated from (<i>Apocalypse World</i> is all about psychologically breaking characters down in a ruined world where no one is granted tomorrow). As forum-goer <a href="http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=2352.0">nemomeme points out</a>, the reward structure determines what the very game is <i>about</i>. We must be careful to think about the essential design goals behind the game before tackling rewards.<br />
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So what is adventuring <i>about</i>? The very principles of <i>Dungeon World</i> (which make it so interesting and unique) demand that the fiction comes first. Like <a href="http://maverick.brainiac.com/cmm/tsr-h.html">microgame adventures</a>, the rules are discrete components that have specific triggers from the fiction, and are otherwise out of sight. The principles also state that the game is a conversation, so thus the rewards should also be in conversation. Perhaps a good model for reward, which is based on the fiction and also in constant conversation, would be <a href="http://jrients.blogspot.ca/2009/12/exploration.html">Jeff Rient's article on "eXPloration"</a>.<br />
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Here, I can imagine players and referee discussing, as a group, what they want to do, as it comes up in the fiction. They could even create "experience ladders," listing some goals and objectives. Once players have achieved (or failed) all of their plans for a front (a living, breathing local situation), and the game master has no more moves to make, this should indicate that the front has been fully explored and the next expedition should be chartered. Each player might have a different list, but commonalities and overlaps are expected, as the party is acting within the same local area. An example might be:<br />
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<i>• Find the slave camp deep in the jungle (+1 Exp)<br />
• Defeat the Guaraxx lurking in the delta (+2 Exp)<br />
• Get revenge on those pirates (+1 Exp)<br />
• Discover what has made the villagers so frightened, and make it safe again (+2 Exp)<br />
• Climb to the top of White Doom Mountain (+3 Exp)<br />
• Spend a night in the Lost City (+1 Exp)</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhkOSnUsbnoXdJDDrL4q5393hrqDSr4Et4IJZNO_EGfmQzzREHZjj4zeFhJMfPaxaWXXHYATp4ME2xJi8sspCa6bm7WJgbKE6z_IbTsJMOk303fVIcmno3GaiQNB4BwSaGzspB5Kn9sc/s1600/WPM_Room6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="217.6" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhkOSnUsbnoXdJDDrL4q5393hrqDSr4Et4IJZNO_EGfmQzzREHZjj4zeFhJMfPaxaWXXHYATp4ME2xJi8sspCa6bm7WJgbKE6z_IbTsJMOk303fVIcmno3GaiQNB4BwSaGzspB5Kn9sc/s320/WPM_Room6.jpg" /></a></div>These goals are constantly being discussed, revised and traded as the fiction dictates, and represent paths of action parallel or tangential to the plot of the front. They give the players a clear idea of what this world is about (that is, the cool and amazing things to do and see, the supernatural adversity to overcome and the bonds to play off between players in the process). In fact, in many ways, this is merely an extension of the bonds rule from <i>Dungeon World</i>, which gives players an initial motivation before the first front is even encountered. Here, in addition to being bonded to each other, the players are <i>bonded to the world</i>. Most importantly, this method lets the fiction come first, which is an essential quality of <i>Dungeon World</i>, and a great deal of what makes it so unique.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-1514860655758318272012-07-27T16:06:00.000-07:002012-08-01T13:49:18.243-07:00Worldsmiths<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEDIfNsN9ZoSEKu51jYSvWvuym-F3iTyCgczqInknbs6qkzWPzG8K1laJepz2tRUOsOmuug7h0VuloIr2PKOEZ4l4_ojZ2Q-1iZp5YE9eUKFmu57W_XEhAvflIAanl8h975j_JcBukqA/s1600/roslofthekeepontheborderlands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="182" width="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEDIfNsN9ZoSEKu51jYSvWvuym-F3iTyCgczqInknbs6qkzWPzG8K1laJepz2tRUOsOmuug7h0VuloIr2PKOEZ4l4_ojZ2Q-1iZp5YE9eUKFmu57W_XEhAvflIAanl8h975j_JcBukqA/s320/roslofthekeepontheborderlands.jpg" /></a></div>I wanted to expand a little on the previous discussion of campaign preparation. I do not believe a referee's preparation should look anything like a published adventure module, which were fixed and scripted scenarios developed specifically for the tournament milieu. These are, of course, fun to read for inspiration or to run the players through a "gauntlet" typical of gaming conventions. However, for home games, these adventures are far too scripted, and go against the basic principle that narration is neither controlled by referee nor by player (as discussed in <a href="http://swordsofminaria.blogspot.ca/2012/07/say-no-or-force-them-to-make-saving.html">the previous article</a>).<br />
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Yet, it is imperative that the game world seems real and adventureful at every moment and in every scene. Some work must go into world creation, but this fashioning and shaping cannot have a stymying effect. The generative process must be continuous through the process of playing, so that the world comes alive and retains full fluidity. Player decisions, ever capricious, must remain meaningful.<br />
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<a href="http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=1898.0">Marshall Miller</a> has given a good example of what this might look like for <a href="http://www.dungeon-world.com/">Dungeon World</a>, a fan variant of Vincent Baker's <a href="http://apocalypse-world.com/">Apocalypse World</a>. That game already divides the environs of a game world into Fronts, which are living, breathing local situations that the players can get themselves mired in. Not only is a Front (e.g. the Caves of Chaos) a vivid and lush location to explore, but it is also an ambiguous, evil force to oppose the heroes, a ticking time bomb (with signs of the looming disaster), and a creature in and of itself (capable of executing its own moves and maneuvers against the players). A Front is a setting that truly comes to life, like the Mines of Moria, and opposes the heroes by its very nature. It must be carefully explored, discussed and negotiated by both the players and the referee alike, with the primary vehicle for this being dice rolls and decisions.<br />
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What Miller has added to this is the notion of the "<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B654TXP1tdnxN2Q5ZDZlYTUtYjhiYi00ODQyLWE0MDItNzFmZjdhMzJhOWZj&hl=en_US">Adventure Starter</a>." This is another sort of environ in the game world, contained within a quick, flexible toolkit designed to spark the initial interest and action. <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6681148/DW%20Adventure%20starter%20-%20Blackmoore.pdf">An entire "Adventure Starter" environ</a> consists in a reminder of the referee's guiding principles (make the world real, make it full of adventure etc), a list of scenic impressions to colour your descriptions and make the world real, some open-ended questions meant to both inspire sub-plots and to hook your players, a list of artifacts and creatures that might be of utility for the referee and finally a list of new moves open to the players while they explore the setting. Importantly, there are no maps, no pre-scripted story and no hard timelines. The referee could glance at the two-page setting and read as much or as little as he likes without missing anything important.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFsVOt28maC4bcZR-gSCVv1Gd7aNeas3YhwUjYk-Cc4IzwIeLBCgZf8pi1i8_Ky_OKpro1bK9pHjV-fRMvV_i8CkilFw1WD9UYeNX3ws3klGL6sVVBaR97fqDeNmRVzXcHxwsMoBERpw/s1600/quasqueton_exterior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="165" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFsVOt28maC4bcZR-gSCVv1Gd7aNeas3YhwUjYk-Cc4IzwIeLBCgZf8pi1i8_Ky_OKpro1bK9pHjV-fRMvV_i8CkilFw1WD9UYeNX3ws3klGL6sVVBaR97fqDeNmRVzXcHxwsMoBERpw/s320/quasqueton_exterior.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Both Fronts and Adventure Starters are an excellent way for a referee to prepare the environs and locales of the game world. They are inspirational and fluid, and may be used before and during the game to drive interesting scenes. At the same time, preparing this kind of gaming world is not about pre-establishing events, plots or geography. Those are answers, and the answers that the actual playing experience will give you are always better. Rather, the referee should start to think about preparing problems which do not necessarily have an answer… yet. Confronted with a living, dynamic and danger-filled world, the players' actions and words fill the adventure-engine that the referee has prepared, fueling gameplay that players can actually <i>care about</i> and <i>feel</i>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-8818408622438413702012-07-17T14:15:00.001-07:002012-07-17T14:18:14.172-07:00Say No or Force Them to Make a Saving Throw Versus Death<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0S0Vofo2X-ECnWD_Ra21DIfe5jXHLgqrwm_AssuEUnGBiiXFKEtg8ps4YnwB78eSP-NWlo9uN6o1gvoUWbclTjGx6HubdpcQ1-xOfyte6ICcz4r00E8_xYuPXtHUrjuoOTvwXtcuW-0/s1600/arduin.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0S0Vofo2X-ECnWD_Ra21DIfe5jXHLgqrwm_AssuEUnGBiiXFKEtg8ps4YnwB78eSP-NWlo9uN6o1gvoUWbclTjGx6HubdpcQ1-xOfyte6ICcz4r00E8_xYuPXtHUrjuoOTvwXtcuW-0/s320/arduin.png" width="240" /></a></div>Flipping through <i><a href="http://www.vsca.ca/Diaspora/">Diaspora</a></i> yesterday, I came across a sentiment increasingly common to modern roleplaying games. At the core of <i>Diaspora</i> (and many such newer games) is the phrase "<i>Say Yes, or Roll the Dice</i>." Essentially, this axiom requires the referee to always endorse the players' proposed strategy, or at least give them a shot with a die roll.<br />
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For <i>Fate</i> fans (which includes <i>Diaspora</i>, <i>Spirit of the Century</i>, <i>Legends of Anglerre</i> and many other related games), this has been heralded as a very "tactical" system. Players are constantly coming up with spur of the moment plans (actually, justifications for why they should win), which the referee must then accept, or let the dice decide. It is reminiscent of old school procedure, where the referee listens to the plan carefully and then comes up with a target number and rolls the die to determine success. The only difference is that "Say Yes…" precludes the referee's veto. The referee is instead slavishly committed to accepting every player strategy, regardless of how believable it is, or how it circumvents the referee's own schemes. Rather than staging a tactical opposition, the referee is subject to player whim.<br />
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This is, perhaps, seen as contrasting adversarial-style refereeing. It also developed, however, in response to a style of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> that increasingly defined characters by "<i>Player Options</i>," "<i>Powers</i>" and other mechanical advantages. Instead of thinking through a problem, players would simply look down at their character sheet for all the answers. Written in 2002 at the height of the third edition, <i><a href="http://www.burningwheel.org/">The Burning Wheel</a></i> fantasy roleplaying game was, in many ways, a response to what <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> had become. In contrast with a referee-dominated narrative and players with mechanically enabling character powers, <i>The Burning Wheel</i> introduced the "Say Yes…" paradigm for the first time, and thus framed the referee as an enabler and the players as holding narrative control.<br />
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Of course, buying into this premise of "player control versus referee control" has obscured the original simple and elegant functionality of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>. Recently, <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?633165-So&p=15592403#post15592403">I asked Mike Monard</a> (veteran of the original Lake Geneva campaign) whether referees back in the day would punish Magic-Users who neglected utility spells and front-loaded combat spells by throwing in obstacles that would require the former. His response was illuminating, and is worth quoting here in full:<br />
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"<i>Remember… the world was created first, THEN the characters were created to explore it. The way Gary, Dave, and the rest of us did it, we would set up our dungeons such that you would need a selection of both combat and utility spells. Choosing how to allocate your limited spell slots was part of the fun, as was dealing with not having a certain spell where it would be useful.<br />
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The world came first, so changing the world based on player spell selection would have been cheating. It's about the only way for the referee to cheat, in fact. Any ref who changed things on the fly to punish players based on that day's spell selection would have found themselves without any players.<br />
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What was there, was there. There was a nest of six trolls on Level 1 of Greyhawk. If you went there with three first level characters, you found six trolls. If you went there with nine 11th level characters, you found six trolls. Changing the world as you seem to be describing above would have been anathema. It is really the only way to cheat as the referee.</i>"<br />
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The referee developed a world, the players investigated it, and changing things after the fact was <i>cheating</i>. It was part and parcel of suspension of disbelief that the world followed its own laws and trajectory. How player decisions might intersect with that trajectory was largely unpredictable, and there was a level of excitement and discovery for both players and referee. There is a classic movement here which is common to Shakespeare plays, whereby one person would pass partial information along to another individual, who would then filter it further to a third. Consider the Doctor who agrees to provide the Queen with a vial of poison but, fearing her evil designs, actually gives her a sleeping draught. The Queen, thinking the elixir to be a poison, hands it further to the naive rival princess, promising that it is a healing balm to be taken when she is feeling ill. The King falls ill and the princess administers the sleeping draught. Chaos ensues.<br />
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Likewise, the referee may know what is really going on, but this is filtered through interrogated non-player characters or partial clues that the players may find. Only half of the truth reaches the players, who then introduce a further (and unpredictable) abstraction through their misinterpretation of the situation. This beautiful friction makes for the stuff of true legends. Here, the referee is neither adversarial nor enabling, but rather purely neutral (which reminds me of an <a href="http://www.kodtweb.com/2011/09/20/the-58th-level-part-iii-2/">excellent and illustrative <i>Knights of the Dinner Table</i> comic</a>, where the Knights are able to "outsmart" B.A.'s flagship dungeon).<br />
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The take away from all of this is that we as referees must again become world-smiths. It is hard work, and tremendous preparation must go into the campaign as well as each individual session. Different webs of non-player characters must be charted, including individual motives and knowledge. Interesting eventualities must be at least initially considered, while some obstacles with no apparent solution should be cataloged (perhaps a dungeon at the top of a perfectly sheer cliff, encouraging the players to be creative). The story will take unexpected turns, and the referee's encyclopedic register of history and <i>dramatis personae</i> will breath enough life into the world that it will take on its own momentum. In all of this, narrative control belongs to the friction between player knowledge and referee impartiality. As the authors of <i><a href="http://www.autarch.co/">Adventurer Conqueror King</a></i> put it, "every campaign is a law unto itself" and the excitement comes from these worlds taking on a life of their own.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-77781448782007755552012-07-12T10:46:00.001-07:002012-07-12T13:08:53.702-07:00Every Fighting-Man is Unique<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqYLm2zgrl6a0JHfOM6EvsusVmjs_kCMiP7Vxd98AhnxWnb-hXertuNaG5wdrbZ-Y4q5tBDgkeQLKKooVLaKuzTFkgWUQ3dLEOo9Lpo55ZtFBU7vNIJznucic5p5GJ3jnscORmTLpM88/s1600/Miyamoto_Musashi_killing_a_giant_nue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqYLm2zgrl6a0JHfOM6EvsusVmjs_kCMiP7Vxd98AhnxWnb-hXertuNaG5wdrbZ-Y4q5tBDgkeQLKKooVLaKuzTFkgWUQ3dLEOo9Lpo55ZtFBU7vNIJznucic5p5GJ3jnscORmTLpM88/s320/Miyamoto_Musashi_killing_a_giant_nue.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>I am not aware when it came about, but at some point a vicious rumour crept into our collective understanding of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>. This rumour subtly, surreptitiously put forth the notion that the original game, in its basic, open-ended template form, was somehow too limited. There weren't enough monsters, there weren't enough classes, there weren't enough powers or abilities. The original game, so this shadowy speculation would have you believe, just didn't have enough <i>stuff</i>.<br />
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So the next generation of more "<i>advanced</i>" games came out, promising more things for the throngs of adventure-hungry players to do by promising game rules that were packed with more <i>stuff</i>. Ironically, on the other end of this history (some thirty years later), we are now flooded with such games—enough to stack from floor to ceiling in a dusty, unvisited brick-and-mortar gaming store. We certainly have enough adventure, yet, we have very few players hungry for adventure. What went wrong? What was it that originally enchanted those players, who came from every walk of life, and made them so esurient?<br />
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Today's games have naturally attracted a very different, and far less diverse crowd (which is unfortunate, not only because we lose perspective and creativity, but because many of the so-called "gamers" are individuals that no one in their right mind would like to spend an afternoon with). The excessive influx of systems, mechanics and rules to our Saturday afternoon scenarios naturally caters to rules-obsessed types, and the move away from free-form, communal decision-making and storytelling alienates people who didn't sign up for this level of commitment. But there is also a delightful agility that was somehow lost in this sad transmutation.<br />
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I believe that earlier adventuring aficionados truly understood that the original game was merely a template. The apparent limitation, for example, to choose one of three iconic character options (Fighting-Man, Magic-User or Cleric) belies the fact that these choices were never meant as more than basic blueprints from which characters were built. Looking in the three little books, for instance, one finds extremely few limitations: ability scores have next to no impact on the game, the rules allow dual and multi-classing, and any character can attempt any action. There was essentially an adventurer, and different options determined what access he or she had to different equipment and spellcraft.<br />
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One of the rarely highlighted aspects of the original game in particular is the concept of level titles. This dizzying array of honorifics is typically understood as a strict progression, one to the next, so that a Hero becomes a Swashbuckler or a Sorcerer becomes a Necromancer or a Bishop becomes a Lama. Yet, as we can see, this progression is not altogether coherent (why should a Catholic Bishop become a Tibetan Lama, exactly?), which may have led many to simply discard level titles entirely. At my table, I encourage my players to really make level titles their own, however, and use them to define their characters.<br />
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Maybe Toki, a Japanese Fighting-Man character, starts off as a Veteran. By level two, I encourage him to describe how his Fighting-Man is <i>different</i>, and soon he takes the level two title "Sohei" (or warrior monk, becoming an ascetic mountain warrior). During level two, I allow him to track monsters through the woods or navigate untamed mountains. By level three, the campaign has taken another turn: Toki takes on the role of a pirate and starts swinging from ropes and intimidating his opponents.<br />
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Customizing level titles is an excellent way to show your players that the archetypal classes are merely base templates from which characters are developed. I do not believe a party with 14 Fighting-Men should feel like a party with 14 Fighting-Men. The fact is that the Fighting-Man class, like the other classes, is broad enough to contain every sword-swinging hero one could dream up. Each character should be different and unique, and the rules of the original game are just open-ended enough to allow that. In reality, there is nothing more alienating than bringing a new player to your table and telling him that his character concept has to fit within your game's hard boundaries and strict definitions, and this is one of the main reasons that this hobby lost its diverse player community: we stopped asking people to bring their own creativity and ideas to the table.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-80392501795618146912012-06-21T08:47:00.002-07:002012-06-21T09:14:31.910-07:00What is a Setting?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh77x4cYCxmSPyPW1qyuJYPdta-S6Cz8Al6pScuwXxECilAuk7BdCpctwR6hwYUzB5bUYABLeuCYaq3dSgg0wQo4lnRM7m1x2S_gCyMmcm6d8Nh3KYGCZh4hmOwQOXI-26KxhJN0LSw_Xw/s1600/Blackmoor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="240" width="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh77x4cYCxmSPyPW1qyuJYPdta-S6Cz8Al6pScuwXxECilAuk7BdCpctwR6hwYUzB5bUYABLeuCYaq3dSgg0wQo4lnRM7m1x2S_gCyMmcm6d8Nh3KYGCZh4hmOwQOXI-26KxhJN0LSw_Xw/s200/Blackmoor.jpg" /></a>Campaign settings have always held a rather schizophrenic place in this hobby. The first settings, Blackmoor and Greyhawk, were merely the dungeon and the environs around it, extending further only rarely, as the adventurers pursued other plots (and then collapsing back to the central dungeon when new players came in). A great example of this are the adventures of Robliar, Tenser and Erac, who dropped through the chute to China in the ruined pile of Greyhawk Castle, only to adventure back to the other side of the world, drawn like a magnet to the tentpole of the campaign. Other campaign events created new areas, such as the domain of Iuz (a foe who was originally released from the dungeons of Greyhawk), yet these new area always deferred to the original environs (with no sustained campaigning in the new regions).<br />
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Yet, when TSR took off, it became profitable to publish fully detailed and designed campaign backdrops. World maps were drawn up for the first time ever, and the local environs around Castle Greyhawk became the "World of Greyhawk" (true, the original Greyhawk was situated on the C&C Society map, but the extent of this map is unknown and apparently not well developed). With published settings, the concept of a campaign backdrop turned from the small, local region to the internation and global scene.<br />
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Still, I suspect, most referees ended up designing their own settings for their home campaigns, much like Arneson and Gygax themselves had done. The natural impulse is not to delineate a sweeping world, painting with a broad brush, but rather to go <i>ever smaller</i>, refining the details and going deeper into the <i>very concept</i> of the setting. The former approach is <i>geographic</i>, and creates boundaries that delimit thought even as the "broad approach" is meant to liberate possibilities by making the world seem "big." The latter approach is <i>conceptual</i>, and defines the setting as an idea, not a fixed and stale cartography where the possibility for new events must be fit into a pre-existing framework. They are fundamentally different approaches, one structural and the other theoretical, that produce very different experiences for the referee (and we must remember that the referee is a player too, and that campaign preparation is <i>part</i> of the game).<br />
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Interestingly, it was setting stagnation (and setting over-definition), that first drove Arneson to boredom with Braunstein, leading him to create Blackmoor. The Napoleonic scenario had been fully described and defined, and the possibilities exhausted, by a structural approach to the scenario that put characters in relation to each other like chess pieces. Instead of focusing on the politics of the scenario, however, Blackmoor focused on the root inspiration at the core of the setting. As the <i>DCC</i> rulebook says:<br />
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"<i>Make your world mysterious by making it </i>small<i>—very small. What lies past the next valley? None can be sure. When a five-mile journey becomes an adventure, you'll have succeeded in bringing life to your world.</i>" (<i>Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game</i>, page 314)<br />
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Here, the sage advice to "think local" should be paired with a conceptual approach to campaign definition. There is world enough in the 50 miles around your central megadungeon: make things happen there! Festivals are thrown, distant merchants arrive, new enemies appear, alliances are struck and broken. The core concept of your campaign inspiration is often difficult to articulate, but one should not flee from this and start detailing regions that no player will likely ever see. Instead, turn back and develop that core concept more and more, mining it for new inspiration, and do not be afraid to let it change as your interests (or real events from the campaign) require. No one truly knows where such a setting will go next, yet it always feels like home.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-53560728711112220062012-06-17T12:42:00.000-07:002012-06-17T16:00:14.314-07:00New Gary Gygax Setting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6bbiTmss_Dub1zz5dWwA3LnqbdFuSjk7HTKN-_U4INBTcsq00HsLC5nbkiQzMckjYyF7R5-0nCiYJ_-HB8FDOPmPHVoVcFFA-LXa2zSHoDLuNBm9eFhmYAaoeTb_WTMSNmOX-4CtPHYg/s1600/ToHGraphic16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="156" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6bbiTmss_Dub1zz5dWwA3LnqbdFuSjk7HTKN-_U4INBTcsq00HsLC5nbkiQzMckjYyF7R5-0nCiYJ_-HB8FDOPmPHVoVcFFA-LXa2zSHoDLuNBm9eFhmYAaoeTb_WTMSNmOX-4CtPHYg/s200/ToHGraphic16.jpg" /></a>I don't usually do this, especially after my recent rant about Kickstarters that "over-promise," but I have to make an exception for John Adams' (of <a href="http://carpgp.blogspot.ca/">Brave Halfling Publishing</a> fame) new project, the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1778492214/appendix-n-adventure-toolkits-dcc-rpg-modules">Appendix N Adventure Toolkits</a>. Unlike some of the lest-tested indie publishers, who are riding on the coattails of OSR-Kickstarter craze, I know Brave Halfling's work well and have a lot of trust in John's ability. He's been around for quite a while now, and I even own some of his early publications for <i>Castles & Crusades</i>, <i>Swords & Wizardry</i> and <i>Labyrinth Lord</i>. He has been behind a lot of truly excellent products, like the "Old School Gaming Box," <i>Delving Deeper</i> (the original <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> reprint with Rob Conley's <i>Blackmarsh</i>) and <i>Perilous Mazes</i> (the Holmes <i>Basic Dungeons & Dragons</i> reprint).<br />
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His latest effort, however, is stunning. While it started out as simply a single, low-level module, the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1778492214/appendix-n-adventure-toolkits-dcc-rpg-modules">Appendix N Adventure Toolkits</a> has surpassed my expectations. I find it somewhat difficult to interpret Kickstarters sometimes, so I will break it down for those who haven't had a chance to check this project out yet. After breaking four stretch goals, the project is now giving each supporter (at the paltry $20 level): a PDF copy of each of the five full adventure modules (one of the scenarios which will never be released again), a digest print copy of each of the same (each signed, numbered and shrink wrapped), a poster to hang up in your den and a special edition box to store the modules. For an extra $10, you get a second copy of each module (I guess one would be a play copy and the other a keeper? Or maybe a gift to your nephew to get him into roleplaying?) and eight (8!) more PDFs of new rules and options for DCC characters and classes.<br />
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This is really a fantastic value, and a very neat idea to boot (especially the collector's box for storing everything), and the artwork previews already released are top-notch. However, what caught my attention in the first place was the next stretch goal: an original setting developed by John Adams and Gary Gygax through their correspondences. This unpublished work was going to be for Gary's last game, <i>Lejendary Adventures</i>, but came to a halt with his passing. While I never thought Gary was the best game designer, his worlds have always inspired me, and I have found him to be quite a wordsmith when drawing up an old-school setting. Now, if this project gets enough funders, anyone who puts in that same paltry $20 donation will get a sixth print and PDF, "The Old Isle Campaign Setting," in addition to a color poster map of the setting. I cannot be alone in finding it a shame to leave this final work undiscovered, which was written by Adams, but with the keen editing and insight of the original Dungeon Master. Count me interested and in support of this project.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-30396975794584498202012-06-15T12:02:00.000-07:002012-06-15T12:10:13.084-07:00SUPER OD&D<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tR9Her1MhwNPsDIcm7GANGe2exPZzxeyqZGOdYHjel0M3sF_l9IqRVYUb-Uu6_0HFqD1LE5eDU54fDJXyvdHIkUifSipUQDrD2juzHMhYRNA8MQN3QCySE0qrJbxsHY5HokpXlzMiqQ/s1600/SMB.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0em"><img border="0" height="260" width="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tR9Her1MhwNPsDIcm7GANGe2exPZzxeyqZGOdYHjel0M3sF_l9IqRVYUb-Uu6_0HFqD1LE5eDU54fDJXyvdHIkUifSipUQDrD2juzHMhYRNA8MQN3QCySE0qrJbxsHY5HokpXlzMiqQ/s200/SMB.png" /></a><a href="http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=83471#p83471">Marv made an interesting comparison</a> over on the Goodman Games boards. To me, <i>Dungeon Crawl Classics</i> is like a <i>Super OD&D</i> (in the tradition of <i>Super Mario Brothers</i> games). Indeed, it has many similarities to the three little brown books of the original game, yet it makes thewy additions and expansions to that base as well. The first volume of that game alone shares basic assumptions about the social scale of experience levels, the power of classes, the protected niches of characters, the nature of magic.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=8530">Take magic</a>, for example. Via <i>Chainmail</i>, the magic system in the original game is highly unpredictable, where magic-users can cast a spell only to find their spell miscast without benefit (and lost), cast successfully (and retained for future use) or caught somewhere in between, in limbo until the next turn. <i>DCC</i> takes this basic principle and adds much more detail, so that miscast spells might also transform the caster into a hideous creature, or successful sorcery might prove unexpectedly powerful. Add in supernatural patrons and character-specific spell manifestations and you have a magic system that is built from the same basic foundation as <i>OD&D</i>, yet with much more muscle to it.<br />
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Similarly, the progression of power for fighting-men is modelled directly on <i>OD&D</i>. While later "advanced" editions of the game weakened the fighter, introducing the <a href="http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/linear-fighters-vs-quadratic-wizards">"linear fighter, quadratic wizard" quandry</a>, it is important to remember that this problem is entirely foreign to the original three little booklets. A ninth level fighting-man was simply nine times more powerful than when he first started out (similarly so for magic-users). He fought as nine men, with nine attacks (each the strength of one man's strike). While his "advanced" cousing, the fighter of <i>AD&D</i> was reduced to two or three attacks a round, <a href="swordsofminaria.blogspot.com/2012/04/admiring-dcc-warrior.html">the <i>DCC</i> warrior</a> returns to native soil in a unique way, making three attacks, each strike the strength of three men (for identical output to the <i>OD&D</i> fighting-man, but with less dicing). Add in critical hit charts, fumbles and mighty deeds, and again you have a robust and powerful addition to the original game.<br />
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Even the social scale of characters in <i>DCC</i> is reminiscent of the original game, where a first level warrior is no mere soldier. Roughly speaking, a first level character is already the hero of the townships, an unlikely local that rose to unexpected prominence for his deeds. His tales will be told in the few villages of the valley for several generations. A level two character is the celebrity of a major city, well known by all but the unsophisticated. By third level, an adventurer has already rose to the prestige of a conqueror-king or slayer, whose legend will endure. This is far removed from the scale of power in later games, but is actually perfectly in line with the concepts found in <i>OD&D</i>.<br />
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More comparisons can, of course, be drawn with the other volumes, but this is just what comes to mind while paging through <i>Men & Magic</i>. I am curious how this plays out over longterm play, but I suspect the pace and style of <i>DCC</i> would be very reminiscent of the original three little books. Of course, it was always a design goal of <i>DCC</i>, it seems, to start at 1974, but only go <i>backwards</i> from there, instead of forward into the future.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949107149688949585.post-74448680147864246012012-06-02T08:25:00.000-07:002012-06-02T08:54:41.680-07:00KickstarterIt's raining today. I'm in the home stretch of working at perhaps my second worst job (I worked at a nursing home when I was a teenager, which takes the cake by far). I always love the rain—gusting about and dreary. It reminds me of a vacation in Ireland from my childhood, where I first walked wide-eyed into a small, bright store. "Games Workshop." I didn't know what they all were for, lining the walls and display cases, but I left with <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguSk0_WWS-75y-3WUowD4uclgdK8Ye8tQi6HdEcRa09yjabh0mRJO6hdFMDPovTaNH8723CpA0COJm_qW9-tyVWjdQDjOQQ6T-MSCb29JD3x9U-LY3s2ORIQF8pf2sdUug8c8_GIeRosM/s320/gw+1997+citadel+annual.jpg">a promo magazine</a> and nearly spent the rest of the trip staring intently at one particular picture of rank-and-file Wood Elf spearmen defending a dark forest.<br />
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I worked all the next summer at my first job, earning $3.15 an hour on a neighbor's farm (I had to haggle to get that extra 15¢). I was there from 6am to 4pm, shoveling hills of manure to a location 3 feet away, running away from homicidal stampedes of dairy cows, and finding lucky cowbells in the tall weeds (long story). After the summer, I picked up the well-worn brochure again and called the number on the back.<br />
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That was my first fantasy gaming purchase. The next high point would come in 2005, when I accidentally chanced upon a dusty copy of <i><a href="http://www.kenzerco.com/">HackMaster 4th Edition</a></i> in a store. It perfectly captured everything I loved about AD&D (I had been indirectly led to 2nd Edition through <i>Warhammer Fantasy Battle</i>). I loved this unlikely hobby. I found there was nothing else like it, nothing which created a whole new world within my daily imaginings. And I loved working for that, and buying into that. Pen and paper gaming, whether wargaming or roleplaying, became the satisfyingly open-ended, undefined daydreaming that buouyed me in the work-a-day world that it so contrasted. As the tongue-in-cheek call to arms on the back cover of the HackMaster Player's Handbook read:<br />
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"<i>For those of us that live in a world that forces us to conform, to abide by the rules day in and day out; for those of us that suffocate in our daily routine of breakfast cereal and ham sandwiches; for those of us that slave each day in our cubicle working for the <b>Man</b>; those who would be heroes if it weren't for the constraints of reality, we present:</i>"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlnvdNyzd-1E9cmUJEc8s-jCO_DPx2Oe266LzgTaa80EGau1FRr9Dw6KM-G8pnt4nJyUY7huUix_g2pS27r6Z88-58DxTt3KHOCpRaS1fqXGpLdae0evRF4igF6FYpckgg7oi77cY70E/s1600/hacklogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="106" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlnvdNyzd-1E9cmUJEc8s-jCO_DPx2Oe266LzgTaa80EGau1FRr9Dw6KM-G8pnt4nJyUY7huUix_g2pS27r6Z88-58DxTt3KHOCpRaS1fqXGpLdae0evRF4igF6FYpckgg7oi77cY70E/s320/hacklogo.png" /></a></div><br />
Websites, forums and online communities only entered into that picture later. I didn't even realize Games Workshop had a website in the beginning, and used to order completely from printed catalogs, referencing only small, grey photos to specify with the ever-patient sales rep exactly which Wood Elf spearmen poses I wanted. There was a sense of adventure in not knowing everything that was going on in the industry, or not knowing about everything that was due to release soon. The possibilities were endless, and the frontiers of that world mysterious. I was happily in a bubble, and eager for every new bit of news that was so hard-won at the time.<br />
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Crowd-funding has changed a lot about the indie publishing industry. Yet (and I hate to be the first one to suggest it, as it seems to be breathing such real, quantifiable life ($) into the scene), I suspect there is a bubble here that is close to popping. Indeed, game designers have taken to crowd-funding largely because there is no current technology for making traditional publishing-distribution chains viable for niche markets. Like Google Checkouts, Kickstarter (<i>et al.</i>) allows reliable direct sale opportunities for small publishers that have been largely shut out by conservative distributors. But what cost is there for this immediacy? Niche hobbies thrive on interest, but <a href="http://goblinoidgames.blogspot.ca/2012/05/crowdfunding-three-ring-circus.html">while everyone seems to be excited about stretch goals</a>, interactive product development and tiered reward levels, I can't help but feel that some of the magic has been taken out of the process.<br />
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As consumers, we are getting a lot of direct information through participating in funding, whether in the form of special sneak peaks, previews of potential new products or simply some small part in sharing the product design. But more interaction, and more information, is not always a good thing. I can imagine a Kickstarter burnout in the future, where the excitement that crowd-funding pre-orders generate is overtaken by information overload. A burnout where our building interest in seeing a project as it developes dissapates a little more when we finally receive the product we have been over-expecting. Crowd-funding means you are paying ahead for a product that you will not have in your hands for many months. Even with great products, what is the evaporation rate of that excitement that must survive that long stretch?<br />
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There are other problems with crowd-funding as well. It seems to be accelerating the already miserable state of distribution, pushing local gaming stores further to the fringes, and increasingly moving communities online. One of our local Islamic scholars here in Toronto remarked about that final point just last weekend, while speaking before a (traditional) dinner fundraiser for his school. In reference to online education, he argued that it is ironic that online communities are supposedly all about connecting with each other, while in reality they leave us more practically disconnected than ever before.<br />
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I don't really have another answer, and simply saying "well, the glory days of roleplaying games are over" and letting the entropy of distribution set in seems <i>passé</i>. Kickstarter <i>et al.</i> seems to have breathed new monetary life into the OSR, but let's not forget that the OSR began well before industrious-types had figured out a way to capitalize it. It was carried then by traditional enthusiasm of tangible substance. While websites like Kickstarter have been proven to generate hype, at the end of the day, the enduring proofs in this hobby are quality products on the one hand, and an abiding sense of mystery on the other. Unfortunately, crowd-funding tends to be antithetical to both ends, as it creates a very low barrier for self-publishing, while also flushing out the entire discourse of what makes a satisfying roleplaying game product into terms of what is immediately gratifying. Even then, with the nature of project funding, the immediate gratification of spoilers, previews and shared development are only deceptively immediate, creating dangerous over-anticipation.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2