Editorial – Page 6 – STUFFER SHACK

My Battle Map Wish List

As you may have noticed, I really like to use visuals in my games and aside from the 3D terrain (which is great!), I love great-looking colour maps, particularly battle maps (maps with the 1″ squares marked out.)

It’s not that I’m a big wargamer or D&D 4e aficionado. I’m not stuck to the grid, but it helps me and my players figure out distances easily. I’ve tried the theatre of the mind and even the abstracted distance game systems and they work to a point, but then misunderstandings and confusion keep creeping in. It also gives players an idea of how to use their environment in a way that a blank grid marked out showing the room doesn’t allow. It’s also a great visual for players to get a sense of where they are.

My favourite companies (in no particular order) for pdf maps would be Dramascape, Heroic Maps, Lord Zsezse Works and 0one Games.

For already printed maps, I like the Paizo Flip-Mats and Map Packs and the D&D Map Tile sets (now out of print sadly), as well as many of the combat maps from D&D adventures.

Generally, I am looking for maps that fit into two categories – ones that are generic enough that I’ll be able to use them for a variety of game sessions and then ones that fit a specific setting that I would like to run in the future.

There are a handful of maps that I haven’t seen yet done to my satisfaction, but I keep hoping to see them one day, here is my wish list:

Unknown 1. A Modern Passenger Jet – Something like a Boeing 787 and/or a Bombardier CRJ100 would be great for any modern game, allowing some serious action on board. Maybe even some snakes? It’s a staple of hijacker films. I realize there’s a black and white one available through Fabled Environments, but it’s black and white and the scale, although probably accurate isn’t great for games. I’ve found that about 1:43 works best for vehicles compared to minis. A little bigger would make a bigger map, but also a better play space for a game. Sometimes reality needs to be bent a little to accommodate effective game play.

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2. A Mad Scientist’s Laboratory – There is this one by Encompass, which is colour and map tiles, but it’s fantasy (ruined castle above). If I’m having a mad scientist, it’ll likely be in a modern/western game and it could be under a castle (I’m good with that) or a house, but not ruins and it won’t be an alchemist’s lab. Ideally, it should be drawn heavily from the Frankenstein movies.

220px-Something_Wicked_This_Way_Comes_(1983_movie_poster) 3. A 1930’s Carnival – There is this one by Dramascape, which I really like and own, but it’s too clean and orderly for a creepy 1930s carnival. I’m looking for the kind that evokes the setting of Something Wicked This Way Comes or the TV series Carnivale that I’d love to bring to a game (or several games!). Ideally, it would be a series of set-pieces that could be combined in different configurations including a fortune teller’s booth, a freak show, a merry-go-round, carnie wagons and anything else weird you can think of. Preferably with a Fall backdrop (leaves on the ground, crumpled papers, etc.), since the creepiest carnival always comes to town in the fall. ar11770146153638

4. Disneyland – Okay, not specifically Disneyland, but a modern (1980s or later) amusement/theme park complete with rides, walkways, restaurants, etc. It would be a huge map, but what a great setting for a sandbox spy thriller! Maybe an overview map and close-ups of the actual attractions (it would have to include employee only hallways and rooms)? I’ll admit that this is so that I can run a twisted version of Wacko World (Dragon Magazine #79 – Google it!) using Night’s Black Agents, but you have to admit it has a certain appeal.

maxresdefault 5. A Cruise Ship – Not some little dinky one, but a full-sized cruise ship. Again, it would be huge maps, perhaps broken down into main sections like the amusement park, but any gamer who has taken a cruise will have to admit they have wanted to run a game set on one. It’s again an ideal sandbox environment and ripe for so many modern games, I can’t even begin to list them.

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6. Complete Hotel – Christian Hollnbuchner has this lobby and rooms, which are okay, but I’d love something a little more 1920s/30s and grander, fancier. For the rooms, we also need a set of smaller ones (standard rooms) with a hallway, preferably rooms on either side of the hallway ending in an elevator and stairs. Then, we need the penthouse suite with elevator and finally the basement with laundry/back exit and the rooftop. That would be a complete hotel, again allowing a wide range of activity throughout the place. Again, a bunch of separate maps added together would work well. Something out of The Shining would be awesome!

That’s all I can think of for now. My wish list is all modern since most maps created are for fantasy games, so pretty much anything I could want in a fantasy game is already covered (please stop creating tavern maps, it’s been done to death!). I’ve also seen most wild west locations covered off, same with those for my pirate games. Sci fi is another setting which has a surplus of maps. So, the modern era is one that’s really lacking and which you could break some ground in.

My best advice to map makers is to watch the best action movies in the genre you’re making maps of and take note of the places where the coolest fights go down and make maps of those places. Make your map distinctive and highly attractive, but avoid details that tie the map entirely to one scenario (like the mines in this map) or if you do, make it an overlay that can be selected as an option. If you can, work in overlays that include objects or details that could be used in a fight.

Finally, the more the map looks like something out of Autocad, the less I’m interested in it. Conversely, the more it looks like a real part of the world, the more likely I’ll go for it even if it’s not entirely right. For example, Lord Zsezse Work’s maps are all so beautiful and fantastic that I’ve reused many of them multiple times in different settings just because they’re so gorgeous.

Game Design: The Strange Case of Intimidation

There are a small set of skills that tend to recur in almost every game, as they represent common tactics and approaches that players use in games.

One of them is intimidation – representing under various names (coercion, threats, etc), the skill of being able to get others to do what you want through threats or power.

While most skills comfortably sit in one of the various categories of characteristics (acrobatics type skills all fall under some variant of Dexterity/Agility and knowledge skills are found under Intelligence or its equivalent), intimidation is one that falls under many different characteristics.

For example:

D&D 5e Charisma

Savage Worlds Spirit

Legend of 5 Rings Willpower

Warhammer 3e Strength

Star Wars (d6) Knowledge

By way of contrast, it’s hard to find some form of persuasion/charm under anything but a social type characteristic, such as Charisma, Fellowship, Presence or such.

What makes intimidation so different?

Different Approaches?

One possible answer is that there are many ways to force someone to do what we want. We could use force of personality (Spirit or Charisma), force of will (Willpower), sheer muscle mass (Strength) or techniques of intimidation (Knowledge), resulting in the differences.

This isn’t entirely a satisfying answer since you could use the same argument with charm – strength of personality, knowledge of how to entice others, physical attractiveness or techniques of manipulation could shift that skill to a variety of different techniques.

Design Philosophy?

It could be taken as a sign of the game designer’s approach to the game world – perhaps in Warhammer designers are signalling that might makes right; maybe in Star Wars there’s the opposite view of knowledge is true power; it could be that in D&D and Savage Worlds social abilities of any kind are ruled by Charisma/Spirit to give an undervalued characteristic extra utility; while in LO5R designers reflect a world where the strongest willpower will triumph over the weaker minds?

These are just guesses, but if this is the answer then we would guess that other skills would follow this pattern. But, as stated earlier, usually other skills are fairly uniform in the type of characteristic they fall under – why again is intimidation so different?

Making Other People Do What You Want Is Hard?

It seems to me that a combination of the above two factors is most likely, but mixed in with the fact that forcing other people to do what we want them to do (the essence of intimidation) is, in real life, hard to do.

One of the most important lessons in life is that you only have control over yourself, not other people. The use of intimidation to get your way in games is really wish fulfillment and different people have their own ideas how it should or “is” done, which leads to different approaches and different game theories coming together to push intimidation in the different directions that we see in games.

It’s a curious skill that warrants a second look for all game designers – what are you saying about your game world? How, if at all, do people in your game world attempt to force others to do their will?

Gaming Life: Warhammer World – Session 5 – An Eye for an Eye

Our final session of the Eye for an Eye adventure brings our heroes together in the library of Lord Aschaffenberg’s hunting lodge in the Reikswald Forest. Brought here by fate, they were enlisted to help the Aschaffenberg uncover what is wrong with the staff of this newly acquired property. They soon discovered some kind of conspiracy involving some of the staff being drugged. Having failed to convince Aschaffenberg of the plot without any evidence, they proceeded to split up and all get into fights with servants, the doctor and beastmen.

Regrouping in the library, arguing amongst each other for a time, they finally form their plan – a frontal assault on the cultists in the cellars below currently mid-ceremony – just as they hear a strange stone-on-stone grinding sound. The group descends the ladder down from the trapdoor in the library floor into a corridor and race around the corner, only to run straight into a blunderbuss blast! The soldier takes the brunt of it, the others managing to dodge in the second before the cultist fired it off.

They surge forward, finding another cultist also waiting in ambush just inside the room where there are a group of robed cultists chanting, an already dead sacrifice (one of the servants the soldier had gotten friendly with) and the manservant Piersson, in full robed glory, horribly mutated eye uncovered and gazing upon them. On the altar, covering the bloody sacrifice, the painting of the eye and another cultist holding open some unholy tome. The whole scene is light by the pale greenish light of Morrslieb, shining in from an opening in the ceiling and bathing it in put evil.

The soldier manages to take down the shooter, but suffers his first insanity, unable to cope with the sight of the horrific painting and the blasphemous scene before him. The dilettante joins him fighting the other cultist while the High Elf performer, unfazed by the scene before him raced forward, just as Piersson cuts himself and bleeds on the painting. The performer tries grabbing the painting, but winds up fighting over possession of it. The burgher also races forward shooting off slingshots at the other cultist, but misses his shots.

The ceremony complete, the painting suddenly shudders and a great winged monstrosity emerges from it, a daemon from beyond, unleashing an unholy wail that shakes the very souls of the group. The soldier snaps and faints from the horror of it all. The performer doesn’t pause and grabbing hold of the painting stabs into it with his dagger and manages to shear it completely in half, breaking the gate. The demon tries grabbing him as it is pulled back, missing, but the performer is nevertheless bathed in Chaos energy and finds his mind twisted by its effects, insanity ensuing.

The dilettante takes out the other cultist, and as the burgher battles with Piersson and the fading daemon, he manages to hit the daemon once and then strike the cult leader in the face, dropping him in a single hit. The rest of the cultists flee the room, the group consider their condition, almost all are badly injured and only the performer decides to chase after one who ran down a passage on his own.

He gives chase finding the cultist has climbed up a ladder to the second story of the hunting lodge. He pursues cautiously, finding his quarry in Lord Aschaffenberg’s room, about to slit his throat as he sleeps. He rushes forward, the floor creaking as he moves, alerting the librarian to his presence and they get into a short fight before the performer slips his knife between the cultist’s ribs and renders a fatal blow. Aschaffenberg meanwhile yawns a little and rolls over, continuing to snore.

The rest of the group, having done some quick first aid and revived the soldier, return upstairs to find the remaining staff of the lodge holding off the beastmen inside the lodge itself and two soldiers facing a couple beastmen trying to get inside.

Before they can move, the beastmen surge forward and cut down the soldiers. The dilettante rushes forward and cuts down one of the beastmen with his blade, the performer having emerged from upstairs also rushes down and joins the fray, putting down the other.

Suddenly another, bigger one surges forth from the kitchen. The soldier already having moved upstairs lifts a sofa over the railing and drops it on the beast, smashing it in the head and dropping it. The others quickly move in and dispatch it.

Dawn finally arrives and the few remaining survivors gather together to piece together what has happened, along with the finally awakened Lord Aschaffenberg. He is amazed at the group’s work and commends them on having saved his home from two attacks – one from within and one from without. Unfortunately, some of the cultists did escape in the fray and he hopes they might find them, but in the meantime he is very grateful for their assistance.

And so ends our first adventure – adapted from the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition adventure from the basic game – An Eye for An Eye – one of my all-time favourites!

Gaming Life: Warhammer World – Session 4 – Let’s Split Up!

We pick up this session with our heroes at a feast in a hunting lodge deep in the Reikswald Forest. They have just accused their host’s staff of being part of some kind of cult and attempting to poison them. While this might well have been true, they unfortunately had no proof of these heinous accusations, so their host, Lord Aschaffenberg, was outraged and ordered them to leave at first light the next day. The dinner ended suddenly.

As everyone stormed out, the Burgher stopped the doctor and began complimenting him on how well he played them. The doctor, flattered, and now already feeling the effects of the poisoned venison (which he had eaten to prove to Aschaffenberg that it wasn’t poisoned!), replied casually, “I haven’t the faintest clue what you’re talking about. We’re not up to anything. (Yawn) We’re not doing anything special tonight. This night isn’t important at all. I don’t know why you would think that we have something big planned for tonight, no nothing at all. Good night!”

Meanwhile, the hounds outside were barking, something was disturbing them. Perhaps the beastmen had returned? The soldier, who was not at the dinner, but instead was being “distracted” by one of the servants in her bedchambers (and also was plied with poisoned food by her). Being a stout lad, he not only withstood her distractions without fatigue, but also resisted the effects of the poison. He managed to extricate himself and ran by his room, grabbing his chain shirt and warhammer and heads downstairs to investigate the barking outside.

Now left alone in the Great Hall, our heroes considered their options and reviewed the mountain of clues (pink cards) and the maps of the grounds (realizing belatedly that they had missed visiting many locations in the Lodge and on the grounds).

They promptly chose the best possible option – split up! Not only split up into two groups, but everyone went off on their own. What could possibly go wrong with that plan at night in a manor filled with what they suspect are cult members and outside possibly beastmen besieging the lodge?

The High Elf Performer sneaks off to shadow the doctor up the stairs and keeps out of view as the Soldier comes racing down, still pulling on his chain shirt. The Burgher follows the Soldier, planning on heading over to the shrine, but stops when he realizes there might be beastmen about. He lingers by a tree, watching the Soldier ascend into the watch tower, listening to the hounds bark at the night and the kennel master, Olver quietly calms them and then emerges with them sniffing the air and moving straight to the wall.

The Dilettante meanwhile decides to investigate one of the paintings in the main hall, thinking this might all have to do with the religious division between the staff (Ulricians vs. Sigmarites). While removing it from the wall, he hears some noise in the library and, moving to listen in, catches the end of a conversation, “Now go get it and be quick about it!” He hears footsteps approaching so ducks into the study next door, but is just about to hide behind a desk when two of the servants enter. They ask him if they can help him and. embarrassed himself at being caught trying to hide, claims he’s looking for a drink and so one servant escorts him to the kitchen while the other stays behind.

Outside, in the watch tower, the Soldier tries to stir feelings of bravery in the beleaguered watchmen and then, fearing the beastman had returned, convinces them to all light crossbow bolts and shoot them into the forest nearby. The lights reveal a number of the foul creatures lurking in the woods. They now let out howls and charge the walls. More crossbow bolts fly.

The Burgher is distracted by a light in the sitting room window behind him. He turns and sees a servant has entered the room and then he sees the painting… the painting of the horrible, terrible eye. It draws him in and twists his soul. A little part of him breaks. Then, the servant removes the painting from the wall and leaves. Immediately, broken free of the trance, the Burgher races back into the lodge.

Meanwhile, the Performer has followed the doctor to the hospice and sees him there pouring something down the poor dwarf’s mouth. He steps into the room and the doctor turns suddenly, “Oh, I didn’t see you there, just um, pouring, um, some uh medicine in… (yawn), well, I really must be going,” and heads out. The Performer looks things over and confirms the doctor has poisoned the dwarf (again) with the soporific. Just then the nurse, a blind Sigmarite zealot enters and after talking with the Performer a bit, tells him to seek the Hammer, hidden in plain sight. He turns and races down the stairs to go to the Sigmarite shrine outside.

In the kitchen, the servant fetches some wine for the Dilettante then after pouring some wine, moves back toward the wall and grabs for a cleaver. As he turns, the Dilettante, realizing the jig is up, whips a knife at him, hitting his left arm, the servant lunges with the cleaver – the two are soon engaged in a scuffle, each trying to kill the other.

Across the hall, oblivious to the fight, the Burgher arrives out of breath to find the servant with the painting in the library with the rug pulled back and about the enter a trapdoor in the floor. He confronts the servant and the two are soon in battle, fighting over the painting and the servant stabbing at the Burgher with his knife.

The Performer, running down the stairs, misses the scuffle in the library, but hears something in the kitchen and arriving there finds the Dilettante in desperate battle with a servant, his clothes slashed and bloody, trying to draw his rapier as the servant is about to land a death blow. The Performer rushes forward with his blade and thrusts it deep into the servant, who collapses to the ground in a heap.

The Performer declares he has to get to the shrine and rushes off, again missing the confrontation going on in the library. The Dilettante does see it though and sees that the doctor has joined in the fray, cornering the Burgher. The Burgher takes a chance and smashes the painting on the doctor’s head, knocking him out and destroying the frame. The painting (as Fate or rather, Chaos would have it) lands face up just as the Dilettante arrives and he is exposes to the horror that is the painting of the eye, terrifying him to the core of his soul, just before the servant grabs the painting and jumps down the trapdoor into the darkness.

Meanwhile, outside beastmen are battering the gate and the guards are raining down crossbow bolts. The Soldier, a poor shot, decides his talents are better served elsewhere. Looking back into the courtyard, he sees that some of the creatures have broken through ruined parts of the wall and the kennel master and his hounds are desperately outnumbered. He races down the stairs to help and is soon engaged in battle with one that slipped past and was headed toward the lodge’s open front door.

The Performer, having reached the shrine sees all the symbols of Sigmar in this little outdoor temple, including a replica warhammer, covered in dirt and grime. He pulls it out and cleans off the dirt, revealing that it is in fact a real Dwarven warhammer. He takes it and runs back to the lodge, passing the Soldier who has just taken out the beastman in front of him, throws him the Dwarven warhammer and the two of them run inside.

Inside, the Burgher, without a second thought, leaps into the trapdoor to the amazement of the Dilettante. He lands in a narrow stone passageway, mildewy and stale air, but can hear something vaguely up ahead with dim light showing around the corner. He runs ahead and turning the corner, he sees a large room filled with robed cultists chanting over an eight-pointed star painted in blood with the steward of the house, Piersson conducting the ceremony and another of the servants prone on an altar in front of him.

Piersson though has removed his eye patch and now the Burgher sees his horrible mutation, a large bulbous black orb in place of the eye. Immediately, he pulls back and races back to the trapdoor and calls up urgently, “Get the others, fast!” just as the Soldier and Performer arrive.

And with that, the session ends.

NOTES

This was an awesome session. It started with the players puzzling over the various clues they had uncovered and feeling a little lost. At first their splitting up seemed insane, and in fact it could have led to a near TPK, but they in fact covered a lot of ground in very little time and by the end of the session were all back together ready to face the cult in the cellar, which will be where we resume next session.

At one point, we were spread over almost three tables with the map of the lodge, the gates and the cellar cult room all going at once. Thankfully, it was a quiet night at the game store. It certainly felt epic as battles rages all over the place.

I thought it might be difficult to keep everyone engaged as the group split up, but it worked well and once combat began with each of the groups, it was as simple as dealing cards to everyone (as per the initiative system taken from Savage Worlds) and counting down, each player and NPC going on their card as if they were in one big encounter.

I also experimented with using the Plate Mail Games soundscapes in the background. It was quiet enough at the game store that we could hear it and everyone liked how it added to the (major!) tension through this session. My playlist included the following tracks (you can guess when each was used):

We’re all looking forward to the big finale next session.

Spirit of 77 Encore, Review Follow Up and Another Scenario!

My Victoria gaming group asked for an encore of Spirit of 77 and I was happy to oblige them, giving another chance to check out the game.

This time, we had five player characters (pictured below)

Hugh Mungus, a Good Ol’ Boy who’s One Bad Mother looking for Thrills
Rex Cranium, a Vigilante who’s a Former Badge looking for Paybac
Jackie Chung, a Kung Fu Tough Guy looking for Honour
Rooster, a War Vet Bopper looking for Redemption
Slick Grooves, a Glam Honeypot looking for Thrills

The sessions begins with Hugh and Rex in the auto repair shop office, Rooster working on the shop floor, Jackie upstairs working out in his gym and Slick next door at the bar. Hugh receives an invitation in the mail to a super secret race – the Gumbo Rally! The gang assembles and begin planning. Rex calls a friend on the force and confirms his suspicions, there’ve been several missing persons linked to the race. He’s suspicious, but agrees to go along. Hugh works on his car’s paint job (!) – an eagle on the hood. Rooster calls his gang and gets them ready for a cross-country trip.

The next day, they gather at the designated meeting spot, a diner in Detroit. There’s already a motley collection of other race teams. Most notably, there’s Sir Richard Laurence, British tycoon/man about town; Mikey Corleone, the local gangster’s son; and the Hall Sisters, Annie and Allie, hot and dangerous.

The race organizer welcomes them all and announces that the race has no rules other than the following: first team to New Orleans before six AM tomorrow wins the million dollar prize, there’s an obligatory check-in Nashville and each team must carry a locked suitcase with them (no opening it!). Then, he says, “And we’ve just called the police and alerted them, so… go!”

With that, they hear sirens approaching and it’s a mad dash as everyone races to their cars. Rooster finds his boys are beating up someone who tried to mess with Hugh’s Barracuda, so deals with them and then runs interference as Hugh and the group escape into the streets of Detroit. The biker gang then heads off to stock up on molotov cocktails.

Meanwhile, the Barracuda heads out of town only to find a massive roadblock set up, with Sergeant Bickle manning the blockade. Rex tries unsuccessfully to hide his face as they take a sharp turn down a side road and find an alternate route out of town. They do escape the police, and decide to take a different side route South, avoiding the main road where they suspect there will be more blockades.

Out on the open road, they soon come upon the Lamborghini driven by the Hall sisters. They pull up alongside and exchange pleasantries, then Annie, having finished toying with them, accelerates rapidly away and disappears into the horizon.

Not too long after that, they spot something strange on the road just in time to avoid running over what turns out to be a carpet of caltrops. Cursing the Hall Sisters, they start plotting their revenge. Hugh redlines the Barracuda and manages to catch up to them, Rex takes aim and shoots out one of the tires, sending the car spinning out, crashing into a ditch. The motorcycle gang approach, throwing molotov cocktails to finish the job and the Hall Sisters open fire, wounding Rooster badly. The gang decides it’s not worth the pain and carry on their way leaving the sisters in their dust.

At the Nashville check-in point, they find Corleone and his giant brother, Fredo. While Slick distracts him, Jackie tries to steal Corleone’s suitcase out of the back of the car. Unfortunately, just he is doing that, a patrol car pulls in to the lot and a second after that Rooster arrives with his gang, roaring in on their motorcycles. Jackie leaps into the back of the car as Corleone returns and quickly gets into the car, pulling out in a rush with his brother.

The cop, befuddled by what’s happening, is helped to understand who the “real” threat is as Slick explains who just left. The cop quickly races to his car and speeds off in hot pursuit.

The police car, lights blaring chases after the mob bosses’ son and Jackie in the back decides it’s time to get out of the car. Corleone turns to look at the cops and sees Jackie there. He’s draws his pistol and Jackie leaps from the car using the suitcase as a surfboard, skidding off the street into the ditch. Hugh and the group miss him as they speed past, but Rooster and his gang do see him and pull him onto the back of one of the motorcycles. They all race past the scene of Corleone pulled over to the side and the patrolman cautiously approaching, turning a blind eye to the inevitable bloodshed.

The patrolman obviously called for assistance though, as they soon come upon another police roadblock. This time, the cops are searching each vehicle and there’s a big lineup waiting to go through. They can see Sir Alexander up ahead, so Slick hops out and skates over in his fur coat (wearing only a gold Speedo underneath). While talking with Sir Alexander, he manages to plant some drugs on him. Then, they wait and watch as Sir Alexander pulls up to the barriers, speaks to the cops, passes something over and is waved through. Money talks.

Rooster and the gang have arrived, so Jackie switches back to the car and Slick decides to go talk to the cops and tries buying their way through. Sergeant Bickle is there and he’s having none of it, so Rex goes over and tries smoothing things over. Rex used to be on the force and knows Bickle. After some strong words are exchanged, they strike a deal where he lets them through, but Rex will owe him in the future. Meanwhile, Rooster and his gang have started a fire nearby, causing a distraction and they get through as the cops go to check that out.

Now late at night, they’re on the last stretch when lights appear in the rearview mirror. It looks like Rooster and the Thunder Flowers, so Hugh and the group don’t worry, but as the motorcycles begin pulling up along both sides, in front and in back, it starts to seem strange. Suddenly, Hugh’s side window blows open as a chain smashes through into his face. A shot blasts open Jackie’s window as well and the biker next to Rex’s window falls back, readying for a shot. The Barracuda swerves and takes out a couple of them.

The group in the car open fire on the mysterious bikers, but Slick is pulled from the car onto one of the bikes just as Hugh decides enough is enough and accelerates away from them, fleeing the scene.

Rooster and his gang come upon this group of bikers and begin fighting as they race along the highway. Slick is in a fight for his life atop the bike, caught between wanting to kill his captor and not wanting to wipe out at 100mph. Suddenly, the biker bites into his neck, blood splurting everywhere and the danger jumps another notch.

Rooster’s gang is also in desperate battle, as these inhuman bikers begin jumping from their bikes to take down Rooster’s Thunder Flowers. Rooster also takes a hit and, already bloodied, is now hurting bad. His gang holds off the bikers as he rescues a fallen Slick from the clutches of his captor and then takes off himself, escaping with only a handful of his gang members intact.

Hugh and the gang are feeling safe of the biker gang, but then out of the darkness they almost ram a Jeep with no running lights. It begins swerving, trying to knock them off the road. Jackie takes immediate action and pulls himself onto the roof then leaps through the air to the Jeep. He makes it across, but is pulled in by the vehicle’s unknown occupants, the door closing behind him. Inside, he is set upon by at least a half dozen assailants and only his Kung Fu protects him, but he knows his luck won’t last forever, especially since his attackers have bared their fangs and also have inhuman strength.

The Barracuda pulls alongside the Jeep, Rex pries open the gas tank and expertly drops a flare into it just as Jackie breaks free. He jumps and miraculously lands on the hood of the Barracuda as the Jeep explodes in flames. They carry on.

The group feels good now, they’re on the last stretch and all is well when they come upon a family standing outside an RV broken down on the side of the road. Hugh ignores them and continues along, but Rooster realizes that the vampire biker gang is no doubt behind them and will take out the family. He stops and manages to load them up on the gang’s bikes, holding off the bikers just long enough for them to escape to safety.

It’s clear sailing now as they arrive in New Orleans just before 6am, the sun still below the horizon. Rex tries directing them to the rendezvous spot, but messes up and they wind up arriving a little late, just as Sir Alexander and another team get there. The cars screech to a halt and one of the contestants leaps from one of the cars, running up the stairs as Jackie sprints from the Barracuda, suitcase in hand. He bounds up the stairs, knocking the lady down only to arrive at the man waiting there.

He congratulates Jackie, takes the suitcase, checks it and then hands over the cheque for one million dollars. They have won the Gumbo Rally!

Additional Thoughts on the Game

We had an awesome time playing again. I’m sure I missed a dozen or more of the group’s antics through the night. Each of the characters really shined and the players all commented how the archetypes were easy to play with and, more importantly, lots of fun to play.

The game system remains perfect for this type of game. It’s simple enough to not drag game play, but has enough crunch that it’s not pure story-telling.

I do find that the moves have too many options to choose from (up to 7!). On 7-9 rolls (which are the most common), I prefer to offer my players two choice, usually something bad and something also bad.

I understand from a design perspective wanting to have more than just a couple options, but I would suggest that the game master, or DJ as they call it, pick two of them that make the most sense and offer those to the players. Otherwise you get into a situation of having to read out each one several times and then decision paralysis sets in. Even if you provide a copy of the Moves to each player to read, it significantly slows down the game as they read through each option and again hit decision paralysis or seek explanations of how each particular option would play out in this particular situation, forcing the DJ to come up with creative ideas for seven different possible outcomes!

In any case, we all enjoyed playing it again and everyone wants to continue with it, so that in and of itself is a resounding success.

The Gumbo Rally

This adventure is a combination of all the various rally movies (Cannonball Run, Gumball Rally, Smokey & The Bandit, etc.) with vampires thrown in. If you would like to run your own Gumbo Rally, here’s my notes for running it: Spirit of 77 – The Gumbo Rally

Gaming Life: Warhammer World – Session 3 – The Plot Thickens

We pick up with our group as they continue their investigations into the mysterious hunting lodge staff. Hired by the new lord of the lodge to find proof about what is afflicting the staff, they had just about finished interviewing the guards and the burgher and performer go search the gardens some more, but only find signs that it was not kept well for some time. Looking back at the manor, the burgher happens to notice the steward watching them from a second storey room. They quickly race up into the building to find him. He evades their questions and escapes as quickly as he can from their relentless interrogation.

Meanwhile, the soldier and dilettante seek some lunch in the kitchen and find it bustling with activity as the cook readies the dinner for the feast tonight. The room is also filled with the smell of the strange herb they’ve discovered in the gardens and on the doctor’s clothes. They suspect it’s some kind of soporific, which might explain why so many of the servants and guards are drowsy and appear drugged.

The chef is in no mood for questioning though. She offers a stew for lunch, which both readily accept. While the (drunk) chef fends off any questioning, the soldier and one of the servants get into a bit of a shoving match – apparently he is involved somehow romantically with the servant the soldier had hooked up with in the previous session. The chef orders everyone out of her kitchen just as the other two PCs return. They remain hungry while the well-fed soldier and dilettante begin feeling a little tired, but he soldier is able to shake it off.

The group turns their attention to the library and finds a lazy librarian doodling in the book there. They also find a couple banned works in amongst the various books. They arrange a distraction and get ahold of the book he was doodling in and find a strange reference to an eye. The dilettante remembers hearing a witch hunter speaking once in a tavern of having just wiped out a cult called something like the Eldritch Eye of something or other.

While they are busy in the library, the soldier slips off to a nearby closet on his own for another liaison with a different servant.

Meanwhile, the librarian discovers they have found his doodle and becomes incensed at their violation of his privacy and allegations that he has defaced the book. He huffs off to find the steward of the house. As that happens, shouts are heard nearby and they all arrive to find the male servant attacking the soldier who is caught with his pants down, the servant from the previous liaison screaming at him and his current amour also in a state of undress. The fight is broken up and everyone is sent off.

The PCs head upstairs to the hospice and the soldier receives treatment for his wounds. They again question the doctor, but find little more information of use. The bells sound and it is time for the dinner. Everyone is gathering for the feast.

The notables of the house are all there, including of course the master of the house, Lord Aschaffenberg. The performer puts on a bit of a performance before dinner begins and weaves into his story references to the “eye” and the rest of the group notices that the doctor, gardener and librarian have all caught the references. Our heroes begin to suspect they know who is part of the “trouble-makers”, having already identified the steward as some kind of leader of a possible cult off-shoot.

As dinner is served, the group declines the venison, preferring the goose as they’ve found a note reading “goose is good”, starving as they are. But they’re troubled to see that the Lord has ordered the venison and the burgher picks this moment to present an antique two-handed sword as a gift to Aschaffenberg, “accidentally” knocking Aschaffenberg’s meal off the table. Aschaffenberg orders a new plate of venison, so the burgher tries to convince him to have the goose instead. Aschaffenberg agrees and orders the venison instead for the burgher. The burgher declines it, at which the lord takes offence and the High Elf performer tries to explain that eating meat is not good, but that goes over poorly with the hunting lodge staff. Instead, the burgher eats his vegetables to the great affront of those gathered there, already muttering about “funny, odd elves”.

The kennel master, hearing his dogs barking loudly, is about to excuse himself when the group decides they’re going all in and the burgher stands up and announces, “There is something foul afoot!” With all eyes on him, he accuses the steward, doctor, librarian and gardener of being part of a cult and that that the venison has been poisoned. The doctor stands up loudly protesting, the steward watches on aghast and the librarian stutters and titters denials. The gardener continues stuffing his face watching on like this is the best thing he’s seen all year.

Lord Aschaffenberg demands for proof of their accusations. At this, the heroes look at each other and an uncomfortable silence sits over the room. Aschaffenberg, now in a rage, berates them for having made such vile allegations without any proof and the session ends.

RPG Kickstarters: June Roundup

It seems like the number of RPG Kickstarters that interest me is declining. Not sure if that’s because there’s less RPG kickstarters generally or I’m becoming more picky. This month there’s only two, both ending shortly, be sure to check them out.

Custom Pro Tabletop Audio Background Loops
(Ends June 16, 2015)

This Kickstarter is for professionally-produced audio backdrop loops for tabletop gaming. Each professionally designed and mixed track is ten minutes long, loops seamlessly, and is delivered in both Mp3 and FLAC formats. All you need is your favorite audio player, such as iTunes, to use these tracks.

I backed one of their previous Kickstarters and can attest to the quality of the background audio, but right now I am running most of my games at a game store, so it’s hard to make use of it since background noise generally is too loud to use it. But, I’m hoping in the future I’ll have my own space to run games, at which time, these will come in handy.

The tracks cover a wide range of settings and genres, leaning most heavily toward Fantasy (which makes sense). For $25 you get 30 tracks including an outdoor café, gritty city streets, a fantasy tavern, a merchant square and many more. For $45, you get those, plus a bunch of unlocked tracks (busy mall, elemental temple, etc.). I’m looking forward to them unlocking the jungle firefight.

If you game in a space where you play music in the background, these tracks are useful in setting the mood and worth checking out.

No Thank You, Evil! a Game of Make-Believe for Families (Ends June 17, 2015)

No Thank You, Evil! is tabletop game of creative make-believe, adventure, and storytelling designed especially for families (especially the kids).

I’m impressed by the components and watching the video on game play, it looks like it’ll be fun for the kids in my life.

A pledge of $40 will get you a colourful box full of everything pictured here, but if you up it to $70, you get a bunch of Kickstarter exclusives such as a bigger box, extra tokens, pad of character sheets and a cloth map of Storia.

If you have kids, this Kickstarter’s worth backing as it’s the first real kid-oriented RPG box set I’ve seen and will likely spawn a new generation of gamers. For that alone, it’s worth it.

That’s it for now, stay tuned for next month’s wallet-emptying extravaganza known as the Reaper Miniatures Bones III Kickstarter.

Gaming Life: Warhammer World – Session 2 – Investigating the Manor Staff

In our second session of Warhammer World, the heroes have just made it to the safety of the Grunewald Lodge’s walls and as the howling beastmen rage outside, they are ushered into the main building and, after a quick bath, meet with the current master of the house, Lord Aschaffenberg.

A big burly man, he quietly reveals to the heroes that he suspects the staff is up to no good and wants them to pose as hired help and find out what is really going on. He needs solid proof though, as they were all hired by his new wife and he doesn’t want to offend her, nor does he want any sort of public scandal.

After their briefing, they turn in (it’s late and they’re exhausted). While two turn in, the soldier hooks up with one of the servants and the High Elf performer sneaks out. He’s briefly interrogated by the Steward of the house as he reaches the front door, but talks his way out of it and emerges onto the lawn to investigate some strange movement he saw from his window.

Out there, he is ambushed by a smaller beastman that has slipped into the compound. In the brief struggle, the performer is stabbed badly, but manages to cut down the beastman and by the time the guards are alerted and arrive, the creature is dead.

The night was not over though, as the soldiers had many questions for the performer, out in the darkness alone so late at night and keep him up through most of the night, they sought to find out just what he was up to.

The next day, the group visits the performer in the hospice, where a strangely smelling doctor is tended (badly) to the wounded, with a blind Sigmarite nurse following behind him, fixing the bandages. Other soldiers and servants remain here, victims of a beastman raid a couple weeks ago that almost overran the lodge. Speaking with them, they seem drugged and out of it. The blacksmith is here too, a dwarf who appears raving mad.

The nurse takes a liking to the merchant (a fellow Sigmarite) and proceeds to list off how each of the servants and staff here are lazy, corrupt and heathens, but in particular, the kennel master is dangerous. She also tells him that she found something important and hid it in plain sight, but won’t tell him what it is.

The heroes move out to the lodge grounds and check out the forge, finding an empty Dwarven case for a warhammer, then in the garden, they find a large patch of an herb that can be used to drug people.

Moving on to the guardhouse, they speak with the Captain of the guard and his men. They all seem strangely tired and drugged as well. They’re not terribly friendly and become offended when it’s suggested they aren’t doing their job in protecting the lodge.

Finally, they visit the kennels and find its master there feeding raw meat to a trio of massive hounds. He isn’t very friendly and they soon learn that he is a fervent Ulrician and hates the Sigmarites who have moved into the lodge (the master and the nurse). They have noticed servant Ulrician symbols throughout the lodge’s older paintings and furnishings.

Having seen most of the grounds, they decide to head back into the manor for further talks with the doctor.

This session was heavily investigative, as opposed to the last session which was almost entirely focused on combat. I like that kind of dynamic, where we can focus in for a time. It’s a nice mix.

The props used in running this adventure are many, and special thanks to those who originally created them (though I can’t find their names unfortunately). The clue cards (in pink) provide the major clues that they find through their investigations (so that they can reference them from previous sessions) and the image cards for the NPCs for the staff of the lodge (there’s about 20+ NPCs, so important to differentiate them).

Gaming Life: Warhammer World – Session 1 – A Beastly Discovery

Just in time to play, I had the first version of my new Warhammer World game ready to go. The players created their characters using random draws from the career deck and we have a Burgher (merchant), a Dilettante, a Soldier and a High Elf Performer.

The group is travelling from Bögenhafen to Stromdorf in a carriage. The Burgher deals in rare weapons and is travelling for a sale or purchase (haven’t decided yet) with his Soldier friend as protection and the Dilettante studies ancient weapons as a hobby. He’s along for the ride and as an expert. The High Elf is meanwhile travelling with them as he explores the Empire, curious to see the sights.

Several hours into their travels, in the dark Reikswald forest, they come upon a gruesome sight. A carriage ahead of them has been ambushed and a group of Beastmen are toying with the coachman and others attacking the coach, tearing at it.

The scene is chaotic and immediately they fly into action. The soldier leaps off the coach, calling out the beastmen, a couple break off and the three are soon in deep in battle. Two more race past the soldier, launching a spear into one of the horses, the other slicing the horse’s throat, both steeds fall and the coach, propelled by the momentum, but tripped by the fallen horses flips over, throwing the coach driver to his death and crashing the coach into the side of the road.

The performer rolls with the crash, popping out of the coach before it even comes to a stop and dashes across the road and up the hill in the confusion of the moment. He makes it to the tree line without being seen by the foul creatures.

The dilettante and burgher, not so lucky, pull themselves out of the wreckage and shudder at the sight of these beastmen. The burger makes his way up the hill and readies his sling. The dilettante is frozen in shock watching the bloody scene before him.

As the battle between the soldier and the beastmen rages on, the larger beastman delivers a final blow to the coachman before him and the performer deftly sneaks up behind the other one still stabbing at the coach they had come upon. From inside a voice cries out, “Help me! Help me for Sigmar’s sake!”

The performer lodges his knife deep in the beastman’s side, it howls in pain and collapses.

The soldier is being battered by the two beastmen when the dilettante catches his breath and throws a volley of knives at one of the beastmen, one lodging in his throat and with blood spilling out over the soldier, he drops.

The larger beastman blows his mighty horn, the sound echoing around them. At this, the burgher fires off a sling stone at him, inflicting a cut on its face. Then, the burgher races down the hill, crying out a challenge to it. The beastman lets out a terrible roar and the burgher freezes in his steps and turns and runs back up the hill. The beastman calls out something they do not understand and turns to run into the forest. The other follows behind, escaping into the trees.

Our group of heroes regroup and find inside the coach a manservant who introduces himself as Hendrick, servant of Lord Aschaffenberg, whose manor lies not too far away. He says he was on his way back when they were ambushed. The heroes decide it’s safer to head to the manor than continue on this road agree to join him.

He asks their help in carrying his master’s things and soon the group is loaded up with crates trudging down the side road in the rain.

As they make their way, Hendrick explains that he had just travelled to Ubersreik looking for help. His master has just recently taken over this manor, previously held by a cousin of his new wife. The staff seem to be an unruly lot and his master needs someone to uncover evidence of what they are up to. Whether it is rebellion against him or something worse. Hendrick asks if they would help his master and the group readily agrees. They will pose as a group of new servants helping with his master’s things.

Thinking they might be close, the burgher decides to climb a nearby hill to see how much further they have to go when suddenly, without a sound, three beastmen burst from the trees and begin attacking the dilettante and soldier, the third spearing the manservant through the leg. Everyone drops their burdens and begin fighting back.

The burgher spots through the rain the turret of the manor house just around the bend and calls out to his allies that they need to get there now. He runs over to the fallen manservant, strikes down the beastman and starts helping him down the road.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group are caught between fleeing to the safety of the manor and fighting these monstrous things. The soldier holds his ground until a massive beastman, a wargor emerges behind them, flanked by a half dozen more beastman. The better part of valour kicks in and they all flee in terror, the soldier downing one of the beastmen before turning and running.

As they round the bend, guards on the manor’s walls begin unleashing a torrent of crossbow bolts, helping cover their escape. The doors open briefly to let them in and with them safely inside the first session comes to an end.

Afterthoughts

I enjoyed this first session using my custom Warhammer World rules. We were able to test out the combat system a fair bit and as a result I’ll make a few adjustments. Overall though, it worked very well.

We spent the first hour or so completing the character creation process. Although I like how fast Dungeon World character creation goes, my players prefer to have more options for customization of their characters, especially for a longer running series of adventures.

They rolled randomly to see what choices they had for race (two had the option of High Elf, only one chose it) and then picked one of three random careers. After that, it was entirely up to them, though constrained by their career to assign their characteristics and skills and to pick their talents, drives, hindrances and the rest of their characters from a long list of options.

At long last, I’m able to return to the world of Warhammer, and I’m loving it.

Warhammer Fantasy Reborn

WFRP-01 My favourite fantasy setting would be that of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I remember discovering it when a friend ran a game of it at his house in my college days.

Instead of the usual fighters, clerics, wizards and thieves, we were an odd collection of a burgher (merchant), a commoner, an apprentice wizard and me, a trapper. Instead of a trusty broadsword, I had a trap and a knife. I loved it!

In the Warhammer Fantasy setting, the heroes aren’t (at least at first) powerful or mighty.

They’re common folk, drawn into dangerous events and, as though fated by the gods, develop into heroes over many adventures.

D&D seems to be moving in this direction with 5e’s Backgrounds, but Warhammer did it first and does it best.

Players randomly draw their careers and develop their characters based off of them, not as a side-thought that adds a couple skills.

Just like in medieval times, what you were born into determined most of who you were (at least initially).

For a game setting that I loved so much, the game system left a lot to be desired. Horribly cumbersome (IMHO), I wasn’t a fan of it, so didn’t buy in for first or second edition. I did play with friends who had the game, but wasn’t interested in GMing such a complex system.

Warhammer 3e

When the most recent edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition (WFRP 3e) by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) came out, I jumped in with both feet. I bought nearly everything that came out for it.

wfrp-preview1_lrg My favourite part of WFRP 3e was that it used custom dice that could be used to enhance the story. Instead of the binary result of succeed/fail, you had dice that told you how much you succeeded and whether there were also some good or bad side effects with one roll of the dice. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed those dice. I even bought two extra sets.

The other major part of the game system involved the use of cards. As with all FFG products, beautiful cards, but oh, so many cards. Cards for this, cards for that. There was discussion how gaming spaces had to be large to play this game as each player had so many cards to lay out in front of themselves. The cards were really a double-edged strength of the game. There were too many, but some of them were awesome.

I liked the game system overall, but all those cards were troublesome. For example, pretty much for every action you wanted to do in the game, you had a separate card. For basic actions, you had about nine different cards. Some people created custom sheets compiling them, but you can get the sense there was a problem there.

I tried creating my own custom cards, compiling some, altering the game system to alleviate the need for others. I tried cutting down the cards. I went through about eight different fully developed versions of the game, as time went by, incorporating more and more elements of other games. The one constant was the dice. I loved those dice.

Ultimately though, WFRP 3e was discontinued last year. A little before that happened though, my experimentation with using the dice with other games hit a wall. I was finding that the different types of dice, because they were using different numbers of sides, were properly balanced against each other. This was ultimately fixed I believe in FFG’s new Star Wars RPGs that adopted the best parts of WFRP 3e, including properly balanced dice.

Warhammer World

Although the dice let me down ultimately, the setting is one that I cannot forget. It’s a very fully developed fantasy setting, with its own distinct elves, dwarves, goblins, etc. It has a history that melds the atmosphere of ours with a dark, gritty fantasy. Magic is not something you just play with. There are consequences. The gods are not just something in the background, they’re active and the newest god was the founder of the Empire – a man become god.

Having tried D&D 5e, I liked how they had finally made D&D into something really playable, fast and fun, but it’s still bland and boring to me. I just never got into the Forgotten Realms and I like something grittier for my games. But, I love fantasy, so in playing I rekindled my longing to play Warhammer again.

I didn’t want to return to the now-defunct system, nor my eight past iterations of the game (I prefer moving forward, rarely returning to play old designs, except to steal bits and pieces that I liked). I decided to plunge back into design work and create something new using the Warhammer Fantasy setting.

Using WFRP 3e as a starting point (for careers, characteristics and skills listings), I adopted the Apocalypse Engine’s moves for actions (incorporating advantage/disadvantage), used Savage World’s tactical options for combat, Drives from Lady Blackbird and blended in Gumshoe’s point spend system for skills. For damage, armour, defense and NPCs, I created entirely new systems (which I’m still tinkering with) integrating the WFRP wound cards (some of the cards were quite good).

I still miss using those fancy special dice, but the result is something that works well and reflects the grim, dark world of Warhammer. I call it Warhammer World and once again I can return to the world of Warhammer. I can’t wait!

Custom Pro Tabletop Audio Background Loops (Ends June 16, 2015)

No Thank You, Evil! a Game of Make-Believe for Families (Ends June 17, 2015)

Custom Pro Tabletop Audio Background Loops
(Ends June 16, 2015)