Wood you believe it?

Those following the progress of The Woods will be aware of the imminent closure of pre-orders. I'd like to report that 20% of the initial run has been purchased by pre-order... it took 2 years of wargames show to achieve the same result with the first edition so I am delighted with how the following has grown. Thank you everyone who has ordered one, I look forward to hearing of your exploits in the world of Talamhlar and across the void... maybe we'll play a game together someday.

Wood you believe it?

Following on from our article in the current Miniature Wargames mag, it's time for some pre-orders! Order your copy of The Wood second edition at oakbound.co.uk before the 22nd March and you can get one for just £15, 25% off the cover price.

With art from the excellent John Sibbick how could you not? ;)

One week more...

Yup, just one more week and then I promise I will shut up about Factious Waste and post some hobby stuff. Promise! Well. BOYL's coming up after all...

You've probably all seen it by now, but in case there's anyone new looking this is a near-future skirmish game I've been working on for many years now. It takes a strategic, action-based system and places it in a broad and comprehensive campaign framework to give you a strong narrative without the highly random elements that so often come with such games. Much of the rulebook is dedicated to background, scenarios and campaign elements that would work with any tabletop skirmish, so even if you're not interested in learning a new game I hope you'll find plenty of useful inspiration here. The seven factions in the book cover sci-fi commandos, insane lawmen, space cowboys, techno barbarians, pulp gangsters, revolutionary anarchists and gadget-laden craftspeople from an earlier century, so whatever miniatures you like to game with you'll be able to find something that fits!

If you have any of The Woods books you can also mix in the Action Tables from there to give you riding beasts and 'magical' aspects to the game. Or, of course, you can take the vehicle and firearm rules from Factious Waste to mix into your sci-fantasy!

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

Thanks for looking.

One week more...

Warbands in the Woods

For the second GROG game of the year we gathered for a 4-player session of The Woods, testing out the new warbands lists and scenario generator that Chris and I have been working on. As always Harry's table boasted a beautiful array of scenery breathing life into the ancient woodlands...

 



A Myeri Losbast makes his way through a shadowy mushroom glen...

Standing stones and caverns in a corner of the forest...

Tall conifers dominate the centre of the board, rising above the remote settlement...

Swampy pools and stone buildings on the border of the woodland...

Much of the terrain was courtesy of the companies that have put their support behind The Woods- Fogou Models (Dark Age buildings), Scotia Grendel (fungus, standing stones, ruined city) and Model Tree Shop (Trees, assorted, and a goodly amount of flock!).

The first game was a 4-warband confrontation in the middle of the wood. Mike's Wulver Cult were aiming to waylay Chris' Tuatha Bears, in particular their leader who had slighted the honour of the cult. Chris' outcast Bears were already carrying a wounded member (perhaps from their last encounter with the cult) and were simply trying to reach safety. A member of Harry's Fae Rade had been captured by my Myeri warparty and needed rescuing whilst my Myeri were trying to retrieve an ancestral artefact stolen by the leader of Mike's cult. The four warbands converged on an island at the heart of the forest...

The Myeri were hoping that speed and discipline would win the day. Their Draoi Geomancer cast a shroud of mists to conceal the group as the Losbastun took the lead with their Meirge and his totem. The captive Fae was given into the care of the group's Scealai so as not to slow down the warriors' advance.

Across the other side of the wood the Wulver Cult were advancing quickly towards their quarry. With their high Decisiveness and frightening weaponry they looked like they would have the edge over their foe.

The Tuatha Bears advanced steadily, keeping their distance from the cult. With a wounded member they couldn't move fast without splitting up.

The Fae made as much use of cover as possible, keeping their options open.

The pack of Whist Hounds manoeuvred into position to attack the Myeri from behind, but the mists prevented them from using their great speed to charge. The Fae Rademaster moved into position to dispel the fog.

The Tuatha were preparing for their clash at the centre of the board. Chris' Comlann formed up into a unit in shieldwall formation whilst slingers attempted a few shots at the shadowy figures in the trees. The cult's deerhound bounded ahead of the band, intent on taking down the quarry.

As the mists dissipated the Whist Hounds pounced upon the hapless Scealai, tearing his limb from limb. The uilleann pipes deflated with a pitiful rasp. As another of the Fae wove fate to elevate the captive to safety the Myeri formed up to perform the terrifying Peru-Peru dance. The Fae fled whilst the exhausted Whist Hounds cowered with fear.

Angered by the presence of the Fae the Myeri abandoned their mission and tried to take down their hated enemy. The Whist Hounds recovered, however, and the result was a stand-off until the Fae gathered enough stamina to magic their adversaries across the board. There they finally caught up with the Wulver cult, but by that time they were on their way off the board having completed their objective with only the loss of their deerhound. The Fae were successful in retrieving their captive colleague and the cult had exacted their revenge, leaving the Myeri and Bears to lick their wounds.

All in all happy with how the warbands lists played out. There are a few points values to tweak and a bit of wording to change but none of the bands seemed excessively overpowered. When it came to picking objectives some seemed more suited to particular warbands than others, as would be expected, but the next games showed that none of them was a walk in the park.

Warbands in the Woods

Gang fight in the junkyard of broken dreams

I cracked out my desert scenery for a 3' by 3' Factious Waste test game on Tuesday night. You may remember these cliffs from Deathrace 40,000 at BOYL 2015, or you may even remember when they were first built for my egyptain high elves six years ago! For this game we gave the two starter gangs carte blanche to drive any vehicle on the table.

 

A promising first turn saw my Trash Runner leader bag himself a tasty convertible whilst my NeoPrimitive and Luddite went after some scrap and my GenCorps officers activated their suit shields and went after the other gang. Spotting 3 of the enemies bunched together the Luddite prepared to drop a pipe bomb on them... only to fumble and drop the explosive right at his feet. Fortunately it was a dud and did minor damage but it was enough to drop him prone right out in the open. The Trash Runner seemed to be having difficulty getting the hang of his car's handling. After misjudging a corner he had to brake hard to avoid crashing into a pillar and spent a couple of activations pulling a 3-point turn to get back in the game.

Meanwhile the enemy Doughnutter had appropriated a nimble buggy and already stuffing some scrap into the back. The GenCorps descended on him with charged crossbow bolts but covering fire from ReFrat agents kept the officers at bay whilst reinforcements moved up to help out. The GenCorps diverted their suit's systems to deliver a crippling electric shock to the first agent, laying him out, but were forced down to the ground by a hail of machine gun fire.

Over the other side of the table the stricken Luddite was being hammered by gunfire. Kept prone by the relentless hail of bullets he was quite unable to get away from the buggy bearing down upon him and bit the dust... quite literally. His executioner slowed to allow another agent to jump aboard with a haul of scrap. Across the board there came a roaring of engines as the Trash Runner finally extracted his vehicle from the pillars and came cannoning forward in a cloud of dust, straight into the side of the buggy. The rammed vehicle skewed sideways and the distracted driver stood hard on his accelerator.

Smash! The buggy cannoned forwards into a rock pile, flipping and throwing its occupants clear of the vehicle. The Trash Runner leapt out to finish the job, but he was on the receiving end of retribution from another ReFrat agent. Fortunately a slick of oil spreading from the convertible caused the agent to loose his footing and his shots went wide, his magazine emptying into the sky. As the GenCorps officers were overwhelmed my gang fled the field, leaving the enemy victorious. Fortunately long-term injuries were minor (well, mostly) and the gang will be back for vengeance.

The game lasted 8 turns and took just under an hour. Really happy with how the vehicle interactions were working, keeping the action model-focused and slotting alongside the core SystemMech rules neatly. It was also our first real use of plot tokens as a narrative driver and again I was really pleased with the extra depth and flexibility they added. We each got through 2 tokens in the course of the game (to modify environmental features and our opponent's actions) so my estimated allocation of 5 tokens to a starting posse seems reasonable. I want to have another look at how further tokens are gained though as I'm torn between not wanting them to be too easily restored and not wanting to add complexity to the between-game stages by adding in a separate system. As always, thoughts welcome!

Gang fight in the junkyard of broken dreams

Free parking for wasteland warriors

If you've missed the times when I've harked on about Factious Waste in the past then you might not know it's a near-future, post-apocalyptic dystopian skirmish game set in a world depleted of natural resources. Tyrannical energy companies and the recycling mob vie for control of the desolate 'outworld' where the majority of humanity slaves on the treadmills of industry. Revolutionary luddites try to bring down the corporations, deluded neoprimitives take a stand to protect an ecosystem which was destroyed long ago and deranged desk cops from privileged inworld stomp out crude law enforcement amongst the barbarous desert.

It's a game that's been 5 years in the making and is finally reaching its destination thanks to the work of some fantastic artists. Tony Yates and Carl Critchlow will be familiar names to you I'm sure, but also check out the work of Mike Tenebrae and Simon Lee Tranter, it's epic stuff.

The core rules have been in place for a few years now (they were also bushwhacked for the celtic fantasy world of The Woods last year, but they started off in FW) but the game was lacking something very important- vehicles! You can't have a Mad Max, 2000AD-inspired game without some cool wheels. The principles I wanted to use for vehicles in the game had been around for a while, I just hadn't got round to fleshing them out. A couple of trips to pound shops earlier this year, some bits courtesy of Fox Box and Ramshackle Games and that has been rectified! The dirty dozen are now ready to go prospecting for that all-important trash running contract!

Airjunkers are primitive vehicles, usually nothing more than a big fan strapped to the back of a gutted derelict. They're slow, noisy and they drink fuel but they're relatively manoeuvrable and cheap.

Buggies are the most common wasteland vehicle. Their lightweight frames and large engines make them nippy, manoeuvrable, fairly fuel-efficient and good platforms for mounting weapons of various kinds.

 

The flashy members of the recycling fraternity like to flaunt their wealth in souped-up sports cars, especially the frat brats- spoiled children of the dons.



 

VIPs of the Genpower corporation also ride in style, though with somewhat more elegance than the brash frat. Then there are the industrial vehicles to be found scattered around the wastes. Tracked and wheeled earth movers, dumpers and construction vehicles are easily appropriated as slow but powerful workhorses for wasteland posses. 

For Trash Runners themselves, the Han Solos of the wasteland, their vehicles are their livelihood. Each is intensely customised and personalised to the style and work of the Runner they serve. Big rigs haul enormous loads of scrap across the desert, escorted tankers guard precious fuel cargos, flatbeds serve as mobile platforms for crews and gear.

These vehicles started out as matchbox and '1:43' (apparently) scale vehicles from pound shops, with bits from Ramshackle, Fox Box and GW imperial vehicles added to them. Many of them had their wheels replaced with those from tractor models bought from pound shops, enlarging wheels is my number-one priority for wasteland transport! The sizing's pretty good, even if some of the cars are a bit on the chunky side- that just helps the comic book feel. The detail's not bad either and I was delighted to find that poundland had a skip lorry and a rubbish truck (still WIP at the moment) in the right scale- perfect for a game of scrap hauling!

Free parking for wasteland warriors

Winter is coming...

Whilst I've been building up the stock of undead models I have also been completely absorbed in spookiness of a not-unrelated kind! I've just finished writing Barrow Ring Burning, the first narrative campaign book set in the celtic fantasy world of The Woods. The book will be available for pre-order next week through Oakbound's webstore and will be released at the start of December, so let's see what's in it shall we?

The book is a GM's guide to the village of Marbhanam and the surrounding countryside, it's traditions and customs and the unravelling of a dastardly plot to unleash forces of darkness into the Mortal Realm. It has rules and scenarios for using the SystemMech game system, but can easily be used as a sourcebook for any other RPG or tabletop skirmish game.

Barrow Ring Burning is split into six chapters, each one moving the story towards its climax. Played through just as written the adventure is designed to take 2-3 hours per chapter and so splits up nicely into six sessions with opportunities for character advancement and development between each. Of course, there's so much extra material and ideas for expansion within the text that an experienced GM can extend the adventure for as long as they wish!

The narrative begins on the eve of Samhain (or Halloween if you prefer) when the death of its chieftain throws the village of Marbhanam into confusion. Add to this the mysterious crowned minstrel who staggers into the midst of the wake and the terrifying masked figures lurking out on the downs and the signs don't look good for a peaceful winter season... The narrative reaches its climax at Modraniht with the veil between the land of the living and the realm of the dead at its thinnest, will anything stop the pale kings? Will spring ever return?

Each section has a mixture of classic pen-and-paper roleplay and tabletop skirmish scenarios. There is a strong lean towards investigation but the characters also find themselves frequently facing situations where they will have to gauge whether to take on their foes or try to out-manoeuvre them.

Because this is a perfect campaign to begin at Halloween we will be emailing everyone who pre-orders a PDF copy of the first two chapters so you can throw your players into the midst of the Samhain rituals whilst the printers get on with putting together these lovely books. As always your comments, suggestions and shares are much appreciated. Happy Autumn!

Winter is coming...

Into The Woods par t3: The Fiddler King

 

Following on from the last instalment, the adventurers are heading for a sheltered village in the hill country where they hope to return the children they rescued from the woods to their parents. I thought I'd use this opportunity to test out the beginning of the new The Woods campaign book I'm writing, Barrow-Ring Burning, which should be out in December. This shouldn't give too much away...

The adventurers arrive at Marbhanam, a village at the foot of the chalk downlands. They enter the settlement to discover that a wake is in progress, the Toisech passed away a few days previously and the village is both grieving and concerned since he left no successor and the important rites of Samhain are approaching.

The children are reunited with their parents and our gallant band are invited to stay and enjoy the village's hospitality. Midway through the evening though a sinister figure lurches through the crowd. A stick-thin individual with a harrowed and confused expression and a tall iron crown on his head. Asking around the adventurers discover he is a wandering bard who hasn't been seen for over a year.

As the night draws on and the villagers begin to drift to their homes only the adventurers and a small group clustered around the musician are left by the fire. Suddenly a pair of stocky figures with evil-looking masks jump from the darkness, grab the bard and drag him into the blackness between the houses. The group panic and spread out in search of the beings who have abducted their colleague. The game is afoot!

Dashing around in the dark nobody knows where the beings are... except the GM. Three of the villagers are actually these kidnappers but will only be uncovered if the characters can perceive them- that means they're going to need some light. One of the band has a lantern and another is a Geomancer and casts Illuminate to turn himself into a beacon. The band splits into two groups to try and close the two gates to the village, cutting off the abductors' escape.

After sounding out most of the villagers (and discovering them to be just that) one group spots a creature moving round by the sheep pen. The other figure is just out of sight, could it be the second kidnapper?

It is, but these beings are deadly when cornered and easily dispatch two of the characters (don't worry, they aren't dead just in a deep sleep). The gate now stands undefended and the kidnappers manage to flee out onto the downs with their victim. As the remaining adventurers scour the nearby countryside for signs one of them recovers the iron crown which was dropped during their flight. Hopefully this will give them some clue where to look next...

Overall very happy with how the scenario panned out. Distances and numbers of figures worked well but I think I need to downgrade the creatures' profiles a little. They're just a bit too strong at the moment, although it should be hard for the adventurers to win this one. Where the group failed was not making enough use of the villagers dashing around. Any of them could have been ordered to attack the abductors, allowing the characters time to get themselves in a position to take the creatures out. The group did use the Ordering and Coercing rules to good effect to get the other gate closed and guarded but in the panic of uncovering the creatures opted for a knee-jerk charge into combat instead which proved their undoing.

Stay tuned for the next episode!

Into The Woods par t3: The Fiddler King

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 12: Reek of the Fens

 



And that wraps it up for our look through Secrets of Shandisholm, thanks for joining us...

 

Wait a minute. You haven't told us anything about this adventure yet.

Well I don't want to spoil the surprises for when people play it.

 

You can't just skip over this last section, there must be something you can say about it.

All right then. Let's talk about characters. The Reek of the Fens has four main characters, Tuatha from Shandisholm. Of course you can make up your own, these are just examples. Because it's designed to introduce the game dynamics we've got one character who's brave, one who's perceptive, one who's wise and one who's agile. There's a shooting character, a herbalist, a geomancer and the group has a spear and a lantern so they're a well-rounded group.

 

You mentioned Cynefridd last time, she's the group leader?

Yes, the daughter of Harri Howl the chief. She's accompanied by Braden, a loyal friend who dreams of joining the tribe's hunters. They've persuaded Ifan, the village's champion archer and trusted by the Howl family, to accompany them and as they are leaving they find themselves being followed by Callmauwr, a strange and reclusive child with an obsession for scrawling patterns. These four make up the main group. They can be played all by one player or split between 2-4 players with a GM controlling the other characters they encounter.

 

What kind of things do they come across?

The adventure uses the scenarios from the previous section, with a list of models involved and any special conditions and objectives specific to this adventure. There's a Fae chase, some mischievous Pixies, saving a lone homestead from a Spriggan raid, being stalked by a supernatural being, breaking into a camp to retrieve a stolen object, trying to win the confidence of a troupe of Yaltogs...

 

And a special scenario?

Rescue at Mael Fen, the climactic attempt to retrieve Cynefridd's brother from the hands of his captors... or is it? This is quite a complex board setup on a 4' by 6' board, but can be played as two linked scenarios if your table isn't big enough. We've played it with the mountain trail represented by some string laid out across the tabletop and it worked just fine. Of course, we'd love to see pictures if you go the whole hog and make terrain for it!

 

Any news on when Secrets of Shandisholm will be available?

We're expecting delivery next week. The pre-orders are still available at oakbound.co.uk (in The Woods and SystemMech sections) and will be until Monday 8th August, so you've got just over a week to grab a copy at the special discount price. The first two miniatures boxes should be available from the 8th, a Spriggan Band and the Myeri Clan. They're on their way from the casters and the box wraps are being printed at this moment. As soon as I have them I'll get some pictures up.

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 12: Reek of the Fens

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 11: Scenarios

 

Game time! Tell us about these scenarios then, any general guidelines?

There are eight different scenarios in this section, but of course they're just examples and ideas. Players are encouraged to come up with their own scenarios and we'll be releasing a lot more in the future. All but one of the scenarios takes place on a 4' square board and will last around 60-90 minutes. The Chase has a bigger board at 6' by 4'. All the scenarios have conditions which end the game, but if none of them are met they all last a maximum of 12 Game Turns. Of course you can keep on playing if you wish, but 12 turns gives a good length and degree of challenge.

 

How are the scenarios laid out?

Each scenario has a title, a bit of flavour text describing a situation which might fit the scenario, objectives for two sides, special rules and conditions, a map showing sample board layouts and deployment zones etc. and some suggestions for how you might use the scenario in a narrative.

 

There don't seem to be any force lists for either side.

No, it's players/GM's choice. we've given an idea of what forces you might use, but play them a couple of times and you'll get a sense of what size/type of forces are appropriate. They'll be very dependent on how you're using the scenario, what characters are involved in the narrative and what models you have to hand. If you want a tricky situation for the characters to encounter ramp up their adversaries. The sample adventure gives a good idea of how these scenarios can be adapted for different situations.

What have we got then?
There's the usual tabletop staples- the one where the monster is hunting you, the one where you have to retrieve an object, the one where you have to reach a feature on the board and trigger an event... Then there are some quite different situations such as trying to steal an opponent's livestock, a hunt, burning down a settlement and trying to turn a village against one another.

What if more than two players are playing?
The scenarios are listed as having a 'Side A' and 'Side B', there's nothing to say that more than one player can't be on each side. We have some scenarios for more players, these will be released over the next year in one form or another.

Set the scene then, where are we off to for our first adventure?
It begins, unsurprisingly, in Shandisholm, a village in tumult following the disappearance of the chief's infant son. Whilst the village elders debate and organise the chief's daughter takes it upon herself to set out with a few friends to look for her brother...

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 11: Scenarios

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 10: Modelling

We're into the final week of looking through the pages of Secrets of Shandisholm, but it includes some of the most exciting stuff for me, the modelling articles and narratives. We're keeping the pre-order prices up on the website for the first week in August to give people who are waiting to get paid a chance to join in. Heard from the printers last week that all's going well, the books should be arriving from them any time in the next fortnight.

Modelling pages! That's great to see, not much attention paid to that in many game rulebooks.
Tell me about it, but I think it's what the hobby's all about. Creating these amazing worlds not just in your head but in 3 dimensions in front of you. The glorious feeling of knowing you made all of it!

Assuming you can make glorious terrain of course, some of us just don't have the time, patience, skill or budget for that.
Terrain-making doesn't have to be hard, expensive or that time-consuming, that's part of the purpose of these pages. Most of the materials we've used are cheap and easily available, and the techniques are quite easy to get good results with.

Or you could just go and buy ready-made terrain.
You could, but where's the fun in that I say! And it almost certainly isn't cheaper...

What's in the modelling section then, is it just terrain?
No, there is quite a bit of terrain stuff- modelling round houses, realistic trees, cheap solutions for nice-looking hedges and walls, and a look at the modular terrain we made to test and play The Woods on. If you were at Attack! Devizes last weekend you probably saw our board going through its paces. The modelling pages explain how to make everything on there. We've also got a section on how I go about sculpting miniatures, with a step-by-step look at sculpting Harri Howl, Toisech of Shandisholm, and some pages looking at the diverse array of miniatures available to choose from. I'm especially excited about the painting tutorial which the amazing David Stafford (aka Mr Saturday's Mumblings) has put together. Mr Saturday's Mumblings really inspired me to begin blogging almost 5 years ago, and without that there would almost certainly be no Oakbound Studio now.

You mentioned the miniatures ranges available, does that just cover Oakbound?
It's never been my intention for Oakbound to try and compete with all the other brilliant small miniature companies around. I'm far more interested in working in harmony, so if there's a miniature out there which fits the world/creature/theme I'm working on with Oakbound I like to point people to it. If nothing else it saves me having to sculpt another one! Warlord Games and Gripping Beast have been brilliant about allowing me to use their Dark Age/Celtic miniatures in this publication. Dark Sword, Troll Outpost, Wargames Foundry and Krakon Games also have excellent and compatible miniatures in their ranges.

So we've explored the world, learnt the rules, found some miniatures to use and built a nice gaming board, now do we play some games?
Absolutely! High time we looked at some scenarios...!

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 10: Modelling

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 9: Storytelling

We're over halfway through Secrets of Shandisholm now, and with only a week left to get those pre-orders in and save 33% off the retail price! So let's crack on with today's pages, the Storyteller's guide...

What does a game of The Woods actually look like then?
A good question. Very variable is the answer. It depends what kind if game you want to play and what suits the situation and number of players. Sometimes it plays like a game of Mordheim or Malifaux, two warbands fighting it out across the table with a player controlling each. Other times it's more like D&D, with players controlling a character each against a GM who runs the NPCs. Between those two extremes there are lots of possibilities, the Storyteller's guide begins by suggesting some different setups. We'll look at particular scenarios next Wednesday, but they'll generally involve retrieving something, getting somewhere, attacking something or protecting something. Fairly standard tabletop situations, but going straight in for the kill isn't usually the best way of achieving the goal.

Is the Storyteller's guide like the GM section?
Pretty much, although you don't need to have a GM to play. The guide discusses the benefits of a GM and the aspects they can bring to the game. It then describes some ways of making game environments more in-depth which can be applied whether or not you have a GM. This includes things like varying the difficulty of Actions, playing very small games or much larger games, secret agendas, creating narrative campaigns, seeing Skills as more than adjustments to the rules, building characters from the folk listed in the bestiary and taking games out of the Mortal Realm and into other weird and wonderful realms. There's a bit on game balance for people who worry about that kind of thing and the all-important Rule of Cool.

What's the Rule of Cool?
If something wouldn't normally succeed, but it would be amazing for the narrative if it did then the Rule of Cool says it somehow succeeds.

Doesn't that mean players can do what they like?
It's an attitude thing, which is central to SystemMech and The Woods. If you're interested in competitive play, tournament-type stuff concerned with the perfect force and intricate tactics then you CAN play SystemMech that way... but to get the most out of the story-lead elements you really need to be playing with people who are working together to create the world. That doesn't mean there's no competition, but it means that winning and losing become relative terms since the narrative is the goal. If there's difference of opinion which needs solving there are two guidelines- the GM is always right, and if you don't have GM toss a coin to decide.

I look forward to seeing the scenarios next week, what else have we still got to cover?
There's a decent chunk of modelling and painting articles, including an excellent Tiarna painting tutorial with Mr Saturday (Dave Stafford) whose blog inspired me to start this one in the first place. Then there are the scenarios, then there's a complete adventure "Reek of the Fens" which combines them together in a narrative campaign. That's Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week sorted.

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 9: Storytelling

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 8: Skills, Traits and Items

So, you promised to tell me how you become a Fateweaver...
Sure. Well, for most characters you'd have to buy a Geomancy Skill or an Augur Skill. Geomancers are artists who direct and predict the flow of Fate by drawing patterns, usually in sand or carved into rock or wood. Augurs have an inherent ability to twist Fate around them to suit their needs. Sometimes they're aware they're doing it and can learn to control it, sometimes things just happen around them.

I buy these abilities?
Yes, they're called Skills, they're one of three things you can buy once you've gained enough points to advance your characters....

During each scenario they take part in characters will be awarded Objective Points based on what they manage to achieve. In between games these Objective Points can be spent, advancing the character's abilities. There are three things they can do with their points- Skills, Traits and Items.

Skills are bonuses and special abilities that get applied to character themselves. This includes Geomancy and Augury, also having animals under the control of the character and the Warrior Skill, which allows them to pick further Skills from the Warrior table. Traits are like negative Skills which you can apply to your opponent's characters in the same way. Some only last for the duration of one game, others are permanent.

Items are useful objects you can pick up along the way. Items are normally bought at settlements for a 'Ring cost'. To acquire Rings you simply trade in your Objective Points for the same number of Rings. This process is irreversible, you can't change Rings back to Objective Points to spend on Skills and Traits. Sometimes Items and Skills combine, for example many Warrior Skills are only of use if you have the appropriate weapon. The weapon alone might give you a slight advantage, but the weapon combined with the Skill makes your character very formidable. Unfortunately for this reason Warrior Skills are pretty expensive.

The cost of Skills and Items doesn't just reflect how 'good' they are in the game but also how rare an Item is or how hard a Skill is to learn. A sword, for example, gives different but equivalent bonuses to an axe. However, a sword is a lot more expensive because axes (being domestic items used for cutting firewood etc.) are a lot easier to come by and less difficult to forge.

There are a lot of Herbs in the book as well
Yup, a whole section on herbs, where they can be found and what they do. Having a Herbalist in your party is a smart move as they are the ones who can identify different plants and prepare the various potions and poultices which make the herbs effective.

Can you increase your character's Core Stats by spending Objective Points?
You can. It gets more expensive as you get further advanced though, so making a '2' (average) stat into a '3' (trained) is relatively cheap, '4' to '5' is a lot more expensive and '5' to '6' requires a lot of Objective Points.

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 8: Skills, Traits and Items

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 7: Action Tables

Good morning. Thanks to everyone who came and saw us at Attack! Devizes at the weekend, we had some good games and unleashed a lot of terror upon the Mortal Realm! Another look inside the pages of Secrets of Shandisholm today, this time we're talking about Action tables...

 

Let's get down to it then, what Actions can I spend my Stamina on?
There are 6 tables of Actions in the book: Movement, Relational, Shooting, Grappling, Instinctive Reactions and Fateweaver Actions. Movement, as you'd expect, covers walking, jumping, climbing, sprinting etc. Relational is to do with interacting with other models and the board, speaking, coercing, investigating, operating machinery (although there's not much in the way of machinery in the lowland forests!). Shooting covers loading, aiming and shooting itself. Grappling is a bit more complicated, there are Grapple Reactions you can make if you see someone charging at you and Grapple Actions you can perform if you win the fight. The better you do in the fight the more options you have. Fateweaver Actions are like spells which can be cast by characters whose profiles list them as Fateweavers. Instinctive Reactions are Actions which can be performed in response to something else happening, for instance being shot at or targeted with a Confuse Fateweaver Action.

Shooting and Grappling must be quite interesting without dice rolls.
Shooting is based on Accuracy, if your Perception is good and you're steady under pressure you have a better chance of hitting the target. This is modified by what else has happened, so your accuracy decreases if you've moved as well, and decreases further if your target is moving fast for example. You can boost your accuracy by performing Aim actions before shooting. Once you've calculated your Shooting Range by following the easy calculator on the Shooting page you measure that distance in inches. If you can reach the target you've hit, otherwise it's a miss. So there's a combination of being able to accurately guess distances and plan ahead so that your Actions and those of the target give you the maximum chance of hitting. Hit models are knocked back and must take an Instinctive Reaction as well as sustaining damage. Being hit by a missile weapon isn't as lethal as being pounded in a Grapple, but it seriously affects your ability to make the most of your next Activation, especially if you've run out of Stamina and have to Fall Prone.

And Grappling?
Grappling is a bit more complicated. Planning the attack is important as if the fight goes badly for you it can get serious very quickly. First you initiate the Grapple. This is essentially a charge, but if your opponent can see you coming they get to react which can make a substantial difference to the outcome of the fight- so a stealthy approach is often best. Next you calculate Grapple score. This is based on the model's Finesse (Strength plus Agility) but is modified by circumstances, for instance if a model's Centre Front Line isn't touching their opponent's base it means their opponent has managed to move to the side of them (Wide Spacing them) and their ability to defend and strike back is reduced. Each model's remaining Stamina is added to their Grapple score as all efforts are committed to fighting for their lives and if the initiating model managed to launch their attack unseen they can add the Stamina spent initiating to their score as well. Again, there's a handy calculator for working this out. The model with the highest Grapple score wins and the amount they win by determines how many of the Grapple Actions they can choose from. These include hitting your opponent and knocking them to floor, but also more subtle tactical moves like pushing them backwards, Wide Spacing them and using the advantage to escape from the fight. Different weapons and skills also give special abilities in a fight or reduce the cost of Grapple Actions. For example a model with a spear can keep an opponent at a 1" distance, preventing their blows from landing as long as they keep winning rounds of combat.

How can you swing a fight in your favour if things are going badly?
It's difficult, as it would be if you've misjudged your opponent. There are ways though. Having support is crucial, if there's a friend to step in and help you out they'll almost always swing the balance, it's really hard to fight two opponents at once (but a shield helps). There really is no substitute for planning the attack carefully. If you can finish a fight in one round and get away that's the best situation, if the fight continues into the next turn and your opponent has a chance to respond and get help into the Grapple then things can get messy. At the start of each successive round of Grappling (the start of every Game Turn) models have a chance to Break Off and escape from Grapples, so if all else fails you can run away. But whether you escape unharmed or not depends on how fast you are and how strong your Decisiveness is.

What are these 'Maximum Values' which crop up on the Action pages?
Maximum Values are a safeguard against ridiculous stats. They don't often come into play, but just sometimes you get a model whose stats are unbalanced to the extent they are able to do things they wouldn't reasonably be able to. For instance, models with very high Courage but low Agility could still move long distances since Movement Actions are based on Dexterity, a combination of Agility and Courage. The Maximum Move Value prevents this by limiting a model's movement to four times its Agility, no matter how brave a model is if it isn't agile as well it can't move fast. Effectiveness of Grappling is constrained by a Maximum Value based on Strength, no matter how quick a model is weak blows won't be effective. That's why most of the Grapple modifiers modify your opponent's score down, not yours up. Maximum Shooting Range is decided by Perception and Maximum Charisma by Wisdom. Every core stat except Courage therefore governs abilities on one Action table, which balances the effect Courage has of increasing both Stamina and Decisiveness concurrently.

The Fateweaving table is unique to this book?
Yes. Fateweaving's great fun, I recommend warbands/adventuring parties always have a Fateweaver of some kind! They really do give you the edge if you can position them right, keep them safe and have them store up enough Stamina.

So Stamina stacks does it?
Not usually, but Fateweavers have a special Gather ability which means they can save Stamina between turns for the purposes of casting more potent spells.

How do you become a Fateweaver?
We'll look at that in the next section, Skills and Items. Stay tuned!

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 7: Action Tables

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 6: The Rules

Alrighty then, let's get down to how this thing works...

We're about a third of the way through the book now, and we've just hit the rules section. Is there a reason you put it together so it takes so long to get to how to play the game?
Absolutely, several in fact. First and foremost it's because this is envisioned as a sourcebook, not a rulebook. We've included the SystemMech rules in it so that it is a complete game in its own right, but the emphasis is on exploring the world and the creatures that inhabit it. That can be used as the background for any game system, not just for SystemMech. In fact, the rules section begins with a way of importing characters into SystemMech from other game systems and for converting the stats given in the book for use in other popular game systems. Secondly the rules themselves are just there to support the stories as they unfold on the tabletop. The narrative always takes precedent and so it made sense to start by introducing the narrative rather than the rules. Lastly it's because the middle of the book is easy to find so you can locate the rules section quickly when playing. There are also reference tables at the back.

How like other games is SystemMech? And how is it different?
It's similar to many tabletop miniatures games in that you have models representing the characters and they are moved around on the table by measuring distances in inches. There's shooting and combat, staples of pretty much all tabletop games. The crucial differences are that SystemMech uses no dice rolls or card draws to determine success. You won't be asked to roll to hit or draw to see what happens. Instead your models can perform a range of Actions which stack and combine with the Actions of other models and the situation on the tabletop to determine their success. Whilst shooting and combat are present they aren't always the best choices, combat is particularly lethal if things don't go your way. Models can coerce, charm and intimidate enemy models to gain advantages and control over them, and order friendly models to perform Actions out of the normal turn order. It's a bit like playing chess, you need to think a few turns ahead to plan strategy.

Sounds complicated.
Not really. Most of the rules section consists of Action tables, the core principles of the game only takes up a couple of pages. As I say, it's narrative-driven, so planning ahead is only a must if you're bothered about strategy.

What are the core principles then?
There's Perception- that's what your models can see/sense around them. Each model has a Perception Range ( circular area centred on their base) and a Field of Vision (an arc in front of them), anything in those areas can be Perceived and have Actions targeted at it (so long as it isn't obscured by terrain). Then there are the 5 core Statistics each character has: wisdom, perception, courage, agility and strength. These combine to give secondary stats which affect the game, for instance a character's Decisiveness (when they Activate in a turn) is based on wisdom+perception+courage. Their Stamina (how much they can do in a turn) is based on courage+agility+strength. Shooting range draws on Accuracy, which is courage+perception (how well the model can see and how steady they are under pressure) etc. They also have Endurance, which is how much damage they can sustain. That's pretty much it, with elaboration and clarification, except for the one definite legal restriction- no pre-measuring!

 

What sort of size games are the rules designed for?
I guess you'd call them Skirmish or Warband games. Half a dozen or so figures per side. Of course, you can go RPG style and have one character each in a party of adventurers with a GM or you can play like any other skirmish game, one player's band against another. The scenarios in the book are mostly for a 4x4' board and last 60-90 minutes.

Not mass-combat then?
By all means put as many models on the table as you like! But it's a question of how many profiles you can keep track of. If they're all the same probably no difficulty in having 20 or so models on a side. There are plans to build a mass-combat system into SystemMech in the near future, but that's not really what this sourcebook is aimed at.

And SystemMech is available apart from The Woods?
Yes. It's available to download free from the Oakbound website. SystemMech itself is a blank game system which can be imported into any world you like and customised to suit. For instance, we're currently doing starter boxes of SystemMech with the Legends of British Steampunk background and will be picking up Factious Waste, our dystopian near-future world, as soon as time allows.

It's also registered Creative Commons.
Yes it is. That means you can download, copy, distribute it, use it in your non-commercial publications as you like. It's a very granular system with lots of space for creativity and customisation so we'd like to see as many people using it in different ways as possible. The only thing we ask is that if you're wanting to use it in a publication or event you'll be charging for you contact us about a small license fee beforehand, just so we don't lose out and can keep putting out in depth sourcebooks like this one!

A look inside Secrets of Shandisholm- part 6: The Rules