Let's Talk: About Boats (From Reaper)

Howdy, everyone! Today, I wanted to take a minute to talk about boats! But, why? Because you need some for a scenario or two in Ghost Archipelago! And I thought it might help to know what will work best for your crew and your games, before you spend any money.

Dreadmere Fishing Boat - 

 

Cost: $4

Capacity: 1 Model

This was the first set of boats that I bought and I like the look of them. Sadly, they aren’t really big enough to use for games. However, they do work great for terrain. Or maybe other games. Or if you want to split up your crew even more. For the price, they might be a bit expensive, but are nice for some good looking terrain. You might also be able to use them for other games or leave them around for games. As many games could have large bodies of water, you could leave some around for models that will have trouble with swimming checks to get across them, perhaps a bit slowly.

Raft - 

 

Cost: $3.50

Capacity: 1 Model

While this boat does look pretty good, it isn’t really big enough for much of anything. One nice thing is that the raft is flat on the top and the bottom, so there’s no need to worry about balancing the raft or any minis on top of it. This is slightly less expensive than the boat above, so it might be a better option for terrain or spares, as noted above.

Raft Of The Damned - 

 

Cost: $8

Capacity: 4 Models*

This is a beautiful boat to have on the table. However, fitting models on this one isn’t easy. To fit four models on this one, I had to add quite a few pins to it, strategically placed. Which wasn’t too hard to do but might not be something you want to do. And it might not fit the look of your crew. Thankfully, I have a Dark Elf crew that I plan on running, so the corpses and dead shark will fit in nicely.

Sloop - 

 

Cost:???

Capacity: 4-5 Models

This one is the best one that Reaper makes (thus far) but isn’t easy to buy. That’s because it’s part of The Pirate City Of Brinewind boxed set, which is $40 and part of the ReaperCon 2021 stuff. I don’t know if the sloop will be sold separately in the future. That said, the whole set is great for the other terrain it has, but you might not want to pay $120 for three boats. If they do sell it separately, for hopefully less than $20 each, I strongly recommend it for your crew. It looks nice, the boat fits four models easily enough, and it doesn’t require any modification to use. One thing to note, if you do buy the boxed set, is that the wagon that comes inside doesn’t fit 30mm bases but will fit 25mm ones.

Sources Say: Reign In Hell - The Oculus Spear

Name: The Oculus Spear

Produced By: Snarling Badger Studios

System: Reign In Hell

Genre(s): Horror, Demonic, War

 Not too long ago, two YouTube wargaming guys put together a simple wargame about demons beating the hell out of each other in Hell, cut off from the mortal world. While the game included a campaign rule set, it didn’t have rules for solo play. Well, now we’ve got a little campaign for solo and co-op play! Let’s break it all down.

The first scenario needs six (or ten) Carrion demons, who are fighting over the remains of of two cabals that beat the snot out of each other. There’s three objectives you’ll need, so you’ll want to get those looking good, too. The Carrion demons are about as powerful Mephits but are much more deadly if they gang up on you. You NEED to kill them as quickly as possible. Thankfully, you can continue the campaign if you lose, but losing will really hurt you in the next game. The important part is that you learn the location of the Oculus Spear.

Which brings us to our next scenario, where you’re going up against eight Slaughter Fiends, protecting a shrine. So, yeah, fun times. And they’ve got a chance to heal up during the game, meaning it’s going to be a rough one. You have five rounds to kill the Fiends and/or get as many of your demons as close to the Shrine as you can. While you can replay this scenario if you lose, it’s going to make it much harder than it was the first time around.

The third scenario is going to be even harder, as you’re up against an Executioner and five Spined Demons, and you have to survive against these monsters for five rounds. At least your leader does. Losing this scenario doesn’t end the campaign but it punishes you pretty harshly for failing.

The next scenario has you facing a Lord of Flame and nine Flame Minions, and you have three lava pools that will explode you need to avoid. Oh, and the Flame Minions explode, too. So, explosions for everyone! To win, you have to keep your leader alive and kill the Lord of Flame, which doesn’t sound easy, what with all the explosions. If you lose, you can replay the scenario, but it gets harder every time you play it again.

The fifth scenario doesn’t start with any enemies on the board but they might pop up as the game goes on. Instead, you need at least three ruins and have to search them. Every time one of your demons moves, you have a chance of having some baddies pop up. Carrion demons, Slaughter Fiends, Spined Demons, Serpent Knights (because you’re going to have six of them laying around), Demon Geists, and Quick Tar. Oh yeah. This is going to be fun. If you get lucky, or have the right Cabal, this scenario can be really easy. If you’re unlucky, you’re going to get buried quickly. And the bookkeeping for it is going to be a nightmare. Good luck. Because, you’re going to have to keep searching again and again until you finally find it. Thankfully, you can keep playing it until you finally find it. Suffering more and more penalties until you either give up or manage to squeak out a win.

The final scenario requires a single big demon on a big base. This is the Soul Emperor and he will absolutely wreck your shit. He’s very powerful, moves quickly, and hits like a freight train. Oh, and he doesn’t die automatically. You have to hope that he doesn’t heal a bit or a lot. If you lose, you have to start all over again. If you win… Well, you’ll just have to buy it and find out for yourself.

Whew. That’s quite the book. I like it but I don’t like how many specific minions and terrain you need. I mean, most of us will have ruins and something we have use for a shrine but I doubt many of you have crags and pools of lava laying around. Or have a half dozen Serpent Knights or the others just laying around. I don’t mind the Soul Emperor, as it’s a great excuse to track down something impressive to add to your collection.

Well, now that I’ve reviewed this (and picked up a few things), I’m going to play through it. I don’t know when but it’s on my list.

Deadlands: The Ferner Five: The Fortress O' Fear

Dare you enter the Fortress O' Fear? Well, the Ferner Five sure dared!

Welcome back to the (mis)adventures and (mis)deeds of the Ferner Five, the best posse to travel the trails of the Weird West! Alright, they might not be that good, but they sure did have a hell of a good time.

Before we go any further, I have to give you another huge spoiler warning. Not only are we going to talk about the adventure itself, but also some big things that are going on in the Deadlands setting. If you're familiar with the settings (note the plural there), this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to you. The rest of you enter at your own risk, you were warned...

Also, this is going to be one of the longest stories I've ever posted, so I apologize in advance for making this one entry. If you need to, wait until you've got the time to really sit down and read it, I promise it'll be worth it. And, yes, a lot of this is already covered in The Tale of Phil Calhoon. So sue me.

Chapter One: The Plot Thickens

Once again, we're going to start with a bit of a recap but, there's going to be some new stuff at the end of this section, so don't skip it! I know it's a long one but it's worth it.

Our story began on a train from Denver to the City O' Gloom, better known as Salt Lake City. Our posse didn't know each other but had all received a letter to come to SLC. On the way, some robbers blew up the bridge and the posse had to fight them off. Then the real trouble started. They got shanghaied into helping a member of the Pinkertons into tracking down a creature known as the Husker. It got away, making her less than pleased.

Next, the posse had a little adventure involving a small town, a celebration and feats of skill, and a lot of booze. And whores. Enough said on that one I think.

When they finally arrived, they got offered a job with Dr. Hellstrom to track down a huge black diamond called the Heart O' Darkness. After some investigation, and some fighting and shooting, they tracked down the thieves, the Marshal Rex Gang, and managed to capture them. Of course, they were too late and they got an offer to continue tracking down the Heart to Lost Angels.

When they gone to LA, they found that their lead, a man named Stone, had been captured by Reverend Grimme (the man who runs the town in all but name) and sent to Rock Island Prison. A man named Old Pete offered to help get them to the island After some sneaking and some bashing of heads, they freed Stone, and then fought some demons in the Church of Lost Angels. Once that was done, they discovered that Stone and Old Pete were one and the same! And they got away with the Heart O' Darkness.

Whew. That was some ride, wasn't it? Well, you best hold on to your hats because we're about to start dealing with time travel, who the Reckoners are, and the fate of all humankind. Why did it have to be up to these men of questionable morals...?

Okay, it wasn't just these men. First off, one of our “guest stars,” Josephine turned up for most of this adventure. So, if you've forgotten who she is, wander on back to the cast of characters part of this series. I'll wait.

I've also been forgetting about Dieter's damn hellbeast. By that, I mean the meanest dog you will ever have the misfortune to meet. It's large, it's intimidating, and it just doesn't like people. Except Dieter. At one point, I mentioned that the that the dog had wandered away and when it came back, Dieter's player said it had a severed hand in its mouth. We didn't ask where it came from and that dog enjoyed the new chew toy. When Penwood tried to get a closer look at the hand, he almost lost his.

Now, there's also a very important woman you're all about to meet. Say hello to Jackie Wells. A woman from 2094 that's come back in time to save the world. Yes, you read those numbers right. Jackie's from the Wasted West (which I wrote a review about, if you're interested). What's she doing here? Well, let's get started.

Jackie tracked down the posse the morning after their “heroic deeds” on what's now known as Bloody Sunday. She explains who she is, where she's from, and that she's after the Heart, too.

You see, what Stone is going to do is take the Heart to the Devil's Tower in Dakota Territory and create a Deadland. A chunk of the Hunting Grounds where Manitous (read: demons) hold sway but, here, on earth. It won't be completely in the Hunting Grounds, but it will mess things up for miles and miles. And that'll cause the Sioux a whole bunch of trouble. Bad for them, but good for the Reckoners. While I was having this conversation with the players, I handed them Jackie's journal to look at. It's written from her perspective and explains the basics of the Deadlands: Hell On Earth setting. The basics are that in the late 2080s, war breaks out between the USA and CSA, as well as all over the world. In addition to regular nukes, they throw around irradiated Ghost Rock bombs. These not only create your normal issues with radiation but they also create Deadlands where they land. This is the apocalypse. It's the end times. And the Reckoners appear on earth. Their names? War, Death, Famine, and Plague. That's right, the Reckoners are the Four Horsemen. How's that for a bad trip?

But, it gets worse. How can it get worse? Jackie fills them in that in the original timeline (gotta love time travel), the Reckoners lost. The war never happened. Fear, the thing that the Reckoners feed on, dropped and people lived happily ever after. Except for one man. Former man, I guess. Stone. One of the first Harrowed and willing servant of the Reckoners. Using the last of their mojo, they sent him back in time. Not only to steal the Heart and mess up the Sioux but, to be their enforcer. Imagine, one of the meanest, toughest, and most powerful servants of evil in the known world, but now there's two of him. One with the knowledge of possible future events. And heroes. So, that's how they won. They plugged everyone who would be a threat to them and made sure mankind invented those Ghost Rock bombs. And the posse just helped them do it.

To kick them while they were down, I mentioned if they remembered the letters they received all those weeks ago. I asked them who they thought sent them? That's right, Old Pete. Or Old Stone, as “Peter” also means “Rock.” He remembered that they had freed him the first time around and got them together to help him. Yeah, I'm a big son of a bitch. But, it worked. It got them riled up, so they were ready to take down Stone and save the world. All over again...

Chapter Two: On The Road Again

We return to our story already in progress. Jackie points out that Stone, which one doesn’t really matter, is going to take the Heart to the Devil’s Tower and preform the ritual to make it the center of a Deadland. With this knowledge, they get the Murder Bus (the laser armed steam wagon) up and running and start chasing down Stone. Oh, and Phil and Dieter were riding Velocipedes, too.

With the murder wagon and other rides, the posse was able to catch up the train that Stone had left town on. Yeah, if you’re familiar with the setting, you might see the hand waving going on, as there’s no rail lines to LA (yet) but they were itching to get started, so we just went with it. And before you ask “Which Stone?” it’s the one with the Heart. The other one doesn’t really matter in this adventure, so when I refer to Stone, it’s the one that left LA with the Heart. Got it? Good.

When the posse rolls up on the train, which is barreling down the tracks, Stone knows that they’re after him, so he tells some of the other folks on the train that the Posse is a bunch of bandits, and everyone starts putting lead in their direction. Penwood and Heinrich starting shooting back, those mad doctors, while Dieter and Phil got as close as they could. Using an ax, Phil was able to make a foothold, so he could climb off his Velocipede and get on board the train, with Dieter not far behind. Using some rope and dumb luck, the rest of the Posse was able to hook onto the train (I honestly don’t remember how we did this) and also got on board. There was tense moment when Stone grabbed a woman and put a gun to her head. Somebody hit him and he let her go but then goes all ghosty on them but Jackie is ready for this. She puts a round through his shoulder and he falls through the train car floor! With Stone now miles behind them, it isn’t hard to find the Heart in his saddle bags and throw some money at people to be able to stay on the train. How’s that for some action.

The Posse stays on the train, and well ahead of Stone, all the way to the City O’ Gloom. Now, they have a bit of a choice: They can turn the Heart in for the reward from Hellstromme or they can help Jackie get the Heart to the Devil’s Tower, through the portal into the Hunting Grounds, and back to the future, where it might do some good. The Posse, bless them, didn’t even blink an eye and said they’d help Jackie get the Heart to the Devil’s Tower, without even asking for bit of money. I have to say, I was proud of them, looking to actually do some good. While the Posse had a certain amount of “moral flexibility” they did the right thing here without even thinking about it. And this was also where I introduced Nona “Cookie” Calhoon, Phil’s “big” sister. I had her walk up behind him and put her LeMat in his back. They’re a weird family. Now, I had a few reasons for this: First, I wanted to expand a bit on Phil, as they had started to like him. Second, I had come up with the idea for Cookie and she was going to fill the gaps the Posse actually had, a lack of investigation and magical whammy, so I thought it might be good to have her in my “back pocket” so to speak. Third, I had spoken with one of the other players and we had agreed that he was going to take over the game when this adventure finished and, as much I liked being Phil, I was kind of bored with him, as well as having the Posse relying on him a bit too much. I did talk some more about this in his Tale, you really should read it when you’re done with this one.

Now, there’s one matter of importance that faced the Posse, how the hell were they going to get to the Devil’s Tower? There was talk of trying to drive the Murder Bus through the Sioux Nations but that was rejected after the cost was figured out. Too rich even for these rich bastards. There was also some talk about doing to Deadwood and going from there but that also didn’t look like a good option. Thankfully, the folks over at Pinnacle included a nice option: A massive Autogyro. Now, they complained about the cost of this (seriously guys?) the adventure got underway. They had to pay extra to make it to make it all the way to the Tower, as the owner didn’t want to cause a problem with the Sioux as he wants to open a line to Deadwood. The pilot, the daredevil he is, is willing to take them all the way. This was the only the beginning of their troubles. Little did they know what would be waiting for them when they got there…

You see, there were a few things they could have run across, but since they came by air, there was only one: Devil Bats. In the book, they say there’s four of them up there but I only unleashed two. And they almost got Ming. The dice were not on the side of the Posse that session, which was rare. Plus, all the modifiers for shooting in what amounts to a helicopter made out of balsa wood and bailing wire. Thankfully, Carter McCormick (the pilot) was as good as he charged and was able to keep them in the air. However, if it wasn’t for Phil’s foresight (and one last lucky roll), Ming was caught before he could become a pancake on the ground below.

After a successful, and mercifully peaceful, landing, the Posse spread out, trying to find a way in. After some searching, they found what is, in simple terms, a flashlight. It’s a rubberized half globe that makes light when you squeeze it. And fucking Penwood and Heinrich were OBSESSED with this damn thing. I think they spent almost half an hour, real time, letting the characters fiddle with it. I had to just say “It’s a fucking flashlight, move on!” It was really slowing us down. Finally, they found a tunnel into the tower. Of course, there were some little beasties in there and they had to fight them as they climbed down the ropes to enter the tower proper...

Chapter Three: A History Forgotten

In the original adventure, this chapter fills in the Marshal on the history of the inhabitants of the Tower, called Crossbreeds. However, since the whole history of them is complicated and our “heroes” didn’t really get into it. Plus, it’s actually a really cool history and I would encourage you to read it for yourself, if you’re a Marshal. Instead, I’ll give you what you need to know so you can understand just how stupid the Posse was…

So, the first thing we need to discuss is who the Crossbreeds are. They’re human/alien crossbreeds that had super advanced technology but have been trapped in the Tower for a very, very long time. They’re also a dying race. And they’ve lost a lot of technology but have enough around to be extremely dangerous. As such, this isn’t an easy adventure as it’s pretty much a dungeon crawl, using a system that doesn’t give you a lot of healing and, because of the location, you can’t really easily introduce new characters. I warned the Posse about that before we started the next part of the adventure, and given how well they’d done in The Rock, I thought they’d be able to handle it. Boy, was I wrong.

Chapter Four: The Fortress

We resumed our tale already in progress. The Posse entered a massive garden, full of plants. Of course, they had announced their arrival by dropping a massive metal grate on the stone ground. This tipped off the Crossbreeds that someone was there and I gave the Posse some time to explore and think things through. It didn’t help. As they explored, they ran across a Crossbreed child, and started calling the Crossbreeds “Goblins,” so I’ll be calling them that from this point on. Josephine, the character who was just tossed into the group at this point, cast a Hex to detect magical energy and found a HUGE source of it below them. Now, they should have known that this was the portal to the Hunting Grounds that Jackie had told them about but I guess they weren’t paying attention to it and it seemed to distract the Posse. And then they made the worst possible choice…

So, they had this Goblin child and they heard the sounds of boots coming up the stairs from below. In their infinite wisdom, the Posse decided to go into the one room, a storage room, and pretend like it was the Alamo. This hurt me. I was trying to give them enough time to figure out a way to hold off the Goblins or maybe ambush them as they arrived but, nope, they were committed to hiding. I just couldn’t believe this. I mean, yeah, I kind of get where they’re coming from, hiding might work but I had tried to explain that they would have to be smarter than the average bears. And hiding was, in my opinion, about the worst thing they could have done. The only good thing was that they didn’t hurt the Goblin child. That did help them in the next part.

Having been caught, Penwood tried to negotiate their way out. Which, given how they were invading this place, was another terrible idea. I just couldn’t deal with it. I wanted to scream at the whole group for trying this course of action. They were outnumbered about 10 to 1 and thought that they could bluff their way out. I had to just break character and flat out tell them that if they continued down the route they were on, they were going to all be killed. I could have easily done it, with the resources at my disposal, but I didn’t want to. I know that some of you might be saying things like “well, it’s their fault” or something along those lines but I would like point out that, until this point, they had be competent and played their characters really well. I didn’t want to do a Total Posse Kill just because of one series of bad choices. So, I had to break it down for them. If they surrendered, I would get them out of the situation, but if they wanted to fight, they had almost no chance to survive. Thankfully, they came to their senses and lay down their weapons.

After they surrendered, they were taken to some cells and were set up to be more experiments. If we had had more time, I would have done a lot of things with them. Maybe I would have had Ming and Dieter be sent down to the train area, to be hunted by the warriors of the Goblins, while Heinrich and Penwood tried to figure out a way to escape or negotiate. But, we didn’t have time. And I was a little thrown off by what had happened. Instead, after a few hours, they were approached by one of the Goblins, who had an offer for them. If they would wreck one of the labs, which happened to be where all of their stuff was, he would free them. They agreed. After a few more hours, the door was unlocked and the guards were gone. They lived up to their end of the bargain, trashing the lab after getting their stuff. Heinrich did some poking around and found a Raygun that was in pieces. I did this for a few reason, those being his high roll and the fact that he was working on lasers. Plus, think of it as blessing from the Reckoners. Or should it be a curse? Oh, and did I mention that Phil rigged the place to blow? Because he totally did.

The Posse then began making their way to the Portal. They did okay with the stealth part, I think they actually learned their lesson from earlier. And I might have suggested that the gloves were off from this point on. They’d used up their one and only Get Out Of Jail Free card (literally) and there would be no more. Carefully, they made their way to the Portal, and saw the guards in place near it. They discussed what to do and came up with an idea of a plan. Phil tossed out one of his “party favors” I mean bundles of dynamite into the center of the room and made things blow up really good. This didn’t kill the guards but it made for a lot of chaos. Dieter and Heinrich were doing a good job of killing, while Penwood and Ming held off the guards that were starting to show up. Just as Jackie was charging up to the Portal, that was when I let the other shoe drop. Or should I say Stone? That’s right, that ornery bastard was back and he had a whole skeleton to pick with the Posse. Things weren’t looking good but everyone was doing their best. And that’s when the miracle happened. Phil Ex Machina.

I’ve already told this story once, so I won’t get into the details, but Phil could have, SHOULD have, killed one of the Big Bads of the setting, a direct servant of the Reckoners. With a lucky roll for Phil, and a very poor one for Stone, he managed to land a stick of dynamite right in the bastard’s mouth! Now, because I had plans for Stone, I let him survive. How? Well, there’s a Harrowed power called Ghost, which Stone can pretty much use for as long as he likes. So, what happened was that when Stone knew he wasn’t going to survive the explosion, he went all Ghost as the blastwave hit him. The force of it carried him through the rock of the Tower and he ended up landing somewhere outside. They would get him out of the fight but still leave him around for some shenanigans later on.

With the way to the Portal now clear, I took a moment to ask the Posse if they wanted to join Jackie in the future. Everyone said no, they were enjoying the game as it was. I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed, because I liked the idea of Penwood and Heinrich learning to handle how much they wouldn’t know about stuff in the future. Plus, there’s another adventure that connects the Wasted West to the Way Out West and I would have loved to have these jerks go from the Weird, to the Wasted, and then all the way out to the Way Out West. Perhaps another Posse will do it…

Anyway. I had something else to do. As you might have noticed, the Posse was getting to count of Phil too much. I knew it was time for him to go. So, with a final salute to his friends, Phil jumped into the Portal right behind Jackie, leaving the Posse to their own devices.

Ming’s player was devastated. Phil had just saved his character’s life and he just… Was stunned. I honestly think that he was mad at me. But, I also wanted to play Cookie, so I thought it best to get rid of Phil. At least for a while. The rest of the Posse was also a bit sad. Phil had a good run. But, his story isn’t over quite yet…

And that was where things ended. It was getting late and it was time to wrap things up. Honestly, I didn’t want to deal with the escape part of the adventure, so we just skipped it. Hand waving for the sake of saving time is how we roll in these parts.

That said, there’s one more adventure with these jerks. Stick around to read it. Oh, and it’s when I got to play the game as Cookie.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Getting Started With: Ghost Archipelago

Sorry for the long delay in getting something out, the last few months have been really rough. I hope you enjoy this one!

Welcome back to the Getting Started series, where I try to help you with the basics of picking up a new game, product, or hobby!

Today, we’re going back to a game I talked about a while ago and have been working on for the last few months, FrostGrave: Ghost Archipelago – Less Wizards, More Dinosaurs! Okay, that’s not the official tagline but it should be…

Step One: Buy The Books!

Okay, yeah, I always say this. And you should now why. Because, if you don’t give money to this in the Capitalist hellscape we now live in, you don’t get more things. Plus, the book is really nice to have. As is the little set of cards and blood die.

Step Two: Build Your Crew

When it comes to building your crew, you have to start with your Heritor. Think of your Heritor like a hero of old, with mystical powers that come with a cost, but they aren’t really mages. As such, you can make them heavily armored juggernauts, able to take and dish out damage, or you can make them subtle thieves with the ability to slip out of sight and pass through walls, or you can give them a bunch of random powers, if you like a challenge. Your Heritor is going to be the centerpiece of your crew, so spend your time figuring out what kind of equipment and powers work best for what you want to do. Don’t forget that Heritor’s (and Wardens) can carry bows and crossbows, which can help bring some ranged firepower to bear. Speaking of Wardens, that’s the next crew member you want to come up with. There’s five different types of Wardens and each has a very different focus but there’s no duds in the bunch. However, there’s one very important spell you probably want to take: Water Of Life. Since you can take one spell from any group, I suggest making this your one spell. Because you can heal your Heritor! Kind of important, with the Blood Burn and all. Now, it’s time for your crewmen. You can take up to four specialists and these are really going to focus your crew as a whole. If you’ve given your Heritor and Warden bows or crossbows, you might want to get some crewmen with with those weapons, since you can do Group Activations, it’s important to get them in there, if that’s what you’re going for. That also applies to the basic crewmen, but will get to those folks later. The Specialists are going to help you get your crew where you want them to be. For example, you can pick up some Freebooters, with heavy armor, shields, and hand weapons to bring the fight to other crews. You can get some Pearl Divers, who are Amphibious, allowing them to move through water without an issue, which is important in the Archipelago. If you’re going to deal with a lot of creatures, a Hunter can take them out a bit better than others. Let’s move on to the basic crewmen. You can take as many as you need to get up to the maximum crew (that’s 10, by the way) and they are useful, and free. Which ones you pick can be important, as you’re going to need them to get those treasure tokens and protect your Heritors and Wardens. While they’re not the strongest, they’re not most heavily armed or armored, but they are useful, so always take the maximum.

Step Three: Buy Your Crew And Other Things

Normally, I’d give you a list of companies to get stuff from but I’m not going to do that this time. In addition to Reaper, Ral Partha/Ironwind, and other companies you’ve probably used in the past for your gaming minis, North Star makes official minis for the game. My point here isn’t to send you out to buy a whole new set of things, unless you really want to. I do thing that having a theme for your crew is really nice for the table but not required, as a crew of misfits can be cool, too. What you want to do, after you’ve figured out what you need for your crew, is what you’re going to do about the creatures you need. There’ a few you’re probably not going to have in your collection, like sharks and such. My tip to you is that, if you’re going to buy a new crew, try to pick up the most common creatures that the crew is going to run across. The raptors, the natives, etc. Keep those in mind, just so things don’t get frustrating. Another thing is that each crew is going to need up to three boats that need to fit at least four minis, and up to six minis. Those aren’t easy to find but you can probably make some. There’s also the matter of terrain, as this game takes place in a place with a lot of water, and some spells require large pools of water. So, you might want to find or build some of these as well.

Step Four: Get Some Games In

This is kind of important before you start a campaign. All of the various Grave games are built around campaigns and Ghost Archipelago is no exception. However, given how flexible things are with making Heritors, Wardens, and Crews, you probably want to play more than few games before starting a campaign. Once you get a chance to see how your powers work, you might want to change them. You might find that all the ranged weapons aren’t as powerful as you thought they would be because of terrain and powers or spells. Or maybe you want to pick up different specialists and shift the focus of the crew. You can only find that out by playing.

 

And that’s about it. This game is fun and really different than the other Grave games, as it is a good halfway point between FrostGrave and StarGrave in terms of tone and rules. I also rather like the setting, of this lost land of jungles and monsters, with plenty of room to make your crew look the way you want to.

Let's Review: Reign In Hell

What is it?:

Reign In Hell is a “miniatures agnostic” skirmish game created by two YouTube guys for 2-4 players. You probably already know that...

 The setting:

As the name implies, you take control of a group of demons or devils in Hell. However, Hell has had some problems. Some time ago, Hell was invaded by some demon-hunters who were able to destroy the portal to the mortal realm, and the leaders of Hell were toppled. In this power vacuum, different group with different ways of looking at how to solve the problems (or not, for some).

 

The system:

For the most part, the game uses pools of d12s or d6s to decide things. Initiative is using d12s, rolling one for each model you have and assigning it to a model when it comes up. Combat is resolved by comparing the Combat stats and rolling d6s equal to the Combat stats of the models involved to attack and defend. That means that models only have a few stats, really just the ones you need: Move, Combat, and Life. All in all, the system is fairly simple and doesn’t require too much math.

When it comes to making your Cabal (crew, group, team, etc), you pick a Philosophy out from the list. The Philosophy will give your leader a special ability (or two) and determine what your Devout (second in command) will be. The leader is the most complex model in your cabal, as they get powers from the Philosophy, pick one of three different types of Leaders, pick one Relic, and one Essence. This actually creates a lot of customization for your team. Once you get the leader sorted, you pick a model for the Devout, who aren’t nearly as customizable as the Leader but you want to make sure that you’re taking the Philosophy that matches your play style. Then, you can take another eight lesser demons (for most types of games). But, you’re not going to be able to. You see, you get 100 Souls to spend on these lesser demons but they’re so oddly priced, you’re going not going to able to spend 100 even. The lesser demons vary in points from 16 to 22, so good luck with that. Even if you can swing 100 on the nose, you’re not going to hit the ten model cap. However, as you’re probably seeing the comparisons to FrostGrave and the like, your minions DO level up in a campaign.

Speaking of the campaign, the game is really trying to make it be rewarding. There’s tons of stuff to roll for, charts for causalities that don’t let them just drop dead (but you can dismiss them if you want to), and titles you can get by meeting conditions over the course of the campaign. It’s actually pretty cool. There’s a lot of things going on here. But, that does bring us to a small problem: there’s only ten scenarios. Which isn’t terrible but it isn’t a whole lot if you’re going for a long campaign to get all of the toys. I think when there are expansions, they’ll probably be including more scenarios.

The last note about rules and combat is that each model can take “stance” during its activations. It also looks like models can ONLY fight, but movement is rolled into that. I think. I do have to say that the phrasing in this game is more vague then it should be. Anyway. These stances allow you to pick how each model fights as you pick each turn, meaning you’re not locked into one mode for the whole game. Each demon will have bonuses for what stance they’ve taken or when they’re attacked (or even when they die). One important thing about combat is that it’s all close combat, no ranged combat. Which is kind of sad. I was hoping that Leaders (at the very least) would be able to blast someone from across the board. And the boards are going to be KillTeam/WarCry sized. I don’t know why they selected that size. I mean, you could use a 3x3 board if you wanted to but with how movement and combat works, you probably want to stick with the 22x30 board size.

All in all, the game is very fun and unique. I like what I’ve seen however… However, it’s not completely balanced. When you get down to it, numbers and speed are going to be what you want in your minions. I find that to be a little disappointing as it’s going to lead to spam of one type of minion. I also think there’s a bit of a lack of minions for learning and campaign games. There’s only one flying minion and it’s not very powerful in the lesser demon list. I would have liked a few more options for flying minions. That’s partly because I have a handful of succubi that aren’t really useful for this game because of that. Yes, I could just make them Mephits (the flying minions) but I feel like something a little more powerful with flying would be cool. They don’t even need anything extra, just flying. They have talked about some expansions here and there but don’t count on it.

 

Is it worth it?:

Yes. The PDF version is $10 and that’s a fair price of it. If you’ve got anything demon related, and aren’t too particular about what is what, it’s a nice little thing to have. The print copy includes the PDF for free. With shipping, the hard copy cost me less than $20, and gave me the PDF. I think that’s a fair price.

If you don’t have a lot of demons, this might not be worth it. Unless you just want to proxy in random models. I mean, you could use any fantasy minis if you want to. And if you’ve been looking for an excuse to pick up random demons, here it is.

 

Battle Report: Last Days, Old West - Calhoon Clan VS Jay's Baddies

 

In the Old West, the dead don’t rest easy…

Been a while since I’ve had a chance to play something and it’s going to be Last Days again. With Jay. Again. BUT! We decided to try out the Old West rules from BLASTER Volume 1.

For this game, I brought a group I call the Calhoon Clan (based on the Ferner Five, the Deadlands posse of legend). Let’s take a quick look at who we have and what they’re packing:

Nona “Cookie” Calhoon (Leader, Selfless), armed with a LeMat and knife.
Phil Calhoon, Fire Fighter, armed with an axe and revolver.
Dr. Ashleigh “Penny” Penwood, a Sawbones, with a magnum and “heavy blade.”
Running Bear, a Survivor, with a bow, tomahawk, and a spear.
Little White Dove, another Survivor, also with bow, tomahawk, and spear.
Victoria, a Gunfighter, with a pair of sixguns and knife. 

 

For Jay, he made a list with:

Selfish Leader with LeMat and Heavy Blade, Soldier with hunting rifle and spear, Goon with shotgun and heavy club, Tough Guy with revolver and club, Gang Member with a knife, and a dog. (no one had a name as he made it here after he got here.)

 

When it came to setting up the game, we decided to throw down a mix of my stuff and his, not even bothering to roll for deployment, just using the edges we were sitting closest to. I deployed with a split force, Phil, Nona, and Penny set up near a bridge in cover, while Running Bear, White Dove, and Victoria were on the board edge. Jay also split up his forces but not as far apart as mine were.

Once we had everyone on the board, we slapped down my three Reaper Zombie Miners. Jay had really good rolls early on, winning placement, first turn initiative, and the like. I was behind from the start.

As the game progressed, my forces got waylaid by zombies. Little Running Bear, White Dove, and Victoria were locked down on and off in the early game because of zombies. In addition, due to Phil blocking the bridge while trying to put down his zombie, Nona and Penwood had to slog through the water.

Meanwhile, Jay had free rein to go after the tokens and do what he wanted. He was able to get rid of his zombie problem as easily as I did but he was in better position than I was, with his crew.

Things came to a head when he decided to switch from going for the tokens to trying to take me down. I lost Victoria, then Running Bear, and then Phil. After I lost Phil, I started going after him. One of the more interesting moments was when Jay’s dog charged Penny and Nona. We had a bit of a heated debate, as he pointed out that there was no direct rule against it, and I was of the opinion that it shouldn’t be allowed because it normally isn’t in other games. We agreed to let it go in his favor but I posted in the Facebook group. I’m yet to get a large response to it. Anyway. While this did allow him to lock them up in close combat, it also prevented him from shooting them. I did manage to take out the guy who killed Phil, and two others of his crew. So, we had both lost three members and started having to roll for Breaking. He lost.

 

So, it was a slight victory for me. Could I have won in the end? Maybe. Jay’s rifleman was locking me down really hard but I did have Nona out there, with her shot tube still loaded. And, while both of our rolls were terrible at the start of the game, mine were starting to get better as the game went on. It was really anyone’s game at the end. 

And that’s where we’re at. It was a fun game and I think we really liked how it went. We did discuss some changes to the Break Tests for one-off games and we’re talking about doing a campaign in the future, after we have the rules down better. Keep your eyes out for it...

Let's Review: StarGrave

What is it?:

Stargrave is a 25mm/30mm scale skirmish game using science fiction miniatures and setting by the creator of FrostGrave and Ghost Archipelago.

 

The setting:

The game takes place after the Last War, galactic conflict that seems to have collapsed all of civilization, leaving pirate fleets as the only real authority left. These fleets are keen to keep everyone else ground down so they can loot and pillage as much as they desire. How much sense this makes is up to you. The forces players bring to the game are smaller crews of freebooters and independents looking to find interesting, or at least valuable, things back from places most others don’t go. However, they have to worry about the beasts of the various planets they visit and attracting the attention of the pirates.

 

The system:

Like all of the games based on FrostGrave, you will build a leader, second in command, and a crew of varying power. Unlike the original FG, this game has much customization. When you pick your captain, you pick a background from a list, with things like Mystic, Veteran, Biomorph, and the like. From there, you get to pick some powers from the listed ones, and then a few more from the complete list, but they’re not as easy to use. These powers have a “casting” difficulty and might cost you health to use, depending on how powerful they are. Your First mate can choose the same background, or another of your choice, so you can mix and match, finding the best combination that works for you. Afre powers, these two get to select gear, using only slots to limit your choices. No money or the like, just X slots for gear, with some gear taking up multiple slots. Once your have the CO (Commanding Officer/Captain) and XO (Executive Officer/First Officer) figured out, it’s time to get your crew. There’s two different types of crew: Basic and Specialist. You get some Credits to spend on both, and can take up to four Specialists, like in Ghost Archipelago. However, there’s a lot of choices for you in the Basic section, like Medics, that will cost you but you aren’t capped by the Specialist limit, making them easier to get and replace. One other thing to note is that you can replace up to four of your crew with robots, which are something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, they can be upgraded with certain Powers, and have some advantages when it comes to combat, but can also be taken over by another player if they have the right Powers. Something to think about.

The rest of the system is almost exactly like what you’ve seen in the other games created by the same guy, you’ve got d20 rolls for everything, the same stat lines, some Powers that are very useful and some that aren’t, and a lot of random tables. A few changes that we see to familiar tables is that when your CO and XO are messed up and make the rolls, they don’t automatically die if you roll the same results twice (except losing your eyes), as well as not being as crippling, but they’re still not great. They’ve made the usually optional rules for being wounded a requirement, and added in some new status effects and conditions you’re going to need to manage. Poisoned, Shaken, and Wounded are going to need tokens. They’ve also included templates for things like grenades and flamethrowers. But, if you’ve played the other games, you’re going to pick it up really quickly.

The last thing is the random monster tables. Instead of the pages and pages of random monsters that you need to proxy or buy, the list is much, much smaller, but still contains some rather unique entries. The major change now is that you’re going to be dealing with random pirates and ruffians. This might be easy for you to do, if you’ve got a large enough 40k or minis collection but might also be harder to match exactly. If you don’t have a ton of Imperial Guard minis laying around (like I do), just pick up some IMEF or Nova Corps guys from Reaper’s Bones line (there’s also Cyber Reavers, too) and slap them down. You can also use them to make crews, too. Personally, I’m planning to finally paint up the two IMEF squads I got way back in the first Kickstarter to use for example crews and bring along some Nova guys to use as pirates.

I have to say that this version of the system is bay far my favorite. While FrostGrave is interesting and kind of opened the door, the game requires a lot of time before you start, managing money for weapons and crew, as well as picking spells from the lists, and calculating the casting requirement for them; I’m also not a huge fan of losing health for failing a roll, it feels like punishment for bad luck. I do like the way Ghost Archipelago works a lot more, more freedom when making your crew and picking your Powers. But, those are fantasy, which isn’t my bag anymore. Having a sci-fi game that’s skirmish scale and won’t really require spending more money on minis is very appealing to me and this game is right in the sweet spot for me. Once The Plague has started to fade, I look forward to playing a campaign of this with a group of friends.

Is it worth it?:

If you already have some sci-fi minis, this is an easy “Yes.” The crews can be built using 40k stuff, random Reaper stuff, whatever you’ve got laying around. Since they use sci-fi weapons, you could probably get away with filling your ranks with even modern minis. Or using them for some wandering monsters.

Blast From The Past: Teenagers From Outer Space

It's the most horrible thing in the universe: TEENAGERS!

If BESM is the “rules-lite” version of anime gaming, Teenagers is the “rules fat-free” of anime gaming. Seriously. There's not a lot of rules to the game. I wrote up the character creation rules to use for my friends and it was three pages. I imagine that the rest of the rules, with the exception of “mad science,” is probably just as long. It's not big on rules. But, it is big on comedy. And references. And terrible jokes. And koalas.

Originally inspired by books like “Surfing Samurai Robots,” Teenagers (or TFOS) is about aliens coming to Earth because Earth is cool. That's your premise. The later editions switched to a more anime inspired look, with characters that are very close to famous anime of the 1970's and 1980's. Okay, there's a dash of some 1990's stuff in there. We're talking about variations on the “Magical Girl” genre of anime, stuff like Urusei Yatsura, Tenchi Muyo, and so on. This type of anime was about the stranger coming to our world, unlike Isekai anime. If this game was made today, it would probably be about a bland, boring human teenager getting set to an alien (or perhaps fantasy) school. Because Isekai is an all-consuming monster...

Ahem. Anyway. Yes. Let's talk about the game. You can create several different types of aliens, varying from almost indistinguishable from human to a bouncing purple and pink blob that wears sunglasses. Really, we’re talking everything from Spock to Jabba the Hut with a lot in between. You can also play a boring, bland human if you really want to. And someone probably should play a human, at least one, as you’ll have a “native guide” to earth and they can use the one power all humans have: the ability to convince an alien that anything they say about earth is true. But as Uncle Ben has told many a generation: With great power comes great responsibility. And if you get your alien girlfriend to believe that kissing is typical greeting on earth, well, you reap what you sow. The main difference between humans and aliens is the powers they get. Aliens have three different tables of powers they roll for, with some more useful than others. Since the game is suppose to be fun, balance doesn’t really matter. Humans, on the other hand, have one table with powers, which are humorous and not as powerful, in addition to their power I mentioned above. When it comes to stats, there’s eight, which are rolled randomly, but you can shuffle them around if you want. Beyond that, there’s Knacks, which are skills by any other name. Unlike most games, you can make up your own Knacks, but you shouldn’t make them too specific.

When you get into the mechanics, the game is ridiculously simple. Roll a d6, add stats and Knacks, and get your total. However, since the game grades on a curve, rolling too high can have dire consequences. You have been warned.

The last thing you have to worry about is equipment. There are weapons but they’re not lethal no matter what. Your character will get knocked out briefly but you really can’t die. Since the game was inspired by comedies, the gear you can get is out there as well. The infamous Boy/Girl Gun, the Duplicator Gun, Spring Shoes, and Popcorn Grenade to name a few. There’s also the Hyperdimentional Superhammer, something older anime fans might remember. You know that hammer that women in a harem anime would pull out from no where to bonk the bland protagonist over the head when he became horny? Yeah, that’s the one. There’s also vehicles, something teens in America would obsess over back in the day.

Once everyone has their characters put together and all of their gear picked out, it’s up to the Referee (DM by any other name) to give them something to do. And the basic book is actually really good for that. There’s a sample adventure you can use to get things started and give your players a sense of how the game is going to play, based on hunting down a sphere to win the hand of an alien princess. After that, there’s a whole “season” of game ideas they hand you to flesh out on your own. All of these things give the Ref a large amount of things to work with. They also give you tips on how to be funny, something I have used more than once.

In the end, this game is a lampoon of old anime and media that somehow manages to work. However, I don’t know if you can really run a whole campaign of it. I use it as a filler when someone can’t make it to the game and we don’t want to leave them out. If you do want to run a long term game of it, make sure to develop a host of odd, wacky, and weird characters to populate the world and then just let your players run amok. It’s a great game to play when you need a breath of fresh air, especially after you’ve been running something serious and dark. The game is built around the “Rule Of Cool” or “Rule Of Funny” to be more accurate. Just don’t hold your breath for the Hentai Expansion…

Looking Ahead: Stargrave

Howdy, everyone! As you might have heard, there’s a new game coming out pretty soon called “Stargrave” by the creator of Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago.

 Now, I do like the ideas of these games, more so Ghost Archipelago, but I also like science fiction stuff. More than fantasy for sure. So, I’ve been following the news about this game since I first heard about it and I’ve been looking forward to it. Oddly enough, I don’t have a lot of science fiction minis so it’s given me a reason to pick up some here and there, mostly for fun. Since they released the captain and crew building rules sample, I’m now thinking about what kind of crew I want to make. And I just pre-ordered the book today, so you’ll get a review of it before too long, I promise.

However, maybe some of you aren’t aware of the sample we got or haven’t really looked into this new game. So, I decided to throw a few ideas out there for those of you who aren’t sure what you want to do. Let’s talk.

The first thing is that you’ve got a lot of choices for captains and first mates, which don’t have to be of the same type. And you can recruit up to eight additional members of your crew, choosing between basic crew types and specialists. So far, it looks a lot like Ghost Archipelago, which makes me happy. I like the idea of being able to find a crew that works exactly how you play.

 When it comes to building up your crew, the specialists include flame throwers, snipers, grenade launchers, and some other stuff that’s common to other miniatures games. Already, you can throw together a force using some Warhammer 40k stuff from the Imperial lines. I might actually use that to learn how to play (and play with friends, when that’s possible). That’s a good thing because, if you’ve already spent money on 40k stuff, you can get right into the game. If you haven’t got some of those laying around, you can pick up some NOVA Corp and IMEF stuff in Reaper’s Chronoscope line (which have Bones versions) for a quick and dirty way to start or build a second loaner force. Or you can just pick up the stuff that you like. Personally, I’d like to go for a Raygun Gothic look but they don’t make a lot of those these days. I do have a few but not enough to make a full crew right now.

Looking at the crew creation rules, I am a little disappointed because I was hoping to have some kind of melee monster specialist I could take but it looks like shooting is king in this game. Everyone has a pistol at the least. Yes, it makes more sense to have shooting be more powerful in a science fiction setting but sometimes, you just want to do something crazy. However, it is cool that you can make any member of your crew a robot, so I can use my Cyber Reavers for something. If nothing else, I can use them to fill out the crew while I’m figuring things out. Or maybe make that my loaner crew. We’ll see what happens…

Getting Started With: Reaper Bones

 

Welcome back to Getting Started With, a series where I talk about how to begin with some of the stuff in the hobby.

This week, I'm going to talk about how to get started with Reaper's plastic Bones line of miniatures. While I only have direct knowledge from my experiences with their first Kickstarter, I'll do what I can.

Step One: Figure Out What You Need Them For

This is kind of important as Bones are good for some things but not for others. If you haven't taken a look at them yet, Bones have integrated bases. Some of these are cool, others aren't, and they're not usually round. If you're going to use them for wargaming, you probably want to look at either cutting the bases off or using poster putty to put them on empty bases.

Now, if you're using them for RPGs, that doesn't matter as much. So long as they stand up, you're good. However, not all of the integrated bases are large enough for the footprint they'll have on a gaming mat. A little bit of cardboard and some glue will fix that.

Personally, I use my Bones for RPGs. Since there's such a wide selection and they're fairly cheap, you can find one for just about any high fantasy character and monsters that would appear in your games. Most of the lower level monsters like Kobolds, Goblins, and Zombies come in packs of at least two miniatures, making building up a horde of them inexpensive and easy.

While I mostly use my Bones for RPGs, I have used them for things like Frostgrave, and they work pretty well for it.

Step Two: Ordering

Since we've got a bit of a problem going on in the world right now (note: this is being written in the early part of 2021), going to a store and picking some up might not be possible. So, if you're looking to pick up a few and see how they work, don't be afraid to add a few to an order, especially if you need a certain amount for free shipping. In case you don't know, Reaper offers free shipping AND a free miniature for orders over $40. Just something to think about.

Step Three: Prepping and Cleaning

Now, you've got your little plastic folks and you're looking them over when you discover that a sword or arm of staff is bent. This is pretty common, due to the nature of the materiel. If you look online, you can find videos showing you how to fix them. I've done it myself and I can tell you it's really simple. I take a metal bowl and fill it with water and ice. Then, I set a small pot of water to boil. Once its boiling, I dip the miniature in the water using a kitchen tool (a slotted spoon will work) and hold it in the water for a few seconds. Usually, the miniature will bent back into shape on its own and I just drop it in the cold water to have it set. If it doesn't bent back on its own, I use a fork to bend it back in the boiling water and then hold it in place after dropping it in the cold water. For the most part, this works and doesn't need to be done again. I do have one or two that got bent badly and it just doesn't stick. This is almost literally one out of a hundred.

The nice thing about doing this is that it cleans the miniatures for you as well as fixes them. If they're not bent, cleaning is easy. I use a tiny spot of dish soap (or hand soap), warm water, and a soft toothbrush. Just run it under the faucet, add a drop of soap, and scrub for a few seconds. You do this to clean off any dirt, grit, and mold release that might be left on the model. If you're brand new to miniatures, you'll need to do this for all of them that you buy. Especially these days.

Step Four: Paint Those Bad Boys. And Girls. And Others.

Unlike most other miniatures on the market (I think only Wizkids and one other company do something like this), these miniatures DO NOT need to be primed. Reaper, of course, makes a line of paint that is designed to be used on Bones but most other paints can be used. If you really don't want to shell out the cash, I'm sure you can use craft store paints. I use a mix of old Reaper paints, new Games Workshop, and old P3 paints and they work just fine. You just have to keep your paints a little thicker than you would normally. And you don't have to worry about details because the Bones materiel doesn't hold them as well as other plastics and metals. At some point in the future, I'll try to do some side by side pictures myself but I'm sure you can find a ton only. The loss of detail between Bones and metals isn't huge, just so you know.

And that's about it. I really do recommend Bones, both normal and the newer Bones Black line, to learn how to paint and deal with miniatures, if you've never done it before. For $3-6 for a single miniature, it's a great price and a quality product.

Mastering The Game: Session Zero

 Welcome back to “Mastering The Game” where the rules are only guidelines, unless you say so.

Today, I want to talk about having a “Session Zero” when you start your game? What's a Session Zero? Well, that's kind of pre-game session, before it starts proper, and you sit down and discuss the game, the characters, and all that good stuff. Make sense?

Now, I'm going to be up front and say I don't usually do a session zero, as you might have seen me mention elsewhere. Why? There's a few reasons for that. When I start preparing for a game, I usually make some notes, figure out what kind of game I'm looking to run, be it a pre-made adventure/setting or something totally original, and think about who I want to play. You see, not every player wants to play every game. I know some people who can't handle horror and some who love it to death. That means I think about who I want to play. Once I've figured out what kind of game I'm going to play, and who's going to be in it, I can usually figure out what kinds of characters to expect. Knowing your players is important. After all of that is done, then I sit each player down, talk about the game and what kind of character they want to play, and build their character with them, one on one. I find that this works best.

But what if you don't know your players all that well? That's why some people do a Session Zero. Someone I know will have a meeting with everyone and have the same conversation I do, but in a group setting. He also plays a few different card and board games to see what kind of players they are and how they work together.

 

While I respect this way of doing things, it isn't for me. I prefer to do things on that one on one setting. It really helps me figure out what kind of player they are and what kind of character they want to make. I also think it helps for new or shy players feel comfortable with me and the game. Sometimes, players want to have secrets from the rest of the party, so this allows them to do that without having to worry about someone overhearing it.

One reason I don’t want to do a Session Zero is because, we already have everyone together, and once the characters are done, why don’t we just play? Some people are up for that but some aren’t. They just expected to roll up and make their characters, not ready to play yet. That happened in a game I was in and it went sideways fast. I’ve also had the reverse happen, where I was ready to play but no one else was because they put off making characters until the last minute so I spend hours twirling my thumbs. You really should make sure to communicate exactly what you’re expecting, if you are or aren’t doing a Session Zero.

So, if I don’t do a Session Zero, what do I do instead? I usually pick a canned/pre-made adventure to kick things off. In Deadlands, I’ve used Comin’ Around The Mountain with almost every group I’ve run because it’s a perfect introduction to the world and gives the Marshal and players plenty of room to get adjusted to the game. For D&D and the like, there’s several adventures you can use to introduce everyone. When I played Pathfinder for a couple of games, we started in prison. It gave us a reason to be together and let us get to know each other, without having to start in an inn or tavern. Now, there’s a reason why so many games start in a tavern: it’s a place where lots of different people, but especially adventurers, end up at some point or another. It also gives the DM a lot of NPCs to have running around that can interact with the characters. Just… Don’t try to find a dark corner for your character to brood in. If you’re doing it, for irony or not, your character will die in my game. By falling rocks. Guess the tavern owner needs someone to fix the roof.

What are some alternatives to starting the characters off instead of a tavern? A guild hall, one for adventurers if possible, is a great place to start. Even if the characters aren’t part of the guild, they could be looking for people to do something for them, like transporting or escorting something. There’s also being on the road and seeking shelter from a storm together. That’s a good one if you have veteran players, as they’ll get the introductions done for you. There’s also working on a caravan, which can work for a variety of settings. A train, as I mentioned for Deadlands, also works for urban horror or cyberpunk, as a lot of people take subways in cities. Having characters on vacation can be used in a lot of things, allowing for people from a lot of different places and classes to meet. I was once in a Slasher Flick game that was set on a cruise ship and it was perfect. Think about movies and comics and video games, and don’t be afraid to steal shamelessly, because you don’t have to be completely original, just original enough.

 

One other thing I tend to do, having run a lot of games, is skipping over the character introduction parts with experienced players. They’ve done it quite a few times, and usually have a good sense of their characters, so I don’t need to do it. They’re here to play the game and that means they’ll know to work together (as I tend to weed out terrorists pretty quickly) so I can let them move a little faster. In a Rifts game I was running on Discord, I had them be a group of mercs on their way to Mexico. To gloss over the introductions, I started them when they were arriving, having them know each other from the journey there. Quick and easy. And since they know what they’re doing, they were able to get into character and start playing them in short order. Of course, it was still herding cats, but that’s the job you signed up for when you took the job of being a DM or GM.

Of course, you have to consider the genre and setting of the game you’re playing, as well as the themes you’re using, when kicking things off. If you use a typical “you all meet in a tavern” set-up, it tells players that you’re probably going to be doing a “murder hobo” campaign. The first session, the first REAL session, is the most important for setting the tone of the game and it’s another reason why I don’t do a Session Zero. If you spend time during Session Zero setting up your theme and tone, while trying to herd all of the cats, it might get through to them. If you do what I do, get your rough game concept ready, then work on helping people make their characters fit, you can get right to the good stuff. Momentum is critical in the first few sessions, so having them take time to do all the introductions and all that can slow it down. I do, however, suggest setting aside some time at the start of the first session for introductions and screwing around. As the game continues, I have someone go over what we’ve been up to, and still give them that time to do some smoking and joking. 

So, yeah. There’s my thoughts on Session Zero. I could probably go on more about it but I’m starting to ramble. If you want me to talk more about it, let me know.

Blast From The Past: Star Trek The Next Generation RPG

Space, the final frontier...

If you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of Star Trek. I grew up on The Next Generation, loved Deep Space Nine, and watched Voyager. I've seen every movie made. I've even tried to watch Enterprise. Which was harder to tolerate than the Animated Series until the last two seasons. I haven’t seen too much of the newer series, except the first season of Discovery.

Yeah, I'm a fan.

And there's been quite a few attempts to bring the setting into the tabletop gaming world. Some have been more successful than others. I talked about the Star Fleet Battles universe a while back but today I’m going to talk about something a little more recent. That doesn’t mean current, however.

In the late 1990s, a company called Last Unicorn Games got the license to make RPGs based on the Star Trek universe, and created games for The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine. They were going to release one for Voyager but something happened with Decipher getting the license (which makes sense as they were the ones who had been producing the CCG) and the book was never released. Even though they didn’t have the license for long, they did produce a lot of books for TNG and DS9.

The system used for this game is very dramatic and story-driven, rather than the cold hard mechanics of GURPS or d20 system. Instead, you have a very simple system based around die pools of d6s. The Narrator (as the GM is called) picks a difficulty and you roll dice equal to the stat associated with the skill and then add your skill level to the highest die rolled. So, if you make a 3d6 test, get a 3,2,4; you would add the four to your skill level to see if you succeed. It reminds me of Deadlands, which had come out not long before this game. You also need to have a “drama die” which a different color than the rest of the dice rolled, as it can help or hurt you. Now, when it comes to initiative, things get wonky. You would roll initiative based on the skill you’re probably going to use, like unarmed combat for a fist fight, phasers if you’re going to shoot it out, but I can see problems already. People can change their minds as the round progresses or people can try to power game by using one skill for the initiative roll and then “changing their mind” when it comes to the combat roll. There is a way to change it up but it isn’t much better. 

When you make your character, the first thing you do is pick a “Template” which is really your character’s race. It gives you your stats (Fitness, Coordination, Presence, and Psi, which all have Edges associated with them) as well as some basic skills and typical Advantages and Disadvantages. There’s the more common Star Trek races in the core book; you’ve got your classic Vulcans, Tellerites, Andorians, and Humans, and the common ones in the TNG era of Betazoid, Bolians, and, then the Centaurians, which are a common part of “beta cannon” from the books and comics. Once you get your Template figured out, then you get to pick an Overlay. The Overlay is your character’s occupation and training, things like Science, Command, Security, Operations, and so on. They even have one for Ship’s Councilor. All of these will give you more skills and maybe some more Advantages. Once those are done, you do your character’s Background. The TNG book assumes that you will be playing a Star Fleet officer, so it’s all about your days at the Academy and tours of duty. These can be picked or you can spend some points to build your own. With that all out of the way, you’re pretty much done. There’s some math you have to do but you’re ready to go. Now, if you want to play a non-Federation character, you’re going to need the DS9 core book, which I will be getting to soon.

But, what else does this game do? Well, if you’re going to play Star Trek, you have to be ready for some space ships shooting at each other and the like, so there’s rules for that, too. Like many other games that include space ships (and especially Star Trek stuff), you have to manage power for the ship, dedicating percentages to weapons, engines, life support, and all that other technobabble you’ve heard when consoles start exploding on the bridge. If you want to play the bridge crew of a Star Fleet vessel, your group can pull it off, with everyone having something to do. The captain can make support rolls, the poor sap at Ops directs power, Tactical can shoot, the Helm officer makes rolls to move the ship, etc. If you are going to do this, you want to have a good group that’s worked together before and can handle disputes, as well as working on a plan each turn. I do think this is can be cool, with the right people. Besides, if you’re going to be Star Fleet officers, you want a star ship. And that means you have to get into a fight.

In the core book, there’s an overview of the major races, locations, and some monsters you can use. In addition to stuff we’ve seen in the show, there’s some from “beta canon” or the books and comics that have been made, as well as some stuff they wanted to throw in.

All in all, this captures the spirit of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s about noble Star Fleet officers going around the galaxy, exploring strange new worlds and encountering new civilizations. It’s not perfect but it does a fair job of what they set out to do. If it had been given more time, I think it would have been much bigger. They explored the Romulans in a boxed set, something that hasn’t been done too many times before, as well as some source books for the Andorians, Vulcans, a boxed set for the Klingons, books with new planets to explore, and even a source book for Section 31.

If you like this one, let me know. I have several source books, including some that were released as PDFs by one of the creators. And, yeah, Deep Space Nine will be soon, promise.