Heres a little look at the start of the basic class "The Soldier."
The Soldier
Unlike most Powered by the Apocalypse games, theres no planned limitations on how many people can play any particular class. The soldier is your average X-Com Rookie!
Showing posts with label Fort Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fort Friday. Show all posts
Friday, 19 August 2016
Friday, 29 July 2016
Alien Hunter X: Lethality
Now that I've shown some of the basic moves, maybe its time to talk a little about what my plans are for making AHX different from Dungeon World.
Lethality
In dungeon world, you get assigned a number of Hitpoints based on your class and your constitution - just like from any of the Dungeons and Dragons games or works inspired by them. X-com has allways been noted for how easily the soldiers you control die and i'm keen to make sure that's something that sticks around but making the game more suitable for roleplay.
I decided to go with something more akin to World of Darkness.
Wounds are graded from 'Light' to 'Mortal'. Each of these grades has a number of boxes beside them.
When you take one of those wounds, you fill boxes until you have filled a box in the appropriate grade. If you cant fill a box, you move onto the next most serious grade and mark a box.
When you've taken a mortal wound, roll to Cheat Death.
So an uninjured soldier would look like this...
Light Wound [ ] [ ]
Medium Wound [ ] [ ]
Heavy Wound [ ]
Mortal Wound [ ]
But a soldier who had taken a single Medium Wound, followed by a Heavy Wound would look like this...
Light Wound [X] [X]
Medium Wound [X] [X]
Heavy Wound [X]
Mortal Wound [ ]
If the same soldier had taken a Heavy Wound, followed by a Medium wound, however...
Light Wound [X] [X]
Medium Wound [X] [X]
Heavy Wound [X]
Mortal Wound [X]
He's going to have a bad time.
The reason I went with this is to represent that a Light wound means nothing if you then get a hole put in your chest, but if you start with a hole in your chest, even a light wound can push you over the edge.
Different classes will get different numbers of check boxes. Levelled up troops may gain additional checkboxes.
Armour gives one-use health boxes, up to the threshold of damage they can survive. Someone in a Tactical Vest may gain a single Light Wound box, which does nothing against a Plasma Cannon handing out Heavy Wounds, whereas a suit of Power Armour may offer 5 boxes of protection against anything as powerful as that Plasma Cannon.
Lethality
In dungeon world, you get assigned a number of Hitpoints based on your class and your constitution - just like from any of the Dungeons and Dragons games or works inspired by them. X-com has allways been noted for how easily the soldiers you control die and i'm keen to make sure that's something that sticks around but making the game more suitable for roleplay.
I decided to go with something more akin to World of Darkness.
Wounds are graded from 'Light' to 'Mortal'. Each of these grades has a number of boxes beside them.
When you take one of those wounds, you fill boxes until you have filled a box in the appropriate grade. If you cant fill a box, you move onto the next most serious grade and mark a box.
When you've taken a mortal wound, roll to Cheat Death.
So an uninjured soldier would look like this...
Light Wound [ ] [ ]
Medium Wound [ ] [ ]
Heavy Wound [ ]
Mortal Wound [ ]
But a soldier who had taken a single Medium Wound, followed by a Heavy Wound would look like this...
Light Wound [X] [X]
Medium Wound [X] [X]
Heavy Wound [X]
Mortal Wound [ ]
If the same soldier had taken a Heavy Wound, followed by a Medium wound, however...
Light Wound [X] [X]
Medium Wound [X] [X]
Heavy Wound [X]
Mortal Wound [X]
He's going to have a bad time.
The reason I went with this is to represent that a Light wound means nothing if you then get a hole put in your chest, but if you start with a hole in your chest, even a light wound can push you over the edge.
Different classes will get different numbers of check boxes. Levelled up troops may gain additional checkboxes.
Armour gives one-use health boxes, up to the threshold of damage they can survive. Someone in a Tactical Vest may gain a single Light Wound box, which does nothing against a Plasma Cannon handing out Heavy Wounds, whereas a suit of Power Armour may offer 5 boxes of protection against anything as powerful as that Plasma Cannon.
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Are we sick of RPG ideas yet?
"Music is Power"
Hey, at least this one actually has a dice mechanic I thought of that went with it... as far as my ideas go, this one is actually pretty far along by comparison.
Psionic energy exists in all things. Extreme situations can put so much stress on a person's mind that they tap into the rhythm of the universe. It starts as a tapping, then other sounds in the world begin to add to it, building up into a spike of psionic energy that permenantly awakens the person's psionic potential. The awakening event is called a 'Crescendo'.
Each character has a Style and a Genre.
Style dictates what psychic abilities you have acess to. A character who'se Style is Percussion focuses mostly on physical improvement, where a Vocalist's abilities are based around controlling the thoughts and actions of other people.
Genre changes how base abilities work. A Punk is going to have faster and harder attacks or his abilities will work faster than someone elses whilst a Classicist is going to be slower but have a much more powerful final effect, for example.
Dice System is... fairly simple?
You get a number of dice based on your skill level and a target number to roll on each dice - say, 3. You roll all your dice and the more of that specific number you roll, the better you do... However, you can also decide to use a different number on the dice instead of the target number for your sucsesses, with a small 'per step' penalty.
For example, you roll 7 dice and have a target number of 4.
You roll: 4,3,3,2,2,2,2
You could chose the 4, which would be a marginal sucsess.
If you instead decided to take a 1 step penalty and chose the 3, you would lose 1 success but still have another, giving you a marginal sucsess.
If you took a 2 step penalty you could chose the 2's instead, granting you a minor sucsess instead of a marginal.
That's pretty much all I've had idea wise. I wanted to have some sort of mechanic that would let people in a group/band use abilities that gave each other bonuses, like a band playing together for a bigger effect.
Hey, at least this one actually has a dice mechanic I thought of that went with it... as far as my ideas go, this one is actually pretty far along by comparison.
Psionic energy exists in all things. Extreme situations can put so much stress on a person's mind that they tap into the rhythm of the universe. It starts as a tapping, then other sounds in the world begin to add to it, building up into a spike of psionic energy that permenantly awakens the person's psionic potential. The awakening event is called a 'Crescendo'.
Each character has a Style and a Genre.
Style dictates what psychic abilities you have acess to. A character who'se Style is Percussion focuses mostly on physical improvement, where a Vocalist's abilities are based around controlling the thoughts and actions of other people.
Genre changes how base abilities work. A Punk is going to have faster and harder attacks or his abilities will work faster than someone elses whilst a Classicist is going to be slower but have a much more powerful final effect, for example.
Dice System is... fairly simple?
You get a number of dice based on your skill level and a target number to roll on each dice - say, 3. You roll all your dice and the more of that specific number you roll, the better you do... However, you can also decide to use a different number on the dice instead of the target number for your sucsesses, with a small 'per step' penalty.
For example, you roll 7 dice and have a target number of 4.
You roll: 4,3,3,2,2,2,2
You could chose the 4, which would be a marginal sucsess.
If you instead decided to take a 1 step penalty and chose the 3, you would lose 1 success but still have another, giving you a marginal sucsess.
If you took a 2 step penalty you could chose the 2's instead, granting you a minor sucsess instead of a marginal.
That's pretty much all I've had idea wise. I wanted to have some sort of mechanic that would let people in a group/band use abilities that gave each other bonuses, like a band playing together for a bigger effect.
Friday, 15 July 2016
Fort Friday: Yet more RPG Concepts...
"Paintball Dystopia"
Human emotion has faded because the world's government has decided that a docile population is a safe and prosperous population.
There aren't' colours anymore and everything is a shade of grey, drugs hidden in people's food stifle creativity and strong emotional response. Music is Dead and Books and TV exist only to inform.
But a rebel group exists who have worked out a way to bring colour back into the world with paint that counter-acts the drugs in people's systems - Specific emotions keyed into specific colours that physical contact or prolongued nearby exposure to causes the chemicals supressing those emotions to be eliminated from the body.
Heavy themes of Liberty, Disregard for Authority and Beneficial Rebellion.
Somewhere between very, very dark but relatively non violent. For the most part, combat would focus on... well, paint. The police have high quality gear and grey paint that basically acts like riot foam whilst the players have acsess to a ton of colours.
Jet Set Radio crossed with 1984 I guess, with some Splatoon thrown in there for good measure
Human emotion has faded because the world's government has decided that a docile population is a safe and prosperous population.
There aren't' colours anymore and everything is a shade of grey, drugs hidden in people's food stifle creativity and strong emotional response. Music is Dead and Books and TV exist only to inform.
But a rebel group exists who have worked out a way to bring colour back into the world with paint that counter-acts the drugs in people's systems - Specific emotions keyed into specific colours that physical contact or prolongued nearby exposure to causes the chemicals supressing those emotions to be eliminated from the body.
Heavy themes of Liberty, Disregard for Authority and Beneficial Rebellion.
Somewhere between very, very dark but relatively non violent. For the most part, combat would focus on... well, paint. The police have high quality gear and grey paint that basically acts like riot foam whilst the players have acsess to a ton of colours.
Jet Set Radio crossed with 1984 I guess, with some Splatoon thrown in there for good measure
Friday, 27 June 2014
I Aintn't Ded: Some X-Com Stuff
So yeah. Everything has kind of been up in arms for the last few months. Dead sorry about that, i'll make sure it doesn't happen too often in the future.
On the plus side, New Job with Better Pay (tm) and hours that mean I can actually wargame now.
Hurrah!
Here's what i've been working on recently:
Toying with U-Sen as a name rather than X-Com. Uchujin (Outer Space-Man) Sento (Combat)... I suspect it might be right, but if not please let me know!
He is... really, really dark skinned. I think he turned out well in a super alien-ish kind of way but i'm not used to painting things quite so dark!
All models are Ground Zero Games!
On the plus side, New Job with Better Pay (tm) and hours that mean I can actually wargame now.
Hurrah!
Here's what i've been working on recently:
U-Sen
Toying with U-Sen as a name rather than X-Com. Uchujin (Outer Space-Man) Sento (Combat)... I suspect it might be right, but if not please let me know!
A Muton Leader!
He is... really, really dark skinned. I think he turned out well in a super alien-ish kind of way but i'm not used to painting things quite so dark!
All models are Ground Zero Games!
Friday, 7 March 2014
Its Fort Friday!
Hey Guys!
Sorry to say but there won't be a Fort Friday post with any actual content in it this week - i've just been super busy with things!
Lords of Gossamer and Shadow has picked up. We're now on a solid nine players which is pretty damn impressive for an IRC game with only one ST. Several story threads are being chased which is cool and exciting in equal parts as hopefully people will be able to find out hidden bits about secret backstory and stuff.
I've started running Dungeon World. Which is perhaps the most fun i've ever had at character creation ever.
I'm really gutted we didn't think to record the first session... but on the other hand, it would have been two hours of us pissing ourselves laughing...
Modelling and Painting has taken a bit of a backseat, sadly. I should get back on that! Slaine and Ukko are almost finished now!
I was dead chuffed to find someone link to one of my blog posts on RPG.Net as well. Ok, it was just the pictures but thats KIND of like fame!
So yeah, thats the State of the Nation.
Sorry to say but there won't be a Fort Friday post with any actual content in it this week - i've just been super busy with things!
Lords of Gossamer and Shadow has picked up. We're now on a solid nine players which is pretty damn impressive for an IRC game with only one ST. Several story threads are being chased which is cool and exciting in equal parts as hopefully people will be able to find out hidden bits about secret backstory and stuff.
I've started running Dungeon World. Which is perhaps the most fun i've ever had at character creation ever.
I'm really gutted we didn't think to record the first session... but on the other hand, it would have been two hours of us pissing ourselves laughing...
Modelling and Painting has taken a bit of a backseat, sadly. I should get back on that! Slaine and Ukko are almost finished now!
I was dead chuffed to find someone link to one of my blog posts on RPG.Net as well. Ok, it was just the pictures but thats KIND of like fame!
So yeah, thats the State of the Nation.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Back to Basics Scenery
Did a bit of an experiment with Plastercine in an attempt to make a scenery mould.
This was a major dissapointment for me. I tried really, really hard to minimise how many bubbles would appear on these moulds and they have massive ones. You might notice on the plastercine picture above how those bubbles end up coming out on the models before smoothing. Bah! nevermind, they don't need to be perfect.
On the other hand, after the bubbles have been smoothed down and the air dough has dried, the things look pretty damn swish. Painted up, inked and with some very simple drybrushing they look pretty good IMO. Housemate did point out they were a little dark for a river so i might give it another whack with a lighter paint later on and see how it works, but i'm pretty happy.
I went with a straight line and a bendy line so that people can have bespoke rivers!
... Next, bridges!
The basic plastercine moulds. These are recreations because the old ones got squished...
Lookit those bubbles
This was a major dissapointment for me. I tried really, really hard to minimise how many bubbles would appear on these moulds and they have massive ones. You might notice on the plastercine picture above how those bubbles end up coming out on the models before smoothing. Bah! nevermind, they don't need to be perfect.
Woot!
On the other hand, after the bubbles have been smoothed down and the air dough has dried, the things look pretty damn swish. Painted up, inked and with some very simple drybrushing they look pretty good IMO. Housemate did point out they were a little dark for a river so i might give it another whack with a lighter paint later on and see how it works, but i'm pretty happy.
I went with a straight line and a bendy line so that people can have bespoke rivers!
... Next, bridges!
Friday, 21 February 2014
Silli: My Other New Favourite Thing
So as I mentioned in last week's Fort Friday post, the Maid of Wynn brought some cheap and cheerful rubber moulding material into my peripheral vision. Its called Silli and while I havn't worked out all of the kinks in getting a perfectly un-bubbled mould out of the stuff I like to think i've managed OK so far.
As you can see from the picture, Silli is a two part mixture that doesnt set until its mixed together thoroughly in the same sort of way you might use Kneadite/Greenstuff or Milliput. The difference is that this stuff starts off goopy and sticky as all hell, can't be finely shaped and ends up with the consistancy of rubber once its been cured.
Maid of Wynn thinks that I should also mention that this stuff is silicon based and food grade as well, which means if you're a fan of cake decoration like she is you could have all sorts of fun with making edible warhammer miniatures to go on top of a cakey battlefeild...
(She doesnt realise however that she has now thrown down her own gauntlet and i'm going to force her to make her first FW post...)
You get a decent amount of the stuff when you get even the smalled pack and it seems to go way, way further then it looks like it will
This is all from one 150g packet of Silli. I basically bought the smallest pack so that I could get used to moulding things for when i'm ready to move up to Resin Casting. I might make a short detour into this re-usable re-meltable rubber stuff that was pointed out to me.
So yeah. I've tried it out a few times with varying levels of sucsess. Sometimes the moulds seem to bubble up and othertimes they don't. I guess practise makes perfect.
As you can see from the picture, Silli is a two part mixture that doesnt set until its mixed together thoroughly in the same sort of way you might use Kneadite/Greenstuff or Milliput. The difference is that this stuff starts off goopy and sticky as all hell, can't be finely shaped and ends up with the consistancy of rubber once its been cured.
Maid of Wynn thinks that I should also mention that this stuff is silicon based and food grade as well, which means if you're a fan of cake decoration like she is you could have all sorts of fun with making edible warhammer miniatures to go on top of a cakey battlefeild...
(She doesnt realise however that she has now thrown down her own gauntlet and i'm going to force her to make her first FW post...)
You get a decent amount of the stuff when you get even the smalled pack and it seems to go way, way further then it looks like it will
And even after all this, I still had a bit of the green left over!
This is all from one 150g packet of Silli. I basically bought the smallest pack so that I could get used to moulding things for when i'm ready to move up to Resin Casting. I might make a short detour into this re-usable re-meltable rubber stuff that was pointed out to me.
So yeah. I've tried it out a few times with varying levels of sucsess. Sometimes the moulds seem to bubble up and othertimes they don't. I guess practise makes perfect.
Friday, 14 February 2014
Slaine and Ukko: A breif history lesson, and some unpainted models...
Slaine Mac Roth. My first ever fantasy hero.
Slaine was a character from the comic book 2000AD, the comic that instilled my love of fantasy and sci-fi in my formative years. Slaine was a story based on celtic myth and drawing heavily from it for the plot as well as the author's original twist on the tales.
Armed with a massive axe named Brainbiter and one of the most badass catchphrases ever muttered, Slaine was installed firmly in my brain.
And then, The Responsible One bought me some models.
This will be a work in progress!
Slaine was a character from the comic book 2000AD, the comic that instilled my love of fantasy and sci-fi in my formative years. Slaine was a story based on celtic myth and drawing heavily from it for the plot as well as the author's original twist on the tales.
Armed with a massive axe named Brainbiter and one of the most badass catchphrases ever muttered, Slaine was installed firmly in my brain.
And then, The Responsible One bought me some models.
Wargame Foundry are the source! Take a look at The Responsible One's blog for more info
Valentines Day Special/Massacre
I decided to make my valentine's day card by hand.
I <3 the Maid of Wynn
You have to sing it to the tune of 'Bad Medicine'. Its an old meme for us but we like it ¬.¬
WAARRGGGLLLBRJFKJBSAKJBVKAHEBV
I <3 the Maid of Wynn
Friday, 17 January 2014
LOG&S Episode 0: Preludes
Ginger & Rui Shi
Ginger, allways a fan of a good time with very little effort, had travelled to the Gossamer World of Ganan in search of men with biceps as wide as tree trunks and exotic jewelry and furs. She had found herself one such hunk of meat by the name of Daphirus? Davey? Something like that, she's terrible with names. He had 'heroically' cut a swathe through a cult trying to resurrect a dead god and she had 'Heroically' tidied up any cultists who thought they might try the old 'grab the hero's girlfriend' trick while Derrick was distracted.
Rui Shi had been searching for months - looking for the Demon who had banished him from his homeworld into the Stairway. His trail had lead him first to The Agora and then to the Gossamer World of Ganan. He had followed a trail of destruction from the capital city of Delfi to a temple perched on the cliff face of a mountain. Spotting a broken window, he climbed up to discover the Demon and a hapless mortal victim locked in its 'Embrace'.
Needless to say, when Ginger said "Hello" to the intruder, the demon underneath her disguised as a barbarian adventurer decided he'd had enough of the charade. Sadly, when you've accidentally picked one of the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow as the vessel for your rebirth, you're going to get disappointed when you try to physically overpower them. Especially one who'se dealt with grabby hands at strip clubs across more dimensions then she could count to.
Rui Shi, able to feel the evil radiating from the name of the demon, took his chance to bind it and destroy it while the dimension-jumping stripper got re-dressed out of her birthday suit. Holiday spoilt and demon hunting expedition failed, the pair co-incidentally walked the way back to Delfi together to use the trade-door back to the Agora.
When they arrived there, they discovered a Door Embargo being set up by Delfi's military, set up due to apparently having gone to war with the nearby world of Zakei. Presumably, they were the last travellers to leave before the door swung shut and the Embargo began.
The Revenant
The Revenant had been perched in the skeleton of a building with its sniper rifle on advanced recon duties when it had spotted a group of unaugmented organics heading towards its military controlled zone. Following protocol and not simply shooting at the group (It did not know why control valued organic life, but it was for the most part forbidden from attacking) it followed them to investigate their purpose on the battlefield.
It discovered them changing from their odd, hairy uniforms into simple hand made armour and moving through a doorway - A doorway the Revenant had scouted the day before which should have lead to an empty room but instead lead to a corridor. It followed them when it had noticed a stone was trapped holding the door open and noticed the group's leader had disappeared, with the group heading off down a corridor longer then the building on the other side of the door was.
It tried the door it suspected the leader having gone through to follow him, but found the door barred solidly. It went to follow the group and the next thing it new, it was face down on the floor and many of its core electronic systems had failed. It decided to go back through the door to contact Control, but realised the stone it had used to keep the door open had skipped away and the door had slammed shut.
It then proceeded to break its shoulder in several places trying to re-open the door. It didn't notice, because it had been dead for some time and control had decided that corpse soldiers didn't need nerve endings. Which was helpful.
It decided to follow the group, instead.
Ursula Axilla, PI
Ursula left her office to see if her mysterious chess buddy had left her a letter with the next turn of their game in it - finding that 'M' had. She played the game so far over in her head and recalled that 'M' had spent most of the game attempting to split up a group of pawns so that it could check her king with its queen. She suspected the way around it would be to continue shielding the king with the pawns and stop them getting split up.
Ursula then went to have a chat with a local food stall and picked up food for The Old Man - the Yeti like being who was the sole resident of the Gossamer World her office had been located in. Before she headed back, she made her way to a carpenter who she knew did good work to collect a commissioned 'Shadowy king' chess piece she intended to give to 'M', only to find 'M' had apparently pre-empted this with a commission of his own for her - Four strange looking chess pieces... two black, two white, that she couldn't identify.
She headed back to deposit food with The Old Man and leave her next move on the noticeboard, half-falling asleep on her deck-chair whilst waiting to see if she could finally spot the elusive 'M'...
Weaver Cellestis
Weaver had been sitting in her little dorm room in Lady Voice's apartments when Paree, the slightly French robotic butler of the house pointed out that Lady Voice had requested her presence. When Weaver made her way to the room, she found a melancholy Voice standing by the window, looking out over the city.
A brief philosophical discussion happened which Weaver didn't quite seem to understand, at the end of which she was tasked to find 'Freedom' and collate a report on it for Lady Voice's use. Confused, Weaver made her way back down to her dorm to get her things ready.
Weaver had a brief discussion with Paree about the Lady's perculiar mood today. Paree gently lead the conversation to help Weaver understand that Voice was jealous of her and her ability to walk away from Banixia if Weaver so desired... That Weaver was more 'free' then her.
Weaver headed back upstairs to deliver an akward thank you, then headed out onto the stairs...
Tezoac
After a brief battle with an immense beast in his homeworld of Summus, Tezoac was brought to the home of Dayle, his mother and well respected Lady of Gossamer and Shadow. His mother teased him gently about his advanced knowledge of the ways of The Umbra and yet his unwillingness to break the promise he made her not to go out into the stair to learn about it until she was ready for him to and gave him permission.
His mother finally gave him permission to explore and bid him farewell, suggesting that perhaps he might enjoy a trip to The Agora...
Kitt, the Patchwork Man
Having failed to find Morgan in the world of Hezra, Kitt started to make his way back to the Agora. It was in the treacherous steppes known as The Thousand Needles (yeah, yeah... screw you guys I couldn't think of a good name on the fly...) that he was ambushed by a group of mercenaries with spears attempting to push him off to fall to his doom.
He discovered from the verbose leader of the small group in the midst of battle that someone had paid for them to attack him whilst he was on his way though, but the merc refused to say who.
Eventually, the fight soured when the Mercenary slipped off the edge of the cliff and was caught by Kitt to stop him from falling.
The mercenary uttered the line "No matter where you go, no matter who you hide behind, I will find you and I will kill you..." Before attempting to stab Kitt in the arm, forcing him to let go. As the merc fell out of sight to his death, Kitt leant over and shouted "Drama Queen!"
Going back to start again, he made his way to The Agora...
Ginger, allways a fan of a good time with very little effort, had travelled to the Gossamer World of Ganan in search of men with biceps as wide as tree trunks and exotic jewelry and furs. She had found herself one such hunk of meat by the name of Daphirus? Davey? Something like that, she's terrible with names. He had 'heroically' cut a swathe through a cult trying to resurrect a dead god and she had 'Heroically' tidied up any cultists who thought they might try the old 'grab the hero's girlfriend' trick while Derrick was distracted.
Rui Shi had been searching for months - looking for the Demon who had banished him from his homeworld into the Stairway. His trail had lead him first to The Agora and then to the Gossamer World of Ganan. He had followed a trail of destruction from the capital city of Delfi to a temple perched on the cliff face of a mountain. Spotting a broken window, he climbed up to discover the Demon and a hapless mortal victim locked in its 'Embrace'.
Needless to say, when Ginger said "Hello" to the intruder, the demon underneath her disguised as a barbarian adventurer decided he'd had enough of the charade. Sadly, when you've accidentally picked one of the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow as the vessel for your rebirth, you're going to get disappointed when you try to physically overpower them. Especially one who'se dealt with grabby hands at strip clubs across more dimensions then she could count to.
Rui Shi, able to feel the evil radiating from the name of the demon, took his chance to bind it and destroy it while the dimension-jumping stripper got re-dressed out of her birthday suit. Holiday spoilt and demon hunting expedition failed, the pair co-incidentally walked the way back to Delfi together to use the trade-door back to the Agora.
When they arrived there, they discovered a Door Embargo being set up by Delfi's military, set up due to apparently having gone to war with the nearby world of Zakei. Presumably, they were the last travellers to leave before the door swung shut and the Embargo began.
The Revenant
The Revenant had been perched in the skeleton of a building with its sniper rifle on advanced recon duties when it had spotted a group of unaugmented organics heading towards its military controlled zone. Following protocol and not simply shooting at the group (It did not know why control valued organic life, but it was for the most part forbidden from attacking) it followed them to investigate their purpose on the battlefield.
It discovered them changing from their odd, hairy uniforms into simple hand made armour and moving through a doorway - A doorway the Revenant had scouted the day before which should have lead to an empty room but instead lead to a corridor. It followed them when it had noticed a stone was trapped holding the door open and noticed the group's leader had disappeared, with the group heading off down a corridor longer then the building on the other side of the door was.
It tried the door it suspected the leader having gone through to follow him, but found the door barred solidly. It went to follow the group and the next thing it new, it was face down on the floor and many of its core electronic systems had failed. It decided to go back through the door to contact Control, but realised the stone it had used to keep the door open had skipped away and the door had slammed shut.
It then proceeded to break its shoulder in several places trying to re-open the door. It didn't notice, because it had been dead for some time and control had decided that corpse soldiers didn't need nerve endings. Which was helpful.
It decided to follow the group, instead.
Ursula Axilla, PI
Ursula left her office to see if her mysterious chess buddy had left her a letter with the next turn of their game in it - finding that 'M' had. She played the game so far over in her head and recalled that 'M' had spent most of the game attempting to split up a group of pawns so that it could check her king with its queen. She suspected the way around it would be to continue shielding the king with the pawns and stop them getting split up.
Ursula then went to have a chat with a local food stall and picked up food for The Old Man - the Yeti like being who was the sole resident of the Gossamer World her office had been located in. Before she headed back, she made her way to a carpenter who she knew did good work to collect a commissioned 'Shadowy king' chess piece she intended to give to 'M', only to find 'M' had apparently pre-empted this with a commission of his own for her - Four strange looking chess pieces... two black, two white, that she couldn't identify.
She headed back to deposit food with The Old Man and leave her next move on the noticeboard, half-falling asleep on her deck-chair whilst waiting to see if she could finally spot the elusive 'M'...
Weaver Cellestis
Weaver had been sitting in her little dorm room in Lady Voice's apartments when Paree, the slightly French robotic butler of the house pointed out that Lady Voice had requested her presence. When Weaver made her way to the room, she found a melancholy Voice standing by the window, looking out over the city.
A brief philosophical discussion happened which Weaver didn't quite seem to understand, at the end of which she was tasked to find 'Freedom' and collate a report on it for Lady Voice's use. Confused, Weaver made her way back down to her dorm to get her things ready.
Weaver had a brief discussion with Paree about the Lady's perculiar mood today. Paree gently lead the conversation to help Weaver understand that Voice was jealous of her and her ability to walk away from Banixia if Weaver so desired... That Weaver was more 'free' then her.
Weaver headed back upstairs to deliver an akward thank you, then headed out onto the stairs...
Tezoac
After a brief battle with an immense beast in his homeworld of Summus, Tezoac was brought to the home of Dayle, his mother and well respected Lady of Gossamer and Shadow. His mother teased him gently about his advanced knowledge of the ways of The Umbra and yet his unwillingness to break the promise he made her not to go out into the stair to learn about it until she was ready for him to and gave him permission.
His mother finally gave him permission to explore and bid him farewell, suggesting that perhaps he might enjoy a trip to The Agora...
Kitt, the Patchwork Man
Having failed to find Morgan in the world of Hezra, Kitt started to make his way back to the Agora. It was in the treacherous steppes known as The Thousand Needles (yeah, yeah... screw you guys I couldn't think of a good name on the fly...) that he was ambushed by a group of mercenaries with spears attempting to push him off to fall to his doom.
He discovered from the verbose leader of the small group in the midst of battle that someone had paid for them to attack him whilst he was on his way though, but the merc refused to say who.
Eventually, the fight soured when the Mercenary slipped off the edge of the cliff and was caught by Kitt to stop him from falling.
The mercenary uttered the line "No matter where you go, no matter who you hide behind, I will find you and I will kill you..." Before attempting to stab Kitt in the arm, forcing him to let go. As the merc fell out of sight to his death, Kitt leant over and shouted "Drama Queen!"
Going back to start again, he made his way to The Agora...
Friday, 20 December 2013
LOG&S Artwork: Rui Shi, The Guardian Lion
A photograph of a drawing of Rui Shi, a demon-hunting monk from a currently un-named Wuxia style Gossamer World!
Artwork by +Purple Fantum
I wish my scanner worked ¬.¬
Artwork by +Purple Fantum
I wish my scanner worked ¬.¬
Friday, 13 December 2013
LOG&S Fiction: Ursula Axilla
One of my players wrote fiction for her character for the upcoming game!
Ursula Axilla, PI - From the Automated States of America
Going to see Seymour is always such a pain in the ass, sometimes I gotta wonder why I bother but then.. well, he's terrible at cards and has the best booze in town.
Ursula Axilla, PI - From the Automated States of America
The Whitehouse: Current President - Seymour Wayland
Going to see Seymour is always such a pain in the ass, sometimes I gotta wonder why I bother but then.. well, he's terrible at cards and has the best booze in town.
I always feel so fucking small wandering down the corridor to his lounge, like that whole building was built to put whoever is in it, whether you own it or, whether you're a bot or a skin, right down into your place. I honest to gods wouldn't be surprised if the damn thing was some ancient bot itself, running some massive experiment on whatever it can lure into its highly polished innards.
I knew it was a mistake to visit him at work, his assistants look at me like i'm dirt just cos I prefer to walk the city than some cushy office job, watching a wall of massive screens all day. His PR guy always tries though, physically blocks my path every time cos he knows I can't push past his massive metal torso. Same old conversation whilst i'm aware of the shifting of the security guys around me, always half an eye on me in case I decide to prove them all right. What am I gonna do exactly? Besides, they didn't catch me when I pinched a hole-puncher and a box of pens. Security guards my ass.
But in the end, it's always time well spent when I finally get in. Seymour's a good guy, he works hard and he gives a shit, which I guess is the very least you could hope for out of a Big Boss Guy. He treats his staff well and they seem to genuinely care about his welfare. All for the best. I've had to pull him outta the shit once and I don't reckon i'd survive a round 2.
We play cards, he loses with a smile, the good natured jackass. His wife will show up eventually, she always does when I visit but it's not like that. She knows it's not like that. She just knows I will always talk him into some cockamamie bet if she doesn't roll by to shut me down, she's got a sixth sense for it. Fun ruiner... I think Seymour doing a lap around the building wearing nothing but his briefs would do everyone a heap of good.
Eventually I drink enough of his fancy booze that my heart starts hurting and that's always my sign to stagger home. I'm always offered a lift, but I prefer getting the air and the chance to walk some of it off. It's like clockwork, which it actually could well be, that when I pop by his of a night that when I get back to my own office there'll be a job waiting, or some fresh faced little punk wanting to tell me something I probably already know in the hope of getting paid. But then i'm a pushover when i'm liquored up, if I had an accountant he'd probably sign me up to some 7 step programme.
It's good to have friends though, in this place with all its fast cars and flashing lights and sparkling promises of a fancy home and nice clothes if you sign your mind away on the dotted line and plug into the Great Commercial Machine it's easy to forget you're alive if you don't take the time to break bread with others now and then.
Still, Seymour said he'd at least try and run around the office in his pants, even if Trish said he couldn't do it outside. Good man that one. Good work ethic.
Friday, 6 December 2013
No more Dice-Off Reposts!
So there we are ladies and gentlemen, the end of my Dice-Off reposts.
I'm writing this from the past and by now hopefully a lot has happened and I've slipped in some other non-schedualled blog posts to do with what I've been working on during this time (Such as the Amber DRPG game I've been considering getting started as well as some stuff about the board game I've been designing.
Thanks for sticking with me guys - we're going to try and make sure we keep a fairly regular schedual for updating - my plan personally is to try and make sure I keep the 'Wynn Wednesdays' and 'Fort Fridays' going from this point on.
I'm writing this from the past and by now hopefully a lot has happened and I've slipped in some other non-schedualled blog posts to do with what I've been working on during this time (Such as the Amber DRPG game I've been considering getting started as well as some stuff about the board game I've been designing.
Thanks for sticking with me guys - we're going to try and make sure we keep a fairly regular schedual for updating - my plan personally is to try and make sure I keep the 'Wynn Wednesdays' and 'Fort Fridays' going from this point on.
Intermission: 15mm Laser Cut buildings (26/04/2013)
Dropship Horizon made a post about some 15mm MDF Lasercut terrain. I didn't even realise they made this stuff at 15mm size.
I know where next month's paycheck is going now. To Mad Mecha Guy!
Anyway, tomorrow, hopefully more on Salute and my shiny, shiny purchases there!
I know where next month's paycheck is going now. To Mad Mecha Guy!
Anyway, tomorrow, hopefully more on Salute and my shiny, shiny purchases there!
Friday, 29 November 2013
Salute 2013 Preamble - Hot or Not? (21/04/2013)
Hey Guys!
So yesterday was Salute 2013 - My second ever Salute and this time I went alone without my darling fiancé to stop me from spending all my hard earned cash. Which was ultimately pretty dangerous considering i'd only just got paid the day before. Oops! However, I managed to behave and only spent £30.
Well, no. Thats actually not true in any way, shape or form. I spent just as much on Amy as I did on myself. So £60.
Annddd thats not including the money I was given by one of my gaming buddies to pick up his order and buy him a cool mini. So £85.
Ok, so I may have spent a lot of money. But at least some of it wasnt mine and the other was a gift for my darling partner in crime. It still wasnt as much as The Responsible One spent. But then again I'm not sure anyone spent as much as he spent. He bought a god-damned TABLE.
Anyway.
This post isn't going to have any pictures in it. I HAVE pictures, but I'm also supporting my buddy Chris "The" Chapman at the London Marathon today so i'm a little pressed for time this morning (And was exhausted yesterday!). So much in the style of how my various Larp societies give their impressions of events, lets go for the very simple HOT or NOT (Followed by '... What?')
NOT
So yesterday was Salute 2013 - My second ever Salute and this time I went alone without my darling fiancé to stop me from spending all my hard earned cash. Which was ultimately pretty dangerous considering i'd only just got paid the day before. Oops! However, I managed to behave and only spent £30.
Well, no. Thats actually not true in any way, shape or form. I spent just as much on Amy as I did on myself. So £60.
Annddd thats not including the money I was given by one of my gaming buddies to pick up his order and buy him a cool mini. So £85.
Ok, so I may have spent a lot of money. But at least some of it wasnt mine and the other was a gift for my darling partner in crime. It still wasnt as much as The Responsible One spent. But then again I'm not sure anyone spent as much as he spent. He bought a god-damned TABLE.
Anyway.
This post isn't going to have any pictures in it. I HAVE pictures, but I'm also supporting my buddy Chris "The" Chapman at the London Marathon today so i'm a little pressed for time this morning (And was exhausted yesterday!). So much in the style of how my various Larp societies give their impressions of events, lets go for the very simple HOT or NOT (Followed by '... What?')
NOT
- I was very much left feeling like a little bit more effort could have gone into the participation games and what was on offer. Frothers Unite UK is an exception to this and I will get back to it later in the HOT section. Whilst i'm sure that the selection of historic wargames was good fun for the people playing, none of them especially reached out and grabbed me. They just seemed very bland and many of the tables looked like the same battle was being played in multiple places. It wasnt - I checked.
- Waiting Times to get in. There was a LOT more people wanting to get in this year, as was shown to me by the 5 minute walk to get past the pre-booked ticket holders and then the 10 minute walk to get to the end of the line for Pay on the Door tickets, followed by the 45 minute wait after the doors had opened just to get in.
- The sheer amount of people. I don't know about you, but I find that gamers often (Don't bite my head off! I know its not 100% accurate, but its a fairly common theme i've noticed) don't pay much attention to whats going on in the rest of the world when they are doing something they want to do. Such as looking at models when a short guy is allready in the way. Or leaving their massive backpacks on and turning constantly so said short guy gets smacked in the face. It made shopping hard - Really what I should have done was let the crowds thin out a bit and play a game of Snit's Revenge or something.
- Hearing one of the chaps at Ground Zero Games tell someone that the reason their website didn't have many photos in the catalogue is that they never have the time to get pictures done of all the models. That was slightly aggravating, since i'd offered over email.
- I mentioned Frother's Unite UK earlier. They managed to make two participation games that looked amazing fun and just straight up cool. The first was a 3D Cross section of a Bolotomus. Oh, wait? You don't know what a Bolotomus is? Check out Snit's Revenge on Wikipedia, I'll wait. Its one of those old TSR style chit-and-paper-map games where one player controls a giant creature called a Bolotomus and its internal organs while the other player/s control a small tribe of beasties called Snits that are invading the Bolotomus with intent to kick its internal organs until the Bolotomus dies of massive system shock and organ failure. I'm really not kidding. They made everything out of polystyrene and modelling clay and it looked absolutely brilliant. They also made a dice bidding WWF wrestling game that also looked great fun which I know i'd have been dragged into playing if Amy had been there but she wasnt, so I got to wallflower which is fine by me! The game used WWF Action figures! ACTION FIGURES. Amazing.
- They had a Trebuchet set up at the door. Hee!
- The absolutely amazing Underdark display model that someone had made up with the Dungeons and Dragons collector models. It was all cavernous and had purple crystals everywhere which were LED light sources! Stunning.
- Finding a £10 box labelled 'Flames of War Bits Box'. Had about 40 models inside it, LOADS of tank turrets and cannons for the front of them, bundles of loose small arms (... as in guns, not severed limbs) and other bits and peices im sure I can use. Bargain!
- Seeing The Responsible One and Sim Lauren. Two very lovely people who treated me to lunch at an absolutely fantastic cafe/restaurant called Fede. Seriously you guys, this place was utterly amazing. The chap we spoke to, Giovanni was charismatic and personable, didn't even require writing down our orders because he didn't need to because his memory is great and he's one of us. You know. A gamer.
- Booth Bunnies. Now, we're not talking about gamer girls dressed up pretty in an attempt to lure gamers in. No no no. I'm fairly certain that these girls had no experience of gamers what so ever. They did not seem able to comprehend WHY no-one was paying a blind bit of attention to their skimpy cheerleader outfits. They occasionally looked downright dissapointed when they realised that people were more interested in toy models then pretty ladies. I might be wrong here, but thats definately the vibe I got. Several other stalls then the one I have in mind here ALSO had booth bunnies, but those girls actually seemed interested in gaming and where there for more then just looking pretty. I am amused.
Friday, 22 November 2013
More Models (11/07/2012)
As promised on monday, here is the rest of the 15mm stuff.
Three Civilians from Rebel Minis. I like them! Looking forward to painting them.
Now, I loved these models until I sat down and started to undercoat the bastards. Then I noticed the fault-lines down the middle of a lot of them. Take a look at that HMG trooper, you'll see what I mean. Some of the ordinary troops have a little squished head. I still like the models and people probably wont pay that much attention to them, but its still a bummer.
I've had that tank for years. Then I realised it was actually the right size for my 15mm guys! Winner. Going to repaint it in my trooper colours and think about picking up one or two more!
Armed Crewman (GZG)
Armed Crewman (GZG)
Armed Pilot (GZG)
Crewman with Binocs (GZG)
Group Shot
So these guys are actually a bit of a combo which I lumped together. The chap holding the helmet and the guy with the Binoculars are all part of the GZG 'Technicians' Pack along with the chap with the computer from monday's post. The random guy with the rifle and the woman with the gun were actually free 'Help yourself' models from a bucket on the GZG stall at Salute!
These guys are what make me a little wobbly on GZG proportions as they look a bit like their heads arn't the right size.
Protolene Ayame Battlesuit (CMG)
Protolene Scout Khan (CMG)
Protolene Scout (CMG)
Protolene Scout with Particle Cannon (CMG)
Protolene Scout with Assault Laser (CMG)
DRAMATIC GROUP POSE!
I really love the Critical Mass Games Protolene. They're incredibly anime looking and sleek, unlike the gritty and function over form look of the humans I have! The Protolene are Hyena-Men, which are pretty interesting, and have a very distinct look to them. My one complaint... is how difficult it is to actually identify which weapons they are carrying.
Ah well.
Three Civilians from Rebel Minis. I like them! Looking forward to painting them.
Light Recon Sargeant (Rebel Minis)
Light Recon HMG (Rebel Minis)
A ww2 Panzer. Or something. Probably Airfix?
Light Recon Sniper Team (Rebel Minis)
Light Recon RPG Trooper (Rebel Minis)
Size Comparison/Group Shot
Now, I loved these models until I sat down and started to undercoat the bastards. Then I noticed the fault-lines down the middle of a lot of them. Take a look at that HMG trooper, you'll see what I mean. Some of the ordinary troops have a little squished head. I still like the models and people probably wont pay that much attention to them, but its still a bummer.
I've had that tank for years. Then I realised it was actually the right size for my 15mm guys! Winner. Going to repaint it in my trooper colours and think about picking up one or two more!
Special Forces Rifleman (Rebel Minis)
Special Forces Pistolman (Rebel Minis)
Special Forces Sargeant (Rebel Minis)
Group Shot!
I originally bought these guys to be Biohazard guys, but when i'd unpackaged them and had them in my hands i'd changed my mind as soon as i'd spotted them. I like them!
So that is, so far, Everything I have for my collection!
Well. Everything that was supposed to be a 15mm wargame model, anyway...
Friday, 15 November 2013
Model Painting (08/07/2012)
So, with the Holiday Wargaming event nipping at my heels, i've been trying to crack down on getting the models for my part of it undercoated and ready to be painted. I've learnt one serious lesson from this: It doesnt matter how big the model is, undercoating is tedious as all hell, especially when you're doing it by hand.
I beleive i'm roughly halfway through undercoating (hallelujah!) and as a bit of a distraction i've decided to post some decent photos of the models i've painted so far.
I beleive i'm roughly halfway through undercoating (hallelujah!) and as a bit of a distraction i've decided to post some decent photos of the models i've painted so far.
Bug Alien
Drone Controller
Spider Drone
Grey Alien
Protolene Battlemech
Human Special Forces
Human Special Forces
Human Special Forces Sargeant
As you might have noticed, I tend towards more of a subdued urban look to my humans then most people probably would. I just really like the colour combinations to be quite honest, and it leaves them looking quite gritty and dirty - Something I personally enjoy the aesthetic of!
The bases are actually plastic pirate coins bought from my local sainsburies, where you get something like 40 coins for £3 or so. Considering that I cut those coins into four squares, thats a pretty decent amount of base.
At 15mm, i'm seriously finding the prices of things very appealing. Sure, they're barely a quarter the size of say, a Games Workshop Imperial Guardsman, but since you get 10 guys for £20 with your average GW purchase compared to 20 or so guys for £5 at 15mm i'm definately loving it.
At some point, I should Photograph each of the styles of model i've bought and what i'm thinking about using them for. Some of the models i've been finding online are seriously awesome and i'm dead chuffed with the mould quality.
I really need to crack on getting more of these guys painted. Once again, human troopers are from the awesome Rebel Minis, while the Protolene Battlemech is from Critical Mass Games.
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