rpg and tabletop – Terminally Incoherent http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog I will not fix your computer. Wed, 05 Jan 2022 03:54:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.26 Rockets and Rayguns http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2016/03/08/rockets-and-rayguns/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2016/03/08/rockets-and-rayguns/#comments Wed, 09 Mar 2016 03:04:58 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18752 Continue reading →]]> In the past two years or so, I really got back into tabletop and role playing hobby. While it was always a part of my life, and I was always reading and writing about it, for quite some time I wasn’t actually playing much of anything. It was a hobby “on paper”: one that I experienced vicariously through battle reports, podcasts and forum discussions. But that has changed.

I briefly got back into Warhammer, only to see it destroyed, and rebound really hard with Warmachine. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably also know that I have went through a Magic The Gathering phase (circa Dragons of Tarkir) which seems to be mercifully over now. I’m also part of a semi-regular D&D campaign.

You might have actually heard of it. It was briefly trending on reddit because our DM loves to make amazingly detailed terrain props. Due to DM prep overhead, and general state of “adulting” we finds ourselves in, we only have time to play once or twice a month (if we’re lucky). But it’s fun.

If you are wondering why I haven’t been very active on this blog lately, this is part of the reason. Other hobbies have temporarily superseded, and became more important to me than my blogging hobby. Among other things.

At one point I was even prepping to run my own FATE Core campaign. If you are not familiar with FATE Core it, is a narrative RPG system loosely based on FUDGE. I like it because it is a really solid implementation of FUDGE, that really rewards role-playing and pro-active narration from players. It allows them to take part in creation and shaping of the game worlds, but puts limits on it, by making it a resource based mechanic.

Players have FATE points they can spend to gain mechanical bonuses (+2 to any roll), or to narrate something into a scene. They gain said points by allowing their characters to be “compelled” by the GM and giving into their weaknesses, or flaws or by indulging their vices. In other words, they are immediately rewarded for “good role-playing” or for simply following the GM’s rails when he needs them too, with a resource they can spend to get their way.

It makes for a really dynamic, and interesting play, and something very, very different from the very encounter heavy D&D game we’ve been playing lately. So I really wanted to try running a short campaign. Alas, nothing has panned out as of yet. But I did get some nice dice and tokens just in case:

Fate Tokens

FATE Core Tokens and Dice

And of course, because I’m me, I have made tons of notes for the campaign setting. In FATE you are kinda supposed to get players involved in the world building process, and iron out the details during the first session. But, I figured it can’t hunt to jot down some ideas on paper, and to photo-shop some images to give players an idea as to what I was getting at.

The basic idea was based on my retro SF essay from 2010. I just expanded upon it to make it in a rough draft of a game setting. Below, you can find precisely that: a very rough sketch of the proposed setting, along with some of the mechanics and system tweaks I planned to include. The document was originally designed to be a player hand-out that would be distributed before a session, which is why I’m not breaking it up into parts the way I did with Ravenflight.

I’m putting the “living” document here for the time being: Rockets and Rayguns.

After the break, you can read the entire set of campaign notes, as it was in March of 2016 in the form of a blog post. As always, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Rockets & Rayguns

Introduction

This is a game setting designed to be used with FATE Core rule set. This means you will need FATE Rulebook, character sheets, and some FATE Dice and tokens. All the resources can be downloaded for free from the official website.

The setting is based on retro pulp SF from the 40’s and 50’s. Sleek rocket ships with giant fins, space suits with bubble helmets, ray guns, giant computers that take up the entire room, programming done on punch cards or patch cables are the core aesthetic.

Setting

It’s the year 3,000 and humanity has colonized the galaxy. There are over two hundred known human inhabited worlds and many more that have yet to be settled and colonized. Space travel is inexpensive, accessible and affordable and interstellar trade is booming. The primary mode of travel between worlds are small rockets that require 4-5 person crew, and can ferry both passengers as well as cargo across vast distances.

While some people never leave their home world, many choose to travel the galaxy seeking better career opportunities, better education, or simply looking for adventures.

Owning a Starship is considered to be romantic ideal: being the master of your own fate, not beholden to any local power structure, not tied to a single planet, and being able to pick up and leave at any time. Space Adventurers often get fabulously rich by discovering new habitable planets, scavenging alien technology, or finding pirate treasures buried on some barren asteroid.

The technology, while allowing humans to travel between stars, is still stuck in the past. Rockets and ray guns are common sight, but computer networks are unheard of, even on most advanced planets. Computers do exist, and are indispensable, but they are large, slow and programmed via punch cards or patch cables. Space travel is basically all humans got going for it, and it shows. Space Ports are like parking lots: every town has at least one, and major cities have dozens if not hundred of them.

Humanity shares the galaxy with at least three other sentient races: the green skinned Arcturians, the reptilian Slags and the mechanical Centaurians.

Language and Communication

The common language used throughout the galaxy is Esperanto. Individual worlds will often have dominant local language that is spoken by most of the inhabitants, but everyone is expected to learn Esperanto at a young age, and it is used as the official, neutral, common language.

Player characters are considered to be fluent in Esperanto. They may also pick another language that is spoken on their home world. This can be an existing language (Spanish, English and French are especially common) or an original language unique to that particular planet, and/or region.

Communication between worlds is done via the wondrous invention known as Ansible, which is capable of transmitting data instantaneously across vast distances. The transmission rate is flat 3 Bytes per minute, and it does not change based on distance. Because of the slow transmission speed, Ansibles are used mostly like telegraph: text mode only.

Audio-visual and other data is typically recorded onto magnetic tape and transmitted via courier aboard an interstellar rocket.

Planets as Sovereign Kingdoms

Most of the inhabited worlds are sovereign states with their own local government, own military, and own rules. While many worlds resemble the 50’s "world of tomorrow" ideals, some are feudal kingdoms, empires, despotic regimes or even strange theocracies lead by religious cults. While there exist large alliances and multi-world factions, they are far from being homogeneous with respect to culture and customs.

Think of planets as islands separated by vast distances. Most are weeks, if not months away from their closest neighbor. Even though interstellar trade is possible, and hugely profitable, all worlds tend to be self-sufficient, self-reliant and self governed. This lends itself to an incredible variety of cultures, and ways of life.

The three main interstellar factions (The Colonial Authority, The Alliance and The League) usually adopt a hands-off policy with regards to local culture and attitudes. They are mostly military and trade compacts. Some impose their own culture and ideals on the member worlds more than the others. They all know full well, that people’s loyalty is almost always to their home worlds.

On some planets most of the population may live in fully automated, modern cities, with flying cars and robot servants, other worlds may be almost entirely rural and backwards. There exist planets that have almost no advanced technology save for one or two major cities or castles.

Currency and Trade

Most worlds use their local currencies, and many have more than one. Interstellar traders, typically use one of the three faction currencies:

  • Colonial Credits (ΒΆΒΆ) are backed by the Colonial Authority and respected almost everywhere. Even alliance and alien traders will accept the credits, because of favorable exchange rates, and ubiquity. It is a very strong and stable currency, and preferred method of payment for most travelers. Colonial Credits are rectangular plastic chips, about the size of a credit card, with their value laser engraved on the surface.

  • Alliance Trade Notes (atb) are backed by The Alliance and is the second most popular currency in the galaxy. It fluctuates more than Colonial Credits, and tends to be less durable. It takes form of banknotes printed on postcard sized sheets of paper. They are mostly red, with intricate artwork covering the entire surface of the paper.

  • Ducat (d) is the official currency of the League and is the third most popular currency in the galaxy. The Ducat are made out of platinum and gold and their value corresponds in large part to the value of the precious metal from which they were made. This also makes them rather impractical as currency, since large sums tend to be heavy and impractical to carry around. Ducat are usually distributed as coins of various sizes. Small denominations are usually round coins or rings, while larger denominations are rectangular bars designed to be stacked in neat rows. Some merchants prefer this currency because it can be traded as raw materials without incurring much loss.

Additionally, most worlds issue Common Trade Bonds which are backed by their central governing authority. In theory, you should be able to redeem these anywhere in the Galaxy for local currency, but in practice they tend to only be honored on worlds that have standing trade agreements. They typically take form of 8×11" paper documents.

Hyperspace

Most space ship in the setting are cylindrical, nuclear powered rockets. They take off and land in vertical position, and typically balance on three to four fins and/or external engines when they land. The engines on most rockets are capable of accelerations that would produce enough G-forces to make the crew black out, or even instantly kill them so Pilots must exercise caution. That said, they are still conventional engines that cannot get anywhere close to the speed of light.

Interstellar travel is accomplished via Hyperspace which is an alternate dimension in which time and space work differently providing shortcuts between points in our universe. Hyperspace is often described as a non-void: an emptiness that is very much unlike the void of space. It is impossible to measure it’s temperature, pressure or acceleration in Hyperspace because these concepts do not seem to exist there.

A traveler looking outside their ship will see an endless expanse that is devoid of color and any kind of illumination, which somehow still appears "white". Those who have seen it, describe it as deeply unsettling. Most travelers never get exposed to that sight however since ships rarely enter Hyperspace without active Force Field. While ship fields are invisible to the naked eye in our universe, in Hyperspace they strobe and pulsate with vivid color, seemingly at random.

The Force Field is maintained mostly for the comfort of the crew. Without it, most people feel queasy, nauseous, experience sense of vertigo, and suffer from various other sensory distortions. Most people suffer from blurred vision, ringing in their ears and skin numbness. Symptoms such as strange (neither pleasant nor unpleasant) taste in one’s mouth, and hard to describe sharp, but inoffensive odor are also not uncommon. It is not know whether long term exposure has long lasting health effects.

A low powered field surrounding the ship seems to block out all of these side effects.

Once a ship enters the Hyperspace, it winks out of the existence in the standard universe. There is no way to follow or track a ship that is in Hyperspace, and it is not possible for ships to communicate while they remain there. It is theorized (though it was never proven) that each ship enters a slightly different version of the Hyperspace dimension, which is why no two ships were ever able to meet, or transmit messages while traveling.

That said, a skilled Navigator can potentially deduce where a ship was going based on their entry point. The topography of Hyperspace is bizarre and abstract, but stable and unchanging, and specific points within correspond to points in the standard universe. Picking an optimal entry point into Hyperspace allows to shorten the trip considerably. Common inbound and outbound transit points in each system are known to anyone with even Medicore Navigation skill.

Aliens

There is a plethora of alien species out there, and almost every inhabited world has some unique indigenous species. Most of them are not sentient. While many planets have, or had in the past, been a home to an intelligent species, most are not technologically advanced. Humans do not have qualms about colonizing planets that already have intelligent life. Indigenous populations are either assimilated into the human society and forced to adopt human culture and often existence as second class citizens. Those less fortunate are displaced from their home lands to make way for human cities and sometimes completely eradicated.

There are only three sentient species that humanity can’t simply brush away, because of their considerable technological and military power.

Racial Aspects: each race has two or three racial aspects, which describes how the race as a whole is viewed by others. These aspects can be invoked against, or by any members of the species, but it must be in the context of a group as perceived by outsiders.

Consider these aspects represent generalizations, stereotypes and preconceived notions about each species. They can be taken as role-playing cues, but characters and NPC’s can, and should subvert these expectations. In fact, some of the racial aspects will be contradictory. This is by design, to represent conflicting beliefs and prejudices people may feel about this or that race.

Arcturians

Arcturians are sometimes referred to as "the little green men" because of their skin shade and short stature. They typically stand a 4’5" and few of them ever grow to be taller than 5′. There is no significant height difference between their men and women. Their skin is typically some shade of green, though there is some variation between individuals. Most have uniform, light green carnation, but individuals with deep dark green skin as well as those with cyan tinge have been observed. Freckles are not uncommon. The most common hair colors are silver or white, though individuals with various shades of red, blue and black hair shades have been seen,

Arcturians are bipedal, and their body plan resembles that of humans. Their faces are almost human-like, with the exception of lacking visible nose or ears. Their eyes are typically black, without visible whites, or a distinctive iris. Their most distinctive feature are two wriggling antennas growing out of the top of their head which seem to double up as bout olfactory and auricular organs.

Arcturians are similar to humans in their temperament. They have similar track record of colonizing worlds and displacing local populations, being aggressively expansive and endlessly adaptable. Their society is similarly fractured into hundreds of small, locally governed planet-states that trade and war with each other. Because of these similarities both races seem to get along reasonably well. Arcturians often trade with humans, and some even choose to live in human colonies. That said, it is not uncommon for Human and Arcturians to go to war over local resources, or various diplomatic disputes.

Arcturians can learn to speak Esperanto fluently. Most of their own languages are difficult for humans to grasp because it includes sounds inaudible to human ears.

Arcturian technology is slightly more advanced. They seem to have mastered anti-gravitational technology, and cold fusion. Their flying saucers require no loud rocket engines, and use safe and clean reactors. Human scientists have yet to replicate similar technology.

Arcturian Aspects:

  • Little green people
  • Sly and cunning space merchants
  • Their saucers have been seen steeling cattle and abducting humans
Playing an Arcturian

Arcturian characters may require specially fitted space suits, though they can usually get away with using a child-sized human suit if one is available. Standard bubble helmets usually have enough room to fit their head stalks.

An Arcturian player character will be assumed to be fluent in Esperanto, as well as Arcturian Common language, and another language spoken on their home world. They are assumed to have lived long enough among humans to have very good grasp of their norms, customs and taboos. Players do not need to feel the need to use their aspects to establish those facts.

Slags

Slags is somewhat derogatory name given to the race of red skinned, space-faring reptilian humanoids. Slags are roughly human sized, and they have hard, scaly skin and large, round black eyes. Their scales are usually a uniform shade of red, though some have a striped pattern running along their backs. They are obligate carnivores, and their mouths have sharp needle-like teeth. Their hands and feet have large, gripping claws which are used while eating. Most individuals file down the tips, to prevent them from getting caught on clothing. Despite a popular human belief, Slags do not possess tails.

Slags do not have external sexual characteristics that can be distinguished by humans. While they reproduce sexually, and their women lay eggs, there is virtually no way for a human to distinguish a male from a female member of the species just by casual interaction. Most other species have no such trouble and can distinguish Slag sex without any issues.

Despite their reptilian looks, Slags are warm-blooded, and highly energetic. Their though, but flexible scales are excellent thermo regulators which allow them to survive in very low, and very high temperatures, and withstand a lot of radiation. Slags do not need a full space suit to work in vacuum of space. They may spend up to an hour in hard vacuum without suffering any adverse consequences, provided they have a steady supply of oxygen to breathe. They are also extremely hardy, and their skin seems to be particularly resistant to ray gun fire on lower settings.

Slag technology is on par with human, though their ships tend to be much more heavily armored, and have very powerful rocket engines. They typically don’t install any sound dampeners, or emission filters on their engines, and frequently use chemical boosters. Because of that Slag ships are extremely loud, and can often be seen leaving thick, black smoke trails behind them. Their huyperspace drives on the other hand, tend to be sub-par, and significantly slower than human.

The name they use for themselves is unpronounceable by humans. Some members of the species who have learned Esperanto, claimed that they found the word Salamander as a good stand-in, being evocative of fire-spitting lizards. Others disagreed, and there is no consensus on what Humans should call them.

The Slags that are encountered most often in the human space are hostile marauders, raiders or space pirates, who attack human ships or human settlements. Furthermore, their lizard-like appearance is considered to be intimidating, or even frightening by some. In some societies they function as the space bogeymen used by politician or demagogues to rally support.

Humans unaccustomed to dealing with Slags tend to find them unnerving and intimidating.

Slag Aspects:

  • Tough and ugly reptile brutes
  • Smarter and more cunning than than they look
  • Savage, bloodthirsty marauders and space pirates.
Playing a Slag

Players wishing to play a Slag must meet the following requirements:

  • Their character’s Physique skill must be Fair (+2) or better

Slags do not fit in human sized space suits, and do not need them. They simply need a respirator that can fit over their mouth and nose, along with a tank of air to survive in the vacuum of space for up to an hour. Longer periods may result in them suffering from standard ailments related to decompression and exposure.

Player characters are considered to be fluent in Esperanto, as well as the Slag Common language. They may also know a local language spoken on their home world.

Moravecs

The Alpha Centauri Moravecs are one of the most unique races in the entire galaxy due to the fact they are entirely mechanical. Their ancestral species was likely organic, but there is precious little known about them. In their current form, they are robotic, without even a trace of organic material.

They reproduce in a way that is entirely unique to their species: two or more individuals collaborate together, building a brand new individual from parts. Some individuals are simply built from spare parts that are available at the time of creation, while others are built to a specific plan or with a specific purpose in mind, using custom manufactured components. Because of this, no two Moravecs look the same. Most however use a bipedal body with two legs, and two manipulator arms, and sensory modules installed roughly where humans would expect a head to be.

Moravecs have highly advanced technology that is ahead of any other space faring race. Their greatest advancements are in computing and machine engineering. No other race has ever even came close to replicating the technology behind the Moravec brain, and few races can build mechanical sensors as accurate as they do.

Their ships have incredibly fast hyperspace drives, and their rocket engines are tuned to run at accelerations way beyond the tolerances of organic species. Because of this, they are incredibly hard to out-maneuver or chase.

Their ships often have leaky, un-shielded reactors that are unsafe for organic passengers, but do not affect Moravecs at all. They are usually not allowed to park their rockets on residential landing pads, and get re-routed to industrial space ports.

They typically do not install any life support on their vessels because it is not needed. They do not require air or food, and space travelers typically modify their feet to include electro-magnets that allow them to move efficiently in zero gravity. They also do not experience any discomfort while traversing Hyperspace without force fields.

Moravec language is incomprehensible to humans, consisting of beeps and mechanical sounds. Humans can learn to understand it, but can’t readily speak it. Individuals who expect to interact a lot with humans or other species typically install a set of speakers somewhere on their chassis.

Moravec Aspects:

  • Soulless automatons with no respect for organic life
  • Logical and literal to a fault
  • Each one is a priceless mechanical wonder
Playing a Moravec

Players wishing to play a Moravec must meet the following requirements:

  • Their character’s Engineering skill must be Fair (+2) or better.
  • They must take the following extra Made out of Steel: Armor Rating 2 (Cost: 1 Refresh)

Moravecs do not need space suits and can operate in vacuum for indefinite amount of time. They can also operate under water, but their bodies are not designed to withstand deep water pressures. Their bodies are hermetically sealed against vacuum, but extended exposure to water pressure may rupture said seals and cause them to short out and effectively drown just like organics would.

Player character Moravecs are assumed to have speaker mod, and are fluent in Esperanto, as well as the Moravec Machine Language.

Vegans

Vegans are bipedal humanoids that typically stand 7-8 feet tall. Most have thin and wiry build, though obesity is not entirely uncommon among them. They do appear to be less prone to it than Humans or Arcturians. They have a smooth, hairless light blue skin and white, pupil-less eyes that emit soft glow in the dark. Most individuals have light or dark freckle like spots on the top of their head, their back and sides of their arms and legs. The pattern and coloration is unique to an individual.

Similarly to Arcturians, they posses no nose, but do have ears similar to those of humans. Their olfactory senses are located in their mouth and they typically smell things by "tasting the air" with their mouth and tongue.

Vegans evolved from herbivorous herd animals and their stomachs cannot digest meat. While they can subside on food rations designed for Humans or Arcturians by just eating around the meat, it is not healthy for them. They typically need more varied plant based diet to stay healthy.

Their original home planet had much weaker gravity than Earth, and they tend to prefer low gravity planets. The standard gravity that feels comfortable to humans is strenuous and tiring to Vegans. It makes them tire easily, and make them seem sluggish and lazy, compared to other species. Despite their large size, Veagans are not significantly stronger than humans because their muscles are designed for much weaker gravity.

Vegan technology is on par with Human or Slag civilizations. They use atomic powered rockets and standard hyperspace drives. By necessity, their vessels tend to be larger, and more spacious to accommodate their large bodies. They usually have a distinctive bulbous shape, with engines mounted on fins.

Vegans have reputation for being peaceful and neutral race. Their worlds typically choose to stay out of armed conflicts, major wars or even territorial disputes. This is by no means universal across all their worlds of course. They do not hesitate to fight when attacked, and will launch attacks at perceived threats when needed. They simply prefer not to enter into interstellar military alliances. They prefer to maintain friendly relations with all their neighbors if possible.

Vegans have reputation for being level headed, and hard to shake or provoke. They can stay calm even under extreme pressure, and rarely lose their laid back and easy going attitudes. Some species find their unshakable will and unfaltering smiles to be rather unsettling, while others enjoy their company precisely because if that.

Vegan Common language has a song-like qualities to it, and is fairly easy for humans to master.

Vegan aspects:

  • Gentle, friendly giants
  • Laid back and easy going but lazy
  • Affraid to ever take a stand on important issues
Playing a Vegan

Players wishing to play a Moravec must meet the following requirements:

  • Their character’s Will skill must be Fair (+2) or better.

Vegans do not fit in human sized space suits. They are also not comfortable in chairs designed for humans.

Player character Vegans are considered to be fluent in Esperanto, Vegan Common language and one local language spoken on their home world.

Important Factions

There are three major human factions that operate on a galactic scale, rather than on a planetary scale.

Colonial Authority

Colonial Authority is a military superpower with an enormous fleet, and many worlds under it’s control. Their mission statement is to protect human life, human culture, and human interests throughout the galaxy. They seek to "prepare" new worlds for human colonization, which almost invariably involves exterminating indigenous alien life and supplanting it with Earth-like ecosystem.

Colonials also often choose to "protect" sovereign human worlds by making them part of their territories. The wishes of the local populace are irrelevant, and few worlds are able to face the Colonial Invasion Fleet in an open space battle. Fortunately the Authority allows the worlds it controls govern themselves asking only for three things.

First, is taxation. Second is providing the Colonial Fleet with soldiers on an annual basis. Third is the ability to build Colonial Bases on the surface of the planet, and govern them as they see fit, without them being subject to local laws. Of course local rulers still must answer to the Colonial Authority, and the local military must be disarmed and dismantled.

Colonial Authority is commonly referred to as "The Colonies". The people living on Colonial worlds are typically not referred to as "Colonials". That title is usually reserved to members of the Colonial Fleet, or high ranking diplomatic officials who represent the authority.

Faction Aspects:

  • "Enemies of the Colonial Authority are enemies of Humanity"
  • "Only good aliens are dead aliens"
  • "Colonial fleet has no peers, join us or perish"
The Interstellar Alliance

The Interstellar Alliance originally consisted of the Fomalhaut, Betelgeuse and Aldebaran systems, each of which is represented by a stripe on the flag. The stripes converge together to represent how these systems banded together in a close knit alliance, to protect their citizens from outside threats which include Slag marauders, Colonial Authority, League of Free Worlds and Arcturian invasion fleets. Since it’s inception, dozens more worlds were formally inducted into the organization.

Modeled after the Collonial Fleet, the Allied Fleet is funded and recruited from the member worlds. Unlike the Ahority however, membership in the Alliance is voluntary, and there are no tithes or mandatory draft. That said, member states are expected to pull their own weight and contribute. Worlds that do not donate funds, supplies or troops will often be expelled from the alliance. New member states must go through a rigorous vetting process, during which they are expected to take on all the responsibilities of a member, without actually gaining any benefits.

Alliance does not officially meddle in the local affairs of member states, but it does have a published set of standards, and model laws which members are encouraged to implement. These standards proscribe both legal, cultural and economic norms. For example, member worlds with democratic governments are instructed to ensure that aliens cannot vote on matters that pertain to human citizens. Some of the standards proscribe dietary restrictions (only Earth based foods, no indigenous plants or animals) or mode of dress (no hats or head-wear allowed on Alliance ships or alliance controlled lands). Original members are free to ignore these standards, but newly inducted members may be voted out if they don’t make every attempt to conform to all the suggested standards.

Alliance fleet is smaller than than the Colonial Fleet, but highly motivated and well trained.

Faction traits:

  • "Not nearly as bad as the Colonials"
  • "You are free to conform or leave"
  • "Humanity first!"
The League of Free Worlds

The third biggest faction in the known space, is the League of Free Worlds. It is feared and despised by both the Colonials and the Alliance alike. Unlike those highly organized factions, the League is a loose association of worlds united under a single banner. Each of said worlds is ruled by a local despot, who holds an absolute power over their domain, and maintains a personal army to defend their holdings. Alliances between the members of the League are based on personal martial or trade agreements between the ruling dynasties and tend to be fickle and impermanent.

The actual power of the faction waxes and wanes as the internal alliances are broken, wars are caught, and personal vendettas are being carried out. That said, there is a kind of strong "us vs them" mentality among the League planet lords, and they will usually put aside their quarrels to when threatened by an external force.

The League’s official leader is known as the Lord of Lords (or The Overlord for short). This is not a hereditary title, but rather an elected office with a twenty year term, which can only be served once. The Overlord is selected by majority vote at the Grand Landsmeet: a gathering of Planet Lords that happens once per two decades. It is a very festive occasion, and one fraught with danger and court intrigue. There hasn’t been a single Grand Landsmeet without at least one assassination attempt, and some kind of scandal or political spectacle. At Landsmeet new alliances are forged, old alliances are broken, duels between lords are fought, planets, riches and power changes hands in unpredictable ways, until a new status quo emerges. Usually the most powerful, or most charismatic of Planet Lords emerges as the new Overlord. The office itself grants authority over the other Planet Lords, but that authority must always be backed up by actual power: either in terms of a strong personal army, or good network of allies that can discourage dissent.

The cultures of the League worlds vary, and are usually dictated by tastes, beliefs and convictions of the ruling dynasty. On most of them governance resembles a class driven feudal system. Others may be run as corporate structures, or even faux democracies with mock senate, and meaningless elections. Some Planet Lords are despised by their subjects, while others are beloved local celebrities. All of them however wield absolute power of life and death over the inhabitants of their worlds.

  • "Space Aristocrats"
  • "Yield to the strongest and the mightiest"
  • "Kneel and you will be allowed to live and serve"

Mechanics

Below are additional skills and mechanics that extend the set of rules found in the FATE Core rulebook.

Anchors

This campaign will use the idea of Anchors as outlined by Rob Donoghue. To put it simply, an Anchor is an object, place or person connected to an Aspect that provides a concrete, tangible cue for invoking and compelling that Aspect.

When creating their characters, players should define one Anchor for each of their Aspects. They can be small trinkets or items (favorite hat, good luck coin, a locket with a picture), a meaningful person (mentor, teacher, parent, old friend, dependable associate) or place (your childhood home, a place you wish to visit, a prison where you served a sentence). Players should try to choose Anchors that both help to flesh out their character, provide "visual" cues as to who they are, and have a reasonable probability to come up in play.

The Anchors then provide an additional, and conceptually easy way to invoke or compel Aspects. For example, a Grizzled war veteran may be wearing a jacket with their former unit insignia, giving the GM an easy way to compel that aspect by having an NPC recognize the patch and try to start a fight because were on the opposite side of a recent war. The patch acts as a convenient hook to hang the compel on.

Skill List

There are 20 skills to choose from. You get the 18 standard FATE Core skills and two new skills renamed below. Additionally, some of the standard skills have been renamed to fit the setting better (see table below).

Skill Description
Athletics
Burglary
Contacts
Crafts Covers arts and crafts. Ron Swanson type shit here.
Deceive
Drive Covers all ground vehicles and other non flying machines.
Empathy
Education renamed Replaces Lore.
Engineering new Used to repair machinery, program computers and operate starship shields.
Fight
Investigate
Lore Replaced by Education
Notice
Physique
Pilot new Covers spacecrafts, and flying machines.
Provoke
Rapport
Resources
Shoot
Stealth
Will
Engineering Skill

I made a decision to break Engineering out of Crafts skill, because it represent a slightly different skill set. Along with the Pilot skill, it allowed me to round up the skill list to an even 20, so that works out just fine.

Crafts skill is still around, but is mostly focused on manual craftsmanship and artistry. With Crafts you can build a nice mahogany desk, reinforce a wall, weave ceramic plating into your space suit and etc.. It can also be used for architecture – you can build a shack in the woods, a floating raft, or a magnificent shed.

Engineering works similar to Crafts with exception that it is focused on technology specifically. Your character is good with machines, and mechanical devices of all sorts. You can repair your space ship, fix your ray gun, rig a robot to explode and etc..

This skill is also used for computer programming, reading and writing computer programs. As a rule of thumb, if something is mechanical, or plugs into power source, Engineering is the skill to use with it.

There is some degree of overlap between the two skills. Engineering skill could potentially be used to build a structurally sound raft for example. It may not be the best looking or most comfortable raft, but it will probably float just fine. Similarly, Craft can be used to open an electronic door lock, by simply cutting around it, and shorting the wires at random until something happens. As a general rule of thumb, in such cases the solution lacks the finesse and more of a temporary fix than a permanent solution.

Overcome: Engineering allows you to build, break, or fix machinery, presuming you have the time and tools you need. It can also be used to create computer programs. It can also be used to heal and repair robotic characters, such as the alien Moravecs.

Create an Advantage: You can use Engineering to create aspects representing features of a piece of machinery, pointing out useful features or strengths you can use to your advantage (Supercharged Battery, Finely Calibrated Gyroscopes) or a vulnerability for you to exploit.

Creating Crafts advantages can also take the form of quick and dirty sabotage or jury-rigging on mechanical objects in the scene. For example, you might create a Makeshift Pulley to help you get to the platform above you, open an electronic door lock and etc..

Defend: When on a ship with force fields, you may attempt to defend from attacks from enemy ships. To do so, you must first ensure your shields are at maximum combat capacity by routing power to them. Once that is done, you may use your Engineering skill to defend any Shoot attacks directed at your ship. This represents you modulating the field intensity to adapt to the incoming shots in order to deflect them.

Engineering Stunts

  • McGuyver: you can improvise and build simple gadgets or tools using things that just happen to be around (paper-clips, chewing gum and shoelaces for example). You always count as having the right tools for the job.

  • Computer Programmer: +2 to engineering rolls when programming, reading computer programs, or trying to solve problems using a computer.

Pilot Skill

Piloting a rocket ship is not an easy task. It requires a lot of special training and good grasp of orbital mechanics and how gravity fields and atmosphere affect a space craft. Because of this it is broken out into a separate skill from Drive which now pertains to non-flying vehicles only.

Pilot skill behaves similar to Drive

Overcome: Use Pilot whenever performing difficult maneuvers, such as trying to land on difficult terrain, weaving in between obstacles, trying to enter world’s atmosphere at a dangerous speed and etc…

Create Advantage: You can create an advantage for the Gunner by skillful maneuvering.

Attack: Pilot skill can be used to ram the enemy ship similar to the way Drive skill works.

Defend: You can use the skill to actively try to dodge the incoming attacks by performing evasive maneuvers.

Pilot Stunts

  • Dogfighter: gain +2 on active Defend rolls using the Pilot skill when in combat with a single enemy ship.

  • Push the Limit: you can withstand high acceleration better than the others. When your engines are overcharged you can out-run, overtake or shake off any ship of similar size as yours if you can make successful Pilot roll. The downside is that most of your crew will black out from high-G stress.

  • Stunt Pilot: gain +2 on Overcome rolls when performing difficult stunts such as barrel rolls.

  • Thread the Needle: gain +2 on Overcome rolls when flying the ship through extremely tight spaces.

Lore is now Education

Lore sounds a bit archaic or supernatural for this setting, so it was renamed. Education may refer to formal academic background, training or being self taught expert.

This is also the skill used for reading star charts, and plotting hyperspace jumps.

You can take Stunts to specialize in a specific field. For example:

  • Medical Doctor: +2 on Overcome or Create Advantage rolls pertaining to first aid, medical aid, or general knowledge of medicine and pharmacology.
  • Navigator: +2 on Overcome or Create Advantage rolls pertaining to hyperspace navigation, reading star charts and etc..

Zero Gravity

Your ship’s Life Support system has a built in artificial gravity support. This is true for most rocket ships, and as a result very few pace travelers ever need to learn how to handle themselves in zero gravity. It is a skill that only comes up when the on-board Life Support fails, or when a person needs to go outside of the spaceship to perform repairs.

For an average person, working without gravity is rather challenging. People tend to bump into walls a lot, get themselves stuck in a middle of the room, and tend to get disoriented or even nauseous.

In zero gravity all physical actions have a -2 penalty, regardless of skill level.

This penalty applies to all skills that have physical component, including Engineering and Pilot tasks. It does not apply to non-physical skills such as using Rapport or Empathy.

Player characters may take the following stand-alone stunt to represent their expertise as seasoned spacers.

  • Astronaut: ignore penalties for working in zero gravity.

Taking the above stunt gives a character access to a whole stunt family:

  • Space Walking: (requires Astronaut) gain +2 to Athlethic rolls while out of spaceship in vacuum of space.

  • Zero-G Combat: (requires Astronaut) gain +2 to any Fight rolls while in zero gravity.

  • Zero-G Marskman: (requires Astronaut) gain +2 to Shoot rolls when using personal side-arms in zero gravity.

Crew Roles

Crew roles listed below describe the jobs characters will have on the ship. The players should try to build their characters so that they can fulfil one, or several of these roles. You won’t need all of them, but it’s good to have at least few.

To run a ship effectively, you will need one character with Pilot skill, one with Engineering just to be able to take off and land. Computers and Navigation will be necessary to get between systems via Hyperspace. A crew without someone with a good Shoot skill will be in trouble if it runs into any ship-to-ship combat.

That said, if one or more players want to create off-beat characters that do not conform to any of the roles below, they can certainly do so. In such case, the crew should simply hire a number of NPC crew mates with the missing skills.

Please note that a Crew Role should not be used as your High Concept Aspect. It can however be used as a starting point. For example a Pilot may take "the best damn pilot in the Colonies" as their High Concept. This is not a requirement though. As a counter example, you may have a Captain who is a "scoundrel with a heart of gold" or a Gunner who is a "disgraced war hero".

Captain

As a Captain you are the leader of the crew. You represent your crew mates when interacting with others, and anything you say or do reflects on your crew and vice versa. It is your job to find new jobs, passengers, negotiate prices and ensure your ship is stocked with provisions for long trips.

While on planet, you are responsible for the conduct and actions of your crew mates. If they get in trouble, it is your job to appease the locals, talk to the authorities and make things right. During combat it is your job to negotiate with the hostiles, accept their surrender, or make the decision to concede in conflict to save your ship and your crew.

You are, by far, the most important member of the crew because you hired all the other crew members and you own the ship.

Important Skills:

  • Notice, Will, Rapport

Pilot

You are responsible for piloting the ship and making sure you take off and land in one piece. During combat, your skill may be called upon to doge incoming shots or to out-maneuver the enemy and create good firing situations.

You are, by far the most important crew member because without you, the ship will not fly.

Important Skills:

  • Pilot, Engineering, Education

Engineer

Your job is to maintain the ship, and repair it when it becomes damaged. You can be usually found calibrating the engines, tinkering with the hyperspace drive or making new modifications to the turret. Without you, the ship would fall apart. During combat, you will be routing power to various ship subsystems, and operating the Force Fields, deflecting enemy shots.

You are by far the most important crew member, because without you the ship would fall apart.

Important Skills:

  • Engineering, Crafts, Education

Gunner

You are the ship’s muscle. You are in charge of loading and unloading the cargo, making sure everything is strapped down tight, and prepared for the flight. You are handy in a bar fight, or street brawl. But it’s space combat when your skills really shine. You are a crack shot, both with a ray gun and with the heavy laser turret. You can alway line up a perfect shot.

You are by far, the most important crew member, because without you, they’d be sitting ducks to be plucked by Space Pirates.

Important Skills:

  • Shoot, Fight, Physique

The Ship

Your ship is Advanced Astronautics Dauntless 600 Interstellar Rocket Ship (AA D-600). It’s designated as a light cargo hauler / passenger carrier. Your ship was modified with a military issue Heavy Laser Turret installed in the Observation Deck.

The ship is a character that the players will create along side their characters.

When creating the ship:

  • Give it 3 aspects as to a regular character (High Aspect, Trouble and one aspect related to it’s past owner, or how the crew obtained it)
  • Leave space for two additional aspects to be gained during play
  • Assign the ship no skills or stunts. All rolls will depend on crew skills.
  • Give the ship Recharge of 2.
  • Give the ship 1 stunt that can be useful in combat, that makes this ship unique

The ship has two stress tracks:

  • Hull Stress works like physical stress for a character. Your ship starts with two boxes and may gain more.
  • Shield Capacity starts with two boxes.

The Shield stress track is to be used only when actively defending via Shields. If damage is taken in excess of Shield Capacity, the Shield is Taken Out for the remainder of the scene. It must cool off, and be re-calibrated before it’s used again, but no repair roll is necessary.

If shields are powered down, or in cruise mode when hit, you must use the Hull Stress track.

You can use this modified character sheet:

The ship may gain two additional aspects (to a total of 5) during game play.

During the game players may invoke the aspects of their ship by using the ship’s own FATE points.

Ship to Ship Combat

Ship to Ship Combat counts as Physical Conflict. Treat each ship involved in combat as a single character.

Use Cpatain’s Notice skill to determine the turn order, and break any ties by using Pilot’s, Gunner’s and then Engineer’s skill (in that specific sequence)

During each Exchange each crew member may perform one action. The following special actions affect the ship as a whole:

Create Advantage: Pilot may attempt to create an advantage over the enemy ship(s) by carefully maneuvering the rocket into an advantageous position. This should be rolled against the enemy pilot skill. A captain may also attempt to create advantage by observing the enemy ship via Lidar to find weak spots, maneuvering patterns that could be exploited.

Attack: the Gunner may use their Shoot skill to attack the enemy ship.

Defend: If attacked, the Pilot or the Engineer may use an appropriate skill to defend against an incoming attack. If Pilot chooses to Defend we call it Evading. If Engineer chooses to defend, we call it Blocking.

  • When Evading use Piloting skill to defend. If damage is taken, use Hull Stress track.
  • When Blocking use Engineering skill to defend. If damage is taken, use Shields Capacity stress track.

The Captain may also try to perform mental Attack actions using the Shortwave Radio. In that case, they will be rolling against the enemy Capitan, and the damage and consequences are applied to said character rather than the ship.

The Ship Systems

Your D-600 has an old, aging reactor, which does not yield enough power to run all the ship systems at the same time. To represent this, you can use the optional power management mini-game in ship-to-ship combat to make it more interesting.

Power management works as follows:

  • Ship’s reactor generates a fixed number of Power Points (PP) which should be represented by appropriate tokens
  • Each of the ship’s systems consumes a set number of PP per Exchange to operate
  • At the start of an Exchange all the tokens are placed on the Reactor system on the Ship’s character chart
  • Before any actions are declared, Engineers assign the tokens to ship systems in secret, then reveal them at the same time
  • From that point on the Exchange proceeds as normal, but systems that have not been assigned enough PP to meet their minimum, cannot be used

Overcharging: in order to perform stunts, relevant ship system must be supplied with extra power. Place an extra token on said system to pay for stunt use.

The resource management should only be used during Conflict resolution, and can be ignored during regular (boring) ship use, when the party just wants to get from point A to point B.

Atomic Reactor

Your D-600 is powered by a standard nuclear power source for that model. If the reactor is damaged, the ship is completely out of power and is considered adrift.

  • The reactor output: 8 PP per Exchange
Rocket Engine

The Rocket engine is used for normal space flight, take-offs, landing and docking operations. During combat, it is required to perform any actions that require ship to move or change position. It also allows to use the Pilot skill for Active defense against shots or ram attempts.

  • Minimum power required: 3 PP per Exchagne
Life Support

Life Support system covers air, water, waste recycling as well as artificial gravity on the ship. It requires a constant supply of power while the ship is in outer space, but can be temporarily disabled if PP are needed elsewhere.

The immediate consequence of disabling this system is that it cuts the artificial gravity. This means anything not strapped down starts to float and bound around. Crew members without the Astronaut stunt face penalties for working in Zero-G.

The long term effect is that ship’s air is no longer recycled, so the crew has about 20 minutes before they start suffocating.

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchange
Hyperspace Drive

Your D-600 is fitted with a standard Hyperdrive that allows you to perform hyperspace jumps. It has no obvious utility in combat, except for when the ship’s crew is trying to make a quick escape.

In a Conflict the Hyperdrive must operate for at least 4 consecutive Exchanges without interruption in order to successfully initiate a hyperspace jump. A Crew member must be assigned to operate and program in the course into it over that period and they may not do anything else. If they are interrupted, or the power is cut before the 4 Exchanges have elapsed then the process must be restarted from the beginning.

  • Minimum power required: 5 PP per Exchagne
Force Field

Force Field (also referred to as Shields) is mainly used for deflecting laser shots or space debris that would otherwise damage your ship’s hull. When the ship is Attacked, a Crew member operating the Force Field system (usually the Engineer) may use their Engineering skill to Defend from the attack.

If the Force Field is active, damage can be recorded on the Shields stress track, rather than on the Hull stress track.

The Force Field is also used during Hyperspace travel, but it can usually be run in low power mode where the drain on reactor is negligible. This feature has no combat utility and can be safely ignored (assume Shields are on while in Hyperspace at all times) unless the system is damaged.

  • Minimum power required: 3 PP per Exchagne
Med Bay

A small medical room is tucked into the corner of the Cargo Bay next to the Life Support systems. It contains a fully stocked medicine cabinet, surgical tools, one surgery table and three stasis chambers that can stabilize a patient in critical condition. The chambers may also be used to enter suspended sleep state if the Hyperdrive is broken and the ship is adrift.

In Combat the med bay can be shut off, unless you need the Stasis Chambers to be running: for example if transporting a patient in a critical condition.

If the power is cut, the chambers gracefully shuts down and wake up the patients. Each chamber can be connected to an external power supply, and placed on a dolly for transport to a hospital.

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchagne
Lidar

The AA D-600 has limited visibility out of the Bridge canopy and uses a Lidar array for sensor readings. Lidar works by illuminating targets with laser light and reading the reflected beams. It works like a sonar but can provide a lot more information and works at the speed of light.

Lidar is located on the Bridge and looks a bit like a bulky submarine periscope. It is typically used by the Captain who can use it’s readings to instruct the Pilot.

Lidar has two modes: passive and active. In passive mode it will detect any objects that generate or deflect light. It can also be used to detect heat from rocket engines, and systems. If a rocket shuts off it’s engines, and there is no nearby source of strong light (like a sun) it may be very hard to distinguish from a space debris.

In Active Scanning Mode the Lidar can be used to make long range scans by illuminating targets with various wavelengths of laser light. It can be used to identify the exact model of the enemy ship, see if it has active force fields, detect presence of a working reactor, scan for life signs and etc. When a ship uses Lidar in active mode it lights up like a Christmas tree and reveals ship’s position.

During combat, Lidar can be used to identify enemy weaknesses, and used for Create Advantage action.

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchagne in Active Scanning Mode
Shortwave Radio

Used for ship-to-ship or ship-to-planet communication. Uses standard analog radio wave and has rather limited range. Players will have to use to request permission to land or coordinate docking with another ship or space station.

All rooms have wired communications that require negligible power, and will work as long as the reactor is running. They do not depend on the Shortwave Radio subsystem.

In combat, the Radio is mainly used for Ship to Ship communication. If the Capitan wanted to Provoke the enemy Crew, this system would have to be on

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchagne
Ansible

Standard Ansible allowing for instant interstellar communication at roughly 3 Bytes per minute. It allows one to send a message to any other Ansible in the universe, provided you know it’s unique routing number.

Ansible must be powered on to send out messages. In combat assume you are able to send one written word per Exchange.

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchagne while Sending
Laser Turret

Military equipment, retro-fitted to work with D-600. It can sustain 3 second high intensity beam that can be used to damage another ship, clear space debris out of the way and etc.

The turret can be used once per Exchange. During combat it will almost exclusively be used to make Attack actions. It can also be used to Defend from a projectile weapon (eg. a torpedo) or to blast space junk or debris to Create Advantage. In all the above cases, the Gunner’s Shoot skill would be used.

  • Minimum power required: 4 PP per Shot

Ship Upgrades

The ship is expected to gain new Aspects and Stunts as the campaign goes by, and that is it’s main progression. Unlike characters, it does not have skills it could improve. The crew could however choose to upgrade some of the ship systems, or install new modules.

An obvious upgrade is a better reactor that generates few more PP per Exchange. Other possible upgrades to consider:

  • Better Force Field (add stress boxes to the Shields track)
  • Better Turret (add a Weapon Rating extra)
  • Armor Plating (add stress boxes to the Hull track)
  • A whole new Systems module with unique functionality

Eventually the Crew could even upgrade to a new ship with a new set of aspects and different module slots.

The Ship Decks

All decks are air tight, and connected via two hatches to the deck above and two hatches the deck below. The primary hatches are all aligned into a column that allow a person to freely climb up and down between decks. There are also maintenance hatches that are in different places (but clearly marked by hazard stripes). Maintenance hatches are usually closed while not in use. All hatches are sealed manually.

All rooms and sections within a deck can be sealed individually via air tight door. The seals on all doors are manual.

  • Deck 1: Engines – Sits on top of the rocket exhaust. Divided into Reactor Room and Engine Room. Reactor Room is sealed off, and accessible via a air-lock door and requires a radiation suit to enter. Engine room has the Engineering Station that allows the Engineer to shut down and power up ship systems at will. It also houses the Hyperdrive Engine.

    Systems:

    • Rocket Engines
    • Hyperspace Drive
    • Frorce Fields
    • Atomic Reactor

  • Deck 2: Cargo Bay – Used for storing hauled cargo. Also includes external air lock, automated ladder, and a crane system for pulling up large boxes off the ground. The crane must be operated by a crew member. The air-lock can be wide open when the ship has landed, but at all other times, only one set of doors can be open. The air-lock doors are automatic and controlled via a panel inside the Cargo Bay. There is a manual override on the outside which uses a gear box to close and seal inside door and open the outside door via a crank shaft. It is usually hidden behind a reinforced panel that requires a key carried by the Capitan. Within the Air Lock there are 3 lockers with one Space Suit each.

    Small section of the huge Cargo Bay space is sectioned off to house Life Support systems. The machinery simply did not fit in the Engie Deck. The emergency hatch to the Engineering Deck actually opens into the Life Support toom. Some Engineers like to keep that hatck open, and lock the Life Support room from the rest of Cargo Bay.

    Right next to the Life Support there is a tiny Med Bay with three stasis chambers. It was placed here to avoid taking sick crew up to the living quarters deck to minimize contamination. The room has a small air-lock entrance with a decontamination shower. There is a locker with a single hazmat suit outside.

    Systems:

    • Life Support
    • Med Bay

  • Decks 3: Living Quarters – Seven rooms for crew and passengers, connected by a common area in the middle. The common area has a small kitchen, large conference/dining table, as well as a shared restroom with a stall, sink and a shower.

  • Deck 4: Bridge – contains pilot station, Captain’s chair, and Lidar. The other half of the deck is the Observatory which was retro-fitted to house the Heavy Laser Turret which takes up most of it.

    Systems:

    • Lidar
    • Shortwave Radio
    • Laser Turret

  • Deck 5 – tip of the rocket. Houses the Ansible, the radio equipment and antennas. It also houses the Captain’s Cabin.

    Systems:

    • Ansible

Rockets

Rockets are iconic and important to the setting. Your D-600 is special and unique ship, because it belongs to your party. Similarly, important NPC ships may also have unique aspects and features. There are however going to be dozens of other ships you may encounter, which are not going to be important enough to warrant a character sheet.

Below you can find brief descriptions of popular ship models you might encounter during your adventures. Each model will have an aspect (in italics) and sometimes a stunt or an extra associated with it.

  • Enduring class ships are fast but cheep and not very durable.
  • Mercurial class ships have been built for speed and comfort, not for combat.
  • Dilligent class ship is a dependable workhorse favored by space merchants
  • Divergent class ships are light, well armed military crafts usually used by planetary defense or law enforcement (Weapon Class: 1)

  • Dauntless class ship may be slow and does not look like much, but its dependable
  • Intrepid class ships are cargo haulers that are built like race cars
  • Peerless class ship is a piece of junk that belongs in a museum

  • Falcon class ship was built for fast atmospheric dogfighting used for planetary invasions
  • Swift class ships are blindingly fast, hard hitting glass cannon and are mainly used as deep space interceptors
  • Wasp class ships are slow but steady, colonial workhorse used as military transports or cargo haulers (Armor Class: 1)

On average, even the slowest Arcturian saucer is more maneuverable than the fastest rocket. They do however are at a disadvantage in deep interstellar space where their anti-gravity engines can’t provide enough thrust.

  • Traveler class saucers are agile but fragile
  • Vanquisher class saucers are frighteningly maneuverable, light military warships
  • Observer class ship is sluggish for a saucer, but surprisingly tough and durable

Slag ships are heavily armored, and all have Armor Class: 1 unless specified otherwise.

  • Armadillo class ship is a flying fortress
  • Razorspine class ships bristle with weaponary
  • Thunderstrike ships are nothing but engines

Moravec ships have no Life Support or Artificial Gravity.

  • Moonstrider class ships are solid cargo haulers, with fragile landing struts
  • Stargazer class ships have vulnerable hull but powerful force field
  • Triton class ships are faster than they look, but not very maneuverable

Vegan ships have their Artificial Gravity turned down to a fraction of what Humans consider comfortable.

  • Starstrider class ship turns on a dime
  • Moonraker class ships have powerful engines, lots of weapons but little cargo space
  • Sunspot class ships are built for speed at the cost of armor

Other Technology

Computers

Computers do exist in this setting but they are huge, unwieldy and expensive machines that take up an entire room. They require high Engineering skill to operate properly.

Most computers are programmed via patch cables, or punch cards. A portable computer that will fit on a space ship, will take up almost entire upper deck, and will be programmed via patch cables and manual switches. Computers used in research facilities are almost universally punch-card driven.

Punch card decks (pictured above) are the default programming medium, while large magnetic spool tapes are used for data storage. Both can be used as McGuffins or objectives. Punch cards are portable but fragile. Messing up their order will destroy the program, unless the author took time to number the cards. A deck can be read directly and require at least a Fair (+2) or better Engineering roll.

Magnetic spools are about the size of a spare tire for a medium size passenger car, and weigh about as much. They require special hardware to read.

Ansible

Ansibles are used for instantaneous interstellar communication. They are able to transmit data at the constant, uninterrupted rate of 3 bytes per minute, regardless of distance.

A standalone Ansible is a machine about the size of a small work desk, that contains a teletype device with a keyboard. Typed text is buffered in temporary memory that can hold up to 256 Bytes of data. Received output is printed directly onto the paper spool.

Because of the limitations of technology, most Ansibles work in text only mode and are used much like telegraph was back in the day. There exist versions of this device that can be used as general purpose computer modems but they are much bigger and more expensive since they require much more buffering memory.

Ansibles are fairly simple to use, and do not require Computers skill to operate.

Space Suit

A standard space suit is made out of thin, flexible space age material that provides perfect thermo-regulation. It will protect you from the extreme cold of outer space, and can withstand the heat of a ray weapon. The material is stretchy and flexible, but very difficult to tear or puncture. Most modern space suits are thin and form fitting, but bulkier, multi-layer, old suits are still in use in some places.

Each suit comes with a reinforced glass bubble helmet that offers full peripheral vision, and a shoulder harness that mounts air tanks.

Most suits also come with a utility belt with array of pouches and a number of attachment points for tools or weapons. The helmet has a built in radio unit, with a very short range. It can be sued to communicate with the ship while working outside of it but it is very low powered and maximum range is only about 5 miles. The radio uses a battery is carried in a pouch attached to the belt, and it can sustain 20 minutes of continuous use which is usually enough for most space walks. The suit also has a small speaker on the front of the collar that can be also used for close proximity communication.

Each suit comes with a utility belt that has a pouch for the battery, a small length of elastic rope with few hooks and carbiners, a foldable multi-tool as well as patch kit that can be used to seal the suit if it’s torn, or fix cracks in the helmet.

Some space suits may have special features: for example protective ceramic plating, better radio, bigger tanks. A better suit should be taken as an Extra for a character.

Ray Gun

Ray guns are the most commonly used type of fire-arms. The gun itself is a small pistol, which is useless without the large battery pack to which it is attached by a coiled cable. The battery pack usually comes with a shoulder strap, and worn at the hip. Some space suits come with a dedicated mount for the battery pack.

When the user squeezes the trigger the gun starts emitting a laser beam until the trigger is released.

The battery pack has a few dials and switches which require at least Average Shoot skill to operate properly. The analog dials and switches allow the user to set beam intensity, power cap, automatic cut-off and etc. In game terms all of this is simplified to 3 settings:

  • Low – is a non-lethal setting. The beam can be sustained for up to 3 seconds and it will burn through clothing and damage electronic equipment but will not melt through solid walls. A person shot by a ray gun on Low settings will suffer nasty 3rd degree burns but won’t suffer major internal damage. A standard space suit can usually protect from one or two direct hits. Weapon Rating: -1

  • Medium – can be sustained for up to 2 seconds. Will burn a hole straight through flesh damaging internal organs. A person wearing standard space suit will suffer burns as if hit by a Low beam. It is possible to hit up to two people with the same beam if they are lined up, in which case the second person suffers damage as if hit by Low beam. Medium beam will damage electronics and machinery and will burn through wood, but won’t pierce metal or concrete walls. Space suits offer no protection, but ceramic armor does. Weapon Rating: 1

  • High – can be sustained for up to 1 second. High beam will burn right through metal and concrete. If shot on board of a space ship, it will likely cause a hull breach and decompression. It is possible to hit multiple targets, or targets behind cover by simply shooting right through them. Ceramic Armor offers adequate protection. Weapon Rating: 3

A battery pack has 60 units of power. Power usage depends on beam intensity:

  • Low Beam: 1 unit per second (60 pin point shots, 30 two seconds sweeps, 20 three second sweeps)
  • Medium Beam: 2 units per second (30 pin point shots, 15 two second sweeps)
  • High Beam: 5 units per second (12 pin point shots)

The gun will automatically cut-off when it starts to over-heat. Players with high Shoot skill may take Stunts that allow them over-heat the Ray Gun for longer sweeps, or additional effects.

Portable Radio

A battery powered, portable radio that can be used to communicate between a planet surface and a ship in orbit. The device weighs about 80lbs and has a battery that allows for about an hour of continuous use.

The ship should have at least one of these available in the Cargo Bay. The radio can be tuned to a number of frequencies, but should be pre-set on a channel that will connect it with the Ship’s radio array. Anyone who can overcome a Medicore difficulty Engineering test can tune it to another ship’s channel.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2016/03/08/rockets-and-rayguns/feed/ 3 Warmachine Resources http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/10/10/warmachine-resources/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/10/10/warmachine-resources/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2015 00:28:39 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18695 Continue reading →]]> If you read my last post from few months ago, you probably know I’ve been quite broken up by the demise of my favorite miniature game. Fear not though, I’m ok now. I have fallen in love with another tabletop game. The death of Warhammer ended up being a good thing, because it shook up the local gaming scene, and allowed me to branch out and try new games. New, vastly more affordable games, with tight rules and supported by companies that care about their customers. Right now, for example, I’m really into Warmachine which is absolutely fantastic. I probably would have never gotten into if it wasn’t for the hilarious failure of Age of Sigmar, so thank you Games Workshop for opening up my eyes.

Getting into a new game, which has a vibrant community and great organized play support feels great. Last time I was this excited about tabletop wargaming was my freshman year in high school when I first discovered the hobby. Only now I’m a grown-ass adult with disposable income that I can irresponsibly piss off on plastic army-mans (an on a completely unrelated note, could you guys please click on the ads a lot this month, please?).

I figured I might as well put together a list of useful Warmachine (and general wargaming hobby) things for future reference. This is probably more for myself, so that I don’t forget where to find these things, but perhaps some of you will also find it useful.

Printable Warmachine Resources

Steamroller is the official Warmahordes tournament standard which provides rules and regulations specifically designed for tournament play. While all these rules are optional, they provide a set of 8 game scenarios which are incredibly well thought out and balanced. For example, Privateer Press noticed that in high level tournament play getting the first turn gave players significant advantage, which is why Steamroller scenarios use asymmetrical deployment zones to even the playing field.

PP updates the rules every year. Here are the links to the recent sets:

The 2015 Steamroller Scenario rules are also available as a neat set of printable cards:

Steamroller Scenario Cards

Steamroller Scenario Cards

Each scenario comes with a two sided card, and there are extra, single sided cards for Steamroller objectives on the back page.

Steamroller also uses concept of scoring zones that need to be clearly marked on the table. People use all kinds of different markers, but I’m kinda fond of these printable templates by Warmachine Masters.

Zone Templates

Zone Templates

In case they ever decide to take them down, here is a mirror:

I’m not entirely sure who make these fantastic Wreck Markers but I really love them. Print them out on a thicker paper, or glue them to a piece of cardboard and you are all set:

Printable Wreck Markers

Printable Wreck Markers

These are split into two files by factions:

Sorry Convergence players. No markers for you.

Finally, here are the official printable Warmachine templates:

These will work in a pinch, but you are definitely better off with the plastic set.

Markers and Templates

The official set of Warmachine tools and templates is fantastic:

As much as I love the large 5″ precise movement tool in the Quick Measuring Set. That’s the one that has X edges: one marked 5″ for checking Stealth range, one marked 3″ for checking LoS in the woods, one marked 2″ for Reach and one marked ½” for melee range. It is extremely useful, except for measuring movement distance when you play an army with basic MOV6.

I highly recommend picking up this one as well:

The long edge on this tool is 6″ which allows you to use it for movement without actually having to bust out your measurement tape. The remaining edges are 4″, 2″ and 1″ respectively. Between these two tools you should have all the short range measurements covered.

We’re currently also using these Warsen.al Acrylic Flag Templates for Steamroller scenarios:

Warsenal Flag Markers

Warsenal Flag Markers

They are mounted on 40mm bases which, apparently works both for Infinity and Warmachine. The flags are fantastic, and they really stand out on the battlefield. I highly recommend the orange tinted ones especially – they look striking on green felt table.

Sometimes you need some proxy bases, either for proxying a unit, or as an objective marker (if you don’t feel like modeling one). Here are a few good sources:

All of the above offer standard Warmachine/Infinity/Malifaux base sizes of 30mm, 40mm and 50mm. The Warsen.al bases are flat, transparent fluorescent proxies. The Wyrd bases are fully functional and can be used to base your models.

Papercraft Terrain

I’m not very good at making terrain. Recently however I discovered that it is entirely possible to set up a decent looking table with zero skill and limited resources using papercraft terrain. It is a perfect solution for wargamers with limited time and limited budget. Paper buildings, walls and streets are cheep, easy to assemble and look perfectly presentable on the battlefield. For example, for our recent Warmachine game we have assembled this small town square:

Papercraft Terrain

Papercraft Terrain

Roughly, 90% of what you see there was made out of paper. My favorite resource for papercraft buildings is probably Dave’s Games:

The site offers a few free buildings, but the better ones cost actual money, albeit not much. I purchased several, with no regrets. Most ship as layered PDF files, which allow you to pick and choose from a wide variety of wall textures and ornaments.

If you don’t have cash to throw around, Wizards of the Coast have a small collection of fantastic papercraft buildings for D&D here:

In the picture above we used the FPM Roads files to create the cobblestone streets.

Here is some more flat terrain you may want:

Game Tools

One of the best purchases I have made this year was this particular tool:

LoS Tool

LoS Tool

It is a laser pointer that projects a line onto the table. It is perfect for checking line of sight in a game such as Warmachine where you are not allowed to pre-measure distances and so can’t use measuring tape to check shot angles. I have seen similar tools marketed directly to wargamers sold for over $50, but I bought mine at a hardware store for less than $5:

As for measuring tape, I’m still using a good old Stanley Powerlock 33-210:

Stanley 33-210

Stanley 33-210

I actually bought it in 1995 to play Warhammer Fantasy, and have been using it ever since. The tape is showing signs of rust in places, but overall it continues working quite well. The damn thing is nearly indestructible.

I’m very fond of Jumbo Dice like these:

Jumbo Dice

Jumbo Dice

No, not for regular rolling during the game. I usually set three of these on the side of the table and use them for tracking the turn number, and victory points scored by each player.

Warmachine is a very dice efficient game. You will only ever need five or six dice, so I it is actually a good idea to invest in a nice, good looking set. A lot of players use the officially licensed Warmachine dice sets, but the readability on those vary depending on the faction. Cygnar dice set for example is pretty decent, but the Retribution set is awful. If you are standing across the table from someone using these, you literally can’t see what they rolled.

Currently I’m using a set of Chessex Frosted Dice (5 clear and one smoke for damage allocation) to go with my Retribution army. That said, I’ve been thinking of upgrading to a fancier set like one of these:

Getting a set of six would cost $30-40 which is incredibly expensive for dice, but the coolness factor of rolling metal or stone dice may possibly make it a worth while investment. That said, metal dice are pretty heavy and may rip up felt mats and chip paint of terrain pieces if rolled too hard.

The other thing every Warmachine player needs are card sleeves. Unless of course you don’t mind getting your cards getting damaged, and having to replace them every once in a while. At the moment I use these hard top loaders:

They are slightly over-sized, but Warmachine cards are thick enough to fit snugly and stay in place. If you buy these for Malifaux you will need clear sleeves, because their cards are much thinner and much sleeker which makes them slide out of these. The hard top-loaders provide great protection and the surface is perfect for writing on them with dry-erase markers.

Online Resources

One of my (many) favorite things about Warmachine is that Privateer Press provides their own army building tool called War Room. The basic tool is free, but you do have to buy card sets for the factions you play. The sets are priced reasonably, and they get updated automatically whenever PP publishes an errata, or adds new units via expansion. It also gives you damage tracking functionality, so you don’t even have to bring your cards to the game (and if you do bring them, you don’t have to draw on them).

Army Building Tools

Army Building Tools

At first I was a bit skeptical of the mobile only nature of this tool, but after using it for a while, I can’t imagine living without it. Especially since it lets me list-craft anywhere, at any time as long as I can get to my phone.

For those who prefer more traditional approach, there is always Forward Kommander:

It is a third party tool and it allows for basic list building. It will also print out nice damage grids on paper. Unfortunately it is hampered by the fact that it’s someone’s hobby project, and so you often have to wait a while for new units to be added after an expansion comes out.

Hobby Tools

Finally, last but not least here are some of the tools I use to assemble and paint my miniatures. Despite being a long time Warhammer player, I never really liked their hobby tools. Their brushes are garbage, and their tools are way to expensive for what they do.

Hobby Tools

Hobby Tools

The most useful tool I have bought recently is the Xuron Spure Cutter. This tool does not necessarily get that much work done when working with Warmachine minis (which are metal, or resin that’s cut off the spure prior to packaging) but it is absolutely essential if you play stuff like Malifaux.

The difference between this tool, and your average hardware store set of pliers is that it is almost entirely flat rather than angled allowing for precise cuts where it matters.

The tool that does see a lot of use with Warmachine minis is a seam scraper:

I find that it offers better control than an exacto knife blade, and removes the risk of cutting in too deeply, or chopping off some important detail if your hand slips.

When it comes to brushes, lately I’ve been using Windsor & Newton Series 7 among other things. Here are some brushes I recommend if you need some new tools:

What are your favorite brushes and tools? Do you play Warmachine or any other war game right now? Care to share any resources? Let me know in the comments.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/10/10/warmachine-resources/feed/ 3 Age of Sigmar and the End of Warhammer http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/07/04/age-of-sigmar-and-the-end-of-warhammer/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/07/04/age-of-sigmar-and-the-end-of-warhammer/#comments Sun, 05 Jul 2015 00:39:49 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18659 Continue reading →]]> As you may know I’m a huge fan of Warhammer Fantasy Battles table top game. I have written about it on more than one occasion and I made a tiny web service allowing you to print custom paper movement trays / proxy sheets. I own not one, not two, but three armies for the game. That’s easily hundreds of dollars worth of miniatures. More if you consider most of my dwarfs are classic Marauder models that have been out of production for over two decades now. I have been playing the game since around 1995. I started with the 4th edition and I am no stranger to the changes in the game mechanics and balance. I endured the 5th edition Hero Hammer power escalation, and the subsequent global nerf and rule reset in the 6th. The most recent 8th edition has turned to be the last one.

RIP Warhammer Fantasy

RIP Warhammer Fantasy, 1983-2015. Never forget.

During the massive and aptly named End Times campaign, Games Workshop officially destroyed the Warhammer Fantasy universe. And no, that’s not a metaphor: the campaign literally ended in gigantic magic battle that resulted in the annihilation of the entire universe. But some gods did some magic stuff, and the universe would be reborn after the cataclysm. Only it would be new and different. This was supposed to allow Games Workshop to shake up the 23 year old setting, add new factions, create new alliances and do some clever re-branding (GW was always upset they could not trademark words like Elf, Dwarf or Empire). The 9th edition of the game was supposed to be all new and all different which was… Intriguing. As much as I bemoaned loss of two decades of lore and world building efforts, I was rather interested to see the brand new setting. Especially since I never used any special characters in my armies. My collection was not strictly bound to the Old World lore, and could be easily ported to the new setting if needed.

Dark Elves

Part of my Dark Elf Army. Still unpainted.

Unfortunately, the 9th edition never came. Instead, Games Workshop released a brand new, skirmish game called Age of Sigmar. The new game looks and plays entirely different from the venerable twenty year old Warhammer Fantasy. For one, it eschews the concept of unit block. In WFB the models used square bases (usually 25mm to the side) so that they could be arranged in ranks and columns. Square or rectangular blocks of roughly 20-60 troops would move together as one entity. You would usually place the entire unit on an appropriately sized movement tray and then slide the trays across the table. The units could perform wheel maneuvers to turn, or reform to change the number of ranks or do an about face. Age of Sigmar threw all of that out. It uses round bases and all models move individually, though units should stay in 1″ cohesion if they are able to.

Games Workshop did provide Age of Sigmar rules for all the Warhammer Fantasy models they currently sell in their online store. That said, all the game mechanics were re-tooled to focus on individual models, and low model count battles. Templates and guess range weapons are gone. All ranges were shortened to support smaller, more spread out armies. For example, Dwarf cannons in the 8th had a maximum effective range of up to about 70″. The same model under Age of Sigmar rules can only shoot 32″ and is vastly less effective.

The game replaces the 8th edition, but it does not seem to be interested in actually being a replacement of any sort. Instead it seems to be positioned to compete with with Privateer Press Warmachine (another low scale, low model count fantasy skirmish game) rather than with Mantic Games Kings of War (which focuses on unit blocks like WFB did). The new starter set has less than 20 models to the side, with powerful heroes being the main focal point of the battles and rank and file troops being just a filler. There is a dedicated Hero Phase in which powerful characters trigger their signature abilities. This is very similar to Warmachine which focuses on powerful Warcasters and their magically powered, clockwork Warjack machines – of which you only ever field a handful. Both games seem to favor small engagements with few powerful models on the table.

Warmachine

This is a legal Warmachine starter army. That’s all the models you need.

But Age of Sigmar can’t hope to compete with Privateer Press product (save maybe on model quality or pricing), because Warmachine is designed from ground up to be a competitive tournament game. It has balancing mechanics that ensure opponents will always play with equally powerful forces. WFB had a similar mechanic. Age of Sigmar has none. The rulebook for the game which is four pages long, and available as a free download from the GW website specifically encourages players to bring any models they want. There are no point costs, no unit size limits, no limits on optional upgrades. The only limit is how much you are willing to spend on the miniatures. The only balancing mechanic is the fact that the player who is outnumbered by 30% gets to pick a victory condition.

But that rule in itself seems inconsistent and easy to abuse, since you compare forces on raw model count, even though models are not equal in power. For example a player fielding 5 of the brand new, vastly overpowered medieval Space Marines accompanied by 3 special characters, each riding a dragon will be outnumbered by someone fielding a single unit of 10 rank and file goblins with no characters. Horde armies such as Skaven or Goblins that in the past relied on superior numbers to offset relatively weak core troops are now punished for fielding large armies. On the other hand players who field few special characters and no troops at all are rewarded.

If you wanted to make a small local tournament in WFB you could put out a flyer or a poster that said something like: “1,500pts, no special characters, no magic items over 50pts” and it would force people to bring balanced, characterful armies built around core units. The players would have to figure out how to build forces of specified size that leveraged the strengths of their chosen army while at the same time minimizing its flaws. They would have to think about unit positioning, protecting their flanks, synergies between units and leaders and etc.. In Age of Sigmar this is no longer possible. Since there is no point costs and no size limits on units, it is impossible to ensure any kind of balance.

Allegedly there exist these top secret, unofficial basic balancing rules released by disgruntled GW game developers through back channels, but even those don’t help much:

To put it simply, Age of Sigmar is not a competitive tournament game. Which would be fine, if that was it’s only flaw. I’m not much of a competitive player myself, and I much prefer casual play with friends than tournament play with strangers. But I do like game balance and structure, as much as I like my ranked up unit blocks and my movement trays. And I would like an option to play a tournament from time to time if I wanted to. Age of Sigmar does not support that. But if GW wanted to make a game that is strictly casual and non-competitive and friendly then so be it. Unfortunately the game is not designed to be either friendly or inviting.

Games Workshop products and lore has always been a tad problematic. Back in the day the Warhammer lore included monsters whose reproductive cycle involved kidnaping and rape. Their sculptors always had issues creating female models without objectifying and sexualizing them. But those were minor problems compared to the new rule set.

Age of Sigmar is a game that throws away the idea of good sportsmanship out the window and encourages players to hurl insults at each other in order to receive mechanical bonuses:

Yep, making the environment hostile, uncomfortable and facilitating abuse and bullying is a codified game mechanic. Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant, GW. good luck marketing this particular warscroll to parents whose children want to get into the war gaming hobby. Especially since the streamlined, simplified, non-competitive rule set definitely skews younger.

There is another rule that encourages players to give and accept bribes in exchange for in-game effects. Because adding a gambling mechanic into a core rule set is a splendid idea that will never actually backfire:

Some rules are simply straight up sexist. Anyone who can’t or simply does not want to grow a mustache can’t use this rule:

I can see this particular rule being used by players to body shame younger boys for not having enough body hair, or young girls for having some fuzz on their upper lip. Because making someone feel like shit about their own body is awesome, and sportsman like, is it not?

Some rules are just plain goofy. Bretonian players for example can get mechanical bonuses for rising a cup into the air, and screaming out a catchphrase:

Others are genuinely mean spirited, encouraging players to straight up mock people who suffer from mental illness:

I get what they were trying to do with these rules. They were trying to encourage players to have “fun” with their games. But you can’t codify fun as a game mechanic. People scream Blood for the blood god! when charging not because they will get a buff, but because its fun, silly and spontaneous thing to do. Codifying it as a mechanic makes it forced and awkward. Doubly so if the game tells you to do something you are not comfortable with: like insulting your friend, or mocking insanity. It is one thing to have a “mad count” type character in the lore, it is a whole other thing to encourage players to “pretend to be a crazy person”. It’s uncalled for, and it ignores the fact many Warhammer players may personally know people who struggle with mental illness, or may have one themselves.

It amazes me that no editor realized that these rules might not only be upsetting, but even damaging to the Games Workshop brand. But that’s sort of my general impression of the entire rule set. It seems to be hastily put together without much oversight. Its like none of these rules were play tested, or focus tested to see how they will perform in the field.

Many people are really excited for this new game. Folks in my Twitter feed and on reddit are already posting pictures of their models on round bases, and writing up first battle reports. Sadly, I don’t share their enthusiasm. Age of Sigmar is not for me. I like the WFB focus on unit blocks and core troops, I like my movement trays, I don’t like powerful hero characters that dominate the battlefield. I like balance and structure, and building armies using a spreadsheet and a calculator. The new rules do nothing for me. They are overly simplistic, and too goofy to be taken seriously. I also don’t feel comfortable playing or endorsing a game which encourages players to insult each other or mock mental illness.

Most of people in my gaming group share these opinions, so we will be sticking to the good old 8th edition. While it isn’t perfect, it is pretty damn good and we enjoy it. It’s sad that it won’t be supported by Games Workshop anymore. This means that it will be more difficult for use to replace damaged rulebooks, and near impossible to convince new players to join the hobby. But the bittersweet takeaway from all of this is that Age of Sigmar means Games Workshop won’t be able to ruin the mostly well balanced and sound 8th edition rule set. We can continue playing the game as it exists right now, without worrying about rule changes, power creep, getting our favorite units nerfed and etc..

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/07/04/age-of-sigmar-and-the-end-of-warhammer/feed/ 23 Dragons of Tarkir http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/03/30/dragons-of-tarkir/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/03/30/dragons-of-tarkir/#comments Mon, 30 Mar 2015 14:00:56 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18459 Continue reading →]]> Last Saturday, I have participated in the Dragons of Tarkir launch event at a local comic book store. Last time I have played Magic the Gathering was in high school and I was not planning to get back into the game any time soon. Collectible card games are an insane money sink and I’m already spending way too much of my disposable income on tabletop miniatures and video games. Adding a CCG to list of my nerdy activities at this point would be foolhardy. But it happened.

Some friends of mine were going to the event, and were signing up for the tournament so I figured I might as well join in. Since it was more of a spur of the moment for me, I went in completely blind. My friends prepped for the event by reading card spoilers and trying to figure out useful synergies between cards. I just showed up and said “give me whatever color deck is on top of the pile”. So I ended up with a Silumgar box:

Dragons of Tarkir

Dragons of Tarkir Tournament Box

Silumgar combines black and blue cards, and uses a brand new mechanic known as “exploit” that has some interesting synergies across the entire card range. When you play a creature that has this rule, you sacrifice another creature and trigger the exploit effect. The black and blue cards also include a number of creatures have effects that trigger upon their death and plenty of spell cards that allow you to retrieve dead creatures from the graveyard (ie. your discard pile). So your deck is based on creatures that die all the time, but never stay dead, combined with removal and annoyance cards that are staples of black and blue colors (things that deplete enemy’s hand, steal their graveyard, clear all creatures from the board, etc..). I call it the “maximum asshole” deck, because if you play it right, the opponent will usually want to flip the table at the end of the game.

Granted, I wish I knew all of that before the tournament. The format was sealed deck, limited I believe. When I got my box, I had about 15 minutes to build a 40 card deck out of the contents of the box. As you can imagine, this might have been a lot less stressful if I actually did any research beforehand. But I did not, since I’m a dumb idiot, so I completely fumbled through my first few matches. Granted, my opponents were incredibly nice, and were happy to teach me as we played. I managed to learn enough to actually win my last match.

Most of the folks I went with were in the same boat as me: they were familiar with the game, but have not played it for over a decade. We figured that this event would be a good way for us to start fresh. We would all end up with starter decks with current generation cards, and none of us would have unfair advantage of having large collection of tricky, rare cards they have accumulated over the last twenty years or so.

After the tournament we all agreed to set up a spending limit to prevent rapid escalation. The idea was to make our friendly games fair and balanced. We did not want to feel compelled to out-spend each other in order to stay competitive within our group. It did not work that well…

I believe this Loading, Ready, Run episode is pretty much exactly what happened to us:

At this point we are all about $50 into the rabbit hole, and there are no signs of stopping. I already ordered one “fat pack” and I spent days browsing spoiler sites, and buying singles. So I guess I’m a Magic player now. May god have mercy on my soul.

I have to admit that the artwork on the cards is pretty amazing. I remember it always being pretty good, but these new editions are absolutely gorgeous. The Silumgar deck has a really striking, sinister flavor to it and I love it. It very much reminds me of the Middle Earth: The Lidless Eye flavor, and I mean that as a compliment. I have very fond memories of being evil in that game.

Do you play Magic? What kind of a deck? Any advice for a fledgeling black + blue player? Do you indulge in any other CCG? Tell me about it in the comments.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/03/30/dragons-of-tarkir/feed/ 9 Space Hulk http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/12/31/space-hulk/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/12/31/space-hulk/#comments Wed, 31 Dec 2014 15:03:06 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18203 Continue reading →]]> The original Space Hulk board game was released back in 1989. It would not be fair to say it was a direct cash-in, but the game design and theme were clearly influenced by the enduring popularity of James Cameron’s Aliens film. The epic battle between Ripley and the hive queen has become iconic example of bad-ass space heroism. Games Workshop game designers either purposefully or unconsciously channeled that that when they made a game about brave Space Marine terminators in heavy power armors boarding a derelict space ship wreck to cleanse it from alien infestation. The core game play was custom-designed to allow players to re-enact classic SF horror scenes such as blasting heavy machine guns on full auto at a horde of aliens until running out of bullets and being overrun.

Space Hulk

Space Hulk, 4th Edition, 2014

The game proved to be immensely popular. The first edition got several expansion packs, until being re-released in 1996 and later in 2009. The third, most recent edition was a very limited run which sold out within a week. Space Hulk was also adapted into at least five licensed video games:

  1. a PC game in 1993
  2. a Playstation title in 1995
  3. a mobile phone game in 2005
  4. a recent and rather well received 2013 PC game currently available on Steam
  5. an iOS port of the abovementioned 2013 title

There have also been a number of fan made expansions, conversions and attempts at digitization of the game. The popularity of the title is enduring and it remains one of most iconic Games Workshop properties. For many players it has been the gateway drug that got them into Warhammer 40k and wargaming in general. Thus it was no surprise that the company has decided to re-release the game earlier this year. The fourth edition of the game briefly appeared on the Games Workshop website in late September and sold out in less than 24 hours. I was lucky enough to snag a copy of it in that first batch at a discounted pre-order prince before they ran out of supplies.

Space Hulk

Playing the first mission in the booklet.

If you have never seen the game played, it is a quite interesting box set. Instead of static-printed game board, Space Hulk uses modular floor tiles made out of thick, glossy cardboard like substance. They are more or less like big puzzle pieces that easily snap together to form the claustrophobic, tight corridors and chambers of the derelict, alien infested space wreck. The mission booklet that comes with the game includes instructions for assembling 16 game maps using the available pieces. Most of these are time tested maps from the original edition, but several are brand new. Players are encouraged to play the missions from the booklet in order, but with the plethora of available pieces it is entirely possible to design your own missions.

Many of the floor pieces are textured with groves or various protrusions that represent battle damage, machinery or wall fixtures which is a very nice touch. The material is sturdy, sleek and glossy. It should stand up to repeated use.

Space Hulk Mission 2

This is the setup for Suicide Mission – the 2nd scenario in the booklet.

The box ships with eleven Space Marine terminator models, a few dozen Genestealer models as well as a Blood Angels Librarian and a Broodlord. All of the models have been custom made for the game. They are the same scale as standard Warhammer 40k models but do not use the standard round bases. Instead the models are designed to be used without any bases. They are made of a waxy plastic which is softer and more malleable than the standard Games Workshop casts used for their flagship games. This particular material was likely chosen to allow the models to survive being stored in the game box, along with the heavy cardboard pieces without getting damaged.

Tight Spot

These marines might be in trouble.

Despite a lower quality casting material, the actual sculpts are very detailed, and feature the intricate over-design of the modern Games Workshop range. I might be a traditionalist, but I am a big fan of old school hand sculpted models. Miniatures designed entirely in CAD software tend to feature exuberant and needless detail that is invisible during the game but a nightmare to paint properly. The Space Hulk minis however don’t necessarily need to be painted. While the box art and examples in the booklets feature high quality paint jobs by the Evy Metal team, the actual game pieces are color coded (Space Marines are red, Genestealers are blue) to stand out on the game board.

Despite the seeming complexity of the game (the number of available models, modular floor tiles, different mission scenarios) the core rules are incredibly simple and intuitive. They are outlined in a 15 page rule booklet. The mission booklet contains instructions on how to assemble the floor tiles for each scenario, what models each of the players starts with, what are the win conditions for each side, and whether or not any special rules are in effect. You do not need to be familiar with Warhammer 40k, or have any experience with war gaming to jump right in. Once you set up the game board and arrange the models in the starting locations Space Hulk plays much like any board game. Each player has a limited number of moves they can make per turn. The aliens are fast and agile, while the marines are slow and methodical, but well armed. Their turns are timed forcing the marine player to think on their feet and make quick decisions under pressure.

Heroic last stand

Marines surrounded by aliens are making a heroic last stand.

For newbies, I recommend starting with the second mission in the booklet. It uses a rather small map, which means you will not need a large table, it will be easy to put together and it guarantees a fast game. The mission is heavily stacked against the Marines so you should let the newbie play the Genestealers on the first game to ensure smooth and enjoyable win. The mission typically won’t last longer than 15-20 minutes so players can re-set the board, swap teams and play a re-match immediately after to see both sides of the game. The frantic combat and cramped claustrophobic corridors of this scenario truly capture the essence of Space Hulk game play.

The first mission in the booklet is much more balanced and serves as a great intro into the actual meta-story that connects all the scenarios but it involves a number of special rules which might be confusing to first timers. That and it involves a rather large and complex map that might be more difficult to navigate and master.

Aggressive advance

The key to winning the Suicide Mission as Marines is being very aggressive and very lucky with your rolls.

For me, playing the game again was a trip down the memory lane. I did not own it, but my friend did have either the 1st or the 2nd edition box and we have played it countless times. For me Space Hulk was a gateway to Warhammer, Warhammer 40k as well as pen and paper RPG. Looking back at it with the eyes of a tabletop veteran, I can honestly say it has not aged. Or even if it did, the 4th edition face-lift has smoothed over any jagged edges, and the game is still as fun and exciting as I remembered it.

Right before the holidays the game has returned to the Games Workshop store, albeit in limited quantity and at twice the price it was sold during the pre-order period. Still, I believe it is definitely worth the price. The set is lovely, well made and sturdy. It will last you forever, and it makes a great center-piece on your board game shelf.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/12/31/space-hulk/feed/ 1 Skaven: Clan Skryre Army http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/11/10/skaven-clan-skryre-army/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/11/10/skaven-clan-skryre-army/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2014 15:33:38 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=17994 Continue reading →]]> I have been playing Warhammer and collecting miniatures for close to two decades now. I got into the hobby somewhere around 1995 and have been in and out of it since then. I currently play three Warhammer Fantasy armies, and Skaven are my latest and ironically the most complete one. I have started it when me and my brother went halfsies on the Island of Blood box set. He took the High Elf minis, and I took the Skaven. Initially I figured I will just put them together and use them as a small 500-1,000 point force for pick-up games. The goal was to make it playable without spending any money.

Of course, as it always happens with Warhammer money got spent and I ended up with a 2,000 points. The good news is that this army is more or less complete. Unlike my ever-expanding Dwarf Throng, I don’t actually see it ever growing beyond this size. It’s compact, flavorful and diverse enough to handle most situations. It has all the unit types I like, and none of the stuff I don’t. I’ve been told it is a pretty fun list, so I figured I would share it here along with some pictures.

Please note that I am not what you would call a “competitive player”. When I design an army I usually pick units that fit a theme I like, and which seem characterful and appropriate for the army, rather than the stuff that will guarantee me a win due to a rule loophole. I tend to play with like minded people and we usually have a lot of fun with troop heavy, low powered pitched battles without any meta-gaming or dirty tricks.

Theme: Clan Skryre Field Research Team

The Skaven Clan Skryre is known for their Warlock Engineers which are essentially mad scientists who are also wizards. Skaven have a surprisingly advanced steam-punk style technology which is mostly powered by magic. Their main energy source is Warpstone which is magically “radioactive” substance – a crystallized magic that warps and mutates everything it touches. The instability of magic, and Skaven shoddy workmanship makes their technology highly unstable. Their war machines tend to kill as many allies as they kill enemies. But it works out in the end because Skaven life is cheep and plentiful.

Clan Skryre

Clan Skryre is known for unreliable, unstable, explody technology.

My army is a Clan Skryre Field Research Team whose primary task is to “peer review” the technological achievements of other races or factions. The review is of course done whether without the subjects consent and frequently over their dead bodies. To achieve this task, the Field Unit has been equipped with a lot of advanced Clan Skryre weapons. The secondary mission is to field test these weapons, figure out how they behave in extreme condition, note how often they explode, and how many friendly deaths they cause on a monthly basis.

Core

Let’s start with the core, which is the heart of every army. In case you’re interested, 48% of the total cost (points wise, not dollar wise) is spent on core troops.

Primary Field Research Unit

The unit consists of 36 Clanrats armed with spears and shields accompanied by a Poisoned Wind Mortar.

Skaven Clanrats

36 Skaven Clanrats with full Command Group

The models are the plastic Clanrats from the Island of Blood set. I specifically picked the models that had a lot of armor to represent their status and fighting capability. I painted them red and yellow which are the twp primary colors I picked for my army. This is partly because they are considered Skryre appropriate, and partly because I like how they look. I knew I would be painting a lot of brown, gray and black fur so I wanted their clothes to be distinct, and also to stand out on the table.

In most cases, this is the actual core of my army and this unit is typically joined by the Warchief making it quite capable in combat.

Unpaid Interns

They are also known as Skavenslaves but I don’t like to call them that. The unit is 60 model strong and contains a musician and a Paw Leader. It looks really, really intimidating when I put it on the table.

60 Unpaid Interns

60 Unpaid Interns

The models are also from the Island of Blood set, but hand picked for minimum armor. They all are equipped with spears and shields because I like to have an option to add these if I need them. In most cases I field them “naked” with just hand weapons to shave of few points. I pained their coats yellowish brown color to set them apart from the Clanrats. Their weapons and armor are old and rusted to indicate that unlike the paid researchers they get worst equipment available. The rust effects were done using Typhus Corrosion technical paint.

The open secret here is that this is actually the weakest unit in my army. These guys cost less, and perform worse than giant rats. But due to the unit size, the way Skaven add their rank bonus to their leadership and the “horde” rule they actually become somewhat formidable in combat. Opponents often get scared of this unit and try to thin it out from afar via shooting, which is great for me because it means they’re not shooting at units that actually count. The inters can soak up an incredible amount of damage without actually impacting their fighting ability (which is basically close to zero).

Senior Research Fellows

A unit of 30 Stormvermin with full command group. They are usually lead by Warlock Engineer Babag who typically carries Warp Musket, a Doom Rocket and sometimes some magic spells. They also have an attached Doom Flyer weapon team.

Stormvermin

30 Storm Vermin with Warlock Engineer.

The models are basic 8th edition Stormvermin plastics. They are armed with halberds and shields. The Doom Flayer attachment is a mini-chariot type thing which has impact hits and extra attacks. These are my heavy hitters and they are typically joined by a Chieftain with a Battle Standard for an extra “oomph”.

This unit is currently a work in progress. As you can see, I primed them but did not have a chance to paint them yet.

Stormvermin look imposing but not overwhelmingly so. They are only marginally scarier than the Clanrats and this is partly by design. I don’t like to put all my eggs in one basket, and by presenting the enemy with two heavy hitting core combat units I force them to make hard decision. Ignoring either is perilous, and splitting fire between the two is ill advised because both units can soak up a lot of causalities due to their large size.

Lab Rats

A unit of 20 Giant Rats accompanied by 5 Packmasters on loan from Clan Moulder. The rats have been purchased on a Clan Moulder grant to research “better things to poke the rats with” technology.

20 Giant Rats

20 Giant Rats

The Packmasters are plastics from the Island of Blood set. You can actually buy them individually on eBay for almost nothing. The Giant Rats are actually vintage Marauder miniatures from the 80’s. The first rank with a lighter coat was actually painted by my brother ages ago when he was using them for Mordheim and I didn’t feel like re-painting them. I didn’t feel like repainting them so I just tried to match the color the best I could, though my rats are markedly darker. One of these days I will add some highlights that match the front rank.

Escaped Lab Rats

Four Rat Swarms on standard swarm bases. These are the smaller, inferior rats that are rejected from the grant program. The interns keep feeding them so they just follow the research teams wherever they go. Most of them think they are pets, though some actually think they are real Skaven and they even took to wearing tiny clothes and wielding tiny swords. This probably has nothing to do with the leak in the portable warpstone reactor under which they made their nest.

4 Rat Swarms

4 Rat Swarms

Some of these came in the Doomwheel set. I bought the rest on eBay in a bag. Someone was literally selling a bag of plastic rats for like a buck so I picked it up. They don’t look like much but they are unbreakable and can actually tie up the enemy units for a turn or two setting up some beautiful flank charges.

The Forward Recon Team

A group of 10 Night Runners armed with slings. Their task is gathering requirements for new projects, and also scouting ahead of the army.

10 Night Runners

10 Night Runners

They exist to annoy the enemy and take the heat of the core of the army. Their slings can do surprising amount of damage to lightly armored units, and they can easily block march moves or charges if they need to.

The models are old Gutter Runner plastics. My brother bought a box of them to use for Mordheim at one point and I inherited them later. He also managed to lose all the extra weapons that were in the set, which is why they have a mix and match type equipment.

Special

About 26% of my total point cost of the army is allocated into the special category. In most armies this is where all the cool stuff is, but with Skaven I did not actually feel the urge to max out this category.

Advanced Optics Research

Four Warplock Jezzail weapon teams. Their area of research is optics, and more specifically the “glass tubes what you put on guns so that you can shoot things far away”.

Four Warplock Jezzail Teams

Four Warplock Jezzail Teams

The models are vintage Marouder models that date back to (I believe) 4th edition. Back then the Jezzail teams had the pavis shields which is why they are not represented on these models.

Originally I have treated these models like a cheep version of the Dark Elf Reaper Bolt Trhower, but cheaper, stronger and less accurate. At short ranges this small unit is very deadly – especially to heavy cavalry. At long ranges however, their poor accuracy makes them rather ineffective. I’m currently working on obtaining models to double the size of the unit. Eight Jezzails should be a very formidable firing squad.

Maintenance Team

The field equipment maintenance team consists of four Rat Ogre janitors and two Clan Moulder Packmasters. They were brought on board in order to handle heavy equipment and carry heavy boxes, but they are also pretty formidable in combat.

4 Rat Ogres

4 Rat Ogres

Two of the Rat Ogre models (extreme left and right actually) are from the Island of Blood set, and so are the Packmasters. The second model from the left is an old metal Marauder cast from the 80’s, while the remaining one is from the last edition plastic set. I actually really like the miss-matched look this gives to the unit. I used my standard red and yellow color scheme on all the models. The Rat Ogres skin is painted with Bugman’s Glow and the scars and stitches are highlighted with Ratskin Flesh. I painted the Packmaster fur black to indicate their high status. I imagine the Clan Moulder only picks the largest and strongest Stormvermin for handling of large beasts such as Rat Ogres.

They are very intimidating on the field, that said they are a bit of glass cannons. They might look tough, but concentrated missile fire will cut them down real fast so they need to be deployed and moved carefully.

Meteorology Team

Ten Poisoned Wind Globardiers usually accompanied by a Warlock Engineer who study wind patterns. There have been some complaints that the chemical agents they use in their experiments are somewhat lethal if inhaled, so the entire unit was equipped with respirators just in case. They are sometimes accompanied by a Poisoned Wind Mortar

Poisoned Wind Globardiers

Poisoned Wind Globardiers

As you can see, the unit is still a work in progress.

The models are all current edition metal miniatures, with exception of the Warlock Engineer who was converted. The base model is a vintage Marauder death-globe warlock. I clipped his shoddy looking spear and replaced it with the high-tech looking Warlock weapon from the Island of Blood warlock. I also added the power-pack on his back from the same set.

This unit is rather versatile. Because their weapons ignore toughness they are excellent monster killers. I have also successfully used them to take down Imperial Steam Tank by simply drowning it in poison gas. The Warlock will sometimes have spells, but if I’m feeling especially nasty both him and the unit champion will be carrying a Death Globes.

Rare

Rare units compose 12% of my army.

Perpetual Movement Research

One Doomwheel used as a portable generator that also doubles as an excellent war machine.

Doomwheel

Doomwheel

The model is 8th edition plastic set, which in my opinion is the best looking incarnation of this model yet.

I have always loved the Doomwheel because it is basically the signature Skaven war machine, and the finest Clan Skryre invention. It is basically a giant hamster wheel used as a chariot. It has random movement, can easily spin out of control and it blasts warp lightnings at the nearest target (so usually a friendly unit) making it fun and hilarious addition to the army. Doomwheel related failures are always spectacular.

Advanced Ballistics Research

One Warp Lightning Cannon used as backup generator / heavy artillery.

As of writing of this post, I don’t actually have it put together yet, so no picture.

Similarly to the Doomwheel, I think the current edition plastic set is superior to previous incarnations, partly because of how intricate it is. This machine provides much needed long range support for my army.

Heroes

Heroic characters compose 15% of my army. You will probably note that all of my heroes are named after TV science personalities.

Project Leader, Chief Engineer Billnye

Billnye is a Warlord on foot.

Warlord

Warlord

The model is the Warlord from the Island of Blood set. I had to elevate him a bit by building up a pile of rubble on his base in order to make him fit neatly in the unit (his outstretched arms made it difficult to put him in a formation) so now he towers over his underlings. It is a really nice model, and it doesn’t really need much conversion work.

I typically field him on foot, with a halberd, tail weapon, poisoned attacks and sometimes a rat hound. I’m also considering building him a War Litter out of spare Skaven models.

Billnye usually hangs out in the Clanrat unit, and his sheer presence there is what makes people agonize as to whether shoot at him or the Stormvermin. He is pretty deadly in close combat against rank and file units, tough he usually struggles if challenged by tough heroes of other races.

Assistant Engineer Carrlsagan

A Chieftain upgraded to a Battle Standard Bearer with the Banner of the Underhive.

Battle Standard Bearer

Battle Standard Bearer

This is actually my most complex conversion in this army. I used a crouching body from a Night Runner set, and repositioned it so that it looks like he is resting his foot on a skull of a fallen enemy. The right hand is a banner staff from an old Mordheim set. The cross-bar with a rat perched on it and the tiny bell are from the Island of Blood Clanrat banners. The left hand and the shield on the back are spare parts from current edition Stormvermin box. The head was carefully clipped off a Clanrat unit champion from the Island of Blood set.

He is nowhere near as intimidating as Billnye, but then again he is not supposed to be. The Banner of the Underhive provides additional attacks to the already quite capable Stormvermin unit he usually joins.

Warlock Engineers Degrese and Tyson

You have seen them above in the Stormvermin and Poisoned Wind Globardier entries so I will not be re-posting pictures. Degrese is unmodified Island of Blood warlock, while Tyson is heavily converted (as described above).

This is my Skaven army. I don’t really have any more ideas for adding new units. Other than putting together one or two more large Clanrat units accompanied by weapon team attachments I don’t really see a point. And that in itself would be a bit boring. What do you think?

Army on the Table

Army on the Table

I will probably update this post at some point with pictures of painted and assembled models when I get them finished. As usual, questions and comments are appreciated. Do you play Warhammer? What armies? Do your armies have strong themes to them, or do you just pick whatever will win you games?

Let me know in the comments.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/11/10/skaven-clan-skryre-army/feed/ 4 Non Mechanical Info on Character Sheets http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/20/non-mechanical-info-on-character-sheets/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/20/non-mechanical-info-on-character-sheets/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:02:07 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=14701 Continue reading →]]> Let’s talk about character sheets for a second. About a year ago I stumbled about a short and interesting blog post in which Jeff Rients asked his readers what “non-mechanical” information they like to put on their character sheets. I found it a pretty interesting conversation back then, and made a note to circle back to it one day on my own blog… And that time is now apparently. This, ladies and gentlemen is how deep my draft queue goes.

Most character sheets in standard, more simulationist games typically have something like this on the back:

Character Sheet

Character Sheet

There are empty spaces on the back for the players to fill out with “backstory” or “character traits”. Unless you are playing a more narrativist type game these will often get ignored. The players will either leave them blank, or scribble down some very basic stuff (like name of their father, so they can go the whole “Gimli, son of Gloin” thing). Every once in a while a player will bring a 6 page backstory which is essentially a bad novel that the GM does not want to read. So everyone just ignores that part of the character sheet and pretends it does not exist.

But it does not have to be that way. I think it is sometimes nice to borrow tools from the narrativist toolbox and spend a little bit of time adding non-mechanical details to the characters. And not just for fluff and flavor. I think these details can be useful for both players and GM’s alike.

Looking at the list Jeff compiled in his post I identified several functional categories that can be used in different, creative ways.

Likes and Dislikes

These can be used as role playing aides for people who don’t usually role play much. Or rather they role play by latching onto the standard tropes for their class or race. So they are the elf who wood elf who grumbles about going underground, a dwarf who complains about stupid elves, a barbarian who lives by a code of honor and etc… But what about things that are not related to their race, or class?

It is sometimes hard to come up with an interesting character concept, but if you as a GM give the player some options they could end up with some interesting combinations.

  • Favorite expletive, intoxicant, prized possession, food, color
  • Ordinary food/smell that you find revolting
  • Ordinary animal that gives you the willies
  • A monster you heard stories about as a child and would love to encounter
  • A city you always wanted to visit
  • Your favorite place (tavern, glade, village)
  • A type of place you hate (graveyards, posh, high class banquets, shady taverns)
  • Your greatest fear (heights, closed spaces, the undead)
  • Favorite song / dance
  • Personal hero or idol
  • Favorite folk story (or book if you can read)
  • A non-combat hobby (fishing, gardening, needlepoint, etc..)

So for example, you could have a Dwarf Fighter who hates snakes, despises rabbit stew, is partial to elven blueberry wine (in addition to a proper Dwarven ale of course) and dreams that one day he will get to fight against a powerful Necromancer like the legendary hero Skalf Blackhammer whom he idolizes. It’s almost a fully realized character, and all you had to do was to pick three or four likes/dislikes from the list.

The benefit of setting these things up with the group at the character creation is that it also allows the GM to set up comic relief moments and other party members to play of each others traits. For example, there might be a running joke of every visited tavern having a rabbit stew special or something like that.

Friends and Foes

These are perfect adventure hooks or freebie NPC’s the GM can use during the campaign. In my experience as a player and GM I noticed that it is often necessary for players to encounter someone from their past as part of an unfolding plot. In such circumstances the GM usually just invents an NPC on the spot. But if each player spends 5-10 minutes coming up with two or three people “they once knew” at character creation the GM may actually have a nifty list of people he can utilize that way. Players on the other hand will feel like their characters are actually more involved in the game world.

It’s usually best to keep these entries somewhat vague so that they can be filled out during actual game play if needed. On the other hand you typically want a wide variety of different characters to choose from to avid the usual “parent #1 and parent #2 plus sibling” trap. Here are some relationships players may want to jot down in their backstory section:

  • An old friend you could call on int the time of need.
  • Your childhood rival
  • One day you’re going to get this person for what they did
  • The parent/guardian who is deeply disappointed in you
  • The parent guardian who is proud of you
  • The sibling who is ashamed of what you have become
  • The sibling or cousins you no longer speak to
  • That one relative you hate who seems to really like you
  • That one person who saved your life or whose life you saved
  • Former business partner who owes you money or you owe money to
  • You were best friends, but then something happened and it was never the same afterwards…
  • Mentor or teacher you have always looked up to
  • Person who forged your (first or current) armor, wrote your spellbook, etc..
  • A friend in high places with a shameful secret you know all about
  • A criminal connection that’s as much useful as it is a liability

Each character will only need maybe one or two of these, and each person should aim to use a different one so you have a wide variety of back stories.

Quirks and Features

One trick I sometimes use when I start a new campaign is to ask players to come up with a Homeric Epithet for their characters. These used to be memetic devices used by the Greeks that helped them to memorize their complex epics, and were used to pad the content so that it rhymed or maintained the meter and timing. By their very nature however they were loaded descriptors that usually conveyed some crucial information about the character. Like Fleet Footed Achilles conveyed the heroes swiftness, power but also foreshadowed his fate.

The stuff players write down on their sheets does not need to be that loaded. Typically a single word adjective is fine. Stuff like: strong, wise, cunning, brooding, fast talking, etc.. For best results, ask players to pick an epithet that does not relate to their class. So you can get an interesting stuff like “cunning barbarian”, “roughneck wizard” and “wise rogue”.

Going even further with that trend, it might be a good idea to completely disconnect these “traits” and “quirks” from the character class, race and concept and simply treat them as fluff. Instead of an epithet each character may pick one or two physical or outward traits from this list:

  • Nervous tick
  • A “tell” when lying
  • One adjective a complete stranger could use to describe you (tall, fat, wealthy, skinny, loud, shady, etc..)
  • Most pronounced facial feature (large nose, bushy eyebrows, broken tooth, etc..)
  • Distinctive scars, piercings or tattoos
  • Accent or regional dialect
  • Meaningful mannerism or inflection that reveals something about you
  • Style of dress (plain, fancy, traditional, etc..)
  • Personal hygiene (is your hair unkempt or trimmed / slicked back? Is there dirt under your fingernails or are they manicured?)

All of these would be things that are obvious. It’s the kind of things a stable boy would use to describe your characters to the city guard investigating a recent burglary committed by your party.

I usually like to assure players that if they pick an “accent” or a “nervous tick” they don’t actually have to role-play it if they don’t feel comfortable doing so. Accents are considered automatic – the NPC’s will notice them, whereas involuntary ticks can be declared either by the GM (when appropriate) or by the player if they want to. Some tells or ticks can’t even be roll-played at all. For example how do you role play a “throbbing vein on your temple”?

Job Interview Questions

I like to call this category “job interview questions” because they include the kind of shit you might get asked by an interviewer who wants to see how you are going to squirm out of a question that has no good answers. But in this case you are not trying to get a job so you don’t need to make your character look good. It is an easy way to add “character flaws”: things your character regrets, seeks redemption for or wants to forget. Or these could be things that drive you – things you seek or want to achieve.

  • What is your biggest flaw? (greed, selfishness, zeal, laziness)
  • What was your most shameful failure?
  • What do you regret the most?
  • What is the one thing you are proud of?
  • What is the one thing you can never forget? (good or bad)
  • What is your #1 drive (wealth, fame, power, knowledge)?
  • What is your greatest ambition (become a real hero, save the kingdom, catch all pokemons)?

A lot of these can be used as potential adventure hooks. What if the potential quest given heard about your shameful failure? What if you have to overcome your biggest flaw?

Knowing what drives, ambitions or flaws each character has also allows the GM to create a relevant carrot and stick scenarios. For example, there is no point of offering mountains of gold to a party whose members don’t care much about wealth and are instead motivated by a desire to become famous heroes, or to redeem their past sins.

Loaded Questions

Finally, here are some “loaded questions” you can ask the party as a whole. These can be easily used as a “team building” exercise and an explanation why all these different characters became adventurers and how they become together.

  • Why can’t you never go back home?
  • Someone knows what you did last summer. What was it?
  • Where did you stash the loot?
  • What are you going to do when this is over?
  • How old were you when it all changed?
  • What did your parents want you to do instead of adventuring?

For example, all of them might have been banished from heir respective home lands for different individual reasons but the experience of being exiles is what binds them together. Or perhaps they are all survivors of the same cataclysm? Perhaps hey all were involved in something shady and it went bad?

What non-mechanical information would you put on your character sheet? What questions do you think are interesting to ask players about their characters during the first sessions? What helps? What is more trouble than it’s worth? Let me know in the comments.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/20/non-mechanical-info-on-character-sheets/feed/ 1 Picking a Dark Elf Sorceress: Adventures in Male Gaze http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/11/picking-a-dark-elf-sorceress-adventures-in-male-gaze/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/11/picking-a-dark-elf-sorceress-adventures-in-male-gaze/#comments Mon, 11 Aug 2014 14:07:26 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=17677 Continue reading →]]> Recently I have been shopping around for a new Sorceress miniature for my Dark Elf army and I realized that I didn’t really like most of the existing games workshop miniatures. I read a really great piece of advice with regards to character creation that I really took to heart. If you’re a man and you are trying to create a compelling and interesting female character you should ask yourself whether or not you would want to be her. Not whether you would want to date her, or impress her, or protect her or anything like that. Many writers fall into this trap of treating women as these mysterious “others” who don’t have a direct relationship with the audience and their feelings and thoughts are communicated only by filtering them through the eyes and ears of the male protagonist. If you want to have an awesome female character, she needs to be an actual person with her own story arc, needs and goals independent from those of the male protagonist. Furthermore (and that’s crucial) she has to be cool and interesting enough for you as an author/creator to identify with.

Granted, I wasn’t creating a fleshed out literary protagonist, but merely imagining some background fluff for my tabletop general. So a lot of the above does not necessarily apply. Still, I kinda wanted a miniature that would represent a strong, independent Elf woman who is both feared and respected by her underlings. I wanted her to be a graceful and distinguished but also ruthless and intimidating. In essence I kinda seen her as Cersei Lanister, if she had magic powers and a personal army at her disposal and no one in particular to answer to. Or maybe an evil Galadriel who has fully succumbed to the lure of the ring. That’s the kind of character I had in mind.

This is more or less the mental image I had of her:

Cersei Lanister

Cersei Lanister

The basic idea behind her is that she is a highborn sorceress with a lot of power and influence. She is as much a magic user as she is a shrewd politician and a power player in the Nagarroth court. The rather subtle dress Cersei is wearing in the picture above would be a perfect representation of what she would wear on a regular basis. It looks expensive, but is not extravagant showing off her status, without really flaunting it. She eschews elaborate, full-on mage gear because she does not need to telegraph her power. People know her face, and know her reputation well enough to show proper respect or stay clear.

I figured I would just grab the model labeled “Dark Elf Supreme Sorceress” from the official Games Worlshop website because that sounded about right. It sounds like someone with a lot of power and gravitas. Unfortunately, this is how the model looks like:

Supreme Sorceress

Dark Elf Supreme Sorceress

I have a whole number of issues with this miniature. For one, it is a prime example of the “dynamic pose” thing that Games Workshop has been doing lately with varied success. Many of their new miniatures are sculpted in such a way as to convey sense of movement. When it works, it looks really cool. Other times, it falls flat – like on the Supreme Sorceress. I have no clue what does the smoke/mist snake thing is supposed to represent and frankly, it looks quite silly. Not nearly as silly as the damage Slave Leia outfit she is wearing. Can someone explain to me why does it come with only half a bra?

I might be wrong here, but I don’t think her attire is in any way practical or empowering. I have a hard time imagining the Dark Elf version of Cersei (let’s call her Xersei) that I just made up in my head, actually choosing to show up to battle like this. Another sorceress might actually find this attire cool, but I think Xersei would rather wear something more comfortable and warm (Dark Elf homeland Nagarroth is also known as The Land of Chill, and not because they are laid back people, but because it is a permafrost tundra and ice wastelands). She would go for something that would show of her wealth, power, status as a noble born and a magic user, rather than maximize skin exposure and sexiness because I consider these things more integral to her identity.

So Supreme Sorceress model is out. Let’s try the “standard” sorceress model:

Dark Elf Sorceress

Dark Elf Sorceress

I have very mixed feelings about this model. On one hand, I really like the static pose, and the subtle gear. One of my ongoing complaints about the Dark Elf sculpts are the out-of-control, extravagant head pieces that I usually clip off or file down. I’m all about the simple looking magic staff, and the very subtle head-gear on this model.

On the other hand, I have same complaint as above: I just don’t think this is the right fashion sense for my Sorceress given the head cannon I made up for her. She could perhaps be an apprentice – a secondary level 2 mage in the army or something. But not my cunning, ruthless aristocrat Xersei.

So, does Games Worshop sell any Dark Elf sorcerer models that are fully clothed? Well, there is this old sculpt from the 90’s:

Old Sorcerer Sculpt

Old Sorcerer Sculpt

This is much better. The cloth to skin ratio seems about right at the first glance, thought if you look closely enough you will notice that the sculptor could not resist actually having her entire leg poke out from the folds of her cloak for added “sexy”. In fact, I think he tried so hard to get as much of leg surface exposed I think he actually broke her anatomy. There does not actually seem to be enough space between where her waist ends, and the leg starts to account for hip bones. So her cloak is either a trans-dimensional portal of some sort, or she has the extra-special super-heroine anatomy rightfully mocked by Hawkeye Initiative, Escher Girls and similar blogs.

I am also not very fond of the Madonna styled conic bra thing she has going. In fact the entire outfit is too Maleficent, and not enough Cersei for my taste. Which reminds me, I should get around to watching Maleficent, because I heard it is actually slightly not terrible for the most part.

While this is the closest we got to what I wanted so far, it is far from perfect. I actually own this model, and my goal was to replace it. The extra-ordinary anatomy, mega-shoulder-pads, cone-bra and crazy head-gear aside, I’m not actually very font of the facial detail on this model. Unlike the two miniatures featured above, this one was hand sculpted rather than computer generated. Working in 28mm scale using Green Stuff™ as your primary scuplting medium is not easy and in the 90’s warped or lop-sided faces were a common problem on elf and human models (not so much on Dwarfs who typically had larger faces, and bushy low detail beards that could be used to mask any defects).

Perhaps I was looking in all the wrong places. Dark Elf army book actually includes rules for Morathi, the most powerful and influential dark sorceress of them all. She is actually one of the oldest living beings in the Warhammer universe, and some say she is actually the true ruler of Nagaroth (and that her son, Malekith the Sauronesque Witch King is merely a figurehead). Out of all the miniatures in the Dark Elf range, hers should have the right mix of power, gravitas and grace…

Morathi

Morathi

Nope, never mind. She is also wearing an armor-plated bikini, because of course she would. I don’t even know what I was expecting.

There is one more sorceress model in the range I didn’t show you which is probably the best of all of them:

Sorceress on a Cold One

Sorceress on a Cold One

She has an almost functional armor, and a strong Xena Warrior Princess vibe to her, which isn’t actually a bad thing. She would make an excellent battle worn, front line mage. That said, I was still stuck on my Xersei idea. Also, I didn’t want to put my Sorceress on a Cold one because she would typically be embedded in a big infantry unit or running around on foot.

This, by the way is the entire available range of Dark Elf magic users. What really irks me about it is how one note all of them are. I do understand they are trying to make the miniatures unique, and so they are all highly stylized so that when you put a Dark Elf Sorceress, a High Elf mage and a Woof Elf Spell Singer next to each other there would be no question which is which. So they do need a distinctive art style. I just don’t like the one they chose.

All of these designs are designed for male gaze. Their attire doesn’t make any sense fluff wise. For one, Nagaroth is a cold and windy place, and male models are usually sculpted wearing heavy, layered clothing and/or fur under their armor. For example, check out this Dreadlord miniature:

Dreadlord

Dark Elf Dreadlord

This guy is all bundled up underneath his plate armor, and his base is modeled to mimic snow and ice, which are common in Naggaroth.

Secondly, Sorceresses are typically wealthy, affluent and powerful, so one would expect them to wear warm ornate cloaks rather than run around half naked. Nearly all the women in the Dark Elf range are depicted as wearing these skimpy metal bikinis, and it’s for the sole reason of titilating the men and boys who are presumed to be the core consumers of the game. We can discuss Witch Elves and Harpies at some other time maybe.

Funny thing is, when I searched outside of the Games Workshop range it was actually trivial to find a model that looked exactly the way I wanted:

Xersei

Dark Elf Sorceress by Reaper Miniatures

This one is made by Reaper Miniatures and it gives off the exactly right vibe. She is wearing a rather simple, but still rather expensive looking dress with some fancy ornaments. She is carrying a magic tome, and a simple staff crowned with a menacing looking skull and some dark crystal that can be painted to look like it is giving off a sinister glow. The evil looking staff and the claw-like appearance of her free hand telegraph the fact she is definitely not one of the good, kind elves. It’s perfect.

So it is not impossible to make an interesting Dark Elf model without resorting to a skimpy chain-mail bikini. The Cold One sorceress is a good example of that, and this one is another. With five available models in the range I just wish there was a bit more variety.

You should note that I am not saying all of this to be a prude. I am refraining from passing a judgment of whether or not the loin-cloths and half-bras are “appropriate” or “respectable” because it all really depends. Besides, who am I to try to pass judgment or police what women choose or choose not to wear. All I’m saying is that none of these models felt right for the character I made up in my head, who in turn I heavily based on another character in a popular Fantasy series on TV. None of them screamed Cersei at me. But perhaps it is unfair to criticize a limited line of models for not having the exact miniature you think you want.

Here is the thing though: if you look at all the available models together, and compare them to for example male characters for the same army, you will notice certain patterns emerging. So really, I just want you to notice them and ponder what do these patterns say about us (the Warhammer players), and our hobby.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/11/picking-a-dark-elf-sorceress-adventures-in-male-gaze/feed/ 5 Tectonic Craft Studios Movement Trays http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/06/tectonic-craft-studios-movement-trays/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/06/tectonic-craft-studios-movement-trays/#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2014 14:08:36 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=17625 Continue reading →]]> In Warhammer tabletop game most models move and fight as units anywhere between five and sixty models strong. To simplify the game, they are mounted on square bases that can be arranged into neat unit grids that look a little bit like this:

Warhammer Saven Unit

Skaven unit 20 models strong, arranged in 4 ranks of 5 models.

The unit above is actually kinda small for that particular army: Skaven are actually very weak troops so you usually want your units to be at least 30 strong, and if you can get away with it you want to set them up 10 models wide to benefit from the “horde” special rule. But I digress. As you can probably tell from the picture, moving such block of miniatures every turn is a non-trivial task. Repositioning models one by one will take forever, making an already slow paced game unbearably long and boring for your opponent. Pushing the back of the unit with a ruler and measuring tape doesn’t usually work well, because it causes models to crowd together and fall over. As a result most Warhammer players use “movement trays”.

A movement tray is basically a flat piece of paper, cardboard or plastic that you put underneath your models to facilitate movement. They are basically something you need to play the game and forgetting to bring enough trays to a game usually results in a mad scramble to find paper/cardboard and scisors to make them on the fly. I actually made an online service that lets you print out paper trays ready to be cut out to save you the time and effort needed to trace and measure stuff. Granted, most people prefer to have more permanent movement trays made out of something more solid than a piece of paper.

Since the game is a modeling hobby, many players opt to make their own trays out of various materials. For example my brother cuts them out of PVC tiles and then flocks and paints them. I tend to be rather lazy and have no patience for cutting, filing and trimming square slabs so I typically take the easy way and buy trays.

If you are in the market for trays there are many options available for you as there are many third party vendors that make them. Most of the pre-made trays you can buy typically come in select dimensions that correspond to most common unit sizes such as 5×5 or 6×5. Many also try to make products that can be used for both the 20mm and 25mm bases (both of which are common in Warhammer) usually resulting with a rather narrow selection. Games Workshop sells their own branded modular set that lets you build your own trays, with a minimum effort:

Games Workshop Movement Tray Set

Games Workshop Movement Tray Set

This is a very nice option, but unfortunately it does require a lot of cutting and measuring. The borders stoppers that you stick around the base to prevent models from sliding off are rather oddly sized. For example, the most common base size in Warhammer is 20mm, and the most common unit configuration is twenty models arranged in 5×5 square. You would think that they would manufacture their set in such a way that it would merely require cutting the base to size, than taking 4 corner pieces, and 4 border stoppers and gluing them around. Unfortunately the pieces are half and inch to long and require you to trim them to fit together. If you want a “perfect” tray you will have to spend a lot of time measuring, cutting and filing them down to get a seamless fit. If you eyeball it and just clip the piece, you end up with small gaps that don’t actually affect the function, but don’t look very pretty.

Since I am super lazy and always on the lookout for things that can enable me not doing to much work, I have recently discovered Tectonic Craft Studios – a company that makes custom, laser cut movement trays out of medium density fiberboard. The company was successfully kickstarted (kickstartered?) back in 2012 as a terrain manufacturing startup, but they have since expanded their offering to Warhammer movement trays, 40k tournament racks and more.

The neat thing about their tray selection is that they are fully customizable. The online store lets you specify the base size, number of ranks and files and then a custom cut tray is going to be sent to your house. I purchased a number of trays in various configurations and I must say I am really pleased with their quality:

Standard Tray

8×3 tray for 20mm models

The MDF is a surprisingly good medium. It is light, but dense. The trays feel very solid, but still slide around the table quite easily. They come scored with a grid that makes arranging the miniatures easier after removing casualties. The raised border fits snugly around the bases and it is tall enough to prevent the models from sliding or tipping off, but not to obscure the legs or base finish.

Tectonic Craft Studios currently sell trays for every common base size: 20x20mm infantry, 25x25mm large infantry, 40x40mm monstrous infantry, 25x50mm cavalry, 50x75mm monstrous cavalry and even the 40x100mm chariot bases. They can all be cut to your specifications. For example, this is how a regular, single rank, cavalry base looks like with models on it:

Cavalry Base

5×1 standard 25x50mm cavalry base

My favorite product however are the skirmish trays. In Warhammer units with the skirmisher rule do not use the usual grid, rank and file formation. Instead they are to be deployed in a “lose” formation with models no further than 2″ apart. This means you typically have to move them model by model since there was never an easy way to arrange them on a movement tray… That is until now:

Skirmish Tray

Skirmish Tray with 10 Skaven Night Runners

Some might dislike this arrangement since the models are still positioned aligned to a grid and many players prefer to use more organic formations. I personally like it, because it fits with the 8th edition rules that stipulate that even in bulbous, random arrangement skirmishers still count as having flanks when it comes to combat. My armies are not usually very skirmish heavy, so I really appreciate this neat little invention that keeps my models in the 2″ coherency, and at the same time lets me move them with ease.

Skirmish Tray Closeup

Skirmish Tray Closeup

As you can see in the image above, the skirmish trays are perfect, snug fit for the 20x20mm bases. There is very little play, and the models stay in place even if you pick up the tray by one end and lift it all the way up. I only ever use 20mm skirmishers, but I was pleasantly surprised that the store page lets you bump the size all the way up to 50x75mm. I don’t even know if there exists a skirmisher unit that large (probably Ogre Kingdoms unit) but if you have one, you can buy a tray for it.

Now onto the bad stuff:

The production time for these trays seems to be somewhere between 2-3 weeks. It seems a bit long for what essentially is cutting squares to known dimensions, but I honestly don’t know their process so I won’t judge. The web store sends you an automated email confirmation but beyond that there is no way to check on the progress of your order, and there are no follow up shipment emails. The only way to check up on your order is to email the owner (you can do that by simply replying to your order confirmation) who, to his credit, responds to every email in timely manner and is very accommodating.

So far I have placed 3 orders with the company and the turnaround time was the same for all of them, though the owner assured me it is not actually normal citing personal issues, trouble with post pickups and a big order backlog as the reasons for the delays. I honestly don’t know if that’s true, but seeing how Tectonic Craft Studios seems to be a one man shop, I actually have no problem with 3 week production time as long as I know that this information is communicated to me up-front. Which is why I’m putting it in this review: not to knock the shop down, but to warn potential buyers to be patient.

My main complaint would be the packaging. The trays were shipped to me in a plain cardboard UPS envelope with no padding. The trays themselves are very sturdy and the material does not scratch easily, so they survived undamaged. Still, a little bit of padding (a padded envelope, or a sheet of bubble wrap would be perfect for this) would go a long way. The individual trays were not sealed or packaged in any way. Shrink wrapping them, or at the very least sealing them in labeled ziplock bags would actually give the operation a much needed air of professionalism.

The trays themselves are really neat, and worth overlooking long production times and a bit unprofessional packaging. They look great on the table, they can be painted with Citadel paints quite easily, and they are quite affordable. Unlike the packaging, the actual quality of craftsmanship on these pieces is really high so I highly recommend them.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/08/06/tectonic-craft-studios-movement-trays/feed/ 1 Arrested Development: My Troglodytes are Different http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/07/28/arrested-development-my-troglodytes-are-different/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2014/07/28/arrested-development-my-troglodytes-are-different/#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:04:33 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=17456 Continue reading →]]> Some time ago I brought up the issue of technological progress and magic. The gist of post was a contemplation on why most of “fantasy” settings seem to stuck in perpetual middle ages. The obvious in-universe answer is of course “because wizards”. After all, who needs expensive and unreliable steam engines if you have magical portals and flying carpets? Why would you go to trouble of arming your army with muskets, when even an apprentice mage could cast “invoke dampness” spell over the battlefield rendering gunpowder weapons unusable.

One interesting assumption we were making in that thread is that for some reason magic only becomes relevant at the cusp of industrial revolution and not a day earlier. While it does make perfect sense that it would retard the development of of gun powder weapons and steam engines, it does not explain why it wouldn’t have the same type of chilling effect on all prior technology. For example, medieval metallurgy, masonry, architecture, husbandry and agriculture were all pretty vibrant and dynamic fields without which we wouldn’t see castles, plate armors, mounted cavalry and any other fantasy staples. But these fields never seem to be affected. So we must conclude that magic is irrelevant to these fields (which is silly, because we know you can make enchanted armors, flying castles and etc..) or it only becomes prominent after these mundane technologies are already well established.

Naturally, we know the meta-narrative reasons for this: we enjoy stories about knights, wizards and dragons and so we construct the worlds in which they can exist. That’s a given. But when we talk about in-universe logic, we must assume that magic is simply discovered and popularized late.

Here is a thought experiment: what if it wasn’t? What if “magic boom” happened not in the middle ages but way back, at a tribal hunter gatherer stage? What if tribal shamans were able to achieve the kind of power level as Fantasy battle mages? How would access to that kind of magic shape the society, and how it would affect the development of technology? And just to make things more interesting let’s say we are not talking about humans here. Let’s take Fantasy’s quintessential, low-tech, cave dwelling species: the Troglodytes (also known as lizard bros).

Lizard People

Lizard People

Let’s establish some background here: Troglodytes start their civilization as just about any other species. They are cave-dwelling, hunter-gatherers who just recently figured out how to make primitive tools out of stone and bones of their prey, but not much else. There are probably other sentient species in the area, like Gnolls, Kobolds and maybe even some Humans that are at about the same technological level. Sometimes they trade, sometimes they fight, other times they ignore each other. Then, Troglodyte shamans discover magic and everything starts to change for the better.

At first the changes are subtle – the healing and combat magic gives them an edge in battle against their more territorial neighbors and so their communities grow and prosper. Soon Shamans discover that magic can not only be used during the times of war, but that it’s real utility comes into play during peace. Instead of spending days gathering fruit and nuts in the forests, the Shamans can simply make those plants grow in and around their settlements. Instead of spending days tracking beasts of prey, magic can be used to lure them into traps or simply have them walk into the Troglodyte village and lay down waiting to be slaughtered. Magic also frees the lizard men from dependency on natural cave systems for shelter. They can now drill out houses in the stone, or burrow in the ground as they please.

As this knowledge spreads from community to community there is a good deal of social unrest. The hunters caste are very upset that they are being made irrelevant. They are very concerned that their professions will disappear the same way the “fire keeper” caste did when the magic users learned how to light and extinguish fire at will. At the same time the Shaman’s can barely keep up with the demand for their services: the communities start to rely on them for everything. They are healers, builders, warriors, food providers, community leaders and etc. The shaman caste realize that further growth is unsustainable. Their magic is helping their communities to grow and prosper, but as they do, the shaman are being spread thin. After much deliberation, they decide to invalidate and beak the vows of secrecy surrounding their craft, and teach it to everyone willing to learn.

Troglodyte Sage

Troglodyte Sage (formerly shaman caste)

Luckily it turns out that Troglodytes are all attuned to magic: it flows freely through their bodies and almost all of them can use it. And so hunters learn spells and incantations that let them lure, distract and control prey. Gatherers learn magic that allows them to influence plant grow, and tend wild gardens outside their cave villages. Builders study magic that allows them to crush, sharpen and move stone and earth to create tools and living spaces for the Troglodyte communities. Warriors study enchantments that will make their natural scales harder than stone, and make their wooden or bone spears unnaturally sharp. The former shamans take a back seat an assume a role of teachers and keepers of knowledge which they share freely with others.

Few generations pass, and the caste systems of old are all but forgotten. Most Troglodyte communities are now societies of specialized wizards. Where other civilizations turn to mundane technology, they simply use magic. When Gnolls develop bronze tipped javelins, Troglodytes simply enchant their bone spears to fly further. When humans start making weapons and armors from iron, Lizard men simply beef up their protective spells, and develop armor piercing incantations. In a way they can work faster than their neighbors because harnessing mundane technology takes years of research, practice and require raw materials. Spells on the other hand are basically just focused thoughts which can be disseminated immediately after being developed.

Troglodyte

Troglodyte with an enchanted bone tool of unknown purpose

While other species develop complex writing, and graduate from stone tablets to paper based media, Troglodytes stop at a fairly simple system of glyphs suitable for carving them in stone or bone. They use it mainly to make sign-posts, labels, record names or for decoration. They don’t write books, or codify their stories because they have better ways of preserving knowledge using magic. The most common method of preserving knowledge or experiences are memory charms, usually made by enchanting skulls of small animals. The creator of the charm can imbue it with thoughts, emotions and memories and it will act as permanent storage device. Anyone can access the stored memories by simply touching the charm to their forehead (though some charms can be protected by a password that has to be whispered to unlock them). Compared to bound paper volumes produced by humans, memory charms are both inexpensive, trivial to produce and easy to use.

To facilitate the exchange of knowledge, as well as better resource management Troglodytes also develop a mass-transit system in the form of Way Stones. They are created by taking a massive stone slab, binding it with strong magic and then cleaving it in half. Anyone stepping on one half of the stone is ten magically transported to the other one. Communities wishing to establish a permanent trade link typically create a Way Stone pair, and then mark them with appropriate glyphs so that travelers can know which village it leads to. Not all Troglodyte communities are connected to each other, but most ave at least one or two Way Stones that link them up to some of their neighbors creating a vast network of connections.

Way Stone

Troglodyte using a Way Stone

Way Stone network allows the Troglodyte communities to specialize and grow in very peculiar ways. Because food and resources can be transported instantaneously between Way Stone connected locations there exist communities that produce no food or resources locally and simply trade for them with neighbors. This allows Troglodytes to live deep underground or in otherwise inhospitable areas such as desolated wastelands, magical swamps, or even underwater in magically sustained air bubbles.

No one really knows the extent of the Way Stone network as there exist no accurate maps that would include all the stones. After a few centuries of growth, the Troglodyte civilization is assumed to have over a thousand active nodes all over the world. Most communities only know the layout of two to three hops away from their home village and new Way Stones are created all the dime connecting new and established communities. Most traveled Troglodytes can probably tell you the shortest way to their Capital City (shortest in the sense of fewest Way Stone hops not actual real world distance).

To other races, Troglodytes look like primitive savages. They wear almost no clothes, and their tools are made almost elusively from wood, stone and bones. Those who trade with them note that they seem to be profoundly disinterested in anything made out of metal – including weapons, tools, armors and even jewelry. The truth is that they have no need for these tings because most Troglodytes knows a sharpening spell that can temporarily turn a bone staff into a razor-sharp weapon capable of cutting through a plate armor. They don’t use bows and arrows, because they put homing spells on their spears extending their range, and ensuring they always strike their target. They build no houses, because they can drill shelters directly into mountainsides, complete with stone shelves, stools and other furniture built directly into the interior. Where they have no rocky surfaces to work with, they dig underground or weave trees and vines to create spacious halls and huts for the citizens.

Their capitol city is said to be hidden deep in some inhospitable swamp jungle. It is said to be a gigantic cave city drilled into the sides and throughout an ancient mountain. It is said that every inch of the mountain has been carved by magic, and that from afar it looks like a cross between a stone anthill and an ancient pyramid temple.

Those who have visited the Troglodyte communities usually remark on how in touch with nature they seem to be. Those who lived among the Lizard Men usually quickly realize that this is not true. They exploit the nature to their own ends just like most other sentient species – their excesses simply do not look like conventional agriculture. The capitol for example is incapable of supporting it’s population with local resources, and so there exist many “hunting” communities that make a living hunting and gathering for the capitol and delivering food in bulk. Their daily “pulls” of game can easily deplete the local ecosystem within weeks, at which point they pack-up their Way Stone and move to another area.

And there you have it: a race of primeval lizard people who appear primitive, because they rely on magic for all the things we usually use tools for. All the modern comforts are provided by means of enchantments and spells which sharpen bone knives, or make stone soft and warm enough to comfortably sleep on. My Troglodytes are different. What do you think?

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