Northern California Pulp Project - Constructing the Board

Virtual Armchair General's Warehouse (unmodified)
Crates by WarTorn Worlds

Another aspect of the game that was key was the gameboard itself. I purchased 2 of The Virtual Armchair General's Mean Sets paper buildings, the Garage & Warehouse. I had done some simple paper building before, but was a bit put off initially by what seemed to be the complexity of these buildings. As it turned out, the actual construction was pretty simple, there was just a lot of it.

Virtual Armchair General's Garage (double-wide)
Industrial equipment by Armor Cast

One of the cool things about these buildings is their modularity. Since they are provided on CD, I was able to print out extra floors & walls to customize the floorplans to what I needed. I used the unmodified Warehouse for the 1st game, I built a "double-wide" Garage for the 2nd game, & then combine these 2 buildings to create an even larger Evil Lair for the final game. I also borrowed some of the scientific equipment & the Graviton gun from a friend who'd built Microtactix's Mad Lab set to fill out the evil lair.

Long shot of Garage

The buildings were very well designed. In addition to fully working doors, the sets also came with a variety of extra furniture in the white space of the sheets. There was only a few extra things in each building set, but it filled up the room nicely. While these are paper

Detail of paper fold-overs

buildings, they are actually designed to be mounted on 1/4" foam core board. One of the nice design aspects for use with foam core is that there were fold-over tabs inside all the window & doorways. The tabs are to cover up the white foam core center along the window sills & door jams. Unfortunately, since I'm still a paper building novice, I didn't understand the best way to glue the paper to the foam core, & ended up not getting most of these tabs lined up right with the windows. So, while I did glue some of them down, I ended up cutting most of them off & coloring in the exposed foam core with a black Sharpie for simplicity & to save time.

Mister E's evil lair (Warehouse & Garage pieces combined)
Platforms in background from Microtactix's

Also, I wanted to construct the buildings so they were collapsable. So, I used sheet magnets to put the buildings together with, instead of gluing them. While I had my doubts about the strength of the magnets during game play & the walls getting knocked over, I was surprised at how well they held together. There were no real major collapses during the games. For the magnets, I ended up using the pre-cut business card sized magnets that have peel-&-stick adhesive on one side. I cut them to the size I wanted, & just stuck them on the ends of the walls, or on the floor.

Virtual Armchair General's Garage set in pieces

Garage held together with sheet magnet strips

I thing I learned early on was that you had to be careful of getting polarity of the magnets right. If you've ever played with sheet magnets, you know they kind of jump when you slide them against each other. So when choosing which pieces of magnet to use, I needed to make sure I chose 2 strips that would pretty much line up when they stuck together. Otherwise, the reversed polarity sections would repel each other & cause the magnets to be misaligned & throw your building out of whack.

Detailed diagram of building construction (click to enlarge)

Northern California Pulp Project - RPGs & Summary

Spirit of the Century RPG Cover

As I mentioned in the Intro post, I feel that pulp gaming needs to have a strong character-driven/role playing aspect to it. So, as a way to achieve this in my wargame, I started checking out a number of pulp RPGs for ideas. One I came across was called Spirit of the Century by Evil Hat Productions (reviewed earlier in my blog). I played in a game of it at the local Conquest Sacramento convention & really liked how it worked. The character creation process strongly influenced how I created the characters for my game. The game has unique process to ensure the characters are well-acquainted with each other before the game starts. I used a cut-down version of this to develope elaborate histories for each of the characters. Unfortunately, I tend to get quite wordy & overly imaginative when I am creating "fiction". So while I loved the process & felt it was going to add a lot of depth to the game, the players weren't nearly as thrilled as I was by it. Since the players were all friends & more forgiving, I will probably cut out the lengthy characters background if I run it as an open game at a convention.

Evil Hat Productions logo

I did buy the Spirit of the Century rules (only $15 in PDF), & even if you ignore the RPG part of it, it contains loads of ideas for scenarios, characters, villains, etc. I thought the best part of the rules for wargamers was the 50+ page section on how to design & GM a pulp adventure. This part was invaluable to my final game design. It covered the importance of keeping the pacing fast enough for a pulpy feel, suggestions of when & how to endanger the players to motivate them toward the end-game, etc. Evil Hat could probably excerpt just this section & sell it on it's own as a GM aid.

Master Plan podcast

Ryan Macklin, GM of the Spirit of the Century game I played in, also ended up having an indirect influence on my final game. He has a podcast, called Master Plan, about game design. It mainly focuses on RPGs, but since it's about the design process, instead of any specific RPG system, a lot of what he covers can apply to designing any kind of game, including wargames. If you're working on your own game, I'd recommend his podcast since he covers everything from effective playtesting, designers block, becoming too invested in a "cool" game mechanic, etc.

The battle rages below as Mister E "monologues" from the platform

So, overall, I thought the game went well & the players enjoyed themselves. I was very pleased with how well the paper buildings worked out from the Virtual Armchair General's Mean Sets line. Unfortunately, using the We Could be Heroes rules by Task Force Productions didn't go so well. The rules weren't suited to this kind of game, & seemed a bit dice heavy in places. But they do have some interesting game mechanics that I like & I still hope to try them again with more balanced forces. & I found that the Heroclix range from Wizkids has some great figures for pulp style games. Hopefully, I'll get around to actually writting up the battle report some time soon.

NOTE: Spirit of the Century RPG cover & Evil Hat Logo used in this post are copyrighted by Evil Hat Productions and used with their permission. Master Plan logo used with permission.

Conquest Sac 2007 - Spirit of the Century RPG

Spirit of the Century RPG Cover

I got to play in a great pulp RPG at the Conquest Sacramento gaming covention. The system was Spirit of the Century, a new RPG from last fall, by Evil Hat Productions & was run by Ryan Macklin, a local RPGer. This was definately a storytelling game. It's based on the Fudge RPG system, with some exentions from that. I'd never used Fudge so it was interesting. Instead of numbers for stats, your character had 5 expertise levels running from Average up through Superb. There were 5 more levels below Average & 3 more above Surperb for non-character activies. For anything you try to do, you always roll 4 Fudge dice. The Fudge dice have + on 2 sides, - on 2 sides & 2 sides blank, so 1/3 chance on each die for each result. + & - cancel each other out, so you get a range of +4 to -4 a roll. The amount of the + or - shifts your skill up or down to give the final level of your skill attempt. A task has a difficulty assigned to it, so your final skill score has to equal or beat the task's difficutly level. If you're interacting with a sentient being, they have their own skill level & roll the 4 Fudge dice & get their own final skill level. You have to beat their final skill level to success. Another interesting part of the game are the Fate Points that players use to affect the storyline. The players can spend a point to either add 2 levels of success to a skill attempt, or allow you to reroll. But, the character creation/management is the best part of the game. You basically end up writing the back cover blurbs for novels about your character's life. These blurbs & the story behind them give you Aspects. The Aspects are what really make this game fun. Aspects are descriptive things about your character, like skills, objects, quirks, etc. Aspects can also be descriptive things about any part of the game.

I played Liam MacGregor, the Flying Scotsman. In my background novels, I was given an experimental jetpack. So the jetpack was one of the descriptive things about my character, & therefore was an Aspect. I of course used it to rocket all over the place. I also had a variety of other action type Aspects: "I'll take you all on", Toughest Boxer in all of Glasgow, "It's just a scratch", Natural Aviator, An Enemy in every Port, Seat of my Pants, "Don't Worry, we don't need that part", 2-Fisted Drunk & "I can fly anything". As you can tell, he was a belligerant Rocketeer type.

In addition to using Fate points to affect your roll, you can also spend a point to active one of these Aspects to affect the story. Again, you have to come up with a good explanation of what's happening. The opening sequence had us fighting clockwork ninjas. I, of course, jumped into the fight & paid a Fate point to trigger my "I'll take them all on" Aspect, allowing me to get more attacks than normal. In addition to paying Fate points to activate an Aspect, the GM can also allow you to earch a Fate point back by using one of your Aspects to compel you do to something. We had a French Lady's Man type character with the Aspect of "Love in every Port". The GM used that Aspect to compel the Frenchman to go off with a lady & leave the rest of the party behind. I don't think a player is required to accept this "compelling", but it is the only way to get Fate points back during the game. So compelling Aspects allows the GM to steer the storyline back under his control if he needs to or ensure certain key plot points get hit.

Another interesting mechanic is that you can pay to create Aspects for the environment. When we were on an airship, the GM created the Aspects of "Airship on Fire". Both the players & opponents can use the Aspect. The 1st use of an environmental Aspect is free, you don't have to pay a Fate point for it, but it does cost 1 pt after that. I used the Aspect to say the control room of the airship was full of smoke so the Gorilla Guards I was fighting couldn't see me well. But I had the skill of "Fly By Night" allowing me to fly through any weather, dark, etc. So, I got a bonus to my roll since I could fly & attack the guards without being hindered by the smoke.

Another enviromental Aspect used was "Look out for the Cliffs" when we were running from T-Rexes. A player paid a Fate point to create the Aspect (effectively requiring the GM to add cliffs to the landscape ahead of us), & then we lured the T-Rexes to fall over the cliff. This kind of interactive give & take between the GM & the players, where the players can help shape the adventure as much as the GM, is why I said earlier this was definately a storytelling RPG.

Another benefit to Aspects is that you can pay to trigger one of your Aspects to benefit another player. My biggest moment in the game was when the scientific genius in our party failed a critical roll to prevent a time erasing device from wiping us out from history. I paid a Fate point to use my Aspect of "Dont worry, we dont need that part" to allow the genius to reroll. & because it was such a perfect Aspect to use, I think the GM also allowed a bonus to the reroll too. We ended up not getting erased & saving all of Earth's timeline from being controlled by the evil mastermind.

I really like the Aspects & character management systems. Allowing the players complete control over their character creation (as opposed to dice rolls) & the requirement for the storytelling to start in character creation is great. & the way the players can collaborate in the storytelling by triggering their Aspects is cool too. I know I don't much about the different Pulp RPGs, but it would be tough to convince me there was something better for what I'd like in a game. The one thing that didn't quite sit well with me was that since there were no character classes/levels or numeric stats, it seemed like there wouldn't be much character advancement. Not that I'm a power-gamer, but the thought of playing the same character over & over again, with nothing different about him, does seem to make it lean towards becoming stale sooner. I didn't ask about it or look through the book, so maybe it is part of the game. But, the way the system is set up, it didn't seem to lend itself to advancement.

Evil Hat Logo

NOTE: Spirit of the Century RPG cover, Evil Hat Logo and all other original artwork used in this post is copyrighted by Evil Hat Productions and used with their permission.

Storming the beaches of Norse-mandy - Intro

I'm participating in a Warhammer Fantasy Battle campaign using the Lustria campaign rules. In the 1st turn, I battled Maksim who is running Vampire Counts (see a battle account from different players in the campaign on his blog). He was the defender in the Get Off My Land scenario from the Conquest of the New World suppliment to Lustria. Basically, the further your units make it across the board, the more victory points you get, in addition to the stardard points.

My army uses the Beastman list, but it's a Norse army. So, the Beastmen are Vikings, Bestigors are Valkyries, Minotaurs are Giant Werewolves & Werebears, etc. & I'm using more of the historical Norse mythology for them, instead of the Warhammer Norscan setting.

Hope you enjoy. I know there'll be more stories to come. Oh, & sorry this is so text heavy, I didn't have time to add pictures just yet.
Nils
Black Cavalier

Storming the beaches of Norse-mandy - The Battle

They hit the surf running. The longships beached just long enough to disgorge the army and then oarsmen pulled them back into the ocean. The terrain got progressively thick as they pushed in from the shore: 1st the open beach, then a bunch of undergrowth, then light jungle & finally dense, thick jungle. Luckily, it was pretty much like the forests of Norsca, so the army would have no problem maneuvering through it. But, unlike the forests of Norsca, the heat & humidity was so oppressive, it felt like they had to swim through the air (Excessive Humidity: -1" to Bestigors). OTOH, the surprise landings seemed to have worked since he could see vague human shapes still trying to form ranks (Monkey Run: Norse got +1 to die for determining who goes 1st).

Stonecleaver had positioned himself in the center, leading the unit of Valkyrie (Bestigors) that had the gods had blessed them with. To the right was one of the large Hirds, followed by a small Hird, the Norse Dwarf Mountain Goat cavalry who were drunk once again (Centigors), & finally a small unit of wolves (chaos hounds). To the left were Musta Krakish, the Werewolf Lord, & his giant werekin (minotaurs), the other large Hird, & the other unit of Dwarf cavalry.

Stonecleaver prayed to the gods that the solitary longship that left the fleet would have successfully landed the small ambush force further up the beach. He was worried though. Even if the ambushing force showed up, the army's orders were to penetrate as far into the jungle as possible. So once behind the enemy, the ambushers might feel it better to hang back in the dense jungle & not actually come out to help the rest of the army.

Even though he still couldn't completely make out the enemies, he could see they had finally formed up and were in 4 blocks, pretty much equally aligned on his center.

The army surged forward with the surf, eager to meet whatever the vile jungle spat out at them. The werekin got tangled up in the undergrowth & ended up being out of position for most of the battle (I misread the rules & initially thought you could march move through difficult terrain). But, 3 of the 4 ambush troops, 1 small Hird & both units of wolves, successfully navigated the dense jungle & came on behind the enemy. The 4th can wandering up behind the Norscans' own line.

As the 2 armies approached each other, Stonecleaver finally realized what they were fighting: skeletons. 4 HUGE blocks of skeletons, most of them twice the size of his largest Hirds. & some of the skeletons look to have been Norscans from Skeggi at one point, based on the tatters of clothes hanging from their bleached bones.

The idea of being denied a place Valhalla, & instead being forced to fight this cursed jungle for all eternity froze Valgard & his army in their tracks. The outer flanking forces were able to continue to maneuver forward, but the Valkyries & both large Hirds stopped dead.

Valgard tried to get his warriors to charge, but they stayed put & were surprised by a sudden uncharacteristic burst of speed from the skeletons (Maks thought the skeletons' charge move was only 4" until someone wandered by & told him it was 8". He then promptly charged me when I thought I'd have another turn to try to charge.). 2 of the skeleton blocks crunched into the Hirds & a 3rd contacted the Dwarves on the right flank. All were sent running. Fortunately the skeletons lining up against Stonecleaver & the Valkyries didn't quite make it, so they had a reprieve for the moment. & even more fortunately, the Valkyries & the giant werewolves were able to hold their line while everyone around them fled. But, the Dwarves took a unit of wolves with them.

Stonecleaver knew this was a crucial moment, so he had the Valkyries call out to the fleeing warriors, reminding them of the prize of Valhalla, & all the fleeing units rallied, except the wolves who fled out off into the jungle (not any magic ability, just narrative of almost all the units rallying).

Seeing the danger of being caught standing, Valgard led the Valkyries into the skeletons in front of them. & the Godi finally found his land-legs & stepped up to help out. Suddenly a flock of Crows appeared from his fingers pecked any remaining juicy morsels off the skeletons (I had completely forgotten about the shaman & hadn't even rolled his spell, but got 9 deaths out of 2d6 possible for 1st shot, later got 8 deaths).

Unfortunately, the giant werewolves were still fumbling through the undergrowth, & the ambushing wolves were unable to overcome their fear to charge the skeletons in the rear, so the Valkyries went in unsupported. Valgard valiantly held his own, accepting single combat against the whirling blades of the Blood Dragon hero, & the Valkyries actually did more casualties than the skeletons, but as to be expected, the weight of the huge block of skeletons overwhelmed them & they fled. They received a temporary reprieve since skeletons were unmoved by their victory. But then skeletons had another burst of speed (charge), contacted the fleeing Valkyries & destroyed them before they had a chance to rally, cutting Stonecleaver down too. He realized that it was the skeletons in the dark jungle that were "much hidden" in the Godi's readings, & they definitely were now revealed. As the life left Valgard's eyes, he sent one final prayer to the gods, pleading not to be reanimated & denied Valhalla.

Another block of skeletons caught the Godi out in the open & he went down too. A shudder when through the now leaderless Norscan army. Sent into a fury, it charged almost as a whole. The Dwarf cavalry on the left flank charged a block of skeletons & almost completely wiped out their 1st 2 ranks. Stunned by this sudden turn of events, the Blood Dragon hero did little in return & the Dwarves actually won their battle. Another round of combat saw similar results, & finally, with the giant werewolves charging their flank, the skeletons fell to pieces & the army General, who was attached, fled & was run down.

While the battle was not fully complete, a strange call floated over the jungle (game store was closing), so the skeletons melted back into the jungle and the shaken Norscans claimed it a victory.

Storming the beaches of Norse-mandy - The Omens

As the Godi cast the runes on the deck of the largest longship, Torvald Isulfson eagerly looked on. They lay just off the shore of the jungle land that would make them all rich. They were so far south, the Winds of Chaos were hardly a breeze here, so Torvald was hoping for any good omen to encourage his army.

Torvald still cursed those traitorous Norsca back at Skeggi. He'd assumed his force would have been welcomed by their distant cousins, but the greedy whelps refused to allow his ships to land. They felt the owned the whole jungle. Well, he'd show them & plunder the gold right out from under their noses.

So, instead of making an easy landing where there should have been welcoming wenches and ale, his army was having to make a mad dash up the beach & into the jungle. His army was used to fighting like that, but Torvald at least had enough sense to realizing a beach landing on a unknown continent would be tougher than the normal fleecing of those Imperial sheep.

He'd decided to land his army on the only shallow beach near Skeggi. The fact there were skeletal totems all along the beach made no difference to him. It kind of made it look home. Once the army was landed & had drawn out any awaiting enemies, he'd land the supplies in a small inlet near by that would have been too hard to defend. Torvald would ensure the supplies were landed, while one of his sub-chieftains, Valgard Stonecleaver, would lead the army.

Returning his attention to the runes, the Godi's divination said that much that was hidden would be revealed. The army cheered, believing that meant they would find piles of gold & treasure. But, as Torvald let the blood of the final sacrificial victim flow into the ocean in thanks for a safe journey, he realized this Godi's readings had always been particularly vague, & decided to send him along with Stonecleaver to share in whatever vague fate he had foreseen.

Storming the beaches of Norse-mandy - Wrap Up

Great game & even greater thanks to Maksim for patience & being a great person to game with. We made it through the 1st of the 2 combats in my half (the 1st half) of turn 5. Looking at what could have happened, there was really only a few more of my units that he could have wiped out & then he would have advanced 2 of his blocks unopposed, possibly to the next range band for scenario victory points. But I also had some unengaged units that probably could have advanced further too. So, it could have been a much closer point difference, but we agreed I would have still come out on top.

The Extreme Humidity event was supposed to affect all 5+ armor units, but I figured it shouldn't affect undead, & since it would mean his Grave Guard would only move 3" a turn, suggested he skip it.

The key to my victory was my ability to make an incredible number of Rally & Fear check rolls. I think out of 10+ rolls, I only failed 2- 3 of them. The other key was that even though Maks' units would auto-break me because of their size & fear, he tended to roll pretty bad for combat. His WS8 heroes were particularly wimpy.