Delving into Dungeon Crawls

As I mentioned, I planned on playing a solo D&D adventure last week, but I lost my rules. I have since found them, but I have some ideas for improvements. This has led me onto a path of re-evaluating my design. 

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

As part of my re-evaluation process, I decided to jot down some of my design goals.

Simplicity

In general, this is a major goal for my designs. I prefer games where I don't have to refer frequently to the rules or to charts. I also want to minimize math. I don't want to add a bunch of modifiers to determine results, especially since I tend to roll for all characters simultaneously.

D6, or maybe D12

I have a bunch of D6's lying around. I want to use them. I also have some D12's and sometimes consider using them instead. Something to consider.

Party on a Postcard

Actually, an index card, but you get the idea. Currently, I have each character on an index card, but I am not keen on shuffling among them. I'd like to minimize the stats for each character so that I can fit the entire party on one side of an index card. This may be a tall order, in which case I'll go up to a 4 x 6 inch card.

Convertibility

Although I have complained about the Dragon of Icespire Keep module, I like the idea of using published D&D modules. Therefore, I'd like to be able to convert easily from D&D to my system. Details to be determined.

NEXT STEPS

Where do I go from here?

• I think the core MicroQuest system is solid. I'm looking to tweak this system so that it meets my design considerations.
• I'm starting with character generation. I'd like to include all the core D&D classes. I'll need to look into ways to differentiate them without too much crunch.
• Right now I'm reading various versions of D&D for ideas.

I'll continue to post on my progress until GADD steers me away from this project.

Wasted Wednesday

Lately my wife has taken to watching a political podcast that airs on Wednesday nights. This gives me an opportunity to get in some gaming.

This past Wednesday, I planned to resume my Dragons of Icespire Keep campaign. I left off in February, with the party investigating Axeholm, an abandoned dwarven stronghold. But I could not find my latest RPG rules. As a result, I played nothing.

Despite this failure, I hope to make Wednesday gaming a regular occurrence.

No No, Normans

Recently I actually had a little time to play a game. I decided to pull out Battles of Medieval Britain.

The Campaign

I'm in the midst of a campaign to play all the scenarios from start to finish. So far I am 0-3.

Today's Battle

Today's battle is Hastings. It's ironic because I just posted a Hastings-inspired LARP scenario on my LARP blog.

Set Up

The first picture shows the initial set up.

• Normans (red) - 1 unit of knights, 1 of archers, and 4 warriors
• Saxons (blue) - 4 units of spears, 4 of warriors, and King Harold in the red hex (top right)

I play the Normans. My objective is to kill Harold.

The Battle

On the very first turn the Normans lose their knights.

The archers take out a unit of Saxon spears.

Then disaster strikes. The Normans eliminate a unit of Saxon warriors but they lose THREE units.

Shortly followed by another unit.

The last remaining Norman unit piddles around for a few turns before a failed attack.

The day ends. Harold was never even threatened. A decisive Norman defeat!

Still No Action

On the tabletop front, that is.

I've been doing prep work for the next season of our LARP. As a result, I haven't had much gaming time.

I visited another group's practice last Saturday. I got some photos to use for a recruiting flyer. I'm in the last picture.

A Ghoulish Feast

Game Background

I actually had time for a game last weekend! 

I toyed with playing the final battle of my Revolution in Florida campaign but I am still in a fantasy mood. I've been planning scenarios for the next season of my LARP campaign and I thought about running one of those scenarios on the tabletop. However, I don't want to spoil anything in case my players see this post. So I decided to borrow a scenario from last season.

Set Up

The Dark Magi are on the move. The Legion has sent a scouting party out to find the enemy.

Combatants:

• Empire - Optio Infelix (gray meeple) leads 4 legionaries (red).
• Infelix wears heavy armor (save 4+) while the legionary scouts have light (save 5+).
• Infelix can take 3 hits and the legionaries can take 2.
• Dark Magi - a necromancer (black) leads 6 ghuuls (green. They are essentially zombies)
• Ghuuls save like they have heavy armor, which reflects their ability to absorb damage. However, they move slowly and are more likely not to activate in a turn (they need 3+)
• The necromancer has light armor. He can either cast a spell, which works like a ranged attack, or respawn a zombie.
• Ghuuls can only take 1 hit (they're minions after all) but the necromancer can take 3.

The mission: The scouting party must kill the necromancer.

I played the scenario using a skirmish variant of my MicroBattle rules.

The Skirmish

Infelix leads his squad onto the field of battle. They spot some ghuuls.

Legionary Escamus goes berserk, breaks discipline, and rushes a ghuul. It knocks him down then devours him..

The rest of the squad engages. Another legionary is wounded.

Note: I did not have wound markers handy so I put wounded figures on their side.

Infelix cuts down a ghuul. He then rushes the necromancer. Meanwhile, another legionary is wounded.

A ghuul intercepts Infelix while the necromancer backs off. The wounded legionaries perish while the remaining legionary takes a wound.

Seeing that the day is lost, Infelix calls for a retreat.

But the ghuuls catch up to legionary Postremus and slay him.

Infelix flees. His mission is an abject failure.

Thoughts

Not the result I wanted, but it was still a fun skirmish. It's good to be back gaming. 

The Dead Zone

That's what this blog has been lately.

A picture of me LARPing as a death knight

No Wargames

I've been directing most of my energy to planning for LARP. As a result, wargaming has fallen by the wayside.

• The Four Against Darkness campaign with my brother and friend has fizzled out for the moment.
• I received some 28mm miniatures for a Song of Blades and Heroes campaign, but they're just sitting on my painting desk.
• And I failed to play my traditional July 4th Revolutionary War game!

LARP Thoughts

In the interim, I've been debating ways to get more people involved in my LARP. I briefly toyed with a ranger campaign, but that fizzled out as well. I'm still pondering new approaches.

A Board Game!

On Saturday, I met with one of the few remaining members of my LARP group to discuss our future. While chatting, we also played a game of Castle Panic.

• Early on, I caused a spot of trouble when I drew the "Draw 3 Monsters" token. While picking the extra monsters, I got the "Draw 4 Monsters" token. So, in one turn, I brought 9 monsters onto the board!
• As a result, we struggled, losing some walls and a couple of towers.
• Late in the game, two trolls got into the castle and threatened our three remaining towers. But then I had a good turn. 
• I drew the Barbarian card, which auto kills a monster. One troll dead.
• I then traded with my partner to get the Scavenge card. This card allows me to pick a card from discard pile. I garb the Barbarian card and slay the second troll.
• The crisis past, we finished off the last of the monsters.

Happy Birthday, USA

May you long remain home of the free.