The Summer Lull Has Started

I posted this chart in January 2017. Although it hasn't been updated since, I think the story it tells still applies.

As it shows, I typically go into a blogging slump beginning in May and lasting throughout the summer. It looks like this year is following a similar pattern. I have only posted once before this month, and it had nothing to do with miniatures.

I tried to break out of the slump this weekend. With no pressing chores, I had the time. I just did not have any inspiration. I planned to experiment more with Munera Sine Missione but just wasn't feeling it. I managed a couple of quick plays using some 2D6 skirmish rules I jotted down a while before. I used tokens and very little terrain so they did not last long enough to write about. I also have some minis on the work table, but again I was not motivated to paint.

I did make an interesting discovery - Amazing Tales

Billed as "a game for children who love adventures," Amazing Tales is a rules-light role-playing game. Characters are simply defined with a name, a description, and a list of four things they are good at doing. Play is likewise simple - the GM starts the story, confronts the players with a challenge, and then asks the players what they want to do. When players use one of their four things then they get to roll a die (ranging from a D6 to a D12 depending on how good they are), needing a 3+ to succeed. If they succeed, they get to narrate the result. If not, the GM will increase the challenge. Note that it's really more of a collaborative storytelling game than a classic RPG (where the GM decides what happens). Nevertheless, it is an incredibly light rules system for crafting adventures.

Now I don't have kids and don't plan on finding any to play this game. However, it intrigues me because my wife has typically been put off by all the math in role-playing games. I'm curious if she would take to this.

Learning to Krawl

Nearly five years ago I worked up a simple set of dungeon crawl rules that I called Kevin's Krawl. I eventually abandoned KK when I discovered Four Against Darkness (4AD). Recently, however, I have been taking a second look at them.

My main concern with 4AD is at the higher levels. Once you reach level 5, you move to the rules expansion in Four Against the Abyss, which drops D6s in favor of D8s. Now I am no fan of funny-shaped dice and don't want to scrounge around for any in order to play. I kept wondering if there would be a single D6 mechanic that could cover all levels of play. A little while ago I started poking around with other rules-light RPGS such as Amazing Tales (which I converted to 2D6) and PDQ. However, not much came of it all.

My interest in dungeon crawls has recently revived, thanks to a video game. My wife had been playing a lot of Darkest Dungeon.

This got me interested in playing a pen-and-paper dungeon crawl. I also got inspiration from Squad-Hammer. It struck me that the simple 2D6 mechanics of S-H could be applied to skirmish level action. I then realized that S-H was somewhat similar in execution to Kevin's Krawl. So now I'm back to KK, utilizing ideas from Amazing Tales, PDQ, and Squad-Hammer to improve my original design. I have some thoughts jotted down - I just need to collect them together and then run some playtests.