Category: RPG

Bulldogs funded!

some sort of ewok/ badger style alien...

Looks like my first Kickstart backing has made it’s mark and is going to press shortly.  While this one worked out, the Kickstart system is essentially ‘pledge to buy it before it exists’ which is a huge risk of something totally sucking ass.  You don’t get charged until the funding goal is met so you’re covered if it doesn’t make it’s funding (and most projects on there don’t).    I think a few lessons from watching this and some other projects–have your shit close to done, if not totally done, so you can show off pieces to people and let them know that “hey this is not just an idea, this is something real, we just need funding to publish it or get through X phase.”  Artwork is also key at the funding stage.  If you can put together some good comps that spark the imagination in people, the cash is probably going to flow pretty well.  One kickstart I saw had a description of “I don’t want anyone to steal the idea” which is silly because HUNDREDS of people have had the same idea and will probably not get it executed.   Needless to say, that had no funding at all.

So I’m looking forward to seeing the Bulldogs book and will be checking Kickstart for good stuff which I’ll post.  The awesome thing is that this system totally circumvents the current publishing system while allowing people to not have to take out big loans or self-fund their (good) ideas.

My first Kickstart backing

Bulldogs: Sci-fi that Kicks Ass

Kickstart is a place where people can put up products they want to develop along with a cost to start. They then solicit pledges from people and if the project $ goal is met, the project (supposedly) commences.  Of course, most of Kickstart’s stuff is crap, but they do have a bunch of games up there, most are just crap ideas that will never see the light of day, but some are really interesting and I bit on one of them: a pulpy sci-fi pen and paper RPG using the Fate system called Bulldogs.   As there are pledge rewards, pushing them 50$ or so seemed like a good idea since, if the project goes through, you get a copy of the book along with certain pledge levels: essentially buying it before it exists.

This is definitely something I want to try for a couple game ideas I have kicking around, so I also figured I’d back a project and see what happens.

For those privileged enough to currently suffer through my Exalted campaign, no worries: I am not switching systems!  Exalted, burrs and all, is just an awesomely fun game to play, and as my heaving bookshelves can attest, I’m in it for the long haul.  This could turn into a discussion of the Fate system and why it’s so intriguing, but that’s a dog for another day.

Anathema with Lunars and Abyssals (and Sidereals) oh my!

Not that anyone truly understands how they work, but here they are.

Ok well my job as a GM just got a shitload easier.  Exalted antagonists are troublesome to create at best and extremely time consuming at worst.  While appreciate some of the other efforts to digitize the creation process, Anathema has by far the best usability and resulting character sheets, but has been stuck with Solars and Dragon Bloods for years now– many years actually, due to the original development team backing away from the project.  Well, as hinted in an over-exuberant post last summer, Anathema 2.0 has been released and includes Abyssals and Lunars AND Sidereals.  I’m just grabbing it now to give it a go.

In addition to having the new splats integrated, ANATHEMA is the place that best collates all the extra charms for Solars and DB’s into one handy dandy program.  So if you are just a player (and I envy you if you are because you get the easy part) this is still worth a download.   You will need to procure or enter your equipment data in the system still, and the charms have no text (just page numbers in whatever tome contains them), but still it’s quite an asset for players as well as GMs.

 

WFB 8 Battle Report: Beastmen vs Goblins (or– Thank you Anvil of Vaul!)

Cain indulged the current obsession for the fourth time this weekend hauling his Night Goblin swarm over to pit them against the primal fury of the beastmen in Warhammer Fantasy Battle.   We rolled ‘battle for the pass’ for the scenario,  which means the armies fight it out starting on the short ends of the 6′ X 4′ table rather than the long ones as normal.  This gave a very compact center with little room on the flanks for maneuver or trickery.   At 1500 points per side, that made for quite the crowded table with few places to escape the big blocks of rank n file.  A tough fight for the goblins to start with as the table set up neutralized the Gobbo advantages on the flanks (there weren’t any!) was exacerbated by a bit of terrain that worked just a wee too well in the beastmen’s favor: the Anvil of Vaul (oh and his fanatics).

The fanatic didn’t go exactly the right way shortly after this shot

Under normal circumstances, the Anvil of Vaul, which gives Flaming and Magical attack augmentation to all units within 6″, would be a pretty even bonus for both sides in a fight, but I just happened to choose Blackened Plate as my only magic item for the army (man was 1500 points a squeeze).  Blackened Plate gives a 2 up ward save to the wearer against flaming attacks AND a 4 up ward save for any unit he is with.  In the clutch block on block fights during the battle, all within 6″ of the Anvil of Vaul, this gave my main Gor unit, who usually go skin with no save at all, a horrific advantage over the Goblins leading to their decimation, flight and subsequently ending up inside a stomach for their pains.  Still it was a great game and we’re finally getting down the rules.  It’s been tough to remember the fiddly bits here and there and to remember that Charges are resolved before compulsory movement (a big change from almost every Warhammer ruleset I’ve ever played) but we’re getting closer.  One makes a big investment getting into a game like Warhammer, and committing to an edition and so far I couldn’t be more pleased with the games played– all just a total blast that makes 4 hours go by in a wink.

My list was finally legal after struggling to reconcile the 7th edition book with the 8th edition rules (sorry Cain) but was not fully painted, which is my personal shame as I really dislike hitting the table with unpainted stuff:

Gorbull (General)
Blackened Plate*

Wargor (Battle Standard Bearer)

Bray Shaman Level 1 (Lore of Beasts)

Core:

38 Gor with additional hand weapons, standard, musician and champion (both the Gorebull and Wargor joined this unit)

10 Gor with additional hand weapons, musician (in ambush)

29 Ungor with spears and shields, standard, musician (the Bray Shaman joined the ungor)

2 Tuskagor Chariots

5 Chaos Hounds

Special:

Razorgor (played by a Hound of Scathach from Confrontation)

Rare:

A big fat Giant!

Champions now with some free

Champions Online just went free to play.  Sure microtransactions, but as the best part of the game is creating characters and their nemesis (just like the pen and paper game) this shouldn’t be a problem.  I’m going to jump in even with my extremely limited time for gayming these days.

d2 hardcore mraakaires – day 1

what the fuck is a man to do when diablo 3 is over a year away from being released? how about doing some hardcore diablo 2 runs, ya thats right, HARDCORE D2!

NOTE: i’ve never tried to play a hardcore character in diablo 2. this is my first time.

NOTE: i’m going to do my damned best to keep a diary of my progress playing single player hardcore characters here on mraaktagon.com

NOTE: i’m using diablo 2 v1.13c (the latest patch for diablo 2 at this time), plugy 10.00, i’m using some german 3dfx glide hack that lets you use the 3dfx setting with a video card that supports opengl or some shit (makes the game run better!) and that’s fucking it. i’m not going to install any cheats. if you think plugy is cheating that’s okay for you! the main reason i’m using plugy is for the shared stash.

NOTE: i’ve played each of the seven hardcore characters classes up to lv10 just to get this warmed up. no deaths yet. i will pick one of the seven to start with and play until death / or 10 lv’s are made, at which point i’ll switch to a new character. i’ll continue this 10 lv rotation until all 7 characters are dead. this allows me to stash items away for the other characters while ensuring i don’t get fucking bored playing one character class for too long.

so without further fucking around my 7 characters are,

FlyingAssBang – lv10 Sorceress
ShoeDrinker – lv10 Barbarian
SomeCallMeTim – lv10 Druid
BiotchLips – lv10 Assassin
DayLabor – lv10 Paladin
TugandRun – lv10 Necromancer
KunningLinguist – lv10 Amazon

i’m going to start with FlyingAssBang the sorceress. i think i’ve only beaten vanilla diablo 2 with the amazon, barb and assassin, but that was fucking years ago people.

here’s a link to a large image file that has all of FlyingAssBang’s stats at lv10 and all the items she’s using. i am not making some fucking proven build from some goddamned FAQ, i’m not a pro! i’m not going to use the plugy re-spec without making a good argument for doing so and clearly documenting the use or re-spec. i’m kinda scared about how i should spend points on this sorceress character. i think you just spend enough strength to get the armour you need, and get like 50 or so in mana, and the rest goes to vitality or someshit. but how about skills? shit i really have no clue, i am learning the fucking hard way, the hardcore hard way. okay off to play my lv10-20 as FlyingAssBang. i’ll post anything of interest back here, shit i have no fucking idea what i’m doing with this sorc build, i’ve got skill points scattered in all the tree’s already selected, that is just fucking terrible.

FUCKING HAPPY FUCKING NEW FUCKING YEAR 2011