Progress!
Okay, not all that much progress, but some progress, still.
Like I said in a previous post, I'm working on a project for National Game Design Month...a little miniatures wargame that I'm calling, "TAKE THEM TO THE ARENA!" My fist step was to pull together some old notes and try to form one consistent, comprehensive product out of them. I found that while I was compiling everything, there was very little coherency through my rules and ideas for play style. Once I really pinned those elements down, my ideas would just ramble, and eventually dissipate into smoke.
Here's what I came up with: I want a small, simple game that could be played with few additional materials. I want to keep the simplistic aesthetic of the old Ziploc-packaged wargames, or even little-black-box games of the old Steve Jackson Games days. I want rules that have little complication or cross-referencing (two pages would be ideal). I want a game that can be picked up and played at the drop of a hat, something that can take a little bit of time, that can be carried in a pocket. I want it to reflect what I love about playing games, particularly those styles of games.
So everything I write has to comply with the above paragraph. Last night, I wrote out an outline for sequence of play. Its two pages in a Moleskine notebook. Now that I look at it, I may have to amend how many pages I'm willing to take make the rules. Charts will be necessary, but I'm thinking of just adding them to the character dossiers (I would like to make as many things immediately reference-able that I can).
There will now be a short Q&A, where I invite my imagination, subconscious and sense of insecurity to ask whatever they like.
Q: How will your game be distributed?
A: I'm thinking PDF, and then I'll package some in plastic bags. Seriously, I wasn't kidding about Ziploc.
Q: How much are you going to charge?
A: I was always told, "If you're good at something, don't do it for free." So I'm probably giving it away without cost.
Q: What are you doing for artwork?
A: ASCII? Pencil drawings? I have no idea. I'm going to need that. If i have to charge an illustrator, then I may have to actually make a marketable product, so I'm still thinking...
Q: Have a schedule?
A: Yes. I'm hoping to have a playtest available in the next week. Then I'm going to play the hell out of it and tweak it.
More later...maybe even pictures from my notebook.
Showing posts with label minis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minis. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Warmachine!
Here are a couple of shots from a Warmachine game at All Things Fun in Berlin, NJ:
Terror was this thing.
"C'mon, guys...lets sneak through the creepy cemetery!"
Terror was this thing.
"C'mon, guys...lets sneak through the creepy cemetery!"
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Weekend gaming recap
I was in three different games this past weekend: a Dr. Who RPG using D20 Modern, a Warhammer Fantasy Battles game, and my Warhammer RPG. They were a little different from your average series of games. The two RPG sessions were fairly short (about three hours), and the fantasy battles game went fairly quickly (about an hour of play time, I think, after around an hour of set-up). Each one had alot packed into the time, though.
The Dr. Who game is on a Friday night, and I think we started playing around 8:30 and ended around 11:30. There was alot of story and investigation stuffed into the time. The players took the time to unravel the mystery in the story, as well as soak up the atmosphere. By the end of the story, the group was going through a fortress inspired by one of the original episodes of the series...The Daleks.
The Fantasy Battles game was a great introduction to the hobby. My three units of Bretonnian calvary (with a little help from a few units of archers) carried the day against an army of Lizardmen. There was maybe an hour's worth of playtime, but it was great fun, and inspired me to really built a bigger army. We talked a little about how to augment units with different models, which helped me re-imagine how to design different units of men-at-arms and archers.
The Warhammer RPG Sunday had to be shortened, since one of the players had to leave early. The PC's started their trek to the Imperial capital of Altdorf, following a pack of mercenaries. There was some strong character building (with one player changing his career due to interactions in the adventure). There was one encounter with a pack of undead soldiers, and the survivors moved on.
Each gaming session was considerably shorter than what I'm used to. Everyone put alot into each session, though.
The Dr. Who game is on a Friday night, and I think we started playing around 8:30 and ended around 11:30. There was alot of story and investigation stuffed into the time. The players took the time to unravel the mystery in the story, as well as soak up the atmosphere. By the end of the story, the group was going through a fortress inspired by one of the original episodes of the series...The Daleks.
The Fantasy Battles game was a great introduction to the hobby. My three units of Bretonnian calvary (with a little help from a few units of archers) carried the day against an army of Lizardmen. There was maybe an hour's worth of playtime, but it was great fun, and inspired me to really built a bigger army. We talked a little about how to augment units with different models, which helped me re-imagine how to design different units of men-at-arms and archers.
The Warhammer RPG Sunday had to be shortened, since one of the players had to leave early. The PC's started their trek to the Imperial capital of Altdorf, following a pack of mercenaries. There was some strong character building (with one player changing his career due to interactions in the adventure). There was one encounter with a pack of undead soldiers, and the survivors moved on.
Each gaming session was considerably shorter than what I'm used to. Everyone put alot into each session, though.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
If it was good enough for Napoleon, its good enough for me!
I've never really been into miniatures. I appreciate them for their artistic value, and especially love old-school Grenadier and Ral Partha D&D minis for the nostalgic value. Although I used to enjoy war-games like Panzer Blitz, I never really got into minis-style wargaming. I've owned a starter-set of Warhammer 40K, and Mordheim, and played a couple of times, but the thought of painting minis was always overwhelming.
About a year ago, I found this thread on-line, of a minis battle based a little on the D&D module, Temple of Elemental Evil: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=332091#332091.
Yeah, that's Gary Gygax in there.
Click the "Forward to Turn (x)" at the bottom of each series of pics. They're what I consider awe-inspiring.
Next, go look at one of the forums on Dwarven Forge's site: http://www.dwarvenforge.com/dwarvenforums/viewforum.php?id=3&p=1
People post pictures of all of the differetn minis-setups they make with their Dwarven Forge set-ups. I own a handful of Dwarven Forge's dungeon sets. I'd absolutely love more, but the expense is a bit much (though I'll likely pick up a couple of more sets over the spring).
(Check out anything done by invincibleoverloard...that guy's work is fantastic!)
Its work like this that makes me (1) want to use minis more in my own RPG's, and (2) kind of want to try more minis wargaming.
I have a nice-sized collection of Star Wars minis from Wizards of the Coast. Of course, I never saved any stat-cards (figuring I'd never play the minis game. This weekend, I went and dowloaded the rules off of the Wizards of the Coast website, and found a couple of sites that had all of the stats of all the different minis. So now, I think I'm going to try to organize a regular night for Star Wars minis-gaming.
I like the idea of it because it keeps me gaming, and obviously doesn't have the set-up time and creative investment of running a role-playing game. And we can play with just two people, so no worries about folks schedules getting messed up by gaming. People want to come to play, then they show up to play.
The game is played on flat mats, for the most part. I want to make some terrain, though, and likely mount it on boards that would suit a battle-mat. I think it would be a nice introduction to wargaming for me.
About a year ago, I found this thread on-line, of a minis battle based a little on the D&D module, Temple of Elemental Evil: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=332091#332091.
Yeah, that's Gary Gygax in there.
Click the "Forward to Turn (x)" at the bottom of each series of pics. They're what I consider awe-inspiring.
Next, go look at one of the forums on Dwarven Forge's site: http://www.dwarvenforge.com/dwarvenforums/viewforum.php?id=3&p=1
People post pictures of all of the differetn minis-setups they make with their Dwarven Forge set-ups. I own a handful of Dwarven Forge's dungeon sets. I'd absolutely love more, but the expense is a bit much (though I'll likely pick up a couple of more sets over the spring).
(Check out anything done by invincibleoverloard...that guy's work is fantastic!)
Its work like this that makes me (1) want to use minis more in my own RPG's, and (2) kind of want to try more minis wargaming.
I have a nice-sized collection of Star Wars minis from Wizards of the Coast. Of course, I never saved any stat-cards (figuring I'd never play the minis game. This weekend, I went and dowloaded the rules off of the Wizards of the Coast website, and found a couple of sites that had all of the stats of all the different minis. So now, I think I'm going to try to organize a regular night for Star Wars minis-gaming.
I like the idea of it because it keeps me gaming, and obviously doesn't have the set-up time and creative investment of running a role-playing game. And we can play with just two people, so no worries about folks schedules getting messed up by gaming. People want to come to play, then they show up to play.
The game is played on flat mats, for the most part. I want to make some terrain, though, and likely mount it on boards that would suit a battle-mat. I think it would be a nice introduction to wargaming for me.
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