You can now venture into The Droner House, perfect if you're looking for a spooky Into the Odd/Electric Bastionland adventure site this Halloween.
And it's FREE!
You might recognise this from the actual play I did with TKG a couple of years ago, now just barely fit for public consumption.
Basically a big creepy house where horrible things happened and continue to happen.
Enjoy!
One of my current notes for Mythic Bastionland is "more reasons
to travel around the realm".
I mean there are already some in there.
Travel brings Omens, which lead toward the "Seek out
the Myths" part of your oath.
Seers are scattered around the Realm, and are a prime source
of information, so you're inclined to visit as many of them as you can. They'll
often send you on an errand in return for this into.
And, of course, if the Realm is an interesting place then
players will naturally want to explore it. Right?
Right?
That's what I've told myself, based on my own experiences
playing videogames. I remember first playing Link to the Past and
looking at the printed map. There's a place called "The Swamp Ruins",
which I thought sounded pretty cool, so I decided to go and see what was there
as soon as I was released into the open world. The journey took me past archers
in the long grass and some annoying crows. The ruin itself isn't even a
dungeon, just a room with a sliding block puzzle, then a lever room that lets
you drain the surrounding lake, revealing a heart piece. All in all it's
one of the least interesting parts of the world in that game.
But I remember the experience clearly 30 years later because
I chose to go there and I found some interesting stuff on the way.
So maybe I don't want to add in too many artificial
mechanisms to encourage the players to explore. Perhaps that attention should
be going toward helping the GM make a world interesting enough that the players
want to go and see what's on the other side of the map, rather than
going there because a Seer told them to.
Don't put the carrot on the stick. Make your world out of carrots.
No, scrap that. Make the world the carrot.
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What am I looking for in a Mech game?
My wishlist was something like:
1. Field every type of unit from infantry squads up to huge
mechs
2. Have unit and weapon types feel different without extra
subsystems to learn
3. Have enough Mech detail that they feel like real
multi-part machines to be built and destroyed piece by piece
4. Make heat and movement important factors to manage for
your own Mechs and exploit in your opponent's Mechs
5. Have a simple, fast turn procedure and straightforward mechanics
for each phase, with minimal rules reference needed
6. Allow for fast, intuitive calculation of your chances of
success on a particular attack
Having tried a number of Mech games recently I've found a
lot to like, but nothing that quite scratched every itch.
By my assessment Classic Battletech succeeds at 1, 3 and 4 but not the others. Of course there's the argument that it all becomes very simple when you're experienced with the system, but I can only speak to my own experiences and the viewpoint of somebody just entering into the game.
Meanwhile the streamlined Alpha Strike succeeds at 1 and
partially some of the others. In parts it's way simpler than Classic Battletech
but almost does the opposite of what I want. Units feel simple but some of the
subsystems feel complex in an out-of-place way.
In short, for a Mech game I think I'd rather have somewhat
complex mechs in a very clean system than simple mechs in a somewhat messy
system.
So in the spirit of giving these things stupid names, I
present TITANIC BASTIONMECHS.
(The name is really a test to see whether GW or Catalyst
Game Labs will send me a cease and desist first).
As with any of my projects in this early stage I'm messing
with this constantly, but the core seems to work well for now. Probably some
explosive bugs in there I haven't found yet and naturally lots of gaps to be
filled in later.
THE PITCH
Mechs have a list of Modules including Weapons, Hardware,
and Reactors. Hits are assigned randomly to modules. The first hit is cosmetic
but the second destroys the module. If you end up without a working Reactor
then you'll blow up in the Meltdown phase.
Bigger Mechs get more modules, and their higher numbered modules are protected at first, so you need to chip away at them to get to their juicy
reactor.
When you move you place a Speed Die next to your Mech,
showing 1 pip for each 4" travelled, rounding up. Moving faster means
you'll be harder to hit, but also makes your attacks less accurate.
Rushing, jumping, and firing fancy weapons all generate
Heat, tracked on a second d6, the Heat Die. If Heat would ever go above 6 you
take a Hit instead, so make sure you manage your heat passively through packing
enough Reactors or Heatsinks, or actively by Venting in place of moving or
attacking.
When you attack you roll a number of dice based on your
weapon, each excelling at a particular range category. The target number is
your Speed Die plus the target's Speed Die, with a +1 if they're in cover. Each
die meeting or beating the target number causes a hit. That's it!
There are 15 weapons across 5 types. Each type has a special
rule so Basic weapons like cannons don't generate heat, Lasers can cut through
modules in a single hit, and Explosives cause chain reactions with each module
they destroy. The classic tactic of "open them up with lasers then blast
them with missiles" carries over here.
Mechs are the focus here, so non-Mech units (Auxiliary
Units/AUs) ignore a good chunk of their rules like heat and modules. They
aren't quite relegated to tokens, but they're intended to operate in little
squads. So for each Mech you can have a handful of tanks or a platoon of
infantry. There's even a Protomech knockoff in there.
Things like Scenario Generation and Points Values are in
there, but awaiting some proper attention from me at a later date.
Go and check out the full thing as it stands if this sounds interesting to you.
Enjoy!
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You'd be forgivenfor thinking that I want every game to be rules lite. While I love that style of game I can't deny the draw of crunchier systems, at least on paper.
The reality is
often a let down. When I'm craving a system that offers depth to explore,
variety of options, and surprise moments of delight and despair, I'm often met
with a ruleset that demands all of my attention just to keep it running, unable
to enjoy the fruits of the mechanical labour.
The context here
is that I've been making my first ventures into Battletech, with all its
sprawling record sheets, encyclopedic setting, and piles upon piles of modular
rules. Why would such a proponent of streamlining games be drawn to this a
mountain of crunch?
Because I like
it.
Generous Crunch
gives more than it takes. Even if it demands a lot from the players the overall
output is positive. For Battletech look at those famous Record Sheets. They
look daunting but they're actually quite simple. Armour dots are filled in as
you take damage. Weapons and other components are crossed off as they get hit
by Criticals. The Heat tracker looks terrifying but there's not really anything
complex to it. Together these make your Mech feel real and generate exciting
moments when you push too hard and overheat, or when your leg gets blown clean
off. Whatever house rules I'd be tempted to make to Battletech, I don't think
I'd mess with this part at all.
Parasitic Crunch
takes more than it gives. It can take the form of entire subsystems or even
just a writhing colony of tiny little rules that have wormed their way into the
system, taking up cognitive load while offering little to nothing positive in
return. In isolation it's easy to say "actually this rule really isn't
complicated" but that's just a distraction. Always ask "what is this
piece of crunch offering in return?" when you're considering whether it
should be cut loose. Of course, this is a matter of taste and experience. If
you make the push to internalise every part of the Battletech Introductory,
Standard, Advanced, and Experimental rules across a dozen books then you've
probably managed to wrangle those parasites into action, finally seeing them
pull their weight. The balance between accessibility for newcomers and depth
for enthusiasts is one that every game has to choose a position on. The
multiple tiers of rule in Battletech (not to mention the entirely different
system, Alpha Stike) could be a great compromise here.
And so I climb
the mountain.
The Quick
Start rules lie behind me. A great stripped-back intro but missing some of
the juice that comes with Heat and Critical Hits.
The Introductory
Rules from the box set are in my grasp, and seem to include a pretty
comprehensive core of the game. Some of the little rules challenge me, but I
think I can do this.
I picked up Total
Warfare in a moment of weakness. The full Standard Rules in an
unforgiving 300+ pages, covering the familiar mechs alongside buildings,
protomechs, vehicles, infantry, and aerospace units. No, I'm not exaggerating
by including buildings in there, as they get 14 pages devoted to rules for
entering, exiting, attacking into out of, and fighting within, all dependent on
unit type and building type. Also rules for when the building collapses and a
special basements table to randomly determine how far down a Mech falls
when they accidentally break through the floor. Whether the idea of this
delights or terrifies you will determine how you'd get on with this book.
I'm trapped somewhere in the middle. Like a Mech who rolled 10-11 on the Basement Table.
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This week I picked up the starter box for Classic Battletech, mainly because I had the sudden urge to paint some lumbering mechs.
Now I've painted them and about an hour before I posted this
I bought 8 more Mechs because I'm hooked.
But before I talk about Battletech I'm afraid I have to talk
about Games Workshop.
Buckle up, it's another one of those posts where I reminisce about my childhood discovery
of tabletop games.
I came into Games Workshop games at an interesting time in
their history. Like the last days of the Wild West.
The focus was clearly on Warhammer 40k and Fantasy Battles,
but in the catalogues I'd see adverts for relics from the past. Man o'War,
Space Hulk, Blood Bowl. Weird stuff that would tease me from catalogue pages,
but remain trapped in the past.
But this Epic game was still being talked about a little in White Dwarf.
No wait, was it two games? There were two boxed sets you
could buy. One presumably about Titans, one about Space Marines.
Now I'll confess that as a 10-year old with my head in the clouds, I didn't fully understand the concept of these games being a different scale. At first I wondered if these tanks were just as big as 40k tanks but... photographed from far away.
No, I don't know what I was thinking either, but it would
have made for a very heavy box.
At 6mm scale it covered everything from squads of tiny
soldiers up to the famously huge Titans, with a heap of interesting stuff in
between. This was before my prized Eldar really had many vehicle miniatures at
40k scale, so it was neat to see a full fleet of grav-tanks and war machines in
their style. Dumb stuff like the squat land train and ork battlewagons with
claws and death rollers obviously appealed to me.
Because I was still making my first forays into 28mm I think
I put Epic aside in my head. I certainly didn't feel confident enough at
painting to tackle those tiny little troopers. Maybe something to come back to
in a few years.
But soon it would be gone.
Over the next few years GW's rules would get tidied up a lot
and the settings given a more straight-faced delivery. 28mm scale would also
claim dominance. Of course there was the heavily promoted, streamlined
last-hurrah, Epic 40,000 but that seemed to appear and vanish before I
could even give it any attention.
Sometimes I'd think about it, though, or dip into the
surviving Epic community online.
Now, it's a running joke among wargamers that as you get
older you move to increasingly tiny scales, but after my recent dips into 10mm
scale fantasy I've finally taken the plunge into 6mm, but not through
Epic.
I was always aware of Battletech, but it never caught my
eye. I knew the Mechwarrior PC games and I knew it was an old, complicated
wargame. I became interested when I heard there was a new(ish) rules-lite
version of their game called Alpha Strike which let you field a handful
of mechs with some infantry and vehicles on the side. Perhaps I could finally
scratch that Epic itch.
But the new Alpha Strike starter set seems to be delayed, so
I grit my teeth and bought the Classic Battletech Starter, expecting to
hate this lumbering dinosaur of a system from the 80s, but at least get a nice
set of Mechs from it.
Imagine my surprise when I actually sort of fell in love
with it.
Caveat! I've only tested this out myself to get a handle on
the rules, so this might all change when I have to subject another person to
this monstrosity.
The setting really hasn't grabbed me yet. I've tried, and I
respect its groundedness, but I just haven't found any part of it that sparks
my imagination yet. The mechs are cool, of course, but again they feel firmly
rooted in the reality of this setting. These aren't the wild hyper-specific
designs of Into the Breach and Lancer. It's much more like reading about WW2
tanks. Variations within a relatively narrow band of designs. When I grab a
random mech it's very likely to be a humanoid with a big gun or two and some
missiles or lasers scattered over its other bodyparts. Maybe it jumps.
Again, this isn't a bad thing. It gives the universe
a very specific feel, as if it could be real history. I suspect the big appeal
of the setting is in some of the personal stories and political intrigue, which
I haven't really tapped into yet.
So if I don't really care about the setting and I think the
Mech designs are mostly just okay then what did grab a hold of me?
You know I like simple rules, but that doesn't mean I can't
enjoy crunch, and most of the crunch in this game feels like good crunch.
Yeah there are clunky bits where two rolls could have been
condensed to one, and there's a lot of memory demanded of players from turn to
turn, but let's put that aside.
I love the process of adding up all the little numbers that
make up the Target Number for your attack.
I love the detail of chipping away at each little bit of the
mech. I love that SRM and LRMs have special missile cluster rules that are
slightly different to each other.
I love the little dice you put next to your mech to show how
fast it's moving and how it's moving, both of which affect attacks.
I haven't tried them out in too much detail yet but I think
I even love the whole Heat system.
If all this were happening in a 40k game with dozens of
miniatures on each side? I'd hate it through and through. If I had to play this
against a fully competitive opponent, arguing over every little rule that I'm
misremembering, I think it would be unbearable. But the idea of approaching it
as a more narrative game, maybe one or two mechs per player, is sticking in my
brain for sure.
After doing a little more research I've picked up the
Beginner Box, which has a slightly trimmed version of the rules, and hope to
give it a try as soon as I can before braving the full rules of the main box.
Not the Standard Rules found in the Total Warfare
tome of course. That's a little scary for me just yet, even if I really
want to bring some infantry and vehicles to the table. Mechs become a lot more
interesting when you have them towering over some more mundane units for
scale.
And, of course, all this has driven me to tinker with my own
little mech system. Something with more detail that Alpha Strike's
ultra-lean units but more fast-moving than Classic Battletech.
Perhaps I'll share that another time.
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Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its
original publication.
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A sidestep from game content today.
A year ago I wrote about the
experience so far of working full-time on games. Everything in that post still
applies, but with another year under my belt I thought a little more
self-reflection could be interesting.
I've now been working on games full-time for two and a half
years, with six years or so before that somewhat earnestly making games in my
spare time. It's been a good year, so I'm pretty confident saying that I
can keep doing this for now.
I hold up Honesty and Authenticity as standards I expect
from myself and from others. In short, I think people should tell the truth and
be themselves wherever possible.
So let me live by those values and bare my shame and hatred
for all to see.
SHAME - The Backburner
I keep most of my work notes on a Trello board. Among others
there's a list of Live Ideas and the Backburner.
Now it's easy to imagine Backburner as a euphemism
for Bin but it's really not. Maybe one or two of them are getting close
to rubbish, but the rest all have ideas that I revisit now and then.
They vary from highly fleshed out (Blighters, Space &
Solitude) to barely more than a vague idea (BACK ON THE MENU, Battle for
Bastion).
It would be easy to look at this list, add up the hours I've
spent thinking about them, writing, rewriting, testing, and cost it up as a
business loss. I've certainly felt that way at times.
But I no longer fear it. The backburner serves a purpose.
Ideas can be repurposed, mechanics stolen, and some projects may rise to the
Live Projects board again.
The Doomed started as GRIMLITE, which I never expected to be
played by anybody but me, and pretty soon I'll have some news on the exciting
future of that game.
The backburner is not a thing of shame. It is a thing of
pride.
HATRED - Twitter
I hate it.
I hate the type of conversation that it encourages. I hate
the way it makes people perform, people who don't perform that way elsewhere. I
hate that it makes me think about people I shouldn't be giving headspace to. I
hate that it feels like it's become the online hub of RPGs.
Most of all I hate that I hate it. I know others feel the
same, but it also feels like the problems above have a direct wire into my
brain. I should be able to rise above them, but I can't.
If I just had a personal account I'd be long gone, but doing
so would be a business decision now, so I'm still there, or rather
Bastionland Press is still there.
I unfollowed everybody a while back, so I essentially have
no timeline to scroll through. This helped.
There are a handful of people I enjoy keeping up with, so I
manually visit their timelines now and then, like how I used to know the phone
numbers of my best friends.
Unfortunately there are other people my brain won't let me
forget, so I sometimes find myself checking in on them. Are they posting
something terrible? Are they arguing with somebody about something ridiculous?
Are they just yelling out for attention? I don't know why I can't ignore them,
but I said this post was about honesty didn't I?
At least I'm good at not publicly engaging with that side of
things.
There are good elements. The vast majority of times I
get tagged it's something worthwhile, so I still look at my notifications and
reply or retweet as appropriate. DMs are a handy way of contacting somebody new
for a podcast or collaboration. Occasionally I forget myself and post some dumb
thing and I get some funny replies. It can be fun.
I just wish the good stuff was happening somewhere different
to the bad stuff. The stuff I don't want to be associated with. The stuff I
don't want to feel like I'm legitimising by staying there.
Of course there are alternatives. You're reading this post
on one of them (Patreon or Blogger). For conversation and link-sharing I love
Discord, though I've limited myself to just five essential servers.
Last week I started a mailing list. I whisper to myself
that if my email subscribers outnumber my twitter followers then I'll delete
the latter, but I won't. Maybe mothball it, but I fear the damage is done. The
problems I have with twitter won't be solved by me leaving it, but I do hope I
can continue the non-total transition to other platforms.
This one won't be shaken off as easily as my shame. It's
here to stay.
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Earlier this year I wrote about my first dip into Traveller, but I didn't get onto talking about the Universal World Profiles and Universal Personality Profiles.
In short, it's a code you learn so that you can see B785457-C
and know that it means: good shipyard, 7000 mile radius, dense atmosphere,
50% water, tens of thousands of people, feudal technocracy, shotguns permitted,
and average imperial tech level.
I worked through the process on this stream
and said that I'd love to mess with the system to try a simpler approach.
Which I did! But then I neglected to post it here, so let's
dig back into it with a few tweaks.
This works for planets or regions, but I'm applying it to Hexes here because they're at the forefront of my mind right now.
UNIVERSAL HEX PROFILE - TWEI
Roll 5d6, drop the highest, then read the remaining dice
as:
Topography: Verticality of terrain.
Water: Wetness.
Ecology: Non-human life.
Infrastructure: Buildings, road, other human stuff.
1=1: Trace
2=2: Some
3=3: Lots
4=N: Null, actively none, perhaps by design
5=H: Hazardous, not through lack or excess but the nature of the thing
6=S: Super, off the scale. Think big then go bigger.
So 1-3 represent your "normal" levels, with 4-6
representing more exceptional results. If your brain works like mine you can
tell yourself that, if using a d6 with pips, the results for 4, 5, and 6 kinda
look like N, H, and S respectively if you imagine a load of lines and really
want it to work.
If you want fewer exceptional results then add more dice to
the pool, but only keep the four lowest. Likewise, if you want more wackiness
then just roll 4d6 straight.
Examples
12HN: Flat planes with winding rivers and lakes,
nasty predators, totally forbidden to enter.
3N21: Utterly dry mountains, herds of goats, a few
trails and the odd hut serving as a vital water supply.
21SS: Hills, damp ground but no bodies of water, overrun
with fungus, huge industry being built to harvest them.
H3NH: Quicksand-like bog, all wildlife wiped out by
its toxicity, jealously guarded by hostile inhabitants.
If we go back to the planetary idea then I guess present-day Earth is 2333
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