Admiring the Scrap Heap

Lately my posts have mostly been content pulled straight from the most recent changes and additions to Mythic Bastionland. This has let me focus on grafting away at that game, not getting bogged down in writing extra content.

Except this week my progress has been:

1. Think of a radical change to the game, right at the core of the system.
2. Run an initial test of that system and get excited that it would streamline things and create some fun moments in play.
3. Get over-excited and go through the document, applying this change across the board.
4. Run some more tests of this new system and... find some unfortunate knock-on effects that would need fixing.
5. Spend time applying those fixes to the document.
6. Try the system out again... I’m not so sure about this actually.
7. Take a hard look at this new system, comparing it to the existing system.
8. Full of dread, face the facts that the original system was probably better overall.
9. Feel intense relief that I backed up the document before I made all of these huge changes.

So I sat down this morning to work on Mythic Bastionland, staring at a document that is very much in the same place as it was last week.

Feels bad.

So instead I’m drawing on an old cliché. 

I haven’t failed to make the game, I’ve succeeded in finding another way not to make the game.

There’s a branch of reality where I powered through with this change. Perhaps I didn’t back up the document, or I just couldn’t face undoing all that work. Perhaps the changes made for a better game, perhaps they made it worse and alienated the players that wanted something that still felt close to ITO and EB in mechanics.

We’ll never know, but right now I’m happy with this reality.

What was this big change anyway?

WELL SINCE YOU ASKED, but remember this is now right in the bin. Maybe something for a future project, but it didn’t feel right for this one.

Remove Guard entirely. Armour reduces incoming damage as normal, then the target decides which Virtue to assign the damage to. If there’s damage remaining it goes to another Virtue until it’s all been absorbed.

I tried a few variations of the fine details. What does having 1/2/3 Virtues at 0 mean? Is there an effect when a Virtue gets cut in half? How are Virtues restored now? Are they harder to restore when they’re at half/zero? When do you lose access to each of the Feats?

Details aside I do think there’s something there, and there’s a certain appeal to removing Guard entirely when we already have Armour and three different Virtues to work with, but the result was a system that just felt a little too far removed from ITO and EB and became a little too much about managing numbers. 

You also lose some of that immediate transparency where you can say “if you have Guard left you evaded the attack, if you took VIG loss then you’re wounded, if you lose have your VIG then you’re mortally wounded.”

So never say never, but for now this is firmly on the scrap heap. A scrap heap that should be viewed with pride, not shame.

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Mythic Crunch

UPDATE: There have been some extra changes to MB since I first published this, so don't be alarmed if some of the specifics don't match the most recent release. 

Well, I wouldn't say I'm in full crunch mode with Mythic Bastionland just yet, but it's certainly occupying a lot of my time. 

So that's why this week my post is actually more like a dive into the patch notes of the most recent update, which tore apart some key parts of the game.

Let's look at the casualties, with the caveat that I may end up reviving one or more of them down the line. 

Burdens are Dead

My precious flagship mechanic for this game! 

See this all started with Into the Odd. One of the very few mechanics in that game is that you can lose points from all three ability scores, but the subtext is that this will mostly happen to Strength. 

Way back I talked about the ideas of Stress and Strain to make the other two Ability Scores feel more like a resource that can be damaged or even spent throughout the game. 

Then why does Mythic Bastionland introduce a whole new system for wearing these knights down with three different types of burden when there are already three resource pools waiting to be used?

So we're trying it out. Burdens are dead, hit'em right in the Virtues instead, the new extra-knightly name for Ability Scores.

Self-Assessed Glory is Dead

Argh, this one hurts. I guess it started here or actually maybe here?

I think this one needs a whole post, but I think the old system of "judge how well you stuck to your oath and earn glory accordingly" works just-fine but just-fine isn't good enough for me. It kind of felt... inconsequential. 

So we're back to a more concrete set of ways for earning glory, still tied to the same principles of going out to find myths and protect the realm.

• Survive to the end of a Season or Age
• Venture into a Myth Hex
• Resolve the final Omen of a Myth in a way that protects the Realm

It puts further onus on finding the Myth Hex too, which drives players out into the more remote parts of the realm. 

Travel Tasks are Dead

In playtests I found players quickly got to grips with the travel tasks, essentially a "free action" you could do while travelling. Common examples were plotting a route, making a camp... and... erm...

Yeah, it mostly became busy work where you'd always want to use a task to find a route, and make sure you set up camp before nightfall. Not much of an interesting decision.

So it's dead. Travel no longer relies on routes, but learning your way around and finding guides will help you better negotiate all this new stuff on the map...

Landmarks are Born

It's not all doom and decay. This new system gives some much needed flavour and utility to all of those hexes which aren't holdings or myths.

You've got three nice Landmarks:

Haven: Places of safety and comfort
Restore Vigour

Sanctum: Niches of calm and focus
Restore Wit

Monument: Symbols of hope and inspiration
Restore Grace

And three nasty ones.

Ordeal: Nature that fights your every step
Lose d6 Vigour

Gloom: Shadows that deceive the senses
Lose d6 Wit

Vestige: Past failures that dampen spirits
Lose d6 Grace

You'll put d6 of each down in your Realm and players won't know their locations until they discover them. They might even create or destroy landmarks through their deeds. 

They each get a prompt on the Knight and Myth spreads, so you'll have 72 little cues for each to get an idea of what the landmark actually is. 

Still lots of work left to do on this game, so I'd better get back to it. 

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

If you want to support my blog, podcasts, and video content then head over to my Patreon. 

Gaining the Upper Hand

I've spoken about how I give Bonuses before, but I've revisited the topic for Mythic Bastionland. The current rules look like this.

 And here's what the Oddpocrypha has to say. 

PLAY

Moss and Tal are sparring using wooden swords (d6 hefty) and shields (A1). Ref has ruled that any damage sustained from this can be shaken off afterwards.

Ref: Okay so you both agree that this is a duel, right? That means you’ll roll and deal damage simultaneously.

Moss: Okay, let’s go.

Both players make a normal attack to begin with. Moss rolls 2, Tal 3.

Ref: So you’re both sort of feeling each other out first, wooden sword clattering against shield, a few probing jabs. No sharp blade to worry about, but a wooden sword to the ribs isn’t a barrel of laughs.

Tal: Hey, Moss, aren’t you scared you’ll fall in the mud again like when you fought that brand new squire?

Moss: Hey!

Ref: Are you actually trying to distract Moss here? It might backfire and give an opening.

Tal: Yeah sure.

Ref: Okay, Moss, make a GRA Save.

Moss rolls a 10, passing the Save. Ref looks at the Upper Hand section of the Combat rules.

Ref: Okay, Moss, you keep your cool as Tal mocks you, capitalising on their lack of focus to drive them back onto a patch of gnarled roots. You’ll get +d8 on your attack this turn.

Tal: Argh, fair enough I guess.

Both players roll to attack again, Moss getting +d8 this time. Moss rolls 3 and 7, keeping the 7, and Tal gets 4. The shields take this down to 6 and 3 damage.

Ref: Tal, you struggle with your footing here, letting Moss knock your attacks aside and smack you across the head with their wooden sword. You’re down to VIG 7 so it’s a wound, but you’re still in the fight. What do you both do next?

THOUGHTS

In combat, sometimes one side just has a clear upper hand. Consider two knights fighting in pitch darkness, one with perfect nightvision.

While these are straightforward, more often players will try to earn the upper hand through their own actions.

As mentioned in the Combat section, there are typically three ways to do this, and here we see Tal taking a Risk. There are a few ways this can go. The classic is "roll a save, if you pass then you attack with bonus if you fail then something bad happens instead" but there's a lot of fine tuning that can be done in there. Here we see Ref has Moss make the Save instead of Tal. I think either would have worked, but here I think it makes sense as the question is really “will Moss keep their cool” rather than whether Tal knows the right thing to say.

Even with Risky actions, there are cases where you might not call for a Save, and just allow a bonus in return for taking a burden. Maybe you can fight recklessly and both sides you will get +d8 to attacking each other. If they join in the recklessness maybe it goes up to +d10! Here the Risk element is still present, even without a Save.

The second method is through having useful Information. Perhaps you've learned something that would help here. This how I might handle the classic “hit the monster in their weak spot”. Not glowing targets, but a reward for going out and talking to hunters and those who have fought the creature before. That stone mammoth has VIG 19, Armour 3, so getting a +d10 to every attack because you learn of its hatred of fire is practically necessary.

The last method is to reward good Preparation. Action now to enhance action later. The classic is "setting up" an ally for their attack, or driving the enemy into a disadvantageous position with an Onslaught. In essence, if a player can point back to a previous action that specifically set up the current attack I'm happy to give them a bonus for it.

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

If you want to support my blog, podcasts, and video content then head over to my Patreon. 

Taking Damage

No plan survives getting hit in the face. How does that work in Mythic Bastionland?

PLAY

Tal and Moss have decided to stand and fight against a Warband of raiders from a belligerent neighbouring realm. They’ve already taken a little damage from arrow fire. 

Ref: Okay, now it’s the Warband’s turn. As you’re both individual combatants, they get +d10 and gain Blast, attacking both of you.

Ref rolls d6 and d10 for each target, taking the highest single die against each. The dice against Tal are 4 and 8, the dice against Moss 6 and 6. 

Ref: The horde of attackers surge onto you both as you try to stand firm, spears and axes coming from all directions. Tal is looking at 8 damage, and Moss 6. Actually, with your armour we can knock that down to 7 and 5 respectively. 

Tal: I’ll stand as firm as I can, using Endure to remove the 8 rolled.

Ref: Sure, so you gain Ache from the exhaustion but manage to deflect the worst blows away. That leaves the roll of 4, down to 3 with your armour. 

Tal: Wait, can I use Endure twice? I have two Burdens now. 

Ref: Yeah you can, but remember at 3 Burdens you become Exposed, so you’d go down to 0gd and couldn’t use more Feats. 

Tal: Right, let’s not do that then. 

Ref: So you’ve got 3 damage coming in against 2gd and 11 VIG. With your Guard depleted you’re wounded, losing 1 VIG. One spear strikes just well enough to draw blood. Meanwhile, Moss, you’re also on two Burdens, but using Endure once won’t actually help. You’re on 2gd and 6 VIG, right?

Moss: Yeah…

Ref: 5 Damage means 2 to your gd and the remaining 3 off your VIG. As you’ve lost half of your VIG in one go that means a Mortal Wound. Moss is overwhelmed by the Warband, kicked to the ground, an axe buried in their gut. They’ll die if left untended, and I wouldn’t expect mercy from these raiders. What’s the plan?

THOUGHTS

Keeping your Knight alive involves managing a few different resources. Armour and Guard are the first lines of defence, with Vigour and Burdens (usually taken from using Endure) as more precious resources. 

The Referee has to balance keeping the players are aware of these while also indulging their senses in the description of the actual battle. Too much focus on numbers and resources and it becomes just a dice game, too little and you risk the players not being able to make informed choices on how to proceed with the fight. 

Ref strikes a decent balance here, but as I’m writing this for an example of play, there’s perhaps more explicit explanation of the numbers than I would expect at the table. 

As a general procedure I describe what the attacker is doing, roll their dice out in the open, give a chance for the Knights to use Endure or other feats to modify those dice, and then tell the player how much damage they’ve taken. 

The player can then report back whether the attack caused a Wound (VIG loss) or Mortal Wound (half of current VIG lost), and I can describe the attack and its impact accordingly, shifting the focus back to what’s actually happening to the characters. 

As players get more experienced they’ll feel more confident weighing up their options when faced with damage. The dilemma faced by Tal here is a good example. They could have used Endure a second time to prevent damage altogether, so going down to 0gd would actually be a slightly better position than where they ended up here.

Still, that extra Burden would linger after the combat is finished, leaving them effectively on 0gd until they can relieve at least one Burden somehow. 

More urgently, keeping that final Burden slot free might allow a use of Endure later on in this combat, perhaps to prevent taking a Mortal Wound themselves, or could be used to attack with a Frenzy, being more effective against the enemy warband. 

Still, I’m not optimistic about their chances in this situation. Perhaps a chance to consider whether surrender is Knightly.

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

If you want to support my blog, podcasts, and video content then head over to my Patreon. 

What is Primacy of Action?

 Here's what the rules of Mythic Bastionland have to say:

PRIMACY OF ACTION

Even when using the rules for travel, exploration, and combat, remember this, the  most important thing:

Past action taken by the players supersedes  content generated by prompts or rules. Their deeds are reality.

Remember the core of giving players information, honouring their choices, and describing the impact of their actions. 

But I think it needs a bit more explanation. This is where Oddpocrypha comes in handy. 

PLAY

The group encounter an Omen of the Troll, which the book describes as a clumsy burglar fleeing from the Troll’s cave-house. 

Ref: Running away from the cave you see a figure. Actually, you recognise her, it’s Sam the burglar.

Ref had previously used Sam as an incidental character, randomly taking them as a prompt when they needed a shady character. By coincidence the same character has now been prompted by an Omen.

Moss: I guess she got over her broken leg?

Ref: Wait, what happened again?

Tal: She got caught trying to break into the Seer’s tower, remember? The guards beat her up and later we found out her leg was broken, but that old woman was looking after her? I think this was after we did the Season change, so can’t have been long ago in game.

Ref: Ah yeah, right…

Slightly awkward pause. 

Ref: No, no, this is fine! Well above anything else, all that stuff you remember definitely happened, but sure enough you see Sam sprinting away from the cave, no sign of a broken leg. Weird huh?

Moss: Huh.

Tal: Okay let’s flag her down and see what’s up.

Meanwhile Ref flicks to a random page scouring the prompts for an explanation. They see “Toxic Plants”, and during the conversation Sam explains that her leg was miraculously healed by a travelling herbalist, but they used methods and materials that nobody in the shire had seen before. 

Ref makes a secret note that these bone-mending methods use toxic plants that are going to spell future trouble for Sam. They plant the seed by having Sam have a small coughing fit in the middle of their conversation before laughing it off. 

THOUGHTS

Never underestimate the power of saying “yeah, weird huh?” when you slip a massive contradiction into the game by mistake.

Here we see a group running into a situation that calls for Ref to remember the Primacy of Action, essentially the idea that events that have already happened supersede new events that are generated through omens or prompts when establishing the ongoing fiction of the world. 

So if you cut off the Wyvern’s wings then they don’t grow back because the next omen describes it flying above. 

Here it’s a character reappearing in an Omen, doing something that would be unlikely given the events that have already occurred. 

Ref could have just said “okay, it’s NOT actually Sam, but she looks just like her”, though revealing a secret twin is a risky play. 

Remember the whole point of this is to make the world feel real and not to undermine the players’ previous choices. Here the players are well aware that Ref is pulling this new healer tangent out of thin air, but if they deliver it with confidence and make it an  interesting addition to the fiction then the players will take it in their stride. 

As with other moments of improvisation, it’s best to keep the improvised content as something neither overtly beneficial or harmful to the players. Players accept that improvisation happens, but moments with significant positive or negative impact are best when they feel like part of the impartial mechanisms of the game, rather than something implemented at the whims of the Referee. 

Here, even just flicking to another page of the book to scour for prompts can make the improvised content feel more real to the players, at least spreading the perceived responsibility between the Referee and the book. 

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

If you want to support my blog, podcasts, and video content then head over to my Patreon. 

Mythic Manoeuvres

Combat manoeuvres are something I keep coming back to. 

As with so many things I think the specific mechanics are only as good as their actual implementation by the person running the game. So what guidance lies in the Oddpocrypha?

PLAY

Moss is in the middle of a duel against a rival Knight that’s been tormenting them.

Moss: Right. So instead of swinging my cudgel I’ll draw my dagger and try to stab him right through the eye.

Ref: Erm… hang on

Ref flicks through the combat rules for a moment, thinking about how best to make a ruling

Ref: Okay, so what are you actually trying to achieve with this? Like kill him in a single stab? Blind him permanently? Temporarily?

Moss: Yeah I want to make sure even if I can’t kill him I’ll leave him without an eye. 

Ref: Right. I mean as far as killing him goes, you’re already trying to do that with a normal attack. You could do a Smite if you really want to try to take him out, but if it’s more about leaving a lasting mark we could… hang on…

Ref looks through the rules a bit more

Ref: Yeah how about we do it as a Smite but instead of the extra damage you’ll leave a mark. Probably only makes sense if you actually Wound him too, so you’ll need to take him down to 0gd. I don’t think you could do this to any old opponent, but here there’s clearly hatred between the two of you. 

Moss: Yeah that sounds fair. So I’ll only take the Shame if I actually get his eye, right?

Ref: Yeah that sounds right.

Moss rolls their attack and successfully Wounds their enemy.

Ref: So sure enough, you thrust your dagger at his eye and… urgh, you get the idea! He clutches his face, screaming, but he’s still standing. r

THOUGHTS

Even with access to Feats and Onslaughts, and the chance of causing Scars, players will sometimes want to cause a specific effect with their attack. Here Ref falls back on the standard Taking Action Procedure, asking for clarity on what exactly the intent of the action is. It’s easy to get bogged down in the specifics of what the character is doing, but here it’s useful to know what the player is actually trying to achieve. 

It’s good that Ref clarifies that with a normal attack the character is already assumed to be trying to cause maximum harm to their target, and going beyond that is usually covered with a Smite Feat. Taking this as a starting point, they change that Feat to apply extra long-term damage instead of simply improving the normal damage of the attack. 

Importantly, the details of the ruling are explained to Moss before they confirm they want to go through with it. Upon weighing up the ruling, a player might decide it’s no longer worth it. At this point the Referee can suggest an alternative, or the player might simply decide to go ahead with a normal attack or Feat. 

I also appreciate that Ref made it clear that the ruling here is a bespoke ruling for the current combat, leveraged by the established hatred between the combatants. If the players tried something similar in another situation the ruling could be different. 

There’s clearly a bit of discomfort from Ref in having to describe the eye-gouge. In a game with this much focus on combat, and a system for Scars, there’s always going to be a bit of gore, but it’s perfectly acceptable to draw a veil over the grisly details if the group isn’t fully comfortable with them, as Ref does here. This is something that becomes easier to judge through experience playing with the same group of players. 

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

If you want to support my blog, podcasts, and video content then head over to my Patreon. 

Beginning a Campaign: Start & Scope

Mythic Bastionland has quite a different campaign structure to Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland, so any campaign should start with a short conversation about that. Here's the relevant page from the latest version:

START & SCOPE

Every group that sits down to play the game is different, and you should consider the Start and Scope of a game before you begin. 

The Start is the opening situation that the players find themselves in, and should always present an interesting world to explore, filled with problems to face. 

The Scope is how far you expect the game to go run in-game and out of game. 

The examples below are not a definitive list.

STARTS

Petty - Young Petty Knights arriving in a Realm, seeking to uphold their Oath and gain Glory. If they feel lost, advise them to seek a Seer’s counsel. 

Exemplar - Mature Knight Exemplars (Glory 6) with 2d6GD. They have a place in the Court of the Seat of Power. Tell them about the first Omen in each of the Realm’s Myths, delivered as news to the Court. 

Noble - Mature Noble Knights with 2d6GD. The Knight with the highest CHA has a Holding, with the others in their Circle. The Seat of Power is under a wicked influence.

SCOPES

Adventure - One session. Start the game with the group encountering an Omen of the nearest Myth. Turn the Season at the end of the session, seeing who upheld their Oath. 

Chronicle - A known number of sessions, finishing at the end of these. Season and Age turns are planned out ahead of time. For 6 sessions this might be a Season turn at the end of each session, an Age turn at the end of each Winter. 

Saga - An indeterminate number of sessions. Here you can let the players guide the scope as they explore the world. 

And what the Oddpocrypha chapter has to say. 

PLAY

Ref: Okay we should talk about the Start and Scope of the campaign. For the Start you can be Petty Knights newly knighted and out for glory, Exemplars who are older and have a place in court, or Nobles if you want to start already ruling a seat of power. To be honest that last one sounds a bit much for me at the moment, but we could do either of the others.

Tal: I just assumed we’d be starting out as new Knights, but starting with a place in court could be cool.

Moss: Yeah I’m happy with either.

Ref: Well let’s talk about Scope before we lock it in. This is how many sessions we’ll run and how time will advance across them. I know we agreed to run for 6 weeks, so that would fit a Chronicle. We can always carry on afterwards if we’re enjoying it.

Moss: Yeah I’m away for two weeks after that and I think Tal has that other campaign?

Ref: Sure, we’ll do six sessions then. The book suggests each session should end by moving onto the next Season, and at the end of Winter we’ll advance to a new Age, which means advancing like twenty years or so. 

Tal: Right… but what if we end the session right in the middle of something? 

Ref: I mean we don’t have to set it in stone, but things persist between Seasons. Maybe we’ll leave the exact timing of the Age skip loose so that we can do it when it feels right. I think we should push ourselves to move through time though, it’ll be neat to look back on the campaign and have a proper span of your Knights’ lives.

Tal: Okay that makes sense. 

Moss: I guess we try to finish each session in a place that makes sense too, right? Like we won’t end right in the middle of a combat?

Ref: Yeah, and if that happens we can always finish the fight off next session and do the time skip mid-session. It doesn’t take long. 

Tal: Great. Well if we’re doing that shall we start as brand new petty knights?

Moss: Sounds good to me. 

THOUGHTS

For those used to more traditional campaign structures, the between-session time jumps of Mythic Bastionland can seem daunting. It’s understandable that some players don’t like the idea of releasing control of their characters for these “off camera” months or years that pass during such an advancement. 

Of course, the intent of this rule isn’t to leave players with a lack of control, so here Ref does a good job of reassuring Tal and Moss. 

I think Ref strikes a good balance between keeping plans loose by suggesting some flexibility in when to advance the seasons and ages, but also making it clear that these advances are planned into the campaign, explaining why they want to include them.

I’d possibly be clearer here, telling the group that each session will always be the start of a new season, and deciding ahead of time which session will also advance to the next age. This is no more right or wrong than Ref’s approach here, and comes down to your own preferences and your experience of playing with your group. 

They eventually settle on starting as Petty Knights, which is where I expect the majority of groups to begin their games. Ref even goes as far as to recommend against the most advanced starting point. 

Even if a group is unlikely to want to begin as Exemplars or Nobles, it’s worth highlighting these options at the start of the campaign. Just showing them as possibilities helps players see the likely direction for their knights and gives a bit more context to where they might be after some Seasons and Ages. 

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This post was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site the week after its original publication.

If you want to support my blog, podcasts, and video content then head over to my Patreon.