CoCRPG Setup: The Mystery of the Stone

Summer 1922: A long lost exploration vessel, the Balerion, steams into to Baltimore harbor with a decimated crew, and different captain then they departed with, none of their equipment or cargo; the only item manifested is a "religions item", a single package wrapped in rough spun cloth. Attempts to examine it invoke such unnerving hostility from the captain that in the end he is simply allowed to carry the mysterious object with him off the ship. Not long after that, the ship sustains severe damage in a freak collision in the harbor, the crew scatters, the captain is found murdered in a shanty back alley, and the precious parcel disappeared. Winter 1923: A wild eyed nautical type arrives at Miskatonic Museum in Arkham, Mass demanding to see the curator of the antiquities; he offers for sale a oddly shaped stone, wrapped in rough spun, which he claims is an object of worship from some culture remote in time and distance. At first dismissive, then curious, then fascinated, the curator agrees to purchase the object, sending the wild eyed man away with $30. After a few short weeks antiquarians, archeologists, researchers of all stripes become aware of the stone, several articles are published in international journals, and it becomes a matter of interest to many ...

Spring 1923: The Arkham Gazette blares a headline of startling import: "Museum Robbed - Famous Stone Missing - 9 Found Killed in Grizzly Ritual". The article describes a scene of horror in the museum where the curator, several guards, a policeman, and some visitors were found slain. Two weeks later, a similar scene of horror is discovered in the near-dead port town of Innsmouth. A a professor from Miskatonic University and some of his students had apparently witness something of connected with the event (according to local law enforcement), and left Innsmouth in a desperate hurry.

Now, stone was gone. An unnamed private individual has offered a considerable sum of money for the return of the stone to him directly. Several law enforcement agencies have assigned investigators to track down the perpetrators of the crimes and recover the stolen artifact. Freelance journalists, thrill seeking dilettantes, even some hard bitten bounty hunters were all seeking the stone and the murderous thieves who possess it. All clues and leads point to England, where it is rumored the stone has been carried for some unknown purpose, though some dark hints suggest that the horrific scenes of carnage seen thus far are just a prelude to what will take place should these killers fulfill their plan.

The investigators find themselves on board the RMS Mauritania, departing New York City in the late spring of 1923, bound for England where they hope to pick up the trail and solve the mystery of the stone. The party should include law enforcement seeking justice and maybe revenge for murdered comrades, academics or antiquarians with professional interest in the stone and perhaps some deeper glimpses into its origins, agents of foreign governments who have some unstated interest in the stone, and some individuals who are in the employ of the unnamed private individual commissioned to find and return the stone to him. Each player will be given some personal motivations and objectives that are private and probably should not be revealed to the other players.

AGOT Regional Melee Championship, Sunday May 16

TempleCon 2010 After Action Report

Wow. What a great convention if you are into cards/RPG/sci fi and steam punk. Definitely a more diverse crowd than you see at HMGS cons.

Picked up a new card game called The Spoils. It is a dueling game created by some former Magic champions. The system is very tactical and the artwork is darker and more adult than anything FFG is doing. But, FFG is probably going to be the US distributor (per the interwebs) so this game has the potential to be big. I picked up some starter decks for the club.

Played a new card game that was having its first public debut - Hull Breach. Sci-fi multiplayer space combat. You have a space station, then build fleets and assign space marines for invasions and boarding actions. Will was impressed that it is a multiplayer card game that rewards aggressive play. The deisgners are amateurs, but expect to have a product for sale in the near future. We (Greg, Will and I) might have convinced them to go with a LCG format.

Played some Warmachine and was very impressed. More record keeping than WH40k, but also a deeper combat mechanic. Greg won a painted army, so I had to pick up the rules.

Watched some games of Malifaux and read the entire rule book this morning. This is a very thematic, small unit skirmish game. And the minis are great. You only need a handful of figs to play and it uses a card draw system to resolve combat (no dice). This will be popular at the club.

Played in a Gutshot game and play tested the new zombie supplement. It was Gutshot with zombies ... I was not blown away.

I also got in my first game of Small World. A very easy-to-learn game. We got through a 5 player game in 90 minutes. The mechanics impressed me and I would play it at the club.

The bartenders sucked. The convention staff were great. We gave a lot of money to Neil from the War Store. And Greg's IP lecture was a hit. All in all a good time, and all of this before the Super Bowl.

MAGIC In Northern Ireland

Just got done playing a Magic draft at Serenity Games (46 Botanic Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland). As usual I was by far the oldest guy in the place, and I think was at least twice as old as anyone there, and three times for some.

But, the beauty of gaming is that nobody gave a toss, and I was welcomed into the group. The shop itself is very cool, a smallish room one flight up with two long card tables and a WH40K battle table set up. Available for purchase were (of course) Magic boosters plus sem board games, primarily Euros (not surprisingly) and 40K. I think I surprised some of the patrons by being able to talk 40K at least as well as them ... little do they know!

Its a new shop (3 months old), run by Sean and Connor. They chipped in to open the place to revive the Magic scene in Northern Ireland. Apparently there had been a large community, lots of players, and even a national champion from NI but one thing or another caused it all to dwindle. The lads are bringing it back to life with this cool, vibrant shop, and I was very glad to be able to participate.

In the draft format there were 3 rounds of play, 2 out of 3 wins takes a round. An interesting twist is that there is a 'rare draft' at the end of the nite: all the gold (rare) cards are pulled out of the decks and players get to pick one in turn, highest placing players first then eventually the low-lifes such as myself at the end of the line. But, it generally means everyone gets to go home with at least 3 rare cards in addition to whatever you kept in the draft, and the better cards go to the better players.

Draft is an interesting format: 8 players each open a booster pack, pick a card, and pass to the right. Repeat until all the cards are picked the pop another booster, this time pass to the left, then another to the right. It levels the field a bit (no killer, pre-constructed decks) but there are skills involved in drafting that a good player can use to draft a superior deck. Needless to say, I don't possess any of those skills. But I did my best.

I played twice this week, Tuesday and Thursday, doing better Thursday. Again, gaming is an amazing hobby where strangers become comrades just because we like to play with the same toys. Most of my opponents were much more experienced then me, but were very willing to share their knowledge, give pointers, suggestions and play tips. I asked one fellow if it was weird playing someone as old as his Dad, but he just shrugged smiled, and obliterated my favorite creature with a Lightening Bolt ... we should all appreciate what an inclusive hobby we have.

Interestingly enough I was no the only Yank, and I got paired up with young Trevor both nights. We were known as the "American Table" but since he is from Seattle we preferred the moniker of "East Coast vs West Coast". It was fun all the way.

Sad to say, I must leave Belfast without getting another chance to join my new friends at Serenity Games for the pre-release of Worldwake. However, I will strongly encourage any of our members, should the find themselves in sunny Belfast, to visit and patronize Serenity Games. I'm looking forward to my next trip there that much more.

-Mike Willner

All the King's Men

Few months ago at Fall In I happened to play "All the King's Men" horse and musket period wargame with 54mm miniatures. The American Revolution game was run by the writers of the rules. They also make extensive range of 54mm miniatures for that game. It's an excellent generic "beer and pretzels" toy soldiers game and can be tweaked to fit anything from the early 18th century to American Civil War. 54mm is not the scale I game, but I was impressed with the range of the figures this company makes. I even bought the figure of their British officer and painted it because it kind of looked like Wellington. Check them out and definitely check out their rules: allthekingsmentoysoldiers.com

Wargames Factory Ancient Germans Compared

Recently, Wargames Factory (wargamesfactory.com) came out with a set of Ancient German cavalry. There has been a lot of questions about their compatibility with other manufacturers. Pictures here are side by side comparison between Wargames Factory, Foundry and Old Glory ancient German cavalry.

Intellectual Property and Games

Metropolitan Wargamers member Greg Silberman will be presenting a workshop at Templecon on February 5th, 2010.

189 Rules of the Game: Legal Issues in Independent Game Development and Publishing
Friday, February 5th, 5pm- 6pm, Convention Suite 1- Rm. #637.

Led by Patent Attorney Greg Silberman, this workshop provides a basic overview of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets, and explains how these various forms of intellectual property apply to the game industry, including examples from boardgames, miniatures, RPG's, and videogames. This workshop program will provide you with a basic understanding of what the legal issues in independent game development and publishing are and how you can protect your own ideas and not infringe on someone else's ideas.

For more information on Templecon, check out www.templecon.org

Battlestandard Miniatures Greeks

Recently, I was asked to paint some Battlestandard 3rd century Greeks by the owner of the company. Looking at the figures I decided that they also look like Carthaginian citizen or African infantry. Since I needed Carthaginians more than I needed 3rd century Greeks I decided to paint them as such.

Carthaginian citizen infantry looked a lot like Greek infantry of the same period. That is because large number of Greek mercenaries fought in Carthaginian armies and Carthage fought Greek colonies in Sicily. Also, Carthaginians fought against Greek mercenary armies and had plenty of captured Greek equipment. Finally, let's not forget that Carthage was a trading super power of the Mediterranean and Greek arms and armor was available through trade.

Battlestandard have large number of poses with various types of body armor of the period. Figures also come with large variety of separate heads and 4 or 5 large round shields variations. Figures are very detailed, but details are well raised and easy to paint. Figures are very smooth and round and it's easy to apply washes or highlight them. Battlestandard miniatures are kind of blocky with slightly exaggerated arms and legs. They are the same height and head proportion as Foundry Greek figures I painted at the same time. You can mix them with Foundry figures as long as a unit has the same size shields, Battlestandard shields are the largest I've seen.

Warhammer Fantasy RPG (3rd Edition) First Impressions

I ran sessions of Fantasy Flight's new version of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay at the Compleat Strategist last weekend, using the included scenario. Unlike a lot of people who will be interested in the game, I don't have much Warhammer Fantasy background and don't have many preconceptions of the prior game system or setting. My RPG experience is pretty extensive, mostly as a player of various independent and non-TSR/White Wolf games, mostly as a GM for D&D, Changeling, GURPS and a few others. The three word sum of my first impressions: It's pretty good.

If you've played Fantasy Flight games before, you have a pretty good idea of the component quality. The cards and counters are similar to Arkam Horror or Descent. There aren't miniatures like Descent, but there are counters and stands (like their Battlestar board game) to represent monsters or characters. There's about 30 game-specific dice - not standard d8s, d10s or d6s - which are integrated into the game mechanic.

More on the dice, as there are so many of them and they come into play for many skill challenges. The mechanic for resolving whether something gets done is to collect a pool of dice and to roll them. If the number of axes (successes) beats the number of crossed swords (failures), it's a success.

Say I want to swing a sword at a goat-headed beastman. As a Dwarven Trollhunter, my strength is 5. That's five blue dice. I am two deep into an aggressive stance. Two of those blue dice convert to the aggressive red dice. (The green dice, for being in conservative stance, work similarly. Both the red and green dice can roll better than the blue dice. However, the red die has greater number of success and failures on the sides as well as the possibility of fatigue. The green die has fewer successes and the possibility of delay.) I have one check mark next to the weapon skill skill. I get 1 yellow die (the best die in the game, with a chance for a "Sigmar's Comet", the opposite of the Chaos mark). The beastman has a thick, leathery hide, which counts as defense one. I get one black misfortune die as a result. And, finally, swinging a sword at the guy counts as an Easy level task, so that is one purple challenge die. If I so desire, before I roll, I can spend as many fortune points as I'd like to get a white fortune die for each point spent into the pool. Fortune and misfortune dice can be given at GM discretion; basically when you'd give or take a +/- 2 in D&D (3.0 or 3.5).

So, you roll the handful of dice and start counting things up. Crossed swords and axes cancel for the overall success. Eagles and skulls cancel for boon/bane effect. The double-tailed comet and the chaos symbol could both be present, and both resolve. And, more rarely, the hourglass (delay), droplet of blood (fatigue/stress) or righteous success (axe with a plus sign next to it, which lets you add an extra die of that type) could be put into things. And a lot of faces are blank, which don't do anything.

And to get more complicated than that, I probably used a card of some kind to swing that axe - and that card tells me what these dice rolls can (or in the case of negative effects, must) be spent on. Altogether, this adds up to a system that answers not whether you succeed and how well, but in what manner that happens - look at which colored dice rolled what, and you know why a success occurred (or didn't).

In combat, distances are notional rather than specific. Extreme, long, medium, short and whether you're "engaged" to use melee or other effects or not.

While initiative is rolled based off the speed of each party member (and for each group of monsters equal in size to the party - a group of 6 average mobs would roll 2 initiative per 3 groups), the order the characters actually play is decided by the party as a group. If I rolled 4 successes on my initiative and Joe rolled 1, Joe can go on 4 when the combat goes and I could go on 1.

The players may choose a party sheet, which gives the group a special ability and allows individual character abilities to be used by the party. Also, if they can't decide on initiative, if there's interparty conflict, or other effects - like failed spellcasting - there's a marker that tracks it and creates penalties at certain times. Certain classes have abilities that reduce this tension.

Randomness plays a big part in the base mechanics of the game. Character classes are generated randomly. Race can even be generated randomly. Stats, however, are not - they are based off of the class and race that you draw, and what your experience points are spent on.

While I hadn't played it extensively, these parts - the basic mechanics - feels pretty satisfactory. Time will tell whether it'll hold up.

Some bits that worry me a little. The first is the price. It's a $100 game for three players and a GM. How necessarily three player is it? Well, three sets of the basic action cards (approximately 12) are given in the game. Since the action cards sometimes have specific dice-related information on them, until familiarity is reached, it could mean some sharing. (There aren't supposed to be people with the same classes in the same party, so there is only one set of cards for each class.) A $35 expansion set that lets you add a player or so is already going to be released with the base set. The dice border very close to being a collectible dice game, the cards and bits are pretty unique to their classes. While other game systems have offered these things as supplements (looking again at D&D and a little bit at White Wolf), none have made them as central and necessary as this one. Players will need to rely on Fantasy Flight not to abuse this too much. There's a cost/value choice to make, and I think to their credit, Fantasy Flight has yet to abuse this much; if you've played Fantasy Flight Games, you probably know this. Warhammer Fantasy is four, four-color, soft-cover rolebooks and amazingly large number of cards with rules on them (locations, classes, party sheets, actions, skills, spells, insanity, etc.) a large number of counters (stance tracking, fatigue, stress, etc.) and generally high production values.

Unlike a lot of RPGs based on other fiction, there's not that much background material in the game itself; perhaps 20-25 pages or so. Enough to get a feel for the province in the Empire you operate in, and a rough guide to the main races, neighbors and current situation.

Based off of comments from players in the test game who have played the prior edition, other things that might interest you are that the power level in 3rd edition starts higher than 2nd edition. You can start with firearms and some magic, which from my understanding was not something that could be touched in the prior edition. You graduate from one career to another. Boatman is still included as a starting class.

There's an insanity system, too, but I didn't have a chance to use it. It looks pretty interesting - call it a touch of Cthuhlu thrown into this game too.

Ultimately, the players had fun, and it was pretty easy to learn and run.

Space Hulk at Metro

When GW re-issued their popular "Space Hulk" board/miniatures game it generated a lot of excitement in our club. Many of our members use to play that game when they were young. Several of them bought the new game and naturally some of them wanted figures to be painted. This set was painted by me for Tony A. using color combinations he suggested. Figures were easy to assemble and fun to paint. Here are some painted figures from that game.

Space Marines

Librarian and dead Patriarch.

Tiranids

Main Bad Dude

Metro Wargamers at Fall-In

Crisp air, a cool breeze, chirping birds and still country air. This idyllic setting is not some painting or from a movie. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Within the halls of the Eisenhower Convention Center in Gettyburg, PA the sounds of gunfire, ancient warriors locking in combat, jets and the cries of missed die rolls can be heard.

From November 5th- 8th is Fall-In! Although the smallest of the conventions and located a bit out of the way (in Gettysburg) this convention is a great weekend of gaming, meeting new people and competing in tournaments. MetroWargamers Igor, Gaylord and myself showed the NY colors and joined in a variety of games.

All of us managed to hit the dealers area and provide our own economic stimulus for the gaming industry. Gaylord took part in the National Decision Making Simulation (the theme was 1950) where he got to play the part of Chairman Mao. I played in several great games- the tops going to the Battle of Malplaquet on Saturday morning and Top Gun Saturday night (for those of you who know me- it is quite a sight seeing someone who normally plays Lace and Wigs flying an F-86 Super Sabre). Lastly, Igor and Gaylord played in the Warhammer Ancients Tournament. There- Igor won Best Painted Army! Way to go Igwarg!

Before the Convention kicked off, I was able to tour the Gettysburg Battlefield park. Finding the engagement markers for the Civil War reenacting regiment I had been in when I was a teenager was a thrill. I also climbed Little Round Top, toured Devils Den, The Angle, Wheatfield and Seminary Ridge.

All in all, Fall-In was a success and we are setting our eyes for Cold Wars in March, where the MetroWargamers will have even more presence as James Grotto puts together another one of his fantastic terrain boards. Thanks for a great time to everyone who went and I am looking forward to seeing you all in March!

PB

MetroWargamers Club Event: The Met: Japanese Arms and Armor 1156-1868

Where: The Met
When: November 1st
Time: 12pm

Join your fellow gamers and come see the limited show of Japanese Arms and Armor from 1156-1868. Some of these pieces are so fragile, they will only be shown for two weeks then taken back to Japan.

For more info. on the show see: www.metmuseum.org

I hope you see you there!

Peter

RPG Nite Players Intro: Tranch Heresy

Kor Ban was a hyper-radical Interrogator of Inquisitor Rykehuss who went rogue and attempted to hijack a Black Ship in 365.M41, an attempt that failed and almost cost him his life. He dissapeared, only briefly surfacing to issue an angry denouncement of the "tepid and ineffectual methods of the Inquisition" in combatting the psyker threat to mankind. He was declared a Heretic and excommunicated immediately there after, and not heard from since.

A few weeks ago (405.M41) faint traces of Kor Ban surfaced. A member of Iniquisitor Rykehuss's inner circle, Interrogator Crimwall Kyler, was found murdered on Tranch, trace records on vox communications produced a partial match to the last known record of Kor Ban's voice. Kyler was investigating a break in into the offices of the Adeptus Ministorum. Also, dozens of scum gangers and members of a local cult, The Loyal Following, were found killed in a remote section of the underhive, apparently part of a criminal meeting that went bad. Retinal prints from one were salvaged, the signature was a 60% certain match for Kor Ban.

Inquisitor Kaede and Inquisitor Rykehuss were both contacted as soon as this evidence was surfaced. They have been at odds for many decades; Kaede considers Rykehuss's methods extreme and fanatical. Rykehuss thinks Kaede is an incompetent and weak Inquisitor. Both Inquisitors immediately dispatched teams of Acolytes to investigate, and neither will permit cooperation between the teams.

The Acolytes' contact on Tranch is Horus the Twist, the leader of a powerful underhive gang known as The 'Nids. As far as Horus knows, he is 'affiliated' with The Big Boss, a shadowy figure he rarely communicates with and never met, but who pays incredibly well for allegiance, access to 'Nid muscle, and the occasional dark deed. Several of the more capable 'Nid hatchet-men and captains have been recruited as Acolytes, being shipped off world to benefit the Inquisitor with their special ... skills. He is unaware that he serves the Inquisition, and the Acolytes are under strict instructions not to let him find out.

Their instructions are to make contact with Horus, leveraging his contacts and resources. They are to use whatever means necessary to trace the leads and determine if Kor Ban is in fact on Tranch, if so find him, thwart whatever foul plot he is likely engaged in, and if possible gain his confession and penance ... whether or not he survives that process is not a consideration.

As the teams arrive, they find Hive Tranch in a state of panic. Ganger violence has exploded over the last few weeks. It started soon after Aximand ("The Axe"), Headman of the infamous Killa Klan, one of the major gangs in Hive Tranch, disappeared for a few days. Rumors flew about a weapon deal gone bad, millions of missing Thrones, and some darker whispers about 100's of civilians killed or missing.

The Klan members went out of control in disorganized violence and crime. However, The Axe resurfaced a week or so later, and he brought with him a new agenda. The Klan undertook new levels of violence, boldly attacking Arbites, organizing into military-style strikes on cults, Adeptus Ministorum offices.

The big rival gangs, such as the 'Nids and the Tranch 'Web, have kept out of the fray. Killing Arbites is bad for business, and slaughtering cultists doesn't put any Thrones in the wallet either. Some members of the 'Nids have been approached by Killers to participate in large scale attacks and other unusual undertakings. The Twistand Boris the Blade, leader of the 'Web, have both forbidden their boys from taking part in anything with the Killas. When the hammer fell, whoever was swinging it, let it fall in The Axe and his maniacs, not them.

The adventure opens as the team prepared for their first meeting with The Twist ...

Club Meeting

Club Meeting
When: September 26th, 2009
Time- 1pm- 1.30pm

A variety of topics are up for discussion along with the approval of some new members!

Republican Romans at the club

Since publishing of "Hannibal", the Warhammer Ancient Battles supplement for Punic Wars , interest in that war generated quiet an army build up from several players. Here are some highlights from the latest Republican Roman army, 3rd such army painted in our club:

Velites of the "white" maniple, Crusader miniatures
Velites of the "grey" maniple, Crusader miniatures

Triarii of the "grey" maniple, Crusader miniatures

Velites, Hastati and Principi of "yellow" maniple, all Crusader miniatures

Roman cavalry, Crusader miniatures.
Mounted and dismounted Army Standard Bearer, Crusader miniatures
Italian light infantry, Gripping Beast miniatures
Hastati and principi of "red" maniple, Crusader miniatures
Hastati and Principi of "grey" maniple, Crusader miniatures
For more photos of various miniatures from various periods please visit: http://igwargminis.com/