Return to Dracula's America, Part 3- Louder Than Words

Here we are with the last in this little 'mini-series' of Posts giving you new rules to try out in your games of Dracula's America.
This time we will be looking at some new rules for Actions, to give your models some additional, dynamic options during play.

The usual disclaimer applies here- these are not yet 'official' amendments to the rules, so you should always agree to their use with your opponents beforehand. Please do give them a go, though, and see what you think- any feedback can be shared with me either here or on the Lead Adventure Forum (I don't have Facebook so won't be able to keep track of things on the Player's Page!).

Let's get to it:


SPRINT.
Once per Activation, an unengaged model that is on foot may Sprint instead of making a normal Move Action.
For the duration of that Move, the model adds +2" to it's Move Rate (so typically giving a total movement of 6"). However, this Move must be made in a straight line- choose the direction you will Sprint before making the Action.
You can use Sprint to Charge or engage an enemy.


SNAP-FIRE.
Once per Activation, a model may Snap-Fire instead of making a normal Shoot Action.
This Action must always be made against the closest visible Target, and the Shooter makes a 1 Die Shooting Test that can never be modified in any way.
If a Hit is scored, then the Target must make a 1 Die Nerve Test- if Successful, they are unaffected. If they Fail this Test they are marked as Done (think of them as pinned-down by the wild incoming fire).
As soon as the Snap-Fire is resolved, the Shooter's Action ends immediately- using a Skill or Weapon (such as a Repeater Rifle) does not allow you to make any additional shots in the same Action!


BLIND-FIRE.
Once per Activation, a model may Blind-Fire instead of making a normal Shoot Action.
Resolve a Snap-Fire attack using the rules above (this counts as your Snap-Fire for that Activation), but treat the shot as being made from a position 1" away and in LOS of the Shooter. This must be a position that would be accessible to the Shooter, and allows you to represent things like a model quickly ducking from around a corner to get in a hasty shot, before ducking back into cover.
In this way, you can potentially avoid triggering an enemy model on Lookout.


LIE PRONE.
An unengaged model on foot may Lie Prone at the end of any Move Action. Lie the model on it's side and give it a Prone marker to show this (and to differentiate it from Downed models).
A Prone model can stand back up, but this takes up an entire Action. Until then it may be harder to see, counts as being in Cover against Shooting (even if in the open), may Move up to 2", may not Charge or otherwise engage an enemy, cannot hold a Bystander and suffers a -1 Die Modifier in a Fight. It may still Shoot or Cast Arcane Powers.


So far I've found these options to be good fun, and that they serve to make the game even more cinematic; but let me know what you think after giving them a go!

I'll be back in the near future with some more Drac.Am painting...

Return to Dracula's America, Part 2- Regarding Summoning, and the Gentle Art of Hitting Things.

Hello, folks!

Here is the second batch of optional rules for Drac.Am for you to take a look at- as before, please give them a try and let me know what you think, but remember that these aren't official new rules; simply some 'work in progress' options for you to try out ahead of a future errata/FAQ...

Don't forget to spread the word- the more people we have testing them out, the better!


First up, Fighting- I know that some people find this a little underwhelming compared to shooting, and this was deliberate since I wanted this to be a game about close-range fire-fights rather than a face-to-face slugging match! But for those who favour fisticuffs, here are some new rules to try out:


FIGHTING.

• When you Strike your opponent, their Save is determined by the total Successes you scored, rather than the difference between your totals.
• Shoving works exactly as before- you push your opponent away a number of inches equal to the difference between totals.
• If the Defender wins the Fight, they will not Strike their Attacker. Instead, they may either remain engaged or Shove their opponent away.

Now here's an alternate idea for Summoning in the game- some players feel that this can get a little out of control (especially with an optimised Crossroads Cult Posse!), so here is one possible solution to this:


SUMMONING.
If your Posse has the ability to Summon other models during play, you will generate a 'Pool' of 4 Summoning Points (SP) at the start of each game.

SP are expended whenever you Summon a model during that game- whenever you successfully Summon a creature, reduce your Pool by the corresponding amount of SP shown below.

Use a piece of spare paper to track the number of Points you have available during play, and ensure you keep your opponents updated on how many SP you have remaining as the game progresses!

• Lesser Entities cost 1/2 an SP each.
• Minor Entities cost 1 SP each.
• Major Entities cost 2 SP each.

For example, I successfully Summon a Behemoth- this costs me 2 SP. I now have 2 SP remaining in my Pool. Later that game, I Summon a Lesser Entity- this costs me 1/2 an SP. I now have 1 and-a-half SP remaining in my Pool!

Return to Dracula's America. Part 1- 'Tis But A Scratch!

Time to blow the cobwebs off this Blog...

While my gaming time has been limited due to me taking advantage of the dry weather (though my Church of Dagon Posse is coming along nicely), I haven't been idle behind the scenes- between myself, Northstar Miniatures and Osprey Games you will hopefully start to see a gradual release of additional material for players of Drac.Am over the coming months!
While I can't give too much away right now, expect new rules for Twilight Order and Red Hand players, new Factions, new Hired Guns and Mercenary Drifters, rules for setting your games and campaigns in a new environment, and extended background dealing with the aftermath of Forbidden Power- even a look into the origins of Dracula and vampirism. I'm also working on a 'choose your own adventure' style 'branching narrative campaign' to tie it all together...

Hopefully we can round it all off with an Errata/FAQ, and a few optional or updated rules- in that spirit, I thought I'd share an idea for new Injury Tables with you here, so you can have a crack at them and maybe even give me some feedback! I intended the existing Injury system to be pretty unforgiving, to represent the dangers of living in a world populated by monsters (human and otherwise), but I'm aware that it can be a little too 'rich' for some- here, then, are a set of (slightly) more forgiving Injury Tables for the faint of heart!


INJURY TABLE.

1 = Dead!

2-4 = Lasting Injury. Roll a D5 on the Table below.

5-9 = Close Call. No effect; the model is unharmed.

10 = True Grit!

LASTING INJURY TABLE.

1 = Old Wound.
2 = One-Eyed.
3 = Limp.
4 = Weakened.
5 = Laid-Up. You may pay $5 for medical treatment at this point to treat this as a Close Call.


Please feel free to share this on the Players Facebook Page, or discuss it with me via the Lead Adventure Forum- the more folks that give it a try, the better! Let me also just reiterate that these are still WIP and are not 'official' amendments to the existing rules- as usual, both you and your opponent/s must agree to their use beforehand!


Next up, some options for Summoning...

Shattered Realm- The Campaign System!

Here it is; the last piece of the SR puzzle- the Campaign rules!

As always, this is still an early draft copy; but it should give you a very good idea of where I'm going with it- if you ever give it a try then please let me know what you think!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tcpguekozvmzdlx/SR%20Campaigns%20Doc.%20V.2.3.%20COPY.odt?dl=0

You will also find blank Roster sheets and optional Character Cards at the end of the document- the Cards are something I'm also considering making as a resource for players of Dracula's America in the near future, as I've heard some folks say it can get a little 'token-heavy' for their tastes... Using these Cards will allow you to keep table-clutter to a minimum!

Shattered Realm- Advanced Rules

I'm very happy to report that it seems a fair few people have had a look at the Shattered Realm stuff so far, so here's a link to the Advanced Rules for those interested:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m8rqize0v0gur59/SR%20Advanced%20Rules%20Doc%20V.2.5%20COPY..odt?dl=0

This smaller document adds Break Points, Visibility rules (for representing the darkness of the caverns below or even eerie mist on the surface), Mounts, Magic (of which there are two kinds!), and some basic rules for Solo Play.
Last night I found myself with a little time on my hands, and so played a small Solo battle- I'll put a report up on here very soon...

As always, this is still very early days and things may very well change down the line- if you have any feedback from playing SR yourselves, then please do drop a comment here or over on the LAF!

Cheers!

Shattered Realm- The Core Rules!

Since I'm in such a good mood right now (see previous Post), I thought I'd jump ahead of schedule a bit and post up a link so you can take a look at the Shattered Realm core rules via Dropbox!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/36ew4xaizx61t8e/SR%20Core%20Rules%20Doc%20V.2.5%20COPY..odt?dl=0

Please note that this is still a fairly early (and definitely not pretty!) draft, but I thought it might be good to let folks have a read and maybe even give it a go themselves- it takes the basic Dracula's America rules, and expands on them a fair bit...

If anyone ever gives it a try at some point then please let me know how you get on- maybe we could start a discussion over on the Lead Adventure Forum (where I go by Fenrir, by the way)!

Oh, and next week I'll be putting up the Advanced Rules (including mounts, rules for light-levels and tentative Solo play rules!).
I'm also in the process of painting up some spectral adversaries for my plucky Dwarves, ready for a Solo-play game report in the (hopefully) near future...

Cheers!

Shattered Realm- Attack of the Fluff.

I've been fiddling around with my computer for the last few weeks, desperately trying to get PDFs on here for folks to view so my Shattered Realm Fantasy skirmish game project can get up and running- thanks to a very kind person over on the Lead Adventure Forum (if you aren't a member yet, I heartily recommend it!), I think I may have cracked it...

So without further ado- and if it even works (please gods, let it work this time!)- this link should take you to a Dropbox file so you can look at and/or download the broad background and setting for the game!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jq0s1qb3dm7r62y/SR%20Chronicle-%20setting%20Doc%20COPY.odt?dl=0

If it works, expect a fairly regular (say, weekly) upload of SR stuff- next will be the core rules, followed by the advanced rules and then the campaign system.

If anybody gives the link a try and it works (or not), then if you could drop a comment below and let me know one way or the other, it'd be much appreciated!

Cheers!

Oathmark Dwarves and the Shattered Realm.

It's always good to start a new project and make some progress through the pile of unpainted miniatures in the store-room (otherwise known as The Pit Of Shame) at the same time!

So today I cracked open my box of plastic Oathmark Dwarves from Northstar, and put together my first Party of models for my own fledgling fantasy game, Shattered Realm.

I love the 'old-school', Tolkienesque vibe of these models! In this day and age of World of Warcraft, Age of Sigmar et al, it's nice to see what are basically stout, bearded little Dark Ages warriors instead of stubby walking tanks with a bit of beard poking out and wielding unfeasibly huge, steam-powered axes (not that that kind of thing doesn't have it's place, of course...)!

*A group shot of the Party as they set off for the ruins of Gharzulgrint- affiliated to the Guild of Stonesmiths, this gives the Heroes access to Melee, Brawn and Shooting Skills.

In fact, I love them so much that I've also just pre-ordered the Goblins in the same range, and will be picking up a box of the Elves and humans when Nick gets around to doing them...

As these will mainly be used for small-scale Skirmishes, I used parts from the Frostgrave Soldiers set to give them more of a 'wandering adventuring Party' feel- backpacks, bed-rolls, coils of rope, lanterns etc. These combine really well with the Oathmark sprues with minimal effort!

*The four Followers- the basic hirelings that give the Party some bulk. L-R we have the Archer, Agbert the Taciturn; 'Handsome' Roldo the Thief; and two Warriors- Ogri Whitebeard (with lantern) and Young Snorri.

You'll notice that I've used the square 25mm bases provided, instead of the round ones more usually seen in Skirmish games- simply because I want the option of being able to use them in Oathmark once that game is released...

*The four Heroes- in Shattered Realm, Heroes come in two types: Leaders and Comrades. These are the 'main characters' of the game, and are the ones who will level-up during a Campaign.
Here we have, from L-R: 'Red' Gutrikk; my Leader Ranhulf Finehair (the disgraced second son of a Northern Jarl); the inscrutable old Raven-Priest known only as Munin, and 'Big' Bjarni Hjostelriksson (brother of Roldo).

As for my own game, Shattered Realm- well, as you might have read on an earlier Post here on the Blog, this is going to be my pet-project based on the core rules of Dracula's America- but with several tweaks to better represent the sword and sorcery setting! It will be minis-neutral, so you can use whatever fantasy stuff you have to hand, and will allow for 'mixed' Parties that share a Guild Allegiance rather than a 'Race' (so Elves can work alongside Orcs, for example)!

I hope to figure out how to get a PDF up here for folks to look at and/or download very soon (though if anyone reading could help me out with how to do this, that'd be much appreciated!). The core rules are there, as well as the main Campaign system; plus a simple narrative Scenario for one or more players to get used to the gameplay (yes, I hope to make the game work for Solo-play!).

Hopefully I'll have a Shattered Realm game report to share with you soon, at the very least!

Here's a Mad Idea...

*WARNING- Ramble Imminent!*

Dracula's America is out in the wild, the first Supplement is 'in the can', as they say, and the second supplement is all but complete...

So, what next?

Well, I have several ideas at the moment- but I fear none that will be picked up by any Publisher...
Not because they are bad ideas (or at least, I hope not!), but because I want to tackle some genres that are admittedly already extremely well-covered by existing games.

Mainly, I'm talking about Fantasy here!

Getting a game published was a long-held ambition of mine- not for the fortune and glory of course, but for the joy of creating something that other people can enjoy; something that let me put my own stamp on a genre that I love. Dracula's America has let me do that in spades, of course- but Fantasy is the Big One!
Now, I have a Fantasy setting that I've used many times in the past- in various rules-drafts, creative writing pieces and RPGs. It is unashamedly a melting-pot of all the tropes you can think of (but I like to think that there is a reason why things become clichés in the first place!)- from Tolkien to the Old World of Warhammer...

I have a tweaked version of the core Dracula's America rules that I have been tinkering with for a while, and a classic Fantasy theme that is ripe for a Skirmish game set within the ruins of an ancient underground Dwarf Empire, the shanty-town of adventurers and treasure-hunters that has sprung up on the surface, and the surrounding wilderness.
It will focus on rival Dwarven Guilds vying for the relics of their past and the Human, Elf, Orc and Minotaur sell-swords (amongst others) that join them on their expeditions.
It will take the concepts I love about Mordheim and Frostgrave, but it will bring my own design philosophies to the Fantasy Skirmish genre...

...I just have no idea how to go about doing this in such a way that it will reach other players, and so let the game grow organically!

So, what do folks think? Could I use this Blog as a platform- publishing the initial drafts of the rules as I go? Can I add a PDF here so that you can download it? Is there a way to set up a kind of forum for those interested to discuss their thoughts and own ideas/house-rules- and bearing in mind that I have very little technical know-how whatsoever...
It would be non-profit of course- no production values, no fancy artwork or professional photography- this is unashamedly for the joy of game design, and for the love of the Fantasy genre in general!

Do people need it? Maybe not! Will it be a fun, free game with a life of it's own? I hope so!
Am I as mad as the proverbial box of frogs? Most likely!

Think of this as our own little corner of a very crowded market...

Any takers?

DRACULA'S ERRATA!

Well, it was as inevitable as the tides...

Thanks to the keen-eyes of several players (and Mr. Alex Buchel, no less!), a few errors in the Dracula's America rulebook have come to light.

I've gathered them here for now, for the benefit of myself and all players. If any more crop up then I'll edit this Post and add them in- if anybody from the Facebook group is reading this, feel free to drop me a comment and I'll look into any questions you may have!
Pass it on...


Page 9- Contact.
Add the following sentence to the end of this section:

"The only Actions an engaged model can make are to Disengage or to Fight".


Page 45- Attacking Bystanders.
The final sentence should read:

"Finally, a Bystander that Fails to Save suffers Damage as normal. It is worth no Victory Points if it falls Casualty."


Page 74- Recruitment.
7th line down, add the following to the end of this sentence:

"Note that you roll the appropriate Die even if your Boss is unable to take part in the rest of the Campaign Turn for some reason (such as being Laid-Up due to Injury)."


Page 96- Wendigo.
To better fit in with the 'official' North Star Wendigo model, change it's Base Size to 30mm.


Page 122- Pale Rider.
The reference to the Rider moving 8" is a mistake- it should move 6" towards it's Prey as noted in it's profile!