Monday, April 29, 2013

Treasure Hunter: A Torchbearer Clone in less than a week.

First of all I'd like to both thank and apologize to Thor Olavsrud and Luke Crane for inspiring me to take the idea behind torchbearer and make my own game. To emphasize this point once again the following game was inspired by what I have read about Thor Olavsrud and Luke Crane's game Torchbearer and most if not all the concepts are taken from it. It was a joint collaboration and was play tested with my fellow gamers Mathew Morris and Jared Puttman. Sorry about the length of this post. It kind of reads like an instruction manual. If you have any questions about how the game is played tweet me @hungryclone

TREASURE HUNT

Treasure Hunt is a game involving two to four players entering a dungeon or cave in search of treasure. The end goal being to make it out alive with as much wealth as possible. Each player begins with four skills: Fight, Magic, Dungeoneering and Scavenge. Fight is the player's skill with the martial arts, Magic is the player's ability to cast spells and identify magical items, Dungeoneering is the player's skill to surmount physical obstacles in caves as well as traps found in dungeons, and Scavenge is the player's ability to find useful or valuable items as they adventure for treasure.

Character Creation-
When you create your character you assign the values 2+, 3+, 4+, and 5+ to each of these skills. This is the number you need to roll or higher to successfully use this skill on a six sided die. So for example I want to create a crafty fighter type who may have had previous dungeon crawling experience so I give him the following layout of skills: Fight 2+ Dungeoneering 3+ Scavenge 4+ Magic 5+

You are also allotted five points to spend between hit points or HP and will power or WP. When your HP are gone you are dead, your journey ends there and it is up to your comrades to continue without you. When your WP is gone your desire to continue into the depths has evaporated and all you desire is to leave as soon as possible. If half or a majority of your party has lost all WP then you can go no further into the dungeon and all movement must be made towards the exit. HP is lost when you take damage from traps or during combat. Every character must lose one WP if another member of their party dies or they encounter a monster who has the Fright ability.

When their character is created they have a backpack which is represented by a grid of four by 5 squares. Each piece of equipment will take up a certain amount of space in the backpack which will be noted in it's description in the items section. The player may choose to begin the game with any amount of equipment from the items section that they can fit in their backpack or their two hands. Items that you can choose from the items section at character creation are noted with an asterisk *.

Hunger/Thirst/Fatigue-
Something to keep in mind while making a character is that light, fatigue, hunger and thirst are very important aspects of your journey. As there is no light where you are going you will need to bring a light source. One person in your party of two to four must be carrying the light source at all times. At any time you are in the dark all of your skill rolls will be modified by -2. Your Hunger, Thirst, and Fatigue increase by one for every Segment or area you travel into. When your thirst reaches five you must consume a unit of water or your Magic and Scavenging skills will be modified by -1. If you go another five Segments without drinking water you receive another cumulative -1 to your Magic and Scavenging (this will likely drop one of these two skills beyond the ability to even successfully roll it). This works the same with Hunger which instead modifies Fight and Dungeoneering. Fatigue works in the same way but instead of eating food or drinking water your party must rest every 10 segments. When you rest you re-roll room's encounter chance roll at -1 to signify the possibility of a monster wandering into the room. As well when you fail to rest all of your skills suffer a -1 to their rolls. At any time one of your skills moves beyond a 0 chance of rolling (for example a 5+ skill receiving -2 to it's roll), because of either Hunger, Thirst, or Fatigue you instead take one damage.

Delving-
When you start play first determine the order in which your party will be traveling. The person in front will be labelled from now on as the leader. Then decide whether you are exploring a dungeon or a cave. Roll on the appropriate table to determine the room/chamber you enter. Next roll a dice to determine the number of exits the room has (not including the one you entered). 1-3 is one exit, 4,5 is two exits and 6 is three exits. If you are entering a dungeon area there will be a chance of a trap. Each area will have a different level of trap appearance. These are Low 5+, Moderate 4+ and High 3+. If a trap appears roll on the trap table to determine it's type. The leader is then required to make a Dungeoneering check. If they fail the trap activates. If they succeed the trap is ignored. Each area will also have a different level of encounter chance which you roll for. As with traps it is Low, Moderate and High. If you roll for an encounter roll once more. In a dungeon the type of encounter is 1-3 Beast, 4-5 Humanoid, 6 Monster unless otherwise stated in the description of the room type. Roll on the appropriate table to determine the exact Beast/Humanoid/Monster you encounter. Combat then begins (See combat). Once you have killed off any encountered creatures or have not rolled an encounter you may eat, drink, rest, move equipment around available spaces, craft equipment, cast any spells, and/or scavenge. Once these tasks have been completed. Determine the order that your party will move into the next room, choose an exit, and generate the next area. Everything that occurs in one generated area is referred to as one "Segment." Any equipment/items found or created in a Segment may be used or moved about from Character to Character or Backpack to hands etc but once the party moves onto the next area any equipment/items not in a Character's Backpack or in their hands is considered destroyed. If at any time a character must un-equip an equipment/item or remove an equipment/item from their backpack and have no room to either place it in their backpack or equip it it is "dropped" and is considered destroyed.

Combat-
Before combat begins you may drink any potions or antidotes that your character has in their backpack or equipped in their hands. You may also replace an item in one hand with an item in your backpack assuming there is room for the item in your backpack for the item in your hand. Switching a club for a blade for example. Combat then resolves in the order the creatures are generated and the party enters the room. The best way to think of this is as the party lined up perpendicular to the line of the enemy kind of like this: >
The leader takes an action against the first monster (here after referred to as monster A). He makes an attack using a weapon he has equipped in his hand(s) and rolls Fight or attempts to cast a spell by rolling his Magic. If he successfully rolls his weapon damages Monster A or his spell is cast. Then the next player in line would act against the monster behind Monster A, in this case Monster B. Assuming there were only the two monsters the third party member would then act upon Monster A. The players taking all of their actions in order is referred to as a Cycle.
Combat is modified by the following abilities: Ranged or « and Reach or ≈. If a character has ≈ and the creature they are fighting against doesn't they take no damage if they fail their Fight check. If the creature has  ≈ and the character does not then the character suffers a -1 to their Fight check. If both have ≈ combat is resolved as normal. If a character has « they may chose where to direct their attack. For instance if Player 2 would normally have to fight Creature A they could instead choose to direct the attack to damage Creature C. The following player in the party line up, Player 3, would instead pick up the the order again and would direct his next action at Creature A. If the creature has « and the character does not then the character suffers a -1 to their Fight check. If both have « combat is resolved as normal. A player with « ignores the effect of a creature with ≈.
If a character decides to cast a spell it must be the first action they attemp in that combat. The following round they may attempt to cast the same spell if they have any remaining scrolls or uses in a book of that spell. If they do not then they may not cast a different type of spell for their following actions.

Scavenging-
To scavenge in an area one player tests their Scavenge skill. If successful they roll on the scavenge table to determine what it is that they found. The remaining players may attempt to "Aid" their party member. They roll their own Scavenge skill and for every successful test may alter one of the rolls of the player making the primary Scavenge test by -1 or +1. This is to represent the party banding together to search a room or area. Certain rooms and areas guarantee an automatically successful roll on the treasure, mundane item, or magical item table or a specific item to be found regardless of success or failure on the Scavenge test.

Creatures-
The following are the profiles for the creatures encountered by the party. Each ∆ indicates how much damage they inflict. Each • indicates the HP each creature has. « indicates that the creature's attack is ranged. ≈ indicates that the creature's attack has reach. ∞ indicates an ability that activates at the beginning of every cycle. ! indicates an ability that activates before the beginning of combat. If a monster has the poison ability roll for the effect of the poison when it first damages a player using the poison trap table. That creature's poison will have the same effect for this combat. Also for alphabetical listing the word "Giant" has been removed from all of the mundane creatures. Assume then that a Bat is a Giant Bat or that a Slug is a Giant Slug.

Banshee ∆/•• Fright. Undead. Takes no damage from non-magical weapons.

Bat «∆/•

Beetle ∆/• Takes no damage from clubs.

Cave Bear ≈∆∆/•••

Chimera ≈∆∆/•• Poison

Cultist ∆/• Roll for each cultist's attack type when they appear. 1-2 Spear(≈), 3-4 Blade(Normal) 5-6 Magic(Roll for which spell this cultist has on the Creature Magic Table). Summon: If all of the cultists present are not killed in one cycle a Demon appears in the lead position of the enemy line up.

Cyclops ≈∆∆/••• Smash: When a character fails their action against the cyclops roll a die. On a 4+ it swings its mighty club and does one damage to the entire party. On 1-3 it instead does it's regular damage to the character who failed the action.

Dark Dwarf ∆/• Roll for each Dark Dwarf's attack type when they appear. 1-3 Club(Normal, 4-6(Firebomb:∆ To the whole party) The party automatically receives a treasure if they defeat Dark Dwarves.

Deep Elf ∆/• Roll for each Deep Elf's attack type when they appear. 1-3 Crossbow(«), 4-6Magic(Roll for which spell this Deep Elf has on the Creature Magic Table). The party automatically receives a treasure if they defeat Deep Elves.

Demon ∆∆/• Takes no damage from non-magical weapons.

Dragon «∆∆∆/•••• Fright. The party receives an additional treasure if they defeat a Dragon.

Eye Monster «∆/•• Beam: If a character takes damage from an Eye Monster roll a die. On a 4+ the next character in line takes 1 damage.

Floating Brain «∆/••

Fungal Beast ∆/•••• Poison. Regenerate∞: The Fungal Beast gains back one HP up to its starting amount. The Fungal Beast takes ∆∆ from fire spells instead of ∆. The party automatically receives a mushroom and a slime if they defeat a Fungal Beast.

Ghost ∆/• Fright. Undead. Takes no damage from non magical weapons.

Goblin ∆/• Roll for each Deep Elf's attack type when they appear. 1,2 Crossbow(«) 3,4 Blade(Nothing) 5,6 Spear(≈)

Golem ∆∆/•• No damage from blades.

Gorgon ∆/•• Petrify∞: The party's leader is frozen. Their next action automatically fails.

Hydra ∆∆/••• Regenerate∞: The Hydra gains back one HP up to its starting amount.

Lich /•••• Undead. Roll on the Creature Magic Table each time it would damage a character. Raise Dead∞: Roll a die. On a 1-3 a Zombie appears at the end of the enemy lineup. On a 4-6 Skeleton appears at the end of the lineup. If the Lich is killed any Zombie or Skeleton that was created by this ability is automatically destroyed.

Lizard ∆/••

Manticore ∆/••• Poison

Minotaur ∆/••• Charge!: ∆ to the party leader.

Ogre ∆∆/••

Orc ∆/•• Roll for each Orc's attack type when they appear.

Rust Beast ∆/•• Rust: When a rust beast damages a character all equipment in their hands that is metal (Italicized on the equipment list) is destroyed.

Skeleton ∆/• Undead. Roll for each Skeleton's attack type when they appear. 1,2 Crossbow(«) 3,4 Blade(Nothing) 5,6 Spear(≈) Takes no damage from blades or spears.

Slug ∆/•• No damage from blades or clubs.

Slimes No damage from weapons

Snake ∆/• Poison

Troll ≈∆∆/••• Regenerate∞: The Troll gains back one HP up to its starting amount.
 
Troglodytes ∆/• Roll for each Troglodyte's attack type when they appear. 1-3 Crossbow(«) 4-6 Spear(≈)


Worm ∆/•••

Zombie ∆/• Undead. No damage from blades.

Equipment/Items-

Equipment/Items marked with * before their names may be taken in any frequency during character creation. Equipment/Items with other equipment/items written between two brackets [] can be made by using up those equipment/items. Beneath the description of each equipment/item will be a series of blocks indicating it's shape and how many grid blocks of your backpack it takes up. Any items described as Liquid must be used in the Segment they are found or created in unless there is an empty oil container or canteen to put them in. Any equipment/items may be rotated to better fit in the backpack. Any equipment/item not marked as "Two-handed" can be held in one hand. Any equipment/item in italics contains Metal.

Antidote - [Moss, Slime] Antidote. Drink to end the effects of any poison.
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*Blade - ∆
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*Bolt - [Scrap Metal] Ammunition for crossbow
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*Bolt Clip - Ammunition for crossbow. Holds four shots. May be reloaded with found/constructed bolts.
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Book - Contains four uses of a spell. When found roll on the spell table to determine which spell. When the last use of the spell is cast it disappears. If no spells are used from a book it is worth Wealth 2 when you exit the Dungeon/Cave. Two-handed.
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*Booze - Drink to regain one WP. Three uses.
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*Canteen - Used to hold water. Starts with Three units of water.
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*Club - ∆
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Courage Potion - [Moss, Crystal] Liquid. Drink to prevent the next loss of WP this character would take.
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Crossbow - «∆. Must have bolts to be used.
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Crystal - Material. Wealth 1. 


Firebomb - [Empty Oil Containter, Crystal] Throw using Fight in combat to do one damage to all enemies.
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*Flint - [Scrap Metal] Used to light Torches and Lanterns.

Heal Potion - [Crystal, Slime] Liquid. Drink to regain 2 HP up to your starting HP.
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*Lantern - Comes with three units of oil inside of it. Provides light. Uses one unit of oil per segment.
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Moss - Material


Mushroom - Material. Counts as one unit of food.


*Oil Container - Holds oil. Starts with Five units of oil inside.
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*Ration - Counts as one unit food.
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*Rope - If used the entire party passes their Dungeoneering check at one "Drop off" (must be left behind). If used the Leader passes their Dungeoneering at a "Cliff" the rest of the party automatically passes their checks (does not need to be left behind).
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Scrap Metal- Material


*Scroll - Contains one use of a spell. When found or before you roll for your first segment roll on the spell table to determine which spell. When the last use of the spell is cast it disappears. Two-handed.
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Shoddy Blade - [2x Scrap Metal] ∆. The first time its user fails their Fight check it is destroyed.
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Shoddy Club - [Wood] ∆. The first time its user fails their Fight check it is destroyed.
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Shoddy Shield - (Can not be carried in your backpack) [Wood, Vines] Prevents one damage to a minimum of 1. The first time it prevents damage it is destroyed.

Shoddy Spear -  (Can not be carried in your backpack) [Wood, Scrap Metal] ≈∆ Two-handed. The first time its user fails their Fight check it is destroyed.

*Shield (Can not be carried in your backpack) Prevents one damage to a minimum of 1.

Slime - Material


*Spear (Can not be carried in your backpack) ≈∆ Two-handed.

Speed Potion - [Crystal, Mushroom] Liquid. Drink to re-roll the next skill test you make.
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*Torch - [Wood, Moss] Provides light. Lasts for three segments.
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Vines - Material
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Wood - Material
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Magic Items
When you find a Magic Item it is "unidentified." Before you roll to see what spell the item has or what type it is (for a shield/sword) it must be "identified" with a successful Magic check. If it is failed and a character attempts to use it it deals 1 damage to them and then the spell/type is rolled.

Book: (See Equipment/Item description) 

Horn of Plenty: Makes 1 ration every 5 segments. Worth Wealth 3.
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Holy Symbol: Use before the start of combat. All Undead are automatically destroyed. Must be equipped to use. When used it disappears. Worth Wealth 2.
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Magic whistle: Roll a die at the beginning of combat. On a 4+  any beasts in the area flee before combat begins. Must be equipped to use. Worth Wealth 1.


Scroll: (See Equipment/Item description)

Shield: (See Equipment/Item description). Roll a die to determine type. 1 Cursed-Can not be dropped and does not prevent damage, 2-4 Floating- Takes no hands to use. Damage reduction does not stack with a Shield spell or an equipped shield, 5-6 Deflection -No damage from «. If not Cursed worth Wealth 1.
 
Wand: Roll for spell. If equipped in a hand may be used to cast the spell during combat. There are unlimited uses. Worth Wealth 2.
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Weapon: (See Equipment/Item description for specific weapon details) 1,2 Blade 3,4 Club 5 Spear 6 Crossbow. Roll a die to determine type. 1 Cursed- Can not be dropped and character receives -1 to Fight checks,  2-4 Swift- Character may re-roll a failed Fight check. Does not stack with the Speed potion or spell, 5-6 Keen ∆∆. If not Cursed worth Wealth 1. 

Segments- 
Each segment may only be Scavenged once. If there is a trap in a room, whether it goes off or not, it is only interacted with once (that is if your party returns to the room the Leader does not need to make another Dungeoneering check). A √ indicates that only the leader will have to make a Dungeoneering check for the party to move to the next area. A √√ indicates that all party members will have to make a Dungeoneering check in order to move to the next area. These are followed with the penalty for failing. A party may always choose to head back to the previous area instead of attempting to make checks. In each area's description they will have two words with a slash between. The first indicates the frequency of encounters and the latter the frequency of traps ie "High/Low." If there is a dash there is no chance of either an encounter or trap.


Armory: Low/High. If a party Scavenges in an armory they automatically receive a weapon from the Mundane Item table and on a 4+ receive a Magic Weapon from the Magic Item table.

Burial: Moderate/- Instead of the normal encounter table roll on the Undead table.

Cliff: Low/- √√

Crevice: Low/- √√Death

Crush: Low/- You may only pass with a single hand equipped with an item.

Dead End: Moderate/- A dead end has no chance of exits.

Drop Off: Low/- √√Death

Flooded: Moderate/Low. Characters are at -1 to their Fight checks and can not make Scavenge.

Fountain: Moderate/Low. Characters can drink water from the Fountain and may refill any canteens.

Frozen:  Low/- √∆ If a fire spell is cast this Segment instead becomes a Lake.

Fungal Forest: High/- When a party Scavenges a Fungal Forest they automatically receive two mushrooms.

Hallway: Low/Moderate

Laboratory High/Mod. If a party Scavenges in a Laboratory they automatically receive a potion from the Mundane Item list and a second potion on a roll of a 4+.

Lake: Moderate/- Characters are at -1 to their Fight checks and can not make Scavenge checks.

Lava Flow: Low/- √∆ No Scavenge checks may be made.

Lava Chamber: Low/- √√∆ No Scavenge checks may be made.

Library: Low/Moderate. If a party Scavenges in a library they automatically receive a Scroll and on a 4+ receive a Book.

Mud: Moderate/- Characters are at -1 to their Fight and Scavenge checks.
Mundane Items.

Open Chamber:  Moderate/-

Ritual Chamber: High/Low. Roll a die when you enter. On a 1-4 There are no exits. On a 5,6 there are exits, roll as normal. Instead of rolling on the normal table select the Cultist encounter.

River: High/- Characters can drink water from the River and may refill any canteens.

Room: Moderate/Low

Ruins: Moderate/Low If there are two or three exits rolled out of a Ruin one of them leads out of the Cave into a Dungeon or vice versa. Begin rolling on the Dungeon or Cave tables respectively.

Tunnel: Low/-

Tomb: Moderate/High. Roll a die when you enter. On a 1-4 There are no exits. On a 5,6 there are exits, roll as normal. Instead of the normal encounter table roll on the Undead table. If a party Scavenges in a Tomb they automatically receive a treasure and on a 4+ receive a Magic Item.

Settlement: High/Low Only roll on the Humanoid table for encounters in Settlements. When a party Scavenges a Settlement they automatically receive two Mundane Items.

Stairs: Low/Low

Store Room: Low/Moderate. Roll a die when you enter. On a 1-4 There are no exits. On a 5,6 there are exits, roll as normal. If a party Scavenges in a Store Room they automatically receive two

Submerged: -/- √√ If the party does succeed in passing to the next area they must use Flint to light their torches or lanterns.

Spells
Spells may only be cast from scrolls or books that the character has in their own backpack or equipped in their hands. Both a successful and failed attempt at casting a spell will take up one use. So a character who fails to cast a fire spell from a scroll in their backpack discards that scroll.

Courage: Prevents the next loss of WP to target.

Fire: ≈∆

Heal: Target regains 2 HP up to their starting HP.

Ice: ≈∆ Target is Frozen.

Light: Counts as light source for next 3 Segments.

Lightning: ≈∆ If successful roll a die. On a 4+ another creature of the caster's choice (not the same creature) is hit for ∆.

Shield: Target counts as holding a shield in the current segment.

Speed: Target re-rolls next skill check. This does not stack with the Speed potion.

Petrify: Target is Frozen.

Platform: The party automatically passes the Dungeoneering check for a Dropoff, Cliff, Crevice, Frozen, Lavaflow, or Lava Chamber.

Teleport: The party automatically exits the Dungeon/Cave.

TABLES: 

Cave Area: 2d62: Dead End
3: Settlement
4: Odd- 1-3 Frozen 4-6 Fungal Forest
5: Obstacle- 1,2 Drop Off, 3,4 Cliff 5,6 Crevice
6: Open Chamber
7: Tunnel
8: Moist- 1,2 Mud 3,4 River 5 Lake 6 Submerged
9: Hot- 1-3 Lava Flow 4-6 Lava Chamber
10: Ruins
11: Crush
12: Burial

Dungeon Area: 2d6
2: Ritual Chamber
3: Store Room
4 Fountain
5 Tomb
6 Room
7 Hallway
8 Moist- 1-3 Flooded 4-6 Submerged
9 Stairs10: Armory
11: Library
12: Laboratory

Cave Encounter Table: d6
1-3:  Beast
4-5: Humanoid
6: Monster

Dungeon Encounter Table: d6
1-2:  Beast
3-4: Humanoid
5: Monster
6: Undead

Trap Type: d6
1: Fire- ∆ to party
2: Spike- ∆ to Leader
3: Petrification- Leader is Frozen
4: Poison- Leader is Poisoned.
5: Silence- No spells may be cast this Segment
6: Rusting- All metal items equipped by the party are destroyed

Poison: d6 (-1 to the following Skills for this Segment. Any WP or HP is permanent)
1: Fight
2: Magic
3: Dungeoneering
4: Scavenging
5: WP
6: HP

Treasure: 2d6
2: Jeweled Scepter: Wealth 4
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3: Ancient Scroll: Wealth 4
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4: Bag of Gems: Wealth 3
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5: Pouch of Coins: Wealth 2

6: Necklace: Wealth 2
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7: Crystal: Wealth 2

8: Statue: Wealth 2
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9: Gold Bar: Wealth 3
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10: Crystal Orb: Wealth 4
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11: Golden Crown: Wealth 4
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12: Alchemist Stone: Wealth 5
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Scavenge: d6
1-3: Ingredient- 1,2 Slime (d3) 3,4 Moss (d3) , 5 Mushroom (d2) , 6 Crystal (d2)
4-5: Material- 1,2 Wood 3,4 Scrap Metal (d2) 5,6 Vines (d2)
6: Item- 1-4 Mundane Item 5,6 Magic Item

Mundane Items: 2d6
2:Weapon- 1,2 Blade 3,4 Club 5 Spear 6 Crossbow
3:Torch
4: Lantern
5: Oil
6: Flint
7: Rope
8: Shield
9: Booze
10: Consumable: 1-4 Canteen 5-6 Ration
11: Ammo: 1-4 Bolt 5,6 Bolt Clip
12: Potion: 1,2 Antidote 3-4 Courage 5 Speed 6 Heal

Magic Items: 2d6
2: Wand
3,4: Scroll
5: Shield 1 Curse 2-4 Floating 5,6 Deflection
6-8: Weapon: 1,2 Blade 3,4 Club 5 Spear 6 Crossbow Type: 1 Curse 2-4 Swift 5,6 Keen
9: Magic Whistle
10: Horn of Plenty
11: Book
12: Holy Symbol

Spells: 2d6
2: Light
3: Speed
4: Heal
5: Courage
6: Ice
7: Fire
8: Shield
9: Lightning
10: Petrify
11: Platform
12: Teleport

Creature Magic: d6
1: Poison
2: Fire
3: Ice
4: Lightning
5: Petrify
6: Rust

MONSTER ENCOUNTER TABLES: (2 Players/3 Players/4 Players)
Beasts: 2d6
2: Rust Beast/(d2)/(d3)
3: Snakes (1d2)/+1/+2
4: Worm/(d2)/(d2+1)
5: Beetles (1d2)/+1/+2
6: Bats (1d3)/+1/+2
7: Spiders (1d3)/+1/+2
8: Wolves (1d3)/+1/+2
9: Lizards (1d2)/+1/+2
10: Slug/d2/d2+1
11: Slimes (1d3)/+1/+2
12: Cave Bear/d2/d3

Monsters: 2d6 (Rewards: Treasure, magic item 4+)
2: Fungal Beast/+Slime/+2 Slime
3: Chimera/+ Wolf/+2 Wolves
4: Demon/+ Bat/+2 Bats
5: Gorgon/+ Snake/+2 Snakes
6: Floating Brain/+Deep Elf/+Deep Elf and Dark Dwarf
7: Golem/+Dark Dwarf/+2 Dark Dwarves
8: Gargoyle/+ Bat/+2 Bats
9: Eye Monster/+ Skeleton/+ 2 Skeletons
10: Manticore/+Spider/+2Spiders
11: Hydra/+Troglodyte/+2 Toglodytes
12: Dragon/+Lizard/+2 Lizards

Undead: 2d6
2,4: Zombie d3/+1/+2
5-7: Skeleton d3/+1/+2 
8, 9: Ghost/+Skeleton/+2 Skeletons
10, 11: Banshee/+1 Zombie/+2 Zombies
12: Lich/+1 Zombies/+2 Zombies

Humanoids: 2d6 (1 mundane item, treasure4+)
2: Cyclops/+Wolf/+2 Wolves
3: Dark Dwarves (d3)/+1/+Golem
4: Ogre/+d2 Goblins/+d2 Orcs
5: Orcs (1d3)/+d2 Goblins/1 and +d2 Goblins
6: Goblins (1d2+2)/+Wolf/+2 Wolves
7: Troglodytes (1d2+2)/+lizard/+2 lizards
8: Goblins (1d2+2)/+Wolf/+2 Wolves
9: Cultists (3)/+ Cultist/+Cultist and Demon
10: Troll/+d2 Goblins/+d2 Goblins and Orc
11: Deep Elves (1d2+1)/+Deep Elf/+ Deep Elf and Spider
12: Minotaur/+1 Deep Elf/+2 Deep Elves

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Free Form Miniatures game test #1

Since I have a massive collection of miniatures that are both un-built and un-painted I threw this suggestion to my friend Chris: let's try a free form game of minis. I put forth that the only rules we start with are for points of units only based on the size. A small mini on a 10mm base was 1 point, a man sized mini on a 10mm was 2, a 20mm base was 4 and a 40mm base was 8 points. He brought an 5 man iron hands squad w/a Forge Father and a contemptor. I brought a gang of grots lead by a Runtherd. Among them was an ork w/a bionik eye and an anti-tank rifle and a squig hound. So we set up on a table of ruins and decided that the Space Marines were drawn by psychic presence of a grot-weird boy(which we decided was a grot who was clutching his head).

This was after the first few activations. We determined that while you didn't have to, you could clump models into groups that could be activated at the same time. The benefit is that you have more models to act (shooting at a model or charging another) though you decrease the amount of activations your side has. The success of any given ranged or melee attack was determined by studying the model making the attack and the model being targeted. After discussing it we would both agree upon a success roll on a d6. When a 1 or 6 was rolled you would roll again to determine a critical hit or failure. When a model was hit we used the something like the Necromunda damage table
: 1,2 knocked down 3,4 Wounded 5,6 Down. This in turn was modified by how powerful we determined the weapon was or how tough/weak the target was.
We used movement values and weapon ranges similar to those used in 40k but that was because we knew of them and could use it as a basis for decisions more easily.
This is where my squig hound lunged forward and ravaged a meltagunner, wounding him twice.
Here's where his squad leaps forward to assist him and my poor netter is shot thrice.
An ambitious grot races out and attempts to take down the Iron Father. His attack fails and he is subsequently cut down.
Both my Runtherd and the Iron Father are wounded and knocked down due to combat or shooting. My netter took the opportunity to run up and net him at which point my whole gang ran up to try to help dragging him off the board. It was a valiant effort but as the marines ran in chase they wielded their bolters with deadly accuracy, critting two of the grots helping. In the end my crew was cut down with 1" to go. It was a great test and I can't to try more.






Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children



Before the big update I had been running an Emperor's Children army and decided to start modeling them all Pre-Heresy. As the new codex has come out I rewrote my armylist for 2000 points. Here it is:

Lucius 165pts
Sorcerer w/Mark of Slaanesh, Sigil, Mastery 3, Burning Brand, Spell Familiar, Boon of Mutation 205pts
5 Noise Marines w/CC Weapons, Doom Siren, PW, Veterans of the Long War, Rhino 170pts
5 Noise Marines w/CC Weapons, Doom Siren, PW, Veterans of the Long War, Rhino 170pts
5 Noise Marines w/CC Weapons, Doom Siren, PW, Veterans of the Long War, Rhino 170pts
10 Noise Marines w/Blast Master, 8x Sonic Blasters, Banner of Excess 264pts
10 Noise Marines w/Blast Master, 8x Sonic Blasters, Banner of Excess 264pts
Heldrake 170pts
3 Obliterators 210pts
3 Obliterators 210pts
1998pts

I converted my heldrake as a plane:




My squads of 5 that push the assaults w/Veterans of the Long War I modeled as being more like vets using Sanguinary guard armour:



The basic squads I'm converting to have MkV armor:
The "Icon of Excess" which gives feel no pain I figured could be represented by an apothecary in the squad:




One squad of the Obliterators are Legio Cybernetica robots and the other is going to be a single terminator with a mob of servitors holding, rearming and attaching heavy weapons to him. Thoughts are welcome!


CHAOS HAS COME!

Well it's been a billion years since I've posted and the new Chaos Space Marine Codex has been out for quite a bit now so as penance I will go through the entire codex and give a quick overview of how I feel about/uses of/rating out of 5 for all of the codex entries.

So let's jump right into it starting with:

HEADQUARTERS!!!!!
Abaddon- A beast as always. Powerhouse but a points sink. Unlocking Chosen as troops is cool but there again they are points sinks themselves. 4/5

Huron- Random psychic powers, claw is no longer a fist(good and bad). He let's d3 infantry units infiltrate. Best warlord power in my opinion. Kind of average as an HQ but pretty cheap. 4/5

Khârn- "Initiative one? Not anymore!" *raise middle finger* Hitting on 2s and rerolling misses against space marines. The betrayer is back and better than ever. 5/5

Ahriman- Psychic powerhouse. If this is your deal go whole hog. He slaps out powers like a champ and like Huron he lets some units infiltrate. Thousand sons infiltrating just sounds funny. 3/5

Typhus- Come on bring the...zombies? Changing a unit of 35 cowering pitiful scum into a groaning zombie horde for free is kind of awesome. A bit of a beast in CC though a good chunk of change. All manner of crazy nonsense abilities. 5/5

Lucius- Short of challenging a terminator this boy will eat up the competition. Attacks equal to his opponent's WS and rerolling to wound makes this fool a character killing fool. 5/5

Fabius Bile- Not much of a change from before and only upgrades 1 squad though it's for free. 3/5

Chaos Lord- Damn cheap and with tons of options available! 5/5

Sorcerer- Customizable with the new variety of powers though I'm only really happy with the Slaaneshi powers. Take it as you will but still customizable pretty well. 4/5

Daemon Prince- A saucy beast w/the new rules for flying monstrous creatures. Able to take demon weapons that soar their attacks through the roof or make them squad destroying beasts, slap on the ability to make them mastery 3 sorcerers with access to the biomancy powers and you have a CC monstrosity on your hands. 5/5

Warpsmith- A nod to the Iron Warriors who drops the efficiency of cover, comes with a meltagun which he can fire in addition to his own ranged attacks. Not to shabs but not the best in CC. 4/5

Dark Apostle- The "evil chaplain" who gives units his LD of 10. I don't really see this HQ as being that useful. Fearless HQs can transfer it to units they've joined. Sure they can give their zealot abilities to their squad and let you reroll Chaos Boon table results but for the price I don't think it's that good. Slap on the fact that you can't put them in Terminator armor and you have a lack luster HQ.
2/5

Well there's the HQ. Hopefully I'll be able to overcome my laziness and come back with the troops review. I'll go over the options that you can unlock as troops as well to give a better overview of all options.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Dark Templar's Contest!

Skip on over to The Dark Templar's blog to join his contest for a coveted and very skillfully converted Blood Angel Sanguinary Priest. Also in the prize is the legendary "Melta guy." Be sure to check out his back story it's awesome. 

Thursday, May 17, 2012

As yet unnamed giant battle platform game!

So I've fixated on making a game where three factions duke it out using giant weapons platforms in the decaying ruins of Earth cities. Plot points: Humans make intelligent robots, robots rise up but right as aliens from the closest planetary system show up to take over our planet. 3 way battle royale! Quick plot aside right now I'm working on the rules. I've gotten a few lists together in regards to weapons and technology. As it stands there are three sizes of platforms with internal space and exterior "hard points." Sounds too much like the Tau Crisis suit equipment so I'll eventually change that. There's gear that overlaps each faction and there'll be unique items too but I haven't gotten to that yet. Anyway here's the lists so far:

Solid Weapons:
Cannon (Shell)
Artillery (Shell)
Railgun
Missile Pod
Chain Cannon
Flak Cannon
Mega Rocket
Cluster Cannon
Anti Aircraft Artillery
Gun Battery

Energy Weapons:
Cannon (Plasma)
Cannon (Laser)
Cannon (Lightning)
Artillery (Plasma)
Laser Battery
Anti Aircraft Laser
Heat Ray
Graviton Blaster
Plasma Caster

Melee:
Tentacle
Grappling Arm
Arm
Drill
Hydraulic Lance
Claws
Lightning Staff
Lightning Whip
Energy Blade

Defensive Upgrades:
Armor Plating
Reactive Armor
Energy Shielding (All Around)
Energy Shielding (Single Facing)

Energy Equipment:
Fission Reactor
Fusion Reactor
Nullgerät (Nullpunkenergiegerät - Zero point energy device)
Solar Cells
Capacitor Cells


Transportation: 
Tank Bays
Aircraft Hanger
Drone Deployer

Well that's it so far.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Campaign Army: Feral Orks

So the two friends I've made at the GW store and I are trying to start up a kind of narrative campaign. Roughly it entails some Iron Hands who survived the Istvaan V massacre and hunted down some Emperor's Children. Long story short they were forced to land on a planet with three moons surrounding a dying star. The planet's rapid orbit strays incredibly far and close to the sun and as such it is wracked with tidal forces and extremes in both hot and cold. The planet and it's sun's predicament came about due to the Eldar. They battled fiercely with Orks on the planet's surface but finally decided the planet was not worth their effort. They skewed the planet's orbit and quickened the star's demise. Since then the orks and their technology have degenerated into a feral state. All three forces will clash on the surface of this horrid world known as Ragnarok (Not my choice of name).
Rules wise we will be playing every game with the random Death World effects from the most recent White Dwarf Magazine. On top of that after every battle you choose a unit that survived. They roll on a table and receive a random USR (reroll if it's one they already have).  That way we get a little "veteran" thing going on. If that unit is later killed they lose the USR.
Specifically for the Ork player I've created a mash up of the 3rd edition Feral Ork list from the Chapter Approved book and the current Ork codex. Here it is:


Feral Orks
All non vehicle units in the "Feral Orks" come standard with "Magik Warpaint which confers a 6+ invulnerable save.
(May not take Cybork body, warbikes or kombi-weapons)


HQ:
Old Zogwort
Warboss (may be mounted on a Boar(counts as cavalry) for 40pts)
May take Weirdboys as Elites. If upgraded to Warpheads they are counted as HQ. (A warphead may be mounted on a Boar(counts as cavalry) for 40pts)

ELITES
Nobs (May take a Big Squiggoth as a Deddicated Transport)
Squiggoth 40pts
Standard WS2 BS2 S5 T6 W3 I1 A3 Ld7 v 6+
Stubborn, Monstrous Creature
May take a single: Big Shoota +5pts
                               Rokkit Launcha +10pts
                               Lobba +15pts
TROOPS:
Ork Boys. Up to half (rounded down) of the units of Ork Boyz in the army may be upgraded to 'Ard Boyz. May take a Junka Trukk as a dedicated transport.
Junka Trukk 25pts
Front 10 Side 10 Rear 10 BS 2
Weapons: May take a single: Big Shoota +5pts
                                               Rokkit Launcha +10pts
                                               Lobba +15pts
Special Rules: "The poor lack of maintenance means that these trukks are liable to mechaninal failure on a regular basis. Before the vehicle moves roll a D6. On a roll of 1 something has snapped, blown up or seized and the crew must spend the remainder of the turn repairing the damage. The vehicle may not move this turn."
Gretchen

FAST ATTACK:
Skulkas(Stats/Options the same as Kommandos) as Fast Attack. In addition for free they may deploy as per the Ymgarl Genestealer "Dormant" rule from Codex: Tyranids
Squig Herdaz
    1-3 Herdas 12 points (same stats/options as Runtherd+Infiltrate/Stubborn)
    10-30 Squigs WS4 BS- S3 T4 I4 A2 Ld5 Sv- Stubborn, Furious Charge
When all Herdaz in the unit are killed remove the entire unit from the game.
Boarboyz (Same stats/options as Ork Boyz but 9pts per model and count as cavalry)

HEAVY SUPPORT:

Big Gunz (Only Lobbas)

0-1 Units of 1-3 Squig Katapults (Same Stats/costs as big guns but costs +15 per gun to upgrade)
Squig Katapult
48" S*  Ap- Notes Heavy 1 Barrage, Blast, Pinning
*Non Vehicle units under the blast template must make an armor save. Those that fail are removed from the game. Roll for vehicles under the template: 1-2 Nothing Happens 3-4 The Vehicle is Shaken 5-6: The Vehicle is Stunned
If the template causes any non-vehicle casualties keep the template where it lands. On subsequent ork turns roll a D6: 1-3 The Swarm disperses. 4-6 The swarm scatters 2d6 inches (On a hit move the swarm in the direction of the arrow). Resolve the blast again.

Squiggoth:
Big
WS2 BS2 S7 T6 W4 I1 A3 Ld7 Sv 5+ 50pts
Massive
WS2 BS2 S7 T7 W5 I1 A4 Ld7 Sv 4+ 60pts
Stubborn, Monstrous Creature
Weapons: A Big Squiggoth may take a single: Big Shoota +5pts
                                                                           Rokkit Launcha +10pts
                                                                           Lobba +15pts
                A Massive Squiggoth may take a up to 2: Big Shootas +5pts per gun
                                                                                   Rokkit Launchas +10pts per gun
                                                                                   Lobbas +15pts per gun
Transport A big Squiggoth may be used to transport up to 10 models. A Massive squiggoth may transport up to 20 models. When embarking/disembarking from a Big or Massive squiggoth count it as being an open-topped vehicle. If the Squiggoth is killed and the passengers may be crushed. All models embarked take a wound on a 4+ (regular armor saves allowed). Place the embarked models as if the Squiggoth was a vehicle that blew up.

Well there it is. Thoughts?