Rulebook Ruminations: Inferno

With all the World of Darkness gaming going on here at the gate for the past while, I thought I'd take time to focus on the impetus for our last campaign, Hell Bend.  I've got a lot of the books from this line, and I've wanted to take the time to let players really experience the contents of each one.  I knew the Book of Spirits would be one of the first ones I'd introduce into the setting, and I knew that Inferno would follow shortly after.

Inferno is a World of Darkness supplement that explores the nature of demonic spirits.  These kinds of dark spirits hail from the titular Inferno, or Hell.  OOOO...spooky Satan stuff, right?  Isn't that what they warned us about in the 1980's?!  Haven't you spent the better part of the last twenty years telling people gaming isn't Satan worship, Dave Bone?!  What the Hell?!

What the Hell, indeed.

I thought about how to approach this for a long time, the subject matter being what it is.  Upon first seeing this volume in a lot I bought, I thought Inferno was going to be a really hokey approach to the whole thing...but I was surprised.  I didn't find the Leveyan hokiness or a barrage of uncontrollable and largely incoherent "gothic-punk" blasphemies against Christ.  I read it anyway...and was very surprised.  What I found instead was a rather adult treatise on what evil means, on the nature of evil, and how it can be interpreted in many, many ways.

The crunch of the book is a sophisticated system governing a specific caste of dark spirits that feed on human sin, unlike normal spirits which feed on Essence.  These evil spirits are literally linked to a Vice.  It is theologically neutral in the delivery - your demons could be Judeo-Christian...or not.  Fancy a Pinhead-style once-human demonic entity?  Examples and classifications are provided...but you are encouraged to be as vague as you want as to the true nature of these specific kinds of evil spirits.

From a strictly rules-oriented standpoint, in Inferno a demon is an evil spirit that has certain qualities that differentiate them from other similar spirits.  Not all dark spirits are demons, and not all demons started as a spirit wisp.  These are different in classification than normal spirits, and in many ways have far more capacity to truly wreak havoc on a setting. In addition, because of this alternate nature, can cause some dark things to come to the fore on your gaming night.  Of course, we love black comedy here at the Wargate.

In the end, this volume specifically is NOT going to be for everybody.  It's going to depend on your spiritual leanings, and your strength of character.  I won't comment on my own personal spirituality, or that of my game group, but I will state that we all felt safe in exploring the subject and it was never an issue.  Of course, there are demonic armies at the Wargate, so who cares about a few more disembodied voices?  The demons presented in Inferno are (largely speaking) immaterial as any other spirit.  They are truly reflections of terrible things from within ourselves, unlike so many Balrogs, Pit Fiends and Bloodthirsters who are just 'roided out boogeymen.

I also would like to state that even though Hell Bend was a story chronicle about demonic entities, I have yet to write a Satanic story.  I just can't bring myself to do that.

Because Satan is really hokey.

Rulebook Ruminations: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Player's Handbook

I kept up with the development of 5th Edition from the very beginning.  Dungeons & Dragons is close to my heart, and I was very eager to see what solidified on this.  Veterans and refugees from the Edition Wars will know what I mean.  I wanted to wait until I had a chance to play with it to make any rash decisions, and the Wargate just finished a two-season (six month) campaign using the launch materials in the new Basic boxed set, together with the Player's Handbook.  Now after all that, and despite all the forebodings and ill omens, I can say without reserve that I very much like the new game.

The physical book is beautiful, as is to be expected.  Matte and gloss hardcover, full color interior.  Very nice, as all Wizards of the Coast publications always are.  The price point is $49.99 MSRP, though that might be stretching it for an item like this - especially if WotC intends to pop a new edition if five or so years.  If you are fixed on this, Wizards, see to it that fifty bucks remains the standard for some time to come, and that quality does not diminish.  Remember, you are competing with yourselves and the 2000 launch of 3rd Edition.

Anyways, the meat of it.  Not a whole lot has changed really.  The basic mechanics of the D20 system haven't changed, and really if you break it down it's all it how the information is presented.  A lot of rules have been streamlined, and combat isn't nearly as complex.  However, a lot of the material we're used to using has been changed or shuffled away.  This streamlining limits the system's ability to adjudicate things on its' own and a lot more is left to DM interpretation.  I know there are sets of gamers who like this sort of thing but by and large Gatekeepers don't care for it - but this didn't diminish our enjoyment of the ruleset by much, if at all.

Classes always change between the editions.  In this volume, there is a single principle that binds all the class mechanics and choices.  Each class is well balanced against one another, even as we might rail against spellcasters slinging 1d10 damage at will - but as gameplay progresses you will see that's not really any different from the other classes.  As the player classes create the basic game experience for the players, it's important not to downplay this balance - this is a key concept.  Under certain situations, something can seem very overpowered, but give gameplay a chance to show you how limited you really are.  A lot of things folks would normally scoff at isn't really an issue, as the dice roll.

Gone are the lists and lists of Feats (good luck on those) and most options are built into the class choices instead.  There are several variations of each class, and it gives a good spread of the flavors of previous editions, with warlocks making pacts and sorcerers with mystical bloodlines.  In addition, there is a big change in the philosophy of how the game should play seems to have changed.  The actual gameplay in combat is not a clone of some boring MMO, as 4th Edition was prone to feeling at times.

For six months, we played using only the Player's Handbook and the Basic set.  We had one TPK, and the DM did change the scenario for the second party.  I'd say that was a pretty good run for the entry level materials, and we're firm believers in 5th Edition now.  I can say I'm eager to complete the collection and explore the new adventure tomes.

We might need a few more of these Handbooks for the table.

Rulebook Ruminations: Dungeons & Dragons Expert

We're five months into our Dungeons & Dragons Basic / Expert campaign, and it has been a blast.  With 92 hours logged so far, we've managed to creep up the experience scale to right about 6th level.  We've enjoyed how simple the game is, but that only lasted so long.  Now, our players are hungry for those forgotten bits of complexity that gives Advanced and later versions their staying power and are beginning to branch out in ways they haven't before.

At 4th level, I allowed the Expert book to be used freely by the players.  It starts out with a treatise on higher level characters, up to 14th level.  However, the gains characters make each level are dispersed across the levels.  This results in massive boosts to certain classes at certain levels, while other levels don't do anything but give you a Hit Die.

More equipment is added, most notably sailing vessels.  This has been a focal point of our campaign so far, as it's based around the Sea of Dread.  Some other basic land transport information is given, but it's all "basic" stuff here.

Of course, more spells.  There aren't very many spells per level, which is great for new players or players using spellcasters for the first time.  It's easy to wrap your head around things and get the hang of the most basic of spells you may encounter in your adventuring career.

Basically, everything in the game is fleshed out to a higher degree.  There are more spells, monsters and treasures.  There is more info on combat, and how you can engage in combat.  Notable additions there are mounted, naval and aerial combat rules.

However, it's the wilderness rules that are the star of the show.  Not really much here in the way of text, but the way it opens the game up from just the basic rulebook is felt by all involved immediately.  Now you can travel from town to town, from town to dungeon, from dungeon to dungeon or whatever.  And also...ships.

Non-player characters are given more attention as well...especially the different kinds of specialist PC's can hire.  You'll need sailors for your ships' crews, and you'll probably need an alchemist or sage at some point.  Not to mention the brutal mercenary army you always wanted.

There's a bit of Mystara information in the very back as well, all centered on Karameikos.  It's very basic, but this publication was the seed from which the Known World was grown.  As it is, it shows the Dungeon Master how to set up an outdoor campaign setting in a traditional hex map.  This is nice, since everyone knows Karameikos is full of fun times.

In conclusion, the Expert rulebook is essential to a Dungeons & Dragons game that wants to expand from Basic.  However, all these rules are included in the Rules Cyclopedia.  None of this is still in print, but if you fancy giving it a go it and it's Basic and Companion cohorts can be had pretty cheap secondhand.

Rulebook Ruminations: Dungeons & Dragons Basic

Earlier this month, the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules for what is essentially 5th Edition is up for download at the Wizards of the Coast website.  Seems like a great time to talk about the actual rules we are using right now at the Wargate, which happens to be a copy of 1981's Basic Rules.  There's a lot of material that today's gamers might find interesting, and I know not everyone is familiar with some of this old stuff.  So in today's rumination, I'm going to run down a list of some of the old rules you may not be familiar with.

Our copy of D&D Basic that is currently being run at the Wargate is none other than the 1981 printing of the red book above.  We also have the "blue" book and introductory boxed set, but this current campaign focuses on a different set of modules than what I want to run using only that box.  To that end, we have the Basic, Expert, and Companion sets from this era, with the Rules Cyclopedia to top it off.  The gist of it is - you only get access to each set when you level up.  So at the beginning of the campaign, this Basic rulebook is literally all you have to start with.

Ability scores with a straight 3d6 roll, straight down the list.  No rolling and placing scores in the Ability you like most - the only customization you can do at this point is that some classes can reduce certain Abilities to gain a point in their Prime Requisite, at a 2 to 1 ratio.  So you get what you get.  Makes the scores a lot more relevant, and it makes rolling them much more exciting a prospect.

Next, there are only 7 classes.  Four of these - Fighter, Thief, Cleric and Magic-User - are human.  The remaining three - Dwarf, Elf and Halfling - are races.  So there you go - one of the biggest differences lie in the streamlining of choices, especially prevalent at the Basic level.  One way this manifests is in how the demihumans are presented, which are as entirely separate classes.  

One thing about older versions of D&D is that each class has a different value of XP needed to advance a level.  A Fighter needs 2,000 points to advance to level 2, but a Magic-User needs 2,500 XP.  Likewise, a Cleric needs 1,500, and an Elf needs 3,000.  Why the disparity?

There are no skills / proficiencies is Basic.  However, each of the classes has a lot of things only its' members can do, and for certain classes (especially demihumans) they come loaded for bear on these special skills.  Elves are basically what would come to be known in later editions as Fighter/Mages, and since they combine the abilities of both require the most XP to advance a level.

Spells are very simple and limited.  Most don't have overthought rules, and simply apply to "groups" of monsters when cast.  The silliest thing I've seen are Killer Bees put to Sleep, which wouldn't happen under more advanced rules.  Actually, that's not bad considering how stripped down Basic is compared to 3e and everything that came after.

A very basic equipment list will help complete you character, but the old layout makes you suffer.  It's a good thing it's a small manual.  Combat and weapon information is in 3 different places - it's almost as if they didn't know people would need to reference a weapons' damage, weight and cost at the same time.

Encounters and adventures are explained well - in fact this is one of the better examples in all of RPG-dom.  The breakdown of Turns and Rounds keep the "game" aspect quite clear.  All in all, Basic is still one of my favorite manuals, and has been indispensable throughout my tenure as Dungeon Master.

The game is balanced very differently from it's descendants.  There is a complete lack of Thac0 and saving throw progression throughout, although some rules for higher level characters are presented.  Still, it won't be until you hit 4th level that it will get easier to hit monsters.

Yet, monster HD scaling is absolutely on par with later editions.  Monsters get Thac0 and save bonuses right out of the gate, so be warned - a 3 HD monster has Thac0 17, while a 3rd level Fighter languishes at 19.  They have the same amount of hit points (on average) but that 10% attack difference means that the monster will hit more often.  At 3rd level, don't expect to be able to take more than 3 dice of damage (that's why they are called Hit Dice)!

Basic treasure tables do actually contain quite a bit, but the amount of magical items described might be fewer than you expect.  However, it does cover a lot of the basics, from magical weapons and armor to potions, scrolls, rings, staves and even more esoteric kit.  Very strange magical items are not included, but there's more than enough here to get your adventurers started.

So, the delay in posting has been in part due to the release of the new rules, which I started devouring immediately upon release.  I followed and partook in the playtest, and have a vested interest in D&D Next.  I was going to do a comparison piece, but it really deserves it's own review.  I would take this task gladly, but we're going to be in Mystara for quite some time to come.  Suffice it to say, I actually like this new version.

At first glance, the new D&D seems to combine design aspects from both 3e and 4e.  I like a lot of what I see, but I'm going to hold off a full opinion until I get my hands on a Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide.  I've been reading those since 1991, and I know what goes in them.  Oh well, I guess we have to wait even longer.

I don't think we'll notice the wait, though.  We have tons of stuff to work through, and by the time we're done in Mystara all this new stuff will be out.  Who knows?  Maybe we'll jump ahead to 5e.  Until then, good luck gamers!  See you on Game Day!

Rulebook Ruminations: Ronin - Skirmish Wargames in the Age of the Samurai

As many of you know, we've been looking for a good system to base our Clan Strife mod upon.  We have been working for about two years and have several working systems, but we never actually carried out the plan to fruition.  Something about the published rulesets hindered the design process as we cleaved to various conventions that made those rulesets unique.  For most of that development time, there were no games based in the Sengoku-Jidai that had enough production value for us to consider.  By the end of 2013, several games were released into the game-o-sphere that were the answer to our prayers.

In the end, we chose Ronin, by Craig Woodfield and published by Osprey Publishing.  This is a small skirmish game that focuses on about a dozen models or so.  This ruleset not only addresses most of the basic Japanese-flavored rules you'l need, but also has a unique and interesting mechanic to set it apart from other games.  We have had the basic book for a while now and have been making modifications for Clan Strife, so today we'll talk about the rules themselves.

First of all, this book is small.  Weighing in at 64 pages, it's smaller than most publications you'll pick up unless they are small dungeon modules.  However, it packs a lot of bang for it's small size.

The production level is high, with awesome paintings by Wayne Reynolds, courtesy of Osprey's sizable library of historical military books.  There aren't a lot of glaring errors, and the text is easy to read and not muddled with a lot of background (the paintings do that well enough).  Besides, there's always plenty of stuff to read about medieval Japan.

The rules themselves are very easy to grasp.  Functionally, it's very similar in many ways to The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, which was one of the rulesets we had intended to modify for Clan Strife.  There's a priority step, followed by Move, Combat, Action and End phases.  All that's pretty self explanatory, as they are pretty standard wargames fare.  The Action phase is used for stuff like cutting off heads, and you can shoot in both the Move and Action phases.  However, the real gem of the system is the combat system.

The game uses counters, drawn in secret, to form Attack and Defense pools.  Each model gets a certain Combat Pool, and must decide how many points from his pool he will allocate to attack or defense.  Each player reveals their counters at the same time, and then the counters are spent during the ensuing combat.  For instance, for each Attack Counter, you can make an attack.  Defense counters help your warrior avoid damage.  It's an interesting mechanic that adds a certain flavor to the proceedings that really puts you into the cut and thrust of swinging katanas and chopping off necks.

Also included are various lists for factions.  Almost everything conceivable has been covered, and it has drastically reduced the amount of overhead material needed for Clan Strife.  Rules for ashigaru, samurai, ninja, sohei and even Koreans and Ming Chinese have been covered, including many weapons and special abilities your soldiers can select.  All in all, the tome is small but very complete.

Osprey has been offering some very interesting alternatives for wargamers.  Ronin is the first one we've picked up, largely because it was relevant for our ongoing project.  It retails for $17.95 USD, and even if samurai hack and slash isn't your thing, they probably have something that is.  Check out their webstore for more cool stuff, and get your Clan Strife buntai ready!

Rulebook Ruminations - Mage: The Awakening

Previously, several of my Rulebook Ruminations have involved World of Darkness books.  I hesitate to call it "new", simply to differentiate it from the "old".  It's not new anymore, and the "old" books are ancient history.  So why do I ruminate on these books more than some others?

First of all, it's not secret that I enjoy the World of Darkness line over the "old" line.  It's just better.  I know there are a lot of folks who will gnash and growl at that statement, but for me it's not only true - it's a hands down win for the "new" line.  There is no contest.  I'm not even going to go into all that, as we've already done that before...I just wanted to clarify that bit for anyone who was just joining us.  I believe that almost every aspect of the new line is better...that is, production standards are higher.  The books look nicer, and reading through various titles you get the idea that this was all designed before it was broken into sale pieces such as this volume.  We'll get back to this later.

We've played a couple of chronicles with the new system...but this is the first supernatural chronicle we have embarked upon.  The others were explorations of the system as normal mortals (for the most part), and certainly no one had a supernatural template in Hunting Humans or The Rough Edge of Night.  All that malarkey about vampires or werewolves back in the day is out - and mages are in.  This will definitely color the scope of the system for us in the years to come, and I think this was the best decision.  Nobody really has been into vampires since the 90's, and werewolves went out when Twilight came in.

The new system lends itself well to this sort of play.  Some names are turned around from Mage: The Ascension and the "old" World of Darkness in general, such as Gnosis being a mage trait and the ten different arcanas names and functions.  Yet everything is very familiar if you've come from that older world, and once you have a bit of the newer lexicon committed to memory you'll be flinging spells left and right.  Virtual Adepts?  No sir, we have the Free Council instead.

The biggest part of the book are the descriptions of the actual spells you can do with the various arcana.  However, it's a huge step forward for this type of system.  There's still improvisational magic, and the system for that is beefed up as well.  Yet there are a multitude of "common" spells for each arcana, including all the ones new players might be looking for.  Even masters for whom Ascension is old hat will find these training wheels very helpful in the beginning.

It seems that a lot of the old Mage game was based on having much of the source material outside the main volume, and this line assumes much the same.  There's just too much material for one volume, so it's spread out over the line.  Tome of the Watchtowers and Sanctum & Sigil are necessary reads if you want your game to resemble the "default" World of Darkness game world.

That being said, the new world isn't as couched in metaplot as the old.  I was very excited to get my copy of Ascension back in what must have been 1996.  Yet when I began to read it, I had no idea what was going on.  I couldn't make heads or tails of what it was talking about, and as a result I never ran a game with that volume.  I wanted to, but after reading the book I was so confounded as to what was supposed to be an adventure in that system that I simply went back to being a Dungeon Master.  Which brings me to my real point.

Though the ease of approach to and the general playability of Mage: The Awakening is much higher than its predecessor, the game itself is very different from some other games we play.  Adventure design, awards and penalties, etc. are all very different from the standard "dungeon-delve" paradigm we're used to.  Yes, this is a roleplaying game, but you have to remember there are different genres of rpg.

For instance, there's the staples of Swords & Sorcery, Epic Fantasy, Space Opera, Western and all the rest.  You'll have to learn to look at the system for guidance.  What about Horror games?  I still think of the World of Darkness as a horror system, and obviously it thinks of itself that way as well.  Horror, mystery and suspense are the hallmarks of this system...even though you're wizards, Epic Fantasy Dungeon Murder this is not.

We usually play World of Darkness games, old and new, as the cliche "supers with fangs" or "supers with claws" style game.  Yet I will give you this warning, Gatekeepers:  I do not design World of Darkness games as a dungeon.  Neither do the publishers.  Don't get me wrong, I like dungeon hacking as much as the next guy, and probably more.  World of Darkness is different, and presents much different opportunities for scenario writers like myself.  Much like Dark Heresy and Call of Cthulhu, these games should be about mystery, suspense and horror.

The scenarios you face will have to be resolved without the sort of end that most barking mad dungeon murder-hobos come to.  They aren't designed for that, and the world isn't either.  Too many bloodbaths and your campaigns will come to a screaming halt - unless of course, your Storyteller is doing a "supers with magic" chronicle.

For myself, I'll take my cue from the system.  Players need to be reminded what sort of game you're running, however.  Make sure you're all on the same page before all the mages pull out guns and everyone ends up dead.

Rulebook Ruminations: Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition

Rulebook Ruminations, where I talk about books that were released X years before I post about them, where X is equal to the number of years it has been in existence before I decide to actually use the rules manual.  In today's case, it's relatively short...X was in this instance equal to exactly .05 - Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition was released last summer, and we began 2013's campaign this January.

Well, we all know the book is awesome as an item.  Huge, glossy paper and magnificent binding with an attached ribbon bookmark is just cool.  This book looks great on the shelf next to the other books coming out with this iteration of the game.  Of course, it follows the trends set forth by 2010's Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 8th Edition.  It's alike in more ways than one, including rules conventions.  This is definitely a plus for those of us who game both systems.

The system's overhaul has been light, mostly changes are in directing who gets shot with what and who gets a cover save.  Previous iterations focused on generalizing these rules, but I guess the trend has been to get more and more specific as editions march on.  For instance, in 4th Edition cover saves were granted to the whole unit from enemy fire.  Same deal in 5th, but you could remove whoever you liked from the squad when casualties were inflicted.  In 6th Edition now, LOS and Cover are determined on a model by model basis, and a system has been designed to allow for focused fire.  This can make for some really dynamic firefights.

There are some minor changes masked as big changes, such as Warp Charge points and Hull Points.  Though they didn't really exist as such, these have already been in the game for quite some time.  The old vehicle damage tables provided about 3 damage to a vehicle if it didn't suffer a destroyed result before that.  The same system is in place, but the damage tables have changed only slightly.  Warp Charge is similar, but represents a condensation of the system of how many Psychic Powers a Psyker could use in a turn.  Both of these rulesets might seem new, but the convention is not.

Flying Monsters and Vehicles get their rules in the main rulebook.  That's nifty.  Also, many conventions were generalized and given Universal Special Rules.  That's also nifty, makes everything much easier to reference.

One of the larger changes is the Force Organization Chart.  Now, you can have an allied detachment from another army, and certain buildings can be bought as fortifications for your army. These rules allow for greater freedom of expression in army building, and let players use certain models more frequently and in different ways.  It's kinda neat to be able to plop down a bastion and call it "MINE!".

There's only one real problem with the book:  the book itself.  I talked about this in the review for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 8th Edition - it's really really heavy.  It's just unwieldy.  Yet we've gotten used to the heft of the WFB book, so that's nothing new.  There's something more unnerving than all of that.

I don't know if I really want to buy one of these every four years, Games Workshop.  It's big...you put it on the shelf, it takes up a lot of space.  I have every single edition of Warhammer 40,000's big hardback books...they are getting bigger and bigger...and the ones I don't use anymore are getting more and more numerous at what seems like an accelerated pace.

I think this is the last of the big books I'm going to buy.  It's just too much - it's piling up on me.  I'll just have to get the rules updates in the form of the small starter set booklets, unless they discontinue those.

Don't do that, GW.

Rulebook Ruminations: 6th Edition Marine Codeci

Well, we've been in 6th Edition for about 7 months now.  We've only had our head in the actual game for about a month now with the campaign grinding on, but today I want to talk about the two newest Warhammer 40,000 codeci:  the "flagship" marines for 6th Edition!

Almost every release, we get Chaos Space Marines near the front end of the release schedule.  If it's not the first one to be released, a Space Marine codex is.  Obviously, that's because these are flagships for the brand:  that is, they move the most units.  We can reasonably expect this trend to continue in the future, perhaps with a little variation.  Maybe orks will be the first enemy, maybe tyranids...but most of the time we're gonna get Chaos and Space Marines in some form or flavor.  What makes this release special is that they've chosen Dark Angels to be the flagship for 6th Edition instead of Ultramarines and the Codex Chapters.

Of course the books are awesome items.  I have some issues with certain units but honestly I don't feel that they are too overpowered...except they need to quit tweaking the Obliterator weapons and quit upgrading their firepower every edition.  No longer do they spit lascannons and twin linked heavy bolters...because they have plasma cannons and assault cannons instead, which are much better anyway.

The codeci include awesome new flyer models, and I'll be launching my own flyers soon.  This is a new trend this edition, but you can bet every army that gets the hardbound treatment will have nasty flyers and some sort of new large special unit model or kits, which is always the case.  Yet this edition the trend is for larger kits, like the Deathwing Command Squad that also contains the pieces for Deathwing Knights, or the Maulerfiend/Forgefiend kit that's simply just a lot of bits no matter how you put it together.

Troops and organizational logistics for each army has changed a little bit, but the new format looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing the other armies get the same treatment.  I've gushed about the awesomeness of having these items in hardcover before, but now that they've started Warhammer 40,000 on this I really can't get enough.  The books are just awesome, full color and well laid out.

The only thing I can really complain about isn't really a complaint:  they need to watch those fold outs in the back.  It seems that will be very easy to get creased or ripped, and I'm not sure how it's supposed to be functional when the rest of the book is a very solid reference manual.  The fold outs are awkward and flimsy (being 1 page thick) and I really think these should be the last ones published with those.

Either way, the books are great and I'm looking forward to the next great release from Games Workshop.

Rulebook Ruminations: Flames of War, 3rd Edition

Well, it's time for another Rulebook Rumination.  Now, you guys know I never review a book as it is released...best I've ever done is blog my thoughts few months after it becomes available.  The reason for that is that I only review books that become relevant to our club, when they become relevant.  Now, our Flames of War inaugural campaign is over, and I just want to take a moment to share a few thoughts about the 3rd Edition rulebook.

While this was our first campaign, we've been preparing for WWII for well over a year before the commencement of the games.  I bought a hardcover copy of Flames of War, 2nd Edition before 3rd Edition was even announced.  It's been a little over a year since this new book was published, and there was basically nine months betwixt the time we got the book and when the tanks started rolling out of Moscow.  We've put this engine through it's paces.

The main thing I want to draw attention to is the mentality of the rules, if that's the correct word.  The phrasing of items is hard to wrap your head around if you're used to the conventions espoused in a lot of wargames, yet the mechanical conventions are very similar.  In this way, the game is both much alike and very different from most of the games we play.  In practice, a lot of these items are very simple, yet when you read them for the first time it's hard to connect all the rules.  We've seen this in other manuals before, in almost every game you've ever played - but the disparity between this system and some others makes it hard to study from the book.  However, the simple concepts make it very easy to teach.

Most of the rules are clear and concise, and due to the way things are set up there isn't a lot of room for "random events" you might see in other games.  Not a ton of special rules that are spread out over twenty plus army books.  To contrast, in Flames of War, most situations have specific methods of resolution.  Special rules don't override the basic flow of the game so much as provide an advantage or disadvantage regarding the basic rules.  What this means is that once you have the basic flow of the game down and how the resolution systems work, it's very easy to assimilate ALL the special rules, and further - they don't bog down the game as much.  Combine that with a system that uses less rolls rather than more rolls or book keeping and you have a very lean combat simulator that's expressive enough to cover the entirety of the second World War.

We have both the smaller softcover version, and I can't say I'm really a fan.  The book is thick and the binding isn't that great...in fact, ours has a lot of pages falling out after one campaign's worth of being used.  The version I bought for myself was the large hardcover rulebook (you guys know how much I like hardcovers) and it's money well spent - it's a powerful tome that can stand up to some serious use.  Get the hardcover, and skip the softcover.  Or, if you decide you want the minis from one of the beginner sets, do yourself a favor and buy a hardcover as well.  The two extra guides that come with the hardcover are great as well, being a guide to the hobby and having a smattering of late-war armies that can be fielded (no lists are described in the rulebook by itself).

All in all, Flames of War is shaping up to be the Season 4 flagship here at the Wargate.  The game itself is grounded in reality, and draws a different sort of crowd than the standard Robots & Cannons or Swords & Sorcery battle games.  It doesn't require more than a handful of dice, so the conventions are easy to keep track of.  Armies aren't that large, and although you can find lists that require a lot of expensive pieces you can also get a 2000 point army for a little over $150 or so.  Best of all, the game is super easy to teach to new players - which is something every game club should be quite interested in.

Rulebook Ruminations: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay & Old World Armory

Our latest RPG campaign is winding down, and I thought I'd take a moment to appreciate the game we've been playing for the past few months.  We've played it before and liked it, but there's a certain elegance to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 2nd Edition that ensures it's going to be a favorite around here for some time to come.

This isn't going to be much of a 'review' - instead I'm going to focus on how WFRP 2e and it's conventions have been expressed in our group, and what we consider now to be the foundation of the game.  That foundation is the basic rulebook, and the Old World Armory.  If you can only pick up two volumes, these are absolutely the ones to get.

Some folk might say Old World Bestiary or Realms of Sorcery fall on their own 'essentials' list, and they'd be right.  Really, WFRP 2e isn't complete without all of that and more.  However, the Old World Armory provides something more like the basic rulebook - something for players to really dig into.

What do I mean by that?  Well, lets just say the old WFRP 2e rulebook is well used at our table.  I've stated before that there are rules-oriented players in our club, and we probably owe a lot of that to how our competitive games are set up.  So, I always have the rulebook available to any player that wants to look at it, no matter which game I'm running.  I try to drum up additional copies of the main rules when I can, and encourage every player to get at least the basic rulebooks for wargames and rpg's they truly enjoy.

For WFRP 2e, these two basic books are fairly short, as far as rpg's go.  They can get really big, but there's not a lot of pages to both these volumes put together.  A lot of folk complained about the lack of a good description of the world, or places and things in it.  Yet, like I said - it's really for people who are wargaming anyway and want to roleplay.  We already have all that Warhammer material in the form of multiple editions of the battles game, along with multiple editions of our favorite army books.

The rulebook itself, to some roleplayers, looks pretty bare.  It covers all the rules you'd expect for a roleplaying game, including combat and magic.  Even a few monster stats.  If this is the only Warhammer World volume you have, and you're used to other rpg's, you might think you got gypped.  Yet, if you put this rulebook together with both a knowledge of the Warhammer World and the wargame - it becomes a lot more than the Dungeons & Dragons clone a lot of folk who are new to the 'verse are expecting.

Various conventions from across multiple game lines converge here, making it one of the most versatile and supported systems out there.  It's easily translatable to D20 - it scales on 5% increments to 100% (well, 98%) instead of +1 increments to 20, but the whole system is there.  It was designed by some of the guys from the original D20 SRD (Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition), so it's easy to see the same similarities.  However, the mathematical design of the game is overlaid on the basic rules of the older version of the game, making it far from a D20 clone, even though it shares the math and things such as Talents (Feats) and Skills.

The Old World Armory takes care of a bunch of things players care to know without burdening the GM with tons of extra material to pore through all the time.  The Availability system roots out a lot of the hassle.  Just let your players know this book is on the 'standard' rack - that is, things are freely available from it - and watch their interest flare up.  Of course, every single thing they want won't be available...

You'll get to see a lot of interesting things come up because of the gear available to players just using this book.  It pretty much covers everything anyone could want, and if it's not in there, there's something similar.  My players were able to utilize a lot of the items in here, but incendiary bombs might be the top used item for my particular campaign.

I used this while writing encounters as well, often using it a idea springboard.  I'd  be in a spot searching for a clever idea, then I'd open this book and try to make a piece of equipment the focus of that particular section of the adventure.  It's a good way to get the more exotic items into the campaign, or to open your players' eyes to items they may have overlooked, but you consider to be something they might want to look into, such as healing draughts for chirurgeons.

These are both excellent tomes, and absolutely vital for campaigns of WFRP 2e.  Having them on the table for the player group has increased their excitement and helped to create a vibrant atmosphere of cooperation.  I'm going to continue this trend going forward, and will have an equipment book on hand for every game I run that has one, such as the old school Arms & Equipment Guide.

We have added more books to our 'basic' pile since we started our first WFRP 2e campaign two years ago.  Those include almost all the published works, but for players themselves really only Realms of Sorcery is truly player oriented.  Most of the other works are good for the GM, but I've found that these two are the best for bringing players in.  The page count is low, keeping real-time consultation times to the minimum.  It also means the rules aren't that complex, and are easy to teach, especially to players of the wargame.

In short, we've had a blast.  We're getting more WFRP 2e campaigns ready.  There is still plenty more for us with this out of print game.

Five Sourcebooks to Rule Them All

Last weekend, the new sourcebooks for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game were released, and we've been in a frenzy preparing our armies for the next campaign!  As we gear up for battle, we find a few more pledged to the banners of Middle-Earth, and who can blame them?  Never has the time been better to get into this exciting battle game, as it has undergone quite a facelift with the publication of these books.  Not quite an entirely new edition, as the basic rulebook is still the same, these sourcebooks have done something that was absolutely essential to the survival of the line - and I find I have little complaint (miraculously)!

For the longest time, Strategy Battle Game players had to get several sourcebooks to make sure they had all the rules and profiles they needed for their battles.  When we first started a few years ago with GW's Middle-Earth ruleset, many players were confused about how the armies worked.  I'm happy to say - all that has been cleared up!  We won't need a lot of the special White Dwarf profiles to be in our Battles Book (i.e. Lord of the Rings binder), as everything present in the game through all supplements and White Dwarf has been addressed with these sourcebooks!

First, I'll start by answering a few of the common questions.  First, the lists have all been recompiled.  That is, units have been rearranged, and in many cases entire lists have been moved or changed.  Forget Legions of Middle-Earth, that is no longer relevant - except for perhaps a few scenarios not in the new books.  The bow limit is still in effect, but how it is calculated is different, as bows carried by heroes no longer count.

Armies are now organized into "warbands" - that is, a hero and his followers.  Warbands can have up to twelve warriors, so warbands can range from a single hero to thirteen models.  I find that this rule could actually help some players who insist on bringing too many goblins to have a reasonable chance at downing a mighty elf lord without some Might.  This should even things out, meaning both sides should have a lot more heroes than some armies from previous campaigns.

You'll find some of the rules have tweaked here and there.  Some heroes and warriors have new things that apply to them, such as Gildor's strange ability to upgrade Wood Elf Warriors to Noldorin Exiles - strange because Wood Elf Warriors aren't in the same list Gildor is in!  The good news is the allies rules have changed slightly - you can include warbands from any list on your side, Good or Evil!  Dol Guldur might not exist as a list anymore, but I can include Giant Spiders, Castellans of Dol Guldur and Mordor Trolls in an Evil army just by creative use of warbands from different lists.  Oh, don't forget my Spectres and Wild Wargs, please.  I'll just drop those in from the Angmar list...

There is a new set of scenarios present in each book, all the same.  This is one complaint I have, as a lot of space in each of these smallish books is eaten up with the same material.  Yeah, our club has all five, as that's what we needed for our armies.  Each book does have some specific scenarios for each army, and they are pretty interesting.  Scenarios for the Strategy Battle Game are littered all over the entire line, so condensing that for these books could prove pretty harsh for the design team.  Still, I would have liked to have seen a single book of scenarios instead of several pages of the same material, which includes the instructions for building armies according to the warband rules.

Despite that grumble, and the fact that I feel all this could have been contained in one volume (hardcover) for fifty bucks or so - I'm quite happy with the direction the sourcebooks are taking Middle-Earth gaming.  War of the Ring has been the hot topic with GW for the last few years, but we're a desperate holdout - no big battle game for us, we already play Warhammer!  All the neat models that were released for War got rules (eventually) in White Dwarf, but chasing them down proved a hassle and I own every single one since 1997.  Now that everything is recompiled, revamped and made easily accessible to new players, I hope the game itself sees some revitalization this year.

Howl of the Warg begins April 1st!  Our new campaign will take our conflict to even darker locales, as we make the battle for Middle-Earth our own.  Signups for the new campaign will open in the next couple of weeks, so make sure if you're a member of the club to have at least one army in one game for the next campaign season - Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game or Mordheim!  Preferably both, if you're truly a hardened warrior of the 'gate!

Rulebook Ruminations: Forces of Warmachine

Ah, the mighty army book.  We see a lot of them come and go, mostly for Games Workshop games.  Today I want to take a moment to talk about the line that brings our Warmachine armies to life, Forces of Warmachine.  These books detail all the units used by each of the armies of the Iron Kingdoms in lavish detail.

The books are extremely high quality, printed on nice glossy paper in full color.  Each of them is packed with huge and colorful artwork, vividly bringing to life the warriors of the kingdoms.  Also included is a more complete background treatment for your force, at least more complete than the ones given in the basic rulebook.  There's also a good sized story opening each volume, to get that extra bit of characterization.

One of the best things about this line is that you don't really need them to game.  All the unit's important stats are given on it's card, which you get when you buy the model (unless it's second hand or from another edition).  Really you want the cards anyway, but the Forces books are nice to have for that extra completeness.  There's a wealth of information on individual units that simply can't be put on a card, but none of it mechanical in nature.

This line was also one of the first to introduce the concept of having hardcover army books to game-dom at large.  Forces of Warmachine volumes are available in both soft and hard cover formats, which adds a great deal to the value for a lot of folks.  It seems to have spread - Battlefront and Games Workshop are starting to turn out better hardcovers, even for the army books and expansions.

All told, if you're considering Warmachine you should definitely pick up the Forces of Warmachine book for  your army.  The characterizations alone are valuable for our narratives, and the books themselves are beautiful.  They look fantastic in a set too, so if you're a collector watch out for these volumes.  You might find them slowly taking up more and more space on your shelf...

Rulebook Ruminations: The Book of Spirits

Our World of Darkness game has been over for a few weeks, but I wanted to take a moment to talk about our game and the systems that were used.  There was a little confusion over the direction the game took, which I personally think was both very different from any WoD game I've ever played and the best one I've had the chance to take part in.

The Book of Spirits is almost indispensable for any WoD game, including any of the "supernatural" type games such as Vampire, Werewolf and Mage.  In the book are chapters on how people view the spirit world - which is almost universally incorrect.  Most of the first part of the book focuses on how spirits are perceived by various folks, and how their backgrounds and prejudices can affect what they believe.  A good portion of the book is given over to these ideas and the notion that it should be similar with players.

The Spirit World is detailed and they give a lot of examples on spirits themselves.  Not ghosts, mind you - that's different.  The Spirit World is the world just beyond ours, while ghosts linger in the Twilight of our world - the invisible part.  Confusing?  Not really - the Twilight is part of and within our world, while the Shadow (Spirit World) is like a twisted reflection that's connected to our world.  It can be confusing in game, because spirits in the material world usually manifest in the Twilight - that is to say, they are invisible.  Therefore, it can be very easy to confuse ghosts and spirits.

Understanding the layers of the world is important, but only to the Storyteller who must process everything.  Except for certain Mages and Werewolves, no character in the game is going to understand exactly how the spirits work, since the spirit lore required is not really possessed by anyone.  Be warned, however.  This can lead to confusion around the gaming table, which is bad.  When starting from scratch, it's best to go lightly at first - until your players realize what they are dealing with isn't the normal sort of ghost or goblin.

Spirits can be defeated, but usually not physically.  They are not your normal antagonists or allies, and once players realize they can't apply "pressure" to the "head" you'll have a neat story where they find the spirit's weaknesses and bans.  They are simply too strange and alien to be handled by your player's normal attitude of "shoot first and don't bother with any stupid questions".

Bans are special weaknesses that have to be exploited by your players, and due to their abstract nature can be very strange and powerful.  This is pretty much the best way to gain power over a spirit.  One ban in our game belonged to the spirit Dust-Eyed Coyote.  The players (who didn't know this at the time) had to reveal the knowledge that they had been tricked by the spirit, and exactly how they knew.  Doing so would bind the spirit to answer three questions, as his special powers had to do with the realm of secrets.

You can really get creative with spirits and their bans, and make them part of the plot and setting rather than just setting up enemies to be destroyed.  Not that spirits can't be destroyed...but it's fairly complicated when you know nothing of the individual spirit.

Inside the book is a treasure trove of cool stuff and nifty ideas, and not a whole lot of "crunch".  This feature alone makes it usable in any game, since it would be very easy to take ideas from this book and apply elsewhere.  Most of the new WoD books that aren't the basic rulebooks tend to follow this design philosophy - and it's great.

However, I think this book gives a great basic "setting" for mortal characters.  The Spirit World can make any sort of horror game playable with the WoD rules, because as Storyteller you can do anything you need to with spirits.  There's a real flavor to this setting, and one I've decided to exploit for my Western setting.  In fact, I pretty sure all the WoD games I run for mortals will be set in the Old West, with the Book of Spirits firmly in hand.

This is without a doubt one of the best WoD books I've ever read, and it will pretty much be used in every single game I run in that system.

Hardcover Army Books Are A Good Thing

Last night, Soundgarden kicked off a two day mini-tour in Grand Prairie.  Since I can't hear anything at all today, I thought I'd take a moment to talk about something that's dear to my heart - the new trend in wargaming to publish more material in hardcover format.

We've been getting our rulebooks in hardcover as standard ever since Games Workshop published Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition (or somewhere there about) but in general, supplements were always done in softcover.  Over years of actual use, these books can become truly warped and damaged because of the rough treatment they endure day in and day out.

Roleplaying books have long been available in hardcover.  Not just the basic rules manuals, but strong supplemental material has been published in this format since the days of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition.  In fact, a lot of the books from thirty years ago see active duty today, by virtue of their hardcover design.

Why has it taken wargamers this long to figure out that hardcover is the way to go?  Is it because army books / codeci come and go so often?  I don't buy that as the answer, since frequently it's eight or more years between editions and thus, army books.

In the last few years, Privateer Press has made Forces of Warmachine books available in hardcover, and Battlefront have really turned up the quality on the recent hardcover theater books.  I'm happy someone finally took the step to make quality books for us wargamers.  Not only does it add to the lifespan of the book, but they look absolutely fantastic on the shelf.  Way better than comic book sized softcovers.

Kudos to hardcover army supplements!

Now that GW has picked up the ball on Warhammer Armies books, I for one am eager to see the first specimen of the logical conclusion to this little experiment:  hardcover Warhammer 40,000 codeci.

Rulebook Ruminations: Warmachine Prime, Mk II

We've been flailing about Western Immoren for a few months now, so I thought I'd take the time to go over what I think about the hardcover rulebook for Warmachine - Prime, Mk II.  I didn't know much about Warmachine when I got the gamebook, just that we saw the miniatures online and knew they were gaining in popularity.  Honestly the extent I'd heard about it in our gaming community was a member of the Ada Gaming Club telling me he'd thought really hard about getting into it.  Turns out another community member of that club had a bunch of brand new stuff for the game sitting around - he'd gotten it but no one expressed interest in it.  Well, until the Wargate happened along.

Warmachine was one of the miniatures games we proposed to the the club last year, and it's since the fateful decision to include support for several more games was made by the club we've gotten several players building full scale armies and immersing themselves in the world that is the Iron Kingdoms.  So for those of you who don't have a rulebook, let me tell you about it.

The book is a nice hardcover, though I've heard softcover versions are available.  Not sure why we'd want that - the price break isn't ever worth the hardcover!  On the inside, the pages are full color and glossy.  Beautiful art lines the tome, bringing the Iron Kingdoms to life in very vivid detail.  The rule diagrams in particular are quite nice, being well thought out and illustrating the various minutiae of play well enough to transmit the idea without fully reading the rules.  This is essential when training new players how to control their  forces.

The game rules are well organized, though in places I find myself looking for terms that don't exist.  If you're used to several other miniature games, some of the verbage that Warmachine uses seems to be vague, but actually isn't.  A different style of aesthetics in rule design, the wording of the rules is actually quite concise and seems to address every situation quite well.  It lends itself to a game experience that is quite like many other styles of game, such as CCG and RPG, but it's implemented in a way that feels different from other games and is quite fun to play.

Think Battletech.  Think Dungeons & Dragons.  Think about that Will Smith movie, The Wild Wild West.


Beyond the rules, the game includes a great color section that has a selection of units from the various Forces of Warmachine books - all the models found in the starter sets have stats in the hardcover rulebook.  As well as the stats, there's nice writeups on the various factions in the back and a good amount of world information spread throughout the book. The color plates of the units are fantastic, huge and splashy with color.  There is also a showcase of painted models in the back that is quite useful when painting the miniatures, as it shows many different takes on various models.  Did I mention the book is just plain good looking?

All in all, it's everything a main rulebook should have.  Concise rules, great diagrams, world and faction information and even some unit details to get you rolling.  The game plays fast, has fantastic support and plenty of cool new toys to play with.  It's also dry-erase ready - check out the token sets for the various factions!  Our club also has card sleeves for the unit cards (which you get with the models), and every game we pull out the dry erase markers to check damage off the 'jacks.

I totally recommend Warmachine to anyone who has an interest in both wizards and giant robots!

Return to Castle Ravenloft!

Howdy folks!

A couple of weeks ago, Jerry brought us a real treat.  He had been to a local game store near OKC, and saw something that hearkened back to adventures of old.  Seized by a sudden impulse, he grabbed up a copy of one of Wizards of the Coast new Dungeons & Dragons boardgame, Castle Ravenloft.  It had been his experience (and my own) that boxed games of this ilk tend to be very fun, and remain collectors items for years.  Oh, woe to us, how we didn't keep up with our Heroquest and Warhammer Quest and Dragon Quest and maybe even First Quest.

I'll cut to it...Castle Ravenloft is a blast!  We first tried it out back during Halloween's festivities, and it proved a huge hit right off the bat.  What I found interesting, however, is how close the game seems to be to Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition.

It plays fast and quick, and it's easily taught to new players.  If those players are gamers already, it swiftly becomes second nature to breeze through a turn.  The mechanics are simple yet elegant, but are very similar at the same time to the new edition of it's parent game.  I had sworn never to get 4th Edition, but it was this game that changed my mind about that.

It plays fast, and there are a lot of cool components like Power, Treasure and Monster Cards to tinker with, as well as the miniatures for the heroes and monsters that come in the game.  There is an Adventure Book that presents a series of missions that form sort of a campaign.  We've been playing through the adventures here at the Wargate, and they are far from easy, which makes for great re-playability.  I think we had to try the first group mission four or five times before we succeeded, and the next time we play it will be the third time for the group to try the specific mission we are attempting to finish!

There are Encounter Cards that create nifty effects like traps or magical dangers such as the Icy Corridor.  It has a randomness to it that likens it to Diablo the video game a bit, but it's still a huge hoot.  It even provides gamer nostalgia, because after all, it is Castle Ravenloft!!

It's almost like Speed D&D.  The game can turn deadly very quickly should the heroes become separated, and some of the monsters and other dangers are quite nasty in and of themselves.  The game uses a system for Healing Surges that gives the party a certain number of "resurrections".  You decide how many Surge Tokens your party will take (between 3 and 5 usually), and every time a hero goes down, at the beginning of his next turn he spends one of the party's tokens.  When a hero has fallen and cannot get up (due to there being no more Healing Surges), the game is over and you lose. HAHAHAHAA.

The Dungeon Tiles are another interesting bit.  A lot of those old boxed games came with large dungeon boards or tiles, and Castle Ravenloft does not disappoint.  The squares are the perfect size for a tactical map, if you're into using a grid.  If you're not, they are still well illustrated and can serve alongside your other gaming utensils to provide you with even more RPG or wargame fodder!

After playing the game, I found out it had kin!  Wizards has done another boxed game that is almost identical, except it has different heroes, monsters and a different setting!  It's called Wrath of Ashardalon, and it's all about dragons!  Set at Firestorm Peak, another iconic dungeon, I've heard that the two of these games can be combined into a giant mega dungeon!

I'm considering getting it just for the components, but the games themselves present hours of fun in and of themselves.  So the next time we go vampire hunting, try not to use up all the surges if one of Strahd's goons comes over and lures you into a secret hallway teeming with undead monsters.  Regroup!

Rulebook Ruminations: Dark Heresy Edition!

Howdy folks!

It's time for another game to start here at the Wargate, with our first World of Darkness game in the new edition having ended a few days ago. We'll talk more about that later, because today I'll be talking about some rulebooks we'll be using starting this Sunday!

Yes, it's time for Dark Heresy! We've used the basic rulebook before, but this time we'll be using the careers out of the main rulebook instead of stand-ins for space marine career paths. We've got a lot more players and plenty of miniatures, so we're going to be quite ready to throw down some game this weekend. But what books will we be using this go around?

The main Dark Heresy rulebook has a lot going for it, and despite what you might read on various boards around the net I think this is a fantastic volume. I've had mine since release, but I don't 'review' any books until the Wargate has a call to use them. I've already gone over a lot of the characters in other recent posts so I won't populate this post with a lot of that mumbo-jumbo. I'm going to speak for a moment about mechanics, instead.

Anyone familiar with the way Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 2nd edition is run will be at home in the game. A few things are different to account for differences between the universes, but after a few rolls you'll be back into the swing of things in no time. Skills, Characteristics, etc. all use the same systems as that game, and advancement is also similar. A little time before the game spending experience and you'll have that down pat too - in many ways advancement is easier than Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay - a lot of the career paths are straight lines in many places, with one or two alternate ranks and the final ranks branching out into two forks, one of which your character will follow.

Combat has a few differences, but these are minutiae dealing with bonuses for autofire, cover and so forth. Mosty the differences are in nomenclature rather than function, so I'm fairly certain everyone will be comfortable with this and we'll be able to teach new players even quicker.

We'll also have the Inquisitor's Handbook on the table! This is a great reference when creating and advancing your character as it contains new Homeworlds, the Adepta Sororitas career, and a horde of alternate ranks. Alternate ranks are like prestige classes. A lot of the material is centered on the Calixis Sector, which is the default setting for the game. However, we'll be in the Mardannon Sector, the area of space the Wargate has been waging war in for the last six years. This means that there may be availability issues with some Alternate Ranks, but we can definitely find the Mardannon equivalent to whatever it is. There will also be special Mardannon Alternate Ranks that may become available to your acolytes during the game.

Most of the Inquisitor's Handbook is chock full of gear, but I have to take a moment to talk about this. It's not going to be open season with this book, like with the Old World Armoury. There are going to be all sorts of restrictions on what you can get. The gear in the Inquisitor's Handbook is divided by planet type, so here's the deal. If you are on that sort of planet, availability is as listed in the book. If you are not on that sort of planet, I'll just tell you right now that's a fat chance. Depending on the gear you are seeking, there might not be an availabilty roll made - that's just how it's gonna be. So suck it up - there's plenty of gear wherever you are, I assure you.

So, Dark Heresy is gonna roll into full swing and not be just a myth. Either of these books are invaluable player aids, and I highly advise anyone interested in such a thing to pick up at least the basic rulebook, which retails for like $50, but can be had for as low as $30 new if you shop around.

So until next weekend, remember this always: The Emperor Protects!

Rulebook Ruminations: Lord of the Rings Edition

Howdy!

I thought I'd take a moment to explore a little bit of the structure of the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. It's structured a little different than some of our other battle games, so it makes it a prime candidate for a rumination. Rather than reviewing the book as a whole, I'll be going over just a few of the things that really make it stick out from Warhammer. Namely, those things are turn sequence and army building.

On the whole, this ruleset is very simple and elegant. The fight sequence is a simplified version of Warhammer's involving fewer rolls, and terrain is given a treatment that makes each piece a different beast than in our other wargames.

In actual play, the game is a lot more, shall we say...focused? Models fight mano e mano, and multiple combats usually involve no more than three models. It's more like a skirmish game in that respect - armies tend to be a little smaller...though if you're running goblins you might end up with just as many models as your Warhammer 40,000 army!

Players share the same turn. That is, after rolling for priority (who will be going first in each phase), we progress through the turn together. So in turn 1, I get priority over you. The turn sequence is Move, Shoot, Fight. I'll take my moves, then you take your moves. Then we do my shooting, then yours. Finally, we do the fighting (which is resolved at the same time).

Pretty simple, and players of other wargames might even find a familiar ring to this sort of ruleset. Just remember to rotate players phase by phase, rather than turn by turn. In the Goblin King campaign, this was an issue that was misunderstood by a lot of folks.

The second major divergence is in army building. The main rulebook lists a lot of models for different forces, but what are Warhammer players to do who are looking for codified lists? Well, your lists are by and large all contained in Legions of Middle-Earth.

This book lists all the 'tournament' style lists for the Strategy Battle Game. The armies are divided by region, and then by list. For example, the Bastions of the Dark Lord section contains five army lists (Dol Guldur, Cirith Ungol, The Black Gate, Barad-Dur and Minas Morgul). You choose from one of the lists, but each list has plenty of options to ally with other lists. For example, you can get your Minas Tirith force together with some Grey Company or members of The Fellowship. Whatever, really...the lists are really loose and there are a lot of options for making customized forces.

Games Workshop has published several supplemental books to the line over the last decade or so, and while a few of those are basically obsolete (save for a few scenarios and collector's value, of course) only a few of them are worthy of mentioning. Fall of the Necromancer, Harad, Mordor, A Shadow In The East and The Ruin of Arnor are fantastic and actually have lists and statistics for new models. These books come closest to being "codeci" or "army books", though none but the main rulebook is truly nescessary except in a few cases. A lot of the rules for new models gets published in White Dwarf.

We'll be doing another campaign with Lord of the Rings sometime very soon! In the mean time, remember that Middle-Earth is part of the Wargate!

Rulebook Ruminations: The World of Darkness

We change systems a lot here at the Wargate, and it can be kind of hard to keep the rules about which games apply where all straight in the noggin. So, rather than present a tired review about a game book, Rulebook Ruminations plans to examine individual or sets of gaming books when and if they become relevant our community here.

In keeping with that maxim, today I'll be talking about The World of Darkness, White Wolf's core rulebook for the NEW World of Darkness, hereafter referred to as nWoD to differentiate it from the old line of books. The line was launched in 2004 with this rulebook, but it would take a long time before the nWoD really earned a place at our table. A lot of that was simply all the stigmata from the OLD World of Darkness (oWoD), like being emo or sucking in general.

Last year, some of you may recall the Wargate community went through the end of the oWoD, years after it had been published. Soon after, interest in the nWoD began to simmer and a lot of the new books were bought - now there are a ton floating around here! I think it's safe to say that the nWoD, due to a great many factors, is here to stay for quite some time.

First of all, the book itself is quite nice. The only thing that is a bother is actually using the manual in the game - how does a reference manual not have an index?? That said, the rules that this game uses are a HUGE improvement over the last iterations comprising the oWoD. It's still the Storyteller system, but man is it much meatier now.

This manual is sort of a generic horror game, with very little in the way of setting. Actually, there is nil for setting - the vignettes posed in the fiction portions of the manual are actually quite, well, generic...and I mean that in the best of ways. It is this quality of genericness that truly drew me to the nWoD, that the manual and rules can be extended to almost any genre or setting you can think of: Modern, Western, Apocalyptic, Fantasy...whatever. Just use your imagination to fill in the gaps and this engine will do whatever you want it to do.

The other supernaturals from the oWoD are presented in their own manuals. Vampires, werewolves, mages, the created, geists, changelings, and what not. The line that White Wolf has propagated was an intense draw as well - there is a plethora of fantastic sourcebooks for each of the supernaturals (as one would expect), but White Wolf really went the distance with the basic generic line that is simply The World of Darkness. Titles like Tales from the 13th Precinct, Armory, Second Sight, and the Book of Spirits make up the core line, and almost all of them are at least fascinating if not incredibly useful.

The rules themselves are not as ambiguous, and this is a definite plus for the mighty warriors here at the Wargate. The core mechanic has remained the same (dots in attributes equal dice in a pool) but getting results is actually a lot easier to understand. That's something you really have to think about if you regularly host different games all the time - the audience should be able to remember how to play it, if not the details.

Target number and number of successes needed have been fixed. On most actions a single success will work, but if you score five or more for an "exceptional success" the Storyteller may increase the magnitude of your reward. Likewise, "botches" aren't as much of a plague - the new system says any time you are sufficiently impaired by circumstance to have no dice in your pool, you may still roll a single die - but the chances of success are only 1 in 10. Likewise, there is a 1 in 10 chance of a "dramatic failure" - what we recall as "botches". Thus, the amount of terminal stupidity is quite minimized. In the oWoD it seemed like if you rolled more dice you were more likely to botch. Crazy.

This manual is quite cheap, also. It's a nice hardcover, and provides the basic rules for what are sure to be many campaigns here at the Wargate. If you want your own Wargate manuals, this is definitely one to pick up, and you can usually get them for $10 or $15 easy. Definitely recommended.