My opponent stares across at me, grizzled face set in a look of intense concentration. He considers the piece he just pulled, seeking the advancement of the kingdom. He is the wily veteran, and he is a truly worthy foe. As I sit, being soundly defeated by the man who taught me everything I know about gaming, my thoughts begin to drift, searching for purpose in these small squares of cardboard.
Hex-mapping Using Carcassonne
This is a real rough draft that I am writing stream of consciousnesses. It definitely needs some more flesh on the bones.
It's simple to use, you can simply pull a tile, put it in the hex on your map that makes the most since and repeat. I only have the game with the river expansion, but I am sure the expansions could make this system more elaborate, maybe someone could expand on this idea that has them.
City Pieces:
When you place a new city piece roll to see what type of settlement is. This will also decide how many more city pieces to add to this construction if possible.
1-8 Small Town (2 squares total)
9-15 Large Town/Small City (3-4 squares total)
16-20 Large city (5-6 Squares total)
Roads:
Roads of 1-2 tiles are trails or cart paths, probably poorly patrolled or forgotten.
Roads of 3 or more tile lengths are major roads, well patrolled and traveled.
Small clusters of buildings at intersections of the road:
1-5 Small hamlet
6-10 An inn
11-14 A cathedral or shrine (70% Good aligned/30% Evil Aligned)
15-18 A toll collector
19-20 A small bandit camp
Monasteries:
These will be the sites of interests in the area. Dungeons, crypts, secret seats of malign power, whatever you decide to send your adventurers into.
The Plains in between should be filled with whatever type of scenery you decide is appropriate for the area (forests, hills, plain etc.)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Mutant Future: Battle of The Bands Part One (also sharkrats monster entry)
I haven't run this game for a while, but i plan on reviving it in the immediate future. Here's the story:
The lands are divided into kingdoms. Each Kingdom is ruled by a separate band or style of metal. The Northern lands are ruled by the 4 Horsemen of the Phantom Lord. The southern lands are fractured and have many kingdoms. Every hundred years there is a battle of the bands. Whoever wins this epic contest (1 half concert/ 1 half gladiatorial combat) becomes the undisputed high band of the realms. The band is supposed to step down, and let the next winners take over. The 4 Horsemen took control and never gave it back. The southern kingdoms though fragmented stopped the spread of the Horseman's expansion.
One hundred and ninety-nine years later the players' band (a mutant carrot drummer, a mutant parrot lead guitarist, and a mutated human rhythm guitarist and vocalist) are summoned to the peak of the Silver Mountain, to visit the grand sorcerer. The Holy Diver himself informs them that he has had a vision, this band's winning of the contest in one year will lead to the overthrow of the Horsemen.
The party has one year to assemble all the things they want to improve their stage show, everything from sick equipment, amazing techniques, a road crew, a bassist, and of course a fan base. At this point my sandbox opens up.
The first thing they decide to get is a bitching tour van. They go to the local labyrinthine junkyard. There they battle flying imps and the pesky sharkrats. Their singer succumbs to the radioactive toxin of the shark rat(detailed below) and Now has a fish tank around his head, so add an underwater microphone to the list of needs. In the farthest reaches of the junkyard they find a big conversion van, a friendly driver android(still functioning), and set off on a tour for the ages.
Sharkrats
No. Enc: 2d12
Movement: 120'
HD: 2
AC: 8
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d8 +poison
Save L1
Morale 7
Treasure I and II
The Shark rat appears as a two foot rat with the head of a shark. They are extremely aggressive hunters and opportunists. They rove in packs in the ruins of the world. They breathe air which is curious considering the irradiated poison in their saliva. A failed poison save(at +2) causes the victim to mutate in 24 hours, growing gills and being forced to breathe saltwater from then forward.
The lands are divided into kingdoms. Each Kingdom is ruled by a separate band or style of metal. The Northern lands are ruled by the 4 Horsemen of the Phantom Lord. The southern lands are fractured and have many kingdoms. Every hundred years there is a battle of the bands. Whoever wins this epic contest (1 half concert/ 1 half gladiatorial combat) becomes the undisputed high band of the realms. The band is supposed to step down, and let the next winners take over. The 4 Horsemen took control and never gave it back. The southern kingdoms though fragmented stopped the spread of the Horseman's expansion.
One hundred and ninety-nine years later the players' band (a mutant carrot drummer, a mutant parrot lead guitarist, and a mutated human rhythm guitarist and vocalist) are summoned to the peak of the Silver Mountain, to visit the grand sorcerer. The Holy Diver himself informs them that he has had a vision, this band's winning of the contest in one year will lead to the overthrow of the Horsemen.
The party has one year to assemble all the things they want to improve their stage show, everything from sick equipment, amazing techniques, a road crew, a bassist, and of course a fan base. At this point my sandbox opens up.
The first thing they decide to get is a bitching tour van. They go to the local labyrinthine junkyard. There they battle flying imps and the pesky sharkrats. Their singer succumbs to the radioactive toxin of the shark rat(detailed below) and Now has a fish tank around his head, so add an underwater microphone to the list of needs. In the farthest reaches of the junkyard they find a big conversion van, a friendly driver android(still functioning), and set off on a tour for the ages.
Sharkrats
No. Enc: 2d12
Movement: 120'
HD: 2
AC: 8
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d8 +poison
Save L1
Morale 7
Treasure I and II
The Shark rat appears as a two foot rat with the head of a shark. They are extremely aggressive hunters and opportunists. They rove in packs in the ruins of the world. They breathe air which is curious considering the irradiated poison in their saliva. A failed poison save(at +2) causes the victim to mutate in 24 hours, growing gills and being forced to breathe saltwater from then forward.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Portals! Portals! Portals! Part one:
Pounding house music vibrates my chair through the floor. It's Club Cody night downstairs again, so i make a 2 Live Crew Pandora station to fight back, crank it, and get to work on the next sessions preparation.
My prep for any given session is almost always minimal, but my player's have chosen a path that has forced homework upon me. Deciding the best way to find out where the missing princess is would be to begin randomly portal jumping until they find her, they are now exploring a sprawling ancient portal system. I therefore need enough portal locals written down to justify this. So far I have 50, some mundane, some borrowed (stolen) from other places. Here are a few of my own:
1:Center of the World
This portal drops them out in warrens tunneled out at the center of the world. An ancient gnomish civilization resides here. The tunnels in this portion of the complex are only accessible by the wisest, oldest, and usually most senile of the gnomes. The walls of the tunnels are lined with para-scopes and listening horns. Here the revered ancient gnomes observe all things that happen in the world and record them. The gnome the pc's run into is the most senior Horace Longtooth. Also known as Glittershoes, for the dancing prowess of his youth, the pc's will find it impossible to get any valuable information from him. His mind constantly wanders from the topic at hand to the delicious rutabaga pies Mrs. Crownsworth bakes in the city of New Dawn, or some minor tryst he observed, and other such inconsequential things.
2. The Forgotten One
This portal comes out into a grand ice tower. This is the dwelling of Dul Guron, the once might god of wintery death. Now with the advent of fire by man, his powers have dwindled greatly and he has become just another lowly old man winter. He is a sad depressed old man, but any exposed flames in his presence will send him into an insane fit of rage, in which he will attack the offender with all that remains of his powers, summoning icy minions to destroy them.
3: The Brass City of the Djinn
Basic and has been done I know, but there is a slight twist. All desires spoken of aloud here are granted as per the wish spell. Unfortunately wishes may only be made in the brass city with a permit granted by the insanely boring and overcomplicated bureaucracy that runs this place. Any who do not have the permit are captured by the guards of the city. Punishment usually consists of a geas to rescue and free a djinn who has been imprisoned on the prime material...usually in the form of a ring of wishes or magic lantern. Extra Dungeon Master points if you can avoid doing a stereotypical bad taxi driver impression or Robin Williams, while your players speak to the djinn.
My prep for any given session is almost always minimal, but my player's have chosen a path that has forced homework upon me. Deciding the best way to find out where the missing princess is would be to begin randomly portal jumping until they find her, they are now exploring a sprawling ancient portal system. I therefore need enough portal locals written down to justify this. So far I have 50, some mundane, some borrowed (stolen) from other places. Here are a few of my own:
1:Center of the World
This portal drops them out in warrens tunneled out at the center of the world. An ancient gnomish civilization resides here. The tunnels in this portion of the complex are only accessible by the wisest, oldest, and usually most senile of the gnomes. The walls of the tunnels are lined with para-scopes and listening horns. Here the revered ancient gnomes observe all things that happen in the world and record them. The gnome the pc's run into is the most senior Horace Longtooth. Also known as Glittershoes, for the dancing prowess of his youth, the pc's will find it impossible to get any valuable information from him. His mind constantly wanders from the topic at hand to the delicious rutabaga pies Mrs. Crownsworth bakes in the city of New Dawn, or some minor tryst he observed, and other such inconsequential things.
2. The Forgotten One
This portal comes out into a grand ice tower. This is the dwelling of Dul Guron, the once might god of wintery death. Now with the advent of fire by man, his powers have dwindled greatly and he has become just another lowly old man winter. He is a sad depressed old man, but any exposed flames in his presence will send him into an insane fit of rage, in which he will attack the offender with all that remains of his powers, summoning icy minions to destroy them.
3: The Brass City of the Djinn
Basic and has been done I know, but there is a slight twist. All desires spoken of aloud here are granted as per the wish spell. Unfortunately wishes may only be made in the brass city with a permit granted by the insanely boring and overcomplicated bureaucracy that runs this place. Any who do not have the permit are captured by the guards of the city. Punishment usually consists of a geas to rescue and free a djinn who has been imprisoned on the prime material...usually in the form of a ring of wishes or magic lantern. Extra Dungeon Master points if you can avoid doing a stereotypical bad taxi driver impression or Robin Williams, while your players speak to the djinn.
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