Grim Darkness in the Far Future: 25 Years of Warhammer 40,000

Well, all signs point to a new edition of Warhammer 40,000 coming out this summer. Fifth edition just came out in 2008, and I only started introducing the Apprentices to it in 2009. It had been on a fairly reliable 5-6 year update schedule, but this one is happening after only 4 years, probably because this is the 25th anniversary of the game and hey, might as well release an update, right?

I sometimes wonder how many of us who played the original version of the game are still playing the current version. I suspect many people drop in and out as the years go by but for a few of us it has been a  constant presence, though even I admit to some ebbs and flows in there.

The first version was really more of a skirmish game than any kind of manual organized for serious tournament games. It was a glorious chaotic source of wonder, somewhat akin to the original Dungeon Master's Guide. Actually 40K RT was a lot like AD&D - full of cool ideas & inspiring art, constantly being patched and updated in the monthly magazine, and intended to be tinkered with by its players.  Much like later editions of D&D the tinkering aspect would decrease with later editions as the game became more successful and was forced to become more of a professional product than a cool thing for hobbyists. I built up a pretty decent marine army (Howling Griffons! Saaa-lute!) and dabbled in Eldar because they were cool looking figures. Oh and Harlequins ... oh my Harlequins ...

Second edition was the first one to come in a box with miniatures, some of which I still use today. This was a more cartoonish-looking version art-wise and was clearly aimed at a younger audience. This is the edition where the "Codex" approach began - putting army lists out as separate softcover books to encourage players to "pick a team". This one also tended to favor super-powered characters equipped with powerful gear and battles were often dominated by a few powerful individuals on each side. It was still fun but this seemed less appropriate for a sci-fi game than for a fantasy game, though Warhammer Fantasy was dominated by the same issue at the time. Vehicles were still rare in this edition, other than dreadnoughts and bikes / jet bikes, which had also been true of RT. One or two tanks per side was about all that we commonly saw in this one. I played it quite a bit, a lot of it with a group of friends at a local game store, and this is when my Eldar turned into a full-on army.

When I wasn't playing 40K during these years I was playing "Space Marine" or "Titan Legions". These were the "Epic Scale" game of massive battles in the 40K universe where you could actually field a company of Land Raiders and some of the gigantic war machines known as Battle Titans. I built up a massive pile of fully panted Epic Scale armies and for about 5 years we played it as much as we did regular 40K. Then they came out wit ha new edition in 1997 called "Epic 40,000" that completely changed the mechanics and pretty much killed the game. Ah well, I still have the armies and the older rules - one of these days they will return ...

Third edition 40K came out in 1998 and was a very different game - as drastic a change as D&D 4E was compared to 3E - in that terms and names were often the same but the way the game worked was very different, from army construction to turn structure to the mechanic of the game in play. Gone were the overpowered characters and the dominance of psychic powers. Vehicle-heavy armies suddenly became possible and viable. Building an army involved thinking about a force structure as a whole and not just figuring how many points could be dumped into that Inquisitor Lord or Greater Daemon. The artwork and atmosphere took on a much more serious and mature tone. This was Grimdark, dern it, and you were going to notice. Also, making stuff up began to really be discouraged in many ways as the tournament culture started to dominate online and even casual conversation - can't have any made-up stuff showing up in a championship fight - it might be unbalanced! The creative aspect of the game was pushed more into conversions of existing models to represent things not yet available from the official source, and god forbid you use mini's from another manufacturer.

Despite this direction we had a lot of fun with this new edition as the rules were a lot cleaner and less fiddly and the lessened importance of characters made it feel more like a battle and less like an RPG, which was an improvement at the time - I have RPG's, and I don't need $100 worth of mini's and a 4x8 table covered in terrain to play them. We also noticed that armies were getting larger. In 1st or 2nd edition, 3 marine squads, a leader or two, a dreadnought, and a landspeeder or predator tank made for a decent force. In 3rd, the new force organization meant that more squads were on the table as were more tanks and other vehicles. In contrast, Codexes got a lot smaller, often half the thickness of their 2E predecessors. Plastic kits were produced for each army - maybe I should say good plastic kits - and became the standard. One of the first 40K products produced after the RT rulebook was a box of 30 plastic multipart marines and there were other sets for Orks and Imperial Guard and Squats as well during the RT days, but they were fairly limited in components and poses. By the time of 3rd Edition the kits were quite a bit improved and made for a pretty decent way to bulk out your forces. We played quite a bit of this edition and during it I built up a second force of marines (Crimson Fists!) and finally got my Orks together and built them into a credible force as well.

Fourth edition was released in 2004 and was basically a tune-up of 3rd. This is the edition I played the least and is the biggest "ebb" part of my playing history. I had committed to 3rd pretty heavily and, as sometimes happens when new editions come out,  I was not thrilled about another cycle of rulebook and codex updates. I sat most of it out. This is the only edition of 40K that had a boxed set that I do not own. I came around on it late in the edition cycle and played a few games, mostly in time to find out that 5th edition was on the way and get annoyed all over again.

Fifth edition came out in 2008. I gave it a year as I was busy getting married and stuff.

Once I read it I was quite pleased. It was very much in the same vein as 3rd but it fixed a lot of the little things I did not like about 3rd. Some of which might have been in 4th, but I didn't play that one long enough to really notice the details. The army books were better too, for the most part. There seemed to be a genuine movement to bring back units and characters from older editions in a from that didn't suck and that was a positive move in my opinion. To make up for my lack of 4th edition boxes, I bought two for 5th - and gave them to the Apprentices.

The boys had seen me play before and they had played the Dawn of War computer game (which was a fine, fine piece of work by the way) and they were ready to get started with the "real thing". I let them haggle over who got what army and they eventually worked it out. These boxed sets are a pretty good introduction to the game and they come with two opposing forces in the box. This version is by far the best set of mini's yet ( a marine dreadnought - in the starter box! Terminators! Nobz!) and splitting the contents of two boxes with a buddy gives you a very credible force to start out with. Apprentice Red ended up with Orks while Blaster took the Space Marines (going with Space Wolves as he had just read the novels and the new codex had just come out) and they have both had a ton of fun with them. They have also begun learning the art of painting miniatures thru the game, which I expect they will be doing for a long time.

We've played a lot of games and they have played even more against each other, with the forces changing as new units are added and painted and expanded. Equipped with their own rulebooks and dice and armies they dove right in and had fun both playing and arguing over the rules like old pros. I've played with them and against them and won some and lost some. It's funny in some ways to play out a battle where my entire army is made up of figures older than both of them that have been painted and organized and fighting on the tabletop longer than they have been alive too. Some of the terrain is older than they are too. As are some of the dice. Wow, I have been doing this for a long time. It's bad when you can note your kid's age by what edition of a game was out when they were born ...

During this revival I took the opportunity to build out some Chaos Marines into an actual army (still not painted though), and to convert my Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Daemons into a 40K army since I play a lot more 40K than fantasy and thought a sci-fi army (technically) with no guns was an interesting concept. I also updated my old RT marines to the newer base types (to better ally with Blaster) and turned my old footslogging Orks into a mechanized death machine (to better ally with Red). Finally I decided to re-acquire an Eldar force (having traded mine to a friend back in 3rd edition in return for his Orks) with the intention of allying with my friend and schooling both Apprentices. This has yet to happen but I remain hopeful.

Just recently, here at the end of 5th Edition,  a friend of mine ran across some 40K stuff at a garage sale, picked it up super-cheap, and gave it to me - thanks Jer! - resulting in two more armies now living in the garage, the Necrons and a pretty sizable Imperial Guard army. The Apprentices are angling to claim them but I haven't decided what to do with them just yet. More options are always good, and it wouldn't hurt to give them a second army to try out - I'm just not sure that these two newcomers are those options.

I suppose it says something that most of my armies take more than one edition to build up to a useful level and to paint an entire force. I still have a fair number of Rogue Trader era figures that need to be integrated into an army, not to mention all of the ones from later editions. Some people buy up whole armies, paint them up, play them for a year, then sell them off and start the whole process over again with a different army - inside one edition! I just can't do that. I take a long view and paint them up slowly, and by the time they are "done enough" to consider a standing army I've spent so much time with and on them that I can't just hand them off - they're my guys! I should probably be less attached to them - and it might help me paint faster - but that's just how I feel about it, and a lot of the appeal of miniatures game is the feel. I can think that a particular unit performs poorly in a particular game or edition of a game but if it has that perfect paint job that I managed to do over 5 years, well, I'm going to try to find a way to include it. Because I like having it in use in the game, regardless of the numbers. I suppose it's still somewhat RPG-ish in that respect - a character you never have to retire.

With Sixth edition I expect we will dive back in with our multitude of armies, build some new terrain,  and probably recruit some friends to come with us. If the typical 5 year schedule holds then the Apprentices will be in college by the time the next edition comes out, so this will be the last one where they're "kids" and need a ride to a friend's house to go play 40K. Right now I hope to play a whole lot of it, so it better be good. Come on Games Workshop, let's get this one right.

Motivational Monday

Marvel Example of Play

MWP has put up an example of play on their site so I thought I would link to it. My editorial comment is that it's clearly being played by people who know the system well. Definitely worth a read if you're interested.

http://www.margaretweis.com/images/stories/bonus_content/mhr_exampleofplay.pdf

Savage Swords of Impiltur ? - Session Zero

The final recap for this week is the first session of the new D&D campaign. This is the grown-up game so no apprentices in this one. It's a 4th edition campaign. But before that, some background...

The Setting: Impiltur in the Forgotten Realms, an out-of-the-main-area country known for its paladins and one not over-documented in the lore. This is using the post-Spellplague 4E version of the Realms.

The Concept: Each character is either part of or associated with/working for one of the major noble families of the kingdom. The last king disappeared after the Spellplague 80-odd years ago and a council of paladins has ruled the place with varying levels of success ever since.

The Mechanics, straight from the email:

•  Begin at 4th level

• Races: The most common are humans, halflings, & dwarves, with some elves. Those common to the area include PHB 1 & 2 races, PHB 3 & FR Guide are less common but still welcome

• Classes: PHB 1-2-3 + Essentials + FR Guide + Neverwinter + the Artificer from Eberron + All power books, player's guides, Dragon mags, and Heroes of Whatever - find something you really like! Knights, Cavaliers, Paladins, Blackguards, and Warlords will all be very flavorful

• Backgrounds: FR or regular backgrounds are fine.

• Themes: If you can make a Neverwinter theme fit your concept, go for it. The dark sun themes really don't fit well but if you think you have an angle on one send me an email.

• Magic: Begin with a lvl 5, a 4, a 3, a 2, and a lvl 1 item. You can trade any of them for a potion of healing if you would prefer. These are gifts from your family and trainers as you have not been adventuring before now. Try to make them fit your background and theme. Beyond that you have standard starting money. You can take cash instead of an item if you'd rather have money in your pocket.

• Other gear: Mordenkainen's Emporium added a lot of cool regular old-school gear like caltrops and holy water back into the game. Be sure and look that stuff over. 

• Deities: Torm, Torm, and more Torm. Most others welcome but not dominant.

Since this might conceivably, possibly be my last 4E campaign (Hey, "Next" might really knock my socks off) I decided to use some the resources within easy reach and so the Nentir Vale area from the DMG is now in Impiltur and for the first adventure we are starting in Fallcrest. It's not a perfect fit but hey, that Spellplague-thing really messed things up - who knows how accurate these maps from a pre-industrial society really are? Forest, mountains, it'll fit in there somewhere. This is not the last familiar area that will appear in this game.

Turning my players loose for character creation is usually a bad idea and this time proved to be no exception. We ended up with:

• A Shifter Paladin
• A Genasi Warlord
• A Dwarf Cleric*
• A Dwarf Warden
• An Elf Bow Ranger
• ...and a Drow Vampire (played by Lady Blacksteel**)

So yeah, serves me right for opening the door to this kind of thing. Not a single human in the party. At least they can't complain about sub-optimal race and class options when they get TPK'd.

So much for my visions of this...

On the bright side we picked up a new player, a friend of one of my existing players and new to tabletop gaming. We'll see if he has a taste for this kind of thing.

I do have an outline for this campaign, fairly detailed for Heroic and fairly solid for Paragon and Epic - hopefully this one will last long enough to see some of my planned fun. They already know that Orcus and Tiamat will be major opposing players in the region so they aren't totally in the dark. A lot of this will be playing through published material, though not necessarily published for this edition of D&D.

Next time: Session #1!

* he's dual-wielding waraxes so he's not as mundane as this might appear

**I can't believe this kind of thing could be going on right under my nose, in my own house!

Marvel Heroic: Spring Breakout 2012

So during spring break we had a pretty good run - D&D, ICONS, oh and the new Marvel game. Your heroes this week are:

• Black Panther, played by Apprentice Blaster
• Daredevil, played by Apprentice Red
• Shadowcat, played by a friend of Red

We began with the handing out of the cheat sheets and deciding why each hero was near the super-prison known as the raft on this particular night. We mostly used the suggestions in the book so I have no great revelations here. Daredevil is in lawyer mode headed over to talk to the Sentry via ferry, Panther is in a helicopter on his way to something else and Kitty Pryde got a tip from a contact that something was going to happen so she's on the same ferry as Matt Murdock.

Soon enough, lightning storm, lights out, explosion - Panther lands the chopper just as the ferry pulls in, and the helipad is remarkably close to the dock. Three heroes step forward, ready for trouble. They find it in the form of Count Nefaria ... 

I especially like the "N" on his belt

Nefaria is a pretty tough customer by himself but this was a rather one-sided fight. Still recovering from his imprisonment, his plan was to take the ferry to freedom. The heroes were not going to let that happen and he was beaten pretty severely by Black Panther and Daredevil despite his Superhuman Durability. I'm pretty sure he was scorched by Lockheed at one point too. Panther took a pretty good shot too, but after a brief struggle the three heroes continued on, while Matt's law partner flagged down some guards to secure the villain.

Approaching the prison proper the team was set upon by a mob of unpowered super criminals. Being an all-male group Kitty, the Girl Next Door, took the opportunity to use her feminine wiles (!) to confuse the escaping convicts - then Panther and Daredevil beat the stuffing out of them, suffering a few bruises in return - nothing special for experienced heroes like these.

Reaching the prison itself, they decided that the best approach would be to investigate the huge hole blasted in the thing that seemed to be the most obvious and most popular escape route. They hoped that by bottling this up they could prevent any further escapes. The three capes decided to advance down the tunnel/crater a short distance to give them a better chance at bottling up any opposition,

As they climbed down into the darkened hole, things went well at first. Then they noticed a large chunk of rock rising through the tunnel from the lower levels of the prison. In the dark it was difficult to make out details (well, except for Daredevil) but they decided that this could not be a good thing and Black Panther leapt down onto the rock to confront ... Graviton!

Graviton was lifting the rock chunk as his personal escape vehicle - and the heroes were right in its path! Panther was hurled off of the ledge and into space but was saved by Kitty's intangibility. Daredevil used his club-swingline to swing out over the rock and he too moved to confront the Master of Gravity! With Kitty's help Panther leapt back onto the rock and the two fighters sprung into action, aided by Lockheed and an Airwalking Shadowcat. Panther used his energy claws to tear into the rock, fracturing it and knocking the villain off-balance while Daredevil jump-kicked him in the face, aided by Kitty's phasing powers. Graviton did knock them around some more, and all 3 heroes were injured to varying degrees, but they finally managed to knock Graviton out as the rock shattered and the unconscious master of gravity tumbled back down into the darkness. Black Panther and Daredevil were not interested in venturing further into the prison as containment was their goal, so they took up positions along the tunnel and settled in to react.

Also, Panther asked Kitty to be his Queen

Yeah - you can take the XP-monger out of the dungeon, but he's still going to go for the XP's

DM Notes: This was our first run with the new Marvel Heroic system and we all had a blast. Unlike Champions and M&M (and more like ICONS) this was played sitting around the living room without a central table or mini's or a battlemat or map of any kind. This makes for a more relaxed game but the Apprentices (and friend) were really into figuring out creative justifications for using their powers. I say "justifications" because that's really what it is - mechanically the players are trying to build a pool of dice that will let them do what they want to do and the best way to do that is to come up with plausible justifications for why this d10 or d12 ability should be included over that d6 or d8 ability. It's comparable in some ways to "Balderdash", where if you can make the outrageous sound reasonable you can do pretty well. That said, they were pretty quick to toss a d4 Distinction in there if they wanted an easy Plot Point. We did not pay attention to XP or milestones for this run - well, except as noted above. We played for about two hours and it didn't feel like a grind.

Nefaria and the Mob are pretty standard parts of the adventure but I changed things up after that and went a little more epic with Graviton as he is a major force in the early episodes of the animated Avengers series and I wanted them to encounter someone they knew was a major villain. Carnage is the usual "next encounter" but I wanted something different and it was worth it when I heard "Oh THAT guy!" in a seriously concerned tone of voice.

Things that went well: They grasped the dice pool and pool-building concepts instantly. They grasped the importance of Plot Points instantly. The idea of sacrificing something (like using a d4 instead of a d8 or shutting down a power) was a little trickier for them but they got it fairly quickly. The concept of damage aiding the opponent instead of hindering the victim is a tricky one, but they got it faster than I expected. The loosely-defined approach to powers was seen as a plus too, probably aided by ICONS experience as it uses a similarly loose approach to power specifics. Not having to focus on exact movement speeds and ranges and areas of effect makes for a different kind of game. 

Things that can get better: 

• The Doom Pool, as yours truly had a helluva time keeping track of what I could do with those dice and how I could grow them. I need a cheat sheet specifically for this and I'm probably going to make one myself. 
• Running villains, as I am sure that Nefaria and Graviton could have been much nastier opponents but learning the nuances of the game mechanics at the same time as learning the nuances of these individual characters means I don't know everything that they could do. Chalk it up to lingering power-nullifier effects...
• Complications, Assets, and aiding one another in action. The boys tried out some of this, mostly in the last fight, and Shadowcat's player was especially interested in these kinds of tricks. Since I was mostly running solo villains, I couldn't do much "buffing", but I tried to do a little "debuffing" in between kicks to the head. I think this could be even more fun with multiple heroes and villains but I was at capacity just running one bad guy and trying to adjudicate the actions of three good guys.

So it was enjoyable and we all have a lot to learn. It felt a lot like the first time I ran 4th edition D&D - so many new terms and mechanics and options to figure out, but having run D&D (and Supers games) before certain things should work a certain way and they pretty much did. A year from now this won't feel like it should even count as actually playing as it was more of a test run. 

I'm still surprised at the characters they chose - I was sure Cap and Iron Man and Wolverine were top 3, followed by Colossus and Spiderman, but somehow we ended up with the king of Wakanda, a blind vigilante, and a teenage girl! I can guarantee you this has not happened in M&M or ICONS or any other game! We will see if the character variety continues, but that standard template for characters thing they have in this one certainly levels the playing field. 

Comparison: I've been a Champions fan for 30 years and that's not going to change. I've liked M&M for 10 now and that won't either. ICONS is still the best for me for "light and fast" supers games. All that said there is a place for this new system. I think it's best for 3 or more players as you can play off of each other when you have more things to work with and it's less of "my 4 dice vs. your 4 dice over and over again" which could be a real slog for a solo or duo game. Other than that I'm not sure about its place. I'd start with "if your players hate Champions then try to get them to try this one out as it's an opposite approach in about as many ways as you can have. 

Next up: I think I'm going to convert The Breeder Bombs from the TSR MSH adventure and make them all take an X-Man. It's a fairly simple adventure that should fit the MHRP structure well. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

ToEE 4E Session 7 - My DInner With Lareth

Deep in the catacombs beneath the Moathouse, our heroes arise from an extended rest:

• Torgor Bearkin, Dwarf Sentinel Druid with his bear companion "Po" (Apprentice Red)
• Isaac, Human Swordmage (also Red)
• Torinn, Dragonborn Sorcerer (Apprentice Blaster)
• Apollo Magewood, Elf Bladesinger (Also Blaster)
• Draco, Elf Bow Ranger (Apprentice Who)
• Dayereth, Human Wizard, rejoining the party after leaving to answer nature's call last session (a friend of the Apprentices)

After exploring the catacombs, the party followed an earthen tunnel into darkness but eventually turned back as it turned into a confusing maze of tunnels filled only with rat droppings.

Turning back, the group went in a different direction and found themselves in the familiar stone corridors of the under-moathouse. The first room they entered was unoccupied but they did find some doors. After checking for traps they opened the nearest one to find a blank wall behind it and then heard a distant "clang!", which worried them but presented no immediate effect.

Behind the second door they found an empty stone room but as they were investigating Torgor and Draco felt eyes upon their backs and turned around in time to spot some orcs holding bows on them from an unexplored hallway. "Hey, you guys, you're not supposed to be in here" in broken common from the orcish ambush proved to be the opening line of a rapid negotiation between traditionally hostile parties and this time it did not lead directly to violence. The Orcs were just not ready to die today, and the party was fine with talking through an encounter (after some internal debate). The sorcerer asked about their boss and employment opportunities and was directed down a nearby corridor to a particular door. Warily, the heroes took their leave, determined to confront the "boss".

Following the directions from the orcs the team eventually comes to a door and knocks. When it is answered by an armored human bearing a symbol of a flaming eye on his tunic, Torinn says they are seeking employment and were told this was the place to come. Confused, the guard calls for backup, but lets them in.

In an unexpected turn of events, the dragonborn sorcerer talks the party past the initial guard, plus his sergeant, plus the lieutenant, into a meeting with Lareth, commander of this secret outpost of the Temple of Elemental Evil. To meet with him, they are required to disarm themselves, which most of them do - Torgor, Po, and Draco elect to remain in a side room with the party's gear. In the big meeting the evil leader is not completely convinced of their sincerity in asking to join his forces so he offers them a choice: To prove that they are sufficiently committed to his cause, he says that they must select one member of their band to be sacrificed at the temple, a great honor to true believers. The group immediately nominates Draco, who is  surprised and dismayed to hear his name chosen so rapidly by people he thought were his friends. Stunned, he makes no move as the guards walk in, take his bow, and frog-march him towards the main room.

That's a lot of badguys - our heroes are in the middle and in the back right room

The rest of the heroes realize that this ruse has run its course and explode into action! Torinn and Dayereth need no gear and erupt with fiery blasts, lightning, and frost. Isaac calls his sword to his hand and leaps into melee with the guards. Apollo would really rather be using his luck blade, but since it's under guard in the entry room he makes due with a dagger hidden in his boot, calling forth various blade songs that look a lot less impressive on a dagger than they do on a longsword. Torgor and Po smash into the guards on Draco who retrieves his bow and begins slinging arrows into the fray two at a time.

Marks are out and the LT is already bloodied

In a swirling melee that spans 3 rooms Lareth, his lieutenant, 3 sergeants, and 18 well-armored guards take on 6 adventurers and an angry spirit bear for an epic fight that will be discussed by the victors for ages. Lareth the Beautiful's magic manages to interfere with the heroes long enough to get his men into favorable positions, but it turns out the favorable positions just gather them together for a massive display of blasting effects from the wizard, the sorcerer, and the bladesinger. The swordmage holds the center, while the druid and the bear hold one flank, and the bow ranger assassinates guards one after another. At the height of the battle, a wounded Lareth attempts to withdraw towards the entrance, guarded by his lieutenant and a sergeant, but a magic missile from the sorcerer drops the LT, giving Draco a clear shot at the Boss, who summons all of his concentration and makes the most of his opportunity, slaying the Dark Hope of Chaotic Evil with a single sure shot!

After their leader falls, the remaining forces of the Elemental Eye attempt to withdraw too, but to no avail - they are slaughtered to the last man by the forces of good. The last one to go down was a sergeant who cried "The Elemental Eye sees all! as he died. Triumphant, the battered and bloodied adventuring band takes a moment of rest, now knowing for sure that the temple is re-awakening and that they must take action to stop it. 

Late in the fight - It's a little blurry but red ring = bloodied

DM notes: This was a really fun session as a friend of the boys was able to rejoin for this one and we had more time to play. When things started they kept talking about wanting to get into some action right away but they took a surprisingly cautious approach that led to more talking than fighting at first. 

The clang of the portcullis that drops when the false door is opened bugged them - whereas my thinking is that hey, we obviously just triggered a trap but no one is poisoned or on fire so it's not so bad - but they decided not to go seek out what it was. It cuts off the obvious route to the upper level and is supposed to make the players feel trapped. Since my group didn't come down that way, they wouldn't have cared much anyway so it was just as well. 

The orcs spurred a pretty strong reaction though as they were distracted with searching a room when they found them. The negotiations were a surprise, frankly, as this is not a talk-first group. If you have the module, or if you have read my notes here then you may realize that these orcs (replacing the gnolls in the original version due to level issues) are a little disgruntled with their situation and are more ready to talk than fight. This attitude combined with the presence of a dragonborn sorcerer in the party (for old schoolers, he basically has an 18/00 charisma) who has a very strong diplomacy skill meant that things went very smoothly for the party. The Apprentices (and friend) realized right away that they could shortcut right to the "Boss" and try to talk their way into seeing him and this became their plan for the rest of the session.

Following this strategy paid off big time, because most guards do not have much in the way of insight, bluff , diplomacy, or charisma of any kind, making them easy prey for the silver-tongued sorcerer.* It also managed to get them in a bit over their heads as when conflict inevitably broke out they were standing in the middle of a roomful of armed guards without most of their weapons instead of fighting their way into the place but it was a good plan up to that point. This is a good example of why D&D benefits from having mechanical systems for "roleplaying" activities, which most of the time stands for "anything that's not combat": because 13 year old boys don't always make the most persuasive arguments, but when playing a character with a charisma of 20 who is trained in Diplomacy, Bluff, and Insight he should be as effective in social situations as a Barbarian with gauntlets of ogre power and a two-handed sword is in combat! Additionally, it reinforces that there are other approaches to a situation than "Charge!" and while I'm a big fan of violence in D&D a) it's not the answer 100% of the time and b) there are other games besides D&D that we play sometimes.

The big fight: This was supposed to be a sort of escalating encounter with the heroes plowing through some minions and then seeing progressively stronger reinforcements over the course of several rounds. Instead, it started with all combatants already on the map with friends and foes mixed together in 3 different rooms and the leader already present at the start of the fight. It was ugly, and it's a good thing they had 6 characters because if it had only been the most-usual 4 PC's I don't know that they would have made it. In this case, however, nobody died except for the bear (and considering he's a spirit animal and re-formed across the room the following round it was more like a painful teleport than actual death) although everyone was bloodied at some point except for the wizard and the ranger. Thirty combatants, nine rounds, about two hours - I'm pretty sure it's the biggest fight I've run in 4th edition and everyone was happy with it when it was over.

Next session I expect they will loot the leader, clean up a few more encounters in the dungeon, then head back to town and prepare to head to Nulb or the Temple proper which means I have some more work to do.

*I'm so using that as a Quality on my next ICONS or M&M character.

ICONS WW2 Mission 1: Werewolves of the Gestapo

Since it was spring break and I was off I knew I would be sleeping in, but the kids would be up early, so the night before I wanted to play I left my printed ICONS rulebook out in the living room with a note on it that said "Make a WW2 Superhero". I also primed the pump by having us all watch  Captain America on DVD the night before without saying anything about a game. By the time I was up and about, there were three excited kids with three characters ready to go.

• "Sword Guy" who does not yet have an impressive code name because Apprentice Red just couldn't come up with one he liked. He has powers of Strike, Blast, and can make 2 attacks per round. He is Chivalrous and Can't Run From a Fight - that's going to earn him some Determination
• "Leech" - Apprentice Who comes in with Power Duplication, the ability to Sense powers,  and Mind Shield. He is a Curious Scientist who fights For the Little Guys.
• "F.I.S.T." - Apprentice Blaster isn't sure what it stands for yet but it's a start. He has Super Strength and Invulnerability and Chameleon powers. He is Emotionless, and a Robot.

These three have been training since America entered the war and now, in early 1943, it's time for them to see their first action! After shipping out for London, they are briefed by Colonel Jones, OSS, who informs them that a French Resistance leader has been captured by the Germans and is being interrogated. The brass want him rescued. Rumor has it that he was kidnapped by a new "wolf brigade" that is supposed to be some kind of special unit. Information on them would be valuable as well. They are to be inserted tomorrow by air near the house where the prisoner is being kept and will be given a transmitter to radio for pickup when they have secured their package.

The next day the heroes gear up (rifles, knives, radio, canteen, rations, maps) and load up, and are dropped without incident. The house is in a forest so their approach will be somewhat covered. Using their maps the team approaches with FIST scouting ahead using his power to blend in with the forest.

Approaching the house, they encounter a patrol of 4 soldiers plus one big guy who's going shirtless. Sword-guy unloads his grenade-launching swords (!) into the patrol, blowing the soldiers away as the big guy suddenly sprouts fur and claws and charges them! Leech counter-charges, grabs a handful of fur, and suddenly HE sprouts fur and claws! The wolf seems a little confused by this and is quickly knocked out by the team. In the aftermath, Leech discovers that he can regenerate wounds. So far, so good.

Advancing to the edge of the woods the heroes observe the house. It's two stories, wooden, and guarded by two soldiers and two wolf-soldiers at front and back entrances. They eventually decide on a gambit to gain surprise.

Leech, still hairy and clawed though a bit shorter than the other wolf-types, lopes towards the house dragging the seemingly unconscious body of sword-guy behind him, shouting "I got one but there are more in the woods." With only the briefest of pauses the wolf-soldier tells him to watch the door while he and the other guards charge off into the woods. FIST then materializes next to them on the front porch of the house and all three are pretty happy with their plan.

Entering the house they walk straight into a large room with two conference tables covered in paper and numerous german officer types talking and shuffling - until they notice the wolf, the sword guy, and the large robot walking in.

"Get down" one of them shouts in german as pistols appear and begin firing at the robot in the back. Leech  leaps for one group as if seeking cover while sword guy abandons his prisoner ruse and foomps a double grenande set over the other table, wounding many. A confusing gun battle breaks out as Leech tears into his "friends", grenades are thumped all over, and FIST proves to be a decent marksman with a rifle from 10 feet away as he just stands in the open, shooting down one target after another, slugs pining off of his armor.

Silencing the officers, the team advances inwards, looking for their prisoner, but they find the back door guards instead, seeking the source of the noise. One wolf goes after Leech while the other goes after FIST and the two troopers start shooting at sword-guy. Leech and his wolf claw at each other for some time, each regenerating the wounds as fast as they can inflict them. FIST struggles with a face full of wolf while trying to bring his rifle into play, then gives up and just punches it - across the room and through the outer wall of the house into unconsciousness. Sword guy takes down his two opponents and joins Leech in beating down the remaining wolf until FIST walks over, grabs it, and throws it through the wall as well. With a shattering CRASH followed by a thud, this skirmish is over.

Moving upstairs the team finds a locked room and kicks down the door, seeing a trenchcoated Nazi officer, a beaten man tied to a chair, and a much larger, stronger-looking silver werewolf. Leech detects mental powers in the officer and moves to engage him as he has mind shield. FIST starts shooting the werewolf. Sword-guy considers his options then grenade-blasts the officer, knocking him out. Leech switches targets and moves in on the wolf as it charges FIST. This wolf proves to be incredibly tough! Leech gets a hand on him and finds he has gained some Invulnerability as well as his other powers while Sword-guy finds that his swords have no effect on the creature. FIST and the silver wolf knock each other around the room as Leech grabs the prisoner and heads downstairs.

Realizing what is happening, the big wolf knocks FIST down, speeds past Sword-guy, and leaps down the stairs, cutting off Leech, who drops his passenger and prepares to go claw-to-claw. Sword-guy pulls out the radio and sends the pickup signal, hoping they can last long enough to get back home. Then FIST reappears and leaps down. Grabbing the wolf in both arms, he squeezes, eventually crushing the breath out of the creature, knocking it out.

Somewhat later a plane lands and a new team of heroes is headed back to England with a French Resistance Leader, a restrained silver werewolf, and an unconscious German Psychic officer.

DM Notes: I was very happy with this run and so were the Apprentices. They were all fired up to play and they did very well. They were very good about not playing it like a D&D adventure other than Blaster's drive to pick up guns for about half of the mission, until I reminded him that with an 8 Strength he could do a lot more damage up close and with an 8 Invulnerability no one was going to shoot him anyway. They worked together, remembered their goals, and didn't get too silly while they were doing it. 


We spent around two hours playing through this and that was about perfect. I plan to run the others in this series  and I'm really looking forward to them - just enough content to have an interesting action-filled session.


Rules-wise things can get a little tricky in the heat of play. The main issue was that nothing in the area could hurt the robot, and neither of the other two characters could hurt the big werewolf thanks to invulnerability. This does force some thinking about how to do things beyond just attacking, but it's a little frustrating to them too. I may tinker with something like an automatic 1 point of Stamina damage on a Massive success, regardless of Invulnerability or Immunity. That would let them feel like they were contributing without totally gimping those defensive powers. Also, they did not use all that much Determination, so we will work on that in our next session. Plus: Cheatsheets! The ones out now just don't work for me so I'm probably going to make some of my own.


Next time: the war comes to London!  

Campaign Shuffle - Exit Star Wars

I started the Star Wars campaign with good intentions - I really like the Saga edition system and think it would be great for a long campaign. Choosing to run the Dawn of Defiance made it easy enough to get started and there is a ton of supporting material on the web now as it's been out for several years and run by many GM's. Unfortunately I'm not sure I will ever get to run it.

Our main group hasn't been able to gather for over a month which is a long break for us. The thought was that I would run Star Wars while one of my regular players ran his own D&D game on a different night as I didn't see much point in two D&D campaigns running at the same time. Well, he hasn't been able to run either so instead of two ongoing campaigns we've been left with none, and D&D overlap is not an issue.

I am once again reminded that D&D is our main game, and it's pretty much assumed that we will have a D&D game for sure, plus whatever else we can work in on the side. An additional factor is that the Old Republic MMO is scratching the Star Wars itch for some of my players, lessening the interest in the tabletop campaign. I felt the general sense of "we should be playing D&D" over the internet waves and made the offer to switch.

So, tomorrow we start a new D&D campaign. Yes, it's 4th edition. No, it's not a continuation of Return to the Ruins of Adventure and no it's not Temple of Elemental Evil 4E Thread 2. More details next week.

The Two Classic D&D Elements I Can Live Without

As a follow-up to my post earlier this week on what ought to be in a new all-inclusive version of D&D I thought I would note a few things that I would be happy to see left out of a new version:

Item 1: Level Drains
Yes, it strikes fear into the players, but it also strikes fear into me as a DM because it effectively erases hours and hours of play. A 7th level party walks into a graveyard, and a party with levels ranging from 1-7 walks out - now we have to deal with that meta-game problem somehow.

Levels are how we measure progress in the game (and in non GP=XP campaigns they took a looong time to acquire). Reversing this progress is a pretty drastic form of damage, especially when it happens on a single roll of the d20! Hit points heal back quickly - levels typically do not. Death provides a nice clean break point - to raise or not to raise? In some campaigns that not even an option, so it serves as a definite thing to be avoided with a clear measure of status in hit points. Levels are fewer in number, more difficult to heal, and unlike hit points as levels drain away the character becomes measurably less effective.

Now if there is an easily-available low-level spell that can reverse level drains then it is quite a bit less of a problem. It also makes level drains significantly less scary, which was one of the main points of having them in the first place. So maybe another mechanic would work instead of the classic permanent level drain. There was a mechanic in 3E called "Negative Levels" that imposed a set of negative modifiers on a character and something like that might work. Make it a standard condition like what you find in 4E and it should be easy to implement. I think the goal here should be a significant short-term impairment that wears off over time.

Item 2: Save or Die
Another classic, one we all lived with back in the 80's, but one I'm less in favor of now. The main problem is that character death is the ultimate penalty in the game - "you can't play this character any more". In my opinion, there should be another clause attached to that "...because you screwed up and he died". Screwing up should not include things like trying to open a chest (poison needles you know) or fighting giant spiders just because they happen to be spiders and not some other monster. Characters roll a lot of dice in their careers, and sooner or later they're going to roll a 1 - better hope it's on a to-hit roll and not a saving throw or it will cost you your character. I think instant death effects should be extremely rare, and when they turn up on poison needle traps, dart traps, on spiders and scorpions and centipedes all in a 1st-3rd adventure module, then they aren't rare and it's a problem.

Now one way to make this a scary ability but somewhat less punishing is to change up the way save or die works. I've experimented with this in my Basic D&D games like this: Failing a save-or-die save means the character drops but is not instantly dead. The party basically has hours = to Con score to do something with weaker poisons or lower level spells, minutes = to Con for stronger ones. This keeps it simple and still takes a character out of a fight but leaves some room for the party to do something - like find a healer. Plus you see things like this in myths and fairly tales where a magical curse is laid on someone and there is a race against time to find a way to save them. With this maybe the death spell is now "death curse" and the allies of those affected only have minutes to save them.

Another simple option for things like poison is to just have poison do damage, likely based on the hit dice or level of the monster. How about this: Poisons do hit point damage = to the Hit Dice of the monster per round beginning on the round the wound is inflicted. It works like ongoing damage in 4E with a chance to save each round. In a fight against something like giant scorpions, this makes the back and forth of stinger hits, damage, and saves a lot more interesting than hit = death.

A slightly more complicated option is to follow the method used for petrification (among others) in 4E and also for the Affliction power in M&M 3E: List a set of 3 conditions in order of severity from least to worst for each type of attack like this. Attack is made, it hits, target fails to save, 1st condition. Next round if a save is failed, the 2nd condition takes effect. Next round, if they fail again, then the 3rd condition is imposed. For petrification in 4E this was typically Slowed/Immobilized/Petrified. For evil old school DM's thinking this is watered down, well, watching a player sweat that next save as they struggle to fight on is every bit as satisfying as "Fail! Stoned!" is, because it takes longer. Giving players more time to think about it adds an element of suspense beyond the single die roll.

Note: I actually don't mind turn to stone effects in old school D&D because there are specific spells and magic to help with that - it's not exactly save or die. It's close but I usually give it a pass when going retro. Poisons and magic are the ones that have problems.

Finally, we could leave all of this stuff in pretty much as-is with the addition of one extra mechanic: Hero Points. If players had a per-session or per-level way to do something as simple as say reroll a die then many of the problems of these mechanics are mitigated, especially if one can also be used to avoid death. Maybe you get 4 +1 per level, so a starting character gets 5 of these Luck Points. I can make an argument that they should be much lower, maybe 1 per level, but I could also argue that the lower levels are when they are needed most. Maybe 2+ level would work too. Savage Worlds goes with 3 per session, which eliminates the need for tracking them between sessions, but D&D players tend to like some resource management  so a per-level allotment is probably fine. Uses would be to reroll any d20 roll, take one extra action, to regain a lost level, or to be a zero hit points and unconscious instead of dead. I can see an argument for an automatic success instead of a reroll, but I think the heart of D&D is tied to rolling that lucky 20, not auto-passing a check. Very few things are automatic in D&D, especially older editions of D&D, so I personally feel a reroll is more fitting for this game.

I've tried out a system like this in my Basic game with the Apprentices and it makes a huge difference - they know that fighting crab spiders at 1st level is dangerous, but now a random encounter in a hallway doesn't mean instant death for half the party - but you can bet they will be more cautious when they know they just burned through 2 or 3 Luck points. It gives them a chance to find out just how dangerous something is without dying from it - at least the first time.

Another benefit is that it also puts the burden back on the player, or to phrase it differently it gives them another interesting choice to make. Some players will burn them up on offensive choices, re-rolling attacks to take out the bad guys and then have nothing left when the wraith starts slapping them around for two levels per hit. More cautious types will use them only defensively and level up with several left in their pocket - and that's OK! My goal here would be to give players some ability to smooth off the sharper edges of fate and they can choose to spend it as they see fit. This might also be flavored as "enough rope to hang themselves" and if it goes that way, it goes that way.

Anyway, there are some things to ponder when it comes to D&D old and new.

Overreaction Tuesday

So after a week of superhero stuff I figured it was time to get back to D&D. There's been quite a bit of chatter over the last two weeks on EN World and the WOTC site about some more stuff so I thought I would sound off a bit.

• Vancian Magic: A lot of people really are screaming for this one to come back. I always assumed that it would. I have to confess though, it's not my favorite anymore. It's simple, easy to use, and forces players to make hard choices, but I've seen too many other ways to handle magic over the years to get excited over playing this again. I Shadowrun is my favorite magic system, letting the player gamble against drain to pull off bigger effects and pushing the hard choices into the heat of the moment instead of at breakfast that morning. As un-thrilled as I am about it, if we're going to start listing defining traits of D&D, then wizards memorizing spells is one of them.

• Turning Undead: This week's article at WOTC discusses the mechanics of clerics vs. undead in various edition and what it should or should not be. I agree with a lot of what is said in that it's turned into a clerical utility power over the last two editions instead of a specific class trait vs. undead. I would add to the desired effects list that if a party knows they are going to face a bunch of undead, they should want a cleric to come along, kind of like taking a ranger or druid into the wilderness or a wizard into the planes. This is something I would expect to see re-focused if we're doing a back-to-basics version of D&D and it sounds like that's the direction they are taking. Good.

• Skills was the subject of an article last week and I like the way they were headed a while back with skills as an open "pick something you are good at and take a bonus on related ability checks" type approach rather than picking things from a set list. Much like the commenters there I find that having skills as a set list and giving them a separate progression creates a view of "I can't do that because I don't have the skill" mentality. To avoid that, we should have short lists of very broad skills, or no list at all and let players pick say 3 (non-combat) things they are good at. Either way it should be a small bonus, say a +2. This could stack with racial bonuses, class bonuses, and maybe (maybe!) a feat bonus. Keeping the total bonus available small keeps target numbers smaller than the current edition, and cuts down on the progression of numbers in general, which was mentioned in one of the early articles. I'd like to see a mechanical system where every +1 is greatly appreciated if that's truly a goal. If the class, race, and feat bonuses were each +1, then with skill being a +2 a character would start with a max of a +5 to their roll even if they min/maxed things to stack them all, say for a thief who wants to be really good at sneaking, or a ranger who wants to be a master tracker. If you're trying to roll under a 3-18 stat, that's pretty good but it's not game-breaking. The way this would look is say I'm the ranger mentioned above and I have a 13 Wisdom, and that's the stat used for tracking rolls. Normally I would roll a d20 looking for a 13 or less. With my impressively stacked bonuses I would instead be looking for an 18 or less - I succeed 90% of the time! Master tracker! I suspect a lot of this is going to depend on how willing they are to get away from the whole d20 + modifiers vs. Difficulty Class that's been the standard since 2000. If they're truly going for the united editions, then I think they will. If not, well, I guess we will see.

• One item that has not been discussed in detail is Alignment. Yes, many people hate it, yet many of those same people are the ones shouting for Vancian magic to return, and yet every criticism you can make of alignment you can make of Vancian spellcasting too: Archaic, Outdated, Restrictive, Confining, and (my favorite) Unrealistic. Yet both have been a part of the game from day 1, book 1, and have been included in every edition. Furthermore, the Vancian thing only affects a low percentage of characters in a game - alignment affects every character in the gameworld, PC & NPC alike. Lawful Good versus Chaotic Evil and the rest is one of the signature qualities of D&D. It needs to be in there, and it needs to be in the core rules.

• Finally, one item that will likely not be discussed but is a favorite of mine: Gold Pieces for Experience Points. No, it's not fashionable to discuss anymore, but the early editions of D&D established its dominance and it's what they used. Not some story reward chart, not some carefully figured monster XP by level by encounter number by party member formula, but the beautiful simplicity of 1 gp = 1 xp. Plus a little bit for the monsters themselves, but it was minor. It worked for the first 15 years of the game's existence*, and it is by far the easiest system to moderate - everyone knows what it is, everyone knows how it works, so everyone knows what to do. No, it doesn't necessarily reward political intrigue - but then that's not what the game is about, is it? What early published adventure consists of a bunch of political intrigue? None! (And no, Assassin's Knot doesn't count as it was clearly labelled as something different with solving a murder mystery, kind of proving my point.) So there's no reason this elegant mechanic couldn't be brought back to the most basic form of the new game to help keep the focus on what the game does best: Dungeons!

Anyway, that's the topical discussion for this week!

Also: Spring Break! So posting times will be a little all-over-the-place this week but I am trying to keep up some kind of regular posting.

*Sure, some people ignored it as "stupid" or (again my favorite) "unrealistic" and they are the same people who think level advancement in later versions is too fast! Because they were doing it wrong back then!** Sure, we all played around with the rules back then but you can't cut out 3/4 of the experience point system, not replace it, and then complain about advancement rates down the road!***

**With all of the interest in how Gary played and how Dave Arneson did things, you'd think people would be more accepting of GP's for XP's but it's kind of a blind spot in a lot of OSR things that I see. Not sure why that particular rule gets slighted, but it does.

***Until you get past about 9th level for a lot of classes and you start to need 250,000 XP's per level. That does slow things down, even with gp's for xp's. But getting to 9th was not excruciatingly difficult XP-wise. Surviving, well, that could be challenging, but to have to deal with that AND not getting xp's for treasure, wow, that sounds like Runequest.