Delays and Diversions : 2

The C&S stuff is still live. But I have some intrusions into my thinking and planning.

To the point where it's months since I started to write this particular post!

RuneQuest

I'm having a dive into the current version of RuneQuest [RuneQuest Glorantha]. I was browsing the Chaosium site in search of CoC goodies and saw that RQ was alive and well. My memory tells me that I've played approximately four sessions of RQ in my life. I ran three when I had the game back in the early eighties and another a couple of years later at a wargames club.

As a world and a mythology it's a compelling read. I'm not convinced that I'd want to play the RAW but it's food for thought. I've read a lot of background and setting information but I've not managed to get very far into the actual rulebook. There is a chance that some of distinctive forms of magic will colour my thinking when I get to thinking about religion and magic for my C&S mega-project.

Work

Busy, busy, busy. I somehow managed to sneak little bits of typing into the working day... but not at the moment. My work laptop is the only thing I have with a mouse and a real keyboard, so it's may favoured hardware for doing this.

Anyway...

Reading a bunch of Max Adams books is making Early Medieval an interesting idea for a campaign setting. 

I've had some new ideas about bending Skillscape to my taste. I'll get to that soon.

The "new year intention" is to get something written on a Friday evening

The Three The earlier material

Delays and Diversions

 The C&S stuff is still live. But I have some intrusions into my thinking and planning.

Club 1830

I may have become divorced from the "modern boardgame" movement but I still find time for a spot of 18xx (and some solo wargaming).

Club 1830 was already going when I decided to disconnect from other bg noise. It suits me better to have a handful of games to really dig into, than to be constantly sampling other potential delights. During lockdown we had a "support bubble" for a friend who would have not have survived Covid, had he caught it. In that little group I seized my chance to try and get a small group together to play 1830 a couple of times - at least until we all had wrapped our heads around the basic play and could finish a game in an afternoon. We've now got ten "known" games, all with at least a dozen plays, and a couple more awaiting their time.

I'm not of the opinion that 1830 is the King of Games. I don't think any game could claim that title. It just happened that we accidently formed an 18xx group and that I was happy to keep it when I stopped trying to keep up with other games. 

I prefer the 'nastier' titles to the 'gentler' ones. I like the interaction and I like that they're better at allowing a player back into the game (if they're not completely splatted, of course). 

We're not an especially fast group and we like to get a game finished in an afternoon. This filters out any games with a "box time" exceeding five hours. Three to four is preferable.

The games which have been getting the most attention this year have been 18GB and 1882. 

The former was new to us this year. I wasn't certain that I'd enjoy it as it looked to be more operational than financial. It turned out that the main focus was track laying - and luckily that proved to an interesting problem. Usually, track laying is the weakest part of my game - I'm too used to taking a short-term view there. Due the nature of the map, and the monetary incentives to join London to the north of Scotland, there is some keen competition to get stations in the OO and XX tiles which fill the Midlands or to elbow one's way onto Ken's Eastern Bypass.  

1882 has been a favourite since I first got it. We've just had four consecutive plays, each better than the previous. Between the short train roster and the very limited tile set it can be a brutal game. This set of games saw David begin to play a lot more aggressively than usual (starting a second company in SR2 in the last game) and me putting more thinking into my track game.

It will, sadly, get put aside for a few meetings as we learn 1822:PNW. When we were playing 1822:MRS I got slaughtered every time but I'm that this time round the 1822 gameplay will click with me.

The Three Artists referring to earlier material

Fluffy Forest Creatures

So it's time to put some beasties into the Lost Tower section of the appearance chart.

Natives will arrive later, but for now we note that the following dwellings will be placed:

Stink F : Hovel
Smoke F: Lodge

New Monsters, these ought to be green to match the existing Wood monsters. Medium Bear/Boar counters might be Brown to note them as Elusive

Medium Boar:   M4 / 3,  H*3 / 2 : Medium, F1 N1  Elusive
Heavy Boar:      H4 / 3,  H**3 / 3 : Heavy, F5 N5   Elusive

Medium Bear:   M4 / 5,  H5 / 4 : Medium, F0 N1  Elusive
Heavy Bear:      H4 / 5,  T5 / 4 : Heavy, F4 N4   Elusive

Medium Spider:  L4 / 2,  H4 / 4 : Medium, F1 N1 

Elusive monsters are considered Hidden when they first appear and become Hidden again at Midnight everyday. In combat they become unhidden only if targetted and are considered "watchful". They never block characters when hidden, but may be blocked and forced unhidden by characters who found hidden enemies. Place dark side up when hidden - they remain on their hidden/unhidden side when combat in their clearing begins.

Forests now have monsters which the characters may choose to avoid, but I also wish them to be a little tougher than Woods. I have made Forests differ from Woods in that there are multiple stacks of monsters for a given monster roll and that these cover more than one Forest:

MR
2   Dank F:                  [ 2 Vipers ]  [ 2 Vipers ]
3   Ruins F, Bones F :  [ 6 Wolves ] [ 6 Wolves ]  Dank F [ 2 Medium Boar ] [ 1 Heavy Boar ]
4   Bones F :               [ 2 Medium Bear ] [ 1 Heavy Bear ] 
5   Dank F, Ruins F :   [2 Medium Spider] [ 2 Medium Spider ]

It looks, now, as if, there will be Tremendous Boar, Bear, Wolf amongst the treasure sites in the bleak lands.

Tiles

This is truly the limit of my artistic skills.

Forest Tiles

Like Woods, there are two distinct routes across the hex. However the longer route is a clearing longer and there are unhidden juntions. However hidden paths connect the routes.

Again, like Woods, the routes change between Enchanted and Unenchanted sides. The routes between tile-side and clearings also change. There is a precedent for this in the Deep Woods and Ruins tiles.

It is intended that the Woods Girl's Tracking Skills will apply in Forest tiles, even if her optional ability is not being used.

I have yet to think of names for these tiles.

Monsters will be sorted out soon. Having put the White Hart and Natives on the back burner for now, I am pondering the inclusion of a rule for Reclusive Denizens. These would be summoned to empty clearings, rather than the character's clearing, never block, be considered Hidden on arrival and at Midnight and be Watchful. This allows me to put minor boar and other "huntable game" into play which would have to be sought out. As I have plans for multiples of some non-reclusive monsters and some monsters which are a little tougher than the usual Woods creatures, it'd be good not to clutter up the Forests with blocking beasties - they are Traval hexes after all.  I'm also being tempted by prowling and secretive natives.

A First Foray Into The Forest

Nope, nothing concrete. I just happen to enjoy alliteration.

Tiles: Trying to work out something with 4 clearings which is quick to cross on the unenchanted side is still problematic. Maybe drop back to three clearings and drop the enterable sides to three...

Monsters: Now, this is coming together. Forests are for hunting, so Bears and Boars will make an appearance alongside another pack of Wolves. All of these will have multiple boxes, probably just pairs with repeats - but a small Medium boar may arrive before a Heavy version. A Tremendous  boar is a strong contender for a Treasure site. I toyed with the idea of the second wolfpack being a set of 'goblin riders'... maybe too harsh for a travel tile.  Without sound chits, travel tiles will be always be less populated than treasure tiles, so I'm not sure how many multiple summons might occur.

Natives: Hunstmen will certainly apppear - either as a clone or a modification of Lancers. The Witches are still a problem. I like the idea of them arriving as a set of three and them each having their own alerted attack of either Stones Fly (1 target only), Curse and Power Of the Pit. But their unalterted side would seem them as L*3 / move 4 Light targets, which is not a huge challenge.

Hunstmen made me think of "patrolling garrisons" - appearing at their dwelling, but prowling in the tile. This is a new mechanism, something I'm trying to avoid. So I'm still undecided between adding, say 'Bandits' into the mix and simply having all three prowl the new Dwellings.

White Hart. While pondering huntable creatures, I thought of the mythical white hart which appears as a questing beast in old romances. Ideally it would appear and immediately disappear, luring adventurers to pursue it (in vain in the old tales). So after the Boar have been hunted... the next box would be the Hart. When it is summoned, it arrives Hidden, enchants the tile and casts Lost on it. It is a fast Medium creature with a large Fame bounty. The trouble is having it arrive and set its environment within the normal game systems and also not to be killed on its first arrival. Maybe it could take two summons - the first box is "Signs of the Hart" which enchants the hex and puts Lost on it - the second summons the Hart itself - always hidden and having some mechanism to run from or end combat. It is still a problem in that it will prowl towards its hunters who have only to stay put and search ( for hidden enemy ). I'm sure it can be solved... but it's a diversion  from my plans.  Signs of the Hart could be another "dwelling"... rather than being a summoned creature.

Still just a lot of vague ideas. Tonight I'll get the tiles sorted out and begin the new appearance chart section.

The Lost Tower

An itch which deserves scratching is the creation of an expansion for Magic Realm.

My hope is to create a coherent expansion which retains the medieval / faerie feel of the original game. I won't be looking to increase the number of characters available to play, there seem to be a plethora of these in existence.

So far the plans are all a bit vague, but I know where I'm heading. This expansion will hopefully be a little more challenging than the basic set. It's core is two sets of 5 tiles, one for travelling and one for looting. These can either be added to the basic set to give a larger realm (maybe appealing to players who want to spend more time in the realm) or could be used as alternatives to the Woods and Mountains in the original game (maybe appealing to players who simply want a change of scene).

A major part of the plan is to have as little impact on the way the game currently works... Hopefully a revision to the setup rules and to the appearance chart will be all that is required. I also don't want to mess too much with what can be expected on the basic tiles.

I am aware of the 'lost expansion' by the original developer... I'm certainly not trying to replicate that in any way. I have at least one idea in common with that, but that is purely due to finding the same solution to a problem.

If successful another expansion in the same format could be devised which was a little less challenging for use with the development game.

So, what've I got so far:

Title: Having a title "The Lost Tower" is a good start.

New Chits: I wish this expansion to makes as few changes to the basic game as possible. Warning chits will simply be two more sets of 5 (smoke, stink &c.). There will be 4 new treasure locations, 1 'Lost Tower' and a set of the standard Sounds. [ Remember to think about clearing numbers for sounds/treasures, also consider how sounds/treasures are setup - more counters => more chance of 'clumping']

New Tiles:

1. Forests: These are the new travelling tiles. 5 in all, just like the basic woods. The unenchanted side may well be the same as for woods, but I am toying with having something a little easier to navigate, perhaps having 4 exitable side. The enchanted side will be harder to cross - I envisage dead end entries each to a single clearing but with hidden paths connecting these. They will enchant to Gold, as Woods do. Smoke/Stink warnings will summon dwellings... Lodge and Hovel. Other warnings will summon monsters.
2. Bleak/Barren/Broken land: These are the new treasure bearing tiles. 5 in all, just like the basic mountains. Other than adding a six clearing valley which enchants to grey, I expect these will be mostly mountainous with one or two small cave bearing tiles. They will enchant to purple.

Dwellings / Natives: There will be a Lodge and a Hovel (permanent grey magic source) appearing in the forests. There will be at least two new native groups - The Huntsmen and The Coven (3 spell casters). I like the idea of these being garrison style natives - so unlike the various visitors to the campfires, finding a forest dwelling will guarantee finding its occupants. If they are to be occupied by prowlers only, then another one or two native groups will be needed and perhaps some new destinations for Bashkars, Woodfolk and Lancers added. 

Weapons: No new weapon types will be added. Obviously the Huntsmen will be armed... presumably with bows and spears, so a few new  counters will be required.

Monsters: With another Flutter and another Slither in the game, snakes, dragons and bats will need some reinforcements. These can just be extra boxes and repeats of the counters [ eg. if the new tiles are added to the game then bats might be 1,2,2,3,3 rather than 1,2,3. New monster boxes will be added to the Treasure Locations table for the four new treasure sites - each with an appropriate new Tremendous beastie. Then a new "Lost Tower" section can be added for encounters in the new (F) and (B) tiles. Another wolf pack will roam the (F) tiles, possibly in a different configuration and a Worm/Wyrm will guard a new treasure site, but I don't know what the other monsters will be.

Treasures / Spells. Some will be required. Without knowing what the treasure sites will contain it's not possible to even count them. I don't really want to add new spells to the game, but there may well be a new spell bearing treasure site or treasure... maybe duplicate spell cards could exist?? Treasures are difficult to design - I don't see any point in looking for and filling in blanks in say move chit/fight chit/extra phase items. Some treasures, especially Potion types may well be used to fill in the gaps where invention fails me.

Visitor/Mission. I never really seem to use these. Either of the two new native groups could be point to pick up a visitor/mission and a new chit added. But only if being used to expand rather than alter the realm  .A mission to take something to/from the Huntsmen (as per Food/Ale or Escort Party) seems a good choice (certainly better than a campaign). As for a visitor, maybe it's time to give the fighters a break and have a blacksmith/tinker visitor to mend armour. [ Now I'm wondering whether he might extra-sharpen weapons for a hefty fee... ]

Well, that's the itch scratched for today. I can now let these ideas compost... With only a vague idea of how (B) tiles might look (I don't even have a proper name for them), the next installment will most likely be a first draft of the Forests and their inhabitants.