I would loved to have been in the WotC offices Monday when the news dropped of a new entrant into the digital CCG arena.
All of a sudden what they thought was a two horse race between themselves with MtG:Arena and the 800lb gorilla Hearthstone by Blizzard, looks like becoming a three horse race with the addition of Riot Games and Legend of Runeterra.
I suspect WotC were hoping in the current climate that they would be picking up a shed load of new players as those disenfranchised with Blizzard and Hearthstone look for a viable alternative.
Although I would imagine that the number of engaged players would drop drastically once the new arrivals realised they can only play on their PC, and not on their mobile device of choice. Although to be fair to WotC, Mac owners will be getting Arena hopefully sometime before the New Year.
However that was before the sign up for early access to new kid on the block Legends of Runeterra (LoR) was opened up on Monday. Like Arena LoR is only available on PC. However the button is already on the website for the Apple App Store. Which would imply that they plan to release LoR sooner than later on mobile.
The scary thing for WotC with Riot Games entering the fray is that Riot Games know this arena. All those years of experience developing the online behemoth that is League of Legends. All the experience that this has got them in the e-sport arena. The customer base they have to market to. A customer base that trusts them, and is highly engaged with them, and is more at easy using a digital product.
WotC are not generous with their in game economy in Arena. It stinks, and is the major reason why I won’t play the game. Close second is it’s not on iOS/iPadOS.
If Riot Games get the game play correct, and they get the in game economy correct, then they will have a hit on their hands. As soon as I get my invite to play (yes I did sign up for early access) and had sometime with the game I’ll post my thoughts.
In the meantime it will be interesting to see just how WotC and Blizzard react to the new guy on the block.
For some reason my train of thought for the last few days has been about what to do if one of my players characters die during the campaign.
Naturally I turned to Saint Colville to see what sage advice he had on the subject. Here are some of the points I picked up from his Let’s Kill A PC! Running the Game #68 video.
“…the game is so complex, no one doing anything wrong, characters can die.”
Matt Colville does get you to ask the question “how lethal is your campaign?” in the video. Up until now it’s now something I’d really thought about.
So how lethal is my campaign? Is death a rare thing, or uncommon, common or this is a suicide mission/dark souls level of mortality?
I’m not sure. It’s something I think that needs to be discussed with the players. My leaning at this point in time is it’s common. It’s a medieval fantasy setting. The world, especially outside of civilisation is a dangerous place. If it wasn’t why would our adventurers be needed, or driven to go out into the world? And let’s not ignore the expected life span of a pheasant in medieval times, and the state of medicine (even taking into account magic and potions).
“…my bad guys want to win. They are going to act the same way you do, and for the same reasons. They may ignore an unconscious pc under the reasonable premise they are no longer a threat. Or they may kill that same pc to remove a potential threat.”
“If we set expectations. If we explain D&D is a game, and that even a mundane encounter could go south without anyone intending it too. If we explain the bad guys want to win…”
I think the best line of the whole video is the following:
“Death is always a possibility. You knew the job was dangerous when you took it.”
It’s a line that with his other bit of advice for players “Anytime you are out numbered the odds are stacked against you.” should be repeated on a regular basis to players. And something I need to start doing.
There is also advice how to reply to the dead player when they want to discuss what could have been done different. Like avoid saying “if only you had…” and instead replying “there’s always something different you could have done” and staying quiet on the matter.
However what is missing from the amazing video of Colville’s is then what? Is the player out of the game? Do you get the player to create a new character?
I think that was my biggest sticking point, the then what?
It’s interesting to have this different perspective on a character death in D&D. I particularly like their advice on dealing with the in game moment of a characters death. Which I’ll discuss in a moment.
They do mention words of warning, and Colville has also discussed this in a video or two. It’s sign posting that the players are about to get into a dangerous situation. Giving them the information they need to make an informed decision with. I kind of did that in my previous session when the Northlanders told the party about the Red Rage of Mintarn and that no adventure going after it’s horde had survived. But these guys also talk about warning the party that a player is down and bleeding out, and they better do something to help them. If the players ignore the warnings then…
Back to dealing with the death of a character. The Dungeon Dudes like to invite the dying player to describe the how their character dies. Then they go round the table asking each player how they character reacts to it in the moment. I’m not sure about the raising a glass and round of applause part. But we’ll see how the moment takes me when/if a character dies.
Now we get to the bit I wanted to know about.
The Dungeon Dudes have the player grab their dice and a blank character sheet, and immediately create a new character. If this is mid game, giving the player about 15 minutes to do that. Then the moment the narrative allows for it, get the player back in the game. Not worrying about it making sense, or fitting in with their back story. Afterwards you worry about back story, and fitting it into the campaign and integrating the new character into the group. They also talk about the whole group getting involved with this.
This all seems so obvious. But it isn’t until you hear some-one more experienced say it that you feel empowered to do it. I’m assuming that when doing this the new character is being created at the same level as the rest of the party (assuming all the same level, if not then the same as the lowest level of the party).
But what about resurrection? At the moment the party has just levelled up to become level 2 characters. So it’s not something available to them yet, unless there is an npc nearby that is able to do this. I do like the approach that Dael Kingsmill takes to resurrection. It sounds a great idea, and I like the plot twists it can introduce. Her injury system also sounds interesting. But that’s something to delve into at a later date.
I’ll also look into resurrection in more depth at a later date. I think it’s an interesting subject to dive into.
I hope this has helped. As a new DM looking into this has been a big help. I have a clearer idea of how to handle it when it happens. I just need to remember, hopefully the shock of a character dying won’t throw me off my game!
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS!The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
This was going to be all about Mintarn. It’s what I promised in the previous post.
But things change.
Since then a player has decided to leave the group. Not the one that had expressed doubts and misgivings about roleplaying in general and D&D. I have mixed feelings about this. With the dominant feeling being disappointment I think. Naturally he has been removed from the Facebook Messenger group we have for discussing and organising things to do with the campaign. However I want to leave things open incase they have a change of heart. So unlike the game I left where by reports I had afterwards they humiliated my character before killing him off. I’m going to send the character off on a personal quest. That way if they want to rejoin we can sit down and work out what happened while they were away, and add them back to the group.
I’ve also had a very productive session with Jeff about creating his character for the campaign. He’s going to be playing a ships captain (human ranger) who lost his ship when the crew mutinied against him. So he is now in Mintarn plotting to steal a boat from Angrath. And is currently trying to recruit a crew to help him with this caper.
I think this hook will tempt Jonathan’s character because he is looking for a boat to help him with the adventure hook I seeded with him last session. I also have a hook that will be used with Trixie the gnome that ties in with this.
If they are successful then this opens up the world/ocean considerably. Mind you they will only be getting a keelboat. It’s not massive, something they can operate, and I don’t think over powering (famous last words).
Depending on the choices Jeff’s son makes for his character I might be able to reintroduce the lost dwarf mine hook. Which would be cool.
But that stuff is session 4 planning and beyond! What about session 3?
Well session 3 is all about travelling from Queen’s Cove to Mintarn. The party will be escorting the towns contribution to the tribute that gets paid to the Red Rage of Mintarn.
The party have already accepted the job. Which is good. So at the start of the next session they will join the wagon and a couple of NPC’s to start the 3 to 4 day journey to Mintarn along the coastal road.
I’m going to have the town’s mayor give the party basic adventure’s kits as part payment. The party lost a all that sort of stuff in the shipwreck. So this is a good way to give that back to them I think.
While they are getting ready to set off I’m going to have them get a warning that Sahuagin attacks along the coastal road have been more frequent lately.
And yes at some point along that journey between the two towns the party will be attacked by Sahuagin.
I want this Sahuagin attack to be a hit and run, gorilla warfare type attack. So they will not be fighting to the death. So the plan here is to use a countdown (as detailed in the WOIN system). I’ll probably use 4d6 and a fast result of 4-6 to remove a die from the pool. At the start of each combat round I’ll roll the dice pool. According to the article I link to the average number of rolls is 4. My current leaning is towards 1 Sahuagin per player plus 1. But I can adjust that on the day.
Which reminds me I need to share some advice with the new players when they join. Such as “Anytime you are out numbered the odds are stacked against you.” Sage advice from Matthew Colville to his players.
Back to the encounter. Considering the campaign setting. Sahuagin make perfect sense to be the creatures used. The party were bound to run into them at some point. And they will naturally run into them again, no doubt on several occasions, above and below water. Attacking travellers on a coastal road makes perfect sense for them. They can surprise attack from the sea and escape to the sea and disappear just as quickly.
And slowly the party are getting introduced to the ecology and races of this aquatic island hopping campaign. And yes they will be meeting sea elves (sooner than later), and other races that live under water.
Whilst skimming through the Monster Manual I came across the Slaad (which apparently if I remember correctly a Matt Colville favourite). They look pretty cool. And I like the idea of using them at some point. The fact some of them can shape change is cool, and sparked the idea of having like a Marvel Secret Invasion storyline at some point. Have some of the shape changing Slaad replace key npc characters in an attempt to start or war or something. I even like the idea of one replacing a member of the party!
Another cool thing about the Slaad is how they use hosts to reproduce. When a blue or red Slaad attack they can infect (blue) or lay an egg (red) their target. I like the red Slaad ability because that opens up an alienesq like encounter. When the egg hatches in its host it bursts out of the host as a Slaad tadpole, looking for another host to feed off and eventually grow into a full blown Slaad. But the blue Slaad infection also opens up some interesting story options. Once infected the victim starts to transform into a Slaad. I see this being heavily influenced by the likes of The Fly or Species.
But they are ideas for the future.
Back to session 3. Once the Sahuagin attack has happened, it’s onwards to the capital Mintarn.
At Mintarn depending on the outcome of the attack, the party maybe invited to deliver the tribute to the Red Rage. But it’s the usual town session at this point. And it will end with the party at a dodgy inn/tavern full of the shadier inhabitants of Mintarn ready to meet the new characters in session 4.
I suppose I better end the post there. I’ve outlined the basic structure of the session and it’s encounters. Maybe next time I will talk about Mintarn as promised in the previous session prep post!
I deviated from the usual setup and dealt 3 civilisation cards to each of us to choose from instead of 2. I thought why not? There was just the two of us, and we had a better chance of hitting a civilisation we liked the look of.
I chose the Heralds who were based in the mountains, whilst Jeff chose the Merrymakers who were based in the tropics.
The reason I went with the Heralds was because I liked the idea of instantly being able to put out my tapestry card and start reaping the benefits. Plus being able to make use of When Played tapestry cards during my income age.
It was a risky decision I thought. It relied on me top decking a good tapestry card to start with, and Jeff and I to hit and play tapestry cards with the when played ability.
Sadly the cards were not in my favour. I really couldn’t utilise my initial tapestry card, I really needed to get a tapestry card before I went to my second income age. Jeff never played any tapestry cards I could potentially use. I didn’t get any great when played cards to use. But that was the risk, and it might have worked with more players.
Although Jeff’s Merrymakers weren’t very merry with their expansionist ways and conquering all over the place. Whilst my Heralds decided to keep their good news to themselves!
I had a 40 point lead after taking my final income round. I knew Jeff would close that down and win. The question was now how big would that victory be? In the end Jeff stormed home to a great victory.
I think next time I play Tapestry as a 2 player game I’ll try the included variant rule that adds a simulated third player. I’m curious to see how that works.
But I had a blast playing Tapestry, good company and great hosts (The Luxe Cinema).
Wednesday saw the Fenland Gamers monthly meet up for October.
It was a small affair, with just 4 (including me) attending.
I don’t get our club sometimes. I may have mentioned this previously. But I’m not sure how we increase attendance to events. I’ve put surveys up asking what days would be best for for members to attend. You guessed it, even those are poorly responded to.
We try and vary when sessions are held. We aim sessions at specific games and different types of games. But we get the same disinterest each time. I flabbergasted and at a loss on how to improve participation at game sessions.
Wingspan as always was a joy to play. Really looking forward to the first expansion coming out next month. European birds, a couple of new mechanics, new bonus cards and end of round scoring tiles. So expect to see it being played lots once I get my grubby mitts on it.
We rounded off the evening with a change from the usual Love Letter: Batman. We played the Hobbit version instead. A couple of slight rule changes. But still a great fun game to end on.
Games played:Wingspan, Love Letter: The Hobbit – The Battle of the Five Armies Wednesday Fenland Gamers we’re approached by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire if we would be available Thursday to do an interview to use in a piece about boardgaming for the mature gamer that they were doing on Friday morning.
A bit short notice, especially considering people have jobs. But I have some flexibility in my schedule. So I arranged for the interview to happen at my FLGS The Hobbit Hole.
Thursday morning saw John (FLGS owner) and Kath (who helps out at the store) and myself being interviewed about boardgames by a local BBC radio journalist on his iPhone!
So that there were some “gaming” noises going on in the background during the interview, the reporter had John rolling lots of d6 dice and Kath and I playing Connect 4 (the journalist bought a copy with him).
I hadn’t played Connect 4 since about 1988. I was back then pretty good at the game, and unbeaten. And that streak remains. I still got the skills. I won all of the games Kath and I played.
The interview took about 20 minutes. More material than they could use for the 5 minute slot they had planned.
In the end the interview went out about 9:10 on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (you should be able to listen to it on the BBC Sounds app). It was about 3 minutes long. And concentrated on why we played games. Despite having notes written down, the reporter got who I was wrong, and said Fenland Games, but got it right in the interview itself!
It was an experience, and a little promotion for the club and my FLGS.
“You free to play some light games this evening?”
Not surprisingly I was.
So last night Jonathan and I ended up at The Luxe playing some light games.
We started off with a game of Penny Lane. Which saw my worst score for the game. I just didn’t get the engine side going. My butt was truly kicked.
Next up was the classic abstract game Santorini. We played using just the god cards from the base game, leaving the Golden Fleece expansion in the box. Each player was dealt two god cards, and selected one to use. We got some cool combos, where the god cards were opposites to each other. This is really one of those “just one more game” games. So quick and fun. After an initial run of victories, I hit a losing streak.
Our final game of the was the classic two player game Lost Cities. Jonathan hadn’t played this before. He wasn’t entirely sure about the game after the first play, but I think he had warmed to it after our second game. The actual game itself is simple, and has some interesting decisions to make. It’s the end of game scoring that seems over complicated, and takes a little getting your head around. I’ve been playing this game for years. But the app version, which does all the scoring for me! So you get lazy on that front. I also missed the little card count of the deck as we played. It helps having that info at a glance, knowing roughly how many turns you have left, and can plan cards to play based on that. But it was nice to actually play the physical version against a friend, and not just people online I’ve not met.
We shared the honours one game a piece.
Jonathan and I did have a gaming related discussion about an opinion from a friend on Stonemaier games. Which lead to a brief chat about luck of the draw within Viticulture, and how it can have a big impact on a game. So many games rely on or have as part of the game a luck element. But even if we just consider luck of the draw, lots of games rely on this to varying degrees, such as every Deckbuilder, Magic the Gathering, Tapestry, Scythe, Wingspan, London, Memoir ’44, etc, etc. The list goes on.
You either are going to love that element of luck, and the having to work around the challenge it throws up. Or you hate it, and need to find games that don’t have that element.
I don’t mind it. I like how it adds variety to games, varies the challenge from game to game. And if I get totally screwed by the cards, I accept that from time to time that will happen. I certainly don’t take it to heart and start sulking. Which some do.
Anyway that’s my not some well thought out thoughts on the subject
Jonathan and I had a great evening of gaming to end the week at The Luxe.
I think by now it’s not much of a secret that I’m a big fan of Matt Colville and his D&D beginners YouTube series.
One of those videos is an interview with a friend and fellow DM of Matt’s Jim Murphy.
What I didn’t appreciate was that Jim has his own YouTube channel give DM advice.
It was something I kinda discovered thanks to the YouTube recommendation engine this morning. In the list of videos it thought I might be interested in was the one I’ve embedded below.
The title of the video piqued my interest. So I clicked on it and watched it.
I really enjoyed the video. Well I must have because I’m writing a post to tell you dear reader all about it and Jim.
It’s a talking head style video to a webcam of some sort. The video like the others he has done are relatively short, 10-15 minutes. Which is a really nice length. I like his style of presenting. It’s obvious he’s very knowledgable and has been playing for since the dawn of D&D time. So like Matt we are getting the benefit of all that experience being filtered down into great advice that we can use.
There is some great advice in the video above. And I think it is advice that even a noob DM like me can use. Plus it’s system neutral. So it equally applies to D&D, Genesys, Pathfinder, WOIN, or whatever your personal favourite RPG system is.
I think what I like about Jim and Matt is they not only encourage you to try being a DM, and help remove some of the mystery behind it. But that they encourage and give you the confidence to create your own stuff. Whether it is from scratch (even how to cut down that workload by using material from elsewhere), or taking an existing adventure and making it your own.
I know have a bit of catching up to do on Jim’s back catalog.
You can visit his channel HERE. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
One of the things I love about the Throne of Eldraine set for MtG is the theme, and it’s take on fairy tales. It really is a fantastic mash up of fairy tales, Arthurian legend and the MtG universe. Did I say how gorgeous the art is?
It’s very inspiring. Especially the twisted take on fairy tales. And I love anything that inspires ideas for adventures for my campaign or even a one shot.
I’ve been meaning to create a one page dungeon (although this years competition has ended, and next years is along way off). I want to create a few and share them on here. After all practice makes perfect. I also want to combine the one page dungeon with the 5 Room Dungeon. It seems a natural fit.
The three cards that I’m using for inspiration for this adventure are Gingerbrute, Flaxen Intruder and Trapped in the tower.
Although there are some great cards to inspire objects to populate the adventure with also.
I’ve also been reading The Curse of Strahd campaign book recently and think that this twisted fairy tale idea would fit in nicely with the Barovia setting.
So based on my initial inspiration, A Goldilocks and the 3 bug bears comes to mind, as does rescuing a princess/maiden (could be a prince or some other being) from a tower that is guarded by those 3 bug bears. With the gingerbrute being the main bad guy. I also like the idea of using something like the corridor monitor as a roaming guardian in the tower.
With that brainstorming I have three locations, a cottage, a tower and the space between them. The tower can break down to another 2 locations, the stairs and the room at the top. Finally that room at the top can be split into 2. Which by my count gives me five locations.
The tower itself is surrounded by a wall of thorns. That is only broken by the cottage. So to get to the tower you have to pass through the cottage.
This poor attempt at a map is how I envision the layout.
Tarokka cards are used in Curse of Strahd “to randomly determine key aspects of the adventure.” I’d like them also to be used in this adventure. But at the moment I just can’t get that to work.
Sadly after writing the 5 Room Dungeon in Scribe, and then transferring the words into GoodNotes. I just couldn’t make it fit without cutting a lot of text. I suppose I could do that. But for the time being I’m going to put out the initial version of this as a 5 Room Adventure. When I get time I’ll try to fit it onto a single page.
The adventure is aimed at a tier 1 party. Apart from one instance I try and avoid giving quantities for monsters. I like to give a bit of wiggle room, and allow for the DM to adjust on the fly based on how the party are doing.
You can get the draft pdf of the adventure by downloading that link. I’d love some feedback. I’ve not tested the adventure. So if you get a chance to try it I’d love to hear how you got on.
UPDATE: Once Upon v2– updated with feedback from Scott and Jacob.
What is it I like about certain games in particular?
Let’s look at the one I’ve been writing a lot about lately, D&D.
In D&D as a player I love the sandbox nature of the game. That unlimited possibilities, I can do anything I can think of (dice rolls permitting). I also like that you build up a relationship, an attachment with the character you are playing. It’s not an instant thing. But something that grows over time as you both experience the world as it reveals itself.
As a DM I get something different out of the game. I get to stretch my creative muscles. Which I really love. You get to create a world for the players to explore and have adventures in. Not only that but to tell stories. For me as I’m creating my campaign as I’m coming up with ideas those ideas have to have some sort of authenticity. A reason that logically explains why that idea makes sense for the campaign. I just love that whole process. Then seeing the party explore and enjoy the world and story you have created. That’s a great buzz to have. But you also enter in a feedback loop where what the party does in the session generates new ideas and plot lines. Which just feeds that whole creative process.
Another game I write about a bit, but not so much lately is MtG.
MtG is another game where I get to exercise those creative muscles. But in a different way to D&D. In MtG I’m building decks. Decks that allow you to express yourself, your play style, explore ideas and mechanics. All within the restrictions imposed based on the format you are playing. Instead of handicapping the creative process those restrictions aid it, force you to focus, and make difficult decisions.
MtG is also an amazing game. There is so much going on during a game. You are having to make decisions constantly based on imperfect information and the cards you have in your hand and on the battlefield. Add in the different mechanics, being able to pull off combos (which is really satisfying), set themes, and the beautiful art. You really do have a near perfect game for me.
Finally for this post let’s briefly look at my favourite game of all time, Scythe.
Scythe is a bit different to the other two games that I have looked at in this post. There is no creative aspect to the game.
But it’s the game play and aesthetics that appeal to me here.
I just love the mix of action selection, resource management, and area control. There are variable player abilities. The game just looks stunning, and has an amazing table presence.
Plus the expansions add to the enjoyment without over complicating things. I particularly love the alternative end conditions from the Wind Gambit expansion. Which definitely can affect the focus and tactics that you use through out the game.
Even without the expansions there is a lot of replay ability. But with them that goes through the roof. That no two games being exactly the same really helps to keep the game fresh.
So there you have it a brief look at the aspects of three games that I enjoy. Which games do you like and why?
After watching the Joker movie Friday, and then defending it on national radio Saturday morning on the BBC Radio 5 Live breakfast show. I thought I’d share my brief thoughts of it here before looking at a unique marketing idea.
Ok the Joker is apparently between reviewers becoming very much a marmite movie. They either love it or hate it. Very few in between.
Like the majority of regular joes that paid to see it I loved it.
But word of warning this isn’t your regular run of the mill comic book movie. Don’t go in expecting to see a MCU action packed sfx spectacular or a DCU train wreck. This movie also does not tie in with any of the other DCU movies. Look at Joker as the cinematic version of the many Batman one shots that show Batman in different times and settings. An elseworld story if you like.
What you have here is a movie that depicts the descent of a mentally ill person to becoming one of the most iconic comic book villains of all time.
The cinematography of the movie is amazing, as is the tone and retro feel of it all. Gotham isn’t the dark gothic beast of Burton, it’s more real, gritty, run down. Which is helped by the washed out tone, and looking like its set in the late 70s or 80s.
The story has a few influences, the most obvious is Killing Joke. But you can see Taxi Driver, V for Vendetta, King of Comedy also. Joker tries to reflect our current society and the them vs us between the rich and the poor. And the interesting twist of depicting Wayne as a “villain” that fits in with that theme. I’d also feel there will be a Falling Down comparison. It will definitely spark similar conversations.
The acting by Joaquin Phoenix is amazing. His depiction of Arthur/Joker is amazing. The amount of weight he must of lost for the role to make him look starved, skeletal. Talk about method acting. But the laugh, the physical acting. Even down to Arthur’s voice. The detail. I felt like I had a hard decision to make for my favourite Joker. But I think Ledger still tops my list by a hairs width. But it’s that close.
The score/soundtrack is amazing. It’s menacing, broody. Love it.
I love Joker. It’s a movie that will spark debate. It certainly demands multiple viewings.
While I was being wow’d by Joker, Twitter was briefly went crazy (not really) of a great bit of marketing for Wendy’s. Which I believe is some sort of fast food outlet in the US.
Wendy’s took the D&D d20 system and produced a free RPG! The RPG is called Feast of Legends.
In Feast of Legends…
“You are adventurers in the realm of Beef ’s Keep, where the nations have been splintered over major disagreements in how to treat the realm’s people. Creepingvale and the United Clown Nations have led their people into a collective darkness known as The Deep Freeze. While the world currently feels like a cold and desolate place, you reside in the one nation that remains a true beacon of hope: Freshtovia.”
I’m assuming United Clown Nations is a certain fast food chain that has a clown as it’s mascot. I’m getting flashbacks to Judge Dredd and The Cursed Earth story line and the two fast food inspired warring factions.
Naturally at its heart this is a piece of marketing. But thematic marketing I’ll grant them that. Which starts with the table of contents and continues through out.
The marketing even permeates through to the buffs you can get if you are eating Wendy’s food while playing.
The orders are like classes and if you are actually eating the physical order while playing that matches your chosen order, you get advantage for the day!
“As you’ve probably discerned, food is a major aspect of Feast of Legends. As such, what you’re eating in the real world will create direct buffs that affect your character in the game. Each of these buffs will go into effect for the entire duration of play for the day. So you might want to swing by your local Wendy’s or hit up delivery real quick.”
Or if you “dare” to eat a rivals products during play…
“Just as important, if you’ve settled for something other than Wendy’s, it can cause your character to weaken. Players eating any of the following during gameplay will gain the following debuffs for the duration of the session.”
I think it’s great that they give some example preconstructed characters for players to jump straight in with.
There is also a DM section and campaign to play through.
“Feast of Legends: Rise From The Deep Freeze is an adventure set in the realm of Beef’s Keep. The realm is vast, encompassing mountains, deserts, coasts and more. Your players will begin in Freshtovia, a kingdom ruled by Queen Wendy. Each player will begin at level 1, progressing to level 5 over the course of play.”
The following is the premise for the campaign.
“The main threat to the land is the Ice Jester of the United Clown Nations who resides in the lands known as The Deep Freeze — a dark, desolate place filled with frozen dangers. Recently the Ice Jester has been sending frozen minions across the realm to spread icy havoc. And now there are rumors that the Ice Jester has found a powerful magic device capable of throwing all of Beef ’s Keep into a new frozen age. The fate of the realm rests in the hands of a few fresh, never frozen heroes.”
I love the portrayal of the rivals mascot. Not having a Wendy’s in the UK, I’m picking up from the not so subtle messaging that the rival uses frozen patties, whilst Wendy’s uses fresh patties.
As a free way to try an RPG this looks fun for those that are fans of the Wendy’s fast food chain. It’s definitely a fantastic piece of marketing. I’m not sure how much mileage those of us out of the US would get from this. But there are some interesting ideas in their that could only really work in a product like this, for instance those buffs for eating related food.
A couple of days this week I’ve been out and about, and had time to catch up on some podcasts. One of the ones I caught up on was Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk.
It’s a particularly nice podcast in my opinion. Firstly it’s UK based, Morrus is also the creator of the WOIN system and the Judge Dredd and World’s of 2000A.D. RPG (that uses WOIN as it’s basis).
One particular episode on Stealing Rules got me thinking and agreeing with them on a couple of things.
The first is using Morrus’ countdown dice mechanic from his WOIN system. He’s right to feel proud of it. When I read it in the Judge Dredd rulebook I thought that’s pretty cool. It’s also something that can be used in D&D quite easily.
Basically you create a dice pool of d6 dice. Then when you roll them, you remove any 6’s from the pool. And you keep rolling until there are none left. That’s as I said the basic concept. You can speed things up or slow things down by adjusting the number range used to remove a die, and the size of the dice pool.
It acts as a timer that you can use to simulate things like a countdown before an alarm goes off, or a trap/bomb triggers.
I love the concept. And definitely think it can be used in my current campaign. I’m thinking it might even lend itself to determine the length of combat. Hear me out. There is an encounter coming up where I want the NPC’s to attack my players, but it’s a smash and grab. Get in and get out quickly. It’s not a fight to the death. So how long should that last in combat rounds? If I use this countdown dice mechanic, and set it up for a quick countdown, then roll the dice at the start of each combat round. If it runs out the attackers split and fade into the night.
There is another nice part of this mechanic, where you can trigger things to happen when you reach certain numbers of dice. Say for instance once you hit 3 dice something bad happens like more enemies run into the room.
I think the hardest part is going to be deciding the size of the dice pool to use and the speed of the countdown.
You can read more about the countdown dice mechanic here.
The other one that I thought sounded interesting and worth investigating a bit more in-depth was the The One Ring/Adventures in Middle Earth (the D&D d20 version) journey rules.
For easy of use and porting into a full D&D 5e campaign I’d look at the Adventures in Middle Earth rules.
But I like the idea of using a system that is targeted at making travelling more interesting.
However that’s a research project for another day.
I’m kinda doing some stealing of rules at the moment. Except I’ve been stealing from the D&D Adventurers League. In particularly for character advancement. I like the points system it uses.
Wednesday Fenland Gamers we’re approached by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire if we would be available Thursday to do an interview to use in a piece about boardgaming for the mature gamer that they were doing on Friday morning.
After watching the Joker movie Friday, and then defending it on national radio Saturday morning on the BBC Radio 5 Live breakfast show. I thought I’d share my brief thoughts of it here before looking at a unique marketing idea.
