This is a follow up post to the one yesterday where I created a T-Rex adversary for Genesys using the quick build guide from the Expanded Players Guide (EPL) Chapter 2 Adversary Creation.
In this post I’m just presenting the stat blocks for two velociraptors that were inspired by the ones in the original Jurassic Park movie.
In the first Jurassic Park movie the velociraptors hunted in a pack. The pack consisted of an alpha female velociraptor and two others. So that is how I envisage these adversaries to be run in a Jurassic Park style scenario.
Just like yesterday the disclaimer continues over into this post.
If you have any suggestions, improvements, please leave them in the comments.
Last night Jonathan and I met up and played some games.
The original plan was to get Jonathan’s copy of Caverna and an expansion to the table.
However last night didn’t match up with life for one or two that had expressed an interest. So we used this as an opportunity to get some two player games to the table.
We started off with the 2-4 player game Isle of Trains. Yes I know not exactly a two player game.
I’d played this with Gavin four years ago. At the time I liked it so much that I added it to my collection. Since then it has not hit the table. It’s been in the bag I’ve taken to game nights several times. Each time it remained on the bench.
I have to admit I was a little disappointed playing it this time. It was over rather quickly, and I didn’t feel that I had achieved anything. Jonathan was definitely surprised at how fast the game played.
Our second game of the evening was another one I hadn’t played for a long time. This time it was the abstract game Volcano.
Volcano held up a lot better than Isle of Trains. I can truly say despite losing this time I really enjoyed the game we played.
Our final game of the evening was D-Day Dice Pocket. A portable game based on D-Day Dice that backers of the reprint on Kickstarter got given along with the main game.
This pocket game has two ways it can be played. A co-op mini version of the bigger game. And the way we played it, a push your luck game.
As a push your luck game this was such fun.
What elevates this is the use of a “The Kommandant” die and the medal cards.
The “The Kommandant” die is worth two points when scored, but locks all dice that match the symbol it is showing. Great to use early on when you have two or three axis dice to match. So you have to decide when or if you are going to use that die.
Medal cards either allow you to affect dice on your turn or interfere with an opponents turn. A great mechanic. Watching an opponent get triple points on a round and then deny them that score with a medal is great fun.
This will stay in the game bag along side the likes of Love Letter.
After the earlier post about a Jurassic Park RPG I was inspired to try and create a dinosaur adversary for the Genesys RPG.
There could only be one dinosaur to create first for such a setting and that is the poster boy for the movies, and arguably the most iconic, the T-Rex.
Creating a stat block from scratch is unusual for me. In D&D I usually cheat and reskin an existing creature/npc for my use. It cuts down on the work involved prepping considerably. It also helps that D&D has a pretty large menagerie to choose from also.
Sadly being a generic system, with at the time of writing two settings books (a third in the works), the available pool of creatures to use as a basis is a lot lot smaller.
I’ll be generating this adversary using the quick build guide from the Expanded Players Guide (EPL) Chapter 2 Adversary Creation.
I’ll issue a disclaimer at this point. This will be my first ever adversary for Genesys (a system I have yet to play). So there are going to be mistakes. At no point do I claim to be an expert on the rules or in creating custom content for Genesys. And to take whatever I say with a vary large unhealthy pinch of salt. We may differ on decisions made, and I look forward to discussing those in the comments in a respectful and polite manor.
Adversary Type: When creating an adversary we have three options available for its type. Those being minion, rival and nemesis. For me the T-Rex can only be a nemesis.
Characteristics: From Table II.2– 1: Characteristic Arrays I’ve gone with the Huge Creature array. This is for an Elephant, or dinosaur.
Soak, Defense,and Wound and Strain Thresholds: This uses Table II.2–2: Soak, Defense, and Wound and Strain Thresholds, and the advice is to choose two options from the table. I went with Armored Hide and Giant Body for the T-Rex. Armoured Hide for the T-Rex seemed a natural choice. I’m giving the T-Rex a silhouette of 3. This allows me to save 4 for the larger dinosaurs. The T-Rex is also going to get the adversary talent. Following the advice in the EPL side box about avoiding compounded defences this will be the only change made in making the T-Rex tougher in combat.
Skills: Using Table II.2–3: Skill Packages I went with choosing two skill packages. It should be noted I did have the option of picking a third. The two I chose were Ferocious Creature and Predatory Creature. I felt they fitted well with the T-Rex.
Talents and Special Abilities: For this I used the provided Table II.2–4: Adversary Talents and Table II.2–5: Adversary Special Abilities. I think the T-Rex could only have the Terrifying ability. It’s such a natural fit for it.
Equipment: I went with one of the pre-rolled equipment arrays. The large beast or creature array seemed a good fit. It’s designed for large creature like elephants and dinosaurs! I just removed tentacles or thundering hooves from the weapons because the T-Rex has neither.
Here is the final stat block for a T-Rex that I came up with.
I actually found the quick build guide easy to follow. Although it was unclear on how to generate the power levels. In the end I just added up all the adjustments provided throughout the chapter for the options I chose to get a final figure. With any final value that was a zero becoming a one instead as per the guide.
Yesterday a friend tagged me into a post on Facebook on probably the best and friendliest board gaming forum on that platform the Board Game Trading and Chat UK group.
The post I was tagged in was about an RPG that my friend said he would be interested in playing. He did point out in his comment tagging me that only last Wednesday at the Monthly Meet Up that RPGs did not appeal to him. And this took out the sting of any mockery and banter I could have thought up.
My friend had also tagged in another of our friends who he thought would also find the post interesting (which they did, and have already printed off the rules etc).
The post itself was about a members experience playing a home brewed RPG based on Jurassic Park.
The poster kind of put me off this home brew RPG. The use of coin tosses to determine outcomes was a major switch off. It just didn’t appeal to me. You can firmly place me in the dice rolling camp on this front.
Another thing said was that there is a high player death count during play. When a player died they took over an npc and continued playing. This didn’t sit right with me. Potentially it might at a stretch be ok in a one shot. But what about campaign play? This definitely doesn’t allow players to get into playing their character and develop them. Or what’s the point of a characters backstory when you know they will die easily?
I suppose when it comes to something like this I get confused as to why the original creator of the home brew RPG came up with their own system or using a mechanic very few RPGs use. There are some pretty good generic systems out there, Genesys, W.O.I.N. (Now) or Fate that come to mind.
The poster said that game is predominantly narrative. Which definitely systems like Genesys and Fate are suited for. Granted these systems may be more complicated than the simple one created/chosen by the creator. But these systems have already done the majority of the heavy lifting mechanics wise.
If I wanted to run a one shot or mini campaign in the Jurassic Park universe my gut is telling me go with the Genesys system, with a modern setting. The main bit of work I’d have to do is create adversaries stats for the dinosaurs.
Luckily over on Wikipedia there is an entry that lists which dinosaurs appeared in which movies and also the books (here). So to keep the amount of work down I’d chose a subset of them, keeping the iconic ones like the T-Rex.
As an aside D&D 5th edition already has stat blocks for dinosaurs, and has used them in the D&D Tomb of Annihilation campaign book. Plus there is the Ixalan Planes Shift setting that has them. So it’s possible to run a Jurassic Park inspired adventure with a fantasy theme if that appeals.
I’d want to move away from the high player body count (this isn’t paranoia), and concentrate more on the themes of the books and movies. Such as ‘Man vs Nature’, ‘Technology’, and ‘Power’. Plus look at building suspense and that feeling of being hunted.
I almost like borrowing the mechanic from the Strahd campaign book where at the start of the campaign the DM does a ‘reading’ to decide where certain key items are located and a location Strahd will appear. This could be used to decide key locations in the adventure that the players need to visit before they can escape, and when the big bad will surprise them before the climatic final confrontation.
There is also usually a double cross or traitor in the books/movie. So that is something I’d also like to try and include. Which would involve working with one of the players without the rest of the party knowing.
I really do like the idea of running a one shot in the Jurassic Park universe. It’s just I don’t think this home brew is the solution for me.
For those remotely interested in the home brew RPG here are the links that the original poster shared.
Yesterday Jamey Stegmaier posted his weekly Sunday YouTube video (embedded below). This time is was a discussion about living card games (LCG).
It turns out from the video that Jamey is kicking around the idea of designing a LCG. And this video was his spitballing the idea, asking for feedback on certain aspects of the genre.
I think we all know how I feel about Stonemaier Games, and Jamey as a game designer. So I’m pretty excited to see what Jamey’s take on the genre turns out like if it comes to fruitition.
Firstly Jamey is correct in identifying that KeyForge is not a LCG. It is a collectible card game (CCG), but instead of trading cards and building decks you are buying/trading complete decks. However Jamey did miss identify Star Wars: Destiny as a LCG. That too is a CCG that also has dice. And for the record a pretty awesome game.
I’ve played the LCGs Ashes and Android: Netrunner. The co-operative LCGs haven’t appealed to me. I like that competitive element,
I also like the deck building side and all that entails. Which is something that Jamey is not a big fan off. However Ashes shows that it is possible to offer a compromise. That still has all the deck building, and players can happily build their own decks. However they provide deck lists in the core set that players can just throw together and play. Plus when they released more cards they came as playable decks straight out of the pack.
Jamey mentioned a LCG he’d played (can’t remember which) that you take groups of cards and put them together to form a deck. I got the impression that it is similar to how decks are constructed in the game Sorcerer by WWG. As an alternative to full on deck building, I like this. It’s quick to construct a deck at the start of a game. However it has the draw back of taking a bit longer to pack away as you separate the cards in to the respective groups of cards again.
One thing I loved about Android: Netrunner was the theme. The game itself just oozes cyberpunk. The art was amazing, with some great flavour text on the cards. I also liked that with the data packs (this is what FFG called new packs of cards) you also got an A4 page of flavour text. Each cycle of data packs told a story with the data packs advancing that storyline.
One thing I didn’t like about the FFG LCG model as they implemented it was that the core set for which ever game usually required the purchase of multiple copies to get full sets of some cards, or have the ability to build all the decks so they could be played without taking cards from other decks. I believe that Marvel Champions has improved on this. But the cost has gone up also to match.
One issue a LCG has when it comes to the deck building side is in the early days the card pool size. It’s too small. A publisher needs to get expansions out fast to improve the options players have for building decks. If I remember correctly this is why FFG had an aggressive schedule (iirc) weekly for the first few expansions for their printing of L5R.
I like how FFG released expansions for Netrunner. They would release six expansions as part of a cycle on a monthly basis, and in between cycles a deluxe expansion. For me the sweet spot for an expansion would be around $15. For a deluxe expansion $30 is the upper limit I’d pay. A core set if it meant not having to purchase additional copies to get a complete card pool to build with shouldn’t be more than $40.
Also for expansions they need to be kept in print and easily purchasable. There were times with Netrunner when earlier expansions were ‘between printings’ and their price shot up. Particularly those expansions that had cards that went into 99% of decks.
Ashes failed to become as popular as it deserved due to a couple of reasons in my opinion. The first was there was over a year when no new expansions were released. This was mainly due to various corporate buy outs, that saw the publisher change owners a couple of times in that period. Poor communication during this period didn’t help. Also support of the competitive side and the FLGS was also poor compared to the likes of WotC and FFG.
Particularly for a competitive LCG the support for the FLGS has to be there in the form of prize support for tournaments and running weekly events. Not to mention the bigger tournaments such as nationals, regionals and worlds. A competitive LCG needs a player base and supporting the FLGS is a major part of building and maintaining it.
Oh and you have to have cool playmats for the game. Plus all the other accessories that players like such as deck boxes and sleeves. But most importantly token upgrades. I’m also going to assume that any core set by Jamey continues the inclusion of a great insert to storing all the cards sleeved.
In the past I have written a couple of posts about playing or trying D&D for free. Granted it’s not entirely free as you have to fork out for dice. But for all other intents and purposes it is.
I like the Lazy DM books that he has written. They contain great advice and really useful info. I have some of that info printed out and in my DM folder. I have the books as PDF’s and audible books (yep I spent my Audible credits on these when I saw them available to listen to). One day I’ll get physical copies.
I also have two or three of the lazy lairs from the workbook printed out ready to use at the drop of a hat. In fact I took the warehouse from the docks lair and used that in my own campaign instead of having to create a warehouse myself.
The Fantastic Adventures and Fantastic Locations books also provide great resources that can be used by a DM at the drop of a hat. The adventures particularly are designed to be run in 2 to 4 hour sessions. Which for me is perfect.
So naturally this new book is something that is of interest to me. It also continues the ‘philosophy’ of Sly’s adventures of being something you can drop in your own campaign, and each adventure being playable in about 2 to 4 hours.
From the above and previous posts it’s obvious I’m a fan.
But what has this got to do with trying or playing D&D for free?
Well if you visit the link above for the book Sly has provided the first adventure from it for free as a preview. That’s great. But how is this relevant to trying D&D?
The first adventure is aimed at a party of level 1 characters. Plays in that sweet spot of 2 hours, and has advice for new DM’s. Plus there are also pregenerated characters available at the above link. This ticks all the boxes for trying D&D.
I think the hardest thing now for those wanting to try D&D (apart from what dice do you buy?) is which adventure do you run?
You can also get a free Fantastic Adventures adventure here. Which also has pregenerated characters. And a free Fantastic Location here.
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 is a brief post with my final little bits of prep for the weekend.
I spent a little time preparing notes on two of the magic items that the group got at the end of the last session as reward for their participation and winning the gladiator spectacle, and taking on the delivery of the tribute. Basically this means I have a single page with the bits from the DMG for robe of useful items (I had to decide what the four extra patches were and their quantity) and the deck of illusions.
I’ve also knocked up some item cards for these magic items as well to hand to the players.
One thing I need to do Saturday when I go and print out my notes and handouts is get a cheap deck of cards. This deck will be given to the player with the deck of illusions. It’s a simple prop that allows the player to randomly draw a card to create the illusion. It’s physical, tactile, and theatre. Something I think in this situation rolling a die just would not be as effective.
I’ve also started planning my session notes. Which are becoming less detailed, and more aids to jot my memory.
This next session will be down one player. I’m not sure they will return. If you have read their comments on here it’s not a surprise. However it does present a great plot twist when it happens. Basically I will have that character kidnapped during the night. It will be revealed to the party that they have been taken by boat to the Whale Bone islands. The reason why is unclear. Hopefully after dropping off the tribute the party will give chase. This will then be the start of the island hopping adventures as they try and locate their companion.
I’m just excited not to see how things unfold now at the weekend.
I originally hadn’t planned to attend this months meet up. Currently being economically challenged meant the resources weren’t available. Jonathan was tied up with a work commitment. So it had looked like there wouldn’t be a meet up organised this month.
Luckily Nathan took up the mantle of running and hosting this months meet up. Which I appreciated a lot.
Yesterday morning it looked like only Nathan and Gavin would be attending. So I took Nathan up on his very kind and generous offer to spot me a beverage.
I don’t find it easy accepting help, let alone letting people in close enough to know it may be needed. So when I had thanked Nathan last week for organising the meet up, and letting him know why I wasn’t doing it (something that I usually do) he kindly made the drink offer. But that was a big thing for me to have admitted the true reason and not use Nan or Mums health as an excuse. I thought Nathan deserved the truth. It hasn’t been easy writing this part of the post I’ve said more about me personally than I normally like to.
We started our evening of gaming off with a couple of games of Doodle Patchwork.
This roll and write version of Patchwork is light, quick, and surprisingly enjoyable.
Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the roll and write genre. There are three or four in my collection. But this is different. It’s more spacial than logic. You are fitting tetronome shapes into a grid trying to fill it up, and make a scoring rectangle.
It actually makes a refreshing change from the other roll and write games out there.
Second game of the evening was new group darling Las Vegas. We played a couple of games of this. Our second game roped in one of the Luxe staff who was off duty. Boy did I suck in that game. I kept getting screwed over. However the new person really got into the game, and her banter towards Nathan was very colourful and humorous when she thought she had denied Nathan a $90,000 note, only for him to get the majority back on his turn.
During our playing of Las Vegas a person came in and started talking to Nathan. Which isn’t out of the ordinary. It is his place of work. It’s his job. But there was some confusion on my part. They were actually there to find out about the club! Which to me wasn’t that obvious to start with. I gave details about when we run sessions, how many normally attend. But it hadn’t really clicked even then that this is what they were there for, and not to see Nathan. I definitely wasn’t as welcoming as I should have been. It’s not an excuse but I was a little caught off guard. My introverted self came through.
Our third and final game of the evening was Skull that pulled in two more people. So became a six player game. This was a blast to play.
Through out the evening there was plenty of banter and laughs. A very relaxed atmosphere. Probably one of, if not the most relaxed one of our sessions has been. It was very evident during the games of Skull.
This was a really fun evening. A big big thank you to Nathan for running and hosting at the Luxe.
With my seventh D&D session as a DM happening this coming weekend, it’s pretty obvious I’m still a noob DM and finding out what type of DM I am.
So I think my insights are limited at times by my lack of experience. Which is why I find following the likes of Matt Colville, Jim Murphy, Dael Kingsmill and Sly Flourish on the various social media platforms handy.
I’m like a magpie. I spot their shiny nuggets of useful information and take them. Some of it may find it’s way into the current campaign and how I do things. Whilst other stuff gets hidden away for later.
Other times I’ll see something that gets me thinking, like the following tweet by Sly Flourish on Monday.
From my limited experience of running sessions Slys observation at the con he attended would have been what I expected to see as the norm.
I’m a long way off from being able to run a session at a con. Let alone one at my FLGS (although that would be the first step towards running a session at a con).
The reason I say I’d expect his observation to be the norm is because when you run a session that uses miniatures and dungeon tiles that is a lot of stuff to carry around. It’s a lot more prep making sure you can make the map out of what you have. Add on the set up time during play. Which eats into the limited game time you have at a con.
There is a reason you see videos from the likes of Arcane Library, Jim Murphy etc with their minimalist DM kits that they take to cons (I did a post about this with links to some videos here). The less you have to carry the better. If getting to the con involves air travel that’s a major point to consider with baggage limits. But even if driving do you really want to be lugging around huge amounts of stuff? It’s a hassle when it’s local for my sessions. A con just amplifies that hassle by a magnitude.
I’ve not run theatre of the mind combat yet. Not sure I’m ready to try it. I need to be a bit further along my journey as a DM.
I think I’d be one of the ones drawing a rough diagram. Using tokens to represent monsters and players (at the moment, I did back a kickstarter that gets me some of those flat standees to use last year).
Although I have cut back a lot. I’m still reviewing what I took to a session afterwards. Pruning out the deadwood. This takes me back to when I could afford and had the time to go backpacking. After a trip I’d review my kit. What did I use? What didn’t get used? If it didn’t get used, why? Obviously a first aid kit can’t be cut. But sometimes a bit of kit can be. Which means next trip the amount you are carrying is less. Less weight makes for a more enjoyable experience.
I’m looking forward to that time I’m running a session at a con. But that is far down the road.
