Blackmoor campaign, recap pt.3

When we last left our intrepid adventurers, we had just wiped out an Afridhi hit squad. We continued on toward the settlement our warlock had spotted the night before. The stealthy gnome took out a sentry, allowing us complete surprise. A group of about 30 armed Afidhi and a sizable number of slaves were gathering up supplies and heading for the river. Apparently, some sort of base was being built, but our arrival compelled the Afridhi to pack up and leave. We split up into two groups. The gnome and the warlock moved quickly and stealthily to the river to cut off retreat, while GWAR set themselves up on the ridge overlooking the camp to rain death down upon them.

What followed was carnage. It turned out the hit squad we wiped out earlier included most of the high-level members of their group. Even though their sheer numbers proved somewhat dangerous, and at one point, the gnome found himself in a bit of a tight spot, in the end, no Afridhi lived to see another sunrise. We had captured two barges loaded with supplies and a group of slaves willing to help us transport the barges to the nearest town in exchange for their freedom. Although we learned little, except that the Afridhi were searching for some sort of artifact, we did come away from the expedition with a sizable haul.

Of course, we still had a reason for going to Tiger Island, to learn what we could about the silver ore we had taken from an earlier group of slavers, and we hadn't accomplished anything as far as that was concerned. So we decided to return. We hired a smuggler to take us back (and didn't kill him). We completely searched the island. We still didn't find any silver mines, but we did uncover a partially buried statue that the Afridhi had been excavating. The statue itself was missing, but the base was intact and bore some writings in a strange language none of us could decipher. With no magical means of translating the writings, we transcribed them for later analysis. We then recovered the boat we originally came to the island on and went back to the little fishing village we first headed out from. Since we had killed the fisherman whose boat we were using, we decided it was best to slaughter the village as well, lest we be accused of going soft. With the deed done, we decided to head back to Lake Gloomy in hopes there would be someone there who could translate the writings we had found.

Lake Gloomy was as bizarre as ever. We couldn't find anyone in town with the necessary skills to translate the writings, although in truth, we didn't spend much time looking because we got sidetracked. Clearly something was amiss. There were significantly fewer children in town than when we had last been here. When asked about it, the locals simply claimed the children had left to join the circus. No one seemed the slightest bit bothered by this, suggesting some sort of magical compulsion was at work. We decided to seek an audience with the Baroness, whose keep was just outside of town. Upon arrival, we learned that the Baroness and her personal retinue (that sizable force of cavalry we had encountered a few days earlier) had also disappeared. Holy hell, this dung pit was getting deeper by the day.

We were told that the Baroness was last headed south to another craptastic little resort town called South Pym. The main claim to fame of this lovely vacation spot was the acid rain. Yes, apparently the rain in South Pym dissolves metal armour and weapons in short order...and it rains a lot. We also got word that a member of the Wizard's Cabal lived in South Pym and she might be able to translate our writings. So, despite the grave misgivings of our metal-clad contingent, we headed for South Pym.

Upon arrival in South Pym, we learned from the local authorities that the Baroness and her road crew had disappeared utterly and completely while investigating something in the swamp. Not a single scrap of evidence as to their whereabouts was uncovered. The guard offered to have one of his men lead us to their last known location, an offer we graciously accepted. But first things first. We needed some way to deal with the rain. No way was GWAR going to walk around in leather gherkins wielding pointy sticks. We headed off to see the town's alchemist, a gnome (apparently gnomes control the alchemy racket in these parts). He had a supply of an alchemical agent that could protect metal for awhile. We bought the entire stock. Then we headed off to see the wizardess we had heard about. She turned out to be less than we had hoped and was of little use, although she did direct us to a mapmaker in town who had a map with similar writings on it. The cartographer did indeed, have such a map, a treasure map, in fact, which he was willing to sell to us. Since no one in our party can Sense Motive worth a damn, we had little reason to doubt it was all legit, so we bought the map.

After noting that South Pym also seemed to have a relative scarcity of young'uns, we asked around and indeed, the "circus" had come to town here too. If we had any discernable conscience at all, we would probably have been outraged by now. As it was, we mostly noted it as curious and went about our business. So, at this point, we had intended to go have a look after the Baroness, but suddenly the gnome and the barbarian had a powerful hankering to follow our newly acquired map instead. It seemed a tad unusual, but every one went along since, you know, that gnome is a smart little fella.

The "X" on the map was a ziggurat mostly buried in the swamp. We entered through the top and explored around a bit. We found some tracks that led to a lower level where we eventually ran into a small group of sightseers, a child, an armsman and a spellcaster. Needless to say, the child was actually a halfling rogue and hostilities quickly ensued. The wizard in the back hit us with a slow spell that was effective against most of us. That cramped our style a bit, but all it meant was that it took us a little longer to beat them down. We actually managed to take the fighter alive and question him. He revealed that he was a Frog's man and he was able to point out on a map where he was intending to take us if he had successfully subdued us. As he spoke, he was finding it hard to breathe. Some sort of magic effect was finishing what we started. Before we could learn any more, he was dead.

We decided to call it a night.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on AD&D 2e Monstrous Compendium, pt.2

Zack and Steve are at it again.

Monstrous Compendium

-Rognar-

A 1st level eidolon build

Let's see what we can come up with that can survive as the main meat shield.

Base: Biped; Evolutions: Improved Damage, Con +2; Feat: Toughness

Eidolon 1
Str:16 Dex:12 Con:15 Int:7 Wis:10 Cha:11
AC:13 HP:10 Fort:+4 Ref:+1 Will:+2

Attacks: 2 claws melee +4 (1d6+3/x2)

Skills: Perception +4, Climb +7, Stealth +5, Acrobatics +5

The summoner could share a mage armour spell with the eidolon, giving it an AC:17, that would help.

-Rognar-

The latest purchase from my FLGS, pt.9

The Unknown Regions - Star Wars Saga Ed. by Gary Astleford, Owen K.C. Stephens and Rodney Thompson

And so it ends, the association between WotC and the Star Wars franchise, as The Unknown Regions, the last publication of the Star Wars rpg hits store shelves. It holds a few surprises, not least of which is the number of prominent alien races detailed. I will have to go back through my SWSE library, because I find it hard to believe races such as the Nikto, Shistavanen, Anzati, Chadra-Fan and Ishi Tib have not previously been described.

There are, of course, a few new talents and feats, although at this stage, there's precious little that is interesting or new in that well. Some of the new equipment is good though as it has a distinct exploration theme, something that hasn't really been delved into in the game so far. I was especially pleased to see an homage to the Landmaster in the form of the "Jaffryes Universal Automotive ARK-II Series Landmaster" vehicle. True aficionadoes of sci-fi TV and movies might also recognize the ARK-II reference, and, of course, "Jaffryes" alludes to Dean Jeffries, the builder of the original Landmaster and other famous vehicles such as the car used in the Green Hornet series and the cars in Death Race 2000.

There are, not surprisingly, quite a few planet descriptions and mini-adventures with an exploration theme in the book. Although I would categorize this material as fluff, it looks quite useful. Perhaps it is my interest in the subject matter that affects my view on this, but the mini-adventures all seem pretty good. Overall, I'd say this book is one of the better supplements to the game, not on par with Knights of the Old Republic or Jedi Academy Training Manual, to be sure, but pretty solid.

-Rognar-

New eidolon build

After reviewing the comments, I have made some changes. Although it goes against my instinct to avoid wandering around with a giant monster in tow, I have gone with Obiri's suggestion of making the eidolon large. I dropped one pair of arms, so it has fewer attacks, but better attack and damage and more hps (due to higher Con). The AC ends up being the same, despite the larger size. It also has 10 ft. reach.

Base:
Biped: AC:+2 natural, Str:16 Dex:12, Free evolutions: Limbs (arms), Limbs (legs), Claws

Evolutions:
Limbs (arms)
Str +2
Simple Weapon Proficiency
Martial Weapon Proficiency
Resistance (fire) 5
Large size

Feats:
Lightning Reflexes, Multiweapon Fighting, Imp. Natural Armour (x2)

Level benefits:
Str/Dex:+4, AC bonus:+8, BAB:+8
Ability score increase: Str:+2

The total Str is 32, +11 bonus
AC:25 (+14 natural armour, -1 size, +2 Dex)

Attacks:
lg longsword +1 [+17 melee (2d6+12)] and 3x lg shortsword +1 [+17 melee (1d8+6)]

-Rognar-

Critique this eidolon build

I've been looking at the new Summoner class in Pathfinder lately and the prominent feature of the class is the eidolon, a summoned monster companion that can be customized by the summoner with a variety of design features. The main strength of the eidolon appears to be multiple attacks. It can be designed to have claw, bite, slam and/or tail slap attacks which can be given further abilities such as bonus energy damage or the ability to overcome various forms of DR.

Having said all that, I have designed a 10th level eidolon with an emphasis on using weapons. Let me know what you think.

Base:
Biped: AC:+2 natural, Str:16 Dex:12, Free evolutions: Limbs (arms), Limbs (legs), Claws

Evolutions:
Limbs (arms) (x2)
Simple Weapon Proficiency
Martial Weapon Proficiency
Resistance (fire) 5
Str +2 (x2)

Feats:
Lightning Reflexes, Multiweapon Fighting, Imp. Natural Armour (x2)

Level benefits:
Str/Dex:+4, AC bonus:+8, BAB:+8/+3
Ability score increase: Str:+2

The total Str is 26, +8 bonus

Now, this build has six arms total, so I arm the eidolon with a +1 longsword (primary hand) and five +1 shortswords (off-hands). It has a total of seven attacks per round as follows:

longsword melee +15/+10 (d8+9)
5x shortsword melee +15 (d6+5)

It also ends up with AC:25

Now, as far as I can tell, it's all legal, although I'm not sure about the total no. of attacks. At 10th level, the Max. Attacks for the eidolon is 5, but it says that applies to natural attacks. So, by the letter of the rule, using weapons should exempt it from that limit, but perhaps the spirit of the rule is being broken. If the DM decided to apply the maximum to all sorts of attacks, I would change one of the Improved Natural Armour feats to a Shield Proficiency feat and change one of the +1 shortswords to a +1 heavy shield. This would reduce one of the attacks, but increase the AC to 27. I believe the second longsword attack should still apply since it is derived from high BAB, rather than multiple limbs. Thoughts?

-Rognar-

WEG is done

While not official, this interview makes it clear that West End Games is done. At this point, my only interest is what Bill Coffin will do (if anything) with the gaming rights to Septimus. He might stay with d6 Open since he's already written it and the system will be OGL. However, I think the d6 system is dead as a supported line and it doesn't have the fan support needed to follow the OSR model. I'm going to go on a limb here, but if Septimus continues to be supported, it will be using the Traveller ruleset. I see a great resurgence in this system lately, thanks largely to Mongoose (although oddly, Marc Miller continues to publish a parallel version as well). I think Traveller is a better fit for the setting than say, FATE v3 or Savage Worlds.

-Rognar-

Edit: I have just learned that Bill Coffin did intend to release Septimus using FATE back when the original problem with WEG occurred in 2008. Therefore, I amend my prediction. Although I would prefer it to be ported to Traveller, I think it far more likely we will see a FATE-based Septimus in the near future.

Rippin' on AD&D 2e Monstrous Compendium

Was there ever a more questionable design decision in the history of D&D than the Monstrous Compendium? I still have that massive binder with hundreds upon hundreds of sheets of monsters, of which maybe a tenth were even remotely useful. Every new supplement that came out had a few more sheets to add, eventually leading to the most unwieldly product in the history of tabletop rpgs. Mercifully, the folks at TSR eventually released the hardcover Monstrous Manual with all the useful monsters in it, allowing me to pack away that behemoth for good. Zack and Steve have something to say:

Monstrous Compendium

-Rognar-

New classes

One fun thing about being the DM is that I get to try out various monsters and classes and throw them at my players and see how they do. Usually as a player I have to wait for my PC to die or for the next campaign to start to try out something new. I think one of the reasons we tend to go through adventure paths so fast is our short attention spans. There is always something new to try.

I've been evaluating the new Advanced players handbook classes and some of them really appeal to me. I was really looking forward to the Alchemist. What I got was something I have mixed emotions about. I think this is one of those character classes that does quite well at low levels but isn't really specialized enough at high levels to shine. I can also foresee problems when you are going through a dungeon and use up all of your bombs in the first fight or three leaving you with little else to do but buff a bit.

I have no interest in the cavalier. I'm not big on mounted combat since horses don't generally mix well with dungeons and although the class has some neat flavor it just doesn't appeal to me. At least so far.

The original version of the summoner was WOW. Insanely over powered but wow. Both the summoner and his pet were as tough as any other PC. It was like playing two wicked characters that have good synergy with each other. Of course the class got beat with the nerf, err I mean balance stick in the final preview. Now the class is something of a mixed bag. It is good a low levels, really shines between 6-12 (in fact I think my test summoner is going to give the party some serious hurt), but gets really weak by the high levels. The pet just doesn't have enough evolution points to do anything well and the summoner himself can really only summon and buff - but not nearly as well as a regular wizard who can do lots of other tricks as well. I can understand that they don't want the Eidolon to be better then a fighter and the summoner better then a wizard but both become rather meh 16+. Again, these are only test PCs I've built so maybe someone else can do better.

I had high hopes for the inquisitor but was left feeling a little empty. I have since created a couple test characters and I think that it might be a decent class after all. In fact for Kingmaker an Inquisitor will probably be my back-up character depending on the make-up of the rest of the party. The Inquisitor is a nice bland of ranger and cleric.

I don't like the oracle at all. I have to admit I was so turned off by the first release I have not spent much time looking at the second. Its basically the spontaneous casting version of the cleric. I'm not a huge fan of the sorcerer and I find that in general divine spells are even worse for this sort of things. How often do you have to cast the same buff in combat? I'm sure there is some awesomeness somewhere in this class but I just don't see it yet.

And then we have the witch. When I first read through this class I thought it was awful. A limited spell list of mostly buffs and debuffs and a bit of healing magic. Most hex powers had a range of Touch and were SLA so they provoked AoO. Yuck.
Now version two is much improved. Most hex powers have a range of 30' and they are now considered supernatural abilities so they don't provoke AoO. The abilities themselves can be quite nasty. Those of you that played Legacy of Fire probably remember the accursed Pugwuppis. The little critters had an aura of unluck forcing you to roll everything twice and take the worse result. Well the witch has a similar power and although it only effects one opponent at a time, I'm sure your allies will be grateful its not an aura. I've always liked debuffing the bad guys and doing crowd control on enemy hordes so I actually like the witches abilities and spell list.

Role-playing in Canada

We Canadian gamers understand that the gaming world considers the Great White North to be a fairly dull place. Few tabletop rpgs bother to include much information on Canada in their real-world game settings, so those few exceptions that do are all that much more appreciated by us. With that in mind, I would like to acknowledge the publishers who have published game settings with a Canadian touch.

Of course, top of the list has to be Palladium. More than any other game designer, Kevin Siembieda has been very good to his Canadian fans. Rifts Canada and Free Quebec are two of the most obvious examples, but he has also included Canada in many prominent roles in his Rifts game, including the Calgary Rift, Iron Heart and Lazlo.


Less well-known, I suppose, is the White Wolf publication Montreal by Night for Vampire: The Masquerade. I never played the game, as I am totally disinterested in Gothic horror. However, I appreciate the effort on the part of White Wolf, especially since I lived in Montreal for quite a few years and truly love the city (and the hockey team).

Recently, I have noticed a game called API Worldwide by Third Eye Games. The API stands for "Apocalypse Prevention, Inc.", so that should give you some idea about the nature of the game. The first sourcebook released was API Worldwide: Canada, so thanks to Third Eye Games. I might even check out the game some time for no other reason than that.


So, does anyone else know of any rpgs in which a little love was sent north?

-Rognar-

Blackmoor campaign, recap pt.2

The time had arrived to leave Boggybottom. We had accumulated a fair bit of treasure, much of it in the form of magic weapons and armour, which had to be sold off. So, we headed back to Vestfold. We hoped to learn more about the Frog, but our contact Walter was not familiar with the name. After spending some of our blood money on wine, women and song, we were on the road again. We headed to Lake Gloomy to seek out Yanos Hunter. Since Lake Gloomy could be accessed by land from Vestfold, we decided to buy horses, or in the case of the gnome, a mangy, ill-tempered riding dog. Lake Gloomy was weird, to say the least. The town was immaculately clean, from its polished bronze gates to its litter-free streets. There was a definite Potemkin village vibe in this place. We had no luck finding Yanos Hunter in Lake Gloomy, but we did hear that servants were being hired in large numbers to work on the new fortifications in Ram's Hold, a fort on the far western edge of Blackmoor territory. This sounded suspicious, so we headed west to see what was going on on the Afridhi frontier.

We encountered a group of "merchants" heading east along the road, who we promptly killed. Not surprisingly, they too were slavers, either that, or they were planning to sell shackles and rope in Lake Gloomy. We also found some unusual silver ore in a hidden compartment in their wagon. Another enlightened discussion with the recently departed indicated that this latest group of slavers was recruited in Southport. Yikes! That be Afridhi territory. This was turning out to be big.

We continued on the road toward Ram's Hold when we encountered a large company of mounted knights. We briefly considered our options and decided to keep a civil tongue. Good thing too, for it turned out to be the personal entourage of the Baroness of the Lakes. She had been inspecting the repairs of the fortifications in Ram's Hold. We learned that no new fortifications were being built. As we suspected, the Lake Gloomy recruitment drive was a sham. Stupidity can be a harsh mistress.

We continued to Ram's Hold and our worst fears were realized. The place was crawling with halflings. Ugh! By this point, we knew there would be no point looking for information on the slavers since they bypassed this town, but we were able to gain some information about the silver ore we had recovered. A local jeweler suggested it probably came from a place called Tiger Island. We had a decision to make. Follow the clue about Southport or Tiger Island. In the end, it was decided to go to Tiger Island. It was closer and it wasn't in Afridhi lands.

We hired a local fisherman to ferry us to the island, then promptly killed him and seized his boat. Hey, that's just how we roll. Our warlock did some airborne reconnaissance and found evidence of a large settlement in the high ground at the west end of the island. The next day, we headed west, then noticed some sentries, who also noticed us. We knew they would come for us, so we prepared an ambush. Once the enemy appeared, we demonstrated our usual tactical brilliance by breaking cover and charging blindly. It was a tough fight. They had spellcasters among their ranks and many hit points were expended. Khaeliss, our fighter, even hovered briefly at death's door, but ultimately we prevailed. As we gathered the dead and looted their remains, one unmistakeable conclusion was drawn. These were Afridhi warriors.

-Rognar-

Blackmoor campaign, recap pt.1

Dark, Brogesterfel, Shiz, Khaeliss and Crushack are hired by some guy named Walter to find out more about an uptick in slaver activity in the Great Dismal Swamp. In the finest rpg tradition, Walter's patron is unknown to us, but we happily take the job anyway. It pays well (1000gp per man) and we collectively lack any real moral compass anyway. Heading out of Vestfold, the gateway between the more respectable parts of Blackmoor and the swampy, dismal bits, we charter a boat to Kenville, the first port-of-call on the way into the swamp.

Managing to successfully avoid killing anyone in Kenville, a feat we would not achieve again, we soon learned that some slaver activity has been rumoured in Boggybottom, a scummy little hole to the south. We travelled there overland, acquiring a cow along the way. Upon arrival, we proceeded to the seedier of the two local taverns, the Soggy Bottom Bar and Grill (off Route 9). We didn't learn much there, but we did manage to needlessly kill a bunch of people, steal the cash box and take the corpses away for later animation. So, all-in-all, it was a fairly successful outing.

The next day, we headed to the only other watering hole in town, the Wet Whistle, and got down to the business of actually gathering information. We soon learned about a couple of working girls who have been picking up strangers, who have not been seen again. We went on stakeout and soon found out that the local lovelies were setting the guys up to be shanghaied. We crashed the parties, there were some deaths, but we managed to accidentally take a couple of guys alive. That led us to our fateful encounter with the elven slavemaster, Zedd, and his gang.

The ensuing dustup left Shiz, Zedd and three of the slavers dead. Moments later, Korianton, a friend of Shiz, arrived bearing an important message for our dearly departed evoker. Naturally, upon learning of the demise of Shiz, he promptly offered to join our group and we accepted, no questions asked. I said NO QUESTIONS ASKED!

The next day, Dark had a brief, but informative discussion with the dead elf and we learned about the Frog. At first, we assumed the Frog was a person, although later information would indicate that it was actually an organization. Anyway, Zedd was a Frogger,....or Froggie or something. Finally, we had a clue.

Of course, by now, we had attracted some attention. We had killed some slavers and caused some local disruption to their operation. An attempted assassination was inevitable. Stealthy Brogesterfel took out the assassins with a couple of well-placed acid bombs. We found a note on one of the dead rogues with our descriptions. Another round of speaking with dead people gained us a name, Yanos Hunter, and a place, Lake Gloomy.

...break, time to go home, more later...

-Rognar-

Adventure Path vs Sandbox

We played another session of my campaign Saturday night. I think everyone had a good time and this time there were no character deaths, although Tayloritos character dropped to zero hp, staggering him but not killing him.

The PCs are an interesting bunch although they are designed to do an adventure path and are not as effective in a sandbox. Part of it is play style. The adventure paths move you along the story with very little effort on PCs parts. Information gathering is limited to a dice roll or two and its usually pretty obvious where to go next if you have any choice at. Roll-playing (combat skills) is more important then Role-Playing (non-combat). I think part of the reason this has been so entertaining is that everyone has been willing to take part in the non combat parts of the game - brawling with drunks, flirting with floosies, robbing sleeping guards and containing their hatred of halflings!

With this campaign I am trying to make the world as real as I can so there is lots of stuff going on, much of it not related to the main plot at all. Throw in a few red herrings and it can be pretty difficult to figure out how to advance the quest. The PCs are starting to be more tactical in combat laying ambushes and shutting down enemy casters but they still have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. A classic moment was when Dero-bane said, "Maybe we should interrogate these guys" only to realize the last one had just been killed. Ooops. Speak with Dead is nice but when the dead are compelled to speak they will be cryptic and vague.

But all is not lost. There are still several clues left to follow up and the plot is still advancing even if they don't see it yet. The PCs now have a name to attach to the enemy but its nature is still unclear.

And they got their first taste of Afhridi and caught a glimpse of the Baroness of the Lakes. Cool!

Catalyst drops Eclipse Phase, CthulhuTech

From the Eclipse Phase website:

Catalyst Game Labs is currently engaged in negotiations to end its agreements with WildFire and Posthuman Studios. Once the terms are finalized, Catalyst will no longer publish CthulhuTech or Poo: The Card Game for WildFire, nor will they co develop and publish Eclipse Phase for Posthuman Studios.

This is probably for the best. Catalyst is a damaged entity now and any further collaboration between it and the companies who own those IPs will only result in damage to those brands. I don't know what will happen with Eclipse Phase, but I predict CthulhuTech will be returning to the loving embrace of Mongoose. Since Wildfire has entered into an agreement with Mongoose to publish Cthonian Stars, it's clear the previous break was amicable. If Wildfire has no problem working with Mongoose on this project, my guess is they will be willing to entrust CthulhuTech with it as well.

-Rognar-

One side note, does this mean CthulhuTech.com will now include a page for Poo: The Card Game? That would be awesome. Just think of the cross-marketing opportunities. The first supplement should be called CthooPoo.

Miniatures

I posted some time ago that I always liked to find a picture of my character to help me get a feel for it. The problem is that its not always easy to find exactly what you are looking for and I lack the skills to draw what I want well. I am also too lazy to take the time to learn to draw well.

I'm not sure why, perhaps looking at all of the great minis most of my fellow bloggers here have, but I thought about starting to paint my own minis. If you've ever looked at the various mini sites out there they have minis of every shape and form. Enough to meet most of your cool adventurer ideas. There does seem to be a heavier weighting towards the stereo type - the barbarians, knights, rogues, and rangers. There are too many female characters, most of which are half naked.

Anyway, Derro-bane was kind enough to loan me his painting supplies and a couple practice minis. We went down to the FLGS on Sunday and asked a bunch of questions to Chris - the guy doing the mini painting demo. I sat there for about 4 hours and ended up with a mini that didn't look that awful. It is certainly not going to win any awards, but it looks as good as any pre-painted mini. It is a good start.

I am enjoying painting so far. I need to get a bit braver and start trying some harder techniques like shading. I have a few sweet minis ordered that may represent my next character and I'd like them to look nice. Its really hard to find a decent gnome miniature.

Rippin' on The World of Synnibarr

Always a favourite on the list of the worst tabletop rpgs of all time, The World of Synnibarr, written by Raven c.s. McCracken (one of real characters in the industry), has recently enjoyed a bit of a rehabilitation. This is largely because McCracken has buried the hatchet with some of his old foes and because some truly horrible and offensive games like F.A.T.A.L. and RaHoWa (I won't pollute my blog with links) have arisen to knock TWoS off its dubious perch. Despite this, Zack and Steve are, once again, merciless.

The World of Synnibarr

-Rognar-

By the way, that pic of McCracken, I totally looked like that, ca. 1985, even the cheesy 'stache. My budget for medieval arms and armour was much smaller, however.

4e revisited

It may be time to give 4e another chance. Finally, the book the old-school new-schoolers like me have been waiting for.

-Rognar-

Blackmoor campaign - the party

First, there is our offensive line, looking like members of GWAR:

Dark (played by Thungkhtt) - Half-orc cleric of Calelrin (god of murder and deceit), hilariously forced to be the "face" of the party
Khaeliss (played by Tayloritos) - Human fighter, likes to play with fire, favourite combat maneuver is disarm
Crushack (played by K) - Human barbarian, man of mystery

Then there is the back-up:

Brogesterfel (played by me) - Gnome alchemist, master of the Molotov, smart, stealthy and weird
Shiz (played by D-bane) - Human wizard (evoker), imprisoned for fifty years, old and frail, now dead
Korianton (played by D-bane) - Human warlock, the new guy, friend of the late Shiz, tends to fly or hover a lot (arthritic knees, I suppose)

Finally, there is God....(played by Obiri)

-Rognar-

The history of "Roll for Initiative"

As some of you may have noticed, this blog has been around for quite awhile, going all the way back to September, 2005 and predating most of the prominent gaming blogs of today. Back then, blogs were still cool and Twitter was something a bird did. In the early days, it was just D-bane and me. Obiri was MIA. Obviously, we weren't serious bloggers back then. There are only 15 posts in the first 9 months and most were movie reviews. Then it all stopped in June, 2006. My oldest daughter was born that month and my interest in blogging went from almost nil to completely nil. Interestingly, the blog and my firstborn were conceived at about the same time. I now have two daughters, with no intention for further procreation. I have an active gaming group and a lot more things to talk about in the gaming arena. Also, D-bane ran into Obiri at the 'Box and that gaming relationship was reforged. So, I revived the blog and as you can see, its new incarnation is far more lively (this is the 200th post since the revivication).

I also had a political blog back then which was much more active than my gaming blog. I grew tired of all the circular discussion and acrimony, however, so I discontinued it. I no longer wanted that stuff to be out there for the world to see, so I completely overwrote it by creating my other gaming blog Rognar's Space Horror RPG Blog using the same URL. I rarely miss the old blog, as I found enlightened debate hard to come by on the Internet (yeah, I know...d'uh!).

-Rognar-

New Campaign

Last night the new campaign began. Because most of us are fairly familiar with our normal setting I decided to set this one in Blackmoor. A second change, all of the characters are evil. Playing Evils is always fun for the players but a bit tougher for the DM since evil characters are much more unpredictable.

I think everyone had a good time doing silly voices, beating bar patrons senseless, ripping random people off, and setting their houses on fire. The final encounter of the evening was a bit tougher then I expected. The CR was quite high but when its the first (and only) encounter of the day, everyone has lots toys available to use.

I almost felt sorry when Derrobane's character met his end to a double rogue ambush. They were actually in place to keep the wizard from casting spells but one scored a critical hit and the 70 year old wizard was rather frail. Shiz, rest in peace.

The PCs killed the leader of the slavers quickly and after that the slavers fought less effectively. One of the rogues managed to escape so we'll have to see how that effects what's to come.

The final battle from the last campaign inspired me to make the environment more important in battles. The trees and bushes allowed the rogues to slip to vanish, but I'd like to introduce more hazards like quicksand, deep water, cliffs, traps. They make the fights more strategic allowing both sides to take advantage of them.

I'm looking forward to our next play night to see what happens next!

(Ed. note: We have been tasked with the job of investigating an increase in slave trading in the Great Dismal Swamp. Whole villages are being wiped out. Why such a vile group as ours has been hired to do this is not clear.)

Rippin' on Vampire: the Masquerade

It's about damned time.

Vampire

-Rognar-

Cthonian Stars, Lovecraft meets Traveller

Coming this summer, from the guys that produce CthulhuTech, Cthonian Stars is Lovecraftian sci-fi using the Traveller game system. This could be interesting, although I confess I find the Traveller system a little bland, with its emphasis on combat avoidance. It may be realistic, but not especially heroic or exciting. Of course, until CthulhuTech came along, rpgs that revolved around the Cthulhu Mythos tended to have a similar emphasis. I suppose my interest in Cthonian Stars will depend largely on how the guys at Wildfire chose to present it. I'm also somewhat hesitant to buy a product published by Mongoose. My first copy of the CthulhuTech core rulebook, an original Mongoose edition, fell to pieces in a matter of hours. I had never seen such a poorly-bound book before. I have heard they have improved their quality since then, but once bitten, twice shy.

-Rognar-

cross-posted at Rognar's Space Horror RPG Blog

Conflict Roleplaying looks cool

Some nights you really want to roll some dice, but you can't get the whole group together. Conflict Roleplaying just might be what you need to scratch that itch. Get together with a buddy, roll up some Pathfinder characters and throw down. Probably not something you would want to encourage in regular play, but could be useful in running gladiatorial combats.

-Rognar-

h/t Mad Brew Labs

Nogra the ghoul assassin, remember him?

A pretty cool character from our D&D 3.5 days. I can't remember if he survived? Obiri, we had quite a battle, no?

Nogra - Evolved Ghoul Rogue/Lurking Terror 3/3 (8 HD)
Str:16 Dex:22 Int:14 Con:N/A Wis:14 Cha:18
HP:58 AC:25 (+6 Dex, +2 natural armour, +5 armour, +2 ring)
Spd:30ft.; Init:+10
Fort:+2 Ref:+10 Will:+9
BAB/Grapple:+5/+9

Feats: Weapon Finesse, Ability Focus (paralysis), Improved Initiative, Improved Turn Resistance

Skills: Move Silently +17, Hide +17, Spot +13, Climb +14, Jump +16, Balance +14, Use Magic Device +12, Tumble +16, Listen +9, Intimidate +9

Special Abilities: Darkvision 90ft, +2 natural armour, sneak attack +2d6, evasion, trap sense +1, fast healing 3, turn resistance +6, hide in plain sight, undead immunities

Attack: bite +11 melee (1d6+3+paralysis+disease/x2)
or punching dagger +13 melee (1d4+5/x3)

Special Attacks: paralysis (1d4+1 rds., Fort DC 23)
ghoul fever (1 day, 1d3 Con + 1d3 Dex, Fort DC 21)
haste (self only) 1/day 8th level caster

Items:
+3 leather armour
+2 ring of protection
+2 punching dagger
1 vial of dragon bile poison

I recall because of his undead immunity, he would envenom his bite attack by chewing on a sausage casing full of poison. This is the kind of character that's hard to build in Pathfinder. I'm not sure why they changed the rules for monster characters.

-Rognar-

Catalyst Game Labs in trouble

Another gaming company in trouble due to negligent financial practices, if you believe the press release or outright embezzlement, if word in the blogosphere is to be trusted. While most of the discussion revolves around Shadowrun, CGL also publishes Eclipse Phase (although they don't own the IP), a game I am quite keen on. I will be watching this closely to see how it shakes out. Certainly it's bad news, but if Palladium can survive something like this, maybe Catalyst can too.

-Rognar-

The slow death of West End Games...

...is apparently on again. Over at RPG Blog II, Zachary Houghton has a post on the latest news (if you want to call it that) about WEG and Septimus. Eric Gibson (owner of WEG) has been so out-of-touch lately, even the author of his shiny new game setting, Bill Coffin, can't seem to contact him. Mr. Gibson responds with some lame excuse about being too busy with school. I echo the sentiments of Houghton and many of his respondents. It's time for Mr. Gibson to get out of the business, or at the very least, sell off the Septimus license to someone who will be able to publish and support it, so Bill Coffin can make some money from his work.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on Original D&D

Ooooo, this one's going to generate some buzz on the interwebs. Zack and Steve at SomethingAwful.com take a swipe at:

Original D&D

-Rognar-

Note: Don't worry, they save the last parting shot for 4e

The Sandbox campaign

Our group mostly plays published Adventure Paths. We're all busy professionals and don't have tons of time anymore laying out expansive campaign worlds with dozens of adventure hooks and encounters prepped. I don't have the spare brain capacity to memorize the stats of a dozen monsters (it doesn't help that 3rd edition+ monster stats are so much more complex then earlier editions). I would love to open up the world to everyone and say "Go play with what you want" but I honestly don't think I can handle that anymore.

Since I am trying to avoid a narrow path where the story drags the PCs from one encounter to the next I've decided to go with a mystery type adventure. The clues are hidden in various locations and its up to the PC to solve the mystery. Of course, events will going on in the back ground that will also effect the main plot. I don't want to script things to much since interesting things often occur during play sessions and it would be nice to be able to run with them.

I'm a bit concerned about pacing. I've been watching our CoT sessions and we seem to get through about 3 major encounters a night and so I've tried to plan accordingly. I've been trying to come up with some interesting encounter designs. Too often it's just fighting in a room. I can foresee some environmental obstacles coming into play which can either be a boon or bane.

Pathfinder + d20 Modern, Hmmmm

Okay, I like Pathfinder and I like d20 Modern. So, do they have anything to offer one another? That is a question I have to ask myself as I ponder the P20 Modern patronage project. For an initial buy-in of $50US, you get a .pdf and a hardcover copy of the finished project. For a $100US buy-in, you get a signed copy. This is no fly-by-night operation either, with big name designers Owen K.C. Reynolds and Stan! on board. They have to raise $70K by the end of April and they're way short of that right now, but as the date gets closer, I'll have to give it some serious thought. The truth is, d20 Modern is already a pretty solid game. I'm not sure what "pathfinderizing" it will actually do to make it better.

-Rognar-

Review - Mindjammer campaign setting

Last month, I reviewed a FATE-based space opera game called Starblazer Adventures. Well, DriveThruRPGs just had another sale in time for me to buy the first campaign setting, called Mindjammer. The setting envisions a future in which humans have been expanding out into the galaxy for thousands of years using sublight ships. Naturally, contact with most of the colony ships is lost along the way and the ones that do maintain contact with Earth take decades or centuries to send and receive replies. Then, about 200 years in the past, Earth develops FTL capability and expands outward to reestablish contacts with the human diaspora and create the Commonality, a loose association of human colonies. Millennia of divergent development has created a plethora of different cultures and societies, some of which are not too happy to be receiving visitors.

Culture plays an interesting role in the setting. It provides aspects to characters derived from them, as one would expect. However, cultures also have their own rules for interaction with one another. The actions of characters can even result in societal changes, if a particular culture is not equipped to adequately deal with the stresses of making contact with the wider galactic community.

Another aspect of the setting is the Mindscape, a futuristic equivalent of the internet. Taking a page from the Traveller game, space travel is FTL, but interstellar communications are not. Therefore, AI spaceships, called Mindjammers, serve as nodes in the Mindscape, ensuring that all people of the Commonality have access to up-to-date information. Humans access the Mindscape directly via implants. This creates a sort of shared consciousness allowing the sum of all human knowledge to be available, although finding what you're looking for is not a trivial undertaking. The Mindscape also allows humans to display pseudo-psychic abilities.

Overall, Mindjammer is less pulpy than the default Starblazer Adventures setting, incorporating some cyberpunk elements and a more sophisticated approach to alien contact. I'm still not completely sold on the FATE game engine, being a fan of rules-heavy game systems and tactical combat, but it is growing on me and the wealth of good ideas in Mindjammer make it a goldmine for any space opera game.

-Rognar-

The paladin is Doctor Manhattan, the fighter is the Comedian

As I watch Obiri's paladin dish out 60 to 80 pts. of damage per round, inspire his allies, heal his wounds, save against everything and even turn on the charm when it's called for, I am left with one undeniable conclusion, the Pathfinder paladin is the ultimate base class in the game. So here we go. In a few weeks, we are going to start up an evil campaign. Who's going to DM this? Obiri! The guy that just spent the last six months playing the most potent PC I can recall seeing in years, maybe ever. Boys, I advise running away as fast as you can from even the rumour of a paladin in the upcoming campaign. We are going to get spanked.

-Rognar-

What is your favourite spell?

Is there really any better spell in D&D 3.5/Pathfinder than magic missile? In a game which features energy resistance and ranged touch attacks and evasion and concealment and cover and saving throws, isn't it nice to have the old standby to fall back on. That maximum 5d4+5 pts. may pale in comparison to the 10d6 or 15d6 spells of higher levels, but at least you feel confident of actually doing damage with a magic missile. The same can't be said of fireball. Sure, you occasionally get thwarted by a brooch of shielding or spell resistance, but compared to all the options available to defend against most other offensive spells, I'm happy to put up with a fizzle once in awhile. My vote is for magic missile.

-Rognar-

So, what's on your iPod?, pt.6

The latest effort to reconnect with the bands I loved in my youth takes me, once again, to Saxon. The quintet from Yorkshire went off the rails in the mid-80s, attempting to emulate the hair metal sound of bands like Def Leppard and Whitesnake and doing a piss-poor job of it. It wasn't until the 90s that Saxon began to rediscover its NWOBHM roots and produce quality music again. One of their better efforts was the 1999 release Metalhead. Although a bit uneven, there are several solid tracks on the album, including "Are We Travellers in Time", "Sea of Life" and "Conquistador" (which Biff Byford annoyingly insists on pronouncing 'con-KWISS-ta-door'). Saxon, as it turns out, was quite prolific in the 90s, with Forever Free (1992), Dogs of War (1995) and Unleash the Beast (1997) still to come on my list of albums to check out. I can't wait.

-Rognar-

Psycho-killer, qu'est que c'est?

So apparently this homicidal prof down in Alabama was into D&D and maybe even LARPing! Whatever. If LARPing is going to make someone flip out and shoot up the place, it's time we started taking a hard look at these guys, Redneck LARPers:



After all, their weapons are real.

-Rognar-

Random chargen? I hate it.

Hot topics in the RPG blogosphere always seem to start with something James Maliszewski has to say. Suddenly, his post on the unforgiving nature of Traveller character generation, something of which I have very painful memories, has spawned other posts, rebuttals and comments. I don't really know if any insight can be drawn from all this discussion, but I can tell you why I hate random chargen, because I am a monumentally lousy dice-roller. It's absolutely true. In AD&D, I was almost never able to roll minimum stats for any class at all. Literally, even getting a single 9 on 6 rolls of 3d6 was only achieved after multiple attempts. We had to house rule the chargen process to allow me to play the class I wanted because actually getting a 9 on the appropriate roll to play a wizard or a fighter was astronomically unlikely for me. For all you old school guys who insist the old dice-rolling approach was best, try this, instead of rolling 3d6 for your next character, just roll 2d6+1. That way, you will get a distribution closer to my rolls for the two decades I spent playing AD&D 1e/2e.

-Rognar-

The economics of poison

I've never really given much thought to the use of poison in D&D 3.5/Pathfinder. Some monsters have it and can, on occasion, use it to good effect, but players rarely use it. First of all, there is the danger of a self-inflicted poisoning, a risk to which only assassins are immune. Also, poisons don't seem all that effective against any of the really powerful monsters you might actually want to use it on. Sure, you could use something like black lotus extract with its hefty save DC and its truly scary 1d6 Con damage per round, but at 4500 gp per dose, it isn't even remotely cost effective. Spells and swords can accomplish even more and generally don't cost a thing. However, with the addition of the alchemist class in Pathfinder, the use of poison is going to become more common and it may be time to examine the economics of poison (and alchemy in general).

I remember in the olden days, we used to butcher every poisonous monster we killed, trying to extract the precious poison glands for our own use or resale (assuming there wasn't a pesky paladin in the party). Of course, there was always a risk of being poisoned (an exaggerated risk, in my opinion), but it was worth it. There is, of course, nothing preventing a group from doing the same in Pathfinder, but, depending on how firmly the DM adheres to treasure rules, adjustments would have to be made to include the value of any poison in the treasure of the encounter. This could get tricky since a monster may have multiple doses or it might use up all its available poison in the fight, so the value of its poison could vary wildly and may, in fact, be more valuable than any treasure such a monster might be expected to possess.

Next, there is the question of how to extract the poison. In older versions of D&D, it didn't matter, you just did it and hoped the DM didn't have a fight with his girlfriend the night before. These sorts of things are more formalized now, so some sort of skill check is called for. An appropriate knowledge skill might be a possibility, but that means a different skill for different types of monsters. Also, knowledge skills usually involve theoretical, rather than practical knowledge, like knowing where the wyvern's venom sac is located, but not necessarily how to extract it intact. Craft (alchemy) includes the ability to make poison, but doesn't really seem to imply the anatomical knowledge of poisonous creatures. Survival would seem to skirt along the edges of this activity, since it includes tracking and hunting. It wouldn't be a stretch to include butchering monsters for their valuable body parts and it is a class skill for alchemists, leading me to believe that is what the Pathfinder design team has in mind.

The upshot of all this is right now, poisons are way too expensive, even if you make your own, to be a significant part of any PCs bag of tricks. The alchemist class will likely require some rule changes to make poison use more accessible.

-Rognar-

The Landmaster

Over at EXONAUTS!, Jay has an excellent post about space age vehicles. It got me to thinking about just such a vehicle that is near and dear to my heart...and it's real! I'm talking about the Landmaster from the 1977 post-apocalyptic movie Damnation Alley. Built by Dean Jeffries for a whopping $350,000 US (well over a million in today's dollars), the Landmaster still exists today and is fully functional (except for armaments, I'm sure).

I give you, the Landmaster:




-Rognar-

cross-posted at Rognar's Space Horror Blog

Review - Starblazer Adventures

As part of the New Year's sale at DriveThruRPG, Starblazer Adventures by Cubicle 7 was available for a mere $10, so I bought it out of curiousity. For those unaware of this game, it is slightly-pulpy, FATE-based space opera game based on a '70s-era British comic book series. The game setting is enormous, weighing in at over 600 pages, yet still manages to feel a tad light on crunch. I think this may be a function of the modified FATE system used in the game. Actions are resolved by rolling 2 d6s, one designated as a negative die before the roll. The positive and negative dice are added together to give a result from -5 to +5, with the highest probabilities being the closest to 0. Added to the result is a modifier resulting from skills and other factors. This modifier will typically range from +1 to +3, although higher modifiers are possible. In addition to skills, characters also have stunts and aspects. Stunts are a lot like feats (or in some cases, class features) in the d20 system. They typically allow you do something with a skill you wouldn't normally be able to do, or give you a positive modifier to a skill under certain circumstances by accepting a negative modifier on other skills.

Aspects are rather less well-defined. They are brief phrases that describe motivations, personality quirks or background information of a character that can be used under certain circumstances to cajole the GM to allow some benefit. Alternatively, the player can use an aspect to his character's detriment, in order to earn fate points. Fate points are at the very heart of the FATE game system. Spending fate points allows a player to temporarily take control of the story. They can be used for a variety of things from adding an additional +1 modifier to any dice roll to powering some stunts to compelling a negative result from an opponent's aspect. While GMs do have veto power over the use of fate points, they are encouraged not to use it unless doing so would cause serious problems for the story.

Not surprisingly, Starblazer Adventures borrows heavily from the Starblazer comic books, incorporating story arcs, recurring characters and technologies from the comics directly into the game setting. The setting itself is divided into three eras, although other settings are possible. The three main settings are the Trailblazer Era, in which mankind first takes to the stars (think Enterprise or Star Trek), the Empire Era, in which a human empire battles across the galaxy with other great alien empires (more like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Babylon 5) and the Cosmopolitain Era, in which a galaxy-spanning empire made up of many races including humans maintains the Pax Galactica (best analog might be the Old Republic era of Star Wars).

Overall, the game is pretty good, especially if you are looking for a bit of pulp or campy feel to your space opera campaign. The FATE system tends to encourage a bit of whimsy on the part of the players, so serious or gritty campaigns probably won't work as well unless the GM and the players are all on the same page. I would never use the FATE system for my space horror campaign setting, but if you're looking for "a wee bit o' fun", this might be just the thing.

-Rognar-

Another House Rule: Blasters

Not the Star Wars kind.

Evocation in 3.5 and Pathfinder sucks as a school of magic. Between massive hit point inflation and caster level caps Evocation just doesn't pack the punch it used to. In fact I would argue (and do quite frequently) that evocation spells are a waste of a spell slot.

Sure it's nice against low level mooks but why not just let the melee types feel awesome for a bit. Between SR, Saves and Energy Resistance, why bother?

So for the up coming campaign I am ruling that energy type spells are not effected by spell resistance.

Comments?

Have we seen the last of Axis & Allies miniatures?

I made a rare visit to the WotC website today and scanned through the brands...Magic: the Gathering, Heroscape, Dungeons and Dragons, Duel Masters, Axis & Allies, Star Wars. It got me to thinking. With the Star Wars license gone, has the streamlining stopped or are there other product lines on the chopping block. Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons have to be considered core brands and pretty well untouchable. Heroscape is the only one of the brands commonly seen in mainstream toy stores like Toys-R-Us, which likely makes the Hasbro overfiends happy. Duel Masters is a CCG based on an anime property, pretty much an obligatory product line for a card company. So, that leaves Axis & Allies. Hasbro owned Avalon Hill and rolled it into WotC when it bought the company. It already owned Milton Bradley (man, Hasbro is the Evil Empire of gaming) which developed the original Axis & Allies boardgame, and promptly switched that product line to Avalon Hill. At this point, the various versions of the boardgame, a few other boardgames such as Diplomacy and the miniatures lines are the only Avalon Hill properties actively being produced. Of these, the minis lines are clearly the most neglected, with only two sets being released in 2009. Pre-painted plastic minis are apparently quite expensive to produce, certainly more so than the unpainted play pieces of a typical boardgame and while the Axis & Allies brand is well-known, it's mostly because of the venerable boardgame, not the minis. So, I think all signs point to A&AM being the next property to face the firing squad.

-Rognar-

Further note: Hasbro also owns Parker Brothers, the makers of Monopoly and Risk. In other words, they bloody well own everything. I add Hasbro to my list of other companies and organizations I hate; Microsoft, Disney, the New York Yankees...

The latest purchase from my FLGS, pt.8

With the end of the Star Wars Saga Ed. coming soon, I actually have the opportunity to own the entire game, every hardcover published in the product line. To that end, I picked up Galaxy of Intrigue, the penultimate sourcebook in the SWSE series. I knew before I bought it that it would be one of, if not the weakest product so far and in that regard, my expectations were realized. However, it does have just enough crunch, combined with my inherent collector's obsessive-compulsiveness, to compel me to buy it. The main selling point is updated stats for a number of fairly important alien races, such as the Bith, the Defel, the Gotal and the Neimoidian. Although these races had been described in past releases, they had not been given the full treatment. No doubt, the SWSE braintrust had been saving them up for just this reason.

There are some new feats and talents, as well as equipment and droids, but Galaxy of Intrigue is, without a doubt, the fluffiest book so far, knocking The Rebellion Era Sourcebook off that pedestal. Still, some the fluffy bits, like the numerous mini-adventures, are not completely devoid of merit. A seasoned group of SWSE players probably won't find much that's indispensible in Galaxy of Intrigue, but new players and GMs, especially those with an interest in "cloak-and-dagger" gameplay will find a lot of useful material.

-Rognar-

Further note: With only The Unknown Regions remaining to be released, a lot of the "Expanded Universe" stuff will not get covered in SWSE. One notable omission is the Yuuzhan Vong. Although there have been fragments of info about this race scattered through several books, it has never gotten a sufficiently detailed description to create a campaign centered on the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. My suspicion, however, is that few tears will be shed by diehard Star Wars fans.

What is the future of the Star Wars game license?

With the news that WotC is dropping the Star Wars license this year, no doubt rampant speculation will begin over the future of the franchise. So let's get it started. My guess is that the tabletop rpg is dead, at least for the forseeable future. There just aren't many companies aside from WotC that could afford it and the few that could don't seem to be a good fit. For example, Mongoose, a relatively big company, would probably be seen by the folks at Lucasarts as being a bit too risky. They publish a lot of product to be sure, but they also miss a lot of release dates and there are frequent complaints about the quality of their products. Cubicle 7 is an up-and-comer, but my guess is that they are not ready to take on something of this magnitude. Besides those two, the only company I can think of with the means to pull it off is Paizo. The Star Wars license might be a good fit for a company looking to position itself as the alternative to WotC, but I think they have so many resources committed to the various Pathfinder product lines, they probably couldn't see themselves taking on the demands of the Star Wars license right now.

The other side of the Star Wars game license is the minis. WotC has certainly beaten that dead horse repeatedly over the last few years, so I think if anyone got an idea to revive a Star Wars minis line, they'd choose to do it differently. I think the one company that might see some potential there would be Rackham. Doing Star Wars using an approach similar to AT-43 or Confrontation might have interest for minis collectors who are fed up with blind packaging and 15 different versions of Darth Vader. Personally, I hope that doesn't happen since it would almost certainly impact the other Rackham lines negatively.

-Rognar-

Rognar Called It.

Good bye Star Wars Saga

Want a job at Wizards?

WotC is looking for a new editor

Link

One requirement not mentioned in the ad:

-Must be willing to leave quietly when we fire you just before Christmas

-Rognar-

So, what's on your iPod?, pt.5

What can I say about Apocalyptica? The obvious, four classically-trained cellists (Is that redundant? Are there any other kinds of cellists?) from Finland who use their powers for good, bringing symphonic metal to the masses. Probably best known to North American audiences for their covers on YouTube and their appearance in Some Kind of Monster, a documentary film about Metallica released in 2004, the group has been around since the early '90s. Their most recent studio album, Worlds Collide, was by far their most successful, reaching as high as 59 on the Billboard Top 200 in 2008. As one might expect, Apocalyptica produces an unusual brand of metal, at times symphonic, gothic, progressive, with an occasional track like "I'm Not Jesus" (sung by Corey Taylor of Slipknot), which can only be described as straight up rock and roll. While most metal music works better with fantasy, I feel the Apocalyptica sound lends itself well to a sci-fi rpg setting, especially space opera. This is good news for someone like me who detests techno, the usual music style associated with futuristic campaigns.

-Rognar-

Editorial note: Apocalyptica, Crom, Sabaton, without doubt, everything interesting in heavy metal today is happening in continental Europe. The Scandinavians, Finns and Germans have taken over from the Brits and the Americans as the true powerhouses of metal.

Pathfinder rule musings

Saving throws and magic items:
The save DCs for spell-like effects generated by magic items are too low, in my opinion. For example, the dagger of venom inflicts the effects of a poison spell on the target. This is a 4th level spell, so the Fort save DC is listed at 14. This DC does not, of course, incorporate the ability score modifier of the creator, presumably because that value is not known for every magic item. However, this means many magic items become pretty useless at mid-levels. Now remember, in the example above, poison is a 4th level cleric spell. That means the caster has to have at least Wis 14 to cast it. So, at minimum, the creator of a dagger of venom must have a +2 Wis bonus. I propose, then, that the save DC for this item should be 16, not 14. Also, if a PC wanted to make one, he should be able to use his own ability modifier. That way, a dagger of venom or any other magic item could be as dangerous to 15th level characters as it is to 3rd level characters.

Determining magic item functions:
I think the combination of using detect magic and the Spellcraft skill to identify magic items has caused many higher level spells to become much less useful. Consider, the number of spells that allow one to identify magic items, detect magic, identify, analyze dweomer, arcane sight and arcane sight, greater. Now admittedly, none of these spells exactly duplicates the effects of the others. For example, using detect magic or identify requires a Spellcraft check, while the higher level spells do not. However, I suspect most players will find little incentive to have all these spells in their daily list. There is just too much redundancy.

-Rognar-

Now this is funny...

Most gamer humour is about as funny as a kick in the 'nads, classics involving gazebos and magic missile attacks on the darkness being the exception, rather than the rule. This, however, is hilarious.

-Rognar-

Mearls on game balance

I know what you're thinking, "Jeez, will you quit with all the game balance posts, already?" Well, what can I say, this post on Mike Mearls site has been getting lots of discussion on the blogs of late, so I'm just catching the zeitgeist. I agree with everything he says and I'm not sure where the controversy lies. After all, Mearls admits that many gamers don't care about combat balance. He just argues that having combat balance does not have to be detrimental to the non-combat aspects of the game. Hey, if you want to suck in combat, go right ahead. I suggest starting with a bard and building from there. D-bane, got anything to add? :D

-Rognar-

Boring Magic Items

As I continue to gear up for the upcoming campaign, I've been looking at rule tweaks. Pathfinder has lots of items but for the most part they tend to get crowded out my those items which grant a numerical advantage.

The Cape of the Manta ray is very stylish but most people would trade it in a heart beat for a good ole cloak of resistance.

What I propose is to grant all of the PCs level appropriate bonuses. Everyone can add +2 enhancement bonus to the stat of their choice, a +2 resistance bonus, and a +1 deflection bonus. Items that grant these bonuses will be removed from the game. I'll leave in the Amulet of Natural Armor. I was going to lower starting cash somewhat but when I realized that there are no magic marts, I may just leave it alone.

Maybe I'll give everyone free armor and weapon bonuses too although now I'd definitely have to lower starting cash. Any comments?

Respectability? No thanks

When I look back at my early gaming life and ponder what it was that made D&D so cool in '81, I realize it was because the game was subversive. It was teaching kids reading, writing, mathematics and it was doing it without any adult supervision. That is ultimately what caused certain religious and political authorities to condemn D&D. The kids were learning, but not necessarily the things their authority figures wanted them to.

So now the generation that grew up on D&D is reaching middle age. We have kids of our own and we hope to pass on the hobby to them. Some of us want D&D and other RPGs to take on an air of respectability. Well, I say nuts to that. I think the hobby should remain the forbidden fruit, something not talked about in polite company. Like your dad's collection of vintage Playboy magazines, your old D&D books should be something the kids stumble upon while poking their noses in places they don't belong. I think this is the way tabletop RPGs will survive and endure. This hobby can't hold a candle to video games in the minds of kids today unless it has some element of danger. Make our games subversive again.

-Rognar-

A&AM Early War 1939-1941 comments

Bicycle troops (Belgian and Japanese) are actually pretty useful, assuming you have a decent number of road hexes in your map.

The Coordinated Fire commander ability of the Polish Officer is not as great as one would think. This unit can only attack adjacent targets, so in order for other units to benefit from the ability, you have to place your officer in the front line. That is a great way to lose your commander early.

It's not much to look at, but the Marmon Herrington is an excellent armoured car. I could see using it in any year of the war.

The BEF Infantrymen and the Finnish Ski Troops are both excellent 4-pt. infantry units and would be highly useful in any scenario. Too bad the Finnish Ski Troop doesn't actually have skis, though.

The T-28 is a beast. It looks scary as hell and is murder on infantry as well as early tanks.

The Semovente L40 looks awful. I'm even more annoyed that it's a rare and that I've got three of them.

The Cruiser Mk.III A13 is a great-looking unit. Too bad it has tin foil armour.

The Covering Fire SA of the Japanese Type 99 LMG is going to make the Banzai charge even more devastating and it's only a 4-pt. unit. At least it doesn't have Double Shot.

-Rognar-

A&AM Early War 1939-1941 first pulls

I got my first 18 boosters from the Axis & Allies Miniatures recent set, Early War 1939-1941 (thanks, D-bane). I'll have more to say later, but here are my rares:

Soviet Union
T-28
MiG-1
BT-5 (x2)

Finland
T-26E

United Kingdom
Cruiser Mk III A13 (x2)
Matilda II

France
Morane-Saulnier MS.406

South Africa
Valentine II
Marmon Herrington Mk.II AC (x2)

Poland
7TP

Germany
PzKpfw IV Ausf.A
Panzer III Ausf.F

Italy
Semovente L40 da 47/32 (x3) (WTF?!)

So, I missed two of the four aircraft in the set, including the Stuka. That sucks! Also, I don't have much use for three Italian assault guns (no idea how that happened). Still, it's a good start. I will obviously be jumping into the singles market at some point.

-Rognar-

My charitable donation to WEG

The seemingly endless saga of misery that is West End Games has taken another turn. As I mentioned some time ago, WEG was looking to make a rebound. They had a new product, Septimus, a space opera rpg by reknown game designer Bill Coffin, and a new publishing model, Open d6, which would allow the venerable d6 game engine to become OGL. Along came GenCon. Eric Gibson, the current owner of WEG, arrived with a stack of Septimus softcovers and a plan.

Then he disappeared...

Rampant speculation followed. WEG's forums were abuzz with speculation, as the fans (who by this time, number in the tens) debated the future of the company, its owner and the game system. Fans created Open d6 Resurrection, Antipaladin Games created a clone called Mini Six and pretty much everyone felt they'd seen the last of West End Games.

Well, Eric Gibson has resurfaced and he's busily doing what he can to put to rest any rumours of his (or WEG's) demise. Problems with his overseas printer have made him unable to get his hardcover Septimus books into stores, while GenCon softcover and pdf sales have been weak. The Open d6 project is not dead and he's not too happy about these non-WEG efforts to create reasonable facsimiles.

So, partially out of sympathy for a struggling company that has given me a lot of joy over the years and partially out of curiousity about a product that seems increasingly unlikely to ever see the light of day in stores, I bought a pdf copy of Septimus. It is quite a tome, weighing in at a hefty 364 pages. The first 95 or so pages are dedicated to describing the world of Septimus, a Dyson Sphere on the very edge of a dying galactic empire. This description is quite detailed, and yet, there are some glaring omissions. Several things are mentioned repeatedly, but never clearly explained. For example, a particularly traumatic event, known as Steel Helix, is mentioned repeatedly as the source of much of the destruction currently seen on the surface of Septimus, yet no explanation of Steel Helix is given in the text. A free quick-start pdf of the Septimus game released months before the full game mentions a rebellion and describes a rebel military action called Iron Helix, which is presumably the same thing, but anyone without a copy of this earlier release would have little idea about this most important event in recent history of the game world. Other unexplained things include the Seven Cities (presumed to be other settlements outside of the capital that have been cut off by Steel Helix) and ZPG (some sort of disease which may be related to corruption of the advanced technology used to control the inhabitants of Septimus).

Beyond this criticism, Septimus is actually a pretty solid game. The d6 rules are fully presented, so no other books are required to play and the number of game and character options are quite extensive. The game is not as polished as Eclipse Phase or CthulhuTech, but it is certainly easier for inexperienced players to understand. It has a lot of potential, but at this point, I don't think West End Games has the resources to get this game off the ground in any significant way. Pity!

-Rognar-

(Edit: Upon further reading, I have a clearer idea about the Seven Cities, although a timeline and a more detailed history would certainly help to elucidate the various political relationships within the game setting.)

Evolving Rules

I found this interesting article by Monte Cook. He makes some interesting comments on how gameplay shapes rules and rules shape gameplay. A worthwhile read.

Evil Campaign

The DM mantle will pass to me in the next few months and I've been trying to figure out what I'd like to do. One of the ideas that I've had is running an evil campaign. As long as there is no outright back stabbing they can be a lot of fun.

The problem is motivation. In a sandbox campaign where the PCs can wander around and do what they want this isn't as big of an issue since the PCs will pretty much decide what they want to do and motivate themselves. With an AP or Module they are generally written to good characters. Getting the evil PCs from Point A to Point B can be a real challenge. From past evil campaigns, having a powerful patron is a good way to keep the PCs in line but all of the adventures I have in mind would require some major rewrites.

Now I can understand being a mercenary and taking gold to rescue the princess but when you are asked to protect a town from an army giants, the town is just not going to be able to offer enough money to entice the high level characters.

I have three fleshed out ideas in my head. Going evil will rule out one right away but the other two might be workable. Is there any interest in going evil next time around or shall we stick with the familiar neutral/good parties? I guess even lawful evil works ok since you aren't likely to go back on your word.

More on game balance

An interesting post I read at Wondrous Imaginings got me to thinking that maybe I have been mistaken in what I understand game balance to mean in the mind of the old-school gamer. I always thought of game balance to be an approximate leveling of the field in terms of overall effectiveness of each character class. In my younger days, we often argued one class was better than another. I remember when the original Unearthed Arcana was released, everyone pretty much assumed the fighter class was irrelevent now that the new barbarian class was so obviously superior. That was our idea of a lack of game balance. However, game balance apparently means something different to JoetheLawyer, since his criticism stems from balancing encounters. He argues that new school D&D lacks realism since high-level parties never encounter weak opponents. This is, of course, not true. It happens all the time, but why waste valuable playing time dealing with such minor inconveniences. We don't play out every encounter with a particularly bothersome mosquito, so why should a group of 12th level characters bother to play out the one round of combat it takes to stomp out a small band of normal orcs. We just assume a few such encounters took place and were dealt with appropriately.

-Rognar-

Rippin' on Avatar

As I said in my original post about Avatar, it is both a tour-de-force of visual effects and, at times, a pretty dumb movie. Leave it to Dan O'Brien at Cracked.com to give it the thrashing it so richly deserves.

-Rognar-

What interests me in 2010?

Over the past few years, I have bought a lot of game stuff. Of course, D&D 3.5/Pathfinder has been my game of choice, but I have also invested heavily in Star Wars Saga Edition and CthulhuTech. Then there are the miniatures. Worse than game books, pre-painted plastic minis are my gaming drug of choice. WotC has certainly pried a lot of my hard-earned coin out of hands over the years to which my massive collections of D&D, Star Wars and Axis & Allies minis can attest. I have lost interest in serious collecting of the D&D and Star Wars lines, although I do pick up singles that catch my eye from time to time. Also, support for the A&A line from WotC has been drastically diminished, reducing it to a single new set in 2009 (and likely more of the same in 2010). This is actually a good thing, since my new miniature obsession, the AT-43 line from Rackham, is looking to lay a wallop on my bank account. So, what am I looking forward to in 2010?

1. Pathfinder - We know the Advanced Player's Guide and the GameMastery Guide are coming out this year. There are also rumours of a Pathfinder Bestiary II in the works, although no firm release date has been announced for that. All three would be must-haves for me.

2. Star Wars Saga Ed. - First up for 2010 is Galaxy of Intrigue, due to be released this month. Beyond that, only The Unknown Regions has been announced for release, prompting speculation that WotC will be finished with SWSE this year. If so, I'm cool with it. The game is pretty much complete anyway.

3. Eclipse Phase - I got into this game late in 2009 and I look forward to several new products coming out in 2010. The Eclipse Phase Gamemaster's Pack, Sunward: The Inner System and Gatecrashing have all been announced for release this year.

4. Axis & Allies Miniatures - Poor old A&AM, the red-headed stepchild of the WotC miniatures lines. Like 2009, there will probably be one naval and one land set released this year. I only collect the latter and it is expected to be a Mid-War (1942-1943) set. I will continue to support A&AM until the company kills it.

5. AT-43 - As mentioned previously, AT-43 is my new obsession. I've only just gotten started, so I have a lot of catching up to do and a limited budget to work with. I have some units from the UNA, the Red Blok and the Therians, so I will probably concentrate on those factions for the time being. I like the Cogs as well, so I might get a few of those. I will certainly be looking for sales like that awesome one last weekend at my FLGS. Thanks for the heads-up, N!

-Rognar-

RPG approach to AT-43

The miniatures game AT-43, published by Rackham, could be converted into a pretty cool, combat-heavy, role-playing game, perhaps using the d20 Modern/d20 Future ruleset. I would, however, make some changes to the setting, based on my own personal tastes. For one, I don't really care for space-based sci-fi settings in which humans are the main protagonists, but which don't include a prominent role for Earth. This is especially annoying when the humans exhibit very familiar cultural traits. A perfect example is Battlestar Galactica. Earth exists in the BSG universe, but it is lost in myth. Apparently, the humans of the future can retain the names of mythological and literary figures, but lose the spatial coordinates of their planet of origin.

AT-43 takes this to another level. Humans were transplanted in another galaxy by our descendents hundreds of thousands of years in the future. The earthlings of 600K AD are actually no longer biological, but rather digital. Still, they create humans and set them up on other planets in other galaxies. The humans of the planet Ava come to blows with our descendents, called the Therians. Ava has two factions, the United Nations of Ava (UNA) and the Red Blok. The latter has all the trappings of the USSR; Russian names, the red star, communism, despite being 600 millenia removed from the 20th century. Talk about genetic memory.

I would definitely set up an AT-43 rpg campaign in the nearer future. The technology level displayed by the UNA and the Red Blok is not that far advanced from the present day. They use mechs, lasers and gauss weapons, so an early to mid-22nd century setting would be fitting. The Therians would be some other extragalactic superempire and the Red Blok could, perhaps, be Russian colonists on Mars who have reverted back to their communist roots. The Karmans would be uplifted apes, who have been granted the same rights on Earth afforded humans and may have even created their own colony somewhere in human space, while the Cogs would be exactly as they are, an huge alien empire constantly warring on the Therians. Humans would find themselves in the middle of a galaxy-spanning war between the Therians and the Cogs. Meaty stuff indeed, for role-playing adventures.

-Rognar-

Further note: I have just discovered that Rackham has a game called AT-43 Tactics: Tactical RPG. Although it has some elements of an rpg, in that each player controls one character and that character increases in abilities over a series of missions associated with the AT-43 Operation Damocles boxed set, it seems to be extremely limited in scope.

Rippin' on BattleTech

Oh man, this is a stroll down Memory Lane. During one of my "elves-and-dragons-are-so-f*ckin'-lame!" periods in the mid-90s, I filled my need for testosterone-fueled mayhem with hours and hours of BattleTech. Inner Sphere mechs were just as pathetic as the art in this article would lead you to believe, so we usually played clan vs. clan. Then we realized D&D was cool and we all made our way back.

Battletech

-Rognar-

Clan Wolf Rules! Jade Falcon, suck it!

What am I reading?

It has been a very long time since I even finished a novel, let alone finished it in three days. For that reason alone, I have to recommend Old Man's War, the Hugo Award finalist in 2006 by John Scalzi. To say it was influenced by Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers would be a gross understatement since the novel is a virtual rewrite of the classic. However, if the plot is borrowed more-or-less intact, the universe envisioned by Scalzi is quite different. The galaxy is literally overflowing with life, while planets suitable to support it are rare. Thus competition is extreme among the various races seeking to claim some lebensraum for themselves. People of Earth are largely ignorant of life in the colonies, as indeed are most colonists. The real power lies in the hands of the Colonial Union and the Colonial Defense Force, the civilian and military branches of the authority responsible for administration of the colonies. Because they routinely engage in contact, both hostile and friendly (ok, mostly hostile), with the wider galactic community, the Union and the CDF have the most advanced technology. Earth is a backwater by comparison and the Union seems content to keep it that way.

They still need a steady supply of recruits, however, and they have a unique way of acquiring them. Humans who reach the age of 75 are allowed to sign up to the CDF, enticed with the implied, but not quite confirmed promise of a healthy, young body. After their tour, which may be from 2 to 10 years, they may muster out and settle down to live another lifetime as a colonist. They can never return to Earth, but for many, the trade-off is worth it.

Old Man's War was Scalzi's first novel and three more books in the same setting have been released, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale. They promise to reveal more of the motivations of the Colonial Union, which seems to be more than it appears. I will definitely be looking for the rest of the series.

-Rognar-

Avatar...yeah, go see it.

I'm not sure if there's any point to reviewing James Cameron's new blockbuster, since everyone is going to see it. If for no other reason, everyone will want to see what half a billion dollars buys these days. The visual effects are like nothing you have ever seen before. Take the best of The Lord of the Rings and turn it up by an order of magnitude. They are reason enough to see it on the big screen in all its 3D glory. Good thing, because there's not a lot else to recommend it. The characters are rather one dimensional, the tone is preachy and annoying (with an obvious visual shot at the Alberta oilsands) and it was as much fantasy as sci-fi with floating mountains and pseudo-magical effects. Still, Avatar is crystal meth for your eyes. If you don't see it in the theatre, you're missing out, big time.

-Rognar-

What's wrong with game balance? Part 2

While I think that Game balance can go too far. I laughed when I saw this YouTube Video and since the old post was just that, I made a new one.

Linky

What's wrong with game balance?

Spend any time in the "old-school" blogosphere and you will read plenty of reasons why modern versions of D&D are crap. Some criticisms are valid, some seem a tad contrived, but the only one I've seen that really seems completely out in left field is game balance. Apparently game balance is bad. Personally, I would have thought the desirability of game balance would be self-evident, but apparently not. I have strived to understand the argument, although I don't feel I'm there yet. However, I have acquired a few insights, so I thought I would write them down, in hopes that some old-school reader would further enlighten me. Some believe the pursuit of game balance places too much emphasis on combat. This is probably a fair criticism of D&D 4e in which the pursuit of combat balance has introduced a dreary, mechanical sameness to all the classes. For 3.x/Pathfinder, however, I'm just not buying it. The designers of these editions never attempted to make all classes equal in combat. Fighters and their ilk are clearly superior at low levels, while spellcasters (especially arcane spellcasters) have an undeniable advantage at higher levels. Yet, people still play rogues or clerics because they bring other talents to the game that are just as important as combat power. Having said that, few people want to play a character that is useless in combat and few groups want such a character in their party. So, some level of combat effectiveness is essential for all character classes.
Furthermore, the skills and feats in 3.5/Pathfinder make it easy to balance character classes based on criteria other than combat effectiveness. Rogues and rangers, for example, have a lot of skill points, relative to fighters and sorcerers. This makes these classes more versatile. The ranger can track and survive in the wilderness, has finely-honed senses and is fairly stealthy, giving him a lot of capabilities that the more combat-oriented fighter lacks. Likewise, the rogue has many options. He can concentrate on stealth, climbing and acrobatics and be a cat burglar. Alternatively, he can go for opening locks and disabling traps and be more of a safecracker. He can even specialize in forgery and bluff and be a con artist. This level of versatility certainly never existed in AD&D. Every thief had more-or-less the same skills as every other thief of the same level, with only minor racial variations.

-Rognar-

Spelljammer was cool...there, I said it.

For some reason, I've been thinking a lot about Spelljammer lately, that AD&D 2e campaign setting with space-faring orcs and interstellar mind flayers terrorizing the space lanes and battling the elven navy which strives to make the spheres safe for trade and exploration. It never really caught on back in the day and I suspect that's because no one knew quite what to do with it. I loved Spelljammer. The thought of beautiful elven man-o-war ships battling the menacing mind flayer nautiloids was simply awesome. It wasn't all cool, I'll grant you. Space hippos, the Giff, were pretty lame, as were the gnomish sidewheelers (indeed everything gnomish back then sucked, Spelljammer or not). Also, I felt some races, such as ogres and beholders, really had no business taking to the stars. Even the space orcs (Scro, get it, it's orcs backwards...lame) seemed out of place to me. The highly-organized and militaristic hobgoblins seemed a much better fit as the interstellar fascists. It would seem a fairly trivial effort to convert the best bits of Spelljammer to Pathfinder. Maybe the next time I find myself behind the screen, I will incorporate some Spelljammer elements into the game. Hmmmm, let me think....interstellar war between the mind flayers and the elven navy....things not going well for the elves....githyanki pirates....neogi slavers...a ghost ship....yeah, that's the stuff!

-Rognar-

Axis and Allies Minis - Early War list

Finally, the official list for the much anticipated Axis and Allies Miniatures Early War set is posted over at the WotC forums. Here it is:

AUS U Carro Armato M11/39
BEL U Belgium Bicycle Troop
BEL C Belgium Infantry
BEL U Belgium Officer
BEL R T-13B3
FRA C Canon de 75 Modele 1897
FRA R FCM 36
FRA R Morane-Saulnier MS.406
FRA U P107 Half-Track
FRA R Somua S-35
GRE U Greek Cavalry
POL R 7TP
POL U Polish Officer
POL U TKS Ursus Tankette
POL C wz.36 37mm ATG
SA R Marmon Harrington Mk. II AC
SA C South African Infantry
SA R Valentine II
UK C BEF Infantrymen
UK R Cruiser Mk III A13
UK R Matilda II
UK U Morris Reconnaissance Car Mk 2
SOV R BT-5
SOV R MiG-1
SOV U Mongolian Cavalry
SOV C Soviet Conscript
SOV R T-28
SOV U T-38 Light Amphibious Tank
FIN C Finnish Ski Troop
FIN R T-26E
GER R Junkers JU 87B Stuka
GER U Kubelwagen V
GER C Motorized Schutzen
GER U Panzer IB
GER U Panzer II Ausf. F
GER R Panzer III Ausf. F
GER U Panzerjager I
GER R PzKpfw IV Ausf. A
GER U Sd Kfz 2 Motorcycle Half-Track
GER U Sd Kfz 231
ITA U Autoblinda AB 41
ITA C Cannone da 75/27 Modello 11
ITA R Semovente L40 da 47/32
JPN U Japanese Bicycle Troop
JPN U Jungle Spotter
JPN R Nakajima ki-43 "Oscar"
JPN R Type 89B Chi-Ro
JPN C Type 99 LMG
SLO U Motorcycle Recon
SLO R PzKpfw 38(t)

I would have to say the aircraft interest me the most. The early war Stuka, the MS.406, the Oscar and the MiG-1 will all be great additions to the game. Also nice to see them add a couple more Finnish units and the long-awaited Japanese spotter.

As far as reprints go, we're getting another Kubelwagen V (groan), another Morris Reconnaisance Car Mk.2 (groan), another Somua S-35 (may be ok with a better paint job than the last one), another Carro Armato M11/39 (a captured unit used by the Aussies, i.e. cool), a PzKpfw 38(t) (Slovakian, suck it, Czech Republic!) a Sd Kfz 231 (groan), another Matilda II (not Australian, despite the rumour) and another Valentine (South African Valentine II). As far as the Valentine goes, we've had a UK Val I and a Soviet Val VI. They looked like the same sculpt to me, so I'm guessing the South African Val II will be the same. Still, an interesting addition.

-Rognar-