A few questions that have come up

A couple questions that have ticked in over the past week or two.
If you've asked questions in the blog comments, I'll try to answer here, since try as I might, Blogger refuses to let me post any replies. No idea why, other than Google being evil I guess.


Will there be more "Gothic scifi" army lists for Squad Hammer?

I'd like to, but I am looking seriously at redoing the rules to be more in the vein of Hammer of Democracy.
That doesn't mean a new book or anything, just incorporating some of the better parts of that (such as the support points mechanic) as well as adding more options.

So doing more army lists before doing that would probably not be time well spent.
I do want to make "gothic scifi human army" and "space creepy crawlies" lists for sure.

Five Klicks updates?

After several takes on how to do the encounter tables with modifiers or different numbers or types of dice, I am taking the path to have a separate terrain and encounter table for each of the three regions.

That both seems cooler, will be easier to work with, will allow future expansions to be slotted in if we want to do like an abandoned science facility or something to play in and I think will be more fun from the players perspective too.

The Outlands enemies are almost done, then I'll finish up the city sequence.

Five Parsecs updates?

The update to the Patron mechanic is funded, so that will go up soon.

If you guys want an updated Enemy table and Loot table, make a Paypal donation at nordicweaselgames@icloud.com
When donations reach 30 dollars, the Enemy table gets updated and 60 gets the Loot table.

Patreon?

Talk of a patreon has come up and I'm pondering the idea.
If I did it, it would be keyed specifically to 5 Parsecs/Leagues/Klicks/whatever to create content or updates monthly.

Stay tuned.

Dreams of Dragons?

Soon. Soon.

Updates and news.

The next Micro Pack is available for Five Leagues.
In pack 3, you get to track down an ogre that has been bothered the villagers. Might even make a friend out of it (or get eaten!)

This pack is 3 pages (4 with the cover) and 1 whole dollar.
As a test, this time it is NOT Pay What You Want, so I can see if people prefer a bit more meat or if they prefer shorter but potentially free.

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/291132/Five-Leagues-Micro-Pack-3 

If you didn't get them yet, make sure to get our other recent Five Leagues goodies:

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/289630/Five-Leagues-Micro-Pack-2 

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/288974/Five-Leagues-MicroPack-1

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/288973/Five-Leagues-Scenario-1-The-Sunken-Temple

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/286930/Roads-well-traveled-A-Five-Leagues-expansion

* * * * *

Five Klicks is proceeding as planned, if a bit slowly.
If you make sure you have the most up to date version, you'll see the updated weapon lists as well as terrain and set up mechanics for the Outlands.

This week, I am hoping to have the new Enemy tables for that region as well.

* * * * *

Five Parsecs players should make sure they have downloaded the most up to date versions of From Home and Salvage Crew, to see all the goodies that were added.

I have a rash of plans I want to do to update the game and in particular, over time, fold the different Parsecs editions back into a single game that allows a variety of mission types.
Stay tuned for information on that.

* * * * *

FIVE PARSECS TABLE UPGRADE

We're going to do another upgrade round and see how it goes.

The goal is to upgrade the tables of the game, namely:

1: Redo the Patron table to add more unique effects such as patrons that are more or less easily pleased, higher risk/reward patrons, patrons that operate on multiple worlds etc.

Basically make the Patron aspect of the game more interesting and a bigger component.

2: Upgrade the Enemy table.

This will include both adding a few new enemies, but the big draw will be building in some more variation to results (enemies with variation in support weapons etc.) and adding some special rules and conditions to some enemies (similar to Five Leagues).

3: Upgrade the Loot table.

Combine the Salvage and From Home loot tables into one table and add 10 or so new items to it.

If possible, I’d like to also add an option to obtain prototype or rare weapons on a sub-table.

So that's the pitch.

Like last time, we'll do this through a voluntary funding mechanism. 

Basically, if you want to get these new things send me money and I make game-stuff happen.

Easy enough no ? Last time, people overwhelmingly preferred to just use Paypal so as a test, we're not bothering with any crowd funding thing. 

So steer your money cannon to nordicweaselgames@icloud.com and if I get 100 dollars from the fans, you get the new goodies. 

(please note do NOT send to my old gmail address, if you had sent donations to it before that are unclaimed, please cancel those and just forward them here instead)

If I get a bit more, I'll throw in some extra stuff for you lot, such as more enemies or items to find.

If I don't get the amount, I'll see where we ended up and do a proportional amount: 40 dollars gets you the new Patron table, 70 gets you the Enemies as well.

Easy peasy? Yeah, I hope so.

* * * * *

Updates and news

Five Parsecs:

The update project was generously funded, mostly through private Paypal donations.

As such, I uploaded the new versions of From Home and Salvage Crew this weekend and hope to have Bug Hunt and Gang Warfare updated this week.
Hope you enjoy the new stuff and have a blast.

* * * * *
Five Klicks:

Today's update gives the terrain and conditions tables for Outlands battles.
These are fights taking place in relatively "normal" circumstances, near the settlement.

The rules also receive the Suspicious Activities mechanic, offering markers on the table to go investigate.
They may offer a small reward, nothing at all or a nasty critter.
However, if the Enemy gets to them first, they may get reinforcements, forcing you to deal with them or risk facing a larger enemy force.

* * * * *
Other stuff:

I am working as hard as I can to get Dreams of Dragons to the beta-stage.
Hopefully this week. I really want to get this out there, so you guys can tear it apart.

I've received a few questions about solo play and I must admit at least initially, it's not really a concern, though of course with something like Mythic, you can make any RPG a solo game.

Reception of Five Leagues stuff have been a bit mixed. People who I've talked to have appreciated more stuff, but it seems people would prefer several items bundled into one expansion pack, compared to a load of tiny things.
That's fair. We'll continue experimenting but I'll have something for you in October.

Five Parsecs update

A few people have requested updates to the Five Parsecs series of games, especially in light of Five Leagues 2nd edition.

As I am already in the mindset, working on Five Klicks, that’s certainly a possibility but it raises a question:

Doing rules updates don’t earn any income. It doesn’t seem to correspond to more sales or even better reviews. 

Maybe gamers are just used to broken rules, I don’t know. But with my wife’s student loans coming out of deferment soon, working for free is something I can’t really justify.

So here’s what we’re going to do:

I am going to tell you what updates I am ready to make and then you are going to pay me to make them.

Easy right?

First the rules:

For all four Five Parsecs titles (From Home, Gang, Salvage and Bug) I will:

• Update the character creation sections to generally make starting characters a bit more capable. This includes changing half point stat bonuses to full points, increasing credit and XP amounts a little etc.

• Each game will have at least one new enemy added to its encounter tables.

• Each game will have two D6 tables added for encounters, allowing the chance of unexpected battle conditions or items on the battle field.

• Each game will have a “Five Leagues” style Story Point mechanic added.

• Each game will have a “Five Leagues” style “Seize the Initiative” roll added.

• The table of contents will be updated with clickable links to take you to the respective rules sections.

How will you pay for it? 

You people, the fans, will pay me a collective 125 dollars to carry out these updates for all four game titles. 

That’s 25 dollars for the basic work plus 25 per game title.

I have created a Gofundme page to collect the money.

https://www.gofundme.com/five-parsecs-updates

Since I know some people prefer not dealing with additional websites, you can also simply send the money directly through PayPal at nordicweaselgames@icloud.com 

When that total amount has come in, everyone gets the updates.

If there’s not enough money, I’ll put the updates into Five Parsecs From Home and the rest will follow at an unspecified future date.

If there’s excess money, it will help fund the development of future games. If we go way over, I’ll throw in some extra goodies at a rate of one “goodie” per 25 or 50 dollars.

These may be extra encounters, new loot items, more ideas ported over from 5L or other things I can think of, but will be relatively small scale.

Game updates and new material

In case you don't get email from the Vault, you may have missed a few news items.

New releases:

* We've released two "Micro-Packs" for Five Leagues.
Each of these is a small Pay What You Want item that can be easily slotted into a campaign.

The goal is the sort of thing you can read over on break at work and be inspired to come home and game.

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/288974/Five-Leagues-MicroPack-1?src=newest

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/289630/Five-Leagues-Micro-Pack-2?src=newest

* Five Leagues has also received a new scenario: The Sunken Temple.
Usable in any campaign, this is the sort of thing that will give you a nice afternoon of gaming or a couple of evenings.
Track down a flooded temple and find some nice loot at the end.

This is more of a traditional adventure, compared to the typical encounter tables, so I am curious how people will react to it.

Five-Leagues-Scenario-1-The-Sunken-Temple

* * * * *
Game updates:

* Five Parsecs Salvage Crew has received a couple of updates, easing up the rather punishing game economy a little.
As usual, change log on the final page. All you need to do is download your game again.

* Five Klicks has an update as well, adding the (proper) character creation system.
Some of the bonuses rolled may change with further development of course, especially as new things are added.

Give it a spin and let me know how it looks.

* * * * *
Behind the scenes:

* Dreams of Dragons is clocking in around 180 pages currently.
The beta for this will have more content than a lot of finished games you bought this year.

The beta will be sans art, except for a world map so you can tell where you're going.

Five Klicks updates

I meant to get the character creation stuff up already, but I realized what I had was kind of dull, so took it apart to rewrite.

Here's what it will likely look like:

Every squad member will have an Origin roll similar to Five Parsecs, determining where they came from in the setting.
The second roll will determine their Training. This may involve actual military training or, more likely, being part of some group surviving in the wilderness. They may have been an ash merchant, hung with a nomad gang etc.

These will be similar to the tables in Five Parsecs, offering various stats and benefits.

The third table will be an Event table, quite a bit longer than the other two.
Depending on "experience" a starting character may roll 1-3 times here, while brand new "scrubs" won't roll at all.
The results here will give you things that happened to the character. They were in a big battle, found something cool, almost got eaten by a monster.
Some things will add benefits, some may add a penalty, some will just be for flavor.

Magic in Dreams of Dragons

So a brief look at the magic system in Dreams of Dragons, since I hear the kids are all about wizards.


First and foremost, the core of the magic system should seem quite familiar to players of Drakar och Demoner or the original Magic world:

Each spell is a skill, which is trained like any other.
Casting spells requires a skill check and depletes magic points.

When you cast a spell, you select the Effect Level (EL) you want, which is used to determine damage, size of target, healing etc.
You can also burn EL's to increase the range and duration.

This allows us to have a single "Fire" spell instead of f.x. having a multitude of interchangeable attack spells that just vary slightly in damage, range etc.


The higher the EL, the harder the skill check of course and the more magic points are expended.
This allows "utility" spell casting to be used quite a lot during a scenario, while big, "screw this guy in particular" spells will be harder and more limited.


In terms of setting logic, spells are typically taught from big, ancient Librams: Dusty tomes containing all the permutations and logic interpretations of how a given spell operates.
A single Libram may hold only 4-6 spells as each takes hundreds of pages.

When your character is created, they select one Libram they were educated in at the academy and you have those spells.

"Learning" a spell is the process of your character understanding it and fitting it into their own world view. Your own spell book then is basically like taking notes in class.

Characters can learn from other spell books as well, but its a slower process because first you have to figure out and understand that wizards magical paradigm.


Of course not all wizards are book-worms. Village witches, tribal shaman etc. don't learn this way.
Instead, they use what the educated wizards somewhat derisively call Cantrips:

These are the same spells but are basically pre-configured: A Cantrip is learned at a specific EL and is always used in the same fashion without any choice over how the levels are spent.
Think of it as a single practical application of a scientific formula.

This allows the spell to be taught in a matter of weeks (instead of months) and to people without the patience (or inclination) towards memorizing and analyzing a 200 page treatise on the nature of the ethereal cosmos.


So there you have it. Magic. Woot.

Questions?