SoA: Development Log 6

 

I love having a character sheet on a piece of notebook paper or an index card. There is just something about it that brings joy to my heart. This is in addition to really reinforcing the do it yourself vibe and sate the nostalgia. All of this is especially true with games that make this process a lot easier. I have even started to deeply enjoy using one of those small a5 notebooks and writing my character sheet in there. I also include a bullet point quest log to help keep track of my characters deeds or misdeeds. 

That and using one of those little notebooks gives me an excuse to use my fountain pens and fancy mechanical pencils. 

Though, with that being said, there is something epic about a well put together character sheet to use. A good character sheet can add personality and some artistic flare to a game. That is why a lot of my games have a character sheet option even though the character information for my games could easily be written in a notebook or on a note card. 

Secrets of Arn is no different and I have had the honor and opportunity to enlist the amazing talent of Evlyn Moreau. I was blown away with what Evlyn came up with!

 

 

Writing Update: This is probably what everyone has been waiting for. I am currently playing catch up with life but the game is about 85% written as the last section I am working on is the monster list. All of the art has been commissioned and is in. 

Heavy is the Crown: Session 1

 

One of my old friends and I finally were able to get some online gaming together after I moved years ago. I was excited about this due to it is always amazing to spend time with my friend but also the guy is an amazing GM and he was going to run something in the OSR/NSR camp of games. The game that was settled on was Outcast Silver Raiders. This is a game that I have been interested in since its release and a game that my friend bought me for my 40th birthday. So, the stars aligned with scheduling and the game chosen was fated. The game as it stands after Session is being run just for me, so GM and one Player.

I created a rogue named Riley who has scrapped by with a meager living by some wits, sticky fingers, and unsavory work in Cleardor. 

Without further ado...the story...

Riley started his morning with some watered-down oats at one of his favorite taverns before he was rudely interrupted by members of the Baron Garolf's personal guard and was roughly escorted to be seen by the Baron. Riley grumbles about not being able to finish breakfast the whole time. Once in front of the Baron, the Baron rants to Riley about how Riley's father died owing a great debt to the Baron and now, the chickens are coming home roost. Riley was given a choice to complete a task for the Baron or to die in shackles like Riley's father. Well, how could Riley refuse such an offer? The Baron continues without missing a breath of describing how Riley is tasked to steal The Crown of Carnut - a pagan artifact that is located in Utroat Castle. The Baron makes sure to drive the point home of how the Baron and Lord Dynaver will deny any involvement in this task if any confrontation happens. Riley's question about the crown is brushed off with statements of "I do not know" and "It is my own business why I want it." 

After the meeting, Riley is escorted to the quarter master and is given some basic gear (and a couple coins) before being introduced to Boffin, a mercenary from one of the Free Companies who has been paid up8 for a couple of months and is tasked of assisting Riley in his task. As they leave the Baron's domain and enter the city proper, Riley is disheartened to learn that Boffin is more of a "yes man" and doesn't have much to say in the way of opinions of plans. Riley understands that the journey is going to be long and has no idea what they are going to do when they get to the castle, so Riley decides it will be prudent to look for some work before leaving the city and heading toward their destination. Given the options, Riley sought out the Church for safer work, but the clergy only offered room and board for some cleaning, being hungry Riley and Boffin took up the offer and went about the tasked chores. During one of these tasks, Riley and Boffin heard a commotion outside of the church and when Riley pokes his head out of the doors, he sees a massive brawl between Baron Garolf's men and the Order of the Wbite Hawk (as the Baron's company has risen in political power and now rival the Order of the White Hawk's hold on Cleardor and the area in general) but who do you call when the cops are fighting the cops? Eventually commanding officers from both sides appeared and were able to reestablish a semblance of order. Both Riley and Boffin ate and slept well under the roof of the Church that night. 

 

The next morning Riley relented to the fact that they need to earn some actual coin if they are going to have a chance to pull this whole crown heist off and Riley is determined to avoid prison at all costs, especially for something that has nothing to do with himself. Riley and Boffin quickly find themselves at the command post of the Order of the White Hawk and are tasked with wall duty for a couple of shifts to earn a gold coin each. They are given some ratty Order of the White Hawk Tabards that probably have never been washed and sent on their way with instructions of who to report to and when. Riley and Boffin's first shift on the wall pass without incident but during thier second shift Riley spies a merchant's cart with a rather large cage in the back covered poorly with a tarp. The wind catches the edge of the tarp and exposes an otherworldly creature that as four wings, six eyes, fangs, and blue skin. Riley quickly sounds the alarm via one of the bell stations and a rather grumpy Sgt. confronts Riley and as Riley is pointing and trying to erxplain the situation the wind catches the tarp again and the Sgt. is able to see the creature in the cage. The Sgt. lets out a stream of foul language and tells Riley to get down there and stop all foot traffic as the Baron's men control the gates and it will take some high ranking officers to get the gate closed. Sgt. finally explains I am going to get the Capt. 

Riley and Boffin find themselves at the gate and with the assistance of other members of the Order of the White Hawk and somehow one of the gate guards swindles Riley into closing the 40 ft or so of where the cart was stopped to talk to the person driving the cart and keep the cart from entering the city. As Riley approached he noticed that the creature in the cafe could speak but it sounded like a chorus of voices in a language that he has never heard before, the person driven the gate had a club and every time the creature would start to talk (maybe that is what it was trying to do) or move about the cage the driver would smack the cage with said club, and the creature was beat up. There was what Riley could only assume to be bruising, cuts, and patches of missing feathers on the wings. The driver speaks up and introduces himself as Edmund and goes on to detail about how Edmund caught this thing in his garden and figures he could sell it to some rich person that has more money than sense (Edmund tried multiple times to try to bribe Riley with a finders reward if Riley new of someone willing to buy the thing). Riley entertained the conversation and did his best to calm Edmund every time Edmund would start to complain about waiting for so long. Seeing how this thing was being treated by what Riley could only assume was the village idiot, made Riley start to feel sorry for the creature. Before Rilet could think too much on his newfound humanity, one of the Captains of the Order of the White Hawk shows up, barked some orders, and rides up to the cart with the cage. After some exclamations, Edmund was able to con the convince the captain of earning a finder's fee and Edmund along with the strange, caged creature, was led into the city. Thankfully for Riley and Boffin, the rest of their watch is uneventful, and they sleep of their excitement in the barracks. 

 

In the morning Riley and Boffin collect their paycheck and decide it is probably time to start heading north and they decide to make some coin along the way by signing up to guard one of the grain caravans that are headed to Merish Landing. During time it took to track down this work in the city, Riley and Boffin heard countless rumors about how a strange creature escaped from a cage during the night and how people heard strange chorus like music. Eventually the goods are loaded into the Cart and along with two merchants and five other people pulling guard duty, everyone sets out.

The road is long, dusty, and generally uneventful until sometime after night fall when the caravan passes a church with rooms for rent to weary travelers and the people milling about speak about hearing beautiful chorus music recently. Riley and Boffin exchange glances but don't say a word and the caravan does not stop. Eventually they pass a small poorly built cottage set back from the road and the horses start acting spooked moments before the smell of sulfur and brimstone become almost overpowering. As the merchants are trying to keep the horses under control the cottage explodes in a blast a fire as a 9 foot tall that can only be described as demon (horns, barbed tail, red skin, and so on) comes lumbering out of the inferno. Speaking in a voice that is too loud inside of Rileys head as the demon swats one of the other guards away for simply being too close, Riley hears, 

 

"Where is Raz?" 

 

Riley quickly stumbles out the story about Edmund and the caged winged creature (Boffin was quick to add in his two cents whenever he could and agree with Riley's story). At the end of the story, Riley made the mistake of calling Raz the demons friend and the demon yelled in every ones mind:

 

"Do you think I would associate myself with a member of the angelic host?" 

 

The demon then lashes towards Riley with its barbed tail and Riley was able to move out of the way  moments before impact. The demon then appears to pause and take a deep breath before speaking in their minds once more...

 

"Due to the information you and your servant provided, I will let you live." 

 

The demons does not waste anytime massacring the rest of the caravan, smashing the cart, and even tearing apart the horses for good measure before vanishing in a burst of smoke and sparks. 

 

After several moments pass of Riley and Boffin being stunned and basically in disbelief they mumble and decide that now more then ever they decide to get paid and locate the merchants bodies and relieve the dead of their coin. After the gruesome process is done, Riley and Boffin are covered in blood and decide to get off of the road to hopefully find some water to wash up and a safe place to rest for the night. After what feels like several hours of travel, they come across some ruins of a church with signs that people stop there rather frequently. As Riley and Boffin start to head towards the ruins, the sound of hoof beats, and horses catch their attention which they locate a group of four Northern Knights. Riley attempts to wave them down and yell how they are survivors of a horrible massacre but the movement causes the new found coin to jingle loud of enough for Knights to hear it echo off of the trees. One of the Knights starts to move forward and states:

 

"There were no survivors of the massacre, boy."  

 

As soon as the Knight finishes that sentence the knight kicks his horse into a charge. Riley is able to get off two quick arrows (both of them hitting their mark) as Boffin steps up with his sword to engage as the knight. Boffin is able to swing low and injure the horse enough so the horse panics and falls into a somersault, pinning a very pissed off knight underneath the horse's now dead body. Riley and Boffin quickly take the chance and run off deeper into the wild where the trees get thicker to take away the advantage of the knights horses. There was a lot of shouting behind them and they guessed one of the knights took chase. Riley and Boffin end up trying to find a place to hide and fall into an old stream bank underneath some roots of a tree where the remain for the rest of the night. 

 

__________________

PLAYER NOTES:  Holy cows! This was a completely insane first session. I did not expect this level of crazy interactions and encounters as well as the procedures the GM was using to align and to create a story. Outside of the main "fetch quest" we have political intrigue and strife with the Baron and the Order of the White Hawk, the village idiot Edmund who somehow captured an angelic being (abused the hell out of it) and took it to the main city to try to sell it (rumor as it that the angelic creature escaped), someone in an old roadside cottage happened to summon a demon who is looking for said  angelic creature, and now there is a severely injured knight of the north with friends that instead of Riley and Boffin wasting time to finish the knight off - they decided to run and hide. That is not going to come back and bite the characters in the butt at all, not at all. 

 

The who interaction with the caged angelic creature and Edmund was interesting and I have no idea how the Captain became convinced to escort that cart in. Also, I got extremely lucky as the Demon missed my character with the attack from its tail and the combat interaction with the knight was even more bonkers. Both of my rolls hit their mark which pissed of the knight and the knight rode right passed Boffin to attack my character. This allowed Boffin a regular attack on the horse and an attack of opportunity as the knight rode past - that attack of opportunity critted! Which caused the horse top topple over, break its neck, and pin the knight. Though, this only happened because when the knight first started to charge my character instructed Boffin to aim for the horse (I am glad I just finished watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms!). 

 

On another really cool note - the gold looted from the merchants (even after being split between my character and my retainer) was enough to level up which is going to be huge help as I was extremely worried with the 6 hp on my character sheet. The GM also said that Boffin started out as a retainer but because the coin was split, the GM is going to make Boffin a fully fledged NPC character. This will once again, help in the future. I am also hoping we can find one more player at least. 

 

But ya, just blown away about how this first session went and it is currently living rent free in my head.  

Review: Black Powder and Brimstone

 

It is not secret that the age of sail era is one of my favorite times to game in. I am always on a look out for games in that era. One of the best campaigns I have ever been was a Clockwork & Cthulhu game. Black Powder and Brimstone is one of the new games in this era and it is based off of Mork Borg core mechanics.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy for the purpose of review.

Presentation: The book clocks in at a 191 pages that includes mostly full color art with some black and white images, end pages, a index at the front of the book, the rules, the world, characters, a GM section, and a bestiary. The art style reminds me of Darkest Dungeon and Hellboy and the art as an intended tone for the game. The book is organized in a conventional manner as it starts with setting/location information first and moves to these sections in order: rules and playing the game, characters (making a character, etc). It is a good call to see the setting information presented first as it helps create the mindset before people dive into character creation. 

Character Creation: Character creation follows these steps:

1. Pick a character archetype if you wish. Character archetypes and their subclasses fall under Mercenary Deserter (Rifleman, Greatswordsman, Grenadier), Bounty Hunter (Pistolier, Master Trapper, Beats Hunter), Witch (Woods Witch, Herbalist, Hexen), Opportunist (Adventurer, Sneak Thief, Silver-Tongued Trickster), and Practitioner (Vow of War, Vow of Healing, Vow of Sustenance). The archetypes provide alternate methods of attribute calculation, toughness formulas, and starting coin. The subclasses provide some background information and special abilities. 

2. Roll your stats: There are four stats Strength (strike, lift, haul, grapple), Agility (dodge, balance, swim, climb), Presence (perceive, aim, persuade, use magic), and Toughness (resist, withstand, health). These are determined by rolling 3d6 and comparing the total to a table. The total has a corresponding bonus that ranges from -3 through +3. The total is ignored and only the bonuses are recorded. The different archetypes will provide alternate methods of rolling to determine some of the stats and health bonuses. If a player chooses not to use an archetype and a related subclass or the GM does not allow them then two of the stats can be determined by rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest. 

3. Determine health by rolling a die (size determined by archetype or none) and then adding Toughness bonus.  

4. Pick a weapon or spells you can wield or afford. 

5. Name your character

6. Go forth 

There is some starting equipment that everyone starts with and some advice that states, "Do not trouble yourself with backstory, for your adventures at the beginning are your true backstory." Instead, ask yourself these questions;

• What does your character want?
• How are they going to get what they want?
• How are their flaws going to get in their way?
• How will they overcome these challenges?

In addition, there are some optional tables for character traits and a table that relates to how you know another character from a previous exploit. 

Resolution: I cannot believe I did not mention this before, but Black Powder and Brimstone is a Mork Borg hack. The core resolution mechanic revolves around tests where the GM sets a Difficulty Rating (DR) and the player rolls a d20 and adds (or subtracts) the stat/ability modifier. If the total meets or beats the DR, then the action is a success. Non-player characters do not use abilities, they just roll a d20 vs. the DR. Difficulty Ratings generally range from 6-18 where 12 is the average for most rolls. There are some other caveats that may affect the core resolution mechanic or provide something additional:

• Position and Impact: These situations do not add or subtract from the DR, but set the stakes in more if a story manner of the desired action/situation. 
• Negotiations: Set the initial standing of the NPC which affects the outcome of Positions and Impacts. 

As always, combat follows its own structure.

• Initiative: Whatever side (players or enemies) initiates combat is the side that goes first. Players roll d6 + Agility and enemies roll a flat d6 to determine round order.
• Rounds: Combat is divided up into rounds and during a round, a player may attack and move in a round. This is in addition to making a free action with is a non-combat action (dropping an item, shouting, or putting an item in a pocket). A potion can be drunk as a free action, but the character cannot be engaged in melee. 
• Movement and Distance: Distance is measured in range bands that consist of close quarters (within 5ft), near range (within 20 ft), and long range (beyond 20 ft). Characters can move 20 feet a round but can move 40 feet if they forgo their attack. Characters may still complete a free action during a double move. 
• Making an Attack:  Melee combat is determined by d20 + Strength vs DR12. Ranges combat is determined by d20 + Presence, Magic use is determined by d20 + Presence, and Defense rolls are solved by de20 + Agility vs. DR12. 
• Reckless Attack/Called Shot: -2 to hit, but double damage on success. 
• Throwing: Near is the maximum throwing distance. Throwing a weapon is DR14 to hit. Throwing a grenade/potion is DR10. 
• When Enemies Attack: When enemies attack, they do not roll with stats but instead the player or players react by rolling their defense to avoid the attack. 
• Armor: Armor reduces damage 

That is it for the standard combat, but there is a page that is titled "Advanced Combat" that has some additional rules or procedures for stealth, morale, fire, cover, attacks of opportunity, disengagement, prone, grappling or stunning, height advantage, mounted combat, and some chase rules. These are able to be added ad hoc if the GM chooses to do so. 

When a character is reduced to 0 or lower hit points make a Toughness check vs. DR12 and if the roll is successful, roll on the broken table. If the Toughness check fails, then the character is dead. 

Black Powder and Brimstone has a meta currency called Devil's Luck. All characters receive 3 at dawn and cannot have more than 3. One Devil's Luck can be spent to Reduce the DR on a roll by 2 before rolling. Players can also choose to activate a Dark Power to: 

• Deal maximum damage
• Neutralize a crit or fumble
• Re-roll any roll, yours or someone else's
• Ignore all damage dealt

Using a Dark Power risks mutation as it is required to roll a d6 after the use of a Dark Power and if a 1 is the result, roll a d20 on a mutation table. 

There are also procedures and rules for:

• Devils Bargain (a chance to return from the dead, but at what cost?)
• Crits and Fumbles
• Leveling up
• Feats
• Creating a Free Company
• Weapons (each one as a damage die and special ability) 
• Armor reduces damage
• Magic (characters that can use magic) start the day with Presence + d4 to determine how many spells that can be cast in day. The same spell can be cast multiple times and new spells are learn from elusive books of power. Casting a spell requires d 20 + Presence roll vs. DR 12. If it is successful, the spell is cast and subtract a spell usage. On a failure, the character becomes dizzy for 1d6 rounds and if another spell is attempting during this time, it fails in the worst way possible. Spells can only be cast by Witches, but potions and their effects can be used by any or who are offered them. It is important to remember; magic is dangerous and condemned by the general public as a whole in the setting. If magic is used in front of the wrong people, lots of trouble can be had. 
• Potions
• Travel
• Hunting
• GM Section
• Bestiary
• Notable NPCs 
• Sample Adventure 

Final Thoughts: Black Powder and Brimstone does an amazing job of capturing the "weird" age of sail setting that includes oppressive religious organizations, ongoing wars, monsters, exploration, disease, mutations, magic, devils, angels, and the list goes on. This is reinforced by the art, character archetypes/subclasses, mutation rules, devils' luck, bestiary, and the detailed write ups with the major NPCs.  All this is done while keeping whatever mechanics are involved streamlined and related to the core resolution mechanic. 

The book opens up with the setting information that consists of a quick overview of the realm, a map that has 24 keyed locations, and descriptions of some of the locations. Also included is information regarding the factions, the emperor, the different major religions, and information about the war. This all supports and increased the setting, flavor, and general vibe. Though, with that being said I do wish there was some more setting information and that each keyed location on the map had their own descriptions. This would go a long way to continue to reinforce the setting and provide more tools that the GM would have access to. 

So, another thing I do not generally nitpick is editing but this book has a lot of errors throughout the book, on a couple of spreads there were 12+ errors, and at times in can make comprehension difficult. I think this is one of those books that could have benefited greatly from an editor and I surprised there was not one.  

All in all, this is an amazing entry into the supernatural or "weird" age of settings that covers all of the bases. In addition, it runs using the Mork Borg system which tends to provide a smooth and functional mechanic framework that is no complicated. 

You can find Black Powder and Brimstone here: 

• Free League Publishing
• Drivethrurpg 
• Amazon
• The Completed Kickstarter