13G Pending, Excitement Rising

Oh what a difference a month can make.

About five weeks ago, 13th Age (along with several others) was on the way out. Not entirely sure what I was thinking, but let’s blame the mid winter funk.

No sale, phase one complete.

Soooo glad I still have it (not so much the other systems, but oh well).

I could lift an image of 13G, but I will wait until it is here.

Phase two of this odd journey came to its full flowering with my out of character ordering of 13th Age Glorantha. Ordering another RPG book is not out of character, but this one was.

I have and have played Runequest and derivatives, but only systemically, only by name, not thematically, not Glorantha. I have had no interest in that venerable old world, which, to give it it’s due, is one of the oldest and most original RPG settings ever widely supported.

On top of that I am a self confessed d100 fan, almost to the exclusion of all other systems. These started with Runequest!

The acceptance, the need even, for 13th Age, as a direct foil to my preferred d100 style systems, has opened the door to 13G. So, a d20 D&D system and Glorantha combined. A heady mix for a simulation-ist gamer with no love of all things d20.

I feel, and some others seem to think the same, that 13A is possibly a better vessel for the over the top game style needed for a high-saga game world like Glorantha. It is a zany place, needing a very free and open style of game that scales effortlessly.

Come on in 13th Age.

Ironically the makers of the world itself have sometimes struggled to fit the world into d100 “realist” mechanics. The reality is, a character limited to the logical d100 game will really need to be a hero on a Heroquest, because they are up against the wall from the get go. Survival for these characters is going to be genuinely legendary, because of how unlikely it is. One unlucky hit and off goes an arm or even a head. Not un-heroic, but unlikely to spawn winners in proportion to grizzly deaths.

This prompted the creators to write Heroquest, a more story-driven style game, set as a looser power structure to allow the intrinsic RQ Heroquests to be accomplished more (less?) realistically.

13A takes the “squishier” D&D abstract mechanics and adds the needed story telling elements that will bring Glorantha alive. Unlike the new RQG set that is very heavy in crunch and finely controlled fidelity to the vast history it represents, 13G may actually be able to tap into the equally valid early 80’s feel of free flowing fun and explorative adventure many old players of Glorantha miss.

Using a new and more streamlined game system, 13A can empower players without being too weighed down by that massive legacy, but also be open enough to allow any player of any Gloranthan experience level to enjoy it at the level they need. For this 13G is a departure and a welcome one.

It got me in.

I am also intending to lift what I want to regular 13A, which is officially sanctioned by the writers who consider it a resource book for any world and maybe even try a cross-over (ancient pre 13A, ancient Age?).

Genuinely excited now, I was only an interested completist when I ordered it a few days ago.

It is a great big beautiful world out there, especially if you open your mind to new possibilities.

Armada; On Sadness And Moving Forward

Armada does look to be on the funeral pyre. Well the pyre is erected and the game is taking the long walk. The reality is, nothing survives forced hibernation except animals with an evolutionary imperative to, certainly not in retail anyway.

AMG barely bothered to recognise its existence in their “mini-stravaganza” (probably better titled “Marvel-Stravaganza”) and X Wing or Legion did not get much time in the spotlight either (little past the already leaked Razor Spine, with some outlines for the future-at least it has one). They did announce some rules amendments and campaign ideas, that have mixed (read apathetic) responses. Bit hard to lay down “the law”, when there is a suspicion you don’t care about or even fully understand it.

AMG have the distinction of effectively killing a miniatures game that has managed to be in most top five lists for most meaningful measures for the bulk of its short life. Another company could possibly survive on this game alone, but AMG seems to have no interest.

Shame.

The dedicated will talk and play it for a good while, possibly longer than most would believe and some ships and even a few cards will become semi collectors items. Maybe this will be the ideal experiment for a “self sustaining game community functioning in a creative vacuum”.

I bought another Venator, because my GAR fleet just felt a little thin, especially against a huge swarm of separatist fighters and two large base opponents (these things deploy in battle lines and they are a little short of being full ISD style intimidators).

I may even get another GAR Pelta, again to balance the points disparity (although at a pinch I have my Rebel one), but I am really trying to resist building up the fleets to a similar size to my Imperial and Rebel ones, because there is just not the variety available. So no duplication of the two base sets…..yet.

I lament the lost opportunities for both prequel factions, especially the fighters and small ships that did not make the launch window and maybe an earlier CR-90, but most characters are represented in what is for me a less well known universe. Job done well enough I guess.

Ironically I first bought into the prequel factions to avoid doing them in X Wing. I tried to kill two birds, but ended up getting the earlier period Armada stuff anyway, because I really like the game. For the amount I eventually spent on Armada, I could have easily covered both factions in X Wing including the LAAT/i, Eta-2, Nimbus and Sith Infiltrator, that they are not now doing for Armada. Hindsight is a bitch.

Armada was always the aloof one, hiding in the corner, loved deeply, but only by a few who bothered to look.

TFA era fleets? Would have been nice.

The game is of course, not dead and never will be as long as people keep playing it (see the grand experiment above). I had decided I was cool with what I had anyway, but the thought of future scarcities did make me grab a couple of bits, especially as I have the lovely updated cards (Chimaera, Profundity, the second Venator and lastly the Interdictor, oh and that Starhawk was just added….and maybe another CR-90…. and a Gladiator…….). I will keep an eye out for the promised “re-prints”, because I would like another Raider or pair of Aquitens.

Despite gloomy forecasts, my own Armada interest is again healthy and still relatively fresh, so no real harm done, but it leaves me with similar feelings to those I had after the Olympus change of hands. I feel that I will likely move in another direction at some point, but milk what I have for as long as I can.

Maybe things will change. Maybe AMG will sell Armada to someone who (a) cares, (b) knows what they have and (c) knows what to do with it.

Maybe.

13th Age Mini Book Reviews

So, as stated previously, I have little love for d20 style games, but there are exceptions.

13th Age is one of those.

Looking at the books I own (most of what is available), I would like to do a very basic overview of what they offer and where they sit in the “desire or necessity” pecking order.

The Core Book and 13 True Ways are the building blocks of the game.

Obviously the Core book is required to play at all. To its credit, it does a good job of matching the three core books of D&D 5e, all in one book, mostly thanks to the smaller monster stat blocks, simplified equipment and weapon classes and the openness of the writing style, effectively removing the need for a GM’s manual. Not only that, there is a fully realised game world inside complete with Icons (ascended demigods) who have the potential to guide, aide or impeded story lines. Rating; Mandatory (I have 2, a sign I rate this game).

13 True Ways is not mandatory, but adds much. Apart from more classes (one is actually a one of a kind), it has information on a couple of the main cities in the default world (or an equivalent), lots more monsters (including a full section on Deviltry) and several take-it-or-leave-it rules options. Rating; Highly recommended to must have.

With this book and the Core rules, you truly do have enough to go on with, but……

The two Bestiaries, probably two of the best I have owned and I love Monster Manuals, are several resources in one. They have the required monsters, but each also comes with a variety of variants, adventure hooks, battle options and usually an entertaining story (Frog Folk, Briar Elves, Hell warped Beasts, just to name a few). Most come with optional ways to use them in any game world. Rating; Highly Recommended to Must Have, hell buy them on their own and convert them over to any d20 game.

If you are stuck for an idea, just reading one of their entries is usually enough to get things going.

The first book is a classic and I must admit to neglecting the second for a while, treating it as a poor second option. There are fewer individual monsters in the second Bestiary, concentrating more on developing variety within a smaller range and adding the same variety to previous foes. Lately though it has become my favourite, because the entries are deep and highly entertaining (Purple Dragon party animal anyone?). You get more long term, campaign defining ideas out of the second book, where the first does the regular denizen a day to day heavy lifting. Rating; Highly Recommended to Who Are You Trying To Kid.

A note on art style here. I love the Wayne Reynolds art in Pathfinder books, but found that system a drudge. In 13A I admit to having to warm to the art over time, but the writing and interesting nature of the creatures won me over and the art fits it’s task. I think some of the Pathfinder illustrations are actually better suited to the 13A feel (the over the top Barbarian with the massive sword for example), but I suppose there is nothing stopping me using the inspiration. When I parted with pathfinder, I did keep my Wayne Reynolds art book.

One that almost slipped through is the GM Screen and Resource Book. I have often been disappointed by screens, but this one is strong and useful, if a little physically flimsy.

The sleeper of the set though is the surprisingly solid GM Resource Book.

It has some really useful ways of dealing with some of the more bespoke problems that can come up in this and most d20 games, especially due to its more “indie” style story telling mechanics like the “One Unique Thing” or backgrounds. This is obviously a fix for unforeseen issues arising when people new to the concepts struggle and is a welcome addition.

It also has some useful ways of expanding the combat narrative, mostly using terrain.

There are also a chapter of evocative and entertaining NPC’s (Frog Nob is a fave, frogs clearly being an ongoing theme!) all aligned to an Icon, but again, you don’t need to cement anything in. Like most things in this game, there is a solid adventure or even a small campaign seed in each NPC.

Lastly they give you an oversized map of the Dragon Empire (hey, again you don’t have to play it as given), making now several copies in total scattered through the books. Rating; Highly recommended.

Next up are the three “Battle Books”.

I have promoted these up the order a bit, because they are so useful.

What you get in each is a series of interconnected combat encounters, each set linked to a level range and one of 4-5 Icons per book with enough back story to connect them (roughly 10-12 sets of 2-4 battles each or 40 odd per book). You can literally pick one up and throw a nights gaming at your players, use them as set-pieces in a campaign, or just mine them for ideas. Rating; Highly Recommended.

Oddly, these are smooth-mat finish covered, more like high grade magazines, but still perfect bound with gloss pages. Optionally you can also get map sets for these, but 13A does not need mats or miniatures generally, so I have not bothered.

The following three are likely a sign of things to come. They are smaller, more specific books aimed at themes or regions of the world in need of more detail.

The Book of Demons balances out the Deviltry section of 13 True Ways with their more chaotic cousins. It brings a class, The Demonologist, which adds a Warhammer “Old World” or even Elric feel to proceedings and makes the second “ambiguously” aligned character class after the Necromancer. Just fitting these two into your party can be a game in itself.

There is a section on Hell Holes, nasty blights on the land spotted around the Empire and of course lots of Demons and rules on how to handle them. Rating; Recommended.

The Book of the Underworld is one of the newer books, departing from full gloss pages, but sporting a glossy cover. It is still a very solid look at the Under World and its denizens. Probably my least favourite at this stage, but that may be subject matter or simply time taken to get to know it. This is often the case with 13A books. Rating; Handy to have.

My favourite of the three is the Book of Ages. Makes sense to look at these as the name of the game is the 13th Age, so what came before? You are provided with 12 very different Ages. There is no set timeline or even any hard rulings on the flavour of these ages, just lots of ideas, adventure seeds and options. I have always felt an affinity between the 13th Age and the Malazan books by Steven Erikson and this closes the loop. Erikson’s books span ages and now, so does 13A. Rating; Highly Recommended

Coming soon are similar books on specific cities, magic types, the walking Behemoths, flying cities, Elves etc.

The Loot books are good resources to have around. 13A gives you the tools and inspiration for full creative license and the game mechanics compel these realities. Magical items in 13a have personalities and there is a limit to how man you can carry before they start to complicate life (your level), but sometimes coming up with them can still be a strain.

The Loot books to the rescue.

The first one gives you plenty of the standard item types, all aligned to an Icon (again suggestions only). Some are a hoot and all are imaginative. Magic items in 13A are less common and more powerful than in regular D&D, with dire consequences if you over do it. Often hilarious, dire consequences. Rating; Recommended.

The second book Loot Harder is to me as useful, just differently. Rather than just being a quick resource, this one goes into more detail about items in general rather than specifically, which makes sense (following a similar pattern to the Bestiaries). There are plenty of Items in this book, but also more powerful options and a feeling of tinkering flows through. Rating; Handy to have.

Maybe the first is best for the GM just wanting a bit of quick help, the second for the more creative GM, wanting to use the items included as a base only.

Now, the adventures.

I am not usually one for buying published adventures, being more of a “sandbox” GM (which 13A also supports well, is even possibly designed for), but the reviews on Eyes of the Stone Thief wore me down and to be honest, I just love having another 13A read around. What a resource. Not only is there a lot (I mean a lot) of depth to this full developed adventure/campaign/life’s calling, but as usual it spawns adventure seeds in all directions, then offers some really cool characters and monsters.

The very nature of the Dungeon has such a unique way of hooking characters in. The thing moves around and eats cities, towns and the like! Tends to piss people off and lure treasure junkies. Not only that, it is never the same place one expedition to the next as the insides move as well as the whole. Rating; Highly Recommended as either player or GM and a great resource for other games.

If someone said to me “I would like one really good adventure to play and system to run it with, just to say I have done it”, I would, against all likelihood and in the face of my own general preferences, recommend a d20, D&D based combo of 13A and Eyes of the Stone Thief (second would be either one of the AIME campaigns or Warhammer 1 or 4e and The Enemy Within Campaign).

Shards of the Broken Sky was going to be, I hoped, a second Stone Thief.

It is not, but it is still good. The scope and physical book are smaller, the location fixed (but weird enough) and the feel is less compelling. Against the Stone Thief, that comparison is probably unfair.

Compared to any other D&D style adventure it is imaginative, fun and full of all the good stuff. This is more of an “explore the lost (fallen) city for forgotten treasures”, where the Stone Thief is more of a “rid the world of a serious menace, while you explore the lost cities found inside….”. Rating; Nice to have to Recommended.

Not mentioned is the little Shadows of Eldolan adventure book aimed at low level characters and beginner GM’s. It’s fine and shows the game in a more investigative vein, which is helpful. Rating; PDF this one.

To come….Glorantha (mainly because I don’t have it yet, but it is on the way). From what I know at this point, 13A is a good fit for the over the top, high saga play of Runequest/Glorantha, possibly an even better fit than the d100 version it was made for (Ironic really as I don’t have any interest in d100 Runequest, the progenitor of my usual preference).

I hope this is a help to someone looking at this game. I bought it at a time when I was a rampant collector/completist and any good review was usually enough. For a long time the base book sat amongst many others unused, then just as I was about to let it go in one of my regular culls, I bought 13 True Ways on holiday* and that cemented the relationship. I even listed the whole collection again recently in my big clear out, but thankfully it did not sell (bargain folks, nobody out there?). Kept now and no regrets. Even if I do clear some games out, this one will stay simply because I like it, against all odds.

My constant struggle with d20 games has its moments of nostalgic, main stream, low stress acceptance, as does the desire to occasionally just play a high octane heroic level game. 13A scratches both itches perfectly.

Why I Dislike D&D, But Can Still Like 13th Age

I am on record as saying I do not like D&D style games.

I am also on record as saying I like 13th Age, a D&D spin-off written by D&D veterans.

Inconsistent?

Contradictory?

Possibly, but it for me, it is a case of what I generally dislike in D&D style games, is applied in a more focussed, relevant and acceptable format for me in 13th Age. I guess it’s a case of if I am going to rub against my normal grain, then I want to go full grind, and revel in the difference.

Specifically;

Levels

Levels are used in a few RPG’s as a logical, clean and controllable measure of game “height”, but are inherently fake. Many RPG’s that came after D&D discarded the level dynamic, preferring to embrace incremental skill and ability increase.

13A however, handles levels in a few ways that help me to deal with them.

Levels are reduced to ten only, allowing you to use each as the rough span of a light weight novel (so basically 1 level per campaign “book” or year in serial format). This can be a complete short campaign, a group of thematically linked adventures or part of a larger campaign. This effectively makes levels a system of story layering, in a less micro managed way.

There are no experience points, removing overt accountancy and replacing it with more abstract, GM driven, turning points (see above). For the GM this means pacing replaces player bean counting and system manipulation.

Levels really mean something, but they are also flexible enough to be used as a guide only. You can fast track them or not, but either way, each level should mark a memorable period of a saga, not just one of many speed humps in the career of a character (see both points above).

Levelling up can also be applied incrementally, which is not new, but is called out. What you gain per level is not a broad gamut of detailed improvements. It is an increase in base capabilities with a few feats, class features etc, that can be awarded as suits pre or post levelling. Spell casters are also streamlined here, not learning a ton of spells, but making the ones they have more powerful. I always struggled with the D&D model, feeling it was too much at once and too micro managed, but 13A calls it out loud and clear for what it is, a story growth point.

Characters in 13A are pre-destined to be movers and shakers, so somehow the levelling dynamic fits better for me. It makes the game feel like a TV or book series, helping define the style of game 13A is. If you want to simulate the book series, leveling will be at scenario end, for a more TV serial feel, maybe after 3-4 episodes.

Hit Points

Most RPG’s that I have had anything to do with have a form of wound or damage points. Most of my favourites though, go into more detail when it comes to damage, making wounds and incapacity scarier and more meaningful (and vastly more realistic). Traveller for exmaple reduces actual characteristics, d100 games have mechanics for limb loss or permanent scarring. D&D’s “soft” Hit Point totals have always been too abstract for me and characters feel less fragile, especially with recoveries and short term heal-ups, but in 13A it fits the OTT heroic feel. Rarely is our hero layed up for months at a time recovering from a lucky hit landed in a pub brawl, nor are they scarred in an unsightly manner. Warhammer 4e can inflict both of these in a flash, almost incidentally, in 13A a telling scar or impediment is very much a players prerogative, maybe even a “one unique thing”.

Characters, as cited above, are pre-destined. They are standout heroes, like the Winchesters in Supernatural, Harry Dresden, John Carter, Indiana Jones or Tarzan, who can get beaten up, but do not suffer breakages, long periods of down time or inconvenient impediments. Only in this high octane environment of Conan style heroic sagas does this work, so in 13A, I would not have it any other way.

This is a big shift for me. I love d100 style games with their realism over “squishy” abstract games, but in this case, I feel it is part and parcel of the difference and the very reason to have this game in my collection. Another first is my interest in Runequest/Glorantha, which up till now has held no interest what so ever (even as a d100 buff!). This feel fits Glorantha well, so 13A Glorantha is on its way (so much for down scaling).

If I am only going to have one D&D style game in my collection, this is it, because it is stereotypical D&D done on an epic scale.

Classes

I find classes, much like the afore mentioned mechanics above, to be fundamentally unrealistic. The limitations classes force on players are fine for one-off character roles, but whole swathes of the population drafted into these stereotypes seemed strained and pointlessly restrictive. Give me a skill and career system anyday.

Multi classing only adds insult to injury. Why have a structured class system only to find ways to subvert it?

So what is so different about 13A?

Apart from the imaginative implementation of classes in 13A (they all play very differently to each other, even to their own sub-classes), there are other considerations that help them sit well with me.

First up, as talked about already, the common theme here is where the characters fit in their world. Class is only a part of that. Each class is tightly honed, even extreme, which for some reason makes the whole class thing more relevant. As I have said before, 13th Age focusses D&D concepts in their own space perfectly for me.

The 13A character starts off as a powerful force, a minor legend in their cultural or geographical eco system who has risen to “local legend” status. Instead of being just a thief in their city they are the thief, well known/infamous, then they become part of a small group of similar standout characters called upon to do legendary things, not a loose guild of pre-structured careers.

The characters become paragons of a type, which seems a more logical expression of the class restriction, but still with enough room to be very different to others. Instead of restrictions, class characteristics become defining elements of this story, legend and character, not something the next similar character they meet down the road can share. You are a head above most, but on the occasion you meet someone with the same calling, there is room for them to shine differently.

Add to this the “background” and “one unique thing” mechanics and classes become only a single tool, if a sharp tool, of a fully developed character, rather than a looser confinement.

To nutshell it, classes in 13A are extreme personifications of paragon hero types, something to aspire to, not a dime a dozen grouping like abstract careers or guilds. They are unique enough to stand out, but flexible enough so no two are alike and many other forces are as powerful to character development.

Presentation and other stuff

I can honestly say, I have never read any roleplaying books that have stimulated my imagination as much as these, which goes for pretty much any of them. Ironially, I did not click with the art style at first, usually my downfall, but the overall thme and writing style hooked me and acceptance came belatedly.

Some of my favourite characters literally sprang off the page as I read an entry from The Stone Thief, or the Bestiaries*. Even a small entry in one of the Loot books can spark an idea.

Randomly grabbing any book, opening to an equally randomly selected page and reading what is found can be as rewarding as slogging through a whole other book or chapter. I have to admit here, I dislike reading long winded, dry rules and have been struggling to find a series of books that can keep my interest for long.

The openness and transparency of the writing, the humour and creative license granted to all involved to add to story telling, to then make your own using the mechanics supplied, comes through time and time again.

I think that part of my issue stems from a desire to write rather than read. These books have a balanced amount of both. You never feel like a rules interpreter or lawyer, more a disseminator and custodian.

I eagerly await a new 13A book simply for the read and happily re-read the ones I have.

*

So, for a gamer who has never taken to D&D (and I have owned some or all of Advanced, 2nd, 3/3.5-Pathfinder, 4th and 5th editions), why is 13th Age a keeper for me? Basically because if I am in the mood for a D&D fix, generally the opposite of where my moods lie, but possible, this does it better than any other, actually focussing the elements I generally dislike rather than softening them.

Next I would like to rate the different 13A resources I have.

*Two characters I have created as support players for new players in the Stone Thief campaign are a White Dragonborn cemetery custodian (Necromancer), who had his charge swallowed by the Stone Thief while he was absent and a Dwarf made Construct, built to protect a sacred tomb, woken after eons of semi-sleep to do just that. It then left to the under world as its makers are long gone, but is compelled to return to its tomb when the pesky Stone Thief ate that as well.

Story lines like this are part in parcel of 13A. You are encouraged to think big, to make a real impact on the story, shaping it, not just reacting to it. This empowers the player, but also allows the GM something to work with.

An X Wing Growth Plan For New Players

Getting new players into a game you love can be tricky and frustrating. Offer too much and they may drift, too little and they loose interest and deny them any feeling of control and they may always feel like a guest, not a contributor. Note, this has been shaken up and is better represented under “Turbulent Times for X Wing”, but the ideas are still sound.

Our X Wing journey, started about 18 months ago. It has had moments of obsession, exhaustion and waxing/waning enthusiasm, but from it has come a set of tools capable of empowering others to enjoy it also.

Step 1

Skeleton Crew (formerly Barest-Bare Bones).

In SC, the players get introduced to;

• Three factions, each with seven ships that both empower and limit the factions, allowing the new player to get the feel of each in the cleanest and most logical fashion. There is a good spread of Pilot abilities represented, introducing the new player to most game concepts.

• Most Ordnance options are represented (although Bombs and Turrets are limited and there are no exotic weapons like Ion, Tractor or Harpoon Missiles).

• Crew are limited to those connected to the ships used or generics.

• Limited Illicit, System and Droid upgrades help define the ship and factional differences.

Three forms of pain from the Scum ships available in “Skeleton Crew”.

Action economy is kept to one or two layers, highlighting basic Pilot and squad synergies. This keeps the rock-paper-scissors and guess-the-move concepts at the core of the game foremost in the minds of new players and allows rare even exclusive Pilot abilities to be relatively more powerful than in the more diluted “bigger” versions of the game, as they are often the only modifiers in play. Droid, Illicit and System upgrades and squad synergies really add the only other layers, and these are very limited.

Pilots like Arvel Crynyd can situationally boast a game leading 4 agility + Evade, Tycho can act while stressed, Wedge becomes a predator, Biggs is the only real (Wing)man and Vader has his 2, no strings attached actions which no other pilot can match.

The later game tended to create several ways of matching these Pilots with different doable versions of their abilities, which is fine and added variety and helped develop problem solving processes (all part of the game), but I for one really like the clean lines of this basic, stripped down version.

Even limited as much as this is, seasoned players can have a good series of games and may even like the nostalgic feel of this format.

Step 2

Bare Bones (BB).

When the player is at the stage where they can make an educated choice of squad from a set of pre-made units or even build their own, they can graduate seamlessly to BB, which adds;

• About half to twice as many more ships (10-14), somewhat diluting the clean choices of above, but increasing interest and the desire to explore in equal measure.

• Ships are still limited to the those with the five core actions only.

• Upgrade choices are mostly limited to more Crew choices, but each faction will also have several more (or even some for the first time) ships who use some Ordnance including Ion weapons, more System and faction specific Illicit and Droid choices.

Both ships are relevant in this form but the Y Wing’s future is probably less so.

This is enough for many and our favourite format.

You can now sink your teeth into so many more combinations, enough to keep the casual player going for ages, but the basic tenets of above are kept pure and simple. We play this with the “Once we were heroes” roster system, where a pilot is lost permanently to the roster until it has been played through to completion. This effortlessly stops players wheeling out the same squad game after game.

Step 3

Expanded Bare Bones (Exp)

Once the landscape of X Wing BB is fully understood, the next step can be explored. In Expanded, the door is mostly open to full 1e X Wing, but not quite enough for the cracks to show.

• Almost all 1e ships are now available except for the TFA era ones and the Quadjumper (no Tech upgrades and no timeline jumping).

• All ship Actions are now available, allowing access to Jam, Reinforce, Coordinate, Reload etc.

• Single card Huge ships can be added if desired, to make this game more varied and interesting, not necessarily as a good introduction to the much improved Huge ship mechanics of 2nd ed. I like both, but sticking to the single card ships this makes the Huge ones less game dominant.

• Titles are now allowed for unique, named ships only, opening up the full capabilities of those ships, which includes adding in all actions and weapons required like Tractor Beams.

• There are still no Mods, EPT’s or “generic” Titles, nor the Ordnance options used by FFG like generic Titles as point balancers for tournaments (Chardaan, Renegade). These can break this game, are often not necessary or are considered too fiddly to bother with.

• An option is to allow EPT’s only back in, your call.

Expanded BB allows the player to use the legendary ships we all love in their almost full blown form, but still holds back the main game breaking culprits.

Expanded allows for squads like this, that need Titles and a full action range to be relevant.

Step 4

Triple Threat (TT).

Now it is time to change tac.

The much neglected Tie Advanced. In TT it is all you have for an Imperial player, but before all hope is lost, let’s add a Title, some cheap System upgrades and those other pilots nobody uses.

Dedicated players are already aware that the game formats above are missing elements of the full game.

Builds made by others, “best” upgrade articles and tournament reports will all talk about the things that BB specifically avoids, so with a mind to completeness, but still reducing choices to be less overwhelming and trying to retain balance, we introduce new players to the more competition focussed TT.

• Each faction is represented by one ship type (Tie Advanced, X Wing, Kihraxz), usually in a 60pt squad format.

• Every possible upgrade option is available to each ship, especially the later game fixes like S-Foils, (house ruled as a free “configuration” upgrade), Renegade Refit, Tie X1 and “Vaksai”.

The three ships are relatively even, but are very different. Players now get to play with Elite Pilot Talents, Mods and the benefits of late game empowerment. In many ways, the ships are in their full 2e form and much different to all the versions above. Players have to now deal tactically with using their differences to prevail, rather than just matching their opponent like for like.

Step 6

Second Edition.

2e X Wing is now the logical jumping point from the above steps.

It cleans up and smooths out the above concepts, but also adds more moving parts. TT acquaints the players with more advanced features and deeper builds and Expanded for ship variety.

Skeleton Crew Ship Overview; Scum

The last faction to look at for Skeleton Crew is Scum and Villainy. They have variety and trickery as their trademarks, which can play both ways.

They boast 2 Line Fighters (1 also a cheap swarmer), 1 Interceptor (the slipperiest), 1 Multi Role, 1 Support/Brute and 2 pure Brutes. The Scum have the most large base ships, but the slowest fleet overall.

Beautiful, killer butterflies.

Kihraxz (Workhorse/Brawler). The mainstay front line fighter for most Scum cartels and a plethora of other villainous types, the Kihraxz is often called the Scum X Wing, but in reality, it highlights the philosophical differences between the factions. Instead of Torps, you get Missiles. Instead of Droids, you get Illicit upgrades and the base stats and dial are ever so slightly different with the ability to 4 and 5 K-Turn into the face of a pursuer. The biggest difference though is cost. It is possible to fit 5 into a squad and even their dangerous top PS9 Ace is cheaper than the equivalent X Wing pilots.

Z95 Head Hunter (Versatile swarmer). Filling a similar role to the Tie Fighter, or as a cheap ordnance platform, the Z95, an older version of the X Wing, is a simple, solid and versatile ship. Unlike the Tie, it has shields and can be upgraded with both Missile and Illicit slots, making up for its disappointing dial and pedestrian action bar. A swarm of Z95’s is tougher than the same in Ties, but less fun (safer) to fly.

Star Viper (Trickster/Back Stabber). The Viper plays the role of superiority fighter for the Scum in BB. It is one of the fastest Scum ships with a speed of white 4 and Boost and boasts the S-Loop, and with Dalan the T-Roll, both unique to Scum in SC. Looking like a frantic, fragile attack butterfly, the Viper is actually as tough as the Kihraxz, can fit a load of Torps and has a decent showing of pilots.

Scurrg (Ordnance/Wildcard). The Bomber of the Scum faction, the Scurrg also offers speed, manoeuvrability and ruggedness. A strong ship with any build and very versatile, the Scurrg has Crew, Ordnance and Turret upgrades as well as a Talon Roll and red 5 top speed. Quite a package. This ship was nerfed in 2e, so live it up in this universe.

YV 666 (Party Bus/Brute). The most sluggish of all ships in SC, the YV is still a strong squad compliment or even tactical fulcrum. Lots of Crew, a Cannon, Bomb, Illicit slot and a wide primary arc, mean it is basically the cheaper Scum Decimator with different options. Crew are crucial to this ship, or you have to ask why you would take it, but even as a cheap blocker/soaker it can be useful.

Jumpmaster 5000 (Over achiever). The Jumpmaster (as printed on the original card as an early Christmas present), has a ton of upgrades to chose from. Loaded to the hilt, it can be an expensive ride, even without its Title (12 points more!). So what do you get? A Salvaged Droid, Crew, Torps x2 and an Illicit slot, also one of few Scum PS 9 Pilots and a ship that moves like a smaller ship (large base S-Loop anyone?), so in many ways it lines up directly opposite the Rebel YT 2400 as a large base wildcard. This ship was double nerfed. In 1e its teeth were pulled and then in 2e it was officially settled down. Love playing it “full noise”.

Firespray 31 (Brute). The Firespray plays the role of Bully pure and simple. The Pilots available are varied and skilled and the ship has several configurations, although lacking it’s Titles, it is less specialised. A dual arc ship, with Cannon, Bomb, Illicit and Crew slots, the builds can be, much like the YT 1300, purely about buffing this ship, or as support for the greater squad. Titles really define this ship’s various roles. Without them, the ship tends to become less extreme, but it’s still bricky, toothy and tricky with a sting in its tail.

Lots of Black Sun, some repainted Villains, Binayre Pirates and far too many Z95’s (a weakness of mine)

Unpredictability is true to the Scum ethos. They are less about supporting each other, more about going along on a hunting trip to see what comes their way. Someone inevitably gets shafted in their squads for the “greater good”, but that is how they roll. They can swarm, bully, mix it up a bit or go conservative and mimic their opponents. The beauty of this faction is, you never know what is coming.

This wraps up our overview and I hope it stimulates your enthusiasm for the game in all its forms, but more specifically the clean and balanced format that is 1e Skeleton Crew.

Skeleton Crew Ship Overview; Rebels.

Let’s look at the Rebels now, in the context of our most cut down version of X Wing 1e. These ships are the icons of the saga, defining the fleets of the prequels and the later series of movies and make the most harmonious and evocative selections of the X Wing game.

A powerful force once again in BB, Y Wings off to work. Remember that time they helped bring down a pair of Star Destroyers? Those were the days.

The real strength of the Rebels is in team work, which shows through in the synergies of their Pilots, Crew and Droids.

The Rebels have 1 true Interceptor (the fastest in SC), 1 Line Fighter, 2 Multi Role heavies (both very different), 1 small base Support and 2 Brutes.

X Wing (Brawler/Legend). The iconic ship of the game, the X Wing straight and simple is the base line ship of this game. It has a no frills dial and action bar, but is tough enough, with a glut of decent pilots and Droids. The X Wing in this form of the game forces no strong opinions in style or application, but also lacks any obvious strengths or weaknesses. There is a reason the base set comes with one of these versus two Tie Fighters.

A Wing (Chaser/Daredevil). I love the A Wing in this form of the game. It is the fastest ship in SC, pipping the more agile Interceptor with a speed green 5 and a Boost and has some real moves, especially with its best pilots in action (Farrell offers the only Rebel Boost/Roll/Evade in SC). They are also the natural platform for Proton Rockets or Cruise Missiles. You can fit up to five in a squad or use them as a filler as they are one of the cheapest Rebel ships.

B Wing (Knife Fighter/Intimidator). The B Wing takes the role of the superiority fighter for the Rebels, think upgraded Y Wing. It sports a rare System, Cannon and pair of Torpedo slots, quite a choice for SC, putting it in a unique spot. Add five shields to three hull and throw in some aggressive pilots, for a strong fighter/ordnance platform with options. Like a lot of things in SC, I love the role this ship takes for the Rebel faction. Something probably not obvious at first is the manoeuvring options for this ship put it in the top few for the Rebels.

Y Wing (Ordnance/Sniper). The Y Wing is the primary Ordnance option for the Rebels, but also the only Turret capable ship, so it plays the role of both the Tie Aggressor and the Tie Bomber for the Rebels. The Rebels in this form do not have any bomb options, but are spoilt for Torpedo platforms. They fly like a wet sponge, needing a Droid to mitigate that a even a bit, or the Droid can be used for better shooting or damage reduction. Tough choice (generally the Turreted ones worry about damage and attacking, the Torp loaded ones, manoeuvre). Either way, they are nearly as tough as the B Wing and cheaper than comparable X Wing’s so they can be deployed in numbers. 5 in a squad can be a wall of sedate pain.

HWK 290 (Support/Sniper). The humble HWK 290, with the only 1d primary weapon in the game is an interesting creature. In SC Turrets and Crew are relatively more powerful than in regular X Wing as are any source of action economy increase. The HWK can provide all three. With Pilots or Crew handing out Focus, increased Pilot skill, better shooting or other supports and optionally running the lethal Twin Laser Turret, the HWK can be a powerful squad supporter in various forms.

YT 2400 (Trickster/Brute). The other Han Solo, Dash Rengar brings a unique ship to the game. This ship moves like a smaller ship and in many of its forms can ignore obstacles. Even without its Title, the Cannon, Missiles and (nerfed) primary turret still make for a powerful striker in SC.

YT 1300 (Support/Brute). The best Crew option for the Rebels, the YT 1300 can be built purely for itself or for the support of others and be strongly offensively or defensively biased. The classic build is C3-PO and maybe Chewbacca or R2-D2 as Crew for defence with Han piloting for offence. Called the “Fat Han” (with some other bits), a build that is relatively intact from a SC sense and quite hard to kill, or try Lando, Leia and Numb to take it in another, more support friendly direction.

The good ol’ boys, all straight from the original movies or a near part of the Extended Universe. Lacking a true cheap swarmer, this is the smallest fleet.

Teamwork, synergy, ruggedness and consistency are the Rebel catch cries. Play to their strengths and the faction is the most “Star Wars-y” in feel.

On that, can you see how limiting the game to this level actually brings it much closer to a simulation of Star Wars in the movies, rather than X Wing the Game? Pilot abilities in particular are aligned carefully to the Pilot’s themselves, all based on canon ideals, where EPT’s tend to duplicate the same, nullifying their uniqueness.

Skeleton Crew Ship Overview; Empire

This format of X Wing 1e has become popular here, especially for introducing new players.

Unlikely, but one can dream.

Cut down to the bone, designed to represent the three factions with iconic, role specific ships, Skeleton Crew is an exercise in clean ideas and a return to a Rock-Paper-Scissors style of play. Each faction gets seven ships only, no overlaps (no Scum Y Wing or HWK or Rebel Z95), with a nice, representative spread of capabilities.

The Empire

The Empire has 2 Interceptors, 1 Line Fighter, 2 Multi Role (ordnance), 1 Support and 1 Brute.

Tie Fighter (Swarm/Filler). Workhorse of the Empire and available cheaply in droves. In a BB environment, they are as bare as they come, with base ship and pilot ability only (just like in the films!). There are only five ships with evade and ten with Barrel Roll in this version of XW, so what it lacks in upgrades it makes up for in native actions and pilot synergy.

Tie Interceptor (Jouster/Knife Fighter). This ship has the best action bar in the three fleets. Boost, Roll and Evade with Speed white 5 and 2 K-Turns. Lots of fun. Cheap enough to squeeze 5 in a squad or mix with something heavier. Without the Defender around, the Interceptor stands out as the Imperial superiority fighter, fragile but lethal.

Tie Advanced (Main Fighter/Leader). The Advanced fills much the same role as the X Wing does for the Rebels. It is the solid line fighter in a faction that otherwise plays differently to its opponents. It has three things that make it stand out from the previous two, more common ships, Shields, Target Lock and Missiles. Strip these down and you have an expensive Tie Fighter with shields, so load them up for the best bang.

Tie Bomber (Ordnance). The much maligned bomber has an important role to play in SC. It provides much needed variety and heavy hitting to the faction with the shortest teeth. Because of the thinner nature of SC, a few bombers can deliver more killing power than most ships, especially when used in support of more nimble flankers. This can help change up the otherwise predictable Imperial play book. The ship also has access to Unguided Rockets, which is the only “bottomless” ordnance option in SC.

Tie Aggressor (Support/Sniper). On release, the Aggressor came with two upgrades that should have catapulted it into many competitive squads, but what actually happened was a wholesale stripping of these cards for other ships. Now, in SC, the Aggressor is one of only two ships capable of taking Unguided Rockets and is also the only Imperial that can take the Twin Laser Turret (the two killer upgrades it came with), so SC gives the Aggressor back its rightful place in the X Wing universe.

Lambda Shuttle (Support/Blocker). The venerable “Space Cow” is one of the most sedate rides in X Wing. In SC it is hampered by a lack of Mods and Title but can field, rare for the Imperials, Crew, System and Cannon upgrades. In SC, the Lambda’s are a less worse option than usual, even without its favoured Mods, as Palpatine is still in play, who is even more powerful on balance.

Decimator (Brute/Support). The Decimator is like a grumpy, toothy Lambda, that loves touch parking. It is still filling its usual role of fulcrum to a fleet of light support fighters. The Primary turret is nerfed in BB (R1-2), so other Ordnance and pure staying power are its main fighting strengths, but with three crew slots (more than half the Imperial crew slots), its role as support becomes even more important. Game time is often measured by hull hits left when the Decimator is in play, so play aggressively or protect it, as half a squad of points or more are tied up in this thing.

Lots of Tie Fighters and Interceptors, but too few Aggressors (more popular in this form of the game) and I could do with another Bomber.

Imperial squads in BB take on similar shapes to regular X Wing squads, but the roles are more defined and harken back to the early days of the game. You field fighters (always), then either add more fighters or support them with Ordnance platforms and/or Brute force. Surprise is the key. It is easy to fall into forgivable habits, but by not being predictable, the Imperial player can pose some uncomfortable questions.

Inevitable Fallout Or Revitalised Interest?

Star Wars Armada, a game I will go on record as saying is more grown up and deeper than X Wing (there I said it), is going into hibernation.

Recycled image, showing black painted bases (but clear stems)

This hibernation is simply a manufacturers cessation of development, not supply, but it may be the start of a steady decline or even panic dumping or buying. It will not kill the die-hard communitie’s interest and like many things taken away before their time, may even re-kindle some interest (I believe if I had read this news before I dabbled, I may well have leapt in just in case).

My own interest has stalled lately as well. I totally underestimated how deep my flagging interest was in painting figures, usually a malaise that arrives with the winter cold, but it has bitten pretty deeply this time. With fleets assembled, the fighters have been sitting and staring at me since undercoating. Ironic really as it was the fighters that got me into the game. Personally, I believe if FFG had made more effort to make the fighters either semi painted or even coloured in a such a way they could go without, the game would have been more popular.

Thinking on my future with the game, I revisited my fleet lists with the loaded question of “so if it stops here, am I ready to settle?”. The answer is confusing and far from clear. Yes I have two well balanced and flavoursome fleets that fit perfectly with the Rim campaign setting, plus two smaller, balanced fleets of Clone Wars factions. I decided to gently flesh them out. No plan, just a desire to chase some of the ships I could not get a few months ago.

More Corvettes for the Rebels? Hammerheads work better in 3’s or more and CR-90’S are so common in the universe that more always feel right.

The odd looking Imperial Interdictor with it’s high tech tricks? Hard to find and maybe too odd for a small fleet with an Onager already.

Maybe a great big battleship for the Reb’s? Hmmmm, not sure it fits my vision.

Another Gladiator, just to balance points and because I really like them? The Imperials don’t feel right with a strong medium ship spine. That’s the Rebel thing. Bigs and fighters are the Imperials style, with the odd support ship.

Hold out for another Raider? Scarce as and likely to get even more so.

More fighters? Hell no, I have plenty to paint now! On a more practical level, they are plentiful enough now for my fleets.

If the super rare Aquitens comes up, maybe one or two.

For the Clone Wars, maybe another pair of starters.

……………..

I always think, if a choice is too hard to make, then don’t make it, but time may not be on my side here.

In the end, the Chimaera ISD with the Gauntlet fighters and the Profundity MC75 Cruiser for the Rebels. The Chimaera was one that eluded my when I started out, but the MC75 on the other hand is good value and easily found.

These two add more big ship depth to both fleets (read some big ship representation for the Rebels), give the Empire a slight points boost, which they need* and both offer several build types. The MC75 also allows the Rebel player to play more conservatively if wanted, fighting head to head with big ships, rather than being consigned automatically to the role of the Shark vs the Whale.

I struggle with the other big Rebels ships, because, well, they are not big enough and I don’t take to them cosmetically. It’s a game, I know, but Home One is about half the size it should be even at the bigger ships compressed/smaller ships embiggened scales of Armada. The MC75 feels and looks right, especially next to the Assault Frigate, which I also struggle to accept as the flagship of the Rebel fleet.

In the Imperials, I have pretty much all I like for them, so a different take on the ISD and the ability to field two versions (there are 4, all very different), just feels “Imperial”. I also feel each sub-fleet should have one full sized SD as flag (2 ISD’s and the Onager). I also lack a dedicated carrier, so the ISD’s act as fighter control.

*On the table, my rebel flea-circus fleet looks pathetic against the supported ISD and Onager, but points wise, they are actually ahead.

Armada Dead?

So, I jump into Armada and they kill it.

Well, not kill, more like cryogenically freeze it, but you know how these things go.

I think they owe us at least another fighter pack for each Clone Wars faction, but that is by the by.

Where to now?

I picked up a nicely balanced fleet for all four factions and called it done. If I want to expand these, there are ships around and they have stated that reprints will be continued, just not new product developed. I had technically stopped, but with an uncertain future, mild panic has set in.

Should I grab those large Rebel ships I did not want? Nadiri Starhawk anyone? How about the weirder and uglier Imperials I skipped? Maybe another pair of Clone Wars starters, just for depth?

Suddenly my clearly laid out plan of a few monster Imperials vs a rag-tag Rebel fleet of nothing bigger than a frigate seems a little short sighted.

I hope there is time to sit back and see what happens, but that’s what they said about toilet paper. No rush, no need to panic….no F%@&Ing toilet paper!

The last ship added, an Imperial Raider. I think I will be chasing down another of these if I can.

There are of course, other games.

Obsession Or Release?

My fixation with 1e X Wing as a gaming distraction should be obvious to anyone who reads this blog.

I have a long and patchy connection to gaming, through my high school years, then a long break to a rekindling after a trip overseas and a chance meeting with a local gamer. Mostly historical (most periods), there has been plenty of non-historical also. X Wing, one of the many “outguess your opponent” games is my strongest crush, but it has not always been so.

The reality is, I missed the emergence of the game, watching bemused from the side lines, distracting myself with Attack Wing, Fed Commander, Wing of Glory, Canvas Eagles etc, clearly in denial. I had played it, but must admit, even in the early days, I did not take to it.

Part of this I think stems from my lack of interest in Star Wars as an industry/universe. A genuine lover of the early movies, I was there on their release, then through the toys and specials, but I strayed and with the release of the prequels, I released my hold (just not compelling enough sci fi) and had little to no interest in the spin-off cartoons etc. The new movies have me back in and I now own a Blue-ray set of all nine movies (and have even watched the prequels a couple of times).

When I did come into X Wing, as a gamer, not a Star Wars nut, I grabbed some 1e clearances (5x TFA sets for $100au) with little intention of going further.

It got me.

I became obsessed at the expense of all similar games, becoming a walking encyclopaedia of the Fandom page and a dozen or so blogs dedicated to 1e.

The most obvious thing about the game’s current meta (wave 14 had just been released), was the disconnect between the competitive tournament circuit and the “other” players, the players who just wanted to play Star Wars casually or to a scenario (much as they would play most games). It seemed that some time around wave 6-7 things started to get out of control.

Ships were introduced that were drawn from the lesser known parts of the Extended Universe. Upgrades became stronger with uber powerful combo’s and the game, although healthy, started to be discussed “from a point of view”, without the previous unity.

There was lots of love for the game, but also a thread of dissatisfaction and retrospection.

The tournament circuit has to be given credit for keeping the game at the top tier of the hobby, but the other and possibly sharper edge to that sword, was the semi obsessive power creep it promoted. Each wave bought more exciting combinations for tournament players, often resulting in a window of “one true way” to play the game at a given time until FFG nerfed it or replaced it with something even stronger.

There were exceptions, but the games core ideals were getting more and more diluted. It is safe to say, to be competitive on the later circuit meant embracing some of the real outliers of the Star Wars universe in unnaturally formed squads and “historically” incompatible combinations.

Bare Bones is one way for me (with friends) to play a more authentic, early days version of X Wing 1e and as importantly, to play casually.

Bare Bones (BB)

Bare Bones is our main squeeze, although lately Barest Bare Bones (below) is getting more play.

• Only original movie or extended universe ships and upgrades that tie directly to those (10 Imperial, 12 Rebel, 13 Scum).

• No EPT, Title or Mod upgrades, as these have been identified as the main culprits when it comes to increased action economy for competition resulting in flavour stealing changes. Action economy has become the catch cry for “competitive” play and story line flavour is obvious to those that want it and lost on those that don’t. Most EPT’s are still represented, just as unique pilot’s rather than being available to most.

• Squads are built to a theme or for a scenario. With fewer influences, the purity of intended pilot/Droid or Crew combo’s is easier to adhere to. Legendary ships are limited to one, rarely two of each, depending on the ship and it’s role.

• Only ships with the 5 core actions are included.

• Some upgrades are limited to specific factions as appropriate. This improves flavour and reduces the instances of near identical squads lining up against each other. On rare occasions it has also made less loved ships more relevant.

• No “Mod” like Ordnance upgrades (Chardaan, Extra Munitions), being seen as similarly applied by FFG as Mods and Titles, as tournament game balance fixers.

• Primary turrets are nerfed to R1-2 only, with no R1 bonus, forcing the player to fly more aggressively or risk being picked off from afar. No more standing off and sniping.

• More complicated options are removed like Tractor Beams, Cloaking etc. Bombs and Ion effects are as complicated as it gets.

• The “Once we were Heroes” roster system is employed where no pilot may be used after being “killed” on the battlefield until the whole thing has played through.This adds tension and avoids the same old stars being rolled out. AAR’s are kept so pilots build up “Legends”, with their demise included.

This works for us for the reasons covered in far too many posts before, but there are a few others.

Skeleton Crew (SC)

Taking Bare Bones and further reducing the ships to 7 Iconic, role filling ships per faction. This again reduces upgrade choices naturally, but still gives each player plenty to work with and covers most bases. Apply the above with the following changes. This is straight forward enough for a beginner to pick their own squad after only a familiarisation game.

• The Rebels get the X/A/B/Y Wings, HWK 290 and both YT’s.

• Scum get The KIhraxz, Viper, Z95, Scurrg, YV-666, Firespray and JM 5000.

• The Empire get the Tie Fighter/Interceptor/Bomber/Aggressor/Advanced, Lambda and Decimator.

• Crew are limited to those connected to above.

• No Ion effects weapons are used to further simplify play (and simulation).

Missing are the “super” fighters and many filler ships, but each faction’s core feel is represented. One of the big advantages of SC and to a lesser extend BB, is the ability to field a squad of basic ships that are not totally outclassed by a couple of untouchable super ships.

Bare Bones Expanded (BB-E)

In the wings for later is BB-Expanded. This adds back in named Titles for those ships that need them, ships that sport actions outside the core 5 (Cloak, Reload, SLAM, Jam, Coordinate, Reinforce, Rotate and Regenerate) and all connected upgrades. This adds in some early period ships from Rogue One or the EU like the Tie Phantom, Kimogila, Reaper, U Wing, Sheathipede, Auzituck, Sabine’s Tie, K Wing, Shadow Caster and the three single card Epic ships, but no Tech slot ships (Quadjumper).

It is all but full bore X Wing 1e, still having EPT’s and Mods removed as well as generic class titles.

Other BB considerations, like Turret limits are kept.

Triple Threat (TT)

This one switches from upgrade choice reduction to ship choice reduction.

Three very standard ships are used, each being a representative of their faction’s strengths and weaknesses. All have Titles and all other later game equalisers, making them quite different to their original versions.

• The Rebels have the X Wing with the S-Foil Mod as standard, much like a 2e configuration.

• The Empire gets the Advanced, X1 version (cheap Systems)

• The Scum get the Vaksai Kihraxz (3 mods and cheaper upgrades)

Between these three ships, most Illicit, Torpedo, Missile, Droid, System, Mods and EPT’s can be represented, often used in a 60 point “duel” squad configuration with an Ace and wingman, but sometimes three bare ships.

Fight Club (FC)

Fight club is like an extension of Triple Threat, focussing on fighters only.

• The Empire get the Tie Fighter/Advanced/Interceptor and Defender.

• The Scum have the Z95/Kihraxz/Viper and Fang.

• The Rebels get the X/B/A and E Wings.

The factions get their signature ships, worts and all and there is a support/standard/wildcard and advanced option for each. This one just lets you play with all the cool fighter Aces, full bore.

Relevant upgrades are available, again except for generic Titles, Mods and obviously Bombs, Turrets and Crew are irrelevant, leaving the core ships, EPT’s, the odd Cannon, System, Illicit and Droid slot and most Ordnance options.

EPT’s and pilot abilities now become the most important synergies, so this is probably more “flight college” than “fight club”.

Pick a 60pt squad, which is usually a synergy between an Ace and Wingman or occasionally three or even four ships like above and away you go.

*

All these offer a deliberately limited version of X Wing 1e and all play well,. Each attempts on one level or another to reduce the “full noise” X Wing issues common in the later game.

Second Edition?

This is healthy enough with us in theory. I have a huge collection of First Order and Resistance (both factions were properly segregated and supported in 2e). I also have the conversion packs for the other three factions, plus Epic and Huge ships (not looking at the prequel ones at this point) and intend to continue, at least with the TFA period as available.

2e to me seems better suited to the newer movie factions both mechanically and cosmetically and sporting the Tech upgrade slot, theses two factions cover the bulk of the upgrades available, unless they are faction limited. They are also probably the safest two factions for casual play, being less “opinionated” than most other factions and lack in both dangerously weak or over-powered options.

The Scum factions is the cross-over point and the original series conversions is sitting there patiently, but who knows.

As far as gaming goes, I have the print-outs of the official points, and quick play tables and a simplified 1:5 scale point system for pickup games.

I do respect this version of the game for it’s own place in the table top world, but still feel drawn to the core simplicity of the original, which ever form is adopted.

Triple Threat

Letting my mind wander, some other ideas are coming to the surface, with the intention of diluting the core ides of X Wing 1e down into more fun and balanced forms.

This one is called Triple Threat, referring to the limited number of ships available (1 per faction), each representing in the most basic form, the ethos and feel of each faction. Although the ships are limited, the upgrades are not. Every possible upgrade is available.

The three ships (Tie Advanced, X Wing and Kihraxz), all started as solid enough ships, but fell away quickly on the competitive circuit. FFG fixed them using the tricks available and by the end of wave 14, each was competitive again, just in time to be pushed aside by the announcement of second edition.

Lets look at the ships in more detail, assuming a 60 point squad as standard.

T65 X Wing

The namesake ship of the game and rightly so, being the ride of the stories hero and the ship that bought down the Death Star (pretty good cost to effect ratio). The X Wing fell away pretty quickly in competition, which then rolled into casual play. They were just not really much fun to fly. Good pilots, Astro mechs and EPT’s aside, the humble X Wing was the solid ox vs the nimble foxes (Tie Fighters) in the core set. Then it became the perfect opponent for the Tie Advanced (also soon to run out of legs), but fell away with each wave of releases.

What the X Wing pilots dreams of!

The fixes were many and varied, from Droids, to Refits, to the first “Configuration” style upgrade, by the end of first edition the X Wing had gained much, just a little too late to matter. Ironically with second edition, the reinvented X Wing sporting a more effective form, much of it modelled off these changes, is unsurprisingly more popular.

The biggest obstacle for the X Wing (and Kihraxz) pilots are run of the mill manoeuvre dials. S-Foils gives the X Wing a whole new look. Barrel Roll and Boost are effectively 6 points of free Mod upgrades with a Talon Roll thrown in for good measure. Sure there is the caveat that they cannot be used from the same condition and one reduces fire power, but this single upgrade adds sorely lacking manoeuvre options. This is not the only option, with Droids adding more. The Ox is now maybe a mountain goat.

There has never been anything wrong with the pilot choice for the X Wing, with relatively large stocks, but there are only four pilots with natural Elite Pilot Talents and Droids are not really as powerful or unpredictable on balance as cheap Illicit or System slots.

So, if we only look at Rebels, not Saw’s Renegade pilots we would have;

Pilots; 12, 4 with native EPT’s and a Droid option for a fifth.

Manoeuvre options; Outside of EPT’s they have S-Foils (house ruled as an automatic configuration upgrade in lieu of a Title) giving conditional Roll, Boost and Talon Roll, with several pilot and Astro-mech combos. Engine Upgrade and Vectored Thrusters are not available as S-Foils provide them in a natural form and Auto-thrusters are also off limits as Boost is conditional, not automatic.

Offence; A solid three primary is augmented by exclusive Torpedoes unless Renegade Refit is taken as a kind of “light brawler weight” option (2x Mods and discounted EPT’s). Refit can make them fly better, but lose that alpha strike ability. Refit also potentially allows the Rebel player three ships inside 60 points, previously only possible to the Kihraxz and these are not all Rookies.

Defence; The X Wing has probably the best damage absorbing defensive options with several repair capable or damage mitigating Droids and and a support your friend vibe running through the faction. Sacrifice is a common theme allowing you to build a damage magnet brick (Biggs, Selfless, Wingman, Decoy, R2-D2/F2 etc) to support a primary striker.

Now a solid re-positioner with a wealth of pilots and droids, but limited other upgrade options. It is either a dual Mod, stripped down jousting fighter or ordnance packing ship with a single mod. The X Wing lacks a surprise factor, but is strong on durability and plays well with others. Ordinance assistance (Chips, Droid or Failsafe), makes the Torpedo option powerful, and with the Talon Roll, Boost and Barrel Roll offered by it’s S-Foils, with the help of a suitable Droid/Pilot/EPT, they can be little unpredictable and fly well.

Tie Advanced (X1)

The Tie Advanced has had a similar run to the other ships in this trio. It came out with the much anticipated Vader, and he is still a force, but hit a points efficiency wall, so the other decent enough pilot’s were overlooked. With the Raider expansion came the upgrades needed to make the ship competitive again (and potentially the most expensive upgrade cards on the market).

Rather than a Title that reduces the ship’s cost, FFG went with an added System upgrade slot and a heavy discount to those upgrades, effectively giving the Advanced a free technology edge. Fits with the “Advanced” idea.

The usual wingman here, but multiple Tie Advanced squads should be elusive and brutal.

Each ship in this simplified environment needs to bring the strengths, weaknesses and most importantly the feel of it’s faction and the Advanced does this as a solid, but high speed arc dodger and missile/tech platform. The pilots are good, which in this format is important, crucial even, so it’s nice to see them getting a chance to shine.

Pilots; 8, half with EPT’s. Vader is arguably the strongest of any with 2 Actions, but there are other stars.

Manoeuvre options; Twin Ion Engines Mk2, giving the Advanced an almost all green dial, with the best action bar with the only inherent Barrel Roll. EPT’s (PTL), Pilots (Vader, Juno) and an effectively free Systems upgrade (Advanced Sensors) give them plenty of re-positioning options making them by far the most naturally agile, potentially out of the league of the others.

Offence; The lowest primary attack value is weighed against their defence advantage and repositioning (more shots, but weaker ones). They have all Missile options except (house ruled) Harpoons available, with System and Mod options to boost their effect. The Advanced is unfortunately the only one that cannot field 3 ships in any form, but that needs to be weighed up against the best natural defensive capability and the limited value a third ship would add to fire power without enough points for some Ordnance.

Defence; The Advanced is the only ship with an Evade action and three agility dice meaning they can effortlessly double the other ship’s base defensive capabilities. This is a huge advantage and the core difference between the Imperials and the other two factions. There are of course more factors to consider. EPT’s, combined with some Pilot abilities and Mods can boost this to near untouchable heights, but these should probably be kept for offensive buffs or you may find yourself flying around near untouchable, but punching like a butterfly.

The Advanced is a good example of the Imperial design ethos, agile and fast at the expense of punch, but unlike most Imperials, it does not lack durability. The cut price System slot gives the ship several good options, none allowed to it’s opponents making it the action economy king of the three, so if flown well, it is as slippery and fun. Unlike the multi faceted Kihraxz or solid X Wing, the Advanced is only ever going to be an agile Missile platform, but is strong in that role.

Kihraxz (Vaksai)

The Kihraxz is often thought of as the Scum X Wing, for good reason. The reality is, it is actually the “anti” X Wing. Where the Advanced is a different beast all together, the Kihraxz is very similar in role and even on paper, but the build-out’s are so very different. Instead of helpful Droids, we have unpredictable Illicit upgrades. Instead of Torpedoes, we have Missiles and the pilots are less about team synergy and more about predation, even suicidal aggression.

Travelling in hunting packs, not supportive teams, is the scum ethos.

The mundane looking Kihraxz, sporting its very powerful Vaksai Title, is a real bag of tricks, especially against the relatively predictable pair it is pitted against. It can be a manoeuvre king, nasty damage dealer or tanky hit soaker, or more likely, a little of each, but most importantly, never the same ship two games running.

Even the lowly and cheap PS 5 Black Sun Ace can sport an EPT, 3 Mods, Illicit and Missile all with a 1 point discount. It is possible to max out their slots for only a few points. Compared to the similarly priced Red Squadron PS 4 X Wing Pilot, with only Torps, a Mod and a Droid, all at full price, this is a massive advantage.

Pilots; only 6 total, but 4 with EPT’s including a generic Ace you can have multiple times.

Manoeuvre; The Kihraxz starts off as the weakest to fly, lacking S-Foils or a naturally good action bar or dial, but it does have potential. Three mods allows it to take Vectored Thrusters and Engine upgrade, giving it more actions than the other two with no strings attached. Illicit then offers Inertial Dampeners for that real surprise move. If all these are taken, there is still a Mod and often an EPT slot open for other priorities.

Offence; Three primary with most Missile options (Harpoons are especially nasty), several Illicit tricks, some semi or even fully suicidal, enough mods to make ordnance nearly fail proof and cheap EPT’s can make this ship either an offensive brute or less optimally, still no slouch while allowing for other builds.

The final, but by no means least option is to simply take 3 Cartel Marauders. This may seen boring and less effective, you get 9d attack, coming from three directions with no fuss.

Defence; The Kihraxz is the only ship capable of taking Auto-thrusters (with Engine Upgrade). Added to that, it can have shield recovery, can cloak, take Stealth Device still without sacrificing all other possibilities. Optionally you can tank it up with cheap shield and hull upgrades, making it the toughest ship with potential base stats of 3/3(5)/5/2 with cloaking, stealth and hull/shield upgrades.

Keeping in mind that any direction this fighter goes in, does not necessarily negate all the others, which makes it hard for an opponent to guess what’s coming. As above, not the worst option is three ships, with 15 combined health over three targets (can’t hit them all with Ordnance).

It is fairly safe to say, the Kihraxz rewards a healthy imagination and risk taking attitude. What can your opponent expect? Two or three ships, an infinite variety of EPT, Illicit, Mod and Missile combinations and the ability to max out any type of build or simply bringing to you what you have packed. In other words, they need to expect anything.

A Response To "Whiffy" D100 Dice Mechanics

Having committed to d100 games for the bulk of my (occasional) role playing, I have started a process of research, designed to weed out the best ways of handling various games and themes.

A trend has developed, or at least I have re-discovered it, and it comes with some bemusement and mild frustration. Mostly I find it interesting how an idea takes hold.

The term most often associated with d100 mechanics is “whiffy”. Whiffy refers to the even (linear) chance of any single result occurring and the often hard pass or fail effect applied to the roll. This has the effect of making a seemingly more random or unpredictable game than a “bell curve” style game mechanic (one that uses multiple dice added together, or used in a pool, forming a natural seeming average).

This is on one hand interesting and for the most part irrelevant. It seems to me, it is all in how you (a) perceive it and (b) how the mechanics themselves are executed.

Lets first look at D&D, the oldest and most popular of RPG’s. D&D uses 3d6 curve for characteristic generation (as do most d100 games), but a single dice, usually a d20 for tests and combat rolls. The main difference is the nature of the d20 roll. The roll is a “roll high against a target with all mods applied”. This means that you increase your chance of success in direct proportion to the number of positive dice mods you can apply. Another blogger once called this “Optimistic” or open ended rolling and I get that it feels that way. You are trying to overcome a hill resistance and every little “+” helps. D100 games are often a roll under a set value, but sometimes roll as high as you can under it, a bit like that game where you skate a disc as close to an edge as possible without it going over. Brinkmanship vs throw as hard as you can.

The roll is still linear, but weighted heavily towards one end or the other by flat mods. This brings it’s own problems. With some forms of the game effectively making unlikely results plain impossible, there have been soft fixes in late editions, limiting the possible range of the mods, curbing higher level blowout (called “bounded accuracy”).

The very nature of a +/- mod, roll high system makes a key difference to the effect of modifiers. Add +10 to your roll (a huge amount of advantage) and you still only have little over a 50% chance of beating 20+ as a target, but you automatically beat 10+. This is fairly robust and gives the illusion of powerfully leaning one way or the other, but it is still linear and has it’s limits.

The average character with a +3-5 mod on favoured tests has a 15-25% greater chance of passing them than an average +0 mod character (but often an identical chance of a critical pass/fail).

Of greater effect is the new advantage/disadvantage dice system, rolling 2d20 and taking the best or worst by circumstance. This doubles your chance of a better or worse result without changing the range. We will look at this idea some more.

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The next example is Traveller, the oldest Sci Fi RPG, using 2d6 for a simple mechanic with a mild bell curve. The curve gives a sense of a broad middle (6 out of 36 chances of rolling 7, 16 out of 36 of hitting the middle three numbers) and 1 relatively unlikely chance each of rolling unlikely extremes (2 or 12). Mods have a much stronger effect, literally shifting the average. They are actually moving a curve in a non linear fashion.

The biggest issue comes from these mods, which can blow out the range quite quickly. MT2e has also adopted an advantage/disadvantage dice system, combined with the curve. This gives the player the curve for comfort and the best/worst pair for difficulty. It does not increase the range of possible rolls, only the chance of a favoured/slighted result.Using 2 of 3 dice is less clean than the 2d20 version from above, but it squeezes into the small range of 2d6 well enough.

The reality is, bell curve or dice pool games also have fixed percentages of pass and fail. Needing to roll 7+ with a 2d6 mechanic is a 21/36ths or 58% chance. It looks gentler with it’s middle curve producing the most common results, but it is still a fixed 58% chance. Add a single +1 mod (target now 6+) and that jumps very quickly to 72%, or a -1 mod (8+) and you have roughly 42% of passing. These single value mods have a very strong effect especially at low levels, with less effect as increased, due to the curve shortening. If the above mechanic is applied with the same pass/fail logic then you have a d% system with vastly fewer increments and a “lump” in the middle.

I feel it is not the range or the curve that we rect to, but the application. Again the climb the mountain vs the push to the edge thinking.

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D100 games usually use roll-under mechanics. The character has a skill/chance level expressed in % points, rolled against with 2d10 (1 as 10’s and the other as 1’s) with a critical pass/fail chance, which differs greatly by game, but may for example be half or 10% of the pass chance, or the lower/higher 5%. The later iterations of these games have been taking advantage of doubles as fumble/critical pass values.

This is where the problems come from. Apart from often weighty maths, a real issue with massed combats etc, the flat pass/fail is seen as too twitchy. Have a 55% skill in driving, that means you fail/crash 45% of the time you are put to the test which is unrealistic, but tends to be the way the system is perceived. Add mods for difficulty and the base shifts proportionately, but depending on system, brings inherent imbalance. Why would a skill 10% character get a 300% increase in skill chance with a +20 mod, when a 80% near master only gets the same +20, which often tops out at an “automatic fail” level of 95%, netting a lower proportionate bonus and a lower flat benefit.

How to fix?

Option 1 (assuming a pass/fail dynamic) is to make most average test rolls an “arrange to taste” mechanic, which is to still roll 2d10, but arrange the two die in the desired order (71 becomes 17 if you want or the opposite if desired). This gives you two things. The first is a heavy weight towards the pass (lower) end with a roughly 70% chance of rolling 50% or lower and the ability, depending on the system used, to push the roll higher for more success “height”.

If this is the base test, then more threatening or volatile tests (like combat without advantage) should still then use the less predictable and most common “take them as you roll them” system. This system works well with a fixed limit of 99% for all skills. World masters always have a 1% chance of failing, combined with an embarrassing, but not life threatening fumble (see below) and 50% skills have a better than 50% chance of passing standard tests.

Option 2 is to soften the pass/fail slug. If the 10-20% points above and below the skill level (or half way points between the skill and the extremes) are used as “soft” pass/fail levels, this gives the GM room to allow a pass with complications or a “fail forward” soft landing. If the half over/under system is used, reference numbers can be kept on a handy chart or just eye balled (math is often sighted as the “problem” with d100 games).

It seems illogical to have 100 possible results and dilute them down to a drastic pass-fail mechanic.

Handling Critical pass/fail levels is also something that seems to change across D100 games. The best I have seen is the “doubles” critical pass/fail version, which elegantly bypasses the messy math thing. D00 lite games, OpenQuest 3, D100 Revolution, Warhammer 4e all use or suggest this system and it is neat and clean. Regardless of other factors, doubles are fixed and offer a 10% chance of something extraordinary happening, be it good or bad. This reduces the 10% broad crit chance to a 1-3%, specific crit result range.

To add more control to this, a simple table of the ten crit pass or fail result levels is a way of curbing the automatic severity of these results, or, with point 2 in mind, crits that fall within the “soft” zone are not too aggressive, but ones outside of that zone are more catastrophic or amazing. A “00” auto fail is a soft crit fail to the 99% master, but a “33” critical is a real stuff-up by the low skilled apprentice. GM pay-in is also allowed of course, but a good guide is invaluable.

Difficulty can also be handled within the 99% maximum range. For difficult tests, take the worst combo, for greater difficulty, add another dice, still taking the worst two, then another etc. For easy tasks, add another dice and choose the best result of two etc. This is equally harsh and fair (less so than a +1 mod on a 2d6 curve!). You always have a chance of extremes, ever increasing/decreasing, but no added math.

We use blue and red dice for easier/harder tests. State your aim and the GM hands you 2+ dice. If they are 1 red and 1 blue, then roll and arrange as pre-determined (red as 10’s). Get two blues and you can take them as you want, three blues, take the best 2, 2 reds are always read the worst way, three reds you still take the worst 2 etc. Imagine the look on a players face when they describe the crazy antics their character is attempting and you nod and hand them 4 reds!

Experience. To improve D% skills, which to the games using this system replace abstract levels, offers another place to add “curve” to the game. the character is usually rewarded with chances to improve after success, or even sometimes failure. If this improvement requires a test, say one related directly to the characters actual skill (roll over?) then improvement becomes slower and less likely. The difficulty (above) can also help determine the chance of an improvement roll.

One system, designed to go with the 99% limit, is to roll an experience test, by rolling over your current skill, each time a critical success or failure (called a learning point) is rolled on anything but a mundane or easier task. This may be for a +1% bonus (maybe a -1 if the crit was a fail and so was the roll) but these could also be automatic +1% gains if you want a more dynamic environment. This can be limited to crits that fall outside of the “soft” zone, meaning you learn from really successful or really unsuccessful results only.

Levels can be used also. 20 levels with 5/3/2/1% gains per level in batches of 5 of each (55% max), added to 2 characteristics (40% max). These diminishing levels are on one hand a realistic representation of a flattening skill curve and on the other, a lowering of player desire to max out a skill.

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D% games have always been under the shadow of this “twitchy” or “whiffy” cloud, which I feel is unfair. The actual mechanics are linear and granular, both desirable characteristics, but often the application of these is the problem. Look to the core mechanic, the answers are there.

The beauty of most d100 games is, one “fix” can often be applied to all of them or as needed. The core ideas are intact, just the application changes slightly and the reality is, most experienced games have probably applied one or more of these in their games at some time.

My games use most of the above, only requiring a single sheet to apply them to the terms and conditions of the master game. Difficulty levels need wording accurately, advantage mechanics taken into account and some basic choices made. The very versatility and robustness of d% games is your friend here.

What, For Me, Makes A Good RPG

What makes an RPG good….for me?

This is a very subjective post, a retrospective analysis really, but if one person’s opinion is as relevant as anyone else’s, then why not.

There are a lot out there and lots of “generations” of games, so picking one style or period alone is tough, let alone choosing a single game. Through the years I have developed a reasonably clear idea of what works for me (though not clear enough it seems to steer clear of the same old traps).

Theme is obviously important. My tastes tend to run to hard, realistic, sometimes darker themed games, of historical or low magic fantasy (Dark Age and Asian especially), Sci Fi, Pulp (Victorian to WW2 including fanciful Sci Fi), urban supernatural, street level supers, Renaissance-late medieval including steam punk all with the possibility of alternate anthropomorphic animal options in the mix.

Examples of these are Warhammer, Warmachine/Hordes, most of the Legend/Mythras series, Tolkien, Call of Cthulhu - especially WW2 period, selected other BRP, Traveller, Mouse Guard, TMNT.

Mechanics are also important and often are directly related to the above. Mechanics should be rational, light, reasonably invisible, but leaning towards hard (dangerous-decisive) and flexible. Complicated and bespoke or massive pools of dice don’t appeal. Clever is good, too clever and game dominating is not.

Favourite mechanics include, D100 (most, but no single one gets it totally right) or 2d or 3d6. The overall consistency of these makes gaming a simple, minimally mechanical process and most systems tied to these two mechanics are well tried and not systemically “chained” to any odd or inflexible processes. The exception is the dice pool in Mouse Guard which is a good example of balanced perfection.

A game that has decent (not perfect) mechanics in theory, but then forces a lot of specific processes on the GM and players is The One Ring. I actually like the D&D 5e version Adventure In Middle Earth better, because it leaves more up to the players. This to me is an example of a game unwilling to let players decide on their level of immersion and story fidelity, not forcing strict processes on the players.

Feel. Again related to the above, I like my games to have a smooth feel when played, but most importantly actions must have consequences. The “squishy” D&D style game holds little appeal. Character death or incapacitation should always be a possibility, resurrection a myth or the reward for a dangerous quest, healing slow and a punishment for poor choices. No character at any point should feel invulnerable to anything.

Most d100 games are known for their “realistic” or “deadly” combat. Ever been in a gunfight? Scary stuff I assume (I have been under live fire in an exercise, but not in combat). How many times, if ever, have you struggled to take a TV show, book or movie seriously if the fighting scenes quickly take on a “mock” feel with few if any real consequences. Hit points (without specific critical hits), periodic recoveries, fast healing and resurrection be damned, I want genuine fear of consequences. There is no heroism without fear and I would argue, less gaming satisfaction if a result is achieved against little real threat.

Presentation. This one has been an interesting evolution. Drawn as most of us are to the later generation “big glossies”, I have parted with much bullion, usually resulting in a feeling of detachment, even occasional loathing. Sure they are often a good read and luxurious eye candy, but that very approachable, very tactile feel of simple books with black and white line drawings, printed on plain paper (often with notes pencilled in the borders) is missing. The book is a work of often brilliant art, but a bit like a collectors level miniature, it does not invite (me) to get it on the table, use it, even treat it rough and most importantly, use it like a tool box, not a bible of immutable truths.

Examples; Mongoose Traveller 1e vs 2e, WHFRP 1e vs 4e, Legend and other d100 games vs most other fantasy offerings. A big glossy book is a huge commitment all around. Every poorly worded paragraph, vague or needing of amendment rule, edition change or glaring typo bites deeper if the preciousness of the book is maximised. Perfection is hard to achieve, nearly impossible I would say, so buying a $100 au book, just to “see if it floats your boat’” can be a fraught and frustrating experience. I have started to get PDF versions more often, so I can print them myself or get a local office supplier to do them for me. This also allows me to replace or duplicate specific pages as needed, or just move on with minimum fuss.

Art, like all the above topics works best for me when it is simple, evocative and consistent. I prefer black line drawings to high gloss colour, simply because one allows me to get the “feel” of the game, while the other tells me explicitly what the game world looks like. There are some games that have the right to impose their will on us, because they are so specific and fully developed (Warmachine, Mouse Guard), but I rarely find satisfaction in opinionated art for more generic works.

The first example that comes to mind is Mongoose Traveller 1e, with the sort of art that takes me back to my first encounter with the game (which coincided with my introduction to 2000AD comics-had the very first one, then“home brewed” high school drawings and discovering the classic sci fi art of John Berkey, Frank Frazetta or John Harris among others), while the 2e book just left me cold with their clean, uninspired art. A case of their opinion and mine differing. Contrast this also with the minimalist but highly evocative art in M Space, (see above).

My first and most memorable games and the art within were mostly BRP based, slim volumes with sparse but on point art like Stormbringer, Hawkmoon, Call of Cthulhu, Elf Quest, original GDW Traveller (no art), Champions 3-4e. Sure I own lots of these glossy monsters, but few artistic triggers stuck with me like these older ones. Less is sometimes actually more.

Content. How much is too much? I need a spring board for my imagination, not a painstaking guide to every detail of how I should be presenting a given world. Again, there must be exceptions. Warmachine, Warhammer, and Mouse Guard for example, all have deep and fleshed out visual histories, but I do not need my hand held down to a micro level with most.

Give me inspiration, give me freedom and give me reasonable support (of the right type), but don’t railroad me. I do not have the will anymore (or ever did) to drudge through hundreds of pages of content, just to get some friends around a table to exercise our imaginations for a few hours. If a book can offer a complete game in one volume and still stay under the size of a phone book, then I am happy.

The main offenders here are of course the big glossies. A set of 400+ page Warmachine books, all decked out with spectacular art, consistent history and cohesive mechanics is a real stretch these days. Eye candy aside, I just find myself drawn to the 100 odd pages of MT1e or Legend. I think I burned out on D&D/Pathfinder 3.5e. For some time it seemed like a new book came out every month, always with inconsistencies and changes, but still with that insatiable “must have” trigger.

All you need in one volume. Books like this put the bulk of the creative burden on the GM (and players), but isn’t that the core of the hobby?

Given the above, this is how things stand currently;

Fantasy (Classic to gritty, low magic and sometimes historical).

In; Anything d100 based, AIME (with just the free 5e core rules chapter for “playing the game”), Mouse Guard, Bare Bones Fantasy and Wuxia, Warhammer 1e (possibly 4e).

Out; All d20 including 13th Age (except AIME, which I may convert to d100), Warmachine, The One Ring (again, see AIME).

Supers and Supernatural (street level and gritty, not 4 colour or cosmic)

In; BRP/Super World, After the Vampire Wars, Destined (when released), Luther Arkwright, Maybe a little Hero System 4e for old time’s sake, Supers RED and BASH are also in the mix, but unlikely to be used over a more mainstream and flexible system.

Out; All of the rest. So many!

Pulp Horror and Adventure (Victorian to Modern).

In; CoC/BRP (includes Western, Gaslight, Deta Green, The Laundry, Achtung Cthulhu) and Mythras/Legend (includes Historica Rodentia, Worlds United), Covert Ops.

Out; Savage Worlds.

Sci Fi/Sci Fantasy/Far future fantasy.

In: M-Space, Mongoose Traveller 1e, Frontier Space, BRP Future Earth.

Out; MT 2e.

My “Desert Island” collection. Genuine Sci FI, Horror/pulp, dark and classic fantasy and a generic system for supers etc.

D100 RPG's 5; The Warhammer Family

Warhammer is not strictly part of the recognised, Chaosium based D100 family, but it does share a basic d100, roll under to succeed mechanic. There is little separating the core ideas of these games, but the character generation systems, combat, character characteristics etc. are very different.

1st and 4th editions both have their upsides, but neither is perfect.

WHRPG 1e is a favourite and a good solid, dark themed game. Switching to the more up to date Zweihander clone is always a temptation, but at 700 odd pages with several other massive tomes, it for me is too much of an ask. The 1e game is a full experience loaded with all of the classic feel of the original, (actual) warts and all.

WHRPG 4e is a vexing beast. I have had my enthusiasm for the game tempered by both my own experiences and the opinions of others. I should know better (and do), but still, the new comer is a little way from perfect. It has the right feel, the right goals, but needs some taming and clarifying. This is a prime example of a “perfect” glossy work of art that is not perfect after all, but defies the “fix on the run” feel of less ambitious systems.

I intend to use 4e as my “Dark and Gritty” game, hopefully putting together a group of players for the Enemy Within campaign when I have it all, but some things will have to change. I am dropping the advantage mechanic from combat, intend to use the simple SL system (or my own) and make some house rule sheets for things that will complicate life, such as shields etc.

It would not be a work of ages to convert the specific feel and themes of Warhammer into a standard d100 game like Legend or BRP, but the opposite is probably not true.

D100 RPG's 4; Rune Quest and Friends

Rune Quest, the original “Anti” D & D alternative, has had a turbulent road till now. It has changed hands several times, been modified, honed, stripped and bloated, but it’s core has stayed pure enough to be currently available in no less than 3 effectively current versions.

The new Rune Quest 6e (from Chaosium, the originator), older RQ6 now Mythras (The Design Mechanism) and Legend (franchise free version from Mongoose by the Mythras writers) are all direct descendants of the original Rune Quest, sharing the same, slightly different to BRP, game system. The differences are few and nothing that cannot be easily enough converted, but they are clearly defined and on divergent paths.

Mythras is considered by many to be the most modern “evolution” of the original game. The main changes are the basic dice mechanics for determining ranges of critical success/failure, combat initiative and hit locations (specific or generalised) as well opposed rolls rather than the resistance table. Other differences are specific to each game system, like the handling of different types of magic etc. None of these are wholly incompatible with each other.

Arguably the most vibrant and currently consistent of the “big” D100 manufacturers, The Design Mechanism are quickly making a comprehensive universe of games, each adding to the utility of the last.

Personally I have a bit of a complicated relationship with this line of products.

Legend is a favourite, because it is a lighter weight tool kit game ripe for modifying and tweaking. Effectively RQ2 reprinted under a generic banner, many of the well respected expansions for RQ2 have been reprinted word for word (even typo for typo) and are generally excellent. The Samurai, Gladiator, Pirate and Viking books are deep and comprehensive, making legend an excellent historical foundation. Deus Vult is one of my favourite historical monster hunting games (I am playing with the idea of a brotherhood spanning all periods of history sworn to exterminate monsters, effectively bringing all of these books together).

Even the anthropomorphic animal themed Historia Rodentia is a very cool take on alternative Victorian era Europe. Nothing about Legend is overly offensive or opinionated. It is a good “old school” feel with a new mechanical platform.

Mythras on the other hand is more polished, making it less robust to change. This makes the Mythras games are problematic for me. I am not in love with all aspects of their system for all genres of gaming. They shine in high detail, one on one epic legend campaigns (Greek Myths, gritty dungeon crawls etc), but for me are a bit unwieldy for group combats heavy or pulpy games. Mythras Imperative is closer to ideal, being a little like a different version of Legend, or as intended, a lite Mythras.

M-Space is the best exception here. Using Imperative as a base with some expanded mechanics, M-Space is a strong contender for the sci-fi game mantle. Frontier Space has for me a Star Wars, Stainless Steel Rat or Firefly space opera feel, M-Space is more Star Trek, Oblivion or Blade Runner. A hard core sci fi tool box.

The Mythras/Mythras Imperative/Legend series will be my choice for one on one, high peril, maximum crunch games, especially if smooth integration of several deeply covered exotic systems are needed (more depth in polished systems than BRP, for better or worse). The pending Destined supers game, After the Vampire Wars, hard sci-fi M-Space, Mythic/Britain/Rome/Japan/Norse legends, the trans dimensional Luther Arkright etc are all good for an intrigue, or social interaction heavy game with decisive and detailed combat. I feel like I am writing an epic novel from a first person perspective with these.

This is where Mythras and Legend shine.

Classic Fantasy also offers an old school D&D meets old school Runequest in one volume.

RPG Down Sizing

Well, the die is cast. I have just posted 3 adds for some of the “Big Guns” of my RPG collection (Warmachine, Savage Worlds, 13th Age), all bargains (for the buyers), if a bit of a wrench to part with, but the reality is, if I play any RPG’s any time soon, it will be limited and need to fall inside my “happiness zone”.

What is my RPG “happiness zone”?

D100 games in their various forms, represent for me low preciousness, highly flexible and easy to learn/teach systems all running off one core idea, all with largely transferrable mechanics. They are also some of my favourite legacy games and capture the right feel for me (which is not high gloss, mechanically restrictive systems).

I have decided to stick with this single family of systems because they can handle either directly or indirectly any period I have an interest in, or can be applied to others through easy to employ generic rules, cherry picking from any other sympathetic game as needed. Hear a great idea. Do I need to buy a game to suit or do I use my veritable mine of information to sift through to do my own?

This has been coming for some time.

With little time to invest in a variety of games, the only real course of action that is left to me is to adopt one, the one I feel does RPG’s the way I like, allowing me to spend my time designing, writing, playing with that core rules mechanic, modified as needed. I believe all I need from any system is a consistent and realistic foundation to build my gaming on, so lets put that to the test*.

The beauty of this course of action is that I can very easily increase or decrease the difficulty, depth and crunch factor simply by switching which versions of the same I use**. If I want to introduce new players to a lite fantasy game, then Bare Bones Fantasy is ideal. Want more a little later, move on to Magic World, bringing any liked ideas from BBF. If later you want a high detail, deeply immersive, more serious heroic game with maximum crunch, then use the Legend or Mythras systems.

The players can become part of an escalating RPG experience without ever having to learn a totally different gaming system. It is even possible to take dice rolling conventions from one for another.

Wuxia is to me a perfect balance of an immersive world and game mechanics at an introductory level while the soon to be released Destined for Mythras is hopefully going to be a good example of crunch applied to the right genre.

Fear of system boredom comes to mind, but to be honest, if just the mechanics define the game, then you are probably not doing it right. I have been down the other road, where clever mechanics become the game over good role playing and it is a worse road to take. Invisible, logical, simple mechanics are the key.

Within these umbrella systems are a plethora of periods and themes to explore, with more to dig up and new stuff coming. The reality is, anything added to any one of these is a boost to all, which is good as I have succumbed and ordered the Lyonesse, Worlds United and After The Vampire Wars books for Mythras and Frontier Space and Wuxia from DwD. Lyonesse in particular is interesting because it is the original source of the (Jack) Vancian magic system that D&D uses and is credited with being one of the main inspirations for the original RPG fantasy games and The Game of Thrones books.

My only two real “ringers” are the Mouse Guard RPG, which I will not part with for a variety of reasons and the two Warhammer editions, which while D100, are not strictly compatible with the larger family. There are a few other bits hanging around that I cannot be bothered parting with, or have little real value.

So, in summation, is it possible to just game and ignore the mechanical variety on offer? Do a variety of game mechanics keep things fresh, or do they simply distract bored gamers from otherwise bad game structure? Do you only need to concentrate on story and companionship for a good game with the simplest mechanics to do the heavy haulage?

We will see.

*Possible periods of interest, all directly catered for are;

Early 20thc to WW2. Pulp adventure/horror, Renaissance-Pirate horror/weird science, high magic fantasy, low magic historical/fantasy, dark ages historical/fantasy/horror, dark and gritty fantasy, Samurai historical/fantasy, western historical/supernatural, victorian era alternative/horror, modern spec ops/supernatural, supers (street level), hard sci fi, space opera sci fi, far future sci fi/fantasy. Added to this are periods I had not even considered like Worlds United, that add mechanisms and thematic options.

**The single most used line when describing these is “if you have played “X”, then you will be familiar with “Y”.

D100 RPG's 3; Bare Bones

DwD have published a small but highly respected set of d% games under the “Bare Bones” or D100 lite banner. They do not have a huge range, but reviewers are universally in agreement, their basic engine is solid and clean, their ideas strong and their value immense.

Their games are light hearted, but not light weight offerings, packing an enormous amount into each slim volume. These are not filler games, but neither are they a hard entry point.

I have only these two at the moment, with Covert Ops GM manual and the two Frontier Space books in my DTRPG cart.

Probably the easiest “modernised” mechanics. The d00 lite system has plenty of neat ideas to fix other games, as well as each being a good option in their own right.

My main interest here is the Frontier Space game as a more Space Opera option to M-Space (which feels more inclined towards hard sci fi) and I would love to do a Spec Ops takes on a Fae dimension intruders Dresden Files style (basically a mirror world with cross over points, kind of Men In Black for fantasy), but I will wait to see how the more detailed and made to measure Mythras “After the Vampire Wars” expansion goes.

A new gem is the Art of Wuxia. Not really on my radar, because I am not into modern Wuxia games (which I assumed it was about), I have been converted. This is the ideal tool to do any fantasy-historical game like Monkey or any of the better Manga. It can be historical with some or no supernatural or high fantasy.

Another really cool element to these systems is that, aside from Frontier Space, which uses a slightly different characteristic spread, they are all compatible to a high degree. Want to do the above mentioned Men in Black vs fantasy creatures? Just combine Fantasy and Covert Ops. Want a more Big trouble in little China feel, then Wuxia + C.O.. They even give you options in the books for good cross-over points.

Honorable Mention Mini-Review #5 Hero System

If any game deserves a mention, but missed the top 4 because I have neglected it for a very long time, it is the Hero System, otherwise known as Champions.

A meagre offering, but enough to bring back those halcyon days of number crunching and fist of dice gaming. My friend Mark was the true advocate, my interest was only in playing and I must admit to being put off too much by the up front math, that so many others in our circle were better at milking (more of a writer than a mathematician). Shame, because it is actually quite easy and worth the effort. The Hero System book had I think one more power than Champions and a little cleaning up, making it the “smart” buy, but the Big Blue Book was iconic (at least I have the GM screen). I even re-discovered my uncut flats.

Hero system/Champions 4e is the one. The second and third editions were where I started, but 4e became the main stay and rightly so, before the massive, over written 5e and more streamlined 6e, then the cut to the bone Champions Complete (still 6e) have both come and gone from my collection, but 4e (only the basic Hero System book, not unfortunately the “Big Blue Book”) has been kept.

It has some mild issues, but most agree, 4e was the pinnacle of the Hero systems path, especially in universe development and support materiel. After this edition, like so many games in the early 2000’s (GURPS and D & D also comes to mind), it grew to monstrous proportions, but lost much of it’s character and clarity (perspective).

This game is one of the few that really can stand on it’s own two feet. The system is solid, character generation immensely flexible and comprehensive and the feel, a little bit old school and generous.

Once you have made a character (an afternoons work with a super hero, twenty minutes for a basic human), the game runs smoothly and comprehensively.

If you want to seriously commit to a single system, able to link any genre seamlessly, then this can do it as well as any, especially if high powered characters are the norm. As a bonus it also only uses d6 and has a 3d6 bell curve task resolution.

D100 RPG's 2; Open Quest

The Open Quest D101 thread.

Open Quest uses a simplified set of mechanics, much like a bare bones BRP-RQ hybrid.

The basic Open Quest game is a solid, simple fantasy system. A little too simple for my tastes (Bare Bones Fantasy does this better).

The best use of the system to mind is the Cakebread and Walton “Clockwork” series. These delve into the “weird” side of Renaissance history, specifically the English Civil War complete with witches and clockwork horrors with optional Cthulhu just for fun. There is even a Pirate and Dragon option.

Nothing in these games is totally alien to the BRP line making it an option for ideas either way.

The OQ stream of games will be used for the Clockwork series only, something it does very well. I may incorporate ideas from other BRP/Cthulhu games, but likely they will be able to stand on their own feet.