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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
New system, Battlejack, development updates.
- Thread starter wolfpunk
- Start date
wolfpunk
First Post
So here is a sample soldier, this soldier is one possible way to build a sniper. I have not included any of the player abilities.
Soldier Name: Alpha
Assists:
Deaths:
Kills:
Soldier Tactics
1. Ambush: Pull 1 additional card when you determine damage for a successful attack against an opponent if you currently have the Stealth feature. This Tactic may be chosen more than once.
2. Gunslinger: Pull 1 additional card when you determine damage for a ranged combat attack. This Tactic may be chosen more than once.
3. Headshot: Pull 1 additional card when you determine damage for a successful attack against an opponent that has not acted yet this round. This Tactic may be chosen more than once.
4. Instinct: You can no longer bust when determining Initiative.
5. Rage: If you kill an opponent, declare an immediate action of your choice.
6. Rush: If you kill an opponent, Recharge an ability of your choice.
7. Tank: Reduce the damage you take by 1 pull. This Tactic may be chosen more than once.
Soldier Stratagems
1. Frenzy: Improve your Damage by 4 pulls until the end of your turn.
2. Lock and Load: Immediately recharge all Player Abilities, Soldier Stratagems and Reload all gear you possess, except for this Stratagem.
3. Trick Shot: Your ranged weapon has unlimited range in a straight line until the end of your turn. You still may not shoot through closed zones unless you have an ability or a weapon that allows you to.
Gear
Gauntlet: Damage: 1 pull. Range: 0. Disarm. Gear: 0. Cost: 0.
[] Medical Kit: Range: 0. Heal. Gear: 1. Cost: 20.
[] Pistol: Damage: 2 pulls. Range: 0. Gear: 1. Cost: 30.
[] Sniper Rifle: Damage: 4 pulls. Range: 0-4. Reload. Aim. Gear: 2. Cost: 100.
[] Stealth Cowl: Stealth (2). Gear: 1. Cost: 20.
[]
Notes
Alpha is the embodiment of “One shot, one kill,” doing it at extremely long range is just a matter of personal style. He carries enough gear with him to be self-sufficient, returning to base as little as possible if ever during a match. His Instinct ability gives him the opportunity to go first most of the time. That coupled with his Ambush, Gunslinger and Headshot tactics often add up to attacks that deal a staggering amount of damage at long range. If he can afford the Anti-matter upgrade for his sniper rifle he will choose the Trick Shot stratagem first, hoping to catch an opponent off guard. He prefers to add all of his upgrades to his Sniper Rifle.
Preferred Gear Upgrades: [] Anti-Matter, [] Laser Sight, [] Long Range, and [] Mass.
Soldier Name: Alpha
Assists:
Deaths:
Kills:
Soldier Tactics
1. Ambush: Pull 1 additional card when you determine damage for a successful attack against an opponent if you currently have the Stealth feature. This Tactic may be chosen more than once.
2. Gunslinger: Pull 1 additional card when you determine damage for a ranged combat attack. This Tactic may be chosen more than once.
3. Headshot: Pull 1 additional card when you determine damage for a successful attack against an opponent that has not acted yet this round. This Tactic may be chosen more than once.
4. Instinct: You can no longer bust when determining Initiative.
5. Rage: If you kill an opponent, declare an immediate action of your choice.
6. Rush: If you kill an opponent, Recharge an ability of your choice.
7. Tank: Reduce the damage you take by 1 pull. This Tactic may be chosen more than once.
Soldier Stratagems
1. Frenzy: Improve your Damage by 4 pulls until the end of your turn.
2. Lock and Load: Immediately recharge all Player Abilities, Soldier Stratagems and Reload all gear you possess, except for this Stratagem.
3. Trick Shot: Your ranged weapon has unlimited range in a straight line until the end of your turn. You still may not shoot through closed zones unless you have an ability or a weapon that allows you to.
Gear
Gauntlet: Damage: 1 pull. Range: 0. Disarm. Gear: 0. Cost: 0.
[] Medical Kit: Range: 0. Heal. Gear: 1. Cost: 20.
[] Pistol: Damage: 2 pulls. Range: 0. Gear: 1. Cost: 30.
[] Sniper Rifle: Damage: 4 pulls. Range: 0-4. Reload. Aim. Gear: 2. Cost: 100.
[] Stealth Cowl: Stealth (2). Gear: 1. Cost: 20.
[]
Notes
Alpha is the embodiment of “One shot, one kill,” doing it at extremely long range is just a matter of personal style. He carries enough gear with him to be self-sufficient, returning to base as little as possible if ever during a match. His Instinct ability gives him the opportunity to go first most of the time. That coupled with his Ambush, Gunslinger and Headshot tactics often add up to attacks that deal a staggering amount of damage at long range. If he can afford the Anti-matter upgrade for his sniper rifle he will choose the Trick Shot stratagem first, hoping to catch an opponent off guard. He prefers to add all of his upgrades to his Sniper Rifle.
Preferred Gear Upgrades: [] Anti-Matter, [] Laser Sight, [] Long Range, and [] Mass.
wolfpunk
First Post
Here are some of the answers to questions I have gotten from other forums about the game.
What medium am I using?
It is starting out as a pen and paper game and will be available in PDF in approximately 2 months through Vigilance Press.
It sounds like another gun-toting soldier game.
The idea of the role playing game is, that I make a player who represents a gambler playing in a casino. That player makes a soldier who represents his character in a virtual arena that in essence replaces the blackjack table. Your soldier can look like anything, you want a fire breathing dragon, a penguin with a grenade launcher or "Radiation-Mutated Super-Huge Cockroaches" you can do it. We encourage players to change the names of their gear, abilities etc because they are really just placeholders for the mechanics of the ability.
What does blackjack have to do with a combat game?
Instead of playing blackjack versus the dealer, you play blackjack against the other players. (blackjack is the equivalent of rolling the d20 to determine the result). If you beat the defender, your action happens. The unique part is, you can place a wager on your attack action against another player before you see your cards. If you hit, you deal an additional amount of damage equal to your wager. If you lose, then you lose your wager. Players have player abilities that allow them to manipulate the rules of blackjack itself, so you can force a player to stand or hit for example.
So if you die are you dead?
If you deal enough damage to wipe out a soldier's stack of chips, then they die, the player can choose to buy back in, thereby bringing his soldier back to life if he would like to. Or he can choose to quit if he doesn't think the odds are in his favor. At the end of the match, whatever chips you have in your stack are added to your winnings, and your winnings total is ranked by player to define the #1 ranked player and so on.
The gladiator arena concept is over-used.
The setting is purposedly left very vague and undefined. This allows the Dealer to make the environment whatever you want. You want to have your match in the jungle go for it, in a sunken submarine, no problem. That is simply flavor text that the Dealer adds to the description of the zones the soldiers are in. So I have held steampunk themed matches on giant steam powered galleons, we reskinned the weapons, so a sniper rifle was a long barrel, a rifle was a musket, a rocket launcher was a mortar, the blast suit armor became boilerplate and so on. If you want your soldier to have an attack that uses the mechanics of the flamethrower, but what your character to be a psionic juggernaut, no big deal buy a flamethrower and call it Mindfry and have at it.
What is the game going to let me do?
I think the idea is that this gives gamers a way to play the typical first person shooter computer game in a pen and paper environment where it isn't about who has the quickest reflexes, best video card or fastest internet connection. We don't need another 900 page D & D system, mine is a 40 page frame that allows the Dealer to recreate computer game environments, popular movie environments (for example Alien and Aliens recreations were lots of fun), book adapations (Harry Potter anyone?) and so on.
What medium am I using?
It is starting out as a pen and paper game and will be available in PDF in approximately 2 months through Vigilance Press.
It sounds like another gun-toting soldier game.
The idea of the role playing game is, that I make a player who represents a gambler playing in a casino. That player makes a soldier who represents his character in a virtual arena that in essence replaces the blackjack table. Your soldier can look like anything, you want a fire breathing dragon, a penguin with a grenade launcher or "Radiation-Mutated Super-Huge Cockroaches" you can do it. We encourage players to change the names of their gear, abilities etc because they are really just placeholders for the mechanics of the ability.
What does blackjack have to do with a combat game?
Instead of playing blackjack versus the dealer, you play blackjack against the other players. (blackjack is the equivalent of rolling the d20 to determine the result). If you beat the defender, your action happens. The unique part is, you can place a wager on your attack action against another player before you see your cards. If you hit, you deal an additional amount of damage equal to your wager. If you lose, then you lose your wager. Players have player abilities that allow them to manipulate the rules of blackjack itself, so you can force a player to stand or hit for example.
So if you die are you dead?
If you deal enough damage to wipe out a soldier's stack of chips, then they die, the player can choose to buy back in, thereby bringing his soldier back to life if he would like to. Or he can choose to quit if he doesn't think the odds are in his favor. At the end of the match, whatever chips you have in your stack are added to your winnings, and your winnings total is ranked by player to define the #1 ranked player and so on.
The gladiator arena concept is over-used.
The setting is purposedly left very vague and undefined. This allows the Dealer to make the environment whatever you want. You want to have your match in the jungle go for it, in a sunken submarine, no problem. That is simply flavor text that the Dealer adds to the description of the zones the soldiers are in. So I have held steampunk themed matches on giant steam powered galleons, we reskinned the weapons, so a sniper rifle was a long barrel, a rifle was a musket, a rocket launcher was a mortar, the blast suit armor became boilerplate and so on. If you want your soldier to have an attack that uses the mechanics of the flamethrower, but what your character to be a psionic juggernaut, no big deal buy a flamethrower and call it Mindfry and have at it.
What is the game going to let me do?
I think the idea is that this gives gamers a way to play the typical first person shooter computer game in a pen and paper environment where it isn't about who has the quickest reflexes, best video card or fastest internet connection. We don't need another 900 page D & D system, mine is a 40 page frame that allows the Dealer to recreate computer game environments, popular movie environments (for example Alien and Aliens recreations were lots of fun), book adapations (Harry Potter anyone?) and so on.
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wolfpunk
First Post
So the game is being played quite a bit by us, in fact you can follow the current world rankings on twitter. I haven't had any of my playtesters post about it because they were part of the development and I don't want to have people thinking we are fabricating reviews. Would anyone be interested in doing some playtesting and writing a review in return for a copy of the PDF when it is released?
If anyone is interested, drop a post with an email addy or pm me and I will get in touch.
EDIT: There are a couple of people interested in playtesting from this thread http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/51998so if you want to see some third party comments, feel free to check in on that thread as well.
If anyone is interested, drop a post with an email addy or pm me and I will get in touch.
EDIT: There are a couple of people interested in playtesting from this thread http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/51998so if you want to see some third party comments, feel free to check in on that thread as well.
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wolfpunk
First Post
Some more exciting developments. In true to life form, players can now place a wager on a match. Think you know which soldier is going to win the match, now you too can reap the profits. The side benefit of this type of match is the players in the match gain bonus chips for playing the match based upon how they finish. A little extra incentive to make sure that no match is without benefit.
Also added in rules and vehicles for playing battlejack as a race type game in the vein of movies like Deathrace.
Added in a "magic" system consisting of about 20 different effects that can be combines with 5 different areas of effect. Allows soldiers to bring some unique dynamics to a match that could not otherwise be achieved with normal gear and tactics.
Also added in rules and vehicles for playing battlejack as a race type game in the vein of movies like Deathrace.
Added in a "magic" system consisting of about 20 different effects that can be combines with 5 different areas of effect. Allows soldiers to bring some unique dynamics to a match that could not otherwise be achieved with normal gear and tactics.
wolfpunk
First Post
Does anyone have any interest in seeing a "Lite" version of the rules? This version removes all of the betting dynamics, no magic system, and none of the "extras" like zone features etc. It ends up being about 19 pages, but is geared more towards younger gamers. In essence a dive in and play version of the rules.
Yaknow - something like that might be a good marketing tool as well...
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