Open Day AAR

I'm back from the open day and I had a great time.
I got the few bits I wanted (and a few more things) and attended the Kings of War seminar where we got to hear about the plans for KoW

Kings of War, a 'Rorke's Drift' type scenario.

Deadzone display board, showing just how flexible the terrain system is

More of the display, I like the funky lighting

Kings of War again

A fantastic Dungeon Saga set up

There was a big game of Warpath too.  The sandy terrain was great

More of the Warpath board

The new Deadzone is clearly suitable for families

A Grand Day Out

Tomorrow (Saturday 21st May) is the Spring Mantic Open Day.

I shall be there looking for those odds and ends that every gamer needs to round out a unit or an army.

In my case I am looking for a few bits for my KoW orcs and goblins, and maybe a bit of extra scenery for Deadzone.

I'll report when I'm back.

Props

As I mentioned, I will be running A Time to Harvest so I have been thinking of props to add that little extra to the game.
The campaign starts with the investigators on a university field trip, so I thought note books would be appropriate. Besides, note taking is an important part of Call of Cthulhu.
Propnomicon, an excellent source of ideas and techniques, has designed several Miskatonic University note books, so I adapted his design and simply stuck it onto an A6 note pad. I couldn't find any reasonable pads that weren't spiral bound, unfortunately, but I think it does the job.

Here's another prop I made for a Delta Green game earlier this year.  It's a ritual stone found on an archaeological site in Orkney, actually made from a piece of slate picked up in a local car-park, engraved, and a leather thong tied round it.  The thong is supposed to look new.

May Madness

In an attempt to continue theming the month I was wondering what May will be.  I had hoped to have received my Deadzone Infestation set by now, that would have made it May; the month of Mantic.
However there has been a delay (with my stuff, not the kickstarter generally) so that didn't work, even though it's the Mantic Spring Open day on Saturday.

I might drag out my Kingdoms of Men army and get them more complete now I have the spears and pikes to finish a couple of units.  That would also help me sort out what to sell, as I have far more than I will ever need.  I must also get some more stuff finished for both my Kings of War orcs and goblins.

I have been painting more Bones undead, mostly for roleplaying (and The Walking Dead), nothing too exciting; you've seen the process by now.

But I start running A Time To Harvest, Chaosium's organised play adventure for Call of Cthulhu on Thursday.

I'll be making some extra props to go with it, and reading the new rulebooks as well, so May will have to be the Month of Mythos Madness.

The Battle of the Stag

Today was a good friends stag do, and as something a little different, we had a room at a lovely inn, the Shibden Mill Inn, and played Zombies and Kings of War.
If you don't know it, Zombies is a great 'beer and pretzels' game with plenty of opportunity to upset the other players.

The Kings of War battle was a massive 'use everything you have' game, using my orcs and another players' Abyssal Dwarves against the Stag's undead.  We had two brand new players helping out and learning (and liking) the game, and they even brought a collection of dragon toys which fought on the undead side.
At the end of five turns it was time to order dinner, but the game was still very much in the balance, a great battle.

Early stages of the game, both sides advance.  A Transformers dragon can be seen attacking the trolls.

Kaladrax munches up an orc ax horde, the green wiggly worm is a Crypt Wurm.

At the far end of the table the Abyssal Dwarves have just finished off the pesky werewolves.

One advantage of internet; we lost the stats for the undead giant (Reaper Bones) and Kaladrax.  Fortunately a quick post on one of the Mantic facebook groups gave us them.  Thanks Matt.

7th Ed - First Thoughts

Obviously I haven't read everything yet, but here are my initial thoughts about the new 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu.

Firstly a bit of background.  I have played Call of Cthulhu since the second edition was released.  I remember my friend Dave sending letters to me at uni describing his enjoyment of the game (first ed) and playing through the classic Shadows of Yog-Sothoth campaign.
The release of 2nd ed coincided with my finals and I rushed down to Games Gallery in Newcastle after my last exam and bought the boxed set.  It was our summer game that year, and the enjoyment lasted many years afterwards.

I have, or had, every edition since, and was hooked immediately I heard about the kickstarter for the seventh edition.  A lot has been written about the reasons behind the delays, but after nearly three years from the campaign closing, is it worth it?

Well, yes.  The production values alone make the books a great piece of work.  Al last we have a rulebook the equal of any recently published RPG.  The artwork is stunning, and the use of photographs throughout adds to the feel of the book.

The rules themselves have some changes.  All scores are now expressed as percentages, and there has been some tightening up of skills (e.g. Brawl replaces the various different hand to hand skills like punch, kick etc.).  There is a lot more emphasis on the character's background; who is important to them and what events or places are special.  To my mind this mirrors the inclusion of the various ideals, flaws and bonds in 5th edition D&D or the bonds in the new Delta Green RPG, and represents a shift in the hobby towards rounder character development supported within the rules themselves.
Perhaps the biggest omission to old hands is the resistance table; a staple of the BRP series.  Don't worry, there is still a mechanism for opposed rolls, it just seems odd to not have the table.
I am really looking forward to trying out the new rules once the current Delta Green/Section op is over and I will be running A Time To Harvest, Chaosium's organised play campaign at my FLGS. More on that, with details of any props I make, later.

TLDR:  its great - buy it.

Ia, the Mystery is Solved

I got the mystery parcel and it turned out to be teh long awaited 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu kickstarter stuff.

A box full of role playing goodness

The main books, just some of the contents.

All in all I got a nice slipcase containing the Keeper's rulebook, the Investigator's handbook and the Keeper's screen (itself containing a 96 page book of two new investigations, plus maps for the main rulebook's adventures and some lovely maps of Arkham and New England) plus Nameless Horrors, a six adventure supplement and Sandy Peterson's Guide to Creatures of the Mythos.

It's going to take me a long time to digest this lot, though I have browsed through my PDFs already, so I have some idea what to expect.

I have a bit of work to do finishing a prop for tonight's D&D, but them I think a bit of reading is in order.

Mystery Parcel

I got a notification of a parcel on its way to me, hopefully arriving on Monday.
the thing is, I don't know what it is, its most likely to be either 7th edition Call of Cthulhu or Deadzone:Infestation; the perils of multiple kickstarters.
I'm not sure which I want more, I'll put pics up when I know.