Stargrave Preparations

Recently, Justin, Peter, Denis and I played a round of Stargrave. If you don't know, Stargrave is the sci-fi themed cousin to the tactical minis board game Frostgrave. 

In it, teams of sci-fi marauders fight each other and try to collect loot boxes from the field. It can be played as a one-shot (as we did), or as a campaign. In campaign mode, the loot you collect helps you power up your team. 

Justin is thinking of trying to get a campaign going, and suggested that we might all want to get our own custom minis to use for our teams. 

Well, it doesn't take much to get me wanting to buy and paint more minis! 

After a few quick searches, I found a 3D printing outfit in the UK called Ott's Workshop that sells via Etsy. Nice looking sculpts, reasonable prices, and reasonable shipping to South Korea. 

So, I bought two related sets to get myself a team. I've got them all painted up already. 

Two snipers (Crowe and Frost?) plus kneeling Dietrich

Hicks in the center, and Apone on the right. Maybe Wierzbowski kneeling?

On the left is actually Future War John Conner from one of the Terminator movies. Plus Drake and Hudson.

 

Frost and Vasquez flank what seems to be a cross between Ripley and a Future War Sarah Conner.

 

 Ott's Workshop threw in some extra figures for free. There's a goblin wizard that I haven't painted up yet, but also these guys: 

 

This guy needs no introduction.

The exposed endoskeleton didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but good enough.

Gave Ripley a bit more melanin, since the group was pretty pale overall. Plus, there's the Ripley (Sarah Connor?) mini above. Dallas, Brett and Parker looking relaxed. 

 

I'm pretty happy with how the figures turned out. I didn't do much fancy work on them. Most of the detail is from the sculpts and the clean printing. Good enough for a Stargrave campaign!

 

The Boring Math Post

 I've mentioned already that for Missions & Mayhem, I came up with what may not be a novel mechanic for general proficiency checks, but at least one that's fairly uncommon in my experience. Characters all start with Basic level proficiency in all areas. This is both due to action movie logic (everyone has a chance to fly that helicopter), but also for game expedience. One problem with d20 Modern (and other 3E-forward games) is the way feats and skill training can prevent you from doing things that maybe every character should at least be able to try. 

At Basic level, if you want to perform an action covered by a proficiency in combat or other tense situations (usually no or few rolls in non-tense situations), you roll 2d4. 

At Skilled level, you roll 2d6.

At Advanced level, you roll 2d8. 

Difficulties for most tasks range up the odd numbers from 5 to 13. I haven't put anything at 15 yet, but that's still a possibility. There may be one or two things on an even number (an 8, for example), but mostly I've used the odd numbers since that's what the Classic D&D Turn Undead chart uses. 

Certain situational factors may give advantage or disadvantage on rolls. For these general proficiency 2dX rolls, advantage means rolling three dice and taking the best two. Disadvantage is rolling three dice and taking the worst two. I messed around with rolling 2d6 and 2d6 but it's easier to just add one die to the roll than have people roll twice (or roll four dice in two different colors). 

Using anydice.com to calculate these, I have the following percent chances of success for the various task difficulties: 

 

Difficulty:	5	7	9	11	13	15
2d4	62.50	18.75	–	–	–	–
2d4 Advantage	82.81	39.06	–	–	–	–
2d4 Disadvantage	35.94	6.25	–	–	–	–
2d6	83.33	58.33	27.78	8.33	–	–
2d6 Advantage	94.15	80.56	52.31	19.91	–	–
2d6 Disadvantage	64.35	31.94	10.65	1.85	–	–
2d8	90.63	76.56	56.25	32.81	15.63	4.69
2d8 Advantage	97.85	91.80	79.30	58.59	33.78	11.91
2d8 Disadvantage	77.93	53.71	30.08	13.48	4.49	0.78

 

One more factor to consider is that there is a Gamble mechanic.  I came up with this as a way to add some player choice into the chase mechanic (which is best 3 of 5 contested rolls). Then I realized it also works for other 2dX checks. Why not gamble when trying to defuse a bomb, hoodwink the Prime Minister, or land a plane after the pilot passed out from eating bad fish? 

For the Gamble, players can pick one of their ability scores. They roll a d20. If they get their score or less, they get a +1 on the related general proficiency check. If they roll over, they get a -1 penalty to the check. A character can gamble on each ability score once per game session. 

This way, even if you're rolling 2d4, you've got a slight chance to get a 9 if you need it. Or a 13 if you're rolling 2d6.  

Lock and Load

 A few weeks ago, I posted about the double-tap, burst fire, and spray fire rules I was working on for Missions & Mayhem. 

If you don't want to click the link, the gist is that following d20 Modern, I had the attacks take a penalty which then resulted in greater damage on a hit. Game mechanics wise, that makes sense. But both as a simulation and as a player trade-off decision point, my players were not happy and I was OK with it, but not in love with the mechanic, either. 

I'd considered, and several players said they agreed, that a bonus to hit but normal damage and extra ammo expended would make for a better trade-off in game, as well as being more realistic.

Reader Avi suggested in a comment that the damage bonus should only apply at short range. 

Considering all this feedback, my new rules for firearms use look like this: 

Basic Ranged Weapon proficiency: use basic ranged weapons at no penalty. -2 to hit with firearms (single shot/semi-auto mode), -4 to hit with military (autofire mode firearms, launcher) weapons. 

Skilled Ranged Weapon proficiency: use basic and firearms weapons at no penalty.  -4 to hit with military weapons. Double-Tap and Suppression Fire can be performed. 

Advanced Ranged Weapon proficiency: use any ranged weapon at no penalty. Burst Fire and Spray Fire can be performed. 

Double-Tap: Fire two rounds as one attack, with a +2 bonus to hit. At short range, the attack deals +1 die of damage. Normal damage at medium or long range.

Suppression Fire: Empty the current magazine (minimum 5 rounds, belt-fed machine guns use 20 rounds) in one direction, targeting the area (AC 11). On a hit, all characters within short or medium range in that field of fire must make a will saving throw or dive for cover, losing their actions for this round.

Burst Fire: Using a weapon with autofire capability, fire five rounds at a single target as one attack, with a +4 bonus to hit. At short range, the attack deals +2 dice of damage. Normal damage at medium or long range. 

Spray Fire: Using a weapon with autofire capability, fire ten rounds as a single attack targeting a 10' square or 5x20' line (AC 11). All in the area must make a reflex save or take normal damage.

I'll see how this works on Sunday as the party continues their exploration of Dinosaur Island. Well, I suppose they probably won't try to use suppression fire on dinosaurs...but maybe they will?

Infinite Cryptids!

 For Cryptids & Conspiracy, the first campaign module I'm working on for Missions & Mayhem, I want to keep things brief. For this reason, I've got only a handful of cryptids, aliens, paranormal entities, and prehistoric beasties statted up for the game. 

However, I've got a "Create-A-Cryptid" system for GMs to make their own. It's got guidelines for giving the creatures stats, and also several random tables for the cryptid's appearance and behaviors. With that, a GM will never run out of strange creatures for their Heroes to investigate. 

I finally finished up the creature section. Yesterday, I wrote some guidelines for how to structure missions (adventures) in the game. Most cryptid hunts won't be "dungeon" adventures, although a haunted house could be. So I've got guidelines for using the 5-Room Dungeon narrative structure in a more loose sense to stage not five encounters in five locations in a row, but five stages of a mission with some advice on the types of possible encounters that could happen in each stage. 

So, to keep score, I've got complete: 

Advice on what sort of campaign this is (or could be with modification)

3 Advanced Classes

Psychic Powers

Relevant Gear/Vehicles/Weapons

Guideline for creating Conspiracy groups

Creatures

XP guidelines

Mission creation guidelines 

 

What I still need to finish: 

Freelancers/Hirelings/Services (halfway done)

Occult and Alien Devices (notes only) 

Example Missions (I plan to include two or three short ones)

___________________________

So I'm almost done with this. Of course, I still haven't finished the Mission Creation Guidelines for the main rule book. Need to work on that, too. That and a bit of a better introduction/explanation of the game at the start are all I need still to work on for the main game. Well, of course there will still be some adjustments as I continue to play test it.  

After Cryptids & Conspiracy, I'll probably start working on Bughunts & Bedlam, the military sci-fi/horror module (based on Aliens, Starship Troopers, The Forever War, Terminator's Future War, etc.). I'd like to have three modules done before I start getting the main book finalized and laid out for release. But who knows, maybe I'll have all five of my planned modules done in time. 

Dinosaur Island

Another successful play test of Missions & Mayhem. 

Even though the rules aren't complete yet, I used the Cryptids & Conspiracy module to prepare for today's play test game. 

I was inspired by a board game I had as a kid, called Dinosaur Island. There's a newer game with the same name, riffing off of the Jurassic Park franchise. The 80s game wasn't a very good game, but as an 8 year old, it was fun. The idea is that players go around the island, trying to get the best photos of dinosaurs. The player with the best photos at the end is the winner. No need to hash out the problems with the original game (which even as 8-10 year olds, we realized wasn't that fun after one or two games unless we put some toy dinosaurs on the board to spice things up). 

The concept was good enough. I grabbed an island map made by the Welsh Piper (thanks!). Then I started to make some random encounter charts, but I realized I needed a rationale for why an island full of dinosaurs would be undiscovered in 2026. So one LOST style anomaly and a missing expedition party later, I had my set-up. 

In C&C, I have a suggested organization that Heroes can work for, the Fortean Investigations Association (FIA). In my game, it's an NGO but I suggest it could be a governmental organization, or even a loose collection of amateurs sharing findings, depending on the campaign. The FIA sent a team to investigate the anomaly. They found a way through, but their signal was cut off. The final message was one of the team members saying, "Is that a dinosaur?"

The Heroes were sent in to try to find/rescue the first party, and also collect evidence of any dinosaurs, cryptids, or other weird things. 

I won't go into too much detail, because I will probably include the adventure as an example in the finished book. But of course their first encounter with a dinosaur on the island, via random roll, was with a T-Rex! 

No one has been eaten yet, but we stopped in the middle of the adventure and will pick up more next time. They all had fun, and we got to test out the money/shopping system (semi-abstract seems to work well), the encumbrance rules, a chase (with gambling), a little bit of combat, some investigation work, some exploration, and some clever thinking. 

Missions & Mayhem Module 1: Cryptids & Conspiracy

 The draft for Cryptids & Conspiracy is coming along fairly quickly. Over the long weekend (Chinese/Lunar New Year), despite lots of family stuff to attend to, I've managed to write up quite a bit.

The conceit for this campaign setting is that the Heroes investigate rumors or reports of cryptids, paranormal activity, and the like. In the background, one or more conspiratorial adversaries are working against them. So basically...

 Of course, me being me, and flexibility being a design goal of Missions & Mayhem, I've got advice for limiting the types of weirdness the Heroes explore, running the game without conspiracies working as adversaries, or running the game with the conspiracies but not the weirdness. 

There are three advanced classes, adapted from ones in the d20 Modern core book. I've shortened them to 5 level classes, because the originals had five dead levels. They are the Battle Mind, Occultist, and Telepath. These are all optional, if GMs want to allow Heroes to have these powers. 

Battle Minds use psychic powers to improve their combat potential, including making weapons or shields of psychic energy.

Pretty much this.

Occultists study and learn about magic, but they're not spellcasters but they can employ magic items limited to spellcasters. They do get (in my version) to Turn Undead and get an occult creature sidekick at higher levels. 

Using this picture instead of the comics, because comics Constantine is more of a sorcerer. Keanu version mostly used items and knowledge, IIRC

Finally, Telepaths are the pure psychic class. They get a wider array of powers to choose from than the Battle Mind, but aren't as combat capable. 

Not this powerful, but you get the idea.

 

In addition to the advanced classes, I've got the equipment sorted (a few weapons, gear, vehicles useful for cryptid hunting or paranormal investigations). 

I've got advice on creating conspiracy groups and using them as opposition (occasionally allies), including a random 6-step d12 chart for the Who/What/When/Where/Why/How of conspiracy groups. 

I've got a list of a bunch of cryptids, ghosts, urban legends, and prehistoric beasties, but I haven't statted them all up yet. Quite a few I can borrow from d20 Modern books or my own TS&R books, but a few will be original. No one had heard of Slender Man or the Hat Man when d20 M came out. 

After that, I'll have more notes on creating missions (adventures), as well as two or three short sample adventures. 

_______

I've already referenced the more fantastic Van Helsing/Dark Shadows/Stranger Things-ish module I have planned called Hellspawn & Horror, so that one should be next. But I'll probably do the sci-fi Bughunts & Bedlam next, just because I love the genre of sci-fi action/horror. 

Guns Blazing (or maybe not?)

 Yesterday, I ran a relatively straightforward combat mission for Missions & Mayhem to play test some of the combat rules. And of course, as we got started, the players were looking for ways they could solve the mission without resorting to combat. But after straight up telling them I needed to test the combat rules, they went with it. 

The players went in with a good tactical plan, hired mercenaries for extra firepower support (old school D&D players want their men-at-arms, you know!), and good use of the "I Know a Guy" rule to get access to night-vision goggles. 

We were able to test out surprise and initiative (just like Classic D&D, and they work just as well), regular attacks and the special double-tap, burst, and spray autofire rules, grenades/explosives, and the first aid rules. 

One area I had been wondering about were the double-tap and burst rules, which I'd imported directly from d20 Modern. For both of these, in d20 Modern, you sacrifice accuracy and ammunition for increased potential damage. As a game mechanic, it's elegant. Firearms all deal 2dX damage. With a double-tap, you fire two rounds and take a -2 to hit, and deal an extra die of damage (3dX). With burst autofire, you fire five rounds and take a -4 to hit, and deal an extra two dice of damage (4dX). 

However, in M&M, it's not as easy to get bonuses to hit (no feats). Also, there's less hit point inflation, because NPCs/creatures have mostly flat hit dice, not bonuses to each die for Constitution scores. When I ran the solo test with Jeremy a few weeks back, we'd discussed the option to change double-tap and burst autofire to be a bonus to hit, rather than a penalty, but deal standard damage on a hit. The thing that holds me back is that ammo expenditure becomes the only reason NOT to double-tap or use burst fire if you have the proficiency for it. 

The rules for spray autofire (expend 10 rounds, trying to target several people with one attack) works similarly to the explosives rules. You only need to hit AC 11 (ascending AC) with your attack roll, but the targets in the area get to make a reflex saving throw. In the case of spray autofire, they take no damage on a save. With explosives, they take 1/2 damage (like fireball in D&D). This seemed to work well. No need for a change. 

I do have notes for figuring out where a grenade or other thrown explosive goes off on a miss. I think I need to also implement them for both burst and spray autofire. We had one instance where a burst attack missed a terrorist standing among the hostages. On the spot, I had the player roll a reflex save to avoid the bullets striking a hostage (failure! But the hostage survived with 1 hit point). That worked, but since I already have rules for how to determine where an explosive goes off (and it may still affect the intended target if you're lucky), it's easier to implement those for missed autofire attacks in crowded areas as well. 

We didn't get to test out the suppression fire rules (empty your magazine in one direction, opponents must make will saves or dive for cover/lose their actions for the round), but everything else went fairly well. 

Right now, I'm working on the first campaign module: Cryptids & Conspiracy. Basically, X-Files, but with potential for psychic or occult Heroes (and villains). I've got the advanced classes and psychic powers done. I need to write up a system/advice for creating and running conspiracy groups as opponents, and of course stats for a bunch of cryptids, alien visitors, and ghosts/demons that can be investigated. Once those are all done, I'll add some mission design guidelines and XP award guidelines. I'll likely include a few sample missions as well.

So still early in the process, but so far I'm happy with what I've done.