Dungeon World: Underwatch Characters & Setting

So I finally put together a game of Dungeon World.  This was our group's first experience with any of the *World games.  Short version of the story:  It was amazing.  It simultaneously scratched the itch to run a very free form story game while supporting all the Old School D&D troupes.   The way the mechanics helped the events in the story snowball into more and more exciting scenes was great.  Enough gushing over it though.  Check out the PDF for $10.  It's well worth it.

I'm going to do some actual play reports of the game to showcase some of the fun.  Dungeon World assumes and suggests that you fill in a lot of the setting details throughout the first session of play.  The GM comes to the table with a loose idea and asks the players leading questions to fill out the rest.

We decided to form the setting a little bit before making characters since I was interesting in twisting around a few setting assumptions to incorporate a more urban environment.  I stumbled upon this post and fell in love with the idea.  So a big Thank You goes out to henrythewhite for the inspiration.  Hopefully he doesn't mind me taking his idea and running with it.

I really liked how you could do the old school "dungeons everywhere" theme and literally put a sprawling metropolis right on top.  So the adventurers would descend into the trouble levels while backstabbing nobleman made life on the surface just as dangerous.

This is the pitch I sent to my players:

In the largest and the oldest city in The World, adventure lurks around every corner. The city has been leveled and rebuilt countless times due to wars and disasters both magical and natural.. As a result the sewer system and underbelly is home to whole communities of the “lesser” members of society and ancient passages are always being uncovered from the “old times.”

The City Below has always been ignored by the City Watch. Resources are stretched to their limit patrolling the city proper. That is until now. Something has the ruling body angry. They are fed up that the Watch does nothing in the City Below. The rulers and the Captain of the Guard came to an “agreement.” Thus the Underwatch was born. No one was required to transfer to the Underwatch but each District had to find “volunteers” to make the change. The worst miscreants from the Watch have been given positions in the Underwatch. YOU are a member of the Underwatch.

Are you ready to fight your way through the crime and grime in the City Below? Are you prepared to unearth the secrets of the cities of old buried deep below the streets? Sharpen your sword. Study your spells. Your career in the Underwatch starts now.

Lucky for me they all ate it up.

So fast forward to last Saturday when we finally made the setting come to life and make some quick characters (all character creation in Dungeon World is quick.  And like most of the game, Really Awesome).

For those of you that haven't done a collaborative Setting/World building exercise as part of an RPG before, I highly recommend it.  We played a recent game of Dresden Files and had a ton of fun making the city.  Dungeon World takes a more free form approach compared to Dresden's phases.  Normally you would just start in media res in some dungeon or other dangerous situation and build the world through actual play.

I decided to combine the approaches.  I went around and asked people questions regarding THE CITY.  Once we had a solid idea of what the city was like, we jumped into the game right in the middle of the action like normal.


The first question I asked was "What's the City's name?"  The players quickly responded with "Axiom.  New Axiom, ya know, since it has been destroyed over and over.  They always call the current top side city New Axiom."

Our City was born and all the questions and answers spawned more questions and answers.  So how did The City turn out?  Let's take a look.

Welcome to New Axiom

New Axiom is a sprawling metropolis that is situated on the coast.  It is massive in scale and many of it's structures have towers or are otherwise designed to have a large vertical footprint.  The city is divided into Districts.  Each District has a Councilor that is in charge of the goings on within that district.

My players loved the idea of a City Council of sorts that ran the city.  It also opens up the path for political games between Districts.  New Axiom also has a figurehead Chancellor or Regent that is "officially" the ruler but holds no real political power.  The Districts keep their own branch of the Watch that has jurisdiction within that District.  The newest district, The Undercity, has no official Council member and the Underwatch is comprised of all the worst of the Watch from other Districts.

Through the questions and answer session regarding the city and Characters we  were able establish that there are 12 districts.  We haven't defined them all (keeping with the make maps, leave blanks principle of Dungeon World) but came up with a bulk of them.

The Districts that were mentioned:

• Magistrate: Government District.  Home to House Vansteel


• Sky: Home to House Saraphim, who control the City's Magi-Tech Airships.
  


• Garden: Home to House Highgarden, a posh "vacation" spot for nobles.  Also controls the Food production and distribution for New Axiom.


• Arcanum: Home to University Arcana.  The entire district is the campus and home to the magical scholars.  Their branch of the watch is known as the The Black Wands. Their specialty is to police their own regarding crimes of a magical nature. The players determined that Divination is illegal (punishable by death even!) and summoning is highly regulated.  Magic is still very rare and powerful but these are laws held over from an age past.


• Stonekin:  The Dwarven District.


• Northgate:  The main enterance to the city.


• Craftsmen:  Lower class workers.  High Halfling population.


• Westgate:  The entrance for the "low."  It was established that Dwarves and Humans are viewed as equals and Elves and Halflings as "lesser" races.  Elves are prejudiced against for being responsible for the destruction of the city in ages past with their misuse of magic.


• Undercity:  EVERYTHING under ground level.  It's big, dangerous and mysterious.  The first few levels are inhabited by people and after that its all buried secrets, ancient ruins and unearthed tombs.

This leaves us with 3 districts to play with as well as all the supporting details of the ones above.  Without really trying we basically built a fantasy version of Hive Primus from GW's 40K Necromunda setting.  Rival houses, buried relics, dangerous gangs living in the Undercity.  All great stuff.  We mapped out some broad stroke details and got a little more description from character backgrounds.  I feel like the there are still enough "blanks" on the map to make anything else work.

Meet the Underwatch

Lasbador Bentledon - Wizard

Lasbador is a former student of the University Arcana and quickly gained the disapproval of the Archmage.  He was quickly offered a job in the Black Wands simply to be stripped of the title and "volunteered" to the Underwatch.

Bonds:

• Aubrey will play an important role in the events to come.  I have foreseen it!


• Dash is keeping an important secret from me.


• Akajj Farstrider is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can

Dash Seraphim - Bard

The third son in the Sky District's Seraphim family, he decided to skip out on his "mandated" appointment to the church of Pelor.  To make matters worse he further soiled the family name by engaging in a high profile scandal with the daughter of Lucius Vansteel.  Maybe a stint in the Underwatch is exactly what he needs.

Bonds:

• This not my first adventure with Lasbador


• I sang stories of Akajj Farstrider long before I ever met them in person


• Aubrey is often the butt of my jokes


• I am writing a ballad about the adventures of Aubrey


• Lasbador trusted me with a secret


• Akajj does not trust me, and for good reason

Aubrey - Fighter

Aubrey grew up in the streets of the Craftsman district.  Being a Halfling is hard in New Axiom.  Prejudice is everywhere.  Aubrey's spirit was only strengthened through the constant adversity.  She befriended a retired war hero Gregor and became the daughter he never had.  With Gregor's axe in hand she was determined to get a position in the City Watch.  Luckily the City Watch had an opening . . .

Bonds:

• Dash owes their life, whether they admit it or not


• I have sworn to protect Lasbador


• I worry about the ability of Lasbador to survive in the Underwatch


• Akajj Farstrider is soft, but I will make them hard like me

Akajj Farstrider - Druid

Akajj Farstrider is an elf from The East.  Tales of these dark skinned elves paint them as savage and cannibalistic desert nomads.  Half of that is true.  No one is sure yet of which half that is.  Akajj traveled to New Axiom and was recruited to the Underwatch.  Press ganged really.  Either way, it is a means to the check out the rumors of an ancient forest that grows beneath the city.

Bonds:

• Lasbador smells more like prey than hunter


• The spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows Aubrey


• I have showed Dash a secret rite of the Land

 

2012 Year in Review

The Year I Learn to Love Organized Play

I launched Bored & Sorcery 6 months ago.  I was riding a wave of inspiration to write about my hobbies and give myself a platform to speak about all the games I love.  It was a time where I was spending many more hours thinking about gaming than actually getting any time to play games.  I set out to post at least once a week (what I thought to be a moderate goal).  I kept up for a while and then Gen Con 2012 hit.

This year's Gen Con brought out a few games that have since taken up a lot of gaming time. Things took a shift and I started to spend lots of my free time gaming and was taking a break from the constant reading, analyzing and planning for games to play in the future.

The first game was Android: Netrunner.  The first of Fantasy Flight's LCGs that I really bought into.  I love the concept.  I love the mechanics.  I love to play it.  I was lucky enough to get the majority of my gaming group to take the plunge and we were soon playing as often as we could.  Much to my pleasure, this is still the trend.

With Netrunner came another first for me.  Branching out and finding a local scene for the game.  I tried a few times in the past to get involved in a game and never really found any success.  I was eager to play as much Netrunner as possible and was lucky enough to stumble on a post in the FFG Forums about a casual league starting up at Cat & Mouse Game Store here in Chicago.  I quickly recruited some of my fellow players from my circle of friends and we decided to join up.  What resulted was some of the most fun I've had in quite some time.

The store is amazing and the staff are great.  The steady group of players are top notch and a blast to play against.  I just love going there and geeking out for a Sunday afternoon.  I found that this greatly improved my game as well.  I get to play against different people with different play styles and it has helped me see some things that I may have missed otherwise.  I am also loving watching the group grow and get better at the game in general.  People trying out new factions or strategies after discussing them during a league match.  I see some real growth as a group from the frequency of play.  Players not falling for the same old tricks.  New players learning the game and keeping everyone's enthusiasm up.  It was my first real experience playing a game in it's Prime and experiencing everything that can go with a local "meta" scene.

As the first cycle of Data packs for Netrunner is starting to release, the excitement is still very high.  We are currently getting ready to hold a tournament to wrap up Season 1 of the League and then start Season 2 as the New Year gets underway.

My experience with Netrunner lead me to seek out other games too.  Instead of just looking for games that interested me and trying to sell them to my friends, I sought out games that that did that AND already had a game night or group somewhere for me to jump into.  I found a great group playing the X-Wing miniatures game at Games Plus on Monday nights.  I immediate felt welcome and have made some friends there while making "pew pew" noises and constant Lando jokes.  It has proved to be a great pick up and play game.  The pre-painted miniatures and the quick and intuitive gameplay make it truly enjoyable.  More so than I thought at first glance.  I bought into the game pretty deep and am eagerly awaiting the release of the second wave of ships.

It may sound cheesy or even strange but both of these experiences has really made me love gaming all over again.

So where do we go from here?

2013 is shaping up to be a fun year.  I've found 4 or 5 solid games that I plan on playing a ton of.  I have had some issues in the past with always searching for the next game to play.  I'm sure that will continue to some extent but my wallet will appreciate the effort of focus for once.  For the upcoming year I am going to focus on playing these games and seeing what happens.

I'm guessing you want to know what games made it on my list.  No?  Well here it is anyway.

• Android: Netrunner


• X-Wing


• Dreadball


• MERCS


• Star Wars LCG

The top 4 I am pretty sure on.  The Star Wars LCG looks really interesting to me.  I was lucky enough to get one as a gift this holiday season and am eager to try it out.  It borrows enough from a lot of games that I like and turns it into something really fun.  If nothing else, it should be a game that sees a good group of players (it's Star Wars remember) and the games look like they will go by quickly.

I already have plans to attend Adepticon 2013 and Gen Con 2013.  I might even make a trip to Fantasy Flight Game's Worlds Weekend in November as well.

What does this mean for the Blog?

This is an interesting question.  With all this gaming I should have more than enough to talk about right?  I mean with all the gaming books I still read there should be plenty of reviews going up and if the above is any indication plenty of after action reports and event coverage.

I really fell short of my goal for the first 6 months here.  I still have 6 months to go to make the first year come out right.  I want to expand my audience and take on some new perspectives too.  I'd like Bored & Sorcery to gain a voice in the scene in 2013. I know I can't do this alone.  I am going to look for some like-minded individuals to contribute on a fairly regular basis.  I will continue to look for a few authors that will have fun writing about everything and anything about gaming.

I have to do my part as well.  I'm going to go back to my original goal and try to post at least an article a week.  I feel like I am in a position to do that much easier than before.

So here is a sincere Thank You to all of you that take the time to read my ramblings.  A Thank You to all of those that have helped contribute content to this site and a Thank You to all of those that I play all of these crazy games with on a regular basis.  I'll see you all in 2013.

Barebones Fantasy Review

The Fantasy RPG genre is certainly one filled with choices.  Some might even say that it is getting overpopulated at this point.  I think that is all the more reason to check out the new games that are coming out.  Each author and publisher is looking to give us a new way to experience the genre and I am always eager to take a look at what might make them stand out from the pack.

Enter Barebones Fantasy from DWD Studios.

Barebones Fantasy fits within the rules-lite category as far as RPG systems go.  It offers an easy to learn rules system that keeps character creation quick the game moving along.  I was surprised to find out that Barebones Fantasy (despite the name) had quite a bit under the hood.  So let's crack it open and see what's what.

The Cover

Sometimes you want to judge a book by the cover.  In this case I was greeted with some traditional Fantasy RPG fare: A party of intrepid adventures about to battle the big bad Red Dragon.  In my eyes this is a good thing.  If you're selling a new take on traditional fantasy, why not open up with some familiar imagery to get the reader's head in the right place.







The System

The basic dice mechanic is a simple percentile.  You roll a d100 and compare it to your Ability or Skill.  If you get equal to or below your score you succeed.  Simple and to the point.

There are four Abilities that make up your character.  They are Strength, Dexterity, Logic and Willpower.  These are used to do the normal attribute stuff that any RPG player is used to with some slight differences.  Strength lets you lift objects and influences melee weapon use but also determines how much damage you can take (something a Constitution or Endurance stat usually does).  Dexterity is used to shoot, jump and dodge out of the way of incoming harm.  Logic is used for perception and deduction and Willpower is used for persuasion, bluffing (borrowing for traditional Social or Charisma stats) and some spell resistance.

There are eight different Skills that a character can learn.  They are: Cleric, Enchanter, Leader, Scholar, Scout, Spellcaster, Thief and Warrior.  These function as areas of expertise that a character has as opposed to singular skill specialties that some games rely on.  Scout, Thief and Warrior are Skills that all characters can use.  The others require training (meaning points must be invested in these) for a character to use them.

Character Creation

Making a character in Barebones Fantasy is a pretty straight forward process.  First, you roll Ability Scores.  To roll up a set you roll 5d10 and add 30 for each score.  Once you have four of them you can assign them to the four Ability Scores.  You then pick your Race (all the standard fantasy races are included).  Then you assign a primary and secondary Skill (which boost your starting score using it) and then assign one Skill rank to a skill.

Players then get to define one positive and one negative "descriptor" to their character.  These are roleplaying quirks that will reward the character with bonus Development Points (XP) if they portray this during the gaming session.

Next is Moral code which steps in and takes the place of an alignment system.  This is a cool change of pace as it gets rid of the tried and true Good vs Evil distinction.  Instead you decide to what degree your character displays certain aspects.  There are three levels: Somewhat, Very and Totally.  These are used to describe how Kind or Cruel, Forcus or Unfocused, Selfless or Selfish, Honorable or Deceitful and Brave or Cowardly they are.  After these guidelines are set, the GM can call for a WIL checks when the character is acting "out of character" and wishes to act outside their personal moral code.

After that you buy some equipment and determine all your derived stats (Body Points, Initiative, Damage Reduction from Armor and so on).

Magic and Spellcasting

Like most actions in Barebones Fantasy, Spellcasting is easy to execute.  Usually this is just a test of the Spellcasting or Cleric skill.  What is worth noting though is that spells have a toolbox approach that can change from casting to casting.  You might have a buff spell that can improve an ally's ability score.  At the time of casting you can change which Attribute is the one to get boosted.  The same goes for some of the damage spells.  Fireball one turn and Lightning Bolt the next.  It allows for quick rules but different trappings for each casting.

Combat

Combat is a straight forward affair.  You roll a d100 and compare to your ability or skill.  If you get equal to or lower you succeed and deal damage.  You'll notice that there is no "defense trait" like Armor Class or anything factored into the equation.  This is because defending counts as an action.

Each action after the first you take in a turn results in a -20 percent penalty to all skill and ability checks.  So it creates a simple tactical decision of whether you want to defend (and make any subsequent attacks suffer the increasing penalty) or do you take the hit and hit them with your full skill rating.  It also allows for multiple attacks per round, making higher ranked characters able to dish out some punishment to groups of bad guys.

GM Guidelines and Setting

The rest of the book is all for the GM.  You have a chapter that goes into more detail on running a game.  It has guidelines for bonuses and penalties to rolls as well as rules for all kinds of conditions (dazed, immobilized, prone, slowed) and different ways to get hurt (falling, starvation, fire, environmental exposure).  This alone gives Barebones Fantasy a little more meat than a traditional "rules-lite" game.

There is also an included setting that is presented in a very "broad strokes" fashion.  It requires the GM to fill in most of the details but the inclusion is a nice starting point for new comers.

The Verdict

I think that DWD Studios have a great rules-lite game on their hands.  Barebones Fantasy gives some comprehensive attention to areas that most rules-lite games simply skimp on.  This is especially welcomed in the areas of Spell utility, equipment lists and character statuses.  The rules are simple and easy to learn and teach.  I think for $10 it makes a perfect game for teaching beginners the hobby or for anyone who is looking to throw some of the crunch to the side and dive right into the game.

Android: Netrunner - Impressions

Obsession.  The word I can best use to describe my current love affair with Android: Netrunner.  I was lucky enough to have a copy snatched up at GenCon and have played somewhere around 50 games since then.

Each game has been a pleasure to play and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

Android: Netrunner is the new entry in Fantasy Flight's successful Living Card Game (LCG) stable.

That means it is not collectible and won't completely annihilate your wallet if you decide to give it a try.  So after playing tons of games and getting involved in some organized play on the local level, I feel ready to sing its praises.

So jack in and stay awhile.  This will probably be a long one.

Batman Miniature Game Announcement

Back in September, Knight Models teased that it had partenered with DC for the development of a miniature skirmish game featuring Batman and his famous rogue's gallery of villains.  Today they released a bit more info about the upcoming game.

 Batman Miniature Game is a skirmish game based on the broad Batman universe. You can command one of the most famous criminal bands in Gotham City to expand your territory and control the underworld, or stop their evil plans with the Dark Knight and his allies.

The game includes the most important characters created by Bob Kane, like Batman himself, Robin, Nightwing, etc. aided by the Ghotam City Police trying to stop the gangs led by the most infamous criminals and psychopaths of the DC Comics universe, like The Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, the immortal Rash al Goul and many others.

Knight Models team has created incredible detailed miniatures to accurately portray these characters and their sidekicks, 30 mm scale ready to assemble and paint. This is a licensed and official DC Comics product.

Batman Miniature Game is an innovative and original game system, easy to learn and tactical deep, that features thrilling combats and frenzy action, where bands of 5 to 12 characters fight to achieve their objectives in games of 40 to 60 minutes duration.

Choose side and get ready for the ultimate battle to control the streets of Gotham City!.

So a Batman game that has nothing to do with Hero Clix?  Sounds awesome.  One that is about small criminal/hero gangs fighting over Gotham City? Icing on the cake.  I really like the sound of this and if the preview pictures below are any indication, the miniatures look amazing.  Here's hoping that all this talk of territory means a campaign system of some kind included.  I'm going to watch this one for sure.

 

 



 

Night's Black Agents Review

There is no other way to start this review, so here it goes:  Night's Black Agents is something special.

 

Back At It

Yes.  I am alive.

This post is mostly for my benefit.  I let the blog get away from me for the past month or so.  I had to write something to get the ball rolling again.

I'm ready to make a concentrated effort to get things back on track here at Bored & Sorcery.  I fell off of my schedule right after Gen Con.  A project I was involved in at my job finally wrapped up last week after stealing away most of August and September.

All that means is that there is more to report on than ever.  I have been reading and digesting tons of stuff in the wake of Gen Con. Starting next week I am going to start to talk more about all my current favorites:  Iron Kingdoms RPG, Curse the Darkness, Android: Netrunner, MERCS and Dreadball.

It's a good time to be a gamer.