Tag Archives: BoHM

BoHM – Prototyping and Playtesting V4…

V4 in action: Pilka Criss in her Destroyer, vs. Vinnie Paul Van Dahl in his Axemaster…

Last Saturday I held a public playtest of version 4.0 of the rules. This playtest was significant in that it was the first with all eight schools of rock represented by individual decks, and all 32 starting Titans. The complexity of interactions between the many, many cards in the set, at this point, meant that any errors in the core mechanics should be brought into sharp relief during play. And boy-howdy, did they ever!

The player pool turned out to be small, with only two players and myself, but I still gained a lot of valuable information on the current state of the game, and how much work needs to be done to make it ready for sale.

The first and most important change was in my perception of how the mix of conceptual elements (miniature wargaming and card gaming) balanced and affected the mechanical play of the game. On the one hand, you have the detailed mechanics of games like Battletech or WH40k, which means a lot of tactical variety, but also lots of table space and long play times (upwards of 3 hours, depending on point values).

On the other hand, you have the simplicity and portability of card games, which in general, don’t require nearly as material or table space, and rarely last no more than an hour, but have less tactical and strategic agency. My goal with BoHM has always been to create a hybrid that takes the best of both formats and ties it to a strong theme.

After two games, it became abundantly clear that this game, in its current version, leans much more heavily in the direction of wargaming, rather than card gaming, in complexity and playing-time (nearly two and a half hours for the second game, which is way out of line for a card game). Table-space skews slightly in wargaming’s favor, as well. With all the cards laid out, it takes up an area roughly 3’x 2′ per player, roughly half that of the standard miniature game, but double that of the standard card game. This imbalance clearly needed to be redressed. But how?

Feedback from the players identified three main mechanical issues, in this regard:

An imbalance between armor vs. damage
A lack of motivation to maneuver and find cover (especially in a 2-player game).
A lack of significant differentiation between ranged, melee, and hand-to-hand combat.

ARMOR VS. DAMAGE

The shifting balance between armor and damage has been an issue since the first version of the game. Titans died too easily in versions 1 and 2, and then I overcorrected between versions 3 and 4, so that the playtest games took far too long to resolve. Even after the changes made on the fly after the first game in Saturday’s playtest, the second took almost 3 hours to finish.

It was at this point that I realized why I was having this issue: my wargaming roots were showing, and overly influencing my mechanical design.

I’ve always been very vocal about how this game is supposed to be an homage to all the things I loved in my ’80s youth. The problem with this is that collectible card games were a post eighties invention, and not as ingrained in my gaming DNA as tabletop wargames. At one point I owned about 85% of Games Workshop’s catalog (and pretty much kickstarted the GW hobby in my neck of the woods), while I sold all my Magic cards a mere two years after it came out and only dabbled with other card games. It wasn’t until games with in-play deck-building mechanics popped up over the last decade (games like Star Realms), that my interest in the possibilities of card-based games was truly piqued.

Having realized this, I went after the wargaming shibboleths that haunted my current version of the game. The first thing to go was the armor roll, a core element of the game since version 1, and based on the traditional armor save used in most tabletop wargames (especially WH40K). I love the mechanic, because its quick and easy to understand, but it doesn’t combine well with the ablative armor system used in games like Battletech (which I also loved).

In effect, I was doubling down on armor, and it was taking forever and a day to actually cause any damage. I needed to use one, or the other, not both (duh). Ablative allows you to have extended combats between single units, and creates tension without the swinginess of dice pools, so out went the armor roll. I kept cover rolls for terrain, but for the most part…

Speaking of doubling down on armor, the last version boosted external and internal structure totals considerably. This issue was less easy to fix, and it forced me to go back and change some of the underlying formulae and numbers that formed the core of Titan design.

The main issue was the linearity of structural progression between different sizes of Titan. Reduce the numbers for the larger models, and the lighter ones become glass cannons. But increase them, and destroying a Juggernaut becomes a matter of death by a thousand cuts. So, a new formula was introduced that reduced the discrepancies in structural integrity between various Titan classes (providing more of a negative curve) and relied more on other factors to highlight the differences in power level (like weapon capacity, strength, speed, and literal power levels).

This, of course, meant changing an entire set of interrelated cells in a massive multi-page spreadsheet (and rebuilding several Titans in the process), but even if the balance isn’t perfect this time, it will be much easier to modify using a single set of numbers in future, so it was totally worth it.

A whole lot of functions goin’ on…

All of this naturally inspired a partial solution to problem 2, as Cover now has become much more valuable as the only real way to mitigate damage (along with other special effects, like the cooling ability of water, or the ability to block LOS using a hill or cliff). Two birds with one autocannon round, so to speak.

FIRE, SHRED & RUMBLE

Solving the differentiation between attack modes was the easiest of the three issues to solve, and also contributed to making the game less static (issue two, again). In the first playtest, once in close range, nobody budged, and it became a slug-fest of ‘I shoot you,’ followed by ‘fine, I chop at you.’ The Tactical Display became an afterthought, the differences between ranged and melee Titans became irrelevant, and the game was reduced to simply chucking dice at one another. This was the one area in which I had a total wargame fail.

Like this, but stretched out over an hour…

My redesign should hopefully create more nuanced version of combat. Only certain weapons are now allowed in Melee and Hand-to-Hand combat (range 1 and melee weapons for Melee, none at all for Rumble), engaging and disengaging requires the use of precious actions (improving the action economy as a side result), and going full Rumble is (as in real life) such a desperate affair that it encourages Titans focused on ranged combat to keep their distance (which means I’ll also be expanding the number of Zones on the Tactical Display to allow more room for maneuver).

BUT IS IT METAL…?

Hopefully, all of this will redress the balance between the wargaming and card playing aspects of the game, by reducing play-time while also boosting tactical options and considerations. But only time, and future play-tests, will tell.

It wasn’t all redrafts and rebuilds, however. The general consensus on the difficulty of learning and applying the game rules seems to be that, once the basic rules of the game have been applied for a couple of rounds, the game is rather simple to learn and play. There is a great deal to learn, strategically, due to the variability of the cards used in the Tactical Action Deck, but no more so than any other deck-building game, and, after only a half hour of play, one player was really starting to get the hang of how to apply his deck, and which Titan and Rider would be best suited for it.

The game theme was also fairly well received, and the feeling of giant rock & roll robot combat seemed to come through well in play. One player actually sang the title of one of the cards every time he played it (in this case, ‘Black Betty’ by Ram Jam).

Sonic Wizardry was also repeatedly employed, and reinforced the musical fantasy element the game needs to really reinforce its theme. Those damned Dogs of Doom (nightmare spectral hounds of titanic proportions), for example, worried my legs constantly throughout the game, and my own music kept costing him actions due to the distraction of spectral images called up by my playing Fear of Ghosts.

The Riders also have enough variation to give them all a unique role in combat, depending on which Titan and Deck you combine them with. There is a lot of variety there, and no two games need to be the same. It was actually a lot of fun playing duelling doks, a game where both combatants were less combat oriented, and relied more on their specialist abilities to grab victory.

In case you’re wondering, it was Corgan by a headshot…

There’s still a lot of work to do before the next playtest, but I’m on the right track, and getting closer…

ART REFLECTS LIFE… IN THE METALSPHERE…

ACES & EIGHTS

For my Aces & Eights card, it was clear that some rando picture of poker just wasn’t going to cut it. It occured to me that the cards used by the people in the 31st century would have evolved a great deal from those used by the folks of the 21st, just as our modern decks evolved from the Tarot style decks used in the 15th (which, contrary to popular belief, were not originally used for occult purposes). In fact, considering the way the civilization of the 31st century is organized, I figure a devolution back into a form of Tarot style Poker deck based on the Rocktagon, might be in order.

An image of custom cards and chips being a rather easy thing to mock up in Illustrator and Photoshop, I sat down one night and knocked out the art piece at the top of this post in a couple of hours, but being a person whose mind tends to worry a concept like a dog with a bone, It didn’t stop there, and I went ahead and figured out the structure for the whole deck, and started thinking about how it would be used.

THE ’88 DECK

The playing cards of the 31st century, much like those of the 21st, are primarily used for a variety of games, but they also serve a secondary function: reinforcing the presence of the Rocktogon in every aspect of life in the Metalsphere. As such, every facet of the deck emphasizes the metaphysical underpinnings of that unifying symbol.

Three of Punks

The current form of the deck became standardized in 2888 (hence the name), and contains eight suits, each representing one of the Eight Great Schools of Rock:

Crucifixes (The Nazarites)
Tears (The Grim)
Punks (The Punks)
Skulls (The Kurgan)
Seals (The Sabbathites)
Masks (The Kabuki)
Potions (The Hermetics)
Dragons (The Ygwie)

Each suit contains the following cards:

Eight of Dragons

The Ace: Treated as a 1 in most cases, but in certain games, Ace’s have special rules.
Number Cards (2-8): Their value is based on their number. However, the card that represents the Harmonic Number of the School on which the Suit is based is considered a Trump.
The Titan: Base value of 9. It might have extra powers depending on the game played.
The Minor Saint: Base value of 10. It might have extra powers depending on the game played.
The Patron Saint: Base value of 11. It might have extra powers depending on the game played.
The Marauder: There is only one of these cards in the deck. They have no suit and are typically considered wild.

Not counting The Marauder (who exists outside the proper structure of the Rocktagon, anyway), there are 88 cards in the deck, two eights, which further reinforces the perceived mystical connection to the underlying structure of the metalhead’s universe. And in a throwback to ancient Earth superstition and charlantry, some espouse the esoteric energies of the cards and make a living giving divinitory readings (supposedly by ‘communing’ with the Saints of Rock). This practice varies considerably, from being almost ubiquitous amongst Sabbathites, to completely outlawed in Nazarite space, but almost all citizens believe, to one degree or the other, in the power of the cards to foretell the future.

Despite the reverence paid to the symbolism of the cards (and the great pride individual owners take in their personally customized decks), the main use of an ’88 Deck is for gaming purposes, mostly gambling, and there are at least as many 31st century variations on 21st century Poker as there are cards in the deck. Other popular games include Galactic Supremacy (a strategic bluffing game where the cards represent conventional forces, Titan Riders and Military Leaders), Warp (a trick taking game akin to Spades crossed with Baccarat), and Rocktagon Rummy (essentially the same as Rummy, but with more suits).

STATE OF THE JABBERWOCK…

Still trying to find a full time job 3 years after graduating with my MFA, so things have been slow on the gaming front, with little time to play, much less design, but here is the dirt on the projects at hand.

QUARTERBACK BLITZ

Now in it’s 9th revision, I have completely revised the game to use a smaller playing surface and simpler mechanics that still accurately represent professional football, but abstracted to speed up play considerably. The 1-1 field representation and UGO-IGO mechanics have been replaced by something that more closely resembles the chess match that is X vs.O in flow and visual components.

THE BOARD

QBB_Field_Rev9 The board is now split into irregular areas that reflect how the offense mentally identifies the field. This makes plays easier to design and also helps to reduce the number of movement related skills.

The Zone skill, for example is now unnecessary as the amount of segmentation decreases as one moves upfield, with board spaces becoming larger, allowing a Free Safety to cover the rear of the defense realistically.

THE PLAY SEQUENCE

Whereas before, I had each individual player taking an action during a turn, I have realized that the action in a play really can be divided into a sequence of three parts: 1. The Line Action, where interaction between the O and X lines determine the flow of the rest of the play; 2. Running Routes, where the rest of the Offense deploys to receive the ball and the defenders react to those deployments; and 3. The Resolution, in which the ball is released and the final results of the play are determined.

This greatly speeds up play, as it is no longer necessary to fuss with all 22 players during a single play. The results of 1. The Line might end up with a sack or a running play, eliminating the necessity of dealing with steps 2 and 3. Similarly, the results of the line limits how many players the offense gets to deploy before they must pass the ball, and certain timing passes will force the ball to be thrown immediately, again, eliminating the need to waste time fiddling with non-active players. And Step 3. The Resolution, is now a simple roll off on a table to determine final yardage instead of the back and forth moving of miniatures until the ball carrier is brought down or reaches the end zone.

THE CARD

Building plays is now easier with a system of offensive and Card_Play_Route defensive cards that focus on particular parts of the play sequence and certain areas of the field. A coach’s hand will consist of a number of cards (7 on average) which can include a combination of Play cards (routes, defensive structures, etc. as seen on the right) and Action Cards (special events and skill usage).

Rules for skills are now presented in a more usable format: Instead of having to memorize skill lists with tons of exceptions, all the info needed to play will be on the particular card used (both play and action). This makes the game easier and faster to play and allows for a smaller number of broader skills with a greater variety of uses.

BARBARIANS OF HEAVY METAL: THE CARD GAME

This is actually pretty close to done. In play-testing, the mechanics seem to work extremely well at recreating miniature wargaming with cards.

I want to redo the armor rules and tighten up the mechanics for building Titans, to speed up play and reduce complexity a bit. Also, I’m considering how to simplify the card types to cut down on clutter.

DONJONS & DRAGOONS

waterloo Just before finishing Bone Orchard, I went off table top RPGs and hung up my hat as a designer in that area. The customer base was too segmented and the profit to cost ratio was poor, but mostly, I just didn’t enjoy it anymore. It might have helped if there was a subject that really grabbed my attention and hadn’t been thoroughly explored yet, or if the RPG market was even slightly interested in any of my more outlandish and niche projects like BoHM.

Flash forward 2 years and I’ve picked up an interest in the Georgian Era, and Napoleonics. After a lot of reading over the last year or so, I am inspired to do another RPG based on that period. This time the interest is an academic one, however. I want to make what I believe the first RPG would have looked like if I had been at the forefront of that design instead of Gygax and Arneson. What would it look like if I had created the first RPG, based on Napoleonic wargames instead of fantasy, and based on my particular design ethos and predilections?

So I’m slowly, over time and in between working on other things, building an RPG based on the period, based on the 3 booklet structure of the original D&D game, but with rules of my own,which will be more heavily inspired by the refereed narrative of the Braunstein games of David Wesley rather than the more mechanistic Chainmail rules. It’s one part academic exercise, one part keeping my design skills sharp and one part trying to finish something less graphically and workload intensive than my other two projects.

There is another motive: I am looking to create a video channel on games and game design and I think this would make an interesting subject for a ‘How To Write an RPG’ series of videos for that channel. But more on that later….

METALWORKS (3/25/15): MEET REX…

The final deck for my demo set is complete: Rex Sweet, Nazarite Priest in his Juggernaut class 4RC-H4NG3L ‘Archangel.’

Along with this new deck, I’ve updated all the older ones as well, to take into account some slight rules tweaking and to include counters for Heat, Power, and Damage as well as Control Markers, so you can mark cards from your deck that are placed into other player’s areas.

All that is left is to create the cards for creating the Tactical Display track and put the rules into a proper demo rulebook, although the latter might have to wait as I have a metric butt-tonne of cards and counters to assemble before tomorrow. Still, everything should be good to go for you to download the game and give it a whirl within the week.

METALWORKS (3/22/15): MEET LITA…

Deck production is speeding up as repetition means less original content to create with each new deck. The latest one inroduces our first female Rider, Lita Osbourne (patterned after Lita Ford and Natasha Kerensky), and a new, heavier class of Titan: the Juggernaut class SAB-V0LUM4 ‘Supernaught.’

Lita’s deck strategy is more about subterfuge and support than the previous two, making use of more external forces granted to her as favors from other Lords around the Metalsphere and finding ways to sabotage her enemies’ plans.

I’m confident that I can get one more deck done, and this one will be the mortal enemy of Lita’s, a Nazarite in another Juggernaut class Titan who can give her a run for her money…

METALWORKS (3/21/15): MEET ULI…

Following up on Eddie from last week, we have Uli Jon Hammet, Yngwie marauder, ex-gladiator and current leader of the Star Scorpions, a band of interstellar pirates who work on and off as mercenaries. You can find Uli’s Deck here.

Once again, there are three sets of cards in the PDF. The first 2 pages are Titan and Rider cards, the next 4 pages are Titan Systems and the remaining pages make up Uli’s 60 card TAC Deck.

I’m going to try and knock out a couple more decks before Thursday, and as each deck gets easier as cards repeat, that might happen, but I also have to get the rules written up and put in PDF. I’ll get that done first and post them up sooner than later so you can test out both of these decks against each other.

METALWORKS (3/15/15): MEET EDDIE…

I’ve been plugging away at the demo decks for BoHM: Titans for a bit now, trying to nail down the format for the various types of cards you will find in the set, and I’ve finished my first test set: ‘Iron’ Eddie Dickinson, Veteran Sabbathite Rider in his 1RN-M41D3N.

There are no images ready for the System cards yet, and all the portraits in the TAC Deck are almost 100% borrowed from the intertubes without permission, but other than that, the cards are ready for print and playtesting, once I get the next rider and the rules online

There are three sets of cards in the PDF. The first 2 pages are Titan and Rider cards, the next 4 pages are Titan Systems and the remaining pages make up Eddie’s 60 card TAC Deck.

Next up: Uli Hammet, Veteran Yngwie Rider and his AX3-YNGW13 AXEMASTER!

It’s been snowing like crazy over here, so I’ve had lots of time to work on the card prototypes for Barbarians of Heavy Metal: Titans. For this Metalworks, I want to show you how things are coming along in that area, and discuss a few of the mechanics in play.

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF BATTLE

There are a number of card types in BoHM:Titans. It is a Tactical Card game and that means that, as a card representation of a tabletop miniature wargame, it needs a good deal of variety to represent the many wrinkles in that game medium as well as to provide plenty of options for deck customization.

To that end, Titans contains three broad categories of cards, some of which are further divided into specific sub-types. It may seem like a lot of things to remember, but like Magic, a lot of the differences are not necessarily about mechanical sub-systems, so much as a way to organize and target specific types of activity. For example, there is little difference between a Leader card (special in-game personalities) and any other Strategic card in the TAC deck, but there are cards (like the Hashashin) that specifically target Leaders, which means they need a specific icon to represent them, but not an entirely unique rules subset.

The three categories of cards are Titan Cards, System Cards and TAC cards.

TITAN CARDS

Titan cards represent the actual physical structure of the Titan and the Rider behind its control interface. The primary card sub-type in this category are the Superstructure cards, which are laid in a pattern to thematically represent a diagnostic interface, like so:

Superstructure cards are unique to each Titan (and will eventually have unique art for said Titan). Each card represents a specific targetable body part with information pertaining to that specific Titan on it, including the Production ID (the Titan’s name), Hit Location numbers, Damage capacity, Systems loadout and, on the head, the game stats and cost (in Metalocity) of the Titan.

When a particular part of the Superstructure takes damage in excess of its Damage Capacity, you flip the card, which then shows you the effect of losing that bit of the Titan (in a nice, bright, alarming red):

A Titan is only as good as its pilot, however, so the next most important card in this category is the Rider Card, and that is what we will examine next.

I should point out at this juncture that, while most of the graphic design you see on these cards (including icons, backgrounds, etc.) is all my original art, the portrait style images you are going to see from this point on were scoured from the internet for prototyping purposes.The cool image of Bruce Dickinson on the cards below, for example, is borrowed without permission from Ian Jones, although I might commission it and some other work from him for the game if I get enough funding. Check his stuff out, it is really cool.

On the back side of the card we have the bio information and cost in Metalocity for our rider. On the front, all the game info needed to use him, including (from left to right) his School of Rock (with Harmonic and Discord numbers), Ride, Fire, Fame, Defense, Shred (melee), Luck, Health, and Rumble (hand to hand) stats.

Below that, in the text box, we have Eddie’s Skill set (which can enhance certain TAC Cards) followed by a special rule that sets him (a veteran) apart from lesser metalheads on the battlefield. In this case, he can cause damage to conventional forces, which represents his fearsome reputation causing mass desertion among the ranks.

At the very bottom we have the various musical styles Eddie is proficient in, which determines which Sonic Wizardry Cards he might include in his TAC Deck.

The third card in the deck is a Target Card, which bears an image of the Titan and serves as a ‘miniature’ on the Tactical Display(which I’ll discuss in an upcoming post).

SYSTEM CARDS

The systems listed on the Superstructure Cards are represented by special System Cards which detail their capabilities and state of readiness.

These cards are set up in the center of the player’s area and are typically activated by ‘Rocking’ them (turning them sideways). After they are Rocked, they must be ‘Readied’ in a later phase. Cards can also be ‘Reaped,’ or removed from the play area and placed in a Salvage Pile. Certain weapons with ammo restrictions might also be ‘Flipped’ over on their face to represent that they are still functional, but out of ammo (Rock/Ready and Reap BoHM_Card_System_MJ1-N1R_Gothammer are the main ways you utilize cards in the game and should be familiar to those who have played similar games before).

The Gothammer on the right, is a Ballistic weapon (indicated by the tilted bullet which means that it can be targeted by certain TAC cards, like the Weapons Jam Discord), it takes up 5 component spaces on the Titan and is High Tech (tech levels, again, allowing targeting of special cards, like Repair, and so on). It has indirect fire, which means it can hit any zone on the Tactical Display, does D8+4 damage and has an Ammo Check rating of 2 (any roll of doubles of 2 or more flips the weapon).

The special rules make each system unique, so no two weapons need be alike. Our Gauss cannon, for instance must be powered to fire (which generates heat), and does extra damage to the surrounding area when it hits. The little hand rocking out at the bottom indicates that this card has a Hardcore result, for those who roll a Harmonic when using it (which, again, I’ll discuss at a later time).

TAC CARDS

The most numerous and variable cards in the game are the TAC cards which make up the TAC deck. Each player may hold a number of cards in their hand equal to 5 + their Rider’s Ride stat.

TAC cards can be Rocked, Readied and Reaped, but also Rolled, i.e. placed at the bottom of the TAC Deck, instead of Reaped, if the card so indicates. They come in a wide variety.

BoHM_Card_TAC_Terrain Terrain Cards represent the surface features of the battlefield and how it affects the combatants.

You may play Terrain Cards as a Move Action, which represents your Titan moving into that Terrain, and you might have a number of such actions which means you can layer Terrain cards on top of one another to increase their effect. The number and type of Terrain you can include is determined by the Mission Environment, so these Woods can only be used when said environment is Temperate, for example.

Titans retain the advantages of these cards until they leave a Zone, at which point all terrain cards are Rolled back into the TAC Deck.

Support Cards represent conventional forces, artillery and other battlefield support elements. It is here that you find you infantry, tanks, aerospace forces, and so on, and there are a few special subtypes within this category. Almost all of them require a Support Test, based on the Rider’s BoHM_Card_TAC_CF Fame, to Ready into play, representing the scarcity of resources and the fact that only the most famous metalheads will have access to the choicest support units, like the F-Bomb or the Valkyries (seen at right).

The Valkyries, for example, are a type of CF, or conventional Forces card (infantry, in particular, as indicated by the top right icon). These are played onto the Tactical Display and function like Titans, with 1 action each Game Round (called a Clash).

They have their own limited set of stats, like movement speed, Fire, Defense and Armor, as well as a set range, damage type (D6+2 in the Valkyries case) and Damage Capacity. Elite units will have other special rules.

BoHM_Card_TAC_tACTICAL Tactical Cards (indicated by the barricade icon in the top right) represent certain advantages that might present themselves during the course of battle, like an opportunity to push an enemy of the side of a cliff, or special tactics a rider might regularly use, like powering down to hide their Titan.

A Rider’s skills are often important components when determining the effectiveness of certain Tactical Cards. Just because two different players have the Run for the Hills card in their Deck, it is the one whose Rider has the Thrall skill that will find it most useful, playing more and/or better cards as instants than the Rider who was never a slave in the Metalsphere.

Strategic Cards are like Tactical cards, but on a grand scale. They represent the effects of long term planning before the battle and have a much longer-lasting and widespread effect than Tactical cards, which are all based on spur of the moment decision making.

Like Support cards Strategic Cards really rely on your reputation to use effectively. You may never use a Strategy card that has a Fame requirement (represented by the flaming star icon) higher than your Rider’s Fame. For instance, I Am More Metal Than You, represents the Titan Rider challenging another Rider’s Metalocity, and that only works when you are plenty Metal yourself.

BoHM_Card_TAC_Leader A sub-type of Strategic card is the Leader (represented by the skull icon wearing an officer hat). These cards represent special personalities in your Warzone that you might have influence with. If you have the ear of a Leader, they can use their influence to provide everyone on your side of the battle with long term enhancements.

While there are generic personalities, like Hashashin (assassins) and Shades (scouts), most leaders, like the War Pig, are very particular to a certain School of Rock, and may only be used by a Rider from that School. This often have negative effects on Riders from the opposing School as well, as the War Pig does on Nazarite Infantry.

Harmonics are special cards that you can play when you roll your Schools sacred number on the Rocktohedron (the eight sided die). They come in two types: generic, like the Scream card to the left, which can be played by anyone; and School Specific, which can only be included in a deck of a Rider from that specific School of Rock.

These cards are used to really push the uncertainty of combat, where a bit of luck is always a factor and special circumstances can swing the tide of battle in truly bizarre directions, like ripping another Titan’s arm off and beating it with its own appendage. Some Harmonics are Reaped immediately, but some stay in play until Reaped by Discord.

Discords (represented by the Augmented Fourth Icon) are the opposite of Harmonics, and you actually don’t play these on yourself, but on other players who roll the number of the opposing school on their Rocktohedron.

You play Discords directly into another player’s area, and they hang about causing problems until that player can Reap them with a Harmonic or special card.

They come in general and specific flavors, but you really want to stack your deck with Discords that affect a specific School (represented by the icon to the Left of the title) to get the most use out of them, which means keeping a side board with Discord cards for various schools handy.

Overheat Cards are part of the Heat system in the game. Generating excess heat shuts down systems as it rises, but it also leaves the Titan open to having one of these cards played on it by another player during the HVAC phase if the heat level equals or exceeds the rating on this card.

Overheat cards allow me to implement a wide variety of funky heat effects that can hamper, damage or even disable a Titan. The Ammo Explosion card on the left, for instance, reaps an Ammo Bay, which (based on the info on the Ammo Bay card) causes it to explode and damage the Titan. There are also cards for shutting down down the Titan, melting components, cooking the Rider and setting the surrounding terrain on fire.

Finally, we have Sonic Wizardry Cards. In the universe of BoHM, sub-quantum superstring manipulators can be built as a variety of instruments to produce music that literally manipulates reality.

Certain Titans are built with giant Harmonic Resonators (the core of a superstring manipulator) inside them, moleculer speaker arrays in their surface and a special instrumental interface in the cockpit to allow the Rider to bend reality from inside the machine. To the outside observer, it looks for all the world like the Titan is playing air guitar, or miming the play of some other instrument.

In Titans, Sonic Wizardry cards are basically science-magic and can do some fairly awesome things if you have the right styles at the right ratings. The card above, for instance, is in Eddie’s TAC Deck.

NOW TO CREATE THE ACTUAL DECKS

Now that I have the prototype bases done, I am moving into InDesign and designing the card sheets for the demo set. There will be at least 4 Titans and 4 Riders with 4 unique decks, but if I can, I want six ready for demoing at Cometcon at the end of March. But I also have about 180 cards to create for the next revision of QBB, so we’ll see what happens.

Any comments on what you’ve seen, questions on how the game might play out or suggestions for cool heavy metal inspired cards? Head over to my forums and let me know what you think…

VOID HUNTERS: A NEW PARADIGM…

Now, of all the things I’ve been trying to get done lately, none have seemed so out of reach as the concept of the Digital Table Top Role Playing game. It just seems that no matter how many times I’ve tried to get that concept flying, from trying to Kickstart the idea to almost having an independent team ready to realize the proposal (before they backed out at the last moment), it just doesn’t seem to be able to peak the level of interest necessary for it to become a viable product. It is simply too much to do on my own, and the type of people I need to develop it with me are generally more interested in using their skills for fully fledged video games, not hybrids.

Over time, I have come to the realization that the problem with the DTTRPG concept is two fold.

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

First, what I was trying to create with the BoHM digital game was basically a digital charactersheet/dice roller/rulebook/GM Suite combo, which, in itself is not a bad idea. But it doesn’t really innovate as far as it needs to. You’re still looking at a screen with numbers and dials and lists, etc. so it really is no more than your standard RPG, just with less stuff to carry around. This could be why it received such a ‘meh’ response from the RPG community.

BoHMScreens02-Chargen The answer to this issue involved really looking back at the research I did long ago on what RPGs offer us that computer games don’t, and vice versa, and coming to the realization that what I was attempting did not go far enough in moving the game further into the acoustic space that RPGs inhabit. Making the game less of a game and more of an ‘experience’ for the players.

The answer to this, of course is to make sure that the player interface should remain as thematically ‘pure’ as possible. Character creation would still be of the standard RPG variety, but once that is complete, the UI should endeavor to take them out of the ‘roll’ and immerse them in the ‘role.’ The only person with pure game info should be running the game and making all the magic happen behind the scenes, presenting the players with dramatic representations of the raw numbers they’re generating on the fly.

Don’t confuse this with a video game of the first person variety. Yes, the information is first person, in a sense (were not talking moving about a 3D or even 2D world here, as the game will still rely on the acoustic centers reinforced with a few still images or simple animations), but the AI is strictly human, generating an infinite amount of content, not through programmatic procedural generation, but with a few simple tools in their GM Suite and all the data provided in the ‘rules database.’ BoHMBook

The second issue revolved around the complexity of the rules for BoHM which were, in hindsight, a bridge too far for the concept. It was going to take a lot of programming and fiddly UI design to make the thing usable, which, without the money from a successful crowd-funding campaign, was immediately going to turn off any potential co-developers.

Again, simplified rules were necessary to allow the GM to run things efficiently behind the GM Screen of his interface, and to allow the players to get the information they needed without a lot of interface acrobatics. This is where Void Hunters comes in.

VOID HUNTERS: DTTRPG

Void Hunters is another project that I just can’t seem to get off the ground, but whereas the DTTRPG idea is all about a lack of resources, VH is all about my lack of interest in creating yet another same old, same old TTRPG. I’ve been desperate to do something different with it. To make something that goes beyond the standard setup that is currently being done to death in a thousand different ways over at RPGNow. To make something that people actually enjoy playing, as opposed to adding to their ever growing library of games they bought but never use (and those of you who buy digital RPG books now exactly what I’m talking about). hr_giger_dreads

The beauty of VH as a DTTRPG, however, is the external rules (those utilized by the GM and players) are completely old school in conception, and easily broken down into object oriented programming modules that modify a basic rule package. In addition, the old school ethos of ‘Ruling over Rules’; and ‘Description over Dice’ means that half the game is going to be run from the GM’s description and the player’s reactions, anyway, so the user interface can be much simpler.

The internal (as in, inside the actual module) rules for VH will be designed to be resolved through programmatic methods, like an actual video game. The classes I’ve laid out will still be the core around which the game revolves, but the equipment, ships, etc. will all be designed to work as a computer game, albeit, one with a strictly human center. This allows the rules to be very simulationist, without burdening the GM or players with the simulation.

Starship combat, for instance, can be extremely realistic, using three axis of movement, ∆V and all sorts of other factors while still presenting the player and GM with simple options (an idea I thought up last year to create a hyper-realistic, yet easily playable, space combat table top game for my friend Tom’s Sword into Darkness universe). The starship interface needn’t be very complex because, honestly, VH style starship combat would mostly occur outside visual range and would be more reminiscent of submarine warfare than Star Wars style dog-fighting.

The science fiction element of VH also lends itself to a tablet or phone based display by allowing the player interface to reflect an ‘EyePhone’ style interface. The tablet or phone screen will represent what the characters see through a smart-glass like HUD implanted in their brain that displays vital information. Through this we can show their health, equipment icons (which they touch to ‘use’), etc. and keep them in the game, instead of taking them out of it the way reviewing an external character sheet does.

The GM Suite would include all the tools necessary to run an old school game, including writing tools, random generation tools, character trackers, etc. and tools for communication with the player’s devices. They’ll be able to see what the players roll, send them secret messages, and post images of the scene, if they desire (and all the modules for the game would include scene images for that purpose). It would be totally utilitarian, like a digital GM Screen, with tabbed interfaces.

What about a rulebook? Who needs one. The computer handles all the rules and the only reference the GM will need is one that describes the classes, the equipment, ships, etc. Creating new items will be handled through appropriate interfaces and will automate the process as much as possible. And if that still doesn’t get he GM the perfect ship, alien, etc. a handy ‘House Rules’ tool will allow them to modify the database entries manually.

TO BE CONTINUED…

I’m not done with either the DTTRPG or VH yet, and I’m determined to make one last stab at turning them both into something a bit different and revolutionary for the RPG market. I’m going to be considering all the elements over the next few months and, as soon as one of my other projects is ready for production, I’ll revisit it and see what it will take to turn it into a realty. Who knows? Maybe by that point, folks won’t be so turned off by the idea of a truly digital RPG experience… 160d21128da98dc567406f7e2442d9ec-d53u2f1

METALWORKS (February 20th, 2015)…

Thinking about the title of last weeks post, it occurred to me that what I do is just a high tech version of the same thing artisans have done throughout history. I forge a piece (new ideas, text and mechanics), I pound it into shape (with my keyboard and constant revision) and then I add the personal touch (a certain voice, or style of art) that signifies my work. Writers, in essence are the literary equivalent of ironmongers. Wordmongers, if you will. So I’ve decided to list all my production updates under Metalworks from this point on. Pretentious? Maybe, but it has a certain masculine quality that appeals to my personal aesthetics.

BARBARIANS OF HEAVY METAL: TITANS

BoHM: Titans is getting ready to go into the card prototyping stage. I’m going to draw up some rough sketches of what the cards look like, create them in Photoshop and Illustrator (tons of icons to draw up) and then paste in the information from my massive list of cards using InDesign.

As I mentioned, I have 6 Riders, 6 Titans with their systems and superstructure cards, and a TAC Deck of 60 cards for each Rider, for around 400 cards (251 unique) total. I won’t be creating any original art for these, oustide of the system icons, and most will have a blank spot for a picture unless I find some existing art that particularly fits well, but they should suffice for play-testing purposes.

Should take me about three weeks to get all of that work done, what with the other project at hand…

FOR GLORY! DIGITAL BOARD GAME

I’ve been slowly working on the UI for the game, in between fits of card design for BoHM, and have the Main select screen and Character Sheet screen sussed out. The imagery is all temporary placeholder stuff, and will be completely redone for the final game, but it should give you a good idea of how things are shaping up, aesthetically and functionally.

In related news, Simon Washbourne released the Barbarians of Lemuria: Mythic Edition recently, and inside it are a few small tweaks to the system that will have a knock on effect for the For Glory! design. Brawl is out and Initiative is in, so I’ll have to change those up in the game and redo a few cards to take those into account. The combat system has changed as well, but since FG! uses a more abstract system to reflect an entire combat using a few rolls, that won’t change much of anything in the board game. Sorcery might have been tweaked, but I’ll have to see if that necessitates a change in the more abstract level of sorcery in the board game.

The good news is, being a digital game, changing such things is much less of a problem than it would be once something has gone to print. Hooray for the digital medium!

QUARTERBACK BLITZ

Once the playtest cards for BoHM:Titans are ready for action, I’m going back to work on QBB. I need to create a new deck of cards and a new presentation piece for marketing to another major sports merchandising entity. I also plan to whip up a Print & Play rules set with the very basic rules and pieces necessary to get the feel of the game, as I did with For Glory!

At that point, the game is going to go through even more playtesting to sort out the bugs in the new Play system and ensure that it accurately reflects the way football operates from a coaching perspective. And of course, I’ll be streamlining the game even more along the way.

If I’m lucky, I might have this thing out by Christmas…