Observations of the Fox

As I draw more images for the new incarnation of Walkabout, I'm wondering if there are any people in my circles who might be interested in having their likenesses immortalised as illustrations of post apocalyptic survivors...   For those who are interested in being depicted in a post apocalyptic light, find a suitable picture for me to work off and send it my way. The pictures I'll find most appropriate are at least 300x300px (preferably 600x600 or more), with an interesting lighting. For everyone who has responded so far, I've been going through your profiles trying to find suitable photos. But a few of you have no photos at all. When, or if, you have an appropriate photo fopr me to base a picture on. Either privately send it to me here, or direct it to my regular email address (vulpinoid (at) mail (dot) com). I'm not necessarily looking for headshots, but you do want a headshot please be looking in some direction away from the camera. I'm not planning t...

Some more images I've created for the Walkabout game revision. There are plenty more on the way. I'm hoping to have at least two dozen of these illustrated over the next couple of weeks.

This has got me excited. A chance to use all my old White Wolf books again with a gamer system that might actually do them justice. Have a look. Monsterhearts pitch video - IndieGoGo from Joe Mcdaldno on Vimeo .

With this new structure in place, a simple rule for fouls becomes apparent. A skater may risk a foul by replacing their played card with the next random card from the deck. If the new card is more successful than the replaced card, it takes effect (altering the hit location or causing extra damage) but the skater’s foul risks being seen by a referee. If the new card is less successful, it must be used anyway. Some skaters known for playing dirty might gain access to skills/traits that make fouls less visible to referees or more effective.   I'll throw together some play examples with the next post.

My other project for the year was the revision for my post apocalyptic "Walkabout"... ...here's the first atmospheric shot for it.

Before we go much further, a new blanket rule will be instituted to help pull the various mechanisms into a more unified concept. The highest card wins, as long as it is below the relevant attribute for the action. If two skaters are comparing cards and one skater plays a card higher than their relevant attribute, the other skater wins; but if two cards are played higher than their respective skater’s attributes, the higher card wins. On the negative side, this means I’ll need to reconfigure some of the rules that we’ve looked at so far. On the positive side this mean that once a player understands one part of the game, they’ll have a general understanding of all parts of the game. It also simplifies a few things, and makes them quicker to play through without needing to add figures together to determine results. When we apply this rule to the concept of skater speed and distance moved, the mechanism now changes to… Skaters have “Speed” and “Strategy” attributes, an...

If you’ve been reading through this series of game development blog posts, you’ll have seen many references to Freebooter’s Fate. This is a great miniatures game released by Freebooter Miniature last year. I don’t think it will catch on with the likes of Games Workshop and other bigger companies dominating the market…but I’d love to hope that it gets a good, dedicated fan base. In this game, combat stats are rated on a scale from 1 to 5 while there are six possible hit locations on the body (Head, Torso, Right Arm, Left Arm, Abdomen, Legs). The elegance of the system is the way in which the combat stats mesh with the hit locations…it’s so simple I have to wonder why no one had considered it earlier (maybe it has been used earlier and I’m just not aware of it). When a figure goes into combat they select a number of body locations to assault equal to their attack score, the defender selects a number of body locations to protect equal to their defence score. If the attacker has ...

I’ve already decided that I like the idea of cards for this game, they can be played out quickly or held for strategic play forms. I’ve also decided that I’m aiming toward something between the quick abstract combat of Magic the Gathering, the targeted attacks of Freebooter’s Fate and the “cheating” formalised within the rules of Malifaux. I could develop a unique set of cards, perhaps for the creation of customisable decks (like MtG), but this makes the game a bit more esoteric. I want the game to be pretty quick to pick up and play. That leaves me with the standard 52 card deck (13 ranks in 4 suits), malifaux comes up with some interesting effects using a 4-suited deck of this type, but links really strongly into the hertiae of wargaming with an abundance of stats and special abilities for the miniatures. Freebooters fate is a bit more elegant in this regard…I’ll be drawing more cues from there. Four suits ties pretty elegantly with 4 character attributes. I’ve used the c...

Confrontation (2 nd and 3 rd Editons) from Rackham had a quick and easy system for miniatures combat, it combined the location of a victim’s hit with difference between attacker’s strength and victim’s toughness, and combined it all into an elegant solution for how much impact this had after an attack was resolved…all by simultaneously rolling 2 dice and comparing a couple of numbers. Malifaux from Wyrd Miniatures has a system where you randomly draw cards. In certain circumstances a character quirk lets you draw an additional card; if it’s a positive quirk you pick the higher of the two cards drawn for your result, and if it’s a negative quirk you get stuck with the lower of the two cards drawn. This system also allows you to strategically play a card from your hand to gain an advantage during play. I’ve found that card play works more quickly than dice rolling in the various game systems I’ve used, and since I want the strategic element that we see in Malifaux, I’ve alrea...

It appears that I'm not the only person developing a Roller Derby boardgame at the moment. Impact Miniatures are in the process of playtesting a game called Impact City Roller Derby . I'm not afraid to say that this game is out there, and the miniatures look good. I've signed myself up as a playtester to see what they have in store, and it will be interesting to see the final product. I'll still be working away at Hell on Eight Wheels though because I think my take will be a bit different coming from a roleplaying perspective. I'll be focusing on the individuality of the skaters, with a bit more personality thrown their way in the form of personal rivalries, character backgrounds and development over the course of a season. Impact City Roller Derby looks like it is going to focus on teams...but I' not going to make any guesses at this stage and I'm certainly not going to start second guessing Ho8W.

Once we start nailing down the procedures used to move skaters around the track, we define one of the core aspects of the game. Moving on wheels is different to walking, a good procedure should reflect this. Without skill, this form of movement is difficult because traction between the mover and the ground works differently. But all skaters have a degree of inherent skill, they must possess a range of mastered skills before they may be recognised as skaters by the WFTDA. With this in mind, even the most inexperienced skaters in a bout are not complete novices. The worst skaters simply aren’t allowed on the track because they are a danger to themselves and to others. Not a deliberate danger, they would be prone to mistakes under pressure. But the key to a high stakes game is that there is pressure…and even experienced veterans have the chance of cracking under pressure. This brings up issues of skater statistics and the various aspects that might differentiate one skat...

The skaters move counter-clockwise, the turn activation sequence moves clockwise.

There are a few groups running roller derby bouts. But at the time of writing, the largest organisation in the US is the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), in Australia most of the leagues play according to the WFTDA rule set, and I can only imagine that the rest of the world follows suit (I know of Derby leagues in the UK and have heard of some starting up across mainland Europe). The WFTDA rules have a very specific section detailing the measurements of the track, and since the game is being based on these rules, it makes sense that the board’s track should match these specifications. But the actual drawing of the track only bears a vague resemblance to the sequence of actions taken to move around it. Move Forward, Turn Left, Move Forward, Turn Left. If we are using figures, activation takes them a distance around the track. But how many times should a figure activate in order to complete a full rotation of the circuit? How detailed are those activations?...