BYOM

 

 8-bit gaming...actually, I think the colour range above is closer to 16-bit gaming. When I started working on this idea, it was called BYOM (Bring Your Own Miniatures), because I knew I wouldn't have the resources to release a range of miniatures to go with a wargame (or even a skirmish game), and because I've got heaps of minis from companies that have gone bust, or simply one-off minis from indepedent producers who never had their own rule set to work with. I wanted to make a fun set of rules that worked on a basic grid, where players could bring their minis from a variety of genres to explore a variety of settings and scenarios. 

It's still a valid idea, but these days players could 3d-print their own minis and terrain, or still buy stuff from assorted vendors who are designing a wide array of interesting stuff. I've seen so many new terrain and miniature manufacturers in recent years that I've thought about revisiting this concept.

I had been looking (a few years ago) at offering this system to the manufacturers of the "Dungeons and Lasers" product line. However, when they started producing D&D compatible supplements for their products, I gave up on that idea. So, n the last couple of days I've just joined a Facebook group dedicated to 3D printed terrain and the "Open-Lock" system, which is the kind of stuff I've been printing myself over the last week or two. It's an open-source community, so I'll probably release these rules on some kind of Creative Commons license. 

The essence of BYOM is a treasure seeking, or objective filling game, maybe one that can be run GM-less, as a 2-player competitive exercise, but possibly against a third random/algorithmic antagonist, or maybe as a game against a GM controlled/moderated antagonist. I'm not specifically sure how this incarnation will go.

Maybe I should write this up in a sequence of posts.