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Hey folks, I posted a poll about the upcoming boxed game format over in the game forum, thought I'd cross post here. Check it out and vote Curious to see what you'd all like to see...

here it is:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/529402.page

Howdy folks!

GenCon is fast approaching and I'm looking forward to meeting some of you and/or seeing you again!

For this year, I set up a few official demo events and multi-player Gang War events for Friday & Saturday.

Demos events will be 1 hour blocks from 1-4PM, for up to 4 players each and I'll personally teach you how to play. These games will be using 5-man starter gangs on a 2'x2' board, and it's intended to show you the basics of the game mechanics. The demo blocks will last for 1 hour each, but games won't last that long. You can probably play a couple of games in the time allotted. I'll supply all miniatures and other supplies or you can bring your own if you have them.

Gang Wars start at 6 PM and will be up-to-8 player games with 2 gangs of 20, each player will get a 5 man gang and form 2 4-on-4 teams. The game will be played on a cramped 2x8' board that should ensure maximum carnage. I might be able to make the board a little bigger, will depend on how much space is available. I'll supply all of the miniatures, but if you bring your own painted 5-man gang of BWG miniatures you will get extra points

Click here for a direct link to the events calendar if you'd like to sign up in advance

If the link doesn't work, you should be able to get to the list on GenCon's site if you just search for Blackwater Gulch

The games will not be in the dealer area, I'll have a special section in Game Salute's HQ in gaming hall "E".

The real question is when are the Flying Zarconis being released?!

Well, I made a stupid mistake.. apparently all of the events are already sold out! I didn't notice that.. They sold out within a week of them getting posted, but I never saw them till now and thought there were openings. Anyway, I don't know how GenCon handles it, but there should be openings if people drop out, and open gaming after the gang wars if anyone wants to walk up and play.

For the Zarconis.. we'll get to them soon I hope Have to wait till we get all of the new models done then I'll see if Game Salute will green light those sculpts and maybe a few new ones for the other gangs too

If people show up to your event with generic tickets equal to the monetary value of the tickets being sold for your event, you can accept those in place, but people that have the actual event ticket get first priority.

 Necros wrote:
For the Zarconis.. we'll get to them soon I hope Have to wait till we get all of the new models done then I'll see if Game Salute will green light those sculpts and maybe a few new ones for the other gangs too

Seem to me that the Zarconis might just be a perfect gang to fit into a supernatural setting. Thinking about the "sideshow freaks" they tend to have around, as well as the myriad creepy things people associate with them... I would see them fitting in NICELY.

Heck, considering the "freaks," they could be an interesting band, indeed. Maybe they're allowed to take "monsters" as choices. Like, there must be 2 henchmen monsters per professional monster (I forget what you call them, off hand) and there must be less "monsters" than humans? Or, maybe there's an alternate human gang leader that allows you to overlook that rule or tweak it slightly?

Eric

[Edit]

Or, they're specialized "monster hunters" and have specific anti-monster rules. Possibly with one or 2 "monster" choices that are actually "good" monsters.

Yeah I was thinking they would get some creatures as circus sideshow freaks I was going to do it like "If Mr. Zarconi leads your gang, you may substitute any amount of henchmen for minions"

Minions are the supernatural henchmen, fiends are the professionals, and monsters are the gang leaders & hired gun types.

Only thing though is later on when we expand to undead stuff, zombies would be minions too.. dunno if they would really fit.

Easily enough fixed by adding a word or two...

"If Mr. Zarconi leads your gang, you may substitute any amount of [living/non-undead] henchmen for minions"

Either that... or let the man have zombies. LOL Are zombies going to be any more powerful than minions?
Unless, of course, you're talking about "fluff" issues with mixing living & undead, which I get.
Maybe you can make a Mr. Zarconi undead version that can only take zombies for henchmen? You know, because HIS circus only performs at night. LOL

Eric

that might work.. thinking now though maybe it will be better to make it 3 different races/factions.. So it would be Human, Beast or Undead. I was going to have beasts and undead lumped in together but it might just work better this way. Eventually there will be a 4th race for "people that live underground" with a pre-human race of baddies called Shonokins who I'm going to make kind of gobliny. Hmm .. cowboy night goblins? That'll be a long way off though, still doing some research and stuff. I'd like to try and do that one as a different type of board game though, more like an adventure game like Descent or space hulk, only in old abandoned mines. All the other rules would be the same though.

only in old abandoned mines

...and they'd have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those meddling kids!


Sounds fun.

Eric

Just thought I would leave this here

Concept art I just got from Heath Foley, this is Croatoan, Alpha Werewolf and leader of The Wicked beast pack. He'll be the boss monster in the boxed game

The Wicked is a vicious skinwalker pack bent on destroying the civilizations of man and keeping the world as wild as can be, lead by an Alpha Werewolf known as Croatoan. No one knows how old he is, but his handywork dates back at least as far as the early colonies, where some hunters speculate he was associated with a local tribe of the same name. He was thought to be destroyed by the monster hunter John White at Roanoke 300 years ago.

Once a native medicine man, it is believed Croatoan acceped the Skinwalker curse to stop the white man from colonizing the new world, but even his great supernatural powers are not enough to halt progress. He often carries a large totem staff into battle, carved by his own clawed hands. His fur is caked with old blood, and he wears leather straps displaying bones of his prey hanging from his shoulders.

Croatian and his Wicked pack have set their sites upon Blackwater Gulch, and his pack has slowly been growing as they kidnap those who stray too far from town. There is something here that he wants, and he will not stop until he has his prize, or he is destroyed.

Yeah, that's awesome!

I like where this is going!

Love it love it love it!!!!

Yeah I'm loving the way he came out We're still a ways away from really getting down to the development since Game Salute has several other projects to get out of the way first. So I figured I'll just get the ball rolling with a few concepts here and there in the meantime. I have the rules pretty much done, but a lot of fluff to write up still.

The boxed game will also have a werebear, cat and bird so I'll probably get those done up next.

I think it looks good. To me, I think it has a little more "gnoll" look than werewolf... but that isn't a complaint.
I like the concept and 'fluff.'

He often carries a large totem staff into battle, carved by his own clawed hands.

So, did he LITERALLY carve it with his claws? If so, you might want to send a note to the sculptor that the totem should probably not be as nice & neat as it looks in the concept.

What kind of bird are you planning for the skinwalkers? Any ideas?


Eric

Well I guess it should be "They say he carved it with his own hands" but yeah, I think it will be rougher looking in the end. But, I do love the idea of the totem wings really being blades, so maybe it's a totem battle axe? Maybe I'll just call it his totem weapon just to keep it simple. Will basically just be a sledge hammer as far as stats go.

Not sure what bird yet.. eventually I hope to do a lot of different ones. I'd like to do an eagle but maybe that's too obvious.. so maybe an owl or a condor kind of thing? But, I'm thinking it will be kind of like GW's lord of change where the wings are separate and he still has normal arms.

I know you do a great amount of research, so I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know or wouldn't find on your own anyway, but, conversationally speaking, different animals have different meanings to Native Americans, in regards to totems; strength, wisdom, etc.
I had a book a long time ago that I got and intended to use for a shamanic druid that I never got around to playing. It had a list of animals - a hundred, at least- and what they meant as totems. If you get an idea what you want each model/character to be, that information could select the specifics for you (like, which bird to use).

Did a quick Google search:
http://www.google.com/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=native+american+totems+and+their+meaning&oq=native+american+totems+and+&gs_l=hp.3.0.0j0i22i30l3.1137.5843.0.7378.27.20.0.7.7.4.639.5780.2-15j3j0j2.20.0...0.0...1c.1.17.psy-ab.RM6E4pFz5LU&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47883778,d.dmQ&fp=e6b77b9a3837525a&biw=1280&bih=611

Eric

Thanks for the link .. that is kind of what I was going for .. different animal forms represent different things, if not in rules it would be in fluff at least. So if someone turns into a skinwalker, the animal they become will be like their personality.

A lot of people want their freedom, but still have that family bond, and that's why wolves are so common. Someone that was mean or manipulative might become a snake, or a rat if they were the type that would turn on their friends, or a bull or bison if they were a big & strong manly type, a wise old guy could become an owl.. stuff like that

I like where you're going with that.


Eric

Since I gave WWX crap about having the natives being the animals, I'm going to do the same here (just so no one calls me a hypocrite ).

And here is how I determine how far down this rabbit hole I go: I may have missed it, but how does someone become a skinwalker? Will there be "civilized" skinwalkers, or is it completely relegated to the native Americans?

Anyone can become one.. skinwalker = classic lycanthrope werewhatever. If you get attacked by one and live, chances are you're going to turn into one in a month or so.

So, Croatoan might be a former native american, but in their former life they they could have been cowboys, miners, lumberjacks, housewives or politicians

So some of them will have the native look, others might have the remains of a shreded duster hanging off their backs or a confederate officer's uniform or whatever else.

 Necros wrote:
Anyone can become one.. skinwalker = classic lycanthrope werewhatever. If you get attacked by one and live, chances are you're going to turn into one in a month or so.

So, Croatoan might be a former native american, but in their former life they they could have been cowboys, miners, lumberjacks, housewives or politicians

So some of them will have the native look, others might have the remains of a shreded duster hanging off their backs or a confederate officer's uniform or whatever else.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I don't need to go down this hole any more

I'm eventually hoping to have tons of different ones over the years.. Some animal types will also be based on your region, so a werecroc or gator might be a cajuny guy that comes Louisiana. Someone also mentioned doing Asian inspired themes for Chinese railroad workers.

One thing I'm planning from a fluff perspective is once you change you never go back. Always thought it was kind of silly to just change back and forth all the time. I guess this would be more like a mutation that happens. Also for fluff I'm kind of on the fence about if I want to have them able to talk that would make things kind of cartooony, or if I should just keep them like beasts that can just understand each others growls. Leaning more toward the latter.

Well, since your not opposed to doing homage characters...

 Necros wrote:
Anyone can become one.. skinwalker = classic lycanthrope werewhatever. If you get attacked by one and live, chances are you're going to turn into one in a month or so.

Presuming you have campaign rules one day, are you going to include rules for this, as well?


Eric


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Necros wrote:
just keep them like beasts that can just understand each others growls

This.
This very much. Growls and "body language."
MAYBE they can understand language when spoken to them...
Are you keeping them intelligent? If so, there should be SOME sort of communication possible. I don't think this should be by speaking, though.
I mean, if they're as smart as they were in life, then they should be smart enough to communicate with basic signs, pointing, written language (when possible), etc. They should be able to surrender, etc. in a manner understandable to human, as well.


Eric

Yeah that's what I was thinking.. basic sign language, growls, chirps, whatever. A skinwalker is still just as smart as the day he was turned, they just would rather eat people than go back to their boring job at the general store.

And yes, they will be in the campaign rules It'll be optional though, up to the GM or group to decide if they want to do that, since people will need the right models.

At the end of a game you make a casualty roll for everyone that was out of action. If someone was taken out by a skinwalker, there's a chance they will become one a few days later.. same deal with undead. So your favorite gang leader could turn into a brain eating zombie If a gang member gets turned into something, their XP gets set back to 0 and they start over as their new race, but can stay in the gang.

So, hypothetically... a gang leader gets turned into a werewolf... he doesn't retain any of his old skills?

I understand the zombie example, of course. Some creatures (werewolves, vampires, etc) are typically portrayed as intelligent/aware. So, while I'd understand a werewolf losing the ability to shoot a gun (due to his size), I wouldn't understand the inability to use abilities that are "intelligence" based or that don't require a certain amount of manual dexterity/small hands.
Something like a weremonkey, on the other hand (seems appropriate for Asian gangs) should retain abilities with a gun, I'd think, though(?).

Hmm... the more I think about it, the more potentially complicated it gets.

Two questions come to mind:

Could skinwalker "birds" fly?

Will "turned' humans roll randomly for the creature they become, or will they become whatever the creature was that turned them?

Eric

I haven't gotten too far into the campaign rules yet, so I'm still making them up as I go

I guess we could make it that they retain their skills, but not weapons. They can't really use guns very well because their hands turn into paws and claws, but could use more primitive weapons like bows or melee weapons. So if someone was a gunslinger with a RC of 6, then they might never use that attribute again.

I thought people would get to pick whatever animal they want though, really just so they can use the models they have. I could force people to buy new minis, but that's too GWish for my tastes Folks can also just say that their guy wandered off into the forest and was never seen again after the beast too over, and just recruit a new human member. But we could do a table to roll on, or match up certain animals with certain professions?

Birds, bats and bugs can fly, but they will need the flying ability that will add to their XP cost just like a weapon does. Flying is more like jumping and gliding, they're too heavy to fly like a normal bird. But it will be a 9" move instead of 6", and you can fly over terrain. You can land on a roof, but you can't land inside a building.. and you can just walk instead too if you want to go inside.

Really, though? shooting a bow requires every bit as much manual dexterity as a firearm - if not a bit more finesse. I know it's a fantasy world and it might be convenient for game balance but that'd really, really bug me.

In fact, I suspect firing a gun with cumbersome claws would be easier to get accustomed to than shooting a bow.
Retaining just the use of thrown weapons, I can live with

 Necros wrote:
Just thought I would leave this here

Concept art I just got from Heath Foley, this is Croatoan, Alpha Werewolf and leader of The Wicked beast pack. He'll be the boss monster in the boxed game

Croatoan?

Why not Roanoke?

Looking great, Necros!