Frostgrave: Second Edition – The Appendix

Ever since the announcement of Frostgrave: Second Edition, people have been asking if the supplements for the first edition will still be valid. Well, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Yes!

With the exception of The Grimorie (the spellcards), all seven supplement books and the Ulterior Motives cards are still usable with the new edition.

In fact, I have included an appendix in the Second Edition book specifically to address this question.

Well, today, Osprey Games have decided to make that Appendix freely available. Now you can see for yourself, exactly what affect the new rules have had on those old books. (See the Appendix Here)

Also, there is a really cool piece of aRu-Mor artwork in there – so take a look!

LARPing in the 90’s!

Okay, the truth is, I’ve only every participated in one LARP (Live-Action Role-Playing). It was a Shadowrun LARP, and I think it took place in 1996. The above photograph is the only one I have from the event, and one of only two I have of me gaming in college (I showed the other last week). I’m the guy in black with his back to the camera.

Chimera, the science-fiction & fantasy club of the University of North Carolina at the time, arranged the game as part of their little convention: Chimera-fest. The game completely took over one of the campus buildings, with the different floors representing different areas of a city. All of the wealthy people lived on the top floor, all the gang-members and such on the bottom floor, with everyone mixing in the middle, as befits a cyberpunk setting!

I played a street-mage, and was one of the few people to actually come in costume – although, I admit, that apart from the hat, that’s kind of how I dressed during college anyway. Actually, in retrospect, this was a bad character to play in my first LARP. My character didn’t come with any plot, instead, since he had magic that could compel people to tell the truth, he was essentially a device for moving the plot along. At the time, though, I didn’t really understand that. So, since I was a mage, and everyone thought I was really scary (despite having no real offensive magic) I spent most of the game as a high-end bodyguard, who relied on bluff to keep people safe!

Anyway, I had a good time. I think most people did. I do remember my friend Matt, playing a rich businessman, descending to the lower floor for reasons unknown. When the denizens of the bottom floor got a look at him, they immediately drew their guns. Matt pulled an equipment card out of his pocket, shouted ‘Armoured Limo’, which was printed on the card, and ran off at full speed. 

I think I would probably enjoy LARPing, but for whatever reason, I was never interested enough to actually seek it out.

You Are the Brute Squad!

I just finished painting this guy, the ogre guard model for the Rangers of Shadow Deep line of miniatures from North Star. I liked the figure so much, I decided I would use him as a member of my ranger warband, possibly representing the ogre, Gorbin, who can be found/rescued/recruited in Incinerator. That’s why I painted him in my ranger green and browns.

I know I harp on about the amazing sculpts that Bobby Jackson has been creating for this line, but seriously, this miniature is something else. For one, it is cast in resin, so the detail is extra sharp, but there is something about it that seems to actually improve my painting. I mean, look at the definition on the hands. I painted his fingernails!

This time I remembered to take a size-comparison photo!

Frostgrave: Second Edition - The Scenarios

It’s July and that means that Frostgrave: Second Edition comes out next month! Under normal circumstances, I would have a copy of the book by now, as advances would have been air-freighted to the Osprey office. However, at the moment, there is no one at home at the Osprey office, and no central location where such advances can be sent, so I have to wait for the ship to arrive and the books to get into the warehouse. I’ll keep you updated.

Another bit of news, I know a lot of people have asked about a Nickstarter. Unfortunately, there will not be a Nickstarter this time around. Believe me, North Star would love to do one, but with their reduced staff and the reduced reliability at every step in the supply chain, it just isn’t feasible at the moment. On the other hand, the plan is to have a new plastic box set available at the same time as book – Specialist Soldiers! This will look a bit like the original Soldiers box set, except it features soldiers in heavier armour. I’ve seen the previews, it’s gonna be good!

So, back to the book. When I first started work on Frostgrave 2, my plan was to create ten new scenarios to replace the ones in the original. However, as I was working on it, I started to see how good those original scenarios were for introducing the game to new players. Some of them have been played so many times, they have become classics. So instead, I decided I would update them slightly for the new edition, but otherwise leave all ten in there. However, that didn’t feel quite right either, as I didn’t feel like I was providing enough for players who have already supported the game. So, in the end, I wrote ten new scenarios as well.

Since those first ten scenarios are mainly there to introduce the game, I felt freer to make the new ten more complex and to really show off some of the weird, wonderful, and wild things you can do with the game. So, now your wizards and their warbands can test their mettle in: The Orb, The Summoning Bell, The Right Hand the Left Hand, The Ice Storm, The Treasure Phantasmal, The Mine Cart, The Lock Box, The Steam Vents, The Swirling Mist, and The Mine Field…

Hopefully these will provide hours of gaming fun for new players and veterans alike!

Shrapnel: The Official Battletech Magazine #1

A new quarterly Battletech magazine, print-on-demand, in perfect-bound book format, available on Amazon, even in the UK? I was in!

I may not play Battletech very much these days, and I’m mainly waiting for the new batch of plastic figures to be released before I get serious about painting it again, but gosh, I love the setting and the fiction. And really, that is what this magazine seems to be about.

Coming in at 160 pages (5.5” x 8.25” pages), the first issue presents an editorial, 6 short stories, part 1 of a serialized novel, 4 ‘articles’, and 3 game features.

The short stories mainly come from the familiar names of Battletech fiction. Of the six, I would rate five of them as good or better. My favourite was Tales from the Cracked Canopy: Blind Arrogance by Crag A. Reed, Jr.. While the plot was pretty straightforward, the framing story really gave it extra interest and meaning. Pretty much all of the stories involve the Clans in some way, which isn’t my favourite part of the universe, but I still enjoyed them.

The serialized novel is from ‘big-namer’, Michael A. Stackpole. While I enjoyed this piece well enough, it also left me scratching my head a bit. First because it seems like I had come into the middle of a story – I’m guessing there is a novel that directly proceeds it – but also, I’m just not sure of the point of serializing a novel in today’s market place. Perhaps it is just to have Stackpole’s name on as many issues as possible, but personally, I would have been happier with another short story in its place.

The articles are uniformly short pieces - they are basically news accounts from the universe. I liked them. They served as a nice break between the large pieces of fiction. I especially liked Michael Ciaravella’s Secrets of the Sphere: The Cameron Question. This little piece could be either the basis for a huge narrative or just a footnote if some one wanted to work the idea into a game.

The game features are again short pieces and includes rules for different sniper rifles in the RPG, a unit history, and an intriguing three-way scenario.

The layout is simple, but nice. Personally, I wish they had left out the texture behind the text. Not a major issue, but I think plain white would have been more enjoyable to read. There are a few black and white pieces of artwork scattered throughout, which I think are mostly reuse. Nothing to compare with that great cover though!

It is perhaps odd that an official magazine for a game includes so little game content, but personally, I’m good with that. At any rate, I am already looking forward to the release of Issue 2! A big thumb-up to all involved!

A Game at Cerebral Hobbies

As far as I know, this is the only photograph of me playing a game at the legendary gaming store, Cerebral Hobbies in Chapel Hill, N.C. It’s incredible really. For four-and-a-half years, I spent more time in Cerebral than I spent anywhere else. It was my home-away-from home. My haven. It kept me in university, and provided an incredible gaming-education that continues to feed right into the creative work I am doing today.

I’ve got a lot more to say about Cerebral Hobbies, but I will do that elsewhere.

I’m pretty sure this photo dates to either 1998 or 1999. It is certainly towards the end of my time in Chapel Hill. That’s me, in the black, with my back to the camera. Apparently, I was already losing my hair even back then. The other people in the photo form left to right are Chris, George, Stacey, Al, and Doug (recognizable by his sandals if nothing else). The photo was taken by Matt, who I suspect was sitting in the chair next to me.

I’m pretty sure we are playing Call of Cthulhu as that looks like the book in front of Stacey and the style of character sheet in front of me looks right. Though it doesn’t explain what the decks of cards are for.

This shot shows one corner of the store and visible in the background is a map of the Warhammer Old World, a large selection of books and models for Silent Death, Heavy Gear, and Babylon 5 Wars. Also visible are a bunch of Reaper Miniatures and even a few Battletech ones, a game I never remember being played in the store.

There are so many memories brought back this photo. A huge thanks to Matt for taking it and sharing it with me 20+ years later. Also, a huge thanks to Steve for creating this gamer-haven and for his kindness for many years.

Beastmen!

For my birthday, my family presented me with a copy of Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress. I’ve been interested in this game since it first came out, but avoided it for a couple of reasons. First, I was deep into my work with Rangers of Shadow Deep when it was released, and I didn’t want any of its solo-play mechanics to influence my own. Now that my mechanics are pretty firmly established, I’m not too worried about that anymore. The other reason is, that for all of the good I see in the game, it lacks two things which I really love – you can’t make your own characters and you don’t need a pencil to keep track of things. I won’t go into either of those in depth here, but they are important issues to me.

All of that said, the game looks really interesting, and it is such a glorious box of models! Honestly, I may or may not ever play the game, but I am looking forward to painting a bunch of the figures, especially the bad guys. These are great generic baddies that I’ll be able to use for lots of games.

I decided to start my painting with a pair of beastmen, and here they are! There is no doubt that these are great models, but, I must admit, me and GW are drifting apart on model philosophy. As their models continue to get more detailed and more dynamic, I find myself longing to paint models that are less detailed and less dynamic. Partly this is due to my slowly eroding eyesight, but mainly I just like my models to have an element of ‘toy soldier’ in them that overly dynamic models just don’t have. For example, I really love the beastman standing upright, but I’m less enamoured with the one that is crouching over, running. He’s a great figure in many ways, but his pose means you can’t actually see his most of his front most of the time. 

Still, as a pair of generic baddies, these guys are great.