Frostgrave: Wildwoods

Osprey Games has just released Wildwoods, my latest supplement for Frostgrave. The release is accompanied by a few new figures from North Star Military Figures, including some awesome-looking soldiers.

By my count, Wildwoods is the twelfth official supplement for Frostgrave (not including Grave Mutations or any of the Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago books). It’s an incredible milestone for any game to reach a dozen supplements, especially a game that isn’t owned by a big company.

But what is Wildwoods and why is it special? In many ways, the book is my attempt to write a Wilderness Survival Guide for Frostgrave. It is a manual for playing games set outside of the Frozen City in the forests, mountains, bogs, and ice-plains that surround it. It replaces the magical traps and weirdness of broken Felstad for the natural dangers of avalanches, forest fires, and hypothermia. It greatly expands upon the bestiary with numerous natural creatures that live in those frozen lands (and several not-quite-natural ones as well). It gave me an excuse to bring gigantic, vicious walruses into the game!

Also included are rules for the supplies that warbands will need to survive in the harsh wilderness, including rules for cargo transports. While these transports have an important mechanical function and have their place within a game, I admit that my main desire to include them was to give players (and myself) an excuse to paint up a cool model. Transports can really be anything – a necromantic wagon pulled by undead horses, a heavily-laden woolly rhinoceros, a very large load-bearing construct… It’s only limited by the player’s imagination, and I can’t wait to see what people come up with.

A couple other notes of interest about the book:

·       The first two scenarios in the book purposely use specific terrain pieces used in scenarios in the main rulebook – the mausoleum and the stepped-pyramid. I thought if you were good enough to buy the official terrain pieces from Kromlech or have made some yourself, you deserve the excuse to use them again.

·      The book includes a few rangifer subtypes that originally appeared in Spellcaster, Issue 3. 

·       The wizard on the cover of the book has appeared before. Anyone recognize her?

·       It’s now possible to have your construct do the cooking for the warband.

·       The bestiary includes a creature that has previously only appeared in Ghost Archipelago.

Gael Fairleaf (First RPG Character for a 9 Year Old)

 

This is Gael Fairleaft, a half-elf druid, and the first role-playing character of my nine-year-old daughter. 

A while back, my daughter got interested in the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds book that was sitting on the desk, so I took the opportunity to make a character with her. A couple of days later, I ran her through her first session. This consisted of Gael venturing into a cave, looking for a lost fairy. She found the fairy in a bed of sleep-inducing mushrooms, but managed to rescue the fairy using her wildshape ability to turn into a eagle and lift the fairy out without setting off any mushrooms. Then, a particularly aggressive and mobile fungus chased after her, but she managed to lose it in the caves before making her escape. 

All-in-all, it was a good little session, and my daughter has expressed interest in playing again. Savage Worlds is a pretty easy system for the most part, especially its dice rolling where a '4' is always a success. And I think they've done a great job translating those rules to the high-fantasy Pathfinder setting. We just used pencil and paper for the first session, but I thought it would be fun to use miniatures in the future, at least some of the time. So, I let her pick out a mini from Reaper's website. She actually picked quite a complicated one to paint, but I really enjoyed it (I offered to let her paint it, but she wanted me to do it). 

I'm starting to think about Gael's next adventure. I'm thinking I might have to send her back into the mushroom cave, as I think there a lot of play left there, and I think the mushroom threat works well for younger players. (A lesson taught to us all by Super Mario Brothers!). Plus, I've got some minis I can use.

I'm thinking this could be the gateway to getting my whole family into role-playing. I've bought my son a miniature as well. At 6 years old, I think he'll need the added familiarity of a miniature/game piece representing him.

Wild Swimming

 

Last week was 'half-term' here in the UK, which means, no school! Our family headed north to the Lake District, to the town of Keswick. My wife and her family are big 'fell walkers'. I don't mind a good hike, though I'm not really a fan of all-day climbs or perilous ledges. As it turned out, after the first day in which we climbed Latrigg (a starter mountain), I took a tumble down the stairs of our holiday house and hurt my foot. This pretty much put an end to any rougher walks for me. Still, I tried to make the most of it and discovered a new way to enjoy the lakes - wild swimming! Over the next few days, I took a swim in Derwent Water and a couple in Buttermere, both of them gorgeous lakes surrounded by awe-inspiring scenery.

I'll admit it - those mountain lake are cold! But, having done a bit of swimming in the English Channel over the last couple of years... well, I'm not 'getting used to it', but I'm at least building up my courage to get in such chilly waters. In fact, the whole family got involved - especially my daughter, who is the most enthusiastic swimmer of the lot of us. 

Yes, I am wearing a baseball cap in the photo. This is not a fashion statement - it's just really not fun getting sunburn on the top of your head!

I had to leave the holiday a couple of days early in order to go to Birmingham for UK Games Expo, but I left feeling that I had discovered something new and important!

Crocodilian!

The rare but deadly crocodilian lurks in the deepest, darkest swamps...  Having just finished up this Reaper Bones figure, which I think was part of the last Kickstater, but which I got second-hand, I decided I needed an excuse to get this guy into some games! So, included below are stats for using giant crocodile/alligator-men it in Frostgrave, Stargrave, Ghost Archipelago, Rangers of Shadow Deep, and The Silver Bayonet.

Crocodilian for Frostgrave, Stargrave, Ghost Archipealgo, & Rangers of Shadow Deep

	Move	Fight	Shoot	Armour	Will	Health	Notes
Crocodilian	6	+4	+0	12	+3	18	Amphibious, Deathroll, Large, Submerge, Strong, Tip Boats. Stargrave Only: Hatred of Gunfire, Primitive Weapons

Deathroll – If this figure wins a fight while in water (shallow or deep) and causes damage, then the figure that took damage must make an immediate Swimming Roll with an additional -3 modifier, suffering drowning damage as appropriate. This has no affect on the figure's next activation.

Submerge - If this figure is in water, no figure more than 6" away can draw line of sight to it.

Tip Boat - If this figure is in the water and attacks a figure that is in a small boat, then after the combat is resolved, every figure in the boat must make a Move Roll (TN12). Figures that fail are moved the minimum distance required so that they are no longer in the boat.

Crocodilian for The Silver Bayonet

Crocodile
Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Experience Points
6	+3	+0	13	+4	16	1 or 2
Attributes: Amphibious, Damage Reduction (3), Deathroll, Submerge, Strong,
Equipment: None

Amphibious – This figure never suffers any penalties for being in the water, automatically passes any checks made for the purposes of swimming or movement in the water, and never suffers any damage from drowning.

Deathroll – If this figure is in water and it makes a melee attack against another figure that cause 1 or more points of damage, that figure must make an immediate Courage Check (TN10). If the figure fails, it suffers drowning damage equal to the amount by which it failed, as it is spun about under the water. If the check is passed, no additional damage is suffered.

Submerge – While this figure is in water, figures more than 6” away cannot draw line of sight to it.

Stormcast Eternal

It only took (how many?) years, but I have painted my first Stormcast Eternal from Games Workshop. I must admit, when they first released Age of Sigmar, I was unimpressed with the Stormcast. They have changed a lot over the years though. They've grown taller and more proportional. They sometimes go without helmets. Women have joined their ranks. etc.

I still probably wouldn't have bought any, but I wandered into W.H. Smith and saw the first issue of the Stormbringer, partworks magazine for £3. It included this mini and a hobgoblin I have yet to paint. I figured it was worth the punt.

I certainly got my money's worth. It took me ages to paint this figure. At least twice what I spend on most figures, but for the most part, I enjoyed it. There is a lot of detail, but not the overwhelming amount found on some modern GW stuff. 

I enjoyed it enough to buy another issue of the magazine that has 3 more stormcast... although this time for £9. See how they suck you in?

Here's an amusing size comparison. The stormcast standing with Thor from Marvel: Crisis Protocol, and a GW Imperial Guard Medic figure from the 1980s. Those GW minis have grown a tad!

Old Bones 2 is Out Now!

Old Bones, Issue 2 is now available in print-on-demand and PDF at DriveThru.

In this issue, you will find:

* Meta-Magic in Frostgrave - Ten new spells that directly effect other spells.

* Web of Lies  - An Oathmark scenario with a very big spider!

* Hoverchairs - Getting around in Stargrave without legs.

* The Headless Rider - A solo scenario for The Silver Bayonet.

* Books of Illusionary Form - New possibilities for the Illusionary Soldier spell in Frostgrave.

* A Dangerous Message - A solo scenario for Rangers of Shadow Deep, featuring just the ranger.

* Alladorean Lucky Penny - A little bit of luck for Rangers of Shadow Deep characters.

Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs

I just finished reading Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs - the story of the downfall of TSR. While I knew the tale in broad outline, there were a lot of stories and detail that was new to me. Any easy read, and an important addition to the history of role-playing. Recommended.

Going to put it in the permanent library between my copies of Empire of Imagination and Designers & Dragons.