Archive for the ‘ playtesting ’ Category

Another playtest

As if Ganesha Games playtests weren’t enough, we playtest even other games, as this one by Diego. It is a game about American Civil War still in development. An afternoon playing and discussing at Diego’s house together with the other Diego.

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Still playtesting in Terni

Still a day in Terni by train, still with an extensive playtest for upcoming Power Legion rules. What to say more? We are tweaking some mechanics but the core rules are established. The real challenge is to adapt our usual skirmish way of fighting with something more fluid and dynamic in the style of comic books. Those guys are unpredictable and capable of a lot of things against law of physics. Throw cars is an usual way to hit from afar…

While you can watch my brilliant combined action by Wonder Woman and Batman, I can add that in the afternoon, after gnocchi with pesto, salted vegetables from Andrea’s kitchen garden tossed by wine must, and a puff cake with apples and raisin, we tried some new mechanics for Project RS that will see the light the next year.

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April report

Some news about the last month that I didn’t put on these pages.

Romics is the opportunity to buy comics and watch cosplayers. I went even this time with Andrea for the Spring edition. But I chose to go the afternoon, so we had less hours for our visit. It was the first day on the four days fair but a lot of people was around the same. More stands were present. My regret was the scarce time to do more things: time flew and I couldn’t took usual tons of photos and buy all what I thought. So only a DrWho mug for upcoming dices and a comic book about Roman times. At the end a fast pizza at the station, waiting the last train to Terni for Andrea.

Another time Andrea came for a playtest session for Power Legion, the super heroes rules by Ganesha Games. We are working on them since some years but it wasn’t the right time for their publication because we were not so sure about the results. Even this time we changed some mechanics. After this session we found new ideas for a better gameplay. Andrea is writing the book just now.

Do you remember what I said about the wargame convention in Canino? Diego broke his car, Andrea broke his car, I broke my car (one foot indeed). So no convention for us from Rome. After the give up of this year Hellana and Salute, respectively to health and money problems, even Canino.

To resolve this sad situation, the day before we met with Andrea at Diego’s house, for a full playtest day on Power Legion rules. This time we had a half definitive written text, so we tried it with real slugfests.

A true kitchen game, because Diego have to buy a green game mat! However we had games packed with flying cars, crashed buildings, powerful blasts and big bosses at large. A lot of notes were taken to refining the rules. Another playtest is scheduled in the following days.

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-1 to A Fistful of Kung Fu

Tomorrow is the release day for A Fistful of Kung Fu. More photos from a playtest session. At that time I was trying to create thematic squads to kill my enemies, but in vain because misfortune struck my dice rolling. We tweaked the rules but I lost 4 games that day!

We were in the ARSM headquarters. And this one is my jade mummy, moving slowly towards enemies. Too slowly, damn! Years ago I saw a real jade mummy in an exhibit in Rome. Very impressive.

You can recreate scenes from action movies like Enter the Dragon, Kill Bill, Big Trouble in Little China, Crouching Tiger – Hidden Dragon, and Hard Boiled. Here we try a mixture of ancient China tales and HK police stories. As the Osprey blurb says, “A Fistful of Kung Fu is set in a modern world walking a precarious line between the advances of next-generation technology and the tradition and mysticism of ancient cultures. Kung Fu schools face off in no-holds barred martial arts tournaments. Evil corporations hire hitmen and infiltrators to steal each other’s secrets. Overworked SWAT teams respond to street-level gunfights between feuding Triad and Yakuza clans. Ancient artefacts are sought by hopping vampires and cyborgs alike, each seeking to harness the power of the Four Dragon Kings and control the world. Bullets, punches, kicks and throwing stars fly in slow motion as martial arts heroes and gun-wielding cops defeat enemy after enemy in the pursuit of evil masterminds”.

In this game we created a scenario with a small bamboo grove. Characters can walk over them, use them as trampolines or as weapons.

Possible factions range from Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakuza to Ninja clans, martial arts schools, the men and women of the Hong Kong Police Department, demons, secret societies and almost anything else you can imagine! All struggle for supremacy – destroying the surroundings in the process.

Here the final struggle among our two rival groups. I didn’t score severe wounds to my opponents. Oh at least I tried.

Another game and another setting: more storeys for our houses and a venerated Buddha statue (bought on the same day in a local Chinese trinkets shop…) with an ancient treasure at its feet.

When we develop a game we never have the right miniatures or appropriate terrain. We use what we find because we have too many projects and we don’t have the time to build a pretty scenery. When we publish something we are just in the middle of another new project and another new setting. So no Chinese houses or modern urban hells but some ruined buildings instead.

In A Fistful of Kung Fu, mooks and supporting cast are swatted like flies, but can still be dangerous when given the advantage of numbers or automatic weaponry. Based on the popular Ganesha Games rules system, these rules introduce martial arts combat with manoeuvres that have different outcomes depending on the degree of success, and which allow for counter-attacks when they fail, giving a flowing, appropriate combat system. The game also includes rules for challenges and “gun-fu” stunts. And this hero cop moves forward to glory with his automatic weapons.

A pile of corpse after his passage. At the end of the day the cops won the fight. Only the hero still standing on the battle scene. Just like the style of an HK film.

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-2 to A Fistful of Kung Fu

Only two days to the official release of A Fistful of Kung Fu. So let’s go on with the countdown. Here are some more photos of our playtests. Here we are in Diego’s house on the kitchen table. And on blue ground!

Here a scenario with ghosts, sorcerers, and corporate thugs. While bodyguards defend the clan chief, a walk on the roof prepares a rear assault.

The miniatures are from my collection built before we imagined we would play this setting. Now official figures are sold by Northstar. I’m still happy with mine. I guess the message is, just buy miniatures, sooner or later you will find what to do with them!

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-3 to A Fistful of Kung Fu

Although it’s been more than a week that Northstar began to mail the copies of A Fistful of Kung Fu to customers, the official release date is the 18th of this month. Now I start a short countdown showing some photos about the playtest sessions happened more than a year ago.

This time an adventure among Chinese restaurant dishes. It was occurred in a pause of a more canonic playtest with miniatures and terrain. Playing a Kung Fu ruleset, what could be better than eating Chinese?

Unfortunately a form of food poisoning emerged from this playtest session. A specific ingredient used in this restaurant (maybe a preservative?) sends my immune system into haywire. My body was covered with a rash and an extreme itch impeded my normal activities. I needed more than a week, and lots of medication, to restore my skin to normality.

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And Ganesha playtests carry on

The past Saturday we met for a full day of playtesting. We are working on new projects for 2016 by Ganesha Games. At the moment we are still on the verification of the basic mechanics. So we talked a lot of what we think is the best for them and played a couple of games. On other things we are in more advanced phases. The publication of these rules is sometime only a matter of time and organisation for Andrea. We reminded of Song of Spear and Shield, so we play a speed battle with it. We don’t know if it is ready or if it needs something other. In the meantime I’m working on Ferrum et Gloria. I playtested some things for the second book but I have to complete the editing of the first!!! In February I want to complete the first book. Yes, it is late by a couple of years, but I think that every time I can put my efforts on it, it is better. Carry on… !

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DSLB Big Battle

The 18th of the last month we met at Sergio’s house to play a “big battle” with Drums & Shakos Large Battle. Four people versus four people, French versus Russian on a large 300×180 table. Armies were divided in three sub-armies with three players and another player was the commander in chief. People from Arezzo took Russian, Sergio and Romans took French. Sergio is thinking about some definitive rules to administrate these big battles. He will publish them soon or after.

French troops toward the battle.

Russian march column towards glory.

The centre of the fight. Coloured cubes are troops fatigue.

To have a detailed explanation of the various phases of the battle go to the Sergio’s blog. Under a photo-video of the battle made by the winners, the Russian.

They started almost at 10 and finished in mid afternoon. With a pizza lunch in the middle. While these brave men from two opposite empires dying, in another room, I and Andrea tested something for the 2016…

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