First quarter reading

 When I was a student (a very long time ago) it was the done thing to study other people's bookshelves.  "Oooh", we would exclaim, "you've got this book, what did you think of it?"

I suspect that some people would stock a bookshelf just for publicity purposes, while actually reading a quite different set of books.  If you read Mills & Boon / Manga trash / true detective tales, then you buy a few volumes of Umberto Eco, Salman Rushdie, JK Rowling (but not Harry Potter) to impress your friends.

I think the current equivalent for the fully connected generation is to have a public profile at Goodreads or something of the sort.  Meanwhile in the steam-and-clockwork section of the Internet, some people post on a blog about what they have been reading.  So here's what I read in the first quarter of this year, some of it recommended, some of it disappointing, all of it genuine.  I finished every one from cover to cover.

Mick Herron - Spook Street

The next of the Slow Horses series, now a very good TV series.  This one is just as entertaining as all the rest so far, and I didn't notice so many instances of cheating the reader.  Herron has a habit of finishing a chapter with a sentence like "with a deafening bang, the gun went off" and then writing the next chapter about some of the other characters, so you are kept waiting to find whether anyone was actually shot and how bad it was.  The worst offence would have to be the "two shots" incident in Dead Lions.

Aaron Williams - Nodwick

I found a link to the complete collection and read them all from start to finish.  Williams has produced some inventive and entertaining comics; I used to follow Full Frontal Nerdity before Nodwick.  Reading this has encouraged me to look out some of his other series, maybe PS238 next.

Janice Hallett - The Appeal

Speaking (as we were earlier) of unreliable narrators, this is an intriguing whodunnit told entirely in a collection of emails and text messages between the people who were involved.  To be pretentious, we could describe it as an epistolary novel, like Jane Austen's Lady Susan.  For a change I took this one seriously, by trying to solve the mystery before the book reveals the answers.  I took notes of anything that seemed odd at the time, listed all the characters and their relationships, and actually did spot most of what had been going on. 

M.C. Beaton - Devil's Delight (Agatha Raisin)

The latest Agatha Raisin, light entertainment and nothing wrong with that.  I made no effort to guess who was behind this one, but still realised before Ms Raisin worked it out.

William Wallace Cook - Plotto The Master Book of All Plots

This is a fascinating book.  It attempts to analyse all existing storylines into a series of numbered structures, and then provide a method to string them together and write your own bestseller.  Apparently that's what Erle Stanley Gardner did to create the best-selling Perry Mason stories.  I've tried to follow the method myself, and have something that feels tantalisingly close to a decent plot.  Now all it needs is some stylish writing and interesting characters.  Maybe this one deserves a post of its own in future.

Richard Osman - The last devil to die

The latest Thursday Murder Club story, and not as bonkers as the previous one.  If you've not read any of these, I recommend them.  Like the Agatha Raisin series they are mostly light-weight silliness, but now and then hit the reader with a left hook of serious emotion.

Robert Thorogood - Death Comes to Marlow

The second book in the Marlow Murder Club series.  Entertaining but sadly for me not baffling.  It may be that the trick of this particular locked-room mystery has been used elsewhere and I'd seen it before, or maybe the author was too fair to the reader and gave enough information to reveal the solution.  Once it's clear how the thing was done, only one person could have done it, so the rest of the book is an entertaining wait for that suspect to be confirmed.

Ian Livingstone - Dice Men - Games Workshop 1975 to 1985

I read this one out of curiosity, since I'm old enough to remember the "new" GW store opening in Manchester and later the change of direction from covering any kind of game by any publisher to a single in-house brand of GW games in GW stores with GW models, and you can pay to have them advertised to you by buying the GW magazine.  No need for a recommendation, if you're old enough to remember then you'll already have picked this up for nostalgia.

One thing I never knew about was GW's failed game "Towerblocks", something about stacking wooden blocks into a tower, then carefully pulling them out again.  That'll never catch on!

Rev Richard Coles - Murder before Evensong

Given the other books on this list, you would expect Murder before Evensong to be just my thing, but it didn't really grip me.  Perhaps the supporting cast weren't interesting enough or didn't behave suspiciously enough to set me wondering whether they could have committed the murder.  Only one false trail looked plausible enough to set me wondering and I didn't spot the actual solution either.  The second novel is already sitting on my shelf and I'm hoping to enjoy it more than this one.  I suspect that any author's first novel is a place to use all the funny stories from real life, vent some long-felt frustrations or in this case perhaps to make a number of in-jokes to amuse other vicars.  Certainly one of the many faults with my own attempt to write a book was that it was too full of the stuff I wanted to get off my chest, even though nobody would care.

Clearly a theme runs through the books this quarter.  They are mostly lightweight crime stories.  Second quarter is going to change that in a big way, since I'm half-way through Neal Stephenson's Anathem, but I'll talk about that one when I've finished it.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Nan-Ko the Northman

 As promised, this is a write-up (actual play) of my first Scarlet Heroes game.

Nan-Ko is a Skandr human Fighter, former blacksmith, living in Nordheim as his saga begins.

I rolled 10/11/13/11/10/10 for his stats, so invoke the rule of 16 somewhere to turn Str from 10 to 16

• Str 16 +2 bonus
• Int 10
• Wis 10
• Con 13 +1 bonus
• Dex 11
• Cha 11

Next, assign some Traits (free-form, rather than chosen from a skills list, more like Risus)

• Mighty Thews (former blacksmith): 1
• Iron constitution: 1
• Cat-like tread: 1
• Aided a talented thief: 1

Goals: one day, I will be a king.  But for now, I will need to collect funds to finance this destiny

The old favourite mini-game of buying starting gear out of initial money, and calculating how much it all weighs results in the following:

• Leather armour & shield (AC6)
• Broadsword (1d8)
• 2 knives (1d4, throw 15'-30')
• backpack
• Common clothes
• crowbar, 50' hemp rope, 10 torches, 1 gallon waterskin, rations for 2 days

Total load 69 lb. Can carry 80 lb with no penalty.  (may leave some torches and rations at home, or dump them on the adventure, to allow more loot)

Nan-Ko the Northman (as imagined by AI)

Character creation is complete.

The troubles of Weeping Lotus

Start with an Urban adventure, threat level 1 for a first effort

The adventure says: a target belongs to a group or ethnicity that is suffering problems from an antagonist.

Draw the Target, the Antagonist, and a Crime. If the Antagonist is inside the group, they committed the Crime on an Actor, infuriating outsiders. If the Antagonist is outside the group, they want to hurt the Target with the Crime. Scenes revolve around calming tempers, preventing harm, and getting justice for the wronged.

The target is Weeping Lotus, a Shou-Blooded Honest gravetender, ex-lover of Nan-Ko

The Antagonist is a Wretched Eshkanti miser, the crime culprit

The crime is Blackmail, taking place in an isolated area and only witnessed by a random stranger who has not spoken out

Weeping Lotus scrapes a living by tending to the graves of the departed in return for small payments from their families.  If it were known that he is part-Shou, it could be the end of this life for her.  There is already trouble in town about the shou-blooded living among the people of Nordheim.

Now an Eshkanti has threatened to reveal her ancestry unless she pays for his silence.  The meeting was probably not observed by anyone and she can't identify the man.

She approaches Nan-Ko, asking for his help.

Weeping Lotus

Nan-Ko begins with an investigation scene, to see what he can learn.  Very quickly he is waylaid by a hostile figure, while still at the local smithy (where he helps out).  If he wins the fight, he will retrieve some kind of a clue to the opposition.

The foe is a trained soldier, with 2 rabble to back him up

The soldier is attempting to ambush Nan-Ko, so they make 2d8 skill checks, +1 for the soldier, also +1 for Nan-Ko's cat-like tread. Rolls are 8 (soldier) & 15 (Nan-Ko), so no ambush, just go straight to normal initiative.

Nan-Ko attacks the Soldier but it's a miss.  However, with the fray die he does 1 HD damage to a rabble-guy in passing and takes him down.  The fray die reflects the casual way that the hero knocks down the lower-level rabble that turn up to support the main opponent.   Event the main opponent can fall victim to the fray die, if he is no higher level than the hero, as we shall see.

Now the attackers fight back.  The soldier rolls a miss, and the rabble also rolled a miss. 

It's not time for a morale check yet, the opposition fights on.

Round 2: Nan-Ko attacks the Soldier and misses again.  With the fray die he does 2 HD damage to finish off both his assailants.

Before the authorities can arrive, Nan-Ko checks the bodies and retrieves a valuable clue to his opponent's identity.

For the next scene, Nan-Ko decides to use his clue to generate some Action. He decides to take the clue to ... A Mighty War Hero (a stranger), to disgrace the anti-Shou activists.

The Hero's initial reaction is a flat refusal.  Nan-Ko's challenge will be to convince the Hero to consider the evidence.  Perhaps there is something that Nan-Ko can do for the Hero in return?

The hero (let's call him Three Ox Man) would like to discover a secret.  Perhaps Nan-Ko's association with a famous burglar will allow him to get access to the secret's hiding place?

Nan-Ko rolls 11+1 for his past association, which is a success.  He retrieves the secret.  Three Ox Man will accept this service in return for publicising Nan-Ko's clue.  Tick off the clue and collect 2VP.

Now Nan-Ko has to make good on his offer of a favour to Three Ox Man in return. This will be an investigation unrelated to the problems of Weeping Lotus. Nan-Ko must search a ...social club to find the clue.  Regardless of the search outcome, there is a 50% chance of a fight afterward.

Three Ox Man has asked Nan-Ko to look for something in his father's locker at the club.  The Hero suspects that his father is involved in some crooked deal, but needs evidence.

Nan-Ko attmpts to sneak in at night and break in to the locker: 5+1 is not a success, but there is no fight, so he makes it in and out undetected.

Did he search the locker? (Oracle, unknown, +1 for thievery) Yes.  There was no evidence there.

Is this enough to satisfy his honour with Three Ox Man?  (Oracle, Unknown) Yes, But ... something Nan-Ko thinks he knows is actually wrong.  Three Ox Man has discovered a problem with the clue that Nan-Ko brought him.  Nan-Ko must investigate further.  Because of this delay, the adversary gains 1VP.

For his next move, Nan-Ko must infiltrate a fence's shop, where there may be clues to the financial backing behind the anti-Shou faction.  If he fails to pass as one of the faction, there will be a fight.

Relying on his past association with a thief to give him the right vocabulary, and his brief encounter with three of the gang, Nan-Ko just barely manages (9 exactly) to pass as a messenger and is handed a token in return.

Using the token, Nan-Ko tries to achieve some Action.  He has an address for a safehouse to deliver the token.  Waiting for dark, he slips out to trash the place.  Relying on his cat-like tread to allow him to enter & leave undetected, he rolls 12+1 for another success.

Unfortunately he leaves just as another of the gang is arriving, leading to a fight. He faces a veteran and three Thugs. This is going to be a tougher fight than the last one.

Basic initiative (no simple roll for surprise?) means that Nan-Ko goes first, and targets the veteran.  He misses. With the fray die he takes out one of the thugs.

The veteran and two thugs all miss (just).

Nan-Ko strikes again: he misses the veteran, but with the fray die he takes out the other two thugs, leaving the veteran on his own.

The veteran hits Nan-Ko for 2 damage (down to 7 hit points).  

The veteran takes a morale check, but easily brushes aside the loss of the thugs.  Their support means little to a seasoned fighter like this.

Nan-Ko and the veteran miss each other for two rounds.  This could take a while, if they keep rolling low.

Nan-Ko scores a clear hit at last.  The broadsword bites and takes 1 of the veteran's 2HD.

The veteran misses again.  I declare another morale check, but 6 is a pass.

Another round sees both characters miss.  Then Nan-Ko strikes and just scores a hit.  Damage is just enough to finish the veteran.

A tough fight leaves Nan-Ko wounded but victorious.  He drags the bodies into the house to delay their discovery and slips away home to recover.  Bandaging his wounds restores the 2HP damage.  2 more VP to Nan-Ko.

The next morning, Nan-Ko is set upon by an inquisitor from the temple of Inren, the purple god of "and everything else".  The inquisitor is a Tank, backed up by 3 thugs, and is clearly just here for a fight.  His protest at Nan-Ko's neglect of the Nine Immortals is barely a front, before weapons are drawn.  The opposition continues to step up the level of resources they will send to silence Nan-Ko.

The fight lasts 18 rounds.  The three thugs fall to the fray die in the first two rounds.  The inquisitor is above the fray.  He wounds Nan-Ko four times, reducing him to 2 hp before Nan-Ko finishes him off.

Nan-Ko is drained.  Binding his wounds, he heads across town to beg sanctuary from Three Ox Man.  He recovers 2hp for this first aid.

Three Ox Man agrees to take Nan-Ko into his house to recover, but it will cost a significant service once he is ready.

Nan-Ko has a clue from the Purple Inquisitor and 1VP for surviving the attack.

After a day with Three Ox Man he is restored to 6HP, but would need an extended rest to recover any further.  The case won't wait.

Word of the Inquisitor's demise spreads widely.  Nordheim becomes hotter for Nan-Ko (+1 point of heat).

Using the inquisitor's clue, Nan-Ko initiates an Action scene. He must convince an ally of the foe to betray them.  If not, they must fight.

The ally is a ruthless moneylender, Uncle Ching, financier of the whole anti-shou faction.

Despite having no relevant traits, Nan-Ko succeeds (14 rolled) in turning Uncle Ching away from the enemy. 2 more VP brings Nan-Ko's total to 9. One more successful scene should bring this adventure to its finale.

Nan-Ko decides to investigate, going back to the fence's shop to search for another delivery, so that he can locate another of the gang's hideouts.  There's a 50:50 chance of a fight, whether he finds the clue or not.

Rolling +1 for thieving skills, Nan-Ko succeeds in picking up another delivery with an address.  He also gets out without a fight.  Great job.  That's the 10th VP.

The story cuts straight to an Action scene. Nan-Ko must destroy information necessary to the foe's plan. On a failure, face a Fight.

Breaking in to the gang's next hideout, Nan-Ko hopes to locate their evidence of Shou ancestry, so that he can put a stop to their targetted attacks.

Challenge roll: 12+1, a clear success for Nan-Ko.  He finds and destroys the records.  The gang is broken and Weeping Lotus can rest easy.

A difference of 9 VP between Nan-Ko and the opposition is a complete success for Nan-Lo.  The Eshkanti miser is forced to abandon his attacks on Shou-blooded inhabitants in Nordheim.

The rulebook suggest 1XP per "session" of play.  I think this adventure required four separate sessions, although two of them run together into a full afternoon's activity.  There were 3 fights across 9 scenes.  Some scenes were basically just a challenge check that was passed.  I think I'll award 1 XP per fight and 1 for the rest of the adventure.  It feels more concrete, but may not work so well in an adventure complicated by failed challenges.  Let's see.

Nan-Ko gains 4XP and goes up to 2nd Level.  He takes a 2nd point in cat-like tread, following his burglary successes.

A favour for Three Ox Man

There is an item that Three Ox Man would like Nan-Ko to acquire for him.  It is a grey jar, located within a dungeon not far from Nordheim's walls.  There may be some wilderness crawling to precisely locate the dungeon first.

The place is a natural fortress, known as Scar Keep.  It is not large inside (1d6 locations) and a Threat level equal to Nan-Ko's HD (2).  The main inhabitants are dwarves (at least, that's what Three Ox Man says, no mention of repenters among them)

Since the wildernesss section is only just outside the walls, the threat level is just 1.

Three Ox Man will provide provisions for the trek: 7 days worth, with 2 wineskins of water.  Nan-Ko can carry this load instead of his usual rations and rope with 1 lb of carrying capacity left over.  

I've adjusted the rate of water consumption, or else even a strong guy like Nan-Ko couldn't carry provisions for any useful duration.  For future wilderness adventures I'll take a different approach.

To create the grey jar, I made up a quick maguffin table to be used whenever the adventure needs a random physical object.  It can be used with a list of colours to be more specific (e.g. resistor colour codes).

1. bottle or jar
2. book
3. scroll
4. weapon
5. armour
6. staff or wand
7. jewelry (p83)
8. statuette
9. garment (p83)
10. seal, mask or fan

Nan-Ko leaves Nordheim by the Mountain Gate, which leads toward his homeland in the North.

  >---<
 /0412 \
< Scrub >---<
 \hills/0513 \
  >---< Scrub >---<
       \hills/0613 \
        >---< Cold  >
       /0514 \marsh/
      < Taiga >---<
       \hills/
        >---<
       /0515 \
      <       >
       \Gate /
        >---<

Day 1, into Taiga hills 0514.  No encounter. No event, so the event threshold rises to 2. No feature, so the feature threshold rises to 2.

Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).

Day 2, N into 0513. No encounter. No event, threshold rises to 3. Feature found.

For this adventure, will assume that a nearby feature is Scar Keep, but rolled anyway: a farm village.

Nan-Ko avoids the village, but notes that it appears to have been built by pre-human hands and is now partially destroyed.  The walls are of earth-cored stone, with towers skewed and tilted.  There is widespread planting within the walls, and the buildings are of muted pastel colours.

Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).

Day 3, SE to 0613, in case the keep has been missed. No encounter. No event, threshold rises to 4. A feature is found (on a roll of 1) and it's a dungeon!

Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).

Day 4, time to explore Scar Keep.

The first area Nan-Ko discovers is an armoury, with an encounter and hidden treasure. There's a cave bear in here (using encounter tables p78 for the hills nearby). The bear has 7HD and totally out-classes Nan-Ko. 

Reaction roll: scorn.  The bear growls at Nan-Ko to get lost, which he promptly does.  Roll: he's outside the keep, he didn't stumble into one of the other areas.

Nan-Ko reasons that the bear has taken up residence here.  Either the dwarves are blocked in, or there must be another entrance.  He goes looking.

Nan-Ko finds another way in, leading to a vault.  No encounter or hazard, but hidden treasure M2 (200GP).  Not a feature.

He searches the vault, looking for his objective, which isn't here.  Each turn of search, he rolls a check and if successful, generate a valuable object from p83.  If the object exceeds the remaining value of the trove, replace it with a purse of coins.  Also remember to roll for wandering encounters each turn.

Turn 1 he succeeds in discovering a tourmaline gem worth 100GP

Turn 2 he finds nothing

Turn 3 he finds nothing and has become nervous about company, so moves on to the next area.

In the Commisary, Nan-Ko triggers the entry trap. His saving throw (2d8) is a failure and he takes 2d4 damage (1HP).  The room is otherwise empty, and only leads to the armoury and the bear.  The dwarves and Three Ox Man's grey jar are apparently long gone.

Nan-Ko binds his wounds and returns to the vault, to spend another 3 turns searching before calling it a day.

Immediately he recognises that a table is decently made and probably worth 40GP, but too big to carry

Next turn he sees another table worth 60GP

Finally he succeeds again, and this time realises there is nothing left to find.

He hurries out before any wanderers arrive.

Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).

Day 5 Nan-Ko decides to ask in the village about the dwarves.  He doesn't like to return empty-handed.

I'll play this as an urban investigation scene.  Nan-Ko visits the village and approaches a man carrying books, who happens to be an erudite bookseller, with the intention of paying him for information.

The bookseller (Svejn Alvis) is human, probably a mix of Skandr and Eshkanti, dressed soberly in dark clothes.

Rules note: not much clue about size of a bribe, except that the equipment table has a minor bribe at 5gp, major at 400gp. Nan-Ko is going with 10GP for this situation.

He rolled even, so Svejn is happy to pocket the coins and share what he knows about the dwarves: when the cave bear moved in, it killed many of them and the rest fled NW past this village and beyond.

Nan-Ko has some supplies remaining, so he'll explore 1 more hex to the NW.

Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).

Day 6, NW to 0412. Encounter. No event, threshold rises to 2. No feature, threshold rises to 2.

Nan-Ko runs into an ogre (with another 5 in a lair nearby).

Nan-Ko strikes first for 2HD.

The ogre strikes back for 2HP leaving Nan-Ko with 11.

They miss each other for two rounds, and then Nan-Ko strikes for 2HD and the ogre goes down.

Time for a quick grab at the ogre's purse before scarpering.  Can't see how it comes off.  

Roll for company as a 1 on d6 - not this time, but the others are surely on their way.

Another grab for the purse.  Got it this time, off comes the ogre's bag.  Nan-Ko hurries back to the village to avoid the rest of the ogres.

Loot from the ogre is 60 gp, 6 earrings (Cheap Jewelry) worth 30gp each, 1 finger ring (Costly Jewelry) worth 100gp

Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).

Day 7, home to Nordheim & report back to Three Ox Man.  It's bad news, but there's a clue to where the dwarves took his jar.  Also, in a spirit of sharing the spoils, Nan-Ko hands over the gem he recovered from Scar Keep.  It should cover the costs of equipping Nan-Ko for the search.

Three Ox Man makes a reaction roll (as friendly NPC, +1 for a modest bribe) and is "persuadable".  Nan-Ko makes a charisma check to persuade him (12) and aces it.  This was a good effort and Three Ox Man is well pleased at the efforts Nan-Ko has made.

Time for XP.  Only 2 sessions and 1 fight make this a 2XP adventure.  Nan-Ko advances to lvl 3 and takes a point in Wanderer.

The Hunt for the dwarves 

The dwarves with a grey jar

Nan-Ko offers to spend another week following the trail of the grey jar and the fleeing dwarves.  Three Ox Man is pleased to supply provisions for a further expedition and wishes him well.

        >---<
       /0311 \
  >---< Heavy >---<
 /0211 \Taiga/0411 \
< Heavy >---< Mntns >
 \Taiga/0312 \     /
  >---< Mntns >---<
       \     /0412 \
        >---< Scrub >---<
             \hills/0513 \
              >---< Scrub >---<
                   \hills/0613 \
                    >---< Cold  >
                   /0514 \marsh/
                  < Taiga >---<
                   \hills/
                    >---<
                   /0515 \
                  <       >
                   \Gate /
                    >---<

Day 1 Nan-Ko is retracing his steps through known territory.  Rather than exploring at 1 hex per day, he is travelling at a rate described on p21.  For convenience I have reversed the table to show the time taken to cover 3 miles (from the hex edge to centre or from centre to edge).

• Clear 1hr
• Road 40 mins
• Forest/hils 72 mins
• Jungle 90 mins
• Swamp 2 hrs
• Mountain 10 hrs

On this basis, he can reach the centre of 0412 in 7 hrs precisely.  He will camp for the night near the edge with 0312.

There is an encounter, but no Event. Nan-Ko encounters 5 Shou Orcs during the night as he is camped.  They are 80' away when they first notice Nan-Ko and close in to melee range before he is aware of them.  Move to combat and the orcs go first.

Rules question: how to assign weapons to the Orcs?

List all the types used by the enemy (e.g. orcs may have 2-handed, 1-handed, light, small or a light bow for d6).  Now roll a selection for each figure in the group, e.g. a d10 for these 5 options.

This group has 2 with 1-handed weapons d8, 1 light d6, 1 small d4, 1 bow d6

The orcs strike. One hits for 2HP (leaves 15). The others miss.  Nan-Ko misses in return.

New round, back to normal sequence.

Nan-Ko hits but does no damage.  The fray die puts down both of the 1-hander orcs.

The orcs strike back: one hits for 2hp, one hits for 1HP.  Another hits for 2hp.  Nan-Ko is down to 10.

Nan-Ko strikes and takes out both of the melee fighters. The Fray die puts down the archer, since at night he would have to be close-in to fire, close enough to take a swipe from Nan-Ko's sword.

Nan-Ko binds his wounds and is on 12hp going forward.

Did they have treasure?  1/8 for random encounters (p122), 1/12 for beasts.  Roll 5d8 and not one had any.

Day 2 NW to 0312.  Wierdly, this exploration only takes a standard 1 day, although it would take 10 hours to hike to the middle of the hex.  Whatever.

No encounter. No Event (threshold rises to 3). No Feature (threshold rises to 3).

Consume 1 day's food and 2 pints of water (minimal level).

Day 3 NW to 0211. 

Encounter an Orc-Tinh, a living spirit who has become immortal. The Tinh is on the way to visit a friendly neighbouring community. It is disinclined to fight unless it seems necessary.

Can Nan-Ko ask it about the dwarves?  Reaction roll for NPC stranger: annoyed.  Check on charisma (no relevant plusses) 15 is a clear success.  The oracle says "Truth".  The Tinh tells all.  The oracle says "Exploration".

The Tinh takes no interest in Dwarves; if Nan-Ko explores further, he may find them, but the grey jar is poison and he should not touch it.

Event: a snowstorm traps Nan-Ko for 4 days

Day 7 the snow abates, Nan-Ko must return to town.

Three Ox Man is open to be persuaded by Nan-Ko (reaction roll, followed by charisma check): 8+1 he believes that Nan-Ko has told the true story of his adventures.

Three Ox Man releases Nan-Ko from his quest for the grey jar (although in his heart, he intends to keep looking for it).

2 short sessions, but still 2XP for Nan-Ko, who remains 3rd level.

I hope this example of play shows how a game of Scarlet Heroes flows.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Scarlet Heroes - a first impression

 It may not seem sensible to write a review of a game that was published ten years ago, but this game seems to have missed out on the bandwagon of solo RPGs following the Covid pandemic and some of the many people who started playing solo RPGs during lockdown may not have tried it.

The full game is available is available at drivethru  and there is also a quickstart edition currently FREE as a PDF.  

I've started a first campaign with Scarlet Heroes and played enough to share some impressions for others who may be considering it or may be looking for a solo game to play.

In general, to play a RPG on your own you will need:

- a set of RPG rules

- a campaign setting (unless the rules include one)

- some way of doing all the work that the Game Master (GM) would do in a social game

Scarlet Heroes provides a set of rules that are very close to first edition D&D, which should be immediately familiar to anyone who has played that game.  This is different from Ironsworn, for example, which is Powered by the Apocalypse and needs the player to think about their character's actions as "moves" to be chosen from a playbook, which may be new approaches for the player to learn at the same time as everything else.  

In addition to my list of the necessities of solo roleplay, Scarlet Heroes modifies the D&D rules to allow a single character to survive and succeed instead of the usual party of adventurers.  This saves the solo player from thinking about the actions of a handful of characters each turn.  The player's character does more damage to the monsters (each hit point takes out roughly a hit die) and receives less damage in return (each successful hit costs a hit point or two).

The default setting for Scarlet Heroes is the Sunset Isles, an oriental setting, although the player can always re-write that.  This doesn't work well for me.  Whether the Ninefold Celestial Empire is based on China (as I suspect) or Japan or is a complete invention, it leaves me uncomfortable about my ignorance of the original.  In a few years time I may have learned something, perhaps even read Journey to the West (in translation), and then I can open the notebook with one of my Scarlet Heroes games and cringe at how badly I misunderstood everything about the culture, religion, society and attitudes.  I would prefer something more familiar (perhaps based on Tolkien or Howard's Hyboria) or a complete invention.  But that's just personal taste.  The game has everything the player needs, with descriptions for each nation in the Isles, tables to randomly generate names for their citizens, and a page of notes on laws, religion and customs.

Where Scarlet Heroes really shines is in the procedures to generate adventures.  There are three separate procedures for urban, wilderness and dungeon adventures.  Wilderness adventures are hexcrawl explorations, with the player moving around a hexagonal grid to discover what is in the next hex, generate random encounters and special events.  Dungeon adventures are more like a pointcrawl, with the player moving from location to location within the dungeon by choosing one of the exits from the current location, generating encounters, traps, treasure and so on.  

Urban adventures pit the player against an opponent (another character or organisation).  The adventure is played in scenes, which can be investigation (pass a kind of skill check to gain a Clue), action (spend a Clue to act against the opponent, for example by breaking into their premises to cause damage) or conflict (set the opponent's plans back).  Sometimes the skill checks give way to fighting.  Both the player and the opponent score points for scenes they win, and the first to reach 10 points has probably won the adventure.  The many random tables turn these generic scenes into a specific story of intrigue that feels surprisingly satisfying.

The opponent's master plan is determined from a random list, for example they are scheming to steal something from a target person (so roll up the details of the target on some random tables).  When the player's character is ambushed in a dark alley by three thugs, the reason is because they work for the opponent and the player has been interfering with the oppnent's plan.  This works better for me than trying to interpret an oracle of two random words as used in some solo RPGs; the thugs attacked the player because "water servant" and the player has to somehow explain what that means.

There is no suggestion about recurring characters, which surprised me.  Perhaps the villains are not expected to survive, but for my own game I've kept a list of all the supporting characters in each place, so that the next time the game randomly generates a ruthless moneylender in Nordheim, the expectation will be that it is Uncle Ching yet again.

That's a long ramble about what's included, what I liked and didn't like.  For a future post I'll write up my first campaign, which should make it much clearer.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

New recruits for the AWI

 I've just painted and based two more regiments for the AWI.

38th Foot

The 38th Foot uses up the remainder of a set of Revell (Accurate, Imex) redcoats that I had already started for my other Crown forces.  The regimental colour is modelled with too small a flag, so I've done the union flag in the corner to the correct size and most of the yellow area must have been shot away in action.  

The king's colour is painted freehand on a piece of 80gsm printer paper.  The ensign is converted from an awkward pose of a man stabbing downward with a bayonet, holding his musket overhead.  I cut off his hands at the wrist and gave hime new hands by sticking some tissue paper around a straightened paperclip (the flagpole).

The light company was already painted for use in the amalgamated light battalion.  They are a slight conversion from A Call to Arms British infantry 1775.  The original models look like the Light Dragoons fighting on foot, with a central ridge on their helmets and a horsehair crest.  I trimmed that off and stuck a bit of it to the side of the helmet to make the plume on a light infantry cap.  The plume is black (pre-Paoli) but would be dyed red later in the war.

As always, the photographs show a host of problems with the painting.  Some are due to my eyesight & standard of brushwork (e.g. the wonky white ribbon around the edge of the hats), while others are just steps that I missed (e.g. the unpainted crossbelts on the back of the ensign carrying the King's colour).  I don't work from a checklist, so the decision that a miniature is "finished" depends on whether I can remember or see anything more that needs to be done.  They certainly won't win any prizes, but will be fine on the table.

1st Maryland

The 1st Maryland are also Revell redcoats, given that the uniforms were so similar (and many of them stolen from supplies intended for the Crown forces).  The two giants of men in the command group are taken from the Italeri set for Washington's army.  I'm trying to use them for variety where their size may not be noticed.  A separate unit of all Italeri figures would stand out even worse on the table.

The photograph shows a shockingly slapdash job of painting them, which is mostly down to my eyesight at the time.  If I could have seen the models this well, I would have fixed some of the horrors in the paintwork.

The 1st Maryland fought at Long Island in stolen British uniforms dyed brown with red facings.  In 1777 they switched to blue coats faced red, which they wore for the Philadelphia campaign.  The later standardisation of the uniforms for the continental army needed no change for them.  They also took part in the Southern campaign, including Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk Hill and Eutaw Springs.  The faults in my paintwork will spend a lot of time on the table to taunt me.

The Baltimore flag in this unit may not be correct, the backpacks are the wrong shape (although correctly painted in a red/crimson colour) and the reversed colours for the drummer are complete guesswork.  Photographs of re-enactors show the drummer in the same coat and facing as the rest of the regiment.

Next up will be some cavalry for the rebels, probably the 2nd continental light dragoons.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Five Leagues Amazons chapters 1 to 12

 For a while I've been playing through a campaign of Nordic Weasel's 5 Leagues from the Borderland (v2).

Like most of the "Five" series of games, this provides a simple tabletop skirmish against programmed opponents and a set of campaign rules to cover the activity between fights.  I have experimented with other skirmish campaign systems, often mixing campaign rules from one source with skirmish rules from another source.  For example, Joe Lengan's Platoon Forward provides campaign rules to use with a platoon-level skirmish game.  For the amazons I'm using 5 Leagues for both, as designed.

So far I've stayed with version 2 of the rules, which look like something typed up in a word processor.  The latest version (v3) published by Modiphius has suffered the attentions of graphic designers, so the text seems smaller and harder to read, with two columns on a page and coloured backgrounds for tables.  I may move forward eventually, but for now I'm sticking with the printer- & eyeball-friendly presentation of v2. 

Alkippe's band of amazons is attempting to stabilise three villages in Lower Caria against the threats of outlaws, border incursions and the dark secrets of sorcery.  The Amazons begin in Idomenea, and will later move on to Heste & Galatessa.

The initial party consisted of:

• Alkippe, the leader, armed with a hand-and-a-half sword.  Her endurance allows her to recover quickly from wounds
• Bremusa, a loyal defender of Alkippe, armed with a short bow
• Calaeno, Alkippe's loyal ally, lighter-armoured but with another great sword
• Derinoe, a fully-armoured hero with a spear

These heroes (heroines?) are accompanied by two followers:

• Eriboea, a former soldier in light armour with a short sword
• Phoebe, a deranged wretch with a short bow

Over the course of 10 campaign turns, the amazons have cleared Idomenea of all threats and developed into a tougher band of warriors.  The followers have become heroes and the group has been joined by further followers and hangers-on.

In keeping with the spirit of the game, I use what models I have available.  My amazons don't all look as Greek as you might expect, the border incursions are Egyptians, and when the campaign called for undead enemies then they were mummies.

Chapter 11 - approaching the roadblock

Chapter 1 - Arrival in Idomenea

Bremusa buys drinks for the locals and recruits a follower, Jack.  The amazons buy him a sword.  They also recruit a villager, Kouros.

No fight this time, but the amazons meet a peasant who offers to do them a favour when they need it.

Chapter 2 - Egyptian raiders

On the road the amazons meet an entertainer who ignores them and brushes past.

The amazons patrol a local farm and bump into a group of 4 Egyptian soldiers.  The amazons win the fight, but Alkippe is hit with an arrow and lightly wounded.

Chapter 3 - Jack the earner

Jack goes out to work and makes some cash for the group to pay for lodgings while Alkippe loses a turn recovering from her injury.

Chapter 4 - Mummy, Mummy!

The amazons bump into a group of three undead at close range and the fight is quickly joined.  All the mummies are killed, but Alkippe and Jack are both wounded and are lucky not to be seriously hurt.

In this encounter the amazons learn to work in pairs, to gain an advantage over tough opposition like the undead.

Chapter 5 - Chilling

Alkippe recovers, the party stays in town & sells some spare gear they picked up

Chapter 6 - Nutters

The group buys full armour for Calaeno (although I continue to use the same unarmoured model for her).

On patrol they find a group of fanatics in a cave complex, including a bridge over an underground river.  There are seven of them, and two leaders.

Eriboea nearly died of her wounds (I used a story point to save her).  She will be out of action for 5 campaign turns.  Also her short sword is damaged and must be repaired or replaced before it can be used.

Calaeno killed both the leaders and receives bonus development.

Jack is promoted to a hero for his part in the fight.

Significant loot from the fanatics includes a scroll allowing one of the group to learn a spell to use in future, and a quiver that is never empty.

The amazons also find evidence of what has been going on with the fanatics, leading to a wider investigation and removing the threat completely.

Chapter 7 - Her again!

On the road the amazons meet an entertainer who ignores them and brushes past.  Again.

They don't find anyone to fight

Chapter 8 - Smugglers' Hole

On the road the amazons meet a scholar who treats them with disdain.  He turns out to be an agent of a neighbouring kingdom, working as part of some conspiracy.  The border threat increases.

Later they encounter a group of 4 smugglers with a lieutenant leading them.  They are found at a storage shed by the edge of the woods through which the smugglers travel unseen with their contraband.

The amazons use their superior numbers (even without Eriboea) to quickly defeat three of the smugglers, at which point the other two flee.

In the shed they find ledgers and records of the smugglers' business, which allows the rest of the gang to be caught and another threat removed.

Chapter 9 - The keep on the borderland

The locals have heard about the scholar making trouble and want the amazons to deal with him.  They offer free upkeep for a turn.

Derinoe still hasn't managed to track an enemy, despite having studied tracking

The amazons explore a farm near a ruined tower on a hill, and discover a military patrol of 4 Egyptians.

They defeat three of the Egyptians and the fourth runs away.  They didn't find the scholar, but were paid a bounty for the patrol.

Later, the fourth Egyptian comes into Idomenea and asks to join the amazons, rather than go home.  His name is Likuris.

Idomenea is now clear of all threats, so the amazons decide to move on.

Chapter 10 - Moving on - start of Season 2

The amazons leave Idomenea and travel to Heste.  On the way, they meet Makarios, the friendly peasant who still owes them a favour from chapter 1.  They arrange to meet in Heste.

Along the road, they encounter 8 outcasts with a captain to lead them.  They are camped around an abandoned temple building at the roadside and the amazons stumble right into them.

In an untidy melee, Calaeno take out a couple of the outcasts, Phoebe takes one by archery and right from round one individual outcasts start running away.  However, at the climax of the fight, Alkippe duels with the captain, with support from Likuris, and loses.  Fortunately she is only lightly hurt and will not take long to recover.  Likuris is briefly left to fight the captain on his own, until the captain breaks off and runs away.

They also find a prisoner in the old temple: a craftsman, who is polite, but not really interested.

Chapter 11 - Welcome to Heste (new meetings and a sad farewell)

The locals take pity on Alkippe's wound and provide free lodging for a turn.

Derinoe Tracks some enemies, and finally succeeds.  She is still the worst tracker in history!

Kouros does a few days of honest work and brings in some cash.

Alkippe is seen by the town healer, and returns to full health.

The amazons go out on patrol and encounter another 9 outcasts, led by a lieutenant.

The outcasts have set up an ambush in the deep forest, with fallen trees to act as road blocks and slow down any travellers.

The amazons spread out and advance in pairs to the flanks, with the archers and Kouros taking the centre.  Movement through the dense woodland is slow, and melee is only joined at the end of round 3.

Likuris has moved ahead, ready to be joined by Alkippe, but is caught on his own by an outcast and goes down.

Phoebe takes down two outcasts with the bow.  Derinoe defeats one in close combat. One outcast makes the mistake of closing with Calaeno and meets his end.

Alkippe takes revenge on Likuris's attacker. The lieutenant crosses the fallen tree to come grips with the amazons.  Two outcasts flee the field.

In the 5th round Bremusa finishes the lieutenant with an arrow.  Calaeno defeats another outcast, and yet another makes the mistake of closing with her, the last mistake he'll ever make.

The amazons held the field, the outcasts all down or fled.  However, Likuris did not survive his wounds.  He is the first that the group has lost. The outcasts had no loot, but the amazons reduced the threat level in Heste thanks to Derinoe's tracking.  Alkippe, Derinoe and Eriboea go up a level and gain in stats or skills.

The end of Likuris, Alkippe will avenge him

Chapter 12 - the blackest knight

After the drama of losing Likuris, the next chapter descended into farce, given my shameless abuse of the programmed actions of the enemy.

A wandering healer visits Heste, on a rare occasion when none of the group is injured.

Derinoe succeeds in tracking enemies again.  She may be getting the hang of this tracking.

The party explores the local area and finds a monster lair, but with no indication what kind of creature it is.  They decide to rush into the lair anyway.  In the middle of a maze of walls they find a Death Knight.

This is a daunting opponent, with 3 "lives" to lose, immune to wounding and so terrifying that the amazons need to roll high to even close with it.  

I arranged the main fighters (Alkippe, Calaeno, Derinoe) with backup (Jack, Kouros) covering the archers (Bremusa, Phoebe), while Eriboea acted as rodeo clown.  She is the fastest of the group, quick enough to outrun the death knight.  She runs up, to be the closest enemy, then moves away to distract the monster as it pursues.

While the death knight chased Eriboea, the archers shot at it.  Most of the time it was out of sight, but Eriboea ran around in a circle, returning to areas where the archers could get a bead on her pursuer.  In theory this could have gone on indefinitely, until one of the archers got lucky and hit a vital spot.  In fact it only took twelve rounds, which was extremely lucky as my calculation of the odds suggests it should have taken 81 rounds.  Phoebe ran out of arrows, but Bremusa had the ever-full quiver and passed it across to Phoebe as the more skilled archer.

To create a maze of walls around the monster, I rolled 1d12 for clock-face direction, 2d6 for distance in inches and an odd-even die for orientation (N-S or E-W) to place each wall segment.  There were enough openings for Eriboea to find a circuit to run around.

There's plenty of loot in the death knight's lair.  16 gold coins, 2 bottles of fine ale, and an enchanted weapon, which is ideal for Bremusa, so that she now uses her bow at +3 (although her natural combat ability is only +0).  It's the perfect companion for the never-empty quiver of arrows.

The rules provide an engaging series of games, which can be solo, cooperative or competitive.  The level of difficulty can be adjusted up or down.  I'm using the default level.   Recommended for a quick skirmish on a small table.

AWI in a box (actually, two boxes)

Following last year's spate of "army in a box" posts, here's a quick look at my two forces for the American War of Independence (AWI).

click to enlarge

The units are intended initially for Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames (OHW) with the chance to expand them for other rules.  The basing is 4 men on a 4cm square MDF base, so that 3 bases would make a unit of 4"-6" frontage in OHW.  Other rules will work better with 4 bases to a unit, e.g. British Grenadier or a variant of any of Neil Thomas's other books (maybe starting with Wargaming: an Introduction).

My first scenario was Bunker Hill, a battle which actually took place at Breed's Hill, but this post is not going to be about all the myths and inaccurate history of the conflict.  The choice of units was focused on that battle, rather than a more generic set.

The crown forces comprise the 63rd, 43rd, & 5th foot, 4 bases of each plus a base of 2 light infantry skirmishers for their light companies.  The centre companies are Revell / Accurate / Imex redcoats, and the light companies are A Call To Arms 1775 light infantry.  The 5th are Airfix grenadiers, although their fusilier caps soon wore out and were replaced by regular hats as the conflict went on.  There's also a light company for the 38th foot; the centre companies of the 38th are still on my painting table.

A combined grenadier battalion with assorted facings was painted by someone else (OBE=Other Bloke's Efforts), as were the Hesse-Kassel Leib grenadiers.  The Hessians weren't at Bunker Hill, but I'll want them for later actions.  The 17th Light Dragoons and the 6- to 8-pounder gun were my own work.

In terms of an OHW scenario for Bunker Hill, the numbered reqiments and the grenadiers provide 4 units of infantry, the combined light companies 1 unit of skirmishers, and there is 1 unit of artillery on Moulton's Hill.

The rebels consist of 2 units of formed militia in their everyday clothes (mostly Revell / Accurate / Imex), 2 units of skirmishers in open order (mixed Revell & Airfix) and 2 regiments who have been (mostly) issued with uniforms: Colonel Sargent's Massachusetts (in green) and Stark's 1st New Hampshire (in brown with red facings).  These two units include a handful of Italeri figures, which are taller by a head than Revell (and the old Airfix models are smaller still).  I've tried to position them so that the height difference is less obvious.

In terms of an OHW scenario for Bunker Hill, Stark's men were there (although they didn't receive their uniforms until November 1775), along with a number of troops with no uniform.  There's also a 3-pounder gun with the Bunker Hill flag for the redoubt on Breed's Hill.  I think that's a Revell SYW Austrian gun on an Airfix Napoleonic French carriage.

The paintwork on these models is nothing to shout about. I have taken up miniature wargaming (and therefore the painting of toy soldiers) just as my eyes have started to need reading glasses.  Also, these are the "wrong" models (the AWI is not well covered in 1/72) and I'm using the wrong paints (cheap craft acrylics).  The fashionable scale would be 28mm or else 15mm or even 6mm.  I make no attempt at highlights by drybrushing; just a base coat and a wash of raw umber to darken the recesses.

As armies in a box, these are almost complete.  The rebels need a squadron of continental dragoons and there should be enough to play any of the scenarios in the book.  OHW has the player dice for the forces available (essentially a brigade or division), which can include up to 4 line battalions, 2 skirmish battalions, 2 cavalry and 2 artillery units.  The player will field four to six units from this selection in each scenario.  The AWI was notable for having a smaller proportion of cavalry or artillery than other conflicts, so I follow other bloggers in ruling that the second cavalry unit or second artillery unit is replaced by something else.  This approach also allows the replacements to represent something specific to this conflict, such as elite grenadiers, weaker militia, native warbands or riflemen.

KBO

A first OHW ECW campaign

I'm now on my second ECW campaign using One Hour Wargames.  The first was played solo, but without a specific solo system, just playing both sides to see how things turn out.  In the second campaign I am using the solo system from https://gridbasedwargaming.blogspot.com/2023/07/solo-decision-cards-for-ecw-wargaming.html

OHW rules for pike & shot cover 4 types of troops: Infantry (mixed pike & shot), Swordsmen, Reiters and Cavalry.  For an English setting, I didn't need the Swordsmen, but was missing Dragoons and Artillery, so my game followed modifications by Alan Saunders to use the following troop types:

• Foot (Pike & Shot) (Move 6" & shoot 12" d6) Charge d6 when out of ammo 
• Reiters (Move 8" & shoot 12" d6) Charge d6 when out of ammo, half-hits vs Foot
• Cavalry (Move 12", Charge d6+2, half hits vs Foot)
• Swordsmen (Move 8",  Charge d6+2, half hits vs Reiters or Cavalry) May enter woods.
• Dragoons (replace swordsmen) (Mv 8" or shoot 12" d6) May enter woods.  Run out of ammo, drop to low ammo and shoot d6-2. HTH d6-2
• Artillery (replaces 1st Dragoon on a 4+ roll) Move 6", may not move (or pivot) and fire in same turn. Shoot 48" d6. May not move after first shot.
• Irregulars (scenario special rule) (Mv 9" & shoot 12" d6-2) melee d6-2, unlimited ammo (archers)

The rules have no explicit officers/command function, so they are not represented.

Each side in the campaign fields an army consisting of 4 Foot, 2 Reiters, 2 Cavalry, 2 Dragoons & 1 Artillery unit.  Any unit that breaks in one scenario and then takes part in the next battle, begins with 12 HP, not 15.  This represents losses, green replacements etc.

For the first campaign I didn't make up names for the units of the two armies, but I added these in the second campaign, which made it easier to keep track of which regiments were engaged in each battle.

Scenario selection is random, with the winner of the previous battle choosing to be Red or Blue.  Before the first battle, the players toss a coin and the winner chooses Red or Blue position.

The campaign is won by the first side to achieve 3 victories

The first battle in the campaign, looking East

The first battle was scenario 23, Defence in Depth.

The Crown wins the toss and Lord Lummeigh elects to be Blue.  The attacker is Sir Breville Towcester's army for Parliament.

• Parliament (Red) has 3 Foot, 2 Cavalry, 1 Artillery
• The Crown (Blue) has 2 Foot, 1 Reiter & 1 Cavalry, but replaces all the horse with 2 Irregulars (archers) by scenario rule.

Lord Lummeigh stationed Foot 1 in the village, with Foot 2 immediately East, both facing North.  Irregulars in the woods North of the muddy river, and in the woods South of the River

Sir Breville marched on: Foot 1 & 3 went straight along the road toward the village, Foot 2 echelon Left 45 degrees to face the woods.  The gun was stationed between the road and Woods to fire on the irregulars & Foot 2.

The parliamentarian cavalry arrived in the East, crossing the river at the ford & making a sweeping movement around the woods to charge into the rear of King's Foot 2.

The climax of the battle approaches

The irregulars to the North of the river took heavy fire from the parliamentarian Foot and artillery.  They soon ran back across the ford.  The irregulars to the south maintained a steady harassing fire on the cavalry movements.

The key moments of the battle came in turns 5 and 6.  The cavalry swept around the flank, clearing away one unit of the irregulars.  Towcester's artillery and foot cleared the town.  The road was now open for the red force to achieve its objective and push ahead along the road.

But just as the battle seems to be over, pursuing fire from the remaining irregulars breaks one of Towcester's Cavalry and wins the day for the King.  

Sir Breville's much-reduced force continues south, but not in enough strength to make a difference.

In the next battle, Sir Breville went on to field all 4 regiments of foot, so 2 of them began at reduced strength.