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Messages - Paul Riddle

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brainstorming & development / Re: Undying
« on: June 24, 2013, 11:13:41 AM »
Undying 3.1 is now available! This release concludes my planned revisions to the content. Next step: art and layout for a kickstarter!

http://enigmamachinations.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/undying-3-1-released/

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brainstorming & development / Re: Undying
« on: April 03, 2013, 11:03:31 AM »

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The Regiment / Re: More play observations
« on: February 22, 2013, 10:36:23 AM »
Do play with the time scale. Even if you're going moment by moment, the fighting ends or goes stalemate. Forces get scattered or exhausted and must be reorganized.

For a sniper in urban territory, I think that will always be a challenge. That can be helped by varying the terrain (a park, a church tower, open country, etc.). Also, it can be helped if your advance is blunted or turned, so that fixed position offers more play.

Taking damage is something that's under review and I think it's heading toward a more lethal environment. It's the system, in part. Is your GM exposing your characters to fire enough? Speaking in 2.1 terms... when bullets fly by, are you taking incidental? When an enemy stares down their sights at you, are you taking direct? When you walk into the meat grinder, do you take concentrated?

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brainstorming & development / Re: Undying
« on: February 20, 2013, 10:31:59 AM »

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brainstorming & development / Undying
« on: February 18, 2013, 10:54:17 AM »
http://enigmamachinations.wordpress.com/

This is the beta release of Undying, a vampire role playing game of predation and intrigue. Undying is now very focused and concise, tightly integrating a core diceless mechanic while very much keeping to its Apocalypse World roots. The game's two economies, blood and debt fuel the core struggle with scarcity and leverage.

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The Regiment / Re: Bonds?
« on: February 12, 2013, 11:48:34 PM »
Bond in the regiment works like Hx in AW, except that you don't have negative bond.

You "write-in" your own bonds, whether literally writing them down or by talking them through. We experimented early on with playbook-specific themes for bonds; but, the playbooks in the Regiment aren't strongly typed to a personality archetype. They are strongly typed to roles. Instead, you decide what they share with the other soldiers.

Bond is mechanically only used for Aid and XP, as you say. Fictionally, increasing your bond is about growing closer or overcoming obstacles together.

Guidelines aren't provided on the character sheets now; but, may in the future or in a full supporting text. The idea for creating bonds is more or less the same as AW and DW.

Thanks for checking out our game, hope you have a good time with colonial marines!

For further reading, you can check out the APs I wrote over the summer. There are some examples in there about how bonds came up in my game: http://enigmamachinations.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/the-regiment-ap-operation-market-garden-session-1/

This is a series and I linked to the beginning. Some of the later APs hit bonds harder.

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The Regiment / Re: Neat way of handling artillery
« on: January 23, 2013, 01:39:09 AM »
Totally!

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The Regiment / Re: Neat way of handling artillery
« on: January 21, 2013, 11:56:14 AM »
Discretion is an important element of storytelling in the Regiment. The GM can always create a situation that is not survivable for the characters. Sometimes that's the right call. Sometimes, creating the appearance that a situation is not survivable is the right call. Sounds like your GM made the right call.

I largely agree with your assessment of incidental fire. It also creates a baseline expectation for risk, so when you move from incidental to direct (or concentrated), it highlights the seriousness.

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The Regiment / Re: Neat way of handling artillery
« on: January 20, 2013, 01:47:52 PM »
Wow! That's a great idea!

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The Regiment / Re: The Regiment: Colonial Marines
« on: January 17, 2013, 02:27:52 AM »
Bingo!

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The Regiment / Re: The Regiment: Colonial Marines
« on: January 16, 2013, 11:19:19 AM »
Fuseboy - that's good advice. I'd expand on the last bullet to say that you throw fire at them whenever the potential for harm is fictionally established. Don't wait for them to miss on a move.

When it comes to the order of battle, the GM can do that in prep. The order of battle could be a collaborative thing or the GM can just dictate it -- if the GM has something specific in mind, just dictate it.

Characters' names, looks, moves, stats, etc. can be worked out in advance. But, do bonds at the table.

If you're looking for more, you can check out the WWII Regiment actual play write-ups here: <http://enigmamachinations.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/the-regiment-ap-operation-market-garden-session-1/>

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The Regiment / Re: The Regiment: Colonial Marines
« on: January 16, 2013, 01:39:58 AM »
For what it's worth, the FAA specifies 9g "emergency landing loads" for equipment design. Basically, if it's a crash a human might survive, then the equipment and the safety features have to remain intact (or contained) following a crash. Nothing has to work after a crash, except for the crash-survivable flight data recorder ("black box") and emergence locator transmitter.

For what it's worth, I think it would be cool to frame a drop ship crash in terms of...

When your drop ship goes down, roll +lucky.
*Easy down - on a 10+, crew and passengers take 4 dice incidental fire. Sensitive equipment is on the blink; but, recoverable.
*Rough landing - on a 7-9, crew and passengers take 4 dice direct fire. Sensitive equipment is inop; but, most systems are salvageable to at least some degree.
*Hard crash - on a miss, crew and passengers take 4 dice concentrated fire. Equipment is inop; but, parts might be scavenged.

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The Regiment / Re: The Regiment: Colonial Marines
« on: January 12, 2013, 02:24:56 AM »
Nice!

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The Regiment / Re: Acquiring and Losing Equipment
« on: December 07, 2012, 02:42:43 AM »
2. Yeah, heavy weapons are great; but, they come with a cost. Having eye for supply is a must! In my games, the guy with the heavy weapon became the focal point for the squad. The others went out of their way to pitch in, because no one wants their machine gunner to run out of ammo, ever.

2a. Resupply is used to exchange supply for gear or gear for supply, which may not be something you can do in the heat of battle, since it's going in and out of unit stores. You can swap gear with each other whenever your characters could reasonably do so. So, when boomer yells, “Shit, I’m out of ammo!” and you toss him a mag, he marks a gear and you mark off a gear, simple as that.

If it’s a heavy weapon, like the flamethrower, where the ammo is rare, bulky, and heavy, then resupply is legit. If it’s machine gun ammo, where the squad is probably always humping belts, then you just do it. There's an element of discretion here. If it makes sense, go with it. The GM tightens the noose by letting them blow through gear, not by stopping them from doing so. Saying yes is the harder move.

2b. That’s a great question! Gear, like you say, is an abstract quantity of stuff that your character has on them. It’s abstract so that you can establish the thing you need in the fiction, right when you need it, without having to plan it in advance and without having to micro-manage inventory.

If the thing already exists in the fiction, then it is established and you can just use it, as though you spent gear on it or scrounged to find it. So, if the machine pistol in the hands of the fallen enemy soldier is established, then you just pick up the gun and run with it. It’s probably fair, in general, to assume that you’ve got at least one move’s worth of ammo for a weapon you scavenge. It’s not gear, because it’s already established, so you just use it. If there’s a question (in the GM’s mind) as to whether the gun is functional or whether there’s any ammo for it, then like you say – scrounge is the right call.

A better way to handle the situation is to avoid being overly-specific when it comes to equipment lying around. Then, you just scrounge and it's all just gear. If there's a salient thing, mention it. Otherwise, wait for the question, make them scrounge, then answer.

An exhaustive search is definitely a scrounge move. Also, scrounge is used when definite spoils haven’t yet been established or when the quantity/quality of the spoils aren’t established or when you might run into trouble while scavenging.

1. In Apocalypse World, the Gunlugger’s signature weapon is a playbook entitlement. In the Regiment, weapons are stuff and stuff is the GM’s purview, so the continued availability and utility of stuff is the GM’s prerogative. There’s no contract. If it’s good for the story, and it sounds like it is, then sure, throw them a bone. But, I’d be a little concerned when a player gets too attached to their character or their character’s things. This is a game where the GM and players alike should “look through sights” at all people and things in the game world.

A more fundamental thing is this – the mechanics are totally agnostic towards ammunition and ordnance. Bullets are gear and guns shoot bullets, so if you have gear you can shoot your gun. The point of gear is to avoid long, heated gun porn debates that contribute in no way to the story. For some groups, mine included, gun porn is Regiment foreplay. The extent you bring ammo compatibility into play (or not) in your game is completely your call as a gaming group. Compatibility could be ignored entirely, as simple as “us” vs. “them,” you can get right down to the I and IS variants of 7.92 mm Mauser ammo, or anywhere in between. So, what I’m saying here is that the Commando, strictly speaking, could scrounge enemy ammo and just use it, if you’re cool with that. Nothing in the game says you can't or shouldn't do this.

Let’s say you're aren't cool with that. You could mark friendly gear with an “X” and enemy gear with a “\” (or vice versa); same with supply. Check off the type of gear used. Then, when you run out of friendly gear, you’re stuck using captured weapons. That’s a simple way to do “us” vs. “them” compatibility. Grenades are grenades, bandages are bandages, and food is food, so there are plenty of other things you could do with captured gear. That’s as far as I’d go with the Regiment. Sure, use compatibility as color in the fiction beyond that, maybe; but, don’t track bullets. That's a different game.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you can scrounge for friendly supplies behind enemy lines too, if it makes sense (e.g. other friendlies in the area, etc.). There might be supply drops or dumps around. You might poach another platoon’s gear. At some point, there are friendly casualties: fallen comrades are good for gear too, if unfortunate.

As a side thought, in WWII and among poorly-provisioned armies of the world, captured weapons and weapon systems were/are used to fill arms shortages. I suspect this is probably even more the case when the fighting gets really desperate. So, just because Jerry should have a Mauser, doesn’t mean you won’t find a Mosin-Nagant on him instead. If that happens to be what you need, then more power to you.

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