Hobby Dungeon

To keep Karthlands fresh, I came up with a mechanic to actually progress the narrative beyond winning and losing. Each battle that takes place will have some impact on the map, as a zone of influence spreads from the different factions. This isn't a perfect system as not every faction will be in contact to begin, but it will help create movement and direction for me to follow. That leads us to today's battle report, between some Grenfell Isles scouts, and the Blue Lady. I am once again using my own ruleset, Skirmish Game to make this a quick narrative battle. Five Grenfell scouts, traveling through the wastes to avoid the suspicions of the Karthlanders, are seeking a mountain pass down into the Karthwoods. They take rest at what appears to be an old ritual site, where monolithic stones surround a dead tree at their center. As the Islanders begin to settle in, the notice a rattling sound. As they peer into the white and blue, they see frozen bone and steel rising from...

 Two posts in one day? After my last post exploring my lack of energy for the Karthlands setting... I went and made a new map for the setting. Taking my original map and building it in an actual map editor!

Now that the hobby dungeon (my basement) is officially open for business again, I find my mind being pulled in so many directions. After Mike's excellent post on his blog In the Obelisks Shadow about hobby burnout, I'm doing a little bit of reflection about my current projects and my own burnout. I started the Karthlands campaign as something to keep my mind busy while I was moving. I had no access to models and paints, but I needed to keep the creativity alive or I would have gone mad. So for me, that led to making plans. I fleshed out a world and factions, I made a map and I prepared to tell stories there. It occupied a big space in my mind, and I was constantly looking for ideas and inspiration. Once I got set up in my space, I got right into it and started playing my first Karthlands battle reports. I've done a few now and they have already coloured in big sections of the world for me. But here is where the trouble begins. Now that I have my space back, I ...

 For me, there is a clear line between hobbying and playing games. Sometimes those activities blur up against each other, but they've always felt pretty distinct to me. Playing games requires presence of mind. I usually do a lot of prep work, writing lists, print reference sheets, building custom scenario terrain, packing things up to travel, watching battle reports and learning how to play new games. So when I show up on game day, even though I'm not a competitive player, I carry all of that work with me. I also want to be present for my opponent. They have made the time to play with me, and I want us both to have a great experience. Hobbying on the other hand - the scraping, gluing, painting, bashing, and building of the toys we use to play - is a meditative experience for me. There are times when I'm more conscious about what I'm doing, and this is especially true if I'm working in little chunks throughout the week. I find breaking up my hobby time l...

This was a fun one. As I played this game, I took a quick video each turn and "live" posted it to Instagram with details. All that is since gone from IG, but I thought I would recap the battle with a bit of narrative - this one certainly changes the direction of the campaign ideas I had!     Heading southward from the crags, Orin takes a detour to meet up with a few more wardens before heading west again towards Karth. After dealing with the ogre, his priorities have shifted - no longer ranging and scouting - it has become imperative that he share the news of ogre attacks with the Earl. If ogres are moving south again, it will take a lot more than a handful of scouts to keep them from ravaging the people of the Karthwoods and disrupting the trade of the north. Orin and his entourage come down a hilled path into a valley with a river running through it. They are spread out along the trail and marching briskly, but at ease, enjoying the slightly warmer clime below the ...

  In the northern reaches of the Karthwoods, near the crags, a band of wardens led by Orin Witherhand seek out the ruins of a temple. Once a holy site of Harnor, god of wild places, the toppled bricks still give tribute to their patron. The Wardens range along this trail in search of a beast - one of many that has been sighted lately in the region. Hoping they find nothing, but prepared for the worst, the band of wardens comb through the frigid wild warily. Wolves howl in the distance - dire wolves if Orin can tell. He tugs at the white wolf pelt that drapes across his shoulders, pulling it close around him and tight against his frozen white beard to keep out the chill. Upon reaching the ruined temple, the wardens spread out to search for tracks or other signs of a beast. They know not what they hunt, only that the nearby villagers say it is large, and that it eats livestock. Orin signals the men to come to him at the center of the ruins, but at the same moment, a mas...

 I've been at a bit of an impasse lately about game design, and haven't been super excited to write longer and more complicated games that very few people are ever going to play. The last few games I released have been solely because I wanted to play them, and I made them fit the style of game I was looking for. But, I'm pretty happy with a lot of the systems I have now, and I don't really know what to do with myself/ Obviously, I love a good 1-page game, so I figured I would make a few 1-page zines. I hope this is something I can keep doing when I have an idea, just to help scratch that creative itch. The goal is to print these (and more)out on nice coloured paper and give them away at events to anyone who wants one. Anyway, one is the most generic skirmish game I could design, and the other is about defending a tank. I'll probably put them up on Wargame Vault for free at some point as PDFs, but for now you can just save the JPEG if you want a copy :)

As I'm still waiting to get my hobby space put back together after moving, I've had a bit of time to mull over some lore and setting ideas for this campaign. I wanted to create a sense of personality for a few of my factions without pigeonholing them too much. I want them to organically develop through gameplay decisions and results. Other than the wardens, which will act as a generic factions for adventurers and warriors, I focused on the leaders of each settlement as being emblematic of their faction or culture. I think I've captured a few large archetypes - steadfast warriors, self interested merchants, religious fanatics, and dangerous schemers. Of course, a lot of these themes and characterizations are shamelessly borrowed from Game of Thrones. Specifically Lewynn Strong, who is meant to echo Jeor Mormont, and Benefred Wood who is meant to broadly echo the Greyjoys. Roke by Katy Wilmotte The Wardens A group of lowborn men-at-arms who patrol the roads of the region, di...