Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Team Ballance Rehash
OK, let me try taking a run at this to make my point. I feel like we are a couple of chapters from being on the same page on this one. First of all the concept of "cowboys and Indians" is perfect for the game play that I would like to go for. The cowboys are holed up in their hideout with very little rations and very little ammo. They know one place they could get more rations but it's a long way away. There is no more ammo period. They know they outnumber the Indians by a good margin but the Indians are no where to be found and in fact know the terrain much better (thus the offense has a map and all their gear blends in well with the forest). They can't just hole up at the hide out or they will starve. Also, we all would like to have another plot device (I LOVE Jule's idea of the broken down wagon with some cool supplies) that strongly encourages the defense to leave the main base. This may not be too dang important because over 36 hours people aren't very good at just sitting around unless they have been trained to be. The Indians have all the food they need to travel the whole time, albeit lightly. They have better gear overall to represent the fact that they are better prepared to exist in nature. Maybe they even have binoculars to go with their map. Unfortunately, they only have about half the numbers to get back the item that they are after. If you can get the item without a fight then fine. You probably wouldn't win anyway so that would be better. If you can get to the location quickly and then take the time to pick people off on or two at a time that would work too. But all out assault is not an option.
If you lose a guy on either side they are gone for good. They can go have a drink and chill at the main camp so that might be enjoyable but they are out. This helps to weed out recklessness. I imagine this game to be intense in it's duration and anticipation as well as it's constant stealth. It will also be intense at it continues t'words it's climax, weather that is a mad dash and big distraction at the end of the second evening or it's just plain waking up and having some bastard sleeping at his post with the item gone. At the main camp the victors should get a heroes welcome (whomever they are) and the losers should probably endure a little humiliation. I have always considered the game to be about woodsmanship over power and stealth over numbers. But you can't make rules and scenarios to break up a group that is on offense. You just start them as small. Further, this way requires the least amount of people, which lets face it, could be a serious hurdle. This also keeps it simple in terms of over site for the wanderers as you will likely have just one group of offense to keep track of. In this way you can have just one RPG like experience to pull off and it would be something like, "If you want to sleep in a tent tonight, take this NPCs map and go find his broken down supply wagon with food, 2 extra clips and the tent." There would be no further time as the defense would hopefully be obsessed with finding the offense first and taking away their advantage of surprise. The offense would be constantly and easily be role playing as they would have to know that discovery would mean death and the game being over before they even had an opportunity to win it. Again, the "base" could not be a super well defended position in the scenario. It's greatest strength might be it having a certain spot where you can see most of the valley from. Or that one side is a virtual cliff so you don't have to defend it. Having really great ways to encourage the defense to not just sit on the item would be important too. Airsoft is perfect for this I agree. I also think that the wanderer roll has basically been defined and I love it. The gampelay and balance parts are what we have to work on and location will be KEY.
If you lose a guy on either side they are gone for good. They can go have a drink and chill at the main camp so that might be enjoyable but they are out. This helps to weed out recklessness. I imagine this game to be intense in it's duration and anticipation as well as it's constant stealth. It will also be intense at it continues t'words it's climax, weather that is a mad dash and big distraction at the end of the second evening or it's just plain waking up and having some bastard sleeping at his post with the item gone. At the main camp the victors should get a heroes welcome (whomever they are) and the losers should probably endure a little humiliation. I have always considered the game to be about woodsmanship over power and stealth over numbers. But you can't make rules and scenarios to break up a group that is on offense. You just start them as small. Further, this way requires the least amount of people, which lets face it, could be a serious hurdle. This also keeps it simple in terms of over site for the wanderers as you will likely have just one group of offense to keep track of. In this way you can have just one RPG like experience to pull off and it would be something like, "If you want to sleep in a tent tonight, take this NPCs map and go find his broken down supply wagon with food, 2 extra clips and the tent." There would be no further time as the defense would hopefully be obsessed with finding the offense first and taking away their advantage of surprise. The offense would be constantly and easily be role playing as they would have to know that discovery would mean death and the game being over before they even had an opportunity to win it. Again, the "base" could not be a super well defended position in the scenario. It's greatest strength might be it having a certain spot where you can see most of the valley from. Or that one side is a virtual cliff so you don't have to defend it. Having really great ways to encourage the defense to not just sit on the item would be important too. Airsoft is perfect for this I agree. I also think that the wanderer roll has basically been defined and I love it. The gampelay and balance parts are what we have to work on and location will be KEY.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Why Airsoft?
The question has been raised of why Conor wants to switch to Airsoft guns instead of the hand-to-hand weapons originally envisioned. Ok, during discussions on what sort of combat should ensue, we talked about a damn lot of things, mostly foam swords and whatnot. Paintball came up fairly early on, but was scrapped. "It would be fun, but it's really not the same game at all," was the reason given, and I agree with that.
Now, the problem with most melee weapons is that it's very difficult to get several things all together: safety, impact, control, and clarity. Safety and control are fairly obvious. Impact and clarity tie together. You don't want to hurt anyone, but it needs to be clear when someone's hit. There needs to be a clear "whap!" and a grunt. And we need to be able to achieve that without armor. Foam swords have a few problems. If they are going to be safe enough to use in the forest way the hell away from anyone, they need to be light enough that they don't knock you silly. So a strong wooden core is out, as is rattan. Unfortunately, when you start using lighter materials, they don't have much momentum. Luc and I experimented with foam-wrapped PVC pipes. They carried very little momentum, and it mostly came down to one-handed twirling that did little but twist your wrist a bit. Such things result in about a million meaningless grazes until one person finally says "Aw, screw this," and whacks the other guy right in the eyes, which hurts like hell.
OK, all that said, I'm not blowing off hand-to-hand combat. Well, for Cowboy Edition, I guess we would be. The thing is, we've been idly pondering potential melee weapons for years, and have yet to reach a clear choice. If something comes up, we should go for it, but it ain't yet.
Now, as to Airsoft. I admit I'm biased, 'cause I hella like a good airsoft fight. And I will admit that, like paintball, it really isn't the same game. However, I think Airsoft GGE would be much more like standard GGE than Paintball GGE. Paintball would be a monster. Expensive as hell for everyone, masks, paint, CO2, so on. My understanding is that those things are usually full or semi-automatic, so any firefight would basically cover a section of the forest in paint. I don't think that would make a good GGE. A kickass afternoon, but not GGE at all.
Airsoft doesn't work like that. With the weapons we would be using, it's like this. You have a plastic pistol (or rifle if you're lucky). In it is a small clip holding 10-20 pellets, about 5-7 millimeters. For each shot, you have to pull a lever to draw a spring into place, cocking the gun, then fire. The cheapass pistols can be obtained for about $10, and the pellets are cheap as hell. And they sting. Now, if you're tender, you can put on a sweatshirt or something. All you really need if you think you're a badass is a pair of safety glasses or goggles (no gorramn arguments about wearing them. I've been shot in the glasses, and it's scary). So you won't have the air suddenly filled with projectiles. Even shooting from the hip, you're going to only be making about one shot per second, and each shot counts. In most standoffs, just a little cover will allow you a choice of pressing an attack or running like hell.
And yes, biodegradable airsoft pellets are avaliable. They're made of starch, and they still sting. People know when they are hit. It very rarely has the ambiguity that lets you say, "that wasn't really a hit" without knowing you're cheating. In the airsoft i've played, folks have been quite honest about being hit.
Now, I know this isn't quite what anyone had in mind for the GGE. I do want to figure out the hand-to-hand LotR-inspired version at some point, but I think Cowboy Edition will be gangs of fun, and ties together the last major rules-hurdle we had.
Now, the problem with most melee weapons is that it's very difficult to get several things all together: safety, impact, control, and clarity. Safety and control are fairly obvious. Impact and clarity tie together. You don't want to hurt anyone, but it needs to be clear when someone's hit. There needs to be a clear "whap!" and a grunt. And we need to be able to achieve that without armor. Foam swords have a few problems. If they are going to be safe enough to use in the forest way the hell away from anyone, they need to be light enough that they don't knock you silly. So a strong wooden core is out, as is rattan. Unfortunately, when you start using lighter materials, they don't have much momentum. Luc and I experimented with foam-wrapped PVC pipes. They carried very little momentum, and it mostly came down to one-handed twirling that did little but twist your wrist a bit. Such things result in about a million meaningless grazes until one person finally says "Aw, screw this," and whacks the other guy right in the eyes, which hurts like hell.
OK, all that said, I'm not blowing off hand-to-hand combat. Well, for Cowboy Edition, I guess we would be. The thing is, we've been idly pondering potential melee weapons for years, and have yet to reach a clear choice. If something comes up, we should go for it, but it ain't yet.
Now, as to Airsoft. I admit I'm biased, 'cause I hella like a good airsoft fight. And I will admit that, like paintball, it really isn't the same game. However, I think Airsoft GGE would be much more like standard GGE than Paintball GGE. Paintball would be a monster. Expensive as hell for everyone, masks, paint, CO2, so on. My understanding is that those things are usually full or semi-automatic, so any firefight would basically cover a section of the forest in paint. I don't think that would make a good GGE. A kickass afternoon, but not GGE at all.
Airsoft doesn't work like that. With the weapons we would be using, it's like this. You have a plastic pistol (or rifle if you're lucky). In it is a small clip holding 10-20 pellets, about 5-7 millimeters. For each shot, you have to pull a lever to draw a spring into place, cocking the gun, then fire. The cheapass pistols can be obtained for about $10, and the pellets are cheap as hell. And they sting. Now, if you're tender, you can put on a sweatshirt or something. All you really need if you think you're a badass is a pair of safety glasses or goggles (no gorramn arguments about wearing them. I've been shot in the glasses, and it's scary). So you won't have the air suddenly filled with projectiles. Even shooting from the hip, you're going to only be making about one shot per second, and each shot counts. In most standoffs, just a little cover will allow you a choice of pressing an attack or running like hell.
And yes, biodegradable airsoft pellets are avaliable. They're made of starch, and they still sting. People know when they are hit. It very rarely has the ambiguity that lets you say, "that wasn't really a hit" without knowing you're cheating. In the airsoft i've played, folks have been quite honest about being hit.
Now, I know this isn't quite what anyone had in mind for the GGE. I do want to figure out the hand-to-hand LotR-inspired version at some point, but I think Cowboy Edition will be gangs of fun, and ties together the last major rules-hurdle we had.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Team Balance
If we're going to be working with Airsoft guns (which would work very well for an old-west theme), I think offense and defense should be equal in size. Defense needs to be set up with a strong defensive position with lots of cover and visibility. That should help prevent zerging. Also, the Treasure should be locked up in a large chest filled with rocks. The key is somewhere in the woods.
btw, I love the Golden Disks of the Mormons idea. We need to include the magic hat and the seeing stones as well. Mormons vs. Injuns. I certainly can't think of anything more fun.
I was thinking that the key to the treasure chest could have been taken by the "Leader" of the Defense, who is now a zombie or something in the forest, played by a Wanderer. He could only show up at night and only be vulnerable to headshots. Maybe some buddies with him, too. So if you want the key, you have to learn his location and attack it after sundown. Whatever it is that killed him is still lurking out there somewhere, too.
Oh, and it is possible for the Offense to take the Treasure without the key. They just need to figure out how to transport the big heavy chest. We'll need a big, clumsy wagon, and make it look like a mule.
Possible Minor treasures:
Spirit Healing: Return this token to Camp and some of your warriors will be returned to life.
Spirit Warriors: Grants you several Wanderers to fight for your side. Maybe for a limited time.
Food: I'd been thinking everyone gets a can of Franks n' Beans. This gives them something better. Perhaps instead of stashing food, we can stash food vouchers to turn in at camp.
Ammo: Big caches of it. Better ammo. Airsoft pellets come in several weights. The light ones are less accurate.
Better weapons: Believe me, if everyone is running around with the little peashooters, the one guy with an MP5 is a happy happy man. I've been thus far unable to find replicas of Colt Peacemakers or anything like that, so we'll just have to pretend the MP5 is an old-timey rifle.
btw, I love the Golden Disks of the Mormons idea. We need to include the magic hat and the seeing stones as well. Mormons vs. Injuns. I certainly can't think of anything more fun.
I was thinking that the key to the treasure chest could have been taken by the "Leader" of the Defense, who is now a zombie or something in the forest, played by a Wanderer. He could only show up at night and only be vulnerable to headshots. Maybe some buddies with him, too. So if you want the key, you have to learn his location and attack it after sundown. Whatever it is that killed him is still lurking out there somewhere, too.
Oh, and it is possible for the Offense to take the Treasure without the key. They just need to figure out how to transport the big heavy chest. We'll need a big, clumsy wagon, and make it look like a mule.
Possible Minor treasures:
Spirit Healing: Return this token to Camp and some of your warriors will be returned to life.
Spirit Warriors: Grants you several Wanderers to fight for your side. Maybe for a limited time.
Food: I'd been thinking everyone gets a can of Franks n' Beans. This gives them something better. Perhaps instead of stashing food, we can stash food vouchers to turn in at camp.
Ammo: Big caches of it. Better ammo. Airsoft pellets come in several weights. The light ones are less accurate.
Better weapons: Believe me, if everyone is running around with the little peashooters, the one guy with an MP5 is a happy happy man. I've been thus far unable to find replicas of Colt Peacemakers or anything like that, so we'll just have to pretend the MP5 is an old-timey rifle.
Gameplay
In Case of Death: If a Wanderer is not nearby, radio it in (cheat prevention). The person standing over the body gets the ammo and weapon as well as any other game-related supplies (don't be stealing their pants!) i.e. if your teammate goes down in a hail of gunfire but you drive off your foe, you get to keep his gear. If you snipe a lone foe, you get their gear instead of their team. This has great benefits if you are Offense and starting out outnumbered.
Supplies: Offense should start out fully equipped for the duration of the game, this includes food such as jerky, etc. Wanderers will carry supplies of water (although not in huge amounts) for replenishment. This makes sense from a RP standpoint, if you were starting off on a journey, you sure as hell would pack everything you need. Defense will start out with minimal food (you just got back to the fort/hideout to discover the petty officer/old geezer left as lookout has run off with all the supplies!). You will have to venture out to find food, though you have enough water to last the entire game. We also need to be careful not to pack around anything that will rot or attract animals unduly. Each faction member will be equipped with a compass and emergency blanket that will not EVER leave your body.
Alcohol: Of course we are gonna get tossed at the end of the game, but if a player is caught drinking or a dead person returns to the game due to intoxication, they will be thrown out of the game and uninvited for the next round. This is serious, we don't need any drunks wrecking the game nor do we need people lost or injured because they were wasted or fell upon by a drunk idiot.
Timeframe: The game will work best over about 48 hours (a little less). Morning of a Friday to evening of Sunday, for example. Strategically it makes sense to have some night hours, especially when the teams are mismatched (and admit it, playing at night is fun). That said, we need moonlight, it's no good to play at night when it is so dark you can't see anything, you lose people, someone falls and gets hurt, etc.
Location: Anyone have a real-life idea about this? It's all good to daydream but are we looking at playing in a National forest or private acreage or what?
In the far-off view of things I'd love for every person who plays to have a GPS tracker with the base-camp having the GPS home device but this is for larger groups, bigger territory, more chances for people to wander outside of the boundaries undetected, etc. It's a good goal to have but not one I envision for the 2010 game.
Supplies: Offense should start out fully equipped for the duration of the game, this includes food such as jerky, etc. Wanderers will carry supplies of water (although not in huge amounts) for replenishment. This makes sense from a RP standpoint, if you were starting off on a journey, you sure as hell would pack everything you need. Defense will start out with minimal food (you just got back to the fort/hideout to discover the petty officer/old geezer left as lookout has run off with all the supplies!). You will have to venture out to find food, though you have enough water to last the entire game. We also need to be careful not to pack around anything that will rot or attract animals unduly. Each faction member will be equipped with a compass and emergency blanket that will not EVER leave your body.
Alcohol: Of course we are gonna get tossed at the end of the game, but if a player is caught drinking or a dead person returns to the game due to intoxication, they will be thrown out of the game and uninvited for the next round. This is serious, we don't need any drunks wrecking the game nor do we need people lost or injured because they were wasted or fell upon by a drunk idiot.
Timeframe: The game will work best over about 48 hours (a little less). Morning of a Friday to evening of Sunday, for example. Strategically it makes sense to have some night hours, especially when the teams are mismatched (and admit it, playing at night is fun). That said, we need moonlight, it's no good to play at night when it is so dark you can't see anything, you lose people, someone falls and gets hurt, etc.
Location: Anyone have a real-life idea about this? It's all good to daydream but are we looking at playing in a National forest or private acreage or what?
In the far-off view of things I'd love for every person who plays to have a GPS tracker with the base-camp having the GPS home device but this is for larger groups, bigger territory, more chances for people to wander outside of the boundaries undetected, etc. It's a good goal to have but not one I envision for the 2010 game.
Mark The Freaking Calander in Goat Blood
June 25, 26 and 27 of 2010 is the first weekend we will play the game. Check the lunar calender and you will see that is Friday, Saturday and Sunday and that Saturday is a full moon. It's a go! Also, Jules and I have had a good conversation about the wanderers so check that post out as well. People who just come along to camp should be prepared to be a half-wanderer or maybe someone would be down with being a bench wanderer (you know, someone who could be called on in a pinch). I 'll post something bigger later.
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