Friday 27 July 2012

BLOOD LINES

So how would a BLOOD stat line look then. We’ve been debating it, we’ve been side tracked. But I think I can give a run down of the stats as I see them, looking at Zhu’s original ideas, a generic stat line and my preferred but more fantasy orientated stat line. None are right but I guess we do need to hone in on a set soon or spend too long getting nowhere.

So here are the various stat line ideas:





And here is how a BLOOD line may look:




You will no doubt notice how I have increased the number of stats, didn’t classic British war-games rules have enough stats I here you cry?  Well yes but the stats included are ones that would be recorded in any case except for disorder. This is a value between 1 and 10 telling us all how Kaotic a being is. Useful because we can then give chances of mutation to individuals or units without expressly mentioning it in each races write up.  The other stats being BLOOD price or the cost of a single model and Lore an expression for those of a magic casting nature of how much magical energy they have to power spells.

There are other perhaps more obvious reasons to include other stats…

You will also notice that the points cost of a regular human is 8pts! And that they can only move 3.5”! Well in a fantasy world the basic soldier is going to be lightly armoured and carry a shield. If you feel like having troops more lightly armoured, say skirmishers or militia, then dispense with the shield or light armour and get points off. Perhaps 1 and 2 points respectively to pick some numbers out of the air. I think it would be reasonable if you gave up your shield or light armour to assume you could move better and so an extra 0.5” on your swiftness would seam appropriate. These numbers just come naturally to my head but they seam right.

Anyway pleas do let me know your thoughts on the BLOOD line, what’s wrong what’s right?

9 comments:

  1. *claps* That's a lot of good work right there, I think you've covered all the bases. I reckon we should crack on (after all, if we get hung up on terminology and all that other unimportant stuff we'll never get anywhere).

    Mechanically speaking you've blown the field wide open for troop development and the Fantasy BlOODline looks like it was developed specifically with campaign play in mind...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah great stuff! Most of my Oldhammering is used to play Tolkienesque Fantasy, where there are no mutants, so I wouldn't consider Disorder to be core. It's flavour-ful setting stuff, I do love RoC and a CC licensed mutations table would be a joy to behold! I really like replacing the name "CP" with the name "Lore" but most troop types don't need it, so it's a waste of ink and effort repeating Lore:0 on nearly every profile. Also the proposed statline has numerous conflicts with the BRR edition, which makes quick parsing of the line much more difficult and prone to error.

    Adding equipment in to a basic profile - (i.e. the shield) makes no sense to me. It really obscures the PV system. The way saving throws tie into Toughness scores etc. Points Value can only be worked out after the troop is fully equipped IIRC every troop gets a hand-weapon as standard - if we're looking for a differentiator to the BRR system, then I'd suggest we drop that item (so every troop is taken right down to basics) then adjust the combat-resolution formula to account for it, perhaps lowering the value of "KAOS", and giving 1h weapon a +1, 2hand +2 to CS etc.

    Life for Hit Points is really good, Mind / Spirit is a very nice split for Int / Cl (except M for Movement, and also M for melee = confusion, perhaps Mi).

    Also, not being fluent in chinese, reading left to right is much easier than up/down.

    Definitely going in the right direction.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aye cracking work Erny.

    Been having a think about Zhu's excellent points as well.

    I think disorder is a great idea and the addition of a lore score is sensible too but shouldn't be in the core stat line - shouldn't be a problem to add them to magic users' and mutants' stats I'm sure.

    Blood Price would be good to have but perhaps it could be displayed next to the troop type name (which would presumably appear above these stats) so as to make comparisons with the BRR version easier?

    I think adding a shield in could complicate matters slightly - I'd rather add points on to a basic unequipped points value than take them off for troops that don't carry shields - probably much of a muchness actually but I prefer adding to taking away.

    Taking the handweapon off is an interesting solution - would there then be some way of adjusting not only combat skill but stats like force/brawn and quickness/dash when weapons like halberds, flails and the like are used instead. I for one always forgot to add +1 strength for doublehanded weapons or to adjust iniative accordingly in the heat of battle. Might be tricky though in the case of halberds which award +1 initiative against mounted or aerial troops, as long as they haven't been pushed back!

    As for stat names - sorry to be picky but some more thoughts!

    Swiftness, melee, target, brawn are all great
    Definitely prefer resiliance/durability to sinew
    Life is good - not a bad name as well ;)
    Prefer quickness or reflexes to dash
    Have we forgotten attacks?! What about assault or strikes?
    Discipline is great for leadership - what was fortitude replacing?
    Mind (Mi)is great
    Would prefer restraint or temperament for cool
    Spirit is great for will power - or perhaps even fortitude?

    Left to right is good too :)

    Would it be good to come to a consensus so we could publish our ideas in the first issue of the fanzine - would be handy especially if the scenario came with all the necessary stats - Obviously the rest of the rules would have to come later!

    Or is that a bit backwards?!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Actually fortitude in this case was for Will power.
    Spirit for cool. As in they have spirit you have borken their spirit..

    Strikes is good but would be another S stat.

    I could certainly live with reflexes.

    I began to get a bit worried about the whole IP thing and began to get a bit cloak and dagger, hence extra stats and having them desending the page, which I still sort of like, abit D&D that. Anyway I'm certain we aren't infringing IP so why bother. You only have to look at net epic to see how close you can get without crossing the line.


    A work in progress rules for blood may be fun for the fanzine.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Spirit/cool and fortitude/will power definitely makes sense.

    How about Swiftness as Sw, Spirit as Sp and Strikes as S?

    Must say I don't have a massive issue with the extra additions - but interesting to see the net epic rules!

    ReplyDelete
  6. So after a bit of discussion with Erny, I came up with some additional suggestions for working out the profile:

    M in cm rather than inches (yuck)
    Include PV,
    Include Base Size (perhaps in the format A, B, C where A is 20*20 and B 25*50 etc.)
    Include Armour Saving throw.
    Rationalise the profile - put the stats in order of the phases they are used in (Movement, Shooting, Close Combat... M/BS) and the order in which they are used (Initiative, WS, Attacks, Strength, Wounds, Toughness).


    I am all for publishing beta / playtest versions early as possible, and getting a 'working' game going even if we know it isn't totally finished or really ready. That way people can try it and give feedback. Also important that it doesn't get set in stone, and that things are still changeable even if it's been published.

    ReplyDelete
  7. All sounds good (apart from the use of metric, but sure I can live with it!)

    The living rule book approach is the right one I feel.

    Look forward to seeing the beta version soon - is that a little job for you Zhu or have we got a working party organised? :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. As said before we must find a way to work on this other than this blog ? A wiki or a forum, even a mailing list, it's not easy to have to check in every thread to see if there are any new comments.

    I can host something for free without any problems if needed (wiki, forum, etc.), just let me know what you do prefer.

    Bruno

    ReplyDelete
  9. Forum gets my vote - 'tis a pain checking for new comments!

    ReplyDelete