Fedora Linux on the go

Posted on January 7, 2023 by First Age

 A recent profligate purchase has been a light laptop for carrying about on my adventures,  and one that would take Linux really well. I really don’t need this device. I have a very lovely Windows ‘Matebook’ laptop, with a gorgeous screen and impeccable build quality, which I use for some  creative stuff focused around the excellent Affinity suite. I have been enjoying the Fedora Linux experience so much on my Ole Faithful laptop, that I wanted to replicate this when out and about. The Ole Faithful, with an old battery that doesn’t hold much charge, and a malfunctioning screen, is now a backup desktop machine.

I briefly explored the possibility of dual booting Linux and Windows on my Matebook, and that might have been an option, but the Linux compatibility may have had some issues and the storage is not that big on the machine. So, a separate, extra device for the purpose of having Fedora on the go. I could have just bought a hat…

I wanted to manage the cost and so decided to try a second hand of some description. There are a lot of businesses out there selling refurbished or second hand. I spent some considerable time browsing Facebook Marketplace and other dark alleyways, before I stumbled on https://www.technosystems.uk/, a small business out of Lincoln. I was buying on the basis of pictures on their site and their specifications and descriptions.Two laptops were at the top of my list. Ideally either a Lenovo X1 Carbon, or a HP Elitebook. In the end, after a chain of emails went to and fro to clarify the laptop description and a slight modification on price, I landed with this:

  • HP Elitebook 830 G8 13.3″
  • i5 11th Gen
  • Full HD screen, 16:9 aspect, 1920 x 1080
  • RAM 32GB
  • SSD 1TB
  • Grade A laptop
  • About £400

Techno Systems were just fine and did everything I might have asked of them. The laptop looked to be as new, but not in the original box.

Elitebook lording it over the Ole Faithful

I had that slightly nervous moment where I hovered over making this a dual boot, given the large storage capacity, but decided that I should stick to the plan and sand off Winblows and make it a dedicated Fedora laptop. The process of installing was a breeze with all the components detected fine. I mean, I did do some compatibility research, but still, it was gratifying to see everything just work from install. If I could find space to gripe, it would be a general observation that laptop battery life doesn’t seem to last so well on Linux, but that is something I can live with.

Fedora Desktop

Look, I’m retired, so spending time messing about with a perfect desktop just gives me joy, OK? If I need to go on a justificatory round of hand wringing, then the laptop will also provide a mobile digital library, multi-media, and browsing on the train or at whatever venue. I’m likey to stay with Google Suite for my writing, but that might migrate to something native if I can land on something lightweight.

I had wondered about seeing if I could get D&D4e desktop tools running on Linux under WINE, or somesuch. In no uncertain terms I feel that I would then have crossed the nerd streams and ruled the Internet. But no, I am a dual machine guy, so will run them simply where they feel comfortable.

More Fedora adventures as I continue on my journey…
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The Comae Engine

Posted on January 4, 2023 by First Age

“Comae Engine is a downsized roleplaying game when you need quick mechanics to tell a good story.”

I am a big fan of Clarence Redd’s M-Space, a stylishly developed science fiction tabletop roleplaying game based on the Design Mechanism’s Mythras, which is itself an elegant and refined successor to the Runequest family. Now he’s back with a short and inventive take on the Mythras core once again, but this time it is coalesced into a much tighter engine, honed for conflict resolution with some flexibe and extensible options to give you flavouring, whilst operable as a core for more detailed sub systems as preferred.

Clarence’s preface explains how The Comae Engine arose:

Painfully late in the design process of my first roleplaying game, M-SPACE, I discovered how to play exciting scenarios without resorting to in-game violence. Eager to share my findings, I shoehorned the rules into a short chapter named Extended Conflicts.

Those few pages turned out to be the most important of the book, completely changing how I played d100 games. 

In the years that followed, I kept experimenting with the most fundamental pieces of the rules: conflict resolution and characters. I felt certain they could be taken much further by stripping them to the core and build everything back on top of the Extended Conflicts. 

And after several false starts and failed attempts over the years, Comae Engine has finally taken shape. 

By recasting the d100 RPG fundamentals, I have found that Comae Engine also recasts the actors of the game. With a flexible conflict resolution, allowing for more varied storytelling, players bring out new sides of their characters – and themselves. Aggression is down, creative thinking up. It’s as if roleplaying finally leaves its war-gaming roots behind – all without switching rule systems.

 The Comae Engine provides a light framework for conflict resolution, with enough meat for a satisfying game, and one with plenty of legs for long term play. In HeroQuest and Tripod vein, action can also focus in on multi-roll ‘Extended Conflicts’ that have time increments sympathetic to the type of conflict. A firefight might drop down to 5-10 second intervals, a grand societal conspiracy might take a week at a time.

Characters have nine broad d100% skills, which can optionally be further detailed with Focus, providing  a +20% top up if the conflict action uses it. Each skill is given three suggested Foci, with three available for intial characters. You are encouraged to you create your own, themed to the type of game and setting you want to play. I like how the Willpower skill Foci provide emotional drives for defining how a character acts in play.

Beyond skills we have Tags. These are advantages that a character has accrued through life. Again, using the 12 suggested Tags, you are encouraged to reskin or invent whole new ones to fit the game you are playing.

An experienced eye to Mythras ensures a rock solid underpinning to the game, with opposed rolls (highest success on d100 wins), Luck points, difficulty bonus//penalties gives you plenty of levers to support whatever conflicts you are ecxploring in your game. And on that, characters have four resource pools, that are expended depending on the type of conflict you are playing out. I quote the game text that describes the four pools:

  • BODY for combat, stealth or physical challenges.
  • INT for intellectual challenges like puzzles, finding hidden objects and doing research. 
  • POW for luck-based situations, willpower and magic.
  • CHA for social interactions. 

When a pool is down to zero your character is out of the conflict, and what that means is up to the GM and players. Pushing on beyond zero is possible with penalties and yet more serious consequences. These consequences are negotiated and depends on the type of game that you are playing.

As an additional layer you can apply ‘Lenses’ which are a bit like Fate Accelerated approaches. Are you ‘Aggressive’, or ‘Cautious’ etc, each of which modifies your skill and comes with a consequence. They can be applied to all sorts of skill rolls and can also be switched mid conflict to refelect changes in narrative and the way you describe what you are doing.

NPCs, which are grouped into Common, Skilled and Master types, are given some tightly described love with a ‘Code Block Generator’. These give quickly generated key words for personality, social disposition, motivation, and a recent event. Everything is pared down, highly functional to play and succinctly explained. Such is the way throughout the 44 pages or so of content.

I really like The Comae Engine. It appeals on a lot of fronts. It’s short and honed for maximum effect for minimum crunch. Simple, familiar and loved d100 resolution. Focus on conflict and not combat. Flexible approach to contests, what they are, which pool is at stake, how long they take, narrated consequences. Highly configurable to whatever game you want to play, introducing your own Focus and Tags will direct play in genre defining ways. It lightly accounts for things like weapons and tools, but you can branch and extend in areas if you want that level of detail; nothing will break. Want detailed starships? How about some lengthy spell lists? Fine, bolt them in!

The PDF Beta is about £2 at DrivethuRPG. More development will come, but it feels very complete. The game feels fresh, light on its feet, yet comfortably encompassing any game needs you might have for your adventures. 

Go and buy it.

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Fedora Workstation 37

Posted on January 2, 2023 by First Age

 The post title sounds a bit like a quirky industrial SF movie, but no, it’s only about my desktop geekiness. I’ve recovered an old Clevo PC Specialist laptop, once my mainstay, with a borked screen and a severely ailing battery. I had considered getting the screen fixed, and that would have been more affordable than the Acer customer service end of my lovely 713 Spin Chromebook, but in the end decided not to do it. Instead, I started to research putting a Linux distro on my old faithful and turn it into a makeshift desktop for some technical geek fun times.

I go right back with Linux, messing about with Red Hat Linux 5 in the late 90s, at a time when Internet Explorer was as dominant as anything and Microsoft held the monopoly, or so it seemed. At that time, it was a struggle just to get Linux to dislay anything on my monitor, and only after a lot of config coding did I get anything up and running. Since then, I have been back to Linux, every now and again, to see where the desktop has got to. With thought to my first foray, it seemed kind of just right to be returning with the Fedora distribution, a downstream version of the commercial Red Hat. This bucks my trend of Debian based distros, and most notably the very popular Ubuntu.

Looking afresh at what was out there, I noted Fedora’s push for the new technologies, such as Wayland, LFS or Pipewire. So it is pushing and front running, cutting edge whilst stable, and continuously refreshed. I wanted a completely vanilla Gnome 3 desktop at its core, and sure I have tweaked somewhat, but under my control. YouTube is always your friend, guiding me on the tweaks and tips to get Fedora more aligned to my needs. There is something of an excitement factor to using Fedora, which may in part be the return, but I sense it also relates to the experience on the desktop and the way that Fedora updates. I have started using DNF, which with a config change or three looks to be a powerful update tool in the terminal.

There is a zealous fervor to Linux distro allegiance, so I will qualify the above with a note that there are rich and tailored distros for everyone, in many hues, GUIs and package update systems. You just need to find the one that is right for you. I think I may have found mine.  

The impetus for all this was my son’s Steam Deck storage upgrade. Cam had finished the hardware upgrade, a relative breeze given the consoles modability and good design. I was tasked with downloading a new Steam OS ISO and producing a bootable USB for loading. Dipping the toe back in, it all feels much easier than the last time I did it. I used the Rufus app on my windows laptop and after a few clicks the USB was good for loading. With that underway, I contemplated getting a Linux distro primed. A quick test of Bhodi Linux, just so that I could play with E17 Enlightenment out of the box, had me all prepped for a clean install of Fedora on the ole mainstay.

Gnome Fedora with some apps loaded (including Role)

Blimey! Discord, Spotify, OBS, Chrome, and Audacity were all quickly loaded and ready to use. I was feeing quickly at home in a much more desirable dwelling. Task, app and workspace switching were all silky and fluid. I sensed that my laptop was really gratefu for some more use and using such good software. Thewebcam plugged in and worked. WiFi connected, though I’ve gone wired for now. Bluetooth not recognised, so have got a cheap dongle heading my way by celestial dragon. So enamoured by the project, I have invested in a cheap DDR3 8GB Ram module to double the memory I have onboard.

I no longer have the Feanor fire towards Morgsoft that perviously burned my desire for freedom from the Gate’s hegemony. For many a year I have been using Windows extensively as a base for productivity applications that are so feature rich and easy to use. Virtual Machines allowing, if I could have Affinity suite on Linux, then I’d be pretty close to kissing Windows a fond farewell. The pragmatist in me recognises the affordable utility of Windows and the applications I use for layout. I’ll look afresh at Gimp, but think that using Scribus may set me back in getting a book completed. We’ll see.

I’m now considering a refurbished Lenovo X1 Carbon, or some such, so that I can carry my Fedora about with me!

At some point I’ll have to switch back to my Windows tower, but not for now. Ahh, the simple pleasures…

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The Family Dragonbane Game

Posted on December 26, 2022 by First Age

 The Dragonbane RPG Beta has been updated and so I have also updated the Quickstart pregens of the new version. This is a game in development and it is fun to play it as it morphs into its final form. In a couple of days I get to run some more of this gem of a game with my grown up ‘kids’. Here’s the setup…

We are going to have such fun with this game. I’ll report on actual play after the game.

Here’s an example of the current character sheet:

My blog theme has been temporarily changed to see if the RSS feed comes back to life. Let’s see!

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My Gaming Year in 2022

Posted on December 25, 2022 by First Age

 I trust you have had a good year, and also a good year of RPG gaming? At an end of year reflective mood, I thought I’d give my 2022 RPG year in review, with the highs and the highers. As background it is worth noting that I retired (early) at the end of March. I think I’m one of the people that the government is trying to get back nto the workplace so that I can be economically more useful. My pension income is taxed, so I suppose that’s something, but by now, nine months on, I’ve become accustomed to the low money, stress light personal time. This change to a hopefully lengthy Act III has also enabled some more carefree RPG gaming, which was certainly part of the plan.

We all have kept a spreadsheet log of our gaming year? Right?

With this in mind, I have had a bumper year of games, both in terms of session count and high quality fun experiences. With only an occasional misstep, the headline count is a record  115 sessions in the year, spread over grand campaign arcs and bursts of convention play. It’s unlikely I could have sustained such a volume whilst working and home life combined, but seems now to be an achievable and sustainable number.

Three games have dominated my 2022 schedule, and all of them are of the D&D persuasion. The D&D 4th Edition (29)  campaign has run throughout the year and continued to delight, with occasional Con4eR online play thrown in. I’ve waxed lyrical about this version of the dragon game on my YouTube Channel. The Heroic Tier will be fully explored in this campaign, with us heading towards a finale during the early part of 2023.

The Curse of Strahd campaign (25 this year), ably run by Dom, is something like three years of play in, and has sprawled into one of those mega campaigns that I very rarely get to play. The character arcs have been interesting and the adventures have built to a dramatic conclusion, which we are about to play in early January. The game has been very good, and though I have not found the 5th Edition to stand up especially well compared to others in the broader family, it has provided a solid enough framework for play. I’m looking forward to the denoument and the space to start up new adventures in other realms. Nathan is also running a short series of adventures, which will run into January 2023. I shall have fun in and around Neverwinter too.

Finally, Pete has been running occasional Pathfinder 2e (15), a ‘D&D family’ game that I always hugely enjoy. A flexible, balanced and powerful version of the big game that has a modular approach with a lot of optional extensions. The core game sings along smoothly. I like how this particular game has a simple setup, allowing us to focus on some tactical map adventure in what looks to be the opening scenes to an old fashioned megadungeon. Much ribald chat, good friends, and good old uncomplicated fun.

(A quick D&D aside that I got to play some Castles & Crusades set in Dark Sun on the Dungeon Musings YouTube channel. It’s a cleverly put together and enjoyable early D&D style game with slick modern mechanics. I’d happily play much more.)

I wonder if the D&Ds will dominate my play space so much next year? We’ll come to 2023 planning in a moment, but I think they will fade after the first couple of months, with only the Pathfinder continuing. Other games will take their stead, and wonder if these will provide similar long term campaign play.

It has been a year of considerable gaming highlights, branching out into new places. A resolute desire to get Trudvang Chronicles off the shelf for some actual play, paid off with some convention play, which for all my nervous front loaded talk of over complex combat system options still delivered some good fun at the table. Some players were even scurrying off to see if they could find copies. Sadly the print availability for this now ‘IP sold’ game will languish in dusty stock cupboards and second hand market. I think the PDFs will only be found in the digital equivalent. My collection isn’t complete, but I think I have the PDFs before Riotminds rushed off to other things.

This loss has brought further happiness. The underlying system for Trudvang is the much respected Drakar Och Demoner, a Swedish developed game since 1982, based originally on Chaosium’s Magic World. It thus has much of the BRP ancestry along with much development over many versions since. The rights to this passed to Free League, who have now successfully (of course, it’s them) Kickstarted a new version of the game with an English translation. This is my most exciting system development of the year. A lightweight high fantasy game that has all that I like of BRP simplicity, with lavishly infused Free League design gives you a really fun play experience. This is probably the Draka Och Demoner version that plays easier at conventions, whilst having plenty about it for long term play. At time of writing I have run two sessions, both of which went down well, and will be running a family follow-up in a couple of days. The family game was riotous fun, and I am busting to play again. This game is going to get so much play in 2023! 

Cepheus Deluxe has also featured this year. This is now my Traveller base, and one I plan to run more of in 2023. Lightened and honed it does everything I could want for a 2d6 system space opera. An unexpected and highly affordable big hit that eclipses Mongoose Traveller 2e, as much as I love what Mongoose is doing with the IP. A recent Bundle of Holding has netted me a displacement tonne of their recent titles on PDF. So much that there will be a lifetime of play with it. Traveller, in any guise, will have to work hard though, as my SF gaming already has strong competitors that have muscled to the top of the priority stack.

Another game has brought me multifarious delights: Blackbirds. I am a bit of a Dungeon Muser groupie, participating on his Discord server and watching some of his YouTube streamed content. He is one of the most proficient and prolific GMs out there, somehow also holding down a high power career too. I have been added to the roster of players, with an open invitation to join in to streamed games as there is availability. Kevin has kindly sent me a physical copy of the huge core rulebook and I’m playing some sessions in his ‘Blackbirds of Yule’ Christmas holiday event. The CST timezone presents my GMT some challenging 2am starts, but it is truly worth it. The game is a dark fantasy, riven with hope. A setting wheer the gods are slain by Oligarchs, whose current apeothis to usurping dominance is blighting war wracked land yet further. As the final three Fates were slain, shards of Fate splintered across the world embedding in those that would rise up to bring hope and change: the Blackbirds. Zweihander powered, with lots of elements from systems that I like, delivers a very good fantasy game, dripping with atmosphere and adventurous play potential.

I’ve managed a good round of face to face conventions this year, in a conscious push to get back out there after the pandemic times. My initiation to Owlbear and the Wizard’s Staff and Grogmeet were wonderful opportunities to meet up with many of the gaming family and have a good old natter and do what we do. I hope I can find my way back to both in 2023. Garrison conventions continue to re-establish themselves as we assess attendance numbers. They look to be back and we shall continue to run them. I want to call out Remi’s Bladerunner game at Furnace. We had a great time with a top group of players. Remi ran a great game!

Continuum was my first ever convention, back in the day. That it runs in the University halls where I lived as a child only adds to the reminiscent joy of the event. I managed to run three games, two of which were my own Tripod system. The Friday night one was a riot of at least 8(?) players due to a scheduling confusion. It was such incredible fun. So much laughter and rocking roleplay. Tripod’s light and flexible mechanics effortlerssly supported the session and gave a platform for the characters to demonstrate their worth. Old Continuum friends, young players, an eclectic blend that brewed magic for an evening. It has been etched in the annals of my most memorable games ever. I am smiling as I type.

There are many play highlights. Somehow I always manage to put out a fun Infinity 2d20 game, despite the weight of the crunchy system. It might say more about the excellent players I was lucky to attract, but nevertheless, that monster heavyweight has such a mass of cool ideas, factional setting and action thumping mechanics that the gravity pulls in great play into its singularity. More to come…

I’ve managed to get a couple of short RPG books published under my new ‘First Age Entertainment’ banner. A Cepheus Deluxe adventure persuaded me that I could use Affinity Publisher with sufficient basic expertise to publish a print product on DrivethruRPG. Tripod, ‘TRaits In Pools Of Dice’, my small narrative roleplaying game was also published, simplifying and improving on my ten years old Wordplay. Thanks for Dom for persevering with the layout for that book. I have finished the first draft of a second edition of my Heroic Fantasy, a Black Hack based high fantasy game. I like the changes and hope to get the game out after some playtesting in early 2023. This one I plan to have available both on DrivethruRPG and as part of the Playrole Creators Programme.

It was a particular Continuum delight to be greeted by Mark Galeotti with a very early copy of Gran Mecccanismo, his clockpunk fantasy in Renaissance Italy. So gratifying to see the Tripod engine being picked up and honed for a separate creative work. I will miss Continuum next year, but hold out some hope that I’ll get a game of it run by the author at some point.

Online play will continue to be the means by which I play. There will be as much face to face play as I can manage. Perhaps a regular Dragonbane game running at Patriot Games, or at a pub in Crookes? I will have conventions and a playtest series too. Family gatherings will continue to explore the Dragonbane adventure series. When it comes to online, I use Role and Foundry (hosted on Forge). I would like to get all my games onto Role. I think  this will depend on the development path they take and how they prioritise. In practice this is going to take a couple more years. This would be a conscious decision to emphasise audio visual connections, light tools and minimal to no system integration. A lighter expectation on what the VTT should be doing, but leveraging the play environment and tools that Role offers. I will keep a weather eye on others as they develop

I have already blogged about my plans for 2023. On further reflection, and In summary,I think Dragonbane, Infinity 2d20, Coriolis, Trudvang, and concluding D&D4e will all get me GMing. The Mythras based Comae Engine might stretch me to experimentally explore through play. Conan 2d20 was my only campaign misfire, due to some scheduling difficulties. It happens. The campaign is still all loaded in Foundry VTT, so maybe it will get an outing. I think Dragonbane and Coriolis will, in particular, see a lot of my GMing and play.

I shall play Pathfinder 2e, possibly the 13th Age playtest, a few of Nathan’s 5e and a couple of concluding Strahd 5e sessions. With perhaps some Con4eR D&D4e, that is likely to be where my D&D subsides for 2023. I hope to join some other games from my close gaming family. It is conceivable that I am sucked into some OneD&D play at some point, but I already have a lot on!

It’s going to be a great year ahead, diverted down unexpected otherworldly pathways full of magic and adventure. All the best to you as we head into a 2023 that will be full of friendship and wonder!

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Heroic Fantasy 2nd Edition

Posted on December 20, 2022 by First Age

I have finished a first draft of Heroic Fantasy 2nd Edition, my High Fantasy Black Hack with many twiddles and doo dahs. Although recognisably the same game, it also has changes throughout for this new take. The dice ladder is now frequently used throughout for incrementing damage, starting on a weapon type base, and for recovery dice. More classes and kin with abilities and spells. I’ve also re-thought multi-attacks as characters go through the levels and dependant on Class.

I have the text being reviewed by a colaborator and an artist considering the 6×9 cover wrap. It’ll go into layout sometime in the New Year, giving me a chance to properly use Publisher 2.0.    

Of course, what I really need to do is give this light and fast play fantasy game some quick and real playtesting! I think a 4th Level action blast would stretch the system a little and see how the game plays out. The core rules are based on the familiar six stats with d20 rolls less than them to succeed, so it is all going to work, but I would like to see how the different classes feel in play and ensure that everyone feels relevant and useful in a range of situations.

To facilitate this, I have created a Playrole character sheet. It is quite a complete sheet, so that the full character can be wholly represented on Playrole. It will also be interesting to see how a complete character sheet works for the players.

So, next up is to put a scenario together and gather a crew. I think this should be fun and I’m excited to see how the game plays and to see where there are some improvements. 

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Infinity 2d20 – ‘Cost of Greed’ Setup

Posted on December 7, 2022 by First Age

We are about to embark on a short run of Infinity 2d20 on Role VTT. I’m like a moth to the crunchy flame of this game, conscious of about 40% of the rules that infinitely expand to every corner of the ALEPH Maya-sphere. Still, that 40% is a functioning core that we can get on with and enjoy.

Role with Infinity ready to go

I’m running the ‘Cost of Greed’ mini campaign, which should give a really good taste of the Human Sphere and the post scarcity, Maya connected, factional, setting. There’s a lot going on and the player characters will be right in the centre of it.

Character generation should start to shape who O12, the centrist and unifying government agency, have to add to their roster. They are busy and need agents right now. They’ll take anyone…

Online character generator

Maybe we will have some recorded elements on YouTube to show some of the mechanics in actual play? I hover over that on the FAE Channel:

Meanwhile, I have the actual planned campaigns to run, but that’s for another post and, by the look of it, another year! 

 

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Dragonbane Beta PDF

Posted on December 1, 2022 by First Age

I am really pleased to see that Free League, in amongst all their other commitments, have managed to get the Beta PDF of their Dragonbane RPG out to Backers slightly ahead of time. I have pre-burbled about this game which, for all its simplicity, may well capture a large chunk of my gaming from now on. The game is already scheduled in for our family Christmas slot, and it will feature at conventions and an online campaign in 2023. With Coriolis also slated next year, and Trudvang Chronicles, it is looking to be a Swedish bonanza.

The Beta is close to the finished game, which will be rounded out with a range of great single session adventures and supplementary accoutrements in the final relaease in Augusr 2023. At 112 neatly laid out pages, this game is a light and breezy romp of a high fantasy, blending the simplicity of Basic Roleplay with the engaging flourishes of Free League mechanics, we have a rocking core of a game in which to play out many an adventure.

There are expansions and slight ammendments to the Quickstart, that now fully bring the game to life, whilst remaining the cute game we were intially introduced to. So, we have a d20 roll equal to or less than your skill to succeed, with ‘Boons’ and Banes (advantage and disadvantage) serving as the only nmodifiers. A very short skill list and familiar Attributes give you an easy to manage range of areas to engage with the world. Both Kin and Professions provide defining, signature, Abilities that lift the character into interesting niches. Further Heroic Abilities, gained after increasing number of sessions of play, further empower the characters. I like that you get your first one as a reward after your first session.

We have a traditional based fantasy RPG, with low HPs, armour absorbs, random rolled weapon and spell

damage. Characters can be constructed or rolled randomly and quickly. They are fragile and will drop on two(is) undefended hits. Weeble like, they also get back up again quite quickly, with either a few CON based death saves or a helpful heal, or even getting motivatingly shouted at. Scars are collected as trophies and on to the next adventure.

A move and just the one action economy, with some Heroic Abilities opening up further actions. A card based initiative that, once dealt, can then be swapped to provide tactical options in the round. Adverseries are either PC alike in terms of abilities or are full blown ‘Monsters’ with a ‘Ferocity’ rating of number of actions, bristeling hit points and a random rolled attack, each of which say something about the monster itself.

Hit Points are familiar, and Willpower Points are used to power magic and the special abilities. Short and Long Rests (Stretch, 15 minutes, and Shift, 6 hours) recover a good random chunk or all of them, respectively. Recharge, crack on.

Three magic schools are presented that cover the basics with a basic but nicely curated selection of spells. Spells are rated in a number of ascending ranks, with some prerequisites as the ranks rise. Each spell also has three levels of power, with increased effects as more Willpower points are blown. As with each area of the game, you can see where the modular supplements will fit. More magic schools and more spells to follow I think. More Heroic Abilities, more Kin, more…

Monsters! Well, we get the stalwarts, who doubtless petitioned strongly to be squeezed into the roster so that they could be an early part of the game. Dragons, of course, along with orcish footsoldiers, wiley goblins, skeles, spiders and some more. Yes, there will be a metric ton of more, doubtless also sprinkled in the adventures that have already been promised.

The game is certainly beginner friendly and good bouncy fun. Everything is setup for quick play, with mechanical effects lightly applied through player choices. For those who want to say that that is where the game’s utility starts and ends, I say ‘phooey’. Yes the framework is light and highly extensible, but there is plenty here for a rich and lengthy campaign, playing at full action tilt. You aren’t going to get the depth of options that are found in the modern D&Ds, if anything this game is a callback to the more Basic editions and, of course, the originating Magic World of olde. I find myself wanting this fresh, deceptively simple approach. I can also see Swedish hardcore wanting to keep their current Drakar och Demoner game if that’s where you are coming from.

I’m excited by the reminiscent joyful brevity of the game, enriched by the Free League focus that has honed it into a mechanically modern feeling experience. The process of finding the campaign world in which to set it has already begun. All the high fantasy ones out there would accommodate this lovely game just fine.

Let’s play!

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Game Planning 2023 – Captain’s Log Supplemental #2

Posted on November 23, 2022 by First Age

It looks as though I will have an opportunity to sneak in a little Infinity 2d20 for a few slots before the year is out. This wasn’t part of the plan, but we are looking to mix it up a bit with alternating fortnightly play, and I thought a nice contrast to Pathfinder 2e would be some space operatic factional cyberpunk. There might be some space in the game for ‘new’ players to mix in with the Thursday nighters.

Infinity is at the very crunchiest end of the 2d20 spectrum, an early incarnation of the system before they lightened it up with newer entrants such as Homeworld (another I’d like to get to the table). The game has had seven years of continuous books, squeezing the setting juices for a deep and conflict laden future that has an Altered Carbon edge to its pervasive AR, alien infiltrating, fragmented core. There’s a lot to take in! 

In fact its depths and the jagged edges of the crunchy system have always slightly unnerved me. The game might be a tingler, but I’m going to say a wary one. I have only ever run it at North Star convention for one shot play. Why do I do this to myself? Get a crunchy system and inflict it on innocent convention friends in the tightest of session formats? Honestly… And yet, to a sufficient extent, I have bossed the system into compliance and delivered some fun games with it. 

Online PC generator. Click image to explore…

Sometimes it is worth just going for it, and not worrying too much about the details. I have at least three printed camopaigns of material already, so diving in with some of that is the way to go. It further helps that Infinity has a lot of online support. The online character builder takes a lot of the complexity away whilst providing a guided journey through the lovely lifepath system A character is probably ab out 20 minutes away, with an exported PDF character sheet as a usable momento.

I’m one of those that enjoys the prep side as a sub game within the game. Online play has given me lots to play with as I use VTTs to deliver the game. If I’m going to put in the effort to create the resources for a game then I certainly want to see them used! Conan was a recent example wheer I put in a lot of effort with ahnd acrved assets on Foundry, only for the game to struggle with attendance. I need to get that played at some point. Infinity could be similar, and retired or no, I need to be careful to balance the effort on game prep and the value to the game itself.
Unlike Conan, Infinity has no support in Foundry. My default is then to look at Role VTT, a free, intuitive,  and ‘people first’ VTT, with point and click tools for you to create your own game sheets and share them. With some head scratching I have managed to create a small PC sheet on Foundry for the similarly unsupported Trudvang Chronicles, and hope to run the game on there in 2023. As it happens, I had already created a couple of Infinity sheets on Role, so it seemed like the best place to run it. 

The beginnings of the Infinity 2d20 Setup on Role VTT 
The lack of an integrated system on Role lightens the prep time. PCs and NPCs are mostly recorded off Role itself, with dice rolls and consumable resources initiated and recorded on the character sheet. More Role developments are incoming soon for the dice roller, which I’m hoping will include custom dice, useful for 2d20 games. Modiphius are already partnering with Role as a supported VTT where their content can be purchased and played. Dune, Fallout, Homeworld and Star Trek have received offical support, though I’m not expecting Infinity to get anything at this late stage in its published life cycle. I don’t really need anything anyway, though having someone else create maps, images and tokens would be sweet!  

Role also makes it super easy to publish a streamed game, with OBS doing the heavy lifting. Your OBS scene pretty much just has to have a Window Capture’ of the Role session browser tab, with some sound configured. Anything else is trimmings. I’m not a stream watcher (Glass Cannon Network are an exception and are awesome), or a stream content producer. I had a bit of a go, and was technically proved, but overall didn’t really work out. I’d like to showcase both Role and Infinity, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll find a group who would be happy to give that a go.

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Role VTT Update

Posted on November 21, 2022 by First Age

 I kind of appreciate that D&D4e is perhaps not the ideal game for Role VTT right now, particularly as I happen to play it tactically with a lot of map and tokens. We’ve been playing this game  on Role for just shy of two years, so have seen in a lot of the changes. Most of the updates have had limited impact on our play experience, so I’m looking forward to see where the tactical map side goes in this ‘theatre of the mind’ friendly VTT.

D&D4e Stonefang Pass Battle with my group

Overall, Role has supported our game really well. After quite a bit of effort I gave up on representing the full characters using my developed sheets, with PC development happening off Role but with shared dice rolls used and shared in the VTT. I think a more condensed display, pop out, and some other features might have kept everything in Role. Instead we make use of a few lighter supporting sheets to support initiative and dice rolls. With some glitches here and there, it has been great to have a stable video conference connection throughout our play over the two years. 

I’m looking forward to running more games in Role and to see how the platform develops throughout 2023. Homeworld 2d20 has ready assets on Role and other lighter games Two of my longer form games for 2023 will use Foundry VTT to squeeze some juice out of my hosting subscriptions that I have with Forge and Livekit on the Tavern. Coriolis has a good system on Foundry and premium assets ready to go. Trudvang could happen on either VTT as there is no system on Foundry. As it happens, I have created a small support sheet on Foundry, which will do most of the dice rolling, and manages the ‘Open Roll’ exploding, which Role does not. 

So, a thank you to Role for being there and supporting the biggest game of my life. Foundry will also feature as the gaming plans continue for 2023.

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