Revised Aircraft Thoughts

Recently gotten hold of the Pulp Gear Toolkit and it has prompted some thought on the air combat rules I've been developing for Frozen Skies.

So this week its a basic run-through of the Frozen Skies air combat rules with updates where needed.

Combat

The basic idea for a Parry like stat called 'Evasion' remains, though it is now calculated a little bit differently now;

Half Piloting skill + 2 + Aircraft's Handling (Maneuverability if using Weird Wars aircraft) = Evasion

Still works the same way as Vehicular Combat does in the SWD rulebook, just with the addition of Evasion in place of the normal TN for Shooting. Basically the TN factors in the pilot's skill and the agility of the aircraft that they're flying. This is still intended as an alternative to the current Dogfight rules, really something thats a bit more simpler in the spirit of Fast, Furious, Fun!

Also the change also mean that aircraft from Weird Wars can be used in Frozen Skies with virtually no changes or adaptations needed.

Aircraft

I really really like the aircraft creation rules in the Pulp Gear Toolkit, primarily because of the wider range of aircraft that it covers. If I can get permission to adapt and update those rules I'm hoping to be able to work in some of the Crimson Skies Savage Worlds rules, though I do recommend getting hold of the Toolkit.

So with a different approach in mind I've decided to ditch Agility as a stat and just use Evasion as detailed above, basically trimming some of the fat as it were since Agility is now redundant. The Climb stat will still be listed, though as presented in the SWD rulebook if anyone wishes to use the Chase Rules for Frozen Skies. With the above changes it means a wider selection of aircraft can be used from other SW settings if people so desire.

Rogue's Gallery: Sky Captain Patrick Wade

Tis been a while since I last did a Rogue's Gallery entry and so figured it was high time that I made a new entry.

With a recent entry about Skyships this character seemed the perfect choice for this week's post. One that could be a key ally, ruthless rival or fearsome foe depending on the players' actions in your game of Frozen Skies.

So I present to you, Alyeska's self-styled premier pirate hunter....

Sky Captain Patrick Wade

There is one name that sky pirates and other outlaws of the wild blue yonder curse more than most; Sky Captain Wade.

Wade was once an Aerial Corps officer, though he was effectively a privateer as he commanded an airship commerce raider during the Great Darmonican War. He was highly prolific as the commander of the B-class Skyship Frigate Brazen, including a daring night-time sneak attack on an enemy convoy which he credited to 'exceptional cloud conditions'. After the War he retried from the Service, though in the span of a handful of months he'd grown restless and petitioned the Aerial Corps to be instated as a freelancer.

Given his war record, the request was quickly granted.

However the military wasn't about to hand over a Skyship to anyone, war hero or not, and so Wade was given the Prydwen-class rigid airship Excalibur. The Excalibur was an old war veteran, having seen service on long-range maritime patrols and was equipped with a hanger to house a small squadron of aircraft. Though she received a refit devised by Wade himself, chiefly to improve her defences and converting her to use Lift Gas in her gasbags in order to give her a greater carrying capacity so she could be fitted with a degree of armour for extra protection. The airship's hanger was expanded and improve, including having a new aircraft handling system fitted so that two aircraft could be launched at the same time.

Within a year he'd established himself as a pirate hunter and a fair number of sky pirates who tangled with him ended up in twisted metal coffins in the icy tundra. Wade used his experience as a commerce raider to good use, having once been a de facto pirate he knew the tactics that his new foes were likely to use. He has since become the bane of Alyeska's sky pirates and if he ever steps foot in Broken Spires he is likely to be greeted with a hail of lead despite that pirate haven traditionally being neutral territory far as sky pirates are concerned.

 Thanks to the sky pirates notoriously being a disorganized rabble most of the time, Wade has yet to meet a serious challenge and so some say that he is more confident than he should be. His overconfident is further inflated by his successful war career, though more often than not his stubborn streak saw him take on more than he could chew but somehow luck saw him through...but not without a few scars.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d4
Skills: Fighting d6, Knowledge (Battle) d10, Notice d8, Piloting d6, Shooting d8,
Charisma: -2; Pace: 5; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Overconfident, Stubborn, Ugly
Edges: Command, Command Presence, Connections (Aerial Corps), Luck, Natural Leader, Tactician
Gear: Revolver (12/24/48, 2d6, RoF 1, Revolver), Officer's Sword (Str+d6)

Skyships: Bayleaf-class Freighter

And so we return to Frozen Skies, which I'll be the first to admit has fallen to the wayside a bit due to new job, Chirstmas, training courses and most recently a new baby. Over the next few months things should settle down a bit and I'll be able to devote more time to Frozen Skies beyond the weekly blog posts (though those posts have helped somewhat).

Skyships haven't been fleshed out that much and thus far we've only had one example, but little else. This week I seek to address that a little bit...

Bayleaf-class Freighter

Known as "flying bricks", the Bayleaf-class Freighters were designed and built with the sole purpose of transporting cargo in bulk. They are the great giants of the sky, typically only found in the service of either the Skywrights Guild or a trade consortium. Only a handful exist in Alyeska due to the facilities required to operate them, so they are more commonly used to ship freight across the Mhór Farraige rather than the Alyeskan interior. 

They are also slow moving targets and more than one sky pirate has tried his luck trying to capture a Bayleaf, so these Skyships usually are armed with eight heavy machines and carry a number of aero-marines in their crews.

Acc/TS: 2/5, Toughness: 15 (0), Crew: 70, Cargo: 20
Notes: Heavy Armour
Weapons: Eight .50 cal machine guns

And We're Back!

As mentioned in the last post there was going to be a break and posting would resume on the 24th Feb, so here we are.

I did promise a recap of the setting ideas that I had posted about over the past couple of months, that I'll probably do but with some revision of one or two of the ideas. In addition I'll post a handful more ideas, these are really just basic ideas that aren't as fleshed out as the others.

Darkwatch - I've decided in the end to combine the two setting ideas Deepwatch and Forsaken, I felt that the two worked well together and would make for a more fleshed out and interesting setting. Deepwatch would've suffered a bit I feel by being too narrow a focus and in some respects a bit redundant by Forsaken, the foe in Forsaken would help add to reason why the adventurers would delve into the tunnels primarily to defeat them (and see what the dark force left behind). Also, still running with the Clockpunk angle as well.

Weird Wars: Home Front -  Basically Weird Wars on the British Home Front of WW2, thus more of a civilian angle to it. Though with the addition of the First World War to the Weird Wars line there'll be extra material to work with, but that depends how focused it is on the Western Front.

Scavengers - Space borne treasure seeking and haunted wrecks in a far-flung star frontier. Though may rename it to something like Forsaken Space.

The Honourable Mentions

Here are a couple of basic ideas I've got for settings, nothing really more than a core concept at this stage.

*WW2 waged in the skies and red sands of Mars.

*Semi-Stargate but the 'gate' (or rift) only goes to a single world, but nobody is sure where exactly the world is or even if its still the same dimension.

We Interrupt Your Programming...

Some of you may have noticed that this week's post is a tad later than normal, this is mainly because this is the first real chance I've had of more than five minutes sat down at a computer.

Consider this post bit of a PSA.

Last Saturday (6th Feb) my firstborn child arrived a week or so early and things have been a bit hectic with trips up to the hospital and getting sorted at home. Mother and child have been home a couple of days now and we're steadily forming a routine, but mainly getting use to little one now being around.

So taking a couple of weeks off and resuming posts on 24th Feb.

Setting Idea: Scavengers

The fourth and quite probably the last entry, at least for the time being, in the "Stuff I'd Like To Do...Someday" series.

There probably will be a recap post of the various setting ideas next week before the focus returns back to Frozen Skies and the world of Darmonica. This week we take a look at an idea for a SciFi setting, a big departure from the various setting ideas but at the same time not all that different.

Setting Name: Scavengers

Elevator Pitch: Space borne treasure seeking and haunted wrecks in a far-flung star frontier.

Genre: Science Fiction, Space, Adventure, Horror.

Inspiration: 40K, Rogue Trader RPG, Firefly, film Solder, Hardware: Shipbreakers, Fallout New Vegas.

Overview: This idea has been kicking about only for a short while, probably the initial spark about a year or so ago after I saw a trailer for the video game Hardware: Shipbreakers (now Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak). It got a bit of a revival thanks to the planet Jakku in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, particularly the wrecks of the Star Destroyers.

The basic idea is that a star system is home to a large number of starship wrecks, either as the result of a large space battle or perhaps the wrecks were drawn there. Regardless of the reason why the wrecks came to be, there is an awful lot of credits to be made salvaging them. It could easily be a mixture of planetside and the cold vacuum of space, either of which the players could specialize in doing. Both are likely to have dangers of their own along with threats from critters, outlaws and rival parties determined to get to the 'jackpot' claim first.

Setting Idea: Forsaken

Third instalment of the 'Settings That I'd Love To Do...Some Day' series.

This one is bit of a break from the mostly Dieselpunk-ish theme that Utherwald has gone with thus far, namely delving more into Fantasy. At the same time I intend it to have elements of horror and be set set in a semi-ruined city, though at the same time it has to stand out somehow. Perhaps a sort of Clockpunk setting?

Regardless, heres my initial thoughts on it in the same format as the others.

Setting Name: Forsaken

Elevator Pitch: Musket toting fantasy adventures in a ruined, ghost ridden city.

Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Ghosts, Clockpunk.

Inspiration: Ravenloft, Mordheim, Warhammer Fantasy, Sharpe, Brothers Grimm, Brotherhood of the Wolf and Ruins of Arnor from Lord of the Rings.

Overview: Forsaken, like the other setting ideas, is still very fluid with very little set in stone besides the core ideas. Its fantasy, its horror and its set in a cursed city. Admittedly that idea has been used a few times now and has almost become a trope, hopefully I've come up with an interesting twist on things to make it stand out.

The basic idea and sort of backstory is that the city suffered an invasion and occupation by some dark force, but was later liberated. Though the dark force trapped the city's palace/fortress so that when the liberators entered it the structure (along with said liberators) were destroyed in a large explosion. In addition the dark forces left a few other nasty surprises such as mundane ones like traps and...other things.

In short, it is a place where its a very good idea to bolt the doors and windows at night.

I have considered rolling Deepwatch into this setting, possibly going with the name 'Darkwatch' and having it as part-city/part-subterranean. The players having to comb through the forsakened ruins of the cities as well as the tunnels beneath to combat all the horrors that were left behind by the dark forces. The Lurkers could be some of resistance left by the dark forces, basically to harass the city's liberators.

Setting Idea: Weird Wars: Home Front

The second in a series of setting ideas on the 'Would Like To Do Someday' list.

Admittedly this one has changed a bit from the initial idea, though the core aspect of a British supernatural horror setting remains. Regardless it'll follow the same format as last week's post.

Setting Name: Weird Wars: Home Front

Elevator Pitch: Supernatural horror amidst the Blitzed towns and countryside of WW2 Britain.

Genre: Weird Wars, Horror, Supernatural and WW2.


Inspiration: Weird War Two, Secrets of the Third Reich wargame, Foyle's War, Dad's Army, The Woman in Black 2 Angel of Death, various Doctor Who episodes, London's Dark graphic novel and The Ghost Train (1941 film).

Overview: This idea originally started out as a modern day setting, effectively a British version of The Thin Blue Line. Though there was a suggestion made to go for what was effectively Foyle's War with supernatural elements thrown in, basically covering the British Home Front in PEG's Weird War Two setting.

The basic idea is that during the First World War there was some outbreak of supernatural activity in Britain as a result of the conflict, partially due to the Thule Society and partially due to the widespread fear due to zeppelin raids. The government of the day managed to keep a lid on things, thanks to the outbreaks being pretty minor and keeping the public's attention on the war being fought on the Western Front and other places. For a decade following WW1 things quietened down until the Great Depression hit, after that occult activity steadily rose during the 1930s with incidents making it into the news (such as Borley Rectory). As the clouds of war started to gather in the late 1930s the British Government was keenly aware how much of a threat the occult could be to the British Isles.

At the outbreak of the Second World War and the Phony War period that defined the first few months of the conflict, the government's fears proved to be unfounded. With the Battle of Britain and then The Blitz, the government started receiving a number of alarming reports and it was decided that something needed to be done. The Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, had been arranging for the creation of the Office of Special Investigation with the Americans. But there are many within the British Government who were against the idea of 'American cowboys running wild round the English countryside'. After some wrangling an organisation charged with combating the supernatural within the British Isles was formed and dubbed Section Q.

From the beginning Section Q was wary of the OSI, initially with what was perceived as the 'poaching' of Section Q agents by the latter. From 1942 onwards there was clashes between the two as the OSI claimed jurisdiction over American forces stationed in the UK, though after D-Day the OSI became more focused on the European Continent. In addition Section Q faced problems from some elements of the British Government as it found itself in a curious position seated between the Home Office, the War Office and MI5 experiencing varying degrees of hostility from all three whilst at the same time being answerable to them. On top of these problems Section Q doesn't quite have the same clout as the OSI does and thus a trickier time when it comes to resources, more often than not it has to rely on Home Guard units rather than the British Army.

Section Q is based out of Scotland Yard, its members generally serving as detectives in the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch or Criminal Investigation Department (CID). There are regional offices such as York to cover the northern half of England, Bristol to cover the south-west, Cardiff to cover Wales, Edinburgh (with a branch in Glasgow) to cover Scotland and Belfast to cover Northern Ireland. Known 'hot spots' may even have a local office, though again the agents there would normally be detectives belonging to the local Special Branch or CID (same goes for the regional offices). Section Q agents are considered 'part time', they still serve as detectives in their respective police forces and thus still have their normal duties to perform in addition to any Section Q cases that get passed to their desks. There is also a small support staff of civilians such as clerks at Scotland Yard and a Research section.

In the field since Section Q agents would normally be police detectives they would have access to local police constables to secure locations, though heavier support can be gained from local Home Guard units and occasionally the Army. In more serious situations Section Q can, somewhat reluctantly, call upon help from the OSI.

Setting Idea: Deepwatch

Right, little bit of a new mini-series.

Last week mentioned about a few setting ideas I had plans to work on after Frozen Skies, the 'Deepwatch' one proved to be the most popular one and so it gets showcased first.

Setting Name: Deepwatch

Elevator Pitch: Underground soldiers defending tunnels against the horrors that lurk beneath the ground.

Genre: Subterranean, Horror, possibly Fantasy or Steampunk or Dieselpunk or Post-Apocalypse (still trying to decide).

Inspiration: In no particular order; The Hot War RPG, the Fallout series, film Beneath Hill 60, the Edinburgh Vaults, the Seattle Tunnels, the (Victorian part of the) London Underground, Gibraltar War Tunnels, the British Central Government War HQ, Metro 2033 and Necromunda.

Overview: Deepwatch is something that was born out of my interest in man made subterranean structures, typically tunnels or so-called 'undercities' with it being a case of the older the better.

The general idea is that the Deepwatch is the name of a paramilitary group who's job it is to patrol a network of tunnels, deter outlaws and defeat whatever lurks in the shadows. In some ways the Deepwatch could be seen as being similar to the Rangers in Metro 2033, yet at the same time very different despite sharing effectively the same roles. Regardless of the actual setting, the core is militant group patrolling dark and lonely tunnels seemingly only a few steps away from danger.

For the setting itself I'm considering of using Darmonica, the world of Frozen Skies, to basically explore and develop another part of that world. So rather than the icy frontier of the Alyeskan wilderness it'll be in the mazes of tunnels beneath one of Darmonica's great cities. The Deepwatch thus answering to the city's Department of Public Safety, though of the time largely ignored by the authorities unless an incident causes too much attention 'Up Above'. This would mean a mixture of subway tunnels, sewers, utilities tunnels, catacombs, buried streets and ancient passages. Probably a handful of underground settlements as well, though more akin to shanty towns or slums where the worse off in society are forced to live.

One idea I've had for the Deepwatch concerns their method of communications, I imagine that radios would be somewhat hampered underground and thus an alternative might be more useful. The idea is that telephone cables are run throughout most of the tunnels, though something akin to a field telephone would be needed which can be plugged into a socket. There would be 'hubs' or waystations that would have a permanent telephone connection, able to connect the other waystations directly or even HQ if needed.

New Year, Same Goals

Welcome to 2016 folks!

The overriding goal for this year is to get the main Frozen Skies book produced and released, something that I am hopeful will be achieved.

Once the Frozen Skies book is done I'll be looking at producing a few more adventures, perhaps a campaign as well. Will also be looking at producing a city book on the pirate haven of Broken Spires, after that it'll be a case of seeing what feedback I get to determine what else to do with the setting.

There is some non-Frozen Skies stuff that I'd like to do which includes a British based modern supernatural setting, though that may initially take the form of a series of articles on this blog. I also have ideas for something thats subterranean based and presently has the title 'Deepwatch', mostly revolves round a militant group defending an underground settlement from the....Things that lurk deep beneath the group. I cannot say what form Deepwatch will take with regards to it being fantasy, steampunk or science fiction/post-apocalypse.

I've been helping out on a setting called Gloomlight. The general gist is that it is set in the not too distant future where the various major trade agreements currently in the news go ahead and allow big corporations to do away with legislation that they as 'harmful' to their profit margins. The result is the Earth becoming so polluted and smog ridden that there ends up being little difference between night and day, thus allowing things that previously lurked in the shadows to come out to play.

I've stated previously that Utherwald isn't going to have much of a presence at conventions this year due to the pending arrival of my first-born child in about a month or so. Depending how things go, my posting schedule may be affected but I'll keep you guys informed.