Monday 24 June 2019

Rogue's Gallery: Andrei Dunlyfe

The world of Darmonica has a wide cast of characters who call it home, some are mere specks by the wayside whilst others exert influence far beyond the reckoning of most folk. Of the latter most are diplomats or heads of states, others work from the shadows to subtly nudge events in a particular direction. Andrei Dunlyfe is a man accustomed to working in the shadows, though currently a so-called 'Broker of Secrets' he was formerly a spymaster of the Kingdom of Tyland.


The Tylanish Shadow

Befitting a man of shadows, Andrei's life is largely unknown. It is generally known that he enetered Tyland's Royal Military College as an officer cadet, completing the infantry officer's course before specialising in military intelligence. He was recruited by the Central Intelligence Bureau, Tyland's external military intelligence agency, and soon proved his worth as he rose up the ranks. Andrei frustrated the efforts of the Commonwealth's intelligence service during the Great Darmonican War and quickly got called the 'Tylanish Shadow'.

After the war had ended, Andrei travelled to Alyeska where he set himself up as a broker of secrets. He trades in information with anyone who has enough coin, though will pick freelancers to give 'free' titbits but otherwise remains strictly neutral. Some do have to question what his motivations and ambitions are, especially since it is known that he has no love for the Commonwealth.

Those who have met him have stated the constant sound of ticking that comes from a supposed clockwork arm, least Andrei stresses that its clockwork but doesn't go into further detail.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Language (Sodkan) d6, Language (Gwentian) d6, Language (Artian) d6, Notice d8+2, Persuasion d8, Research d8, Shooting d8, Stealth d8, Thievery d8+1
Pace: 6, Parry: 8, Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Code of Honor, Curious
Edges: Alertness, Ambidextrous, Assassin, Block, Combat Reflexes, Extraction, Feint, Improved Block, Improved Extraction, Level Headed, Quick, Streetwise, Strong Willed, Thief
Gear: Revolver, Mechanical Arm (+1 Str die & Armor +2 on arm), Short Sword (mounted on mechanical arm, kept retracted until needed).
Languages: Tylanis (Native), Sodkan (d6), Gwentian (d6), Artian (d6)

Monday 17 June 2019

More Aircraft For SWADE

Getting a blog post done this week has proven to be a struggle, though still wanted to produce something. Ended up opting to update some other aircraft to SWADE, the aircraft in question were extra cargo planes written over a couple of years ago. Hoping next week to have something more substantial.


Crown Aircraft Co. 'Beagle'

The Beagle is a twin-engined, all-metal cargo plane that saw service in large numbers in the latter years of the Great Darmonican War. A few remain in military service a decade after the conflict, many more can be seen flying in civilian hands.

Top Speed: 260 MPH; Toughness: 12 (2); Crew: 2-4; Climb: 10;  Handling: -1; Size: 8 (Huge)
Notes: Cargo Space x7, Extra Fuel Tanks, Increased Torque

Crown Aircraft Co. 'Wolfhound'

A larger counterpart of the Beagle is the four-engined Wolfhound, which has tricycle landing gear that also helps to set it apart from the tail-dragging Beagle.

Top Speed: 200 MPH; Toughness: 14 (2); Crew: 4; Climb: 10;  Handling: -1; Size: 10 (Huge)
Notes: Cargo Space x12, Increased Torque, Wind Adjustments

Monday 10 June 2019

Keep The Home Fires Burning: Setting Rules

Its been a while since I've posted anything for Keep The Home Fires Burning, though I've had a few ideas on how I want various Setting Rules to work. The Adventure Edition of Savage Worlds also provides a good excuse to look again at this setting idea. Once Frozen Skies has been updated for SWADE and an updated book released, I hope to come back to this setting in hopes of producing either a Jumpstart or Mini-Setting for it.


The Flu

The Spanish Flu forms a huge backdrop to the setting; in addition to being the catalyst for all the critters crawling out of the woodwork it is also going to have an affect on the player characters. So this calls for a couple of special rules; Contraction Rolls and Infection Rating.

Contraction Roll 

A Contraction Roll is a Vigor roll made every four hours of game time or when the character moves into an area with a higher Infection Rating. Each character has a stat called Immunity, this is grants a +1 bonus per Rank to the Contraction roll. Though, the character suffers a penalty equal to the Infection Rating of the area that they are in. Germ masks provide a +2 bonus and the roll can be modified by Edges and Hindrances.

Optional Rule: -1 penalty for every infected character in the group.

Refer to the Disease rules in SWADE and consult the table below when making the roll.

Critical Failure - Lethal, make Vigor roll every four hours.

Failure - Chronic, no additional effects.

Success - Deilitating

Raise - Perfectly healthy, no ill effects.

Infection Ratings

Infection Rating 0 - Negligible chances of contracting the flu, though only tends to be sparsely inhabited countryside or isolated islands.

Infection Rating 1 - Villages and other small settlements that have semi-regular contact with nearby towns or other settlements. Also large parks within towns and cities.

Infection Rating 2 - Large villages with regular contact with other settlements or small towns, plus the wealthier neighbourhoods of large cities.

Infection Rating 3 - Most towns or where there is a regular gathering of people.

Infection Rating 4 - Cities and other areas with large gathering of people such as public transport or military bases.

Infection Rating 5 - Hospitals and the slum areas of cities; fair number of people packed into a small area means infections tend to spread like wildfire.

Monday 3 June 2019

Aerial HEXfight!

Organising a Play-By-Post game of Frozen Skies has prompted thought over how to handle aerial combat in this medium. Theatre of the mind's eye I feel wouldn't work as well as I feel things would get too confusing with positioning. So some sort of map seems the best option, but again that has it limitations. Fortunately I think I found a decent compromise for what I'm looking for.


The Basics

The Aerial HEXfight rules for Frozen Skies uses a hex grid for movement and combat.

Divide all speeds and ranges from Frozen Skies by 50, though round down. This means an aircraft with a Top Speed of 320 has a Hex Speed of 6, one with a Top Speed of 180 has a Hex Speed of 3. The Hex Speed (shortened to HS) represents how many Hexes an aircraft can travel, though the Hexes must be joined by a flat edge. An aircraft can move either in a Straight line or turn Left or Right. Harder turns are available, though these require a Piloting roll and are demonstrated in the picture below.


Combat

As mentioned above, divide ranges by 50 in order to get the number of Hexes. Normal combat rules of Ranges, RoF, Unstable Platform still apply as does the Evasion stat for aircraft from Frozen Skies.

However, aircraft can only make attacks along a straight row of Hexes like below with Fixed weapons.


Weapons with Arcs of fire, such as turrets, have a field of fire extending out from the aircraft.

Manoeuvrers

Manoeuvrers from Frozen Skies can work for the Aerial HEXfight rules, though some require some changes.

Immelmann (-2): Move Hex forward, but turn the aircraft around 180 degrees. Failure still means aircraft goes Out of Control.

Tail: Move into a valid tailing position (see below), at Medium range for weapons and attempt an opposed Piloting roll. If initiating pilot gets a raise they count as tailing the other aircraft and gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls. Tailing aircraft must remain in a valid tailing position behind the target aircraft within Medium range in order to maintain the tail.



Shake a Tail: Opposed Piloting roll, if successful the pilot attempting to shake a tail can make a Hard Left or Hard Right manoeuvrer. A raise means the pilot can reverse positions and tail the other aircraft.