WIP - "Rescue Of Hommlet" - Rules And Scenario

In preparation for my first real foray into Greyhawk at GaryCon 2020, I've been reading the T1 "Village of Hommlet" module, as well as researching rules! My intent is to create an OD&D/Chainmail experience.

To that end, I've finished both the rules for combat and determined who will be present in the first Act of the game, as the Hommlet militia marches upon the Moathouse to deal with rumors of evil lurking.

My approach will be that all non-combat (melee, missile, movement, morale) related situations will be adjudicated using OD&D (1974 only) as the foundation. I think this will mainly relate to magic and general activities. There is some exploring that can happen during/after Act 1, depending on time and how things go. I'm wondering if time may run out before we can get to Act 2, the Temple's denizens marching in force on Hommlet!

When combat occurs, I am going to use a Chainmail-like combat approach. I have several inspirations and sources on the rules that I am going to use:

• Kevin Cabai of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society - Midwest runs Chainmail games regularly at events across the region. His Middle Earth/Tolkein based scenarios like "Orcs Drift" and Second Age scenarios are great fun. He runs a modified version of Chainmail that is somewhat simpler and easy to run with. 
• The booklet "Compleat Chainmail", edited by Aldarron of the OD&D Proboards forum - this booklet is a great resource for understanding how to use Chainmail in OD&D.
• The booklet "Forbidden Lore" by Jason Vey - another great resource for Chainmail in OD&D.
• The game "Book of War" by Daniel Collins - readers of my blog know how much I enjoy playing Book of War and respect it's simple, D&D compatible approach
• "Goliath" and "Grognard" - a Chainmail "hack" and a Chainmail retroclone, compiled and created by krusader74 of the OD&D Proboards forum.

The biggest features/differences of my approach to using Chainmail for combat resolution are:

• Simplified the rules to basics - morale, movement, missiles, melee. 
• Instead of using Chainmail's mechanic of "roll x number of dice per y figures, must roll z or higher to hit", I'm simplifying to mashing together the "Compleat Chainmail" approach of "Fighting Capability" and Book of War's one number "Armor Hit" approach. To whit, each figure of a unit, each character and creature has a "fighting capability" number. This represents number of dice they can throw in combat (missile or melee). The Book of War "Armor Hit" is the target they must throw against to hit a particular defending/armor type.
• Missile fire uses the melee mechanic. 
• Morale is based on a fixed number for each type of unit

Here is a link to the rules as they stand right now. Note - this is to the actual Google Doc and you might/will see changes! You're very welcome to copy and fold/spindle/mutilate for your own game!

I will be play-testing these rules over the Christmas holidays with my friends from the NIFMA (Northern Illinois Fantasy Miniatures Association) - Art and Chris. Possibly Derek as well! 

For the order of battle, I've gone back through and brought my initial list in line with the combat rules from above and cross referencing against the T1 module to get their stats correct. Right now, this is how it looks:

Troop units - 8 Mercenaries (2) - 2 HF/HF (1 bow , 1 hurled, swords) Militia (6) - 4 LF/LF , 1 Archers LF/LF (bow), 1 HF/LF  Characters - 9 Leader - Rufus, Fighter 6 - FC 6 - HF/HF (+1 chain, +1 battleaxe) Merc Captain, Fighter 5 - FC 5 - HF/AF (+1 sword, +2 shield) Elderly Farmer, Captain - Fighter 4 - FC 4 - HF/HF (Sword/Crossbow) [Militia] Elmo, Ranger 4 - FC 4 - HF/AF (+1 chain, +2 shield, +1 battleaxe/+2 dagger) [Militia/Archers]  Calmert, Cleric 3 - FC 2 - HF/AF  (+1 mace, holy water) [Militia]  Brother Smyth, Druid 3 - FC 2 - LF/LF (quarterstaff, hammer) [Militia]  Spugnoir, Magic User 2 - FC 1+1 - LF/Un (dagger)  Furnock of Ferd, Thief 4 - FC 2+1 - LF/LF (short sword, ring of invisibility, scroll: prot/magic) Not involved in Act 1 Terjon, Cleric 6 Burne - Magic User 8 Jaroo Ashstaff - Druid 7

Troop units - 7 "New Master" Guards (2) - HF/HF (2 crossbow) Brigands (1) HF/LF (1 hurled)  Bugbears/Gnolls (1) FC 2 - AF/HF Undead - Zombies (1) FC 2 - HF/LF Giant Rats (1) FC 1 - LF/LF (lurkers!) Characters - 6 Leader - Lareth, Cleric 5 - FC 3+1 - HF/AF (staff of striking, mace, +1 plate) [Guards/Undead] Lieutenant, Fighter 4 - FC 4 - HF/AF (sword, hand axe) [Guards] Brigand Leader, Fighter 2 - FC 2 -  HF/HF (sword, spear) [Brigands]  Zert - spy, Fighter 2 - FC 2 - HF/HF (sword, dagger) Kobort, Fighter 2 - FC 2 - HF/AF (flail, axe) Turuko, Monk 3 - FC 3 - HF/UnA Creatures 6 Small Ogre (FC4, HF/HF) Giant Lizard (FC4, HF/HF, SA: If all 4 dice hit, double damage) 4 Ghouls (FC2, LH/HH SA: Paralyze till touched by Hero+)

I have to tell you, I think the Hommlet forces are going to have a hard go of it. Not only with the ogre and lizard. Those four ghouls are going to cause some havoc unless Calmert can turn a few of them, which I will allow in accordance with OD&D rules! That's why I'll play-test, to see how this turns out!

Why am I excluding Terjon, Burne and Jaroo? From reading their descriptions in the module, I got the sense that they would not necessarily be all that interested in this jaunt. I am leaving them in the back of my head just in case they are needed to balance out things for the forces of Weal.

So what do you think?

Buds, Blooms, And Thorns - A New Board Game Review Series From GJJ Games For 2020!

If you've been following GJJ Games for a while you may have noticed that over the past few years I've slowed down drastically in the number of game reviews I've posted.  My older sons have gotten more involved in a lot of other activities, my youngest is now a whirlwind of attention devouring cuteness, and life has just gotten a lot busier in general.  This means I have somewhat less time for games, particularly in what used to constitute my free time when I used to write reviews.  I have a review queue that hasn't gotten any smaller in the last two years, not because I haven't played most of the games, but because I haven't had the time or energy to write up the reviews.

In 2020 I want to rectify that situation.  I started GJJ Games in part because I wanted to provide honest, critical, and constructive reviews of games I played and liked (or didn't like).  This new series of reviews is my attempt at getting back to my roots.

Buds, Blooms, and Thorns will take a concept for feedback and evaluation that I learned about through my leadership training in Scouts BSA.  I've adapted the concept a bit to fit my idea of game reviews, but I think it still applies.

My intent for this series is to provide a brief overview of things I liked, didn't like, and want to explore more about each game.  I'm dropping my long overview of how to play games (there are other places to look for rules explanations) that I've included in my reviews so far.  I also won't be following a set rubric like I did with my Full Reviews.  These reviews will be more about my impressions of the games after the first few plays (sometimes just one, sometimes several).  I think first impressions are very important in modern hobby games.  With so many great games coming out every week, a game really has to be special, and make that known right away, to succeed.  If a game can't grab your attention on the first play it'll be that much easier to ignore it and move on to the next shiny thing.

The format for these reviews will be very consistent and shorter, which means it'll be easier for me to write them.  Reviews will be divided into eight sections:

• Vitals: This will show the game name, designer, publisher, MSRP, and gameplay stats (player count, time, and age).
• Introduction: This will be a single paragraph giving a very quick overview of the game.  Depending on how pressed for time I am, I may just copy the publisher's description of the game (which will be noted if I do).
• Blooms: This will be a bullet list of stand-out features of the game; things I particularly liked or that the game does exceptionally well.
• Buds: This will be a bullet list of things I think are interesting about the game and I'd like to explore more.  They may not have wowed me initially, but are areas of the game I'd like to pay attention to in repeated playthroughs.
• Thorns: This will be a bullet list of things I didn't like about the game, or any issues I feel are noteworthy.  This could range from something as simple as an odd choice of artwork or as major as a mechanic I feel is broken or poorly designed.
• Final Thoughts: This will be a paragraph with my overall impression of the game.  I may choose to expound on points above if I feel additional explanation is warranted.
• Buds, Blooms, and Thorns Rating: Each game will receive a rating of Thorn, Bud, or Bloom.  This roughly corresponds to my Full and Quick Review ratings of 5/54 or less for Thorns, 5.5/55 to 7.5/75 for Buds, and 7.5/75 or higher for Blooms.  A graphic with the rating will be shown here.
• Pictures: If I took any pictures of the game I'll include them here.  I won't be taking dozens of component and gameplay pictures like in previous reviews, but I'll try to include a few gameplay photos so people can see the games in action.

I've also updated my brief description of GJJ Games Reviews that is at the bottom of every review.  This is at the bottom of this post and will be on every review I do going forward.  

Look for my first Buds, Blooms, and Thorns review coming later today!  I'm looking forward to getting caught up on my review queue and finally delivering on my promise to review these games.  Let me know what you think!

Bloom!  This game is great and worth
adding to your collection!  It should be
on just about every gamer's shelf. 

Bud!  This game definitely has some
great moments.  It's good for several plays
and should appeal to most gamers, especially
if you enjoy other games like this.

Thorn!  I can't quite recommend this game,
although you may enjoy it if you like games
like this.  I feel this game has some flaws and
there are areas that it could improve in the
experience it provides.

GJJ Games Reviews are independent, unpaid reviews of games I, George Jaros, have played with my family and friends.  Some of these games I own, some are owned by friends, some are borrowed, and some were provided by a publisher or designer for my honest feedback and evaluation.  I make every attempt to be both honest and constructively critical in my reviews, and they are all my opinions.  There are four types of reviews on GJJ Games: Full Reviews feature critical reviews based on a rubric and games receive a rating from 0 to 100.  Quick Reviews and Kickstarter Previews are either shorter reviews of published games or detailed preview reviews of crowdfunding games that will receive a rating from 0 to 10 based on my impressions of the game.  Buds, Blooms,and Thorns reviews are shorter reviews of either published or upcoming games that highlight three aspects of a game: Buds are parts of a game I look forward to exploring more, Blooms are outstanding features of a game, and Thorns are shortcomings of a game.  Each BBT review game will receive an overall rating of Thorn, Bud, or Bloom.

My Identity

I've clarified it on individual terms, but have so far avoided a secondary (or would that be tertiary?) public statement.  And that's probably hurt me in social media because a lot of times people assume the worst.  Especially in this day and age when it seems like half the population are abusers, scumbags, terrorists, intolerant religious zealots, sociopaths, hardened criminals, political extremists, and so on and so forth.

For a quick refresher, here is my original blog post, from over a year ago, where I came out as za'akier, a green-skinned, tentacled humanoid... biologically human*, but still extraterrestrial regarding identity.  And that's what it all comes down to.  How I see myself is different than how others probably view me.  And that's ok... expected, even.

I'm an outsider.  That's one of the reasons why I gravitate towards the writing of H.P. Lovecraft, and why I find a kinship with him and other writers in the Lovecraft Circle, other creators using the Cthulhu Mythos to push something forward, an agenda that goes beyond time and space.

But that's a blog post for another time, I think.

Right now, I want to reassure those who already know and support me, and those I haven't gotten the chance to meet (lot of angry people on reddit), that I'm not against anyone based on skin color, ethnicity, sexual preferences (unless you're a pedophile), identity, gender, politics, creed, etc.

My opening up to the internet about being za'akier wasn't about tearing anyone down or mocking those who are different, marginalized, etc.  On the contrary, I was identifying as an outsider, specifically the kind of alien identification previously mentioned.

To me, the term "trans" means more to me than a penis, vagina, beard, shaved legs, or any of the superficial trappings of biological sex and what we conceptualize as gender.  Transformation is rooted in how we see ourselves, and the cognitive dissonance that might evolve between our own self-perspective and that of the world at large.

To those who've hurt me, whether intentional or not, this past year, I forgive you.  But let's get over our differences sooner than later, yeah?

It's Christmas today.  If I could have one wish for the entire world, it would be for everyone to breathe deeply, try to relax, be themselves (leave the "hivemind" at the door), and get along with as many people as humanly possible.

Merry Christma'as!

VS

* There's some interesting information on "otherkin" which may or may not muddy the waters.  I'm not saying that I'm part of that group, and I'm not saying I'm not.  It's complicated.

A Brief Discussion About Newsgames

In contemporary times, games have undoubtedly taken a protagonist role in different areas. We can find games as educational tools, in marketing campaigns, training employees in companies or just entertaining certain audiences. Games are a powerful media and a rich platform to share meaningful messages.

Based on these thoughts, games also can be used as a platform for journalism content. It is possible to think strategically the use of games to spread news, discuss current events or critically think about one specific subject discussed in the media. This category of game can be considered what some specialists call "newsgame".



About the use of games in this field, it is relevant to emphasize that "journalism can and will embrace new modes of thinking about news in addition to new modes of production. Rather than just tack-on a games desk or hire an occasional developer on contract, we contend that newsgames will offer valuable contributions only when they are embraced as a viable method of practicing journalism – albeit a different kind of journalism than newspapers, television, and web pages offer" (BOGOST; FERRARI; SCHWEIZER, 2010, p.10).

In the book entitled "Newsgames: journalism at play" (2010), Bogost, Ferrari and Schweizer discuss several categories of this type of game. In this post I want to highlight one of them: the "current event games". According to these authors, this kind of newsgame aims to dwell over some fact occurring in this moment in the world using a ludic interface.

One interesting case of "current event games" that we can bring to this post is the experimental game September 12th. Created by the Uruguayan game designer and researcher Gonzalo Frasca, September 12th suggests a reflection about the day after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11th; the interface shows a Middle-Eastern village with some terrorists with weapons and civilians and the only thing you can do is aim and shoot bombs to kill the characters. The interesting thing is: every time you kill a terrorist you also kill civilians and other civilians around – when noticing the fact – become new terrorists in an infinite cycle of death and violence (BOGOST; FERRARI; SCHWEIZER, 2010, p.11, 12 & 13).

In the video below it is possible to understand the gameplay:



Once again, games are occupying an even more relevant role in the contemporary scenario. The gaming use for news is one more aspect to reflect on how ludic languages can reach different audiences in the quotidian life. If you are interested in this gaming category, I strongly suggest the site Molle Industria to try other examples of newsgames.

#GoGamers

---

Reference:

BOGOST, Ian; FERRARI, Simon; SCHWEIZER, Bobby. Newsgames: journalism at play. Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2010.

Download Tekken 6 Full Version For Pc

Download Tekken 6 Full Version For pc

Tekken 6 Full Review

Welcome to Tekken 6 is one of the best fighting game especially for fighting lovers that has been developed  and published by Bandai Namco Games.This game was released on 26th November 2007.

Screenshot

System Requirements of Tekken 6 For Windows PC

• Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/ Windows 7 ( 64 Bit )
• CPU: Intel Pentium 4 or later.
• Setup Size: 700 MB
• RAM: 1GB
• Hard Disk Space: 1GB

Austrian Dragoons By Doug Mason, And A Bit Of News

I can't help but notice its been 7 weeks since I last posted here, I wish I could say that a lots happened wargames-wise in that time, but I'm afraid thats not the case. I've had little time for games or painting. My output has been insignificant; I've STILL got 4 lancers to finish for that regt, although all the horses are done and the rest are based and finished. On a positive note I am coming up to my annual quiet period in terms of work which is normally  a productive painting period, so lets hope so. 

One thing I did manage was to get Mike Ingham to part with these dragoon figures painted by Doug Mason. I did nothing to them other than touch up the bases, they are the Elite figures. This gives me 2 regts of Dragoons now, plus the 2 hussar regts, and 1 lancer. I have one regt of 36 Chevaux legere (why give Austrian cavalry a French name?) still to paint- this will give 6 regts and a total of 240 cavalry.

There are stiil the Cuiraissiers to consider,but they can wait.

In 2 weeks time I will be heading up to Scarborough for Gerry's birthday bash which he has kindly invited me to. While I'm obviously looking forwards to this, it's also a bit sad as it will be the last time I will get to play 25mm napoleonics up there. Its not been any great secret that ill-health is forcing Mike to shut down the holdiday centre. Gerry is now well underway embarking on his own enormous - and I mean enormous!-10mm project (He already has erected a brand new, purpose-built "bunker" with about the same amount of table space as the current centre!). He is looking to replicate what they had in 25mm in 10mm in a couple of years- should be fascinating, and is going to be upping the figure scale so what was a 36 man btn now has a mental 108 figures. The man is nuts.

Although some figures have been sold, the rest of the collection (which is still massive), including all the buildings and terrain is moving down to the Basingstoke area under the stewardship of Mark Freeth. I spoke to him this morning and he has new premises sorted, and is hoping to put his first game on in February! He said he should have a website up next week. He is going to be doing Napoleonics, plus ACW and Malburian, and has already rebased all the WWII stuff (!) for Flames of War. He has some new ideas and will hopefully breathe a bit of new life into the WHC. I wish him all the best, and am looking forwards to playing there (and its only an hour up the road!).

Free Counter

HOTT 52 - Battle 6 - Send In The Trolls!

A fun battle of Humans vs Orcs that suddenly and convincingly ended, this time with all elements filled in! I finished my Saxons that would become my human warband elements. All painted with colors and shield designs from my Etinerra campaign world.

That's something that I've done with all of my HOTT 15mm figures - is to paint them in colors and styles from the campaign. It makes it fun for me, although I'm finding that what I have is duplicate 25mm and 15mm armies. Oh darn. Lots of figures on my table...

Battlefield Terrain was randomly determined with a different method this time. I (re)discovered a set of DBA 2 Solo rules that I'm going through to see how I like them and can adapt them to HOTT. Here's the link:  https://solowargamer.wordpress.com/2019/11/05/solo-dba-rulz/

Forces randomly determined from my Etinerra army lists.

Humans (Militia/Regular)        Spear-General x1 Spear x3 Warband x2  Riders x2 Knights x2 Shooters x2

Orcs (Regular/Militia) - defending Blade-General x1 Blade x3 Spear x4 Warband x2 Riders x2 Behemoth x1

I diced to see whom could substitute regular elements with fantasy elements and the Orcs were given the option. So, I took the riders and traded them for Troll Behemoths! These buggers are really a hoot, styled after old irreverent Warhammer-esque figures. That one on the right is definitely digging for gold in that big schnozz there!

On with the battle!

 

Orc Warchief Al-Lozburg lined up his troops at dawn to face the wretched humans that were approaching his fort. He put his trolls on his left flank with hopes they could do some damage that way.

Confident in his troops abilities, and wanting to ensure good battle matchups, Major Osmond put his knights at the center of his line and his riders to oppose the trolls, perhaps to flank or rear attack them even. He assigned his rowdy militia men, hardy mountaineers and hillsmen who were quick with the axe, spear and spirit bottle, to the left, spying a band of wood goblins opposite. The armies marched quickly towards each other with little maneuver, "quick to blood" as they say.

 

"Oo'er, fancy a bit of horse-flesh, Bob?"

"Shaddup, Bob, there's tasty, sweet manflesh atop those horses, we et them fust an' then we et the horsies!"



The army lines crashed together and the orcs pushed the attacking humans back. Dismayed at seeing his lines so fragmented, Major Osmond pulled his forces back to regroup.

 

The aggressive Bestials pressed the attack, with the trolls racing forward to smash the militia riders, but the hardy horsemen held on against the fierce attack! Seeing an opportunity, Major Osmond sent his riders to flank and he caught the trolls in a deadly cross attack! The trolls, reeling from fire and swords, lost their interest in man/horse flesh and fled the field!



Undeterred, the orcs pushed back and a long battle ensued. Back and forth, the lines went. Orc casualties mounted, but they continued to press the attack.



Suddenly, when it seemed this blood-letting would drag on till the end of day, the humans struck decisive blows! Two of the feared Orc Blade units fell to the militia Riders and Spearmen, while the other Spear troops drove off a unit of Orc Spear! (In one bound! The most losses I've seen by one side in a bound in quite awhile!) 

Seeing two-thirds of his forces gone, Al-Lozburg was forced to abandon his earthworks, giving the humans the victory!

Humans win decisively versus Bestials (Orcs/Goblins) 4 - 16G.



As for my new Human Warband elements? They spent the entire game fighting back and forth across the battlefield with no resolution! I'm pretty sure both sides were happy that the battle was over! (Or they were pissed because they didn't get a chance to finish the job!)

THINGS I (RE)LEARNED
A mounted unit can pass through a friendly unit if going in same or opposite direction. Makes sense. Gives me some ideas for future positioning and using mounted.

THINGS I'M PLANNING
I've gone ahead and made a mega-order to Alternative Armies for their 15mm Imperial Elf and High Elf HOTT Armies, enough figures for several stands of Chaos Men as well as some PC-like figures for Heroes/Clerics. That will give me roughly the equivalent armies/combinations for both 15 and 25mm conflicts with various rules. And monsters!

I'm also looking at the campaign rules from HOTT and my existing wargames campaign. I'm considering a "mini-campaign" using an adaptation of the HOTT campaign system. It might provide a fun afternoon with friends and lead to some interesting resolutions in my game world!

Brave Browser voted the best privacy-focused product of 2020

Out of all the privacy-focused products and apps available on the market, Brave has been voted the best. Other winners of Product Hunt's Golden Kitty awards showed that there was a huge interest in privacy-enhancing products and apps such as chats, maps, and other collaboration tools.

An extremely productive year for Brave

Last year has been a pivotal one for the crypto industry, but few companies managed to see the kind of success Brave did. Almost every day of the year has been packed witch action, as the company managed to officially launch its browser, get its Basic Attention Token out, and onboard hundreds of thousands of verified publishers on its rewards platform.

Luckily, the effort Brave has been putting into its product hasn't gone unnoticed.

The company's revolutionary browser has been voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019, for which it received a Golden Kitty award. The awards, hosted by Product Hunt, were given to the most popular products across 23 different product categories.

Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt said:

"Our annual Golden Kitty awards celebrate all the great products that makers have launched throughout the year"

Brave's win is important for the company—with this year seeing the most user votes ever, it's a clear indicator of the browser's rapidly rising popularity.

Privacy and blockchain are the strongest forces in tech right now

If reaching 10 million monthly active users in December was Brave's crown achievement, then the Product Hunt award was the cherry on top.

The recognition Brave got from Product Hunt users shows that a market for privacy-focused apps is thriving. All of the apps and products that got a Golden Kitty award from Product Hunt users focused heavily on data protection. Everything from automatic investment apps and remote collaboration tools to smart home products emphasized their privacy.

AI and machine learning rose as another note-worthy trend, but blockchain seemed to be the most dominating force in app development. Blockchain-based messaging apps and maps were hugely popular with Product Hunt users, who seem to value innovation and security.

For those users, Brave is a perfect platform. The company's research and development team has recently debuted its privacy-preserving distributed VPN, which could potentially bring even more security to the user than its already existing Tor extension.

Brave's effort to revolutionize the advertising industry has also been recognized by some of the biggest names in publishing—major publications such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, NDTV, NPR, and Qz have all joined the platform. Some of the highest-ranking websites in the world, including Wikipedia, WikiHow, Vimeo, Internet Archive, and DuckDuckGo, are also among Brave's 390,000 verified publishers.

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