The Sickness, a remix of The Hunt by Josh Lopatin

Here is a remixed version of the scenario I posted late last week, by one of our players that insists it doesn't involve zombies. Nice try bud!

The Sickness A strange wasting sickness is spreading throughout the area. People are calling it the “Shambling Fever”. It usually spreads through contact. The sick person will get a very strong fever, and eventually lose their mind completely. They shamble through the countryside mindlessly, dead to all around them. Strangely, they seem to move in a herd mentality… Objective: Your objective depends on the Warband you have chosen: Stakers- The herds of diseased are getting too close to your settlement for comfort. You are afraid that it may spread into your homes, and pollute your food and water supply. A group of hunters has been sent out to deal with them. Your goal is to take care of the herds. You get 3 RU point for each zombie herd you completely kill, and an additional RU for burning the bodies (base to base with dead bodies, and 1 action point to burn a whole herd). You lose 1RU each time you initiate combat with any healthy person you come across. Reclaimers- Three of your traveling band contracted the “Shambling fever” They were each carrying important technology that you need to recover. You had carefully tied them up, but they broke loose and shambled off in the night. You get 5 RU for each piece of tech you recover. You can not recover tech from burned bodies. Remember, your goal is to avoid confrontation, and to recover the tech... You are not afraid to deal with anyone who may get in your way, but are singly focused on the tech and not warring. Drifters- Looks like hunting time! It appears that there are some mindless former humans encroaching on your territory. You think you hear some healthy people too! Maybe they have stuff you can take! Get 1 RU for killing anything that moves, and 2RU for looting a healthy body. You don't understand the “shambling fever”, if you choose to loot them, you may get sick: Roll 1d6 On a 6, you will get 2RU, on anything else you will get sick. (subtract 1 from a random stat immediately, and again at the start of each activation for the rest of the game) Stitchers- You are traveling back to your hideout after a successful “restocking” raid. Your group is carrying healthy organs for your warband. You understand that getting near the diseased ones could jeopardize the viability of your cargo, so you wish to avoid them at all costs. However, if you come across any healthy specimens, perhaps this will be your most successful restock ever! Gain 4 RU for every healthy body you harvest (base to base with dead bodies, and 1 action point to recover an organ. Only 1 per body) Lose 2 RU for every hit by the shambling horde. Set Up: Each table quarter should contain at least one pieces of terrain that is not impassible. Roll initiative, the winner places the first herd of 3 diseased. Following the order of initiative, players will alternate placing herds until all diseased have been set on the table. At least one model in each herd must be less than 18 inches from the center-point of the table. Each model in a herd must be within 2 inches of at least one other model in the herd. Any model in a herd may not be closer than 3 inches to a model in another herd. Number of Players: 1: place 6 herds 2: place 3 herds each 3: place 2 herd each 4+: place 1 herd each After placing all herds, the player with initiative chooses one table edge as the deployment zone; that player may deploy a hunting party 2d6 inches from the deployment zone edge. In initiative order, opposing players may select any remaining table edge and deploy as above. All models must remain at least 12 inches from any enemy model that have already been deployed. Each player marks one spot within the deployment zone to be his base camp. ** Special Rules: Shambling Fever: Diseased One AP/M/S/F/P/N/W/R 3/3/-/1/2/3/2/- The herds are activated at the end of each round (during the end phase). Roll a d6 for each herd, and we recommend doing so near that herd. Models in the herd will move the number rolled plus the value of that herd? Movement attribute (d6+M). If a 1 is rolled, that herd will remain stationary. If a 6 is rolled, the herd will move as normal directly towards the nearest healthy model. Otherwise, the herd will move in the direction indicated by the top of the number on any die roll. In other words, if a 4 is rolled, the herd will move in the direction of the top of the 4, as it is rolled on the table. All diseased must end movement no further than 2 inches from another model in its herd. A herd Movement Attribute equals the Movement its slowest herd member, and a herd will always move as far as it is able. If during the movement a diseased gets into base contact with any Character, resolve a close combat attack against the character immediately; however, the diseased one will not get a charge bonus. The diseased one counts as the attacker. After the fight the herd will move on, if possible. If any model in a herd touches any table edge, they stop there. On the next turn, they will move away from the table edge. Reroll if necessary to keep them on the table. Retreat: Players can remove a model from play by ending that model's activation in contact with any table edge. That model is immediately removed from the table and may not return this Encounter. Ending the Encounter: The game ends after 6 Turns or if any side has no Characters left to activate.

Kickstarter Update 7/3/2013

Nick here again to keep you updated on the latest at Hyacinth Games and Wreck-Age. We are endeavoring to ensure you are all informed as to what is going on with us in a much more transparent manner, so let’s talk about what took place last week.

The week began with a video that I put together showing off a lot of the development that has taken place in the last 2 years, and that paints a picture of what the next year will hopefully look like. I know when I watch it I get excited for the months ahead, and we hope it you do as well.

We ran an event at Brainstorm Comics here in Chicago to highlight a few of the developments in the rules, and see how people enjoyed them. We’ve made a lot of changes to the rules in the last 6 months or so based upon play testing and feedback from our friends and fans. If you’ve played any games using the Wreck-Age Quick Start Rules on our website or that you picked up at Adepticon, you may have noted that Fighting was a series of opposed rolls fought out across 3 back to back rounds. Feedback showed that this confused people and dragged out the game unnecessarily, so we re-wrote Fighting completely. The response to the changes has been two thumbs up, so that’s a step in the right direction we think. 

One of the things people ask a lot about is how we intend to apply the fusion of RPG and skirmish war game elements. We played a scenario involving a 6 player crew trying to escape the clutches of their Stitchmen oppressors and a seventh person controlled the Stitchers. I acted as Narrator setting the scene with background and descriptions. The play group seemed to enjoy the flexibility of dragging fallen comrades, searching rooms for clues and weapons, stealing weapons from their enemies and using them against them. These bits of dramatic action add a lot of depth to the game and push the players into even greater feats of bravery and treachery than the dispassionate approach most war games take, and I feel that really sets us apart.

Another concept that made its debut last Thursday was Parlay. Parlay allows your players (and Narrator Characters as well) the ability to use their Renown to intimidate, seduce, and cajole. Parlay is an Action that uses a variable number of Action Points depending on the difficulty of a variety of common requests and demands. You can throw insults at your opponents to try and work them up into a blind rage so they attack you, or you can simply demand that they drop their weapon. The idea was to introduce a mechanic that allowed for those cinematic moments when the action pauses as the two sides reload weapons and try to catch their breath. One side yells out from behind cover and tries to convince the other to lay down their weapons, or even switch teams. Of course, we didn’t want to remove your control over your Player Character in these situations so we chose to differentiate between Player Characters, Characters, and Narrator Characters and create a designation called Free Will. Free Will prevents you from acting against your will with the character that represents you in the game. However, any other members of your crew or community who happen to be around, like henchmen, hired guns, and other additional characters you acquire along the way don’t necessarily have that loyalty. Life in Wreck-Age is about survival. What’s cool is, if you always wanted to have a, “Luke, I am your father!” moment in your games, Parlay allows for that to happen

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Last Thursday at Brainstorm was a great night because we got to see a bunch of our ideas implemented in the public eye and receive immediate feedback. Additionally, the scenario we played may be the basis for a “dungeon crawler” style board game down the line if we can get that far. Thank you to everyone who came out to check it out and support us. And thank you to Brainstorm for hosting.

Enough about mechanics though. People have been asking about the Reclaimers, and we just got the master back for the only one out of the four that arrived ready to cast. I’m hoping to sit down with a local sculptor this week to discuss the necessary changes to the other three.

This week we’re working on the rule book some more and starting to dig in to get ready for GenCon at the end of the summer. Hopefully next week we’ll be making an announcement about the long awaited Drifter and/or Stitcher box sets. As always, watch the Wreck-Age forum for up to the minute developments. http://www.wreck-age.net

-Nick, Matt, and Anton

Hyacinth Games