June KS Update

Hi, I'm Nick, the newest addition to the Hyacinth Games team.

I was looking at the Kickstarter page and the last update we that we posted was right after Adepticon in April, and that's just too long between updates.

That being said, I'd like to make sure you're all apprised of what's been going on at Hyacinth Games on the Wreck-Age projects that you've backed. Be assured we've been diligently working along this entire time.

First, I'd like to show you this image that you may have seen this image floating around. Kostas has been working on the finishing touches on the cover art for the rule book and hopefully it will be done soon. http://wreck-age.net/media/kunena/attachments/47/Cover-FINAL.jpg This isn't all that Kostas has been working on, but its too soon to reveal some of his other work just yet.

At Adepticon we dropped a batch of models with Sam to paint up for featuring in our demo games as well as the Hobby Section of the rule book and on our Drifter and Stitcher box art. They've been returned to us and look great. Here's a sampling of what he sent us:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeME5ZnbtUjJeNixsW3hyuz6g0lDc8vMWb_AmgN2IjuQotSOXCPdvi_6YY4DnW9q8xMWfOTjz6LVwpI6EGr8CY_FQVliEzfM2Z_WjNwWav1NsaMBWy8PGg0Q7om9aR-lQlTQ8mXk7tgf8/s1600/bigger+brick.jpg

Anton and I have been meeting to streamline some of the rules. We're putting the polish on the what we believe to be a very dynamic and detailed rule set that will give everyone a greater breadth of options than other skirmish rule sets.

Meanwhile, our play testers are helping us work out some refined mechanics to ensure the core elements of the game are easy to learn and understand.

We're hosting an event at Brainstorm Comics here in Chicago on June 27th at 7PM that will hopefully put some of the rule revisions through the paces. If you're local we encourage you to stop by and check it out. Brainstorm Comics 1579 N. Milwaukee, Suite 321, Chicago, IL 60622 We encourage you to come by and talk to us, check out the brand new Brainstorm location, and maybe pick up some comics.

Back to the rule book, Naomi is knee deep in editing the book and Anton has begun work on the layout. There is still some back and forth going on as we revise rules and those excerpts have to be edited again.

Matt, Anton, and Carl had developed an introductory adventure called the Omen, and we're going to be including it in the rulebook. I've spent the last week making some tweaks and making sure it works equally well for those who want to play through the events as an RPG adventure, or those who want to play through them strictly as skirmish scenarios.

One of the aspects of Wreck-Age we really chosen to emphasize is the fusion of RPG and skirmish war game play. We want a seamless transition from one to the other and back again to cater to a variety of gaming and hobby interests. We've elected to release the book initially in PDF and soft cover form to get it out there as soon as possible.

We're hoping to have the completed PDF online in mid August and the soft cover rule book out in September. At this stage the timing of the release of a physical copy of the rule book depends on our financial situation.

One of our biggest obstacles at the moment is that we're broke. We've been looking for investors but things are very much up in the air right now. We're undaunted, however, and are moving forward under the assumption that it will work itself out somehow.

Similarly, the Drifter and Stitcher box sets made their first appearance at Adepticon but temporary box art because we didn't have photo quality shots of either faction's models at the time. The goal is to have both boxes out in mid July, but like the rule book, our success really depends on the ability to cover the cost of printing the boxes.

We really want to have the box sets available in time for GenCon so we have our fingers crossed. Finally, the long lost Reclaimer models were finally returned to the sculptor in France this spring and are now finally in our hands. They are gorgeous models but they have some undercuts that will make them impossible to reproduce at this time. We're talking with a local sculptor about correcting the issues, but it might take come time. We're pushing the release of the Reclaimers back to October 15th to hopefully coincide with our first adventure supplement: The Spider. 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmJT7WOsANDd_yQYPJw3uD6wbim5ss2v2g_QRHsuDQSFvjj_lrXWOjrgeR8sZo921manxLS7qPTCP49xVBUTIuiP5zkQWFO-IZ4QrlDhWSIFp7TTX2fO4oDGx61ZvIOSV0C7yrZcxXrg/s1600/292387_464067736948862_1184102094_n.jpg

With the aforementioned money issues that might be wishful thinking, but we haven't given up on the dream or the backers.

Finally, we'd like to encourage you all to peruse the Wreck-Age Forum, Not only is this a great place to find out the latest developments and works in progress, its also a place to build community, discuss the game, make suggestions, and share your inspirations. Hopefully we will see you there.http://wreck-age.net/index.php/forum/index

Thanks for reading and thank you for your support and patience!

-Nick, Anton, Matt,

ACEN Saturday

ACEN 2013 Friday!

Fun convention, it is always refreshing to play to a different demographic. Unlike Adepticon we were able to bust out the RPG for a spin.

New Scenario- the Hunt

This is one of the 6 scenarios that are in playtesting right now.


1. THE HUNT (Offensive/Neutral/Defensive scenario)

Game and food are scarce and have been so for months. Your scouts have tracked a large herd of game, but it is ambling at the outer limits of your territory and slowly drifting further afield. An opportunity is slipping slowly away, and you cannot afford to watch it go. Your crew has been dispatched in a desperate effort.

All seems well in the first few days. After locating the tracks, your hunting party finds the herd but, as you close on the prety, the party realizes that it is not alone. The hunting party is already too strung out, too far from home to return around empty handed. Grab what you can and get out as quickly as you are able…

Objective:
Your hunting party must gain as many Resource Units (RU) as you can while sustaining as few casualties as possible.

Stances:
Offensive stances: "Forget the herds, get THOSE guys!"
You party gains 20 additional RUs for every enemy it scavenges, but earns 10 less RUs per animal or token.

Once combat is initiated, the player who initiated it may be shot from any other crew without penalty from any crew with a Neutral or Defensive stance.

Neutral stances:
You party gains 10 additional RUs for any animals downed with a silent weapon, and will lose 30 RU for initiating combat with another hunting party.

Defensive stances:
You party gains 20 RUs for every one of your Characters that survives the encounter without so much as a scratch. and will lose 50 RUs for initiating combat with another hunting party.

Set Up:
3x3 board or larger (Larger boards are highly recommended for more than 2 players).

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 animals. Following the order of initiative, players will alternate placing herds until all animals 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 one other model in the herd. Any model in a herd may not be closer than 4 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 models that have already been deployed.

Each player marks one spot within the deployment zone to be their base camp. **

Special Rules:
Animal Instincts:
Gazelles or Deer **
AP/M/S/F/P/N/W/R
3/5/-/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 away from the nearest human 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 animals must end movement no further than 2 inches from another model in its herd.

A herd's 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 an animal gets into base contact with any Character, resolve a close combat attack against the character immediately; however, the animal will not get a charge bonus. The animal counts as the attacker. After the fight the herd will move on, if possible.

If any animal in a herd touches any table edge, the entire herd is removed from the game.

Hunting: If an animal is killed, replace it with a Portable Objective. A Character in base contact with a token can make a Harvest (W) Check during its activation. This attempt costs 2 AP. If successful, the Character retrieves the Portable Objective immediately, and is considered to have the Portable Objective until the model drops it, willingly or otherwise.

Dropping Portable Objectives: A model may drop any/all objectives in its possession at any point in its activation. This is a free action and does not require AP if done at the end of a character's activation (or 1 AP if done at any other time). If a model is forced to move due to Suppression, all tokens in its possession are dropped immediately before that movement.

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.

Calculating Resource Units:
•20 RUs for each Portable Objective carried by an active character, with any Tokens remaining on the board being claimed by the last remaining crew for 20 RUs each.
•50 RUs for each Portable Objective your Characters placed in your base camp, or loaded on a pack animal that is standing at the end of the game, or has retreated.
•10 RUs each of your Characters wounded
•15 RUs for each of your Characters dying
•20 RUs for each of your Characters killed (not including pack animals and beasts)

A Few Pages of Reclaimers

In the vast wastes of overly aerated and un-palatable soil, lay millions of tons of ancient disposed of technology. To most, these pieces of long-discarded technology are of very little use or interest. However to the Order of the Reclaimer, they represent a treasure trove, that should be un-earthed, and examined, disseminated, and integrated into the scattered data clusters of North America and beyond. These unearthed caches of data, and archeological dig sites are seen as the keys to fundamentally understand the hows and whys of the Great Exodus.

Among the Reclaimers, there is great debate as to the reasons, and ultimately, the solutions to the problems caused by pre-Exodus society. While most factions have little to no interest in the past, and prefer to focus on their immediate needs and occasionally on their future, to the Reclaimers, the study of history represents the understanding of the apex of civilization. This information is of great interest and the subject of endless scrutiny among the Order.

The ultimate garbage pickers; Reclaimers attempt to reverse engineer the technology left behind since the Exodus. Technology is the cornerstone of their way of life and beliefs. For example, Reclaimer’s weapons will have a higher damage output but are less reliable, and prone to blowing up in the users face. Whereas a crossbow will probably give you similar results day-in and day-out, a plasma-caster cobbled together from salvaged parts can explode, misfire, or not fire at all, but has a tremendously greater destructive potential. This is the way the Reclaimers prefer to see the world, as the potential to advance technological understanding, at whatever the cost.

Devout scavengers of the old world, they bring back the spoils of their garbage picking to walled Data Hubs and Havens that are sprinkled across the continents. Reclaimer military campaigns have been forged just to ‘exhaustively research’ the effects of found or newly created weaponry.

Sites where a satellite or space structure have fallen back through the atmosphere are of particular significance, and maintain an almost religious importance, as many sects of the cult herald the day when the exodus, with all of its amassed technology, came crashing back to Earth.

Since the Exodus, the Reclaimers have expended much of their energy towards finding these vast troves of old technology. Numerous sites have been discovered that are basically landfills full of high tech junk, such as the Oklahoma Scraps, which is an old e-waste site that is hundreds of square miles.

In the 23rd century, as the United States declined as a global power, much of it’s e-waste became a domestic problem instead of being dumped onto third world countries. In Year Zero these sites are both holy sites and greedily mined with a combination of re-purposed machinery and press-ganged workers from nearby communities and captured enemies. Without the recent population boom due to the Resurgence, this would be an impossible undertaking. Due to the Resurgence, communities are growing faster than ever, and in many cases, a few people are barely missed. In this environment, cast-outs can be rounded up quickly, and easily. A quick Zealot expedition, or trading with a less than ethical caravan are means to gain able bodies to be used to unearth the treasures that lay buried under feet of dirt and concrete. Not all Reclaimer sects use forced labor, but the lure of so much available technology makes it difficult for some to resist.

While Reclaimers revere technology, only the most radical sects of the faction will ever meld technology and the human body. It’s seen as sacrilegious by most Reclaimers to even consider it. Those that do utilize bionics are seen as tacky at best, and heathens to be stamped out at worst.

Using Infrared signals and radio waves to create intermittent cross-continental communications between communities, Reclaimers sometimes intercept garbled satellite code from ancient military or corporate sources. For centuries, a small cell of Scriveners has been dedicated to unlocking these ‘transmission from the gods’. Sites where space junk has fallen back to earth are prized and considered holy by the Reclaimers, especially if they involve one of these fallen satellites or other space debris.

A Stone In the Tides

New short story set in the Wreck Age world- it can be picked up at http://wreck-age.net for fifty cents! https://www.dropbox.com/s/72yzrhap37wyghk/AStoneInTheTides.pdf

Stitchman Excerpt

Here's a quick preview of the section on the malevolent Stitchers. Each major faction now has at least 10 pages of un-edited content completed.

The Stitchmen are ancient beyond the most basic comprehension of the majority of people during the Resurgence, and possess knowledge and technology that most can't even dream of. While the basic archetype of a Stitcher is one of malice and a vampiric nature, some Stitchers still hold true to their original Hippocratic Oath, and will work in conjunction with communities, doing good even as they seek to ensure their own survival. The vast majority have their own crews and their own enclaves, ruling with a paranoia and manipulation; carefully doling out medical care, bio-engineered enhancements, food, and weapons to those who serve their "master" well. Warped by centuries of narcissism, paranoia and ruthless self-interest, rare is the Stitcher who maintains trust for another living being, least of which are those who share their skills and were once their colleagues. The culture that is bred in most Stitchmen communities is very much "do unto others, before they do unto you". Backstabbing, murder, and coups are all fairly common within a culture that is motivated by the quest for everlasting life, and rife with dementia and paranoid tendencies.

Most Stitchers will not work with another of equal power to them, and they will never serve another living being. Whether their goal is manipulation, knowledge, or simple survival, they will typically travel that path alone, or with a few trusted servants. They oftentimes prey on those they once swore to serve and heal, taking any opportunity to gather tissue and organ samples, slaves, technology, or the raw materials that will allow them to brew their drugs and safely operate on themselves and their henchmen. As humanity emerges from the Dark Times, the Stitchmen emerge with it. They come in all shapes and sizes, some barely recognizable as human, some too bloated to move, male and female, as varied (if not more so) as the rest of humankind, though most of their number have long since given up the right to be called human by common definitions of the word.

While they are now fractured and scattered, the original Stitchmen all can trace their origins back to a single Exodus ship, which due to a malfunction, was forced to crash land outside of Tucson. This accident helped shape events for centuries to come.

Other than fresh organs and ‘foodstuffs’ the Stitchmen strike out for medical supplies, especially those that will keep their tools sterile, as infection and organ rejection are two of the main fears of the Stitchmen overlords. Cannibalism was sometimes adopted fairly early on for some crews, primarily out of desperation, as the food supplies were dwindling as Dark Times approached. The physicians were ‘wasting’ quite a bit of biomass in their organ harvests, and protein and calories were easily gleaned from human sources in the early days of the Stitchers.

Through medical technology and the constant supply of fresh organs and tissues, the Stitchmen are able to extend their life to well beyond anything that would have been imaginable in the 21st century. However, there are limitations; the only organ that can’t be replaced is the brain, which will still go through the process of decay and decline, albeit at a greatly decreased rate due to vitamin shots, blood transfusion and preventative surgeries. The brain-span is estimated to be approximately three hundred years... with dementias beginning to creep in after about the two century mark.