Vampire: the Eternal Struggle
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Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, a classic multiplayer card game that I've been playing off and on since 1994, is back in print.
We've been able to play a handful of times, and I was even inspired to make some
custom cards
on DriveThruCards.
A few examples follow...
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Irresistible Impression
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Blood Rush
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Oracle Of Ephesus
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Basalt
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Salamander
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Allatu
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Necromunda
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Thanks to Veterans Day and Thanksgiving breaks a few of us were able to get in six rapid fire multiplayer battles in a small
Free-for-all campaign,
set in the Labyrinthine Sprawl of the Acropolis
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As the Free-for-all campaign favors three-way and four-way multiplayer battles when possible, it uses a small set of scenarios that are designed to work well with 2-4 players. We started off with three such scenarios (The War,
TheLooting,
The Four Corners
) and revised one of our older two player scenarios to support up to four players,
The Hit.
If we continue to play the campaign mode, I'll periodically extend the scenario set further to keep the battles fresh. In the meantime, the four we currently have seem to do a good job of balancing different gang strategies, economics, relative gang sizing (lots of weenies vs a small number of high rating fighters), etc.
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Necromunda
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Continuing to update our
Necromunda
house rules and freshening up the content. In particular, we gave the
Chaos Cultists,
Ash Waste Nomads
and
Spyrers
writeups some love and wrote up the
Palanite Enforcers,
Genestealer Cultists,
and
Squat Salvagers.
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Additionally, in preparation for our next Necromunda campaign we wrote up a new campaign format called
Bracket Busters
which as the name suggests is a bracket based series of tournament style battles, with Round Robin qualifiers followed by single elimination quarterfinals, semifinals, and a grand final. Has some simplified subsystems such as Experience and Advancement, and offers exclusive Tactics Card rewards. The main focus of the campaign format is a new heavy weight
Tourney Scenario
that features a combination of Capture the Flag and Take & Hold objectives for each gang to pursue during battles, forcing players to balance attack and defense.
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And another Necromunda campaign format called
Free-for-all
which is a simplified, streamlined style with no Territory, no Hired Guns, no Arbitrator and a focus on multiplayer battles. Has simplified Skill Categories, uses a first come first serve
Trading Post
with randomly determined scarcity, and so on.
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Finally, we wrote up a set of
Outcast Hangers-on,
a type of Hangers-on that offer no static benefit to the gang that hires them, but are always willing to join that gang's Crew for an upcoming battle (unless they are Captured or in Recovery)...if the gang pays them an additional D3 x 10 credits upfront for that battle. This per-battle surcharge is in addition to their original hiring fee to add the Hangers-on to the gang's roster. Outcasts are all well equipped and capable fighters that offer strategic or tactical options not normally available to a gang of particular faction (and also provide for fun modeling opportunities), but the recurring cost to include them in battles can mount up over time. Each type of Outcast Hangers-on offers three suboptions for further customization.
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Cortex Prime
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Continuing to (slowly) add new content to
Here There Be Monsters
as time allows. Some new iconic characters, and write ups for
various
Mystic
disciplines. There are also some new Ability trait write ups, SFX, Limits, and various little tweaks here and there.
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Necromunda
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A few of us are talking about resuming our
Necromunda
play as soon as all of us are vaccinated, so I've been revisiting our house rules and updating them to incorporate some of the newer developments in the official products.
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Hangers-on
300 credits
If a gang has a Luther Pattern Excavation Automata, aka an Ambot, they have a formidable robot that can both excavate among the detritus filled lower levels of the underhive, and also contribute in combat situations as a fearsome short ranged and hand to hand threat. Unlike many types of Hangers-on, Ambots confer no static bonus to their gang but are always available as fighters.
Cawdor
175 credits
Cawdor Redeemers are among the most pious and intolerant members of the Redemptionist Cult to be found anywhere in Necromunda, determined to bring their fiery message to even the dankest darkest corners of the Underhive, the Wastes, or beyond.
75 credits
Cawdor Fanatics are particularly hardy and zealous Redemptionists.
Delaque
100 credits
Delaque Sharpshooters are highly specialized and deadly long distance killers. Though disadvantaged in the tight confines of Zone Mortalis conflicts and similar restricted spaces, they are absolute terrors in encounters held in more spacious habdome and Sector Mechanicus battefields.
75 credits
Delaque Ambushers are sneaky bushwackers, skilled at waylaying unsuspecting victims from the shadows.
Escher
160 credits
Escher Deathmaidens are fallen Escher heroes who have been revived and reanimated via toxic biochemical concoctions. Not quite dead but not entirely alive either, they exist in a macabre state of altered consciousness and arrested decay.
75 credits
Escher Wyldrunners are reckless underhive explorers and beast wranglers, skilled at traversing unstable ruins seeking long buried relics and exploitable resources. Additionally, Wyldrunners are often accompanied by venomous cat-lizard hybrid pets known as Phelynx.
Goliath
150 credits
Goliath Stimmers are hulking, imposing late stage performance enhancing drug addicts. Towering and rippling with grotesque musculature and fitted with auto-injectors capable of pushing noxious cocktails of combat drugs on demand, Stimmers are capable of bursts of insane violence.
75 credits
Goliath Forgeborn are vat grown slabs of synth-muscle, intended for various purposes ranging from heavy industrial labor to brutal gang warfare.
Orlock
200 credits
An Orlock Arms Master is a salty veteran with years of hard won experience, a mature and seasoned warrior who has no interest in leading a gang themselves (some having already done so) and instead focuses on being a competent mentor, advisor, and tactician. They are experts in the use of weapons, formidable fighters, and living inspirations to their allies.
75 credits
Orlock Wreckers are brave, adventurous daredevils who strap rockets to their backs and launch daring raids on enemy caravans, encampments, and outposts in the wastes. Those who live long enough eventually ascended to become champions, but most die horribly.
Van Saar
125 credits
A Van Saar Archeotek is a master of technology who wields surprising influence within House Van Saar, with access to the House's secretly held STC and its many mysteries.
75 credits
Van Saar Neoteks are fearless Van Saar youths, most of whom ride upon dangerous grav cutters, dashing in and out of the fray. Most suffer terminal impacts, but some survive to rise in the ranks.
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Cortex Prime
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Updated the Cortex Plus
Heroic Fantasy
and
Here There Be Monsters
hacks, rebasing them on the recently published
Cortex Prime
game handbook.
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