Return to Terrinoth - Fulhurst Moors

Art by Jon Hodgson

A post for my players as we plan for our next campaign.

The Rules

We will use the Dragonbane rules, with the Book of Magic expansion.

The Setting

The setting is Terrinoth, the fantasy setting created by Fantasy Flight Game. You can find out more about the setting at this wikia, but do be aware that the information may not coincide 100% with my game world.

The Premise

The PCs are all retainers who have pledged their service with the wizard Entana Vernier, who is vogt (lord) of the village of Fulhurst Moor, which lies of the edge of The Mistlands. You may choose a to be a character who is already living in Fulhurst Moor, or a new arrival from another place.

Each session will cover roughly two weeks of in-game time, during which we will resolve the domain/settlement improvements and events, explore the region, and follow quest lines which are chosen by the players or which emerge from the actions of the characters and the NPCs they interact with. Each session should be self-contained, so we can continue our drop-in, drop-out format.

Creating Your Character

We will use the Standard Array for stats: 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15.

The Kin and Professions allowed are discussed below.

Do also come up with a short-term goal and a long-term goal for your character, as well as an enemy from his/her past and also an ally from his/her past.

Character Kin

The following kins are open (Terrinoth race/Dragonbane kin equivalent: brief description):

• Human/Human: You may choose to be either of Terrinoth (generic fantasy medieval European, specifically German) origin, urban or rural, or from Isheim (fantasy Viking), Lorimor (fantasy medieval France), Torue Albes (fantasy England, with a maritime emphasis), or Al-Kalim (fantasy Arabian).

    Kin Ability: Adaptive. When making a skill roll, may use another skill of your choice.

• Forge Dwarf/Dwarf: Dwarves who live in the mixed human-dwarf city of Forge in Terrinoth.

• Dunwarr Dwarf/Dwarf: Dwarves who live in the dwarven kingdom of Dunwarr to the north of Terrinoth.

    Kin Ability: Unforgiving. When attacking someone who harmed you in the past, get a boon to the roll.

• Lowborn Elf/Elf: Elves who are descended from the first generation (Highborn) elves who came to Terrinoth, and hail from the Aymhelim Forest to the south of Terrinoth.

• Free Cities Elf/Elf: Elves who have taken up living in human cities, mostly in Dawnsmoor, near the Aymhelim Forest.

    Kin Ability: Inner Peace. Heal an additional d6 HP, d6 Willpower, and condition during Stretch Rest.

• Burrow Gnome/Halfling: Burrow Gnomes live in large matriarchal bands and have mostly abandoned interaction with the other races, but occasionally, some will still succumb to the lure of adventure.

• Wanderer Gnome/Halfling: Wanderer Gnomes roam all over the world in communal caravans, making a living as traders, performers, and occasionally even as labourers or craftsmen in human communities.

    Kin Ability: Hard to Catch. Get a boon to Evade roll.

• Broken Plains Orc, Stone-Dweller Orc/Mallard: Once viewed as enemies of Man, orcs have become accepted as one of the 'civilised' races since they switch sides and allied with Terrinoth during the Dragon Wars 800 years ago. Broken Plains Orcs live a nomadic lifestyle on the Broken Plains east of Terrinoth, while the Stone-Dweller Orcs have abandoned their traditional ways and live among humans in their cities.

    Kin Ability: Ill-tempered. Gain a boon when making a skill roll. Become Angry.

• Dragon Hybrid/Wolfkin: Created by the dragons as foot soldiers during the Dragon Wars 800 years ago, these humanoid hybrids were left behind after the war ended abruptly. Once hunted mercilessly by the humans, they have in recent times become more tolerated. 

    Kin Ability: Hunting Instinct. Designate a creature. You can follow the scent of the prey for a full day.

Professions

The following professions are available:

Artisan, Bard, Fighter, Hunter, Knight, Mage, Mariner, Merchant, Scholar, Thief.

The following schools of magic are available for Mages:

Animism (Nature magic), Elementalism (Elemental magic), Harmonism (Bardic magic), Illusionism (Illusion magic), Mentalism (Psychic magic), Symbolism (Sigil magic), Witchcraft (Witchcraft).

The following schools of magic are classified as Runebound magic/wizardry:

Animism (Nature magic), Elementalism (Elemental magic), Illusionism (Illusion magic), Mentalism (Psychic magic), Symbolism (Sigil magic).

Wizards in the setting learn new spells by finding and studying Runebound crystal shards instead of copying them into their spellbooks. This makes it a very challenging class to play in the game.

Optional Rules in Play

When character recovers from Death rolls, roll on the following table:

Injury Table

Roll            Effect

20            False hope. Character dies.

19            Lose 1 Strength. Become Exhausted

18            Lose 1 Constitution. Become Sickly

17            Lose 1 Agility. Become Dazed

16            Lose 1 Intelligence. Become Angry

15            Lose 1 Will. Becomes Scared

14            Lose 1 Charisma. Become Disheartened

2-13        Gain one Condition

1              Gain 1d6 of Hit Points. Gain one Condition

Losing a point of stat this way will reduce all the related Skills.

Encumbrance

We will use a house-rule version of the encumbrance rules - characters are assumed to be capable of carrying their personal gear like weapons and armour, group items like tents, cooking gear, and adventuring gear like rope and grappling hooks, with a few spare slots for special items and loot based on their Strength.

Battle for Bukit Timah Village

Conquerors and Kings: Battle of Arbalo

The opposing sides size each other up

For our August game we once more played Conquerors and Kings, with Martin once more commanding his Early Imperial Romans. The scenario was the battle of Arbalo, where the Romans are ambushed in a narrow pass by the Germans. The battlefield was simple: a forest with a narrow central clear path that opened up towards the German side of the table; the Romans had to exit with at least half of their forces 'at strength' (i.e. at at least half strength), while the Germans had to prevent that.

Martin decided to simplify the tactical problem by essentially deploying on only half of the table, putting his legionaries on the left hand side of the path, with the left flank protected by auxilia in the woods, and the right flank protected by cavalry.

Confused fighting in the woods

The Germans sent out flanking forces on both flanks. The forces on the Roman left was more successful, quickly neutralising the auxilia. The main Roman column pushed on ahead while the battle in the woods was going on, leaving the auxilia to their fate, but when the Germans tried to exit the woods to engage the legionaries, they failed their movement rolls and never made it.

German flanking forces are unable to exit the woods to threaten the Roman centre

The fight on the other flank went in the favour of the Germans too, but the cavalry had played their part in delaying their enemies. The legionaries in the centre continued their push, routing the enemies in front of them, but it was still not enough - only five 'at strength' units made it off the table, making it a narrow win for the Germans.

Conquerors and Kings: Battle of Callinicus

For our July game we returned to Conquerors and Kings. Once again, wahj faced Rafael; we have played several games by now, so the game went rather smoothly.

I wanted a chance for Rafael to field his Macedonian Successor army, and found a suitable battle in the form of the Battle of Callinicus.

The Macedonians and Thracian allies

The battle was unusual as it featured only light troops and cavalry, with the iconic heavy infantry from both sides - the Macedonian phalanx and the Roman legionaries- sitting out. I wanted to see how the battle would have gone on if both sides decided to commit their heavy infantry. 

Romans and Pergamene allies

I had both players deploy their light troops and cavalry as usual, then let them roll for their heavy infantry as reinforcements.

The lines clashed, with the cavalry wings coming to a standoff quite soon afterwards. In the centre, the quality of the Macedonian Agema and Thracians gave Rafael the advantage. Both sides were only able to bring on about half of their heavy infantry by the time the game ended, but the Macedonians were a little quicker on the draw and overwhelm the Roman line before it could be stabilised.

We have played enough games of C&K for me to be confident in using it for historical scenarios. We are planning to play historical scenarios with C&K for the next three months, so stay tuned.

15mm Khurasan Miniatures

A few weeks ago I bought some Khurasan miniatures to add to my existing armies.

Here are some crossbowmen from their (older) Frankish/Norman range, based as Bow/formed instead of Psiloi/skirmisher, to use in my First Crusade games.

Here is a war drum from their Sung Chinese range. There are two drums and two drummers in a pack, so I am passing half of the pack to wahj. I painted mine to match my Warring States Zhao army, adding a spare pikeman I have as a standard bearer. Since the basic style of the Chinese war drum did not change for centuries, I think this will pass as a command or just a decorative base.

The main reason why I made the order in the first place was to get these Nikephorian Byzantine archers. I bought some Nikephorian Byzantine archers from Forged in Battle's War & Empire range to use as Armenian mercenary archers, and liked the way they look, and so I decided to add a couple more bases to allow me to field two units of them in my Conquerors and Kings games.

The Khurasan miniatures are a little thinner and have smaller heads than the War & Empire ones, but they mix together well enough. 

I am glad I managed to complete all of them this week, as I have a terrain project to complete for another multi-player demonstration game which Eugene is planning for August. Stay tuned.

TMWWBK: Battle of Isandlwana

When Eugene was playing the Indian Mutiny game I hosted in January, he felt frustrated ("in a good way") by how the mutineers were pinned down by fire and could not reach the British lines. It occurred to him then that the game mechanic could be used for a game of the Battle of Isandlwana, which he had the figures for, in 10mm.

We continued the discussion after the session, exchanged many messages over the following weeks, and soon we had a plan. I modified the cork hills I had in my collection to represent Mount Isandlwana, made a few paper bell tents and a flag base, while Eugene painted up more Zulus, and in March we ran a multi-player game for seven players at Elias Community Centre, which was documented by Eugene in the video below:

Do check his channel out for more videos, and subscribe for future videos.

Nolzor's Marvellous Miniatures: Xorns

Long-time readers will notice that I have stopped posting my RPG reports for quite a while now. My week-night RPG sessions have become few and irregular, but we are still playing - I have just decided that I cannot afford the time to write lengthy reports of every session.

We did, in fact, play a Dying Earth campaign using Forbidden Lands rules, and have just started a Dungeon Inc. campaign.

Dungeon Inc. is a new RPG from The Merry Mushmen, where players play monsters employed by the eponymous company to kill adventurers and take their stuff for the company. In between jobs they engage in office politics.

So far the player characters include: a genteel, refined dragonborn, a sneaky kobold who hates do-gooders, a territorial skeleton, a minotaur who is easy to miss, a cowardly sasquath, and a greedy xorn, whom we see in the photo above.

The figures are given to me by the character's player, and is from the Nolzor's Marvellous Miniatures range. You get two figures in the pack: one standing on the floor and the other bursting out of the ground, as xorns do. They come pre-primed, and rather interestingly have transparent blobes for eyes. I avoided painting over the eyes, and simply painted them over with yellow ink, and adding a black line for their irises.

So far Ron Ron has gone on his first mission, which he failed spectacularly by eating the MacGuffin. Hopefully he will do better on his next mission.