ARBBL

So with Gary and Tom showing an interest in a campaign, Dave going to play a game or two at least and Ray interested if the campaign system is fixed, here's the start of the house rules I'm thinking of using.

These are all up for discussion and tweaking, so don't think these are set in stone.


Experience:

• Keep the Exp for treasure collection.
• Remove "out of action" experience - replace with a flat 25 Exp/50 Exp if the warband takes the enemy apprentice/wizard out of the game.
• Remove the 10 exp for casting a spell - replace with 1 Exp per casting number for any spell cast - so if you're apprentice manages to cast a 18 spell you get 18 Exp, whereas if you level up a spell so the casting number is only 5, you only get 5 Exp when you cast it (these seems to make more sense) - Out of Game spells will now give Exp (added after the battle). Spells cast by apprentice give the XP the wizard would get. This will make tracking spells cast a little easier.
• +10 Exp for each different spell cast, so if your wizard/apprentice cast 5 different spells during a game you get an extra 50 Exp.
• 10 Exp added for each level difference in the warbands (or highest in multiple player games).

I'll need to re-look at the use of scrolls on spells your wizard knows, but will sort that before any campaign starts. - No EXP for spells cast using scrolls, even if you know it.


Henchmen:

I'll allow Henchmen types from any of the supplements we have access to, as long as the info is shared in advance - I have access to "Thaw of the Lich Lord" and "Into the Breeding Pits" as books, and "Spellsword", which add 6 new henchmen types and 1 "Hero" type. If anyone has any of the other ebooks let me know. I will be picking up the Folio when that's released, but I don't think that's till June.

One idea I've seen I like the idea of is "promoting" henchmen. You mark off each battle they take part in (and don't die! ) and after X games (to be decided) you can "promote" them to a better type for free. For example, a Thief could be promoted to a Treasure Hunter. I'll need to work out a list for this first.

Or: After x games a henchman takes part in, they gain a once-per-game, personal reroll as a "veteran".


Frostgrave 'Tesco'

The whole schtick of FG is that your wizards are meant to be looking for rare magical artefacts, and yet you can buy pretty much anything in the store between games, and this jars with me, so I'll be using the following change.

Magic items from Treasure stays as per the rules.
The store: if you visit the store, roll for 3 random items (D20; 1-4 Potions, 5-10 Scrolls, 11-12 Grimoires; 13-16 Magic Weapon and Armour; 17-20 Magic Items). If you buy one of these the shop keeper will produce another item and so on. You can roll on the table from any book (Lich Lord, Breeding Pits etc), but must decide before rolling the dice.
(In addition to these items, any item sold by a player will be available at the shop (first come, first served) - this will need all players to report sold items ASAP. - thinking on it, this is a lot of extra book-keeping for not much real gain, so I probably won't bother with that one.)


Scenarios:

Ideally would like to play through the 'Lich Lord' campaign, which is 10 scenarios long, but if preferred for a first proper campaign, am happy to just use the scenarios from the book and have a "final battle" with all involved for some powerful item.
Wandering monsters would be in effect (will probably make a custom list based on what figures the club has easily available).


Other stuff:

All warbands will have one (1) Elixir of Life potion, which is kept at their camp (basically gives everyone one "get out of jail free" card for their wizard or apprentice (or anyone else they decide to use it on)).
The official FAQ/errata will be used.
Changing the current "5 turns, then a 50/50 chance of Turn 6" rule to "6 turns, with a 50/50 chance of turn 7" (depending on speed of play) and will be waived for special scenario.

Thoughts? Comments? Criticisms?

I have the Forgotten Pacts and Sellsword.

No other comments as yet.

Rules seem reasonable, though I think you're maybe over worrying about XP difference when gold difference was the bigger factor I'd seen in our play so far. I'd recommend against your troop promotion idea for that reason as it will only give people even more spending money.

I'll happily join in with the campaign but I'll leave figuring the rules out to those of you who have actually played it

Tom wrote:Rules seem reasonable, though I think you're maybe over worrying about XP difference when gold difference was the bigger factor I'd seen in our play so far. I'd recommend against your troop promotion idea for that reason as it will only give people even more spending money.

I found it wasn't so much the gold difference itself, more the imbalance it bought due to being able to buy what you wanted when you wanted (Dan's warband full of magically-equipped Knights supporting a tricked-out wizard for example)? Hence the removing the Frostgrave Tesco.

Making do with the gear you can get does appeal much more than free shopping indeed.

One other thought I've had is increasing the amount of XP needed to level up at higher levels.

Something like (numbers plucked out of the air, not really thought through yet):
Levels 1-5 - 100xp per level
levels 6-10 - 150xp per level
Levels 11-15 - 200xp per level
etc

Again, this just seems to make more sense - the more experienced you are the harder it is to get that "boost".

And if we'd been playing a campaign game, I'd have used my Elixir last night! Knew it was a good idea.

Would also be keeping our 5 turn (6 turn) limit to the game, though it might be a bit longer for some scenarios and possible multi-player games.

Any idea when this campaign might end up starting? Just wondering how soon I need to find painting time for my models.