The Sheriff sat at his desk rocking too and fro on his wooden chair. Before him stood a man half his age but about the same in height. This man wore a trailered suit not common in New Fairbank and pinned to his lapels was a shining silver star.
"So you understand my dear Sheriff, if you don't comply with me, you are failing to comply with all Marshalls" the man paused "and that just will not do".
The Sheriff pulled his hat low over his face and rocked back in his chair again. He hated politics, this is why he kept Rush around.
"Of course Marshall, conduct your investigation, look into whatever you want. I'll make sure you have the full support of the New Fairbank Sheriff's office" The Sheriff allowed his chair to land straight on the hardwood flooring before standing up and walking to his window.
"Do you see the building opposite?" The Sheriff asked pointing to the Town Hall, over there you'll find Mayor Rush. Why not introduce yourself to him and I'll get a posse together to show you around".
The Sheriff was wearing his warmest of smiles, but with every moment the US Marshall remained in his office he could feel his pleasant demeanour slip further and further from the present.
The Marshall looking the Sheriff straight in the eyes and nodded his approval before striding out of the office and across the road, all the while the Sheriff watched intently just to ensure he had actually left before sitting in his chair again.
He knew this day was coming, the moment he emerged from the Crypts, The Blood Stone wrapped in burlap and dragged in an old cart. Of course it wasn't actually a stone, more a large crystal formation that glowed a vibrant red, but the town had dubbed it 'The Blood Stone' anyway. He knew that word of what went on in that town would spread to the North, and with it the interest of the government.
Just the thought of it made him gag, sharing his power with those rotten power hungry politicians. He'd rather live with the Beasties from below.
No that was why he toiled and built the Town Hall and established the position of Mayor, and also why he had hand picked the perfect candidate.
*****************
"Mayor Rush at your service Marshall!"
Eli Rush was a short, round man, he walked with a waddle and always kept a cane to hand for when he would end up red of face and our of breath. His hair was thinning but slicked back and matched his bushy handlebar moustache in it's bone white colour. Rush held out his hand to greet the Marshall who took it and gave it a firm grip.
"Bill Hollenback, U.S. Marshall" the Marshall replied "the Sheriff told me you would be willing to assist me in my investigation?"
Mayor Rush looked flustered "Investigation? Why my dear lad, why would a Marshall want to investigate me?"
Marshall Hollenback almost rolled his eyes, he was used to being palmed off to political puppets, but that didn't mean he no longer took offence.
"No Mayor, that is not what I meant" Rush visibly relaxed at this news "I am here to look into claims of occult activity and to establish what, if any threat this town poses to the safety of our people".
Mayor Rush smiled his warmest smiles "of course me lad! But I can assure you, there is none of that "he paused" 'Occult Activity' going on in my fair town".
**********
The tour proceeded well, the Marshall was shown the residential area, the market district and finally the Last Light, everything was going fine, and for once Mayor began to believe this inspection would end without bloodshed.
It was then they heard a blood curdling cry from behind them and turning they saw a young man, no older than 17 running towards them at full pelt, in both hands he held a dull red sliver of crystal.
With an inhuman speed the man covered in tattered rags launched himself at the Marshall and dug both crystal shards into his neck crying at the top of his lungs "You won't take my shards!" Together they both fell to the floor.
As a last gasp, the Marshall pulled his revolver from its hip-holster, levelled it against his attacker's forehead and gently pulled the trigger, with his other hand, gripped the crystal shards, and pulled them free from his neck.
Both men fell the floor dead, as they did the crystal shards, now without an owner and covered in blood began to glow a vibrant red.
Mayor Rush knelt down and quickly picked up the glowing shards, this was the third investigation in as many months, and they always ended the same.
********
Rocking back and forth in his chair the Sheriff sat with a grim expression. He didn't know who was worse, the horrific creatures in the crypts below, or the power hungry politicians of the north. Regardless it mattered not, he still had the Blood Stone, and with it the entire town ready to do follow his every wish.
There would be further investigations, he knew the Mayor would have no problems pinning this one entirely on that blood crazed kid, but there were always more investigations.
Despite this knowledge it was something very different that bothered him. It was the blood, and he knew no matter what happened there would always be more.
Always more...
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Friday, 28 June 2013
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Bloodstones: A Re-Work
Good Evening everyone,
Interesting day today, had lots of discussion about the Bloodstone name and mechanic.
Now after lots of discussion and thinking things through plus further discussion with people who are truly neutral and before today hadn't heard of any of the games I play, it is currently agreed that we're sticking with Bloodstone for the name. It's simple, describes perfectly what it is, and is the type of name a group of superstitious miners would name a rock they find that is bright red.
- there is a possibility of Blood Shard, but that depends on if I shift the lore in a slightly different direction.
But what do Bloodstones do? Are they the same as was described this morning?
Well I'm super excited to reveal that no! They don't do what was said this morning.
There are some important changes, the first is that you no longer have a stash of Bloodstone that you use and build as the campaign progresses. No, now you start and finish with three! Only these three.
So how do you get Bloodstones back? They replenish!
As you use Bloodstones, you drain them of their power, but Bloodstones feed on carnage, and if you can satisfy their blood-lust they will allow you to use them again.
How? You might remember from my post this morning I mentioned that when rolling to hit, a 6 provides you with a Critical Hit on the Damage Profile. But what happens if you score a 6 on the Damage Profile? Well other than high damage, you also now replenish 1 Bloodstone. In other words, 1 in 6 damage rolls will also provide you with a Bloodstone.
What can you use them for?
Well as you will now be replenishing Bloodstones quite regularly they don't need to be as strong. To account for this, if you use a Bloodstone to hit with an attack you simply gain another d6, however you can roll this AFTER the actual attack, so if you are already hitting and don't want to spend the Bloodstone, you don't need to.
In these situations you can use as many as you want, and each will let you roll 1d6 extra to hit.
You can also heal with them, like hitting it is 1d6 per Bloodstone, and each die rolled generates either 1-3=1HP 4-5=2HP 6=4HP
You can also use them to resurrect players who have died, doing so requires 2 Bloodstones.
*******
So why was a token system kept? It was simple in the end, despite coming up with some great ideas, none of them allowed for solo-player resurrection, where as a token system does.
**********
Ok, ok.
So currently Bloodstones are harvested from the Crypts, but what if there was only one Bloodstone?
What if when the Sheriff returned from recapturing New Fairbank all those years ago he brought with him a massive crystal of immeasurable power, and from this crystal the Sheriff chips off three shards which he gives to new fortune seekers when they arrive at New Fairbank?
These shards are but a fraction of the power of the Bloodstone itself, but allow normal people to still perform amazing feats that wouldn't normally be possible, like bringing the dead back to life for example.
It's a subtle change but one that has far reaching implications. After all we've always knew that the Sheriff kept the peace in New Fairbank, and it was him and The Law alone that kept the schools of magic from going to war with each other, what if the reason behind all of that was because he held in a secret location the most powerful weapon mankind has ever seen?
Anyway, I hope you like the changes to the rules and if you prefer the new lore please let me know and I can easily make it official.
Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Interesting day today, had lots of discussion about the Bloodstone name and mechanic.
Now after lots of discussion and thinking things through plus further discussion with people who are truly neutral and before today hadn't heard of any of the games I play, it is currently agreed that we're sticking with Bloodstone for the name. It's simple, describes perfectly what it is, and is the type of name a group of superstitious miners would name a rock they find that is bright red.
- there is a possibility of Blood Shard, but that depends on if I shift the lore in a slightly different direction.
But what do Bloodstones do? Are they the same as was described this morning?
Well I'm super excited to reveal that no! They don't do what was said this morning.
There are some important changes, the first is that you no longer have a stash of Bloodstone that you use and build as the campaign progresses. No, now you start and finish with three! Only these three.
These are my Bloodstones!
There are many like them
But these ones are mine!
Without my Bloodstones I am nothing,
Without me my Bloodstones are nothing!
So how do you get Bloodstones back? They replenish!
As you use Bloodstones, you drain them of their power, but Bloodstones feed on carnage, and if you can satisfy their blood-lust they will allow you to use them again.
How? You might remember from my post this morning I mentioned that when rolling to hit, a 6 provides you with a Critical Hit on the Damage Profile. But what happens if you score a 6 on the Damage Profile? Well other than high damage, you also now replenish 1 Bloodstone. In other words, 1 in 6 damage rolls will also provide you with a Bloodstone.
What can you use them for?
Well as you will now be replenishing Bloodstones quite regularly they don't need to be as strong. To account for this, if you use a Bloodstone to hit with an attack you simply gain another d6, however you can roll this AFTER the actual attack, so if you are already hitting and don't want to spend the Bloodstone, you don't need to.
In these situations you can use as many as you want, and each will let you roll 1d6 extra to hit.
You can also heal with them, like hitting it is 1d6 per Bloodstone, and each die rolled generates either 1-3=1HP 4-5=2HP 6=4HP
You can also use them to resurrect players who have died, doing so requires 2 Bloodstones.
*******
So why was a token system kept? It was simple in the end, despite coming up with some great ideas, none of them allowed for solo-player resurrection, where as a token system does.
**********
You mentioned a possible shift in lore earlier and the name Bloodshard, care to elaborate?
Ok, ok.
So currently Bloodstones are harvested from the Crypts, but what if there was only one Bloodstone?
What if when the Sheriff returned from recapturing New Fairbank all those years ago he brought with him a massive crystal of immeasurable power, and from this crystal the Sheriff chips off three shards which he gives to new fortune seekers when they arrive at New Fairbank?
These shards are but a fraction of the power of the Bloodstone itself, but allow normal people to still perform amazing feats that wouldn't normally be possible, like bringing the dead back to life for example.
It's a subtle change but one that has far reaching implications. After all we've always knew that the Sheriff kept the peace in New Fairbank, and it was him and The Law alone that kept the schools of magic from going to war with each other, what if the reason behind all of that was because he held in a secret location the most powerful weapon mankind has ever seen?
Anyway, I hope you like the changes to the rules and if you prefer the new lore please let me know and I can easily make it official.
Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
CRYPTS: Bloodstones & Critical Hits
Good Thursday everyone!
Today I want to talk to you about Bloodstones and Critical Hits. Now these may not sound related, and frankly, they're not, but oh well.
I have already mentioned Bloodstones in my lore, and in summary I can say this, Bloodstones are to Magic what the Fluxx Capacitor is to time travel, it's the enabler I'm short.
Of course it takes many different forms, in it's raw state as is used by the followers of Blood it grants defences and strength, for the followers of Bones however it allows mastery over the Undead, and those in the Circle can command the elements.
But are Bloodstones truly gifts from the Devine or are they instead a portent for something truly evil? [hint: read Saronite].
But what do Bloodstones do in game? I've umm'd and arr'd over this for some time now, and decided that the best root to go is the 'addition' route.
So you will have a list of things you can use Bloodstones in, namely hitting with a melee, a ranged or a magic attack, they can also be used to heal HP and to revive fallen team mates.
So how do they work in combat? It's simple really, when you roll to hit with your attack (ranged, melee or magical) you roll the number of d6 associated with that attack, and then select the highest die to be your Hit Die, should you choose to you can use a Bloodstone to roll an additional d6 and add the score to your initial roll. So if you require a 5+ to hit, but you only roll a 4, and you really want the hit to count, using a Bloodstone is a good way of doing so.
Healing is nice and simple, for every stone used you roll a D6, 1-3 heals 1 HP, 4-5 heals 2 HP and a 6 heals 4 HP.
*********
So that's the Bloodstone mechanic, hope you like it.
Next we have Critical Hits. So I'm pretty sure it's already been mentioned, but if not ill mention it now: a roll of a 1 always missed, and a roll of a 6 always hits. Yes you might have enough positive modifiers to make your pistol auto hit, but I'm sorry, if you roll a 1 you still miss.
Likewise, you may be surrounded by mud up to your neck, your target a horrific demon covered in armour and your gun with a broken sight, but as long as you roll a 6 you still hit.
- as a side note, I am thinking of making a hierarchy system, say you are firing a Gatling gun which means you roll 3d6 to hit, if 1 of these are 1 then they override any other roll, unless of course you roll a 6, you can then take the 6 instead. So your priority is 6>1>anything else. Not sure on this just yet.
Well what if rolling a 6 was even better? As we know, when hitting with any attack, even if you've hit on 3 dice, you only roll 1d6 on the attack's damage chart.
It is my current thought that for every 6 rolled you roll that many times on the chart and pick the highest roll.
So in our Gatling Gun example, let's say you rolled 3 6s, that would mean you roll 3d6 on the damage chart and pick the highest roll.
I am also thinking that Bloodstone rolls should count towards critical hits.
So if for example you rolled a 2 on your d6 hit, then rolled a stone of 6, your Hit roll would total 8, and would yield 2d6 rolls on the Damage Chart (1 for the Regular Hit and 1 for the Critical).
So there we go.
Now this is all theorycraft at the moment, but assuming it works, we're starting to look at a rule set that appears to be at least partially working - I hope!
Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Today I want to talk to you about Bloodstones and Critical Hits. Now these may not sound related, and frankly, they're not, but oh well.
I have already mentioned Bloodstones in my lore, and in summary I can say this, Bloodstones are to Magic what the Fluxx Capacitor is to time travel, it's the enabler I'm short.
Of course it takes many different forms, in it's raw state as is used by the followers of Blood it grants defences and strength, for the followers of Bones however it allows mastery over the Undead, and those in the Circle can command the elements.
But are Bloodstones truly gifts from the Devine or are they instead a portent for something truly evil? [hint: read Saronite].
But what do Bloodstones do in game? I've umm'd and arr'd over this for some time now, and decided that the best root to go is the 'addition' route.
So you will have a list of things you can use Bloodstones in, namely hitting with a melee, a ranged or a magic attack, they can also be used to heal HP and to revive fallen team mates.
So how do they work in combat? It's simple really, when you roll to hit with your attack (ranged, melee or magical) you roll the number of d6 associated with that attack, and then select the highest die to be your Hit Die, should you choose to you can use a Bloodstone to roll an additional d6 and add the score to your initial roll. So if you require a 5+ to hit, but you only roll a 4, and you really want the hit to count, using a Bloodstone is a good way of doing so.
Healing is nice and simple, for every stone used you roll a D6, 1-3 heals 1 HP, 4-5 heals 2 HP and a 6 heals 4 HP.
*********
So that's the Bloodstone mechanic, hope you like it.
Next we have Critical Hits. So I'm pretty sure it's already been mentioned, but if not ill mention it now: a roll of a 1 always missed, and a roll of a 6 always hits. Yes you might have enough positive modifiers to make your pistol auto hit, but I'm sorry, if you roll a 1 you still miss.
Likewise, you may be surrounded by mud up to your neck, your target a horrific demon covered in armour and your gun with a broken sight, but as long as you roll a 6 you still hit.
- as a side note, I am thinking of making a hierarchy system, say you are firing a Gatling gun which means you roll 3d6 to hit, if 1 of these are 1 then they override any other roll, unless of course you roll a 6, you can then take the 6 instead. So your priority is 6>1>anything else. Not sure on this just yet.
Well what if rolling a 6 was even better? As we know, when hitting with any attack, even if you've hit on 3 dice, you only roll 1d6 on the attack's damage chart.
It is my current thought that for every 6 rolled you roll that many times on the chart and pick the highest roll.
So in our Gatling Gun example, let's say you rolled 3 6s, that would mean you roll 3d6 on the damage chart and pick the highest roll.
I am also thinking that Bloodstone rolls should count towards critical hits.
So if for example you rolled a 2 on your d6 hit, then rolled a stone of 6, your Hit roll would total 8, and would yield 2d6 rolls on the Damage Chart (1 for the Regular Hit and 1 for the Critical).
So there we go.
Now this is all theorycraft at the moment, but assuming it works, we're starting to look at a rule set that appears to be at least partially working - I hope!
Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
CRYPTS: Of Lesser & Greater Demons
Good Wednesday everyone!
Before I start a quick update on the card back:
As you can see I have removed the logo and reduced the font, not sure about you but I much prefer it now.
Anyway, last night I set myself a mission, that mission was to locate 2x Suitable Lesser, Regular and Greater Demons that are usable in Crypts.
The first trio are the Malifaux Nephs:
Here's an old photo of my own Nephs.
Included as the Tots, Young and Mature Nephs we have models suitable as demons.
Next we have Hell Dorado, a game with very 'adult' miniatures.
From this range I've been able to find 'Regular' Demons:
And two suitable as Greater Demons:
The first example hasn't been released yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw it before the end of the year.
So then came the question of Lesser Demons, and try as I might I was unable to find anything that looked like smaller versions of the regular ones, the only option is to go with a different strain of demon and call them Imps. For this I found the following from Sphere Wars:
The main problem with these? They're ALL in the same pose.
Saying that, I was given some great direction over twitter and I have Dave Fraser to thank for these Ympes
These are a strong contender for my Infernal Breed of Demons.
Another option would be to go for something like the following:
These are Goblins by Realer Miniatures and while they have a very different look, with the right paint job could make very good Imps.
Last but by no means least we have the Demonic Shaman:
This guy is just an extra providing the Demonic legion with ranged support. Using this guy however would lead me to use the Imps from Sphere wars and see if I was able to convert them into looking different.
***********
I'm sure by this point you are probably wondering what the point of this exercise was, and that would be a valid question, the answer is simple:
Choice, Variety and Ease of Access.
That is the CRYPTS matra and one I want to stick with. This game does not have a specified range of models, and so it allows the GM to instead use whatever models they like, including models they probably already own, and that is an official rule! No matter what happens to this game, even (if) I am somehow able to bring it to print and for some reason it becomes a popular game, it will always retain that one primary rule.
So often I see people saying they don't want to get into a new game because they don't like the buy-in cost, but what if the only but-in requirements were books, tiles, dice and cards, while a large number of models were covered by those you've already acquired from years of war gaming?
Anyway, that's me for the day. Stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Before I start a quick update on the card back:
As you can see I have removed the logo and reduced the font, not sure about you but I much prefer it now.
Anyway, last night I set myself a mission, that mission was to locate 2x Suitable Lesser, Regular and Greater Demons that are usable in Crypts.
The first trio are the Malifaux Nephs:
Here's an old photo of my own Nephs.
Included as the Tots, Young and Mature Nephs we have models suitable as demons.
Next we have Hell Dorado, a game with very 'adult' miniatures.
From this range I've been able to find 'Regular' Demons:
And two suitable as Greater Demons:
The first example hasn't been released yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw it before the end of the year.
So then came the question of Lesser Demons, and try as I might I was unable to find anything that looked like smaller versions of the regular ones, the only option is to go with a different strain of demon and call them Imps. For this I found the following from Sphere Wars:
The main problem with these? They're ALL in the same pose.
Saying that, I was given some great direction over twitter and I have Dave Fraser to thank for these Ympes
These are a strong contender for my Infernal Breed of Demons.
Another option would be to go for something like the following:
These are Goblins by Realer Miniatures and while they have a very different look, with the right paint job could make very good Imps.
Last but by no means least we have the Demonic Shaman:
This guy is just an extra providing the Demonic legion with ranged support. Using this guy however would lead me to use the Imps from Sphere wars and see if I was able to convert them into looking different.
***********
I'm sure by this point you are probably wondering what the point of this exercise was, and that would be a valid question, the answer is simple:
Choice, Variety and Ease of Access.
That is the CRYPTS matra and one I want to stick with. This game does not have a specified range of models, and so it allows the GM to instead use whatever models they like, including models they probably already own, and that is an official rule! No matter what happens to this game, even (if) I am somehow able to bring it to print and for some reason it becomes a popular game, it will always retain that one primary rule.
So often I see people saying they don't want to get into a new game because they don't like the buy-in cost, but what if the only but-in requirements were books, tiles, dice and cards, while a large number of models were covered by those you've already acquired from years of war gaming?
Anyway, that's me for the day. Stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
CRYPTS: Where do we go from here?
Good Tuesday everyone!
So last night I tried my hand at making a logo for CRYPTS, it's not finished yet, and it needs some work with positioning and font selection etc, but it gets the idea across:
I need to settle on a font choice, and the logo (twin six shooters in a bracket) need to be centralised. Personally I quite like the elements, even if now thanks to Sarah all I can see when I look at the C is PacMan...
*********
Anyway, yesterday was an interesting day, I had lots of discussion about the direction of this game with many different people, and it was interesting to see the varied opinions. I'm not going to say anyone was right or wrong as at this point I don't think we'll know the out come, hell I don't think we'll know 'who' was right in this discussion until AFTER the game has been out for at least a year, so I'm not about to start calling people liars (ooh burned!)
But in the end I think the majority agreed that my current plan is a good start when it comes to re-working the MaliQuest Loot Deck to work for Crypts:
That plan is simple, I am stripping out mods to make the loot deck the basics, so we're talking Equipment, Weapons, Artefacts and Consumables.
This should take the deck to below 60 cards, so I can bump the deck up to 60 with a greater variety of fun stuff, then once we have that working, we take a look at how it goes and try to work out what it's missing.
Sure there is a possibility that we get that 60 card mod-less deck and everyone goes "yup! This is perfect!" But the chances of that happening are next to nothing.
No, chances are we'll see that it's missing "something". Maybe it's mods, maybe it's the Path Progression System, maybe it's something completely different! But we won't know that until we remove all the 'bumph' and take it down to it's 'foundation'. At least I hope we'll be able to see it then.
So that's my current plan at the moment. Nothing momentous.
If you are wondering where this came about, it was from my acknowledgement that currently there are elements of the game that are far from simple and elegant, and despite how it may appear, I don't actually have a massive ego, and would rather go back to basics and work up 100 times then push out a system that either is inelegant or just... wrong.
****************
Something else I am also looking at is the character cards now these are currently in a bad state with lots of things that are just there for visual effect but serve no real purpose.
One idea I am thinking is to make the character cards where you write down everything on the loot cards you pick up, a doodle I drew to this effect looks a little like this:
Now this doodle is far from complete, after all it still has mods showing but the idea would be to have your name and stats at the top of the left hand side, under that would be the 4 equipment slots, so Head, Chest, Arms and Legs, then on the right hand side you have your Weapons and Artefacts.
In order to make this work you need to have less inventory space, and something I've noticed from the current version of MaliQuest, people do a lot of hoarding.
What if players could only 'store' one of each type of equipment, ie what they are wearing or can wear, and if they don't want to equip it they have to discard the item (or they equip a new item and have to discard the old) and they are allowed 4 Weapons and 4 Artefacts, two of each are equipped at any time, this allows for someone to have say; two pistols for paired, a 2 handed shotgun and a 2 handed sword, or 2 offensive spells and 2 utility spells.
Of course during the campaign players may be keeping their loot cards with their character cards, but I have a feeling that having key information written on the cards is a better way to go for faster reference.
**********
What's next on the agenda? I think I'm going to have to take the plunge and work on stat lines, I'm trying to think of what we need and leaving it at that.
Currently I'm thinking:
Movement: how far you can travel with 1AP.
Toughness: how tough are you to be hit.
Mental: a high Mental score can reflect fortitude or intelligence or perhaps psychic abilities.
Hit Points: how much damage can you take before going down
Then you have the Skill Stats:
Magic
Melee
Ranged
All of these start off at 0 and putting points into them effect your dice rolls.
Remember our game mechanic example from the other month?
Player X has paired rusty revolvers meaning he rolls 2d6 to hit. X is trying to hit Imp Y who has a T (Toughness) of 3 meaning you need a 3+ to hit, the Rusty Revolvers (being rusty) give the roll a -2 to hit, meaning X now needs a 5+ to hit, but X has put 2 skill points into his Range Skill, this means he needs a 3+ to hit.
X rolls and gets a 3 and a 4, he has hit, but because this was a single shot, even though both die 'penetrated' X only makes 1 roll on the weapon's damage chart. So X rolls 1d6 and gets a 6! That's critical damage! Looking at the weapon's chart of 1-3:1 4-5:2 6:4 that's 4 damage which removed Imp Y's 4 HP killing him.
With some simple addition and subtraction and 2 rolls (3d6 in total) we have concluded Player X's 1st AP.
Player X then begins to cast Curse of Ice at the Greater Imp behind where the Lesser Imp (Imp Y) stood.
Curse of Ice is a spell that is worked out just like shooting, now the Greater Imp has much tougher skin than the Lesser Imp and has a T of 5 (5+ to penetrate), Curse of Ice has a +1 to Magic, this makes it a 4+, Player X has Magic Gloves, that gives him a +1 to Magic (complete with a -1 to Melee) which means he needs a 3+ to penetrate.
Player X rolls 1d6, gets a 4, so hits and rolls on the damage profile for Curse of Ice, he scores another 6! Another Critical! 6 for Curse of Ice only does 2 Damage, but it also freezes the target!
Greater Imp is now Frozen for a turn and therefore looses all it's AP next go.
********
What you think?
I'd love to hear your feedback
Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
So last night I tried my hand at making a logo for CRYPTS, it's not finished yet, and it needs some work with positioning and font selection etc, but it gets the idea across:
I need to settle on a font choice, and the logo (twin six shooters in a bracket) need to be centralised. Personally I quite like the elements, even if now thanks to Sarah all I can see when I look at the C is PacMan...
*********
Anyway, yesterday was an interesting day, I had lots of discussion about the direction of this game with many different people, and it was interesting to see the varied opinions. I'm not going to say anyone was right or wrong as at this point I don't think we'll know the out come, hell I don't think we'll know 'who' was right in this discussion until AFTER the game has been out for at least a year, so I'm not about to start calling people liars (ooh burned!)
But in the end I think the majority agreed that my current plan is a good start when it comes to re-working the MaliQuest Loot Deck to work for Crypts:
That plan is simple, I am stripping out mods to make the loot deck the basics, so we're talking Equipment, Weapons, Artefacts and Consumables.
This should take the deck to below 60 cards, so I can bump the deck up to 60 with a greater variety of fun stuff, then once we have that working, we take a look at how it goes and try to work out what it's missing.
Sure there is a possibility that we get that 60 card mod-less deck and everyone goes "yup! This is perfect!" But the chances of that happening are next to nothing.
No, chances are we'll see that it's missing "something". Maybe it's mods, maybe it's the Path Progression System, maybe it's something completely different! But we won't know that until we remove all the 'bumph' and take it down to it's 'foundation'. At least I hope we'll be able to see it then.
So that's my current plan at the moment. Nothing momentous.
If you are wondering where this came about, it was from my acknowledgement that currently there are elements of the game that are far from simple and elegant, and despite how it may appear, I don't actually have a massive ego, and would rather go back to basics and work up 100 times then push out a system that either is inelegant or just... wrong.
****************
Something else I am also looking at is the character cards now these are currently in a bad state with lots of things that are just there for visual effect but serve no real purpose.
One idea I am thinking is to make the character cards where you write down everything on the loot cards you pick up, a doodle I drew to this effect looks a little like this:
Now this doodle is far from complete, after all it still has mods showing but the idea would be to have your name and stats at the top of the left hand side, under that would be the 4 equipment slots, so Head, Chest, Arms and Legs, then on the right hand side you have your Weapons and Artefacts.
In order to make this work you need to have less inventory space, and something I've noticed from the current version of MaliQuest, people do a lot of hoarding.
What if players could only 'store' one of each type of equipment, ie what they are wearing or can wear, and if they don't want to equip it they have to discard the item (or they equip a new item and have to discard the old) and they are allowed 4 Weapons and 4 Artefacts, two of each are equipped at any time, this allows for someone to have say; two pistols for paired, a 2 handed shotgun and a 2 handed sword, or 2 offensive spells and 2 utility spells.
Of course during the campaign players may be keeping their loot cards with their character cards, but I have a feeling that having key information written on the cards is a better way to go for faster reference.
**********
What's next on the agenda? I think I'm going to have to take the plunge and work on stat lines, I'm trying to think of what we need and leaving it at that.
Currently I'm thinking:
Movement: how far you can travel with 1AP.
Toughness: how tough are you to be hit.
Mental: a high Mental score can reflect fortitude or intelligence or perhaps psychic abilities.
Hit Points: how much damage can you take before going down
Then you have the Skill Stats:
Magic
Melee
Ranged
All of these start off at 0 and putting points into them effect your dice rolls.
Remember our game mechanic example from the other month?
Player X has paired rusty revolvers meaning he rolls 2d6 to hit. X is trying to hit Imp Y who has a T (Toughness) of 3 meaning you need a 3+ to hit, the Rusty Revolvers (being rusty) give the roll a -2 to hit, meaning X now needs a 5+ to hit, but X has put 2 skill points into his Range Skill, this means he needs a 3+ to hit.
X rolls and gets a 3 and a 4, he has hit, but because this was a single shot, even though both die 'penetrated' X only makes 1 roll on the weapon's damage chart. So X rolls 1d6 and gets a 6! That's critical damage! Looking at the weapon's chart of 1-3:1 4-5:2 6:4 that's 4 damage which removed Imp Y's 4 HP killing him.
With some simple addition and subtraction and 2 rolls (3d6 in total) we have concluded Player X's 1st AP.
Player X then begins to cast Curse of Ice at the Greater Imp behind where the Lesser Imp (Imp Y) stood.
Curse of Ice is a spell that is worked out just like shooting, now the Greater Imp has much tougher skin than the Lesser Imp and has a T of 5 (5+ to penetrate), Curse of Ice has a +1 to Magic, this makes it a 4+, Player X has Magic Gloves, that gives him a +1 to Magic (complete with a -1 to Melee) which means he needs a 3+ to penetrate.
Player X rolls 1d6, gets a 4, so hits and rolls on the damage profile for Curse of Ice, he scores another 6! Another Critical! 6 for Curse of Ice only does 2 Damage, but it also freezes the target!
Greater Imp is now Frozen for a turn and therefore looses all it's AP next go.
********
What you think?
I'd love to hear your feedback
Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Monday, 24 June 2013
CRYPTS: Just what is it?
Good Monday everyone!
Today I'd like to talk to you about CRYPTS, and more importantly, just what sort of game is it?
So by now you are all (I hope) familiar with MaliQuest and how it plays, or at least the idea behind it.
Running my podcast New Fairbank Radio has revealed a lot to me, but rather than go through the flaws of MaliQuest, I will instead talk about CRYPTS!
So CRYPTS is a character driven miniatures board game with RPG elements.
The game focuses on speed and mass combat of an action board game mixed together with the loot acquisition and character advancement you would expect from say an MMO or RPG.
CRYPTS is also designed to be playable by many people over many different mediums. All you will need is a dungeon map, tokens to represent your characters and monsters, loot deck(s) and D6 die.
- In short this game is playable with things that most people should have laying around their home.
***********
What should you expect from me in the run up to going live?
Well that's simple really, the first and foremost aspect will be creating character profiles, working out what stats are needed and applying them out.
Then the current loot cards will need to be adjusted to take new stat profiles into account. You should also find new names, and eventually by the time it is ready to 'Go Live' whole new art.
So once we are ready with that, we then need example monsters, these will form the backbone of encounters that you the players will go against, again we are looking for simplicity here where added variety can be created with a simple application of archetypes.
Once we are done with that, you will see a new Dungeon Companion, complete with new stories or converted old ones as well as example dungeons for printing out or importing into software such as MapTools.
*********
The aim throughout all if this is speed and ease of playing, an attack for example should consist of no more than 2 consecutive dice rolls, 1 to hit, 1 for damage. Exactly how many die you roll for each depends on the weapon, but you should be rolling no more than 2 consecutive rolls per attack.
So there we have it, what I suppose would by the CRYPTS mission statement, it's not much, and I hope my plans are coming across ok, obviously there is still a lot to work out, like altering the character sheet etc but it's not as if I'm on a deadline.
Anyway, until next time, stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Today I'd like to talk to you about CRYPTS, and more importantly, just what sort of game is it?
So by now you are all (I hope) familiar with MaliQuest and how it plays, or at least the idea behind it.
Running my podcast New Fairbank Radio has revealed a lot to me, but rather than go through the flaws of MaliQuest, I will instead talk about CRYPTS!
So CRYPTS is a character driven miniatures board game with RPG elements.
The game focuses on speed and mass combat of an action board game mixed together with the loot acquisition and character advancement you would expect from say an MMO or RPG.
CRYPTS is also designed to be playable by many people over many different mediums. All you will need is a dungeon map, tokens to represent your characters and monsters, loot deck(s) and D6 die.
- In short this game is playable with things that most people should have laying around their home.
***********
What should you expect from me in the run up to going live?
Well that's simple really, the first and foremost aspect will be creating character profiles, working out what stats are needed and applying them out.
Then the current loot cards will need to be adjusted to take new stat profiles into account. You should also find new names, and eventually by the time it is ready to 'Go Live' whole new art.
So once we are ready with that, we then need example monsters, these will form the backbone of encounters that you the players will go against, again we are looking for simplicity here where added variety can be created with a simple application of archetypes.
Once we are done with that, you will see a new Dungeon Companion, complete with new stories or converted old ones as well as example dungeons for printing out or importing into software such as MapTools.
*********
The aim throughout all if this is speed and ease of playing, an attack for example should consist of no more than 2 consecutive dice rolls, 1 to hit, 1 for damage. Exactly how many die you roll for each depends on the weapon, but you should be rolling no more than 2 consecutive rolls per attack.
So there we have it, what I suppose would by the CRYPTS mission statement, it's not much, and I hope my plans are coming across ok, obviously there is still a lot to work out, like altering the character sheet etc but it's not as if I'm on a deadline.
Anyway, until next time, stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Sunday, 23 June 2013
When one chapter ends...
...another begins!
Good Sunday everyone!
Yesterday was my final ever 'official' Henchman Malifaux day.
Once it had concluded I sent my post event confirmation over to Wyrd along with a resignation notice.
Yup I am no longer a Wyrd Henchman!
But that is not what I want to focus on today, no that is just too negative, and lately a lot of my posts have been focusing on negative factors.
No today I want to talk to you about the new chapter in my life that I am starting on:
Crypts
For those who are in the know, this is the working title for the independent copy of MaliQuest.
Gone are the card mechanics, the Punk Zombies and the Peacebringers, and say hello to a new system that is faster and better designed for the torrent of monsters that you the player will face!
Currently a lot of this game is in super-alpha-alpha status, we have basic ideas, beasties are split into three categories: Lesser, Regular and Greater, and weapons are still using the old imagery etc, but for the time being while I work on this I am going to have to ask you tone patient with me.
You see, as we work on the transition from MaliQuest to Crypts, things are going to by flying left to right, up to down and inside and out, and a lot of the time it will not be featured on the blog, but I will do what I can to keep you informed, and first I can so that by providing you with an oversight of the narrative of this game:
New Fairbank Productions is proud to present:
Crypts: The Backstory
Enter the town of New Fairbank, a quiet town around the turn of the 1900s.
Situated in the remote outback of the old west, New Fairbank was established on the back of it's profitable gold mine.
Until one day the mine caved in, and those outside heard nothing but screams from the trapped miners, screams that were mirrored by the town's inhabitants the following night.
The next morning, the town was deserted and remained so for a full year.
On the one year anniversary, our infamous Sheriff arrived complete with posse in tow, and swore he would reclaim the town in his own name, reopening the mine he ventured deep with his posse, only he would return.
But he did not come back alone, the Sheriff emerged after three days to his caravan of supplies and workers with tales of monsters, demons and undead, but also of rocks, some as big as your fist and blood red.
The Sheriff told how it was these stones, what he called Blood Stones that allowed him to survive, how when he grasped them in his hands, the very power of the elements answered his call, his gunfire met it's targets and the blood of his enemies boiled inside their own bodies.
It was with the promise of more of these stones that the town was once again populated.
********
Years passed, and stories of these Blood Stones passed from mouth to ear, and soon more and more seekers of fame and fortune arrived in town.
Those who believed in the power of their weaponry joined up with the Sheriff and The Law, often obtaining the best weapons and modifications around.
Those who knew how to, refined the Blood Stones to truly harness their elemental might, banding together they formed The Circle of Elementals, or just The Circle for short.
There were some however who believed the Circle were selfish in trying to control the power of the stones, they refined the magic into hideous necromantic powers, these magi formed The Cult of Bones.
Last but not least, you have those who believed that the stones were granted by a higher power, and through their unadulterated use you were brought closer to that power. These formed The Order of Blood.
All of these groups keep their uneasy alliances together, not out of trust but out of fear, for they all know of the evil that resides below the mines, deep in the forgotten crypts of New Fairbank.
And it is this evil that they must band together to fight, and where you as players must take a stand, so grab your six shooter and prepare to stand side by side with followers of Elements, Blood and Bones, for only together can this evil be slain.
Dare you enter
The Crypts?
**********
And there we have it, as you can see the basic premise is staying the same, characters are remaining but faction groups are changing, as are the magic forces of the world.
Anyway, I'll have more to discuss about this in due course.
I hope you like what you've seen so far, and would welcome comments.
Until then, stay safe and ill see you Cryptside (does that work?)
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Good Sunday everyone!
Yesterday was my final ever 'official' Henchman Malifaux day.
Once it had concluded I sent my post event confirmation over to Wyrd along with a resignation notice.
Yup I am no longer a Wyrd Henchman!
But that is not what I want to focus on today, no that is just too negative, and lately a lot of my posts have been focusing on negative factors.
No today I want to talk to you about the new chapter in my life that I am starting on:
Crypts
For those who are in the know, this is the working title for the independent copy of MaliQuest.
Gone are the card mechanics, the Punk Zombies and the Peacebringers, and say hello to a new system that is faster and better designed for the torrent of monsters that you the player will face!
Currently a lot of this game is in super-alpha-alpha status, we have basic ideas, beasties are split into three categories: Lesser, Regular and Greater, and weapons are still using the old imagery etc, but for the time being while I work on this I am going to have to ask you tone patient with me.
You see, as we work on the transition from MaliQuest to Crypts, things are going to by flying left to right, up to down and inside and out, and a lot of the time it will not be featured on the blog, but I will do what I can to keep you informed, and first I can so that by providing you with an oversight of the narrative of this game:
New Fairbank Productions is proud to present:
Crypts: The Backstory
Enter the town of New Fairbank, a quiet town around the turn of the 1900s.
Situated in the remote outback of the old west, New Fairbank was established on the back of it's profitable gold mine.
Until one day the mine caved in, and those outside heard nothing but screams from the trapped miners, screams that were mirrored by the town's inhabitants the following night.
The next morning, the town was deserted and remained so for a full year.
On the one year anniversary, our infamous Sheriff arrived complete with posse in tow, and swore he would reclaim the town in his own name, reopening the mine he ventured deep with his posse, only he would return.
But he did not come back alone, the Sheriff emerged after three days to his caravan of supplies and workers with tales of monsters, demons and undead, but also of rocks, some as big as your fist and blood red.
The Sheriff told how it was these stones, what he called Blood Stones that allowed him to survive, how when he grasped them in his hands, the very power of the elements answered his call, his gunfire met it's targets and the blood of his enemies boiled inside their own bodies.
It was with the promise of more of these stones that the town was once again populated.
********
Years passed, and stories of these Blood Stones passed from mouth to ear, and soon more and more seekers of fame and fortune arrived in town.
Those who believed in the power of their weaponry joined up with the Sheriff and The Law, often obtaining the best weapons and modifications around.
Those who knew how to, refined the Blood Stones to truly harness their elemental might, banding together they formed The Circle of Elementals, or just The Circle for short.
There were some however who believed the Circle were selfish in trying to control the power of the stones, they refined the magic into hideous necromantic powers, these magi formed The Cult of Bones.
Last but not least, you have those who believed that the stones were granted by a higher power, and through their unadulterated use you were brought closer to that power. These formed The Order of Blood.
All of these groups keep their uneasy alliances together, not out of trust but out of fear, for they all know of the evil that resides below the mines, deep in the forgotten crypts of New Fairbank.
And it is this evil that they must band together to fight, and where you as players must take a stand, so grab your six shooter and prepare to stand side by side with followers of Elements, Blood and Bones, for only together can this evil be slain.
Dare you enter
The Crypts?
**********
And there we have it, as you can see the basic premise is staying the same, characters are remaining but faction groups are changing, as are the magic forces of the world.
Anyway, I'll have more to discuss about this in due course.
I hope you like what you've seen so far, and would welcome comments.
Until then, stay safe and ill see you Cryptside (does that work?)
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Monday, 17 June 2013
A different take on "The Many Puzzles of M2E".
Good Monday everyone!
It's been a while now since my last post and as much as I hate to admit it, it's not going to be a happy one.
So I've been reading more and more about Malifaux v2 and I've read and heard a lot of people talking about the new puzzles that the game brings to the table, and yet more discussions about hidden synergies and the many abilities designed around using skill and greater use of ability combos etc.
Now I'm sure to most people this sounds like a great thing, the icing on the cake and like all your Christmas presents come at once, but let me tell you what I think of when I hear this.
Work, effort, frustration.
I play the new version, I read the new cards and I listen to the new chats and my head begins to hurt.
I can't explain it, but when I played v1, the rules made perfect sense to me, everything about them fell into place and I understood it, but I try and play v2 and nothing makes sense, the changes that have been made literally is really confusing for my brain.
This to me seems like a game for people who enjoy solving Maths Equasions, where as me, I like playing games with minimal thought that allows me to smash heads.
It's strange, one of my favourite games ever was GW's GorkaMorka, now this game is infamous for being one of the most silly, simple and childish games ever made by GW, and it's true it was all of that, but in being so simple it became something more.
As silly as it sounds, this was Malifaux v1 to me. There was something about the game that I just can't put my finger on it, but it was simple.
Once you got your head around cheats and stones there was nothing else that wasn't on the cards and based on your crew selection and choice of strategy your game could be as complicated or as simple as you wanted, and if you wanted a simple game then you could do, because even if the opponent wanted complicated, they could as their complexities rarely extended beyond their own crews and actions.
Now it feels like I need to be aware of every possible action and combination of my own crew and the oponents just to play the game, never mind compete.
And that's the thing, when I play, I like to shut my brain off. I like to kick back and just let my gut play the game with zero thought behind it. You see every day my brain is in over drive, it's absorbing every bit of information and using that its trying to calculate every possible outcome of that information, it's how I deal with my real life paranoia that at any point at any time we could all be killed by something, anything!
So when I play a game, I don't want to think. I want to shut my brain down and have fun!
This is why I was quietly against upgrades from the outset, I know a lot disagree with me but I see them as like W40K 2ndEd Wargear, giving you access to abilities and equipment not normally used by the base character. I look at those cards and I just see numbers, nothing means anything and I really struggle to see which one is better for me in my situation, so what happened? I never took them. Ever. Seriously, I never once took any Wargear, same with the WFB equivalent, it was on the base character or nothing at all.
As you can imagine, I got smashed, and I knew that in order to play better i needed to use the Wargear cards, but being unable to get past the selection process, I instead just stopped playing, because it wasnt fun for me.
**********
So there we have it. Sure to some the changes are great, all those new puzzles, combos and potential synergies available, it's fantastic. But for me it's hell on earth.
Sorry :'(
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Thursday, 6 June 2013
It's not official... yet
Good evening everyone!
Today I bring you some bad news. While this is in no ways official yet, my mind is pretty much 99% made up, and I will be stepping down as a Henchman for Wyrd.
For those who have been reading you'll remember I made a very similar post about 3 months ago, essentially saying that this was on the cards, and now unfortunately it appears to have jumped off the cards and landed on the table.
My current plans are to run one last 'farewell' day at my local store and after then I will be sending off my resignation and cashing in my stones.
I'd like everyone to know that I did not come to this decision lightly, and in no way is it a M2E Rage-Quit, but like a number of others like me, I feel that I can no longer contribute in a good manner.
********
You see, I did really enjoy being a Henchman... Well that isn't entirely true. I really enjoyed introducing new players to Malifaux and sharing with them my love and enthusiasm for the game, and even now, a year after starting, I still love doing that.
But this leads me onto one of the reasons why I have little choice but to leave, and sadly it is M2E.
I'm not going to start throwing the Doom word around, or start attacking people or policies, instead I'm going to be as calm and thought out as possible - which is quite a feat for me.
You see, I LOVE normal/v1.5/vanilla/classic Malifaux. This was the game that took me out of an 11 year hiatus and got me back into war games. I love this game so much that once a month for roughly a year I gave up a day and went to my local store to promote the game.
Now I play M2E and I don't love it.
I'm not going to call it pants or rubbish or anything like that, as there is a lot about the game that does make sense. But it's not a game I love.
I've played games in the closed beta, most of them pretty unremarkable, but I did enjoy the game.
Yup, I did actually enjoy playing the game.
But that's not the same is it? I wasn't finishing the game going "OMG I must tell the world how awesome this is!" No, instead I finish the game and go "Fancy a game of v1?"
***********
Times are changing in Wyrd's world, I think everyone can agree with that, and we have to change with it. For me I hope to be an active member in any ClassicFaux community that may crop up, and I do hope to visit both my LGS and LGC as often as possible for ClasicFaux games.
I am fully intending on picking up 'some' v2 content, as like I said it is still a fun game, just not one that I am so enthusiastic and enthral led by that I want to give up my spare time to promote.
**********
I hope that this goes a long way to explaining my current situation, and that regardless of all of this you will (if you can) visit my farewell demo day when it is confirmed for the end of the month.
Until then, stay safe and I'll see you Breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Today I bring you some bad news. While this is in no ways official yet, my mind is pretty much 99% made up, and I will be stepping down as a Henchman for Wyrd.
For those who have been reading you'll remember I made a very similar post about 3 months ago, essentially saying that this was on the cards, and now unfortunately it appears to have jumped off the cards and landed on the table.
My current plans are to run one last 'farewell' day at my local store and after then I will be sending off my resignation and cashing in my stones.
I'd like everyone to know that I did not come to this decision lightly, and in no way is it a M2E Rage-Quit, but like a number of others like me, I feel that I can no longer contribute in a good manner.
********
You see, I did really enjoy being a Henchman... Well that isn't entirely true. I really enjoyed introducing new players to Malifaux and sharing with them my love and enthusiasm for the game, and even now, a year after starting, I still love doing that.
But this leads me onto one of the reasons why I have little choice but to leave, and sadly it is M2E.
I'm not going to start throwing the Doom word around, or start attacking people or policies, instead I'm going to be as calm and thought out as possible - which is quite a feat for me.
You see, I LOVE normal/v1.5/vanilla/classic Malifaux. This was the game that took me out of an 11 year hiatus and got me back into war games. I love this game so much that once a month for roughly a year I gave up a day and went to my local store to promote the game.
Now I play M2E and I don't love it.
I'm not going to call it pants or rubbish or anything like that, as there is a lot about the game that does make sense. But it's not a game I love.
I've played games in the closed beta, most of them pretty unremarkable, but I did enjoy the game.
Yup, I did actually enjoy playing the game.
But that's not the same is it? I wasn't finishing the game going "OMG I must tell the world how awesome this is!" No, instead I finish the game and go "Fancy a game of v1?"
***********
Times are changing in Wyrd's world, I think everyone can agree with that, and we have to change with it. For me I hope to be an active member in any ClassicFaux community that may crop up, and I do hope to visit both my LGS and LGC as often as possible for ClasicFaux games.
I am fully intending on picking up 'some' v2 content, as like I said it is still a fun game, just not one that I am so enthusiastic and enthral led by that I want to give up my spare time to promote.
**********
I hope that this goes a long way to explaining my current situation, and that regardless of all of this you will (if you can) visit my farewell demo day when it is confirmed for the end of the month.
Until then, stay safe and I'll see you Breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Bedtime Stories - Part 3
The sun broke through the darkness like a spear through flesh as the Sheriff lead a posse of hired guns from Crypt hole to Crypt hole, every publicly known entrance was checked and even some who's location was known to only the Sheriff himself. This was the last of the Crypt holes that had been discovered, each one leading to a disused mine, or building cellar, each one that in turn lead to the Crypts themselves and the foul darkness that crept below New Fairbank including it's insidious beasts.
Everyone had their own name for them; monsters, demons, others. He was always amused by the reaction of Doctor Loxley. The Doctor had spent the most time out of everyone down the Crypts, second to himself of course. Unlike himself the Doctor had been driven mad by it, would see creatures in the corner of his eye or in the shadows of a room even claiming his newly recruited peer might be among their number. Despite all of this the Doctor had somehow managed to retain a positive disposition and even referred to these creatures as 'beasties' like they were little more than an annoyance.
The Sheriff hoped that they would find one such 'beasty' this morning. A full two days had passed since the attack at the East's place and with each attack a new body, always the same, sliced open with almost surgical precision. The two latest bodies had been working girls, one on her way home the other in the comfort of her own bed.
There was a growing unrest in New Fairbank, the Sheriff could feel it. He kept crime out of the town, controlled the flow of stone and currency and ensured that the people were safe while outside the Crypts, assuming that they didn't decide they were too big for their boots, and then the occasional demonstration was often called for. He minded not, it worked in his favour, maintain control and no one asks awkward questions or starts looking where they shouldn't.
This was why he needed to find something. Something or someone to pin the recent murders on. A crazed local, driven mad by the eternal dark maybe, or a fully grown Imp trying to prove it's dominance over it's pack-mates, they would be the perfect scapegoat.
Sadly however the Sheriff was out of luck, each and every barricade was in place, if the killer was a Beasty, it had not come from the Crypts.
*******************
Doctor Colt stood over the unconscious body, he stared at the naked woman intensely, marvelled at her skin, how with each breath her chest would rise and fall, how at his touch the nerves in her neck still responded. He shook his head violently. "No!" Colt told himself "I have a job to do" and clutching his scalpel in his gloved hands began to cut a small incision into her abdomen.
It didn't take long for the woman to recover from the sedative, and now fully dressed, sutured and a bottle in hand of Doctor Colt's own brew of painkiller she was ready to leave his practice.
"You know, you should have come to me sooner" Colt insisted "An inflamed appendix can be quite lethal if not dealt with urgently"
"I'm sorry Doctor" replied the woman, "I just didn't want to worry my husband".
"The love for those close to you is quite admirable young lady" stated Colt "but it is all for naught if you are not among the living to share it".
With that, the young woman left Colt's surgery leaving him alone, only his medical mannequins and diagrams for company.
*****************
The day drew on, and as the sun began to set a loud bell began to ring across the town. One by one every home and store began to close up and the residents of New Fairbank slowly walked the long journey up Chapel Hill just outside the town's boarders.
Chapel Hill had stood for years, when the Sheriff took control of New Fairbank it was little more than an old cemetery crawling with undead, now it stood as a beacon of strength, showcasing exactly what Man was capable in the face of adversity. That was the exact reason why the Sheriff had called a town meeting that night at the Chapel itself.
Perched high at the very pinnacle of Chapel Hill, the New Fairbank Chapel shone like the very sun itself, it's white washed walls reflecting the light from the towns people 's torches. The Sheriff nodded to himself as the townsfolk slowly milled inside until all that remained was himself alone outside before the Sheriff too entered the sacred building.
Inside was the deafening sound of every New Fairbank citizen, each one trying to talk over the other. As always it would be down to the Sheriff to take control.
"If I can have your attention please!" Called out the Sheriff, the room grew silent. "Thank you".
The Sheriff paused for a moment, he wanted to say this just right.
"Many of you want to know why this meeting has been called tonight, now if I may..." The Sheriff snapped his fingers and two burley men stood from seats in the chapel and walked towards the door.
"I am sure you are all familiar with my associates" continued the Sheriff, he was of course talking about the two men, his latest enforcers. This couple was called Chuckles and Brian, but the Sheriff hadn't bothered in learning their names, his enforcers normally didn't live long enough to make that task worth the time.
With heavy footfall Chuckles and Brian proceeded to lock the doors to the chapel trapping everyone inside. Every citizen knew, if they wanted to leave the chapel they would need to get past the enforcers, and that would mean crossing the Sheriff. For now they were trapped.
"This is insane!" Came a cry from the crowd, it was Doctor Loxley he was on his feet and pacing towards the chapel's rear room "I'm getting a drink! If I have to sit through this nonsense I am not going to do so sober!"
Behind Loxley was quickly followed by Doctor Colt "I agree with my colleague". And the two shuffled off into a rear room.
No one else moved from their seats. They didn't know why, but they knew that the Sheriff allowed Loxley a certain amount of freedom in New Fairbank, a lot more than the average citizen was allowed. In fact they all knew, if it was any of them to make that out burst their night would have ended sharply with a bullet between their eyes. Some thought the reason was because Loxley had been there the night the Sheriff lead a posse into the Crypts and retook the town, others would talk behind closed doors that Loxley knew something about the Sheriff, something to make the Sheriff fear crossing the Doctor, much like how the people feared crossing the Sheriff.
*********
The chapel's rear room was nearly as we'll stocked as the Last Light, shelves packed full of ranges of whiskey covered the walls, broken up intermittently by images depicting holy characters facing off against evil creatures. Loxley was slumped in a chair, a bottle in his hands already drunk half way through, leaning against a wall, still nursing his first glass, completely untouched was Colt.
"You're an arse!" Loxley flung his words at Colt without a worry for the consequences "a hairy, smelly arse! And I want you out of my town!"
"Is that your way of challenging me?" Asked Colt. He placed his glass of whiskey on a nearby table and slowly walked over to the half unconscious Loxley. "Do you even know why you hate me? It's because you know. You know what it is I have been doing".
"Nope!" Exclaimed Loxley, "it's because you're an arse!" He waved the bottle in the direction of Colt "look at you! Your perfect moustache! Your pressed suit! And those gloves! Who wears gloves all the time?"
Colt leaned over Loxley, and whispered into his ear "you really want to know why I wear these gloves?" With one hand he began to tug on the glove on the other, and with relative ease the glove slid from it's place. Underneath was a gnarled hand, wrinkled and dried like fruit left in the sun, across the top of the hand was a large cut that had been stitched closed.
Loxley balked at the image "You! You're the one who's been killing everyone! You attacked the East home! Their girl did that to you! You're Jabberwock!"
Colt smiled to himself and began to laugh "And he finally gets it!" With his exposed hand he reached forward and grabbed Loxley by his collar "as you can see, I need to feed, but don't worry, the others of the town won't suspect a thing, not when you've made your dislike of me so obvious" Colt paused and raised his eyebrows in an almost pantomime fashion "maybe I'll say you attacked me in a drunken rage, I had no choice but to..." reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out a scalpel "slit your throat".
Loxley stared at his assailant in horror, he had known that something was wrong about Doctor Colt, but never had he expected this, he began to quiver in fear as Colt began to lean closer, blade in hand.
In a panic Loxley shut his eyes and scratched at Colt's face, desperately trying to defend himself causing Colt to scream and release Loxley. For a moment all was quiet, Loxley awaited another attack before opening his eyes, his fingers were covered in something thick, gooey and bristly where he had scratched at Colt. He wanted to scream but nothing would escape his lips, tattered and matted around his fingers was what appeared to be the remains of Colt's face itself!
Looking up from the grizzly mess, Loxley saw Colt, he stood clutching at his head, a massive tear where his face should be, behind covered in thick dead blood a mass of writhing tentacles, claws and insect like limbs.
The nightmarish creature lifted its head in the direction of Loxley. He knew not if it could see him, amid the mass of horror the one thing he couldn't make out were eyes. The creature stepped towards Loxley, the scalpel still gripped firmly in hand.
Suddenly the air was ripped apart by the sound of gunfire, a single loud shot that Loxley struggled to discern it's origin. Colt's body fell lifeless to the floor, a single large hole the size of a fist was viable in the centre mass of what should have been Colt's head.
Loxley looked across the room and to his surprise he saw the Sheriff standing in the doorway, his pistol in hand and still smoking.
"Filthy skin walkers" spat the Sheriff "still, I knew if I kept everyone locked cooped up here tonight it would eventually show it's face" the Sheriff turned away from the mess and the shocked Doctor Loxley, pulled his hat low over his face before speaking again "oh and Doctor?" He asked "that's four you owe me now".
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Everyone had their own name for them; monsters, demons, others. He was always amused by the reaction of Doctor Loxley. The Doctor had spent the most time out of everyone down the Crypts, second to himself of course. Unlike himself the Doctor had been driven mad by it, would see creatures in the corner of his eye or in the shadows of a room even claiming his newly recruited peer might be among their number. Despite all of this the Doctor had somehow managed to retain a positive disposition and even referred to these creatures as 'beasties' like they were little more than an annoyance.
The Sheriff hoped that they would find one such 'beasty' this morning. A full two days had passed since the attack at the East's place and with each attack a new body, always the same, sliced open with almost surgical precision. The two latest bodies had been working girls, one on her way home the other in the comfort of her own bed.
There was a growing unrest in New Fairbank, the Sheriff could feel it. He kept crime out of the town, controlled the flow of stone and currency and ensured that the people were safe while outside the Crypts, assuming that they didn't decide they were too big for their boots, and then the occasional demonstration was often called for. He minded not, it worked in his favour, maintain control and no one asks awkward questions or starts looking where they shouldn't.
This was why he needed to find something. Something or someone to pin the recent murders on. A crazed local, driven mad by the eternal dark maybe, or a fully grown Imp trying to prove it's dominance over it's pack-mates, they would be the perfect scapegoat.
Sadly however the Sheriff was out of luck, each and every barricade was in place, if the killer was a Beasty, it had not come from the Crypts.
*******************
Doctor Colt stood over the unconscious body, he stared at the naked woman intensely, marvelled at her skin, how with each breath her chest would rise and fall, how at his touch the nerves in her neck still responded. He shook his head violently. "No!" Colt told himself "I have a job to do" and clutching his scalpel in his gloved hands began to cut a small incision into her abdomen.
It didn't take long for the woman to recover from the sedative, and now fully dressed, sutured and a bottle in hand of Doctor Colt's own brew of painkiller she was ready to leave his practice.
"You know, you should have come to me sooner" Colt insisted "An inflamed appendix can be quite lethal if not dealt with urgently"
"I'm sorry Doctor" replied the woman, "I just didn't want to worry my husband".
"The love for those close to you is quite admirable young lady" stated Colt "but it is all for naught if you are not among the living to share it".
With that, the young woman left Colt's surgery leaving him alone, only his medical mannequins and diagrams for company.
*****************
The day drew on, and as the sun began to set a loud bell began to ring across the town. One by one every home and store began to close up and the residents of New Fairbank slowly walked the long journey up Chapel Hill just outside the town's boarders.
Chapel Hill had stood for years, when the Sheriff took control of New Fairbank it was little more than an old cemetery crawling with undead, now it stood as a beacon of strength, showcasing exactly what Man was capable in the face of adversity. That was the exact reason why the Sheriff had called a town meeting that night at the Chapel itself.
Perched high at the very pinnacle of Chapel Hill, the New Fairbank Chapel shone like the very sun itself, it's white washed walls reflecting the light from the towns people 's torches. The Sheriff nodded to himself as the townsfolk slowly milled inside until all that remained was himself alone outside before the Sheriff too entered the sacred building.
Inside was the deafening sound of every New Fairbank citizen, each one trying to talk over the other. As always it would be down to the Sheriff to take control.
"If I can have your attention please!" Called out the Sheriff, the room grew silent. "Thank you".
The Sheriff paused for a moment, he wanted to say this just right.
"Many of you want to know why this meeting has been called tonight, now if I may..." The Sheriff snapped his fingers and two burley men stood from seats in the chapel and walked towards the door.
"I am sure you are all familiar with my associates" continued the Sheriff, he was of course talking about the two men, his latest enforcers. This couple was called Chuckles and Brian, but the Sheriff hadn't bothered in learning their names, his enforcers normally didn't live long enough to make that task worth the time.
With heavy footfall Chuckles and Brian proceeded to lock the doors to the chapel trapping everyone inside. Every citizen knew, if they wanted to leave the chapel they would need to get past the enforcers, and that would mean crossing the Sheriff. For now they were trapped.
"This is insane!" Came a cry from the crowd, it was Doctor Loxley he was on his feet and pacing towards the chapel's rear room "I'm getting a drink! If I have to sit through this nonsense I am not going to do so sober!"
Behind Loxley was quickly followed by Doctor Colt "I agree with my colleague". And the two shuffled off into a rear room.
No one else moved from their seats. They didn't know why, but they knew that the Sheriff allowed Loxley a certain amount of freedom in New Fairbank, a lot more than the average citizen was allowed. In fact they all knew, if it was any of them to make that out burst their night would have ended sharply with a bullet between their eyes. Some thought the reason was because Loxley had been there the night the Sheriff lead a posse into the Crypts and retook the town, others would talk behind closed doors that Loxley knew something about the Sheriff, something to make the Sheriff fear crossing the Doctor, much like how the people feared crossing the Sheriff.
*********
The chapel's rear room was nearly as we'll stocked as the Last Light, shelves packed full of ranges of whiskey covered the walls, broken up intermittently by images depicting holy characters facing off against evil creatures. Loxley was slumped in a chair, a bottle in his hands already drunk half way through, leaning against a wall, still nursing his first glass, completely untouched was Colt.
"You're an arse!" Loxley flung his words at Colt without a worry for the consequences "a hairy, smelly arse! And I want you out of my town!"
"Is that your way of challenging me?" Asked Colt. He placed his glass of whiskey on a nearby table and slowly walked over to the half unconscious Loxley. "Do you even know why you hate me? It's because you know. You know what it is I have been doing".
"Nope!" Exclaimed Loxley, "it's because you're an arse!" He waved the bottle in the direction of Colt "look at you! Your perfect moustache! Your pressed suit! And those gloves! Who wears gloves all the time?"
Colt leaned over Loxley, and whispered into his ear "you really want to know why I wear these gloves?" With one hand he began to tug on the glove on the other, and with relative ease the glove slid from it's place. Underneath was a gnarled hand, wrinkled and dried like fruit left in the sun, across the top of the hand was a large cut that had been stitched closed.
Loxley balked at the image "You! You're the one who's been killing everyone! You attacked the East home! Their girl did that to you! You're Jabberwock!"
Colt smiled to himself and began to laugh "And he finally gets it!" With his exposed hand he reached forward and grabbed Loxley by his collar "as you can see, I need to feed, but don't worry, the others of the town won't suspect a thing, not when you've made your dislike of me so obvious" Colt paused and raised his eyebrows in an almost pantomime fashion "maybe I'll say you attacked me in a drunken rage, I had no choice but to..." reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out a scalpel "slit your throat".
Loxley stared at his assailant in horror, he had known that something was wrong about Doctor Colt, but never had he expected this, he began to quiver in fear as Colt began to lean closer, blade in hand.
In a panic Loxley shut his eyes and scratched at Colt's face, desperately trying to defend himself causing Colt to scream and release Loxley. For a moment all was quiet, Loxley awaited another attack before opening his eyes, his fingers were covered in something thick, gooey and bristly where he had scratched at Colt. He wanted to scream but nothing would escape his lips, tattered and matted around his fingers was what appeared to be the remains of Colt's face itself!
Looking up from the grizzly mess, Loxley saw Colt, he stood clutching at his head, a massive tear where his face should be, behind covered in thick dead blood a mass of writhing tentacles, claws and insect like limbs.
The nightmarish creature lifted its head in the direction of Loxley. He knew not if it could see him, amid the mass of horror the one thing he couldn't make out were eyes. The creature stepped towards Loxley, the scalpel still gripped firmly in hand.
Suddenly the air was ripped apart by the sound of gunfire, a single loud shot that Loxley struggled to discern it's origin. Colt's body fell lifeless to the floor, a single large hole the size of a fist was viable in the centre mass of what should have been Colt's head.
Loxley looked across the room and to his surprise he saw the Sheriff standing in the doorway, his pistol in hand and still smoking.
"Filthy skin walkers" spat the Sheriff "still, I knew if I kept everyone locked cooped up here tonight it would eventually show it's face" the Sheriff turned away from the mess and the shocked Doctor Loxley, pulled his hat low over his face before speaking again "oh and Doctor?" He asked "that's four you owe me now".
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Bedtime Stories - Part 2
The Sheriff leaned back in his chair, his pistol scratching his chin, his eyes as always obscured by his wide brimmed hat. Stood before him were two of the brightest minds to currently reside in New Fairbank and they were arguing like children. Despite the matter at hand, the Sheriff's attention was else where.
It had not taken long for Isaac's body to be found and it had taken even less for rumours and aspersions to spread. Some argued that it was the work of monsters from the Crypts while others suggested that Isaac had been subject to a mugging gone wrong, all turned to the Sheriff for guidance.
"You should not have gone through my patient's notes!" Shouted Doctor Loxley, waving a strange mechanical stick around with each gesture "it is a clear invasion of Doctor-Patient confidentiality!"
"Nonsense" replied Doctor Colt, his manner much more relaxed than his opposition "I am the medical doctor here and I have been brought in by the Sheriff no less, to tend to the medical needs of this town. If I am to do that I need access to your records".
Loxley turned to the Sheriff "is this true?" He asked "did you personally ask for this... fraud to replace me?"
The Sheriff righted his balance on his chair, laid his pistol on his desk and stood up straight patting down his waist coat as he did.
"You know that to be true Doctor" The Sheriff responded "Doctor Colt here has been brought in to attend to the medical needs, in order to allow you to focus on the technological and archeological". The Sheriff paused for a moment for dramatic effect.
"You have seen for yourself Doctor the volume of Artifacts bring brought back has increased substantially in recent months" continued the Sheriff "I need you where you can be of most use to this town".
**************
The day rolled on and life in New Fairbank continued as it always did. Posses entered and returned from the Crypts, the shop owners peddled their wares and Doctor Loxley conspired against his newly arrived rival.
"Where is it?" Loxley yelled, tossing all manner of Artifacts across his workshop table "I left it right here!" It soon became apparent that whatever he was searching for, Doctor Loxley would not find it and so with exhaustion he slumped into his favourite barely upholstered chair.
As if on command a silver tabby cat jumped onto the Doctor's lap and started pummelling at his leg.
"Not now Archie" the Doctor grumped "I must remember where I put that Artifact".
The cat padded in a circle before rubbing it's cheek on the Doctor's hand. "Ok then silly, let's find you some food" and with that Loxley gripped his friend tightly before carrying the cat over to his makeshift kitchen to prepare what little food the cat required.
**************
Night rolled in, and as always the Last Light Tavern was packed with people eager to spend their day's earnings on whatever Frank had on offer that day, elsewhere down the winding back alleys of New Fairbank the East family were busy locking doors and windows in their home for the night.
Earl East was a carpenter by trade, he operated out of his workshop, a small one room site attached to the side of his home. It was there he lived with his wife Mary and daughter Anna.
"But daddy! I don't want to go to bed yet" cried Anna East, "Joey said that there was a killing last night and that there'll be another tonight!" Anna was of course referring to Joey Turner the son of the merchant who lived only four doors down from the Easts.
"Nonsense child" reassured Earl East, "now the Sheriff is involved, there is no way that mean killer would strike again" and he kissed his daughter on the forehead before turning and leaving her room, but not before checking to make sure her window latch was firmly secure.
That night Anna East dreamed like she usually did, like all children dreamed in New Fairbank, of blood and terror, of living shadows and baying wolves, of monsters and of 'him' the man who called to her every night, as he did to every child in New Fairbank. But it was not these dreams that forced Anna East awake, after living in the town for four years she was more than accustomed to these dreams. No, what awoke her was very much real and in her room, not on the land of dreams and fairy tales.
Wiping her eyes Anna could make out a form at the end of her bed, roughly as big as her father, it appeared to almost perch at the end, the shadows of her room providing it with a cloak obscuring it from vision.
"Who are you?" Asked Anna, knowing full well not to show any sign of fear "are you a friend of the bad man in my dreams?"
"No girl" replied the shadowed form "I have had many names, and many friends, but none of them have been the man in your dreams"
Anna began to look worried, she glanced around to look for an escape, her window was still closed and latched and her bedroom door had never seemed so far away before, she had only one choice...
"So who are you Mr..." Anna encouraged the shadowed figure.
"Some call me demon" replied the figure "others Springheel" the figure paused "but last night I was given a new name..." The figure reached out with his hand, a bony, leathery claw with long jagged fingernails that glinted like knives in the dark "Jabberwock".
Anna was fast to react, reaching under her pillow she grasped her carving knife that she kept and brought it to bear on the shadowed figures hand. Thick warm blood splashed across Anna's arm and she darted for her door, just as she was about to grapple with the handle, the door swung open and standing in an aiming stance behind was her father gripping his shotgun tightly.
Quickly and efficiently he surveyed the room, but to his daughter's astonishment no shadowed figure could be found, checking Anna's window Earl found it to be closed and latched from the inside, and despite the apparent lack of disturbance, no one could miss the bright red splash of blood that streaked across Anna's bed and the bloody knife she clung to with white knuckled hands.
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
It had not taken long for Isaac's body to be found and it had taken even less for rumours and aspersions to spread. Some argued that it was the work of monsters from the Crypts while others suggested that Isaac had been subject to a mugging gone wrong, all turned to the Sheriff for guidance.
"You should not have gone through my patient's notes!" Shouted Doctor Loxley, waving a strange mechanical stick around with each gesture "it is a clear invasion of Doctor-Patient confidentiality!"
"Nonsense" replied Doctor Colt, his manner much more relaxed than his opposition "I am the medical doctor here and I have been brought in by the Sheriff no less, to tend to the medical needs of this town. If I am to do that I need access to your records".
Loxley turned to the Sheriff "is this true?" He asked "did you personally ask for this... fraud to replace me?"
The Sheriff righted his balance on his chair, laid his pistol on his desk and stood up straight patting down his waist coat as he did.
"You know that to be true Doctor" The Sheriff responded "Doctor Colt here has been brought in to attend to the medical needs, in order to allow you to focus on the technological and archeological". The Sheriff paused for a moment for dramatic effect.
"You have seen for yourself Doctor the volume of Artifacts bring brought back has increased substantially in recent months" continued the Sheriff "I need you where you can be of most use to this town".
**************
The day rolled on and life in New Fairbank continued as it always did. Posses entered and returned from the Crypts, the shop owners peddled their wares and Doctor Loxley conspired against his newly arrived rival.
"Where is it?" Loxley yelled, tossing all manner of Artifacts across his workshop table "I left it right here!" It soon became apparent that whatever he was searching for, Doctor Loxley would not find it and so with exhaustion he slumped into his favourite barely upholstered chair.
As if on command a silver tabby cat jumped onto the Doctor's lap and started pummelling at his leg.
"Not now Archie" the Doctor grumped "I must remember where I put that Artifact".
The cat padded in a circle before rubbing it's cheek on the Doctor's hand. "Ok then silly, let's find you some food" and with that Loxley gripped his friend tightly before carrying the cat over to his makeshift kitchen to prepare what little food the cat required.
**************
Night rolled in, and as always the Last Light Tavern was packed with people eager to spend their day's earnings on whatever Frank had on offer that day, elsewhere down the winding back alleys of New Fairbank the East family were busy locking doors and windows in their home for the night.
Earl East was a carpenter by trade, he operated out of his workshop, a small one room site attached to the side of his home. It was there he lived with his wife Mary and daughter Anna.
"But daddy! I don't want to go to bed yet" cried Anna East, "Joey said that there was a killing last night and that there'll be another tonight!" Anna was of course referring to Joey Turner the son of the merchant who lived only four doors down from the Easts.
"Nonsense child" reassured Earl East, "now the Sheriff is involved, there is no way that mean killer would strike again" and he kissed his daughter on the forehead before turning and leaving her room, but not before checking to make sure her window latch was firmly secure.
That night Anna East dreamed like she usually did, like all children dreamed in New Fairbank, of blood and terror, of living shadows and baying wolves, of monsters and of 'him' the man who called to her every night, as he did to every child in New Fairbank. But it was not these dreams that forced Anna East awake, after living in the town for four years she was more than accustomed to these dreams. No, what awoke her was very much real and in her room, not on the land of dreams and fairy tales.
Wiping her eyes Anna could make out a form at the end of her bed, roughly as big as her father, it appeared to almost perch at the end, the shadows of her room providing it with a cloak obscuring it from vision.
"Who are you?" Asked Anna, knowing full well not to show any sign of fear "are you a friend of the bad man in my dreams?"
"No girl" replied the shadowed form "I have had many names, and many friends, but none of them have been the man in your dreams"
Anna began to look worried, she glanced around to look for an escape, her window was still closed and latched and her bedroom door had never seemed so far away before, she had only one choice...
"So who are you Mr..." Anna encouraged the shadowed figure.
"Some call me demon" replied the figure "others Springheel" the figure paused "but last night I was given a new name..." The figure reached out with his hand, a bony, leathery claw with long jagged fingernails that glinted like knives in the dark "Jabberwock".
Anna was fast to react, reaching under her pillow she grasped her carving knife that she kept and brought it to bear on the shadowed figures hand. Thick warm blood splashed across Anna's arm and she darted for her door, just as she was about to grapple with the handle, the door swung open and standing in an aiming stance behind was her father gripping his shotgun tightly.
Quickly and efficiently he surveyed the room, but to his daughter's astonishment no shadowed figure could be found, checking Anna's window Earl found it to be closed and latched from the inside, and despite the apparent lack of disturbance, no one could miss the bright red splash of blood that streaked across Anna's bed and the bloody knife she clung to with white knuckled hands.
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Bedtime Stories: Part 1
Doctor Loxley clung to the drink in hand and rested his head against his table. He knew it tasted of swill, but he wasn't about to pay for Frank's good stuff, not on a night like this.
It was nights like this that the Doctor was glad everyone kept to themselves in the Last Light, he feared what he would do to someone who crossed him tonight.
"Bad night Doc?" Asked a friendly voice.
"Don't ask" Replied the Doctor not even looking up at the visitor recognising the voice as belonging to Frank the owner of Last Light Tavern.
"Aww go on Doc, tell me what's up? I'll even put the next drink on the house?" Frank joked.
Moments later the double doors to the Last Light flung open, a young boy stood covered in dust, he was doubled over grasping for what little breath he could muster. "A coach" he spluttered, "a stage coach, from Capital City!"
Doctor Loxley struggled to hide his disgust "Hold that drink Frank, I've been expecting this".
Standing up abruptly Doctor Loxley slung his duster over his shoulders and almost marched out of the tavern.
*****************
The night clung to the sky like a sheet of black velvet as Doctor Loxley left the tavern and paced towards the front gate of New Fairbank, ahead he saw a stage coach waiting to be received, it bore the fancy embroidery of Capital City, the type you rarely saw around New Fairbank. As he approached the coach there was a whirr of gears and a door opened allowing a soft golden glow from inside the coach to spill out into the night air.
Standing in the coach's doorway there stood the shadow of a man, it was apparent to Doctor Loxley that this man was wealthy and well attired, what the Doctor was not sure of was if this stranger would be of any use.
A few seconds passed before the stranger stepped down from the coach, his appearance being fully revealed in the night air.
He was no taller than Doctor Loxley, the Doctor guessed about five foot eight, maybe ten inches, he wore a black suit complete with black overcoat and held in one hand a cane made apparently of the finest in rare metals. His face was thin, his skin almost dried with a brush of a moustache stuck to his top lip, as the man approached Doctor Loxley he held out a hand gloved in pure white cloth.
"Doctor... Loxley I presume?" The stranger asked.
Doctor Loxley took the hand and firmly gripped it with his most dominant shake "Doctor Colt, it is a... Pleasure... to have you here" Loxley replied.
Colt didn't look convinced by Loxley's pretend pleasantries but decided it was time to play along "So, Loxley, care to show me where an old man can quench his thirst in a backwater town like this?" Colt asked.
Without so much as a word Loxley beckoned Colt to follow and walked briskly to the Last Light.
*************
Standing at the door to the tavern was Frank, his hand out stretched to greet the two Doctors.
"Frank Hodges! Good to meet you, any friend of the Doc is a friend of mine!" Bellowed Frank as Colt approached the Tavern.
"Of course" replied Colt, "You may call me Doctor Colt, Doctor Sebastian Colt" he paused for a moment "no relation" he added with a sigh.
**********************
As the night progressed one by one all the lights in New Fairbank were extinguished until true to it's name only the Last Light remained until it too closed for the night and it's patrons were forced into the street, whether they went home or started a brawl in the street Frank cared little, what mattered to him was it was time to close and he had yet to eat, it was for that reason when the last of his drunks refused to leave in a timely manner he had no choice but to threaten force.
"I'm sorry Isaac, but the bar's closed and you have to get home" asserted Frank "you wouldn't want me to wake the Sheriff now would you?"
"P...p...please don't tell the Sheriff!" Cried Isaac the drunk "I just don't want ta be out at night, I seen it you know!" Isaac paused, trying to get his words to match his thoughts "I seen it down th' Crypts! It got into my 'ead told me it was commin' and now it's here!"
"Of course Isaac" sighed Frank, "Look you just walk home, I'll keep an eye on you and if anything comes out of the shadows I'll alert a posse".
Isaac seemed comforted by the suggestion and so agreed to leave and began his meander home unaware of Frank who had returned to his duties closing Last Light, locked the doors and extinguished it's own lighting.
As Isaac staggered down the dusty path that wound throughout New Fairbank, he saw something move ahead covered in the darkness.
"F...Frank? That you?" Called out Isaac "Serg? Dog?"
Before he could make a sound more, there was a movement from out of the corner of Isaac's eye as 'something' darted out of the darkness just inches away across his path.
Isaac felt a sudden twang of pain across his chest and a wet warmth began to soak into his shirt. Looking down he grasped at his chest and tried his hardest not to be afraid.
As his lifeblood spilled from his open wound Isaac stared directly at his killer and was reminded of a poem he had read a number of years ago, not all of the poem, just enough to be relevant.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!"
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
It was nights like this that the Doctor was glad everyone kept to themselves in the Last Light, he feared what he would do to someone who crossed him tonight.
"Bad night Doc?" Asked a friendly voice.
"Don't ask" Replied the Doctor not even looking up at the visitor recognising the voice as belonging to Frank the owner of Last Light Tavern.
"Aww go on Doc, tell me what's up? I'll even put the next drink on the house?" Frank joked.
Moments later the double doors to the Last Light flung open, a young boy stood covered in dust, he was doubled over grasping for what little breath he could muster. "A coach" he spluttered, "a stage coach, from Capital City!"
Doctor Loxley struggled to hide his disgust "Hold that drink Frank, I've been expecting this".
Standing up abruptly Doctor Loxley slung his duster over his shoulders and almost marched out of the tavern.
*****************
The night clung to the sky like a sheet of black velvet as Doctor Loxley left the tavern and paced towards the front gate of New Fairbank, ahead he saw a stage coach waiting to be received, it bore the fancy embroidery of Capital City, the type you rarely saw around New Fairbank. As he approached the coach there was a whirr of gears and a door opened allowing a soft golden glow from inside the coach to spill out into the night air.
Standing in the coach's doorway there stood the shadow of a man, it was apparent to Doctor Loxley that this man was wealthy and well attired, what the Doctor was not sure of was if this stranger would be of any use.
A few seconds passed before the stranger stepped down from the coach, his appearance being fully revealed in the night air.
He was no taller than Doctor Loxley, the Doctor guessed about five foot eight, maybe ten inches, he wore a black suit complete with black overcoat and held in one hand a cane made apparently of the finest in rare metals. His face was thin, his skin almost dried with a brush of a moustache stuck to his top lip, as the man approached Doctor Loxley he held out a hand gloved in pure white cloth.
"Doctor... Loxley I presume?" The stranger asked.
Doctor Loxley took the hand and firmly gripped it with his most dominant shake "Doctor Colt, it is a... Pleasure... to have you here" Loxley replied.
Colt didn't look convinced by Loxley's pretend pleasantries but decided it was time to play along "So, Loxley, care to show me where an old man can quench his thirst in a backwater town like this?" Colt asked.
Without so much as a word Loxley beckoned Colt to follow and walked briskly to the Last Light.
*************
Standing at the door to the tavern was Frank, his hand out stretched to greet the two Doctors.
"Frank Hodges! Good to meet you, any friend of the Doc is a friend of mine!" Bellowed Frank as Colt approached the Tavern.
"Of course" replied Colt, "You may call me Doctor Colt, Doctor Sebastian Colt" he paused for a moment "no relation" he added with a sigh.
**********************
As the night progressed one by one all the lights in New Fairbank were extinguished until true to it's name only the Last Light remained until it too closed for the night and it's patrons were forced into the street, whether they went home or started a brawl in the street Frank cared little, what mattered to him was it was time to close and he had yet to eat, it was for that reason when the last of his drunks refused to leave in a timely manner he had no choice but to threaten force.
"I'm sorry Isaac, but the bar's closed and you have to get home" asserted Frank "you wouldn't want me to wake the Sheriff now would you?"
"P...p...please don't tell the Sheriff!" Cried Isaac the drunk "I just don't want ta be out at night, I seen it you know!" Isaac paused, trying to get his words to match his thoughts "I seen it down th' Crypts! It got into my 'ead told me it was commin' and now it's here!"
"Of course Isaac" sighed Frank, "Look you just walk home, I'll keep an eye on you and if anything comes out of the shadows I'll alert a posse".
Isaac seemed comforted by the suggestion and so agreed to leave and began his meander home unaware of Frank who had returned to his duties closing Last Light, locked the doors and extinguished it's own lighting.
As Isaac staggered down the dusty path that wound throughout New Fairbank, he saw something move ahead covered in the darkness.
"F...Frank? That you?" Called out Isaac "Serg? Dog?"
Before he could make a sound more, there was a movement from out of the corner of Isaac's eye as 'something' darted out of the darkness just inches away across his path.
Isaac felt a sudden twang of pain across his chest and a wet warmth began to soak into his shirt. Looking down he grasped at his chest and tried his hardest not to be afraid.
As his lifeblood spilled from his open wound Isaac stared directly at his killer and was reminded of a poem he had read a number of years ago, not all of the poem, just enough to be relevant.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!"
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
MaliQuest & Malifaux v2
Good Tuesday everyone!
This week on New Fairbank Radio we'll be preparing for the next level of the dungeon campaign, this means briefly discussing how we felt the Basic Deck worked, and which Aspects characters want to adopt moving forward.
More importantly, we'll also be looking at a lot of the Malifax v2 rules and seeing which ones we want to introduce into MaliQuest, if any, and which MaliQuest rules we want to modify.
1). Soulstone Cache: do we want to reduce the total down from 8 to 7?
2). Soulstone use: do we want to make it create positive flips rather than adding to?
- My current opinion is no, as being able to increase the player's potential Attack and Defence scores allows for a greater scale of Monster stats to be made available.
3). Soulstone Flips: Do we want to allow Soulstones to guarantee a Suit to be made available?
4). Casting: My initial plan is to take on the v2 use of casting and being an opposed duel rather than against a total set by the caster. Unlike v2 however I want to trial it without Target Numbers at all.
5). Resurrecting: How should this be changed? Currently the mechanic is very boring and feels like it's bolted on to the game mechanics (which technically it is). Currently my thoughts are rather than being an (all) or (2) Action, to resurrect a party member you need to spend a Soulstone and use (1) AP. this means players still have their (0) Action and a single (1) Action left.
- Plus, as the dead player is being summoned as Slow (-1AP, which usually results in the player having 1AP) it's as if the Resurrecting player is giving them one of their Actions. So you lose an AP, and the dead player gains one.
I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on these points prior to our recording tomorrow.
And on that note: stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
This week on New Fairbank Radio we'll be preparing for the next level of the dungeon campaign, this means briefly discussing how we felt the Basic Deck worked, and which Aspects characters want to adopt moving forward.
More importantly, we'll also be looking at a lot of the Malifax v2 rules and seeing which ones we want to introduce into MaliQuest, if any, and which MaliQuest rules we want to modify.
1). Soulstone Cache: do we want to reduce the total down from 8 to 7?
2). Soulstone use: do we want to make it create positive flips rather than adding to?
- My current opinion is no, as being able to increase the player's potential Attack and Defence scores allows for a greater scale of Monster stats to be made available.
3). Soulstone Flips: Do we want to allow Soulstones to guarantee a Suit to be made available?
4). Casting: My initial plan is to take on the v2 use of casting and being an opposed duel rather than against a total set by the caster. Unlike v2 however I want to trial it without Target Numbers at all.
5). Resurrecting: How should this be changed? Currently the mechanic is very boring and feels like it's bolted on to the game mechanics (which technically it is). Currently my thoughts are rather than being an (all) or (2) Action, to resurrect a party member you need to spend a Soulstone and use (1) AP. this means players still have their (0) Action and a single (1) Action left.
- Plus, as the dead player is being summoned as Slow (-1AP, which usually results in the player having 1AP) it's as if the Resurrecting player is giving them one of their Actions. So you lose an AP, and the dead player gains one.
I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on these points prior to our recording tomorrow.
And on that note: stay safe and I'll see you breachside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Monday, 3 June 2013
A kick in the teeth?
This morning I saw something on the Wyrd boards, it was a post by Wyrd manager Eric J:
This relates to a post in the following thread: here.
I'd like to apologise for the length of quote, especially when only a small part is related to what I want to discuss, but I wanted people to understand that I am not taking things out of context and only quoting that which suits my needs.
I'd also like to bring back to the surface Eric's previous blog post where he called all beta testers liars: www.ericjgames.com
This starts to paint a very interesting picture.
It has already been stated in Eric's blog post that 'certain' posts are ignored, or 'selectively dismissed' and now after today's post we are seeing yet more reinforcement that there are certain criteria which encourages the game designers to completely ignore feedback.
***********
Now it is every company's prerogative to pick and choose which feedback they want to pay attention and it could be argued that people who are on the verge of 'Rage Quitting' are not the best people to pay attention to.
But let's look at what we're being shown here: people who (apparently) are a minority who are speaking very loudly about something they are unhappy about.
Let's just take a moment and ask ourselves; "why are these people reacting this way?"
Is it because they're spoilt little children who just don't like change? Or is there more to it?
I read these posts and I see people who are passionate about a game, and the reason why their comments are so explosive is because they are so passionate about it.
Are these really people who you want to be ignoring?
I am not saying that anyone who shouts loudly should be followed 100%, that would just be silly, and a lot of the time it's doing just that which cases all manner of real world conflict.
No, I'm saying give them a little bit of time.
We're all supporters of a product here, none of us want to see the product fail, quite the opposite.
What we want is to feel (rightly or wrongly) that our opinions matter and being told that because we're in a minority or because we may have trouble tempering our passions, that our opinions matter less than people who are blasé about the product.
*********
Just last week I personally experienced something very similar and ever since I have noticed this on quite a few topics, where someone comments or suggests something that is not very popular (for whatever reason) and they are greeted by systematic suppression by certain people.
I'm not going to go into details here, but for those who are aware of my own experience and actively engaged me in a discussion of opinions, I thank you.
- Sadly however there are always a few bad eggs who think that their opinion is law and that simply saying "you are wrong" is an argument to make you shut up.
So what am I saying?
I'm not really sure at this point, for I too am someone who is extremely passionate about the game Malifaux and so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot, if not everything I write falls into the 'biased-ignored' group.
All I know is here are people who care, yes they may struggle at putting their thoughts on page, but that is because they care, not because they're deliberately trying to screw with feedback results.
Ignoring them while lavishing praise on those who are busy currying for favour is not going to help things.
In fact I wonder if many of these people would even have needed to resort to shouting their opinions across if they didn't feel ignored and suppressed/bullied in the first place?
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
1st Edition was created and designed by myself, and written/tested with significant help from Dan (and a few others)
2nd Edition was created and designed by myself and Dan, starting nearly 2 years ago. Mack and Justin came on board and got involved earlier this year when we needed to get a ton more hours/week on the project. They bring a ton of ideas, every single one is approved by me, or revised by me, or rejected by me and replaced with another idea. So if you need to place blame, do it to my face and don't run around throwing insults that do nothing more than prove you don't know the facts.
That said, without the involvement of Dan, Mack, Justin and many others not mentioned in this thread, nothing about Malifaux could have become reality, and they deserve all the credit in the world. It couldn't happen without them.
Despite being really really loud, it has become incredibly clear in the last 2 days that the original poster in this thread is in an even smaller minority that I already thought. Look at the poll in the "something seems wrong" thread, where the changes are liked at a 4-1 ratio (Edit- just checked, actually nearly 5-1) to people who voted dislike (and thats not taking into account the 10 or so dislike votes from the same IP (yes, I can track that)). And based on feedback I am getting from all my channels, the dislike votes in this thread are actually exaggerated based on the fact people who are coming here tend to come here to complain, while people who like things are just off testing to help us finish up balancing.
For every 1 person who is crying doom like the original poster, I hear 20 stories about people who wouldn't touch 1st edition due to the "rules wall" on all the 1st edition stat cards. You may not hear those stories because honestly, they don't come here because they weren't interested in getting involved in Malifaux before.
There is a reason that I haven't followed the feedback that is similar to the original poster, and it's not just because it's stating that they don't like my work and the work of my team (which I firmly believe is a huge improvement to first edition). The reason is that it's in the VAST minority of all the feedback I receive (note the all caps, underline, AND bold there for emphasis). The fact it's given in a very very LOUD way, and presented in a way attempting to become a spectacle, does not make it anything more than a very loud minority opinion.
This relates to a post in the following thread: here.
I'd like to apologise for the length of quote, especially when only a small part is related to what I want to discuss, but I wanted people to understand that I am not taking things out of context and only quoting that which suits my needs.
I'd also like to bring back to the surface Eric's previous blog post where he called all beta testers liars: www.ericjgames.com
This starts to paint a very interesting picture.
It has already been stated in Eric's blog post that 'certain' posts are ignored, or 'selectively dismissed' and now after today's post we are seeing yet more reinforcement that there are certain criteria which encourages the game designers to completely ignore feedback.
***********
Now it is every company's prerogative to pick and choose which feedback they want to pay attention and it could be argued that people who are on the verge of 'Rage Quitting' are not the best people to pay attention to.
But let's look at what we're being shown here: people who (apparently) are a minority who are speaking very loudly about something they are unhappy about.
Let's just take a moment and ask ourselves; "why are these people reacting this way?"
Is it because they're spoilt little children who just don't like change? Or is there more to it?
I read these posts and I see people who are passionate about a game, and the reason why their comments are so explosive is because they are so passionate about it.
Are these really people who you want to be ignoring?
I am not saying that anyone who shouts loudly should be followed 100%, that would just be silly, and a lot of the time it's doing just that which cases all manner of real world conflict.
No, I'm saying give them a little bit of time.
We're all supporters of a product here, none of us want to see the product fail, quite the opposite.
What we want is to feel (rightly or wrongly) that our opinions matter and being told that because we're in a minority or because we may have trouble tempering our passions, that our opinions matter less than people who are blasé about the product.
*********
Just last week I personally experienced something very similar and ever since I have noticed this on quite a few topics, where someone comments or suggests something that is not very popular (for whatever reason) and they are greeted by systematic suppression by certain people.
I'm not going to go into details here, but for those who are aware of my own experience and actively engaged me in a discussion of opinions, I thank you.
- Sadly however there are always a few bad eggs who think that their opinion is law and that simply saying "you are wrong" is an argument to make you shut up.
So what am I saying?
I'm not really sure at this point, for I too am someone who is extremely passionate about the game Malifaux and so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot, if not everything I write falls into the 'biased-ignored' group.
All I know is here are people who care, yes they may struggle at putting their thoughts on page, but that is because they care, not because they're deliberately trying to screw with feedback results.
Ignoring them while lavishing praise on those who are busy currying for favour is not going to help things.
In fact I wonder if many of these people would even have needed to resort to shouting their opinions across if they didn't feel ignored and suppressed/bullied in the first place?
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Sunday, 2 June 2013
MaliQuest: Extract from Dr Loxley's Manual of Monsters - Skin Walkers
There are many types of Skin Walker, some are the primal spirits that possess their hosts, others are parasitic organisms that dig deep into the brains of men bending to their control.
All are horrific.
I once knew a man, he was a prospector who believed his skills might come in use down the crypts.
He was right.
I don't know what got into him, but I remember when it got a hold of him.
If I had not known him before, then perhaps I would not have noticed but after the creature gained control of his body, he was like a different man, his personality all twisted and bitter.
But he still knew how to use his pickaxe and it found it's home in ol' Billy's back.
I remember it vividly, the heavy rock in my hand as it beat his head into the dirt.
The rest of the party said that it had been an accident, that Billy's death was not on purpose and the prospector was not to blame.
They called me a murder, said I was the one possessed, not the prospector.
It was only when the damned Skin Walker rose from the ground, half his face hanging from where I'd struck him over and over again.
Then they believed me.
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
Saturday, 1 June 2013
Malifaux V2
Good Saturday everyone!
As I gear up for a fun day with the family it is nice to see that last night when I released Episode 11 of NFR (available from Newfairbank.podbean.com iTunes and the inbuilt streamer) Wyrd put out the public beta to Malifaux v2 (or M2E as everyone else is calling it, I'll stick to v2 myself).
It's nice that after all these months of knowing about the details of this, I can finally talk about it. Yes friends I can confirm that I too was a part of the closed beta!
I'm not allowed to talk about the process of beta testing, that's something that is still tied up in the NDA I signed but I can talk about the current state of the game.
As time goes on I will talk more about the game in general, but a lot of what has been revealed I like to look at as someone who's brand new to the game, or more importantly when 'I' was brand new to the game.
I think to myself, "what was it that sold me on the game all those years/months ago?" And ultimately it was two things:
1). The idea of card mechanics over dice. This wasn't so much how they worked, but just the idea of it. It seemed new and I wanted to try it.
2). The aesthetic of the models, the hick-Gremlins, the twisted Neverborn, the characterful zombies, all of that stuff!
So now we look at where we are, the card mechanics are still there, that's a plus!
But the aesthetics have changed.
To a lot of people this is good, they like the changes and for them I couldn't be happier.
For me however this is something of grave concern.
I have looked at a lot of the new art, and to summarise, there is one Master/Crew that I like enough to buy. Everything else that has been shown I don't like.
I'm not saying that it's not my favourite or I just prefer the v1 concepts, no I actually dislike the new concepts.
I look at the art and think to myself "if I saw all this artwork back when I first started, would I have got into the game?" And unfortunately I think the answer to that is "No".
Anyway that's all from me for now.
The rules I will tackle in time, as in particular I want to see what other people like and dislike before I force my 'burned out' bias onto them.
But one thing I will say, new look Leviticus and crew is a must have for me! Even if I stick to v1, I will be using these new models if they stick to the art!
Stay safe and I'll see you breach side!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
As I gear up for a fun day with the family it is nice to see that last night when I released Episode 11 of NFR (available from Newfairbank.podbean.com iTunes and the inbuilt streamer) Wyrd put out the public beta to Malifaux v2 (or M2E as everyone else is calling it, I'll stick to v2 myself).
It's nice that after all these months of knowing about the details of this, I can finally talk about it. Yes friends I can confirm that I too was a part of the closed beta!
I'm not allowed to talk about the process of beta testing, that's something that is still tied up in the NDA I signed but I can talk about the current state of the game.
As time goes on I will talk more about the game in general, but a lot of what has been revealed I like to look at as someone who's brand new to the game, or more importantly when 'I' was brand new to the game.
I think to myself, "what was it that sold me on the game all those years/months ago?" And ultimately it was two things:
1). The idea of card mechanics over dice. This wasn't so much how they worked, but just the idea of it. It seemed new and I wanted to try it.
2). The aesthetic of the models, the hick-Gremlins, the twisted Neverborn, the characterful zombies, all of that stuff!
So now we look at where we are, the card mechanics are still there, that's a plus!
But the aesthetics have changed.
To a lot of people this is good, they like the changes and for them I couldn't be happier.
For me however this is something of grave concern.
I have looked at a lot of the new art, and to summarise, there is one Master/Crew that I like enough to buy. Everything else that has been shown I don't like.
I'm not saying that it's not my favourite or I just prefer the v1 concepts, no I actually dislike the new concepts.
I look at the art and think to myself "if I saw all this artwork back when I first started, would I have got into the game?" And unfortunately I think the answer to that is "No".
Anyway that's all from me for now.
The rules I will tackle in time, as in particular I want to see what other people like and dislike before I force my 'burned out' bias onto them.
But one thing I will say, new look Leviticus and crew is a must have for me! Even if I stick to v1, I will be using these new models if they stick to the art!
Stay safe and I'll see you breach side!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
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