The Knights are trapped in a besieged citadel, the attackers almost through the main gate.
Tal: I knew this was a trap when we had to hand our weapons over on arrival.
Moss: But this place must have weapons somewhere. Where did the guards get their weapons from?
Ref: Some guards stuck around, obviously not part of the plot against you. They hurriedly direct you to an arms store at the base of the citadel. There’s basically any common weapon you could want. Some piecemeal armour too, but you still have your own armour at least.
Tal: What looks most dangerous?
Ref: So there are some polearms, like some halberds and… fauchards? You know, blades and spikes on poles. They look the most effective, but they’re also Long, so won’t be great in an enclosed environment.
Tal: Yeah and I guess we’re going to be fighting on that big spiral stair at some point.
Moss: Okay, something one-handed, so I can use my shield. Like a solid mace or axe?
Tal: Hey remember those bone-creatures were tough to kill with sharp weapons? Let’s get a mace and shield each. Actually, I’ll take a mace and another weapon. Is there something I could wield in my other hand?
Ref: Sure, you grab a hefty mace and a light mace that you can wield together effectively.
Moss: Wait, are there any javelins here? Or spears that we could throw if needed?
Ref: Erm, hang on.
Ref makes a Luck Roll and gets 4, an okay result for the players.
Ref: So there are some shortspears. Not really designed for throwing but they’ll work okay. Let’s say you can throw them, but rolls of 6 are discarded.
Moss: Rubbish. Well better than throwing rocks I guess.
THOUGHTS
In Mythic Bastionland I wanted weapons to matter, but not too much. I wanted players to feel like their choice of weapon matters, but I didn’t want them to spend lots of time crunching numbers and weighing up options.
Breaking the weapons into broad categories means that the choice between a polearm or a shortsword matters, but specific polearms generally behave in the same way.
Specialist weapons are special case if you really want a weapon for a niche situation.
Here the players start by looking for the “best” weapon, which Ref reasonably interprets as “the weapon with the biggest attack die”, but their current situation of defending a tower leads them to consider the environment they’re likely to be fighting in.
Better yet, they remember that blunt weapons would be especially useful against their expected enemy. There’s no “blunt” weapon type listed, so the game relies on the group using common sense. An advantage of this approach is that mechanically identical weapons can become mechanically distinct if the right situation arises.
When looking for a particular type of weapon, Ref falls back on the ever-useful Luck Roll, a mixed result prompting them to say that they find a weapon that almost does what they want. Here Ref throws together a ruling out of nowhere, saying that throwing the spears will mean rolls of 6 are discarded, making them less effective than javelins.
They could have gone in other directions with this. Perhaps they’re ineffective at anything but very close range, perhaps they gain the slow type when thrown, or perhaps they’re bulky enough that you can only carry a few of them, rather than a bunch of javelins.
It’s inevitable that a referee will need to make rulings like this on the fly, and I think this solution is fine. On average this ruling is identical to saying “thrown attacks are impaired” with a slightly different distribution of possible results, but I like the idea that players might roll a 6 and curse the clumsy spears, wishing they had proper javelins instead.
Elsewhere
Sir Poley has written four posts detailing the four table legs of Traveller, the things that make the as-written campaign game work. Make sure to read all four in order, as they’re a really insightful series.
Cairn 2nd Edition has entered a new phase of playtesting, so go and check out how it stands right now.
I have an Instagram that I don’t mention very often, but I’m pledging to use it more for miniature stuff.
Coming Soon
Over Patreon I’ve started a modular 15mm sci-fi terrain build.
I dipped into 15mm scale for some Bolt Action recently, and I'm really charmed by how individually based figures look in this scale. It's also a great scale for having tanks look impactful on the board without being obscenely large.
So I'm striving to put together a set of modular 15mm terrain that I can use for Sci-Fi themed games. I'd like to try out 5 Parsecs from Home,Stargrave, maybe 5150 Star Army but naturally this is also a good fit for The Doomed (though not sure I fancy kitbashing at 15mm scale).
I already have some woods, rough ground, hills, ruined brick buildings, wreckage heaps, and hedges from my Bolt Action modelling, so here I wanted to make something that I could cram into a small box and use to create a wide range of sci-fi battlefields.
It was Jenga time.
Expect the full post here and on the blog next week. Thanks for reading Bastionland Presser! Subscribe for free to receive new posts straight into your inbox.
