Gadzooks, it’s the Apocalypse! Renaissance skirmish rules at the end of time.

[stevelampon]

I am hoping to turn this into another self-publishing project similar to ‘Setting the Scene, Winter Terrain’ (now in its 3rd printing, http://www.stevenlampon.co.uk/portfolio/), with the rules author Stephen Danes.

Steve has written many sets of rules for this period, including Father Tilly, Bloody Kingdom, Lace Wars, To the Banners and most recently Furioso for Alternative Armies.

Gadzooks, it’s the Apocalypse! is a game set in the first half of the 17th century. This was a period of widespread warfare, religious strife and general unrest. It was a time when very bad things were happening and when people had very definite ideas about what was going wrong with the world. Many saw this time of war and disorder as being the early signs of the coming Apocalypse and the end of time.

So it is in this time of catastrophe, prejudice and fear that the players will be entering – what a great setting for a game!

The action takes place early in seventeenth century Europe where the majority are struggling to hang onto their medieval beliefs in a world where science, reason and enlightened thought are beginning to take hold. Will humanity be able to struggle forward into an age of reason or will it fall back into blood and hatred and carnage?

Each player will control one character figure and a bunch of dubious looking henchmen. The character will have a detailed profile, a number of skills and qualities that can be improved upon if scenarios are survived and experience is gained. Henchmen are cheap and expendable and there are always plenty more to hire. If the character gains renown, better quality henchmen can be hired. Each character will have a specific profession or class that will determine the type of skills and powers that they can acquire and improve upon in time.

But players should beware, evil forces are at work at every turn. Characters that indulge in wicked and cruel acts will begin to attract the attention of sinister powers, maybe this new hero will become a champion of evil? Perhaps they will lose all shred of humanity and take on a demonic or corrupted form. Players will have to remember that the battle at the end of time approaches and sides will need to be chosen.

Gadzooks is a skirmish/roleplaying game comprising two opposing sides of one or more players each. If there is more than one player per side all players will strive to gain victory for their side - but some players will strive more than others. Just because there is more than one character on the same side does not mean that each character will work in perfect harmony. Even on the same side, different characters might have different objectives and motivations. It doesn’t even matter if players have characters that seem highly antagonistic to each other, some might be overtly evil and others undeniably good - but they can still join forces to defeat their enemy and claim their rewards.

More information is here, if the rules are of interest, please leave a comment. http://www.stevenlampon.co.uk/gadzooks-its-the-apocalypse/

[M.P.]

I am sooo much looking forward to play it 😊.

[Metternich]

Looks like great fun, in a Witchfinder General sort of way.

[Inkpaduta]

I am definitely looking forward to this.

[stevelampon]

Thanks for the interest, if you haven't already can I ask you all to post a comment on the webpage. That way I can keep track of numbers in a single place.

http://www.stevenlampon.co.uk/gadzooks-its-the-apocalypse/

Printing will be dependant on how successful I am at raising awareness of the rules. 100 buyers is the minimum and would just about cover costs. 200-300 would be better and is what I am aiming for.

Price is obviously dependant on numbers, at the moment the minimum cost will be £18.00 - if we manage to get the 200-300 buyers, if we only get 100 then the cost will be nearer £20.00.

Many thanks for the interest.

Steve.

[Arlequín]

You should maybe consider a pdf option too. Hard copy plus postage can price overseas buyers out of the deal. Money from the pdf sales could then be used towards funding your preferred 2-300 print run.

Also send some out for review before sale, a lot of folk look for online reviews before buying. Positive reviews will convert into more sales.

*Edit* - Maybe you should also use the [Commercial] tag in the thread title. 

[Grimjack]

Thanks for the interest, if you haven't already can I ask you all to post a comment on the webpage. That way I can keep track of numbers in a single place.

http://www.stevenlampon.co.uk/gadzooks-its-the-apocalypse/

Printing will be dependant on how successful I am at raising awareness of the rules. 100 buyers is the minimum and would just about cover costs. 200-300 would be better and is what I am aiming for.

Price is obviously dependant on numbers, at the moment the minimum cost will be £18.00 - if we manage to get the 200-300 buyers, if we only get 100 then the cost will be nearer £20.00.

Many thanks for the interest.

Steve.

One way to raise awareness would be to feature the rules in a well-known magazine - please PM me.

[Cyrus the Great]

Well, I was going to ask you how your rules compared to Witchfinder General or Donnybrook, but I saw this, "Sorry, I have no knowledge of DonnyBrook, Pike, Shotte & Zombie or Witchfinder General rules so I cannot compare." from your site. Some will collect any set of rules devoted to this period, but others are going to ask these types of questions, let alone, how they compare to Anno Domini 1666 which is also in the offing.
I'll watch how this develops over time.

[stevelampon]

Steve did post himself about the rules comparisons as he wrote PS&Z.
Hi Guys, I haven’t played Donnybrook or Witchfinder General but I did write Pike & Shot & Zombies so I can explain the difference there. P&S&Zs is basically a zombie survival game set in the 17th century where one or more players takes the role of a survivor or survivors and the other player is the umpire who creates the scenario and controls all of the scary stuff. GITA is a skirmish game between two sides with one, two, three, four (etc) players per side and it does not require an umpire. Obviously the setting is very similar but GITA has many more nasties in it and a wide range of characters that can either stick to the path of Good or go down the Evil route, which many seem to do! There is more of a skirmish game feel to GITA as oppose to the survival style game that is P&S&Z and there is more of a roleplaying/campaign feel to GITA. Players can create scenarios for GITA but don’t really have to because the random events (mostly random apocalyptic events) generation system quickly creates a story and objective in most games.