Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Gothic Horror => Topic started by: vikotnik on November 21, 2006, 07:52:15 PM
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I am a huge Frankenstein Fan and was just wondering if anybody knew some appropiate rules for this kind of setting.
Any ideas?
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Try Westwind Games Gothic Horror Vampire Wars rules. They have stats for Frankenstein, his creations, igor, failed experiments etc. You will find Werewolves, Vampires, the village mob, the Vatican, warrior monks, gypsies. Pretty much everything you need for Horror in C19th and the do a whole range of figures as well.
The only problem is the rule book is fullof errors, but the rules play well and capture the spirit of it. :)
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Here's my dispaced gallery showing my Gothic Horror Collection:
http://www.displacedminiatures.com/Malamute/galleries.html :)
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Malamute, can you tell me a bit more about the mechanics of the game (how does the character profile looks like? what dice are used? is it designed more naturally or based on tables and lists?)? Seems like Westwind is cagey about that (except for the 5 pages errata).
Myself tends to buy Rippers - the horror wars (http://www.peginc.com/Games/Savage%20Worlds/Rippers%20War.htm) from Great White Games. Any opinions about it? Are the rules similar to "Savage Worlds"?
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Vikotnik,
I have the Rules Malamute wrote about. I ( surprise ) also have the figures for the game... Hey and we both are in the same town. How great is that ?
Björn
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Malamute, can you tell me a bit more about the mechanics of the game (how does the character profile looks like? what dice are used? is it designed more naturally or based on tables and lists?)? Seems like Westwind is cagey about that (except for the 5 pages errata).
Myself tends to buy Rippers - the horror wars (http://www.peginc.com/Games/Savage%20Worlds/Rippers%20War.htm) from Great White Games. Any opinions about it? Are the rules similar to "Savage Worlds"?
Westwind's Gothic Horror is horribly edited. You need a lot of enthusiasm to get through all the rules and AFAIK lots of rules are a bit unclear or simply not printed in the book. If you are after clearly written rules like Warhammer you won't have much fun with it. The books are still worth the money for the background which is fantastic. So you can buy them anyways.
I don't like Savageworlds Rippers. The rules are fine and yes, it's the showdown rules with some fluffy additions. They have very nice idea for scenarios. The background is very uninspired. The army lists are rubbish. They are incomplete, don't make much sense, and they don't offer a troop building system. (Well there is one on the web but it's rather complicated and I'm not sure if it realy works. Not recommended except for the scenario ideas.
Alternative are:
45 Adventure and Chaos in Cairo. I'm not very familiar with the first one but iit should be easy to convert it into a system that works.
CiC also needs someadjustments, especially since all the needed devices like crosses and such are not available. With some tweaks it works well for the topic since you can build characters to your liking.
That's all I know about it.
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Its true what Mike wrote. The Westwind Rules are a bit difficult to read...
But God wants it...:I have Chaos in Cairo too and with a little Imagination those rules can easily adopted into Frankenstein !
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Back on the frankenstein topic, what scenarios would work with the background? An amok running monster come to mind but maybe there are other, more interesting ideas?
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Back on the frankenstein topic, what scenarios would work with the background? An amok running monster come to mind but maybe there are other, more interesting ideas?
Some cultists/mad scientists kidanpped the bride of the Monster. He's going to rescue her, maybe some his mates (the failed experiments) too.
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One of the supplements planned for Gloire is "Hexenjaeger*," which will be somewhere between Solomon Kane and Gothic Horror. It'll be out after Pirates. There will be construct monsters in that.
*I forget how to make umlauts on my American keyboard...
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A grave-robbing game (before the monster is finished) with Igor trying to get body parts and the town watch trying to catch him.
Don't forget the mob of torch-bearing enraged villagers, chasing the monster through town towards the old windmill.
:)
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I agree with all the comments about the rules being horribly edited. Yes you do need to persevere with them.We have found them great fun to play and have adapted the system to include wild west shootouts, colonial adventures etc.
They ae based on a quality dice system where each character has different dice for their attributes. Strength, dexterity, willpower etc. The dice range from D6, D8,D10,D12,D20. So it is possible for a vampire lord to have D20 strength and a villager maybe D6 strength etc.
So the emphasis is on individual figures in combat situations each rolling their respective Qdie and matching results.
Morale is worked out by measuring against the leader or the best figure in a group having the highest willpower rolling against their individua Qdice which might be a D6, D10 etc. The larger the dice the better the chance.
There is only one quick ref sheet with very few tables to go through.
I like it, but I know lots of people who have not bothered due to the mistakes in the rulebook. The background info is well written and captures the spirit of gothic horror well.
There are about 20 scenarios in the book as well to chose from. These include Vampire clans against Vampire hunters, of which there are different groups, werewolves verses vamoires, werewolf hunters, the church, vatican hit squads, warrior monks.
The scenarios specific to Frankensteins monster include the mob attacking the castle, the church sending a hit squad to take out the mad doctor. All good fun. :)
If anyone of you find yourselves in London I am always willing to lay on a game. I have terrain for Castle Dracula/castle Frankenstein, a Translyvanian village and Victorian London. I also have loads of figures! :)
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I forgot to add this link which is a fan site for Vampire Wars:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/voyager10/
There is also a Yahoo Group:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/gothic_horrors_vampire_wars/
As you can probably gather I am a fan of Victorian era Horror! :lol:
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I love Victorian Horror, too! So much ideas for terrain and stuff and so little time (and room at my home)...
Thanks to all for your reviews!
I think I'll stay away from those rule books, at least for now.
There are so many books available about the Victorian Era, about eerie tales and legends, about Jack the Ripper... I don't need this in a rule book, I just need good rules I can use without much work, improvisation and testing.
Malamute, I think I'll be in London somewhen in April. Maybe even for Salute, not sure yet. I'll let you know in time... :-]
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Witchfinder General,
I have just been reading the novel Sherlock Holmes verses Dracula. A perfect scenario. :)
Look me up when you come to London, I'll be going to Salute. :)
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I used to play it a lot when it was first released and second the rules are good however poorly edited and the charactor generation is all over the place
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Just read a post from Scott R. Pyle (author of CiC, I think) in the Goalsystem-Yahoo.Group:
"Actually, Chaos In Carpathia will be coming out before the re-release
of Chaos In Cairo, and it will feature complete Gothic Horror rules.
You can play monster hunter, treasure hunter, vampire, or werewolf
warbands, with a bevy of special characters drawn from the best of
classic Victorian film and fiction.
We are in heavy playtesting right now. I'll update you guys as things
get closer."
Sounds interesting...
Gruss,
Hagen
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Excellent news, and I also have heard they are launching a whole new range of figures to to compliment the rules. :)
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If I had to guess, I'd say they would do the new line with their "head swap" option like they are doing with the WWII line now. Makes sense as pulp/gothic horror/etc. is all about personality.
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If I had to guess, I'd say they would do the new line with their "head swap" option like they are doing with the WWII line now. Makes sense as pulp/gothic horror/etc. is all about personality.
Scott Pyle isn't affiliated with Westwind anymore. I don't think he will go for a head swap option.
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Really? Did not know that.
Is he out on his own or will CiC come out from an existing company? Has he released any details yet?
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Really? Did not know that.
Is he out on his own or will CiC come out from an existing company? Has he released any details yet?
He mentioned it somewhen back in the yahoo mailinglist. Chaos in Cairo is his game and will be rereleased somewhen this year with some rules changes.
Lucifers War and Roadkill are property of Westwind and will remain with them. The Gothic Horror rules will be released before the Cairo ones I think.
That is, in short, what was said on the mainlinglist.
I'm looking forward to see the new rules and miniatures. There are no release dates yet, unfortunately.
It would have still been nice to see a overworked rulesset for the Westwind GH range.
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How about a Rattrap Gothic Horror themed game?
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How about a Rattrap Gothic Horror themed game?
Somebody's working on it. :roll:
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How about a Rattrap Gothic Horror themed game?
Somebody's working on it. :roll:
Oh-oh - you guys really want every penny we have to go on minis don't you! :lol:
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Oh-oh - you guys really want every penny we have to go on minis don't you! :lol:
YES!
:mrgreen:
We have lots of plans in the works. I hope to have the newest announcement tonight for everyone. :roll: