flexible skirmish ruleset with fantastical / horror elements

[Bloggard]

going off in another direction -if I want an old west skirmish ruleset that allows for fantasy / horror elements , but isn't prescriptive in terms of bespoke miniatures/ cards etc, what's my best bet?

I picked up pdfs of FFoL and the horror supplement (and 'reloaded') from the 'vault' yesterday.

will those do (and what's the relationship between the 'core' ffol rules and 'reloaded' - and do they both allow for the integration of the 'horror' supplement?)  ?

I guess Dracula's America is another obvious one- just wonder if effectively you do need the 'official' figure packs, or if I could use my own and put together custom gangs?

any advice much appreciated.


[If this should be posted on the fantasy board, could a mod move it accordingly?]

[Sir_Theo]

You can definitely use your own models for Draculas America. There are specific types of model etc but they generally fit in with horror archetypes.

[Sangennaru]

I believe Pulp Alley has interest mechanics for horrors and cinematic events. You could check the free intro rules!

[Bloggard]

thanks for the thoughts @Sir_Theo and Sangennaru.

hadn't thought of the specifically Pulp rules, although some of the figures from their range have caught my interest.

any clarification re: ffol reloaded and the still available 'core' rules, and which is best for integrating the 'horror' supplement?

[Elk101]

Reloaded is the Old West 2and edition rules. The Core FfoL rules are intended to be a base set for creating your own settings, with genre specific supplements providing tailor made settings. The Tales of Horror book is one such setting, generally covering a Victorian Gothic Horror setting, but with all the information you need to introduce vampires, werewolves, necromancers, zombies, etc.

Core and Tales of Horror would be the 'standard's approach  I suppose.

[Elk101]

Reloaded is the Old West 2and edition rules. The Core FfoL rules are intended to be a base set for creating your own settings, with genre specific supplements providing tailor made settings. The Tales of Horror book is one such setting, generally covering a Victorian Gothic Horror setting, but with all the information you need to introduce vampires, werewolves, necromancers, zombies, etc.

Core and Tales of Horror would be the 'standard's approach  I suppose, though you could take all the ready made stuff from Re loaded too and throw that in.

[Malamute]

Elk101 beat me to it.
 All our FFoL games involving horror/fantastical elements have used the core set with the horror supplement.

They are interchangeable so you can create your groups of figures using traits from either set and combine the two.

Our games  include Vampires in Victorian London or Werewolves Vs Knights  in the Middle Ages. AARs with more details on how we use the rules are on the Gothic board in various AARs.

If you want your games to have an Old West setting I’d still use the core set they cover everything in Reloaded but some of the rules have been updated which are in line with the horror supplement

[Dr DeAth]

Reloaded is the Old West 2and edition rules. The Core FfoL rules are intended to be a base set for creating your own settings, with genre specific supplements providing tailor made settings. The Tales of Horror book is one such setting, generally covering a Victorian Gothic Horror setting, but with all the information you need to introduce vampires, werewolves, necromancers, zombies, etc.

Core and Tales of Horror would be the 'standard's approach  I suppose.

I'd go with Core and Tales of Horror too.  The core will give you all you need for the Western element, and ToH will cover the occult elements. 

If you've got the money you could always get all 3 

I think I have all the rules from the FFoL stable and each book has something useful in it 

[Bloggard]

thanks chaps. Great stuff. Will start off with FFoL then.
I have bought all 3 (pdfs) !

Dracula's America looks very nicely done too, so would hope to pick those up at some point.

lingering over the Call of Cthulhu - Down Darker Trails (Old West) book/s too - as much for fluff and background as anything. Expensive tho'.
Hopefully adapting the content to a much simpler skirmish approach using FFoL.

[BaronVonJ]

Tales of Horror is not setting specific. As Malamute said, we've done Medieval, Victorian and modern. There's even a video on YouTube where they did werewolves vs King Arthur. Once you have Core, you have the tools. All the supplements do is add fluff for each era/genre.

[Bloggard]

If you want your games to have an Old West setting I’d still use the core set they cover everything in Reloaded but some of the rules have been updated which are in line with the horror supplement

thanks Malamute.

just to be clear - you're saying 'core' have been updated in line with horror ... ?

(and thanks@baronvonJ )

[Malamute]

thanks Malamute.

just to be clear - you're saying 'core' have been updated in line with horror ... ?

(and thanks@baronvonJ )

Yes, the core set is the best one to use alongside ToH. You could use Reloaded, but some of the rules in Reloaded have been upgraded and improved which is what Core delivers. Core also includes old and modern weapons, armour etc whereas Reloaded is Old West specific.

[Bloggard]

great, thanks.

[fred]

We’ve played lots of DAM, and its a good game, and its particular strength is in is background, and integration of those elements.

We’ve only recently found FFoL and I prefer it as a game system (there are certainly quite a few similarities with DAM, cards for activation, poly dice for quality). But I think there is more to FFoL as a game. But its a generic system with supplements, so there is less background. But if you are happy to provide this, then that’s not a problem!

[Bloggard]

thanks for the comparison there, Fred. Certainly leaning towards FFoL.

But I would hope to pick-up DAM over time.