Pygmy Disaster

[Doomsdave]

That is insane and brilliant.  The board looks like the most fun wargaming set-up I've ever seen.  Truly inspired inasnity. 

[True]

An astute observation Bezzo...that particular corner is a board edge. You are not the first to comment on the misuse of space there.
And BC99 has either a good eye or a good memory as that is the UU at Cal Poly SLO in the background. The Con was held there this year after a couple of years at the Embassy Suites.

Thanks for the kind words folks. We have a blast building and writing every year but it is always nice to have that work appreciated outside of our own little minds.

As to the game itself, I could go on for pages on the history of it. It started out as an advanced version of Tom Wham's Search for the Emperor's Treasure...but that was many years ago. The way it works now is that each year we examine our succession crisis (the Pygmy Chieftain is always perilously close to dying) and add a new theme to how the Pygmy heroes must go about proving themselves worthy of the Pygmy throne. The first year it was an RPG run for friends and the goal was to bring back something useful. We built all of our locations, played for 14 hours and had a blast. The Pygmies returned to their village on an airship. The one pictured below is the current version of that ship.



The Pygmies took a break for a few years while people moved and married but when my partner (the Wastrel) returned to SLO we decided to revive the pygmies with a treasure hunt board game.



That is the preset board for our first year at the Con. The game was well received but we felt like it could be more than it was. For the following year, the pygmies themselves were the theme in that they had all been waylaid in some fashion and had to be rescued by the players. This was the only time we will depart from Pygmy Players. It was fun, but not the same.

For this year, our theme was natural disaster in that the Shaman of the Pygmies was so busy keeping the dying Chieftain from moving on that his normal control over the elements was failing.

There were four disasters that would come up in the course of the game: Tornado, Tidal Wave, Earthquake and Fire









We had one game of the four we played where all four disasters made an appearance, mayhem ensued and everybody had a great time.

I will go into more detail next time and see about posting images of some of the other custom game components we made. As to that, Marko.oja asked about where the Pygmy village buildings came from...I built those out of scrap while my wife was in China last summer. It was a long two weeks.

True
Team Pygmy

[Centaur_Seducer]

Its like Heroes of might and magic, with minis
Its amazingly done, thanks for sharing

[Ray Rivers]

Thanks for the closeups!

What an absolutely lovely game you have there.  Tons of great details... 

The disasters thing is just... too cool!   

[Sheerluck Holmes]

not only is this awesome, but it is totally awesome!

 What are the cards with hand prints on them? are they objectives?

 Also, I don't know if it is my browser or not, but I can only see one of the four photos above 

[True]

Silversixx...you are the second person to make that reference (one was a participant on the day we ran). I have not played this game but must look it up now as apparently it is similar to the aesthetic that I favor.

As to the cards with the hand-prints on them...those are recruitable characters. the luxury of custom printing one's own cards is that we can set up our own iconography. A member of the Team (The Zumwalt) did all of our graphic design this year and his work was top notch. All of our encounter cards had photos of the actual miniature on them and the Treasure and Weapons all had custom artwork reflecting the item described. I will work on getting pictures of them up. Scott also designed the icons for the custom scatter dice we used.

Objectives in our games are acquired via Quest cards that can be picked up at the Major or Minor centers. The key mechanic for victory is the accumulation of Renown (represented by large D6s) and Quests are the easiest way to earn renown...but the disasters are in the Quest deck so questing triggers disasters and each disaster hurts the Renown of one of the Pygmy clans if it is not stopped.

All of our rules and our Reputation/Renown system are homebrewed but they are simple enough that we can teach them to players quickly because we run this particular game only at the Con. The terrain and minis that we use are all owned and painted by the team though so we can use them in our own games during the rest of the year.

As to the pictures not showing....I noticed that in my first post all of my pictures showed. In my second, they are all there but three of them are listed via links. I don't know why that is and would love clarification from someone wiser than myself.

True


The Rockapotamus and Mummy Cult in the Ruins

[VoodooInk]

Its like Heroes of might and magic, with minis

Agreed... and that makes it extra totally awesome!

[Sterling Moose]

What a fantastic looking board!!

[Argonor]

Stunning...

Was talisman a source of inspiration for the table layout with the different 'locations'??

I would very much like to know how you made - in particular the pygmy huts, and the clouds (the plastic rods are terrific (- if you wanted a thunderstorm, you could make the clouds dark and use 100's of thin rods to represent the rain! - and make some lightning out of thin wire...)).

Truly inspirational - all gamers should get together with others to do such things at least once a year!!

[bc99]

And BC99 has either a good eye or a good memory as that is the UU at Cal Poly SLO in the background. The Con was held there this year after a couple of years at the Embassy Suites.

Ahh, yes, I still live in SLO. This may be enough to make me get to the Con. Great stuff, wonderful table.

[Sheerluck Holmes]

 Also, I don't know if it is my browser or not, but I can only see one of the four photos above 

I tried clicking of each little broken image squares showing in my browser, and they took me to the photos 

 Having seen the other photos - is that a floating hand in one of the photos? if so , what does it do?

 What is the creature in the rock/mountain (the one you can see the face of as the top of the feather cracks open)? was it just scenery or did it play some part in the game?

[True]

The Floating Hand is a Magnificent Ego piece. We call it the Slap and it is simply a force of nature that smacks around any character who draws it. The upshot of it is that if you are at sea when you encounter it you can send it against another player. ( just reviewed the pics and you may be looking at earthquakes hand. He has a non attached hand. The slap is green and it is also a big hand.)

The Rock monster is one of the disasters. He was our Earthquake. He would show up in a location and the Pygmies had to use a dice matching mechanic to try and fight him before he used his dice to destroy the location.

And in answer to Argonor....no. I am really not a fan of Talisman (heresy I know) so any resemblance was purely coincidental.  Any resemblance to Search for the Emperor's Treasure is purely intentional.


Couldn't resist...

True

[Chairface]

Inspired insanity! I love it! Close ups of the Pygmy heros please!

[Argonor]

And in answer to Argonor....no. I am really not a fan of Talisman (heresy I know)

No heresy at all - I think Talisman is boring 

[War In 15MM]

Outstanding!