Author Topic: SKULLDRED skirmish rules Beta 2.4 update (Read 7357 times)

Delaney · « **on:** February 08, 2011, 11:18:14 AM »

As you may know, I have been tinkering with a skirmish rules system in my spare time.

Beta 2.04 is now available and free* to download and playtest.

Download here www.skulldred.blogspot.com

Skulldred is a mental arithmetic free but rich tactical skirmish system for any scale- its designed to be playable by drunk or mentally tired gamers who want a rich strategic experience without the mental grind. It features a 'craps' style dice system, where results are known the moment the dice hit the table, rather than having to apply modifiers or use look up tables. All maths is done by totting up dice. You only ever add dice to your hand, never subtract. Finally players get to engage with the game when its not their turn, applying resources strategically whilst their opponent hammers into their force.

I hope you get a chance to look through it and give it a go!

Thantsants · « **Reply #1 on:** February 08, 2011, 08:16:56 PM »

Good job Dave - think I'll put your claim that you can play drunk to the test at the weekend...

If I make it to the gaming table and remember what happened I'll be sure to post a report!

TheSnackist · « **Reply #2 on:** February 09, 2011, 12:06:01 AM »

I just quickly skimmed through the file to look and see what you had here. I moved to the part about magic and became thoroughly confused. The whole portal/summoning/magic interaction was just not clear to me. It may be I was just reading it too fast (I'll go back and look at it later), but to me it seemed largely implied that portals are needed to preform other magical effects. I'll take a second look later tonight if I have time and see if it was just the first-read-through-blues.

Otherwise? Very nice presentation. I'll have to give the mechanics a more thorough read later. Definitely going on the 'peruse this soon' list of free rules.

I think it could maybe do with another one sheet breaking down how an average turn might go. Could help to ease into the game, as upposed to having to try and muddle your way through a how a turn would go, how each action would work, ect, in each individual section. Maybe just a very basic 'recap' page or something. Again, this might already be in there and I may just have missed it. I'll look.

-TheSnackist

Delaney · « **Reply #3 on:** February 09, 2011, 05:11:23 AM »

Brilliant idea. I will add that to a point release asap.

Portals are just points on the battlefeild through which spell effects and summoned creatures can appear- they act as the center of blast effects, for example, or define two points between a fire wall. Will rewrite to make clearer for first read through!
The idea is magic users place them on one turn, the enemy gets a go ( to react, such as dive for cover or counter it) then the sorcerer can place a spell on that location on it's turn.

Delaney · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2011, 12:48:36 PM »

As requested by The Snackist, here is a sample play demo.

http://www.daveking.com.au/articles/skirmish/skulldred_2_01_sampleplay.pdf

There is also an error in levels table- champion should be level 5, not 6. Remove Elite.

Heldrak · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2011, 12:57:58 PM »

The one thing that I thought on the first read-through of the new rules, was that it might be helpful to expand on the process of warband creation a little bit. The section on the Bederken Dwerg warband is helpful, but it's a significant change from the previous edition (where there were canned stats for many typical fantasy races) to making up a warband out of whole cloth.

I thought it might be helpful to have some sample examples of statting up typical troopers/shooters/heroes from some of the more common fantasy archetypes (Dwarf/Elf/Orc/etc.) to help players in getting through the warband creation process.

Delaney · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2011, 01:33:04 PM »

A quick start set of regular troops is a great idea. Will do.

TheSnackist · « **Reply #7 on:** February 10, 2011, 06:10:36 PM »

Ah, much improved by the sample play document. Helps to show just how the core mechanic is used. I can see how this game might be playable drunk. Very simple at its core. And not quite as simular to Song of Blades and Heroes as it appeared at first glance.

Definitely keeping an eye on this one.

-TheSnackist

Delaney · « **Reply #8 on:** February 10, 2011, 11:30:57 PM »

Thanks.

Yeah, for those who know SoBH and wonder what the main differences are...

The core dice mechanic. Like sobh, its opposed rolls- however its much easier on the drunken brain. You only ever add dice to your own hand, never subtract- so you tot dice up like an abacus (no adding, then subtracting, then adding some more to work out your target number). You also do not have to add your statistic to the dice roll. I wanted to avoid that pause you get whilst everyone works out their result then tries to work out if its double or triple. In skulldred, you tot up dice (modifiers) then roll. You can tell at a glance how many hits you scored.
The activation system. Unless you specifically field troops that are stupid or go catatonic- then move them away from a leader, you pretty much always get at least one action per turn and get to move all your troops. The majority of the time you get 2 or 3 actions if your organised.
No cascading routing. Instead of being forced to route, you elect to route, falling back to safe place and recovering. Unless you buy an army specifically to be cowardly, its unlikely your whole army will route off the table before you get a game in.
Lite Resource Management Skulldred uses a single resource system that represents morale, battle fatigue and drained magic called Dreadskulls- which are used to restore any downed (aka staggered, wounded or stunned) models back to their feet. Once this resource is depleted, models die instead of being downed. This stops whack-a-mole (down, up, down, up combats) and since you can spend and distribute these points throughout your opponents turn, keeps you actively making strategic decisions all through the game.
Portal magic. You summon portals then channel spell effects through these next turn- so opponent gets a change to counter, run away etc. However, since you can open several portals at once, your opponent has to work out your strategy to know which ones to avoid.
Shooting. Shooting and combat attributes are separate, so you can have, for example, a good archer thats rubbish up close.

Delaney · « **Reply #9 on:** February 11, 2011, 06:38:34 AM »

Okay, so point release 2.02 is now up - which adds everything everyone has asked for here.

There is a quickie army list to get you started, and I have gone through an clarified the sorcery rules- boiling it down to a much simpler experience.

The front end has been rewritten to make the basic concepts of the game stand out, after that last comment about SOBH too.

Thantsants · « **Reply #10 on:** February 11, 2011, 10:24:22 PM »

Good amendments - I will play a game or fall into a drunken sleep come hell or high water this weekend....

Delaney · « **Reply #11 on:** February 12, 2011, 05:00:51 AM »

You can do both... just make sure you dont use spikey miniatures in case you topple over onto them.

Delaney · « **Reply #12 on:** February 13, 2011, 12:40:40 PM »

Okay, just did a major revision- 2.03 - thanks to everyone writing feedback in!

I am going to hold still on this edition for a few weeks, so everyone can print it out and play it.

Really loving this project. Its starting to really fly in playtest/feedback/rewrite loop!

As requested I have replaced most of the photos with B/W printer friendly diagrams. I have also shifted the layout a little more- bringing all the combat rules mentioned in the warband builder into the combat section.

I have not had time to update the army list with new prices - so it has been stripped out for now (I am off on holiday for a week, so wanted to leave you with a playable edition whilst gone), but I replaced it with a quick start humanoid army card sheet- just print it out with all the stats and prices of regular warriors, archers, brutes and so forth. Have both opponents use the same stats in a one-for-one basis and you can dive right into playing.

The dice system has returned to the cleanest, best-est system we have tested- the one with models having just combat dice, shoot dice and magic dice-(no levels and dice) a toughness score and a SIZE which is used for target numbers. It just plays so fast and requires no mental agility to size up opponents. Exactly what this games about.

Thanks again for everyone here who is looking through it and is helping. I would love to see some battle reports for 2.03! Or even just the warbands you are using

Delaney · « **Reply #13 on:** February 20, 2011, 11:55:13 AM »

2.04 is now up and running for your download amusement!

http://daveking.com.au/articles/skirmish/skulldred_beta_latest.pdf

Magic system totally overhauled, lots of little errors fixed and new attribute explanation section added to front!

Cheers all... looking forward to some more battle reports. May do some myself this week too!

Thantsants · « **Reply #14 on:** February 20, 2011, 12:58:30 PM »

Nice one Dave but the wife is going to go spare if she notices the amount of paper and ink I've used printing various versions of the rules off!

Seriously though I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into the magic system!

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Author Topic: SKULLDRED skirmish rules Beta 2.4 update (Read 7357 times)

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