Dracula's America.

[dartfrog]

We noticed the 'shaken' rule as well. One of the posse had leadbelly. we found that made a massive difference. Will play the rules as written for a while however may play a house rule about shaken if we find it a problem.

As for the fighting I believe it's 3 dice unless you have a bonus like derringer or a sodding big axe.

I believe you get a free attack if you charge into a fight.

[Fenrir]

@Saucy Jack: Yep, the lowest Die type is a D6, it's not possible to get any worse- otherwise a Shaken Novice would not be getting any Dice to roll at all! I certainly do see your (and Dartfrog's) point, but during early play-testing it was found that Veterans and Heroes were veritable one-man armies (especially when various Skills like Tough were taken into account) that in one-off games folks just took the same small, elite Posses with better equipment, which was a bit boring. Also, in a Campaign it could mean that an unlucky Posse filled with Novices got steam-rollered by a more elite opponent! The degradation of their abilities due to injury was simply to rein Veterans and Heroes in a bit. They are still much better than Novices; they just need to beware of getting ganged-up on by a mob and ground down!

Ranged Weapons cannot be used in a Fight- apologies, it seems that somehow I missed this simple caveat!  It's sort of implied by the Close Work Skill and the wording for 'Contact' (page 9), but it really should have been explicitly stated! Once you are engaged with an enemy, you must either Fight them or try to disengage.

Re-rolling- yep, as long as you keep rolling the max and you never re-roll any single Die more than once (page 9), you can potentially re-roll all of them if you hit a lucky streak!

Dartfrog has the right of it- any Move that brings you into Contact with an enemy that you could see at the start of that Action is a Charge (page 20), and grants you a free Fight Action at +1 Die.

Hope that all helps, and extremely relieved that people seem to be enjoying their first games so far! **Goes back to kicking himself RE Ranged Weapons in a Fight**

[dartfrog]

We all loved the card driven initiative system. Lead to some sun stand offs and groans as cards we shown. I can see how the hero types can get 'all powerful'. As I said we will play the rules as written and if the shaken gets annoying for the players we would allow a roll like the downed rule at end of phase. It's a long shot type roll but worth a chuck type thing.
          In our game the evil Col' of the confeds was downed and the very next roll he made was 3 success on his roll. Up on his feet and off he went! He's gained some enemies has that guy!

Oh, I was using muskets for some of the congregation troops as those were what I had from Congo. Range as per carbine and jam of d6. It made a big difference that d6 jam!

Overall I'd give it a thumbs up and we are keen to get more games in again soon. I would post some pics, but it's a big faff for a techno-fool like me.

[Saucy Jack]

Thank you for the replies @fenrir - you really have created a wonderful game 

[dinohunterpoa]

Thank you for the replies @fenrir - you really have created a wonderful game 

+1!   

Fenrir has not only created a GREAT game - fun, well designed and versatile - but is always around to answer our questions as well - both rare things in the game industry! 

Fenrir, please keep doing that AMAZING job of yours! And now please just run back to your workstation and keep working on the next Dracula's America supplements! 



 

[Fenrir]

@Dartfrog: Really glad to hear you liked the card mechanics- it's definitely one of the things I'm happiest with!

As for Shaken- well an alternate version I tried out before settling on the final rules was just suffering a -1 Die Modifier to all Tests (obviously to a minimum of 1); so you could maybe give that a try if you want to give the elite guys a slightly easier time of it in the future!

And recovering from being Downed isn't always easy to pull off- but when you get those 3 magical Successes it's so sweet... 

Nice Musket rules, too- the version that's in Hunting Grounds right now is basically a cheap Carbine, but needs reloading after each shot... If you fancy play-testing it then feel free- meanwhile, I'll give your version a try and we can compare notes!

@Saucy Jack: Thanks very much, my friend- I can't tell you how relieved I am that folks seem to be enjoying it so far!.. 

@Dinohunterpoa: Again, thanks a lot for the kind words and the support on the forums- I guess that since this is my first published game I have the luxury of being able to focus more time on it here!
I'm currently working on some 'bonus material' that will hopefully see the light of day on the Osprey site and/or in magazines at some point in the future... I can't say too much right now, but Red Hand players should find some of it of interest! 

[dinohunterpoa]

I'm currently working on some 'bonus material' that will hopefully see the light of day on the Osprey site and/or in magazines at some point in the future... I can't say too much right now, but Red Hand players should find some of it of interest! 

YESSS!!! 

[Vampifan]

I concur with my learned colleague. Bring it on! 

[Saucy Jack]

@Dartfrog: Really glad to hear you liked the card mechanics- it's definitely one of the things I'm happiest with!

As for Shaken- well an alternate version I tried out before settling on the final rules was just suffering a -1 Die Modifier to all Tests (obviously to a minimum of 1); so you could maybe give that a try if you want to give the elite guys a slightly easier time of it in the future!

And recovering from being Downed isn't always easy to pull off- but when you get those 3 magical Successes it's so sweet... 

Nice Musket rules, too- the version that's in Hunting Grounds right now is basically a cheap Carbine, but needs reloading after each shot... If you fancy play-testing it then feel free- meanwhile, I'll give your version a try and we can compare notes!

@Saucy Jack: Thanks very much, my friend- I can't tell you how relieved I am that folks seem to be enjoying it so far!.. 

@Dinohunterpoa: Again, thanks a lot for the kind words and the support on the forums- I guess that since this is my first published game I have the luxury of being able to focus more time on it here!
I'm currently working on some 'bonus material' that will hopefully see the light of day on the Osprey site and/or in magazines at some point in the future... I can't say too much right now, but Red Hand players should find some of it of interest! 

That is what we talked about doing.

[DeltaBlue]

thoughts about doors and ladders

 so doors we are playing the following rules all doors are  assumed to be open and unlocked, and don't effect movement

doors can be locked and cost one action to do so

locked doors, can be forced by a successful a fight test against the door using D6

ladders:

so ladders under 4 inches cost  one movement to go up or down, ladders over 4 inches two movement to go up or down

models can choose to pause on a ladder.

models can only shoot pistol type weapons from ladders

models on ladders being shot at count as giving the shooter model the  backshooter bonus

(gods my english is getting poorer by the day..)

[Grimjack]

Fenrir, one thing has come up for us - there are no close combat weapons in the game, so if a character has a sword stick, club, cavalry sabre, etc., they receive no bonus?

Will this be tackled in one of the supplements, especially when you add the Tongs and Native Americans?

[dartfrog]

I have assumed most fighters will have access to at least a knife/butt/hatchet etc, however yes we will need weapons such as sabres and spears for some fights. I recall this is coming in a later supplement.

At the moment I'm okay with the shaken rule at the moment. May add to it if we feel. Rather like the fact if your shot up bad your out for the count. Makes to shoot out a bit more scary for all.

Next stop is sorting some mounted for our games.

[Fenrir]

@DeltaBlue: Love those ideas- I'm going to try out your door rules next chance I get!

@Grimjack: Yep, SOTW assumes everybody has some kind of close combat weapon- be that a sabre, a hatchet or whatever- and this is folded in to the basic Fight rules, to allow us to focus on all the gun-fighting!..

...However! Hunting Grounds (the first supplement for Dracula's America) does indeed include specific rules for swords, spears and two-handed weapons- we've got you covered! 

[DeltaBlue]

@Fenrir thank you, please do.

though I have got a question about shotguns  we had situation arose during last night's game

my younger brother tom's choose to fire his posse boss's shotgun at my sister dan(Diana) bloodkin boss

so shot and weapon declared distance measured found to be 12 inches

 so am I right in thinking  first its   -1 dice for long range then - 1 dice further for the shotgun special rule

[Fenrir]

@DeltaBlue: You are quite correct- your brother would lose 1 Die for Long Range and drop a further Die for using a shotgun at Long Range.
The reverse is also true, of course- plus 1 Die for Short Range, and an extra Die for being a shotgun at Short Range!

There's not much that can beat a shotgun close-up- during play-testing, the record was 7 Dice : 3 Dice basic, +1 Short Range, +1 shotgun, +1 Back-Shooter and +1 Elevated Position!