Alchemy's Workbench #14: One More Panic!

After posting up my variants in the pipeline for Castle Panic I was suddenly struck with a bolt of inspiration that I think could really work!

Instead of the standard circular attack area, this variant uses a grid and the grand daddy of all tower defense games, Missile Command, as it's theme. The "missiles" will all be programmed to move in a very D&D adventure system style (in order to home in on towers). The deck of cards that the players draw from will also be replaced.

Instead of Swordsmen, Knights and, Archers, the deck will be largely populated by letters and numbers, which are referenced on the grid to hit incoming missiles in the style of Battleships. There will also be a few cards that substitute for any letter, any number, any letter or any number, as well as other special effects cards.

I'm still mulling this one over at the moment but it's fast falling into place. It's also far enough detached from the original game that it might even be permissible to offer as a print and play game right here! :0). 

Alchemy's Workbench #5: Hulk On Hold

Just a quick update on my little side-project of combining the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game System and, Space Hulk to create a truly solitaire experience in the grim darkness of a Tyranid infested hulk.

It's probably not the update that you were all looking for though.

As I have SO many projects on the go at the moment, I have decided to shelve both this and the Diablo II conversion project until a couple of others are completed and, I can give them the due attention that they both deserve.

In the short-term, I have decided that the best number of projects for me to be working on without the risk of getting hopelessly side-tracked is probably two to three. Picking the three with so many pots on the boil was a hard one though but, I have decided to run with the following:

• The Dungeon Masters Series: I'm halfway now and I have really enjoyed working on this one, so there was no way that this one was going to get put on-hold when it's running so well.

• Flashpoint: This is a project that I have had sitting around for a few months that is pretty much in it's final stages now. Unlike my other projects however, this will be a salable product that can be yours for all of a dollar.. What is it though? Oh, it's just the only set of miniatures rules you'll ever need. ;0).. And I'm looking for a distributor.

More on this one to come.

• Assorted Painting and Modeling Projects: I have a whole bunch of miniatures and terrain (some my own, some that I'm doing as favors to other folks) that I am painting up when I have some time to spare, as well as a number of models that I am building from scratch.

These represent some of the only time that I am spending away from my laptop of late, so I certainly wasn't going to can them!

That said though, I certainly intend to showcase some of my finished works here. I may even lend a helping paintbrush in the future to folks who need it (I don't charge by the way but a few miniatures thrown my way as a thank you never goes a miss. ;0))

So, that's where I stand at the moment. Lots of stuff going on to the back burner.. But only until I have time and space for them.

Where's The Doctor when you need him?

Alchemy's Workbench #2: Further Thoughts on A.I

I really have to say a big thank you to Jerry for being such a great sounding board on this one and, his comments have really got me mulling over just how I will handle the A.I in my solo player version of Space Hulk.

Whilst I quite like the method that the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System uses to handle enemy movement and action, it becomes very easy from a player point of view to exploit when you always know exactly what your enemy will do in any given situation.

It's like attracting your enemies in a first person shooter and then camping around a corner. Knowing full well that they will just walk on over blindly, only to have both barrels of a sawed-off shotgun pumped into them at point blank range.

It's just not realistic and, it's certainly nothing like playing against another human being.

Then again, the only real alternative card driven A.I out there, found in Gears of War may be more unpredictable but, it's random and, random A.I is really no kind of A.I at all.

Both of them also really fail in taking into account the mind of a gamer too.

Strategies change based on who you're playing against, how experienced you are and, the situation at hand. All of which should be considered when designing the games A.I. Even if there is an optimal strategy, there is no guarantee it will be used or even spotted by a player or, that it will be relevant to every single game. Maybe not even the next game.

All of this as you can imagine is proving quite interesting food for thought. Can a board game ever truly have a functional and realistic A.I?

Alchemy's Workbench #1: Space Hulk For The Lone Gamer

I am an avid games designer.

Rarely a week or even a day goes by that I don't conceive of a new idea for something that I think would make for quite a cool game. I have a notebook full of doodles, diagrams, loose paper and, writing that's testament to this.. Not to mention the many text files I have strewn over several hard drives.

Most of these ideas however rarely see the light of day for one reason or another, the most frequent being that I'm not a patient fellow and the idea of me sitting down for the amount of time it takes to complete a project is frankly laughable. Especially when I consider that the next idea is just around the corner!

So instead of sitting down patiently I have decided that the best course of action is actually to get my ideas out there amongst my readership, so that it can be best judged exactly which ideas are worth following, right here, right now.

So for the first time EVER, I welcome you all to come and take a gander at the Alchemy Workbench and take a look over one of my more recent musings, Space Hulk for the lone gamer (the title needs work if nothing else).

Space Hulk is a grand old game which enjoyed a recent, if pricey face-lift and, although 3rd Edition was only a limited run, there are still enough 1st and 2nd Edition copies out there being played to make doing something with the concept worthwhile.

So, what do I have in mind?

What I want to do is completely strip away the mechanics of the game and draft in those from the D&D Adventure Game System.

There can be no doubt that these games, although sold as "cooperative" are far better played solo and, that the ability to manage enemy AI in such a consistent manner is just what you need if you're planning on playing Space Hulk solo. It's like a match made in heaven!

I can see there being a need for a few tweaks and additions but by and large the work is already done for us.

The first and most obvious thing that will need changing will be the Power Cards included in the Adventure System games. What I envisage here is that common actions like firing a Storm Bolter become At Will Powers, whilst heavy weapons are handled by "Utility Powers" and, reloading them becomes something akin to a "Daily Power".

The next change I feel would be to create a decks for the hulk (similar to those included in the Deathwing expansion for Space Hulk but handling smaller sections) and, a deck to handle enemy AI, like those included in the original Adventure System games with a couple of tweaks.

I also think that I might add in an Event Deck similar to the one included in both Space Crusade. Realistically this is a must as the Adventure System wouldn't function as well without one and, it is the Adventure System that we are initially looking to emulate.

Thinking again about AI system though, it is less important that we create enemies that function uniquely and, instead that we create groups of enemies that function well.

What I mean by this is that D&D thrived on throwing a wide range of enemies at you that attacked and moved in a number of different ways but, what we want to recreate for Space Hulk is a hive mind. All of our cards will will be pretty much the same except for the number of Genestealers they bring into play, so we really need to create AI that takes best advantage of this, which in my mind means bringing their weight in numbers to bare.

So I pretty much have the majority of "how this will work" mapped out and, I even have a few ideas beyond this that could have this project written up and ready to play within the space of week or there abouts if given the time.

My question is though, what do you think of the idea?

Alchemy Bytes #14: Dungeon Command

Another interesting insight into the world of gaming from Tom Vasel and Sam Healey over at the Dice Tower.

This time they take a look at a game that has certainly caught my eye and, promises to have a great deal of potential. I strongly suspect I will be picking up a copy at any rate. I also however suspect that this could very quickly become another expensive collection to maintain.

With each of the two box sets currently available costing over £30 each and, the realistic necessity being that you need both to play a decent game it's not cheap off the bat. Then take into account that there at least two further planned expansions in the works at Wizards and, we start getting into the realms of downright expensive!

Since this is Wizards as well, it isn't unrealistic to expect that they will go down the route of releasing booster packs that will probably set you back about £10 a time.

For that kind of money I could build a 40k army!

Dungeon Command does have certain advantages over Warhammer though. Chiefly the fact that the miniatures you buy here come painted and assembled. Also however, each miniature also comes with cards that allow you to use it in any of the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure System games that you may already own (Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, The Legend of Drizzt).

So if you do happen to own any of those you're not just getting a new game but an expansion for your old game to boot, which makes the £30 a box price much easier to justify and accept.

In conclusion, I would say that this game would make a great buy for any fan of the now out of production Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Game but, be warned, keeping up with this one isn't going to be cheap!

Diablo Day: A Ground Breaking D&D Release... That You've Probably Never Heard Of

Fast-Play Goodness

Diablo II is arguably one of the greatest PC titles ever to be coded and, Dungeons and Dragons the best know roleplaying game ever to be written. So what do you get when you cross these two leviathans of their respective fields and give it away for free?

Yet another gem doomed to relative obscurity it would seem.

This is probably in no small part due to the sheer volume of roleplaying products now available freely on the Internet. It's very easy for such a small release, even of such a major brand, to get lost in the crowd and, Wizards did very little to prevent this.

It's a shame really as this is not only a nice little standalone product but, also a bit of a Pandora's Box...

Despite being clearly advertised as a "Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game" product on the front cover, there's not a funny shaped dice in sight. Now a Dungeons and Dragons product running purely on D6 is nothing short of an oddity in itself (especially in this D20 day and age) but, a little further investigation uncovers something that can only be described as epic!

When compared to the other Diablo / Dungeons and Dragons crossover products available, it becomes clear quite quickly that the fast play rules have been cut from the same pattern as the small Diablo II boxed set, which in turn was based upon AD&D 2nd edition.

So what you have here is more than just a freebie. It's a completely new take on the D&D system from Wizards themselves! In my opinion this is nothing short of ground breaking and, certainly deserving of more attention than it has received, Diablo or no Diablo.

What makes this discovery so important however has to be the timing.

This whole system uses AD&D 2nd edition as a foundation and, AD&D has just been re-released! In real terms this means that there is likely to be a massive nostalgic surge in the number of AD&D players out there. One that Wizards is unlikely to miss cashing in on.

So we should certainly expect more products in the range and, probable re-releases of many of the classics. All of which can be easily converted for play with the "Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game"... Which really needs re-branding, renaming  and, knocking into production.

Stay tuned into Diablo Day as we continue our exploration of this forgotten system and I answer what seems to be the most popular forum request surrounding it.

More monsters!

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