Designing a Mission for Flames of War, SinSynn style

Hello folks, SinSynn here.

Okey dokie...serious post time....disregard the fact that I began this very serious post with 'okie dokie.'
:P

Here's the (very, extremely serious) deal:
I've decided to try my hand at mission design for Flames of War.
I'd like to apologize in advance- reading this will require some knowledge about the game.
With that being said, I'm gonna dive right in.

Simply put, there is only a single mission in the entire game- and this includes the new/updated missions in the upcoming 3rd Edition rulebook, that allows both players to deploy their entire army.
I find this...odd.
Seriously (okay I'll stop that now).

*Damn...there's a kitteh pic for everything!*

While admittedly I come from a 40k background (forced reserves as a game mechanic is an anathema to me), I have this feeling that a lotta gamers just wanna put their all of their lil' troopies and tankie tanks down on the table and go at it.
I'll say it straight out (cuz I'm all serious and whatnot), Free For All is the most popular mission in the game. It shows up at the majority of Tournaments large and small, and it's the easiest mission for 'one off' games at the FLGS, and hence the one a lot of players will become intimately familiar with.
Kinda begs the question- why is it the only one?

At first glance, designing a mission for any game system probably seems an easy affair.

My first thoughts were, 'Pfft! Just throw some objectives in the middle of the table (Free-For-All places two in each army's deployment area), and have a meeting engagement! How simple is that?'

Well, as a guy that runs an infantry force, I'm a lil' suspicious...

*From the look on this guy's face...I'm guessing 'no.' He plays German Infantry, clearly*

All manner of horrible things are gonna happen to infantry advancing on those objectives.
My poor lil' grenadiers would be shot up by Stewarts or pounded by artillery batteries on the way in. They'd never be able to 'get there' and dig in (which is what infantry forces need to do) before a mech or tank list absolutely demolishes them with machine gun fire, or arty reduces them to uselessness, moral checks are forced, etc.

Obviously, the 'defensive battle' special rule won't help here- they gotta get outta those foxholes and march.
As for using a balancing factor like, say, giving the defensive player an 'ambuscade' outside the defined area for placing objectives, or an 'easy out' like 'night fighting'....I don't think so.

Part of Free-For-All's charm is it's simplicity- it uses just two of the Mission Special Rules: Fair Fight (to determine a victor, duh), and Mobile Battle (to prevent alpha strikes, basically).

That means I won't be 'inventing' any rules here.
Not due to any unwillingness to do so. Quite the contrary, in fact- inventing a rule like this would make my job easier:

'Be on the lookout!'
-For the first two turns of the game, infantry platoons are considered concealed during the opponent's turn, even if they moved, as they put their heads down and carefully approach possible enemy-held positions.
-If shot at, they gain gone to ground status as well, as the alert soldiers immediately dive for any cover available!
-An infantry platoon that gains GtG status loses it if they fire during their subsequent turn, naturally, but retains concealment until turn 3 arrives, then 'Be on the lookout' is no longer in effect.

Granted, it's a quick and dirty rule of sorts, but whatevs.
It doesn't have the wacky table of night fight, nor is it a 'pre-game platoon tradeoff' like ambuscade is.
It would allow infantry platoons to deploy forward and race towards the 'middle of the board objective area' in relative safety, I guess.
Unless of course someone brings recce stuffs, and takes that GtG away.
*shrug*
That's the balancing factor (bring a balanced list, buddeh!), in a sense, but I don't like when mission rules 'force' list design, and consider that more of a 'scenrio' thing than a 'core mission' thing.

My goal this time (I'm sure Battlefront will immediately hire me to redesign their entire system, so fear not- SinSynn special rules are coming! Heh) is to employ an old military-born acronym as my FIRST RULE:

*My salary is negotiable, Battlefront!*

So with that one rule to guide me, and Free-For-All as my example, my GOAL is pretty simple:
Create a balanced mission with no more than two special rules that allows both players to deploy their entire forces prior to beginning the game.

Flames of War, with it's baseline method of parity (aka defensive battle in most cases, forcing reserves in others) for balancing Tank, Mech and Infantry forces, makes designing a mission with the parameters I've set an interesting challenge.

So, I'm off!
I'll be posting stuffs here as I 'think out loud,' and once I've got it play-tested and fine-tuned I'll post it up in the FoW forums.
That's the plan.

It goes without saying that anybody wishing to offer help, suggestions or criticisms...or simply wanting to call me an idiot, during this process is welcome to.

Until next time- Exit with catchphrase!

- SinSynn

Because it's relevant

Many of you may know that I'm writing a series on Intelligent Design over at HOP.  

I'm interviewing various folks, talking about the various aspects of design and their takes on them. In doing so, I've checked out a lot of awesome work that I want to share. 

Before I quoted a single person, shared a single image, or used a single comment, I asked permission. Mostly because I am nice; but because I don't want to infringe on anyone's copyrights. Why? Well, because it's the *^%$ law. Wanna see more about this?  Check out the utterly awesome article written by Lauby here. 

I hope you enjoy this article- it's well written and well researched. Plus, it's by Lauby; so it's double awesome. 

SinSynn, the bearer of unpopular opinions

Hey folks, SinSynn here.

I'm just gonna assume some of y'all know me from da House, and no introductions are in order.
If not, then....HI! I'm SinSynn....a Xeno with a Hamster living in my head.
Hope that helps....

So when Loquacious was gracious enough to offer me a place to splatter my thoughts about, how could I not accept?
I frequently have thoughts that need splattering, you see.
Also...who could say no to Lo'?
She's da awesome.

Of the many gifts she possesses, the one that twists me out the most is her ability to skewer my arguments with laser beam precision.
She's a wily one.
I go into most of these debates feeling fairly confident that I'm right about...whatever it is, and come out feeling like an ass.
...Sigh.

Recently she took me to task over my recent posts over at da House.
I had written a couple of pieces that generated some silliness in the comment threads, and she was all like, 'Dude, wtf?'
She asked if 'generating silliness' was what I wanted to do, as a writer.
I...didn't really have a good explanation.

I had a line of defense, not that it helped me at all...
'Hey, listen, I just write what I FEEL. I don't mean to piss people off. It just happens sometimes.'
Then Loquacious hasta throw a bunch of logic at me, and point out that there's gotta be an actual reason I feel that way, and a good writer has the ability to convey that.
Curse her and her...logic.

*Still waiting on my results, which Loquacious informs me are in the mail*

The reason my posts generated silliness, and not DISCUSSION, was that I didn't bother to explain myself in such a manner as to clue the readers into the why, when, where and how.
I just 'went with my feelings.'

If I'm being honest, I'd have to say I don't want to 'restrain myself,' creativity-wise.
I love this hobby, so much. I want to do right by it.
So what I'd LIKE to do is take the readers with me, an' show them stuffs. Maybe have a laff or two.
I don't wanna bring the mountain to them, I want to bring them to the mountain, and make it a cool trip....with like, tentacle hentai references, an unhealthy obsession with Megan Fox, and silly catchphrases.
Don't you judge me!
;)

Since I'm being honest, I'd also hafta say...sheesh- this is a little harder than I thought.
And yes, that IS what she said.
Moving on...

Our hobby certainly generates a lot of passion. What would normally be civil discourse between two people who felt differently about something becomes a cacophony of silliness here on the internet, however.
Waddayagonnado?
It's the internet, and everyone has an opinion, right?

Some of mine are:
- I don't like 'comp' (but...I don't wanna 'divide the community,' or 'ruin the game').
-The Flames of War Tournament System needs a makeover (apparently the focus is on 'historical,' and I'm one of the newjacks that's bringing 'the 40k mentality' where it's not wanted).
- I'm competitive (but, wait- I'm fluffy, too....but I like tournaments, so I'm WAAC. No, wait, I....Aaaaaaagh!).
- I really have no issues with 'the way women are portrayed in Fantasy/Sci-Fi' (is it exploitation, and pretty darn silly to boot? Yeah...but it's sexy chicks in settings I love, and I'm a guy. I can bluster about this...but I'm a guy, and I kinda dig it. And any guy that riffs like a menstruating Terran female about this is fronting. I hope it gets him laid...cuz I'm a guy, and that's in the contract).

And here's one that may get me killed one day:
- I dinna like the Lord of the Rings movies that much, and I have no interest in forthcoming Hobbit films (PLEASE DON'T HURT ME! I tried to like them, but I...can't. They're just not for me. I'm more of a Sci Fi, anime, Blade Runner-ish kinda guy, I dunno. I look at Hobbits, and think the most interesting thing they could do would be bestiality flics with Ewoks...cuz I hate them too).

Those are my opinions, and trust me...I'm sorry for each of them.
But not the Hobbit/Ewok thing. I mean every word of that. Nyah.

Sigh...I suppose I should explain myself...
...
..
Nah, maybe next time.
I'm a slow learner.
;)
...I AM sorry, though...
(and I really wanna do right by the hobby)
I promise I'll try my best, but there will probably be some silliness along the way...
...and tentacle hentai, Megan Fox pics, and of course:

Exit with catchphrase!

Until next time, folks- have a very Xenos day!

- SinSynn

[WOD] Austin By Night: The Metaplot

I've been playing this game for well over three years now. I've played different types of supernatural sorts and characters with different backgrounds, knowledge and skill sets, abilities and motivations.

I've caught different tails of the metaplot of this game via those characters and their interactions with the world. Jak was certainly first to be touched directly by the Hellmouth (the best way to put it).

I won't lie, the day Jak, Ed and Raff found the hidden door to the cave that housed the Hellmouth, and the ST announced we could see an army of warriors coming towards us on the spirit side (but not the physical), I figured we were dead. I knew we didn't have the ability to handle the situation (not even a little- It was like a Challenge rating 18 adventure for three 2nd level dudes). I couldn't figure out why the ST chose to even bring it out if we weren't meant to handle it. (Which we weren't, he had some NPCs ddeal with it.)

The stuff about the Hedge Row and the leyline there took a long time to come out, and while I see its relevance at least a little, I am not sure what to DO with it. There are other aspects of the Hedge Row that I just DON'T get and can't figure out.

I mean, I know DeathRow Inc are Vampires. I know they own the Hedge Row. I know they were involved in some sort of ritual sacrificial cult (maybe the sacrifices powered the leyline???? made it more powerful???? I don't know) and I know there's another partner, who by my best guess, is a VERY powerful Changeling. I know the Harpy wants the Vampires found. I know at least 3 characters, if not more, have devoted countless hours to finding as much about the Hedge Row, its owners and why it's such a touchstone for the area with no real result for the effort. I still don't know why the Hedge Row is so important. Changelings and Vampires both seem to want to claim it, with Mages suddenly taking an interest once they discovered the leyline.

Why is the area between Jak's house and the Hedge Row so important? Why were there no less than 3 packs fighting over/defending it?

What is the deal with the Cemetery House? It's connected to the Hedge Row, too- somehow.

Who owned Jak's house before him?

What the hell is going on with the Dream War? I know Winter hides, but has the Queen truly abandoned or is this just really, really good hiding?

What the hell is going on with Mr. Death and those creepy zombies? Is he really creating them or are they just happening because there's a power vortex there? Are they defending the vortex or him?

Smaller points that are equally confusing:

I know "The Company" is a front for a Hunter group. I don't know why they hired Jak or what they wanted with him. I don't know what Cassandra wanted from Jak, especially as it related to the house (on top of the Hellmouth). Why would a Changeling want anything to do with the house? Unless it was Jak and his anger that she was feeding on... I don't know.

Mr. Flowers has been portrayed as both a terrible menace and a help to those in the Austin area. What's the story there and why did Rovan want him dead? What did either one of them do to the other?

What happened to the magician's circus? Heck, what happened to the Consilium?

Are the gremlins truly the "children" produced by Eile and TK's single night of unprotected sheet thrashing? Or are they fetches sent by the other side as weapons of confusion against the Changelings?

--------------------------------------------------------
I know there's a LOT more I am missing. I am only aware of some of the plots (Meta or otherwise) in the game due to only being one person. I keep wondering "what we have to do" to get some of the stuff going on. I often wonder if I am just "not smart enough" for this game, and think perhaps I should blow off all the plot worrying and just focus on fun.

I know I can't be the only one, but there is definitely a fear of admitting that out loud. Sigh. I'm doing it anyway...

[WOD] Austin By Night: Agent of Chaos

Most of the writing I do here regarding WOD is about the characters I play in the game. I've chronicled at least some of Jak's antics, almost all of what I remember and was important for Eile, and have started on Vinnie's journey.

I haven't really brought up anything that TheBoy is or has been doing- mostly because this is my blog and I write about stuff that affects me. Shamelessly self-centered, I know.

I spend a lot of physical time with TheGirl due to work schedules, the store, and other real life things. The time I get with TheBoy is pretty limited. WOD was a game that he and I joined together, as a deliberate attempt to have some time just for the two of us. I've guarded that time as closely as I can, knowing that I don't have much time left before his life changes dramatically and his priorities may not entail 'gaming with mom'.

Very recently, TheBoy's longstanding character Bruce died. Bruce was a Hunter, a lone human standout in a hugely supernatural world. Bruce was, in most cases, an unmitigated ass. There were some situations where he made allies and was helpful, but for the largest part, he was a man acutely aware of the horrors around him, forced to deal with them rather than die. He mainly chose not to slay the monsters in order to study them further, and gain valuable information for the "big wars"- and man, there are a lot of them.

Bruce died in an attempt to stave off an elder god being summoned by 2 grief crazed members of the group. [Yes, PCs tried to summon an elder god. It was weird.]

Whether Bruce was successful or just satiated the god's thirst for now was irrelevant to TheBoy. He was thrilled with how his character went out, and felt great pride in staying true to his character to the bitter end. I have to say I was really proud of him.

TheBoy is now playing a SinEater named John. John is a Celebrant whose Geist is an agent of chaos. John's Geist's name is Methusela, and he loves to create havok. TheBoy has a great rolling dialogue about how his Geist torments John's coworkers at the "pencil pushing factory" (stolen RIGHT from Fairly OddParents, I love this kid) or will depants the clerk at the grocery store, or other, random, weird shit; just because he can and because he thinks it's funny.

In high school, I was friends with two of the strangest guys, who were both delightful adherents to 'chaos in real life' as much as they possibly could be. Their singular purpose was to cause as much dissonance and sow as much strange as they could.

There were many times when being their friend was a lot of fun, just to see what would happen. The same is true with TheBoy's character. Watching what he does with John and Methusela and what trouble they get themselves into is immensely amusing to me. I love the creativity running through TheBoy's head and I can SEE the ideas burbling about as he blabs some new scene of what he is doing.

I can't wait to see what he does next!

[RPG] Jeff Rients as GM of [Fill In the Blank]

Last night TheBoy and I were having one of our epic gaming conversations (how cool is that when you can talk about geeky  stuff with your kid and they totally get what you are saying) and mentioning how a certain dude in our crowd is kind of like, the worst GM ever wrought. He's really terrible. Poor guy.

We then contrasted said guy with Jeff, who is, in our opinion, "like, the awesome GOD of GMing". We discussed how pretty much everything Jeff runs at least SOUNDS cool and/or fun. It was mentioned that Jeff could run TIDDLY WINKS and we would play it. TheBoy was very enthusiastic about this idea, complete with coin flipping sound effects and pantomimes to prove his approval of the concept.

It was then asided that Jeff is really good at a certain kind of game, and that for other types, maybe he was not the ideal GM. Jeff's natural habitat as proposed by us was "goofy and/or over the top", but we are willing to admit we might be wrong. However, to prove our point, we got into one of our famous "what if" discussions.

An example was made of Traveller, which; while having a huge following in our area, has some pitfalls. TheBoy was full of demonstrations on how a Jeff-lead Traveller group could go awry ("I don't know what the *&^^% is going on! Crap, I'm dead.) and we declared this MaybeNotAGoodIdea.

Next was a Jeff-run Vampire game. The mere IDEA of this premise was so mirthful as to elicit an 8.2 on the lolololololololograph (IE I could not stop laughing for the life of me) and TheBoy voted the scenario as officially Hilarious.

Paranoia in all its variations seemed the best place evah for Jeff to unleash his personal brand of awesome, but we were perplexed as to who plays the game anymore, so we had to pronounce this possibility as Meh due to potential lack of interest.

From there, the conversation sort of broke into fits of giggles and occasional hiccups of insanely stupid inside jokes, but it was a very fun thought exercise at the time.

Why not suggest "What Should Jeff Run", and cause a little laughter today?

[40K] Merry Christmas to Me!

Just one of my presents this year:

TheDude sure does love me something fierce. I think I'll keep him.