Stories from Men of War

I've been playing a wee bit of Men of War: Assault Squad lately, and have discovered to my delight that this micro-heavy RTS is ripe to bursting with stories. Which is probably why I keep playing it. And why my thoughts turn towards it periodically throughout the day, often remembering some tiny, inconsequential act I committed that was: So. Bad. Ass.

These stories come about, not because there is an epic back story to the maps, or because there is some vast investment into characters or narrative. No. Rather they come about because of the little things. Most specifically, the level of detail modeled into the game.

One story in point:

A buddy and I are playing co-op on the Carentan map. We're the Allies. Towards the center of the map sits a German Flak 41, commanding a promenade with clear sight-lines down two major roads. It's in a reinforced emplacement with one MG crew and has heavy squad support, whose members seem to regenerate every 90 seconds or so. Unfortunately, there is a critical control point located nearby, and sits squarely in the range/LOS of the gun and her support crews. We can't move armor in to support capturing the point, and our squads are getting chewed to pieces. When we try to assault the gun with squads (presumably composed of men of war), they get decimated by enfilading fire along the roads.  No air support (as yet).

Suddenly I remember a little game mechanic/model tidbit I picked up in the MOW:AS forums: that HE rounds directed at structures will explode on impact, but AP rounds will pierce right through it.  I move a Sherman and two assault squads into position, opposite  a lovely French home from the flak gun emplacement.

Immediately, a couple of German squads pour around the sides of the building to take out the tank. My own squads engage from limited cover, protecting my tank. Still, the Krauts managed to get off an AT grenade which disables the right tread on the Sherman. That's okay though, because I take direct control of the tank, load up some AP rounds, and begin firing through the house at the emplacement. After a few rounds, I've punched a nice hole through the structure and start landing rounds on the gun. I switch to HE rounds, which now pass through the building and explode on the emplacement to devastating effect. Within moments, we've destroyed the emplacement and captured the point.

I doubt the AI would have come up with that solution, even if I had put them into the right places. It was only by taking direct control of my tank that I was able to crack that particular nut. And only because the developer included a fairly detailed damage model on top of an already wild deformation model.

That modelling, coupled with the ability to dive into any one unit on the field and control them directly, wrapped in the crunchy shell of the RPG-like inventory system, lends itself to  very innovative game play.  These features set the stage while also providing the actors for these personal vignettes. In Company of Heroes, you actually hear "Sarge" say things like "Jesus, Conrad! Tie your fucking laces!" Because the audio cues are both more clean and sparse in MOW:AS, I can't help but interpolate my own sarge-like comments as events unfold.

I peel off a pair of riflemen from a squad in order to salvage some  ammo from a tank and I hear, "Zacny! Andrich! Get out of that cozy hole of yours and find me some motherfucking .50 cal ammo!"

The fireteam rushes from cover and starts pulling gear from the still smoking hulk. Meanwhile, Zacny is muttering, "This is bullshit! Why didn't he send Sands out to get shot for a change? Why's it always gotta be us?"

Another little scene might come from my realization that my tank is out of fuel, or that my MG emplacement is running low on rounds. I grab Private Sands and send him to the rear for gear. My internal Sarge speaks up, "Sands! You're up!"  The little dude runs back to the engineering truck, opens up the back, and stares dumbstruck at all the stuff he can plunder. Fuel, AP mines, AT mines, bandages, various grenades, ammo in 15 different calibers, MREs.  Okay, that's all true but the MREs. I think.

In my head, I hear the buck private yell to nobody, "Anybody know what kind of ammo our machine guns take?" I feel for him, 'cause I certainly don't. But I load him up and sprint him back to the front where he hands out the candy like some gritty, Armageddon Santa.  He arrives just in time to deliver the AT grenades, in advance of an incoming Puma.

Corporal Murdoch immediately seizes a grenade, advancing bravely (and solely) into the Puma's path.  Time stretches out as he runs from his cover. His mates all yell, "Nooo!" but stand transfixed, watching as the turret swivels slowly towards their brave, little rabbit. He looks back over his shoulder at the sarge, who nods in acknowledgment. He lobs the grenade at the base of the vehicle...

...the charge explodes, the vehicle is disabled, and Corporal Murdoch has been spread across the battlefield, the result of withering fire from the Puma. But his sacrifice was not in vain. No. He bought the Allies - at least - 15 seconds before the next wave of Stugs, Panzers and an endless supply of grenadiers move into our indefensible position. We cheer his sacrifice, applaud the resupply effort, and then sigh as we see the punctual arrival of more armor than even God has ever seen.

We know we are going to lose because this game rides on a damned, dirty, cheap AI who aggressively punishes you with vast numbers of enemies. But dammit if she doesn't tell a good a story.

The Oldenhaller Contract: the setup

November 6th, 2010.  The start of a new WFRP campaign.

Jake and Cory show up, and we begin discussing the system. I give a brief overview of the dice mechanic and how the relativistic/abstract combat map work. We begin making characters, and Dale arrives toting his newly created Human Solider Oldric.  Over the space of the next 90 minutes, this is what emerges:

Oldric is a Human soldier, recently released from the Imperial Armies. He suffered from a bad concussion during training, an event which triggered a inborn desire to join the ranks of Sigmar as an Initiate. After his discharge, he receives a letter from his Uncle, Albrecht Oldenhaller inviting him to the city of Nuln. His offer: work for his uncle for 1 year, and he will be sponsored into the Cult of Sigmar at the great temple in Nuln. 

Cael is Nin, a High Elf sword master from the great land Ulthuan.  He is incredibly young for his race, but yet like all defenders of the Tower, he carries a magnificently forged greatsword of Hoeth. Seemingly sent to guide a scholar to the city of Nuln, his mission is abruptly aborted but he endeavors to travel to the city regardless.  He is either moving towards some end, or fleeing from something in his past.

 Young Friedeger Liebengut is an apprentice to Magister Egan Von Brandolf, an Imperial Wizard of the Grey Order. He has recently completed his long initial training in the capital city of Altdorf. Although Friedeger questions whether his path will lead to becoming an Acolyte of the Order, he nevertheless continues to follow the requests of his master. As yet unsure what the final test of his apprenticeship will be, he has been sent to Nuln to await further instruction. His standing orders: to investigate any potential threat to the Empire, and report back to his master or else where appropriate, take action. 

The players decide the party will have met on a boat to Nuln, and together they select the party sheet: Glory Hounds.

Oldric wishes to cover himself in the glory of Sigmar and will take on whatever tasks necessary to join the righteous ranks of the Holy Defenders of the Empire. Cael is destined to glory as a sword master, wishing only to apply his blade to those endeavors which meet his criteria of demonstrating loyalty and honor. Herr Liebengut wishes to bask in the glory earned from mastering the winds of magic, though his interest in artefacts of an arcane nature could prove to be a fatal undoing, or an opportunity to gather more glory to himself.

The players decide that Oldric has convinced them to come with him as he presents himself to his well-to-do uncle.

Oldric's memory of his uncle are fuzzy at best. He knows that in the years prior to his own father's death, his father and uncle grew more distant from each other. He always had chalked it up to the fact that his uncle left the quiet town he grew up in and started a seemingly successful business in the city of Nuln.  Still, the opportunity to be sponsored into the cult of Sigmar, nevermind in the very great temple where the Arch-lector sits is beyond passing-up. 

Cael is dubious about the opportunities presented by Herr Oldenhaller, having suspicions he's nothing more than an up jumped fence or criminal. Still... he means to avoid the Elf district for as long as possible and perhaps he can find an opportunity to demonstrate his worth. Besides, something intrigues him about the other human, Herr Liebengut, which he can't quite place his finger on. He reluctantly offers to escort Oldric and Friedeger to the manse, and his sense of loyalty and honor demand he fulfill his promise. 

Friedeger is intrigued by the idea of putting his skills to something practical, and combined with his rapidly thinning purse, decides an opportunity to earn additional coin while waiting for word from Magister Egan is worth investigating. He is also curious about the motives and story of the High Elf, whom he can't quite read. Still, he suspects the story proffered by the Elf isn't entirely truthful and it might be a lark to use his skills at intelligence gathering and subterfuge to get to the real story. 

With that decided, they begin play...

--

Up next: Episode I: So... this is Nuln.

Returning to Nuln

The year is 1986.  I am 11 years old.  The world of RPGs is not new to me, but I have never run an adventure or campaign for my friends before. I have, thus far, always been a player.

I work on the weekends for my father. He owns dozens of properties scattered across the North County of San Diego, and my allowance comes from the various things I do: mowing lawns, replacing sprinklers, patching holes in walls, painting, and so on.

I have $80 dollars in my pocket. A princely sum.  I am standing in the local GameKeeper, eyeing the racks of D&D modules. There, wedged into the display is what can only be described as a large tome of awesome.

I know it is a tome of awesome because it features a tattooed dwarf with a shockingly orange mohawk splitting a goblin down it's center with a massive two-headed battle axe. Center stage is a freakish creature with his own black and white mohawk laying into a decidedly gleeful warrior. In the background, a wizard is preparing to hurl a fireball, and the wrap-around cover art reveals a horde of greenskins about to descend onto the party.

That is some seriously awesome shit to bask in as an eleven year old. I open the cover. The first thing that hits me is page upon page of careers. "Careers?" I ask myself. "What about classes? Where is the fighter? Where is the thief?"  Intrigued, I thumb deeper into the book.

I come to the GM's section. The one detailing insanities. Hmmm. That's cool. Deeper.

Spells. This section is replete with the standard tropes of fantasy RPGs, presided over by the most popular and avuncular of spells: the fireball. But what is this next section? Spells for Alchemy. Necromancy. Daemonology.

And look at this! A thoroughly detailed bestiary, with wonderful pencil art accompanying each of the entries. And the art isn't limited to the bestiary, but also liberally sprinkled through the book. Pages of art depicting adventurers in desperate situations, stunning color works of haunting cities, ominous castles and dark woods.  The art definitely vibrates with a grim and gritty tone, which matches the description on the back of the book, "A grim and gritty world of perilous adventure."

Paging further, I come across the gazeteer of the Old World. Pages and pages of what the Empire is like, who its inhabitants are, what Sea Elf communities are like. I think to myself, "This is a whole world detailed here."

And then, The Oldenhaller Contract. A quick and dirty introductory adventure featuring a cult that worships the lord of decay. I am smitten. Somehow, I return home empty handed, but my mind is bent always on acquiring my new precious. The careers seem so cool, somehow so... mature. The descriptions of the dwarfs and elves were so detailed and unlike what I'd read in the D&D books. And above all, the images of the plagued cities and dark creatures which inhabited its pages push to the front of my mind.

I want this game. This will be the system I learn to GM.

The following weekend, my friend and I return to the GameKeeper. I can't lay my $60 down fast enough. Meanwhile the clerk is taking forever bagging my new, beautiful hardback baby. I can't wait to get it home so we can start making characters, which we do immediately once we're at the table. We also  do it wrong, but we don't care. We have a newly minted Human Gamekeeper to put through his paces.

We stumble through the introductory adventure, committing numerous mechanics fouls in the process. I learn quickly that it's a perfect first adventure for exposing both the mechanics and the setting.  Still, over the months and eventually years, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay becomes "the RPG that Court runs."  We continue to play D&D, as well as Palladium, Rifts, Superheroes, Boot Hill, Gamma World, and countless other RPGs.  I even GM a long-running Rolemaster campaign. But I always come back to Warhammer for its atmosphere, and well, because it's truly my first RPG love. PCs die, plots are uncovered and no one ever gets the girl.

Over the next decade and a half, I run Warhammer for numerous friends, and each and every time someone new comes to the table, they first set foot in the City of Nuln, along the river Reik to contract with an old fence by the name of Albrecht Oldenhaller.

Fast forward to November 2010. Fantasy Flight Games is now the developer of the WFRP license, under the watchful eye of Sauron Games Workshop.  My review of it is here (written almost one year ago shortly following its initial release).  Suffice to say, it's a gorgeous instantiation of Warhammer, but remaining at its core is the setting: one-part Tolkien as viewed through a dirty lens, one-part Cthulu mythos meets renaissance noir mashup, layered with three parts desperation.

This month, I once again don the mantle of GM for some friends and their attendant characters. New friends, new characters, new system, same Old World. And what better way to introduce the world of Warhammer to a group of newbs, but by relying on my old friend The Oldenhaller Contract?

Dale, Cory, Jake. Welcome to the city of Nuln.

--

Up next... our first outing.

(In addition to blogging here about our sessions,  I'm hoping that the party will collaboratively document the contents of the adventures here.)

I am better than Mozart

I have lived longer than Mozart. Tada!

I am totally excited...

There aren't many games slated for 2008 that I am genuinely excited about, much less interested in. However, Dawn of War II is very promising, given Relic's promised integration and updating of the CoH engine. The public beta goes up via steam in a couple of weeks!

Also, for folks who love TBS (that would be turn-based strategy, not the TV channel), Stardock is at it again with a new IP covering the fantasy arena. More info here. Galactic Civilizations II (and the myriad expansions and updates) really was quite incredible and the info I've seen on Elemental looks delicious!

I am also really excited to find some time to play some of the titles that have been lingering in the back catalogue:

• Fable II - hadn't gotten very far in the main quest
• Fallout 3 - likewise
• Sins of a Solar Empire - I've been hankering to dive back into this
• Space Rangers 2 - horizon's broadening project for me, and possible springboard for Starquest design material.

Although I have had an unprecedented amount of time to play Left 4 Dead in the last couple of weeks (12 whole hours in the last 14 days!), I am starting to miss sinking deep into a strategy game. Something like Elemental, but since that isn't out, I have Civilization 4 and GalCiv II.

On the table-top games front, the computer-board hybrid Star Saga One has been calling me. What a great narrative experience there; and I have never played through Star Saga Two. Somewhere in there I would love to get in a game of Battlestations!

Never Leave a Man Behind...

...Unless you are within spitting distance of a safehouse, you're the last man, and there's a smoker out there. Somewhere.

How many times have I visited Wellmet?

I have been having the dreams again.

The first time occurred almost twenty years ago. They are no less vivid now than they were then, though the frequency has changed. Initially they lasted weeks. When they reappeared, it was months. Now I suspect, it might take years for the cycle to complete, before they resume their dormancy.

While the dreams are never exactly the same; there are always variations, the core truth behind them is constant. Somewhere beyond the galactic fringe is a force bent on devouring the core. In order for me to reveal this foe, I must track down the myths and legends surrounding the great explorer Vanessa Chang.

In my journeys beyond the boundary, I encounter a myriad of sights and experiences: green aliens dancing around what appear to be coconut trees along a pink lake; a mysterious cult whose ancient secrets can tap into the vast potential of the mind; a planet that unfolds itself into the shape of a man. With every new encounter, I move closer to the answers.

Each time the dream comes I inhabit the mantle of an other: a brash pilot who violates the orders of his superiors; a xenobiologist renowned for his work and admired for his intellectual curiosity; the youngest in a syndicate family; an acolyte bound by his order to test his faith. Each time I have lived out full lives deep in the vastness of space.

This time is no exception. I am now the newest in a long line of ancestors who have ventured out, far from their home. Searching for the stone. Searching for the answers.

My ship is ready. And like every time before, my first stop is the planet Wellmet.