Play Shards On Just About Anything

When i began creating Shards, I wanted to create a game system that people could print off and play with whatever gaming stuff they have on hand. In this post I'll try and cover how to us pretty much any commonly available gaming maps/terrain, and even how to play they game with no surface at all.

From my experiences in miniature tabletop gaming, maps come in a few different styles. The examples included are all from commercially available fantasy themed games that i feel best represent these styles. If you know of any good resources for maps that i have not included feel free to post them in the comments.

Small Grids

Small square or hex based grids are found commonly in dungeon delver games and fantasy tabletop rpg supplements. These are probably the commercially available maps are probably the easiest to get your hands on. Some games that feature grids like this include Descent:Journeys in the Dark, Mantic's Dungeon Saga, Pathfinder tiles, D&D encounter maps, Super Dungeon Explore, etc. For these types of maps treat 1 maneuver as 4 squares/hexes in any direction including diagonal. Treat all targets in an adjacent square or hex as being engaged. 

Large Grids

More recently I've come across a few games that have started using larger grids in which multiple models may occupy a single space. The scale of these maps are usually somewhat larger with one grid space representing the entirety of the immediate area a character in that space would see. Commercially available games that use this style of map include Zombicide: Black Plague, Arcadia Quest, BattleLore, etc. For these style of Maps treat moving to a new adjacent square as being 1 maneuver. Because of the scale of these maps, i would suggest treating diagonal movements as 2 maneuvers. Treat any targets within the same space as your character as being engaged.

There are many games i would have loved to include in this section, such as Mage Knight, however the scale of the imagery is more of an “Overworld” style of map that may be too zoomed out for the action in Shards.

No Grid

This is how i presented Shards in the quickstart rules. These maps are typically the same scale as the small grid maps, but do not have a grid for reference. These maps in my opinion allow for greater flexibility in movement. There are many map creators online, including many excellent hand drawn maps and tabletop battlemats. These range from inexpensive “print it yourself” maps to full colour high dpi maps printed on the same material mouse pads are made of. Another option is to make or buy terrain and scenery pieces that can add some additional depth to your games.  For these maps, treat 1 maneuver as being 4 inches, and all targets within 1 inch as being engaged.

In the future i plan to post some tutorials on creating high detail terrain pieces for shards, as well as having the printable maps available in the downloads section.

Theatre of the Mind

This is a term used by roleplayers to describe a game that takes place entirely in the imagination of the players involved. It is possible to play shards in this way, doing so however will require a game master to orchestrate and describe the immediate areas surrounding each of the players characters. In this case it might be helpful to have a reference map such as a vinyl gaming mat or some poster paper just to keep track of things even if it isn’t used as a 100% accurate tactical representation of the action. Much like the Large scale grid maps, a maneuver in theatre of the mind play traverses the distance of the immediate area surrounding the character.

This method probably offers the most flexibility however is one of the more challenging methods of playing the game.  This method is treated much the same as the large grid method, however the "space" the character occupies is conceptual rather than an actual physical space.

So there you have it, you can play shards on just about anything you may have on hand, and even if you don't have a map, you could describe the action and locations of the character in a theatre of the mind style of play.

Next up... Quickstart Part 2

Till next time

-Tom K.

Update and Introducing Death In Shards

My vacation from work is over, and with that comes the added responsibility of getting myself there and hanging out for 8 hours before I'm allowed to leave so that i can do the stuff i actually like to do. This means that I probably won't have the time to work on shards like i have been over the past couple weeks. This project means a great deal to me though and I'm not about to abandon it. As for posts on the blog, i expect to be posting here about once or twice a week with new stuff and updates.

Currently i'm working out a few details regarding the Quickstart. One important aspect of this game is player death, and it's lack of finality in the game. Basically, if your character dies, the remaining living characters can choose to push ahead at a disadvantage, or go back to a Ether Kiln (a checkpoint) and retrieve their fallen friend at the cost of also reviving all the enemies they have slain up until this point.

(This is not unlike the Dark Souls video game if you've had the chance to play those games.)

Falling in battle also causes your character to gain a point of wasting, a temporary condition that reduces the maximum health of a character incrementally each time they gain a point. To reverse this condition, the player of the character must make a connection between two pieces of fiction the players have encountered so far. This is called Linking Lore, and doing so reduces the amount of wasting points they've accrued.

So in regards to a quickstart this means there is a great deal of ground to cover regarding a topic that players are often not inclined to experience in games, the death of their character. I've come up with a few ways to introduce character death to a group of players who are new to the game, but i want to do so in a way that doesn't feel like their being cheated or scripted into something (Even though the tutorial is heavily scripted).

One idea I’m playing around with is a section of the quickstart that the players only need to reference the first time they die. In this scenario the game doesn't force the player to die, but puts them in a situation where it is highly likely, then the tutorial references them to a special section of the guide. The challenges with the approach is that after introducing the players with this situation, it also requires that the players are presented a way to overcome the challenge that killed their character in the first place. The challenge needs to be difficult, but not impossible. (Not in an Dark Souls III Iudex Gundyr sort of way either.)

Iudex Gundyr says "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

I'm going to have to cut this short for now, as once again, work is calling. If you have any Ideas about how to present character death in a tutorial without being too heavy handed, put your suggestions in the comments below.

Till Next Time.

-Tom K.

Quickstart Transcript - Part 1

Just to recap, A quickstart is a rules tutorial designed to get players playing the game as quickly as possible.  It breaks the components of the game down into small digestible examples of play that help familiarize the players with the game.  My goal is to do this in an entertaining fashion, keeping each step as true to the "full" game as possible (so to say that i don't want to omit parts of play that would otherwise be relevant to each example along the way).

Using the layout that i wrote earlier, i filled in each section with a play walkthrough and an ongoing piece of fiction to compliment the example each step of the way.  Here's part one, it covers some of the fundamental basics of Shards. Italicized text is the fiction, where bold text is the rules instruction.


--- Part 1 Start ---

You wake up, as if being born from a memory consciousness comes to you. You sit up, nearby a stone kiln which radiates a comforting warmth like a warm breeze of a distant but familiar land.

Place your character's model on the map in contact with the Ether Kiln

You do know why you are here, or who exactly you may be, but your concerns are distant while sitting next to this fire that burns without end. You feel as if you could sit here till the end of existence, and not a thing would matter.

Your hand comes across a weapon nearby. Were you a warrior? The sword feels familiar enough, while staring into the flames, you remember you were seeking something, but not what. Within the flames you see purpose for the briefest of moments, but it flickers and fades away almost as quick as it had appeared.

The flames are comforting, however a realization comes over you, only in remembering can you once again become whole. You must press on.

Manoeuvring

In the shadows in-front of you, you see a being that looks to be clutching a white dove very dearly close to their chest.

Place a Wastrel Model two maneuvers away from the character model.

Reality seems to wither around the being as if looking at the subject of a water stained painting. There is something sad about the being nurturing the bird that sits in such contrast amidst it's grasp. You feel compelled to approach the being, perhaps to offer comfort. You get up and step away from the warmth of the kiln for what seems like the first time.

Using the maneuver card, move your model along its length towards the newly placed model. This is a single maneuver.

Enemies ahead

The being notices your advance. Despite it raising it's head towards you, it's features are unidentifiable, shifting in reality as you approach. It seems momentarily confused at this, then quickly withdraws as if in self defensive.

You reach out towards the creature, unsure as to how you've offended it. Abruptly it howls as much in defiance as agony and in a fit of rage, it crushes the dove it was momentarily holding so carefully. Throwing the animals corpse to the ground it prepares to rush towards you now brandishing deadly claws of darkness.

Additional Manoeuvring

Instinctively your hand goes to the pommel of your blade as it must have so many times before. With quick gait you close the distance between you and this adversary.

Maneuver your model once more so that your model is within 1” of the adversary(the short side of the manoeuvre card). This is your second manoeuvre for the round so you must expend 1 point of stamina to do so.

Each additional Manoeuvre costs a number of points of stamina equal to the number of manoeuvres already preformed that turn.

Your model is now engaged with this enemy, a foul being known as a wastrel. Because you are engaged with this enemy you can now make attacks against it.

Making an Attack Move with a Weapon

With a practiced motion from a long forgotten past you bring the blade down quickly on the creature before it can close in on you with it's hands clawed of darkness.

Now it's time to make an Attack using your Short Sword's “Slash” move!

The Slash move has a Stamina cost of 3, requiring we spend 3 stamina to from our stamina pool, place these in your stamina discard pool.

The Slash Move on it's own is not a very accurate attack on it's own and requires a 7+ to hit on the d8 attack die.  Time to use some more stamina to make it easier to hit.  Before rolling the attack die, you can boost your attack roll by spending additional stamina adding +1 to the result of your attack die roll for each stamina spent. 

 Lets boost with 6 points of stamina, this will guarantee that your attack hits! Roll the attack die, and add 6 to the result! A result of 7 or more means the attack hits and damages the target.

After a nimble dash to the creatures exposed side you sweep your blade up the creature's side, the blade connects, wounding the creature gravely.

Now that you've hit with your slash attack its time to apply damage to the target. The Slash Move deals 5 base damage, and 1x your STR bonus. Your STR bonus is equal to the tens digit of your strength characteristic. Currently your character has a STR bonus of 1 and will deal a total of 6 damage with its slash attack. Place 6 damage next to the wastrel model.

Passing your turn and Conserving Stamina

The creatures wounds expel darkness from a broad gash along it's side. The creature seems to have no intent on giving up and brandishes its claws in fury. Instinctively you raise your blade to guard against the creatures impending attack. Time to go on the defense.

With only 6 points of Stamina left in your stamina pool, it is time to go on the defense. Evading attacks also requires Stamina so its important to save some to defend against incoming attacks. For now we will PASS instead of taking any further actions.

Evading or Blocking an Attack

This creature, so different then the docile being it was moments ago. It's sole purpose, intent on spilling your blood, now lashes out towards you with attacks in quick succession. Finding your footing you prepare to roll out of the way.

This wastrel attack indicates that it must be evaded with a single d6, this die is called an evasion die. First we'll spend our 6 remaining stamina points to evade this attack, we then roll the evasion die and add the how many stamina points we spent to evade. In this case we would add 6 to the result rolled. If the total is greater than the highest value on the evasion die, we've successfully evaded the attack. Because we spent 6 stamina on a d6 evasion test, we flawlessly dodge the attack with no chance of failure!

Stamina Recovery

Doubling over at the momentum of the evaded attack, the wastrel leaves its back exposed, disoriented and unprepared for what you have planned next. You recover your breath in the moment's respite.

Now that the wastrel has acted for the round and there are no other adversaries to activate, a new player turn begins. At the beginning of a new turn, any stats that have been temporarily reduced return to their full amount. This means that we begin this turn with another full 15 points of stamina!

Making a Combo Move with a Weapon and Combo Points

Now is the time to finish this! With the skill imparted from unknown memories you wield your blade with calculated grace.

This time we attack the wastrel we are going to make a Combo. A Combo is a series of moves, preformed in a specific order all for a single stamina cost. This usually results in a reduced stamina cost for the moves being used and additional effects for completing the combo. The Combo we will use is called Slash and Jab, which combines both a Slash and a Jab Move at a cost of 5 Stamina. When using this combo the second move, Jab, does a bonus +2 damage!

Boosting Attacks and Poise

You see an opening and know exactly what to do, this time you will stagger the creature with a first decisive blow and then finish the job once and for all with a swift jab of your blade.

All Adversaries have a Poise value much like character's. If an attack roll ever equals or exceeds the target's Poise value, the target is staggered and all future attacks targeting this adversary automatically hit till the end of the round. The Wastrel has a Poise of 8, so if we roll 8 or higher the wastrel will be staggered.

To Attack we first need to spend the 5 Stamina required to use the Combo Slash and Jab.

The first Move in the Combo is Slash. Once again Slash hits on 7+, but we can stagger our target if we roll 8+. This time lets boost the attack with 7 additional stamina to guarantee that we stagger the target on this first hit!

We roll the attack die (1d8) and add the amount we boosted the attack by. In this case not only will we have hit the Wastrel for another 6 damage, but we've also staggered the target, allowing our next Jab move to auto hit!

Without Rolling to hit with the Jab move we apply it's 5 additional damage to the target as well (1 base plus 1 for STR bonus, 1 for DEX bonus and 2 more damage for the combo special effect). More than enough to defeat the Wastrel who had 15 health points to begin with.

Successfully completing the combo also scores us 1 Combo Point (CP) which we can use later to unlock further skill memories with the weapon.

Collecting Fragments from Slain Enemies

The Body of the creature slumps over to the ground. Defeated, it lets out a sigh of release, as its body bursts into luminous fragments like embers in the wind. The fragments are drawn towards you, reminding you of the comfort of the kiln with the warmth the emanate. Flowing through you, you feel invigorated by the shards which seem to briefly reignite long forgotten memories, ruminating in the ether.

Each defeated foe grants you a number of ether fragments which can be later spent at an ether kiln to level up your character. This defeated Wastrel grants 20 Fragments, which should be noted on the player's character sheet.

--- End of Part 1 ---

That wraps up the first part of the tutorial.  The second part introduces the character to an NPC and teaches some of the more nuanced aspects of playing the game as well as a bit of a primer on the setting.  There's still a bit more that needs to be covered in Part 2 but i'll be posting a rough draft up here soon.

Till Next time

-Tom K.

Using The Combat Track - Attacking and Evading

After having posted the combat track up for download i thought i might go over an example of how it's used.  Much of this goes over the rules in the Mechanics - Combat download, but also included pictures for reference.

The Combat Track is a simple tool used to keep track of relevant combat details during a round. Basically it is a ruler, but instead of measuring distance it keeps track of difficulties, poise values, and how much an attack has been boosted. This can be especially useful when using combos for keeping track of the current poise of an enemy.

Using the Combat Track to Make Attacks

After spending the stamina to make an attack move or combo, place a marker along the track at the number needed to hit for the attack move being used.

The To Hit Value Needed For This Attack Move is 6

Then place a second marker at the value that indicates the target's poise value. 

The Value Needed to Stagger This Target Is 9

If you wish to spend any stamina to boost the attack, place your stamina tokens starting at 1 and proceeding up the track. 

This Player has spent 3 points of available stamina to boost this attack
placing them on the stamina boost track

Roll a d8 and place it a number of spaces equal to the value rolled past the last stamina token on the stamina boost track. 

The D8 Rolls a result of 4, so is placed 4 spaces beyond the stamina spent to boost
3 stamina plus a roll of 4 lands the d8 at space 7

If the die is directly below or passes the target number it hits.  If the result of the die roll places the die directly below or beyond the stagger die, the target is both hit and staggered for the rest of the round!

The results of the die roll indicate that the attack Hit, but was not high enough to stagger the target

In the case of making a combo, for each move in the combo beyond the first slide the poise marker down by one,  

For the second attack in the combo the poise of the target is reduced by 1 down to 8
this makes the target easier to stagger

readjust the difficulty if necessary for the next move in the combo and repeat the above process.

The second move in this combo is harder to hit with, so the to hit marker was set to 7.
4 stamina was then spent to boost the attack after which a 5 was rolled on the d8
the final position of the d8 is 9 which both hits and staggers the target!

If a target becomes staggered, any subsequent attacks that target them automatically hit!

Using the Combat Track to Evade Attacks

The combat track can also be used to simplify the process of being attacked over a round.

At the start of an enemy round, or the first time being attacked in a round, place a marker on the space indicating your character's Poise value

This Character's Poise Value is 7

When being attacked, your opponent will force you to roll a number of evasion dice.  These dice range from d4's all the way up to a d20's.  The higher the number of sides on a die, the harder the attack is to evade.  Once the evasion die being rolled has been determined count the number of sides on the die and spend one point of stamina.  Place the point of spent stamina on the stamina boost track equal to the number of sides on the evasion die. ie 6 for a d6

The attack being evaded is a d6, the die has 6 sides,
 so the character spends a single point of stamina to evade, placing it in space 6

Now you may choose to spend further stamina, placing them on the boost track to the left of the initial stamina token.  Each point of stamina spent will make it easier to evade the incoming attack.

This Character has spent 3 additional points of stamina to try and evade the incoming attack
in total this character has spent 4 stamina so far

After boosting your evade with stamina, roll the evasion die.  The number of stamina spent creates a "safe zone", if the evasion die rolls equal to any values corresponding to a stamina point, the attack is evaded and does no damage.  Successfully evading an attack allows the character to immediately make a free maneuver possibly taking the character out of range of further attacks.

The Evasion Die rolled a 4,
the attack is evaded as there is also a point of stamina in location 4,
no damage is taken and the character makes a free maneuver

Being hit by enemy attacks reduces your ability to maintain a steady defense. Each time you are hit by an enemy's attack, reduce your poise on the track by 1 point.

After being hit by an enemy attack the character reduces their poise from 7 to 6
if the evasion die rolls a 6 or greater on a subsequent attack the character will be staggered.

Follow the above steps for evading subsequent attacks.  If the evasion die ever rolls high enough to reach or exceed the character's poise, the character will be staggered. (see being staggered below)

This character spends 4 stamina to evade the attack with a poise of 4,
The evasion die rolls a 6, exceeding the character's poise, staggering them,
 however they still successfully evade this attack as the 6 space is also occupied by a stamina point.
The character makes their free maneuver and and is then staggered for the rest of the round.

If a character cannot spend stamina to evade an attack, or chooses not to, the character may try to block the attack, adding extra protection of a shield or a weapon against the damage of an incoming attack. In this case roll the evasion die anyways to determine if the character is staggered or not.

This time the character was attacked but could not spend any stamina to evade so choses to block instead.
The character currently has a poise of 6 and the evasion die rolls a 3,
 the character is hit and takes damage reduced by their protection
The character is not staggered however as the evasion die did not roll 6 or greater

Staggered

Being staggered is not a good situation for a character to be in.  The staggered condition lasts till the end of the round and affects the character in the following ways:

     - The Character is automatically hit by attacks

     - The Character may not evade attacks

     - The Character may not block attacks
     - The Character may still roll for Luck

Luck

Sometimes luck will intervene in unexpected ways, 

When being attacked, before rolling an evasion die, roll a luck test.  If the test passes the attack misses and the die is discarded.  This does not count as evading the attack, but prevents all potential effects of it.

Combat Track - Player Resource Download

A print-out of the black and white, premium combat track in action

Today i'll be adding the Combat Track player resource to the downloads section.   There have been a few design changes since the initial layout, mainly the addition of a second track used solely for stamina spent to boost an attack or evasion. The top track is used for placing roll targets numbers, like "To Hit" values and "Poise" values.

There is much more to discuss regarding the combat track, but i'm going to save that topic for later and keep this short and sweet.  Check out the download link below.

Download - Black and White Combat Tracker (Basic PDF)

For the premium version as pictured above in both colour and black and white, check out the Shards Patreon Campaign.  This download is available at all reward levels.

Till Next Time

Pulling the Pieces Together

After drawing a few more pieces for the Cracked Earth Map, i thought it would be nice to see exactly how they fit together.  This time around I've used more digital editing for the placement of the tiles, instead of manually drawing things out in their final position.  This allows me to maintain the hand drawn aesthetic while having greater flexibility over the end product.

Here's a picture of the test section i've been working on.  The image is a full sized map, so if you want to print it out and play an encounter or two on it, be my guest.

Pulling the pieces together

This is not a final version but a good indication of where things are headed.

Enjoy!

Till Next Time!

-Tom K.

The Quick-Start Map Drawing Begins

...and so does it's design.  I've been going section by section trying to both play through how a quickstart tutorial of shards might play and write the actual rulebook text it self.  Its coming along nicely and fingers crossed, i might be able to get it done before Saturday.  I still have a huge amount of work to do, but i will post my progress and excerpts of my writing as I go.

For now i thought i'd show off some of the map elements I've been drawing for the Quickstart area game map.  It's what i'm calling a "Cracked Earth" Map as the very earth in these depictions is falling apart.  Any trees that exist here, are gnarled dead things, and much of the landscape is rock and low to the ground scrub.

Cracked Earth Piece 1 with Dead Tree and Shrub

Here we have the first piece i pulled together tonight.  It took me awhile to develop the technique i wanted to use to draw this.  I started by taking some real life photos of cracked earth from a google search, converted them to black and white and then applied filters to see how they would look as if they were sketched in pencil.  All that was left was to try and replicate what i saw on paper.

I liked how it turned out so i decided to stick with it.

If you want to know the technique i used to draw this, let me know and i'll pull a tutorial together for you.

Cracked Earth Piece 2

The Second Image i drew was more of the same, only with more emphasis on the crumbling of the landscape.  I wanted to depict a similar landscape to the one above, while making it look like the ground was in upheaval.  Massively disturbed land, just like a good number of its inhabitants (See Adversaries Wastrels Expansion in the downloads section).

Cracked Earth Piece 3

The third piece i have to show you tonight, takes elements of the first two and adds an architectural element.  Here, a set of stairs, roughly carved from the landscape, curve down the side of a cliff.  This is an example of the more multi-dimensional art i want to feature more of in my game maps.  Interesting and unique areas to explore and navigate.  Art comes first before the overall level design in this case.

Cracked Earth Piece 4

Above is a bridge section.  I used some of the same techniques I used on the castle wall sections to draw in the wooden planks.  This time the wooden planks are part of a rickety suspension bridge.  Also, it's about this time is when i really start to refine my process of drawing dead trees and roots.


When i have more to post I'll be sure to do so.
Until Next Time,
Tom K.

DIY - Combat Tracker

The DIY Combat Tracker
(a little rough around the edges, but it works well)

Today I have a little project for you, this is my hand made combat tracker.  Before i get into how it's made i'll go over a few of the finer points of what a combat tracker is. (If only want to know how to make the combat tracker, scroll down to the "How it is Made" part of this post)

Ever looking for better ways to organize my games and make them easier for people to play i came up with this little contraption, it is a compartmentalized organizer or in other words, a place to keep track of stats and token expenditures all in one convenient little place.

When making an attack move there are four important factors to keep track of ; The target number needed to hit, The Poise Attribute of your Target, How much Stamina you spend to boost the move, and your actual die roll, in the picture above, a d8.  First you would place a token in the compartment with the number needed to hit (represented by the bright red token), and then place a token in the compartment with the target number to stagger your opponent (their Poise, represented by the dark red token).  Next you need to decide on how much stamina you'd like to spend to boost (represented by the light blue tokens)

After all the tokens are in place, roll the d8 and move it up the track from the last stamina token.  If the die lands on or passes the "To Hit" token, the attack hits.  If the die lands on or passes the "To Stagger" token, then the target is staggered.

The Combat Tracker can also be used when evading attacks. Place a token at the highest value of the evasion die being rolled.  Spend Stamina Points to evade and place them in the track in descending order from the first token.  Lastly roll the die and place it next to the associated value on the track, if the die rolls onto a space filled in with a token, the attack is evaded and no damage is done.

All in all a very useful too for visualizing what is going on when making Attack Moves and Evading.


How it is Made

First off you will need;
-A sheet of Plaskolite Egg Crate Louver. This will help make the compartments for our tray.  
-A sheet of foam core to make the tray that the insert will sit in.  
-A sharp cutting utensil to cut the foam core neatly.
-A pair of durable clippers to cut the Louver (do not use your fine model clippers for this job)
-A low-temperature hot glue gun to glue the foam core together

A section of Louver, This piece will be big enough

Take a piece of the louver with at least 20 consecutive spaces not counting the edges squares of the material as the plastic is only half the full height.

don't use your best model clippers,
a pair like this will work fine

 Make sure to have a pair of durable clippers on hand.  I wouldn't risk using your nice modeling clippers on this project, as they might be damaged by this material, instead use a more utility pair like this.

Marking off the Louver with a Permanent Marker

 Mark out where you want to cut on the louver with a marker. This assures you get the right number of segments.

Clipping the Louver,
Being Careful Not To Snap Our Tray Insert

Carefully cut out your tray insert with your clippers.  Try to do this gently as the plastic is brittle and your the compartments may break if too much force is applied in the wrong direction.  If a compartment does break, don't worry, carefully glue it back together with CA glue and continue on.

A Cut Out Insert, 20 Segments in Length

 Here we have our near finished insert.  Use the clippers to trim any excess plastic poking out from the sides of our insert.

Marking Out The Foam Core for Cutting

Carefully on a piece of foam core, outline the pieces needed for the base of your tray, two side walls and two end caps.  The dimensions i used was 13" x 1" for the tray base, 13" x 1/2" for the side walls, and 1-1/2" x 1/2" for the end caps.

Cut Carefully Using a Sharp Blade and a Straight Edge

Using a sharp blade is important.  If you use a dull blade to cut this material, the cuts will be jagged and rough.  Take all precautions necessary, unless you want a unpleasantly acquired blood red finish to your combat tray.

All the Components

 Here are all the pieces laid out ready for assembly.  Using a low-temperature hot glue gun (high temp will destroy the foam core and your fingers) glue the walls and the endcaps to the outside edge of the tray base resulting in something like you see below.

The Assembled Tray Beside the Insert

 Do not glue the insert into the tray, this will make it easier to remove dice and tokens you place in the tray allowing for quick play.

The Insert Fits Neatly Inside the Tray

Place the insert inside the tray, and mark out the numbers inside each compartment.

Mark the Numbers in the Bottom of the Tray and You're Ready to Play

And there you have it, your very own combat track ready to go

You can try Other Shapes as well,
Fits an Assortment of Dice and Tokens

If you want your combat track to take up a more compact area of your play space, try using different shapes of insert.  the one above is a 25 compartment square that fits neatly in my play area. The trays also hold the small d6's available from chessex perfectly.

In the future i will make printout resources available for creating your own 2d combat tracks, or you could glue them into the base of your own 3d combat track as a veneer.

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, and maybe inspired you a little for your own projects

Till Next Time
-Tom K.

Quick-Start Development - Layout

The first and most important thing i decided, was to create a layout of each of the game's elements.  What i'm trying to do is lay out everything you need to know initially to start playing.  Ideally i'd like it to be quick, so laying out things in a logical progression is very important.  Players should be able to read the rules as they play along without having to stop much along the way to read long convoluted rules.

I believe that actually playing a game is one of the best ways to learn how to play a game.  My objective in making this quick start is to guide new players through that very experience.  An actual physical example of gameplay is in my opinion the best example.  By the end of playing through the quickstart, i want them to be able to jump right into creating their own characters and start playing as quick as possible.

So with all that in mind I created a general layout.

(the following notes are brief and unedited, this is not the quickstarter itself just how i want to organize it and what i want to put in each section)

---- start of layout ----

Introduction

Shards is a game for two to five players that uses Miniatures (or any other suitable representations) and Maps to play out adventures. In this game your players will explore locations, finding exquisite treasures and perilous adversaries all while building a rich a developing game lore along the way.

The Tutorial below only uses one character, but that shouldn't stop you from playing through it as a group. Run through the tutorial together, it's a fun and easy way to learn the game with in play examples before setting out on your own adventures.

What You Will Need

-Print outs of the game resources

-An 8 sided die (1d8) and two 10 sided die (2d10) for each player

-The Game Master (GM) will also need 1d4, 1d6, 1d12 and 1d20

-Tape measures are not necessary, but you may use them if you wish

-Miniatures or suitable representations for the Characters, Adversaries and NPCs

(I suggest either using reaper bones minis or the wealth of paper miniatures available on the internet)

-A gaming surface, either a printed copy of the Shards Maps or Tabletop Terrain of your own devising.

Set-up

Place the map and player resources within easy reach of the players. Players then select their characters taking all necessary item cards and tokens, and place their miniature next to the Ether Kiln

Ether Kilns

Gives some quick background information on the world, covers that your form is made of memories and that you may not know exactly why you are here, but you know that you must fight your way to your destiny

Manoeuvring

Teaches the basics of movement in Shards, the concept of a manoeuvre. The maximum number of manoeuvres in a turn.

Enemies ahead

A quick description of the Enemies in Shards, presents the concept that you must fight to survive.

Additional Manoeuvring

Getting to an enemy before it has time to react. This means that the placement of the first enemy must be within

Making an Attack Move with a Weapon

Covers the concept of making a Move from a weapon card

Passing your turn and Conserving Stamina

Covers the concept that how many actions you can make in a turn is dependent on your stamina, covers stamina recovery (just the idea that you will recover stamina each turn) and stamina management ideas.

You may continue to act during your turn until either you pass or run out of stamina.

Evading or Blocking an Attack

How to evade an attack (using up the rest of the character's stamina) then how to block an enemy attack because no stamina left.

Stamina Recovery

How much stamina is actually recovered, getting ready for another round

Making a Combo Move with a Weapon and Combo Points

Covers the concept of Combo Attacks

Collect Combo Points from Unbroken Combos to upgrade your weapon

Boosting Attacks and Poise

Reducing Enemy Poise by Making Combos Attacks

Boosting attacks and breaking poise to automatically hit with the subsequent attacks.

Collecting Fragments from Slain Enemies

Killing an enemy and collecting their fragments, done automatically

Item Drops, Mementos and Lore Points

How enemies drop items, which items they drop, and what a memento is briefly, mementos explained in further detail later

Combo Points and Weapon Upgrades

Spending Combo Points

Approaching a Group of Enemies

A group of enemies ahead, suggest the character to rush into the centre of them and preform a fully boosted combo.

Being Swarmed and Character Death

A talk on how approaching a situation in different way effects the outcome. The above rushing into the centre of a mob of enemies is designed to kill the Character. Also briefly discuss losing your Fragments.

Respawning at Ether Kilns and Wasting

When a character dies, Read this bit about respawning at ether kilns. What wasting is and how it temporarily reduces your maximum health to a minimum of 10 hit points.

Reducing Wasting by Linking Lore Points

How you can use lore points to reduce wasting and recover back to maximum health.

Trying it Again This Time Considering Threat Ranges

Fighting your way back through the initial enemy, and approaching the group of enemies differently so that you can overcome them.

Recovering Lost Fragments

Recovering your lost fragments from an area.

Imbuing at a New Ether Kiln and Recovery

Activating new checkpoints by “Imbuing” Ether Kilns. How resting at an ether kiln recovers your Health and Stamina.

Leveling Up at an Ether Kiln

How to use your Fragments at an Ether Kiln to Level Up your character, called Memory Level

NPC's and Quests

Meeting an NPC, NPC dialogue and Lore Points associated to meeting an NPC.

Quests Granted by NPC's

Area Boss Fights

Encountering a Boss “Arena” fight, and how to fight bosses. Once you enter a Boss Arena, you cannot leave until either the boss is dead or you die. Good luck! Try different tactics, use different items.

Congratulations on Completing the Tutorial!

A congratulations and a suggestion to try out the full game, building your own characters,

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So that's the plan!  I'm going to go over each of these sections in more detail and find out how to make the experience tight so that every time you run through it, it yields the same results.

I have a lot of work ahead of me, but like i mentioned earlier, i want to get out a playable copy of this game as soon as absolutely possible.

Till Next Time

-Tom K.

*A note on the game mechanics updates, I do update the files from time to time, so check the downloads section to make sure you have the most recent versions to stay up to date.

Map Troubles and Updates

I think i mentioned in a previous post that i was going to give drawing the maps for shards by hand.  Originally i was planning on a completely digital approach to the project, but didn't feel that i could capture the look i was going for.  After checking out a few videos on youtube and coming across 2minutetabletop.com i had to give it a go myself.  So i grabbed some cardstock and set to work.

A whole mess of map drawing

This is what i came up with, several sheets of paper each drawn to the edge with corresponding edges on other pieces of paper.  The idea was that i would draw out a larger poster map on smaller, more manageable sheets of paper, then scan them, and assemble them digitally.

This all would have gone fine and well if it were not for my scanner.  Little did i know that the scanner only scans the page up to 1/8 inch from the edge.  This meant that my carefully drawn pages that aligned so well when i was drawing them, were missing significant portions of the actual map.

After some thought, I came up with a solution.  I would scan each page four times; once on each edge, and assemble the composite picture on the computer.  This worked well, although was rather time consuming and needed some work with the alignment when i finally brought all the pages together.

Two hours later, I had the map assembled!

The Assembled Map!

To save time in the future, I think i've come up with a solution.  I will cut my pages slightly smaller before i start drawing on them so that they can scan with one pass instead of four.  I tried this approach with the bridge section of the map and it was a great relief not having to piece together the individual section before adding it to the larger poster map.

Now for a bit of and update.

My plans have changed slightly as far as this project.  I'm still going to leave the mechanics documents up in the downloads section, but i'm going to shift my focus to getting a Introductory, "Learn to Play Shards" Kit together.  I really want to get a easy to learn/play copy of this game into peoples hands as quick as possible.  I'm hoping this will make it easier to get into the game, as if you're reading this, you probably don't have the luxury of getting together with my gaming group when we play.

I have a good deal of work ahead of me on deciding exactly how i want to present this game to someone who is totally unfamiliar with any of the concepts.  Here's what i'm planning on creating to do so.

-Pregenerated Character Sheets or cards

-Weapon Cards

-Intro Map

-Paper Minis

-A step by step guide that teaches you how to play shards by taking you through a quick game

As always, the writing comes first, so that means the art will be lacking once i release this.  As soon as i have something ready though i'll upload it to the downloads section for your to print off and try out for yourself.

Till next time

-Tom K.

Development Process Notes

In this post I thought i would take a moment to discuss the modular approach i'm taking towards designing this game.

I, as with most other people i know, have many life commitments that can be distracting when it comes to working on projects like this one.  Working for a living is no simple task and currently occupies most of my active waking life.  This is why I've chosen what i'm calling a "Modular" approach to games design when it comes to Shards.

So what is Modular Game Design?

It isn't an industry term to my knowledge, it's just something i made up to describe working on many divided parts of a project when you have the time to do so.  For Shards so far I've split the project up into the following parts which i tend to work on independently from one another.

-Game Mechanics (the nitty gritty of how things work)

-Game Rules (Presenting the mechanics in a manner that the people playing the game can easily understand)

-Character Resources (The tools the players use initially to start playing the game)

-Quest Kit Expansions (A collection focusing on a related group of NPC's, and all associated plot points, items and adversaries)

-Adversary Kit Expansions (A collection that focuses on a number of related adversaries, and all associated plot points and items)

-Game Map Expansions (Printable gaming surfaces the game can be played on)

As I create additional pieces of the game I print off each component and add it to a binder which has become something of a living rule book.  Revisions replace old entries when they become superseded and new entries expand on the old.

When I upload these files, i'm going to upload them in a similar manner so that you may download the sections you wish to use for your games.

Progress to Date

Currently i'm sitting on what i consider to be a usable set of game mechanics, the only problem is they read like a technical manual.  Presenting these in a manner that is digestible has yet to be seen though.  I know rulebooks can make or break a game for many people so at this point i'm hesitant to release anything until i'm sure it makes learning to play shards as easy an experience as possible.

Something i've seen work well in the past is the usage of two rulebooks, splitting the mechanics into a "Getting Started" section that addresses the core concepts and mechanics of the game through a gameplay example and a more nuanced "Advanced Rules" section that gets to the heart of some of the more convoluted game mechanics.  I'm personally hoping that a "Getting Started" style of rulebook can convey all the elements of shards easily, while a "Advanced Rules" section may not add much in the way of additional rules, but instead offer further examples and discussion on the rules presented in the "Getting Started" Section.

I will upload the mechanics document as is for review if you are up for the challenge of deciphering a rough draft, but hope to have the more user-friendly version up within the week.  Check the downloads page for details.

The Player Character Resources Section is coming along nicely, however the level of detail i wish to put into these resources means that they take time to create.  This part of the game is also constantly evolving as i try to find better ways of delivering the game to the player.  Often improvements in this area are a direct result of play-testing with my own gaming group, trying to meet their needs as situations arise.

As of Now I have one of each of the Quest, Adversary and Game Map expansions together in rough draft.  I still need to play test each of these, and finish the digital editing of the first section of the game map that i'm currently using.  Due to some scheduling challenges and prior commitments the play-testing on my end has been going a little slower than planned, so once again, i need to reiterate these are rough drafts which are subject to change.

When i finally do get around to getting some people together to play shards, i'll make sure to write about how it went and post some pictures so you can see a game in action.

Tom K. 

Hand Drawn Maps and Inspiration

Currently i'm working on some finishing touches on some hand drawn maps that i'm trying to complete for tomorrow night. I'm working on a bit of a tight schedule so the maps will likely be pretty rough for the time being.  I'll post some pictures here once i get them together.

Before doing this i wanted to post a shout out to Ross McConnell over at 2minutetabletop.com for his incredible map drawing skills and huge collection of high quality, hand drawn gaming maps.  It was these maps that inspired me to initially hand draw my own maps for Shards.

Check out his youtube channel for some great tips on drawing your own maps, he also has a Patreon Page where you can get excellent deals on his maps as well as custom commissioned maps if you so choose.

Welcome to Shards

Hopefully upon stumbling upon this blog you are as excited to explore what is to become of Shards as I am.  Currently the game exists as a small set of rules rules, a few hand drawn play maps, and a brief setting write up that gives a small glimpse into the world of shards.  A humble beginning to which i hope becomes a long and exciting journey to what shards may one day become.

This is ground zero for the development of the game and i intend to document the process every step of the way.  Providing new material here for anyone daring enough to give the game a go and experience the development process for themselves.

So what is Shards?  Here goes my best marketing pitch attempt.

Shards is a tabletop adventure game with a strong emphasis on exploration, challenging but rewarding combat, and a rich and immersive setting that you help create throughout your games.  More than just a simple "Dungeon Delver", Shards has unique story-building mechanics that become just as vital to your adventure as taking out the last few hit points of that tough enemy.

Shards is not technically a roleplaying  game, however i'm hoping that people who enjoy roleplaying games will find Shards a very rewarding experience.  The opportunity for world building and story-telling should be immense with the setup provided in shards all while the game remains accessible to casual tabletop gamers alike.

I hope to get a set of playable pdf's uploaded soon for anyone to download and try out.  I'm looking forward to hearing of your adventures as well as sharing my own.

Till next time, lest all be forgotton

-Thomas