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.