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…Getting close to be being finished!!
Seems like I picked a good time to start getting into Burning Sands!
Those are some cool looking birds!
Any chance of a sculpt with a saddle on it in the future?
There’s a real lack of fantasy mounts imo.
Cheers,
Stroezie.
Oops wrong thread, this should have been posted in the Crom’s Anvil thread😳
Note to self, more sleep, less coffee…
I did wonder 😀
So, I am almost done on the text for the Chronicler’s Companion (mostly images now) BUT…. then I thought about hazardous plants..
Spores and things and maybe other stuff…. any suggestions?
Cool, thanks.
Need a couple of volunteers to check the first draft of The Chronicler’s Companion to see if it makes sense.
Don’t take this the wrong way, I don’t much care if you like it or agree with it, I just need to know if you understand it.😀
Happy to help out. I’m a fully qualified pedant and grammar nazi…
do you have the core rules?
ssssshhh, which of the people looking to buy the Chronicler’s Companion is online?
I have added it to the site but want to check it works OK before I announce it, if anyone wants to try and buy it and report back that it all works ok, that would be fab.https://cromsanvil.co.uk/chronicles.html
So over on Facebook someone asked about this statement: “Burning Sands is my desert fantasy skirmish ruleset”, what about the rules make it desert fantasy and not just fantasy?
Good question.
Short answer, nothing really.But that would be overlooking two main things, I think.
The first is the look of it, now it looks like it is set in the desert, and the terrain and figures used are all deserty.
There are rules for desert worms, scorpions, swarms of beetles, hyenas and so on, sand storms and quick sand.
But that is pretty superficial to be fair.
It is aimed at supporting my figures and scenery, and was written with that desert setting in mind.
But what makes a desert setting a desert setting, and are the rules any different?This brings me on to the second point.
What is a desert setting for me?
So when I think of desert sand and sorcery I think of Sinbad and Conan.
For me that sort of world is quite different from most fantasy in 2 main aspects, the lack of traditional fantasy races, there are no orcs and elves and goblins, it is pretty much just humans.
The magic is quite different, look at lots of the traditional fantasy games with the above mentioned races and magic is all over the shop.
Not only are there wizards, there are magical universities, shops that sell rare magical items and common place magical ones.
Heroes wander around in +3 chainmail with swords of +5 damage, packing at least 10 healing potions and a ring of resurrection.
Wizards join armies and unleash fireballs, raise armies of the dead, summon dragons, create illusions of men, open up the ground and swallow up ranks of troops, the magic is extreme, obvious, powerful and day to day.My desert setting and thus the rules, view magic as rare and less battle magic style.
I grouped my magic into 3 distinct flavours, from the rule book:“Sorcery can take many foul forms, but the most common are Summoning, Manipulation and Ensorcellment.
Summoning is the process of opening a rift in reality and pulling creatures or spirits from limbo into our world to do their masters bidding.
Manipulation is the controlling of natural elements and bending them to your will against nature.
Ensorcellment is the devious art of illusion and convincing someone that an illusion is real.
Typical Summoning would involve the raising of the dead, calling forth winged demons and so on.
Manipulation could vary from the mundane unlocking of manacles, making a storm appear out of nowhere, to causing castle walls to crack and crumble in minutes.
Ensorcellments are mind tricks and examples would be convincing a person that their dagger is a venomous snake, that they can not see someone, or to convincing them to hurl themselves off a cliff.”So whilst these can be quite powerful, they are not vulgar displays of power or typical.
But importantly, magic users are rare.
The rules for summoning creatures make it hard, and if you want to summon anything of any significance you will most likely need to a group of acolytes to help, and by help, I mean sacrifice!So I think combining the lack of traditional fantasy races with the less traditional magic system helps make the game feel less traditional fantasy and in this case more desert like as it reflects what I see as typical desert settings.
Having said that, the Chroniclers Companion does contain more traditional spells and guidelines on how to go about creating more.
So it is meant for desert as that is what I sell, the rules help nurture gaming in that setting, but the core mechanics do not prevent using the rules for any setting.Working on a sort of cheat sheet for advanced rules and uncommon tasks.
I have so far:
HEALING
wits 7+ 10+ on yourself
Stops status damage.BRUTE STRENGTH
Smashing down a regular door is 10+, a medium door such as on barracks is 20+, a strong door 30+. Pushing or pulling a cart is 10+
Tipping over a big cauldron or similar is 15+SNEAKING
Normal prowess task to move but half distance.
Then make a free stealth task (also Prowess) and this is the target the watcher must beat with a free Wits test.LOCK PICKING
Lock Picking is a Wits test and the target number depends on the quality of the lock.
A standard lock has a target of around 6 (a house door or prison shackles for example.)
A better than average lock will be around 10 (a jail door or quality shackles.)
A superior lock will be 14 (the lock on a sorcerers scroll chest etc.)
A legendary lock will be 20 (the lock has several secret levers that must all be pressed in the correct order at the same time as the lock is being opened/picked)CLIMBING
Prowess task, halve rolled distance.JUMPING
Prowess task, quarter rolled distance.SWIMMING
Prowess task, halve rolled distance. If in water at end of turn, spend an AV or take status damage.USURPING
Spend an AV before rolling for Initiative to add a d6 to your roll.DIGGING DEEP
Take a point of damage to add d6 or 3 to a task roll.SHIELDS
+2 defence roll but don’t do damage if this is used to win.ARMOUR
Light +1, Heavy +2. If you use armour to win HTH you don’t do damage. (cumulative with a shield)
Heavy armour knocks off 1/3 of your rolled move. (added before other mods)DUAL WEAPON
Min P3, +2 HTHTWO HANDED
Min V3, crits on a 5 or 6 rather than a 6.FEAR
Wits vs Fear Level, fail means -5 to tasks. May take the task each turn (costs no AV)FALLING
A fall from a single storey has a difficulty of 4+.
A fall from a double storey has a difficulty of 9+.
A fall from a three storey has a difficulty of 18+.
A fall from a four storey has a difficulty of 36+.You take a point of damage for each storey you fall.
If you pass the Prowess task then you take one less point of damage.ANYTHING I HAVE MISSED?
(from the current rules, I will be adding new ones shortly)
Some new Tasks:
FAST TALK/CON
Opposed Wits task.
Pass means you convince them to do something that does not endanger anyone.
They wise up after a number of turns equal to your Wits.PERSUADE
Opposed Wits task.
Only works if you pass with a critical, you persuade them it is in their best interest to do what you say, but they will not endanger themself.But what about chopping through them? How much damage can they take?
Damage values for items, good call.
I don’t think it is possible for (for example) David to kill Goliath in one hit, if Goliath has more than 2 vitality. I think missiles need a chance of an outright kill.
If a sling can have an outright kill then surely a melee attack should?
I am not sure this fits the vibe/flow of the concept of Vitality?So the cheat sheet is done.
Extra rules next…I have rules for nets, some spot rules for recovering vitality (horns of ale, beef joints etc), lotus rules…
Any requests for rules for me to consider giving an official stance on?
I don’t think it is possible for (for example) David to kill Goliath in one hit, if Goliath has more than 2 vitality. I think missiles need a chance of an outright kill.
If a sling can have an outright kill then surely a melee attack should?
I am not sure this fits the vibe/flow of the concept of Vitality?I think in this instance, it should be a scenario specific rule.
Such as any missile attack from David (who has say P3, that rolls all 3 d6 as a 6, is an outright kill)
But for normal games I think sniper autokill would not work.There are of course Legend Points that can turn misses into hits and hits into criticals, maybe David spent all his Legend Points that day?
😀
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