Legends of Araby

I had some fun playing Legends of Araby, a fantasy RPG by Two Hour Wargames.  LOA sets you loose in an Arabian Nights setting, though the rules are flexible enough to fit in most fantasy games. Although LOA is technically a supplement that can be played using rules from World Hero Legends, 2 Hour Dungeon Crawl, and even pulp games like Larger than Life and Mission St. Mary, it also includes 2d Sword and Sorcery, a set of quick combat rules so you can run games with just the book itself.

For my game, I'm using S&S rules, though I tweaked them a bit because I eventually plan to use a version of S&S and LOA for my own fantasy RPG's as well.  However, I'm playing the LOA encounters and rules as they appear in the book.  The only thing I altered is combat.

So let's get started . . .

This is my character; Akil, a Melee/Missile mix.  In LOA and S&S, you have 4 classes:  Melee, Missile, Magic, and Healer.  You can mix classes, with the second class being 1 Rep lower.  However, you must raise each class separately.

(I'm using Mage Knight miniatures, and I don't have a lot of humans in the set, so you'll see a rather colorful assortment of beings in the city.)

Akil entered the city of Briganna and I start with an Involuntary Encounter.

Two slavers followed Akil and after corning him in an alley, discuss Akil joining their business venture.  And by business venture, I mean Akil doing all the work and the slavers keeping all the $.  For some reason, our hero decided against this plan and a fight breaks out.

The first slaver fired and arrow, but it narrowly sliced across Akil's ear.  The second slaver charged but got an arrow between the eye.  Now it's our hero's turn.  with careful aim, he fired his bow at the remaining thug.

Suffice to say, it did not end well for the slavers, and with irony on his side, our hero is the one who walked away with coins in his pocket.

Now with the Involuntary Encounter out of the way, Akil is free to explore the city.  First, he ran into a guard, who no doubt heard the commotion and rushed to see what had occurred.

Apparently, manslaughter is legal if you're defending yourself from slavers because after Akil explained his side of the story, the guard nodded his head and continued walking.

Later, he saw a shop and entered.

The tiny shop was run by an average citizen (We'll call him, 'Joe.') who agreed to accompany Akil on his adventures through the city and show him the sights.

Travelling through the streets, Joe pointed to the various buildings.  "There's the Jewel Cutter, that's Bonnie's Boutiques, there's the Game Tent if you're interested in a little gambling, and right before us is the Cabaret, if you're interested in a little entertainment and," wink, wink, nudge, nudge, "companionship."

Akil's eyes lit up.  "Sounds perfect!"

Joe grinned.  "I suspected that'd be your first choice!"

"Apparently I was mistaken," a disappointed Joe observed as Akil raced into the game tent.

Throwing his recently-earned coins on the table, Akil yelled, "I'm in!"  Facing off against the other four opponents (and with Joe looking on), our hero tossed the dice and threw caution into the wind.

Minutes later, he left the tent . . . with his pockets overflowing with coins.  "And that, my dear friend, Joe, is how it's done!"

Leaving the bazaar, the two chose to explore the wealthier part of the city.

"What are we doing here?"  Asked Joe.

"I have an itch for questing," Akil answered, "but first I'd like to seek out a healer."

"That is strange, you don't seem ill to me,"

Akil nodded.  "Of course I'm not, I just want some potions for my journey."

As the two set off through the streets, they encountered a noble woman.

"Greetings lowly traveler," she said.  "You are so humbled to be in the presence of such greatness."

"Thanks," Akil said proudly, nodding to Joe.  "He sure is."

Apparently, she wasn't pleased with the response because the duo ran into her several more times, but each time ended with the annoyed woman storming off as Akil smiled at the obvious compliments.

Finally, after a few hours of wandering the city, the duo finally located the healer.

The stocky, squat figure behind the counter offered a variety of potions for the right price.  Akil bought a couple without looking at what they were ('because they're green; nothing can go wrong from green potions, right?'), though luckily Joe noticed they were Strength and Valor potions, exactly what our hero would need in his future journeys.

Following his adventures, the duo found an inn and crashed for the night, and as Akil fell asleep, visions of quests in his future crossed his thoughts.


I ended the adventure there and rolled to Improve Akil.  While he had earned quite a few Increasing d6, he spent a number of them on the potions and ended up with 2 Increasing d6.  Unfortunately, he didn't pass with either of them so he stays at his current Reps, though at least he doesn't lower them either.  

Next time, our fearless, and not-so-humble hero sets off on his first quest!

Future Tales - Final Scene - Finding the Treasure

Here it is, the final scene of our heroes' adventure!  After leaping across the galaxy, they finally discover that the treasure they seek, the mysterious tome of wisdom, is aboard the star station Beta on the asteroid Lando.

Our heroes arrive, but after exploring the deserted station, they find only a lone data pad and message:

"Congratulations, you have found the location of the book, or you would have if I hadn't rid myself of it.  Fearing it might fall into the wrong hands, I ejected it into a capsule and launched it into space.  Best fortunes at another date.

Signed,

Dr. Valcun"

"Well this is unfortunate," YM-3 responds, "but our fortunes could have resulted in worse events."

Trust the robot to jinx everything.

Just then, the Orlocks arrive, led by their leader, Lord Wurr.

"Give us the book or else," Wurr ordered as his troops trained the weapons on Bart, YM-3, and Rina.

"Um, there's something you should know," Bart responded, tossing the data pad to the enemy leader.

Wurr looked over the message, then with a growl, tossed it aside, where it bounced off the force field to the outside.  "Fine then, this is all your fault for delaying me, so I'll take my frustrations out on your heads!  Attack!"

The two sides roll for In Sights, with Bart's team winning.  Bart and YM-3 move around some crates while Rina trains her pistol on the closest Orlocks.

Bart drops one opponent, while Rina sends two more to the ground.  Wurr, seeing the odds shift away, takes cover behind a generator.

The three heroes managed to take out the remaining Orlocks, leaving only the leader, Lord Wurr, alone and furious.



"You'll pay for this, mark my words."  Pulling out an electronic blade, he lunges forward at his foes.

In the blink of an eye, Wurr manages to cut down both Lena and YM-3.  While Rina is still breathing, and the robot still seems to function, both are incapacitated, leaving Bart to deal with the Big Bad himself.

Bart tries to fire on his foe, but the mighty Wurr dodges all blasts and slices at our hero.  Ducking the blade, Bart grabs Wurr's wrists and the two grapple for control.

Terrain Hazard!

In the midst of the grapple, the two accidentally damage the force field separating them from space.  Both must now dive for cover until the automatic doors seal the hanger shut.

Bart slips behind some metal crates and survives.

Lord Wurr on the other hand . . .

Not so lucky.

With Wurr and his minions dispatched, Bart crawls over and checks on his friends.

After administering whatever aid he can, Bart finds the two bruised but alive.

"Sorry we didn't find your book," Rina says.

Bart shrugs.  "It's out there somewhere, along with other treasures to find."

Jumping up and down, YM-3 asked, "When do we begin?"

And the adventure continues . . . 

Bart and his friends may not have found their goal, but they did have an adventure they won't forget.  What about you?  What story will your heroes tell?  What adventures will they encounter?  what dangers will they face?  What will the Future hold?

There's only way to find out, because the Future is here!

Your adventures are ready to begin.  Order your copy of Future Tales and journey through your own sci fi story!

Future Tales is available at Two Hour Wargames here:

http://www.twohourwargames.com/futuretales.html

New Friends and Foes - Combat Mechanics in Future Tales

Unable to make any headway in their search on the space station Harlan, our heroes Bart Blast and YM-3 set out next to the planet Ferbo and the town of Phin in search of another clue that will lead them to their treasure.  Hearing about an archaeologist that lives in the town, the two decide to explore the town to find him.

In previous posts, I demonstrated how the Story mechanics work in Future Tales.  For this post, since some who read this have never played games from Two Hour Wargames, I included samples of gameplay mechanics, including of course, combat and non-player interactions.

In many roleplaying games, the game/dungeon master tells the players who or what they encounter and (possibly based on dice rolls) what happens in each encounter.  However, Future Tales uses mechanics found in most THW games, which removes the game master, and using dice and tables to decide what happens instead.  Now before you get nervous at the mention of Tables, most of easy to memorize, and you probably won't be looking at them after a while.  They are just quick and easy ways to determine what happens in your games, which may lead to a number of unexpected results.

But now, back to our heroes!

Once again, I'm using the City Tiles, available soon from THW.  Bart and YM-3 start in the bottom right tile, and their goal is a building in the top right.  The 3 dice represent PEF's, or Possibly Enemy Forces.  These create an element of the unknown as they and the heroes move around the board.

 

Bart and YM-3 move to the next tile, and all 3 PEF's move toward them (Sometimes they'll move away or in another direction).  The first moves into their tile and they have their first encounter.

The PEF resolves as 1 being.  Rolling on the Alien and PEF Generators, I find that she is from a race known for their combat prowess and that she's a mechanic.  Performing a Talk the Talk, Bart learns that Rina is friendly.  Deciding we could use another face in our group, I have Bart try and recruit her.  He succeeds, and Rina agrees to accompany the two . . . as long as she gets a cut of the profits, of course!

Continuing, the trio moves to the next tile, and 1 PEF moves directly toward them while the other moves away.  I roll and resolve the PEF as 4 beings.  Hopefully they're friendly!

Turns out, they are soldiers and pilots and of the same race as Rina (This must be their planet.).  Another Talk the Talk is successful, and although they don't want to be recruited, they wish the trio well and head off in their own direction.

Two PEF's down and 1 to go.  And that last PEF just happens to be in the final tile the heroes need to reach.

The final PEF resolves as 3 beings, but of a different race than Rina's.  These lizard-like creatures are known for bullying other races, which fits since they are all thugs.  However, Bart gives them the benefit of the doubt and tries to talk to them.  Unfortunately, they're not looking to chat and the fight breaks out.

In many RPG's, combat is a series of turns where one side attacks, then the other.  In Future Tales, combat consists of one side acting, and then the other side reacting.  Both sides could go back and forth in a single turn.

Also, in Future Tales, weapons are divided into Melee and Shooting as well as Solid/Slug Throwers (strong against the living but not so much against robots), Shock/Disruptors (strong against robots but not as much against the living), and Powered/Lasers (strong against both).  There's also a fourth category; Disintegrators; lethal against everything, but with a catch or two (including the fact that they are illegal), but most races don't like to discuss them for some reason!

Now back to the fight!  Combat starts with an In Sight test, which is similar to a Surprise roll in many RPG's.  The thugs win and open fire.

They miss Bart and Rina (represented by the pink dice), but catch YM-3 with a shot to his shoulder (red d6).  He's singed but still in the fight.  

Now Bart and Rina take the Received Fire test to set how they react to laser fire flying by their heads. Since Bart is a Star (also known as a Player Character or PC) and is controlled by the player, I choose how he reacts and have him return fire.  Since Rina is a grunt (also known as a non-player character or NPC) and is controlled by the game, I roll for her and get a return fire result.  Both shoot back at the thugs that fired on them.

Rina misses but Bart scores a direct hit, catching the thug directly in the chest.  He drops like a rock, and I turn his tile upside down to represent this.  

Now the other two must roll for their Reactions.  You may be wondering why both have to take the reaction test if only one was shot at and missed.  Well the reason is that they have to take a second reaction test, known as Man Down.  This is when a grunt sees an ally get incapacitated, killed, or fleeing combat.  The first thug takes the test and passes, standing his ground.  The second has to take both the Man Down and Received Fire test.  Fortunately, we only roll once, but take the worst result.  He passes and stands his ground, rather than returning fire.

Whew, that wasn't even the first round yet!  By the way, you could roll for In Sights several times in a single fight.  This could turn a battle completely around if one side is quicker and/or sneakier than the other.

Now that we've completed In Sights, both sides roll for Activation.  This is Initiative and decides who acts first normally.  I've actually been rolling for Activation each time the heroes moved from 1 tile to another.  On a tie, they could have encountered a terrain hazard or obstacle like they have in previous scenes.  Luckily this hasn't happened (at least not yet).

Bart's team wins Activation and attacks first.   

Talk about bad luck!  All three heroes miss!  It's now time for the thugs to react.  Fortunately, they fail miserably on the Received Fire test and take off running . . . 

Right into the soldiers that our heroes had met before.  This causes another In Sight test, which the thugs somehow win again.  They immediately fire, and drop two soldiers.  The rest take the Man Down test and pass.  Sometimes, they'll stand their ground, sometimes, they'll run, and other times, they'll simply duck behind the nearest cover.  In this case, they choose to stand tall and face their opponents.

And here come our heroes!  Flanking the thugs, they force a new In Sight test and pass.  Opening fire on the surrounded thugs, they drop both of them and end the battle.  The soldiers thank them and move on.  

Returning to the final tile, our heroes enter the building.  Encountering no further opposition, they find Dr. Perry and question him.  Perry eagerly volunteers his information, providing our heroes with the final clue that they need, so they can move on to the final scene.

So those are the basics of how some of the mechanics work in Future Tales.  If you're curious and would like to see how combat works first-hand, you can download Chain Reaction for free.  While Future Tales uses slightly-tweaked versions of the rules, you can at least get an idea how they work, since the basic version exists in nearly every THW game.

Here are the Chain Reaction:

Chain Reaction

And here is a quick How to summary of the rules as well:

How to Play THW

I recommend both if you're curious about the games.  Keep an eye out for more samples as we move even closer to The Future!

Here they come! Boarding Scene in Future Tales

In our last scene, Bart Blast and YM-3 lost their Space Battle against the villainous Orlocks.  So is it game over?  Not quite, not that your ship is disabled, the enemy will attempt to board it.  This is played out through the Boarding Scene.

Continuing from the previous scene, our intrepid heroes takes their places and prepare to face their attackers.

"YM, you go first."

The doors then explode open, and (after rolling for how many), the foes appear.

"So which one of your called us ugly?"
(Both point)  "He did!"

They manage to drop one foe, but then more appear through the air lock.  This will continue until all enemy on the board are defeated or the air lock is sealed.

Seeing the danger, Bart slips around the corner, but the Orlocks follow.  I guess they weren't found of the 'slugs' comment either!

Fortunately for our heroes, I roll a Terrain Obstacle.  These occur even in these scenes.  In this instance, it's a leak which fills the ship with steam.  Bart and YM-3 pass and can see without problem.  Most of the Orlocks fail, however, and become easy targets.

Bart even drops two, one right after the other, in a row!

With the enemy distracted, Bart races to the air lock and seals it, preventing more foes from entering.

'And then there was one . . .'

The remaining foes surrenders, allowing Bart and YM-3 to interrogate him.

Tell us what we want to know, or we'll force you to watch Galactica 1980!"

During the questioning, the surviving Orlock reveals that Wurr, their leader, wants to artifact that Bart and YM-3 are seeking for himself, and he will stop at nothing to get it.  Now that they know who the Big Bad is, our heroes will no doubt watch their backs from here on.

But with the enemy defeated for now, the two can continue on their journey to the space station Harlan.

Next time, exploring the Harlan!

Space Battle - Fighting off Attackers in Future Tales!

Here is another sample of game play for Future Tales, the upcoming science fiction pulps game from Two Hour Wargames.  This time, we're showing a sample of a new scene; the Space Battle!

Our hero, Bart Blast, and his robotic ally, YM-3 need to reach the space station Harlan, and to do that, they need a ship to make the trip to the station.  Now for Future Tales, you do not need a map, board, or figures for these scenes.  I just posted them to illustrate the game play.

Just a nice, quiet journey through the system.

And here are our heroes at the controls, well, YM-3 at the controls while Bart sits back and listens to music.

"This is the life, YM, no worries, no stress, just a quiet trip through the stars."
"Bart, I believe that light blinking means we are being followed."

Most of the time, your trips are uneventful, but other times, this happens:

"We are the Orlocks,  Surrender and prepare to be boarded."

The number and types of ships differ with each battle.  In this case, the heroes are being attacked by minions of the Big Bad.

Rolling on the Space Battle table, Bart manages to out-maneuver his new foes, gaining an early advantage.

"Come and get me, slag brains!"

Unfortunately, they're hit and suffer damage.  At times, your crew might have to race to certain parts of your ship for a specific task.  In their case, the star drive is damaged so YM-3 attempts to repair it while Bart leaps into a turret for some target practice.

"Just try and board us, I dare ya, space slime!"

While YM-3 repairs the star drive, Bart takes aim, blasting one of the ships to pieces.

Direct hit!

If you score enough 'Hits,' you'll disable or destroy your enemy and escape.  If not, things will go from bad to worse.

In case you were wondering, they did not escape.

For our heroes, not only did I fail to roll enough Hits, but the enemy succeeded.  Bart's ship is disabled, and the enemy prepare to take it over.

What's next?  If you fail in a Space Battle, all is not lost.  But that is for our next adventure.

Next time, the Boarding Scene!

"They are boarding our ship, Bart."
"YM, we really need to work on your communication skills."