Actual Play: Achtung! Cthulhu

This past Saturday I had the great pleasure to run a one-shot of Achtung! Cthulhu, in celebration of a good friend visiting. The game was original and, in honor of it being Call of Cthulhu and all, ended with a suitably high mortality rate.

Enjoy.

Warmachine Wednesdays: The Lancer

For various factions in WarmaHordes, you have your iconic pieces. Whether through art design or in-game execution, some models just scream "MY FACTION IS X," and for Cygnar, the starter that best represents their focus on technology is the Lancer. On its own, the Lancer is a dinky unit. Less speed than a Cryx bonejack, hit power equal to some infantry units, there's really only one reason to take the Lancer with you into combat, and that reason is that it fucks up other 'jacks*. A lot of people focus on the weapons a model has in WarmaHordes, which is pretty standard reasoning. Obviously, you're going to be concerned about that thing that's poking your units to death.

However, this thought process will get you thoroughly messed up coming against a Lancer, who has a Shock Shield. Every time the shield remains non-crippled and the Lancer takes a hit? That's a box off your opponent's 'jack's Cortex. Every time it hits with the shield? Another box off the cortex. Loaded with focus, a Lancer can permanently hamstring the capabilities of an enemy warjack every turn. And this is an ability only 'jacks from Cygnar possess. Used with the base-box Stryker1's disruption abilities, you can effectively neuter two different jacks in one turn.

It should be noted that the Lancer also comes with an arc node, which can come into some use during battle, but if your Lancer is using his Shock Shield engaged in b2b, remember he can't be used to channel anything.

*Warbeasts do not have Cortex boxes, and therefore the only reason to bring a Lancer into battle with them is for its arc node which, as stated above, has limited functionality.

Worldbuilding: 20 Questions to Ask Yourself When City-Building

So this April I'm going to be going insane prepping a Magic World game and, because I'm a crazy control freak, I'm going to make everything up from scratch. But it's been a while since I've sat down to do some worldbulding, so I'm a little rusty. I came up with these questions after about five minutes of thought, and they aren't in any particular order.

1. What’s special about it?

2. What’s the weather like?

3. Who rules/makes decisions?

4. Okay, who really rules/makes decisions?

5. What’s their chief export? How do most of its non-merchant citizens make money?

6. What’s crime like?

7. What’s the law like?

8. Who can you ask about in town that everyone has some kind of rumor about?

9. Does the place have any holidays?

10. What’s the population like?

11. Is there diversity?

12. How does the place get along with neighboring settlements?

13. Where is the closest tavern? What is it called?

14. How do most people enter the settlement?

15. Is there a marketplace? A market day?

16. What kind of recurring troubles does the settlement have?

17. What happens if a character is caught committing a petty crime?

18. What happens if a character commits a murder? What if he/she is caught?

19. How do people talk here?

20. What/Who do people who live here believe in, religiously, for the most part?

If you have any suggestions for more questions, feel free to post them in the comments!