One of the things that narrative wargamers want is the ability to create their own characters so that they can develop their own storylines and rivalries. We want to encourage this sort of game play and engagement so a while back I had created and posted very basic character creation rules. A lot has transpired since then and it was time to update them to make the most of all the cards available to you now. While revisiting character creation I thought it was about time I added a point system to allow for the "matched play" that a lot of wargamers are used to. This is a very open system but it still creates a functional structure for gamers of all stripes. It is still in the playtesting stages so feedback is welcomed and encouraged! -Nick Creating Characters and Assembling a Crew Every Broken Contract Supplement comes with Characters to play, but you might want to create your own story lines, scenarios, and Characters. Creating your own Characters can be very rewarding...

AdeptiCon 2016 Broken Contract Background and Rulebooks. For AdeptiCon 2016 I produced a very short run of Broken Contract Rule and Background books. I don't want anyone who didn't attend feeling left out on the contents so I've collected the files and uploaded them to Dropbox, along with a PDF file handy for printing out your own Character Dashboards and chits so you can get up and playing with the models and cards in your possession. I did deliberately omit the covers of both books for home printing. If you would like to see the covers added, let me know and I will do so. Broken Contract Background Book Broken Contract Playtest Rules 3-31-16 Broken Contract Character Dashboard and Chits NEW! Broken Contract Character and Crew Creation Rules NEW 5/28/16! Broken Contract Act: Escape Route What is in the Broken Contract Background Book? The Broken Contract Background Book is an overview of the FerrumSky setting. In a way, much of it is a collection of ess...

Going over the Actions and Interruptions play cards as I set up the scenario. Photo: Nathan Wenig Back in July I sat down with my buddy Nathan and play tested a couple of scenarios at his home. He seemed to really enjoy himself and it had been a while since I had done any playtesting so I was looking at the game with fresh eyes. We talked about how the games went and my mind started cranking on his feedback and feedback I had gotten in May/June from a playtesting group in Spain headed up by @Robh, one of the Kickstarter backers. My brain was processing various changes I wanted to make and I was excited to dive back into the ruleset and start making tweaks. A short while later Nate started pushing for me to run an event at Realm of the Dragon in Wauwatosa, WI . I happily said, "Yes!" Passing out the new Character Dashboards designed by Sam Alcarez. Photo: Nathan Wenig During the weeks before the event I set up an event on MeetUp.com and let my new semi-regul...

Dead counter by Sam Alcarez One thing that most miniature games have in common is the use of counters. I fell in love with miniature gaming because of the immersion that comes with the visual experience. One of the things that has always detracted from that visual experience though is all of the on board clutter that comes from counters littering the field of battle. There have been some more artful approaches like upright blast markers, but cardstock or plastic counters have a hard time preserving the look and feel of my game area.  I am one of those extremists that has an assortment of fully modeled counters for some of my armies just so that I can maintain an attractive play area. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I love in-game effects like being drugged, set on fire, knocked unconscious, shocked, etc. When you have a lot of in-game effects, you need counters to keep track of them all. In my early playtesting of Broken Contract, the field was littered with ugly counte...

June was a busy month and I feel like I neglected the blog as a result. Those who backed the Kickstarter have been getting updates every week or two but if you are just a lover of hobby blogs then you may feel like you've been missing out. If you are a fan of the Making Mine Scenery series here on the blog, here's a sneak peak of how the 'It's Time' board is coming along. It isn't finished yet, but it is playable so it got used in today's playtesting. Several weeks back we got the Breaker Crew Leader, Will Kollis, in from Prodos. He was the first model Prodos did for us and I think he came out fantastic. He blends right in with the existing Tim Barry sculpts too. He was quickly followed with several other renders. Prod Gen-Mod with Shock Fists and I-beam. Overseer Billins with Shock Baton and Riot Shield plus alternate bits. Micha Donelly. The blood will be removed from the final version. As you can see, Prodos knocked out som...

Nanomei Goliath from Aetherium standing in for a Prod Gen-Mod Model courtesy of Anvil-Eight Games Over the last two weeks I've taken time to sit down and try out some ideas for the Prod Gen-Mod. It's always exciting trying out a new character with untested stats and equipment. Our Kickstarter Backers wanted to see the Prod Gen-Mod as more intimidating than the Breaker Gen-Mod. I think I've done so and kept it within reason, though it will take more testing to know for sure. Prod Gen-Mod Core: Actions 4 Move: 3 Wounds: 4 Combat: Shoot: 5 Melee: 4 Strength: 4 Agility: 5 Brain: Intellect: 5 Perception: 5 Psyche: 5 Medic: 5 Social: Lead: 6 Dealing: 6 Intangible: Recovery: 6 Faith: 6 Equipment: Shock Fists, Gen-Mod Apparatus Special Rules: Heavy Lifter, Dependent, Massive. The idea behind giving the Prod Gen-Mod an extra Action was to ensure they could be viewed as an unstoppable threat bearing down on the enemy. Once in close combat they could rain blows on ...

Pizza from Dimo's. (photo stolen from the internet) On Thursday night, my friends Brian Parisi and Aaron Schmidt met me at Dimo's Pizza here in Chicago to eat pizza, roll some dice, and discuss our various projects that we were working on. Brian has been my most regular play tester and he's a bit of a rules tinker himself with some rule sets he's been dabbling with.  Aaron is a sculptor currently working on Wreck-Age models for Hyacinth Games. In addition, I long ago noticed that he enjoys analyzing and discussing game mechanics as much as he enjoys playing games. This was going to be Aaron's first time playing Broken Contract and I was really curious what he'd have to say. I had intended to run a new scenario I had concocted weeks ago that integrated a bunch of new design elements focusing on the robust collection of Stats characters have. I got home from work and I discovered I had given most of my board sections to my graphic designer to scan and...

Security Officer size comparison by Geng Gendall. June is coming to an end and July 1st will mark the 2 month push to get ready for the Broken Contract - Deep Underground Kickstarter. Between now and then there will be a lot to do. I'm in the midst of a 5 week Photoshop course that I'm already putting into practice every day so that I can do mock ups and promotional stuff to take the pressure off Sam and Geng so that they can do what they do. This is just a very rough mock up, but it gives an idea of the information that the Stat Cards will have on it. A lot of the text for the Kickstarter page has been in place for months now but I need to go through and streamline it. I do still have to set up the pledge levels and stretch goals. I mapped those out in January but a lot has changed since then so those need an overhaul. Geng is working on concept art between other illustrator gigs, and Sam is in the midst of a large piece meant to be the cover art. Tim Barry has t...

Solo play testing from last Thursday to feel out if the scenario would work, and actually visualize how it will play. This is an approximation of the board sections for 'Get Kellerman'. The black rectangle would be a giant fan, the grey rectangle is a freight elevator, and a couple of those tunnels will end in rubble/active mining area. In my mind, scenarios are what keep a game varied and interesting. Games like Necromunda and Zombicide, though very different games, got a lot of their personality from an ever changing play environment defined by the scenarios themselves. With that in mind, I knew that linking the scenarios to create an ongoing narrative would be one of the defining characteristics of Broken Contract, but that would only be of value if the scenarios themselves were varied, interesting, and thematic. Thus far, I've play tested a half dozen different scenarios drawing off of the general narrative and the constraints of how I envision the mines. The init...

Will Blood analyzing the board, probably relating the events to some obscure peroid in history, or just wanting gratuitous violence to ensue. He's a complex man. Preparing for AdeptiCon had pushed Broken Contract to the backseat for about a month. Art was being worked on and editing was still happening as I commuted on the train, but there was no time for play testing with myself and many of my play testers immersed in AdeptiCon related projects. Regardless, I brought all of my Broken Contract stuff with me to AdeptiCon in case anyone asked to try it out. A few people did ask, but with the fervor of everything else going I kept my play testing gear up in my room most of the time. On Saturday, however, there was some downtime and Dave Koszka from my old home town of Buffalo, NY asked to give it a go. I was lucky enough to have an hour or so to meet up with him right after his dinner break on Saturday so we sat down to give it a whirl. I gave him the option of trying an already...

“Open revolt. One of the miners in your crew, Trest, has overtaken one of the guards. You had discussed this. You planned for this. The moment is upon you and all those plans are blurred by fear and adrenaline. It’s time to act. A Security Officer moves past you with his shock baton charging towards Trest, demanding that Trest stand down. You step forward and swing your shovel, connecting with the Security Officer’s head. You instinctively anticipate gunfire from the Gunner’s position and drop to the ground to take protection behind a bin and plan your next move.”   Just over a week ago I gave an overview of Stats and Checks. I covered Stats and Checks because they are the foundation that makes it possible for Actions and Interruptions to work. Here's an overview of Actions and Interruptions. Actions Each Character has a number of action points to use. During each Character’s Turn they may perform as many Actions as their Action Point value. Most Characters will be listed ...