Wanderlust

I'm thinking about making a game that focuses on traveling between places, and the end state of the game (or of one PC) is the PC settling down and ending their journey.

The mechanic I'm currently considering is to have a character attribute called wanderlust. It has a value between 1 and 20. When you roll equal or under (d20), you are content to travel onward. If you roll greater, then you have a connection to this place, and traveling onward is affected.

Rather than tracking this with a number alone, I'm thinking of drawing 20 cards (standard playing cards, face down). The player holding this hand has a tactile representation of their character's desire to travel. 20 cards feel substantial. As the hand is diminished, I would hope that it feels significant. The character is visibly coming to the end of their journey.

My thought is to have a "push your luck" feel to the journey. Engaging with a location means playing a card and diminishing your wanderlust. When you later plan to leave, there's a possibility that your interest in the place will hold you back.

The cards come into play as prompts for new aspects of locations. I'll need to write some tables for handling this part. For example, 8 of Clubs could give the prompt "Their history is based on a lie". If you want to learn more about a place, or significantly impact the place, you have to spend more cards.

When you fail a wanderlust roll, it means you have a newfound connection to this place and you hesitate to leave. I'm thinking of a checklist you can use to resolve that and move on. If you run out of items to check, then you have no choice but to stay in the location. The checklist could be something like this:

• Take a memento with you, to remind you of this place. 
• Leave something you cherish in this place. 
• A companion from this place joins you for the onward journey.
• Make a promise to someone who lives here.

And so on...

With a wanderlust that can only be reduced, it would limit the play time. If you wanted to extend it, you could have events that allow you to recover wanderlust - it could be something as simple as draw d4 cards when you travel onward. Or perhaps it would be linked to encountering wondrous things on the journey which inspire you to continue.

To summarize:

1. During character creation, set the wanderlust attribute between 1 and 20. A dedicated traveler can begin with 20.
2. Draw a number of cards (face down), equal to the wanderlust score.
3. When taking an action that shows personal interest in a place (investigating, protecting, challenging), turn over a card and resolve the associated prompt. The card is discarded and the wanderlust attribute is reduced by 1.
4. When deciding whether to leave, roll d20 versus wanderlust. Equal or under is a success and travel can proceed without issue.
5. On a failure of the wanderlust roll, either end your journey in this place, or check one of the unchecked prompts for connections to places you have visited.
6. Optionally, recover your wanderlust when you travel onward.

I have a little more in mind for the game this might fit into, but it might also make sense as a MOSAIC Strict text that could be used in different games.

My idea for Mythic Bastion-Jam

A Mythic Bastionland game jam will be launching soon on itch.

My enthusiasm for game jams tends to exceed my follow-through, but just to put something into the ether, this is what I have in mind.

A mini-game for advancing time between Seasons and Ages

This isn't something that I think is needed. The rules for advancing time are simple, clear, and work well. I'm just exploring the idea of switching gameplay styles briefly, and the gaps between Seasons and Ages might be a nice place for that. Plus, everyone gets a bonus character!

When advancing time by a Season or Age, everyone (players and referee) will play in a GMless mini-game, inspired by Wanderhome. Everyone takes on the role of a storyteller or chronicler who lives in the realm. The goal is to collaboratively give a little more detail to events in the realm. Each chronicler has opportunities to add to the narrative - "I met a farmer who was saved by the company..." Maybe some lesser consequences of the Company's actions can be fleshed out.

This isn't a replacement for the existing rules (players still need to choose pursuits for their knights, and the group still needs to find out how Unresolved Situations progress. It is just a way to add some additional gameplay and roleplay into that framework.

Some things I would want to include, if I get around to doing this:

• Inspired by Wanderhome, define actions that allow you to gain a token or spend a token. 
• Define traits ("things you can always do" from Wanderhome) for each chronicler. Maybe (eek) d72 of them?
• Define places that the chroniclers may come together to discuss the changes in the Season / Age.
• A gentle mechanic for protecting elements where the group doesn't want to share complete narrative control - the Referee may have something in mind for some drama in a holding, for example, or a player may not want their knight dragged into some scandal.
  
• Maybe something about the idea of unreliable narrators. The meeting of these chroniclers may not reveal the factual history of the realm, but just their version of it. (And the realm can be pretty hard to pin down anyway.)

That's it for now, but I hope to return to this.

Broken Peak: Episodes 4 and 5

Before getting into the episode notes, I'll just say something quick about actual plays in general. I've listened to a lot of them, and my main reason for doing so, is that I am trying to learn about a game I don't know. Sometimes (and it's quite pleasant when it happens) I'll also get drawn into the story and I'll stick with it to see what happens.

When I started making a Mythic Bastionland actual play, I tried to show something different in each episode. This is the kind of thing that would appeal to me as a listener.

• Episode 1 has character creation, wilderness travel (including omens from myths), and combat.
  
• Episode 2 has the creation of a holding and some character interaction in the holding. It ends with an encounter with a seer.
• Episode 3 has a duel.
• Episode 4 has the creation of a site (an adventure location).
• Episode 5 shows the rules for advancing time by a season, a return to the wilderness, and has exploration of the site from episode 4.

(You can subscribe in various ways here, to find those episodes.)

Direct downloads: episode 4 and episode 5.

I decided to release episodes 4 and 5 together, because episode 4 may not be satisfying for listeners who are looking for story progression.

I've also created an itch page for the adventure site. You can find that here. The main points of designing this are covered in episode 4, but I did tinker with it afterwards and made some more improvements.

I've included the latest map below, showing Knotte's progress through the realm.

Episode 6 probably won't be following that pattern of trying to show any particular feature of the game (though there is plenty more to dig into!). At this point I just want to see what happens to Knotte and Maldita for awhile 🙂

 

The other type of mail

In Mythic Bastionland, knights roam around the wilderness, seeking the myths. When they want the major news of the realm, they can return to a holding. But is there another way to stay updated?

This is a homebrew rule for using carrier pigeons to communicate with holdings. The company travel with a pigeon, trained to fly to a holding of your choice, and return to you.

When you want to send a message or ask for news, count the number of hexes to the holding. Roll that number of d6s.

Speed: How many 1s were rolled?

• 0 The pigeon returns on the next day. 
• 1 The pigeon returns d4 days later.
• 2 The pigeon flies to the wrong holding and returns d6 days later. 
• 3 The pigeon never returns.

Quality: What is the highest number rolled? 

• 1-3 The information returned is incomplete.
• 4-5 The information is complete.
• 6 The expected information comes, along with some additional news.

Does this make sense? It seems logical that a greater distance would increase the risk to the pigeon. Why should the information quality improve over a greater distance? I'm imagining the holding's postmaster (pigeon master?) being overworked and having little regard for mail from people who are within a day or two's ride. They scribble down a message and think it's good enough. Messages from greater distances are taken more seriously.

Mythic Bastionland - Knotte - Session 3

This is the third session of my Mythic Bastionland campaign.

After an order from the Rose Seer, Knotte challenges Maldita to a duel.

The recording is here and you can subscribe to the podcast feed through one of the links here.

Music credits:
06:20 'The Distant Sun' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
08:50 and 29:15 'The Things That Keep Us Here' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
14:35 'Phantoms of War' by Brian Vaughan, used with permission.
21:10 'Trauma' by PrismaticNoiseProject, used with permission.

Mythic Bastionland - Knotte - Session 2

This is the second session of my solo Mythic Bastionland campaign. The first session is here.

As before, the music has been kindly provided by PrismaticNoiseProject.

Recording: session 2

In this session, the Gilded Knight, Knotte, and his squire Maldita, arrive in the holding of Freetown, seeking aid against the undead threat.

 

 

Mythic Bastionland - Knotte - Session 1

I recorded my solo play of Mythic Bastionland, the game of knights and mythic quests by Chris McDowall.

The ambient music is kindly provided by PrismaticNoiseProject.
Recording: session 1
Solo tool: https://bit.ly/askthestars
 
Characters:
Knotte the Gilded Knight
VIG 12 CLA 9 SPI 15 GD 3
 
Maldita the squire
VIG 7 CLA 2 SPI 5 GD 1
 
Timings:
0:00 Prelude
2:32 Prep
19:43 Play
54:57 Combat
1:10:18 Wrap up
 
Map: The Realm Sheet from https://chrismcdee.itch.io/mythic-bastionland