My Fall-In Game: Escape the Dungeon using "Feudal Patrol" Rules.

    At the Fall In gaming convention, held back on November 8th-11th, Buck Surdu, Greg Priebe, and I all conspired to run a trio of games on the new Secret Weapon "Tablescapes Dungeons: Mines" terrain that Buck and I had purchased earlier in the year via a Kickstarter: Tablescape Dungeons: Mines.  Between Buck and I, we had purchased 5 of the base sets, 5 of the mine track sets, and 4 of the walkway sets.  I also had bought some of the riser pieces.   We frantically got it all painted, with the goal of running games with it at Fall-In.

The players hear the rules brief, as Buck (on the left) helps a player with a question. 

     We picked Saturday to run our games, so we could set up Friday night.  Saturday afternoon, Buck would run a GASLIGHT game set in a secret Nazi laboratory, hidden in an abandoned mine, that GI's were attempting to raid to steal scientific secrets. In the evening, Greg would run a Dr Who game, also using GASLIGHT; that would be set immediately after Buck's scenario, with Dr Who arriving to stop an even greater menace that would appear in the Nazi Lab.   And I was set to start things off with the morning game.

The Dwarves are surprised by the appearance of a dirty trick generated Ogre, bursting through a door on their right. 

     My game was something of a reverse Dungeon Crawl, using the under-development Feudal Patrol rules. The scenario was called "Hunting Evil in Small Places".  Players would each control a team of adventurers; but they would be starting at the back end of the dungeon, already loaded with treasure, and need to escape with the treasure they had found.   Each player also had a half dozen "dirty trick" cards that they could play on their opponents in an attempt to slow them down and make them lose their treasure.  These were things like making monsters appear, or springing traps.   Also, on turn three, a trio of big bad evil monsters would appear at the back of the dungeon, spurring the adventuring parties to move even faster towards the entrances, or face an uncertain future.  Whoever got out the quickest with the most treasure, won.

The Dwarf Cleric, separated from her party, narrowly escapes some pursing Halflings.  

     I was pleasantly surprised when I had all 6 ticketed players show up; though I sadly had to turn two stand-by players away.    The players selected from a  half dozen themed parties, including: Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Halflings, Drow, and Barbarians.

A dirty-trick generated Large Boulder drops from the ceiling and begins rolling towards the Dwarf Wizard.  In the end he was able to outrun it, even with his short legs!

     The players were quick to pick up the rules, and soon they were racing through the tunnels, and throwing monsters and traps in the paths of their opponents.  It was a great crew of players, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, including myself.

The Dwarf Cleric finds herself squeezed between the Ogre, and one of the quickly approaching big bad evil monsters.  Again, she somehow escaped!

     A highlight for me was a big three-way brawl that broke out between the Humans, Elves, and Barbarians.  All the players had a lot of fun skirmishing in the tunnels.  Also enjoyable was following the course of the Dwarf Cleric, who got separated from her party, and took a rather circuitous route through the mine, facing all sorts of perils, but somehow coming out mostly unscathed.

The big three-way fight develops between the Humans, Elves, and Barbarians.   The white rocks spread around on the track are the Barbarian Wizard's "Ice Blast" spell which created a 2"x3" section of rough icy terrain that halved movement. 

          In the end, the Halflings won, by not only being the first out, but also managing to get their whole crew safely out, and recovering 6 treasures.  Somehow they passed through much of the dungeon being left relatively alone, as is true to their Halfling nature.   :)

We loved the Halfling Wizards surprised look as he came face to face with the towering Drow Sorceress.

The three-way fight continues!

Just as the game was ending, the big bad evil monster, Flame Elemental reached the Elf Ranger, and the Ranger actually managed to damage the Elemental without taking any damage herself! 

The winning Halfling party

A look at Buck's Nazi Lab game, as GI's rush into the main room.

Greg, seated, running his Doctor Who game for a group of enthusiastic players..

Fall-in Photos: Saturday in the HAWKs Room

  Here are some photos I took of several of the games in the HAWKs room on Saturday at Fall-In this past weekend in Lancsater PA. 
 For Friday's games, see: Friday HAWKs Room

Fall-In Photos: Friday in the HAWKs Room

   Here are some of the pictures I took from a few of the games being run in the HAWKs room Friday at the Fall-In convention in Lancaster, PA.

   For Saturday'sSaturday HAWKs Room photos, see:

Fall-In Playtest Day: Into the Abandoned Mine...

    This past weekend we playtested a couple of of our games for the upcoming Fall-In convention that we will be running in the HAWKs room on Saturday.  They both used all my, and Buck Surdu's, Tablescapes Dungeon Mines terrain from the recent Kickstarter. (Tablescape Dungeon: Mines)  There were 5 Core Sets and a a bunch of extras in play. 

An overview of the set-up before the first game.

   I ran the first game, using the under-development Feudal Patrol rules.  This was a twist of a regular Dungeon Crawl type of game, with each player controlling a conventional party of adventurers.  Players started with their packs full of treasure at the back of the abandoned mine dungeon, and had to make it out alive; all the while being pursued by a very big monster they have disturbed.   Along the way, each player had a hand of a half dozen cards they could play on their fellow adventuring parties. These cards sprung traps, summoned monsters, and caused other mishaps to occur; all in an attempt to slow the other guys down, and make them drop the treasure they were carrying.  Whoever made it out fastest with the most treasure was the winner.

A Dwarf Cleric prepares to welcome two skeletal interlopers.

A pair of Goblins block the path of the Barbarians.

A group of Humans negotiate a rickety wood walkway.

The second game, run by Buck, was a Weird War II outing featuring GIs investigating a secret Nazi lab hidden in an abandoned mine. The rules used were GASLIGHT.  Each player commanded a squad of American soldiers, while Giant Ants, Robots, , Nazis, and all sorts of other nasties awaited them.   The goal was to retrieve certain lab equipment and get it back out of the mine to safety.  Like the previous game, players had a handful of cards they could play on their fellow players in an attempt to slow them down.   

A group of GIs stumble into a group of Giant Ants

Another group of Soldiers meet a Giant Crab.

A Sergeant and a rescued captive faces off against an evil Robot.

     Both games were a whole lot of fun with much laughter, good natured back-stabbing, and corny movie quotes.  We're really looking forward to running these on the Saturday at the convention in November.    There will also be a third game in this series Saturday night, featuring Doctor Who, and helmed by Greg Priebe.

Fall-In Saturday in the HAWKs Room

     I was only able to get up to Fall in for Saturday and Sunday this year, so only have shots of some of the Saturday games we ran in the HAWKs room.  Sunday, I sold in the flea market.   I had a great time at the con, and the crowd and energy seemed at a higher level than I have seen in a while.  All the HAWKs games had players enough to run, even the hard-to-fill Saturday night sessions; and the newly-redesigned Dealers' Hall seemed to be humming with activity when I was there.
    There were very few visible improvements to the Lancaster Host still, other than the Dealer's Hall, and the new white plastic tables everywhere, that replaced the old wooden splinter-and-staple infested ones.  But signs like the absent boiler truck, and no more roof tarps, are indicators steps are being taken in the right direction down a very long road.   On the down side, most of the reports I heard of the food quality were poor; and the water dispenser, moved from the hallway into the HAWKs room itself, never seemed to be refilled after it's initial reserves were exhausted on Friday.  The flea market was humming; and at the Sunday session that I did, every table was filled with a seller, and some folks even had to drag some of the tournament tables over into a new ad-hoc sellers' row to make more space .

   For the report on the linked, 2-part special episode, Doctor Who games Greg Priebe and I ran, please see: Doctor Who and the Pirates of the Cyberiad Main.

  On the the photos!

Eric Schlegel's "Action on the Pratzen" 15mm Napoleonic game using "Le Feu et Fureur" modified Fire and Fury rules. 

Geoff Graff's Lego Pirate game is always a favorite with the kids, using Plastic Pirates rules. 

Rob Dean running his Chaos Wars fantasy game with 25mm figures.

Patrick Byrne's "Hold the Fort" 28mm modern game using Force on Force rules

Kevin and Mike Fischer's "Welcome to the Jungle" 12mm Mobile Suit Gundam game.

Chris Johnson's "Gorilla My Dreams I Need You" 54mm Pulp kids game using Valley of the Ape rules.

A close up of some of Chris' beautiful big figures.

Bill Molyneaux's "Zulu Morning Patrol" game using home rules.

A closer shot of some of Bill's brave British preparing to meet the Zulus.  

Kurt Schlegel's reprisal of the "Action on the Pratzen" scneario, this time using his Fast and Fun Napoleonics rules.

Don Hogge's "All or Nothing" WWII game featuring Greek's vs Italians, and using Battleground WWII rules. 

A close up of some defending Italians in Don's game

Jim McWilliams "Saga of Lower Uncton Continues" game, using SAGA rules. 

A close up of some of the Dark Age forces battling in Jim's game. 

   A big thank you goes out from all the HAWKs Gamemasters to all the great players who came by our room to take part in our games!  We hope to see you all at Cold Wars!