Arthadan

Quick question: do you think this scenario should be played right after scenario VI (sneaking into the caves)? I mean with no downtime in between, so gems lost in scenario VI will not be recovered before this one.

If we go for that, heroes will have one potion each (provided by Akiro) at the start of scenario VI. And we will need to design this scenario with weakened heroes in mind.

1 hour ago, Florentin said:

What about to use the specific torches that were in the Conan Box and let the overlord to place them by respecting specific limitation rules: in fact purpose would be to avoid to place all the torches in front of each passages.

The purpose of this proposal is to avoid the same scenario to be played each time.

Love the idea of using torches! The heroes should be able to set curtains on fire, creating a distraction as Valeria does in the movie.

Not sure about the variable setup positions though, the more variables we have, the harder it will be to balance them all.

Perfect, then we all agree! (unless @Xaltotun has something to say!)

I've resized the map to the official size and proportions were spot-on, so no distortion at all.

Perhaps before starting with zone division, we should give a thought about how we want this scenario to be played, so zone size a distribution go along our design principles.

I think we will need small, dark areas for our heroes to hide in while in stealth mode (probably surrounding the big circular room and prehaps in the lower tunnels. Then medium size areas for the rest (center of the circular room and throne room). When I say small areas I mean fit for 1 -3 miniature base and medium 4 - 10 (this is just a guideline).

What do you think?

40 minutes ago, Florentin said:

Rotation and size reduction were done.

If no rotation occurs, scale of the drawing must be modified because some room details are absent.

Nevertheless, if compare with the BOTM map size seems to be at the right scale ?

Rotated map: we can make the upper tunnel to turn to the left, running parallel to the border. This way we maximize gaming space. And perhaps adding another tunnel in the lower right corner. I like the idea of reinforcements Coming from different tunnels when the alarm is raised.

Vertical map: Maybe we have too much unused space (left and right of the throne room and lower left corner mainly). Also, if we want to go official size, needs to be closer to a square.

Thoughts?

6 minutes ago, Florentin said:

First proposal to help to design areas. The size of the map is the same as the BOTM map.

Since in this scenario we have no mounted troops, I think it would be better to use a normal (official) size map. They have a nice size for foot miniatures. Also, I think we don't need to see much of the tunnels. I suggest something like this:

I think having two tunnels is a good idea, makes the map more interesting.

I'll need to watch the scene again, but I think Rexor and Thorgrim were in the room. Certainly they were half-dressed, as if they had been interrupted from more pleasant endeavors.

The reason behind TD transformation is of little consequence from a scenario design point of view. In the end what matters to us is that he will start his slow transformation at the start of the scenario.

Regarding gameplay, I was thinking about something along the lines of these special rules from the official scenario Trapped like Rats:

• Hidden in the shadows: At night, the heroes take advantage of the darkness and the drowsiness of their jailers; if the alarm has not been raised:

• Characters cannot perform Ranged attacks.

• The Overlord cannot use benefits.

• The Overlord can activate only 1 tile during their turn.

• When a minion dies, lay the minion’s model down in the model’s area instead of removing the model from the board. If a hero is in an area with a dead minion and there are no living enemy characters in the area, the hero can perform a simple Manipulation to remove a dead minion’s model from the board.

• Alarm!: The alarm is raised if any of the following occurs:

• A character uses Wall Wrecker or an Explosive Orb.

• At the beginning of the Overlord’s turn, if a unit is in an area with a dead minion or a hero.

• At the end of turn 4.

When the alarm is raised, the Overlord removes all dead character’s models from the board and places 5 Bossonian Guard models with green bases in the entrance area. The Overlord places the green Bossonian Guards tile on the left in the River, sliding tiles to the right as needed, and replaces the recovery token in the book of Skelos with the recovery token showing a recovery value of “5.”

30 minutes ago, Florentin said:

Yes it is right! And I'm totally agree with your arguments. 

I have already thought to what you wrote before to write my previous post.

 

It was only a proposal to try to add some "salt" to the scenario, no more.

If people thing it is more a cause of trouble the "blood thirsty madness" concept could be forgotten.

 

In fact, I thought the scenario could become a very boring scenario for the Overlord player because the heroes are stronger than the vilains until the arrival of Rexor, Thorgrim and maybe additional guards.

Or maybe it could be imagined that Thulsa Doom could change in snake and stay in the room to fight against the invasion if the alert is triggered before he leaves it?

 

Balance of this scenario, is for me difficult to do...

But maybe we can use other elements to try to balance it!

 

Moreover, I will try to work on a very simple map with only manual drawings to help us to work on the scenario as it was proposed! I thing it is a good idea at first step !

Only question for the battlegound  is, are we focusing on the orgy chamber or on the whole corridors and rooms network of the mountain that was crossed by the heroes in the movie ?

Scenario VI - The Fangs of the Serpent I is precisely about sneaking into the tunnels using the official Stygia tunnels map, so I guess we can have the orgy room, Thulsa Doom throne room, and just the start of the tunnel to the kitchens, all fitting into an official-sized map if possible. @Vincent255, what is the other tunnel in your sketch?

12 minutes ago, Florentin said:

Hi Vincent,

 

Thank you very much for your writings !

 

To my mind, this scenario  would be great if it was a kind of "Hyborian Splinter Cells" and not only a bloodshed in the orgy room.

I have the feeling that to only consider the last part of the scenario would reduce the pleasure of this scenario (same thing for me for an other scenario that I hope we will work on an other day: the tower of the serpent).

 

In fact, Conan and his friends are kind of Ninjas in this scenario...But during this battle I think It is difficult for Conan to resist to his wish to kill every one and to destroy everything... Maybe it is something to use to make the scenario better... Conan should do his best to avoid a kind of blood thirsty madness (like a shark when it "detects" first blood) and keep control of himself and thus to not lost too much time with bloodshed. Nevertheless, to kill is sometimes necessary...So find a balance between the main purpose of the mission and his wish of revenge could be great! Maybe with specific Conan self control tests after each deaths to avoid him to become a kind of berserker ?

As an example, I don't think an other commando would have lost time to push the giant marmite through the stairs ? This is to discuss...

Moreover, I think that it should be very difficult for Conan to leave the cave when he faced Rexor & Thorgrim. I thing the fall of the central pillar brought him back to reason,  otherwise he might be dead, blinded by his revenge ? Maybe it was a God action to say him "Conan it is time to go away" ?

Note: in a first version of the Conan arrival in the Orgy Room, Milius  would like Conan killed the first woman he met...But as this scene showed a worse vision of what was Conan, Milius changed the scene and the woman was only pushed. For me, this was a mistake like the scene in Star Wars, in the Cantina where Lucas made Greedo attacked first Han Solo in the last version of the movie: Solo is a selfish rascal and not a white knight ... Human are complexe and often their darkness overcome their values...and for Conan it is the same thing and besides Conan is a barbarian!

 

I think this scenario should begin with the arrival in the caves, the displacement through shadows across the kitchen and the corridors before to take place in the orgy room at strategic points to act quickly and efficiently. Then to leave through the corridor (through a balcony with a rope (as in the comics)) to go back to horses.

 

Heroes purposes: avoid guards supervision of the place and control the Conan's thirst of revenge, capture the princess as fast as possible. Each turn danger increases and risk of arrival of many well armed-guards and beast mans  is important.

 

I have some remarks/questions:

• Do not understand why Princess Yasmina could die ? For me no one want the princess to be killed. It is not the same thing that in the BOTM scenario. So I will supress this option. For me princess is a kind of item in this scenario that could only trigger an alert ?
• For me Thulsa Doom is becoming a snake only to go to feed himself somewhere or to go to practice a dark ritual. To my opinion,  he didn't detect the attack if not an army would have been arrived faster. But this is to discuss ! 

You've made me remember something Valeria says before they go for Yasmina: "a thief could do it, but not a vengeful one".

I think the question is: would Conan try to restrain himself at all? I don't remember him struggling to restrain, he just charges into the room as soon as he sees Rexor and Thorgrim there (it is worth remembering how they humiliated Conan when he was captured).

Perhaps Conan can act in "stealth mode" until he has line of sight to Rexor or Thorgrim. When that happens, he is bound to attack them.

How does it sounds?

1 hour ago, Florentin said:

Always ready for great aventures with the Tigers team!

And ready to improve my knowledge in map creation and to face new challenges!

All scenarios above are fun ! I'm ready for the whole! 

Well, that settles it. We're all in for scenario VII!

Perhaps we should start with a simple map (just black lines) to play around with the zone division and then build up the finished color version from there.

@Vincent255, could you please share your ideas about the scenario with the group?

Any option works for me, even scenario VII. I just want to be sure we're all on the same page before starting.

I'll write down the campaign rules (experience points and level up), a simplified version of the official campaign. Heroes start at level 0 and can raise up to level 2. We have seven scenarios so far, so they should level up every 2-3.

No rest for the wicked!

I've been thinking what scenario would be best to do next. I know you guys feel like doing scenario VII - The Fangs of the Serpent II (a.k.a. the orgy), but please take in account this is the only remaining scenario needing another custom map. Perhaps it would be better to do something lighter, using an official map. I don't have the Modiphius tiles yet, so the list of remaining scenarios using Monolith boards are:

II - The Tower of Set

Heroes: Conan, Valeria, Subotai

Map: Custom or Khitai Tower from Khitai expansion

The heroes enter the dreaded Tower of Set to steal its riches. They must take out the guards in stealth and they can disguise themselves using the tunis of the acolytes and of course they must retrieve the greatest treasure there which is protected by a Giant Snake!

III - Escape! 

Heroes: Conan, Valeria, Subotai

Map: Stygia streets (from the Stygia expansion)

The tower guards rush after the intruders through the streets of Shadizar. The heroes must fight their way through the streets and make the guards lose their trail. A vengeful camel may appear.

VI - The Fangs of the Serpent I

Heroes: Conan, Valeria, Subotai

Map: Stygia tunnels (from the Stygia expansion)

Having recovered his strength, Conan and his companions head back to the Mountain of Power to recover the daughter of King Osric, now an adept of the Serpent God. First they have to sneak into the mountain using a secret entrance, dark tunnels lead them deep into the heart of the mountain.

And then we have one scenario re-using the Mounds map:

V - The spirits here ask a heavy toll

Heroes: Valeria, Subotai

Map: Custom Mounds map

Akiro has cast a spell on Conan to save his life but the Spirits of the Mounds will try to claim his soul before dawn.

I think doing any of these will reduce dramatically the development time and increase the chance that people actually play our scenarios. I think now we are getting more "likes" and sympathy than actual players because printing so much material when there are so many scenarios out there using official stuff is not very appealing. Of course we are doing this mainly for ourselves, but it would be nice to get more people involved.

I think before voting what we want to do next, we need to ask our dear cartographer @Florentin if he feels like starting another map right away.

What do you think?

IT'S DONE!

THE WAIT IS OVER! 

After much internal playtesting, we proudly announce that the first scenario for the Conan the Barbarian Campaign is ready for testing!

We decided to start by one of the most iconic scenarios in the film, the Battle of the Mounds. We know there are many files to download and print for a single scenario, but keep in mind this is a campaign and we are just starting. Many of these files will be used in other upcoming scenarios as well.

Thanks to @Florentin and @Xaltotun, my brothers-in-arms in this epic quest, without your help none of this would have been possible. And thanks to all our regular Babarians, who have encouraged us to see this through, made remarks that have helped us to improve our work and supported us!

Download Links

Gameboard (please make sure to download the last version, v.1.5): 

Gameboard rules:

Scenario:

Hero sheets:

Tokens and counters:

Enemy tiles:

Cards (equiment & others):

Mounted combat (new rule):

Ranged attacks (new rule):

Paper Stand-ups for mounted moniatures:

You can also find alternative Hero sheets (same stats, different illustration) in our Campaign folderin the Downloads section.

For rule questions, playtesting feedback and comments, please use this thread: Campaign thread link.

And we have already decided what's going to be our next scenario, here you are a sneak pic:

9 hours ago, Vincent255 said:

Well to be perfectly honest, the protracted wait that's been the case since the beginning of the year - following a relatively quick development earlier - I think is the main reason for the decline in the post rate due to waning interest.  And this particular scenario is now running months behind the original schedule which I doubt is helping any.  

 

Still, I was hoping the next Scenario to be developed would be:  VII - The Fangs of the Serpent II, that being the one which caught my interest the most.  

 

 

Good question @Xaltotun and helpful answer @Vincent255. I think you are right and I'm the one to blame for the delay. The version we had around Christmas was playable but it has some issues and some aspects that didn't feel quite right, it was "fine" but not "good". I, for one, needed to take a break and let it settle in my mind for a while so I could go back to it with a fresh look. I honestly think the current version is better than the previous one (and hopefully we'll get enough feedback from playtesters to make it better).

Once @Florentin has updated the map, I'll add the missing two images using it in the scenario rules and we're done. Hopefully  it will be released for Easter. I plan to update the post here in the first page, in the thread I opened about the campaign in the general  forum and in the Facebook group with links to download all the files needed when we go public (the easier we make the download for players, the better).

I can't believe we're nearly done!

5 hours ago, Florentin said:

Ah Battle in the caves !

Yes ! It is a very interesting project !!!

I'm in, whatever scenario you decide to do next and @Vincent255 has some great ideas for The Fangs of the Serpent. Thing is we'll need a custom map for this scenario as well, @Florentin how do you feel about making another map?

And speaking of maps, thanks for changing the BotM one, but I'm afraid I explained the modifications poorly (sorry about that!). With the big cavalry bases this is what we need (red lines):

Status update:

I've blown the war horn and my brothers in arms have answered!

@Xaltotun will update the following files:

- Tokens: removing those no longer in use in the last version of the scenario.

- Enemy tiles: upload of the last version with the foot tiles that I've shared here.

Our great cartographer @Florentin  has to catch up with the last changes I've been posting lately, then some fine tuning on the map and we'll be ready to go!

13 minutes ago, Xaltotun said:

 

 

Do you need me to recreate/correct the tokens?

That would be great! Let's remove the tokens no longer in use, so people won't get lost. Also, recovering one of your old suggestions, can we have 6 single arrow tokens to be used instead the proyectiles tracker sheet? After decreasing the number of arrows it makes much more sense to use the tokens and save space.

1 hour ago, Vincent255 said:

 

Only because every game I've played before either lacks a turn limit, or has a much larger one, and once a time limit was used.  Hence why the 10-turn limit had me wondering if that would be enough.  

Many official scenarios have a turn limit of 8 turns (one full turn is one OL and one Heroe turn). For example In the clutches of the Picts scenario is 8 turns.

12 hours ago, Vincent255 said:

 

Well, the 10-Turn Limit does confuse me (forgot to mention that earlier).  Could you clarify that detail?  Explain why?  And how that can be enough?  

 

Other than that though, the rest makes sense to me, and does capture the Spirit of the Movie well.  

Sorry, but I don't get where the confusion is. 

Many official scenarios have a turn limit (usually 8). In this case it's a bit longer  because both Overlord's goals are difficult to achieve and the big map adds a distance factor. 

So, if the OL achieves his goals within 10 turns he wins and if not it would be a Heroes' victory. The reason behind this is that Thulsa Doom decides to retreat after having his forces severly beaten up (as in the movie).

I hope I have answer the question, if not please tell me exactly what you find confusing about the turn limit.

This is the last version of the scenario (I've deleted the other in my previous post to avoid confussion). It has the grammar corrections and I've improved the layout (and added Thulsa Doom' Spell).

BotM Scenario v1.2_beta.pdf

11 hours ago, Vincent255 said:

 

Looking it over, I'll get back to you when I've read/reviewed it.  

Thanks man!

Now that you've read it, what do you think?

Is it easy to understand (grammar mistakes apart)?

Do you think the special rules capture the essence of the movie well enough?

Open questions, by the way. Anybody feel free to comment!

Scenario update! I'll need the final version of the map to get a couple images, but other than that is done.

I'll be very grateful if an English native speaker could check it out. 

8 hours ago, Vincent255 said:

Just checked them, they look good.  

 

I'm guessing this scenario is finally getting close to completion?  

Yes, but I have a small problem, @Florentin made the map and I need to change it. I've sent him a mail to ask if he's still interested in this project, if he is not then I'll ask him his permission to change the map myself. I'm also considering incorporating Batman map improvements on this one, as they will reduce the number of map rules (LoS with letters, zone exertion limit, difficult terrain icon...).

So for now I'll update the scenario text and wait for his answer about the map.

Tiles file is ready to upload but I have a little problem. The original file was uploaded to the Downloads section by @Xaltotun and I cannot update it. 

I'll wait to hear from him, but in the mean time here you are.

BotM - Tiles v1.4.pdf

So remaining tasks are just updating the scenario and the map.

15 hours ago, silfus ciornan said:

Acabo de conseguir por wallapop la caja del King pledge (en el que salen más piratas, guardias y pictos, así como Taurus de Nemedia, Nathok y otros y escenografía)  pero ire ahorrando para el Kickstarter del 2019. 

¿Sabeis de que va?

Yo no he participado en los anteriores kickstarter, me los he comprado por mi cuenta ¿por estar registrado en esta página me avisan cuando empiece el del 2019?

 

Un saludo.

Seguro que lo anunciarán, igual que el Batman. Lo que se sabe de momento es que incorporará el modo Overlord vs. Overlord (2 jugadores, tipo escaramuza), nuevas expansiones con nuevos reinos y el resto de mejoras del Batman. Probablemente saldrá una nueva caja básica y un kit de actualización para los que tenemos la primera versión.

Por cierto, ¿no serás de Madrid?