As a reminder I get the questions from all sources: Email, discord, facebook and blog comments. I do reword them a bit to fit the blog format and due to the fact that many are questions I have been asked by multiple people. 

If you post your question as a blog comment, I promise I will include it in the next week round up. (unless I skip a week, then itll be the next one after that :) )

General questions:

Do you ever make rules just for yourself that we don't get to see?

On occasion yes and usually for fun and my own enjoyment. I am currently working on a vanity project for myself which is basically 2nd edition 40K, adapted to various 19th century conflicts. 

Should I house rule when I playtest my own rules?

I think this is a bad idea unless you realise something is completely wrong. Play at least a few turns with the rules as you wrote them down, then revise and reset.

Five Parsecs questions:

How does recruiting work if my campaign crew size is not 6?

You substitute the actual crew size you are using for your campaign. Note that this is what you pick at the start, not your current crew. So if you are playing a 5 crew campaign, then you recruit automatically if you have less than 5 crew, instead of 6 as it says in the book. 

K'Erin with boarding sabre. How does the dice work?

Roll twice and pick the best (K'Erin). Then choose if you wish to reroll (Sabre). If you do, you must take the final result.

Is there an official answer to when you should determine the identity of a new rival?

The intent was to roll by the time you are fighting them, but a lot of players prefer rolling when the rival is assigned to you. It works fine either way. 

Five Leagues questions:

If I am backed into a corner and lose the combat but don't die, do I fight again?

Yes. You keep fighting until you die or win (pushing the enemy back). 

All 5X games:

Are enemies aware of my crew if they cant see them?

Yes. Unless an AI rule specifically refers to line of sight, assume the AI is always aware of your crew. You may of course choose to roleplay it a bit more realistically, but in that case you really ought to make it apply both ways. 

So you have written your game and you have gotten some play testers on board. Feedback is coming in, you have incorporated it and now you are ready for something resembling prime time. 

You put your book out there. Maybe its for money, maybe its a freebie. You do a little promotion and eventually someone buys it. People are actually playing it! Now is the time to go see what all these people say. 

You check your email, blog replies and a few forum threads. Most of them are enjoying the game or asking questions. There's some criticisms and you take them on board. Maybe you could have done a rule better in hindsight or you forgot something obvious. Maybe you straight up screwed up. All things to learn from. You keep a note pad with these things so you can work on them later.

Then there's the posts that make you pause:

This guy says the game doesn't have a rule that is absolutely in the book.

That guy says they changed a bunch of the rules and that the game is broken (because they changed those rules).

A third guy says that since the game doesn't do something it was never intended to do, its crap. 

A fourth guy just straight up made up a story about how you play tested the game by kicking bunnies. 

Guy number five says that "he heard" the game is shit, so don't play it. It's clear from the post he never even read it. 

Sixth guy is oddly obsessed that the game does not include a rule for different types of pontoon bridge and is disappointed that you left out such an important factor. 

Guy number seven points out that a rules term sounds like the word for a jihadist terror group and could that be changed? 

What do you do? 

You are a writer, nay a game designer! You can create worlds! You can wield the flaming wrath of the pen!

And you are going to sit your ass right down. 

Look up any established novel writer and they will tell you that the first lesson to learn is to not get into it with critics. You are likely to seem petty and aggressive (and if your self control is lacking you may very well be petty and aggressive) and to an extent, you are invading a space that isn't for you. When someone posts about a game they are expecting to talk to other players, not to have the writer looming over their shoulders. 

Unless you are a huge sales success you are going to trade on your reputation to an extent. The reputation of "googles his own name and then fights people over elf-games" is always going to be worse than the result of some guy who didn't like the game and was grumpy that day. 

A test version of a prospective set of WW1 rules titled "Fight the Kaiser!" is available. It is not quite enough to put on Wargame Vault, so for now you will have to email me for a copy or you can download it from Discord. Email is at nordicweaselgames@icloud.com 

The rules are aimed at roughly platoon level and the test version so far only covers 1914 (to have a confined area to test the core game mechanics). 

Drop me a line and you can help test it out. 

General questions:

Will you publish anything under the new ORC license?

Unlikely though a solid BRP system available under it could change my mind.

Weasel Tech questions:

Do individual swarm figures count as a kill for the "Contest" event?

Yes. 

Five Parsecs questions:

How does the "Looked worse than it was!" star option work with events or enemies that have special consequences such as vent crawlers?

Since the injury roll is ignored, any side effects, modifiers or restrictions are also ignored.

Should "Looked worse than it was!" be used before rolling or can I use it after I have rolled?

You can use it after rolling up all of your injuries. 

What happens if I lose the mission in an Invasion battle?

The criteria for leaving the planet is surviving the mission, not winning it. Though this is a great time to invent a special scenario.

Five Leagues questions:

Is the Old Dusty Manual cumulative with other skill bonuses such as those from character origins?

Yes. 

Do you lose the character origin bonus to a skill when you obtain the skill?

No. You add both to skill tests. 



I take these questions from my email, discord, facebook groups etc based on what questions are interesting, come up a lot etc. 

They are almost never verbatim, since I am usually paraphrasing a couple of questions about the same topic. 

If you leave a question as a comment on the blog directly, I will make sure to include it in next weeks round up. 

Five Parsecs questions:

 Is there any tool that helps add more details to a quest?

Expansion 2 offers more tasks to do as part of the quest, but there is not currently any table with additional fluff text. I do think that was a missed opportunity on my part, so keep an eye out for that in the future.

Why isn't there a Flanking rule?

In my original opinion flanking (as in moving to see the enemy with no cover) already increases your hit chance by 100% (for combat skill 0) so I didn't think it was required. However a lot of people want a mechanic that rewards that sort of maneuvering more explicitly, so you can download the proposed combat test rules on Facebook or Discord (or email me) and test a version that does just that. 

Five Leagues questions:

How do consumables and backpack slots work? 

The intended way they work is that each use of an item is a separate slot. However it is a common house rule to allow identical items to count as one slot like in a video game. I'd suggest limiting it to 3 per slot in that case.

What is the meaning of the reward table for the Fetch mission?

It is just a bit of extra fluff explaining how exactly you get paid for fetching the thing. The payment is your normal post game rewards plus anything listed in the table. I don't recall why exactly I felt that one mission needed more fluff but there you have it. 

General 5 X questions:

Would it be a good idea to have a recurring enemy that gets stronger? 

I think that's a really cool idea. If you face off a leader or personality I would probably make a die roll to see if they survive and become a recurring villain, then give them a new ability or trait. When you encounter another character of that type (f.x. another captain in Leagues) its a 50/50 chance of being your old friend. 

Do I have to declare my shots when I pick who to activate?

No, in both titles we never do anything like that. You always activate one figure at a time, resolve all of their actions (and any outcomes of those actions) and then activate the next figure.

For example if Biff shoots a K'Erin, then when Boff activates next, that K'Erin is gone and does not block movement, sight or anything else you can think of.

Why isn't X in the book?

Pick one of "I didn't think of it" / "I didn't think it would fit" / "It would be too much to explain" / "I just sort of liked the other option better". 

I try to add as many options and customization tools as I can think of but you have to be careful because it is easy for that stuff to get way too complicated. 

Todays installment is really more of a general writing tip, but it certainly applies to games as well:

The way to finish a game/scenario/expansion/product/thing is to start writing it and the way to start writing it is by typing on your keyboard (or other input method).

Don't get me wrong there is a lot that plays into game design: Testing, figuring out math, throwing out ideas that turn out to be bad, maybe some talking to players, research etc. But at the core of producing any written work is of course the writing. 

Writing can seem overwhelming, especially when you look towards the end result. How big of a book are you looking to produce? 

Renegade Scout was about 62k words. Five Men in Normandy is currently about 24k. A little 3 page Patreon piece I did a few months ago ended up at 831 words. 

Let's say you want something in the mid-range: A comprehensive game but not excessively so. You decide to aim somewhere around 30k words. Maybe you think you have about 25k worth of things to say, but you want to add a bit of extra allowance if you come up with something really cool. Or you make some allowance you can use up for explanations, examples and designer notes. However you expect it to work out, the goal is about 30k. 

Then you look at that number and say "I can't possibly do that, where would I find the time?". 

As long as people have been writing books, people have been writing books about how to write books and a lot of that advice is applicable to game writing too. This article is about two techniques that I have found to be really helpful.

First I find it really difficult to think at the keyboard. If I already know roughly how something is supposed to look, I can grind out the text, but if I have to create mechanics from scratch I find myself stumbling a lot. It helps tremendously to prepare even a tiny bit in advance. For me this is usually just a notepad with hand scribbled notes. I might sketch out the core mechanic I have in mind and then once I put that down on the page with proper explanations, I am on the right path and now I can start filling in all the surrounding space. 

I use keywords extensively. If I am working on the morale rules for something, I write down keywords and snippets. Sometimes they are short sentences, sometimes they are just a reminder. "-2 for outflanking" "Surrender?" "remove from play on second failure". Whatever gets you thinking. The same applies on a larger scale. The first thing i do when starting a project is always to name all the chapters and write in keywords for what I want to have in each chapter. If there is a "character creation" chapter and I want to have a "build your own class" option, I put a keyword for that. If you need help doing this, take a look at whatever rulebook you have lying around and look for what core features it (and any book) covers and what specific things it calls out. 

When I sit down to write the next day or next week or next month, the keywords help act as a frame work and I can start filling things in. The more structure you build up, the easier it is to continue working on it because the range of possible choices narrows. A blank page can have anything on it. A page that says "squad based shooting" can only have a few things on it. Use that to your advantage. 

It can feel extremely discouraging to realize you spent 30 minutes staring at the word processor without doing anything. Some writers say to just start writing anything and once you are "hot" then the material will flow. I sometimes work on a blog post or read over an old rules section to help get the engine running. You can try that as well.

Second I find that I benefit tremendously from scheduling. Obviously with a busy schedule you need to find the actual, physical time. I can't help you with that. However I usually set a word limit I want to hit every day. The number is not so important because once you are hot, you will almost certainly blow past it. However it can be very reassuring to be able to halt if you are feeling worn out that day. What should the word count be? That mostly depends on you. If you can write 1000 words a day, every day, you have your 30k book at the end of the month. If you can do 200 words a day, then that month still gets you to 6000 words. Thats a good chunk of your game and probably all of the core components to a point where you can test them.

Of course we cant always write every single day. So factor in 20% slippage and you won't be too disappointed but the point is to set a target and go for it. If your target is 300 words, then come hell or high water get on that keyboard and get 300 words on that page. 

This is all ignoring all the other time that goes into creating a game (testing, evaluating, balancing, tweaking and revising) but none of those matter until you have words on a page. 

There are a wealth of other options and resources for writing, many of which are applicable here but the above are some tips Ive used successfully.

Weasel Tech questions

Why is it called that?

For a long time "Weasel Tech" was a fan name for a hypothetical NWG mech game. Once I decided to write one, I wanted to give the fans a nod by using the same name. 

General "5x" questions

Can I loot items off enemies?

Not intended in Parsecs or Leagues. 

If you want to add a house rule you could allow it in Parsecs but the weapon is only usable in the current fight. For Leagues, you might allow replenishing bow ammo if you move into contact with a casualty. 

Five Parsecs questions

Once and for all how do existing Patrons work?

When you create your crew each Patron you have offers you a job in the first campaign turn. 

From campaign turn 2 onwards existing Patrons are just added to your die roll to find a Patron (The more people you know, the greater the chance one of them has something they need done). When you find two or more job offers, randomly pick from your existing Patrons to see who one of them is. 

Once and for all how do quest clues and rumors really work?

I apologize for the convoluted wording. First you can treat "clue" and "rumor" as the same thing if it makes it easier. 

If you don't currently have a quest, any and all clues/rumors regardless of source contribute towards GETTING a quest. (resolved in pre battle step 5). Once you receive a quest, all clues/rumors are discarded.

If you are on a quest, all clues/rumors count towards the current quest (resolved in post battle step 3). Once you complete the quest, all clues/rumors are discarded. 

You can never ever have two potential or ongoing quests at the same time.

Five Leagues questions

When a random item is damaged, do you include items that cannot be damaged in the selection?

Yes. If that item is selected nothing happens. 

Where am I after completing a delve level?

You are camping in the wilderness for the purpose of events and campaign actions. 

General questions

Do your games use a formula for points values?

Clash on the Fringe did and Laserstorm did. Others generally have not. I find formulas to be really frustrating to work with because it essentially doesn't save you any time.  

Generic rules questions

If a rule just says to place something X inches from a location (like the center of the table) how do I do so?

It usually means to place it randomly. Make an appropriate random direction roll and place it the indicated number of inches in that direction. For example placing something 1D6" from the center would mean rolling a D6 (for distance) and a D10 (for the direction). The raised tip of the D10 is the direction and then move the indicated number of inches in that direction from the center.

Five Parsecs questions

What happens if I don't get a Rival or Patron or Quest?

You fight an Opportunity mission. By the rules you always have a tabletop battle every campaign turn. As a house rule, I don't think it hurts anything if you allow the crew to lay low for a turn, as long as you pay upkeep. 

Is the Seize the Initiative test considered a Savvy test for the purpose of items like the AI Companion?

As intended: Only items and abilities that specifically say they affect Seize the Initiative apply.

Five Leagues questions

Is the route created by the Map Making Kit permanent?

Yes, you will always have that specific route.

I am drowning in discovered locations!

If you are getting overwhelmed by locations popping up, feel free to cap them. A maximum of 5 unexplored locations at any one time is probably plenty. For the purpose of keeping your map tidy, you can have newly placed things coincide with old locations you already explored (even better if you remember what terrain setup you did).

A quick one today but I wanted to talk about being intentional with your terminology in rules writing.

I think game writing can benefit tremendously from being very clear about when a given rule or situation is a choice versus being a requirement.

Let's say your game has a saving throw in it: When a figure takes a hit, they get to roll a die to survive. Simple right?

What is the difference between "When taking a hit, the figure must make a saving throw" and "When taking a hit, the figure may make a saving throw" ?

In the first example the saving throw is mandatory. If you get hit, you roll to save. In the second example however it is not. If I "may" do something, it stands to reason I "may not" as well. Why would I not want to make a saving throw? While counter-intuitive I might want to be rid of that particular figure because they happen to be in the way of another unit or because that will put the unit out of charge range or any of a thousand other reasons. 

Are those reasons things you want to entertain in your game? Perhaps not, in which case the saving throw should probably say "must". But maybe you are making a game that is more abstract or competitive and the decision is in fact something that a player should be able to manipulate for success. If so, they "may" make the save.

For another example lets consider a unit moving into base contact with an enemy. 

A: "If any units are in base contact they will fight a round of close combat". 

B: "Units in base contact may fight a round of close combat". 

Again the meaning is clear: A has to fight while B can fight if they like. In this case there may again be reasons why they do not want to such as them just trying to slow down the enemy or adding bodies so another unit can attack and get a bonus for outnumbering. 

In B the range of tactical possibilities is greater. So is the range of strange situations that can occur. A resolves immediately (potentially) but it also means some interactions can't take place. 

Take a moment to look through your rules and see exactly what you are permitting a player to do. Does any of the rules produce a strange result if the player decides not to do something? If so, you may have to account for that or at least mention the possibility. 

If you enjoy these posts, please consider throwing in a dollar or five at https://www.patreon.com/nordicweasel 

General questions

Will you appear on my youtube channel, podcast or other thing?

I am happy to do interviews. Just email me at nordicweaselgames@icloud.com and we can figure out the details. 

Will you give me feedback on my game?

My time is often limited, but drop me an email and I am happy to talk about it. The odds are better if it is a single, self-contained question. 

If you would like me to do in-depth paragraph by paragraph feedback, I am happy to assist for a fee.

Five Parsecs questions

What happens to Rumors at the conclusion of a Quest?

They are all discarded. 

If an existing Patron offers me a job but I turn it down, do I lose them?

No, Patrons are only lost if you accept the job and fail.

How do Area weapons work when using non-minis combat?

Officially they only hit the target figure like any other weapon. If you want a house rule roll a 5+ to hit a random second opponent. 

Five Leagues questions

Can I sell damaged items?

Yes. The locals just use your cast-off weapons and helmets as scrap metal anyway. 

Does the aberration have to win for the Venom ability to apply?

No. It applies as long as it rolls a 6, even if it lost the exchange.