I was listening to an interview with an author last night and he said something that stuck out to me:

The job is to write.

What he meant was that once a book is done (or in our case a game, but plenty of game writers also fancy taking a stab at literature or history some day)  you can't go back and change it (some caveats apply for PDF releases). The responses and reviews will be what they are, but you can't do anything to change those (even if they are occasionally infuriating). 

What you should be doing is taking a deep breath and then getting on to the next book (game) because that is your actual job. 

I know this can flow together quite a bit because many modern game writers do like to keep in touch with the community and be more active whether its answering questions or talking to the fan base. That's a big part of getting a fanbase, I've always maintained. And "doing publicity" can be a lot of fun. I've done a number of podcast interviews and it was really fun to do. 

But at the end of the day the guy is right: Your job is to write books. That's what everyone is paying you for and that is what keeps your roof over your head. 

Life can be complicated but sometimes they can be distilled down to a beautiful simplicity and for me it is that I need to sit at the keyboard and write games. 

This may not pan out but have a preview snippet for...something

The world of Green

Nobody knows why we came here. We don’t even know when we arrived. The databanks might have the information, but they have been inaccessible for generations. 

What we know is that we did arrive and this is our world.

Green.

We don’t know who called it that but it must have seemed natural to the first people to arrive here: The dense jungle that always seems to reach and grasp for any intruder, the cloying air thick with pollen, even the tint of the sun light. It is all green. The old speak of worlds among the stars with other colours: Reds and blues and browns. I wonder what such a world would be like. 

Green is a difficult place to live, but it is also bountiful in its rewards. It feeds us when we are hungry, shelters us when we are cold and heals us when we are sick. But it also kills us when we are unwary. 

Whether you step on the tendrils of a Grasper or fail to hear the humming of a Mind Wiper, Green can be a deadly place.

The Memory-Holders say that when the first people came to Green, they spread out across the world. As no single place could sustain a large population, they had to. Each adapted to the world in different ways, some seeking to exploit it and some seeking to become part of it. Even today the Factions exist in a constantly shifting state: Alliance today may be war tomorrow. We fight for territory, for spoils or for the rights to patrol a bountiful area. Sometimes we fight because that is the way of Green. 

We are not alone. In addition to your Faction and the comrades from your patrol, there are the Kinfriends: Animals that help us work and fight. It is held that the Kinfriends sought us out when we arrived on Green. We taught them new skills in return for their help and now they live among us. While every Faction has its own version of the stories, all agree that Kinfriends are part of your Faction. Only the renegade would disrespect that bond. 

Our patrol is up next. Are you coming? I can show you but you have to do exactly what I tell you. One moment of carelessness could be the death of us both.  

As promised a while ago the print expansion book for Five Parsecs is coming soon. This will include not only all three expansions for Five Parsecs From Home in print format, but also a print version of Bug Hunt for the first time ever.

Preorder should be available before the holidays and people who have purchased the prior expansions will get a discount when preordering. 

The expansions are the Fixer's Guidebook, Traiblazer's Toolkit and Freelancer's Handbook, providing a ton of content to use in your games. 

Whether you are looking to customise core game mechanics such as the difficulty toggles or the non miniatures combat rules,  new character types like Skulkers and psionics, more detail like expanded quest and AI rules or new scenarios like salvage jobs and stealth missions, they are packed with new stuff for your games. 

What about Bug Hunt then? If you are not familiar, Bug Hunt is a set of stand alone rules pitting squads of Unity troopers against the horrors that tend to pop up in abandoned research facilities and remote colonies. Each mission features your squad and supporting troops sweeping an area, accomplishing missions and trying to get the heck out of there before you get overrun. The blip system adds a ton of tension as the enemies keep approaching and you will need every bit of firepower to bring down the hordes when they come at you. Seriously, make sure you paint up some extra baddies because this is a whole different ballgame. 

As with Five Parsecs From Home, it is a campaign game where you gain experience and progress over the course of your career. The game also includes a co-op campaign option that is perfect for a gaming group, club or online community where multiple players can help each other against the alien hordes, even if you are playing across the internet.

This updated version includes all the material from the expansion, including more alien variety, alien sub-types, spawn points and more, for the ultimate "human vs bug" experience. Additionally these options are included in the main rules text, though some are still marked as optional.  And the entire thing will be lavishly illustrated with gorgeous artwork, really bringing the universe to life. 

Did I mention that you can carry your characters over? The games are fully compatible so you can muster out from your bug hunter career and go adventure or vice versa.   

Version 1.09 is an army list expansion, giving every army a new unit, option or vehicle. Please enjoy. 

Just a quick post today since I am pretty busy. 

Cross referencing rules throughout the rulebook: Yay or nay?

By cross referencing I mean that each rule will list any applicable conditions and modifiers found elsewhere in the system. For example if you have a rule for smoke grenades that adds a -2 hit penalty, then you might add a note of that in your chapter on ranged combat or in the table of hit modifiers. 

As another example if you have a rule that figures that get hit might be pinned down, but androids and zombies are immune to this, you might add that to the section on pinning.

The advantage of doing this is that each rule becomes effectively standalone and comprehensive. If I check the rules for pinning, I can see all possible conditions and effects. This reduces the chance of me forgetting about it during the game, especially in cases where I might not otherwise be aware the secondary rule exists at all.

As such cross referencing can be tremendously helpful and is likely to improve the usability of your game rules (and remember game rules are utilitarian: They are intended to be used actively at a table). 

There are a couple of drawbacks however:

If your game has a lot of special rules and exceptions (such as is the case for many sci-fi and fantasy games) things can get out of hand pretty quickly. If your book has 20 different functions that can all modify the hit roll due to particular bits of equipment, rules, conditions or abilities, do you really want to list everyone? A common answer here is to limit yourself to either certain categories (so tabletop conditions and status effects might be in, equipment modifiers are out) or try to only pick out the most common occurrences (fog and night time modifiers are in, left-handed shooting of a medium sized firearm while balancing on a hoverboard is out)

There is also a significant amount of upkeep involved in establishing cross referencing and maintaining it afterwards, because the same rule is now referenced in multiple locations. I recently flipped through a rulebook that gave retreat distances as one distance in the main rules for morale, but in the movement phase summary of how units move when they have failed morale, the distance was different. The more items you try to cross reference the more you will run into this problem. 

You can alleviate this somewhat by using consistent terminology, so you can use cmd+f / ctrl+f to find all instances where a particular rule or term is mentioned.

A final concern happens when material is across multiple books such as expansions or army books. It can be helpful to have these elements referenced, but for players who are not using that expansion it can add to the clutter (not to mention irritating people who are not ready to purchase more content yet)

The upshot of it all is that at least some cross referencing is helpful to make your rulebook more accessible in play, but it does bear some thinking about how to do it.

That is all for today folks. If you like these types of posts, please consider supporting my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/nordicweasel 

Let me present you with two presentations of the same rule:

The Spell of Extreme Death is an ancient ritual that conjures up the shadows of the netherworld on a casting roll of 7+. Tendrils of evil shadow reach out to a range of 9" and the target must make a saving throw as the choking vapours of Blitterbops assails them. Due to the nature of shadow magickz they do not affect cybernetic units. Consuming a healthy breakfast of oatmeal will also provide protection from the dire perils conjured up by this forbidden arcanery.

OR

The Spell of Extreme Death is an ancient ritual that conjures up the shadows of the netherworld as tendrils of shadow assailt the target with the choking vapours of Blitterbops.

Casting roll 7+, Range 9". Saving Throw required by target. 

Does not affect Cybernetic units or units who had oatmeal for breakfast (only)

Now imagine that the page has 9 more spells crammed in on it and you are trying to find the information quickly, because you are gaming with Bob and Bob never writes down the details for his spells.

I am also generally a proponent of reducing "colourful" commentary ("If they fail a saving throw, the target is vapourised in a shower of hot metal fragments") in games text, though this is strictly a personal taste. I just prefer keeping things tight and tidy. To me, the rules section should be clearly available on its own, because it is going to be referenced during game play and you want the player to be able to do soat a glance. 

Remember that a game rulebook is a functional text first and a book to be read for entertainment second. 

An update to an older post, covering some common questions that get asked once in a while. 

Who are you exactly?

My name is Ivan, I am in my early 40s, I was born and grew up in Denmark and live in the United States currently. At this point I have spent about half my life in each place and depending on which day of the week I feel like one, both or neither.

What is your day job?

Nordic Weasel Games is my day job and pays for my rent, car and other things. It has been so for quite a few years. 

Are you / do you believe in / do you support X ?

These days I do not tend to discuss politics with people I am not friends with. 

If you understand Danish politics, I voted SF before I moved. 

What is your opinion on X hobby/industry topic?

I do not generally comment on hobby drama or personality clashes. 

Do you do x social media platform?

Probably not. I try out things now and again but I tend to find the experience aggravating and unpleasant.  

I do post on the Five Parsecs and Five Leagues Facebook groups since that is where the majority of fans seem to contribute these days and even I must go with the flow of progress. 

What do you play personally?

A bit of everything when I get the chance. I often play games made by other people when playing recreationally, since it helps me to not be in "work brain" mode all the time. I also like to try different games. 

With a couple of exceptions I tend not to like games that require purchasing a specific range of figures so I prefer more generic science fiction games. 

These days most of my miniatures gaming is historical with WW1 and WW2 being the primary topics. I also enjoy hex-and-counter wargames and do a lot of roleplaying. I don't really play CCG's any longer though I do enjoy the format.

Are you part of OSR/Oldhammer/some other movement?

Not generally though I have dabbled in all kinds of things over the years.  

What scales of miniatures do you collect? 

15mm and 1/72 are the primary ranges.

I have some smaller piles of other stuff but I try to avoid accumulating too much stuff.

Is it true you write for 15mm first? 

I usually test games in 15mm or 1/72 scale first. It happens that the distances I like in those scales also tend to match up with common ranges and movement rates for 28mm games, so it works out just fine. 

What happened to X product?

Some game lines just don't catch on and I can't justify spending time on them. Other games I did everything I wanted to and the game is finished as far as I figure it. Sometimes I just simply don't have the time to do more with it. 

Specifically regarding Trench Storm and FAD the rights were sold off.

Why do some betas not get a full release?

This usually happens if there wasn't enough interest or because in hindsight the system was too fiddly or not very fun to play. Some games saw a hundred or more downloads during the beta and not a single comment on them, which is a good sign that the idea needs more work. 

Why aren't you doing X obvious thing?

It may be because I am not super interested in the topic (superheroes), I need to do more research first (naval combat) or it is a really good idea but I haven't had the time for it yet.

If the idea is one that requires significant upfront money or a high chance of getting stock with unsold items, I am 1000% less likely to be interested. 

Is there some secret logic behind what projects you do?

It has to be something I am interested in personally. It needs to not be overdone in the market (usually) and I need to have an idea of how to put my own spin on it. It also needs to be something that I think somebody will pay money for. 

Is it FiveCore or 5Core?

Both get used online. I prefer FiveCore. 

I want to write games, what advice do you have? 

Write a lot. Build up a back catalogue. Every project will encounter "The Suck": Learn to power through it. Stay out of internet drama. Treat every person with kindness. Don't pursue internet trends. 

What things will you never do, so we should stop asking?

Anything to do with the OSR or D&D stuff in general. 

Any edgelord stuff. 

What are your favorite bands of all time?

Bolt Thrower and Blind Guardian.

What are your favorite movies of all time?

Aliens, Shawshank Redemption, Pretty Woman.

What are your favorite authors of all time?

Michael Moorcock, Mercedes Lackey, Jack Vance.

The topic of today is collecting for games, which in our case usually means miniatures. 

I think it's safe to say that nerds generally like to collect stuff. We all end up with extra stuff we don't quite end up doing anything with, whether its half an army for a game that didn't take off, a few packs we got for cheap at a convention but never opened or a couple of characters in a scale we don't collect and for a conflict we don't game. 

It's common enough that people coin the term Pile of Shame to describe their unused stuff. Board gamers and RPG'ers have a similar thing regarding unplayed games (usually called the Shelf of Shame). Curiously while a lot of miniatures gamers do buy a lot of rules they don't get around to playing, I rarely see people fretting over the number of unplayed game rules in the miniatures hobby. Maybe a reflection that the miniatures are the primary investment? 

In the last few years I have rooted out a lot of old stuff and ended up getting rid of a lot that I had bought and never gotten around to using (and more importantly knew I wouldn't get around to using). I weeded out my board game and RPG collections along similar lines: If I was going to keep a physical copy, it had to be something I actively wanted to play again. 

A lot of this was miniatures stuff that didn't add up to anything playable: A handful of 2mm ACW blocks, some 6mm scifi that I had no terrain for, a couple of true 25mm scifi figures that match up with nothing else I own at all. You can probably look at your own shelves and find a lot of similar remnants. Worse was that I realised none of these were projects I wanted to finish. 

The whole thing gave me plenty of time to sit and think about the hobby in general and formulate a few thoughts:

* If you are going to start a project, consider starting with a pretty decent chunk. If you are collecting for a specific game, buy enough that it will add up to at least a small army for that game. Having figures you cannot play games with can be really demoralising. 

* However don't over do it up front either. Yes I know "Do this but not too much". Some people will realise that they will just shut down if they are looking at painting 300 infantry figures, so if that is you, take the "small army" part seriously.

* Be sceptical if you are considering buying something in a scale you do not normally collect. Are you going to build potentially a couple of full armies and the terrain to go with them?

* Consider whether you actually want to have a playable army or if you are just after painting a few figures or a couple of units for the shelf. Deciding this up front can relieve a lot of stress. 

* Don't underestimate the need for terrain. Some things are universal of course (rocks!) some things are usable in a pretty wide range of settings (old fashioned European farm house) but your sci-fi landing pad probably won't see a lot of use outside of science fiction games. If you do not own any suitable terrain, it makes an additional hurdle to get over.

* Are you going to provide both armies or only one? If you are getting into a project with someone else, coordinate with them so it does not turn out you both decided to do 1940 French. If you are doing a project for solo gaming, then you are of course free to do anything you like, but you also need to double the amount of work. 

* Consider setting some time frames. Remember things take longer than you think they do and they often take longer if you are not pushing yourself. Can you paint a squad per week? How long will a tank platoon actually take? Routines work well and having a regular painting night is also a great way to de-stress. 

* Be suspicious of the human urge to "buy it now because then one day I might want to use it". You probably won't. 

Happy painting.

If you saw the Tactics playtests you are already familiar with this. The rule will also be in Planetfall and is easily adaptable to Five Parsecs From Home.

Scatter Terrain

Scatter is terrain that is small and individual such as a tree, boulder, crate or barrel. A typical piece of scatter is about big enough that a single figure can take cover behind it, but no larger. It is called this because it can be "scattered" around the gaming table. Usually at the end of setting up your terrain, you might do that to just add a little more visual flair. If you have a few wide areas with no terrain, a couple of trees or rocks can break it up visually and make things look nicer. 

The Scatter Terrain rule is a way to take that process and make it actually a part of the game mechanics.

A figure immediately behind (and touching) a piece of scatter terrain is in cover if they are being fired on from the opposing side.

Additionally if the firer rolls a natural 6, the shot blows apart or collapses the cover. The target avoids harm but the scatter terrain is removed from play. 

Variations

The rule is as it is because it is quick and easy: No additional roll is required and you just have to check for a natural 6. 

If you feel it is a bit weird to penalise a 6, you can change it so it occurs if you roll exactly the target number (or even if you roll 1 below the target number or a natural 1). 

You could also make it a saving throw instead if you prefer to go that route. 

Please check your Wargame Vault library section and you will find a print friendly / low ink version of the Clash on the Fringe rulebook. Enjoy!