http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ The Home of 'Duty & Honour' and 'Beat to Quarters' en Fri, 18 May 2012 22:41:13 +0000 http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=158#post-1036 Thu, 17 May 2012 17:11:25 +0000 mountzionryan 1036@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>I did a Game Advocate episode of Canon Puncture.<br /> "Game Advocates is a series of interviews about a single game, not with the game designer(s) but with people who have thoroughly played the game. In Game Advocates we ask about how the game plays, what’s fun about it, possible pitfalls for new players, and why this and not another game."</p> <p><a href="http://www.canonpuncture.com/?p=2090" rel="nofollow">http://www.canonpuncture.com/?p=2090</a> </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=56#post-324 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:56:34 +0000 Neil Gow 324@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>OK!</p> <p>Well, my employment woes have been sorted and I have a momentary gap on the net whilst BT try to cobble my access back together, so I thought I would let everyone know what I have planned for the next few months.</p> <p>1. 'The Magic Supplement'</p> <p>I have decided that the next project in the pipeline will be the much-requested 'Magical Napoleonics' supplement. Rather than create a full-on alternate history for Britian, I am going to provide a toolbox of options that people who want a little bit of fantasy in their powder-and-shot can use to that effect. I'm aiming at a 32pg booklet, definitely for under a fiver.</p> <p>2. Almanacs!</p> <p>I've been sloppy on the provision of Almanacs in the time I have been prepping BtQ, but its time that they started again. Almanac#6 will be a fully-rendered ship with signature characters, history and all that stuff. Almanac#7 will contain a fully-realised West Indian port to use as a home-base for a Voyage.</p> <p>3. 1810 Miscellany</p> <p>Next year I'll once again compile all of the free stuff into a nice book and offer it as a miscellany. However, I'm thinking of doing two things with this product. The first is that I want to include more content done by other people in it. There are loads of players out there who are producing awesome D&#38;H/BtQ material and it deserves to be distributed to a wider audience. The second is that I want to make this book a 'profits go to charity' book, giving something back to injured servicemen. That way, the contributions from the players are generating monies directly for a charity rather than for my pocket and a game which can glorify warfare a little can make a difference to people who are actually living through it. More on this much later.</p> <p>4. BTQ Ship-to-Ship Map</p> <p>A3 full colour map of the world, from the late 18thC, with the BtQ range map and a quick rundown of ship-to-ship combat overlaid on it. Downloadable and ready for lamination. No worries.</p> <p>5. 'Living' D&#38;H/BtQ</p> <p>Enough waffling on. I (like some others) had Conception targetted for this to go from being an idea that some people had to being a reality. It will happen.</p> <p>6. The Quest for a New Name!</p> <p>I'm going to start converting all of the aspects of the Omnihedron 'empire' into one brand and I need to find a name for the system so they can be refered to as 'X games' rather than listing the game titles! Thats just ongoing guff but I thought I would throw it in as well.</p> <p>Thanks to you people, and your seemingly endless enthusiasm for killing the French, my passions have been reawoken for another year of production and gaming. *shakes fist*</p> <p>Take care and great gaming<br /> Neil </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=157#post-1021 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:52:21 +0000 mcellis 1021@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>So last weekend I ran a game of Beat to Quarters for my group and then we podcasted about our experience. I had a lot of reservations about trying to run it, but taking a chance to actually play it helped quiet just about all of my concerns, and we had a blast.</p> <p>I'm sure I messed up a few of the rules and the adventure was very much off the cuff, but I now really want to run it again. And I think Will, one of my players is going to run it at one of the local LA conventions in February.</p> <p>If anyone would like to give the podcast a listen here is the link to Beat to Quarters on Actual People, Actual Play:</p> <p><a href="http://apap.libsyn.com/webpage/episode-71-beat-to-quarters-frenchmen-and-pirates-and-harems-oh-my-" rel="nofollow">http://apap.libsyn.com/webpage/episode-71-beat-to-quarters-frenchmen-and-pirates-and-harems-oh-my-</a> </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=156#post-1020 Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:24:44 +0000 sexylemur 1020@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Did anybody ever get a US civil war hack sorted? If so, post and update us. I'm thinking about looking into it in more detail but don't want to reinvent the wheel if there is already some material out there.</p> <p>What say you? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=155#post-1016 Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:38:43 +0000 Neil Gow 1016@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>It has been a tough year.</p> <p>For those that know me personally, the reasons for this will be abundantly obvious. For those that don't it has been all the usual 'real life' issues which impact adults in a teetering economy and parents in a growing family. Things are fine now, but it has become abundantly apparent that there isn't enough time or mental focus in the day to do everything. Something has to slip and at the moment it looks like the game development side of Omnihedron Games.</p> <p>Its taken me a while to come to this decision, and I have been party to some excellent counsel from some very dear and learned friends. One of those people has constantly told me 'Come back in six months' rather than 'Close it down!' and I'm leaning more towards his advice. It seems better suited to my plans. I have also learned a valuable lesson - one which I am not too big to admit I was told about and then ignored. I promised before I could deliver. That is a cardinal sin in any sort of development and one I am nto too proud to say I feel a little embarrassed about.</p> <p>Another upshot of this strangulation of my time has been a rapid decline in the customer service I could provide - either in forum feedback or postal delivery times. I have prided myself on high levels of community engagement and customer service and I will not stand by and watch them be eroded.</p> <p>So, what is the upshot.</p> <p>1. Any products in the Empire! line which have been previously announced are on hiatus. This includes:</p> <p> Vive Le Empereur - the French book for D&#38;H<br /> The Rise of the Zulu - the Anglo-Zulu war book for D&#38;H<br /> Empire! - the setting free developers kit<br /> Duty &#38; Honour Revised Edition - the cleaned up version</p> <p>2. Sales of Omnihedron Books will be available via Lulu and rpgnow.com as per usual, but I will be ceasing direct sales on my website, for now.</p> <p>So what, I hear you cry?</p> <p>Well, I want to underline two things.</p> <p>First off, this does not mean that I am finished with the games design thing. I just need to get my bearings again without the weight of expectation on my shoulders and focus my energies on some other areas in life. Like Obidiah Hakeswill, I'll be back in the future. </p> <p>Second, I hate dangling threads. I hate having things in that grey area state of 'I dunno, maybe, maybe not'. Something either is, or it isn't and I think its fair for people to have fair expectations of what is and isn't going to happen. </p> <p>Which brings me to my third point. I'd just like to apologise for not following through on the promises of those books. I know there are people who have supported me and promoted me throughout my time doing this insane project and people who have really been looking forward to some of these. I'm very sorry folks. Its a lesson in humility and arrogance that I will not need to take twice.</p> <p>So there you have it. The plan is head down, sort things out in real life and then come back with a stronger foundation.</p> <p>Neil </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=154#post-1010 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:35:16 +0000 evilgaz 1010@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Howdy</p> <p>I'm going to be running the following at IndieCon, possibly with new battle rules based on Ship to Ship combat from BtQ. I could even use tarot cards instead of normal playing cards, if I was inclined to buy enough decks. Its new and its old, its fresh and exciting. Be there or be square you hippies.</p> <p>Scenario: The Prince and the Pauper<br /> System: Empire! (Duty &#38; Honour)<br /> Setting: Pendragon<br /> GM: Evilgaz</p> <p>Saxons have raided good Christian lands for some time now and punitive raids have been returned, but now they have invaded in force and the Lord has sent his son with an army to put an end to their predations once and for all. The good Knight is untried in battle, but speaks with authority, he takes his young nephew as squire, an impressionable, but good-hearted lad full of dreams of winning his spurs. A grizzled sergeant looks with world-weary eyes on the army, eager to root out shirkers, there's no room for them here; a Yeoman scarred from the lash has made a career of not getting blamed for anything ever again, yet is the cause of much mischief. Last of all a poor farmer, a levy, yearns to return home to his family and harvest, and whispers in dark corners, convincing others to join his cause...</p> <p>The Prince and the Pauper is a Pendragon / Duty &#38; Honour mash-up for five proactive players </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=153#post-1008 Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:31:01 +0000 evilgaz 1008@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Howdy</p> <p>I've been perusing the rules again and the section in BtQ about Grog, it mentions that someone may "fail critically" but I can't find a reference to that elsewhere in the book.</p> <p>Is this something that was in the original draft and removed, or have I missed it? How does one critically fail? (You personally fail, but the GM gets at least a critical success?)</p> <p>Cheers</p> <p>Gaz </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=150#post-993 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:47:09 +0000 Wyldman 993@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>HI!<br /> Ok, so my books all arrived today (which really cheered me up while I was off work sick!) and I have been trying to get my head around where we might have been going wrong. I've been running D&#38;H for about four games now, based on half printed PDFs and making stuff up. We generally play story based RPG with little to no dice rolling. </p> <p>I run for one person, which is not really the way the game is intended, and we've been having a few issues with getting the rules to make sense. The Skirmish rules, which I think I have now read properly, make sense to me but my major question is...</p> <p>If you were running a normal game with say, five players, one of them would be the commander and that character can then add their cards to the others as part of their discipline skill... They all then add those cards to their actions... so if one of the boys had the job to pick off a French officer as he was running away (for example) that character would have +2 to his rifle? So no matter what they are doing, if the commander has given them +2 cards from his discipline, they can apply that to their cards?</p> <p>Does the commander reset his discipline in every challenge?</p> <p>Seeing as we are running this as a solo game I just wanted to check, you are running it as a small group of guys, say five or six with one of them being an officer? So you are not playing an entire company of people? Or are they just in the background and you are just focussing on the five or six?<br /> I think my question is (through a haze of cold and flu medication) do you use one set of cards for the rest of the company as well?<br /> For example-<br /> If your company was engaging the French in whatever skirmish, you would all have your own cards and instructions from the officer. You have a job to do and your cards (plus whatever discipline he gives you) decide if you succeed. What about the rest of the guys?<br /> Do you even have them there, or are you only playing the PCs cards?</p> <p>Does that make any sense to anyone??</p> <p>Basically I haven't exactly decided what I'm going to do for the rest of my people in a skirmish scene. I don't really want to be flipping cards for the entire lot of them it would take forever and be quite dull for the player. I have been doing it for some of them, in important moments... </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=152#post-1005 Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:49:38 +0000 DaBoss1 1005@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Hey all</p> <p>just read the "The Fort" by Bernard Cornwall describing the ill fated Penobscot Expedition in 1779.</p> <p>Not only is an excllent and intriguing read but it has really good possibilities for a D+H / BTQ scenario / Campaign.</p> <p>as it describes on the back cover:</p> <p>three small Royal navy ships, 750 British soliders defend a fort on the New England seaboard against 41 American ships and 900 men.</p> <p>There are a great series of characters, skirmishes and battles on both sides - including Sir John Moore (many here will doubtless recognise) as an eager junior officer and Paul Revere who shows a very dark side ot his character.</p> <p>enjoy :) </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=151#post-1002 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:51:37 +0000 Thunder God 1002@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Just checking to see whatever became of the Zulu Wars supplement for D&#38;H. This is something I would love to see and remember it being tossed around on the forums eons ago. Is it still in the plans or have other things overtaken it? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=149#post-988 Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:38:05 +0000 Neil Gow 988@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>OK, suppose someone was working on a wholly unofficial hack of D&#38;H based on Gaunts Ghosts and the Imperial Guard from WH40k. Just suppose, OK....</p> <p>What sort of NEW traits would you like to see? I'm assuming that this mythical person can re-purpose old traits to be all modern and hip (So 'Letter from London' might become 'Dispatch from Terra') but WHAT ELSE would you want?</p> <p>Crowd-source for this mythic person, asap!</p> <p>Neil </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=143#post-937 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:47:37 +0000 DaBoss1 937@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Hello All :)</p> <p>following a numer of discussions at one of our gaming groups and my enjoyment of various Roman novels (Simon Scarrow series, Falco, Empire series, etc etc) I have been playing around with sorting out a Roman supplement.</p> <p>Very early days as yet - but here is my efforts to date - so much more to do but comments welcomed</p> <p><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?gx7g23gbttfgn07" rel="nofollow">http://www.mediafire.com/?gx7g23gbttfgn07</a></p> <p>Should be able to get some good artwork from friends on Renderosity :) </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=146#post-961 Wed, 18 May 2011 19:03:21 +0000 sexylemur 961@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Greetings</p> <p>Has anybody put together a 40K hack? If so I would appreciate a look at it. I'm trying to find a suitable system for Dark Heresy (the original system is okaaaaaay) and wondered if anybody had tried it out? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=13#post-44 Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:29:17 +0000 Neil Gow 44@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Hi folks</p> <p>Well, one of the problems with the internet is the perennial attack of bots and their registering antics. Fine if you simply MUST know where to invest on the Russian stockmarket - less fine if you want to chat about rpgs.</p> <p>So, if you are a bona fide member of the site and you HAVEN'T already posted elsewhere on here, can you pop a little introduction post here. If you don't, its quite likely I will blast your account.</p> <p>If you are feeling a little shy, add something to your profile that tells me something rpg-ish about you, so that I can tell you are real and not some hyper-generous ex-soviet banker!</p> <p>Cheers<br /> Neil </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=148#post-984 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:15:09 +0000 mountzionryan 984@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>This looks promising:<br /> <a href="http://www.threedecks.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.threedecks.org</a> </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=147#post-975 Sun, 29 May 2011 12:47:29 +0000 Wyldman 975@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Background- This chronicle is set in an alternate history, with a Europe divided between the French and the British (who still have control over America) There have been several important changes to the historical timeline, including the use of Steampunk style technology.</p> <p>In the first game we met the main character (this is a solo game for one person) Captain Braddock, a brave scotsman.<br /> He led his men to a stunning victory at the Spanish fort at Santa Annamaria where the civillians had been left altogether undefended. The French arrived with two columns who were chased back by the valliant Torchmen. Noteable mention goes to chosen man Noah Wyldman who was able to take out a French Officer from the top of fort. Braddock's control of his men and negotiations with the local Spanish Guerillas led to a brilliant victory. </p> <p>A few days later Braddock, while out on a mission, spotted a crashing airship. He took his small group of his best men to rescue the crew of the HMAS Valkyrie. The Flying Officers were mostly unharmed, utilising the new tech of their parachutes. A few were captured by a small outcropping of French on patrol and Braddock was able to see first hand as Her Majesty's Lightning Corp did what they do best. These brilliant young officers have a reputation for being deadly shadows that drop from the sky into French territory.<br /> Braddock carved a lightning bolt to leave a warning for the French. </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=141#post-925 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:40:55 +0000 walkerp 925@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>So we are getting together an online game of Beat to Quarters. I'm having a minor bit of trouble with my character, both rules wise and historical context wise.</p> <p>I want to play a fighting chaplain, but I'm not sure how to integrate him on the ship. Was the only way a chaplain ever got onto a ship was as a surgeon? If there was a surgeon and a chaplain, what other duties would the chaplain perform? Rules wise, what would be an appropriate starting profession on the ship? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=145#post-957 Fri, 08 Apr 2011 08:00:32 +0000 Ryker 957@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Good morning,</p> <p>Im hoping im posting in the right place. </p> <p>I have only just discovered Duty &#38; Honour, when I picked up a copy of the Pdf’s from RPGNow, something of an impulse buy on my part but what an impulse buy it was.</p> <p>Just reading through them brings up so many images, and I can’t wait to introduce it to my gaming table, which I will do as soon as the hard copies I’ve ordered arrive.</p> <p>What I can’t believe is that I have not picked it up before when I’ve seen it at conventions. </p> <p>Looking forward to seeing what adventures lay ahead.<br /> Thanks for reading my ramble. </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=131#post-860 Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:16:03 +0000 shaneivey 860@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>I've begun a D&#38;H campaign and am keeping detailed AP logs on Obsidian Portal and RPG.net. Might start mirroring them here, too, but for now here's the link.</p> <p><a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=557662" rel="nofollow">http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=557662</a></p> <p>It's been very, very fun. I've done a good bit of research to bring the immediate setting -- the mountains of Galicia in the retreat to Corunna -- and the players' chosen regiment to life, and that's helped even the players who were relatively new to the genre get into the spirit of things. </p> <p>Sticking to the mission structure has been my biggest challenge. The players haven't been very interested in building personal missions or in shaping the details of military missions, preferring to enjoy surprises as they come. But of course player authorship of missions, and setting the rewards of success and the penalties for failure for each character as their stakes, is crucial to the game. I'm still figuring out how best to reconcile those issues. </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=144#post-953 Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:17:42 +0000 shaneivey 953@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>I recorded an interview on the podcast Fear the Boot and we talked a good bit about the Duty &#38; Honour campaign that I just wrapped up:</p> <p><a href="http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/index.php/archives/2075" rel="nofollow">http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/index.php/archives/2075</a> </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=127#post-851 Sat, 22 Jan 2011 02:42:07 +0000 shaneivey 851@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>A post wherein I come up with a house rule and invite it to be exposed and derided as broken or wrong-headed by readers better informed and more experienced than myself.</p> <p>(My players like a little extra tactical crunch in their fighting.)</p> <p>PARRYING AND USING COVER.</p> <p>A cautious combatant may parry or dodge out of the way to avoid a hand-to-hand attack, or simply let the blow glance off a helmet or cuirass. </p> <p>To avoid harm in this way the combatant uses successes in his or her own attack to cancel out successes in an opponent's attack. A Success cancels out a Success; a Critical Success cancels out a Critical Success or an ordinary Success; a Perfect success cancels out anything. However, the card being sacrificed must have a higher value than the one being blocked. A Perfect Success that's a 3 does no good against an ordinary Success that's a 4.</p> <p>This kind of defense may be used against a ranged attack if there's cover to hide behind, ducking behind a wall or fascine rather than taking an opportunity to fire. Without cover, one can only wait for the bullets and hope for the best.</p> <p>Thoughts? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=135#post-885 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:30:23 +0000 Mikeythorn 885@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>Following the Yorkshire Rifle's lead, I have popped the logs of the HMS Lancelot into the ether. So far these have been written simply to keep names and events straight in my head for the next session - and are not intended to be fine or entertaining prose. But if people are interested they can be found here.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nzrag.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=33927#33927" rel="nofollow">http://www.nzrag.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=33927#33927</a> </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=142#post-926 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:33:52 +0000 Ovid 926@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>I'm probably being simple, but when (if ever) does a player shuffle his card deck anew during character generation in either D&#38;H or BtQ?</p> <p>After the initial shuffle, do you just keep drawing from the deck so that the same card never comes up again, or are there any points at which you shuffle the used cards back in?</p> <p>Thanks for any help! </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=140#post-921 Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:30:26 +0000 shaneivey 921@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>In an ordinary skirmish, the commander divvies up his Discipline in bonus cards to the other player characters. Each PC attempts a challenge and then it's done.</p> <p>In an extended skirmish, where each PC attempts a challenge in each phase, does the commander assign Discipline in each phase? Or just once at the beginning of the affray? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=139#post-918 Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:29:43 +0000 shaneivey 918@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>I could use some guidelines here. When setting the stakes for a test or a mission, they must be equivalent. When the stakes are purely narrative that's easy enough. But I'm not certain how to approach it when the stakes involve important mechanical effects -- when the result of success is, say, injury of Health or a Reputation or repairing Health or a Reputation.</p> <p>For instance, First Aid on a character who is already Injured. Success means the subject becomes one step healthier. What's equivalent to that for failing the test? </p> <p>If success is getting one step better in Health, should failure mean getting one step worse in Health? Or in another mechanical thing such as having a Reputation injured? </p> <p>If not, what are some ideas for narrative effects that are equivalent to having health or a Reputation improve a step on the one hand or become injured a step on the other? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=138#post-900 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:49:51 +0000 Neil Gow 900@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>In which I wax on about another set of books I have been reading and why you should read them too.</p> <p>The Merewether books of Ellis K. Meacham'</p> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&#38;field-keywords=Ellis+Meacham" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&#38;field-keywords=Ellis+Meacham</a></p> <p>The three books (For King and Company, On the Company's Service and The East Indiaman) sail a neat course between the boy's own adventures of Kent and Forester and the full-on nautical bombardment of O'Brien, and they do it for a navy which gets very little coverage elsewhere - the Honorable East India Company (HEIC), more specifically its military naval arm, the Bombay Marine.</p> <p>In doing so, the books tackle an area of the genre which gets very little coverage and offer an insight into the workings of a very different navy. This is a world of Governor Generals, Malay pirates, gin in the afternoon and dusky native women battling with displaced European lovelies for the captain's attentions. The 'real' Navy is often portrayed as aloof and superior, which of course gives the hero a chance to prove himself and his professional navy their equal, if not better.</p> <p>The books are very 'gameable', teeming with ideas and characters and a slight nod to history - in 'On the Company's Service', Merewether meets Raffles, in the role of a regional Govenor, waxing lyrical about the suitability of a new harbour for colonisation, a little known place called Singapore! (Avid readers will note that this is the same mechanism used when the hero of Wilcox's South African books meets Cecil Rhodes, before his fame.)</p> <p>These books are good, old and good and as you can see from the linky, some of them go for pennies, which is an absolute bargain in my estimation.</p> <p>Recommended.</p> <p>Neil </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=136#post-892 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:03:54 +0000 Neil Gow 892@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>I know we have a community of Empire players in New Zealand - I hope that you are all OK after the earthquake.</p> <p>Our thoughts are with you.</p> <p>Neil </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=137#post-894 Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:09:04 +0000 ijdod 894@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>On page 24 of the BtQ book (1809/2009 edition) an example is given of how the player Andrew spends the 4 points in measures. In the example he makes Guts 2, Disciple 2, Charm 3 and Influence 2. With the measures starting at 1, that's 5 points. Did an extra point in measures come from something I missed, or is the example wrong? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=122#post-825 Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:20:04 +0000 Neil Gow 825@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>So, as mentioned in the 'Special Measures' thread, I'm mulling over the possibility of revising the core book into a modern work of wonder *wink*. I have a working list of things that might need looking at, namely:</p> <p>Measures<br /> Updating reputation mechanics<br /> Measures<br /> BtQ inspired Regiment creation<br /> Revisiting Extended Skirmish<br /> Upgrading the NPCs etc.<br /> Measures.<br /> Did I mention Measures?</p> <p>Is there anything else that leaps out as needing to be dealt with, rules wise? </p> http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/topic.php?id=134#post-880 Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:13:47 +0000 Neil Gow 880@http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/forum/ <p>...aka 'Is it time to kill off the Extended Skirmish Rules'?</p> <p>I think that whilst those rules suited the way I wanted the game to be when it was created, as I approach the revision, I'm finding it hard to square them off in my mind.</p> <p>The standard Skirmish rules, where everyone contributes to the company's command test, work absolutely as intended and can be used for everything from troops sneaking through a wood, fighting a skirmish against the enemy or collecting information in a ballroom.</p> <p>The Extended Skirmish rules - the ones with the hidden orders and the modifiers - are just too clunky nowadays and to much of a step-change in the flow of a game. </p> <p>I have tried to model some massed combat rules on the BtQ ship-to-ship stuff but I have ran into some problems I simply cannot get my head around, namely:</p> <p>- how to represent interesting features using the relative map movement system. i.e. when the enemy moves relative to you as a fixed point, how can you represent 'taking a fort'.</p> <p>- how to combine Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery in the same company within that system. Its like having three little armies, or one large army that can only do one thing at a time.</p> <p>I've thought about the things that are done on the battlefield - movement, formation changing and attacking - as three different phases within a round, but that seems too long. In fact, it all feels too long.</p> <p>So, I come to you, the Empire! playing masses, for some guidance. </p> <p>The question I need answered is how important these rules would be to your game? Do you want a slower-but-similarly modeled system for 'mass combat'? Are you happy with the PC's company being handled in Skirmishes and the outcome of the larger battle being handled narratively? If these rules were to disappear would you cry?</p> <p>I really need your views here!</p> <p>Neil </p>