Variant Rule: Grit instead of HP

September 22, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

Brainstormin’ on HP
Recently I’ve gotten a few discussions going around the web about alternatives to Hitpoints in games, specifically in this game. So I figured why not have one more discussion in the form of this post…

RPGs have an easier time of it because they can afford more complex rules (like the mess of addition the Green Ronin ‘Toughness save’ is). For skirmish I see a too-light version where a model can die pretty easily, such as the Knocked Down / Stunned / Out of Action approach of Mordheim or the Flesh Wound of Necromunda. I wanted to have SOME survivability to models, so I went for lower levels of Hitpoints. Now however I’m reconsidering that.

Variant Rule: Grit
Instead of Hitpoints each character has a new Grit statistic. This statistic would be a die type, with lower being worse, such as D4, D6, D8, D10, D12. When they take damage they make a “Grit Save” which succeeds if they roll their Grit die greater than or equal to the incoming damage. If the save succeeds nothing negative happens. If it fails or the damage exceeds their Grit die they need to mark a location as Hit. There are 4 locations: Legs, Left/Right Arm, Torso that correspond to a statistic on the roster, specifically: MV, RMC, MMC, AR. Tracking which location is hit would be done through checkboxes put underneath the statistic on the roster. When checked that location is damaged and they suffer a corresponding penalty of -1 MV, +1 RMC/MMC, or -1 AR. When all 4 locations are hit they are dead.
For Example: Peggy is hit for 5 damage and has D8 Grit. She rolls the D8 and gets a 7, which is successful (7 > 5). If she had rolled a 4 or less or had D4 Grit (too low to save) it would have failed. Upon failure she might choose to mark her Movement (Legs) as hit, which would make her have -1 MV for the rest of the game.

Analyzing the Rule
This might make people TOO hard to kill, since with a high enough Grit (for example D12) and crappy enough damage from the enemy you wouldn’t even be hit ever. I think balancing Grit and possible weapon damage would be the hardest part. High Armor was balanced by imposing Movement penalties, and high HP costs a ton of IP or Traits, and even still you can’t get a massive amount right away. But with Grit you could maybe power up to D12 early on by making huge sacrifices, but then they’d be invincible basically. Well I guess there is still the chance they roll poorly on the save itself.
I also don’t like the system because it’s one more roll. One of my biggest complaints with Warhammer 40k is how much WORK it is to shoot something. I don’t want DC to become like that too.
In all honesty I think I just really like this mechanic, so maybe I’ll use it in another game in the future instead of trying to force it into this game at such a late date. Either that or edit up and paste the above block into the rulebook as a variant, which is the most likely case.

In Other News…
I played through the The Great T-Rex Hunt I outlined a while ago. It was pretty fun and had a different feel to it, but was more a numbers game of whittling down the t-rex before he could one-hit-kill the entire Posse. I’ll be posting those pictures and write up soon, and hopefully getting a more traditional game in with the new Dinosaur Discipline / Breed rules. Ideally I’ll play and report on at least one DC game per month. If everything works for the latest revisions I think I might be almost at v1.0 too, woot (or “yeehaw!” if we’re going for flavor).

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Feeling Famous Now

September 21, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

I’ve always been a fan of the website Board Game Geek. They certainly are Eurogame-centric (as most boardgamers are) but they still have great resources and communities for smaller, older, or out of print games. Plus it’s fun to read up on a game someone told you about and see what the buzz is around it.

So it’s with great pleasure I announce that Dinosaur Cowboys got added to the BGG database. That’s right, all approved and added and official looking. Feel free to see and contribute to the new Dinosaur Cowboys BGG item.

I’ve been asked a couple of times about possibly setting up forums somewhere for discussion. I try to get discussions going at half a dozen websites, so that’s definitely a valid request. To that end I’m making the BGG forum for Dinosaur Cowboys the de-facto place to discuss ideas, traits, adventures, game sessions, etc. The link is available at the above page or in the sidebar of this blog, or you can go directly to the official Dinosaur Cowboys Forum. Hopefully we can get some lively chatter going on in there.

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Rule Changes for Dinosaurs (Discipline, Breeds, etc.)

September 20, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

You would have though v0.9 would be late in the game to change any rules significantly, and yet here we are! I just did some pretty major revisions around the rules for Dinosaurs.
This all started when I considered having dinosaurs ignore difficult terrain last week. I realized that they have some unique characteristics to differentiate a dinosaur from a human cowboy…but not really enough cool things about them. They were basically bulky melee fighters who had a lot of HP and could transport people.

With this in mind I changed two main features of Dinosaurs: Discipline and Breed. Before I get into those let me dazzle you with the new Dinosaur Type List from the updated rules:

Dinosaur Discipline
Bravery didn’t make a ton of sense with Dinosaurs because they hardly ever took over half damage from a single attack (like in the case of a 30+HP monster). I still wanted a way to show how controlled and trained a Dinosaur was, so I added the “Discipline” stat as a replacement. Instead of duplicating a description of this stat I’ll just paste an excerpt from the rulebook:

Discipline represents a dinosaur’s ability to perform in combat while suffering pain, surprise, fear, and other trying emotions of battle. A higher discipline means a dinosaur will be able to maintain a consistent pace and direction and obey any rider’s commands. A lower discipline means the dinosaur is more likely to circle in panic and stumble around in fear.

How to use Discipline
If a dinosaur suffers damage greater than or equal to their Discipline value from a single ranged or melee attack they will panic.
Mark them with a “Panic” token. Multiple Panic tokens can be placed on each dinosaur.
For example a Horned Dinosaur has a Discipline of 8. They are hit by a Rotary Rifle for 11 damage and are therefore marked with a Panic token. During the next Activation they are hit by a Bundle of Dynamite for a further 8 damage, so another Panic token is added.

Effect of Panic
When marked with one or more Panic token dinosaurs will use their Panic Movement, as recorded on the Posse Roster.
For example a Runner Dinosaur has a Movement statistic of 10 and a Panic Movement of D10. If they were marked with a Panic token they would have to roll D10 to decide how far they can Standard Move, instead of using the static 10 value.

Recovering from Panic
At the end of the dinosaur’s Activation remove 1 Panic token.
If the dinosaur is mounted remove an additional 1 Panic token.
For example a King Dinosaur (with two passengers) has 3 Panic tokens at the start of the turn. Eventually it Activates, rolls D6 for it’s Panic Movement with a result of 2. The King performs a 2″ Standard Move and then a rider fires. The King’s Activation is done, so 2 Panic tokens are removed (1 default with a bonus 1 removed because the King is mounted).

What this means is if a dinosaur takes damage >= Discipline they use Panic Movement instead, which is a random amount similar to their maximum static Movement (so a MV 6 dino gets D6 Panic MV). Nice and simple, and the idea of stacking multiple Panic tokens is fun because it really rewards pouring fire into a dinosaur. Plus it’s an elegant way to have an easy benefit if there is a rider present (as compared to having to manually modify the Discipline stat).
To support this I had originally aimed for Trained/Untrained as a choice you could make when buying a Dinosaur. Trained would give +1 DIS, -2 HP and Untrained would be -1 DIS, +2 HP. But then Kyles Games on The Forge forums pointed out that having a version that doesn’t modify stats at all would be nice. I instantly thought of the Bandit Allegiance for humans, and then I thought “Hey why not have Allegiances for dinosaurs!” After I had completed a preliminary sketch of those rules I changed the name from Allegiance to Breed, to once again distinguish dinosaurs that little bit more.

Dinosaur Breed
Again an excerpt from the rulebook is probably easiest for this:

Choose a Breed for the dinosaur (similar to Allegiance for a human) from the available four detailed below. Apply any modifiers to the default base values for each statistic.
When marking the Breed on the Posse Roster, circle the corresponding letter in the box to the left of the Dinosaur Name field (for example “T” for Trained).

Trained
Trained dinosaurs are born in captivity or raised in a human environment soon after birth and make ideal companions. They are disciplined mounts well versed in accepting a rider and carrying them safely through battle. However they are slightly gentler after having their primal instincts suppressed.

Effect: +1 DIS, -2 HP

Untrained
Untrained dinosaurs have some exposure to humans but not enough to be fully broken into a saddle and harness. This majority of dinosaurs are this type of breed, and such an upbringing has no positive or negative effect on their performance.

Effect: None

Feral
Feral dinosaurs are wild and free and hunt through the jungles and deserts of the world. They tend to be tougher and less disciplined and think more with their stomachs than brains.

Effect: -1 DIS, +2 HP

Plains
Plains dinosaurs roam across the flat scrub land, desert, and dust bowls outside the volcanic jungle. As a result they are exceptionally fast and agile, but are less competent in a fight because of their tendency to outrun foes instead.

Effect: +1 MV, +1 MMC

After all these changes I also hugely cleaned up and edited the Dinosaur section in general to be clearer. I also had to update the Dinosaur Type List table to include Panic MV, Discipline, etc. as you saw above. And then of course the Posse Roster needed to be changed to handle all this new dinosaur info, which worked out great because it makes the Dinosaur section at the bottom just a tiny bit different looking…I’m going to laugh if later I go “Ugh these rules are ALMOST the same why don’t I just merge them?” and basically undo all my work.

But anyways here’s an example of the Dinosaur statline on the Posse Roster:

Now I’ll just playtest these rules and then you might see a v0.91 or v0.95 coming to a download near you :)

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Balance vs Realism

September 14, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

An older post on RPGNet about The RPG/Dinosaur Paradox got me thinking: are the dinosaurs in Dinosaur Cowboys different and unique and awesome enough compared to plain human posse members? Let’s look at what differentiates a dinosaur from a cowboy:

  • Tons of HP – Even the smallest vegetarian dinosaur (Runner) has 10 HP, which is 2 more than a starting cowboy. The top is a Longneck with 35 HP. This means dinosaurs take a huge amount of punishment, and can become a focal point of the battle in a way.
  • No Equipment – I’m still considering the possibility of dinosaur specific equipment like extra saddles, armor plating, etc. but for now dinosaurs can’t buy or use any equipment.
  • No Upgrading – Besides buying more HP dinosaurs can’t be improved in any way (for good or bad) using Improvement Points.
  • Can Transport – Dinosaurs can be mounted and can carry passengers, so they act like a vehicle in that regard.
  • Allow Lassos – While mounted a character can use a Lasso weapon, like a plain Rope Lasso or something exotic like a Barbed Lasso.
  • Different Natural Weapons – Instead of punching and kicking dinosaurs can Trample and Gore as natural weapons.

Besides these points dinosaurs, at their core, are treated the same as cowboys in regards to moving and attacking.
I wanted to post today about possibly changing this. I don’t think too drastically, as split rules are always annoying (see Warhammer 40k with it’s infantry / jump infantry / motorbikes / tanks / monstrous creature mess). In this case I ask: Should dinosaurs ignore Difficult Terrain? From a thematic and realism sense the answer is yes as they’d smash through trees and charge up hills without any problem or hassles that human sized characters have. But from a balance sense it means dinosaurs are faster and can reach close combat sooner, as well as transporting human members closer to the front earlier on.
Also I might change how Dinosaurs move slightly, like perhaps they can move a random distance (instead of preset) to represent them being a bit uncontrollable. Or maybe they have a “Fear Scale” that increases as they are attacked, instead of just a blanket Bravery Test.
Anyways maybe I just need to playtest this and see how it works out. I think it’ll really vary by posse and table layout and so on, which makes it hard to come to a definite conclusion.

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The Great T-Rex Hunt

September 7, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

I think I had mentioned in the past that I wanted to do a custom type of Dinosaur Cowboys game where a group of big game hunters battle a single Tyrannosaurus Rex. Well I recently bought the Papo T-Rex toy, which looks awesome:


And then I mocked up some stats for him that are equal to a new Posse, that is $1,000 and 100 IP. Now I just need to make a themed hunting Posse to take him on. I’m thinking some old British style hunter like those that went to Africa on expeditions. Then maybe his loyal friend, his wife, and two porters or guards. A classical mix of shotguns and so forth would be perfect.

As for the T-Rex here is how I built him. The original stats are:

MV: 5
AR: 2
MMC: 5
BRV: 7
HP: 24
A-D: 1-7
Cost: $500

The first thing I did to make him truly deadly was boost his weapon, for free. This was mostly a balance issue and also a fun issue, since I wanted an attack heavy roll instead of one focused on damage. So instead of 1-7 I made him 10-1. I figured this would balance with him being a single target and not having Leadership benefits. Plus it should be a BLAST to roll!

Then I started to make purchases. I opted for survivability and mobility as two priorities. I spent 10 IP to boost his AR from 2 to 3, which was a pretty obvious choice. I spent another 12 IP for +2 HP, and my remaining $500 for +10 HP for a total of 36 HP! Since his HP was so high I didn’t expect he’d ever need a Bravery Test, so I opted to voluntarily weaken his Bravery down to 3, which gave me +9 IP. Then came the big spenders, first MMC from 5 to 4 for 33 IP, just to ensure he never missed. Finally mobility which I achieved by spending 54 IP (wow!) to boost his MV from 5 to 8.

Next were his Traits. Normally a Posse gets 3 Traits, which is handy since that’s the maximum a single entity can have. So I needed to allocate 3 Traits to my T-Rex, which was a real treat. I wanted some hard hitters but some passive stat boosters would be nice too. For Passive I considered Bonus HP (always helps!), Charger (would hate to fall short), Runner (he’ll be using the Run action basically every turn he’s not in close combat), or Climber (ignoring terrain would really help his speed overall). There are a ton of Active options, like Clean Shot (pretty much guaranteed enemies won’t have previous damage when I hit them), Go For the Eyes (a classic, and with 10-1 guaranteed to help), Inspiring Shot (his only real way to heal), Lucky (could help against a brutal enemy shot), Rush (would help get to close combat, and then Slowed doesn’t matter since he’d be fighting), Shake it Off (helpful since here will likely be Slowed from Stun Guns or grenades), Try Again (re-rolling 10-1 would be sweet), Turtle (would be great when in combat already), and finally Whirlwind (if I could ever catch two enemies together).
So out of everything I opted for Runner, Inspiring Shot, and Turtle. This means he can move 8″+5″ Run, so 13″ arc. He’ll get 7 HP back after a kill one time. And finally he can boost his AR to 6 for a turn at the cost of being Stopped. Anyways that was definitely the toughest choice of the build.

His final stats were:

MV: 8
AR: 3
MMC: 4
BRV: 3
HP: 36
A-D: 10-1
Traits: Runner, Inspiring Shot, Turtle
Cost: $1,000, 100 IP

So yeah, against a new Posse he should be quite the menace. The downside is he’s likely to get shot all the time without Cover since he’s so big, but AR 3 against starting RMCs (normally 6 to 8 or so) should help a ton.
And I just wanted to say that at this rate of Papo dinosaur toy purchases I’m well on my way to being like this avid collector.

I’m hoping to write up the hunting expedition Posse tonight and then play the game sometime this weekend, so expect a battle report soon after!

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Dinotopia by James Gurney

August 12, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

Some more inspirational material, although less wild west and more Victorian era: Dinotopia. The book details a shipwrecked crew who find a lost island where humans and dinosaurs co-exist. It looks like some terrific art. I figure I might get the 20th anniversary edition when it’s released in September.

Not much else to say about that, but I did add it to the “recommended reading” section. Now to just resist the temptation to add airships (that is always, always a temptation).

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Scenario: Dinoegg Heist

July 18, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

I’m hoping to use this scenario in a game soon, instead of the usual stand up fight. I’m thinking of re-using the posses from my Keyes, Oklahoma Street Fight since they seemed well matched.

But yeah the basic idea is to have a fight over dinosaur eggs (dinoeggs), with the random element of a few wandering dinosaurs thrown in. Stealing a dinoegg awards more than the standard for killing an enemy, so that should motivate players to focus on the eggs. This is the first scenario I’ve tried to formally write up, so bear with me in terms of layout and balance.

Anyways here are the details of the scenario:

Scenario: Dinoegg Heist
Dinosaur eggs are prized possessions in the new wild west. Unhatched young of certain rare breeds can fetch hundreds of Neodollars, whereas common eggs are full of enough nutrients to feed a family for a week. This scenario represents two wandering posses stumbling across the same clutch of dinosaur eggs, and then trying to steal as many as they can.

Posse Restrictions: No Dinosaurs allowed.
Dinoegg stealing is a delicate matter and having a friendly dinosaur present can disrupt the process. The scent of another dinosaur can enrage the dinoegg parents or a stampeding beast can trample the precious dinoeggs.

Table Size: 48″ long by 36″ wide
In other words “My Kitchen Table”.

Table Setup: Setup the terrain as normal. No buildings should be used (as dinosaurs tend to avoid nesting near structures).

Posse Setup: Roll to randomize which Posse deploys at which long table edge. Roll again to see who deploys first.

Deployment: 2 members of the Posse must be placed within 4″ of the center of the table. The remaining 1-3 members are deployed within 6″ of their table edge.

Dinoeggs
Deploying Dinoeggs: D6 dinoeggs will be placed. Mark the center of the table, and place each dinoegg 2D12″ in a random direction (roll a directional dice or a D12 to represent the clockfaces to choose direction).
The 4 Posse members that deployed near the center of the table start with 1 Dinoegg each.
I recommend using Mini Eggs to represent dinoeggs – plus the players can literally eat their spoils after!

Using Dinoeggs: A Dinoegg has AR 4 and HP 4.
A single dinoegg can be carried by a character at no penalty.
Picking up, dropping, or transferring (to an adjacent ally) a dinoegg can be done for 1 Action Phase.
If an entity carrying a dinoegg is taken out of action, the dinoegg is dropped where they fell.
If an entity carrying a dinoegg voluntarily moves off a table edge they have escaped with the dinoegg.

Oviraptors
Deploying Oviraptors: At the start of each new Turn after the first roll a D12. On a roll of 8+ an Oviraptor appears to steal dinoeggs! The Oviraptor is deployed 6″ in from a random table edge.
A maximum of 3 Oviraptors can be in play at once.
The Oviraptor has the following modified “Ripper” statistics:

Oviraptor
Size S, MV 6, AR 1, MMC 7, BRV 6, HP 8, 2-2 A-D
Note: Can carry 2 Dinoeggs at once

Using Oviraptors: The Oviraptor is not controlled by either Posse, and is a mainly after dinoeggs. All Oviraptors act at once, and do so after all other Posse members have finished. The Oviraptor will move towards the nearest dinoeggs or nearest entity who is holding a dinoegg and try to pick up the dinoegg. Once the Oviraptor has 2 dinoegg it will move in a direct line towards the nearest table edge. If it reaches the table edge it has escape into the jungle with the dinoegg!

Victory Conditions: The game ends when either Posse is entirely taken out of action or off the table, or all the dinoegg are destroyed or off the table.
Aside from the usual Improvement Point benefits from a battle award the following:

6 IP and $30 = Dinoegg taken off the board or in possession.
-6 IP = Dinoegg destroyed.
1 IP (in addition to standard +3) = Killing an Oviraptor carrying 1 or more Dinoeggs.
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Another humor break

July 14, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

Some funny looking pictures of superheroes as dinosaurs from TIFR. For example, “Wolveraptor”:

Anyways I’m hoping to get another game in tomorrow sometime, perhaps with a scenario this time. Hopefully a battle report will be coming soon after!

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Little quieter

July 6, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

The end of June and start of July have been a bit quieter for this blog, at least compared to the flurry of activity around v0.7 and v0.8, with all the playtesting and battle reports and so on.

But until the end of summer you can expect less volume of posts. Two factors to this, one is I’m getting married in August so that’s priority #1, and the second is the rules are reaching a point where they don’t need vast, sweeping changes. There aren’t even any big sections left to fill out or rewrite or anything. What I’m saying is one day (probably soonish) Dinosaur Cowboys will be completed, and then I really won’t have much too brainstorm or post excerpts about. This happened with my Brains zombie game as well, since eventually you just reach a point where the rules work great, and any further additions would just be added complexity. I did get some nice feedback from the forums though, so that’s always inspirational.

So anyways, my TODO list right now is basically “Add images to the rulebook”. I have the images picked out, I’m just trying to find a good way to size/scale them so the document doesn’t bloat to 8mb but still looks sharp when printing. I do want to finish some kind of fillable Posse Roster and corresponding design program, but that’s unrelated from the core rules.

Of course I’d like to get some games in and post more battle reports (and that’s probably what the majority of posts in the far future will be), but again my schedule is focused elsewhere.
Also who knows, maybe my Nanowrimo in November this year will be Dinosaur Cowboys related, to really flesh out the universe.

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Fillable Posse Roster PDF form

June 29, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

Although I haven’t had a ton of time for additional playtests, I have gotten to work at making the Posse Roster a fillable PDF form. This will be handy for those with small, cramped writing, or for people who are used to creating their sheets that way.
But what it’s REALLY useful for is the possibility of programmatically filling the form. Ideally I’d like to write an application (probably a web app) that allows you to build a Posse and then export to PDF. Thanks to the Java version of iText this is hugely possible and not even that challenging. I did some testing along these lines and already have the Leader filling in properly. Now I just need to build the rest of the sheet and slap an interface on that lets you modify statistics, purchase equipment, etc. This would be a great asset for Dinosaur Cowboys as you could quickly and easily build different Posses and jump into a game in no time.
The application will be called “The Saloon”, and I’m going to try to sit down and put some serious work into it asap. I want to get a couple more playtests in, but the current rules are definitely approaching a finalized state.

Anyways to give you an idea of what the sheet looks like, here is a screenshot of the autopopulated form from my preliminary version of The Saloon:

Not much else to say really. I was away all weekend so I got less Dinosaur Cowboys than I would have liked. And unfortunately all the forum posts I did trying to generate interest and get some comments didn’t actually result in much feedback. I guess people don’t have a ton of time to sit down and read rules and playtest. Hopefully I hear back from some of the forum folks soon.

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Creating a Character Example

June 21, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

I realized that in my Posse creation posts I’ve kind of (incorrectly) assumed the subprocess of creating a character was clear. Well, a post on DakkaDakka helped show me that the section is only 100% clear to me because I wrote the rules. When I try to read it through anonymous, first-time-player eyes I can see a few issues. The main one is that the actual spending of IP is kind of buried and convoluted. Plus the page with the actual IP costs isn’t labelled very well, so it’s just this random page full of charts.

So what I did was re-arrange and clarify that section. Now Creating a Character is basically choosing a name and Allegiance. Spending IP is done under Step 4 of the Creating a Posse process, and the charts are labelled better. What I might end up doing is just combining the two sections, since the whole back and forth between Posse and Character is confusing and seems slightly unnecessary now.

Anyways I also made a Creating a Character Example that steps through filling in the sheet for someone. I thought I’d replicate that section below so everyone can see how you make a member of the Posse.

Creating a Character Example

This example will demonstrate the process to create a character. Included is choosing and applying the Allegiance, improving statistics, selecting a Trait, and buying equipment.

Name: We name our character “Quidel”, and he’ll be the Leader of our new Posse. Since he’s a Leader he automatically gets +2 HP and +1 BRV, which means his starting statistics are:

MV 4, AR 0, RMC 8, MMC 8, BRV 7 (6+1), HP 10 (8+2)

Allegiance: Quidel grew up in Nevada and only knows the hardship of life outside The Wall. Therefore his Allegiance will be Duster. This means he has an additional +2 HP, but -1 MV. His statistics are now:

MV 3 (4-1), AR 0, RMC 8, MMC 8, BRV 7, HP 12 (10+2)

Statistics: The plan for Quidel is to advance across the field firing his ranged weapons before closing into melee. Therefore he’ll be passably trained in shooting and close combat without being overly specialized in either.
The first statistic to improve is Ranged Miss Chance. We’re improving from 8 to 7, which costs 10 IP (as shown in the table above).
Increasing his Melee Miss Chance from 8 to 7 is a similar cost of 10 IP. His statistics are now:

MV 3, AR 0, RMC 7 (8-1), MMC 7 (8-1), BRV 7, HP 12

Since he’s our Leader some additional survivability would help. To this end we purchase +3 HP. At 6 IP per +1 HP, we’ve spent an additional 18 IP. We’ll also give him a base Armor of 1 for 10 IP. His final statistics are:

MV 3, AR 1 (0+1), RMC 7, MMC 7, BRV 7, HP 15 (12+3)

Traits: Let’s decide to allocate a Trait to Quidel. In this case we’ll choose “Berskerer”, a solid Active Trait option that gives +2 Melee Attacks once per encounter.

Equipment: Finally we need to equip Quidel. A basic gun will do to start, so we check out the Ranged Energy Weapons list and decide on the 80KW Six Shooter (4A-0D) for $10. It’s cheap and relatively effective.
However Quidel deserves a better melee weapon, so $60 is spent on a Spear (4A-3D).
To maintain the survivability theme we’ll buy him a suit of Cloth Armor (AR 1) for $50, which increases his total AR to 2.
Finally we’ll give him a Small IRP for $10, which can be used to restore D6 HP.

In total we spent 48 IP and $130 to create this character:
Quidel - Duster Leader
MV 3, AR 2, RMC 7, MMC 7, BRV 7, HP 15, Berserker
80KW Six-Shooter, Spear, Cloth Armor, Small IRP

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Preview of v0.9

June 17, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy
Note! v0.9 has actually been released, so you don’t really need this preview. Go and download the official v0.9 here.

Well I haven’t been sitting idle after v0.8, and I wanted to share some of the progress. I thought by this point I’d just be fine tuning rules, but I actually made a few big sweeping changes for v0.9…enough so that I almost might call it v0.85.

Anyways the highlights are: Added a Quick Reference Sheet, added Slowed weapon ability, made custom exotic Lassos, added a few new weapons (Derringer, Saber, Stun Gun, etc.), added a ton of traits (over 50 total now), changed Charge to be an Action that gives +D6″ Movement under certain circumstances, split Brawl into Natural Weapons which also now includes Dinosaur attacks (like Trample and Gore), removed Levels and awarded IP/ND on a per-kill basis, renamed Leadership to more flavorful Yeehaw, put the rules under a non-commercial Creative Commons license, added Falling damage, general clarifications and editing.

So yeah, big list of stuff! Most of it is checked off from yesterday’s TODO list. I’m a big fan of the new Charge approach, and an even bigger fan of removing Levels. Now the 4 fields at the top of the Posse Roster are IP Total/Current and ND Total/Current, so you can compare with your opponent to ensure the IP and ND match.

Anyways if this sounds interesting please check out the preview and give me some feedback!

Download the Dinosaur Cowboys Rulebook v0.9 Preview.

I’m hoping to get the battle reports up next, and then maybe start on the Variant Rules section.

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A big post of dubious ideas, variants, and TODOs

June 16, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

Below is a big huge brainstorm of some new ideas or features for Dinosaur Cowboys. You can thank another playtest, plus I’ve started carrying a pad of paper to scribble my wild ideas down on, so I forget less. At least it gives me something to do besides try to make artwork for the v0.9 rulebook. Anyways I’m a big fan of variant rules because sometimes a cool feature doesn’t quite make it into the core rules, but I still LIKE that cool feature, so I aim to make those available as “official” house rules. The TODO below that list is mostly Traits to add, but a few neat ideas in there too (like maybe doing away with Level entirely and just going by IP/Dollars).

Possible Variant Rules
– Armor reduces damage instead of modifying RMC/MMC
– Use MMC for ranged weapons in melee, but still apply the In Melee penalty
– Dinosaur adds their Armor to any riders (makes getting across the field easier)
– Fumbles (unmodified rolls of 1) count as -1 Hit
– Variable Run speed (D6″) instead of 1/2 Movement
– 1 Improvement Point can be bought for $10
– Do not remove an entity at 0 HP, just place them face down (called Unconscious or Downed). They can be revived by someone using healing (Medpack, Whiskey Drop, IRP, etc.) on them.
– Alternative Leadership effects: grant additional Action Phase to one entity in 12″?
– Can buy and set traps (marked down with X-Y coordinates in inches) like spiked pits, etc.
– Some kind of “quick draw” with Six-Shooters that lets you roll off / duel an opponent within short range? Maybe autokill the loser?
– Gatling Gun that has D6 or D12 Attacks instead of a set number
– Additional +1 Miss Chance against targets that Ran
– Fire rules for Molotov cocktails (maybe a X” wide patch that lasts until the end of the turn?), get same attack if target enters or is pushed into it
– Dinosaur equipment upgrades (armor plates, extra saddle, etc.)
– Weapon upgrades (laser sight, etc.) that grant additional benefits to the gun? Arguably covered as +XA or +YD weapons, maybe just need +ZSR (short range) or those kind of extra mods? Maybe make a way to purchase these upgrades (percent of base price? [might make upgrading cheap guns too desirable], or just flat price per plus?)
– Non-Dinosaur beasts (Sabertooth cats, etc.)

Possible TODO
– Develop “The Saloon: Dinosaur Cowboys Posse Builder” webapp, including export to PDF form
– Weather effects (sandstorm, acid rain, etc.) and hazardous terrain (lava, quicksand, etc.)
– Add RMC default for Dinosaurs due to Roar attack (Beast type), since it’s ranged (Removed Roar attack so Dinosaurs stay pure melee)
– * Clarify Dismounting for multiple people on a single Dinosaur
– * Clarify no move at all on a failed Charge (that comes up short, as in you don’t still move the X” inches you rolled)
– * Maybe make Charge a 2″ or 3″ minimum, so basically can try to charge targets in 3-6″
– * Note about Fleeing off the board. Instead give the Fleeing person a Movement Phase, but Stunned in that Action Phase
– * Maybe note that more terrain and more powerful posses increase play time (on the 30-60 minutes game req at the start)
– * Change Kill system to be based on victory (like +5 XP on win), or maybe get Improvement points on a per-win or per-kill basis instead of per-level? Then Levels could be entirely removed and you just play Posses with matching IP/Dollars.
– * Trait “Climber” Passive trait that treats vertical climbs (cliffs, hills, etc.) as normal non-Difficult terrain?
– Trait “Sacrifice” Active trait that adds +damage but takes HP from self?
– * Trait “Rejuvenating Strike” Active trait that gives +HP if target is killed
– * Trait “Underdog Strike” Active trait that gives +damage if target has more HP than attacker
– Trait “Fresh Strike” Active trait that gives +damage if target is unhurt
– * Trait “Retreat” that gives +Movement to nearby ally
– * Trait “Clear Me” that removes harmful effects (Stopped, etc.)
– * Trait “Frightful Strike” that gives -Bravery penalty if a test is required from your attack
– * Trait “Burst Move” gives +Move but makes self Stopped or Slowed next turn
– * Trait “Cleave” hits adjacent melee target as well as main target
– * Trait “Stoneroot” make self Stopped but give +X Armor
– * Trait “Final Thrust” that does +damage if target is already half HP, otherwise it does less damage
– Trait “Grapple” makes self Slowed and target Stopped
– * Trait “Hamstring” apply Slow to target
– * Trait “Protector” transfer some HP to nearby ally (maybe 1:2 ratio?)
– Trait “Riposte” means next enemy melee attack causes them to take damage
– * Trait “Bull’s Strike” that Stops target and does extra damage if they’ve moved?
– * Make some Dinosaur fighting feats, like +X vs Dinosaur
– * Do traits specific to some weapons? Or maybe just to weapon categories? Like “Thrower” that increase Grenades range, etc.
– * Make some Traits that only work when mounted? Like further Lasso range, maybe higher move (“Spur Mount”), etc.?
– * Make some Traits apply weapon special effects, like “Stopped” for a “Knockdown Shot” or the like
– * Create a “Slowed” weapon special ability that forces target to move half (and can’t run) for their next Activation, could be a Bola or Whip attack
– * Make a note of falling damage (being pushed off a cliff, etc.). Flat 1 HP per 1″
– * Make Knockback as X” Knockback, where X is how far, similar to Explosion. So Shove would be 2″ Knockback and Shudder Lance would be 1D6″ Knockback and so on
– * Explain Minimum range somewhere (for example 4-14″ range on Lever Action rifle)
– * Different Lassos (more damage, further range, pull closer, etc.)
– * Dinosaurs have a Stampede / Trample attack? Further Charge range or damage maybe? Just a bunch of different special attacks similar to Brawl for humans, like Knockback, Trip, etc. Maybe Berserk which hurts self after attack but does more damage?
– * Variable Charge speed, maybe Move+D6″ in a straight line? Could add a fun element of uncertainty to Charging. Need to make sure there is a chance of reaching the enemy, otherwise a person could just Charge forward and gain additional free Movement.
– * Add Stopped, Stunned, and Slowed as tokens, maybe centralize their rules? (centralized enough as weapon special effects)
– Maybe make an “X” attack that means you roll to hit with 1D12 but it does no damage, perfect for Trip or Shove (instead of 1A-0D). (Want to maintain the same mechanism throughout)
– Clarify Dinosaur sizes in one spot, and what effect each size has (passenger count, travelling, etc.) (Kind of clear already)

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A bunch of links

June 15, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

I’ve collected a few links I wanted to share, since they are clogging up my email.

  • Dinosaur Central Weird Wild West – Tons of great dinosaur and cowboys artwork, some of which you might recognize from this site (well mainly Go West). I’d like to try to get a mention on this site eventually, but we’ll see.
  • Dinosaur Toys List – Gigantic list of various companies and their prehistoric offerings. Almost like a to-purchase list.
  • TheMiniaturesPage topic – I visit this board irregularly for The Sword and The Flame, but maybe it’s time to post and see if I can get some feedback on the rules, as they seem like a pretty sharp bunch of wargames.
  • The Lost World book – And not the silly new one, but the 1900s Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame) version. His equally old book “The White Company” is one of my favorite novels, but that’s beside the point.
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth book – Speaking of books here is another old classic with some dinosaur-ific nods.
  • Bone Wars and Two Tiny Claws books by Brett Davis – I have no idea, but it looks right up my alley.
  • The Fallen Cloud Saga books – Alternative history where dinosaurs existed during the colonizing of America and the natives have tamed them.
  • The Last Dinosaur book – I am up in the air on this one, but maybe it’d be interesting. I think it’d just frustrate and annoy me though.
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More updates and decisions

June 13, 2011 — Dinosaur Cowboy

Recent Playtests
Like I said I was busy pretty much all weekend, but I did squeeze in two playtests. Both pitted the Drylands United Cattle Company against The Lost Platoon, and both were Level 2 Posses. The table setup remained the same for each match with a large building to the east and a thick scattering of hills elsewhere. I took photos and recorded Activations for the first games, so expect another battle report coming soon. The second game was a rematch more than anything, so I just powered through it without a turn by turn account, which helped since I could get a real test of play time (the game took 27 minutes).

Decided on Initiative and Resolution
Anyways I think the two playtests helped me decide on two big rule issues I had wondered about: Initiative and simultaneous resolution. I’ve decided to go with a new Initiative system and to leave combat resolution as it is (so if you kill someone they are removed instantly, instead of at the end of the turn). The Initiative system is similar to before, except instead of rolling at the start of each turn you roll off at the start of each Activation. This helps numerically unbalanced teams since you can compare the number of un-Activated entities on an ongoing basis, instead of once at the start of the turn where it can be out of date.

Damage Reducing Armor? MMC for Ranged in Melee?
I did come up with two other possible big changes:

  • Make AR reduce damage instead of miss chance? Downside is reworking some of the numbers and mechanics, upside is you don’t have to check with the opponent when trying to hit, it’s basically My Skill + My Modifiers instead of Your Modifiers, ya know? +1 AR for 10 IP would need to cost more though, as would armor. I don’t want to get into a bunch of 0 damage hits though.
  • Test using MMC instead of RMC for ranged weapons in melee.

Damage Reducing Armor?
I’ve considered the first point before during the long process of choosing what exactly Armor means. Inititally there was no Ranged Miss Chance and Armor was the value you had to roll against (it was higher back then). But then with RMC and MMC I went to a modifier approach where it simply makes the target harder to hit. A lot of people have qualms with this approach in modern/sci-fi games, since arguably (well, technically) having a kevlar vest doesn’t mean you won’t get hit, it means the bullet won’t do as much damage.
So now I’m considering whether Armor should be damage reducing. Aside from all the flavor reasons, the main upside I see is it would further streamline the combat process. Right now the real world implementation of the rules goes like this:

Player A: “Alright I’m shooting, *measures distance* 18″, so that’s Long Range. You’re in Cover, so -1 damage. What’s your Armor?”
Player B: “*checks sheet* Just 1 for this guy”
Player A: “Okay so RMC of 6, two mods which means 8+ to hit. *rolls and high fives because Dinosaur Cowboys is so much fun*”

The second line above is my concern. Having to check with your opponent to do your OWN shooting is kind of a bother. In a sense it helps involve your target in the attack, but it’s also kind of a hassle since you can’t just independently figure out what you need to roll.

Anyways in terms of mechanics I don’t think much would need to change. The IP cost to increase Armor would probably go up a tiny bit (12 instead of 10 most likely). Otherwise the rules are pretty close to what is needed.

The main downside I’m worried about is 0 damage attacks. Nothing is more frustrating to a player than rolling a bunch of dice, hitting something, and then doing nothing against it. I mean the opponent is happy, but it just feels like a wasted shot. Right now the damage per shot seems pretty high, so reducing it by 1 or 2 probably wouldn’t be too bad. Also it’s extra math, which can be annoying…although I can’t say TOO much against that since Cover and Elevation both modify damage, and if they do it why can’t Armor?

Definitely something to playtest.

MMC for Ranged in Melee?
Right now I’m having a tough time striking a balance between ranged and melee. I flat out don’t want melee to be more powerful than ranged, because no one in the wild west won a draw by punching the other guy at one hundred paces. Melee does have some benefits, like you aren’t going to have a bunch of modifiers to hassle with, the attacks are normally fairly damaging for the price, etc.

Dinosaurs also factor into this, since you are basically obligated to push forward and get to grips with the enemy to be effective, so Melee NEEDS to be considered. And after running across the board (3 or 4 feet of space to cover sometimes), shedding HP and maybe even having some casualties, the last thing you want is to get stomped in close combat by someone shooting you in the face.

So to that end I’m considering changing how guns/ranged weapons in melee work. Currently there is a +1 Miss Chance to Ranged in Melee, so it’s a bit harder to hit your target. What I’m considering instead is using MMC in place of RMC for ranged weapons in melee.

This feels a bit more realistic, and would also mean those 5 RMC/8 MMC snipers wouldn’t be so hot in close combat. But it opens up ranged weapons as viable melee weapons, whereas right now they aren’t. I mean if you’re using MMC anyways, why not save money and get a gun and shoot as you advance and still get to use it in close combat? So I’d probably have to leave the +1 penalty in there.

I’m lukewarm about this idea since it starts to blur the line between what exactly RMC/MMC stand for, and whether they are interchangable or not.

Smaller Changes
As usual I have a growing list of TODO items based on my recent playtesting and brainstorming. Completed items are retroactively marked with a bold asterick.

  • * Implement new Initiative system in rules (basically roll at the start of each turn, move based on the current numbers in the sense of 2vs1, 3vs1, etc.)
  • * Simultaneous deaths won’t be used with the new Initiative system.
  • * Reload values were decreased (eg. 3×1 to 2×1), may still need tweaking. I’ve had 1 Reload over 3 games, when I’d rather it be closer to 1 per game, so yeah, basically everything got the Reload value decreased by 1.
  • * Do a “Setting up a Game” section under Game Overview, with details on non-standard IP/$ values, table size, etc.
  • * Lasso / Wrangle / Rope ‘Em attack (inspired by the huge amount of rope work in The Valley of Gwangi). New attack that can only be used while Mounted. 1-6″ range, 1A-0D with Stopped special ability (target cannot move during their next Activation).
  • * Make a note of how to fill out the Posse roster (X of Y IP instead of just X IP, etc.)
  • * Quick Reference sheet (if enough tables exist to make it worthwhile)
  • * Try Posse Roster with custom western fonts used elsewhere in the doc

Anyways that was a long post, but yeah, keeping on with the rules improvements towards that wonderous v1.0.

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