Age of Sigmar RPG

[Emmetation]

16 hours ago, Ninelives said:

Anybody would know why the Black Ark Corsair (page 50) has an asterisk (*) after the Silver Tongue Talent?

My understanding was that the asterisks come when there is a required condition (often skills) to have that Talent, but can't see any in the description of the talent page 89.

Yes that's a typo. Silver Tongue did have requirements but they were removed.

1 hour ago, Ninelives said:

Thanks for the link! I was waiting for it, did not know it was already live. I have spotted quite a few mistakes haha

 

@Emmetation actually, is there no way to submit more  than  one issue per form? I have started working on a Google Sheet listing them...  If I use the same format would that be okay to share with you guys?

If you could use the form it would be great, but any help is a appreciated, so feel free to DM or email the sheet to me. Thanks

[Azlak the Damned]

Hi all. I'm brand new to RPG gaming and have a couple of noob questions. 

1.  Can this be played on a small board, say 2' X 2'?

2. In a typical 2-3 hour session how far would the RPG advance? By this I mean how many maps / game boards would be required for each gaming session?

Thanks in advance from a complete novice to RPGs.

I've picked up the PDF and I'm impressed with the content in there. I've always loved narrative stories in my AoS campaigns and would love to bring my worlds across to an RPG setting.

[Beastmaster]

18 minutes ago, Azlak the Damned said:

Hi all. I'm brand new to RPG gaming and have a couple of noob questions. 

1.  Can this be played on a small board, say 2' X 2'?

2. In a typical 2-3 hour session how far would the RPG advance? By this I mean how many maps / game boards would be required for each gaming session?

Thanks in advance from a complete novice to RPGs.

I've picked up the PDF and I'm impressed with the content in there. I've always loved narrative stories in my AoS campaigns and would love to bring my worlds across to an RPG setting.

I think the correct answer would be: It depends. 😄

Seriously, RPGs are veeeery freeform and variable when it comes to scale of encounters , number of encounters and speed of story progression. You can actually play whole evenings without a single fight, or you could play one with a lot of encounters. Many combats start at close distance or in confined spaces, where only the immediate surrounding is of interest. For my WFRP sessions, I had just a block of paper of maybe 60&40 cm (like you‘d put them on a writing desk for scribbling notes) and quickly drew important terrain features on it. 
But maybe the AoS rpg has more elaborate systems for this. 

[King Under the Mountain]

Pretty excited for this.  Only experience with pen & paper RPG is a few drunk sessions of D&D back in college many years ago.  Going to participate in a learning session Sunday and hopefully I can find a dedicated group shortly after.

Skyrigger will be my first character and damn it was hard to choose. 

[LuminethMage]

1 hour ago, Azlak the Damned said:

Hi all. I'm brand new to RPG gaming and have a couple of noob questions. 

1.  Can this be played on a small board, say 2' X 2'?

2. In a typical 2-3 hour session how far would the RPG advance? By this I mean how many maps / game boards would be required for each gaming session?

Thanks in advance from a complete novice to RPGs.

I've picked up the PDF and I'm impressed with the content in there. I've always loved narrative stories in my AoS campaigns and would love to bring my worlds across to an RPG setting.

Basically what Beastmaster said.

One easy way to check out how it's done (or much better said one way to do it) is to look at YouTube/Twitch videos. This weekend there will be some people starting to do adventures and post them. One will be on Twitch from Foxfyre22. I think at least one of C7 writers, who worked on Soulbound will take part in that one. You can already look at their character creation video. But again, this will be only their style. Just have a look at a few games (if you look under D&D you'll have the largest variety of videos). 

In the end it's up to you. You can play on a board or without a board. A 2 to 3 hour time slot could bring you through a whole small adventure (like a small dungeon), or you are all still talking about who buys what at what price and why at your local weapons smith. It all depends on what your group enjoys. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by LuminethMage

[Beastmaster]

The big difference to a Tabletop game is, I think, that the players don’t and shouldn’t have a General‘s view over the whole surrounding. So the area of interest only reaches as far as they can see at the moment an encounter takes place. An area of 2x2ft would approximately correspond to an area of 100x100 ft in real life. In many areas, like dense woods, winding town streets or inside buildings, you cannot see that far, so a small board should do. For more open areas you can always switch to narrative time and pure verbal description.

ps.: For dungeon fights, I recently made this (actually for Mordheim, but should work in RPGs too): 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Beastmaster

[EccentricCircle]

On 5/11/2020 at 10:22 AM, Azlak the Damned said:

Hi all. I'm brand new to RPG gaming and have a couple of noob questions. 

1.  Can this be played on a small board, say 2' X 2'?

2. In a typical 2-3 hour session how far would the RPG advance? By this I mean how many maps / game boards would be required for each gaming session?

Thanks in advance from a complete novice to RPGs.

I've picked up the PDF and I'm impressed with the content in there. I've always loved narrative stories in my AoS campaigns and would love to bring my worlds across to an RPG setting.

There are a few things to take into consideration here. RPGs can be played with a small board of this sort, a larger one, or no board at all. The sky is the limit and it will depend on how you and your players want to handle combat.

Basically there are two different approaches to running a game. The one that will seem most familiar to tabletop wargamers is to use minis and treat each combat encounter as a small, skirmish style game. The other approach is called "theatre of the mind" (TotM) and doesn't use minis, instead relying on descriptions alone. In my experience most GMs use a mixture of the two approaches.

In most cases TotM is used for almost all of the non combat encounters. In most groups if the GM starts laying out a board, the players are going to start wondering whether a fight is about to happen. However this doesn't have to be the case. I find that miniatures are very useful when the party are exploring an area, be it ruins or a traditional "dungeon" of corridors and small rooms. It gives the players a clear idea of where their characters are, and what features are around for them to interact with. Some players will be able to keep focused easily, and keep all of your description in mind. Others wont, and will benefit from a visual aid to assist in visualising the scene. The best rule of thumb is that if the players start asking you to repeat details, or getting confused about the layout then its time to bring out the minis.

Consequently, where TotM style play excels is in situations where the broad strokes of the scene are more important than the fine details. You can describe the key elements of the scene, and then the players can fill in the blanks with their imaginations, or important details can be made up as they become relevant to the story. For example, I would use it for shopping trips where the characters are mainly talking to NPCs, and interacting with items rather than locations. It is also very good for wilderness travel, where it would be infeasible to set up a large enough board for days or weeks of travel overland, so its better to narrate the scene.

When using a board and minis, you can be as elaborate or not as you like. RPG boards range in complexity from a bit of paper with some coins or dice acting as tokens, to beautiful dioramas with fully painted minis. There is no right or wrong way to do it. I know folks who love to have a whiteboard on hand, so that they can quickly draw out maps and room plans on the fly. Others like to use ready made locations. The flip mats which Paizo sell for Pathfinder are great for this purpose and should give you an idea of the kind of size and scope typical of an RPG. https://paizo.com/store/pathfinder/accessories/maps

3d terrain of the sort used for wargaming can look great for an RPG, a lot of players won't be used to using it, so it can also be impressive to roll some out. However it also has some drawbacks. The first is set up time. When an encounter starts, you want to get into the action as fast as possible. Ideally most GMs like to be able to set up a board in the time it takes the players to make an initiative or priorty roll, or get their characters ready for the action. This means that spending half an hour setting up terrain, as can be the case for a wargame will totally kill the action, and bring the players out of the game. I'd say aim to spend 1-5 minutes setting up if that.

The other problem is blocking line of sight... for the players. When playing a wargaming its common for players to stand up, walk around the table, and bend down to get a better look at what is going on. There is generally room around the table for 2-3 people to easily find a good vantage point. This isn't the case when playing an RPG when a more typical group consists of 4-8 players plus the GM. Players will mostly remain seated, and the small size of most battle maps means that it can be challenging for players at the far end of the table to see whats going on. Particularly if their view of where their character is is blocked by buildings or trees.

One thing that helps is actually for the GM to sit in the middle of the long side of the table, rather than at one end, as you usually see in media. This puts the board dead centre, and means that most players are equidistant from it and the GM. Terrain also goes a lot further in an RPG. If you have a forest scene then it can be good to just put a few trees at the edges in order to hold down the corners of the map, and give the impression of the forest getting thicker. Then you can rely on a printed map, or small scatter terrain to mark the positions of things in the middle. I have some tree stumps to use for this purpose, and really only put large trees in the middle of the map when I want to suggest a really deep and tangled jungle, where the players and their characters both struggle to see what's creeping up.

 

In terms of material for an evening of gaming, it can be very variable. I would generally prepare a few big "set piece" encounters, where you will use elaborate boards and minis. Maybe count on one of these in a 2-3 hour evening, and perhaps 3 in a day of gaming. However don't be surprised if you spend entire sessions without reaching one of your planned encounters. Players like to explore, interact, and make conversation (both in and out of character). This is really what drives the story of an RPG as much as the details of the fights and battles. Plan on most sessions starting with a lot of theatre of the mind stuff, using that to lead into a planned encounter. It can be tricky to wrap an encounter up before the end of the session, so don't be afraid to leave it on a cliffhanger. If it becomes clear that they won't finish in the night, then throw in a couple more enemies and say "the door bursts open, more beastmen charge through... and that's where we'll leave it for tonight. See you next week!"

This then lets you start the next session with a bang too, and keeps the players guessing during the week. It also means that you can set up something a bit more elaborate for them when they come back, as you can build a board before they arrive and have it waiting.

RPGs also tend to be less static, so often encounters might take place over a string of small locations, rather than one open board. I did a chase through a city, where we had houses on the table and moved them from one side of the map to the other as the players advanced through the streets and across the rooftops in a running battle with assassins. We started out with a bit of scatter terrain, and NPC figures, but most of those got "left behind" as what was important was where the next set of buildings would be, and how the layout of streets and alleyways would look. However the players now had the "crowded market" scene in their heads, so we didn't need as many props for them to keep imagining that as we moved the buildings.

A similar thing can work well with dungeons. Wizards of the Coast sell sets of "dungeon tiles" which are small cardstock pieces which can be arranged to make rooms and dungeons. They let the GM build a layout on the fly, and move pieces around as the PCs explore the area, opening up new rooms and locations. A similar idea, but more elaborate are the Dragon Lock 3d corridors. They look great, although I've never tried them out myself. http://www.fatdragongames.com/fdgfiles/?page_id=2567

Basically the possibilities are unlimited, its just a case of how best to convey them to your players, and how much effort you want to put in, and when and where it is best spent. That can take a bit of practice to get right, but GMing is a learning experience too. If you feel like there is too much terrain the first time, you know to scale it back next time and so on.

I hope that essay on GMcraft helps, and that I've at least somewhat answered your questions rather than just raising loads more. Happy gaming!

 

 

 

[HorticulusTGA]

@Emmetation some little bits for the FAQ / update : 

P. 201 : the second paragraph before "Sigmar's Storm" : the part about Khorne smashing down Aharmanentia from the sky is missing. The paragraph makes no sense as is, as it starts by introducing the doom of the Agloraxi but stops with the mages blasting a Khorne army with laser. The crucial part (Khorne's revenge-by-uppercut) is missing.

P. 338 ; Troggoths clearly belong to the Greenskinz Hordes, but the Dankhold Troggoths shouldn't be labelled (IMO) as "Greenskinz" themselves. As Greenskinz are those creatures (Orruks, Grot, Snotlings, maybe Squig) described as sharing a fungal nature in Orruk Warclans Battletome p. 4 (last paragraph).

I'll write here if I found other parts in editing / interpreting the lore that feel incomplete or incorrect. Of course some may just be my own interpretation, as YOU are the creator and lore master. Anyway your book is truly a GREAT work, worthy of the God-King himself, not only with the rules but with the great lore introduced or expanded upon in the book.

Edited May 13, 2020 by HorticulusTGA

[HorticulusTGA]

@Emmetation another tidbit for the FAQ / Update (feel free to ignore if I missed the answer) : 

P. 164 (of the Soulbound PDF) : the part about "flowers from Southern Shyish", and in general about compass and directions in the Mortal Realms : 

As you did with the Azyrheim calendar, it could be good to integrate a paragraph somewhere about how directions work in the Mortal Realms. On a "2D" map like The Great Parch one, north means edgeward (direction Cotha), south means coreward (direction Vanx), etc. so no problem. 

But I'm not sure one can say "flowers from Southern Shysh" -  or that would refer to a concentric area around the core of the Realm, or the central area of the Realm itself. Which now is occupied by the Shysh Nadir...

Edited May 13, 2020 by HorticulusTGA

[eekamouse]

Did the PDF for the starter characters get put out? Someone had mentioned it was going to be this week.

[Baron Klatz]

On 5/13/2020 at 4:06 AM, HorticulusTGA said:

But I'm not sure one can say "flowers from Southern Shysh" -  or that would refer to a concentric area around the core of the Realm, or the central area of the Realm itself. Which now is occupied by the Shysh Nadir...

That's a really good point. Maybe South (as in going down) for Shyish could be in reference to the underworlds like Hallost but now with the Nadir acting as a magic black hole all south roads point towards the waiting arms of Nagash.

Edit: You know what, nevermind. if north is to the strongest magic then that would be Nadir making the center north.

I think that would work out well with those flowers growing along the edges where death-making shyish realmstone deserts and wastes are and much like "True-life" flips life and death on it's head (with undeath treated as ascendance) so too flipping directions compared to other realms works.

(Thanks for the compass link too, btw. That's a fantastic lore nugget that needs more exposure )

Edited May 15, 2020 by Baron Klatz

[Greyshadow]

The new book is looking fabulous - well done Cubicle 7! I wonder if those minor typos will be fixed in the print version? As much as I would love to have a physical book right now, one of the advantages of releasing first in a PDF first is the opportunity to have a large number of eyes to spot issues before it is printed.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Greyshadow

[Realmhead]

On 5/16/2020 at 11:38 PM, Greyshadow said:

The new book is looking fabulous - well done Cubicle 7! I wonder if those minor typos will be fixed in the print version? As much as I would love to have a physical book right now, one of the advantages of releasing first in a PDF first is the opportunity to have a large number of eyes to spot issues before it is printed.

It should be l fixed. They've been taking errata from readers, and should be releasing an updated pdf sometime this week or next.

[michu]

We're going to have a campaign!!

https://www.cubicle7games.com/age-of-sigmar-soulbound-upcoming-releases/?fbclid=IwAR3yKSieD1of2NNlEIrMezSxqrhPn5s-MWwSAW7Inlg3epFd_Pp8YfLzoco

[Beliman]

Really nice. I really love Soulbound core book.

Can't wait!!

[Ninelives]

 

34 minutes ago, Beliman said:

Really nice. I really love Soulbound core book.

Can't wait!!

Same! We played our first game on Sunday, and it went quite well I think. Most of us had really limited RPG experience or no experience of RPG and even AoS. 

I think they've done a great job and I'm looking forward to get my hands on more  

[EccentricCircle]

Looks like a great slate of upcoming releases. I'm glad that there looks to be a good mix of adventures and sourcebooks, I'll particularly look forward to the Bestiary, and if they are kicking things off with an Order themed splat book then hopefully that means that ones for the other four alliances won't be too far behind. Personally I'm not a fan of published adventure modules, so am only likely to get those if they come with gazetteers of the places involved, or solid background stuff. They should do well though, since big adventure path type campaigns are very much in fashion at the moment. All in all this looks like its shaping up to be a great game. I can't wait to get the book in my hands and read up on everything! (I've preordered, so could dive into the pdf, but I spend so much work time staring at text on computer screens that I'd much rather have a physical page for leisure reading, particularly for huge rpg books..."

[Baron Klatz]

Huzzah, that's fantastic news! The monthly updates have me really back-flipping God-king be praised. 

Also yay on Crash and Burn,  I remember when they first talked about the idea of commandeering a Kharadron airship back in 2017 at Warhammer World when the rpg was announced.

To the  aetheric skies, lads! Fame and fortune await!

On "Horrors of the Realms" though I hope they consult Josh Reynolds on a few things. He had nifty ideas.

"There are all sorts of non-Chaos horrors in the Mortal Realms. Here are possibly a few:

In Ghyran, it's possibly the Gardynals - predatory plants that resemble caves, houses, or even citadels, and devour those who seek shelter within them. They travel with the monsoons, and nestle in areas near the largest concentrations of prey, allowing as many as possible to enter before snapping shut their jaws and prowling away.

In Hysh, it could be the Sun Dogs, which stalk and devour the shadows of the unwary. The effects of this are unpleasant, for nature abhors a vacuum and if one's shadow is missing, something may grow to replace it.

In Ulgu, there are similar beasts, called Shirkers, which eat the light from their victims's eyes, and blind them. Their howls lead their prey deeper into the umbral maze of the Realm of Shadows, before the packs descend to nip at their victim's sight, until they are lost, alone and blind, in the shadow-lands.

In Aqshy, it might be the Fire Clown - a jovial, unsettling wanderer who fills the unlucky with heated emotions of all sorts, leading to unfortunate, inevitable consequences, or else makes them spontaneously combust with mirth.

In Ghur, there's the Hungry Wind, a maelstrom of cannibal spirits that strips the flesh from those caught outdoors when it blows through. These spirits are not of Shyish, or of Chaos...some whisper that they might be the manifestation of Ghur itself.

In Chamon are the shattered, maddened remains of Cypria's clockwork legions, many of which have degenerated into a feral state, seeking any jot of metal, wood or even bone to repair their faltering frames. They gather in the wild places, building and growing.

In Shyish, there are the Forgotten, the ancient Ur-Deaths which ruled in the ages before Nagash, and before even the paltry godlings he overthrew. They stir now, in the depths of Stygxx, scenting the death of gods on the charnel wind.

And in Azyr, there are the ravenous things which stalk the star-fields around Sigmaron. Shapeless, nameless and ever-hungry, they are kept in check only by Sigmar's lightning, and the efforts of his huntsmen."

 

[HorticulusTGA]

All those guides on the Aqshian Cities Of Sigmar are EXACTLY what I wanted !!! I will surely get the Starter Set, Cities Of Flames and the Anvilgard one ! 

I hope we'll get cities maps like in Warhammer Quest : Shadows Over Hammerhal 😍😍😍

[LuminethMage]

Yes, great news. I GMed my first adventure last Friday and it was a blast. Easy to get into, but lot of options and freedom to keep it interesting. We have played other Cubicle7 products before (TOR and WFRP), and so far they always managed to convey the essence of the setting. In Soulbound you really feel like semi-superheroes smashing through stuff in a fantastic setting. 

I'm so happy to see that we really get the Lumineth relatively fast as "promised" and a Magic supplement on top, as well as all kind of great stuff (monsters, ships ...) 

Looking forward to the campaign. From the sound of it, it's similar to the "Enemy Within" campaign in WFRP which also combines a city setting with adventures and addition general information (starter set is the same of course, which they also did with the one in WFRP). That concept is good, because you can use the book even if you don't plan on running the campaign as such. Anvilguard should give you good ideas for all kind of Dark Elf and Ulgu related things for example. 

[sandlemad]

19 hours ago, Baron Klatz said:

Also yay on Crash and Burn,  I remember when they first talked about the idea of commandeering a Kharadron airship back in 2017 at Warhammer World when the rpg was announced.

To the  aetheric skies, lads! Fame and fortune await!

This is one of the most pleasant surprises from the soulbound core book, the sheer amount of Kharadron stuff. All the gear and associated game mechanics, it's cool. More than other aspects, I could see an all-Kharadron campaign being effective and a lot of fun.

[Baron Klatz]

I really love the kharadron guilds they flesh it out with. That alone has so many possibilities for intrigue, side-questing, relic-hunting backstabs and players going pure pirate between them and aelven Corsairs working together.

Also this is new today on the herald:

Gryph-hound couriers running through city streets would be great to center some adventure hi-jinx on like having the party chase one down that accidentally delivered the wrong product or got caught on an important item mid-delivery your group just brought back.

Could also combine it with the earlier airship botte post and have a quick ship delivered to your party when they get stuck.

(The downside being whatever treasure your aether hopping venture gains you the Kharadron guild will acquire all of it and still put you in debt causing more quests across the realms to pay it off. )

[Baron Klatz]

Well that's lovely, in a very short time Soulbound has not only become their hottest seller but earned the Platinum Best Seller award on Drivethrurpg with a plethora of 5/5 star reviews.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/303936

Outstanding work, Cubicle7. The long wait was 100% worth it.

[michu]

8 hours ago, Baron Klatz said:

Well that's lovely, in a very short time Soulbound has not only become their hottest seller but earned the Platinum Best Seller award on Drivethrurpg with a plethora of 5/5 star reviews.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/303936

Outstanding work, Cubicle7. The long wait was 100% worth it.

You're right. Not even one 1/5 from haters. I hope it stays this way. Standing ovations, Cubicle7. Job well done.

[Baron Klatz]

Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised by that too. Especially when I remember when the great AoS board game "Rise and Fall of Anvalor" got one lone 1/10 rating on Boardgamegeeks....3 months before it even released.

Also neat, Cubicle7 are doing a humble bundle for Deathwatch novels:

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/warhammer-40k-deathwatch-cubicle-7-books?hmb_source=navbar&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=tile_index_5

I'd love that for AoS with the books centered around the realm of fire. Would fit the main map and be great for ads like "These Aqshy bundles are on fire! Take a journey into the Mortal Realms today!".

Edited May 23, 2020 by Baron Klatz