One Year Later - Untold's First Year, In Review

So, technically, Untold hasn't reached its first year quite yet. I'll do an official "Year Later" blog in April to discuss the actual one year anniversary. However, sitting at the edge of the new year (and possibly the last if the Mayans had it right), one can't help but look back over the past year. And since this is an Untold blog, I'll be looking back at Untold's first year. No card mechanics or combos, no building encounters or bad guys. Just a simple reminiscing.

Now, I've known the Wandering Men going on four years now. And I've told the story of how I got into Untold so many times, and I'm sure you're all tired of hearing it. But I remember very clearly the day I found that Untold was officially released. See, Jennifer and I had signed on as Beta Testers, and for nearly a year, we talked it up to friends and family, wrote ecologies and articles. And finally, Ashy made the announcement in the rainy month of April that Untold was officially released. I for one was impressed that not only did Untold release, but released with a large number of products available as well. April was a wet and rainy, but it didn't keep us from setting up C.U.B.E.'s and spreading the word.

Before we knew it, Summer had set in and the con season was upon us. Mobicon, in Mobile Alabama, was Untold's first official con after the release. I remember a lot nervousness and hesitancy going into that con. I didn't sleep the night before the con was set to open. I remember thinking that it could be a big step for Untold. So, that Friday came, and in the blistering sun and sweltering humidity (nothing new for the Gulf Coast), we set up the WM Booth and I hit the Gaming Hall. We were scheduled to do 6 demos, and wound up doing 11. Mobicon was a lot of fun and we were exhausted by the end of it.

Imagicon proved to be just as popular but in far worse environs. Because of where the gaming room was, you had to literally yell to speak to the person next to you. However, Untold remained extremely popular and we had a real heartfelt moment at the end of it. Sunday afternoon, we were packing up the booth and saying our goodbyes to the team members as we all went our separate ways for a few weeks. As we were leaving, I had someone approach me who had sat through a demo with me the day before. He had a rules question. Apparently, a couple of the guys there were setting up an Untold game in the now barren Merchants Room, to get a little more play time before the party was completely over. That moved us in such a way, I can't even describe it.

The final big con of the summer (for me atleast) was ConCarolinas in Charlotte. It didn't start out great. We converged on North Carolina in the wee hours of the morning, with Cap and his wife being gracious enough to open their home to admittedly a bunch of weird folks so that we could rest and prepare for the weekend to come. We were all disappointed Friday when we arrived. They had set up our booth right in the gaming room. But we made the best of a bad situation and set up for the demos. The first day was pretty quiet. Around 7 pm, we were beginning to talk about closing up shop, but were bombarded by folks who wanted to play Untold. We had three games going that night and the booth was doing a lot of good business. We didn't finish up until 11 that night, and had a lot of fun. That was the weekend that Hall first unveiled his skills as a GM on an admittedly tired group.

But this year wasn't all about cons. We had a lot happening on the home fronts as well. Untold picked up two official retailers, in Pensacola Florida and Leeds Alabama. I don't know how many products we've released either, but we had some great ones. Some of my favorites were the Gifts of Maoru, Triple Threat: Slugs and Steel and Primal Powers. We had the opening of the Untold: Elite and even picked up some fans in Canada and Britain.

This first year has been amazing for Untold, but what about the next? Well, Untold is still growing and struggling to put its root down. We've all done our share but I feel like I could do more, and I plan to this next year. I want to get Untold to be a regular fixture at my FLGS again. I also plan to do more C.U.B.E.'s with the help of LK and the other folks in the area. I look forward to upcoming con season and want to help out again if possible. I also really want to help the community, both on and off line grow however I can.

All in all, this last year has been good to Untold. And I know that Untold has made this year good for me. One of the reasons we play games like this is to spend time with friends and family, and Untold has provided me with a large number of friends to share Untold and other things with. I look forward to what Untold and the Wandering Men have in store for us this next year, and I look forward to the work we'll all be doing to help Untold grow.

That's going to wrap it up for this week. Next week starts a New Year and a new blog. Not sure what the New Year will bring either for this game or for me and my blog, but you'll be one of the first to know. I do want to say thanks to everyone who reads and enjoys this blog. Thanks for encouraging me to do it and thanks for sharing my favorite hobby with me. Until next week, thanks for reading and have a safe and happy New Year!

It's an Untold Christmas Blog, Brannon Hollingsworth!

Alright, sorry for not posting one last week, but I was beat. Looks like that'll be the last time I miss a blog for a while, so I guess that's a good thing. So, this week's blog is a present for Ashy: how to build a good role-playing encounter for Untold. Now, I'm going to be the first to say that building a good rp'ing encounter can be very difficult. If you're anything like me, then you usually make it up as you go along with a general direction in mind. However, encounters like this can be planned and prepared for. I am also a very strong believer that a good rp encounter is composed of two primary things: good players/gm's and the right cards and abilities. Keeping this in mind, I'm going to discuss the general lay out of our encounter, and some cards that would be useful in how the encounter would possibly unfold.

Now, the general premise of this encounter is relatively simple, but simultaneously complex: A Highbred soldier is going to infiltrate and investigate the disappearance of a L'na friend (another player in the party), and attempt a rescue of the wayward companion, without seriously harming or killing any of his highbred compatriots. Now, this encounter is going to start out peacefully and end with a daring escape. However, rp'ing is going to be heavy, and the over-arching goal is going to be to rescue the party member without killing anyone.

I'm going to focus primarily on three different cards for the rping section, and five different cards for the daring escape at the end. The cards I'll be focusing on are Diplomatic, Beguiling Speech, and Verbose. However, keep in mind, the Gifts of Maoru has a whole boat load of cards that could really shine in this setting. When it comes to obtaining information through peaceful means, L'na Twilights are the undisputed masters. But I'll talk more about those at another time. The Highbred hero in question is going to have to find out a way to locate where his friend is being held prisoner, talk his way into the prison, and bust his friend out.

Now, Diplomatic is a useful card, but it's better reinforced with Beguiling Speech and Verbose. Diplomatic is a great way to get a foot in the proverbial door, but Beguiling Speech and Verbose can blow the door off the proverbial hinges. Beguiling Speech can make a target friendly and helpful, and Verbose can leave a target as dazed and confused as a Churl reading a Jane Austen novel. A great way to add on to this combo is the card Endless Calm, which can add its MAG to an Aspect boost bonus. So, with some good rolls, the talking your way into the L'na's prison should be fairly easy. But how are we going to get out?

This is where the situation gets a little more violent and dangerous, but remember, there is still a good amount of rping involved. The primary cards involved in this are going to be Grapple, M201 Assault Weapon, M422 Glue Grenades, Smoke Grenades, and the XR3 Tranquilizer Gun. Now, the cards like Grapple, the Grenades, and the Tranq. Gun are all well in good, but how is an Assault Weapon harmless, you ask? Well, I'm getting to that part. Grapple, Smoke Grenades and the XR3 Tranq. Gun are going to be used primarily by the character who's going to be doing the rescuing the wayward companion. Grapple is a good close quarters card, and can leave a target immobile. The Smoke Grenades are an excellent stalling and cover tactic, and the Tranq. Gun neutralizes targets without killing them. The M201 Assault Weapon is necessary to use the M422 Glue Grenades and also provide cover/suppressive fire to help our Highbred hero and the imprisoned party member escape the actual base and meet up with the rest of party.

Alright, so we've got the actual cards we need for this encounter, but how is it going to play out? Well the prologue is that the party strays a little too close a highbred base. A patrol catches the party off guard and a member of the party is captured and taken to the base for questioning and possibly study. So the party is left with the task of infiltrating the base and springing the wayward member from prison and linking up with the party to escape into the night.

With this in mind, the Highbred Hero is going to take two days to infiltrate the base, locate the captured compatriot, and spring them from the prison and meet up with the party. On the first day, the Highbred stumbles onto the base under the guise of being a lost scout escorting a supply convoy from Base A to Base B. Beset by baddies, the Highbred was forced to flee once he determined the situation was hopeless. Through some miracle, he found this base and needs to rest and refit. As the day passes, he begins to ask questions and make friends with some of the locals, using the cards like Diplomatic and Beguiling Speech to locate the location of the captured party member. Over night, he breaks into the armory to obtain some new gear (perhaps using Stealthy and Mad Hops?) and gains the Smoke Grenades and the XR3 Tranquilizer Gun, and sneaking an M201 Assault Weapon and Glue Grenades to a predetermined location and leaving them for other members of the party to find. On the next day, he waits until the base does a guard change, close to the time a majority of the personnel would be on the other side of the base at the mess hall or something similar. Once again, using Diplomatic, Beguiling Speech, and Verbose, the Highbred Hero talks his way into the prison (maybe with a little help from Endless Calm) and the action begins. Using the Tranq. Gun and Smoke Grenades, the two party members make a mad flight for the safety of the wilderness while another member of the party, from an unseen vantage point, uses the Glue Grenades and the M201 to lay down suppressive fire and stalls pursuers.

Now, it may not sound like much the way it is now, but when actually played, this scenario could be very dangerous but a lot of fun. Ofcourse, as is the case with most games, players and GMs may have to improvise to compensate for bad rolls and the like. As you can most likely tell, I'm not great about putting ideas like this into print, but rather am better working with a group of people and kind rolling with the punches, so to speak. But I hope you enjoyed. This is going to be an idea I'm really going to try and develop with this blog for two reasons: 1.) To make this blog more diverse and enjoyable for readers, as they look for ways to expand their Untold experience and 2.) To make me a better Untold GM.

To wrap things up, serious role-playing encounters are fairly simple to build in Untold. With a variety of useful power cards, good minions, and some creativity, a quality rp encounter can be put together relatively quickly and a good time can had by all.

For once, I know what next weeks subject will be: A Year In Review, a look back at Untold's first official year. I'll be taking a look at the highlights of this past year, for me atleast, and would love to know about your favor Untold moments of the last year. Until next week, thanks for reading and have fun! And Happy Holidays!!

A Holiday Get-Together: Building An Untold Encounter

Well, as Jennifer so clearly pointed out, I've been doing a lot of character builds lately. And apparently so much so, that I've run that topic into the ground. So, we're going to change gears a bit and go to a different subject: Encounters. As a GM, I understand that encounters make or break a campaign. If they become too numerous or too large, players may become frustrated. If they are too far between, the players may become bored. So, you need to strike the right balance. Are you running a meat grinder? Or a puzzle solver? But this post isn't going to cover the quantity of encouters in a campaign, as that can be a fluid number. Instead, we're going to tackle the quality of encounters.

Quality encounters can be difficult, as you REALLY have to plan for them. But, luckily with Untold, planning is very easy. I would consider most quality encounters to consist mostly of minions, reinforced by complimenting powers. A quality encouter should also pose a definite threat to the Characters. This doesn't mean that it should a TPK, but rather should be capable of inflicting significant damage on the party. So, bearing this in mind, let's start to build our encounter.

First, let me preface this with saying that you should work with minions and powers you are comfortable with. You need to be intimately familiar with the abilities of minions and powers that you'll be employing, to help answer any question and clear up any problems that your players might possibly encounter. For me, I am most comfortable working with Flux Horrors and Flux Horror powers. In almost every campaign, I employ atleast one major section with Flux, because I love the Lovecraftian feel of Flux Horrors. But I strongly encourage you to use the minion cards that you like.

Alright, so let's take a look at the minions I'm going to be working with are going to be Flux Horrors. This encounter is going to be a major encounter, but not the final one. This is actually intended to be an early boss fight for characters starting at 50 UP. Now, as cannon fodder, we're going to be using four Infested Churls. When compared to other minions, especially other Flux Horrors, Infested Churls are really minor annoyances. However, if left unchecked, minor annoyances can become game changers. Remember, even a pawn can capture a king. The next minion we're going to be using is one of my favorites, the Howling Horror, and we'll be using three of these. Howling Horrors can be really powerful, and very obnoxious. They inflict the Despair bane, but when stacked, Despair can become Insane in one round. I'm going to bolster them a little, by giving them all the Horrible Foes card. Horrible Foes inflicts a penalty equal to the cards MAG to any rolls made by non-Externals. This can be a real pain. Plus, they give you a +4 Initiative, which can give you a definite edge.

Now, we're going to move on to the heavy hitters. We're going to have two real powerhouses in this encounter. A summoned Rift Ripper, which is trouble for anybody. Rift Rippers have the ability to rip chunks of MAG out of its victims, in the neighborhood of 32 MAG per round. If that wasn't bad enough, I'm throwing on a Flux Warp 2 and an Insane Aura 2. Flux Warp can inflict Impaired, and Insane Aura drains Mind boost and can drive a target Insane. Rift Rippers are just bad news. But the real threat in this encounter is going a Weaver of Despair. Weavers are really unsuspecting minions at first glance. They have the IP: Dread Fate, which can either drain a Character or inflict Despair-Insane on a target. I prefer the second ability, but its a personal preference. However (and this may be a typo), the boost is for Body. Well, whatever. Weavers are real dark horses, because once they get going, they don't stop. And they are difficult to kill. I'm going to reinforce this Weaver with Feed on Chaos. Feed on Chaos will provide a very problematic healing ability. I'm also going to throw in the Hot Swap Feed on Sanity which has a similar ability. Finally, we're also going to use the Hot Swap Eye of the Beyond, to reinforce the Weavers IP. So, we have two big baddies. The Rift Ripper is very much the offensive beast, but the Weaver allows the GM some battlefield control (by creating chaos, ironically). The Ripper is the blunt hammer meant to shatter a party physical. But the Weaver is meant to break the party's moral.

To wrap this up, this encounter would go pretty rough. With good leadership and decent rolls, a party could probably carve through this encounter and come out relatively okay. Less experienced or more blunt characters might have a tough go of things. But keep in mind this is just an early boss fight. A turning point in the plot line. But it does what it is required to do, which is instill fear and worry in the Characters for the next encounter. And they say GM's can't have fun! I guess my final comments would be to really put some thought in your encounters, atleast your major ones, like this. Not every encounter needs this much planning and forethought. Random Encounter #37, with a pair of Crag Crawlers and an Apoc Mountain Goat doesn't need a lot of planning. But on the other hand, it took me all of five minutes to throw that encounter together.

So, that'll wrap it up for this week. Not sure what we'll tackle next week. Once again, taking suggestions. If you liked this installment, please let me know. I would love to more in the future. Until next time, thanks for reading and have fun!