Currently playing Ziggurat. It’s a rogue-like FPS with a fantasy dressing. You control an apprentice sent into the mysterious Ziggurat as their final test to enter an elite wizard’s guild.
There’s
obvious Heretic & Hexen influence in (some of) the gameplay, with
magic wands, spellbooks, magic staves, and alchemical weapons all acting
suspiciously similar to weapons seen in Heretic, Hexen and Hexen II.
There’s no puzzles, no level design, just rooms of arena encounters,
hazards, and randomized upgrades from weapon drops and the occasional
prayer shrine. Unlike, say, Strafe, this is a proud rogue-like with new
unlocks pretty much every time you play.
It runs a little janky
for me, but I assume this is my ancient rig. Is it actually good? I’m
enjoying it, and I’ll probably be replaying it a few more times. The
atmosphere of the levels is good, the music and monster designs are fine
though a bit generic. You can see homages to other games in the
character designs – the burning flying skulls and the gargoyles come to
mind. Overall I’ve been enjoying my time playing it but I couldn’t help
but think “Man, this game makes me REALLY want to play a modern day
Heretic!” and wish it had tried for a true FPS experience instead of a
rogue-like one.
It’s on sale now, and I recommend it while it’s
on sale. Would I recommend it any other time? Probably not, especially
if you already have The Binding of Isaac.
For everyone who’s been following my tumblr over the years, thank you
so much your support. I would not have been able to make it this far
without you. I hope you try the demo and have fun!
An army list I wrote for use in Tomorrow’s War. If you’ve bought a box of Maelstrom’s Edge, this’ll let you use the Epirian models (hopefully converted!) as Doom marines.
I nearly wrote accompanying rules for demons, but I started work on FRAG and have concentrated on that. Please note that these rules haven’t actually been tested on a table yet
United States Space Marine Corps (Doom Marines) Platoon Troop Quality: d10-d12 Morale: d12 Confidence: High Tech Level 2+ Armour: Light (1d) Supply Level: Abundant
Special Qualities: Close Combat Monsters, Hard-to-Kill (d6),
Old School, Pain Resistant
1-3 Marine Squad (10 marines) Squad Leader Support weapon user x2 Fireteam Fireteam leader Support weapon user x2 Marine
Marines are armed with battle rifles and pistols. Squad
leaders may use pistols or shotguns. Support weapon users may equip
chainguns, rocket launchers, plasma rifles, or the fearsome BFG 9000.
The command squad may split and join other squads.
One marine per fireteam may add an underslung grenade launcher
to their battle rifle, giving +1FP dice per attack.
Options Mega-Armour: May upgrade the command squad to defence 2d. Heroic: By default the Lt and and ‘Sarge’ are TQ d12. Up to 3
non-command staff may also be upgraded to TQ d12; these units may equip
non-standard equipment such as shotguns, super shotguns and/or chainsaws.
Wargear Pistol (TL2 TST pistol, AP1) Battle Rifle (TL2 TST rifle, AP1) Shotgun (TL2 TST shotgun, AP1) Super Shotgun (TL2, TST shotgun, AP2, cannot attack outside of
Optimum Range) Chaingun (TL2, medium support weapon, AP3 / AT 1 (L),
Intimidating) Rocket Launcher (TL2, medium support weapon, AP3 / AT 2 (M),
Intimidating) Plasma Rifle (TL3, ESW, light support weapon, AP2 / AT 2 (L),
Intimidating) BFG 9000 (TL3 ESW, heavy support weapon, AP4 / AT 3 (M),
Intimidating) Chainsaw (TL2 close combat weapon +1d)
Support Drones (non-canon) All drones are controlled by marine engineers who operate them remotely via their command uplinks.
If left without a controller marine drones will enter sentry
mode. Nearby marines can ‘claim’ uncontrolled drones by entering base contact
with them. The drone will then join the marine fireteam as an escort, adding to
team firepower.
Marine engineers with command uplinks can activate them
remotely from anywhere on the board. The engineer and his bots benefit from the
grid.
Heavy Warmechs count as Power Armour in addition to being a smart bot. This adds the following rules to the usual smart bot rules:
Intimidating to non-power armoured troopers. Enhanced strength (count all weapons as one class lower than usual for movement) Possesses close combat weapon Close Assault Monster Contributes a full initiative dice as if an armoured vehicle
Drone Wargear Drone support gun (TL2, TST, AP2) Light Mech Rail Rifle (TL2, ABW, light support weapon, AP2, AT2 [L]) Light Mech Flamethrower (TL2, flame-thrower) Heavy Mech MMG (TL2, TST, medium support weapon, AP2) Heavy Mech Autocannon (TL2, TST, medium support weapon, AP2 AT2 [L]) Heavy Mech Energy Cannon (TL3, ESW, medium support weapon, AP3, AP2[M]) Heavy Mech Shoulder rockets (TL2, medium support weapon, AP3, AT3[M]) Heavy Mech Shoulder multi-missiles (TL2, light support weapon, AP3, AT2[L])
Energy Support Weapon Rules: Team Firing: Ignore 1d of infantry target’s armour or cover. Split Fire / Weapon Team Effects: +1FP, -1 to reaction tests (all), ignore 1d of target armour/cover (TL2+), ignore a additional die of target cover / armour (TL3)
Personality – The Doom Slayer (Doom
4) d12/d12, high
confidence, armour 3d (TL3), abundant supply
Special Qualities:
Advanced Life Support, Close Combat Monster, Dreadful, Hard-to-Kill (d8),
Intimidating, Jump Infantry, Pain Resistant, Old School
TL3 Power Armour: Intimidating to non-power armoured troopers, enhanced strength (count all weapons as one class lower than usual for movement), close combat weapons, contributes a full initiative dice as if an armoured vehicle.
Counts as a two model
team in close combat (for the purposes of determining outnumbering and close
combat attacks). Since the Doom Slayer counts as a two model team armed with
close combat weapons and possessing the Close Combat Monster quality, he rolls
5d12 in close combat.
Arcane Dimensions is a single player mod for Quake which is frankly astounding. It massively expands the game with enormous, technically impressive levels and is just all-around an amazing experience. It’s a must play.
A sample army list for Tomorrow’s War using the miniatures shown in my previous post.
The Gempire The Gempire is a race of imperialistic gem-themed aliens with a strictly defined social structure. This harsh feudal structure dictates the life of every gem from the lowliest ruby to the highest diamond.
Gempire Platoon TQ: d8-d10 Morale: d10 Confidence: High Tech Level 3 Armour: Typically 2d Supply Level: Medium Special Qualities: Caveman CASEVAC
Light Infantry – Ruby Team (units of 4-6) TQ: d8 Morale: d8 Confidence: High Armour: Hard (2d)
Veteran Leader – Amethyst (solo officer, or units of 2-4) TQ: d10 Morale: d10 Confidence: High Armour: Hard (2d) Special Rules: Augmented CC Weapons (+1d in assault), Hard-to-Kill (d6)
Drone Technician – Peridot (0-1 Peridot, 0-6 drones) TQ: d8 Morale: d8 Confidence: High Armour: Hard (2d) Special Rules: Drone Operator / Drone Mechanic, Hard-to-Kill (d6)
Peridot Robonoids TL3 dumb bots with TL3 pistols.
Very Heavy Infantry – Jasper (solo) TQ: d10 Morale: d12 Confidence: High Armour: Powered Armour (3d) Special Rules: Counts as Power Armour*, Augmented CC Weapons (+1d in assault), Hard-to-Kill (d8)
* Intimidating to
non-power armoured troopers ; Enhanced strength (count
all weapons as one class lower than usual for movement) ; Possesses
close combat weapons ; Close Assault Monster ; Contributes a full
initiative dice as if an armoured vehicle.
Jasper Weapons: Heavy Cannons (TL3 ESW*, heavy support weapon AP4 / AT2 [M], Intimidating) Medium Cannon (TL3 ESW*, medium support weapon AP3 / AT1 [L], Intimidating)
Close Assault Monster is a trait from the By Dagger Or Talon expansion book for Tomorrow’s War.
Originally an army from FASA’s Vor, I ended up using these in another game called Tomorrow’s War.
Tomorrow’s War is a setting and scale neutral game that I really recommend – the book is a bit of a confusing read, but when you’re going the game itself is simple and very fun, with a nice toolbox approach to gaming that more gamers should try.
UAC marine is a converted Maelstrom’s Edge model, the Doomslayer is a
Mantic Forward Observer and the Cacodemons are Macrocosm “monster
balls” with some horn accessories stuck on.
The Nephrite Games Blog 