I’m going to drop a link to the alpha for the Sidhe army list before I start focusing on getting it prepared for final release. The release version is going to have quite a lot of changes from the alpha.

This version of the Sidhe list has existed for a while, but I wasn’t happy with having a straight Heretic / Hexen rip off and wanted to give the Sidhe their own unique feel. They needed more depth and I wanted them to play a greater role in the FRAG universe (especially as the RPG notes have started getting bigger).

I figured that somebody might be interested in comparing the old Sidhe list with the new one that will appear in The New Technology, so I’ve decided to release this alpha list for people to enjoy and comment on.

Get the alpha list here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ra04r9tyc1cpq7p/The+Sidhe+Alpha+List.pdf

I said I’d release something so here’s the first public alpha of FRAG.

Click to access Frag+Rules+0+9a0818.pdf

FRAG is a really fast and simple tabletop game where small squads beat the hell out of each other in a video-game inspired universe. There’s plenty of silly references and it’s just been a huge amount of fun working on this.

FRAG:SHAREWARE EDITION is a fifty-five page rulebook containing 15 pages of core rules and the rest being split across the five major factions.

The SHAREWARE EDITION is my ‘fun hobby project’, intended as a free release by an FPS fanboy who wants his work to be enjoyed by fellow enthusiasts. This public release is the first step to fleshing out this love-letter wargame.

I expect these rules to change quite a lot based on feedback. Points values especially are not final and some of the major factions will get expanded on later.

There’s lots of new content coming in the future too, with EPISODE 2: THE NEW TECHNOLOGY has vehicles, new units, relics, four new factions and a ridiculously huge amount of special characters. Most of these are at a near-finished state, with just a few missing (relics, unit profiles for specific vehicles, and the Martian army list).

So have fun everyone!

There are so many factors to consider. This battle is far from over.

I’ve been playing around with GIMP and Word a lot today. Having a good looking title on your front cover is so important. It’s the first thing players will see, and it will make an impression (good or bad) every time it’s pulled from a book shelf.

I’m starting to think it’d be a good idea to raise some money for original artwork.

@vonuberwald has been helping me design logos and covers for FRAG, the retro FPS tabletop battle game.

The game studio logo by @vonuberwald.

A first mock-up of the front cover. God, did I really write ‘twitch gaming’?

Please note that the artwork above is a place holder I found on Google Image search. I have no idea who drew that picture but I love them to bits. I’ll be looking for an illustrator able to do a similiar colour cover picture at some future point.

The same cover with some WIP logo text by @vonuberwald

Below are some more pictures from the FRAG rule book. None of the artwork is official, all of it dates back to when I wanted to make my home brew look nice for my friends.[[MORE]]

Some of the text is still being gone over, as the story has been altered quite heavily since the first draft (i.e, it’s actually a setting now, not just some text blurbs to give me excuse for me to bang converted miniatures together).

FRAG is a tabletop game about mass battles in a universe inspired by 90s FPS games. This update concerns a new faction, development of lore, and a small piece on future plans.

The EDF Are Back
After a short time on the cutting room floor, the Earth Defence Force made it back into FRAG. Development was interesting in that a lot of unique ideas were tried but ultimately taken out. Psychic powers, robot ninjas, freeze rays, an Imperial Guard-esque order system, all things that were taken away. Despite some cyberpunk influences, the EDF remain an army of Poor Bloody Infantry.

This brings the current factions up to five:
 – The Lost Battalion, MIA space marines too angry to die or be corrupted. Doom with some other influences. Their units include marines, drones, power armoured cyborgs and the blood-crazed Slayers.
 – Hell. Represents the standard Doom enemy roster although the cybernetic upgrades and Hell magic lists enable some extra stuff.
 – The Sidhe. An agile faction inspired by Raven Software’s games. Warriors, wizards, giant stone golems, and weapons that summon flesh-eating ghosts.
– The New Order. Evil humans from a universe where Germany, Italy, and Spain won the Second World War. A very varied army where squishy soldiers fight alongside mutants, cyborgs, and necromancers.
– The EDF. The basic humans. Slower, squishier, and less flashy than the Lost Battalion or the New Order, they’re Earth’s soldiers and police with some commando and armoured support. They can take a lot of support equipment and their elite soldiers can receive cybernetic augmentation.

Lore & Game Origins
This game started off as a passion project to keep my mind off work. I added some little story details for each army as I wrote their lists, but these were not intended to be taken seriously. Recently though, I’ve found bits of the story lines coming together nicely.

There’s some lore developing as I add little blurbs to each unit profile, involving an oppressive Earth, rebel space colonies, the rise and fall of different ruling castes of Hell, and the possibility that the New Order aren’t really from a ‘Nazi victory’ alt-Earth…

If any proper lore gets written, it won’t be from the perspective of the marines, but probably some kind of Mulder & Scully duo that pick through everyone else’s mess. Just to highlight the absolute absurdity of a world of 90s FPS tropes.

Future Plans & Cut Content
I’d like to finish up the faction list with a sixth faction I’m currently calling SHAMAN. A robot / cyborg faction with a strong Quake 2 / System Shock 2 vibes, currently named after the evil AI mentioned in Doom Community Chest 4′s rather fantastic Interstellar Sickness / Shaman’s Device maps.

SHAMAN will feature cyborgs resembling SS2′s hybrids / Quake 2′s light troopers, backed up by walking tanks, and some units will have a self-revive mechanic similar to the old “We’ll Be Back” save from Warhammer 40k.

After the cyborg faction is done, the game will enter a new phase of balancing, tweaking and polish.

There are expansion plans, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Maybe work will kick my ass and everything will get put on hold. Maybe nobody else will care about this pet project and I’ll shelve it to try other interests. Maybe I’ll actually be able to play test and publish this thing and it’ll all  work out great. Who knows?

Expansion plans are: unique personalities, vehicle rules, enhanced army options / variant army lists, and an expansion for interior close quarter combat.

Currently, this is envisioned as three supplements: one book with personalities and new units, another with armoured vehicles and advanced rules (air strikes, teleportation, etc), and a third book much later with rules for interior combats / sci-fi dungeon crawls much closer to the source material (as opposed to the large scale open battles currently represented).

Variant lists including Hell cultists, demonic sorcerers, and rebel humans are being considered, plus new equipment and abilities like wacky missile launchers and tunneling enemies. There’s a huge Lovecraft inspired army list mostly finished but cut from the main rules because it became too bloated. I’m currently not sure if the “Children of the Old Ones” will have their own stream-lined list in an expansion or if they’ll be chopped up and split between the other lists.

Maybe it’ll depend on where the lore takes me.