History of the Wallstorming World - The Game

 This Sunday we played out an insane concept. Trying to teach, run and complete a game for 12 players in a game half finished. Why would anyone put up with that? for me, for my birthday. I do this every year.

Bannisters Big Bad Birthday Bash Bonanza

So for this year, I want to build up some lore & story of the town of J'semby. I need to know some critical things: What buildings needed to be torn down, to make room for the farms and orchards needed to grow enough food for the population to survive.

How much material from the old town will be needed, what stone needs to be repurposed for what other buildings? Where will new wood come from?

In the past, having large conversations usually devolves into chaos, I either need to break it apart into bite sized turns, or break down the concept into bite sized decisions.

A quick way to do this is with cards. Each card has its own rules ON the card, so you can quickly surmise what you can and can't do, no need to ask or look up the rules.

This can sometimes also mean, players can think about their turns in advance, looking over their cards and comparing to others.

So I started with the core premise. what do I want. I want players to choose buildings in their district that are no longer useful, to them, and tear them down, to make room for food production.

The city is under Siege. Refugees are flooding into the city as the zombies approach. supply lines are being squeezed, then shut down. Its a calamity, when people get stressed they panic. multiple refugees in the same location means unease, distrust, mob mentality.

When things get bad, then worse, the city officials need to act. They have too many people for the buildings that exist, they need to house them or lose them. Promoting someone else to take in the masses might be a good idea, maybe load them on ships? 

That's stage one of the game, dealing with the overwhelming numbers. Refugees pouring into the city.

What I did was create a deck builder game. you 'place' all your city buildings, use them to create resources. All starting cards, (cept maybe 2-3) will allow you to draw more cards. Since your hand is 5 cards, with a good draw, you can play out all your cards, and get no inefficiency.

When you get your first refugee, you 'might' get 4 non-redraw cards, but that last one will still allow you to play out your whole hand.

The 2nd and 3rd refugee though, is guaranteed to create a blockage, you now have potentially 6 cards that will block your ability to play more. With a worst case 10 cards left in your deck, you get 3 unrest cards (guaranteed to create further unrest) so you will need to bargain with your neighbours to unblock you.

Each turn after, you need to spend some resources to 'extend' existing buildings. house the refugees, and even feed them somewhat, they will 'pay' at first.

So as a deck builder, the whole idea is to 'clear out dead / not good cards, and buy in better cards. The mechanic of getting ;stuck' with refugees worked out ok, but it was a harder slog than I expected. 

I had 80% regular players, but even they struggled to get the machines rolling in their minds. 

I had to make a decision. Abandon this version mid play, and go back to the earlier drawing board, OR struggle through it.. at what cost and what reason.

Obviously, flipping the script meant 2-3 players dropped out. which would have happened if I continued the struggle. 

The 'simpler' game was not working, it had too many holes. So we closed out at 5 with 'some' parts working, others not so much, but at least I had the 'data' for this run to work from.

Afterwards I thought about it (alot) and thought that maybe a tableau game would suit better. Place out the buildings at the start, AS the map. figure out your meeple=>food from the start, and work from that.

Instead of complex 2-3 possible actions per building, and multiples of wood/stone/coin to build. 

Just boil it down to what's plausible within 1 turn, break larger buildings into 2, 3 or 4 cards to represent costs, i.e. "wood" and show the cost & benefit at the top.

Instead of drawing refugees, you 'place' them, some buildings can cope with some spares (church) and even convert them into meeples (labour) so people feel like its a bad idea to tear down a church later on. (sure the land and the stone could be put to better use.. but the housing for refugees is awesome.

The whole point would be to have some trade-off for each building. 

I want lumberyards to 'store' wood, stone masons to carve stone, neither of which exists inside the city walls at first. you need to build them.

I want townhalls, guilds, theatres, other kinds of buildings that have a use, but in some ways are useless for a whole city to have multiples if the walls are closed and food is scarce.

So back to the drawing board, and we'll see what happens next.

       

Wallstormers #10.03

 Its been a week since the gates were opened, Phillip and Pete felt cheated. They're both gone out, with a group of friends, kids they'd grown up with, or friends of friends they knew well. The gate training hadn't done enough justice to the horrors that lay beyond. They'd lose their entire parties, sole survivors of a horror that just won't quit, going a little crazy over all the attention they received as survivors, a week of debauchery and or drink left them emotionless, void, empty, drained of all life and now depressed.

They found themselves sitting side by side at a bar, overhearing how one of last years wallstormers was looking to go out, he knew of a place where some treasure was stored. He needed to form a party, as they wouldn't let out lone individuals.

Phillip was upset he'd lost the 'big' treasure, Pete, also his group had found something of great worth and lost it to the horde. So they both listened in to the story this fellow was telling with knowing nods and muttered agreements.

After he failed to raise a crowd, he noticed Pete and Phillip looking his way, recognised the faces. Approached trepidly, "Aye Lads, m'names Levi".

A short talk and a few excited gasps as the three swapped stories, and it was decided, they were going out the next day on the 'open gate' day.

Recently the council had discussed this abuse of the guards and bribes, it was a tradition, but not a proud one, not a good one, so they discussed improving the situaton. 

"Open Gate" day was invented, 1 week after the kids had done their official gate runs, the rest could form groups, go out and raid the houses, mark them if they're clear, retreat to the gate.

If any large groups of zombies were spotted, they'd ring the bell, to inform everyone to return as soon as possible, the gates would be shutting.

So here it was 8am, Levi, Pete and Phillip, weapons in hand, ready to get back their treasures.

Some of the buildings looked a little worse for wear since last year, but some closed doors suggested unraided buildings, so they made their way to the first one they saw. There was a reason for it. a Basement entrance to a workshop with obvious signs of blood damage, the next door strangely reinforced by some inner material made it impossible to break from the hinges.

Not being deterred that a building had some level of difficulty, the team found their way through the main doors to discover a spooky, but empty house. The only remaining furniture was a 22ft long dining table, and some giant 4 poster beds in the upstairs, but as they were searching, They found a seance room, complete with a strange machine that played music when you entered the room (triggered by a false step at the entrance)

They managed to disable it and take it out the house, (which fetched a decent price at the Music Guild) but Phillips recent PTSD seemed to be causing him to react poorly to situations, freaking out the team.

The culminated in the group finding a secret entrance to the attic, which had only the one means of access. The Chimney.

The Lion Statue, The Chimney and the Witch.   

In Designing this game, I felt it a little prudent, to create some quest items to help the game along. I expected more diligence in players finding these things, without needing to prompt, so I often found players missing clues or information needed to progress the game further.

Its not in my nature to modify the game to suit the story. The places exist, players either find them or not, I will attempt to leave clues, or point things out, but I did something this week that felt.. like cheating. Its done now, its too late.

When I described the chimney to the players, mentioning that the rungs went both up and down. The group discussed that going down would lead to the basement, where it was already discovered flooded with blood. So they decided to leave. I had this happen twice already in this house, players, upon discovering the secret chimney entrance, thought it too dangerous and left it alone.

I got a little miffed, and repeated my phrase "both UP and down" with emphasis.

They got the hint, but I broke my rule. 

On with the quest

Having discovered the Chimney and discussed the blood pooling at the bottom, Pete took a second look and realised he'd dismissed the rungs going up. They ascended.

The room was covered in dust, undisturbed for a century. A library, a desk, a Crystal ball. and a Ghost.

The Old woman Phillip had spotted before, and unknowingly helped up the stairs, was here, unable to speak, she motioned to the crystal to tell them a fortune. Phillip asked for a bunch of metal. the Witch was unimpressed, and gave him a scroll to find it, bade him not open until later (because I knew it would disrupt the story flow). Levi, thought for a moment and instead of wishing something for himself, wished to communicate with the witch. Impressed, she felt this group might go a little further, so she spoke with him, and him alone. Through him, Pete wished to help the old lady rest.

Up until this moment the lads were attempting to steal the last few items, the giant beds, the chandelier, each time thwarted by size, weight or the witch herself, they felt, by 'allowing her to move on' they could finally claim these items.

The Witch, knowing that the only way they could, would be to clear the basement, and that meant one thing. defeating the blood. A Tall ask, but a pertinent one.

She produced a scroll, it showed a silver lantern, pushing back red lines (blood) and the street sign, and the building it was in. The players knew enough about the old town to figure out where it was.

Now things are getting good.

They came out of the house, struck a deal with another group to help carry back the two big tables and collect a years rent on the deal. 

We rounded out the session with some 'specialized magic brew & alcohol' drinks.. Levi had heard of the 'Orange' drink, so he tried it, the one that shows you orange footsteps, but no-one in the tavern showed any, except themselves very very faintly.  

Chatting with AI - regular blog

 I think this is kind of weird and kind of funny, you need to take a lot with stride of the AI and its quirks, but if you do, you can gleam some insights.

Explaining your game to AI

to see how much it works,

and trying to ignore the sycophantic nature

    Image Prompt: AI helping me write the game.

The Latest AI is a funny thing, it loves to tell you what a great idea you had, and how it can help you use it. Like any thing in life, you need to control yourself, not get caught up in the nature of the salesman and treat everything like a trap, BUT still enjoy the experience along the way.

I've been explaining my game system to AI and getting it to walk through stress tests and such things. I used to do this with friends every Sunday, but patient can get thin, people have their own desires and push them, and you can get lost in the weeds.

I've explained how one time, we had a 4hour, single combat round, to try to understand HOW this stuff worked. It was the lynchpin that eventually broke up our group, yet it was also a very powerful learning experience that taught me a LOT about roleplaying, gaming, and games mastering that has helped my career as a professional Games Master.

So having a 'robot' to talk through, rationally, (if you can ignore the constant praise) the game rules, its quite nice.

What has it helped me with? blocks of text. that's it.

Each and every time it had an insight? it was just telling me what I already told it, or what I hadn't yet told it.

What it did do, was structure out 12 paragraphs, in a clear and concise way that I had pages of fluff and drivel. 

My 12 archetypes, sure, I had them 'sorted' but clearing up a niggling word or a phrase to match the pattern of the other 11, was very helpful. saved me days.. but only because I knew the topic.

If I didn't know this, I might fall into the trap of letting IT do the work, and oh boy, that would have been a disaster.

So often it has dropped a lifestyle or inserted a new one that didn't exist.

My Skills lists have grown, and shrunk a dozen times from missing or false positives added, or morphed lists. Often the skills don't even match the medieval culture, because AI context only goes back ~100k+ tokens. so the first question gets lost along the way.

As a result, I can't just copy paste its work, I always have to take what it says with a pinch of salt, and I need to double check its lists.

What it DOES do well, is 'create' new stuff that is unimportant. Lists of NPC names, professions, career paths, etc, Its.. the stuff in the background.

Have you noticed, with an AI painting, the first glance everything is right.. then when you inspect it.. things are wrong, things in the background are not quite what you'd expect.. from a distance, without scrutiny, its all ok, just up close that face in the background has a 3rd eye, or is it an ear, that hair colour is not quite natural, that arm, where did that extra arm come from.

As its is with the background noise of NPCs, at a glance, all ok, all useful, then when you need that NPC ist stats don't match its career, its backstory is a little off from the plot of the game. 

Its ok, I can cross out the parts that don't work, mid game, and proceed. It was saving me 'some' time, but I am prepared just in case, as any half decent GM should be.      ;P

Wall Stormers #101 - AI

 As an experiment, I fed in the last wallstormers directly to AI and asked it to flesh out the plot, and provide some images:

Waillstormers:

 

The Gates Have Opened #101

The great iron gates of the South Wall groaned open for the first time in three months, just wide enough for five young figures to slip through. Dawn had barely broken, and the besieged city behind them was starving. Outside lay the forgotten districts — once thriving, now a rotting maze of collapsed roofs and silent streets.
The five chosen were all eighteen, the age when the South Siders believed courage still burned hottest and fear had not yet calcified into caution.
Thorne, the Warrior — broad-shouldered, reckless, carrying a heavy iron-banded club and a dented shield.
Lira, the Doctor — sharp-eyed and steady-handed, satchel filled with herbs, bandages, and precious surgical tools.
Finn, the Artisan — clever fingers, quick mind, carrying a short spear and a bag of tools for prying open locked chests.
Sable, the Ranger — quiet, lethal with her long hunting bow and a brace of arrows fletched with crow feathers.
Kael, the Commoner — one of their own, no noble blood, no special training. Just a scavenged axe, patched leather armor, and the desperate hope of the people watching from the walls.
They moved like shadows, hearts hammering. This was not a raid for glory. It was a raid for survival.
 

First Blood in the Burnt Quarter

They began with the burnt-out houses just right of the gate. Charred timbers groaned in the wind.
In the second ruined home, Lira stepped through a weakened floorboard and fell halfway into a dark crawlspace. Dust and rotten hands immediately grabbed at her ankles. Before she could scream, Finn yanked her back, shouting, “Backrooms! Storage cellars! They hide in the dark spaces!”
A desiccated zombie lunged out of the gap, jaw unhinged. Sable’s arrow punched through its eye socket, but another creature seized her from behind, teeth scraping across the mail on her shoulder. Kael hacked its arm off with his axe, then finished it with a brutal downward chop.
Shaken, they pressed on to the old marketplace street. In a collapsed tailor’s shop, Kael found something beautiful among the ruin — a finely forged shortsword, still bright under layers of dust, its edge surprisingly keen. He traded his clumsy axe for it without hesitation. For the first time, he felt like he truly belonged among them. 

The Larger Shop

The next building had once been a prosperous merchant’s hall — two stories of dusty shelves and broken display cases.
Thorne, ever the bold one, pushed ahead. As he rounded a corner into the back storeroom, three zombies that had been trapped behind fallen beams suddenly broke free. One clamped onto his shield arm, another drove him to the ground.
Kael charged in without thinking. He drove his new shortsword up under the first creature’s chin, then shoulder-barged the second off Thorne. The Warrior rose roaring, smashing the third one’s skull with his club.
Panting, covered in black ichor, Thorne clasped Kael’s shoulder. “I owe you, Commoner.”

The Third Shop – The Box Trap

The third shop seemed almost peaceful — an old general store with high shelves. Then Finn noticed movement behind stacks of moldy crates.
Without warning, the piles exploded outward. At least seven zombies had been sealed inside for years. They came screaming, starved and furious.
Chaos erupted.
Sable put two perfect arrows into skulls before she was tackled. Thorne tried to protect her and was dragged down by three at once, his shield torn away. Kael and Finn fought desperately back-to-back, but the numbers were overwhelming.
Lira dragged Thorne free, stitching a deep bite on his forearm with shaking hands while the others covered them. But Sable… they couldn’t reach her in time. Her screams were cut short as the pack overwhelmed the Ranger.
They killed the last zombie with tears and rage. Sable was gone. Only four remained. 

The Warehouses – Where Everything Broke

Grief-stricken but determined, they crossed the street into the large warehouse district. They hoped for preserved grain or tools. What they found was a nightmare.
The warehouses had become nesting grounds. Dozens of zombies shuffled in the gloom between towering stacks of rotten crates. The moment the four entered, the dead noticed fresh meat.
The fighting was brutal and hopeless.
Lira was snatched from behind while trying to help a wounded Finn. She screamed once as they pulled her down into the darkness between two rows of shelves. Thorne and Kael tried to fight through to her, but more poured in. They could hear her voice — brave, cursing them to run — before it became a wet, gurgling cry.
They had no choice. They ran. 

The Bathhouse – Desperate Treasure

With only three left — Thorne, Finn, and Kael — they limped into the old public bathhouse, hoping for medicines or preserved oils. The marble halls were eerily beautiful, lit by shafts of light through collapsed domes.
Here the dead were fewer, but stronger — some twisted by long starvation into something almost predatory. A harrowing running battle through steam rooms and tiled pools followed. Finn took a nasty gash across his ribs. Thorne’s shield finally split in two.
They grabbed what they could:
Sealed jars of olive oil and honey
A small chest of silver coins
Several precious iron tools
A bolt of fine undamaged cloth
Most importantly, two large kegs of clean, distilled spirits (invaluable for both drinking and medicine)
Bloodied and broken, they decided the mission was over. They could not go further. 
Return to the Gates
As the sun began to set, three battered figures staggered back toward the South Gate. They were no longer the best and brightest who had left that morning. They were survivors carrying the weight of the fallen.
Thorne limped, supporting Finn. Kael walked point, new sword in hand, eyes hollow.
Behind them, the dead city stirred once more. Ahead, the gates creaked open just enough to receive them.
Cheers rose from the walls — weak, hungry cheers — as the three young heroes returned with treasures that might buy the city another few weeks of life.
But on the blood-stained streets behind them lay the Ranger and the Doctor, forever eighteen, swallowed by the ruins they had tried to reclaim.
Kael looked up at the cheering crowd and felt no pride. Only the cold knowledge that they would have to go out again. Soon.
The siege continued. 

Wall Stormers #101 - The Inn & the Iron Men

 In a world of Fantasy Taverns, surely someone would have invented some magical cleaning ?

WallStormers #101, the 2nd Gate - The Iron Lads

The Gates have opened.

The South siders have sent on their best and brightest, their most courageous. They sent out ++ the Warrior, ++ the Doctor ++ the Artisan, ++ the Ranger and one of our ow, the Commoner ++.

They checked on some of the burnt buildings to the right of the gate, then proceeded onwards to some of the old shops, The Doctor got caught in a gap and luckily the Artisan warned him about backrooms and storage to avoid a zombie, meanwhile the Ranger got pulled back from a bite, while the commoner found a decent weapon to fight with.

They proceeded on to a larger shop, where this time the warrior got in a spot of trouble to be pulled out by the commoner.

The third shop, some piles of boxes concealed a few zombies who burst out and chewed up the Ranger and Warrior, luckily the doctor at hand saved the Warrior, but the Ranger was gone for.

They decided to cross over to the warehouses, which went so badly for them, the Doctor was eaten alive, the others had to abandon him to save themselves.

The Bathhouse got so difficult, they grabbed what treasures they could, and abandoned the mission. with each of them treasures in hand, they returned to the gate.

Wallstormers #101: The Iron Men.

As the above walked out the main gate, people cheering and waving, our 'real' heroes took advantage of the open gate, and strolled out, ducking down a side alley, and awaited for the younglings to enter their first building.

Bob checked nervously, and they walked at a brisk pace away from the gate.

Bob checked his maps.. everything seemed so different now, the map didn't give the right details, that guy at the tavern might have tricked him.. but press on.

They travelled down the main street as far as they could. the last two buildings, likely 30 buildings down, one was a tavern.. everything else here was burnt down, years ago. it didn't match the map. There should be some kind of .. Hmph, Bob gave up. Somethings has happened he concluded.

The team saw the Tavern, almost pristine, untouched. it would likely have something of worth.

They clambered over the walls, checked the building for zombies.. empty. nice.

To make a quick get-away, they smashed through the gates. 

The stables seemed suspicious, the main building too, but after opening the doors to discover an almost untouched bar.. bottles! cutlery! cloth!.. wait.. cloth? how did that.. too late, after Z touched the cloth it triggered some magical security, and the doors all rolled shut, the bottles spun into a secret compartment. everything gone.. and that.. triggered noise.. made something upstairs alert.

The group made their way upstairs. the banging came from the second room.. luckily it was a armless zombie with a bucket on its head. 

no time for questions, they searched the place  

Beds. Metal Beds.. Warriors, all three, grabbed a bed each and they made their way downstairs. 

This was gonna be a haul and a half.

The gate, stood up. Oh.. 

Weapons drawn, axes on two of them, and a mace on the other. the fight was furious, and strange. The gate had formed itself into some winged like creature, each gate door an arm, the pole, somehow its body. when it splintered, it gathered those up to become ... more?

The team was not impressed, they went at it with all their might. silver arrows shot into its frame.. the archer lost focus, put one in his friends hand.. Argh! the pain.. they somehow smashed it apart.. (the axes did the work) and it went down.

Time to retreat.. zombies were headed in their direction. 

They reached the gate. a few zombies along the way, but quick witted actions led them to success. the gate guard asked for 2/3rds of a frame as a bribe, and got it. no time to argue.

The guild accepted hinges and a frame, the group were added to the register, A successful mission.

Too bad about those other kids, sure they brought back as much wealth, but at the cost of their two companions.. one a doctor no less.. such a shame.