Choir of Flesh, Useful Tables 2

 

By the incredible Penny Melgarejo 

History is a wonderful sandbox to play in and examine for games.  In Choir of Flesh, the Twin Apocalypses affect everyone worldwide in the Year of Our Lord 1000.  On page 24 there is a d10 table to determine your Unbroken’s former occupation before the supernatural incursion occurred. This former occupation table includes a description of your previous profession, list of skills available, and series of troubles that the character could be afflicted with.  

I wanted to expand this table with 20 entries from cultures surrounding the Mediterranean that could all feasibly have arrived in France in the year 1001 AD.  I have only included a description of these character’s backgrounds; their skills and troubles are left as an exercise for the player of Choir of Flesh to determine.  

In addition, these 20 character backgrounds could also describe interesting NPCs an Unbroken could find as a Notable Citizen as described on page 37 in the core book.  Some work to determine each character’s Settlement Benefit and Potential Problem is required however.  I heavily relied on the magazine Strategy and Tactics Quarterly Issue 33 Armies of the Dark Ages for historical inspiration for these character backgrounds; and I read a scattering of internet sources including Wikipedia when further development was required. 

1d20 Table for Character Backgrounds

1) Norman Holy Land Pilgrim turned Mercenary – In 999 AD, Norman pilgrims returning from the Holy Land stayed in Salerno, Italy and were attacked by and then repulsed Muslim raiders. You are one of the survivors of that encounter, and came to France to sell their sword to the highest bidder. Your faith is forefront in your mind.

2) Lombard Revolutionary Firebrand – The Lombard Revolt against the Byzantine governor in Italy took place from 1009 to 1018. In 1000 you are a fierce patriot of your people and have come to France to rally support and find resources and men for the coming conflict.

3) Administrator of the Emirate of Sicily – The Emirate of Sicily (831–1091) was an Islamic state based in Palermo (Sicily). A hardworking Muslim member of the state overseeing the jizya tax system and other bureaucratic endeavors, you were forced to land in France in 1000 due to a naval travel accident.

4) Vatican Assassin – Secretly sanctioned by a Cardinal, you are the epitome of a religious zealot; a killer who has been forgiven a priori for the deeds you must undertake to protect Mother Church. This idea is just straight fiction from the movies Elizabeth (1998) and Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001).

5) Danish Raider – A raider of Anglo-Saxon England prior to the turn of the century (1000 AD), you’ve seen war and taken from it while on your longship. You’ve stopped to lick your wounds and count your plunder in France.

6) Norse Ulfheonar – A berserker assault warrior who draws strength from the wolf skin he wears, you harbor no religious fear for the Songs of the Choir, nor the creeping mutation of the Flesh. No, these are the end time prophesized by your people, and you are here for them. By Odin and the Wolves, it is better to die in battle and go to Valhalla than to live sniveling in the dirt behind wooden walls!

The battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, 1299. depicting Mongol archers and Mamluk cavalry; 14th-century illustration from a manuscript of the History of the Tatars. Unknown Author

7) Berber Fighter – Across the strait of Gibraltar, you were raised as a proud Berber tribesman, comfortable in the saddle as well as on foot in harsh desert environments.  Seeking a better opportunity for your clan and family you joined the Fatimid Caliphate as a soldier, one of many in the core of their army. Hearing monstrous and unholy tales about post-apocalyptic France, you were part of a regiment to push back the horrors, until your unit was shattered by supernatural forces.  Now you are alone, and will carve your way to survival through the skill of your spear-arm.

8) Christian Mercenary of the Fatimid Caliphate – Hailing from the Levant, you stand with one foot firmly in two worlds.  Of a mixed heritage, you were raised devoutly Christian and have seen those places of pilgrimage.  Puissant at arms, you have sold your sword to the Fatimid Caliphate, and they have paid you well.  On a mission to the Iberian Peninsula, you have found yourself in France in the midst of the apocalypses, much to your regret.

9) Mamluk Logistics Officer – Literate and intelligent, you occupied an honored position in the Fatimid Caliphate yet still had the status of a slave.  When the armies marched, you joined them, serving in the background as a quartermaster of supplies and weapons. What the Franks were up to that spawned Twin Apocalypses, you will never understand. But what you do know is how to survive, and make a settlement thrive, even under deprived conditions.

10) Egyptian Coptic Christian Accountant – A Coptic Christian, born as an Egyptian into the Fatimid Caliphate, you have worked hand and glove with the Muslim government to see that your merchant patron’s taxes are paid appropriately and on time.  Travel to the strange land of the Franks for trading opportunities landed you alone and adrift into the existential madness that is the Twin Apocalypses of the Choir and the Flesh.

11) Byzantine Veteran Under Emperor Basil II – You were lucky some say. Other say you are blessed; as you have survived and fought in the civil wars of Byzantium, in the war against Bulgaria and as a campaigner against the Fatimids.  Blood, mud, and the screams of the dying are your food and drink as you have cut a merciless swath through men and horses alike. Now however, you question your lack of faith in man and gods as a crack razed the sky, and the Song of the Choir radiated from the East. You are here now, in France, seeking the source of the madness, or perhaps resolution and redemption for your own dead soul.

12) Anglo-Saxon Silver Miner and Thief – Silver. It goes to the Danegeld to entice the Vikings to leave England.  But they always want more.  Angered that your back-breaking sweat in the mines only goes to enrich someone else, you organized a theft and escaped with some of your fellows from England and made it to the coast of France with silver ingots.  Then the Twin Apocalypses hit, scattering everyone. Was that a sign from the divine about your crimes? That question squirms in your gut late at night when you cannot find a cleric or mug of ale to assuage your guilt. 

13) French Low-Born Maniac – Once the low-born soldier of one of the grasping French castellans (lord of a castle) in the south of France, you prosecuted violence against church property, clerics and the poor at the behest of your lord. And you loved it.  The Council of Charroux in 989 and the Pax Dei (Peace of God) movement was established in reaction to your vicious predations but you laughed, certain that the Apocalypse would come at the turn of millennia and wipe all morality clean and establish a new social order.  Yours.  To an extent, you were right. 

14) Apocalyptic Tongued Cleric – Struck down, robbed and left for dead while traveling unarmed by a local constabulary; your life changed to one preaching fire and brimstone and revenge for social plights.  Now an eager amateur at wielding any piece of metal you can get your hands on, you preached about the overthrow of the nobles, the castellans and the social order in a wave of divine vengeance to anyone who would hear.  Much to your surprise, you were right. But you have the grit and the vision to make this new world a better one. 

15) Procurer of Ancient Manuscripts – One part ruins explorer, one part linguist, and one part thief; you filled the desire of the court of Theophanu Skleraina in the emerging German Empire for tomes in Latin and Greek on engineering, law and medicine.  It paid well, exercised your many talents, and took you across Italy and France in exciting adventures for moldering old folios and transcriptions.  Then the Twin Apocalypses hit and you wonder if some of the more curious manuscripts you have trafficked hold the key to survival for you and the people you have thrown in your lot with. 

16) Scottish Border Raider of England – Purely for profit or to solidify royal Scottish power, you are a Celtic raider with much blood-soaked experience in the English Northumbria and Galloway lands.  Used to planning ambushes, rallying peasant men to fight in your warband, absconding with useful livestock, and immolating recalcitrant villages; you are none the less a devout man, seeing no contradiction between your actions and your faith. That is why when you received instruction from the Scottish Church to make a journey far south to France to investigate a holy vision, you obeyed without hesitation.  You arrived on the mainland of Europe just in time for the Twin Apocalypses to erupt. 

17) Grasping Burgundian Noble– Duke Henry I of Burgandy is weak and dying and you will reap the spoils of your ambition. Distantly related to the Carolingian Dynasty, you are filled with pride over your heritage and honed your sword arm fighting off enemies as diverse as the Duke of Francia and Saracen raiders.  Your plans for placing the ducal coronet upon your brow have been turned to ash with the coming of the Choir and the Flesh; but it is a bright shining ambition you cling to with a death-grip. You must. 

Varangian Runestone U 153. Picture by I, Berig, CC BY 2.5 

18) Varangian Guard- A member of the Byzantine military elite, you are a Rus mercenary who fights for the Basileus (Emperor) with a mighty Scandinavian two-handed battle axe and sword as a sidearm. Campaigning against pirates from the Aegean to the Tyrrhenian Sea, you excelled at naval warfare until an unlucky engagement landed you a slave of your opponents.  Your recent conversion as an Orthodox Christian kept your spirits up as you suffered in the galley of a ship.  That was until the shipwreck that left you off the southern coast of France in a new world twisted by the Choir and the Flesh. 

19) Magyar Merchant and Nomad- A middle aged man now, you spent your youth as a nomadic horse archer and sometimes hit and run raider.  Capitalizing on the goods you captured by your military endeavors, you turned to safer mercantile activities as you grew wiser; interacting with Jewish, Italian and Byzantine traders to exchange silks and wool. Indifferent to religion, you viewed your fellow Magyars adopting Christianity in the Kingdom of Hungary with some concern. Concern that appears to be validated as the sky ruptured at the new millennium, heralding the advent of the Choir and the Flesh. 

20) Arabic Mathematician and Numerologist- A fierce zealot of the adoption of the Hindu-Arabic positional numeral system (numbers 0-9), you fled the Levant due to your obstinate nature and borderline heretical ideas. Finding a place in the Frankish court of Theophanu and Otto II, you taught decimals, mathematics and astrology.  You began seeing strange signs in the numbers of the conjunction of the spheres prior to the millennium, and following your intuition, you quietly packed your bags and traveled to France, where the Twin Apocalypses awaited you with welcoming arms. 

Additional Thoughts

Alex T, author of Choir of Flesh, has a created a playlist of music inspirational for the game.

Five Parsecs from Coruscant, a Five Parsecs from Home fan made conversion book review

 

5 Parsecs from Home is a solo adventure wargame where you assemble a team of up to six spacefaring human and alien skirmishers whom you arm with whatever equipment you can scrounge up to take on missions and repay your spaceship’s debt.  I enjoy the emergent narrative of generating a crew and their backstory by the combination of Background, Motivation and Class tables in the 5 Parsecs from Home core book.  In fact, my first real blog post was about my 5 Parsecs crew and their adventures. 

Star Wars needs no introduction, particularly for readers of this blog.  Crimson114 on Reddit has undertaken the heavy lifting for making a Star Wars mod for 5 Parsecs. And it’s good. The 42-page pdf is titled 5 Parsecs from Coruscant and it contains tables, weapons, enemies and some rule changes adapted from the Star Wars universe during the Galactic Civil War to the ruleset of 5 Parsecs from Home. Currently the 5 Parsecs from Coruscant fan project is in 0.5 alpha, was last updated as of 3/31/26, and the author is looking for feedback from the 5 Parsecs community.  It is free so why not download it now!  This is a great way for you to use any Shatterpoint and Legion Star Wars miniatures that you have lying around gathering dust for solo play.  

Below, I will go over what has been changed by the 5P Coruscant mod.  Clearly Crimson114 is a big fan of both Star Wars and 5 Parsecs who knows what they are doing in writing this mod.  Their conversion has inspired me to write up page of preliminary thoughts on an Eclipse Phase conversion for 5 Parsecs. If there is interest, I will post those ideas in a blog post some point in the future. 

by Eric Whitted

5 Parsecs from Coruscant version 0.5 alpha 

5 Parsecs from Coruscant includes both revisions and reflavoring of things in the 5 Parsecs world to the Star Wars universe.  By reflavoring, I mean taking a 5 Parsecs entry and changing the title to make it congruent with Star Wars.  First off, in Character Creation, the alien types and droids have been changed and revised.  There are now 28 alien types, each with unique non-repeated abilities, and 4 distinct Droid types.  

Some thoughts: I don’t know much about Bothans, but I am particularly amused by their given Characteristics and Advantages, “Bothan’s start equipped with Stealth Gear in addition to any other starting gear and are always the Spy Class.”  Many Bothans indeed. Protocol Droids are actually pretty useful in this mod. They count as 2 crewmembers when assigned to Find a Patron and Trade actions, they roll twice and resolve each result in order.  I think these revisions are great adaptions of Star Wars lore and fun ways to play with the 5 Parsecs mechanics.  

The Coruscant mod’s Background and Class tables are mostly Star Wars reflavorings with the exceptions of Jedi Backgrounds and Force Sensitive Class, respectively.   So, what if you rolled up a Jedi or Force Sensitive, what does that look like mechanically?  First of all, when you generate a Rival for your Force-using character, it will always be the Purge Trooper Enemy and they will follow you from planet to planet. Relentlessly.  Secondly, you will get to choose at least one Force Power as described in the Coruscant mod on page 18.  This Force Power list of six abilities reminds me of some of Knights of the Old Republic’s force powers. All of them are useful in 5 Parsecs combat, but I think Deflect is the coolest. Deflect reads, “If this character is equipped with a Lightsaber, they have a 4+ Armor Save against ranged attacks as if from a Shield and if a 6 is rolled on the armor save against a ranged attack it is deflected back to the attacker and resolved against them. If they do not have a Lightsaber equipped, they have a 6+ save instead.”  Reflecting back blaster fire? Hell yeah, that is what Jedi are for. 

Vibro-Ax by PigJazz on Reddit 

There are also revisions for the Weapons table, the Enemies table and Invasion mechanics.  The Weapons table has certain Star Wars reflavorings, a Military Rifle becomes a Blaster Carbine and a Shatter Axe becomes a Vibro Axe, but there are also new Star Wars weapons as well. You have your Sonic Rifle, your Thermal Detonator, as well as others.  The Enemies tables have been revised with different Star Wars entries and creatures. For example, in the Scum and Villainy enemy table, Black Sun Enforcers and Hutta Guard (slow at a Speed of 3”!) and Shadow Collective Commandos are new.  I’m particularly amused by the Young Rancor on the Roving Threats Enemy table. This creature is Huge making it easier to hit, has Luck 3 from its Thick Hide and will move towards the shooter if you hit it with a ranged attack and don’t kill it.  Very thematic, very Star Wars. 

Invasions in the Post Battle Activities phase of the 5 Parsecs book have some changes in the Coruscant conversion.  In Coruscant, Invasions represent the Galactic Empire invading a world to dominate the planet. As such, only encounters where the crew has fought against an Empire enemy will trigger an Invasion, requiring you to carry out Step 6 of the Post-Battle Activities: Check for Invasion!  

If one travels to an Empire controlled planet, as in the Empire is victorious on the Galactic War Progress table after an Invasion has been triggered, a crew can take jobs but only for the Rebel Alliance.  In contrast to the core 5 Parsecs rules where the Unity Victorius entry on the Check for Galactic War Progress table (Post Battle Activities Step 14) makes it more difficult for another Invasion Threat to occur on that planet again, the Coruscant conversion makes it easier for the Empire to Invade again if they lose, as the Galactic Empire is a crushing fist that will brook no failure in allowing a system to slip it’s grasp.  Very Star Wars, very Darth Vader doctrine. 

by Ryan Dening 

Crew Creation using 5 Parsecs from Coruscant

So, I rolled up 6 Star Wars characters using the crew composition tables from the Coruscant conversion. Primarily this was to test the Coruscant systems but it also gave me an excuse to indulge in a bit of creative writing.  I chose to generate the first two crew members purely randomly, then I restricted my rolls to two common aliens, one uncommon alien and one droid; as that distribution felt very Star Wars to me. The Background, Motivation and Class of each character (except for the droid, as they do not use these tables) were randomly chosen.  The captain of the crew was also decided by a die roll, and the names were generated using either of two Star Wars name generators, here and here. 

Here are the results of the random tables with the randomized elements from 5 Parsecs from Coruscant in bold.  

The first member of the crew is a human named Khromi Storm.  This man, from Endor, is a scoundrel with political motivations.  As fate would have it, he is the captain of the worn freighter that he has repurposed and renamed “Stormlord”.  He and his band of lovable rogues hailing from a variety of planets in the Galactic Core and Outer Rim have a common enemy in the Empire and usually take jobs from the Rebel Alliance, but are not above mingling with space scum, criminal syndicates, local governments or corporations; which they view as all the same, really.  I imagine Khromi barreling down the halls of power in Coruscant, knocking on doors of the Senate, his Endor green cloak fanning out behind him.  And of course, getting an equal number of doors shut in his face because he is from Endor and the Ewoks do not have an effective lobbying block. 

Adventurers of all kinds are welcomed onboard the Stormlord, but only WuFei the human colonist from Mandalore has been consistent and stayed with the crew.  A refugee who does not speak about his past or the Mandalorian Civil Wars, he none the less is extroverted and loquacious at ship parties.  The perceptive among the crew sense this is a well-crafted front to cover for personal past experiences, but none disapprove of his easy manner with Rebel patrons who offer the Stormlord’s crew jobs.  In strict contrast to this is WuFei’s utter discipline and devotion to close combat arts. Wielding a blade, or his family’s vibrosword for special missions against the Empire, WuFei eschews ranged combat for taking the fight up close and personal to the enemy.  Whether this is bravery or madness to quench some personal pain, only time will tell.   

photoshopped by WohlfePac 

Sira’kyra the Twi’lek technician is much more than that word implies; she is an engineering genius. Enslaved by the Empire but allowed to continue to exist as a technical specialist in a research outpost, Sira’kyra was worked to the bone, memorizing the ins and outs of every complicated device in the facility.  When the research outpost suffered from a series of mysterious explosions that covered the Stormlord’s escape, and Sira’kyra was “found” to have “stowed away”, none of the crew batted an eye when Khromi promoted her to chief engineer on the spot.   Only a utility belt with a set of tools remains from that lonely Empire facility, tools that Sira’kyra puts to good use with her new found family.   

Game Notes: Her species Twi'lek, Class, and Background give her +3 Savvy already. Savvy is the "I interact with stuff successfully on the battlefield" attribute. Her Utility Belt gear gives an additional +1 Savvy in Battle for a +4 total.  That is absolutely insane and I’ve never randomly rolled a character with that level of competency. 

Apprenticed to Sira’kyra is Gialjarjarir, the Mon Calamari mechanic. Ship hopping from space station to space station to better familiarize himself with different hyperdrive and fusion drive models, Gial, as he is referred to by the crew, is on a mission of discovery to better himself and earn his place as a true journeyman back on the Outer Rim system he calls home.  Having discovered Sira’kyra’s brilliance and knowing a golden opportunity for a master class in education when presented to him, that planned departure back home grows further and further into the future with each adventure.  Having been around more cantinas than most sentients can count, Gial knows how to mingle with the shadier crowd and hold his own.  His marked Sabacc deck has seen much use in such places.     

Game Notes: Gial’s species and his Motivation gives him +2 Savvy.  Since I rolled up another Savvy professional, I made him apprentice to the godly Twi’lek.  I did make one change from the 5 Parsecs from Coruscant text. I randomly rolled Loaded Chance Cubes as gear for Gial, but I decided to reflavor them as a marked Sebacc deck as that makes more in universe Star Wars sense to me. 

Blazeout is the name of the Republic Clone who, like all clones of his type at this time, is a Clone War Veteran and Soldier.  However, even the Republic cloning process seems to have variations, as Blazeout is driven by Fame.  Getting wind of this singular clone trooper who robbed Imperial banks and excelled at deeds of derring-do, but had been jailed and was in need of rescue; Captain Khromi and the gang arranged a harrowing prison breakout, and Blazeout gladly joined the crew as a loyal member. 

E-3PO, source

What would a star ship crew be without a droid? Specifically, a Protocol Droid when one is jumping from system to system, interacting with aliens of all stripes, individuals nefarious and virtuous. W3-Y4 came onboard the Stormlord as a package deal with the Twi’lek Sira’kyra. Originally an average E-3PO Imperial Protocol Droid, that all changed once Sira’kyra removed his restraining bolt and made some interesting modifications.  W3-Y4 followed Sira’kyra to the Stormlord at the time of her escape from the Imperial Research Outpost, and has since acquired a wide wardrobe of clothing from the different cultures he has encountered with the crew.  And then there are the guns. Oh yes, the guns. A fan of the infinite complexity by which groups try to do harm to one another at range; W3-Y4 happily modifies, tinkers, and recombines blasters and other devices in his off time when he is not translating for the crew of the Stormlord or holding heated high stakes negotiations in a corporate boardroom or criminal underground lair. 

Game Notes: I chose the E-3PO Imperial Protocol Droid model based on this youtube video about Star Wars droids here.

Closing Thoughts

5 Parsecs from Coruscant is a great 5 Parsecs from Home, Star Wars conversion that is in production (currently version 0.5 alpha) by one designer, Crimson114.  I am very eager to see what other elements they adapt from Star Wars to integrate into the systems and mechanics that Ivan Sorensen, author of 5 Parsecs, devised.   Though I may not get my 5 Parsecs from Coruscant crew to the wargaming arena to test all of the new weapons and enemies soon, the Coruscant tables are fun to generate interesting backstories for crew members that are fully within the Star Wars universe. 

Neuroscape Deck Design Part I: Unboxing and Deepnet Hacker Deck

 

I took the plunge. I bought a box of Neuroscape, Genesis set. 

I have not been disappointed.

Neuroscape is a head-to-head cyberpunk themed competitive trading card game that was recently released and initially kickstarted by 1,891 backers.  I am a non-backer recent convert, and I reviewed playing the sample starter decks about a week ago. 

Back to the box. By the numbers, in a box of Neuroscape Genesis boosters packs you get 24 booster packs at 16 cards per pack. And you get one bonus promo card in the box as well. In summary you get 385 cards per box. 

So, what’s in a booster pack? As printed on the side, a booster pack includes: 9-10 common cards, 3-6 uncommons, and 1-3 cards of rare or higher rarity.  The approximate rates of the higher rarities are 1 in 4 packs will have a Quantum Rare, 1 in 342 will have an Art Rare, and 1 in 1526 packs will have a Serialized card.  In addition, you may get a foil version of a card. I do not know the rarity frequency of foil cards.  Also, you may get basic RAM, but very rarely.  In my box I pulled a total of 6 cards of basic RAM, one of which was a foil.   

In order to play a game of Neuroscape you need exactly 25 basic RAM per RAM deck, so to resolve this issue I bought a deck of 100 basic RAM for around $10.  That fulfills the need of RAM for 4 separate decks of Neuroscape.  Which is convenient, because after opening my box and analyzing my cards, I found that I could construct four 50 card decks that have enough synergy to be playable with plenty of cards left over.  I think at least. I’m still learning the systems here. 

Another thing to note, the left-over basic RAM box is the perfect size to carry a 50 card deck, covered in Dragon Shield matte card sleeves, plus 50 RAM cards not covered in sleeves with some room to spare. 

My main concern with buying a box of booster packs (which was available) over premade decks (which were unavailable at the time of my purchase) was the frequence and amount of Mainframe cards in a booster box.  A Mainframe card represents your cyberdeck and is necessary to play a Neuroscape game.  It also sets up at least two synergies with the cards in your deck.   In the Genesis set, there are 20 distinct Mainframe cards of rarities common, uncommon and rare.  To date there are no Quantum Rare Mainframes. 

I should not have worried. There are 12 common Mainframes. In one box, though everyone’s milage will vary, I pulled 17 Mainframe cards, at least one Mainframe from all rarities; and 7 of the Mainframe cards I acquired were duplicates.  Some of the Mainframes were foil cards and are very pleasant to look at.  I did not acquire all Mainframes in the core set, but that is to be expected. I did get both rare Mainframes, Hive Dynamics and Wndrtech, lucky enough though. 

That’s neat and all, but where can you peruse the spectrum of Neuroscape cards and see for yourself?  I have found that the website NeuroDB is your answer. In fact, since I don’t have access to the prebuilt decks available for Neuroscape, I found the website’s deck database to be invaluable to see what the card distribution is for those starter decks. In addition to being able to make your own decks and share a virtual catalogue of your card collection, NeuroDB lets you look at a Meta Overview of what cards users that are making decks are using and at what frequency.  Now at the time of this writing, the Meta Overview is a new feature and was temporarily unavailable, but I had accessed it in the previous day.   I found the website very useful for theorycrafting, looking up potential card synergies and for hosting the two decks I recently constructed with my collection, which I will discuss a bit below. 

Here are some more observations on the cards I pulled from my box. After buying one box I found myself wanting more uncommons to fill out the decks I was attempting to make.  For example, I wanted to put together a Wonderland heavy faction deck with the Wndrtech Mainframe, but I didn’t draw any of the Wonderland uncommons White Knight or Red Knight that would have been useful for that type of deck. 

I also noticed that the non-faction utility cards were relatively rare.  By non-faction utility cards, I mean cards like Antivirus, Short Circuit, Terminate and Delete that have no faction and are useful counters in any deck one makes. Even though those cards mentioned are common, I only drew less than 20 of these types of cards total, which is a small amount relative to the other factions in the box. 

I am going to make a correction on a statement I made in my previous blogpost on Neuroscape. I said deck design is not limited by class restrictions. I am clarifying that statement now that I am more educated in the rules.  Some cards are dependent on other cards being in play in order to use them.  In the rules this is called a Synergy Requirement. For example, if I wanted to play the program script (Tarot) The Fool card, I would need a card from the Mystic faction in play to do so.  Now this doesn’t mean that only Mystic faction cards can be in a Mystic faction deck or with a Mystic faction Mainframe.  In fact, in one of the decks I designed below I added Dustrunner faction cards to a Hacker centric deck with a Hacker Mainframe. Now I don’t know if that deck design strategy will work too well; but I could do it, so we will see what happens when I playtest it. 

At any rate, I decided to construct two 50 cards decks with the cards I obtained from my single box. The first deck is a Hacker focused deck that I made to model the playstyle of the Hacker starter deck I played initially against Leo as I reported in my previous Neuroscape blog post.  In short, this deck focuses on playing Viruses and Trojans on my opponent’s Mainframe that do direct damage to his Mainframe Health (blue health).  This deck is also an experiment in that it only has 4 rare cards, and the rest are uncommons and commons. I am testing the viability of playing a “budget rarity deck”.  The second deck is a Cybernetic and Corpo deck where I slammed together my strongest cards of each of the factions without regard to rarity limitations and I focused on dealing out damage to the opposition’s Bioframe Health (red health).

Deepnet Mainframe Hacker Deck

The first starter deck I played with was the Hacker starter deck with the Firestarter Mainframe.  This deck revolved around placing Trojans and such as Power Spike and Memory Leak as well as Viruses like System Error on the opposing Mainframe to do Mainframe Damage to the opponent. This direct damage to the opponent was supported by the Firestarter Mainframe’s synergy, the Script Programs Overload MK. I and Overload MK. II along with other cards in the deck. 

I wanted to see if I could replicate this theme of direct Mainframe damage and Trojans/Viruses while improving upon its design. So, I chose the Mainframe Deepnet (a common card) as the center of this deck.  The first synergy of Deepnet requires two Hacker cards, then upon playing a protocol, Deepnet will deal two Mainframe damage to target player.  So far so good. Now I just needed protocol cards.  So, I then added all the Trojans and Viruses I obtained from my box to my deck.  This consisted of 4 Memory Leaks, 1 Power Spike and one Simulated Solace.  Trojans and Viruses are protocols. 

The Memory Leak Trojan will only do damage to the opponent, if the opponent’s RAM is running or committed.  So, a canny opponent will just not run all of his RAM when a Trojan shows up face down connected to his Mainframe.  To solve this problem, I turned to the Dust Runner faction.  The Dust Runner faction has a number of cards that destroy opponent’s RAM.  These include characters like Badlands Marauder and Coyote Raiders and the script EMP Grenade. Also, the Dust Runner faction has the Virus Growing Unrest, which punishes the opponent with one Mainframe Damage per RAM they install.  Together these Dust Runner cards of RAM destruction and punishment for RAM installation should function well with the Memory Leak Trojan strategy.  

The issue is, the 3 EMP Grenade and Growing Unrest cards require a Dust Runner faction card to be in play before they can be played.  I hope the six Dust Runner character cards I’ve added will be drawn frequently enough to play an EMP Grenade or Growing Unrest card when I need them.  I may have to add more Dust Runner cards to change this ratio in my deck in the future. 

Moving on, Hacker cards such as Anima Proxy and Black Hat, of which I only have one of each, also support this Trojan and Virus deck strategy.  Anima Proxy can be used to damage a player for each program attached to their Mainframe.  Trojans and Virus programs fit that criteria, so Anima Proxy is a damage amplifier.  Black Hat can put Corruption tokens on an opposing Mainframe, and the opponent takes Mainframe damage equal to the number of Corruption tokens every Netcheck.  This is useful because, not only does it do the damage I want to the opponent; if the opponent plays the big counter to my Trojan focused strategy, the Antivirus card, they will have to choose between destroying one of my hidden protocols (Trojans) attached to their Mainframe or the Corruption tokens that are damaging them every turn. 

To get through my cyberdeck quickly and obtain the cards I need, I included 3 Phantom OS characters. I can activate and purge the Phantom OS cards to look through my deck for Virus or Trojans.  Also, I included 2 Hyperclock scripts.  Hyperclock is a rare card that is the exception to the rule that this deck consists of common and uncommon cards.  This 1 RAM cost card (very cheap) allows me to temporarily install more RAM for a health penalty so I can speed up the pace of using cards from my deck. I wanted to see how Hyperclock functioned in play and determine if they were too deleterious or not to my deck’s focus, so I included them as a test.   

Lastly, I included cards that buff Hacker character’s Mainframe damage like Tagger and Binary Blast.  This in general is a good strategy since I’m using a lot of small damage (1/1) Hacker characters in my deck and I will likely need to enhance their capability to make them competent attackers or blockers. 

So now my strategy is laid out, what are the possible problems that could come up with the Deepnet deck? I have already mentioned that I may not be running enough Dust Runner faction cards to justify running Dust Runner dependent cards (EMP Grenade, etc.).  In addition, this deck needs more Trojans like Power Spike and Viruses like Simulated Solace, but I just don’t own more, so that is not a problem I can finesse with more deck design.   The other issue is that I only included 18 character cards out of a 50 card deck.  Most of the starting decks have 25 character cards and 25 other cards in their cyberdeck.  Am I too light on character cards? I don’t know. I know that having the option to draw two cards from my cyberdeck per turn may alleviate this issue, but I need to test it.  Which is one of many reasons I’m playing with this Deepnet deck at Brookhurst Hobbies soon. 

Age of Wonders 4, Vampire Bunnies Setting

Age of Wonders 4 is a wonderful fantasy grand strategy 4x game.  “4x” stands for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate.  Think of the venerable Civilization series for reference. 

With the recent patch and Rise from Ruin DLC, Age of Wonders 4 has introduced a Hare-peoples race.  Naturally I called them Bunny-folk and started an empire with an Elder Vampire Bunny Leader called Bunnicula, after the legendary and oh-so-cute vampire bunny of the children’s series authored by Deborah and James Howe. 

Inspired by the events in the game so far, I have written up setting information about Bunnicula’s world as if it was a tabletop roleplaying game setting to be explored.   I might actually use it as such.  Here are the races, locations and potential backgrounds that characters could come from in this snapshot of the game at Turn 55. 

Setting Races

Overlord Leporids (Primary) – These bunny-peoples are athletic, have quick reflexes and are light footed to outmaneuver their foes.  Ruled by the Elder Vampire Bunnicula Balloch they have adopted the Dark culture, the Cult of Death.  They are Prolific Swarmers and have a Vision of Destiny as they pursue the magic of Shadow. 

Moonrock Dwarves (Secondary) – These dwarven folk are tough, adapted to the underground and practice defensive tactics.  The ones in the Empire of Bunnicula are either conquered peoples from Omenhallow or refugees from Fangir, their Wizard King’s other wars. They have adopted the Mystic culture, focusing on Summoning.  They are Great Builders and Runesmiths, so they often carry enchantments.  

Monolilthic Humans (Tertiary) – Either slaves of their Eldritch Sovereign, Elgoroth the Hedonist, or zealots of him; these humans recuperate quickly, are adaptable and practice defensive tactics. They are Architects of Chaos, follow a racial Cult of Personality and are Bannerlords. Their Cult of Personality means they look up to Heroes of all stripes. 

Galetoads (Tertiary) – Citizens of the Storm Giant King Singaith Sky-Shatter, the frog-people the Galetoads are now in a defensive alliance with the vampiric Overlord Leporids. Both evil empires, Galetoads are adapted to the swamp, resilient, hardy and are known for their sharp eyes which aid in scouting. A Mystic culture, they focused on Attunement to magic.  They are Scions of Evil and live in Hermit Kingdoms. 

Locations

Nilzahdum- Founding settlement of the Vampire Bunnies. Now a full fledged City (13 population) this industrial heart of the empire is located on a juncture of sprawling Ashlands bordered by the East and the North by lava seas.  The Eastern Lava Sea is called the “Crusader Sea” as beyond the lava sea is where the Celestial Crusaders originate from. 

a. Features 3 gold mines, 3 quarries and 3 foresters.  One of the gold mines is located off the coast in lava, ie a Smelter Mine.  One of the Foresters is a Ritual Pyre founded by Abboth the Strong a Champion hero who wanted to impress his Elder Vampire sire, Bunnicula Balloch. 

b. City’s garrison is a unit of Death Guard (pikemen who self heal)

c. City can produce Inferno Puppies which are puppies constructed from elemental fire. 

d. Possible Backgrounds:

Ashland Stickpicker Settlers – Settlers who eke out a meager life from the border lands in huts.

Mining Thralls – either stone or gold miners, their exposure to the Ashlands and Lava seas has reduced their constitution but made them accustomed to the sweltering heat and harsh conditions of the worst of the land. 

Blood Thralls – Primarily Overlord Leporids, Blood Thralls of all races aspire to become full-fledged vampires or orbit in those elite social circles. 

Death Guard Pikemen – Either mustered to patrol the City or sent south to Gnolmoch to the battle zones, these citizens are elite troops who practice together in disciplined formation.

Inferno Puppies Beast Masters – Constantly singed and burned, these hardy citizens are very familiar with handling fire beasts. 

Gnolmoch- Center of War and Research. Now a Town (7 population). Governed by Horras the Uncanny the Scholarly Governor. Located embedded into the northern face of a mountain, this Town sprawls East towards a Celestial Crusader Incursion and West towards the former battleground lands of Omenhallow, now pacified. 

a. 2 Research posts.  Eastern Research Post investigates the problem of the Celestial Crusaders. Western Research Post was forcibly taken over from Omenhallow in the war and reorganized by Horras himself (+5 Research Points). Now it studies the latest magical theories of the Empire, specifically how to destroy enemy morale. 

b. The Town had fallen in Turn 33 to the marauding Celestial Crusaders to the East after a defensive battle in the Town center. The Town did not have walls and so it was a pitched battle in the streets. 

c. The Walled Waterworks Ancient Wonder was explored and conquered around Turn 40 and converted into a Hidden Wellspring after Turn 43 (cost 500 mana for this conversion). 

d. Possible Backgrounds:

Scavengers of Celestial Remnants – The fall of Gnolmoch to the rampaging Celestial Crusaders has left remnants all over the town and its provinces.  These remnants are important experimental materials for the Eastern Research Post and some citizens specialize in gathering them.

Diplomats to the Fae Courts of the Seasons – The infrastructure conversion of the Walled Waterworks to the Fae-friendly Hidden Wellspring has brought Fae of three Season Courts to Gnolmoch.  These diplomat citizens interact with the Fae warriors, keep them happy and make them useful to the empire. 

Dark Magic Researcher – At the cutting edge of the empire’s Dark Magic research, these citizens report to Horras the Uncanny himself and labor on reducing the morale of their opponents.

Enlisted Citizen – With the wars with the Moonrock Dwarves, the Celestial Crusaders and more on the horizon, military minded citizens of any stripe can be found hailing from Gnolmoch.

Anti-Celestial Researcher – Firmly focused on ensuring that Gnolmoch never falls again, these zealous researchers interrogate, experiment on and theorize against the Celestials. They are particularly wary of the Dawn of the Lodestar event and it’s bolstering effect on the Celestials. 

Omenhallow – Suzerain of Conquest. Recently (Turn 55) integrated Moonrock Dwarf Town (8 population) rested from the grasp of Fangir (Moonrock Dwarf Wizard King).  The transition of the city from Fangir to Overlord Leporid hands has not diminished the populations’ morale (+20 currently).  Many attribute this to the excellent Dwarven infrastructure and indoor plumbing. 

a. 3 Quarries, 2 research posts

b. No Overlord Leporid Governor yet

c. Half the Provinces are Sunless from Gnolmoch’s influence. 

d. Possible Backgrounds:

Omenhallow Bureaucrat – Given the lack of an official Overlord Leporid Governor, these citizens are often Leporids who are looking to make a name for themselves in the expected new administration.  Devious maneuvers and powerplays are common.

Leporid Secret Police – Given this is the first conquered settlement by the Vampire Bunnies, the Overlord Leporids are leaving nothing to chance.  Ferreting out civil corruption, as well as Moonrock Dwarf partisans, these citizens are the mailed fist of the Bunnicula empire.  

Moonrock Dwarf Lightning Researcher – Citizens of the Fangir Wizard King rule, these researchers have previously focused on bending electricity and lightning to all forms of industrial and martial ends. 

Moonrock Dwarf Stonecutter – Moonrock Dwarves are as Tough as they come and the ones that work in the quarry are more robust still.  Alternatively, some are fine stone craftsmen with a delicate touch and artisan’s eye.

Omenhallow Criminal Underground – Government upheaval, invading Leporid armies in the streets and half the Town blighted by Sunless terrain creates opportunities. These citizens were mostly once Omenhallow defenders, sometimes partisans and all of them full-time opportunists. Contraband flows freely through these individuals’ hands. 

Dominance- The Bucolic Wonder.  Ironically named by the Vampire Leporid Prospecting Governor Keryn the Friendly, this Village (6 Population) aspires to be a manufacturing and gold mining center of the empire. It is not that. Not yet. 

a. Located on Sunless forests and fertile planes with one entrance to the underground for Province growth, Dominance is overall a nice settlement to be from. 

b. 2 Farms, 1 gold mine. The gold mine is particularlly rich, (+5 gold) because of the Prospecting Governor.

c. Unscouted lands to the West.

d. Possible Backgrounds:

Dominance Farmer – Oddly bucolic despite proximity to lava seas to the North and the East, farmers from Dominance are none the less hardy folk with their head on a swivel, constantly alert to monster attacks from the frontier.

Government Spelunker – The Governor has made it a mandate to expand into the lands under the earth. A surveyor, caver and adventurer; a government funded Spelunker is a jack of all trades. 

Dominance Tradesman – a frontier Tradesman and sometimes laborer, these citizens work in the vendor or workshop halls. They remember erecting Dominance’s palisade walls as a group effort and are social because of that.

Dominance Monster Hunter – Being on the frontier means being under threat from wandering monsters and bandits.  Monster Hunters focus on the Iron deposits West of Dominance that are occupied by Celestial marauders that threaten Dominance miners. 

Ruins Adventurer – East of Dominance is a temple where Archons once worshiped the Allfather.  The Altar of Devoration is still and quiet now, but rumors persist that cults and sinister entities have taken up residence. These citizens scourer the area for artifacts and bits of magic that will earn them a quick bag of coins, while staying away from mad cultist’s blades. 

Afterword

Even a simple game of Age of Wonders 4 easily creates a rich environment for a tabletop RPG setting.  Granted, I used a lot of creative liberties with the possible backgrounds of the settlements of the setting, but the core origins of the Age of Wonders 4 Vampire Bunnies game are there.  I hope this bout of creative writing illustrates how enjoyable the game is and inspires others, whether they use Vampire Bunnies as a set piece or not. 

Neuroscape, After Action Report and Review

So, how much time do you have to devote to entertainment?  Seriously, sit with that question for a moment. What if I told you there was a competitive card game with minimal setup, engaging gameplay, interesting tactical decisions, card synergies, and you could get a game done in 10 minutes, 25 if you are learning the game?

It exists. I’ve played it. It’s good. It is called Neuroscape and it is a cyberpunk themed trading card game where decks revolve around card synergies, but do not limit you with arbitrary blockers like color requirements or class restrictions for deck design. This means you can use pretty much any card in your collection to make a deck. The reason why is that every card is fueled by RAM, which is a resource you can accumulate and, in some cases, must devote continually to certain cards in order to play them.

Let’s get into the two games I played with the intro decks at my Friendly Local Game Store, Brookhurst Hobbies, with the excellent advocate for Neuroscape, Leo.

I was playing the Hackers deck (control) while my opponent was playing Cybernetic deck focused on cyberpsychosis (very aggressive). More on that last word later.

In Neuroscape gameplay there are two unique elements of the system that are immediately apparent.  The first is that there are two forms of life points: 20 Mainframe Health and 20 Bioframe Health.  These represent the health of your neural computer or physical body, respectively. If either of these health pools reach zero, you have lost the game.

The Hackers deck I was playing focused on doing Mainframe damage, while my opponent’s deck was pure Bioframe damage execution.  To distinguish them in game, I just thought of them as “digital damage” and “meat damage.”

The other unique element of Neuroscape gameplay is the use of the Mainframe card.  Your Mainframe card is sort of your neural computer and the center of your deck. You only get to use one Mainframe card in a deck.  I mentioned that Neuroscape is foundationally built on card synergies.  Your Mainframe card gives your deck potentially two synergies.  For example, with the Mainframe card Synthetix if you have two Cybernetic Characters, all Characters you control get +1/+1 for each cyberware attached to them. That is the first synergy.  You don’t have to commit any RAM for that particular ability; it just happens.

So, the Mainframe cards function as a force multiplier and increase the pace of the game.  This adds to the tension of play and makes every decision count, because you are not spending a lot of your time slowly building up your forces to eventually make a strike. 

Speaking of strikes, when you put a Character card into play from your hand you may use it immediately to attack or carry out an action if you have the RAM to run to do so.  “Running RAM” is basically the equivalent of tapping lands (in this case RAM) in that venerable five color fantasy card game that we all know and love.      

To add to the pacing discussion, every turn (with the exception of the first turn of the player that goes first) each player may decide to draw 2 RAM cards, 2 cards from their deck, or one RAM card and one card from their deck.  Again, this accelerates the speed of gameplay as a player almost always has a card they can play from their hand or the resources to do so.     

So how did it play?

To summarize, the gameplay was fast, brutal and tactical.  Since I was playing the Hackers control deck, my strategy was to load up my opponent’s Mainframe card with Viruses or Trojan programs.  My Characters on the field had utility abilities, were sometimes offensive like the awesome Digital Spectre that could be unblockable and dealt more damage to a player if it successfully attacked, or were speedbumps to prevent the opponent’s Characters from damaging me.

This begs the question however, what are Trojans and Viruses and how do they play?  Trojans and Viruses are essentially “enchantments” that occupy a slot next to or above the opponent’s Mainframe.  Not only does this take away a Mainframe slot from the opponent, they also function as Trap cards in Yu-Gi-Oh.  Virus cards are played face up, but Trojans are played face down so there is an element of bluffing and known unknowns with Trojans.

Specifically, in my Hackers control deck, the Trojans I deployed were cards that could damage my opponent in digital damage for each attacker he declared or annihilate all of his attackers outright.  However, victory was not certain, because my opponent had counters, including a card that could destroy one of my Trojans/Viruses for a certain amount of RAM.

In my first game that is exactly what happened.  I heavily invested in Trojans that would damage my opponent when they attacked and then committed the remainder of my RAM to deploying Characters that would block the opposing attackers. 

Now my opponent had an aggressive Cybernetics focused deck.  He could summon strong Cybernetics Characters that would attack me for meat damage exclusively, had equipment to buff their damage, and had cards that make the Cybernetic Characters even stronger…if he took a chance with Cyberpsychosis. Cyberpsychosis is a risk/reward mechanic. If your attacking Character has a Cyberpsychosis rating, then when attacking there is a chance that your attack fails and you hit yourself instead for your Character’s damage value. To determine if your Character fails an attack and hits you instead, you would have to roll lower than the Cyberpsychosis rating on a d20.  Roll higher than your Cyberpsychosis rating and you successfully attack with your cybered up Cyberpsychosis Character.

The d20 is provided with a basic deck as a marker for Mainframe and Bioframe hit points. It is a really nice die; sharper edged than the plastic ones you normally get from a game store and delightfully denser than normal.

Back to the game. My opponent’s primary Cybernetic Character had a Cyberpsychosis rating of 10. He rolled above 10 several times, crushing the blocking Characters I threw in his way and eventually punching me in the face for 9 damage per attack, ending my existence.  It was an excellent fast match. 

In the second game, I found my footing. The game evolved similarly to the previous one, in that my opponent was building up Cybernetic Characters with Cyberpsychosis, but this time I focused equally on my Characters and Trojans. I played the Singularity Character, which destroyed all of my RAM, but allowed me to play two cards of any value from my hand per turn. I began loading up Trojans on my opponent’s Mainframe again, zapped him a couple times with a Digital Spectre and was hit once in meatspace for damage that brought me down to two Bioframe hit points.  In my opponent’s next turn, he was down to three Mainframe hit points and proceeded to attack me again. However, I revealed that I placed a Trojan that would deal three digital damage to him when he committed an attacker.  That Trojan fired before the Cyberpsycho’s attack could complete, and I won the second game.

First Impressions

Overall, playing the introductory Hackers deck designed for control, gave me a refreshing memory of playing Blue control decks early on in the Revised set for Magic: the Gathering.  More importantly, the experience of playing the game was fun. I can’t stop thinking about it a day later and I want to buy my own cards and play again.  The only thing stopping me is that … well Neuroscape is all sold out where I am, so I have to wait until next week!

In other thoughts, the artwork on the cards is gorgeous. I’ve noticed the occasional nod to foundational cyberpunk media like the Matrix, Edgerunners, and real-world penetration testing techniques.   I’ve mentioned the twenty-sided dice you get in the core sets before, but their quality bears mentioning again.  Everything I saw of Neuroscape’s presentation struck me as designed towards quality.  I’m looking forward to buying my decks. 

I was also impressed by the design of asymmetric themes. Control vs Aggressive were both on display in the introductory decks.  If I had the cards from both decks, I could incorporate both themes into my deck. Choosing the right Mainframe would just help my synergy and focus my play style.

I am also happy with the light bluffing aspect that slotting Trojans (facedown) onto a Mainframe creates. This forces the opponent to deal with a few questions. Which Trojans are you going to destroy, opponent? Are you going to devote your precious RAM to cleaning your Mainframe or use the RAM for something else more aggressive this turn?

On point for a cyberpunk themed tcg, Neuroscape has an app for iOS and Android.  They include access to a Lifepoint counter for both Mainframe and Bioframe  points, the free Rulebook pdf, Learn to Play resources like a Quick Start and Tutorial video, and social media links.

In this writeup, I may have made some mistakes with the specific terminology of Neuroscape’s rules or the mechanics, but I hope my enthusiasm for the game and its exciting designs are clear.

Outstanding Questions

Granted I’m excited, but I did only play two games of Neuroscape with introductory decks. Further questions need to be addressed. What about deck building? How does that feel? What about the mechanics of Instability when you have less RAM than you require for the Characters you have on the field?  That’s a mechanic we didn’t even get into in the example of play.  What about the Dustrunner cards that eat opponent’s RAM? How does that work?

I can only address the question about deck building now because I was able to talk with Leo who has been building decks as soon as he got the cards.  I think you can include any of the cards in the set in your deck (remember, just one Mainframe though).  However, your deck won’t be optimized unless you start building around card synergies.  The Mainframe you choose offers some synergies, but other cards offer opportunities as well.  And then some cards break the system.  Remember The Singularity that I played in my second game? If I relied on synergies with The Singularity then I would lean towards stacking my deck with high RAM cost cards, because The Singularity would allow me to deploy two cards of any RAM cost per turn.

In closing, I had a lot of fun playing Neuroscape. Frankly more fun than I have playing tcgs in years.  It is designed to be fast, brutal and have your decisions matter.  There are still some questions I have in terms of the design space of making decks, but I’ll explore that when I get my cards and start dreaming up my own combinations.

Neuroscape. It got it’s hooks into me.