Playing Frostgrave, Mordheim, etc using TFT.

[Petrovski101]

I've always enjoyed the concept of war band sized skirmish games but was never satisfied with the tactical choices they've offered. The scenarios seem interesting and I like the campaign rules of these games; sort of a "lite-rpg" feel to them.

Has anyone tried converting scenarios from the likes of Frostgrave or Mordheim to The Fantasy Trip? I'm about to embark on such an effort and was curious if anyone else had tried doing something similar.

Deathtest, etc are close to this I suppose but not quite what I'm looking for.

[larsdangly]

I have played a lot of one-off set-piece scenarios more or less like a table top skirmish war game using TFT rules. It is a very fun way to do it, integrates magic and mundane combat better than most rules sets, and if you know TFT already gets around the need to deal with boutique rules sets. Minuses might be that some war games have assumptions about relative power levels of combatants that might not match well with TFT rules (though that wouldn't stop me), and the fact that TFT works great with 3 up to maybe 20 figures on the table, but will start to bog down above that. Basically, the TFT system as a whole would benefit from a skirmish sub-system intended for situations with dozens of figures on the map, but that doesn't exist in a published form now. But, if you like 'war bands' that top out at about a dozen figures per team, it should be great.

[zot]

Originally Posted by Petrovski101

I've always enjoyed the concept of war band sized skirmish games but was never satisfied with the tactical choices they've offered. The scenarios seem interesting and I like the campaign rules of these games; sort of a "lite-rpg" feel to them.

Has anyone tried converting scenarios from the likes of Frostgrave or Mordheim to The Fantasy Trip? I'm about to embark on such an effort and was curious if anyone else had tried doing something similar.

Deathtest, etc are close to this I suppose but not quite what I'm looking for.

I haven't but when I last played the Gloomhaven and Myth board games, it really felt like you could substitute TFT rules for theirs and that it would be more fun as well.

There is a bit of a difference of approach in these games because there's more focus on one-shot items than in TFT (in my experience). This adds a lot of punch to the game and limits the potential abuse. Most of them have very harsh limits on how many one-shots a character can have.

I think you could go with the world of the game you're in and use TFT's mechanics without its economic model, i.e. use one-shot items like they occur in the game you're playing, rather than using TFT's prices, rules for creation, etc.

[larsdangly]

By one-shot items, do you mean like a magic item that will perform some action once only? Or do you mean something else?

[Chris Rice]

I’ve used TFT extensively for skirmish Wargaming in the past. However, I don’t feel the initiative system works very well for large numbers of figures. I feel about a dozen figures a side is the absolute maximum, otherwise it gets tedious to watch the opponent move 30 or so figures first, before you move yours.

Also, the level of detail in the options system slows things down with lots of figures. I feel the game is best with 4-8 figures per side (of course, that depends on the individual figures abilities.)

[Chris Rice]

It’s also worth bearing in mind what the game was designed for: it was a originally a replacement for the combat systems in D&D and other RPGs of the time. So typically a party of 4 (or maybe a few more) adventurers against a number of monsters. Maybe a single Dragon/Giant or up to a dozen or so humanoid creatures or smaller monsters. For that, it works perfectly.

[Steve Plambeck]

Integrating TFT with a larger-scale wargame is one of the Holy Grails, isn't it? Experimented with that long ago, but not with the systems mentioned in the OP.

To be really efficient when it comes to movement, counters have to represent multiple figures. But if the whole party of PCs becomes a single counter on the map, hope to Odin it isn't attacked and "Defender Eliminated" comes up on the CRT.

My group's compromise was to stack one PC each with different combat units, acting as the commanders of those units, and if a unit was eliminated we generously allowed the PC a saving roll to escape and survive, with the odds heavily weighted in favor of the PC. Unfortunately that worked out to be rather boring.

[Petrovski101]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

I’ve used TFT extensively for skirmish Wargaming in the past. However, I don’t feel the initiative system works very well for large numbers of figures. I feel about a dozen figures a side is the absolute maximum, otherwise it gets tedious to watch the opponent move 30 or so figures first, before you move yours.

Also, the level of detail in the options system slows things down with lots of figures. I feel the game is best with 4-8 figures per side (of course, that depends on the individual figures abilities.)

This is good advice and was about the size I was looking for. Frostgrave has a maximum warband size of 10 figures. Mordheim in the same ballpark.

[zot]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

By one-shot items, do you mean like a magic item that will perform some action once only? Or do you mean something else?

Yes, once only, or a limited, non-rechargeable number of times.

In TFT that would be scrolls, potions, bombs, explosive gems, wishes, etc. Other games have more/different (board gamey) options, like items usable only in the current adventure.