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| Look at this crew! Who doesn't want to play the motley band of weirdos?! |
Mordheim:
99% Falling Rules
01% Grotesque Vibes
This post is one part "how I got into Mordheim" and one part "how I want to play Mordheim with Forbidden Psalms scope/engine". Those steeped in Mordheim forgive me, I know how you feel, I play BX D&D. know the gritted teeth you get when people want to modify a ruleset before playing. We are all sinners in the eyes of the gaming gods...
Mordheim
The interesting thing to me about Mordheim is the kitbashing community that has sprung up around the narrative skirmish game. The DIY-hobby “jail-breaking”, via an out-of-print game, of an otherwise corporate IP, really gives off the same energy as D&D’s old-school scene when I stumbled upon it.
I was pulled into the scene’s orbit via the grotesque images in Mag28, enthralled by the phantasmagoric minatures stitched together in service of this old ruleset. A very familiar feeling as it was the same thing I felt when I found blogs modifying BX and OD&D.
And since I had played 40K and Battletech in the past, it was easy to answer this siren’s call and jumping in feet first. So lately I’ve been learning how to paint minatures but also committing to learning how to build terrain and do press molds. But more on THAT recent effort in a future blog post.
I think that what makes Mordheim, Mordheim is four elements: the Injuries Table, the Leveling Table, Exploration Procedures, and the community’s narrative/self-expression focus.
Why do I believe this? Because each of these sub-mechanics creates context and memory of each battle and prevents each conflict from being only about “kill everything- reset”. It's the RPG element these mechanics allow that furthers the character of the warband. There is a promise of an emergent story of these plastic and pewter lives that is really cool and unplanned.
The “maths” of how hits are scored, life is checked off, and how much damage a sword does to me is rather inconsequential. But the fact that in the next game my captain has a hook-hand, my wizard is now a flesh beast, but my warband discovered the Copper Crown of the Queen of High Havok is exciting, and our sling-bearer had become eagle-eyed is the stuff of stories. Even in “losing” or, more specificall,y not capturing objectives and withdrawing, interesting things can happen.
The emphasis on kit-bash not min-max, really helps fuel creativity. It refreshes the hobby and draws new folks in. Together, these catapult a small skirmish game of 10 minis into the fondly remembered system it is today, and one of the Inq28-scene’s foundational texts, similar to BX for the DIY-D&D scene.
Forbidden Psalms
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| Seriously checkout 28-mag.com Vol6 for more awesome stuff like this! |
In 28-Mag, there were a couple of play reports about “Turm2023” which was a narrative skirmish tournament run by Anna from Gardens of Hecate. Like Mordheim it featured a ruined city, kitbashed miniatures, but the ruleset was Forbidden Psalms, a wargame based on Mork Borg. The ruleset was chosen for its simplicity: make a warband of 5 models, try to get 12+ on a d20 to do anything, and each model has four stats modified by picking one of 2 stat lines. Weapons and HP interact much like D&D.
Great. This is a solid. It's simple, runs like D&D, so easy to teach, and doesn’t require a lot of models. In the time it takes of make one Mordheim warband, I can have TWO, 5-model Forbidden Psalms gangs. And if Ana is using it for her tournament, then its robust enough.
The second thing I like about Psalms is that it requires a 2 X 2 play area. Now, again, much like the “maths” of combat resolution, I don’t think play area size really means all that much except that a smaller area means quicker to the blood-letting, also less terrain to build in order to fill the space.
The third thing I do like about Psalms is the Omen cards. Each player has 5 cards or tokens that can trigger special effects, like max damage or passing a skill check. They basically help control the swinginess of the d20 and, since you only have 5 in your warband, even out potential early deaths.
Finally, I think Psalms has some versatility in case you want to use your warband in a dungeon crawl or something more RPG leaning. Again, Psalm stats are the exact same as Mork Borg as is the d20 vs DR resolution system. So there is an opportunity to transition your skirmish game into a dungeon-crawling game in the grand evolutionary tradition of Chainmail-to-D&D. Walking fish are awkward, but they are all-terrain.
Amalgamated Ruleset
But Psalms doesn’t quite have as robust a system for the RPG-elements like Mordheim does. It has a wound system and a treasure system that is more like searching a building, but is there a way to combine the two? So, with limited exposure, zero playing time, and hitching my neophyte wagon to a horse named “Naivete”, here is an outline for an amalgamated ruleset.
PSALMS for MORDHEIM
Create characters similar as per Forbidden Psalms
Each character counts as a “hero” except the “dog”
Run scenarios based on Mordheim and award experience points as per the rules as written
If a hero was taken out of action, but passed a death check (DR6+) roll on the Serious Injuries table
After the game, resolve any downed heroes and then roll on the Exploration Procedures
Sum the total for treasures found and look for multiples to determine exploration outcomes
+1d6 for each surviving hero
For each Omen card unused at the end of the game, you may +/-1 from a single die
If all five Omen cards are unused, add a number of your choice to the Exploration Procedures final roll (example: a 3, 4,5 are rolled, a player can then choose to add any number on a d6, deciding “5”, they now have a 3, 4, 5, 5)
Leveling (points)
May not exceed +3 in any stat
Roll 2d6 on the Experience Table when a PC has earned 2, 4, 8, & 16 points
Could convert some of the Mordheim skills into additional “feats”
Experience Table
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