What is the last known version of Inglorious?
I was reading Anglekite[1], and it mentioned mass combat rules in Inglorious. I thought, “hey, I wonder how that’s come along since last I looked it over?”
I checked the Adventurer’s Guild link, but it was no longer available. My copy is labeled “Inglorious Preview 2”, and I think it was downloaded 20 July 2015. It’s entirely character options though—very cool stuff, now that I know the game better. But it does not have mass combat rules.
Does anyone know if a more recent version of Inglorious circulated before the Adventurer’s Guild page went offline? (Or ever?)
Oh, here’s the link to Anglekite, [1]: magpiegames.com – The Last Days of Anglekite
Magpie Games, could you comment on what “mass combat rules” Brendan was alluding too? Thanks for the cool product, BTW!
🙂
sub. Always on the lookout for mass combat rules.
Sub, I’d like to know current status and plans for Inglorious. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while…
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I wish the Anglekite mass combat rules were CC, then we might not need Inglorious…
Comparing my version of Inglorious and Anglekite’s battle rules, they are suited for completely different purposes.
I’ve never seen it – can you give a summary?
Sure.
The main idea is that different forces are defined by their die size, from d4 for pitiful forces fleeing in defeat to d12 for god-like legions. They also have tags that can affect the way they interact.
When forces clash offscreen, it’s kind of like the way steadings’ Defenses clash in the core rules (p216). The one with the bigger die usually wins, and their die sizes are reduced, with some variation based on their tags.
If a player character is commanding a force, it triggers a special move, but instead of rolling 2d6, they roll 1d6 plus the force die. So someone leading a regiment of battlemages and magically-armed soldiers would roll d6+d10. Someone leading a small mob of angry farmers would roll d6+d4. Instead of rolling plus an ability, the move has bonuses for conditions, like the core Recruit move.
Does that help?
When I imagine running the battle rules for Anglekite, I’m not sure how to do it without completely eliding the clashes of individual characters, though.
Deep Six Delver, how about a “zoom in” vs “zoom out” mechanic? Mix it into your spotlight rotation at the table. Once if feels like a few moments of time has passed in either scene’s “frame” describe the camera zooming in on a particular character/zooming out over the crowd of farmers. Make your GM moves according to where you want to go. If you don’t like saying “let’s zoom in/out” perhaps a totem at the table to signal to the players where you are headed. Maybe use one of those cocktail making tools with a full jigger on one side and a half jigger on the other. Flip it to show players the scenes “frame”.
Never done large combat yet, so just some thoughts off the top of my head. Not sure how i feel about the rules you mentioned above. Seems like a binary result of who wins/losses which feels out of wack with DW in general. But again, I shouldn’t knock it before i try it.
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Andrew Alwood, to be fair, I did compress my explanation a lot; but in doing so I might have exposed my misunderstanding of how it’s supposed to work.
The question I have about zooming in and out has to do with the issue you identified: If the characters have meaningful stuff to do on the micro scale that might weigh heavily on the outcome of a battle, how do you reconcile that with a system that resolves the battle in one roll? Or no rolls, if there’s not s PC in charge?
I suppose you could make the battle roll first (or simply pronounce the winner), then “zoom in” to the micro level and see how the player characters fared during the foregone conclusion, while narrating how the tide of battle surges around them according to the determined winner.
That method seems to get in the way of playing to find out what happens, though. Maybe it could be a roll-in-the-middle mechanic: First you play out some events on the micro level until you reach a pivotal moment. (How would you know the pivotal moment?) Then determine which force wins, narrate the outcome in broad strokes with everyone pitching in, then resolve any player moves that are triggered in the aftermath?
It’s probably obvious that I only read the large-scale battle rules in Anglekite once, and I haven’t figured out how they really work in the context of Dungeon World.
Deep Six Delver, I don’t think the timing of a zoom in or zoom out needs to be prescriptive. Feels to me it would be treated same as moving the spotlight from player to player.
Even in regular combat there are moments that you take a minute to reframe the state of the fiction and everyone’s position to ensure everyone is on the same page. The progress of the battle more broadly could be included in these moments.
As for the rolls, if it truly is binary as to which army wins or loses, roll vs roll. My preference would be to treat it as a very hard move against the commanding PC if they “lose” the roll. Give them the opportunity to do something at the zoomed in level to overcome if the roll is close, retreat with some survivors if moderately close, or personally survive if the rolls turn our far apart.
Hope it helps!
My copy of Inglorious is version “Editing, April 2016”. Don’t remember where I got it, but I’m a Kickstarter backer, so it’s likely from that. It’s got battle rules, and (ISTR) is supposedly only missing art.
Never used it, though.
Aha, thank you Adrian Brooks! I was a Johnny-come-lately who missed the Kickstarter, so I was not entitled to Kickstarter exfoliations.